Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

The snow season in the north came early, and soon the first snowflakes visited Cannes on a quiet winter night.

Lin Yizheng was sitting by the window, writing a letter to a friend, when suddenly he heard the rustling sound of falling snow and sighed with emotion.

When he was still in Quanning, he could occasionally chat with his friends over wine, and he often regretted that he had a bad fate. Although he was full of talents, he ended up with a snowfall.

Thinking of this, he swiped his ink and wrote a five-character poem.

The content of the first two sentences is borrowed from the scene, and the third sentence is from the scene and the person. He wrote it very smoothly.

At the last sentence, it should have been the finishing touch, using the scene to express emotions and expressing his inner anguish and coldness, but Lin Yi was unable to write.

Since a few days ago, since the beginning of Gayin, a heated kang and a ground dragon have been set on fire in the palace of Bei'an. As the master of the three children, Lin Yi is naturally treated well. At this time, although snowflakes fell outside the window, Lin Yi’s house was very warm. With the incense of pine and cypress specially prepared for him in the palace, closing his eyes seemed to give people the illusion of being in the early summer.

The sadness in Lin Yi's chest was always brewing, and the last sentence could not be written for a long time.

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Lin Yi simply put down his pen and responded, "Come in."

The book boy Lin Jian held a stack of books and put them on the table next to Lin Yi.

He was about to report the origin of these books, when he suddenly saw the half-open window, he hurried forward and covered the gap first: "Master, it's snowing outside, it's better to close this window."

Lin Yi frowned: "It's okay, it's not cold in the house."

When Lin Jian heard this, she nodded happily: "The palace is really not comparable to ordinary people. We were in Quanning before, and the winter nights were never so warm."

Lin Yi was a little impatient to hear what he said, pointed to the stack of books and asked, "What is this?"

"Ah, it was sent by Mr. Rui." Lin Jian quickly explained: "A few days ago, wasn't the young master worried about finding time to copy a few books to give to Mr. Chen and the others? At that time, Mr. Rui was going to the book. Say it can help you."

"Well, I remember." Lin Yi nodded and walked to the stack of books.

He frowned in disbelief: "It's only been a few days, so it's done?"

"The palace is rich and powerful." The book boy smiled to ease the atmosphere, "I think I found a lot of people and copied it out together."

"So foolish, how could it be possible to drive out some good things." Lin Yi took the top book and flipped through it at will. Seeing that it was his own handwriting, he thought it was the original that he had sent before, so he ignored it. Put it aside.

He took the second book and pinched it in his hand: "I plan to reprint these books to send to friends. If I mess with them at will, I don't know if they will be friends or revenge after they are sent out."

Lin Jian shrank his neck and said again: "This... young master, don't worry. It's still October, so it's too early. If you're not satisfied, Lin Fen and I will find time in the next two days to re-copy the book."

Lin Yi nodded and said "um".

During the conversation, he opened the second book in his hand, ready to see the quality of the rush work.

As soon as the page was opened, he suddenly found that the words on the book were still his own handwriting.

He was a little suspicious that he had read it wrong before, and he frowned and spread out the first book that had been put aside before.

Under the orange candlelight, the two open books faintly smelled of ink, which blended strangely with the scent of pine and cypress in the house, and it smelled very good.

Seeing this, Lin Jian stepped forward curiously: "Master? What's the matter?"

Over there, Lin Yi's eyes widened in shock.

He suddenly thought of something, reached for the third book, and compared it repeatedly.

At this time, Lin Yicai discovered that these books and papers were all new, and they were definitely not the originals that he had read many times and accidentally smeared with ink.

He looked up at his book boy, and asked suspiciously, "Where's the original we sent?"

When Lin Jian heard the words, she immediately took out an old book from her arms: "Hey, look at my stupid brain. Young master, I was carrying it in my arms originally."

He handed over the book: "This stack is newly copied by Mr. Rui, I originally took it away."

Lin Yi took over the original, and the familiar touch made him immediately confirm the authenticity of the book.

Then, he spread out the original and placed it next to the new books.

For a while, he was a little stunned.

After a long while, Lin Yi came back to his senses and beckoned to call the book boy: "Lin Jian, come and have a look."

Lin Jian had been standing a few steps away, not daring to disturb him, but after hearing this, she stepped forward and said, "Master... What's the matter? Are there any problems with these books?"

"Look." Lin Yi pointed to the book spread out on the desk, "This...isn't this my handwriting?"

Calligraphy is a skill that contemporary literati are proud of. After all, in this era when you have to send a handwritten salutation first when you do anything, the handwriting of the host is the first impression left on the person you make friends with.

Lin rose to prominence in the past, not only because of his talent, but also because of his calligraphy, which is as tall as a mountain, with hooks hanging like a jade plate.

This time, the book he wanted to give to his friends during the Chinese New Year was the only copy of the classics and history that he copied word by word in the academy.

Lin Jian stepped forward, and was stunned when she read the handwriting on the fresh book.

He was silent for a while, and suddenly guessed: "Master, I heard that there are people in this world who can imitate other people's handwriting at will... Could it be that the palace has hired such a person to copy books for the young master?"

Lin Yi shook his head: "No."

He turned two new books to the same page.

"You see, if it's copied, even if the handwriting is from the same person, there will be slight differences in the same words, not to mention the position of the words on the paper."

He pointed to the same four words "who is also" on the two books: "But look, these books... are exactly the same."

After speaking, he went to get a new one and flipped to the same location.

Sure enough, after confirming three or five books, he finally admitted: "These books... finished, they are exactly the same... This... how is this done?"

Compared with his original books, the books sent by Qi Rui not only looked new and had no ink stains, but also helped to delete the typos that he had crossed out during the copying and annotation process.

Sending such a quality collection of books to his friends is truly a face.

As a book boy, Lin Jian has very limited knowledge. Naturally, he can't figure out the problems that Lin Yi can't figure out.

So he could only ask: "Master... Are these books... still left?"

Lin Yi couldn't think of a reason, so he simply nodded and ordered, "Let's leave it for now. I'll ask Qi Rui when I'm in class the day after tomorrow."

"Yeah." Lin Jian heard the words and nodded with peace of mind, "Master, it's getting late, you should rest early."

Lin Yi waved his hand, returned to the desk, and said, "Well, I have a sense of balance, you go down first. I'll rest later."

Lin Jian heard the words, said "yes", and then opened the door and left.

The door was slammed shut again with a creak, and the breeze that brought it up made the candlelight on the table jump several times.

When the candlelight settled down, Lin Yi's eyes returned to the five-character poem that he had written most of the time.

The snowstorm in Liaozhou is even colder than that in Quanning. Because of the persecution, I left my hometown and came here to make a living, just like a dead tree devastated by the wind and snow...

Lin Yi picked up the pen, hesitated for a while, and finally came down with the last sentence——

"Fortunately, Wen Kangsheng."

——

a few days later.

It snowed for several days in succession, laying a floor of velvet for Cannes. When the sun finally arrived, several children put on the cashmere sweaters that had been prepared for a long time, and threw themselves into the snow to have fun.

Cao Mi followed them out to breathe, and was amused by several people.

Across the cashmere gloves, she formed a snowball and found that it was not cold, so she was ready to invite the three children to come and build a snowman together. When he turned around, he was hit by a small snowball.

When the snowflakes fell on her face, she could only hear the laughter of the three children, and she couldn't tell who hit the snowball.

Cao Mi subconsciously looked at the most stable Qi Rui and asked him with doubtful eyes.

The boss, Qi Rui, was rarely interested. He was probably suffocated in the past few days. Not only did he not respond to Cao Mi's question with a blushing face, but he bent down and formed a snowball.

Soon, Princess Bei'an forgot her dignified appearance and started playing with her three children in the courtyard.

Although he kept suggesting that his opponent was too weak and needed to release water, two moments later, Cao Mi still pinned his second child, Qi An, on the snow.

Qi Rui tried to rescue his teammates, but he was afraid to go forward.

The third child shouted a language that no one could understand, and kept throwing snowballs at Cao Mi. But he could only do a disservice. Three of the five hit the ground, and the other two greeted Qi An.

Qi An finally couldn't bear it any longer. After being hit again, he ignored Cao Mi, who had restrained him. Instead, he shouted angrily to his younger brother: "Don't throw it away! Which side are you from? My face!"

Qi Ran was stunned for a moment, a chubby face turned red, and when she heard the words, she ran to Qi Rui's side to hide.

Cao Mi pressed Qi An and threatened: "Hmph, I caught you, do you want to surrender?"

"I won't surrender!" Qi An shouted with a strong backbone.

He tried to earn money, but under the suppression of the disparity in size, he couldn't move at all.

"Then tell me, was it you who attacked me first?" Cao Mi asked again.

The clever ghost Qi An thought about the way to save himself, and discussed with her: "I tell you, just let me go!"

Cao Mi "tsk tsk" twice: "Isn't this too cheap for you?"

Qi An pouted and said again, "Then what do you want?"

He remembered that it was emotion a few days ago, and discussed: "I, I can kiss you again."

Cao Mi touched his chin and pretended to consider negotiating conditions. The boss Qi Rui took advantage of this time to go around behind her.

She simply turned over, pretended to be attracted by Qi Rui, and let go of the suppression of Qi An.

Finally, the three brothers were able to retreat under her water.

After escaping, Qi An's tail was raised, and she shouted to her triumphantly: "A soldier never tires of deceit."

Cao Mi grouped a small snowball and smashed it directly.

The mother and son were playing in the courtyard for a while. Dong Li suddenly came in and said to Cao Mi, "Princess, Mrs. Qin is visiting, and the servant has taken her to the hall. Does the princess want to meet her?"

"Mrs. Qin?" Cao Mi recalled, "We haven't had much contact with the Qin family these days. What is she doing here?"

"I don't know about slaves." Dongli answered honestly.

"Yeah." Cao Mi tidied up his attire, "Let Mammy Chen and the others come over, and take the three young masters back to the house. Mrs. Qin is waiting for you. I'll change clothes and go over immediately."

Dong Li saluted: "Yes."

Soon, Cao Mi, who had regained his dignified appearance, came to the front hall and saw Mrs. Qin who was drinking tea.

When she saw Cao Mi came in, she quickly got up and saluted: "Waifu Wangfei."

Cao Mi smiled at her: "The snow just stopped, why did Mrs. Qin come here at this time?"

Mrs. Qin returned a smile in embarrassment.

She talked for a while, and finally asked: "Princess...I don't know where the craftsmen who built the fire...the kang last time are now? I, I want to invite them to the mansion and build two more courtyards. "

"Kang?" Cao Mi was a little strange: "Wasn't it all finished at that time?"

"Well." Mrs. Qin explained: "At that time... I missed two places, so I need to invite the craftsmen to come and take a look."

"So it is." Cao Mi nodded clearly.

She seemed to agree with Mrs. Qin's remarks, but she knew that the truth was different.

At that time, this Mrs. Qin was just complimenting her on the surface, but in her heart she didn't believe in any kang earth dragon at all.

The craftsmen who went to Qin's house at that time told her when they came back that the steward of Qin's house only allowed them to make a few places for side courtyards and servants. As for the main courtyard, they were not allowed to enter.

At that time, when she and Mrs. Qin talked about the heated kang, it was still late summer. When the weather was hot and dry, she recommended something like the heated kang.

In the end, it is not her eloquence that she can sell things, but her status!

Therefore, when Cao Mi heard the information brought back by the craftsman, Cao Mi was not surprised—after all, people were willing to pay for it, and it was considered to give her face.

The snow has fallen in the past few days, and although she has not gone out, she still understands the news outside.

At that time, Mrs. Qin used the construction as an excuse to send out several concubines in the mansion. Now that winter has entered, several concubines have finally returned.

Master Qin, who should have forgotten about them, was actually because the main house was freezing cold, while the several concubines' houses were as warm as spring, and they lingered in the side courtyard every day.

Mrs. Qin, who found out about this, was stunned on the spot.

But she portrayed the image of the grand mistress to the outside world, and it was not easy to do anything to a few partial courtyards, so she could only swallow this sullen breath.

When the weather is clear today, I go directly to the palace to ask Cao Mi for help.

"Yes." Mrs. Qin smiled and asked again, "I wonder if they are convenient now?"

"I'm afraid..." Cao Mi shook his head in distress, and told the truth: "We'll have to wait until next spring."

"Ah?" Mrs. Qin frowned slightly.

She said puzzled: "The autumn harvest has passed. According to the past, isn't it time to relax now?"

Cao Mi had to think of a euphemistic reason, and explained: "The frozen soil is hard in winter, making it difficult for construction. And those people... have other important things now, and they are not in Cannes City."

In fact, Mrs. Qin was right, the autumn harvest is over, and there is no farming in Rongguang Villa now, it should be the most leisurely time.

But how could Cao Mi waste these manpower in vain?

Before the snow fell, Mrs. Zhang lived up to her expectations and delivered the first batch of wool. Now some of the people in the villa are dealing with the wool.

Liu Ge brought the tools and processes for spinning wool, and this first batch of wool will be turned into sets of warm sweaters this month.

And some other refugee men, under the guidance of Beisi, are preparing the fertilizer for the coming spring.

The weather this year has been good, and Rongguang Villa has received a warehouse full of food. In the eyes of those refugees, this is already a gift from God.

But Cao Mi was not satisfied.

After seeing the output of modern farmland with thousands of catties at every turn, it is difficult for her to feel happy about wheat fields with a yield of only two or three hundred catties per mu.

After the autumn harvest, Cao Mi reflected on it very much, and then decided on the production difficulty to be overcome in the coming year-agricultural fertilizer.

It was the end of spring when the Beian Prince’s Mansion and his party came to Cannes, and the planting had to wait until the beginning of summer. It would be good if the seeds could be planted, but the measures to increase yield such as fertility could not keep up.

Although the farmers of this era already had the concept of fertilization, the methods of handling agricultural fertilizers were very rough.

So taking advantage of this winter, Cao Mi instructed the North Temple to make relevant arrangements, and let them take advantage of this winter to make arrangements for the decomposed farmyard manure.

So, it's not that she doesn't want to help Mrs. Qin on purpose, but that there is really no manpower in Rongguang Villa to do such trivial matters as building a heated kang.

Hearing this, Mrs. Qin lowered her head in distress.

Cao Mi had already said so, and she didn't dare to say anything more, so she said, "So that's the case, that's really a pity..."

Cao Mi smiled and said: "But the woman shouldn't be in a hurry, right? At that time, most of the Qin mansion had built the heated kang and the ground dragon, so this period of time can pass and a warm winter.

"As for the rest, just wait."

Mrs. Qin was not sure if Cao Mi was mocking her this time, but she still nodded with a stiff face: "Princess is right."

Cao Mi smiled softly, turned his head and asked again, "Then... wait until next year, when the masons come back, let them go to the Qin Mansion?"

Mrs. Qin smiled and nodded: "Well, that's right. Thank you, Princess."

Cao Mi shook his head and said politely, "Where do you need to say such a thing?"

After Mrs. Qin left, in a few days, other aristocratic families came to the door one after another.

Most of them mentioned the matter of the heated kang, but Cao Mi all refused for the same reason.

——

In winter, Rongguang Villa, as Cao Mi said, is not leisurely.

The wool brought by Mr. Zhang has already been processed. In an open courtyard in the villa, some people are busy cooking wool, while others are spreading bundles of wool to dry.

In the wing of the courtyard, a group of refugee women were knitting sweaters with two needles poked.

In the past, when women worked in winter, because they had to show their hands, their hands would become red in a short time, and in worse cases, itchy and painful frostbite would grow on their hands.

But the women of Rongguang Villa have no such troubles at all.

The kang in the house was burning hot, and they felt very warm even just wearing spring and autumn clothes.

The women kept their hands on their hands, chatting while working: "Hey, these days are unbelievable! How can you be so comfortable in the winter of previous years?"

Everyone agreed, and another said, "It's not. Besides, I heard from the steward above that we all have a share in the knitting of these sweaters. First we can supply the men who work outside, and then we can take turns. Here we are."

"Indeed, we should supply them first!" said the woman sitting by the door, "Hey, on such a cold day, they still have to catch the cold outside. They can't compare to us, and they can still sit on the kang."

"Well. Hasn't the first batch already been sent out?" Someone asked, "Why don't I see those people outside wearing them?"

"It's not their turn yet." A well-informed replied: "The steward of the North Temple is leading people to dig a hole in a place west of the villa, saying that it is to get fertilizer!

"Those people worked hard, so the clothes made a few days ago went to their side first."

"How do you know?" Someone asked suspiciously.

"My house is over there." The woman admitted generously: "Everything was delivered to our house a few days ago, could I not know?"

All the women nodded.

The steward of the North Temple, as they said, was leading a group of men to dig a big hole on a flat ground.

Before the snow fell, Cao Mi asked Liu Ge to send them several methods of composting. At this time, Beisi was leading people to try to build the "biogas digester" mentioned in her letter.

The construction of a biogas digester is actually not difficult. It is only necessary to dig a biogas pit and allow the manure to ferment naturally under an oxygen-free airtight condition. This process produces a large amount of unpleasant gas, which is called "biogas".

The main component of biogas is methane, which can be used for combustion. It was a very common resource in Cao Mi's parents' generation.

It was also later that after the development of science and technology, various convenient and efficient resources appeared one after another, and this kind of thing was gradually eliminated in China.

Cao Mi's mother had worked in the biogas digester in their village, and often told Cao Mi about her hardships during that time, so Cao Mi also had an impression of the construction of the digester.

However, the current technological conditions are still very low, and Cao Mi is not sure whether the biogas can be used. So she decided to try it carefully, and asked Beisi and the others to dig a few holes first.

If it fails in the future, you just need to be careful, don't cause any accidents such as explosions, release the biogas, and only use the "stinky soil" in the pool to fertilize it is also a good thing.

After digging the big hole in front of him, Beisi was about to greet everyone to take a break when he suddenly saw a doorman coming from a distance.

He ordered everyone to rest for a while, and then went up to meet him, only to realize that a stranger had come to the gate of the villa and called for him by name.

Beisi thought for a while, instructed his subordinates to continue arranging the work of composting, and left with the servant.

When he came to the door, he saw a strange man.

The appearance is typical of Sheng Dynasty people, but the attire on his body is very strange, more like the style of the Rong tribe.

Beisi looked at him cautiously for a while and asked, "Are you looking for me?"

The visitor confirmed: "Your Excellency is the steward of the North Temple of the villa."

Beiji nodded.

After that, he asked back: "I don't know who your Excellency is?"

The man reported himself generously and said, "I am a member of Mr. Danba's caravan."

Danba's caravan is very large, and most of them are from Shirong, but for the convenience of walking in Liaozhou, they also recruited many people from Sheng Dynasty.

Beisi frowned slightly: "Mr. Danba?"

The visitor nodded, took a letter from his arms and handed it to Beisi: "This is the letter that Mr. Danba asked me to bring.

"Before, in the northwest of Fengping, the army of the Sheng Dynasty clashed with a cavalry of the Rong tribe. The team of the Ale tribe that you traded with happened to pass by that place. Now their entire team has been detained by the army of Fengping. .

"Mr. Danba is trying to rescue, but with little success, so he sent me to report to Guizhuang."

The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: I really want to raise 10 bottles of cats; 5 bottles of ee; 1 bottle of Shen, spicy crayfish 666, and 1 bottle of Lingyue;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!