The fairy is fierce

After tidying up the small courtyard under the waterfall, Zuo Lingquan and Wu Qingwan said goodbye and left the bamboo forest. →

It was just noon. Zuo Lingquan finally arrived at Qihuang Valley. He was not in a hurry to return to the capital. On the pretext of being familiar with the environment, he asked Senior Sister Xiaohua to lead the way around Qihuang Valley.

Qihuang Valley is surrounded by mountains. Only the entrance of the valley is accessible for people to enter and exit. The internal area is not small, about five miles in diameter.

According to Senior Sister Xiaohua, the biggest person in Qihuang Valley is the leader, the national master Yue Pingyang. It consists of five rooms: the sword room, the commandment room, the alchemy room, the classics room, and the living room. Five uncles are in charge of the rooms. Wu Qingwan is the head of the alchemy room.

There are nearly 3,000 disciples in Qihuang Valley, and the five head masters will definitely not be able to teach them. Therefore, there are several deacons under each of the five houses, who are responsible for managing the disciples and preaching and receiving karma.

After visiting some of the places that could be visited in Qihuang Valley, the sky gradually turned dark, a spring thunder resounded through the sea of ​​clouds, and thin spring rain fell again.

Zuo Lingquan had to go to Qiyuntai tomorrow to run for the Prince Consort. He needed to prepare in advance. He didn't stay long. After thanking Senior Sister Xiaohua, he rode back to Donghua City.

The spring rain in February was like a crisp, thousands of sails gathered on the Bailu River, and people filed in through the water gate of Linhefang. The small streets along the river were also very lively, and merchants taking shelter from the rain could be seen everywhere under the street eaves.

After Zuo Lingquan entered the city gate, he happened to pass by Linhefang. Before he had dinner on his way back, he entered the square gate directly and came to the outside of Tangjia Restaurant.

It was raining continuously in the evening, and the light on the small street near the river was slightly dim. The yellow wine flags were swaying in the wind and rain. The four wine tables in the wine shop were all occupied by guests, including the policeman Lao Zhang whom I met yesterday.

Zuo Lingquan saw that the guests were full, so he stopped in front of the window. From the window, he could see a woman dressed quietly, sitting by a small stove warming wine.

Tang Jingxun slept on the table all night. I don't know if he didn't sleep well. He looked a little lethargic. He was resting his chin on his hand and was listless.

Although Tang Jingxun's specific age is not known, from the perspective of appearance, he is about twenty-five or sixty-six. The urban dress with beaded hairpin and sarong does not hide the softness in his bones. At this time, his listless appearance adds a bit of " She wakes up late after being sick and drinking, and the scent of a lazy beauty is completely different from yesterday's lively and talkative image, but it is equally alluring.

The restaurant was full, and Zuo Lingquan wanted to leave silently, but wanted to say hello before leaving.

During the moment of hesitation, Tang Jingxun didn't see him. Detective Lao Zhang, who was sitting at the wine table, was the first to pay attention to him:

"Ouch, Mr. Zuo is here. Come in quickly, be quiet, don't doze off, our distinguished guest is here..."

Tang Jingxuan turned his eyes when he heard the sound. After seeing Zuo Lingquan at the window, his eyes brightened and he stood up:

"Xiao Zuo, why are you here again? No, what kind of wind brought you here..."

He was talking incoherently and was obviously not awake.

Zuo Lingquan shook his head and smiled, put away his umbrella and leaned against the door, entering the small wine shop:

"You have nothing to do, come and sit down."

Tang Jingxuan helped keep vigil last night and left without saying goodbye in the morning, not forgetting to pay for the drinks. Tang Jingxuan didn't say goodbye and thanked her. She felt embarrassed and hurriedly ran into the back room and greeted:

"Sir, sit down first. You haven't eaten yet? I'll prepare wine and food for you."

There was no vacancy in the wine shop, so Zuo Lingquan came to the table of Detective Lao Zhang with his sword in hand and sat down. After changing glasses and chatting for a while, Tang Jingxun walked out with two plates of hot side dishes and placed them on the wine table. on the table.

Detective Lao Zhang knew that the food and wine were prepared for Zuo Lingquan, so he had no intention of cheating on him. He picked up his sword and said goodbye:

"Master, drink first, I'll go out to patrol the streets."

After Zuo Lingquan said goodbye, he sat back at the wine table, looked at the delicious and delicious side dishes in front of him, and said with a smile:

"Thank you, Sister Tang."

Tang Jingxuan took the warm wine from the small stove, sat down directly next to Zuo Lingquan, and filled his wine bowl:

"Why bother? You have to pay for your meals. I'm not letting you eat for free."

Zuo Lingquan took the wine bowl and placed it in front of Tang Jingxun, and also poured a bowl of wine for her:

"I thought that based on my friendship with Sister Tang, I could get away with it in vain."

Tang Jingxuan looked at the wine bowl in front of him, hesitated for a moment, then picked it up, touched it with Zuo Lingquan, took a sip, and said softly:

"Don't talk nonsense about friendship. There are some talkative women on the street who are the most annoying. They stare at other people's doors all day long and gossip, for fear that nothing will happen to other people's homes..."

As Tang Jingxuan spoke, Qingli's eyebrows showed an annoyed look, and her eyes were still looking towards the end of the street. It was obvious that her words had something to say and were not just a casual complaint.

Zuo Lingquan thought for a moment while holding the wine bowl, and suddenly remembered that when he left in the morning, there was a woman at the bun shop at the end of the street looking at him.

He put away the teasing expression on his face and asked:

"Is it possible that someone is gossiping about Sister Tang? When I left in the morning, it was already dawn, and the bun shop at the end of the street..."

"That's her."

When Tang Jingxuan heard this, he became angry. He actually raised his hand and patted Zuo Lingquan's arm:

"You knew that I was living alone as a woman, had been drinking all night, and had to leave in the morning, so you just sneaked away, and yet you went out from the front door openly. You don't know, when I opened the door this morning, I saw that woman chatting with someone. , and even came to ask me if I had found a lover..."

When Zuo Lingquan left in the morning, he really didn't think so much. He said with a clear conscience:

"This is a wine shop. I'm here to drink. I'm in the clear with Sister Tang. If I have to go through the front door, there's no reason to be sneaky. Isn't that a guilty conscience?"

"..."

Tang Jingxuan thought about it and realized that it was the same, so he found his resentment on that woman again:

"That damn bitch is my fourth uncle's mistress. She was originally a prostitute. She is not good at anything else but likes to slander people behind their backs."

Zuo Lingquan didn't expect that woman to be related to Tang Jingxun, and he didn't know how to respond for a while.

Tang Jingxun complained to Zuo Lingquan, and naturally wanted Zuo Lingquan to criticize her for being immoral. Seeing this, she explained again:

"My mother's surname is Chen. The Chen family is also a wealthy family in the capital. Chen Maode, the supervisory censor of the Censorate, is my second uncle."

"Oh?"

Zuo Lingquan was a little surprised. He thought Tang Jingxun was a lonely and helpless little girl, but he didn't expect that someone in her family was an official in the court.

However, Tang Jingxun did not feel the slightest bit proud of these relatives, and even felt disgusted:

"Back then, my grandfather was the eldest of the Chen family, and he managed the family business. There were more than a dozen shops in Linhefang that belonged to my grandfather, but unfortunately he only had a daughter and no son. Later, my father went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, met my mother, and the two got married.

When I was born, there was an inexplicable fire that almost burned down half of Linhefang.

I was named 'Jingxun' because 'xun' means being burned by fire. The original meaning of the word "bent wood" was "ban 煣", but it was changed to its current form for a better sound.

After the fire, my mother was frightened after giving birth to me and died soon after; my father was worried about it and died before I learned to walk; I was taken care of by my grandparents, and it was fine at first, but everything changed after my grandparents passed away.

My second uncle, Chen Maode, had several sons, but none of them were very successful. After my grandfather passed away, the Chen family naturally took a fancy to my family's property. The Chen family wanted to take back my mother's property, saying that my mother was married to a person of a different surname.

I was not happy about it, so I went to the government to file a complaint. However, the government could not intervene because the property was indeed the ancestral property of the Chen family. Later, Lao Zhang could not stand it anymore and went to find the chief officer of the arrest department to mediate.

The chief officer said that my mother was a member of the Chen family. Even if I did not believe in Chen, I still had the blood of the Chen family. I was not married and had no elders, so I had no foundation. As relatives, the Chen family had to fulfill their responsibility to support me and could not take back the property, otherwise it would violate public order and morality.

The chief officer of the police station is higher than the Chen family, so the Chen family dared not to come and seize the property, but they were still shameless behind the scenes. They had been arranging marriages for me since I was fourteen, hoping that I would get married so that they could take over the property.

These properties belong to my grandfather and my mother. Why should I give them to them? So I won’t get married, and I will guard these properties even if I die...”

These grievances have been suppressed in Tang Jingxun’s heart for many years. She kept talking while holding a small wine bowl, and her eyes were red at the end.

Zuo Lingquan listened carefully, and gradually understood Tang Jingxun’s situation. He also felt ashamed and contemptuous of the Chen family:

“This Chen family is really a piece of shit. They are blatantly eating up the whole family, and they are not afraid of retribution.”

“I am their granddaughter, and the reason is not on my side. What can I do? I will waste time with them anyway, and I will not get married. Anyway, I am young, and they will die first...”

…

At sunset, the small street by the river was crowded with people.

Tang Jingxun was speaking her mind in the wine shop, and Zuo Lingquan was sitting beside her, listening attentively.

Neither of them noticed that a black-sailed boat was floating on the river outside the door, and two pairs of eyes were poking out from the boat awning.

"It was that boy, I saw him coming out of Tang Jingxun's house this morning..."

In the boat awning, the woman who sold buns in the morning, carefully hiding her bloated figure, was talking to the middle-aged man next to her:

"Tang Jingxun must have a man, let's call the Chen brothers over and catch her now, I wonder if she has any reason not to return the house deed and land deed..."

The middle-aged man was the fourth child of the Chen family, who had been hanging around in the capital for many years. Even if he was uneducated, he had some eyesight, and did not listen to the woman's instigation. He narrowed his triangular eyes and looked carefully at Zuo Lingquan in the tavern:

"This kid seems to be wearing a robe made of Yunzhongjin. Judging from the quality, it is at least a hundred taels. His family must be rich or noble. Do you know his identity?"

The beast was so serious yesterday. The middle-aged woman was on the street. Naturally, she knew about it. She hurriedly said:

"I heard that he seems to be a relative of the Minister of Rites. His name is Zuo Lingquan..."

Chen Laosi's eyes twitched, and the idea of ​​running to the door to catch him in the act immediately disappeared. He cursed:

"You stupid woman, the Minister of Rites is a third-rank official, higher than my father. How dare you make trouble?"

"Even if you are a high-ranking official, you can't be unreasonable. This is my Chen family's property. It's kind to let her return it after she gets married. Now she has a man and doesn't return the house deed and land deed. Isn't this shameless..."

Chen Laosi waved his hand, asking the woman to stop making noise and look carefully After thinking for a while:

"Minister Zuo is an important official in the court, and I heard that his family is very wealthy. His house in the capital is bigger than that of the prime minister. The son of this family will marry a wife and a concubine, so I think he will not be stingy with the gift..."

"Do you mean don't make a fuss, and go to the door to match them up?"

"As long as Jingxuan gets married, the property will be taken back naturally, and my Chen family can also get a gift. It's a win-win situation, why tear each other apart?"

Chen Laosi thought about it for a while and thought it was a good idea, so he didn't stay any longer and asked the boatman to dock and get off the boat:

"I'll go and tell my father that tomorrow we're going to choose a son-in-law, and all officials have to go to Qiyuntai. It's just the opportunity to talk to Minister Zuo about this in private...Are you sure they slept all night last night?"

"It's true. I saw that kid coming out this morning, and he even pulled up his pants..."

...