Chapter 23 Let's fight!
Ouyang Zhong and Linghu Xian rode their horse and quickly escaped from that forest; they were speechless, each with their own thoughts.
Since childhood, Grand Duke Ouyang had grown up under the clan elders' excessive care or rather strict discipline. He has always envied the freedom of the birds in the sky to fly as high as they want and as far as they want. To maintain the persona of "child prodigy" and "model," as well as the face of the entire Ouyang family, he had not been able to enjoy the innocence and joy of a child his age for a single day at such a young age. He had never imagined that he could be as happy as he was today, and for a moment, he had felt that he was an eagle flying freely, able to throw the boredom and disinterest in his heart out of the sky without any restraints.
His jaw was gently against the arms holding the Linghu Xian, just playful, plus encountered the black wolf panic escape, originally worn on her head of the boy hat disappeared, a lot of hair scattered waist, hair fly up with the wind to brush the face, make Ouyang Zhong a little itchy. He thought it was just his face being itchy by the hair, and what he did not realize was that this young girl's flirtatiousness also provoked his silent and closed heart, and his heart fluttered. Ouyang Zhong subconsciously embraced Linghu Xian in his arms a little more tightly, and because he was not good at scratching the itch by grasping the reins, he put his face on Linghu Xian's body and rubbed it.
However, Linghu Xian did not notice such an ambiguous and intimate action. Linghu Xian has been holding her breath, tightly gripping the reins and looking ahead. In her mind, she had been thinking about that substantial black wolf just now. Why did she feel that the black wolf's eyes were very familiar? When have I seen it before? When I was a child? Or ... last life? She thought for a while and finally came to a conclusion for herself: that wolf was 80% of the previous beloved dog, Pi Dan, who turned into a wolf to look for her in this life because Pi Dan had told her in her dream that it would come back and would come to reunite with her. Thinking of this, Linghu Xian's heart burst with warmth. The good friend of their previous life is coming back, and he will not be alone again; in the future, to find a way, he must see that wolf again to talk to it.
Seeing that the distance from the city gate was only a mile away, Linghu Xian gradually slowed and pulled her horse down. Ouyang Zhong wondered what she was doing. Only to see Linghu Xian from the backpack hanging on the horse's back, found the comb and a small bronze mirror, handed to Ouyang Zhong said: "Young master, in a while, will be in the city back to the house, you now look like this will be the master and madam scolded, inside the city acquaintances also encountered inevitably some gossip, you'd better a little comb a little it!"
Ouyang Zhong, mute, took the comb and the bronze mirror and thought to himself that this little girl also thought considerately. In the process of combining, Linghu Xian put the boots and socks that had not been put on in the hasty escape just now and gave the young master one by one to pack up properly. She stood under the horse but quickly organized her combing.
Ouyang Zhong returned the mirror to her and asked, "Aren't you coming up?"
"No, it's more appropriate for Nu to run back underneath you. Otherwise, I'll be scolded by Uncle Steward when I go back as well." Linghu Xian showed him an awkward fake smile before leading the horse's reins towards the city gates.
It was already late when he returned to the Ouyang mansion. On weekdays, the eldest young master was specially allowed by Master Ouyang not to have to share meals with the whole family because of his heavy school work, so Linghu Xian pulled her horse back to the mansion through the back door, arranged for the young master's evening meal, and left to go out on her own.
She was never allowed to eat inside Ouyang Zhong's courtyard; this was the rule of the Ouyang mansion; the subordinates could only eat and rest in a dedicated servant's courtyard. And meals could only be at fixed times. No leftover rations were left for people who were late or delayed due to other things. Suppose one is unfortunate enough not to make it to mealtime. In that case, those like the steward who can enter and exit the mansion relatively freely can go out and find a roadside stall to spend some silver to eat a bowl of noodles or something like that, and of course, they can also have a small meal to eat. But if, like Linghu Xian, such a tiny enslaved person, can only wait for the following day on a hungry stomach.
It seemed that Linghu Xian could only go hungry tonight. She was okay with that because it was already super fun to go out and play today, and it was even more fun to see her good friends from her last life. She took advantage of the fact that no one was around, so she bounced around and hummed a little song to herself. She went to the stables to feed Red Flame while stroking his mane and chatting.
"Hey, you're making a fuss today! That wolf didn't mean any harm. Are you that scared?"
"I'll tell you what! I seem to recognize that wolf; it should have been my good friend from a long, long time ago, and it came to me, it came to me! I'm so happy!"
Red Flame shook his head and grunted straight away; after all, as a horse, being afraid of wolves is an instinctive reaction; as a friend, Linghu Xian didn't comfort him properly and blamed himself for making a fuss. Red Flame was very unhappy.
"Well, I don't say that, wolf; I accompany you, okay ... Hey, you are always so careful, come, good to eat grass, you see you all have food to eat, but I don't have ... I can't rob your grass to eat either, not it, you ah! Just be satisfied!" Linghu Xian leaned her head on the horse's neck, looking at the moon that had already climbed up the treetops, enjoying the peaceful time that belonged to her.
Ouyang Zhong's heart was not as peaceful and comfortable as hers. Since their return, he felt as if life had remained the same as before, yet he felt that many things had changed. Linghu Xian is still a rigorous, careful, thoughtful, and decent little servant girl. And he is still the Ouyang family's most promising star of tomorrow, high hopes, the stars. They can only be like before inside this mansion; there will not be any change, much less like the woods creek, like close as good friends, chatting and playing without fear. He absentmindedly ate his evening meal and ate nothing he cared about. The thoughts in his mind were so many and complicated that he could not catch them or sort them out, and his heart was very disagreeable.
He suddenly realized a problem: where had Linghu Xian eaten for so many years? Could it be that she is not hungry after going out for half a day?
He took a few dry food snacks and walked to the door of the tiny room where Linghu Xian lives, this place he had never come to. The door was unlocked, and the house was dark and empty. Where did she go without resting correctly? Ouyang Zhong frowned lightly. He looked around for her and finally found Linghu Xian in the stables, chatting with her horse and enjoying the moon.
Good, she returned to talk to the horse rather than him, right? Ouyang Zhong was a bit angry and wanted to go over and teach her a lesson. But then he heard her say that the horse had food and she didn't, so the horse should be more content. The anger in his heart mainly subsided and turned into a burst of heartache.
This little girl usually lives like this? Initially, he usually serves around that obedient puppet tool man; in fact, he is also a living flesh and blood person; she also needs to eat and sleep, is hungry, knows tired, knows pain, and will have envy and jealousy, aggrieved and unhappy. But Linghu Xian never said, much less tell him, will only be a person quietly in the moonlight, the heart of the words to convey a - beast.
He walked in front of Linghu Xian, who was enjoying the moon, handed her the dry food in his hand, and said: ''Today is also tiring for a day; you have eaten and went to bed early! I don't need you to serve me at night." After saying this, he left alone without looking back, leaving Linghu Xian with a surprised face and a head full of questions.
Linghu Xian today hit the big luck. Ouyang, young master, is this what happened? I had never seen him be so kind; who does not know he has always been indifferent to the subordinate's contempt? Underlings know: these Ouyang House inside the work of the slave servant, I'm afraid not as much as Ouyang young master of the red flame horse noble identity, really lowly to the dirt inside still have to be stepped on a few feet.
Linghu Xian took the big steamed buns that can't be eaten even once or twice a year, ate it in three bites and two bites, and then drank two scoops of cold water, and finally slowed down from hunger. She rubbed her stomach, happily lying on her hardboard bed, fiddling with a red peach kernel whistle worn since childhood. Her mother had told her that this peach kernel whistle was something she had worn since she was a child, a talisman to be carried properly. She believed this, and although she couldn't remember the whistle's origin, she could sense it was a gift from a former good friend.
Good-friend-friend. Linghu Xian couldn't help but laugh aloud as she remembered the black wolf again.
"Are you so happy today?" Ouyang Zhong's voice came from outside the window. It was the eldest young master asking her words. Linghu Xian was startled, then replied in a panic, "Back to the eldest young master, yes."
"Then why did you stop talking to me after you returned?"
"... Eldest Young Master, this is in the mansion. Subordinates are not allowed to chat casually with their masters."
"Then you talk to the horse, right?"
"Hehe, great young master, the slave comes from a lowly background, so I can only climb up to your horse; Red Flame is my only friend inside this Ouyang Mansion."
...
After a while, Linghu Xian thought that Ouyang Zhong had already left, but then he heard him say, "You wouldn't want to consider me a friend, would you?" After saying this, he turned around and left.
Linghu Xian felt that Ouyang Zhong's cockney temper was getting worse. What kind of problem was this? Isn't this obvious? Since when could an underling be allowed to be friends with the master in the Ouyang residence?
She remembered an earlier scandal that had caused the entire Ouyang clan to uproar and was even known all over Zongzhong City.
A son of the Ouyang family's collateral line, who was in his early twenties and was considered Ouyang Zhong's cousin according to his generation, somehow fell in love with a maid who had served him for many years and insisted on marrying her. As a result, Mrs. Zhengfang said nothing. The reason is not because her husband has a mistress to take a concubine, but because the other party is a servant girl, a slave girl, the status is too low, for fear of dirtying the lintel and lineage of their Ouyang family. Mrs. Zhengfang cried and cried, saying that even the official whore Cui Xiang Lou to redeem a back as a concubine, at least was once considered a famous family, a whore is also a hundred times better than a slave girl. That gentleman and the maid, two people, have been in love with each other to the point of death; in the end, they can only hold hands, and both jump into the river. It was said that after they died, they became a pair of mandarin ducks, pairing up and flying together, which was a good death.
This incident caused the Ouyang family to feel the loss of face so that a sideline of the clan could only take off the line, another temple to change their names, and then not allowed to top the word Ouyang in the world.
At that time, Linghu Xian had in Ouyang Ming and Ouyang Zhong, father and son chatting, happened to hear Ouyang Zhong on this matter comment: "This is purely that person's fault, do not know how to behave. And that slave girl is also unaware of her strength, presuming to climb into the master's bed? This is harmful to others and oneself. A servant is even worse than an animal. How dare she be delusional enough to think that a toad wants to eat swan meat?"
And tonight, this high and mighty Young Master who thinks he is a swan even told her, this "toad" slave girl, that he wants to be friends. Oh, dear! She did not want to be forced to jump into a river and throw herself into a well or be beaten to death.
Linghu Xian knelt on her bed and bowed to the young master's room, her hands clasped, saying, "Please forgive me! I don't want to, and genuinely dare not!
Day by day, that day's outing is just an insignificant hiccup; the past is also the past—these two people who did not mention it again.
Ouyang Zhong continued to read and write in the study daily, practicing regularly and giving his parents good mornings but seldom going out again. Sometimes he sneaks glances from inside the book slit at Linghu Xian, who is wiping the bookshelves or cleaning the courtyard, his heart is always twisted, but he can't tell why it's confused? How can he not feel awkward?
This day, I do not know from which side of the sun rises; the master and Mrs. personally came to the courtyard of Ouyang Zhong. Linghu Xian hurriedly went forward to greet and serve. Ouyang Zhong also put down the book for both parents to salute: "Father, mother, you two, why come to children here? If there's anything you want to tell my son to go over there, that's it."
Ouyang Ming's expression was complacent, while his mother, Xie's face was slightly less favorable. Father patted Ouyang Zhong's shoulder and sat on the side: "Chong'er, you're not too young now. It's time to talk about marriage. As the saying goes, you should start a family before establishing a business. Although our Ouyang family is not as good as those royal clansmen, it is also considered a big clan in this Zhongming country. Recently, I heard that the eldest princess of Nanling's daughter, Princess Jiao Yang, is just 27 years old and has already begun to select a horse harnessed by the side of a team. I've asked around for you; that time, you played a song and poem at the court banquet and won the attention of the Eldest Princess, so you're the most favored one!"
Mrs. Xie has never dared to disobey her husband's will, but when it comes to her son's lifetime happiness, no mother is worried. So Mrs. Xie took Ouyang Zhong's hand and said, "Chong'er, this matter is important. You still need to deliberate and plan for good. For my mother to worry that Nanling, eldest princess and proud sun county princess are both royal relatives, since not compared to our ordinary official family if really into the marriage, I am afraid that will be an arrogant and overbearing main ..."
"You say, why are you like this again? When can you let children make their own decisions about marriage? Moreover, if we can join the royal family, our Ouyang family will have to honor our ancestors and show off our family lintel, a first-class event. It's a great thing. The couple can do whatever they want behind closed doors. Not to mention that you can take a few more favorite concubines in the future. Which man in the Ming dynasty doesn't have five or six concubines?
Chong'er, hurry up and dress up, and go with me to visit the residence of the Eldest Princess of Nanling tomorrow. If you don't hurry, this great opportunity will be snatched away by someone else! You guys stay here today, help the young master pack up all aspects, shower and dress to pack the traveling clothes, and leave tomorrow morning." After saying this, Ouyang Ming happily swaggered away. The mother glanced back at her son in embarrassment and had no choice but to follow her out as well.
Leaving Ouyang Zhong with a stunned face, he stood dumbfounded in front of his desk, not knowing what to do. Although Linghu Xian also felt that this matter came too suddenly, she thought that, after all, it was the young master's marriage, not his marriage, so she did not take it so personally. She followed a few enslaved people and maidservants who came to help to busy themselves. A moment to prepare a new incense, a moment to prepare a few new clothes, and boil water to cook tea, busy and happy.
Ouyang Zhong looked at this group of people; his heart was bored and angry. He angrily kicked over a bucket of water that had just been beaten and fiercely scolded, "All you clumsy people, give me a roll!"
The subordinates fled in haste, leaving only Linghu Xian, who was supposed to be the servant of this courtyard, alone. She was also annoyed in her heart, slandering Ouyang Zhong: This is good. It's hard to get a few more to help, but now they've all been chased away by this foul-tempered young master. All this work has become my own again. Ouyang Zhong, you are a nuisance; you only add to the chaos!
The people in the house know that Ouyang Zhong is a brutal master to serve, so sometimes they also sympathize with Linghu Xian, a little girl who is alone to support such a big mess. Today, this gentleman needs to learn how to draw what horns, hurry to run out so as not to be injured by mistake, and can only let the Linghu Xian be a punching bag. Hey, poor!
"You, accompany me to fight." Ouyang Zhong said in a muffled voice.
Linghu Xian, cleaning up the mess, didn't hear clearly, "Ah?"
"Ah, what ah! Fight with me!" Ouyang Zhong's eyes were full of anger; without saying anything, he slashed down toward Linghu Xian with a palm. Linghu Xian started to block completely subconsciously; immediately after that, Ouyang Zhong's palm wind got stronger and stronger and then switched to several moves, another palm, another chop, and another punch, all blocked by Linghu Xian. Their height difference is a lot. Ouyang Zhong felt the fight could be smoother, so he grabbed a long and a short two sword, threw Linghu Xian a short one, and began to compare the sword art.
Linghu Xian thought: you're crazy! If you want to practice martial arts, find a man about your height and age to go to! I still have a lot of things to be busy! Do not give to help, even to add to the chaos. At this moment, Linghu Xian's fire also came up. Let's fight! Today, I will show you my swordsmanship from my previous life!
Ouyang Zhong, at first, could feel that Linghu Xian did not concentrate on him but constantly dodged and retreated, but then the sword suddenly felt a strange sense of oppression and fear. Yes, not only unfamiliar but also fearful. Ouyang Zhong felt more and more difficult to resist, but also, in the eyes of Linghu Xian, to see her gradually through a murderous aura. However, in five or six rounds, Ouyang Zhong was stomped to the ground by Linghu Xian, and the blade of the sword was only an inch away from his neck.
He was defeated by her very thoroughly. He was surprised; she said she learned to read and write from him, so where did this sword technique come from? This servant girl, Linghu Xian, had followed him for six years. Who was she identified?