The summer was still scorching hot. Time went on as usual, without any novelty. It was already the fifth month of the lunar calendar. Bianliang City was bustling with activity, but it had its own track. In the capital, all sorts of things and information in the world were gathered together. The scholars and geniuses of the northern and southern provinces, the heroes of the pugilistic world, the heroes of the underworld, the officials who came and went from place to place, the nobles who resided in various places, and the peddlers who passed through the streets and alleys. They all had their own paths of life and different goals. Desires, good intentions, and evil intentions converged together.
Ning Yi was not affected by too many side issues during this time. The courtyard that he had bought had not been decorated yet, so everyone was still living in Wenhui Building. He found a blacksmith to make a few pen nibs that could barely be used. He also got some feathers, skimmed them, and roasted them to make a feather pen. Because the quality of the paper was not very good, the iron nibs were not very useful. He could only use the paper to make a feather pen nib, layer by layer, and write with ink. The speed was slightly faster, but it was not very smooth, and the handwriting was crooked.
The whole plan about Takeshi was carried out step by step. They went to restaurants and teahouses during the day and visited a brothel at night. Qin Shaoyu was the guide. Most of the time, Wenren Bu 'er, Yao Zunian, Ji Kun, and Cheng Zhouhai would also come. Ning Yi would ask each of them why this shop was so popular, and then make a record and summary.
Yao Zunian and the others might not have come to visit the brothel or the teahouse. They seemed to be chatting casually, but in fact, they were trying to find out more about Ning Yi. As for Ning Yi's behavior of doing such a detailed investigation just to open a shop for his woman, they might be disapproving, but they did not raise any clear doubts. This was not because they kept a distance from each other, but because Ning Yi was already in the working state of his previous life. Although he still had the appearance and body of a young man in his early twenties, when he summarized such a huge plan in his mind, the temperament he showed was different from before.
It was the aura of a leader and a meticulous planner. There was none of the trembling and lack of confidence of a young man in his twenties. No matter how much he learned, he remained cautious because he had never put it into practice. Many of the things that Ning Yi had in his hands had already been put into practice countless times. Even though there were differences in the way of life in ancient times, in reality, human nature did not change much.
He had already assumed a serious posture. Even in his calmness, there was an intimidating aura and feeling. The aura of a superior might have appeared in Xiaochan's eyes when she first arrived at the Wu dynasty, but it had been restrained later. Even if he were to get serious, he wouldn't be able to intimidate Xiaochan and Yunzhu. However, in the eyes of Yao Zunian and the others, seeing his serious and methodical attitude, they naturally wouldn't speak carelessly. This was also because they already knew what Ning Yi had done in the past.
He was a young man who could do those things in the situation in Hangzhou and later made the people of Liangshan suffer such a big loss. When he really got serious, it was hard to imagine what he would do, or what he could ultimately achieve.
Whether it was in Hangzhou or what happened in Liangshan, he had not been able to prepare well. But this time was different. Immersed in such a serious attitude, time passed quickly. In the span of a few days, he had written a lot of things. Occasionally, he would calm down and think. In the early morning, he would open the window and look at the fog that filled the courtyard. When the cicadas chirped, he would sit in the courtyard and look at the red paint peeling off under the eaves. In the past few days, although he often went out, the truly noisy things outside had nothing to do with him for the time being.
As for the matter of Zhou Pei choosing a husband, he did not participate. On the other hand, it was said that the poetry meeting that was held in the wood-picking garden was quite lively. A few talented scholars were in the limelight. It was truly a grand event in the capital's literary circle. In any case, every poetry meeting and literary meeting would be called that. Ning Yi did not care about it. He would only occasionally overhear it from the conversations of others.
He went to Fan Lou, mainly to meet up with Li Shishi. When he went, it was said that Li Shishi was receiving guests in the small courtyard. Presumably, she was a scholar of some status. He asked a servant girl to pass a note in and wrote down his current situation in Wenhui Lou. He asked Li Shishi to make an appointment with him, Yu Ho-chung, and the others when she was free. This was not a big deal. He originally did not want to see any childhood playmates, but Li Shishi had already mentioned it many times. It was not good to push it to the end.
At that time, he wanted to pass a note in and leave. But Miss Shishi seemed to take him very seriously. Afterwards, she took the time to come out. She was dressed splendidly and had a large white flower in her hair. She had the demeanor of a goddess. She said a few words to Ning Yi and promised that she would make an appointment with Yu Ho-chung and Chen Sifeng in the next few days. Then she hurriedly returned. The second day after he went to Fan Lou was the second day of the fifth month. Li Shishi sent someone to deliver a letter. She said that she could meet up with a few friends on the fourth day of the fifth month, before the Dragon Boat Festival. She asked if Ning Yi was free, and Ning Yi agreed.
On the other hand, Yun Zhu and Jin'er, with the help of Madam Qin and the others, found a small courtyard not far from the Right Minister's residence. When Ning Yi left, Yun Zhu could also move in. The surrounding environment was quiet, and there were many guards and servants of the Right Minister's residence living there. With the care of the Right Minister's residence, they could ensure that they would not be bullied in the capital.
These trivial matters, the only thing that could make Ning Yi feel somewhat distressed and helpless was Jin'er. It wasn't that the two of them didn't talk at all recently, it was just that there wasn't much substance in their conversation. Ning Yi couldn't talk to Yun Zhu about these things. Jin'er's attitude towards him was either being stubborn or being confrontational. Yesterday, the two of them happened to meet at the gate of the courtyard. One was going in, and the other was going in. As a result, wherever Ning Yi went, she would go. At first, perhaps it was inadvertent, but after a few times, Jin'er became interested in blocking his way. As a result, the two very childishly confronted each other for a minute or two. When Ning Yi felt that he was very bored, Jin'er raised her head and walked past him with a "I have won" attitude. Otherwise, she would turn around and walk away as soon as she saw him. It seemed that the way she chose to deal with him depended on her mood.
It was almost the Dragon Boat Festival, and the city of Bianliang already had a lively festive atmosphere. Zongzi, dragon boat races, mugwort leaves, calamus … In this era, the fifth day of the fifth month was after all a big festival. Unfortunately, Tan'er couldn't come up for the time being. He might have to leave for the east in a few days and couldn't reunite with his family.
On the afternoon of the third day of the fifth month, when Ning Yi came back from outside, he saw Yuan Jin'er sitting by the railing outside the courtyard. She seemed to be a bit of a roadblock. After passing by, Jin'er stood up and said, "Your female disciple is looking for you. She has been waiting for you for a long time."
"Zhou Pei?"
"Yes, Xiaochan went to your courtyard to tidy up. Sister Yunzhu is inside to entertain her."
Of course, she was talking about the courtyard that Ning Yi had just bought. After passing on the message in a businesslike manner, she snorted and walked past Ning Yi. Ning Yi thought for a while and felt that it was not a good idea to continue like this, so he turned around and said, "Hey, Yuan Jin'er …" As soon as he spoke, he saw that Yuan Jin'er suddenly covered her ears with her hands and ran away madly.
"… Ha." Ning Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. When he returned to the room, he saw Yunzhu drinking tea and chatting with the young Commandery Princess. The sunlight seeped in through the window lattice. The two sitting opposite each other were virtuous and graceful, and their gestures were quite pleasing to the eye. Seeing that Ning Yi had returned, Yunzhu said a few words to him with a smile and left.
"How is living in Prince Chong's Mansion?"
"It's pretty good. Seventh Uncle takes good care of me. My cousins are also very good. Recently, they brought me to see a lot of things."
After bowing to Ning Yi, Ning Yi casually asked about Zhou Pei. Zhou Pei answered him quite dutifully. As they were talking, Ning Yi walked to the table and tidied up some papers on the table. He had written a lot of things these two days. Some of them had been tidied up, but some were not yet tidied up. Before he left, he reminded Xiaochan not to touch them and only to use paperweights or books to hold them down. At this moment, he took out a few papers and tore them into pieces and threw them into the wastepaper basket. Zhou Pei held a teacup and peeked at him secretly. She had been here for a while. Although she didn't touch the things on the table, she must have seen some of them. Ning Yi didn't mind. It was just that the words written with a feather pen were a little ugly.
"You have always been smart and learned well. I heard that the so-called Grand Secretary has a whole new level of respect for you, right? Heh, I think many of your cousins in the capital have started to admire you … "
"Not really …" Zhou Pei mumbled softly. Ning Yi sat at the table and couldn't hear clearly. "What?"
"Nothing," Zhou Pei said with a smile.
"Heh, how about the poetry meet in Quarrying Garden?"
"Why didn't Teacher go?"
"Huh?" Ning Yi blinked his eyes. "I've been a little busy recently. Moreover, I'm not very interested in poetry meets."
"Grandpa Qin said that Teacher might be interested …"
"Oh? Did he say that? " Ning Yi thought for a moment. "He did persuade me to go, but … I didn't have much time."
As Ning Yi said this, he turned around and continued to organize his manuscript. Zhou Pei replied with an "oh". When Ning Yi turned around, he saw the girl sitting there with her head down. Her hands were clasped together on her lap. Under the light from the door, her eyes seemed a little melancholy. No one knew what she was thinking about. "What's wrong?"
"Ah … No, nothing." Zhou Pei smiled. "I … didn't think Teacher was interested in poetry meets …"
She said it reluctantly. Ning Yi didn't know why, but the mind of a little girl was not easy to guess. He changed the topic and asked with a smile, "I wanted to ask if you saw any young talents at the poetry meet in Quarrying Garden."
"There were a lot." Zhou Pei smiled. "They were all good."
"You mean the ones you liked."
"Ah, that …" The girl blushed slightly and touched her hair. "No, no, I didn't know them …"
"You have to hurry up." Ning Yi said with a smile, "All the talents in the world are gathered in the capital. No matter what, you have to choose one this time. Don't be hasty. You can come and go a few more times. With your talent and intelligence, it shouldn't be a problem to choose any kind of person."
"But Teacher, what if …" Zhou Pei raised her head and looked at him. She said hesitantly, "What if … there's no one you like …"
"There aren't many women in the world who have the opportunity to choose their own husband." With his back facing her, Ning Yi shook his head. "Little Pei, you're a smart person. If you don't agree this time, I'm afraid it'll be hard to say what will happen next. Prince Chong's Mansion and your Grandpa Qin's side have already been contacted by Prince Consort Kang. I brought you here because I think you can only search in the capital. After all, you're already fifteen years old. What else can you do if you don't marry? " He thought for a moment and smiled. "If you're a man, you don't have to worry so much. But who knows if you'll marry an evil woman because of your parents' order. Ha, think about it."
"If only it was a man …" Zhou Pei lowered her head and murmured, "Teacher, what do you think … I should choose? What kind of person should I choose? "
"How would I know?" Ning Yi couldn't help but laugh. "I just realized recently that I'm not good at picking up girls."
"Picking up, picking up girls? What … "
"It's those things between men and women … You still have to decide what kind of person you want to choose." Ning Yi tidied up his things and moved his chair. He turned around and looked at the young princess. "But, since you call me teacher, I'll say something that I think … Zhou Pei, you have a high standard, but people in this world are all the same. Apart from those notorious second generations like Hua Hua Tai Sui who had been spoiled by their families to the point of no return, most people were still within the normal range. They don't have bad tempers, are willing to love their wives, and hope that everything in their families is good. "
He held a manuscript in his hand and smiled. "Generally speaking, when a man and a woman are together, it's usually the charm that changes the charm that's not. Xiao Pei, you're from the royal family, beautiful, smart, and sensible. Any man you find will respect and love you. When it comes to the relationship between husband and wife, as long as you have the means, be gentle, and treat him equally, generally speaking, men are not ingrates. If he married someone else, he might desperately find a concubine to visit brothels. But if he marries you, it'll be different. Look at Prince Consort Kang, aren't they living very happily? Half of it is because Prince Consort Kang is good, and the other half is because of Her Royal Highness, Princess Cheng, so … you don't have to be too picky. That's all I can say. Don't worry, there's still a lot of poetry gathering coming up. You can take your time to watch. "
After Ning Yi said this, Zhou Pei said, "Will Teacher go to the poetry gathering to take a look?"
"Heh, I won't help you choose a husband. I can't do it."
"But Teacher …" Zhou Pei thought for a while. "You can help test them. Hmm, for example, poetry, knowledge …"
"Don't use this to choose a husband!" Ning Yi waved his hand and shook his head. "It's fine as long as these things are passable. When choosing a husband, of course, you have to choose a kind-hearted and kind-hearted person who will treat you well after marrying you. People who are good at poetry don't necessarily have a good heart. These people are proud and arrogant. When they don't have talent, they will be biased and angry. If everything goes smoothly, it's easy to develop an arrogant character that's hard to please! A marriage formed because of excellence is usually a tragedy … You should find a good person, not a powerful one. "
After all, Ning Yi wasn't good at marriage. But from what he saw in the future, if both the man and woman were outstanding, or if the marriage was formed because of such excellence, it would often not have a good ending. When it came to living together, one of them had to give in. In this day and age, it was mostly the women who gave in, while the men were free to express themselves. But Zhou Pei was a member of the royal family. Even if she wanted to give in, she couldn't give in by much. To find an outstanding man to marry was equivalent to finding unhappiness for the rest of her life.
It was enough for him to say this much. Instead, it was Zhou Pei who frowned. Her emotions were in a mess. Ning Yi could only let her slowly digest these things. The master and disciple then talked about other trivial matters. Zhou Pei was interested in the things Ning Yi had written, so Ning Yi casually showed them to her. At the same time, he discussed with her for a while about managing the accounts in the wang fu, the imperial servants, and other matters. If it was any other time, Zhou Pei would definitely be in high spirits. But right now, she wasn't in a good mood. She picked up the quill and studied it. She felt that the writing was really ugly. But she couldn't understand why Ning Yi was writing with such enthusiasm.
After staying for dinner, Zhou Pei then left Wenhui Lou. At the same time, she knew that Ning Yi would probably leave Bianliang and go to Shandong before the tenth of the fifth month. This time, he was going to make an enemy of Liangshan. It was likely that there wouldn't be a result for several months. And after the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, she would probably have to decide on her husband. When her teacher returned from Shandong, she would have already left the capital and returned to marry someone else's wife. In her imagination, it really gave her a rather complicated feeling.
She came over this time, naturally, not just to talk about these trivial matters. But it was hard for her to clearly summarize what she wanted to say.
In the past, when she was in Jiangning, she was at a loss about her marriage, but it wasn't serious. When she hid in that box and wanted to go north with the ship, she was still rather excited, as if a new hope had unfolded in front of her. Along the way, she accompanied her teacher and the others. There were even Liangshan bandits who came to die. It was incomparably exciting. She didn't feel the slightest bit bored. However, after she really entered the capital for a few days, something finally suppressed her. Even though Seventh Imperial Uncle was rather friendly to her and Qin Siyuan also allowed her to take the opportunity to play in the capital, but she suddenly understood that this matter couldn't be avoided.
She came to find Ning Yi today. Originally, she wanted to ask him why he didn't go to the poetry meet. Ning Yi didn't know that after coming to the capital, although a group of sisters from Prince Chong's Mansion were responsible for entertaining her, the atmosphere was actually not harmonious when a large group of people gathered together. In the beginning, they treated her as a country bumpkin from the countryside. However, Zhou Pei's talent and manners were outstanding. Soon, she changed everyone's opinion. This change didn't necessarily make people worship her. Instead, it attracted a lot of jealousy and hostility. Some of her cousins might look at her with admiration, but the women might not look at her with respect. They might make sarcastic remarks behind her back, or plan to embarrass her, and so on.
These things didn't spread. Born in the royal family, even in Jiangning, she had seen this kind of intrigue many times. Naturally, she had a way to deal with it. As long as she was magnanimous and ignored others, they would naturally be at a disadvantage. However, when it came to poetry, Zhou Pei somewhat proudly talked about Ning Yi's works. She even said that this was her teacher who also came to Bianliang. This allowed people to grasp the topic.
Some people didn't believe how great her teacher was. There were also many people who, with a purely xenophobic mentality, thought that the number one scholar in Jiangning couldn't compare to the scholars in Bianliang. Moreover, Ning Yi once said that "poems were recited by Daoist priests". In Jiangning, everyone was familiar with this, so they naturally knew that it was a joke. However, in Bianliang, there would be people saying things like "I heard that the poems were copied". And so on and so forth. The rest of the people were clamoring for Ning Yi to participate in the poetry meet and write some poems for them to see.
In her heart, Zhou Pei admired Ning Yi, but she also hoped that Ning Yi could stand up and fiercely slap these people in the face. Amidst the mutual mockery, she didn't directly agree to the competition for Ning Yi, but she also made some assumptions. For example, she said, "You will know if my teacher makes a move." She hoped that Ning Yi would try his best to participate in the poetry meet in Quarrying Wood Garden, so she asked Qin Siyuan to invite him. However, Qin Siyuan naturally couldn't tell Ning Yi that he had to go. He felt that Ning Yi had just arrived in Bianliang and might go to join in the fun, so he tried his best to tell Ning Yi about it. He also hoped that Jueming would bring Ning Yi around. If it weren't for the incident with Jin 'er, Ning Yi might have buried himself in work and gone to Quarrying Wood Garden to see what kind of grand occasion the poetry meet in the capital was.
The day before the poetry meet, a man named Ruan Weitong came with an invitation. He belonged to the group of rich people who opposed Zhou Pei. They thought that since he was the number one scholar, he must have wanted to use his literary talent to advance. The poetry meet in Quarrying Wood Garden was the top event in Bianliang, and everyone would flock to it. Ruan Weitong invited him and then defeated him in the poetry meet, which would make Zhou Pei lose face. Who knew that Ning Yi didn't give face to anyone? In the end, the two sides could only use their mouths to insult each other.
And on Zhou Pei's side, of course, she was ridiculed even more. She could only use her arrogance and silence to face this kind of thing. It wasn't a failure, but there weren't many people on her side.
Ning Yi couldn't have known such a complicated process. On the other hand, when the depression of the poetry meet and the pressure of marriage really came together, Zhou Pei suddenly thought of something — it was something she couldn't help but think about. At the poetry meet, she did evaluate each scholar, but later she had to admit that the standard she looked at these people was based on her teacher, who was only a few years older than her.
This kind of thing, in the future, might be similar to a young girl who fell in love with a handsome teacher. When she grew up, she would still remember it, but there would be no result. But Zhou Pei couldn't have that kind of life path of the girls in the future. She actually had a bud of falling in love with her teacher a long time ago, but at that time she could not think about it and deny it, but now she couldn't. This kind of thing superimposed with the grievance at the poetry meet, made her feel … a little like crying.
She came with this kind of emotion, but after seeing Ning Yi, she suddenly understood. Her teacher came to the capital with the blood feud of his family, and he didn't promise her to participate in the poetry meet. If she felt wronged because of this, she would be like a child who didn't know anything. On the other hand, about her love, she couldn't say it, of course.
She couldn't marry her teacher. Everything was clear, no matter how she threw caution to the wind, it was impossible. She was a smart person, there was no need to say these things, it would only make people feel conflicted and embarrassed.
So in the end, she couldn't say anything.
The carriage drove out of Wenhui Tower, and the lanterns were first lit. She looked back at the inn gradually disappearing. The light around the street reflected on the girl's face, clearly and secretly jumping. Bianliang City was much bigger, more prosperous, and more exciting than Jiangning, where she lived since childhood. When she came here, she also wanted to see a lot of different scenery, and there was indeed a lot of it here. But suddenly, all of this seemed to be meaningless. She didn't know how to go, what to do next, where to go, who to be accepted by, what decision to make …
The night wind blew, caressing her hair. She sat back in the carriage, surrounded by emptiness, nothing. The emptiness continued to extend, carrying her as she ran through the crowd and streets of Bianliang. That was the first time in her life brought about by growth …
A huge loss.
*****
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