Volume 1 Little Yuanba Chapter 3 Exploring Jizhu Lane at Night
But he thought wrong. Nothing seemed to happen at home, everything was quiet and normal.
After Li Dan entered the door, he wrung the water from his clothes and looked around suspiciously, but he didn't see anything on the faces of the servants.
Weird, he wondered, walking towards his small courtyard, he met a thin young man holding an umbrella.
"It's raining, fifth brother, where are you going?"
Hearing Li Dan call him, Li Shuo raised his head and looked blankly: "Third brother, you are back!"
Suddenly he stopped suddenly, pulled Li Dan to the side of the wall, and asked hurriedly regardless of his surprise: "Have you passed Chunqiu Street?"
Li Shuo is Li Dan's half-brother. Unlike Li Dan, he was forced to study literature by his father. Although he is not good at poetry and poetry, he has a solid writing skills.
During last summer's harvest season, I passed the college examination and was awarded the title of scholar. I was originally scheduled to marry Chen Hui, the daughter of the Chen family, this spring.
Normally he has a calm demeanor that he learned from his teachers, but today he walked in a hurry and was obviously absent-minded.
"Yeah, what?"
"Uh...what can you see?"
"There's nothing, it's very quiet."
"Eh, shouldn't you?" Li Shuo shook his head.
"Fifth brother, what happened?" Li Dan asked.
"you do not know?"
"I just walked in."
"Oh..., that's right." Li Shuo patted his forehead, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly took a half step back and bowed to the ground.
Li Dan was shocked, and hurriedly moved aside to help him, and asked: "Why is this? My fifth brother is in trouble, but it doesn't matter, I will help you to stand up for him!"
It turned out that Li Shuo was Gao's biological son, two years younger than Li Dan, and ranked fifth among his peers, so he was called "Fifth Brother, Wulang" at home.
It is true that Li Dan is the eldest son of the family, but his late mother is a concubine. From the perspective of "rituals", of course, the direct descendant is respected, so he refuses to accept the courtesy from his younger brother.
However, the two of them were about the same age, and Li Shuo had never had any quarrel with the brother left behind by his concubine. He was usually not very polite, but at this time he became solemn for no reason and startled Li Dan.
"I really have something to ask my brother for help." Li Shuo was in a bit of a dilemma. He wanted to help Li Dan, but he was afraid that he would cause trouble and bring trouble to himself.
"Fifth brother, my brother said it's okay, why are you hesitating?" Li Dan was dissatisfied.
"Brother has just come back from outside, why don't you know? A few days ago, there was a lot of rumors about the case of Zi Guoxiao, a student of the Imperial Academy of Yingtian Mansion, who had an affair with a prostitute during his period. The emperor was furious.
My father-in-law is now implicated, and he has been deposed and imprisoned. There are rumors that Tiqi is approaching the city and wants to take the whole family to Yingtian Mansion.
Your brothers and sisters were so anxious that they couldn't sit still at our house and insisted on going back to visit. Mother refused, so she begged me to go quietly. I just won the title of scholar, how dare I...
But she was crying so hard in the room that I had no choice but to agree to go..."
"So that's it." Li Dan nodded and thought for a moment: "However, mother must have already ordered you not to go to Chen's house, so you can't actually leave the house at all.
You want me to take this trip for you so that she can feel at ease, right? This is easy!" After saying that, he waved his hand nonchalantly.
Li Shuo was overjoyed, but he still quickly handed over his hands and said: "Wu Lang thanked the third brother! But..., be careful not to rush in recklessly. If the situation goes wrong, come back quickly..."
Li Dan originally planned to go there again, so he said: "Don't worry, fifth brother, please go back to the house and sit quietly, waiting for my news!" After that, he stretched out his long legs and left.
Passing by the middle hall, I thought: "No, if you go out through the door, you might be blocked by the door." So he turned around and walked through the quiet courtyard and through the hall. The kitchen was still up the wall and down the tree.
Everyone in the government was busy with their own affairs and was at a loss.
"Little Yuanba" is very courageous, and no one can stop him from what he wants to do.
But Li Dan was not a fool. He waited in the strong wind on the street until it was completely dark, and then he returned to Chunqiu Street with gentle steps.
Instead of rushing through the main entrance rashly, he walked along the alley to the narrow passage at the back, propped up his hands on the walls on both sides, stepped on his feet, climbed up with a few "squeezes", and skillfully jumped to the top of the wall.
He stretched out his hand to scratch the courtyard wall and leaned forward to take a look. The courtyard below was dark, and a dim yellow lantern hung in the corner door not far away.
Li Dan turned over quietly. He had been here a long time ago and knew that there was a low shed for piles of debris. The top of the shed was only six feet away from the wall.
The corner door creaked open, and there was a little girl holding a lantern in front, followed by a grandma carrying a plate.
I heard the nanny mutter: "Hey, madam, you should sleep more peacefully now. I hope this medicine works."
"Thank you for your hard work, Mom. You should take a rest early. I'll come to the kitchen to find you if I need anything." The little girl held up a lantern to light the way and walked the nanny to the door, then turned around and walked towards the corner door.
Suddenly, she heard a man's voice calling her name in a low voice: "Yueying, Yueying!" The little girl trembled. The voice was familiar and she quickly asked in a low voice: "Who is over there?"
"It's me, Brother Li San." Li Dan appeared from the darkness and walked over. Yueying looked around nervously and waved to him.
Li Dan stepped into the corner door in a few steps. Yueying closed the door behind him and hurriedly took him to the corner and whispered: "Sanlang is so bold!"
Li Dan smiled and asked her: "How is the second lady? How is the family?"
"Have you heard about it?" Yueying sighed: "Two officials from the county government came to live in the concierge, and the government didn't even ask them to leave.
The madam fainted when she heard this. The eldest lady was trapped in Jun's house and dared not go back. Now the second lady has the final say. Everyone is afraid and doesn't know what to do."
Li Dan frowned. It seemed that the county had not taken any further action and had not made it difficult for the Chen family. It was just that its actions were restricted.
"Take me to see how my aunt is doing. Wu Lang and your eldest daughter are very worried."
"It's fine," Yueying hesitated for a moment and nodded: "There is no backbone in the family. The second girl's face is calm, but I think she is also very confused in her heart. Sanlang, please wait a moment, I will go and talk to the girl."
With Li Dan's consent, Yueying hurriedly came forward and when she entered the door, she saw the second girl standing in front of the bed, watching the two maids lowering the screen for Mrs. Wei.
Young Aunt Song sat at the table with a blank look on her face, watching the people in the room walking around.
"Qiu Ling, help my aunt back to the house to rest. Min Yue, you go back to sleep first and come back to replace Yue Ying in the morning."
The second girl glanced at Yueying and glanced at her. Knowing that something was going on, she immediately dismissed several people in the room.
Seeing the maids helping the sighing Aunt Song to leave, she walked over quickly and asked doubtfully: "What happened again?" This made Yueying look at herself deeply.
The second girl, Chen Meng, is only thirteen years old this year. She grew up in an official family and had no worries about food and drink. She is tall and plump, and is almost a head taller than her peers.
The dark eyes twinkled intelligently under the long eyelashes, the nose was small, and the cheeks were slightly plump.
Although there was a sudden change in her family, she did not panic. Instead, she boldly stepped out to receive the county registrar, arranged for official duties, and instructed her subordinates to perform their duties without panic.
But she was still young after all, so this question revealed her inner uneasiness.
"Don't worry, girl, nothing happened." Yueying told her in a low voice about her encounter with Sanlang Li.
Chen Meng's face was slightly red.
The parents of Li and Chen were Jinshi in the same year, so they made a marriage contract for their children.
After Li Dan's imperial examination, his father died, and his aunt kept him at home on the pretext of taking care of the housework. Instead, he asked his younger brother, Wulang Li Shuo, to pass the examination as a scholar, and then returned to his hometown and hired his sister Chen Hui.
Chen Meng is very clear about this part. She doesn't care about her sister marrying her brother from the Li family, but just like this..., what should she say about the matter between herself and Saburo?
Chen Meng already knew that Sanlang was attracted to him. Do you want to meet him at this time of change?
She turned around to look, hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Just invite him to the east wing to talk."
Chen Meng came to the east wing. After a moment, Li Dan walked in and Yueying closed the door behind him.
"Sister, how are you, aunt?" The two met, and Li Dan first asked with concern about Chen Wei's situation.
"Fortunately, the doctor came to see me and said it was just a sudden attack of the heart and syncope, but it was nothing serious." Chen Meng smiled bitterly.
Li Dan nodded and said softly: "My eldest sister is very good in my family. Please don't miss me. She misses you and Wu Lang very much."
Chen Meng sneered: "Don't mention Wu Lang. He didn't come when such a big thing happened to the Yue family. Instead, he moved you out as a rescue force!"
"Normally he should come over, but my family ordered the door to be closed, and I kept a close eye on him. You still don't know about his small body? How can he be as good-natured as me when it comes to studying?" Li Dan grinned.
"You are so boastful?" Chen Meng rolled his eyes at him, and stretched out a jade-like finger to poke his forehead in a daze: "You are so honest! Even if you are two years older than him, you are not willing to sacrifice your life for others.
reason!"
"I can't help it, who made me the eldest brother?"
"Huh, I'm afraid I don't think of you as my eldest brother in my heart..."
"Meng'er...!"
"Okay, time is running out and we won't talk about him." Chen Meng quickly waved his hand, raised his eyes and said seriously: "Zhou Dutou gave him a good comfort before leaving, telling the family not to panic.
But he also said that Captain Tiqi said that if my sister has not passed the gate, she will inevitably accompany her mother to Yingtian Mansion. If she has passed the gate..."
"How is it?" Li Dan asked quickly.
"Well, my sister is from your family. Although I don't have to suffer the consequences, but now that the emperor is angry, your family's reputation may be affected." After Chen Meng finished speaking, he raised his eyes and looked at Li Dan uneasily.
"Hiss!" Li Dan gasped. He obviously didn't expect that this matter would involve his fifth brother, and he was really surprised.
Think about how Li Shuo woke up at midnight and slept in the middle of the night, how easily he got this scholar. If it was because of this... how could he bear it?
Moreover, he is the youngest scholar in Raozhou Prefecture since the founding of this dynasty. His reputation is already known outside the country, and he cannot hide away even if he wants to! What should we do?
"I'm sorry, because of my father, my family has caused trouble to you." Chen Meng said, gathering his clothes and bowing to apologize.
Li Dan hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop her: "Sister, why are you doing this? My uncle is a new official and has suffered such an unreasonable disaster. It is really unjust!
It's a pity that the emperor's anger is at its peak during the national mourning period. No one in the court dares to speak out. Don't be impatient. I really can't go to the capital to appeal to His Majesty for you.
I heard that he is a little older than me now, and he is indeed wise and promising. I believe that your Majesty will be able to pardon your family's crimes and even reinstate my uncle when his anger subsides."
"Alas, how is this possible?" Chen Meng smiled bitterly: "If you can't see your majesty, I just say that the capital is thousands of miles away, how can it be so easy to get there?
Sanlang, I accept your intention, but you must not be willful, and you must not do something that you know cannot be done but is forced to do it. Otherwise, how can my little sister feel at ease?"
"We can't let this go. What does Zhou Dutou say? How will Yingtian Mansion deal with you?" Li Dan asked.
"Can I forget what I said?"
The two of them were surprised when they heard the sound. They heard the door curtain ring and a big man walked into the house with his head lowered.
Before he could stand firm, Li Dan's fist had already arrived, and behind him Chen Meng hurriedly shouted: "Sanlang, it's Zhou Dutou!" Li Dan then relieved his strength.
The man put his right palm in front of his chest to receive the punch. Although Li Dan didn't use all his strength, he still made him take half a step back and reached out to hold the door frame to keep him from falling.
Li Dan saw the little girl Yueying standing next to him, covering her mouth in surprise, and hurriedly bowed and clasped her fists: "I'm so rude, please forgive me!"
"I'm so sorry!" Zhou Dutou cursed, ducking into the room first, then beckoning Yueying to come in, and after seeing her close the door, he sat down on the chair angrily.
Pointing at Li Dan, he said: "When I saw Yue Ying standing outside, I knew there was something strange inside, but I didn't expect it was you! You made trouble at Tianxiang Tower in the afternoon and beat up Zhao San. Now you still have the energy to beat me?
"
Li Dan knew that Wei Xiong must have reported it to him, so he scratched his head in embarrassment: "I, I thought it was someone who came to listen in the corner, but I didn't know it was you Zhou Dutou! You have a lot of Dutou, sir, don't get along with my kid.
."
"Hmph! I'm stupid too. I heard it was you, little Yuanba, but I still barged in and almost bumped into your fist..."
Zhou Du received the tea served by Chen Meng with a huff, and it was hard to curse in front of her.
He took a sip and put down the teacup and said, "I came back just because I got the news and came here to tell the Chen family."
"What's the news?" Li Dan and Chen Meng gathered around.
"The Tiqi entered the city at dark. I asked about it, and one of the captains said that Mr. Chen's life was not in danger. In the past, the most he could do was reprimand or dismissal. However, this time the situation is different during the national mourning. Maybe he will also