In the end, she still kept five hundred taels of silver.
Liu Ruhai looked at the banknotes on the cases and thought about it secretly, realizing that she didn't want to owe a favor. Perhaps she had found out that the Liu family were not close relatives and friends, and they were unwilling to use heart medicine to cure their heart ailments.
Cao Xiwan just felt bad that the money was spent on her.
In the next few days, she would come over from time to time, sit with him, have tea, and listen to his flattery.
He rented a low-grade courtyard with no flowers or grass. She was used to getting up early. When she opened the door, she saw the dawn light above the neighbor's courtyard wall, a few clumps of climbing vines that were still green in autumn, and their branches were spreading and falling.
Dejected, just like her mood.
Liu Ruhai also got up early. He opened the courtyard door and faced the morning mist. In the distance was the White Stone Temple Road in front of the treasure hall.
The shadows of people on the road seemed to be floating in the mist, and everyone was wearing gray nuns. He knew that it was the sons and daughters of the tenants in the temple who were cleaning the temple in the morning mist. Cao Xiwan also dressed like this these days.
But none of the pilgrims in the temple recognized her as the Qingluo female ghost.
There was the sound of rustling grass blades. He looked sideways and saw a thin and small tenant daughter, wearing a white shirt and a green skirt, with double hair buns, squatting in front of his door to feed the donkey. He frowned and took another look at her.
Come back.
He took a step back.
Cao Xiwan bit her bun and squatted in front of the donkey, looking at him.
The reason for the fog today. Liu Ruhai thought to himself that he didn't realize it was her. She was indeed the Qingluo female ghost.
Rumor has it that she is not only the top expert of the Jin Yi Guards, but also the top secret agent of the Jin Yi Guards City Patrol Division.
According to the secret report from the Prince of Yan's Palace, the Qingluo female ghost loves to disguise herself as a girl from a small household in the neighborhood, ride a donkey through the alleys, and follow her hidden tracks so that no one can recognize her. She suddenly goes in and out of the mansions of powerful people to get information. Sometimes she follows the carriages and horses, and sometimes she goes to the palace.
The master of the Twelve Dukes' Mansion was assassinated in the long street of the capital. The sword came out without a shadow and the blood spattered without a trace.
For ten years, no one dared to compete with him.
Temple, morning breeze blowing.
"I'm here to talk to you." She smiled.
He raised his eyebrows and smiled, opened the door and ushered her in. She also held a lotus leaf bag of breakfast in her hand.
He found a clean plain pottery bowl and placed breakfast food for her, while he went to the stove and boiled water himself.
Amidst the gurgling sound of water boiling, she heard the footsteps of the temple servants outside the courtyard gate gradually becoming more chaotic. The morning light shone brightly, and it was the nobles of the guest courtyard who got up.
His shabby courtyard was a bit shabby. But it wasn't that Liu Shengshou was short of money, didn't have servants, and didn't want to rent a high-quality courtyard, she thought. It was that she, Cao Xiwan, was deceived by the nuns. Every time she came back, she lived next door as a rough guy.
In the courtyard, they euphemistically call it a kind of practice.
In order to make friends with her, Liu Shengshou naturally had to follow the local customs.
In fact, she likes Superior Courtyard, and Seifukuji Temple’s vegetarian noodles are famous for being delicious. She thought to herself.
"I can't rent it anymore. Come back next year." He brought the pot over, made tea, and said with a smile.
There are green leaves and a few white wild flowers floating in the tea soup.
After finishing her buns, she slumped lazily on the peeling ebony table, holding her chin, and her eyes followed his figure.
Wearing a large blue cloth apron, he was still sweeping the floor in the courtyard. His snow-white hair hung quietly on the back of the scholar's head, dancing with the morning breeze.
The leaves were rustling, and in the light golden sunlight, his face had clear lines and a soft light, giving her the illusion that time had stopped.
She must have met him.
If he hadn't disguised himself.
But she didn't have to think back to her childhood in the north, because he must be a spy. And the methods used by spies to get close to her over the years were just falling in love with her at first sight, reuniting with old acquaintances, and visiting relatives and friends. She had seen many of these methods.
.
What about him?
Liu Ruhai put down the broom, washed his hands and went back to the room, then brought the two buns and two plates of plain snacks she had left to heat on the stove. He bent down to take the bowl and raised his eyes.
Above the desk, there were patches of light golden sunlight. As soon as his colorful eyes touched hers, her eyes were filled with surprise.
"Do you have a concubine?"
"...Do you have a male favorite?"
"No. Who did you hear about?" She looked at him in shock.
He thought that she must not know that Li Shishan, one of his subordinates, had found out the secrets of her scandal. For example, what were the names of the five male favorites and what courtyards they lived in.
The secret espionage circles in the capital sell such unreliable fake news for twenty taels.
——Thanks to his refusal to reimburse.
"Concubine, I don't have one either." He smiled.
"Oh." She seemed to just ask casually, looking down at the green wild tea in the pottery bowl.
He turned around and went to the kitchen.
The bells of the Buddhist temple rang, and the sound of the bells was ethereal and cleansing the dust, and time passed unconsciously with the sound of the bells.
There is only a shabby courtyard between heaven and earth, and only his footsteps and figure can be seen in the sunshine.
This is okay. She thought boredly. Just like the old man in Jinyiwei who wandered all his life without children. When he grew old, he had a clean courtyard and a concubine to take care of him, so he could take care of himself in his old age.
But she is poor and does not have enough savings for retirement.
In order to not waste the five hundred taels of silver, she chatted casually with Liu Shengshou: "How long did it take your elder to practice the Nine Transformations of the Netherworld and reach the third level?
"Twenty years."
She looked up from the plain dessert plate, dumbfounded.
He took off his apron and hung it aside, thinking that Prince Yan might be a waste in her eyes. He couldn't help laughing: "Not everyone has a talent like Qing Niangzi. I heard that His Majesty the late Emperor expelled Meng Yuan and set the tripod."
In the Central Plains, a decree was issued to establish the Jinyi Yamen..."
After the late emperor ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he issued an order to select heroes and heroes from all over the country to come to the capital for trial and select royal guards.
In addition, Jinyiwei also has hereditary noble descendants, such as Song Chengming.
Furthermore, when the food, princes and chieftains of small foreign countries come to settle in the capital, they will all be granted the title of Imperial Guard.
But these two groups of people are different from the first group of Jin Yiwei who worked.
"Your elder, Song Chengming, was considered a powerful figure among the younger generation. I heard that he made great contributions and obtained the Nine Transformations of the Netherworld from the secret collection of the Meng Yuan Imperial Master. Later..."
She thought, yes. It was the nuns from Chengfu Temple who stole the secret treasure of the Imperial Master, stole the Nine Changes of Netherworld, and took refuge in the Jin Yiwei of this dynasty.
"Song Houye was just a small household at that time." He said with a smile while sitting cross-legged and drinking tea.
He remembered meeting Song Chengming on the streets of Yanjing City when he was a child. The third son of the Song Dynasty, Zhilan Yushu, was as beautiful as snow and plum blossoms. Although he was a commoner, he was also a noble son with outstanding demeanor in Yanjing City.
He thought that when he was still young at that time, he was once intimidated by Song Chengming's charm.
When Song Chengming led her into Baihu House, he was stunned and said nothing.
What's more, she? Is there any reason not to fall in love with Song Chengming?
Liu Ruhai looked at Cao Xiwan, and the words "Mrs. Qing" were not unfounded. But he also glanced at her hand holding tea. Her fingers were long and delicate, like jade.
The little washerwoman no longer suffered from frostbite and injuries.
Anyway, she's doing fine.
Suddenly, he let out a long sigh of relief. On the eaves of the courtyard outside the window, a few weeds and vines that had been hanging for a long time finally fell, making a soft thumping sound.
Cao Xiwan looked at him in surprise. He smiled. She felt that the smile was a bit dazzling, making people sink into warm water, loose and sleepy...
In a few days, the five hundred taels spent on the medicine should have been spent. She speculated on the consultation fees of famous doctors.
When she got up early in the morning, she didn't go out and sat cross-legged, sighing and reciting sutras.
There was a knock on the door.
She was surprised and looked out the window, the sky was still dark, it was too early.
She lowered her eyes and twirled the Buddha ball between her fingers. She knew who was coming.