good season

After leaving Prince Liang's Mansion, Zhao Shiqing did not leave Liangdu immediately.

She first went to the royal mausoleum, knelt in front of the tablet of King Liang, and talked for a long time, telling her father how Nie had treated her. Finally, she concluded: "Father, I am not wrong. If there is any fault, it is her fault. Humph, she treated me like this, I will never recognize her again. From now on, I only have a father but no mother. Humph, I will not wear mourning for her when she dies. If you think I did something wrong, then you can scold me now. If you don't scold me, it means that even you agree with my decision."

After that, she gave King Liang a stick of incense to burn, and King Liang did not scold her. Zhao Shiqing was happy, and she said to King Liang: "Father, if you have nothing to do at night, go to Suining Palace and scold her. Next time, I will ask my master to make a big pig head, and I will bring it to honor you."

The braised pig head made by her master is a masterpiece, and my father will definitely like it.

After talking to King Liang, Zhao Shiqing happily went to see Zhao Tinghan: "Brother, my father also supports me, he didn't even scold me."

Zhao Tinghan: Well, you are such a good boy.

At this time, Old Man Han came to give Zhao Tinghan acupuncture. Zhao Tinghan insisted on staying in Wang Ling. One reason was that he really wanted to spend more time with his father, and the other was to make it easier for him to get treated.

The Liang Wang Mansion is full of twists and turns, and may not be as safe as the Wang Mausoleum.

Zhao Shiqing originally wanted to ask about her elder brother and Yuan Xiaotang, but when Mr. Han came, she didn't ask anymore and could only wait until next time.

After saying goodbye to his eldest brother, Zhao Shiqing went to the inn where Shen Guanyue (Xiao Yue) and the Loach brothers were staying.

Seeing her coming, Niu Qiu and Xiao Bao were extremely happy. Zhao Shiqing asked them to wait for her in the inn, so they waited obediently. However, Shen Guanyue was nowhere to be seen all day long. They were worried that Zhao Shiqing would not be able to find her when she came, so Niu Qiu and Xiao Bao were even more afraid to go out. As a result, they were almost sick from holding it in for the past few days.

Not seeing Shen Guanyue, Zhao Shiqing asked, "Where is that person?"

Loach and Xiaobao shook their heads together: "I don't know."

Knowing that the man went out early and came back late every day, Zhao Shiqing was no longer worried. As long as the man was not dead or lost, then everything was fine.

She and Ling Bo stayed in the inn and left a message for the waiter, asking him to inform Shen Guanyue.

So the next morning, when Zhao Shiqing went downstairs for breakfast, she saw Shen Guanyue waiting for her in the hall.

Zhao Shiqing didn't have any extra words. She said to Shen Guanyue, "Let's go after breakfast. Go get ready."

Shen Guanyue touched his nose and said, "Where are we going? What mountain?"

Zhao Shiqing nodded: "If you don't want to live on the mountain, you can also live at the foot of the mountain. I have fields, land and houses at the foot of the mountain. By the way, you can also live on the next hill. Now that hill is also mine."

After she arrived in the capital, Xiao Zhen gave her the title deed to Fanghe Mountain. Now she owns two mountains.

Shen Guanyue rubbed his nose: "Where do you live? On the mountain or at the foot of the mountain?"

Zhao Shiqing said, "I usually live in the mountains, but I won't stay long this time. I'll leave after I drop you off."

Shen Guanyue: "Where are you going?"

Zhao Shiqing: "I want to go out and relax, but I haven't decided where to go yet."

Shen Guanyue: "Then take me with you. You promised my brother that you would take me with you. You can't break your promise and just throw me away. Do you think I'm a girl from a brothel? You can just throw me away when you're tired of playing with me?"

Zhao Shiqing.
It was the first time she saw a man comparing her to a girl in a brothel, and throwing her away when he got tired of playing with her?
Although Xiao Yue is not short, he is only twelve years old. What is in the mind of a twelve-year-old kid?
"I only promised your brother to take you to Liangdi, but I didn't ask you to follow me all the time. Besides, I want to go out and relax, of course I want to go somewhere other than Liangdi. What's wrong with leaving you in Liangdi?" Zhao Shiqing said.

Shen Guanyue snorted angrily: "Anyway, you can't just abandon me. What if I get kidnapped by a flower photographer? What if I get murdered for money? You brought me out of the capital, so you have to be responsible for me."

Zhao Shiqing was so angry that she laughed. It turned out that all the people with the surname Xiao were unreasonable. There was Xiao Xiaosu in front and Xiao Xiaoyue in the back. From this point of view, Xiao Zhen was a good person.

"I'll tell you the truth. I was kicked out by Princess Liang. I'm penniless now. My money is only enough to support Ling Bo and me, not you."

Shen Guanyue took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket and threw them in front of Zhao Shiqing: "Is this money enough to support me?"

Zhao Shiqing took a glance and saw that there was about seven or eight hundred taels of silver. As long as Shen Guanyue didn't indulge in drinking, whoring and gambling, it would be enough to support him for a few years.

"Give me one thousand taels, and I'll take you out for half a year. After half a year, if your brother doesn't take you back, then you should go back to Liangdu obediently."

Shen Guanyue gnashed his teeth and said, "One thousand taels for half a year, even crows are not as black as you."

Zhao Shiqing snorted coldly: "If you don't have this good-looking appearance, I won't play with you even if it's two thousand taels, let alone one thousand taels!"

Shen Guanyue was so angry that she covered her chest and pretended to hold her heart like Xi Shi: "People are worthless when they leave their hometowns. Pity my sick and worried body."

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes beautifully, there is no normal person in the Xiao family!

Niu Qiu was a little envious. He also wanted to follow Zhao Shiqing out to see the world, but he had a younger brother. Xiaobao was still too young. He couldn't abandon his younger brother, but it was impossible for him to take his younger brother with him. Between his younger brother and seeing the world, he chose his younger brother.

After breakfast, the group left Liangdu and headed towards Baihe Mountain.

Fortunately, on the way back from the capital, Niu Qiu learned how to ride a horse, so now he and Xiao Bao rode together without lagging behind, and in the evening, they arrived at the foot of Baihe Mountain.

The village at the foot of Baihe Mountain is called Baihe Village. Half of the fields near Baihe Village belong to Zhao Shiqing, and some of them originally belonged to Xiao Zhen. Those fields are on the same land deed as Fanghe Mountain, so now they also belong to Zhao Shiqing.

The other half of the land belongs to Baihe Village, where the villagers have lived for generations. Zhao Shiqing usually rents the land to them for farming.

The big house at the end of the village, at the foot of the mountain, belongs to Zhao Shiqing, but Zhao Shiqing almost never lives here. Usually, those who live here are Steward Dong and his wife, as well as the twenty guards allocated to Zhao Shiqing by Prince Liang's Mansion.

That's right, even though Zhao Shiqing usually only has Ling Bo with her, she actually has guards. At first, these guards lived with her in the mountains, but Murong Linlang found them annoying and drove them down the mountain. Over time, they became friends with the local villagers. From a distance, they looked like country men, and up close, they were still country men.

As Shen Guanyue followed Zhao Shiqing into the village, she saw a group of people sitting under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village. When they saw Zhao Shiqing, they all greeted her with a smile: "The second young lady is back. The second young lady has picked up someone again. This time, the one she picked up is quite pretty."

Shen Guanyue was stunned, and intuitively felt that the person those people were talking about as being strangely good-looking was him.

He was just about to say that he was not picked up when an auntie came over and grabbed his arm and said, "Second Miss, you picked up three this time. Can you give one to our family? This one will do. I like it."

Shen Guanyue.
Zhao Shiqing hurriedly said, "Aunt Biao, this won't work. He has a family and a brother. We can't just give him away."

"Is that so?" Aunt Biao reluctantly let go of Shen Guanyue, "Then when his brother dies, you can give him to our family, Second Miss, okay?"

Zhao Shiqing nodded and agreed seriously: "Okay." After finally walking past the old locust tree, Shen Guanyue patted his chest. He was actually a little scared.

"So you're also a human trafficker. You must be buying and selling people quite a lot." Shen Guanyue said.

Zhao Shiqing bared his teeth at him: "Yes, for good-looking ones like you, I will sell them whole. If they are not good-looking, I will cut them into pieces and sell them by weight."

Shen Guanyue curled his lips, looking as if to say, "As I expected."

Xiaobao, who was following behind, almost cried. Aunt Li was right. He and his brother were indeed cheated. Aunt Li said that those people captured people and cut off their hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs to soak in wine and drink.

Loach comforted Xiaobao, saying that the Second Miss was just joking and was not a liar.

But Xiaobao was still very worried, and he quietly asked Lingbo: "Sister Lingbo, is the second young lady a bad person who kidnapped children?"

Ling Bo smiled and patted his little head: "Second Miss is not a bad person, but she does often pick up people. I was picked up by Second Miss, as well as Yaya from Aunt Chun's family and Xiaoqiu from Grandma Wang's family. We were all picked up by Second Miss from outside."

Just as Xiaobao was about to ask how he found it, he saw a little girl running over, pointing at Xiaobao and saying to Zhao Shiqing, "Second Miss, can you give this cub to my family? I'll save all the eggs for him to eat."

Xiaobao burst into tears: "I don't eat eggs, and I won't go to your house!"

The little girl was startled and looked at him in surprise, not knowing why he was crying.

Zhao Shiqing smiled and said to the little girl, "He has a brother who can support him. You can keep the eggs for yourself."

"Okay." The little girl walked away disappointedly, looking back as she walked.

Seeing that Xiaobao was still crying, Zhao Shiqing stopped joking and said to Niu Qiu, "When Master and I go out, we occasionally encounter homeless children. We bring them back to the village and ask the villagers to help take care of them. So when the villagers see you, they think you are also children I picked up from outside."

Loach suddenly realized: "This village is full of kind-hearted people. It takes a lot of food to raise a child these days."

Ling Bo smiled and said, "Of course they don't raise children for free. They help raise children. For each child they raise, they can rent two more acres of land. The Second Miss doesn't charge them rent. If they raise children for ten years, they can rent the land for ten years for free. So every time the Second Miss brings a child back, they will rush to raise the child."

It turned out to be the case.

Loach asked, "Miss Lingbo, did you also grow up in the village?"

Ling Bo smiled and shook his head: "I was raised by the Second Miss."

Ling Bo is the first child that Zhao Shiqing "picked up".

She was seven years old that year. Her parents had died, and her grandmother sold her to a bachelor in his thirties as a wife. She cried and begged her grandmother not to sell her. She only worked and did not eat, and all the food she saved was given to her second uncle's younger brother. But her grandmother ignored her and took the money from the old bachelor and left.

She ran away crying, but was found by the old bachelor and brought back. The old bachelor carried her along and scolded her all the way: "How dare you cry? Your hair hasn't even grown out yet. You need to eat white rice for several more years before you can give birth to a baby for me!"

Zhao Shiqing had just become a disciple of a master and followed his master to Baihe Mountain. She happened to see this scene. The old bachelor asked for ten taels of silver and sold Lingbo to her.

A year later, Zhao Shiqing learned some fancy moves and felt that she had become a female knight. On a dark and windy night, she brought Ling Bo to the village and beat up the old bachelor.

The old bachelor recognized them, but they ran fast and he couldn't find them, so he found Lingbo's house, beat Lingbo's grandmother half to death, and extorted ten taels of silver from her second uncle's house. Unfortunately, the ten taels of silver disappeared as soon as he got home. There was only a pile of rat droppings where the silver was hidden, as if it had been stolen by rats. The old bachelor could only blame himself for his bad luck.

A few days later, the old bachelor was chased into a muddy pond by a group of geese and drowned.

Lingbo's grandmother was beaten by an old bachelor and was paralyzed in bed, unable to go out to work. Her second uncle's family despised her and threw her into the mountains, where she starved to death. Her second uncle's family did not have a good ending either. A group of wild boars came from somewhere and did not go to other people's homes, but specifically harmed their family. Her second uncle's family was severely harmed by the wild boars. Her second uncle became lame and her second aunt ran away.

Of course, Ling Bo did not talk about these things. The second young lady was a fairy, and she was the fairy's maid. They were both beautiful and kind, and these cruel things had nothing to do with them.

Whether Zhao Shiqing was a fairy, Loach and the others didn’t know, but they soon saw the fairy.

A woman who is so beautiful that she doesn’t look like a human, if not a fairy, then what is she?
Looking at the three boys, two big and one small, Murong Linlang frowned and said to Zhao Shiqing unhappily, "Where did you pick them up from? These two big ones can support themselves, and they still come here to eat and drink for free? Where's your face?"

Shen Guanyue: "I paid the money."

loach
Zhao Shiqing rushed over, hugged Murong Linlang's slender waist and said coquettishly: "Good Master, for my sake, please take them in. I promise not to let them bother you. If there are any leftovers, just feed them. They are easy to feed."

Murong Linlang glared at them coldly, then turned and left.

Shen Guanyue: "So you are not the boss here."

Zhao Shiqing: "Repent? It's too late. I won't refund you!"

In this way, these three burdens settled down in Baihe Mountain. Zhao Shiqing asked Niu Qiu if they should find a family to live with them. Niu Qiu shook his head, saying that he had hands and feet and could support his younger brothers.

However, to everyone's surprise, the beautiful Shen Guanyue and the clever Loach were both disliked by Murong Linlang, but she liked Xiaobao very much.

She even cooked steamed egg custard for Xiaobao herself, which made Zhao Shiqing very envious.

Murong Linlang also asked Xiaobao to follow her into the kitchen. You know, even Zhao Shiqing is not allowed to enter her kitchen.

So when she learned that Niqiu was going to stay to take care of his brother, Murong Linlang waved her hand and said, "Leave Xiaobao here, you can go wherever you want."

The night before leaving, Murong Linlang asked Zhao Shiqing: "Have you dealt with the matter at the Prince Liang's Mansion?"

Zhao Shiqing sighed: "I have done what I can. I have no say in what happens next. My sister and eldest brother both told me to leave for a while. They don't want to involve me, so I will take this opportunity to leave."

Murong Linlang pinched her cheeks and said, "I worked so hard to grow the meat, but it was all gone after I went back."

Zhao Shiqing smiled and said, "Next time I come back, I'll buy some meat to put on my face."

Murong Linlang asked: "Tell me, where are you going?"

Zhao Shiqing's eyes sparkled: "Master, when we were in the capital, Lingbo said that every household in Wu had a loom. She also said that all the women in Wu could weave cloth. At that time, I suddenly felt very familiar with it. The sound of looms weaving echoed in my ears, but I have never seen a loom before. There is none in the palace, nor in the village at the foot of the mountain."

Zhao Shiqing pointed at her head and said, "I guess I must have heard the sound of a loom weaving when my head was still intact. So, I want to go to Wu and see with my own eyes how the women in Wu weave." (End of this chapter)