Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 98 The next day
When she came to her senses, Mrs. Tian understood who would be the head of the family from now on.

Si Niang really found a good husband. Not only is he handsome and elegant, but he is also generous and meticulous in his work. He can be said to have hit the snake directly in its most vulnerable part.

If we follow Duan Hongyan’s “four-legged lizard” theory, the Tian family is indeed a group of snakes.

Fearing that the garden would fail to survive, she even left fifty acres of fertile land. Her calculations were so meticulous. Even if Master Zhu and Tian Jun left, what would she use to fight that bitch?
Mrs. Tian had no other choice but to find a way to resolve the rift with Long Shuang and try her best to please her.

Even Captain Tian had to do his utmost to please his concubine, who had died young, in order to get the chance to live in the mansion. But even so, everyone in Weizhou knew who the garden belonged to.

Just now, Master Zhu and Long Shuang had pressed their bright red fingerprints together to hand over the real estate.

"My sister, you have such a good husband. It is really a blessing from your previous life. I believe that your fasting and chanting of Buddha's name have moved the Buddha!" ​​Mrs. Tian approached Long Shuang and said with an eager expression.

Western nations were known for their devotion to Buddhism, and Yanqi was no exception. In the clash between the two giants, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, it was impossible for a small nation to choose its side. After Tubo occupied the Western Regions, the royal family of Yanqi was forced to send their sons to the battlefield to fight for Tubo.

Tian Jun's maternal grandfather was the eldest son of the King of Yanqi. He and the prince's wife were captured by the Tang army during the war and sent to the Jiaofangsi. Tian Jun's mother, Long Shuang, was born in the Jiaofangsi.

For Long Shuang, had her father not been captured, she would have been a princess of Yanqi. Yet, she had never seen the magnificent palace of her homeland. Besides knowing her own bloodline, she had been taught from a young age how to please men. Yet, despite years of devotion to Buddha, her fate was nothing more than marriage to a rough soldier as a concubine, where she was oppressed by the eldest wife.

This rough soldier actually had prominent ancestors. The Weizhou town that their family once controlled had far more land, population and wealth than her homeland, Yanqi. This really made her feel that fate was ironic.

But her daughter's success and her son-in-law's thoughtfulness made her feel that her forty years of worshipping Buddha had indeed moved the Buddhas, so she no longer had to look forward to the illusory afterlife.

Thinking of this, Long Shuang smiled faintly, with a strange majesty, which reminded the Tian couple of her glory in her youth.

Although her beauty has faded, the temperament she exudes at this moment is like that of a real princess!

This is not surprising. When she was young, Long Shuang had played the role of a real princess from the Western Regions whose country still existed on stage countless times, even a princess from the Black Arab Empire.

The Black Caliphate was a Western country with a larger territory than the Tang Dynasty. A collection of folk tales called "Arabian Nights" was born in its society, but not all of them were passed on to the Tang Dynasty. Only a small part of the stories came to the Tang Dynasty through the recitation of poets on the Silk Road and were adapted into various songs, dances and operas.

Although Long Shuang was still a concubine, she became the actual head of the family because of the wealth given by Master Zhu.

There is no doubt that if Tian Duizheng can gain great power, he will soon be able to regain the temperament of a superior that his ancestors Tian Chengsi and Tian Xu possessed.

After expressing her sincere gratitude to Zhu Wen, Long Shuang, as the hostess, ordered the servants to clear away the cups and dishes and clean the hall.

She was indeed the mistress of this house.

The night gets darker.

Tian Jun forgot to take a bath again, so Zhu Wen had to whisper to her that if she was really the daughter-in-law of the Zhu family in Youzhou, she must take a bath every day in the summer.

In other words, not only does Zhu Wen have to play his role well, but Tian Jun himself also has to pay attention.

Although it was not too hot in early summer, Tian Jun still had to go take a shower - in fact, there was nothing wrong with taking fewer showers in the military camp because you might be peeped at by men.

Tian Jun took a bath faster than a man. After she changed her clothes, the maid quickly used silk to absorb the moisture from her hair, and then carefully dried it with charcoal fire.

Only then did Zhu Wen slowly come out of his bath.

"Why do you take a bath like a woman?" Tian Jun said a little impatiently.

"Taking a long bath can invigorate blood circulation." Zhu Wen stretched comfortably.

Just like he spent a long time sleeping, Zhu Wen also spent longer than the average man taking a bath.

When taking a shower, most of his body was soaked in water, and his thoughts drifted with the rising hot air, aimlessly as if drifting on the water. He enjoyed this feeling very much.

When the water gets cold, ask the servant to add more hot water.

Zhu Wen didn't like thinking while eating or bathing. In his opinion, he should enjoy himself when he should enjoy himself, so that he could be more efficient when he really thought about things and worked on them.

Tian Jun nodded helplessly, and the two of them walked to the east wing and went to the two adjacent bedrooms.

This garden has already become the property of the Long Shuang family, so of course the two of them can only sleep in the wing room where the younger generation sleeps.

But at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out: "Jun'er, why don't you sleep with your husband?"

Tian Jun was startled, and then said awkwardly: "Mother, my child hasn't even married yet..."

Long Shuang smiled broadly, "You're not some secluded girl. You've traveled extensively over the years, so you should have seen everything, right?"

She lowered her voice and whispered in her daughter's ear, "Could it be that you haven't..."

Tian Jun's cheeks flushed and she didn't know what to say, but the matter was not yet done, and of course the lie could not be exposed.

"Madam Long Shuang, although I am a descendant of a military family, I firmly believe in the teachings of the saints. My relationship with Sister Jun is completely innocent..."

Long Shuang hesitated for a moment before realizing that the teachings of the sages Zhu Wen was referring to were the Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius.

In the past, the Tian Hongzheng branch of the Tian family in Wei Bo was also influenced by Confucianism, loyal to the court, and offered land against all odds. However, they were eventually counterattacked by the rebel soldiers in Heshuo, and the entire clan was wiped out.

Of course, even if one did not believe in Confucianism and supported separatism, and failed to appease the guards in Heshuo, they would still be massacred. The northern branch of the Youzhou Zhu family that remained in Lulong is a good example.

"The Zhu family of Youzhou has gone to Henan, so naturally they value this place more. No wonder the young master is so noble and reserved." Long Shuang said, "But even if an unmarried couple doesn't do anything, sleeping together will strengthen their relationship."

Having said that, she actually went into the room that Tian Jun wanted to enter, turned on the lights, and took down all the bedding. There was no sign of being in poor health as Mrs. Tian said.

People feel refreshed when good things happen, and with the confidence, Long Shuang's old illness seemed to disappear in an instant.

Zhu Wen was not in a position to refuse, so he took Tian Jun's hand and said, "Let's go."

Tian Jun followed Zhu Wen into the room with a slight embarrassment and closed the door.

"Your mother is anxious to have a grandson." Zhu Wen said, "All adults are the same. My mother, for example, and my eldest and second brothers already have children, yet she is still anxious for me."

Tian Jun looked out the window and saw that her mother had already walked away. She glanced at Zhu Wen and said, "Look at your bad idea."

"Put on your undershirt and go to bed." Zhu Wen said lightly, took off his coat and hung it on the head of the bed, then got into the quilt wearing his undershirt.

Tian Jun had no choice but to get in. Then he remembered that the candle was still on, so he tapped it a few times with all his strength. The candle flickered but showed no sign of going out.

She had no choice but to get up and turn off the light again.

"What's with all that finger-snapping magic? Do you think you're a peerless master like Alliance Leader Wang?"

Tian Jun snorted and ignored him.

"Your mother was a great dancer when she was young. You have such long arms and legs. If you practiced dancing, wouldn't you look better than your shadow?"

Tian Jun turned over and looked at Zhu Wen's face in the moonlight filtering through the window, glaring at him: "Don't you think my feet are too big? How can I dance well with big hands and feet? Although Fairy Chaoying is also tall, she has slender hands and feet..."

"You're talking like a jealous little girl."

After saying that, Zhu Wen pinched Tian Jun's hand.

The fingers were long and clean, making her feel safe.

She thought Zhu Wen would put his arm around her waist again, as he had done several times before.

But after a long time, there was still nothing.

The other party didn't say anything else, but just gently held her hand, as quiet as still water.

Tian Jun's fantasy love object has always been a beautiful boy who is cold as ice, but has a passionate heart and ambitious eyes.

The guy next to her always makes her angry and seems a bit playboy.

But Tian Jun had to admit that Zhu Wen was really good to her. This trip north was also to resolve her knot in her heart.

Like me, the other person also has a story.

The next opponent is Zhen Ranyu, the female warrior of the Tang Dynasty, who has never been defeated in her life and even killed the "land immortal" Wang Xianzhi.

Tian Jun knew that if they were defeated, the entire Cao army would be destroyed.

Since he owed Zhu Wen such a great favor, he would certainly not surrender to the enemy, nor could he be captured and humiliated.

It simply meant she could no longer find the beautiful young man of her dreams and fight for her life together. Tian Jun's ideal ending for her dream life was to plunge her sword into her lover's chest, or be stabbed through by him.

Thinking of this, Tian Jun suddenly felt a little hot in her lower abdomen.

The scent that the night wind brought to her face, although very clean, was ultimately the scent of a man.

Tian Jun is a young girl who just turned 20. Facing the fear of death, it's normal for her to have some thoughts, which are part of the human instinct regarding reproduction and inheritance.

Tian Jun quietly opened her eyes and stole a glance at Zhu Wen who was lying on his back. The moonlight filtered through the window lattice, casting silhouettes on his fair face.

Only then did Tian Jun realize that the guy next to her had not done anything excessive.

Men who tried to do anything really extreme to her were usually killed by her, or at least had their legs broken.

Gao Siji was an exception, because the boy was only fourteen years old at the time. When he was caught peeping at her taking a bath, he cried loudly and pretended to be pitiful and begged for forgiveness, which made her feel soft-hearted.

"Sister, only by taking care of yourself can you be happy, do you understand?" Tian Xiang's gentle and maternal voice suddenly rang in Tian Jun's ears again.

Just as Zhu Wen said, Tian Xiang was in the mire, but she was an eternal saint, and only the palace in heaven was worthy of her.

Tian Jun recalled all the knowledge Tian Xiang had taught her about menstruation. Why did girls have their first period? Why did squeezing your legs together feel so good? From these beginnings, all of these were answered one by one.

"Knowing this is not to indulge desires, but to better protect yourself."

As Tian Jun thought about this, the heat in her body slowly turned into coolness. She squinted her eyes and glanced at the sleeping face of the boy beside her. He looked peaceful, with a nice smile on the corner of his mouth. Perhaps he was in a sweet dream.

"Tian Si Niang, it would be a disgrace if you let yourself be looked down upon by a little pervert."

As she thought about this, fatigue finally gradually swept over her eyes and brought her into a deep and sweet dream.

"stand up!"

Tian Jun heard a very high-pitched voice and at the same time felt extremely short of breath, as if someone was strangling her.

She was awakened instantly.

Zhu Wen still held her fingers with one hand, and pinched her nose tightly with the other hand.

It was still pitch black outside the window.

"What are you doing?" Tian Jun pushed Zhu Wen's hand away from her nose and shouted.

"I never thought a girl could snore louder than a man, like a pig being butchered. You really need to find a good doctor to treat it." Zhu Wen complained, "I didn't sleep well all night."

"You..." Tian Jun immediately broke free from Zhu Wen's other hand, sat up, pointed his halberd finger at Zhu Wen's face, and said unhappily, "Then what are you going to do?"

"It's almost Yin time now. You should either get up and practice martial arts or sleep in a different room. Your mother won't be watching you at this hour." Zhu Wen yawned. "Let me sleep for another two hours. I'll be meeting your old friends in the morning."

"By the way, you stole a glance at me last night, didn't you? Were you like that woman, Chaoying, thinking that you were so beautiful, but why wasn't the other person attracted to you at all?"

"To be honest, you've got me a little tempted. You have a fantastic figure. Otherwise, how could I have almost lost control of myself when I was on Mount Tai?" Zhu Wen yawned again. "But when I was sleepy, even if you stuffed Daji and Zhao Feiyan into my arms, it wouldn't be as important as sleeping."

"Shameless guy." Tian Jun couldn't stand it anymore, so he put on his clothes and left.

The second day's banquet was held in a willow grove. To the north of the grove was a body of water, marking the boundary of the garden. From there, boats could be taken to visit other gardens.

The reeds by the water have grown long and thin leaves, and from a distance they look like fresh green. The breeze blows, and the reed stems sway, exuding vitality.

The four distinguished guests had already taken their seats and were exchanging glances with each other.

Lord An, Lord Gao, Master Cui, and Lord Yin. Their servants sat at a separate table in the distance.

However, Master Yan, the son of the governor of Bozhou, missed the time and did not arrive on time.

Why among the four distinguished guests, only the one with the surname Cui could be called a young master? It was not because his status was higher than the other three, but because his ancestor Cui Qianyou came from the Bo Ling Cui family, one of the five surnames and seven clans - and was also a general under An Lushan.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gao, sitting to Mr. Cui's left, had a paternal ancestor, Gao Xiuyan, a prominent general during the An Lushan Rebellion, who had a peaceful end. He even commissioned a nonsensical epitaph, claiming Gao Xiuyan was a descendant of the Bohai Gao clan, a renowned Sui Dynasty minister, Gao Zuo. But it was no use; the Bohai Gao clan refused to acknowledge him.

An Langjun and Yin Langjun are of course the genuine remnants of the An Lushan Rebellion, and are descendants of An Shouzhong and Yin Ziqi respectively.

Heshuo is actually a den of thieves of the remnants of the An Lushan sect.

Zhu Wen cast a playful gaze over Yin Langjun several times, which made Yin Langjun feel a little uneasy.

On second thought, no matter how powerful the Zhu family of Youzhou was, their branch in Hebei had already been wiped out. The so-called Master Zhu, coming to Wei Bo, was no match for the powerful dragon that could defeat the local snake. What was there to be afraid of?

He didn't know that Zhu Wen was thinking of the Battle of Suiyang a hundred years ago, in which the commander of the Anshi rebels was Yin Ziqi, the ancestor of Yin Langjun.

Suiyang is Songzhou, Zhu Wen's hometown. In that battle, loyal and brave men like Zhang Xun, Xu Yuan, Nan Jiyun, and Lei Wanchun all died for their country. Over 100,000 people died in Suiyang, slaughtered by the rebels and cannibalism.

Many of Zhu Wen's ancestors were killed in the Battle of Suiyang.

According to the tenet of revenge in the nine generations of the Spring and Autumn Period, he should have immediately drawn his sword and chopped off Yin Langjun's head.

However, nine generations of revenge is not in accordance with the rules of the Tang Dynasty, and Zhu Wen's current identity is Zhu Huang, the son of the Zhu family in Youzhou, so he can only suppress his hostility towards Yin Langjun for the time being.

Although the four distinguished guests were not really afraid of Zhu Wen, they did not want to make enemies with the Zhu family of Youzhou.

Mr. Gao immediately said, "Mr. Zhu, do you want to talk to us about something that happened five years ago?"

"At that time, we were all still young men, and it wasn't against the rules to admire the young Fourth Lady of the Tian Family. At most, it caused her some trouble..."

"Now that I'm married and have children, why would I have any other thoughts? Knowing that Madam Tian Jun has found such a beautiful husband, what else can I say except to express my sincere congratulations?"

Gao Xiuyan, the ancestor of Mr. Gao, was a famous general in the An Lushan Rebellion, so his words made sense. The four of them came to the banquet and prepared gifts that were not cheap. The maids who greeted them had already remembered them clearly.

As local bosses in Weizhou, the four of them did not think that Master Zhu would dare to hold a Hongmen Banquet in Weizhou.

"Mr. Gao is right." Zhu Wen shook his folding fan and nodded. "If I were to accuse you all of this for a trivial matter that happened before I met Jun, wouldn't that make me look petty?"

The four guests laughed and said, "That's right, that's right. The young master is from a noble family and is very magnanimous. How could he care about such a trivial matter?"

"Therefore, I invite a few of you here to first let you bear witness to other things." Zhu Wen glanced around and saw that Master Yan, the son of the Bozhou governor's family, had not yet arrived.

"Excuse me, what is the sin of incest?"

After hearing these words, the four guests were a little confused.

After all, Master Cui came from an aristocratic family and was well-educated. He quickly spoke, "According to the Northern Wei Dynasty Law, men and women who do not observe proper etiquette for sexual intercourse are both punishable by death. 'Not observing proper etiquette' here includes incest. The 'Ten Unforgivable Crimes' in Emperor Wen of Sui's New Law also include 'civil strife,' which is incest."

"As for this dynasty, the laws are unclear, and it is mostly left to the clans to decide."

This ambiguity is extremely beneficial to the royal family of the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, would have married his father's concubine, Wu Meiniang, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, would have married his daughter-in-law, Yang Yuhuan, both of which would have been capital crimes.

But most of the people present still didn't know why Zhu Wen asked this question.

Only the three brothers of the Tian family, who were enjoying eating cakes, drinking wine and admiring the scenery, suddenly changed their expressions.

"What is the relationship between Madam Tian Xiang, who died in the 14th year of Xiantong, and Junmei's family? Can anyone calculate it?" Zhu Wenru said with a gentle smile.

People with the same surname cannot marry. Cousins ​​are the closest relatives, but relationships between cousins ​​are no different from those between sisters.

"Tian Xiang is five generations removed from us brothers!" Tian Dalang said anxiously, "Her ancestor, Tian Hongzheng, was only the cousin of our ancestor, Chengsi..."

Zhu Wen was very clear about this when he heard Lan Suting and Tian Jun talk about the Tian family genealogy.

"But I heard that the reason the late Grand Marshal Tian was able to succeed to the throne was because he had been adopted by the Prince of Yanmen as his own son. According to the principle that the grace of raising is greater than the grace of giving birth, the late Madam Tian Xiang was a relative of the fifth degree of mourning..."

Zhu Wen's accusation was very clear. Even if Tian Xiang became a camp prostitute, others could touch her, but you brothers were absolutely not allowed to touch her, otherwise you would be committing the crime of incest.

The most common way for people to punish incest is to immerse themselves in a pig cage.

"I am a kindhearted young master, and since we are distant cousins, I will break one leg each. I have called an orthopedist who can treat us immediately."

A Western barbarian with blond hair and blue eyes came in from the side. He was wearing a plain white round-necked, narrow-sleeved robe and a medicine bag hanging around his waist.

"This doctor's ancestors came from the Alemanni Kingdom in the west, but they have settled in our Tang Dynasty for four generations. They learned the authentic bone-setting method of the Medicine King Sun Simiao. You don't have to worry about poor recovery..."

Zhu Wen then went to Tian Jun and whispered in her ear, "Your third brother is from the same mother as you. I will have someone be lenient with him and will not actually break his legs."

The three Tian brothers knelt down with a thud: "Master Zhu, please spare us. We were also seduced and instigated by someone..."

The four distinguished guests looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

This matter has nothing to do with them, they are just watching the show.

But they had to admit that Master Zhu was very precise and appropriate in his work. He dealt with the three brothers of the Tian family on the grounds of incest, which was unexpected but impeccable.

(End of this chapter)