Xie Ming

Chapter 82: Trivial Matters in Town (I)

Boom boom boom!
Xu Jialin knocked on the door three times!
Inside the house, the mother, her two daughters, were chatting in the hall downstairs.

Ever since Hongwen returned home in the afternoon, the mother and her two daughters have been crying and chatting over and over again.

After all, although Hongwen escaped and returned home alive, she is now a virgin and everyone in the town knows about it. A woman's chastity was often more important than her life in those days, so she is afraid that it will be difficult for her to get married in the future, and she will have to live with the contempt of others.

Wang-shi Xu was worried about her eldest daughter's future, and she and Jing-yi tried to comfort her. She barely managed to calm her down just before her husband, Xu Jialin, knocked on the door.

Boom boom boom!
Three more sounds!

Mrs. Xu Wang looked quite dazed, and it was Jingyi who spoke first.

"Mom, someone is knocking on the door. Maybe it's Daddy coming back!" Xu Jingyi seemed quite excited for no reason.

"Ah? Your dad is back?!"

As she spoke, Mrs. Xu Wang was about to get up and go to the courtyard to open the door.

But before he could straighten his body, Xu Jingyi suddenly jumped up.

"Mom, I'm going!"

After she finished speaking, Jingyi concealed her smile, turned around and ran to the yard in a hurry.

creak!

The door opened slightly.

Xu Jingyi's eyes hurriedly passed through her father Xu Jialin and fixed on Xiao Jingchuan, then she let out a sigh of relief.

At the moment, Xiao Jingchuan was wearing armor, which was quite different from what he looked this morning. Fortunately, she had heard about Xiao Jingchuan's changes from her elder sister Hongwen's narration, so she was not unnecessarily frightened, but only had eyes full of curiosity and joy.

"Ahem. Why did you take so long to open the door?"

"Where are your mother and Hongwen?" Xu Jialin stood between the two of them, talking to himself.

But seeing that his second daughter acted as if she had heard nothing and remained standing there without moving, Xu Jialin frowned.

"Hey, Jingyi, what are you blocking?"

"Hurry, get out of here! General Xiao, our great benefactor, asked me to come here!"

"Go, call your mother and elder sister down, pour tea and kowtow to the benefactor!"

As he spoke, Xu Jialin suddenly pulled Jingyi to the side with one hand, and bowed to welcome Xiao Lang into the house.

"Haha, thank you for your help, Second Miss!"

Xiao Jingchuan followed her in and said a few words without staying in front of Jingyi for long.

"Her mother, Hongwen, come quickly, General Xiao asked me to bring her here!"

"Come down and greet me!"

Xu Jialin said with a smile, led Xiao Jingchuan across the yard and headed straight to the hall.

Xu Wangshi and Hongwen were sitting in the hall. When they heard the name of General Xiao, they hurriedly stood up and took a few steps to greet him.

When they saw the deity, they bowed down hurriedly.

Seeing this, Xiao Lang hurried forward to return the greeting.

"Madam, please don't do that. It's too much for me! Please get up quickly!"

While they were talking, Xu Jialin helped the two of them up.

"Her mother, go, serve tea!"

"General Xiao, please take a seat."

"Mom, let me go!" Xu Hongwen turned around and ran to the back hall.

Xiao Jingchuan and Patriarch Xu exchanged polite comments and then both sat down at the table.

"Oh, by the way, Patriarch Xu, you gave me a silver note of 1,500 taels to redeem Hongwen. Here, the silver note is here. You should return it."

"It's about this morning. To reassure you, I'm just pretending to take it in my hands. I hope the clan leader won't blame me!"

Xiao Jingchuan threw a stone to test the water. After he finished explaining, Xu Jialin hurriedly pushed his hand away and refused to take it back. "Hey, clan leader, this money is what you mortgaged your house for. It is related to the livelihood of the whole family. Don't refuse it anymore. I, Xiao Jingchuan, will never take it! Take it back quickly so that you and I can continue our conversation!" Xiao Jingchuan insisted on returning it.

Upon seeing this, Xu Jialin felt relieved. He glanced at his wife Xu Wangshi beside him, then took the banknote back ashamedly, changed the subject, and talked about something else.

"General, just now at the banquet, I heard that you were born in the Shenji Camp in Beijing. After the capital broke through the siege, you led your troops into the mountains."

"There were so many people at the table and I didn't ask in detail. I wonder what the current situation in the capital is like?" Xu Jialin asked with concern.

"Well, to be honest with you, Chief Clan Leader, at this time, the rebel Li Zicheng has already occupied the capital!" Xiao Jingchuan spoke calmly.

But as soon as these words came out, Xu Jialin was suddenly frightened and hurriedly asked again.

"Then the current emperor, isn't it..."

Seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan nodded and sighed.

"I led the soldiers to break out earlier, and Your Majesty is not clear about the current situation!"

When Xiao Lang finished speaking, Xu Jialin just stood there and didn't say anything for a while.

From his behavior and expression, Xiao Jingchuan could tell that this Patriarch Xu must have thought that his troops were deserters, and that they had fled the battlefield without regard for the emperor's safety, and therefore hid in the Sanpo area.

Because he had this thought, he dared not say anything more.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lang smiled bitterly twice to break the awkwardness.

"Haha, Patriarch Xu thinks that I am a deserter and a traitor, is that right?!" Xiao Jingchuan asked.

"Ah! No, I dare not, I dare not!" Jialin denied in panic, for fear of offending others.

"Haha, no problem!"

"The entire area north of the Yellow River and Huai River has now fallen into the hands of bandits. There is no other way for me to go into the mountains and take a detour!"

"Besides, we are not deserting our posts, but have an important mission to fulfill!"

Speaking of this, Xiao Lang paused.

"Oh? What did the general say?" Xu Jialin listened carefully and asked hurriedly.

"I, Xiao Jingchuan, am not leaving the capital alone. I am breaking out this time to escort the Crown Prince to the secondary capital!"

Xiao Lang's tone remained smooth, but when he suddenly heard the word "Crown Prince", Xu Jialin jumped up.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!" Jialin said in surprise with his eyes wide open.

"That's right, the prince is now in the northeast of your Jiulong Town, at the temporary camping site of our group!"

"Patriarch Xu, you don't really think that I, Xiao Jingchuan, only brought this team of less than a hundred people out, haha."

"Most of my 500-plus soldiers are currently stationed in the northeast of the town and did not follow you. The main reason is that we are afraid of causing trouble for your town!" Xiao Jingchuan said this intentionally.

"Ah! This, this"

"Oh! General Xiao! This is how things turned out! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You should know that the generals are here to protect the emperor, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here with the army. I..."

"General Xiao, I won't continue. If you have any instructions, just let me know!"

"We, the people of Sanpo, have always admired the imperial court's kindness. Now that the Crown Prince has come in person, we cannot leave him out in the town!"

Xu Jialin was not confused. Although he had made all kinds of guesses before, fearing that leading troops into the town would bring disaster, that was just because he did not know the details and was calculating small favors and small righteousness. Now, seeing how Xiao Jingchuan's troops had behaved in the town in the past half day and how they had returned all the ransom so readily, Xu Jialin had already admired them for all these actions. And now that he knew the details and was facing a righteous cause, how could he have any complaints?

All the previous disrespectful assumptions about Xiao Jingchuan suddenly disappeared, no longer a problem!

"Haha, Patriarch Xu, there's no need to panic!"

"And there is no rush for this matter."

"Please sit down first and listen to me slowly."

As he spoke, Xiao Lang calmly led Xu Jialin back to his seat.

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(End of this chapter)