From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 234: Sad Autumn
"Godmother, Xiangling has made great progress!"

Xiangling gained experience from burning paper, but her words remained the same.

The mountain wind is even stronger next to the small courtyard in the back mountain.

There were seven pieces of hemp paper in total. Xiangling borrowed a fire, lit them herself, and then began to chatter.

It starts with the death of her godmother, then goes on to say how she learned skills from a teacher, and then she developed a talent for poetry, and finally her rise through the ranks in Jingyuan, until she became the number one figure in Jingyuan.

"Godmother, the old Taoist priest you found is too low in rank!" Xiangling complained, "I used to be an aunt, so when I entered Jingyuan, I had to call her aunt. There are also Third Aunt and Ying Aunt, so you have to call them Third Aunt and Ying Aunt!"

Xiangling only talked about trivial matters, but she was very serious and methodical and wanted to talk about everything.

"I plan to save up some more money and go to Beijing with the gelder to see the world. He said that Beijing is full of immortal poets, and they are great!"

Xiangling untied her small bag and took out a few thin booklets, which contained her recent poems as well as doggerel works by Meng Yuan, Hu Qian and others.

There are also a few new pieces of paper, which are the masterpieces from yesterday’s Laobiekeng Poetry Festival.

"You three have brilliant literary talent. I admire you!" Yuan Jingfeng even took a special look at them. "It can be seen that people get redder if they are close to vermilion. If you have been in a room with orchids for a long time, you three will have literary talent!"

Dugu Kang and Meng Yuan both knew that this was just a polite remark, but Xiangling took it seriously.

"You are quite knowledgeable!" Xiangling praised happily, then borrowed fire from Meng Yuan and burned all the poetry collections.

"Oh, if my godmother saw this, I don't know how scared she would be!" Xiangling wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Sister-in-law Zhu has found a new lover, and Big Black Dog is about to give birth. It's a pity that after my godmother left, there's no one to arrange a marriage for me!"

There was no sadness on Xiangling's face, as if she was not here to burn paper to remember the old times, but just to chat nonsense.

She turned to look at Dugu Kang and Yuan Jingfeng and said, "You two are not married yet, right? Can I introduce you to a good partner?"

Isn't this change too fast? I thought you wanted to arrange your own marriage! Dugu Kang shook his head repeatedly.

Yuan Jingfeng recited the words of Wuliang Tianzun, "Only when the mind is pure can one attain the Tao. I dare not trouble Daoist Xiang to worry about it."

"It's not a big deal." Xiangling made sense. She looked at Meng Yuan again and said seriously, "Little gelder, you have two wives. I don't think that's enough. I'll find you a few more!"

"Wait until Jiang Tang comes back and discuss it with her." Meng Yuan said.

Xiangling muttered something quietly, and indeed said no more.

Dugu Kang sat down cross-legged and took out a few pieces of paper to burn, but no one knew what he was saying.

Yuan Jingfeng held the whisk in one hand and looked out at the scenery below the mountain.

Meng Yuan silently watched Xiangling and Dugu Kang burning paper, feeling empty in his heart. Looking back at yesterday's poetry gathering, he felt as if he were in another world.

The poetry reading is not over yet, but I don’t know when the next one will be.

The autumn was lonely and the mountain breeze was cool. The fire had not yet been completely extinguished, but the ashes were already blown away by the wind.

Xiangling stood up and patted her paws, then climbed onto Meng Yuan's shoulders and straightened the cloth flowers. Seeing that Dugu Kang didn't say anything, she said, "Student Dugu, you can't be unhappy after burning the paper!"

Dugu Kang stood up and nodded slightly, "The president is right. It's just that the president is born open-minded, but people like me cannot have that."

Yuan Jingfeng glanced at Dugu Kang and said nothing more.

"I've been crying for days too!" Xiangling tilted her head, looked at Dugu Kang, and said, "Forget about it when you're full. Let's go eat!"

As soon as this proposal was made, all three of them agreed.

Zhao Jingsheng was drunk, but he still prepared a vegetarian feast, including vegetables, tofu, dried mushrooms and lotus roots, and the taste was surprisingly acceptable.

After the meal, the group talked for a long time. Zhao Jingsheng and Yuan Jingfeng also wrote doggerel poems respectively, and Xiangling praised them non-stop.

As it grew darker, Meng Yuan and the others said goodbye.

They rode on horses and returned to Songhe Prefecture. When they arrived at the palace, they said goodbye to Dugu Kang. Meng Yuan and Xiang Ling returned home, but someone was waiting for them at home.

"Senior brother is back!" Hu Qian came out from the kitchen. She was still wearing an apron with her sleeves turned outwards. There was a little soot on her face, and she really smelled like she had been in the kitchen.

Tie Niu and Fu Cui also came out from the kitchen. They were both shy and didn't talk much.

Meng Yuan knew at a glance that the meal was probably cooked by Fu Cui, and Hu Qian probably didn't contribute much.

"When did you come back?" Yesterday, Meng Yuan asked Hu Qian and others to go to Hedong County to deliver a letter to Chen Shouzhe, so Meng Yuan asked this.

"I came back this morning!" Hu Qian was very happy, "Brother, I have accomplished my mission!"

Hu Qian took out a letter and handed it to Meng Yuan, then she pointed at Xiang Ling's forehead and asked, "Was the president's poetry reading fun?"

"It was fun!" Xiangling was also very happy, "We ate persimmons!" She jumped into Hu Qian's arms, bumped into her, and asked in surprise, "Why have you grown a little bit bigger?"

Xiangling even touched it and asked, "Isn't there enough cloth wrapped around it..."

Before she could finish, Hu Qian blushed and immediately pinched Xiang Ling's mouth.

Meng Yuan was not in a hurry to open the letter. He had dinner with everyone first, saw Hu Qian and others off, and then returned to his bedroom.

After opening Chen Shouzhuo's letter, Xiangling came up to take a look and said, "The handwriting is quite beautiful!"

The letter contained just some ordinary greetings and also recounted some past events in Beijing.

Then he said that there was nothing unusual in the Hedong County area, and that the monsters in the Hulu Mountain area had a new king, who was secretly communicating with Qishui Town and trading goods.

At the end of the letter, Chen Shouzhe said that he was short of manpower and wanted to borrow Tie Niu and Fu Cui for a few days, and asked Meng Yuan to intercede for him.

This is not a big deal, Meng Yuan is sure that the third young lady will agree.

After writing a reply, Meng Yuan accompanied Xiangling and wrote letters to Yingmei and Mingyue, and another one to Jiang Tang.

"This letter is for Fellow Daoist Huanxi." Xiangling drafted another letter.

Meng Yuan had mentioned Huanxi to Xiangling, so Xiangling knew that Huanxi had traveled all over the world and was very knowledgeable. He currently worked as a doorman in the Chan Palace of the National Master's Mansion.

When Xiangling read the letter, she actually asked about the poet's talent in poetry, what good works he had, where he had been, and also asked the doorman how much monthly salary he earned and what the prices in the capital were.

The two talked until late at night. When they woke up in the morning, they had dinner together. Xiangling packed her luggage and hurried to Jingyuan to make a lot of money.

Meng Yuan first went to find Zhao Datou and explained the matter of Chen Shouzhuo borrowing Tie Niu and Fu Cui.

Zhao Datou had little experience, and when he found out that Chen Shouzhe was an official working in a foreign country, he agreed without hesitation.

"Let's go in two days." Zhao Datou only has Tie Niu to rely on. "I'll tell him again to settle the matter with Cui Er."

Meng Yuan was not in a hurry to urge Tie Niu to leave, so he agreed.

It was not until noon that Xiangling ran out after Meng Yuan had been drinking tea in Xunmei's office outside Jingyuan for half a day.

"Third grandma washed her and it smelled so good!" Xiangling sighed, "But she didn't want to wear shoes and socks. She said she couldn't see you and told you to do it yourself!"

The shower smells delicious, but no one is around. What's the meaning?
Meng Yuan had no choice but to obey.

After chatting with Xiangling for a long time and listening to her talk about the Third Miss' comments on the three poems in yesterday's poetry gathering, Meng Yuan went to the guard post.

Since returning from the capital, the Third Miss has taken on an important task in advance. Master Liaokong also said that he was uneasy, and Meng Yuan also felt vaguely uneasy.

Therefore, Meng Yuan planned to go to the guard post, and if he had nothing to do in the future, he would not go there for the time being, and concentrate on practicing. It would be the right thing to do as soon as possible to complete the three days of upper, middle and lower practice.

(End of this chapter)