Ink Burns

Chapter 84 The Castle

The next morning, a carriage was waiting at the gate of Liu's mansion. Shan Yue got on the carriage. No one from the Liu family came to see him off except Liu Shang Gong.

Liu Shang Gong parted her hair for Shan Yue: "Girls born in the Qingfeng family can also achieve great things. There is no hopeless situation, there is always a way out."

Shan Yue pursed her lips and asked, "Great achievements?" Shan Yue blinked and asked, "Who has done great achievements?"

Liu Shang Gong knew that she had said something wrong, so she immediately changed the subject and began to encourage Shan Yue: "It doesn't matter what others do. What you should do is to be the wife of the Imperial Censor safely. If you are above the third rank, you can be granted an imperial decree after you get married. Even after you die, you will be included in the family tree, and your tablet can be placed in the Xue family ancestral hall, and you will be worshipped by the prosperous family for a hundred years."

Shan Yue bit her lip and remained silent.

Can we talk about being alive first? We cannot see the glory that has passed.

Liu Shanggong checked Shanyue’s right wrist: very good, the winding blisters have scabbed over. Although it still doesn’t look good, at least there is no problem holding a pen.

Yesterday, after Doctor Cheng returned, he immediately sent a small porcelain bottle of white jade paste. She came from the palace, what good things had she not seen? Just by smelling it, she knew that the white jade paste was added with Ganoderma lucidum, safflower, and other high-quality medicinal materials that can nourish bones, blood and flesh.

This porcelain vase is also very delicate, with a thick base. Although the glaze color is ordinary, the red painting is very delicate, and it can be seen that it was carefully selected.

Liu Shanggong thought to herself: Doctor Cheng, who became famous in one battle, might have some feelings for this Miss Shanyue.

Liu Shanggong looked at Shanyue with a look of regret: If Qingfeng hadn't come, marrying Doctor Cheng would have been a good choice. Doctor Cheng was respected. One of the father and son of the Cheng family died and the other was disabled. Doctor Cheng, who was born out of wedlock, picked up a peach that fell from the sky. The wife he married home would not be tortured as soon as she entered the house and would immediately become the head of the family.
What a pity.

Liu Shanggong really likes Shanyue.

Who doesn’t like a pretty girl who is sensible, well-mannered and knows when to act?
Many of the good-looking young palace maids in the palace did not have a good end. She originally thought that once she left the palace, the world would be wider and her situation would be better.

But after being introduced to this "Qingfeng", I saw all kinds of things in the world and realized that where there are people, there are different classes.

A small number of upper-class people control most matters of life and death. This is true in the palace and outside, and nothing has changed.

What Lady Liu did was a bit disgusting.

But keep doing it.

Once you enter the "Qingfeng", there is no possibility of escaping.

This is the case with her, and so is Shan Yue: this girl will either break out of her cocoon and become a butterfly, and become the "green phoenix" with the best prospects in recent years; or she will turn into dust on the day of failure.

Either she dies or someone else dies.

Seeing that there was no one around and the coachman was smoking a pipe on the back street, Liu Shang Gong pulled Shan Yue over and said in a low voice, "Four people were selected this time, from Zhenjiang Prefecture, Jinling Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture. The four prefectures are all rich and prosperous. Jiaxing Prefecture is looking for the daughter of a successful candidate, who has been trained since childhood and is good at painting. She is well-known for her talent and filial piety in the local area. The candidates for Zhenjiang Prefecture and Jinling Prefecture have not been chosen yet, but I guess these two prefectures should have selected them after training the original candidates. All qualities should be good. Pay special attention to Jinling Prefecture. Five years ago, Qiu Huaibi of Jinling Prefecture specially recruited ten girls to train martial arts. They are elusive and highly skilled. I wonder if they were selected from these ten people."

She shouldn't have said these words. She was not affiliated with the Liu family. She was just sent to Qingfeng to be a teacher after the Liu family made a request.

Her position should be completely neutral and objective, but she secretly felt sorry for Shanyue. After guessing Dr. Cheng's feelings for Shanyue, she felt even more regretful.

Even if you can't go back and marry a good man, at least don't die early.

After thinking for a while, Lady Liu whispered in his ear, "Only by remembering what the master wants can we accomplish things."

What the boss wants: cowardly, honest, timid, and obedient. Shan Yue nodded.

The carriage drove north, passing rice fields, lotus ponds, and woods. Every time it arrived at a post station, the carriage would change a coachman. Two hours later, it arrived at a fortress hidden in a valley on the outskirts of Dantu County, adjacent to Songjiang Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The wall of the fortress is ten feet high, and two separate courtyards are built on the corner of the cliff. The mountain moon shines into the house, and there is a wooden sign named "Qiuhuofang".

A little maidservant, only seven or eight years old, named Qiu Tao, took small steps and bowed to lead the way. After bringing Shanyue into "Qiuhuofang", she did not leave.

Shanyue handed over some small change, and the maid blushed and shook her head: "Miss Shanyue, that's not what I meant. For the next five days, I will serve you in your daily life."

Shanyue glanced at the little maid and smiled: "Judging from your accent, are you from Zhenjiang Prefecture?"

Qiu Tao nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I am from Suyang County, Zhenjiang Prefecture."

"This fortress here is quite interesting. It doesn't look like an ordinary villa, but more like a fortress built to resist bandits."

"You guessed right. This is indeed a watchtower built many years ago to fight against the bandits in Duzhou Mountain." Qiu Tao looked silly, but she loved to talk. She could say a lot following Shan Yue's words: "When the anti-bandit movement took place, I was not even born yet! I heard that many people died. Those years were not peaceful. First there were bandits, then the Duzhou dike burst, and the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture changed several times."

If Shanyue didn't speak, she was afraid that Qiutou would start reciting the county annals to her, so she asked, "Really?" Then she got back to the point, "Are all the other rooms ready?"

Qiu Tao poked her head out to look around. "Xia Xuan Fang came early in the morning. I heard that she is the eldest daughter of Director Gu from Ming Xi Shan Academy in Zhenjiang Prefecture. Dong Qin Fang and Chun Lai Fang are still empty. They are said to arrive in the evening. Jinling Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture are far away, so they are not as close as you."

After Qiu Tao finished speaking, she looked at Shan Yue with some admiration: "I heard that the girls came here to compete in painting skills - you are really amazing!"

Shanyue glanced at Qiu Tao and had a general idea in his mind: this election was organized by Zhenjiang Prefecture, and all the people serving in the fortress were recruited by Zhenjiang Prefecture from the pawnbrokers, and they had no idea what "Qingfeng" was.

Judging from the fact that Zhenjiang Prefecture is the host, the Xue family should be more inclined towards Zhenjiang Prefecture: this is an iron rule, whoever they are biased towards will be the host of this matter.

The "Duzhou dam breach case" that Qiu Tao just mentioned seems somewhat familiar.

Shanyue had a bad memory, and it was good enough if he could just leave an impression of what happened in a flash in his mind. Thinking about it too hard was of no use, so he simply put it aside for the time being.

As a result, the main door of "Qiuhuofang" was always closed. As expected, in the evening, people could be heard coming into the rooms on both sides.

As it was getting dark, someone knocked on the door of "Qiuhuofang".

Shanyue went to open the door, only to see a timid smiling face holding a food box in both hands. The person was not very old, about fifteen or sixteen, with an extremely graceful and gentle face of a girl from the Jiangnan water village.

"Hello, sister. When you come to Zhenjiang Prefecture, my father specially asked me to bring some lotus root starch and glutinous rice balls for everyone to try. It can be regarded as a courtesy to the host."

Oh.

She is Gu, the daughter of the headmaster of Zhenjiang Prefecture.

　One more update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)