Chapter 215 Eagle + Female School
Looking at his master's satisfied smile, Amu felt a pang of dismay, and couldn't help but admire himself. After all, in his opinion, the reason why his master was still a bachelor for so many years was probably because he lacked an assist from him.
Now that he is here, he must not let his master miss the village chief.
Although Amu had just met Cui Qingyi for the first time, there was a reason why he had no objection to her becoming the mistress of his family.
The north is cold and barren. The grain harvested by an ordinary family after a year of hard work is barely enough for the whole family to keep from going hungry. If the weather is not favorable to them, many people will starve to death or freeze to death.
Amu's parents and grandparents died in a snowstorm, but he was lucky enough to be picked up by the master's guards who passed by.
After being picked up, Amu never went hungry again, but anyone who has experienced hunger will generally never forget the feeling.
Later, Amu still saw many hungry people. As he grew up, he would follow the master's guards to provide disaster relief during famine years and clean up the corpses piled on the roadside after the disaster.
People would become numb after seeing such scenes too many times, but this did not prevent Amu from praying every year that this year would be a good year, and that the people in the north would one day have enough to eat and no longer suffer from hunger.
The first time the name Cui Qingyi appeared in Amu's ears was when it was linked to a new kind of grain. Although Amu didn't know what this so-called new kind of grain that could make all the people in Dajin well-fed was, he subconsciously felt that if his master could marry the Lord of Dongping Township, it would be an accident and a match made in heaven.
He Amu is willing to use all his life's skills to help his master achieve his wish.
…
Jing Wei brought Amu to the appointment on time. As soon as Amu arrived, he got together with Man Yue, and the two of them were whispering to each other about something.
Cui Qingyi chose to look away when both of them put their hands into their sleeves. No matter what little secrets these two had, Cui Qingyi thought it was probably better for her not to know.
She turned her gaze to Jing Wei. Perhaps because she had the idea of continuing to get along with him, Cui Qingyi unconsciously began to pay attention to this person.
Jing Wei was still wearing a dark brocade robe today, with a cloak of the same color on the outside. A man with broad shoulders, long legs and superior height looked particularly outstanding in this outfit.
In addition, he went straight to the private room of the owner of Hongyan Teahouse as soon as he arrived, which attracted many people to cast curious glances in his direction from time to time.
Fortunately, the private rooms in the teahouse are quite private, and you can't see anything even if you stretch your neck.
Jing Wei ignored the curious eyes around him. After a quick look around the private room, he set his sights on the tea table.
He was very self-conscious and started to fiddle with the tea set on the table without waiting for others to serve him.
Perhaps because this thing was too small for him, Jing Wei looked a little clumsy when adding tea and taking water. Accidentally, a round red date fell from the wooden clamp and rolled to Cui Qingyi's hand. Cui Qingyi subconsciously reached out to catch it. When she pinched the red date between her fingertips, Jing Wei moved closer holding the handle of the teapot.
The moment the red dates fell into the teapot, the sound of drums rang out. There was no dialogue between the two, but there was an indescribable tacit understanding.
It was only when the play was halfway through that the two of them began to discuss the matter back and forth.
Cui Qingyi picked up a piece of freshly made pastry from the kitchen, took a bite and nodded, then waited for the person to finish his own bite, then picked up another piece and handed it to the person next to him.
Perhaps it was the first time that someone shared food with him so naturally, especially pastries, which he had never been fond of.
But Jing Wei went straight to it without any hesitation. Compared with Cui Qingyi's meticulousness, this person finished half of the pastry in one bite.
It wasn't as overly sweet as he'd imagined, and it was a taste he could accept. Jing Wei didn't hesitate to praise it:
"Yeah, not bad."
The time they spent together was surprisingly not as awkward as Cui Qingyi had expected. The seemingly chauvinistic leader of the Beijing escort team was actually a very easy-going and somewhat curious person.
Specifically, he asked Cui Qingyi many questions about the costumes worn by the Jiang family troupe. Fortunately, Cui Qingyi had done in-depth research on Qinqiang, so she was not stumped by the questions.
Cui Qingyi has her own standards for the future male master of the township lord's mansion. These standards are not based on family background or whether the man has become an official, but on whether he has some attractive qualities.
As for what these specific qualities are, if you ask Cui Qingyi to explain them herself, she can't say one, two, or three. This is the same feeling many people in modern society have when looking for a partner: if you ask, don't ask, because others have their own standards.
At the end of January, the underground dragon of the village chief's mansion was completed. When Jing Wei brought Amu to help Cui Qingyi move, he gave her a young eagle that looked like it had just left the nest.
Cui Qingyi smiled as soon as she saw the eaglet. If she remembered correctly, this should be one of the items on the betrothal gift list.
Jing Wei didn't mention anything else, he just kept teaching Cui Qingyi how to build a relationship with the young eagle.
"The North is vast and desolate, and caravans can travel long distances. People train hawks to deliver messages. No matter how far away a man is from home, as long as he sees a hawk from home, he knows it's time to return home.
Village Lord, from now on, as long as you release this eagle, Wei can return home immediately."
Jing Wei's eyes were burning, reminding Cui Qingyi that it was time to prepare the betrothal gift for him.
Sometimes, there are some things that should be dealt with in vain, otherwise you will suffer the consequences.
Cui Qingyi reached out and took the young eagle that tilted its head to look at her. After thinking for a while, she felt that if she wanted to prepare the betrothal gifts according to the customs of the north, it would probably take a long time.
At this moment, neither of them had thought that in their future life, Jing Wei would become the one who often sent carrier pigeons to urge his wife to come home.
After the prosperity ended, life returned to its proper tranquility.
Girls' school reopens
But this time, Konjac was completely in charge of the girls' school, and Cui Qingyi just sat in the office to keep order.
People always grow through one thing after another, and konjac is one of the best among them.
She stood among the crowd, confident but not arrogant. Looking at her, Cui Qingyi felt a sense of joy as if her daughter had grown up.
"Can't you be flexible? My daughter is a good needleworker. At most, we can just pay a little more money."
A woman with makeup on looked at Konjac with some displeasure. She had learned that the girls' school was about to start today, so she brought her daughter here early. But what did this man say? Her daughter could not go to school. Why?
Konjac calmly put away the table and said, "Mrs. Qian, when you ran to Huaihua Lane to drop out of school, I made it very clear that you and your daughter will not have a second chance to enter our girls' school.
Our Cui Girls' School focuses on practicality and hopes to teach girls some skills for survival.
I also hope that every student who graduates from our Cui Girls’ School can help each other in times of crisis.
Even if we can't help each other, don't kick someone when they're down. Nothing you've done will make me forgive you, so please go back."
Hearing Konjac talking about her previous visit to drop out of school, Mrs. Qian felt a little guilty for a moment, but then she immediately turned around and pretended to be pitiful, "I didn't mean to do that. To put it bluntly, it was Mr. Cui who caused the trouble. The person who came to our county to make trouble is Mr. Cui's biological mother, right?
We pooled our money to send our daughter to learn embroidery. She's already disliked by the men and mother-in-law at home. If her husband's bad reputation were to bring trouble to her, we're all mothers, and if it were you, you'd make the same choice as me."
The more Mrs. Qian spoke, the more she felt she was right. The expression on her face became more and more righteous. She even began to seek the approval of the female head teachers who were watching the fun around her.
Hearing that she was still talking about Cui Qingyi, Konjac's face turned completely cold.
She was now nearly five months pregnant. When she heard Madam Qian say that all mothers were concerned about their children, Konjac put one hand on her waist and looked at Madam Qian with the other. "Madam Qian, my daughter's marriage to Cui was severed by the emperor's solemn order. Why are you still here, constantly saying that person is my daughter's biological mother? Are you dissatisfied with the emperor? Or are you like Yuan, relying on the fact that you raised my daughter and thinking that even if she skins and tears her bones, it's not enough?"
Having said this, Konjac glanced meaningfully at the girl behind Madam Qian whose face was red with embarrassment, only to see her red face turn pale in an instant.
Konjac didn't mean to embarrass a half-grown girl, but among those who went to Huaihua Lane that day to make a scene about dropping out of school, Mrs. Qian was the worst of all, constantly criticizing the girl for being unfilial and saying all sorts of nasty things.
That day, she was concerned about the presence of officials and did not bother with this person. She did not expect that the woman was so shameless and dared to come to her house.
Being covered with a big hat by Konjac's chatter, and hearing that the other party seemed to be intentionally alienating the relationship between her and her daughter, Qian's face twitched nervously a few times, and she immediately turned her eyes away and refuted,
"You don't have to put such a big accusation on me. I was deceived at the time, but now I realize my mistake. Please let Ms. Cui come out. I know she has a grudge against me, but as long as she can agree to let my daughter go to school, I'm willing to do anything."
Konjac raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn't felt anything when the girl said that there were many hidden talents in Dongping County before, but today she had witnessed it from Madam Qian. This person's method of shifting the blame was really clever.
Didn’t you see that Mrs. Qian’s daughter already had tears in her eyes and was looking at her mother with gratitude on her face?
This makes it seem like they are being unreasonable and making things difficult for the mother and daughter.
Cui Qingyi sat in the room and watched the whole process. She also looked at Mrs. Qian with admiration, but she couldn't understand why she was so contradictory. Normally, such smart people usually don't like to kick a man when he's down.
Wangcai, who was lying at Cui Qingyi's feet, felt a little irritated when he heard the noise outside. For Wangcai, the girls' school was his and Cui Qingyi's second home besides Huaihua Lane, so any disharmonious factors here would make him anxious.
Seeing that some of the onlookers were about to be incited by Mrs. Qian, Cui Qingyi smoothed Wangcai's neck hair, signaled it to be calm, and then led it out. She had not planned to show up in the girls' school today.
The first village chief of Dongping County to be canonized by the emperor's imperial decree was of great significance. As soon as Cui Qingyi appeared in the crowd, the crowd suddenly became quiet, and then began to salute and greet each other spontaneously.
"Village Master Jin An..."
Although Cui Qingyi was a village chief who changed her career later in life, she was also listed in the royal jade register. In order to make the enthronement ceremony dignified and lively, there was a special person from the Ministry of Rites to instruct her on etiquette.
Before leaving, the man reminded Cui Qingyi, "Although your fiefdom is small and remote, you must always review your etiquette and never lose the dignity of the royal family in front of outsiders."
At this moment, Cui Qingyi expressed that she was willing to take back the words she had complained in her heart that day. It seems that it is necessary to review these etiquettes from time to time.
She raised her hand slightly and said, "Please stand up, everyone." It was only because Taozhi was not there at the moment, otherwise she would not have to say this.
Seeing Cui Qingyi appear, those who had sympathized with Madam Qian and her daughter immediately forgot what had just happened and started talking to Cui Qingyi.
"Village Master, I haven't seen you out for a long time. If you have time, please come to my shop and take a look."
"Yes, village head, my neighbor's daughter graduated from the girls' school last year and has now found work at the embroidery shop owned by the owner. This year, my daughter can also handle needlework, so I immediately sent her here."
"Village Master, you are a great benefactor to the girls of Dongping County. Ever since the palace began selecting embroiderers from our county, families that didn't like girls have begun to want them."
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. The couple next door had a daughter die inexplicably a few years ago. I guess they wanted a son, but guess what? They actually raised a daughter this year."
......
Cui Qingyi had never thought that she would hear so many flattering words in her life. If she had a worse character, she would have been flattered. In fact, Cui Qingyi herself was a little flattered at the moment.
But soon Mrs. Qian came over with a look of grievance on her face, and Cui Qingyi's elation immediately disappeared.
"Village Master, you are the most compassionate person. It was indeed because of my evil mind that I did that thing before, but please also understand my feelings as a mother.
Please have mercy on me and let my daughter go to school, or I will kneel down for you, okay?"
Before she finished her words, Mrs. Qian had already knelt down at Cui Qingyi's feet with a thud. If Wangcai hadn't been standing in front of her, she would have wanted to reach out and hug Cui Qingyi's thighs.
The girl leaning against Madam Qian was also dragged down to her knees, but unlike her mother, she looked at Cui Qingyi with a stubborn and hateful expression.
Cui Qingyi ignored Madam Qian. After all, she was the village chief appointed by the highest authority in this feudal era. She did not take the initiative to show off her power, but if Madam Qian wanted to kneel, she could bear it.
Cui Qingyi sighed and turned her gaze to the crowd, "Do you all think we went too far by not allowing Madam Qian's daughter to attend school?"
What could they say? Everyone avoided Cui Qingyi's sight, but Cui Qingyi still saw their attitude from their behavior.
People tend to sympathize with the weak. The saying "don't comment without knowing the full picture" makes sense, but the weakness of human nature has been like this for thousands of years.
Just like now, in everyone's eyes, Mrs. Qian is an image of a loving mother who is willing to sacrifice everything for her daughter. On the other hand, she and Konjac are evil people who are ruthless and merciless.
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