Chapter 115 Is Junior Sister Getting Anxious?
Since I had decided to make a trip to Longcheng County, I accepted the invitation to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completion of the Di Gong Gate.
Then you need to plan your trip in advance.
After a small gathering with his friend Xie Xun in the bamboo grove, Shen Xisheng summoned his subordinates the next day to arrange their itinerary in Longcheng County.
The inspector of a region is of a higher rank than the governor of a prefecture, so he naturally needs to make preparations in advance before traveling.
However, Shen Xisheng instructed his subordinates to prepare discreetly, keeping the preparations under wraps.
However, that afternoon, just as Shen Xisheng finished convening a meeting with his subordinates, the green-clad official he had met that day arrived with his clerk to pay his respects.
"Lord Shen, Lord Wang has sent me to inquire about something from you."
Shen Xisheng, who was reviewing official documents behind the desk, said without looking up:
"What are your orders, Lord Wang?"
"I wouldn't presume to give orders, but Lord Wang would like to ask if Lord Shen has received an invitation from Longcheng County to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reconstruction of Di Gong Gate?"
"oh?"
Shen Xisheng asked calmly, "Where did Lord Wang hear that from?"
"I don't know, I was just relaying a message..."
The green-clad official truthfully replied:
"Lord Wang is saying that as the governor of Jiangzhou, he is the local official in charge of the entire prefecture. Although the Di Gong Dam was built by a county, he still needs to go and take a look, inspect it, and commend the local officials who have made achievements. He plans to make a trip to Longcheng County at that time."
"Lord Wang asked me to inquire whether Lord Shen would like to go along. If he is unwilling to travel due to the change in environment, that is fine; he can go alone on behalf of Jiangzhou."
"Oh."
After listening, Shen Xisheng chuckled softly.
Before long, the green-clad official and several clerks were dismissed and left.
Inside the hall, where banana trees were planted outside the corridor, only Shen Xisheng and the staff and officials who hadn't had time to leave after the meeting remained.
The long-faced advisor frowned and said:
"My lord, has this information been leaked?"
"Perhaps."
"But Governor Wang's preparations are really fast. It seems like his preparations are even ahead of ours. Could it be that Ouyang Lianghan is being inconsiderate and sent him an invitation in advance?"
Shen Xisheng gazed at the lush green banana trees outside the hall and shook his head:
“Ouyang Lianghan wouldn’t do such a thing. Besides, when he sent the letter, the new prefect hadn’t even taken office in Jiangzhou yet.”
"Then why is that...?"
Shen Xisheng turned around and said, "There are other people who are either too sensible or too sensible, who invited the new governor first."
The long-faced advisor hesitated, then ultimately didn't ask, only saying:
"Sir, shall we proceed with the preparations we discussed earlier, or...?"
"What's there to be afraid of? Everything will proceed as usual."
Shen Xisheng nodded:
"Someone, go and write a reply to Magistrate Ouyang on my behalf..."
"Yes, sir."
After the meeting, the subordinates left one by one, and the hall became empty. Suddenly, a light rain began to fall from the sky, pattering on the banana leaves and causing water to accumulate on the eaves.
Shen Xisheng gazed at the banana leaves in the rain, then recalled some of his friend's words from a few days ago, and muttered:
"The Liu family of Longcheng is indeed hiding something. I must go there now. We can't let Wang Lengran do whatever he wants... Brother Xie is right. They still dare to say they have no connection with the Wei family, ha..."
...
"Senior Brother, what did Lord Shen say?"
On the path below Longbei Mountain beside Yue Nu Gorge, upstream of Butterfly Creek, Xie Lingjiang asked the man in front of her with a curious expression.
She had just seen her senior brother unfold the letter from Jiangzhou, glance at it for a while, and then he directly dismissed Yan Liulang and the others, leading her to turn around and continue forward without saying a word the whole time.
"It's nothing."
Ouyang Rong paused, then handed the folded letter in his hand to Xie Lingjiang:
"It means that Lord Shen has promised that he will arrive as scheduled on the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the gate of the Di Palace."
"Isn't this a good thing?"
Xie Lingjiang took the letter, glanced at it, and said with a smile:
"Isn't that a good thing...? Wait, who is this so-called new Prefect Wang? Jiangzhou has a new prefect so soon? Is he coming too? My senior brother invited him before?"
Ouyang Rong, walking ahead, gently shook his head.
No. Who knows?
Xie Lingjiang stared at her senior brother's back.
Perhaps because she had been following Ouyang Rong and observing his aura for so long, she could keenly sense that her senior brother seemed to have something on his mind.
"By the way, did Junior Sister leave something unsaid just now?"
Ouyang Rong suddenly turned around, his tone curious:
"What little wish did you have, Junior Sister?"
Noticing his gentle gaze, Xie Lingjiang immediately lowered her eyes, pretending to continue reading the letter, her tone casual:
"Oh. It's nothing much, I just wanted to ask my senior brother to accompany me to Donglin Temple to draw a fortune stick another day."
Without a second thought, Ouyang Rong nodded and asked, "Okay, when do we go? I'll schedule it."
Xie Lingjiang couldn't help but glance at him, tentatively asking, "How about the fifteenth of this month?"
Ouyang Rong was about to nod in agreement, but then stopped, frowning slightly:
"On the 15th of this month... Di Gong Gate will be completed in half a month, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony will probably be held in the middle of the month."
"The important business is still the priority."
The noble lady from the Xie family hurriedly replied, though a hint of disappointment flickered across her face.
Ouyang Rong pondered for a moment, then asked curiously:
"Does it have to be the fifteenth? Can we go in the next couple of days?"
Xie Lingjiang glanced at her senior brother:
"Donglin Temple happens to be holding a temple fair on the fifteenth of the month..."
Ouyang Rong nodded thoughtfully, "I see."
Women need a sense of ritual, right? Hmm, I get it.
Seeing Ouyang Rong seemingly hesitant with his head down, Hua Yan, the woman dressed as a man, forced a beautiful smile in the sunlight and said considerately:
"Of course, the important matter of Di Gongzha is more important. If it's about a ribbon-cutting ceremony, then forget it. We can talk about it another day, or perhaps we can change it to a smaller wish..."
Ouyang Rong looked up and smiled:
"This is fine. Actually, it's not a big deal. After all, a ribbon-cutting ceremony can't be held all day. It's usually in the afternoon. A group of people get together and go through the motions."
"Mr. Chen and the others should be able to come up with a specific date in the next couple of days. It looks like it will be either the 14th or the 15th. If it's the 14th, that would be even better."
"But if we happen to meet on the 15th of this month, if Junior Sister is able, we can go to Donglin Temple to draw lots in the morning, then receive Lord Shen and the others, and then come to Di Gongzha for the ribbon-cutting ceremony in the afternoon. We can always squeeze in some time. What do you say?"
A time management guru quickly came up with a solution, grinning and suggesting.
Xie Lingjiang nodded, her pretty face momentarily stunned.
"Of course... as long as it doesn't interfere with Senior Brother, you can arrange it however you like. On the fifteenth, morning or afternoon doesn't matter."
"Okay, it's settled then."
Ouyang Rong chuckled and turned around, continuing to walk forward with his hands behind his back.
Seeing this, Xie Lingjiang hesitated to speak.
Finally, she mustered up some courage and asked:
"Senior brother, aren't you curious about what kind of incense you burned and what kind of fortune you drew?"
"Oh right, I almost forgot."
Ouyang Rong turned around and asked:
"Why is my junior sister asking for a signature out of the blue?"
To the junior sister, his reaction was as slow as that of a silly goose, though she vaguely knew he might be troubled.
"..."
Faced with the curious gaze of her senior brother who arrived late, Xie Lingjiang lowered her head slightly and said:
"The youngest sister of the Su family said that the incense at Donglin Temple is quite effective, and she wants me to go to the temple fair on the fifteenth of the lunar month to draw a marriage fortune for her..."
Xie Lingjiang paused slightly, noticing the stunned look on her senior brother's face. She glanced around at the roadside scenery, speaking casually:
"Hmm, if there aren't many people, I'll ask for one to try too... What about you, senior brother? Do you want to come along? We're going the same way anyway, and Aunt Zhen has been urging us to have one, hasn't she?"
"Helping the youngest sister of the Su family find a good match..." Ouyang Rong, who had been somewhat distracted, immediately became alert upon hearing this: "Junior Sister, you wouldn't be trying to set me up with her, would you?"
"How is that possible!"
Xie Lingjiang blurted out, and at the same time, facing her senior brother's extremely wary little eyes, she was speechless. Why are you so quick-witted now? Just now you were like a fool who needed to be enlightened.
"That's fine. As long as it's not an unauthorized matchmaking, I'm not very familiar with the Su family's youngest sister."
Ouyang Rong breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand.
Xie Lingjiang puffed out her cheeks and starry eyes stared at his face, as if observing something or waiting for something.
Fortunately, perhaps by divine intervention, the man stopped being so "straight man" and, as he turned to leave, let out a soft "Eh," asking in surprise:
"Junior sister, you're also asking for a marriage fortune slip? Didn't you say before that you didn't want to get married and wanted to fulfill some three wishes?"
Ouyang Rong recalled what his teacher Xie Xun had told him before: his junior sister had declared that before she had twenty students, she had three wishes:
My first wish is to read all the books in my family's collection, my second wish is to meet a true master... As for my third wish, my teacher didn't say it at the time, but Ouyang Rong later learned from his junior sister that it was to become a book reader.
Anyway, Ouyang Rong had always admired his junior sister's dedication to the Dao.
Xie Lingjiang tilted her head to look at the magpie's nest in the treetops not far away, and gave a soft hum.
"Haven't all three wishes been fulfilled...? There's still a long life ahead of us, can't we add a few more wishes?"
Ouyang Rong raised an eyebrow, sensing the underlying meaning, and asked directly:
"Junior Sister, is she... looking for a cultivation partner?"
He swallowed back the words "spring fever" and used a more euphemistic way of saying it...
Although the original intention was to express "I can be pursued" or even more profoundly, "only a certain idiot can easily pursue me".
Upon hearing this, Xie Lingjiang's delicate body tensed up for a moment, and she looked away.
The small patch of fair, slender neck skin exposed at the collar of her dress, all the way down to her face, was slightly flushed pink.
Like peach blossoms in April.
Under the watchful gaze of her senior brother, the young woman's mood was somewhat like the fireworks of Jiangnan in March.
"Okay, I'll go with you."
Ouyang Rong nodded without hesitation. This was the most insightful and level-headed his senior brother had been today, in Xie Lingjiang's opinion. But what he muttered next almost made her faint:
"Hmm, junior sister has finally grown up. Teacher would be quite pleased if he knew... Well, she's reached a certain age, and her mind has to keep up with her physical maturity, right..."
"Unfortunately, I don't have any promising young men around me who are suitable to introduce, and even if I did, they wouldn't be a good match for my junior sister's qualifications and family background."
Ouyang Rong lowered his head and muttered something under his breath for a while, then sighed, his expression seemingly one of relief.
"..."
Although Xie Lingjiang didn't quite understand the meaning of the strange term "physiological maturity" that her senior brother used... it didn't stop her from discovering both good news and bad news.
The good news is that my senior brother understands.
The bad news is, I didn't fully understand it.
Then one of the young women, embarrassed and angry, turned around and glared at him:
"What nonsense are you talking about, senior brother? I was just casually asking for a fortune stick, it's not like you're thinking all that nonsense, besides..."
"Isn't my senior brother also at the age where a man should get married? He should be... should be even more anxious than his junior sister. So, going to Donglin Temple to draw lots on the fifteenth of this month is also a way of asking for my senior brother's marriage."
"I'm just going to take a look on the side. Senior brother, you should think about your own things first. You may not be in a hurry, but others are getting anxious."
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but glance at his junior sister, whose words had suddenly become somewhat "aggressive," and then chuckled, realizing he had discerned certain information in her words:
Hmm, it seems that Junior Sister hasn't completely denied her desire to find a soulmate or Daoist partner.
Men should marry when they reach a certain age, but women should also marry when they reach a certain age.
The young magistrate thought to himself, "My junior sister is a bit shy..." but replied aloud:
"Junior sister, are you really not in a hurry?"
No rush.
"I'm not really in a rush, so maybe we shouldn't go."
"..."
Out of the corner of his eye, Ouyang Rong noticed that his junior sister's face was slightly stiff. He chuckled and stopped teasing her.
"Alright, just kidding. Actually, I'm in a bit of a hurry. It just so happens that my junior sister is also going to draw a fortune stick for that Su family girl. Let's go together. Junior sister can also draw a fortune stick on the way, just for fun. Um, I will never tell our teacher about this. Don't worry, junior sister."
He finished speaking in a very serious tone.
Xie Lingjiang glanced at her senior brother, her expression softening slightly, and immediately nodded:
"It's a deal, no backing out."
"good."
Distracted by his junior sister, who seemed to be in love, Ouyang Rong's somewhat somber mood relaxed considerably.
The junior sister who keeps changing the subject is still adorable; her stubbornness is quite amusing...
Ouyang Rong, who had failed in his blind date and been rejected at Donglin Temple, didn't think much of it, after all, he knew very well how proud his junior sister was.
After exchanging a few words and making an agreement, the two turned around and continued with their business.
On the way, Xie Lingjiang couldn't help but glance at her senior brother's tall and slender back every now and then.
Well, although he's a blockhead, judging from our conversation just now, he's not completely clueless. If we're bold enough to give that dull head a little nudge, he might actually come to his senses, right?
She thought to herself.
A young woman's mood is like the blue sky, sometimes bright, sometimes dark.
Here it is, my good brothers! These past few days I've been releasing two chapters in one long post, four thousand words... *cough cough* (covers head)
(End of this chapter)
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