Chapter 13 Hello, Junior Sister
The teacher is here?
It's been years since I last saw it... Is this the river?
Ouyang Rong had a lot of questions to ask, and he also felt like a teacher was visiting his home... No, it must be related to his aunt!
Ouyang Rong tossed the kitchen items to Xiufa and told him to take good care of them, then led the way back to Sanhui Courtyard.
However, halfway there, they encountered several monks on duty who kindly reminded them that they had just seen Zhen Shi and her mentor Xie Xun heading towards the chanting hall, and that Ouyang Rong and his companions should change course.
"My lord, my lord, your clothes, your clothes!"
"Okay! I'll go back and change my clothes. You can go ahead."
Ouyang Rong looked down. He had been busy in the kitchen and had specially borrowed a set of loose gray monk's robes from the kitchen staff. His original moon-white scholar's robe was not suitable for rolling up his sleeves to work.
His gray monk's robes were filthy, as were his face, making it unsuitable for him to meet his usually strict and proper teacher.
Ouyang Rong did not change course and continued back to Sanhui Temple.
Arriving at the courtyard gate, he saw that the house was quiet. He pushed the door open and went straight into the inner room. He first washed his face with water and wiped it. He picked up the moon-white scholar's robe that he had changed out of, shook it, and prepared to put it on. Suddenly, with a thud, a round bead slipped out of the robe and rolled to the foot of the bed.
Ouyang Rong was not surprised. He put the robe on the bed and bent down to pick it up.
This is the luminous pearl relic that he had kept in the small pocket on his chest. When he took it out to study it last night, he discovered that this little thing could shine brightly under the moonlight. If you didn't know better, you would really think it was a luminous pearl.
In the inner room by the bed, Ouyang Rong had just reached for the bead when he suddenly heard faint footsteps coming from the study in the outer hall. He assumed it was his aunt's maid, and without looking up, he picked up the bead, blew off the dust, and carefully examined it to see if there were any dents.
But the next second, the "maid" who came out of the study behind them spoke:
"What are you doing?"
The voice was like a cool frost, and when it reached the ears, it was like drinking a sip of rice wine in the morning, cold yet soft.
"What? What am I doing?" This is his room, and hearing the questioning female voice, Ouyang Rong almost laughed.
But when he turned around, he saw a tall, slender young man standing at the door of the study. He had a fair complexion and very strong chest muscles, which surprised Ouyang Rong. The strong chest muscles and the slender figure were completely mismatched, which was very puzzling. How did he get such a physique? ...etc.
This is the home of a girl dressed as a man.
Once Ouyang Rong saw it clearly, he immediately realized his mistake and thought to himself, "What a sin! I mistook someone's ample assets for pectoral muscles!"
The young woman, holding a scroll, stood outside the door. The warm afternoon sun slanted into the room from behind her. From Ouyang Rong's angle, who was bending over by the bed, the light made her backlit background somewhat dazzling, and it was indeed difficult to see her fair face clearly.
"What are you looking at? Put your things down." The woman outside the door frowned.
"Why did you put it down? Is this yours?"
"It's not mine." She shook her head.
Ouyang Rong almost thought that the original owner of the pearl had come to his door. Now, upon hearing this, he breathed a sigh of relief, put the luminous pearl relic directly into his bosom, frowned at the woman who seemed to have ill intentions, and then heard the familiar footsteps of Yan Liulang coming from the courtyard outside.
A wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall. Ouyang Rong glanced at her, pretended to nod in greeting, and then quickly walked past the girl to go out and meet up with Liu Lang.
But the next moment.
Bang!
A solid thud, accompanied by a "damn" uttered from someone's mouth, broke the afternoon silence of Sanhuiyuan.
Ouyang Rong collapsed onto the floor outside the door, gasped, rolled over, touched the faint footprints on his back, and stared at the woman inside the door.
"Your Excellency!"
Upon seeing someone fly out of the house, Yan Wuxu in the courtyard reacted for a moment, then immediately roared, and the burly man drew his sword and rushed into the house!
"Who dares to harm the Prefect? I, Yan Liulang, will fight you to the death!"
The next second, with another "bang," Yan Wuxu was also sent flying, landing next to Ouyang Rong.
Ouyang Rong opened his eyes wide, turned his head to look at his fellow sufferer, who also had a footprint on his chest, and his lips twitched.
Good grief, it feels like you haven't beaten anyone since I got here. Ouyang Rong covered his face, already considering changing bodyguards.
Yan Wuxu was unaware that he was on the verge of losing his job. His eyes widened as he pointed at the young woman slowly walking out of the door and said, "Your Excellency, this...this...is not an ordinary person."
Ouyang Rong cursed inwardly, "Nonsense." If it were an ordinary person, could they have taken down two burly men without even seeing their legs clearly?
Ouyang Rong didn't see clearly how the woman inside the door kicked Yan Wuxu away with her long legs. He only saw that the edge of her clean robe was slightly fluttered by the wind before someone was sent flying.
"An accomplice keeping watch? You little thief."
The young woman gave a soft hum, stepped out of the door, and stood gracefully in front of the two men, pointing at them with the scroll in her hand.
Only then did Ouyang Rong get a clear look at the unfamiliar woman. He couldn't help but glance at her a few more times before casually looking away. However, some sentences he had read in books floated into his mind: "Extraordinarily beautiful, with a radiant and graceful face, she is truly a celestial being."
However, he was quite blunt, shouting, "What little thief? This is my house, you're the little thief, trespassing!"
Xie Lingjiang's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, then she pondered for a moment before relaxing her brows and shaking her head.
She was just browsing through books in the study, waiting for someone, when she heard someone rushing in. She thought it was her senior brother Ouyang, whom she had only heard of but never met and who she had been looking forward to meeting. But when she came out, Xie Lingjiang saw a dirty little monk rummaging through her senior brother's things by the bed and even found a precious luminous pearl. She never expected that the monks of Donglin Temple would do such a thing.
Xie Lingjiang shook her head. "Turning the tables? Looks like you're a repeat offender. If it were any other passing pilgrim, you would probably have fooled them. But I know the owner of this house. This is where he recuperates. How could it be your monk's quarters? Don't try to fool me."
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Rong immediately stood up, ignoring her completely. He brushed the dust off his clothes, but halfway through, seemingly realizing it was pointless, he simply took off his gray monk's robe and tossed it on the ground. He then turned to Yan Wuxu, who was standing protectively in front of him, and said, "It's alright now. I know who she is. She's out of danger. Hey, who's protecting whom anyway..."
Xie Lingjiang looked at the 'little thief' with a somewhat amused and exasperated expression. She hesitated and said, "What are you saying? Quickly... quickly hand over the things..." However, her voice became softer, and her slender fingers on the scroll tightened, subtly revealing some hesitation.
Ouyang Rong looked up and said seriously, "Is it possible that I am Senior Brother Yuanzi, and what I just did was... well, the sage is right, a gentleman should indeed stay away from the kitchen."
“You…” Xie Lingjiang took a step back.
After saying that, Ouyang Rong walked right past her to go into the inner room to change his clothes, casually leaving behind a remark:
"The first sentence of the fifth line on page eighteen of the Buddhist scripture 'Treatise on Rebirth' in your hand is 'Reciting the Buddha's name leads to rebirth in the Pure Land; fearlessness leads to enlightenment.' I wrote two sentences of annotations when I read it... Hello, junior sister."
Xie Lingjiang immediately turned to that page, then her fingertip paused.
It fell silent.
Ouyang Rong had just changed into a clean set of traditional Chinese clothing when he heard a woman dressed as a man, who was too embarrassed to stay indoors any longer and was standing in the courtyard gazing at the sky, suddenly speak in a serious tone:
“You are somewhat different from the rumors and the one Father said about you. They all say that Ouyang Lianghan is a righteous gentleman with a lofty character, upright and unique, and his words are always clear and righteous.”
Ouyang Rong nodded. "You too."
"Father mentioned me? Back then I was still in Wuyi Lane in Jinling Prefecture, not studying by my father's side. How was I any different? Did I cause a misunderstanding and make people think I didn't have the refined family tradition of the Xie family of Chenjun?"
"That's not it." Ouyang Rong tried his best to control his gaze, keeping his eyes straight ahead of her, and said seriously, "I never expected that Junior Sister would be so...approachable."
Approachable? Xie Lingjiang turned around curiously, wanting to ask more, but then she heard her father and Zhen Shi talking and laughing outside the courtyard, so she gave up.
Soon, the courtyard became lively, and Ouyang Rong finally met his mentor, Xie Xun, who "might be very disappointed in him."
...
(End of this chapter)
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