Chapter 8 Yang Lianghan, who was not interested in women
To be honest, this cafeteria isn't very big.
Especially in the eyes of Ouyang Rong, who had experienced countless lives in his previous life.
However, the difference between far and near is undeniable, even though it's so close yet so far.
So when he opened his eyes, it did indeed occupy most of his field of vision, causing even a righteous gentleman to fall into brief contemplation... He asked with a dignified and upright air:
What are you doing?
She trembled with fright, shrank back, and obediently knelt down.
"My lord, I came in to bring you a hot water bottle to warm up your bed. I saw that you were asleep leaning against the pillows, so I thought I'd help you lie down so you can sleep more comfortably."
"What's your name?"
"Half...fine".
The aunt's personal maid's accent sounded a bit strange.
Ouyang Rong looked down at him and sized him up.
The maid was wearing a light blue, high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) with a light red belt around her waist. Although she was called "half-slender," she had a good figure and was not slender at all. At this moment, she was kneeling obediently at his feet, with her head lowered and eyes lowered. Her face looked pitiful, and she had drawn two thin eyebrows. Her elegant name was not entirely wrong.
Where are you from?
"Silla".
Ouyang Rong immediately understood; it turned out to be a Silla maid. His aunt was really willing to spend money to keep up with the times.
Despite the fierce struggle for the throne in the Great Zhou Dynasty and the constant unrest in the capital, Luoyang City is a scene of prosperity and grandeur, with all nations paying tribute.
This is the source of the Great Zhou Dynasty's confidence: after hundreds of years of struggle between the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the great integration of Han and Yi peoples, this newly emerging unified dynasty boasted a national strength that surpassed all the surrounding barbarian states. It was a hegemonic power in culture, military, and economy, and was an undisputed celestial empire that ruled over all directions.
Moreover, this was an outward-expanding universal dynasty that radiated powerful Chinese culture outwards, and should be called an "empire." In particular, the border troops, full of martial spirit, were always at the forefront of the empire's expansion.
That's how Silla maids came to be.
When Emperor Gaozong, the third emperor of the Gan dynasty, was still alive, the current Empress Wei was not yet ruling as regent and was still the Empress of Gan. The couple were jointly referred to as the "Two Saints" and ruled the country together. However, as Emperor Gaozong fell seriously ill, the government gradually fell into the hands of Empress Wei.
At that time, the Eastern Yi consisted of three kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, which were constantly at war. Silla, the weakest of the three, formed an alliance with Daegan, which involved both distant alliances and close attacks. Although Queen Wei was getting old, she was ambitious and strong-willed. With her hand, Daegan's iron cavalry and Qi cultivators' flying swords crushed Goguryeo and Baekje. The Andong Protectorate was established, and Silla was supported in unifying the Eastern Yi.
Countless women from Goguryeo and Baekje became slaves of the Gan people. Even in Silla, which bowed down and paid tribute, countless Silla women left the desolate and ruined Dongyi to seek a living as slaves in the great and prosperous Gan dynasty they admired.
These women, sometimes called Silla maids or Goryeo ladies, were highly sought after because the Dongyi people were close to the Central Plains and had long been influenced by Confucian culture. Silla maids were gentle, obedient, hardworking, and capable, with fair skin and round faces. They quickly gained the favor and admiration of the upper-class nobles of the Daqian and even Dazhou dynasties, becoming a hot commodity.
Silla maids, along with Bodhisattva maids, Kunlun slaves, and Western Region beauties, became the "Four Treasures of Showing Off Wealth" for the nobles of Luoyang...
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but take another look.
Where is my aunt?
“I’m going to burn incense for my husband. My wife says that the incense at Donglin Temple is very effective, and she wants to pray for my husband to have good fortune.”
"Get up. Your aunt isn't here, you don't need to kneel."
She rose lightly, presenting the hot water bottle she had been clutching tightly in her arms. She kept her head down, and the skin on her neck, exposed by the slanted collar of her blouse, was red.
Ouyang Rong took it and casually stuffed it into the quilt. Seeing Banxi standing there without leaving immediately, he glanced in the direction of the door.
Given her aunt's temperament, it's impossible for her maids to dare to disturb her behind her back and linger there.
Trying to challenge my weakness with this? Hmph, if it weren't for the Pagoda of Merit, I would have lost everything.
Ouyang Rong sighed and prepared to show her what the literati meant by "Yang Lianghan, who is not interested in women," and used his righteous spirit to repel her.
But as the words were about to come out, he suddenly changed his mind and said, "Give me your hand."
The Silla maid trembled, glancing quickly at her melancholy "my beloved" on the couch, but still shyly and slowly reached out her hand, whispering, "My lord..."
But Ouyang Rong didn't want to waste any time. He grabbed her hand and held it for three breaths, then raised his eyebrows slightly.
I didn't hear the sound of the wooden fish.
Ouyang Rong looked up, and the little maid who was secretly watching him quickly turned her head away, but the admiration and expectation hidden in her eyes did not escape Ouyang Rong's eyes.
He frowned slightly, as if considering his words carefully, and said in a serious tone, "Next... I need your cooperation."
Banxi nodded immediately, then seemed to think she had agreed too quickly, so she shook her head twice, but then seemed to think she shouldn't be so reserved, so she nodded again.
"Should I nod or shake my head?"
She nodded.
Ouyang Rong frowned. "Then, does your nodding mean the same thing as our 'Great Struggle'?"
He nodded again.
Ouyang Rong sighed helplessly, "Speak."
The blushed woman whispered, "It's the same."
Ouyang Rong gripped her hand, his face serious, and said, "Alright, from now on, listen to me. We're going to play a slightly special game. Don't be too scared, it's just a game. We'll pretend nothing happened afterwards..."
She nodded like a chick pecking at rice, feeling like she could barely breathe, her head spinning... She had still become the scheming maid who seduced the master, sob sob sob, but why... was she not sad at all, even a little happy! Hmm, it must be because her husband's face was too handsome, especially this kind of scholarly and melancholic sickly beauty... Sob sob sob, I can't take it anymore, I want to pull him into my arms... Oh dear, why isn't he here yet?
Ouyang Rong looked at her expectantly: "Could you try to feel extremely resistant, extremely disgusted, and extremely repulsed by me, as if I were a bad person trying to defile your purity, and you swear to resist to the death, while I tie you up so you can't move, and then I reach out and touch you..."
Half-fine: "..."
The woman eavesdropping outside the door: "???"
What kind of peculiar fetish does Tanlang have? Having been a gentleman all his life, he wants to experience what it's like for a playboy to force himself on a virtuous woman, right?!
At this moment, both women inside and outside the room felt like their brains couldn't keep up...
Ouyang Rong saw the Silla maid staring at him with her mouth slightly open, seemingly deeply shocked. "Uh, why aren't you saying anything? Why are you staring at me like that... Hey, I'm not a pervert."
Actually, he just wanted to test whether touching a woman's body against her will would deduct merit, and to explore the underlying logic of the merit tower.
"Alright, you can go now. I want to... be alone."
Ouyang Rong sighed, let go of her hand, and lay back down in bed, his face full of "utter boredom".
But unexpectedly, seeing his lifeless appearance, Banxi became even more convinced of her earlier judgment.
The Silla maid from a foreign land stood hesitantly by the bedside, as if she wanted to say, "My lord, it's not wrong to play the role of a wicked young master and a virtuous woman, but please don't gag me, tie me up, or spank me..."
However, Ouyang Rong had no interest in listening to her and waved his hand to send the reluctant and regretful Banxi away.
...
Outside the Sanhui Courtyard, after getting some distance from the houses, Zhen Shi and Banxi stood under the eaves, staring at each other for a while.
Banxi couldn't help but speak up, "My lady, did you hear that? The husband's request... is making this servant a little scared."
Madam Zhen said sternly, "What are you afraid of? Tanlang was just teasing you, and you actually took it seriously. Don't you even think about how possible it is? Tanlang just doesn't like your plain and simple nature, but he's kind-hearted and doesn't want to refuse you, so he just made up an excuse. If a man doesn't like a woman, he can have countless excuses. Alright, alright, you can go now."
Her eyes were slightly red, she lowered her head, said "Oh," clenched her fingers together, and stepped back.
"Remember!" Madam Zhen suddenly called out to Banxi, coldly saying without turning her head, "Nothing happened in the house today, Tanlang didn't say a word to you, and you didn't hear anything! No one outside will ever know about this, otherwise..."
Banxi was so frightened that he quickly prostrated himself and kowtowed, vowing not to speak carelessly. Zhen snorted, broke off a branch of green willow that stretched out from the corridor, and left.
However, after she walked away, Zhen's calm and composed expression instantly crumbled. She subconsciously wrapped the broken willow branch around her index finger, her brows furrowed in worry.
"What to do, what to do? It's all because we suppressed him too much when he was in school. Look how much he's been pent up; his fetishes have developed to such extreme levels..."
Finally, the woman in the silk skirt covered her chest with both hands and sighed, "Alas, well, at least there is good news—my beloved likes women, not... he is attracted to men more than women."
She flicked her hand, scattering the handful of broken willow twigs: "Forget it, who cares? As long as I can marry a woman from one of the five surnames and carry on the family line, that's enough. As for his bedroom preferences... let him do as he pleases!"
"Also, this half-sister won't do. She admires strength but is timid, clever but indecisive, and can't capture Tanlang's heart... We need to add a suitable beautiful maid to Tanlang's room another day to warm his bed and keep him company. Let him do whatever he wants, as long as it doesn't get out!"
Madam Zhen stood quietly on the veranda for a while. Before leaving, she turned her head and glanced at a peach blossom peeking out from behind the high red wall, muttering to herself:
"Logically speaking, even if we travel by land, it should only take a few days longer than traveling by water. Why haven't they arrived yet? If they don't come soon, Tanlang will be heading down the mountain..."
...
Night falls, at the Sanhui Courtyard, at the dinner table.
Ouyang Rong and Zhen Shi sat at a round table eating. Banxi, who had some red marks on her forehead, was served by several maids who served the aunt and nephew rice and dishes.
None of them spoke, their expressions unchanged, as if the events of the morning had never happened. Ouyang Rong glanced at their thin foreheads without making a sound.
Actually, there wasn't much to say at the dinner table. In this day and age, people believe in not talking while eating or sleeping, unless it's something important.
Dinner ended quickly. Madam Zhen gave Ouyang Rong a few words of advice and then left with Banxi and the others. Ouyang Rong saw them off at the gate of the courtyard.
"Tanlang, go back and get some rest."
"My aunt is too."
It was the middle of the night again when Ouyang Rong woke up. He turned over and subconsciously reached under his pillow, groping around haphazardly, only to find it empty... before he realized what was going on.
"What are you touching? There are no phones now... I must have been sleeping too much." He muttered, giving a wry smile. "But if you want to touch girls, you can do it during the day, so why not, hmm?"
Ouyang Rong rolled over, lying on his back in the darkness, staring at the pitch-black ceiling. He thought back to what had happened during the day, and how Zhen Shi, though silent, had always longed for the five noble families' daughters to bring glory to their lineage. He was aware of these thoughts among the women around him, but…
"I'm sorry, but I still want to go home. I don't want to be tied down." A voice sighed softly in the darkness, then murmured, "Does anyone achieve perfect merit, attain Buddhahood in their physical body, and ascend to the Pure Land...?"
Ouyang Rong suddenly sat up, and the next second he rolled out of bed, quietly dressed, and looked at the bright moonlight in front of the bed.
He wants to go to the Pure Land Palace again.
...
Thank you to my dear brothers "The Humble at the Bottom of the World", "It's Frost's Descent", "Sleepless Night", "Rain Turns to Sunshine, a Thousand Rivers Dance", "Drunk in the Cold of a Thousand Provinces", "Syfct", "Three Days Fishing, Two Days Sleeping", "Mysterious Mysteries", "Wan Ying Lan Yuan", "Don't Want to Cry After the Rain", "The Newbie Shivering in the Corner", "Book Friend 20220810084318832", "Ink Pride", and "The Magic Weapon of the Small Fish is the Dust-Sweeping Blade" for your generous donations and votes! Love you all~
(End of this chapter)
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