Chapter 918 Li Shu: Ah Liang, you're great!
Li Wan glanced at his expression discreetly and said:
“Sun said that the dining hall was worried that you would cause Li Xiaoxianzi and the others to break the rules again. In addition, you are still a newcomer and not very familiar with the dining hall, which is why that incident happened... So after discussion, it was decided that you would go to the purchasing room of the dining hall as a servant, go down the mountain to work, and avoid the limelight... Do some odd jobs for a while and get familiar with the rules.”
Ouyang Rong immediately grasped the key information:
"Buying a house? Going down the mountain for work?"
"Um."
Li Wan sighed and slowly said:
"This purchasing office is responsible for communicating with the chefs of each canteen about their ingredient needs. Every month, they send a team down the mountain to Taoyuan Town to purchase fresh ingredients..."
After listening, Ouyang Rong remained silent.
At the same time, he remained calm and composed.
Li Wan glanced at him, unsure of his mood.
Thinking that Ouyang Rong was unhappy, he whispered words of advice:
"Mrs. Sun said that it's not that she didn't try to help you, but perhaps because of the matter of the two goddesses, people in various parts of the dining hall think that you are a naive and ignorant young man. The heads of places such as the accounting office, the storeroom, the tea room, and the pastry room are all declining and dare not accept you."
"It just so happened that the purchasing department was short of people to run errands, and after much persuasion from the Sun family, they finally arranged for you to go there."
Ouyang Rong, with a stern face and tightly pursed lips, turned his head and stared at Li Wan.
Li Wan was also a little embarrassed. She raised her hand holding the handkerchief and pressed it down in the air, speaking in a comforting tone:
"I know you're not feeling well. This is hard work, and you have to run back and forth. I heard it's very troublesome every time you go down the mountain. Even your own people have to go through layers of checks at the thatched cottage."
"But there's no way around it. You don't want to reveal Miss Liu Qing's name because you're afraid it will have a bad impact on her, which I understand..."
Ouyang Rong suddenly spoke, his tone somewhat reluctant:
"Okay, I'll do it. That's settled then. When will I go to buy the house and report for duty?"
Seeing this, Li Wan breathed a slight sigh of relief, finally managing to persuade them to stop.
She smiled slightly:
"You can report for duty tomorrow. I heard that a group of purchasing assistants will be going down the mountain the day after tomorrow. You can go with them. Actually, this job is only busy for a short period of time each month when they go down the mountain. Most of the time it's quite leisurely..."
"Uh-huh."
As if preparing herself mentally, Li Wan continued to ramble on for a while.
Not long after, seeing that Ouyang Rong seemed absent-minded, she took her leave.
Before leaving, Li Wan seemed to remember something. She paused at the door, lowered her head, took something out of her bosom, and gently placed it on the small table by the door.
"Oh, right, this is the handkerchief you borrowed the night before last. I washed it. I'm really ashamed. I was a little emotional that night and was somewhat impolite. I hope you won't take offense... I've left it here."
She spoke with a normal expression, though her tone was somewhat embarrassed.
Ouyang Rong turned his head and glanced at the dignified back of the noblewoman who was about to leave by the door.
The woman did not turn around; she folded her handkerchief neatly and placed it on the table.
She handled the matter of returning the handkerchief very well, just like she helped him find out about the situation from Mrs. Sun today, and helped him out of friendship.
He handled things smoothly and gracefully, and his interpersonal skills were just right.
She was still the same Mrs. Li, who possessed high emotional intelligence and was adept at social maneuvering.
The noblewoman's haggard appearance and weeping the night before, as well as her heartfelt confessions, were as if they had never happened.
If it weren't for this clean handkerchief, even Ouyang Rong would have almost forgotten about it.
Perhaps it's because it's daytime now.
Under the bright sunshine, everyone must dress smartly and act politely when going out, and some emotions must be suppressed.
Even when two people are face-to-face, the atmosphere during the day and at night is completely different.
Once it gets dark, it's like removing armor; many things are easily exposed. But once it gets light, they retract and become inconvenient to show.
The ways of the world are truly fascinating.
"I have to go now, Brother Liang. Get some rest, it's good time to prepare..."
Li Wan casually left the handkerchief behind, said her piece, and then departed.
The boundaries of certain secular identities have returned.
However, the event did happen, no matter how much you forget it.
The relationship between the two sides has finally become closer.
For example, today Li Wan helps go find Madam Sun.
This can be considered mutual assistance between neighbors with good relationships.
Ouyang Rong was well aware of this, and in fact, he was happy to keep things this way.
Or rather, it was supposed to be this way; the atmosphere that night when I stumbled upon Li Wan hiding in the woods, weeping, was rather strange.
Ouyang Rong's biggest worry at the time was that the newly redeemed double-color blessing would come true there, which would be awkward.
Fortunately, it turned out that... This blessing bell is still somewhat humane.
Ouyang Rong walked to the door, put away his handkerchief, and seeing that Li Wan had walked away, he closed the courtyard gate directly.
Back inside, he closed the door tightly, and a slight smile crept onto his lips.
After Li Wan finished speaking, Ouyang Rong had to put in a lot of effort to control his wooden expression and prevent his emotions from showing.
Unexpectedly, he was assigned a good job going down the mountain to Taoyuan Town!
This is hardly a demotion; it's clearly a reward, just what I wanted.
He had been worried about not having the opportunity to go down the mountain to deal with things like the white sturgeon.
Now that's great, I was just feeling sleepy when someone handed me a pillow.
The young man in the monk's robe rubbed his face vigorously.
However, there was one thing he still didn't understand.
Since the double blessing does not apply to Li Shu and Li Wan, where will it be fulfilled?
Based on past experience, blessings associated with the color peach should be related to women.
Ouyang Rong pondered for a moment, then shook his head, his brows relaxing.
"What's meant to happen will happen; there's no need to rush it. Li Shu's situation is a great lesson."
He turned to pack his belongings for the trip down the mountain, muttering to himself:
"After exchanging blessings, if you try to reverse the process of everything using the two-color blessings, it will easily affect your judgment, and this will lead to bad things in the long run... Just let nature take its course."
...
The third day, in the morning.
Outside the Qingliang Valley dining hall, a boat was moored and waiting, with servants coming and going, carrying boxes.
Most of the boxes were empty, because they were meant to be used to fill up the boxes and bring them back after they were shipped out.
This is the boat for purchasing houses. We're setting off today, leaving Jianze and heading down the mountain.
Ouyang Rong was also among the menial workers carrying boxes.
Most of the servants in Jianze were women, and strong men like Ouyang Rong were rare. Most of the men were elderly, and many of them could no longer do manual labor, only sweeping the floor and such. They had been in Yunmeng Jianze for many years... No wonder the purchasing department needed a young and strong man like Ouyang Rong.
In fact, there were some honest, middle-aged men among the men doing odd jobs. They were all husbands of the older women, and the couples did the odd jobs together.
These menial laborers almost all came from the vicinity of Yunmengze. They were either impoverished or had almost met with disaster and had nowhere to go. They were rescued by passing Yue women and brought up the mountain to work as menial laborers, as a way to repay Jianze and at the same time to make a living.
Few people have left behind records in the same way as Ouyang Rong and Wu Cui.
Ouyang Rong was the newest and youngest of the menial servants.
Because of the deteriorating relationship between Yunmeng Jianze and the Great Zhou Dynasty, Jianze has been completely closed off. Most of the channels for communication with the secular world below the mountain have been shut down, and the Yue women rarely go out anymore, let alone bring any poor families up the mountain.
Even when buying houses to purchase daily necessities, they can only stop in Taoyuan Town at most and cannot go any further... Moreover, they must be led down the mountain by a special Yue woman and must not leave her sight without permission.
So looking back, if it weren't for using Aqing to lure out Lady Zhishuang, Ouyang Rong would have had almost no chance of getting in.
Ouyang Rong reported to the purchasing office yesterday, and since there was a group of Yue women going down the mountain to purchase goods today, he was assigned to the group.
Under the morning sun, the boats that had come ashore rocked with the waves, occasionally crashing into the rocks on the shore.
"Hurry up, everyone. You can put the wooden boxes and barrels anywhere for now. We'll have to move them onto the fairies' big ship later, so don't arrange them too neatly... Be quick and efficient, don't dawdle..."
A woman with a long face stood by the boat, her eyes fixed on Ouyang Rong and the other laborers who were carrying goods.
Beside her was an elderly man in plain clothes. The old man seemed to be literate, holding a list and looking it over, occasionally exchanging a few words with the woman with the long face.
This woman was the manager of the purchasing department of the canteen. I heard that her surname was Chen, and everyone around called her Madam Chen.
Ouyang Rong arrived relatively early, but he didn't chat with his new colleagues. He remained taciturn, buried in his work, and didn't stop for a moment.
As he passed by Madam Chen, she glanced right past him, seemingly not paying him any attention.
His companions, whether working or resting, mostly ignored him and no one came to talk to him.
Occasionally, one or two pairs of eyes would be cast over, but they would quickly look away.
Ouyang Rong knew perfectly well that it was because of his previous act of secretly feeding Li Shu.
The servants in these quarters are the most well-informed; everyone in the purchasing department has heard about his situation.
Everyone regarded him as an unlucky fellow who had offended the two goddesses, so naturally no one took the initiative to get to know him.
In fact, Ouyang Rong had already sensed this atmosphere when he arrived to purchase the house yesterday.
Madam Chen and the others treated him rather indifferently and perfunctorily, adopting a purely businesslike attitude.
His colleagues around him also avoided him somewhat. Although they were very curious about him, they suppressed their curiosity and did not want to get involved.
Actually, there's another layer of history behind this, which Ouyang Rong only figured out in the last two days.
In fact, all the miscellaneous tasks within Yunmeng Sword Marsh are managed by the Second Lady and her Yue women.
Ouyang Rong offended the two goddesses because of Li Shu's matter. Even though the latter were magnanimous and did not punish Ouyang Rong, the servants, including Sun Shi, did not dare to gamble on the possibility of something going wrong, so they made some overt or covert gestures.
There are many twists and turns in this, Ouyang Rong shook his head, too lazy to think about it anymore.
This feels even more troublesome than finding an opportunity to beat up that little lady Zhishuang again.
However, there is nothing new under the sun. Even in the isolated Yunmeng Sword Marsh, the lowly servants still cannot escape the coldness and warmth of human relationships.
Ouyang Rong was quite pleased with this.
His purpose in coming down the mountain was to find an opportunity to search for the white sturgeon and explore Lu Changgeng's tomb again. If someone paid attention to him and became familiar with him, it would only cause trouble.
Now, I'm quite happy to have some peace and quiet.
As she pondered, a Yue woman approached from a distance, and Aunt Chen immediately went forward to greet her.
After the Yue woman said a few words, Aunt Chen paused for a moment, then nodded and respectfully saw her off.
The woman with the horse-like face turned to the group of people buying houses and said:
"After you finish moving the goods, you can rest here for a while, but don't go too far. Rest for two hours, and then we will set off to meet the fairy's ship."
Ouyang Rong understood immediately. It must be that the Yue women who went down the mountain were delayed, otherwise, why would Chen give them time to rest? She had just been urging everyone to hurry up.
Ouyang Rong found a corner to sit down, leaned against the box, and wiped his forehead with the handkerchief around his neck.
At the same time, observe the left and right sides.
At one point, the bamboo tube at his waist "twitched," but he immediately reached out and pressed it down with his palm.
Ouyang Rong said in a barely audible voice:
"Stop fooling around."
The ingenious idea of the ink stick's shape inside the bamboo tube popped up again.
Ouyang Rong shook his head and did not open the bamboo tube to let her out.
Last night, after hearing that we could go down the mountain, Miaosi was overjoyed. She played all night and only went to sleep when she was tired at dawn. She probably just woke up.
Ouyang Rong touched the bamboo tube filled with water. Inside, in a hidden compartment, were a painting of Peach Blossom Spring and a magic ink stick.
After Li Shu's incident, the matter of the dining hall should be put aside for now to avoid the limelight.
His purpose in "going down the mountain to buy things" was simple: to resolve the matter of Lu Changgeng's tomb, first obtain the Kui Xing Talisman left by Cui Hao, then settle the white sturgeon and see if he should bring it into Jianze.
If there is extra time, I will see if I can send a message to Xunyang in Jiangzhou to contact Yan Liulang.
Ouyang Rongcui lowered his eyes and, among the resting servants, silently took out some dry rations and took a bite.
"Mmm mmm mmm."
Just as he was about to close his eyes and take a nap in the sun, he suddenly heard a familiar nasal voice coming from below the boat.
Frowning, I looked over and sure enough, a short-legged little girl appeared at the boarding entrance.
The girl was wearing a dirty Wu-style skirt, which showed that she often fell. The fabric was worn out and patched up the most around the knees.
While everyone on and off the boat was stunned, her short legs took off with full speed, and her figure "whooshed" up.
Li Shu had a clear goal and didn't give anyone time to react. She ran past them and came to Ouyang Rong.
She tilted her head back, staring longingly at the motionless young man in monk's robes, and bit her thumbnail as she said:
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"
Ouyang Rong's face was stern, and his tone was not friendly:
Speak like a human.
Li Shu let go, then gave him a thumbs-up and said crisply:
"Liu Aliang! Here, take this!"
Upon hearing the short-legged little girl speak human language, Ouyang Rong took a deep breath and composed himself.
He glanced at the little girl's thumb tip, glistening with drool, and resolutely refused:
"I won't eat it."
"No, it's not about eating!"
Ouyang Rong remained expressionless, continuing to shake his head in a stiff tone:
"I'm out of food here."
"No, no, no..."
Li Shu shook her head vigorously, circling Ouyang Rong twice in eager anticipation.
The commotion caused by the two to make people around them, including Aunt Chen, look at each other in bewilderment.
Li Shu ran back to the front, tugged at Ouyang Rong's sleeve, and said in a clear, childlike voice:
"Follow me!"
Having said that, she grabbed his sleeve, turned around, and ran off the boat.
Ouyang Rong looked around with a mixture of belief and doubt. Seeing that Aunt Chen and the others didn't seem to mind, he reluctantly followed them...
(End of this chapter)
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