Chapter 21 Chapter 21 The night was getting cooler, the government office...
It was getting a little cool at night, but the lights in the main room of the yamen were on. Xie Xunzhi's almond-shaped eyes were reflected in the firelight, and he was looking at her with suspicion.
"Tsk!" Hezhou's voice trembled with anxiety. He felt a little regretful for making Xie Xunzhi happy just now.
"I swear I'm not lying to you! If there's someone above me, there will be thunder..."
Xie Xunzhi quickly covered his mouth: "I was just asking, thinking that if there really is something, you don't have to hide it from me. Anyway, I am... also a person with nowhere to go."
Hezhou jumped to his feet and sat down with his legs twisted. "Xunzhi, why don't we play it safe? You definitely can't get registered now. Not having an identity in Cailan is actually a protection for us. I'll take the family tree and add your name to it tomorrow. If we find out, we can just say you've been traveling for a long time and haven't been able to get registered."
He raised his eyebrows at Xie Xunzhi, a smile on his face.
"Alright..."
Xie Xunzhi stared at him straight, his tone full of confusion and hesitation: "If what you told me is true, then we will be in trouble."
"How do you say that?"
Xie Xunzhi looked through the window, his face becoming serious. "Think about it, who in the Chen Mansion would have the motive to steal this jade pendant? How could Master Chen not know about it? The Third Madam has been keeping it to herself to save the Fourth Madam's face. So, Master Chen is just trying to help the Fourth Madam out and test you."
"So I gave away my secrets under his tricks?" Hezhou felt a chill on the back of his neck and tried hard to follow Xie Xunzhi's train of thought.
He walked closer to the bed and put the quilt over Xie Xunzhi. His hands were cold when he touched him. The weather was bad today, it was overcast, and the room was filled with a musty smell.
Xie Xunzhi sighed: "Besides, the goods are not what they say. Mr. Chen is very proud, so it doesn't matter if you lie to me. But if you really don't have the bottom line..."
He looked at Hezhou with worry in his eyes and a frown on his face. If he was caught, he might use many despicable tricks. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Hezhou felt a pang of frustration for a moment, and said in a sullen tone, "If I were a relative, I would accept it."
"Let's take it one step at a time. We have to stay here. I think with your title, I can be a teacher for a few days. You can come with me to learn for a few days. When your injury is better, you can handle cases and gain a foothold." Xie Xunzhi gently blew out the candle and let down the bed curtains.
But some mosquitoes still flew in and buzzed around Hezhou's ears.
He found the right moment and slapped him on the leg, jumping out of the bed.
"Are you going to private school tomorrow?"
Xie Xunzhi leaned over and poked his cheek: "Do you have any concerns?"
Hezhou's eyes dimmed. "Why do I feel like I'm always holding you back? If I weren't the county magistrate, I could have accompanied you to find a good place, but I'm... Miss Huang, Old Song, Zhao An, and the others expect me to change this place... but I can't do anything."
His voice revealed confusion. He had always been fearless, but the first time he showed his fearlessness was when he found himself standing alone on the cliff in Hezhou.
"You're overthinking it. If they expect you to make changes here, it means you've done well enough. If anything happens, we'll fight it together." Xie Xunzhi said softly.
"Besides...you saved my life today. Without you, I would be nothing but a corpse."
Hezhou murmured "hmm".
He lifted his sprained foot and hugged Xie Xunzhi sideways, the faint scent of ink filling his nose.
I don’t know how many times the roosters crowed in the morning, but Hezhou got up with dark circles under his eyes.
The temperature next to me had long since died down, so the mosquito coils were lit again, and the cool fragrance filled the room.
He walked out in his underwear and felt pain in his ankle as soon as he stepped onto the ground. There was a covered porcelain bowl of breakfast on the table. He grabbed a coarse grain cake and went to the yard.
Outside, spring rolls and lotus flowers were circling around two white black chickens with their legs tied.
"Where did the chicken come from?" Hezhou grabbed a thumb-sized pancake and threw it on the ground.
"My lord, it was sent by Aunt Wu. She brought it here this morning and said that she knew the rules and that this government office is a place where you can't come without money. She kept asking us to accept it, but then she threw it away and ran away. Mr. Xie couldn't persuade her, so he bought it and asked us to build a chicken coop." Chunjuan supported him.
Hezhou sneered as he heard this: "Where did this rumor come from? Don't let me find that grandson. How can I find him?"
"Master Xie went to the private school this morning. He said that everything will be arranged and he will pick you up in the afternoon. Master, please eat first."
Chunjuan helped her sit at the table. After eating, Hezhou applied ointment on himself. He found a half-person-high fire poker from the kitchen and walked around the yard.
Finally, when he asked for the direction of the private school for the 800th time, Xie Xunzhi came back with a bamboo basket full of vegetables.
Hezhou tried to take the basket, but Xie Xunzhi dodged him and supported him with another hand. He lowered his head and looked at his ankle: "Why don't you rest? How do you feel?"
"I'm fine! Why didn't you call me this morning? Didn't you say you would take me to the private school?"
"Go and see if it's suitable." Xie Xunzhi helped Hezhou into the house, then took the basket to the kitchen. The smoke from the burning dry leaves was particularly thick.
He grabbed a handful and blocked the fire mouth, waiting for smoke to come out of the chimney. After a while, as the smoke in the house dissipated, a Hezhou throwing oranges appeared in the corner.
Hezhou looked at the stove seriously and asked, "Xunzhi, do you think it's okay to roast oranges underneath?"
Xie Xunzhi snatched the orange from mid-air and placed it next to the pot: "Eat less, it'll make you angry. Didn't you say you wanted to reclaim some wasteland? What are you planning to plant?"
"I want to open two plots, one to plant wheat, and the other to plant..." Hezhou lowered his head and thought for a while: "I want to try planting chives. Rooted seedlings are best, but as for seeds, the survival rate is also a consideration. Other seeds are also fine."
His eyes twinkled as he spoke: "How about Xunzhi, are you interested in investing?"
"That sounds good. We really need it, but..." Xie Xunzhi hesitated for a moment and sighed, "Everything else is easy, but the seeds are difficult. I saw that the granary of She Lan was empty. The county magistrate gave no reason. It's reasonable to say that they were eaten up by disasters in the past."
"Actually, I've already figured out where the seeds come from." Hezhou waved his hand mysteriously and asked him to come over.
Xie Xunzhi stared at the fire on the stove and approached: "What do you mean?"
"The servant who searched with me that day had an uncle who set up a stall to buy this. His son wanted to enter the official career, but he failed for a long time. The servant asked me again and again about recruiting him." Hezhou raised his eyebrows at him, standing on tiptoe, and was greeted with a knock on the head.
He was a little dazed: "What's the matter?"
Xie Xunzhi continued cooking without saying a word. The rising steam obscured his expression, but the corners of his mouth could be vaguely seen to be stretched straight.
"What's wrong?" Hezhou jumped in front of him on one foot, tugged at his sleeve, still confused.
"It's just...it's okay, but if I recruit someone to let me off...I'm afraid it will cause trouble in the future." Xie Xunzhi looked embarrassed.
Deep down, he wasn't willing to lie about this, but...
"That's it!" Hezhou breathed a sigh of relief: "You scared me."
He glanced at Xie Xunzhi and saw that he was still there, so he began to explain: "Don't worry, it's not that idea. Didn't Mr. Chen discuss with me to let the grocery store tell me about the job opening? I can follow this clue to find the doorman's uncle's house, right? And by the way, I can discuss business with him."
"What business?"
"I see that most of the plows in the fields are old two-legged plows. I want to draw a picture of a four-legged plow. There is a lot of wood here... He makes it and rents it instead of buying it. He can make money and speed up seed sales at the same price. I'm thinking of doing this for you. Does it sound feasible?" Hezhou said slowly, still lacking confidence in his heart.
He thought about it carefully, and made sure again and again if there were any loopholes in this plan. His hands hanging by his side trembled slightly.
Xie Xunzhi served the dishes and placed them on the stove: "It's not impossible. This way, we will completely break with the Chen family."
"I feel it's a matter of time... Besides, Zhao An is still waiting to see the results." Hezhou picked up the chopsticks and wiped the tips of the chopsticks.
He picked up the cabbage with chopsticks and screamed in pain from the heat, tears welling up in his eyes.
Xie Xunzhi quickly poured him a glass of water: "Are you okay?"
Hezhou held the water in his mouth, shook his head and jumped, then handed the orange to Xie Xunzhi, looking at him embarrassedly.
"I'll peel it for you." Xie Xunzhi looked at the fire and stuffed the orange flesh into Hezhou's hand: "Go and wait for dinner! You still have to go to the private school with me later."
"Okay." Hezhou supported himself with the stick and jumped back.
The dishes came up soon. Spring Rolls and Lotus were still a little uncomfortable, so they reluctantly sat down near the door.
After dinner, Hezhou sat in the yard, waiting for them to put the two chicks in the small pen surrounded by the fence. He fed them some leftovers. The two chicks were listless and didn't chirp, but just squatted on the ground.
"Are these two chickens really scared?"
Xie Xunzhi filled a basin with water and washed his hands. "It won't last long. The rooster won't lay eggs, so it's just right for you to replenish your body."
Hezhou Xiaoxiao carried a backpack with paper and pen in it, and followed Xie Xunzhi to the private school. Before leaving, he wanted to take a fire poker with him, but he threw it on the ground after taking only two steps.
A stick is no match for supporting Xie Xunzhi!
Xie Xunzhi would still carefully support him, and if something was wrong, his eyes would flash and he would nervously watch his lips move slightly: "If I had known, I would have let you come later."
"It's okay!" Hezhou became much more obedient after that. He touched his chin guiltily. In fact, the injury was not that serious. The swelling had gone down yesterday. It just looked bruised and purple.
When he saw Xie Xunzhi's extremely worried look, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction and itchy in his heart. The feeling was like a bottomless pit that needed to be fed soon.
It was called a private school, but it was just a thatched hut surrounded by a fence, with uniform small low tables inside, which looked tattered and had been used for a long time.
Xie Xunzhi and he arrived early because they walked slowly, and there was no one inside when they arrived.
Hezhou sat next to him at the front desk, helping to grind the ink, looking around with his head raised. This place was okay in the summer, but wouldn't it be terribly cold in the winter?
Before he could ask Xie Xunzhi how long he wanted to do this, a brush was stuffed into his hand, and one hand held his and the other hand helped him adjust his posture.
"Practice your posture first. I'll assign you to sit at the high table in the back. Take the rice paper with you when you leave, so you don't get caught."
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