"really?"
Duan Tingxuan swallowed his saliva, and his voice was actually a little nervous and excited. Su Nuannuan looked at him strangely and whispered, "Do I have to lie to you? What's wrong? Is there something I don't know? Hmm! Could it be that the gods descended on them by themselves? They also want to play tricks like Emperor Gaozu of Han killed the white snake, just to win people's hearts?"
"I don't think they can pull off such a grand event. But there is one thing you must not know." Duan Tingxuan lowered his voice even more when he said this, and then he said word by word: "Do you remember that white stone? The place where I picked it up was opposite to the mountain where the gods descended."
"White stone?" Su Nuannuan was puzzled, but then she remembered that it was said to be a clue left by Long Pingzhang before his death, but she, Duan Tingxuan and Su Donglou had not figured it out. Could it be that Duan Tingxuan had an idea today? This thought made her excited, and she hurriedly whispered: "What? Did you figure out the secret of the white stone? Could it be related to the descent of the gods today?"
"I just have an idea, but I don't know if it's right." Duan Tingxuan touched his chin, thought for a while and said softly: "The stone path is slanting up the cold mountain, and there are houses deep in the white clouds. I stop the car and sit to enjoy the maple forest in the evening, the frosted leaves are redder than the flowers in February."
Su Nuannuan understood it now. Her eyes sparkled and she murmured, "Yes, could it be that the key is not this poem, but the second line of the poem, 'There is a family in the depths of the white clouds?' Is there a key person living in the mountains where the gods descended?"
"You thought of this immediately?" Duan Tingxuan's face was even more excited. He put the chopped green onions on the plate. Seeing Su Nuannuan picked up a few more eggs for him to stir, he moved closer to his wife while stirring the eggs and whispered, "I saw it clearly at that place at the beginning. There are mostly maple trees in the mountains opposite. It's ridiculous that I claim to be smart. I didn't take such a huge clue to heart and ignored it. I knew Pingzhang was not good at this. Every time he set a riddle, it must be the simplest and easiest to understand. But I had to think about the complicated things. Now it seems. His white stone clearly told me that I stopped the car and sat in the maple forest in the evening, and there is a house deep in the white clouds. If our guess is correct, the hermit in the mountains must be very important. I suspect that Pingzhang's death is likely because he discovered this hermit."
"That makes a lot of sense." Su Nuannuan was also excited: After coming to Jiangnan, they had been unable to make any progress. Even the couple were now in danger. Now, suddenly, the clues were in front of them. How could they not be overjoyed? It was like a person who had walked into a dead end, and suddenly turned a corner and saw a clear view in front of him. This was the true meaning of "when you are at the end of your rope, you will find a way out."
In a good mood, Su Nuannuan showed off her cooking skills, using the abundant ingredients in this small, narrow kitchen to prepare four cold dishes and eight hot dishes.
It was already noon when they finished. Luqi came over to serve the meal, and when she saw the stove and chopping board full of food, she couldn't help but stare at it, muttering, "Didn't the master only ask you to prepare three or five dishes? Why did you prepare so many? Fortunately, Madam Wang, you can show your skills. This is different from the big kitchen in our house."
Su Nuannuan quickly said a few humble words. How could the couple still be thinking about these dishes? Seeing that green mountain was slowly left behind and finally disappeared, the two were really anxious.
However, no matter how anxious they were, there was nothing they could do. They couldn't just think of an excuse to jump off the boat right now, as that would only arouse suspicion. Therefore, the couple had to be patient and think of a way to ask Su Donglou to send someone to investigate after they returned.
The journey was smooth and we arrived in Jinling two days later.
The Prince of Xiangyang also has a palace in Jinling, and its luxury simply makes Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuannuan amazed. Even the young marquis said: If you don't go to Jiangnan, you won't know the extravagance of the Prince of Xiangyang. It seems that the emperor must not know it. If he knew that his brother lived a more comfortable life than him, according to the temperament of that family, Su Nuannuan estimated that the Prince of Xiangyang would have been recalled to Beijing to be an idle prince.
Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuannuan did not have to worry about other tasks except serving Lu Fengyu. Therefore, they were not as busy as other servants and had a leisurely two days. It happened to be cloudy that day, with a light breeze and no strong sun, which was a rare good and cool weather. So the couple discussed going out for a walk, anyway, they could come back before noon and not delay dinner.
Jinling's prosperity was also among the top three in the Great Yin Dynasty. There were crowds of people along the way, and the two of them lost interest after just a while, thinking that there were too many people. Just as they were about to go back, they heard a noise coming from the front.
Su Nuannuan was a nosy person. When she heard the noise, she became curious and pulled her husband into the crowd. She saw an old woman lying on the ground with two carriages parked beside her. Both sides were blaming each other, saying that the other had hit someone and it had nothing to do with them.
Su Nuannuan was so angry that she walked up to the old woman who was lying on the ground and groaning without saying a word. She looked up and shouted at the two people who were blaming each other: "Shut up. Since the responsibility cannot be clearly defined, then both of you should pay compensation." The two guys didn't care about the old woman who was knocked to the ground, but were eager to shirk responsibility. Su Nuannuan arbitrarily concluded that this was an example of "no one is good", so both sides should be punished.
The two were startled by Su Nuannuan. Seeing someone meddling in other people's business, they were angry and asked Su Nuannuan who she was to the old woman. But she sneered and said, "I am not related to this old woman. I just came to her aid when I saw injustice. You two have been arguing endlessly, but you have ignored the old woman. When you have a conclusion, the old woman will not know what will happen. So I will not wait for you to come to a conclusion. You two will both pay compensation. After you pay, you two can go and argue about who hit the person. When you have a conclusion, the person who hit the person will pay the money to the person who did not hit the person." She had already seen that the old woman's trouser legs were bright red. Did she get scratched by a sharp stone when she fell to the ground? If it was just a flesh wound, it would not be a big deal. The most feared thing was a fracture.
Seeing that Su Nuannuan acted decisively and was kindhearted, the people watching the excitement could not help but praise her, saying that this was a good idea, otherwise they would go to the government and let the master judge. The two carriages did not want to cause trouble, and seeing the turmoil in the crowd, they might get beaten if they continued to argue. The wise saying that a good man does not suffer a loss in front of him rang in their minds, so they had to glare at Su Nuannuan while each of them took out five taels of silver and gave it to the old woman. Then they got on the carriage and left.
Seeing them take out the money so readily, Su Nuannuan knew that they themselves didn't know who hit the old woman. So she put the silver into the old woman's pocket, helped her up, and asked a few questions. Seeing that the old woman just shook her head, she realized that she was a mute. So even though she was extremely anxious, she couldn't say a word for herself. If it weren't for Su Nuannuan's nosy nature, she would probably just have to admit that she was unlucky today.
There was no clinic nearby, so Duan Tingxuan carried the old woman on his back for two streets before he found a clinic. Fortunately, the old woman only had skin injuries and no fractures. Although she could not speak, she kept bowing and gesturing to thank the two. Su Nuannuan saw that it was inconvenient for her to walk, and asked her that her home was not far from here, so she became more enthusiastic and decided to do her best to send the old woman back home.
Sure enough, within two quarters of an hour, we arrived at the old woman's house. It was a deep and narrow alley, and the courtyard at the end was the old woman's house. With red tiles and white walls, it looked like a well-off family. There were a few clumps of peonies planted outside the wooden door, which were in full bloom at this time, and it was pleasing to the eye.
After knocking on the door a few times, someone came out to open the door. It was a beautiful young woman in her thirties. She was shocked to see the old woman injured. After listening to Su Nuannuan's story, the young woman thanked the couple profusely and insisted on inviting them in for a cup of tea. Su Nuannuan didn't want to go in, but through the open wooden door, she suddenly saw a few green seedlings in the corner of the yard, which looked like pepper seedlings, and her heart suddenly warmed up.
Duan Tingxuan was about to refuse according to his wife's signal, and just said: "No need to thank me, it's my duty to help when I encounter injustice on the road, and we are in a hurry to go back to work..." Just when he said this, he heard Su Nuannuan smiled and said: "It's okay, no matter how anxious you are, there is still time for a cup of tea."
The young marquis was choked for a moment, looking at his lover in confusion, not understanding what Nuannuan was doing. It was obvious that she wanted to "finish her work and leave to hide her achievements and fame", wasn't it?
The young woman was also stunned, then she invited the two in with a smile. Seeing the young marquis also followed in, she couldn't help but smile secretly with her hands covering her lips. When she looked at Su Nuannuan again, her eyes were full of sympathy. So the young marquis knew: the male owner of this family must be having a hard time.
After drinking a cup of tea and listening to the young woman's euphemism, Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuannuan learned about their family situation: it turned out that the old woman was the young woman's mother-in-law. Because the young woman's husband went out to sea with those cargo ships all year round, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law depended on each other for seven or eight months a year. Although the mother-in-law was mute, she was very hardworking. In addition to helping her daughter-in-law with housework, she occasionally liked to go to the market. Today, her daughter-in-law got up early and was busy weaving cloth. She didn't even eat a few bites of lunch. Seeing that her daughter-in-law had worked hard for several days to catch up with the work, the old woman decided to go to the market to buy some meat and eggs to reward her capable daughter-in-law, but she didn't expect this to happen.
Su Nuannuan gave a few instructions. After hearing the young woman say that she would take this as a lesson and would not let her mother-in-law go out alone in the future, she stopped talking and pretended to turn her gaze to the window casually, looking at the lush greenery in the yard. Suddenly, she pointed to the corner of the east wall and said with interest, "There are a few seedlings there. I don't think I have seen them before. I wonder what they are. Can you take me to see them?"
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