Argumentation of Fragrance
After the fleeting dusk came the suffocating darkness of night. Xiao Le, carrying cotton-padded trousers and shoes, rushed into the library in two strides, his face flushed from the cold weather, shouting "Ah Chou!"
Huddled in the corner, sleepy Ah Chou peeked out from under his large, fluffy cloak and rubbed his eyes wearily.
"How did you end up sleeping here? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Xiao Le stared at the familiar fur for a moment, then remembered where she had seen it before and exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "Isn't this Wang Zun's clothes? How did it end up here!"
A Chou, who was still confused, was startled by the exclamation and struggled to stretch out his arm from the pile of fur, tugging at Xiao Le's clothes to make him quiet down.
Xiao Le quickly covered her mouth, squatted down, and asked in a low voice, "Wang Zun was here just now?"
Ah Chou nodded.
"Was this garment left to you by Wang Zun?"
Ah Chou nodded again.
"Did the King reprimand you?"
Ah Chou thought for a moment and nodded.
Xiao Le's eyes widened, and she grabbed Ah Chou's arm, shaking it anxiously. "What! What did she say to you? She's not going to kick you out of the palace, is she?!"
Feeling dizzy and lightheaded, Ah Chou shook his head with difficulty, grabbed Xiao Le's hand and squeezed it, signaling him to calm down.
Jiang Yan Hui didn't kick him out of the manor, she just almost gouged out his eyes.
Because of Ah Chou's inability to speak, Xiao Le learned to use questions instead of answers during their time together. After asking a few key questions, he roughly understood the cause and effect.
Xiao Le touched the thick, wonderfully soft cloak and said somewhat unrealistically, "You mean Wang Zun came to get the book, saw you shivering from the cold, and kindly left such an expensive coat to keep you warm?"
Ah Chou felt that the word "kind-hearted" didn't quite fit Jiang Yan Hui, because he had to gouge out his own eyes before giving him the clothes.
However, it was too troublesome to express, and he hadn't actually gouged out Jiang Yanhui's eyes, so Ah Chou reluctantly agreed to Xiao Le's description of Jiang Yanhui as kind.
Xiao Le asked hesitantly, "The smoothness and thickness of this fur is probably equivalent to three years' worth of expenses for a family. Should we return it to Wang Zun?"
Ah Chou blinked and shook his head decisively.
Jiang Yan threw away the bed he had slept in the moment he turned around, presumably because she wouldn't want anything he had touched. So even if this cloak were sent back, it would only be thrown away anyway.
The clothes were so warm, and Ah Chou's fair and tender face buried itself in the downy fur again; he couldn't bear to throw them away.
Xiao Le stood guard at the door while A Chou quickly changed into clean clothes.
He was half-draped and half-hugging a fluffy cloak, while Xiao Le, holding his wet trousers and shoes, looked at each other and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"The clothes are too big. Hanging on you, you look like a bear from a distance." Xiao Le laughed, tears welling in her eyes, while clutching her stomach.
The dark cloak looked dashing on the tall and slender Jiang Yan Hui, but on the short and thin A Chou, she had to stand on tiptoe to avoid dragging the ground. From a distance, she looked like a little bear cub standing up.
Ah Chou couldn't imagine how ridiculous his appearance was; he only knew that the fluffy fur clinging to his body was warm and he wasn't afraid of waking up from the cold when the charcoal fire went out at night.
They dawdled and joked along the way, taking up a lot of time. When they arrived at the house, the other four had already lit the charcoal brazier and were sitting around the small square table, chatting and eating melon seeds.
At first, no one reacted when they saw Xiao Le come in, but when Ah Chou, who was swaying and couldn't see where he was going, came in behind them, the four of them immediately lit up.
"Hey, Ugly, where did you get this cloak?" The man tossed some melon seeds, clapped his hands, and said greedily, "It looks like a good thing!"
Instead of being clumsy, Ah Chou nimbly turned around, bent down, and slipped away, dodging the other person's dirty hand that was about to touch her clothes. She rolled up her cloak and pushed her mattress up.
The man snorted dismissively and sat back down.
The servants lived in a room of six, sleeping side by side on a large communal bed made of bricks. When they lay down, their shoulders were touching, and if they turned over, they could easily roll onto the person next to them.
Last winter, someone fell into the water and froze to death in this house, so there was an empty spot for five people to live in temporarily. The place is much more spacious and comfortable, so much so that when Ah Chou first arrived, everyone was not welcoming.
In their room was a servant named Dazhuang, who, as his name suggested, was dark-skinned and robust. He was the one who had stayed in the palace the longest, and the others naturally centered their attention around him.
Da Zhuang pointed at Ah Chou with his finger, his thick eyebrows furrowing. "That thing wouldn't happen to be the master's, would it?"
"Ugly! You stole your master's things! How dare you!"
The one who jumped up and shouted was Shunzi, who had tried to touch the ball but failed. He was tall and thin, like a bamboo pole. He had been holding back his voice, probably waiting for his chance.
"What are you yelling about! You think you're so loud!" Xiao Le yelled back at him, unable to stand people who would smear Ah Chou for not knowing how to speak properly.
Staring at him, he said, enunciating each word clearly, "Listen to me carefully, this cloak was a gift from the King to Ah Chou. If any of you dare to touch or damage it, I'll tell Uncle Ban to chop off your claws!"
Since Xiao Le helped him stand up and defend himself, A Chou no longer just bowed his head and endured the bullying from the servants. When he couldn't speak, he would spread his arms wide and open his body to the maximum to cheer for Xiao Le and try to intimidate the other party.
The other four, who had initially mocked him mercilessly, now automatically ignored the weak and mute Ah Chou. After all, the mockery was like a breeze in Ah Chou's ear, completely useless, and sometimes he couldn't even understand what the other party was mocking.
Shunzi retorted defiantly, "Just because you say it was given by Wang Zun doesn't mean it was given by Wang Zun! Who knows if you're lying or not!"
Xiao Le crossed his arms and said smugly, "If you don't believe me, you can go ask Wang Zun. Stop talking nonsense here."
A tense contest ended in a complete victory for Xiao Le, who overwhelmingly crushed him. A Chou became Xiao Le's devoted follower, going wherever Xiao Le went.
I wasn't disturbed again until the lights were turned off and I went to sleep at night.
The temperature inside the room dropped significantly as soon as the charcoal brazier went out, and everyone unconsciously wrapped themselves tighter in their quilts, keeping their heads inside and unwilling to peek out.
Xiao Le closed her eyes tightly and curled up her legs, intending to fall asleep before her hands and feet got cold, so that she wouldn't be too cold to sleep and affect her work the next day.
Suddenly, a hot, sweaty hand reached into the blanket and poked his stomach haphazardly through his clothes.
Xiao Le poked his head out from under the covers and met A Chou's bright, sparkling eyes, silently asking him what was wrong.
A thick cloak was placed on top of a thin cotton quilt. Ah Chou lifted a corner of the quilt, smiled and gestured for Xiao Le to come in. Her little face, flushed from the heat, was filled with a happy smile.
Xiao Le waved his hands repeatedly.
Although they had only seen the King a few times while working in the Prince's mansion for many years, the King's majesty was in the hearts of every servant. They dared not be disrespectful even when facing the King's belongings, let alone this cloak which was given to Ah Chou by the King.
Ah Chou doesn't care whose things they are; once they've been given to him, they're his.
Seeing that Xiao Le was reluctant to come over, he simply shoved into Xiao Le's bed and pulled the cloak over himself.
A small heater appeared in the cold bed, and Xiao Le, whose hands and feet were freezing, quickly snuggled up to it, whispering, "I told you that soaking your feet at night would warm you up."
As the blankets gradually warmed up, Xiao Le happily pinched Ah Chou's soft cheeks and said joyfully, "It's so warm! With this, I'm no longer afraid of waking up from the cold at night."
Ah Chou's eyelids trembled with sleepiness, and her messy hair was pulled back down, but she still responded positively by nodding.
As her body warmed up, drowsiness crept in, and Xiao Le's eyelids grew heavy. She leaned closer to Ah Chou and murmured, "Sleep."
That night, a familiar and pleasant fragrance lingered around her nose. Ah Chou dreamed of Jiang Yan Hui again. Unlike the fear she usually felt in her dreams, this time Jiang Yan Hui in her dream was not so annoying.
—
The servants who got up early to clear the snow had just cleared a path when the weather turned bad and snowflakes began to fall again, quickly forming a thin layer of frost on the stone pavement.
The winding corridors framed different views, and the garden under the snow had a unique charm. Unfortunately, the servants, heads bowed and working, had no time to appreciate the scenery, and the master, walking briskly, did not stop.
"We definitely have to go back to the barracks for a meal on New Year's Eve. No matter what, I will bring you back." Lang Rong's attitude was firm and left no room for refusal. He followed closely behind Jiang Yan Hui, his cloak billowing.
Jiang Yan Hui, however, was completely unresponsive, so Lang Rong had to change tactics and try a softer approach, coaxing her gently, "I know you don't want to see Deng Jia Jin and the others, but after all, they are people sent by His Majesty. Even if you don't give Deng Jia Jin face, you still have to give His Majesty face, right?"
Jiang Yanhui's stern expression softened slightly, and she slowed her pace, clutching the book in her hand. She wondered, "I told her the year I left the capital not to send anyone who would get in the way to Lingzhou. Only ten years have passed! And she can't even hold on anymore!"
Jiang Yanhui's complaints about the Emperor were tinged with childlike annoyance, clearly showing her dissatisfaction that the Emperor had failed to keep his promise.
If it weren't for his important position in Lingzhou, which prevented him from leaving without permission, Jiang Yanhui, given his personality, would have rushed back to the capital to meet the Emperor and get to the bottom of things the moment Deng Jiajin and his party arrived at the military camp.
It's likely that only Jiang Yanhui, being both a prince and His Majesty's sister, would dare to voice her grievances against the Emperor. As a subject, Lang Rong would certainly not dare to respond.
Although Jiang Yanhui and the Emperor were not born of the same father, the Emperor's biological father, Princess Xiaodun, died young and was raised by Jiang Yanhui's father, Princess Shugui. Naturally, their relationship was different from that of the other sisters, and he was especially doted on by her.
Jiang Yan exhaled, his handsome face blurred by the white mist. After struggling for a while, he finally gave in, "I understand, I'll go back with you then."
"Hey, that's more like it. We definitely need to meet with all the soldiers on New Year's Eve to boost their morale."
Lang Rong smiled with relief, having lived up to General Dou Yao's expectations, even though Dou Yao had said that if Jiang Yan was unwilling to return, then so be it.
Her gaze fell on Jiang Yanhui's hands, and she exclaimed in surprise, "You finished reading so quickly?"
Jiang Yanhui was still immersed in the previous topic and said absentmindedly, "I've already read them once and marked them, so it's naturally quick to review them."
Jiang Yanhui's carefree and irreverent behavior in Lingzhou was known even to officials in the capital. Yet, none of the many memorials impeaching her criticized her military abilities; instead, they all condemned her for being obsessed with men, indulging in debauchery, disregarding social hierarchy, and being unruly.
The more gifted a person is, the harder they work than others.
Lang Rong immediately felt immense pressure and said, "I'll go with you, I'll also find a couple of books to look at."
A note from the author:
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Nodding, shaking his head, rummaging through his hands, Ah Chou's version of dog and turtle soup.
(Suckling sounds^3^)
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