Chapter 12: Prince Zhu
The Bai family's back garden, 'Blue Garden', is also very famous among the major mansions in Yushunfang.
'When the sun warms Lantian, the jade starts to smoke.' In ancient mythology, Lantian is a precious land where immortals grow and nurture jade.
And 'a gentleman is like jade', this is how the disciples of Dayin culture and education praise themselves.
Bai Changkong's twenty or so grandchildren usually live together in "Blue Garden".
His twenty or so grandsons were all very famous "young talents" in the literary circle of Haojing. They could be said to be "all like dragons" and "young gentlemen" like "beautiful jade".
This garden was named 'Lantian', which means that this is where the Bai family 'raises jade', 'plants jade' and 'cultivates gentlemanly virtues among future generations'.
There are many streams in Lantian Garden, and many fine houses are dotted among the streams and rockery.
It was freezing cold, and all the flowers and plants had withered.
But the yard was densely covered with green bamboos and pines. When the cold wind blew, the bamboos and pines swayed and made a rustling sound. Balls of snow kept falling, and with a "puff" sound they landed on the backs of several large dogs that were shivering as they walked around.
These big dogs are completely black, except for a bit of silver on the tip of their noses.
This is the exotic hunting dog 'Star Dog' from the Western Sandbar . It is the favorite of the local tyrants and nobles in Xiyouzhou. In Xiyouzhou, a puppy can be sold at a sky-high price of one thousand gold.
In a sense, these "star dog" puppies are as valuable as the "gentlemen" who "keep their promises" as Lu Yi called them.
Of course, these star dogs in Bai Changkong's mansion didn't cost him a penny.
There were princes and sons from Xiyouzhou studying in the Imperial College in Haojing. As a student, it was only natural for him to give his teacher a few pet hunting dogs, and it could not be considered a "bribe".
Amid the haze, Lu Yi walked slowly through the Blue Garden.
Several star dogs with extremely sensitive senses of smell, which could smell the scent of scorpions and poisonous snakes over a dozen miles away in the desert, raised their heads and twitched their silvery-white noses vigorously.
They smelled a very faint scent of a stranger.
They bared their teeth and were about to roar.
A few strands of yellow dog hair appeared between Lu Yi's fingers.
He shook his fingers gently , and the smell of the big yellow dog spread with the cold wind.
Several star dogs suddenly tensed up, then relaxed their limbs and crawled on the ground obediently.
Lu Yu walked past several star dogs and patted the head of one of them affectionately: "Good boy, you are such a good boy."
He passed by a monastery.
Candles were lit in the temple.
One of Bai Changkong's grandchildren was fighting with a pretty maid fairy in the study.
Lu Yi eavesdropped on the noise in the temple for a while, curled his lips, and walked forward quickly.
In another temple, one of Bai Changkong's grandsons was fighting with two maid goblins.
In a hermitage a little further away, Bai Changkong's two grandsons were fighting with two maid goblins at the same time.
A little further away, Lu Yi passed by a temple. In the study, Bai Changkong's grandson, who had a childish face and was still young and had not yet been assigned a maid, was entangled with his own servant, also fighting with a demon.
"This, a family tradition, is really amazing!"
Lu Yi was terrified and ran across the entire Lantian Garden as if he was escaping.
"A gentleman is like jade. These are the humble gentlemen of the third generation of the Bai family!"
But it's understandable.
This is the current trend in the Dayin Dynasty.
"If you are a true gentleman, you should be elegant and graceful"!
Among all the great sages, wise men, talented people and good talents inside and outside the court of Dayin, which one of them does not have a romantic debt?
Or even, leukorrhea?
There was a cold wind outside and light snow was falling in the clouds.
There was a violent storm in the room, with the sounds of wind and rain rising and falling one after another.
Lu Yi crossed the Lantian Garden and came to the sixth courtyard of the Bai family, under a five-story beautiful building.
The first floor of this show building is where servants and maids live, the second floor is the maid's room, the third floor is the study and the young lady's boudoir, the fourth floor is the painting studio, embroidery room, chess room, and tea room, and the fifth floor is a huge space with musical instruments such as guqin, guzheng, jade flute, bamboo flute, etc. hanging on the walls, interspersed with some swords in colorful shark skin sheaths.
In the middle of the fifth floor stands a guqin that is so lush and green that its jade-like color looks like clouds and seems to be flying out.
She was wearing a long white skirt and her long hair was loose. Her pretty face was not made up, and her lips were not painted with rouge. Her face was a little too white. With the white skirt and long hair, Bai Lu looked like a "female ghost". She was sitting beside the piano, her jade fingers lightly hooked, and the sound of the piano was as clear as the gurgling of a mountain spring.
Lu Yi walked up the stairs.
A light white mist enveloped the entire building, hiding his figure and blocking the creaking sound of the stairs under his feet.
He was like a ghost, standing quietly outside the piano room on the fifth floor.
It was freezing cold outside, but in the piano room on the fifth floor there were two three-legged brass toad-swallowing sky furnaces. Each furnace was filled with hundreds of kilograms of top-quality animal charcoal, with a sweet fragrance and full of fire. The entire piano room on the fifth floor was as warm as summer.
Bai Lu was only wearing a long gauze dress, but she still felt hot.
Several windows of the piano room were slightly opened, allowing the cold wind to pass through gently, taking away the heat in the room and lowering the temperature to a comfortable level as warm as spring.
Bai Lu closed her eyes slightly and played the guqin with great intoxication.
The sound of the piano is clear and pleasant to the ears.
Lu Yu didn't understand what song this was, but it was indeed nice.
He stood quietly outside the window, listening to Bai Lu's piano music, and at the same time, he looked through the window gap unscrupulously at another person in the piano room, a young man in a fur robe and with a graceful demeanor.
Bailu is an unmarried girl.
At this moment, it is already late at night.
There was actually a young man staying in her boudoir in the show building.
In Dayin, even in an ordinary civilian family, the family of an unmarried girl would not tolerate such a thing happening.
In the conservative countryside, if an unmarried girl meets a man in the middle of the night, she will be thrown into a pig cage.
Not to mention a family of great sages like Bai Changkong.
Bai Changkong was famous for his "ritual" in culture and education, and he was in charge of the "ancient ritual", which was the most stringent and rigid "ancient ritual".
In the "ancient rituals", not to mention such absurd things as a grown girl meeting a man in the middle of the night, there are also things like "men and women do not sit together for seven years", "brother-in-law cannot help his sister-in-law when she is about to drown", all kinds of harsh "etiquette" are horrifying.
But Bai Changkong's granddaughter was alone with a man in the room in the middle of the night!
Tsk tsk!
Lu Yi kept shaking his head, his eyes wandering around the man.
I have to admit that this young man's appearance is excellent.
If Lu Yi gave people the feeling of a solid and towering mountain, then this young man was a piece of beautiful jade.
Moreover, this young man had carved a piece of 'Princely Jade' meticulously by a master craftsman!
Good acquired training has made this young man graceful, dignified and generous. His every move, every frown and smile are perfect, giving people a sense of beauty that is "priceless"!
At this moment, the young man sat quietly opposite Bai Shuang, with his hands gently placed on his legs, a smile on his face, his eyes slightly squinted, and he listened attentively to Bai Shuang's piano music.
He had an excellent demeanor, and just sitting there quietly, he gave people a sense of flawless dignity.
He even makes people feel that being able to sit here and listen to someone's performance is the highest compliment to that person's musical skills!
After the song was over, the sound of the piano was still echoing in the piano room. Bai Lu opened her eyes and sighed softly.
The young man smiled, raised his hands, clapped his hands and praised: "Weishhuang's piano skills have improved again. Alas, such heavenly music, in such a big city of Gaojing, there are only three or five people who can compare with Weishuang."
Bai Lu sighed softly. She looked at the young man and pulled out a small dagger made of pure gold from somewhere. With a clang, she cut the strings of the zither.
The taut strings plucked and slapped Bai Lu's hand with a 'snap' sound. Soon a bloody red mark appeared on the back of her hand.
"What can I do? My piano music will be listened to by such a filthy person in the future?"
Bai Lu looked at the young man with tears in her eyes: "My Lord, I would rather break my ten fingers than..."
The young man stood up, walked slowly to Bai Lu with a perfect smile, and gently placed his hands on Bai Lu's shoulders.
Lu Yi kept shaking his head.
My dear, Bailu, according to your grandfather's 'ancient customs', you are not married yet, but your body is touched by this strange man, both of your arms will be chopped off!
Besides, what did Bai Lu say?
She would rather break her ten fingers than let some filthy guy listen to her playing the piano?
Lu Yi touched his nose.
That dirty guy, could it be me?
If the two parties get married, then the wife plays the piano for the husband. Isn't this a very elegant and normal daily life between husband and wife?
Ha, ha ha!
The young man 's actions became even more excessive. He gently stroked Bai Lu's long hair, and his voice became more gentle: "Weishhuang, you also know that this is just a temporary measure."
"It was my fault, Zhu Yu. I accidentally made you pregnant."
"You know, my Zhu family is the descendant of a saint of culture and education. We have a strict family tradition and all the elders in the family are ruthless and impartial. You have been pregnant for nearly three months. If you and I get married, given the status of my Zhu family in Dayin, it will take at least eight months just to complete the wedding ceremony."
"You can't be invisible before you get married. If you show your heart..."
"When the time comes, your reputation will be tarnished, and the elders in the clan will certainly be against you. Moreover, even my position in the clan will be greatly affected."
"But as long as you marry the lucky guy you're engaged to... he's engaged to you, and you're from a small family, so if you get married in a hurry, no one will gossip about it. Haha, at most in a few days, he'll fall into the river after drinking and die unfortunately."
"A poor, dirty boy, who couldn't handle the blessing in your body and died unexpectedly after marriage. Who can blame you? The eldest princess of the previous emperor, and the princesses three generations ago, and even several princesses, weren't they all like this?"
"Don't even mention it. The current Queen Mother also married the Emperor after her three husbands died!"
"Tsk tsk, three consecutive husbands couldn't handle her good fortune, so she ended up marrying the Empress Dowager. Within a few years, the current Empress Dowager was in charge of government, holding the power of the court. Tsk tsk, who wouldn't be amazed at her good fortune? "
"He died, you were pregnant, you were sad , you stayed indoors, and took care of the baby. Who could find fault with you?"
"A few months later, you were in an unstable mood and the fetus was born prematurely, but you still raised the child with great difficulty. Moreover, the child was extremely smart and was known as a 'child prodigy' since childhood. This further shows how difficult and hard you were!"
"In three years, I, as well as your elders, will build momentum for you. You will definitely have a reputation as a 'chaste' and 'virtuous' person."
Zhu Yu smiled leisurely and gently stroked Bai Lu's long hair.
"A 'chaste' and 'virtuous' widow with a 'prodigy' son, and the granddaughter of Bai Shanzhang... She is more than qualified to be my co-wife!"
Zhu Yu gently comforted Bai Lu: "Don't worry, my father already knows about our relationship, and he is extremely happy. After all, my family has been a single-line inheritance for five generations. Now that you and I have a child, if it weren't for the elders, my father would be eager to take you home in person."
"My father asked me to tell you, don't worry, everything has been arranged properly. I, Zhu, will definitely not let you suffer any injustice!"
"After your cheap husband falls into the river, it will be easy and convenient for me to go to your place. What's the difference between you and me and a real couple?"
Outside the window, Lu Yi let out a chill from the bottom of his heart.
It's okay to be a father.
Just a few days after the marriage, he fell into the river and died after drinking?
It would be fine if I died, but I have to be poisoned by someone?
This is a bit too much!
