Chapter 22 Tracing the Roots
After observing for a long time, Xiao Jun saw Mengxi calmly pressing the same method on a position not far in front of the Yongquan point on the sole of his foot. Then he bent the thumb joint on the sole of the foot and clasped the fingertips with his other four fingers on the instep of his foot, pressing and releasing. Then he moved his fingers forward a little in parallel, pressed again, and moved forward in a straight line, as if he had not noticed his sharp and vigilant eyes at all.
Xiao Jun slowly closed his eyes again, thinking that she just happened to touch the acupuncture point on the sole of his foot. Just now, he felt a sharp pain in the Yongquan acupuncture point. He really thought Mengxi understood the acupuncture points of the human body. In a trance, he felt that she was unfathomable. Then he saw that she was just seriously kneading the sole of his foot with one point as the starting point. He realized that he had thought too much just now. He also secretly blamed himself for being a little suspicious after being sick for two months. How could she, a weak 13-year-old girl, who usually did not go out of the house, understand these things? Her father was just a wealthy businessman with a fat heart. How could he train a good daughter?
Seeing that Xiao Jun had finally let down his guard, Mengxi closed her eyes again and breathed a sigh of relief. The clothes on her back were soaked with cold sweat, and her palms were also sweaty. She reached out for the handkerchief beside her, wiped her hands, and continued to press.
She pressed, pinched, tapped, and rubbed the soles of Xiao Jun's feet, but occasionally she would touch an acupoint on the sole of the foot, and then she would use more force. Xiao Jun thought Mengxi just touched the acupoint accidentally. How could she not touch the acupoint when kneading such a large area? After all, the soles of his feet were still a little numb. He didn't notice that the force would increase when Mengxi touched the acupoints. It seemed unintentional, but it was actually a set of advanced massage techniques. Finally, Mengxi rotated Xiao Jun's toes and foot joints evenly, with the amplitude from small to large, and the frequency from fast to slow, and then the amplitude from large to small, and the frequency from slow to fast. The whole process was not stiff or stagnant, but flexible and round.
Xiao Jun really enjoyed Mengxi's kneading. When waves of relaxation, tingling and comfortable feelings spread from the soles of his feet to his calves and then to his thighs, Xiao Jun felt so comfortable that he wanted to scream. He never knew that kneading the soles of the feet could make people so comfortable. In the future, he must ask Aunt Li to knead him every day. He could not imagine how Aunt Li could make her massage so comfortable. He just took it for granted that although it was just kneading and kneading, everyone could do it.
Thinking of Aunt Li, he naturally remembered that she had her mouth stretched in the morning, and he couldn't help but feel distressed. He didn't know how Aunt Li was doing now. He didn't know that Aunt Li was being locked up. He wanted to ask Hongyu to bring some medicine to Aunt Li to see how she was, so he shouted:
"Ruby"
"Second Master, what's the matter?" Mengxi and Hongyu asked at the same time.
When Xiao Jun heard Mengxi's voice, he remembered that Mengxi was still by his side. He felt the slight comfort coming from the soles of his feet, but he couldn't bring himself to ask Hongyu to go see Aunt Li and give her some medicine. So he changed his words and said:
"Pour me a cup of tea"
"Yes," Hongyu replied and went out.
From his tone, it seemed like he had something urgent to do. He didn't want to drink tea at all. He changed his tone after glancing at her. It was obvious that he was on guard against her. What was he hiding from her? What did he want to say? Meng Xi frowned slightly, then lowered her head and pressed it seriously.
After massaging Xiao Jun's feet, he stood up and covered him with a blanket:
"Master, are you feeling better? Are you hungry? I'll go make you some porridge."
"I'm really hungry after all this trouble. Let's make some cakes and porridge from last night." Speaking of food, Xiao Jun thought of yesterday's dinner. It tasted really good and he felt a little greedy.
"Second Master is in much better spirits than this morning. Have I sent someone to report to the old lady?" Mengxi asked.
"Tell someone to tell the old lady not to worry about her and not to come over to visit. Once I get better, I'll go and pay my respects in person. It's been a long time since I last paid my respects." Xiao Jun sat up and said as he took the tea handed to him by Hongyu.
After lunch, Xiao Jun fell asleep again. Mengxi had nothing to do, so she thought of the red bananas. She had ordered people to move the new house to the back garden yesterday, but there were still red bananas in Aunt Li's room. Since the person who poisoned was not Aunt Li, it was possible that the person who poisoned Xiao Jun gave red bananas to several of his concubines. How many red bananas were there in the backyard? It was time to go and check.
Holding Hongzhu's hand, she came to the courtyard with two maids. She had been married into the Xiao Mansion for two days and had been busy serving the Second Master. She had not carefully observed this courtyard. This was where she would live for a long time in the future, so she had to get to know the environment first.
Looking around the entire courtyard, after entering through the gate, there is a gatehouse on the left. After passing the gatehouse and turning left, you will see Xiao Jun's inner study, which faces north. There is a flower wall on the north side of the outer courtyard, and in the middle of the flower wall is a ceremonial gate, leading to the middle courtyard, where she lives. In the center is a large fish tank, surrounded by a circle of potted flowers, with pomegranate flowers, oleander and other flowers of various colors, competing for beauty and emitting bursts of rich floral fragrance. There are three side rooms on each side of the east and west, and three main rooms in the front, with a small ear room on each side. Mengxi then noticed that there was a huge plaque hanging above the main room, with the three characters "Xiao Xiangyuan" written on it. This courtyard is called Xiao Xiangyuan. Mengxi was stunned and asked casually:
"Is there a bamboo forest behind?"
Hongzhu looked at the Second Grandma and replied:
"No, why did Second Madam think of bamboo? The climate in the north is dry, unlike the south, and it is not suitable for bamboo growth."
Mengxi smiled, held her hand, and walked towards the door next to the right ear room. When Mengxi saw the three words "Xiao Xiangyuan", she remembered the Dream of the Red Chamber that she had read in her previous life. The "Xiao Xiang Pavilion" where Lin Daiyu lived was named "Xiao Xiang Pavilion" because there was a large piece of green bamboo. Xiao Jun's original surname was Xiao, so it was normal for him to name his own courtyard "Xiao Xiangyuan". Why did she think of Lin Daiyu? She didn't want to become a tragic character like that. She shook her head and laughed at her own imagination.
There is a small courtyard on the right side of the ear room, which is connected to the inner courtyard by a screen door. Holding Hongzhu's hand, she entered the small courtyard. There were flowers, plants, trees, rockery and bonsai planted in the garden, giving Mengxi a feeling of quiet mountains and forests, with flower shadows supporting the vegetables. Looking at the pot of red heart banana moved from Xiao Jun's bedroom and placed on a shady flower stand, Mengxi walked over slowly and stood in front of the red heart banana to admire it carefully.
I was amazed at the uniqueness of the red banana, which was so beautiful without flowers and bloomed so beautifully. It exuded a long-lasting fragrance, and I recited: "The green walls surround the mossy courtyard, and the red bananas in the courtyard are curled up in the sun."
"Second grandma has great literary talent." Hongzhu took every opportunity to pat her second grandma.
“Why are there so few flowers on the flower stand?”
"Grandma doesn't know that in summer, all flowers bloom. Because Second Master likes them, most of them have been moved to the front yard."
"What a pity, this flower is so beautiful, but there is only one on this branch. It would be great if there were clusters of flowers." Mengxi gazed at the delicate and gorgeous red banana with infinite regret and lament on his face.
Hongzhu felt sorry for Mengxi's expression and said, "Grandma, you don't know that there are two pots of red bananas in Aunt Li and Aunt Zhang's rooms."
