Chapter 56 Chu Xiu
Bai Changkong arrived home and went straight to the backyard.
The north wall of Lantian Garden was smashed to pieces by Lu Yi and his men last night. Bai Lang led his men to use wooden boards to barely build a row of simple wooden walls.
Bai Changkong looked at the leaky wooden wall, and then at the Lantian Garden that was almost burned to the ground. Even though he was very skilled in cultivating his Qi, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
Gritting his teeth, Bai Changkong didn't care about the sadness for this Blue Garden where he had spent a lot of effort and personally designed every mountain, stone, flower and grass. He went straight to the rockery where the small building collapsed, revealing the tunnel below.
Bai Lang and nine other second-generation members of the Bai family, including Bai Qiong who was exhausted and looked sick, were standing on the hill.
Seeing Bai Changkong, a group of people hurriedly saluted.
Bai Changkong waved his hand and jumped down the tunnel without saying a word. He fell straight down fifteen feet and saw a wide corridor in front of him.
Walking along the corridor for a hundred feet, there is a large square house. The ceiling, floor and walls are all decorated with extremely precious red sandalwood. The caisson carvings, large pillars on the four corners, and the walls are all decorated with intricately carved landscape patterns. It is magnificent and exquisite.
This big house covers an area of one acre and uses a huge amount of red sandalwood. The cost of building this house alone is probably more than three million strings of cash.
This, the 'clean-handed' Bai Changkong...
Bai Changkong entered the room alone, with a gloomy face, and looked at an altar at the base of the wall in front and behind.
The altar is also carved from rosewood , and on it is a gilded statue about ten feet tall.
The main character of the statue was extremely strange, a man with three heads and six arms, a fierce look, and a lotus flame crown on his head. There were several flaming ribbons wrapped around the man's six arms, and other than that, he was naked.
The man was standing on one leg, with the other leg raised up, on which sat a beautiful girl, who was intertwined with the man in an indescribable posture.
This is a not very serious statue.
Bai Changkong knelt in front of the altar, kowtowed three times to the statue, clasped his hands together respectfully and muttered a few words.
In a corner of the large rosewood house, a wooden door that fit tightly against the wall and no trace of it could be seen from the outside slowly opened. A tall girl, almost eight feet tall, taller than Bai Changkong, with a beautiful figure and extremely hot body, dressed in a veil, walked out slowly with a wisp of fragrance.
"Last night, there were gongs and drums. What happened?"
The girl walked up to Bai Changkong, casually raised her bare feet, and kicked Bai Changkong in the face.
Bai Changkong snorted coldly, his right hand was like a knife, a dark golden light flashed, and with a "swish", he chopped the girl's foot with his palm.
With a bang, Bai Changkong did not move at all.
The girl's body shook violently, and she staggered back several steps, a look of shock appearing on her beautiful face.
"Oh, I never expected that you, Bai Xingxing, may look like an old man, but you are actually much more powerful than those strong men... What happened outside last night? The deaths of several of my maids were too inexplicable."
Bai Changkong stood up, took out nine thin incense sticks from the sachet on the altar, lit the incense sticks with the help of a long-burning lamp on the altar, and respectfully inserted them into the incense burner in front of the statue.
"You, need to change places." Bai Changkong frowned: "Gaojing has been a little uneasy these days."
"Let's not talk about the Nine Yin Cult causing trouble. They were approached by the Palace Guards, so something bad was bound to happen."
"However, hundreds of assassins from Sijifang suddenly launched an attack, killing people indiscriminately without any choice or purpose."
Shaking his head, Bai Changkong turned to the girl and said in a deep voice: "This is not right. It has not been peaceful for two years and someone wants to cause trouble. Last night, even my Lantian Garden was burned down. I don't know how many people are staring at me now. You have revealed your tracks..."
The girl came up to Bai Changkong, stretched out her slender, snow-white, tender fingers, and gently tapped Bai Changkong's nose: "Oh, if you show your trace, you will say that I am your old lover..."
Bai Changkong glared at the girl and said, "So, do you still want to enter the palace?"
The girl was stunned, rolled her eyes, and laughed: "Oh, I almost forgot about this. Oh, I still have to go to the palace to find the emperor."
Throwing a coquettish glance at Bai Changkong, the girl smiled leisurely and said, "How about I just show my tracks on purpose, not enter the palace, and live with you as my partner?"
"It's no fun to serve a tyrant. Even though you are old, you are still very strong. That palm strike you just now was very powerful. How about your sons call me 'mother' from now on!"
The girl laughed so hard that her whole body shook, and she threw seductive glances at Bai Changkong again and again.
Bai Changkong ignored her. He put his hands behind his back and frowned as he looked at the luxurious rosewood decorations around him. After a while, he sighed quietly, "It's really a headache. This house can't stand up to inspection. If it falls into the eyes of someone with ulterior motives, it will be a problem."
"These red sandalwoods must be dismantled and transported away as quickly as possible."
"There's such a large space underground, we need to find someone to take the blame."
"The previous landlord who sold this house to me has a very good relationship with me, so it's hard to sell... Then, the last landlord before that, I can only ask his entire family to die."
The girl's pupils condensed, she put her hands on her hips and sneered at Bai Changkong: "You are a bunch of educated scholars, each of you is so cruel, shameless and despicable. Didn't you build this Red Sandalwood Headquarters to please my master? What does it have to do with the previous landlord?"
Bai Changkong glanced at the girl and said calmly: "Save your energy to deal with the emperor. Clean up this place as soon as possible. I will arrange for you to leave as soon as possible, you..."
Bai Lang rushed in, raised his head quickly, glanced greedily at the girl's extremely beautiful body, and said hastily: "Dad, there are people from the palace coming in outside the door, they...they..."
Bai Lang's expression was very interesting.
That expression is so wonderful that it is beyond description.
Bai Changkong's body shook slightly, and he took a deep look at Bai Lang - his eldest son, the one he had carefully taught since childhood, his character and means were not only much better than his eight younger brothers, but also among the many aristocratic families in Haojing and the new noble families in culture and education, he was also a top figure compared to his peers.
Ordinary things would not make him so helpless.
What's going on again?
Bai Changkong left the Zitan Office in a hurry. The tall and beautiful girl curled her lips, hummed a ballad softly, and walked around the huge house twice.
"Hey, this damn old man, if it weren't for the fact that the palace needed to recruit new beauties after the first month of the year and needed his recommendation, I would have made his family restless... Hey, he's already a member of our sect, why is he still pretending to be a decent person?"
The girl flirted at the ferocious statue on the altar: "Old Ancestor, tell me, does what Nunu said make sense? Hee, we can't be considered good people!"
The girl suddenly covered her mouth, and 'Aqiu' sneezed.
She twisted her waist and slapped the statue's feet with her hand, smearing her saliva and snot on them.
Bai Changkong soared into the air and reached the top of the hill.
He instinctively looked towards the north and saw Lu Yi.
Early in the morning, Lu Yi was squatting on the steps at the gate of the Survey Department, holding a large bowl and slurping hot meat porridge.
Dahuang squatted beside Lu Yi, lowered his head and licked the empty food bowl.
The chubby caracal was crawling at Lu Yi's feet with its eyes narrowed. When it saw Bai Changkong suddenly appearing on the hill opposite Lantianyuan, its long hair stood up and it let out a "ha" sound.
Bai Changkong looked at Lu Yi deeply.
Lu Yi stood up and raised the bowl in his hand towards Bai Changkong in the distance: "Grandpa Bai, would you like some porridge? We are all neighbors from now on. If there is anything I can help you with, just tell me!"
Bai Changkong smiled at Lu Yi, nodded, then turned and left.
He was very fast. After going down the hill, he was as fast as the wind and in a few flashes, he arrived at the front yard. As he walked, he asked hurriedly, "Is the fire last night related to that puppy? Check carefully. When I saw the puppy's face, I felt a little uneasy. Check carefully to find out how the fire started."
At the gate of the Bai family, more than a dozen eunuchs stood in a row, smilingly blocking the furious Bai family housekeeper and several servants.
Two young eunuchs were busy at the left door frame of the Bai family's gate.
One eunuch was holding the ladder, and another eunuch was standing on the ladder, holding a hammer and nails, and nailing a palm-sized gold medal to the door frame with a "ding-dong-dong" sound.
The gold medal is extremely exquisitely crafted, with two small characters made of broken jade particles in the middle - "Chu Xiu"!
Those who understand the rules of conduct of the royal family of Dayin and the etiquette of the court of Dayin know that this is the gold medal of "Chuxiu". If this gold medal is nailed on the door of a house, it means that the family has an unmarried girl who is designated as the emperor's woman and will be sent to the palace soon.
If they are unlucky, these girls may stay in the palace for three to five years and then leave the palace as ordinary palace maids. No one will care whether they get married or become nuns.
If you are lucky enough and have been favored by the emperor but have failed to give birth to a son or daughter for him, you must be prepared to stay in the imperial city and live in the cold palace for the rest of your life.
If you are luckier and gain the emperor's favor, are given a palace title, and can give birth to a prince or princess for the emperor, then congratulations, you will have a lifetime of wealth and glory, as well as the wealth and glory of your relatives by marriage.
If a girl from the Bai family was named a concubine, according to convention, there would at least be a title of "Bo" waiting for Bai Changkong!
But, there is a fatal problem here - among the three generations of the Bai family, there is only one grown-up girl, Bai Lu!
When Bai Changkong and his sons rushed out, the young eunuch in charge of nailing the sign turned back with a proud smile and said, "Eunuch, take a look at this sign. Is it nailed straight? Is it secure?"
The little eunuch in the purple robe chuckled, as happy as a hen that had just laid eggs.
He clapped his hands vigorously and laughed loudly, "It's nailed straight and firmly... Oh , all the gentlemen, young and old, who are here, have come to congratulate Master Bai Changbai... His daughter Bai Lu is virtuous and kind, with great literary talent, and her reputation has even reached the ears of the Queen Mother!"
"Look, after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, we will add more beautiful girls to the emperor's entourage."
"The Queen Mother personally named Miss Bailu and added her to the list of candidates for the imperial selection. In the future, Miss Bailu may become a noble concubine or even the Queen! She will be the mother of the country, how glorious!"
Bai Changkong and his sons rushed out in sweat.
After hearing what the little eunuch said, they all wanted to die!
