Chapter 13: 13. Hello, Xiao Shimei

13. Hello, Xiao Shimei

The teacher is here?

Haven't seen him for several years... Is this reasonable?

Ouyang Rong had a belly full of questions, and also a sense of déjà vu of a teacher coming for a home visit... No, it must have something to do with his aunt!

Ouyang Rong threw the things in the kitchen to Xiufa and instructed him to take good care of them, then took the lead in returning to Sanhui Courtyard.

However, halfway there, they met several monks on duty who kindly reminded them that they had just seen the Zhen family and mentor Xie Xun go to the Sutra Chanting Hall. Ouyang Rong and the others prepared to change their route.

"Young Master, Young Master, your clothes, your clothes!"

"I know! I'll go back and change my clothes. You can go first."

Ouyang Rong lowered his head to look. He had been tinkering in the kitchen just now and had specifically borrowed a wide gray monk's robe from the monks in the Fragrant Kitchen to wear, as his original moon-white scholar's robe wasn't suitable for rolling up sleeves to work.

Right now, the gray monk's robe on his body was dirty, and so was his face; it was indeed not suitable for meeting his teacher, who was always rigorous and observant of etiquette.

Ouyang Rong didn't change his route and continued to return to Sanhui Courtyard.

Arriving at the courtyard gate, he saw the house was quiet. He pushed the door and entered, turning straight into the inner room. He first washed his face with clean water, wiped it, picked up the moon-white scholar's robe he had changed out of, and shook it to prepare to put it on. Suddenly, with a "clatter," a round bead slipped from between the robes and rolled to the foot of the bed.

Ouyang Rong wasn't surprised. He put the robe on the bed temporarily and bent down to pick it up.

This was the night-luminescent relic bead he had previously placed in the small pocket on his chest. When he took it out to study last night, he discovered that this little thing could shine brilliantly in the moonlight. If he didn't know better, he would really think it was a night-luminescent pearl.

By the bed in the inner room, just as Ouyang Rong's hand reached the bead, he suddenly heard subtle footsteps coming from the study in the outer hall. Thinking it was his aunt's maid, he didn't look up, picked up the bead, blew off the dust, and examined it carefully to see if there were any dents.

But the next second, the "maid" who walked out of the study behind him spoke:

"What are you doing?"

This voice was like clear frost and cold, falling into his ears, and also like drinking a mouthful of rice wine in the morning, cold yet with a hint of glutinous softness.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing'?" This wasn't his room? Hearing this questioning female voice, Ouyang Rong felt a bit like laughing.

But when he turned his head to look, standing at the study door was a tall and slender youth, with a face as white as jade and a very robust chest, which made Ouyang Rong pause. Because this very robust chest didn't match the slender figure at all, which was very confusing. How was this trained... Wait.

This was a girl dressed in men's clothing.

After Ouyang Rong saw clearly, he reacted immediately, secretly saying "sin, sin," for mistaking someone's abundant capital for pectoral muscles.

It was just that this young lady was holding a scroll, standing outside the door, and the warm afternoon sun was slanting into the room from behind her. From the angle of Ouyang Rong, who was bending over by the bed, she was backlit and somewhat dazzling, and he really couldn't see her white face clearly.

"What are you looking at? Put that thing down." The young lady outside the door frowned.

"Why put it down? Is this yours?"

"It's not mine." She shook her head.

Ouyang Rong almost thought the original owner of this bead had come to his door. Hearing this, he breathed a sigh of relief, put the night-luminescent relic bead directly into his bosom, and frowned as he looked at this young lady who seemed to be coming with ill intent. At this moment, he heard the familiar footsteps of Yan Liulang in the courtyard outside.

A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Ouyang Rong looked at her sideways, pretended to nod in greeting, and then quickly bypassed the young lady to go out, preparing to meet up with Liulang.

But the next breath.

Bang~

A solid, muffled sound, mixed with a "Damn" spat out from someone's mouth, broke the silence of Sanhui Courtyard in the afternoon.

Ouyang Rong fell to the floor outside the door, gasped, turned over to touch the faint footprint on his back, and stared at the young lady inside the door.

"Magistrate!"

Seeing someone fly out of the room, Yan Wuxu in the courtyard reacted first, then roared on the spot. The burly man drew his saber and rushed into the room!

"Who is it! Dare to hurt the Magistrate, I, Yan Liulang, will fight you to the death!"

The next second, with another "Bang," Yan Wuxu also flew out and fell beside Ouyang Rong.

Ouyang Rong opened his eyes wide, turned his head to look at his brother-in-misfortune who also had an extra footprint on his chest, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Good fellow, how come it feels like from the time I came here until now, you kid have never beaten anyone? Ouyang Rong covered his face, already starting to consider changing bodyguards.

Yan Wuxu didn't know he was on the verge of unemployment. He widened his eyes, pointed at the young lady slowly walking out of the door, and said: "Magistrate, this... this... is not an ordinary person."

Ouyang Rong cursed "nonsense" in his heart. If she were an ordinary person, could she have kicked two burly men flying without even seeing the shadow of her legs with the naked eye?

Ouyang Rong hadn't seen at all how the young lady inside the door had just kicked Yan Wuxu flying with those long legs. He only saw her clean robe hem slightly brushed by the wind, and someone flew.

"And an accomplice keeping watch? Little thief."

The young lady gave a light hum, stepped out from the door, and stood prettily in front of the two, pointing at them with the scroll in her hand.

And only then did Ouyang Rong see the stranger's appearance clearly. He couldn't help but take a few extra looks, then moved his eyes away as if nothing had happened, but some sentences he had glanced at in books emerged in his mind: Heavenly beauty, spiritual face and delicate charm, as if a heavenly person.

However, he wasn't polite with his mouth, saying loudly: "What little thief? This is my room. You are the little thief, trespassing in a private residence."

Xie Lingjiang's two curved smoke-like eyebrows seemed to knit together. She thought for a moment, then unfolded her brows and shook her head.

She had been flipping through books in the study waiting for someone, but then heard someone rushing in. She originally thought it was that Ru Shixiong Ouyang, whose name she had heard but never met, and whom she had been looking forward to. But as soon as she came out, Xie Lingjiang saw a dirty little monk rummaging through Ru Shixiong's things by the bed and even found a precious night-luminescent pearl. She didn't expect a monk at East Forest Temple to do such things.

Xie Lingjiang shook her head, "Blaming the victim? Looks like a habitual offender. If it were other passing pilgrims, they would probably have been fooled by you, but I know the owner of this room. This is where he recuperates. How could it be your monk's room? Don't try to fool me."

Hearing this, Ouyang Rong stood up immediately. He didn't look at her anymore, lowered his head, and patted the dust off his body. However, halfway through patting, as if feeling it was superfluous, he directly took off the gray monk's robe, threw it on the ground, and turned to Yan Wuxu, who was protecting him, saying: "It's fine. I know who she is. There's no danger. Sigh, who is protecting whom anyway..."

Xie Lingjiang looked at the "little thief" whose expression was somewhat between crying and laughing. She hesitated and said: "What are you saying? Quickly... quickly hand over the things..." However, her voice became smaller, and the few onion-like fingers on the scroll tightened, faintly revealing some hesitation.

Ouyang Rong raised his head and said seriously: "Is there such a possibility that I am the 'unlucky' Ru Shixiong? I was just... Forget it, the sages are right; a gentleman should indeed stay away from the kitchen."

"You..." Xie Lingjiang took a step back.

After speaking, Ouyang Rong walked directly past her to the inner room to change clothes, and by the way, dropped a sentence:

"On the first line of the fifth row of the eighteenth page of the Buddhist scripture 'Treatise on Rebirth' in your hand, 'Mindfulness of Buddha leads to the Pure Land, fearlessness leads to Bodhi,' I wrote two annotations when I read it... Hello, Xiao Shimei."

Xie Lingjiang immediately flipped to that page, and then her fingertips stopped.

It was quiet.

Ouyang Rong had just come out in a clean scholar's robe when he heard the young lady in men's clothing, who was too embarrassed to stay in the room and was standing in the courtyard looking at the sky, suddenly say in a serious tone:

"You are somewhat different from the rumors, and from what Father said. They all say Ouyang Lianghan is an upright gentleman, with a sharp and unyielding character, upright and independent, with brilliant words."

Ouyang Rong nodded, "You too."

"Did Father mention me? At that time, I was still in Wu Yi Lane in Jin Ling Prefecture and didn't go to Father's side to study. How am I different? Is it because I caused a misunderstanding, and you feel I don't have the orchid-like family style of the Chen Jun Xie clan?"

"That's not it." Ouyang Rong tried his best to control his eyes, looking straight at her without squinting, and said seriously: "It's just that I never thought Xiao Shimei would be so... 'approachable' (a pun on 'flat' vs 'approachable')."

Approachable? Xie Lingjiang looked back curiously, wanting to ask more, but at this moment, the laughter of her father and the Zhen family came from outside the courtyard, so she let it go.

Before long, the courtyard became lively, and Ouyang Rong finally saw that mentor who "might be very disappointed in him," Xie Xun.

... ===== CHAPTER 14 =====