Chapter 388: 142. The Sixth-Grade Sage and... the Lecher

142. The Sixth-Grade Sage and... the Lecher

"Didn't Tanlang go over to help the weak? Why did you bring back so many leaves?"

Li Dalang asked with curiosity.

Qin Ying, standing to the side, also suddenly asked, "What did Young Master Ouyang just say when he went over? How was it so fast?"

Ouyang Rong carried a basket of red leaves back, handed it naturally to his junior sister, and answered casually:

"I said my eldest young lady likes these phoenix tree leaves and was in a good mood, so I bought them all. I took the opportunity to announce the name of the eldest young lady's household."

Xie Lingjiang tilted her head: "Eldest young lady?"

Ouyang Rong blinked:

"I didn't say anything wrong, isn't my junior sister the eldest young lady? It really was hard work for this old servant today, going out to accompany the eldest young lady Xie shopping and carrying things. There, take all the leaves, flip through them slowly. Don't blame your senior brother for not teaching you poetry again, you great book-flipper Xie."

Xie Lingjiang rolled her eyes adorably, stuffed the bamboo basket filled with red leaves back into his arms, and turned to leave:

"Then little Rongzi, carry it well. Let's go, back to the residence."

Li Dalang scratched his head, Qin Ying was lost in thought, and couldn't help but look twice at the back of the young man in the felt hat ahead:

"Why didn't Young Master Ouyang directly reveal his identity? Those few people clearly weren't good things. Why not teach them a good lesson and uphold justice for that little girl in the red jacket?"

She asked seriously.

Ouyang Rong smiled and said nothing.

Xie Lingjiang turned her head and glanced at the justice-overflowing Qin family sister, feeling incredibly familiar.

If this were a year ago, she would have struggled with this question together with the Qin family sister, perhaps even more confused than her.

However, she later met someone.

Xie Lingjiang was filled with mixed emotions; moved, she took her senior brother's hand and helped him answer:

"I think there are two reasons.

"First, Ru Shixiong's identity is sensitive; coming forward to help her might not necessarily be a good thing.

"Moreover, everyone has their own fate. Although that little girl in the red jacket looks self-reliant and diligent, it's hard to figure out for a moment why she invited such trouble. In this world, many things aren't just black and white.

"Simply helping the weak when seeing injustice is enough if you grasp the degree. Just like Ru Shixiong did just now. As for what happens later, it depends on the little girl's own fortune."

She paused, and seeing that Ru Shixiong's expression showed no disagreement, but rather a smile, she felt vaguely encouraged and continued with a light smile:

"Secondly, helping people also requires attention to methods. 'A pint of rice breeds gratitude, a bushel breeds enmity.' I experienced this kind of thing when I was in Longcheng, and Ru Shixiong would never make such a mistake.

"It was enough to just buy all the red leaves. If it weren't for the fear that those few troublemaking scoundrels were too stupid to understand the meaning, Ru Shixiong wouldn't even have reported my Xie family name.

"But it doesn't matter. It's fine if that little girl in the red jacket knows. She looks intelligent and should know that she is a beneficiary of the Wang Fu and the Xie clan. She can't repay anything, and Ru Shixiong never thought about having her repay him when he reported the name."

Speaking of this, she took the folding fan from Ouyang Rong's hand and opened it with a "snap."

Using the fan face inscribed with "Zhou Bangxian is happy, Rong has a good talent" to fan herself slowly toward her bulging, proud chest, the noble Xie lady said with a smile:

"The most critical point is that Ru Shixiong was just buying red leaves for me. Who said he was helping her? There's no proof or evidence. Hmm, no need to be sentimental and go seeking life-or-death repayment or the like. She doesn't need to feel she owes a favor; it was just a normal transaction, just a coincidence, a coincidence."

Li Fusu and Qin Ying couldn't help but look at each other, their hearts filled with mixed feelings.

Qin Ying looked at Ouyang Rong with admiration, her tone filled with emotion:

"In such a short time, Young Master Ouyang thought of a way to help people indirectly, and even took care of the other party's psychological feelings... Father was right, Young Master Ouyang truly has great talent. He is a cook who can cater to everyone's tastes, truly rare."

Xie Lingjiang heard this and felt a bit displeased: "Don't praise him anymore, he might just get cocky again."

Ouyang Rong felt helpless; not forgetting to suppress his senior brother, she truly was his own junior sister.

A short while later, the group found a low-luxury carriage parked at the agreed-upon location, hanging a flag with the character "Xie."

After waiting for a while, the figure of a young lady with plum blossom makeup appeared in the night, returning with a few maids and attendants.

Princess Li Guoer elegantly boarded the carriage, her egg-shaped face veiled beneath a thin, snow-white gauze, maintaining the cold, polite reserve that had made her so sought after by scholars and literati at the previous poetry gathering.

After taking her seat, she first exchanged a few pleasantries with her brother and Qin Xiaoniang. Upon learning that the two of them had gone hunting in the autumn woods, she lowered her eyelashes:

"After we left, what did Sister Xie and Young Master Ouyang do this afternoon?"

Xie Lingjiang looked straight ahead: "We waited in line for a while, then went horseback riding outside the city to admire the maple leaves."

Ouyang Rong nodded with a straight face: "I took the opportunity to give my junior sister some pointers. She benefited greatly this afternoon and is so grateful she wishes she could pledge her life to me."

Princess Li Guoer gave a light "Oh," then said: "You haven't pledged your life to him yet?"

Feeling a pain in his waist, Ouyang Rong kept his expression unchanged and changed the subject: "What about Daoist Lu?"

"I don't know." Princess Li Guoer shook her head.

"Let's wait a little longer. If he doesn't return, we'll leave first. In any case, Daoist friend Lu knows the way back to the Wang Fu," Xie Lingjiang said, shaking her head.

During their idle chatter, Ouyang Rong suddenly asked:

"Junior sister, Scholar, Gentleman, Book-Flipper... are the ninth, eighth, and seventh ranks of readers respectively. Then, what is the name of the next rank, the sixth?"

Xie Lingjiang narrowed her eyes, her vermilion lips parting slightly: "Sage."

Ouyang Rong raised an eyebrow: "In what way is one a sage?"

Xie Lingjiang smiled without a word.

Li Dalang, still unable to forget a certain matter, asked curiously: "Then what about the Book-Tearer? Which Daoist lineage is that, and is there a rank after it?"

Ouyang Rong was about to speak when Xie Lingjiang hummed: "Yes, the Lecher."

"There really is such a Daoist lineage? Why does the name sound like a flower-plucking bandit? That doesn't sound like a decent person."

Li Dalang scratched his head, half-believing and half-doubting, his expression one of astonished digestion.

Princess Li Guoer nodded in affirmation: "Brother's feeling is correct; it is indeed not a decent person."

"..." Ouyang Rong.

Utterly speechless, he sighed and supported his forehead.

One truly dared to make it up, and the other truly dared to believe it.

Ignoring the triumphant, smiling gaze cast by his junior sister, Ouyang Rong straightened his face and sat upright.

He hooked his finger to lift the carriage curtain and glanced at the myriad lights outside the window.

The setting sun, ordinary alleys.

A little girl in a red padded jacket clutched her palm and walked toward a cluster of old residential courtyards.

As one of the oldest wards in Xunyang City, Xingzi Ward was different from the frequently renovated Xunyang Ward; many of its buildings were already dilapidated, similar to the urban villages in Ouyang Rong's past life. Despite their excellent location, they had fallen into disrepair and were a mix of all sorts of people.

In particular, the houses and courtyards within the ward were crowded and ancient. Because it was close to the Xunyang Ferry and the Xicheng Gate, there were many ways to make a living, so there were many residents, becoming a landing point for countless migrants to Xunyang.

Huang Xuan had lived in this old city area for a long time and was already familiar with it; she could walk it with her eyes closed.

At this moment, she was walking home, the wound on her hand where the skin had been scraped off already wrapped in herbs and tied with a handkerchief.

This was a method she had figured out when she was bullied and injured by wild children when she was young. After chewing these common roadside herbs, the herb ball mixed with saliva could stop the bleeding.

The only drawback was that it was very bitter.

However, after getting used to the taste, she found that there was a hint of sweetness in the bitterness...

Smacking her lips while trying to find that little bit of sweetness, Huang Xuan turned a corner while clutching her hand, then suddenly looked back. The figure of the strange man was still following her, and her eyes became alert.

This was a passerby she had met on the road after returning from the Xicheng Gate. She had thought it was just going the same way, but after turning several corners, he was still not far behind her.

How could there be such a coincidence?

Huang Xuan turned her head back, her expression becoming calm as if she didn't care. She turned her feet and circled the nearby streets a few times.

When passing a busy intersection, she suddenly accelerated, moving like a startled rabbit, and plunged into the bustling crowd on the main street...

I don't know how much time passed, but at an alley entrance about three hundred meters from that busy intersection, the figure of the little girl in the red padded jacket reappeared.

She looked back.

The figure of the strange bad man who had been closely following her had disappeared. Huang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, quietly touched a hard object the length of an infant's forearm in her sleeve, put it away again, turned around, and continued walking toward her home courtyard.

However, for the sake of safety, she relied on her familiarity with the nearby streets to circle around a few more times before completely letting down her guard.

Soon, Huang Xuan arrived at a dilapidated alley piled with all kinds of garbage and foul water. At the end of the alley on her left, a small courtyard with a narrow wooden door came into view.

A smile appeared on her tired, ink-blackened face.

This was home.

Actually, strictly speaking, it was the home of several households.

Because other families were squeezed into this small courtyard, she and her father were just one of them, living in one of the rooms, which was a sleeping room converted from a woodshed, saving half a guan of money.

On weekdays, several families shared the courtyard and kitchen, and they got along quite harmoniously.

Thanks to the labor siphon of the Xunyang Ferry, the largest ferry crossing in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Xingzi Ward, which was close to the ferry, had many migrants and a mix of all sorts of people.

The landlords in the ward had also become shrewd; they were all masters of space utilization, racking their brains to rent out "coffin rooms," and they didn't worry about no one living in them.

However, a few days ago, there was a rumor in the ward that a wealthy merchant group wanted to lease the old houses in Xingzi Ward to renovate and rent them out, but the voices gradually faded away later.

It might also be related to the fact that there were too many small landlords in Xingzi Ward and the residential courtyards were dense and messy, making it difficult to negotiate, and in the end, it seemed to have fizzled out.

"Daddy!"

Approaching the courtyard, Huang Xuan saw the familiar figure of a big man looking out and waiting at the door, and immediately shouted.

"Xiao Xuan... what happened to your hand?"

The bearded man who had just returned from work at the Shuangfeng Peak had just revealed a smile when his face changed, and he asked vigilantly.

Before Huang Xuan could speak, the man suddenly turned his head to look behind her.

Huang Xuan turned her head alertly and was suddenly shocked... How did that person follow her again?

She couldn't help but take two steps back.

"This person is..." the bearded man asked suspiciously.

Only to see a Daoist priest wielding a sword walking slowly out of the dark alley ahead. His paralyzed face had no emotional expression, but his eyes were staring straight at the little girl in the red padded jacket behind the bearded man.

It was Lu Ya, the "mountain walker" of the Shangqing Sect who had disappeared for an afternoon.

There was silence in front of the courtyard door.

The bearded man turned his head to look at his timid daughter, his gaze falling on the palm where she had bandaged the herbs. The man's beard and hair suddenly stood on end, and he was furious like a lion:

"You thief, bullying even a little child, do you still have any shame, you bull-nosed beast!"

Lu Ya was looking around the dilapidated alley courtyard. Hearing this, he frowned and looked at the bearded man who was rolling up his sleeves and stepping forward, explaining in a serious tone:

"This poor Daoist is not a bad person, I just met your daughter on the street and felt that she had an affinity with my mountain gate, I have no malice... It's not convenient to talk outside, may I enter the door to chat, listen to this poor Daoist speak..."

"Speak your mother! Take my punch."

The bearded man didn't say a word and rushed up.

Lu Ya's expression changed slightly, and he took a step back...

"Daddy, don't go..."

Huang Xuan didn't grab the bearded man and looked worried. She was originally worried that her father would suffer a loss, but then she saw this strange sword-wielding Daoist priest being chased by her father, who was pulling his Daoist robe, without letting out a single fart the whole time... She was suddenly dumbfounded.

Seeing the sword-wielding Daoist priest fleeing in panic at the alley entrance, even his hair-binding Daoist crown scattered all over the ground, Huang Xuan ran up with her short legs and hurriedly pulled back the bearded man who was still angry and wanted to chase the cornered enemy.

"Don't chase him, Daddy... actually, he didn't hurt Xiao Xuan." She said weakly.

The bearded man spat, his eyes wide as copper bells. Still not venting his anger, he kicked the Daoist crown on the ground. He turned his head, pressed his dirty big hand against his daughter's little head with his relatively clean sleeve, and warned her panting:

"In the future, if you see this kind of bull-nosed Daoist priest, you should directly pull out the rusty dagger tied to your foot to defend yourself. According to my experience, Confucian scholars are poor and pedantic, bald donkeys bully the soft and fear the hard, and bull-noses are pretentious. The latter two are all tough on the outside and weak on the inside, don't spoil them! The fiercer you are, the more they fear you, especially when I'm not by your side."

The man was long-winded and a bit nagging, but Huang Xuan noticed the hidden guilt and lingering fear in his eyes.

She nodded blankly: "Okay."

After the two finished talking, they walked back to the courtyard. At this time, the figure of Landlord Chen arrived and appeared at the door.

The expressions of the bearded man and Huang Xuan changed.

Here to urge for rent again?

The bearded man, who had just been domineeringly chasing people away, suddenly looked miserable, his hands having nowhere to rest.

Huang Xuan on the side also seemed to remember something, her eyes visibly panicked.

Unexpectedly, Landlord Chen entered the door and greeted them with a kind and amiable expression,

"Hey, Brother Huang is back, and Huang girl is here too? Haha, I didn't disturb you, did I? Sorry, sorry, I just happened to pass by. It's dry and hot these days, and it's easy to get inflamed. I just happened to get some new melons and fruits, so I'm sending them to you to eat. I hope you'll accept them with a smile."

The Huang father and daughter were both stunned. They saw Landlord Chen, who always had a dead-fish face that looked like they owed him eight hundred taels, carrying a basket of melons and fruits into the courtyard, placing it on the stone table very familiarly, his face full of smiles, rubbing his hands like a fly.

Before the Huang father and daughter could speak, a charming voice of a woman came from the door again:

"Good evening, you two. I'm really sorry to disturb your honorable residence so late..."

The Huang father and daughter turned their heads to look. A carriage was stopping outside the courtyard door, and a noble lady with a purple-gold scarf trailing to the ground draped over her arm was slowly stepping down from the carriage.

The noble lady's eyes flowed, she looked at the shabby courtyard door around her, stopped in front of the threshold, and bowed gracefully to the Huang father and daughter.

"My surname is Pei, I am from Yangzhou, and I am the thirteenth in my clan. You two can call me Thirteenth Lady directly... I pay my respects here."

Thirteenth Lady Pei smiled at the corners of her mouth, her eyes sweeping over the bearded man and falling on the face of the little girl in the red padded jacket hiding behind him.

(End of chapter)