Chapter 236: Hitting him, my hand hurts terribly [Thank you all for your support!

By the moonlight,

Accompanied by the chirping of insects,

Xu Zaijing blew in the summer night breeze and returned to his courtyard from the horse racing track.

Walking to the courtyard gate, Xu Zaijing paused for a moment,

because his personal maids Qingcao and the Yunxiang sisters, as well as the maids and mamas beside Sun Shi, were all standing at the gate holding lanterns.

Sighing, Xu Zaijing walked into the courtyard.

Passing through the grape trellis, Xu Zaijing stood at the corridor entrance.

Looking at the bright candlelight in the room, Xu Zaijing's hand paused in front of the door panel, then he pushed the door open without hesitation and entered, turning to close the door behind him.

In the front hall, Sun Shi sat quietly on a chair.

She no longer had the majesty of the mistress of the house directing the maids to write and send letters,

nor did she have the smile she had when entertaining Wu Daniangzi and the others.

She just turned her head and looked at the desktop in front of her,

on which were placed the cotton armor brought back by Qingyun and the others.

Beside the cotton armor was his long spear of refined steel with the red tassel removed, and two cases of cleaned feather arrows.

Sun Shi looked intently at the various marks on the long spear, ignoring Xu Zaijing.

"Mother, you..."

Sun Shi didn't speak.

Xu Zaijing hurriedly walked to Sun Shi's side and said:

"Mother, what's so good about looking at these weapons and arrows! Qingcao! Come in! Take all these out."

After Xu Zaijing finished speaking,

no one responded outside the door.

"This little maid, truly, Mother, I'll come and tidy..."

As he spoke, Xu Zaijing was about to step forward to tidy up the things.

"Don't move!"

Xu Zaijing froze where he was, lowered his head to steal a glance at his mother's clothes reflecting the candlelight, and lowered his head.

After Sun Shi finished speaking, she continued to look at the things, not knowing what she was thinking.

The room fell into silence once again.

I don't know how long it had been, but Xu Zaijing said:

"Mother, say something."

As he spoke, Xu Zaijing was about to reach out and grab Sun Shi's sleeve,

but Sun Shi flicked her sleeve directly, making Xu Zaijing grab at empty air.

A moment of silence.

"Mother, if you tilt your head like that, your neck will get sore."

Sun Shi still didn't answer.

Subsequently, Xu Zaijing knelt steadily in front of Sun Shi.

"Mother, this child knows he was wrong."

"Hmph, you're so capable, how could you be wrong!"

"Good! You really have grown capable, hiding from your mother and going to Yanzhou! Huh? Several hundred li away, you went just like that! You ran so far to do evil!"

"Mother, I... this child was eliminating harm for the people."

Hearing Xu Zaijing dare to talk back, Sun Shi slapped the table and stood up.

Subsequently, the angry Sun Shi grabbed the refined steel long spear on the table with both hands, but because it was too heavy, she couldn't lift it.

Sun Shi turned to pull a feather arrow from the arrow case,

just wanting to whip Xu Zaijing with the feather arrow, but then she saw the sharp arrowhead on the feather arrow.

Sun Shi wanted to break the arrow shaft with both hands, but the feather arrow Xu Zaijing used was a bit thick, and she couldn't break it.

This made Sun Shi even angrier. She threw the feather arrow on the ground directly,

raised her fist, and hammered Xu Zaijing:

"You little beast! Acting recklessly! If something had happened to you, what would you have me do!"

"When you were doing things, didn't you think of your mother?"

"This child thought of it, so I knew to strike first to gain the advantage."

"You!"

Her fist wasn't easy to use,

*Slap! *

Sun Shi slapped Xu Zaijing on the shoulder.

Sun Shi used quite a bit of force. She didn't know how Xu Zaijing felt, but her hand was shaken until it hurt.

Xu Zaijing hissed in a pretentious manner.

Seeing Xu Zaijing's appearance, Sun Shi couldn't care about her hand hurting and went up to slap and hit her youngest son several more times.

Looking at the thick-skinned Xu Zaijing, Sun Shi walked to the door hatefully and said:

"Go, go to the ancestral hall and kneel for me!"

"Yes, Mother."

After speaking, Sun Shi left the room angrily.

Xu Zaijing followed behind and soon left the courtyard.

At the courtyard gate, Qingcao heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She lowered her head.

In the small area illuminated by the lantern, Xu Zaijing's robe appeared in Qingcao's field of vision.

Qingcao didn't raise her head, feeling gloomy, and then she felt her hair being ruffled by someone.

Yongyi Hou Fu.

Inside the ancestral hall, the candlelight was bright.

In the center were enshrined the spirit tablets of the successive Yongyi Marquises,

behind them were the successive Yongyi Marquis Ladies,

and behind them were the spirit tablets of the concubines who had extended the Xu family's lineage, which were much smaller.

Beside them were the clan descendants,

layered like a forest.

Now that the Xu family's influence was just right, there were servants in the ancestral hall cleaning and watching day and night, and the incense candles never went out all night.

Xu Zaijing lit three sticks of incense, inserted them respectfully into the incense burner,

and subsequently knelt on the prayer mat in the center of the ancestral hall.

Xu Zaijing didn't come to the ancestral hall often.

The last time he came to the ancestral hall was when his father and eldest brother went on an expedition to comfort the ancestors.

That time, Xu Zaijing felt his father's proud mood at the time.

After all,

although it was considered two generations after being adopted, Xu Zaiduan was considered the third generation.

But the Xu family's resurgence is primarily due to Xu Minghua over these past ten-plus years.

After kneeling for a quarter of an hour, Xu Zaijing felt somewhat bored. He stood up, quickly moved a stool to his side, and placed two burning candle stands on the stool.

After kowtowing in front of the spirit tablets, Xu Zaijing respectfully picked up the Xu family genealogy and the biographies of the successive clan members.

He walked to the stool in the center, knelt down properly, and read carefully by the candlelight.

He hadn't been reading for long,

when Cuichan walked to Xu Zaijing's side holding an incense burner.

A light and elegant mosquito-repelling incense scent spread in the ancestral hall and lingered for a long time. Xu Zaijing's nose, trained by his master, could smell it.

Among them, the weight of a few spices, just one liang, would require ten liang of gold to exchange, and it was a situation where there was a price but no market and no way to buy it in the Great Zhou now.

After thinking slightly, Xu Zaijing guessed that it might be the dowry given by his own great-aunt to Hualan sister.

After a quarter of an hour,

another maid beside Xie Shi came in a hurry, not saying a word,

just using the famous fine light gauze from Xie Shi's dowry to cover the windows around the ancestral hall.

The maid left the ancestral hall.

Xu Zaijing's ears moved, listening to the soft greetings outside the ancestral hall, and said:

"If you want to kneel with me, come in."

*Rustle rustle*,

Qingcao and the Yunxiang sisters, the three of them, lifted the bamboo curtain and walked in,

kneeling respectfully at the side of the door.

Subsequently, Qingcao scratched the back of her hand, and Huaxiang scratched her forehead; both of them had been bitten by mosquitoes and had bumps.

The summer breeze blew in slightly,

disturbing the candlelight in front of the spirit tablets in the ancestral hall,

as if the successive ancestors were talking, whispering to each other and asking who the unfilial descendant kneeling below was.

Xu Zaijing looked at the genealogy,

and suddenly saw a Xu family noblewoman of the same generation as his grandfather, with 'Married to the Tanhualang Youyang Sheng family' written behind it.

Xu Zaijing smiled as he looked at these words, not knowing why he thought of those things about Sheng Hong in the Sheng family ancestral hall in his memory.

It wasn't being tested by Minglan, nor was it the punishment of the cane on Lin Qinshuang, but later when Sheng Hong accidentally threw the whip onto the Sheng family spirit tablets after hitting Changbai.

It scared Sheng Hong into hurriedly apologizing to the ancestors.

Some people say that Sheng Hong kneeling and worshipping the Sheng family's ancestors' spirit tablets was a kind of patriarchal power blah blah...

But Xu Zaijing thought this couldn't blame Sheng Hong,

because Sheng Hong had studied for so many years, and the Old Lady had invited famous teachers to guide him, only then did he pass the imperial examination with a low ranking, while Sheng Hong's father's conditions weren't as good as his, but he had passed as a Tanhualang in one go.

Just like a certain industry, outsiders feel that someone's achievement doesn't seem high, but insiders who have entered the industry know how awe-inspiring this person's achievement is.

The candle turned to ash,

the sky hadn't brightened yet,

and bustling, this big city of Bianjing was slowly waking up.

From time to time, the sound of roosters crowing reached the ancestral hall from afar.

Qingcao and the Yunxiang sisters had already fallen asleep on their sides on the prayer mats,

covered with Xu Zaijing's outer robe.

Chai family.

Backyard,

"Young Lady, run! Run!"

"Young Lady, our family's people can't beat them!"

The maid screamed,

chaos everywhere,

groans of pain from injuries,

Chai family noblewoman Chai Zhengzheng opened her eyes violently.

In a daze, feeling the thirst in her mouth, she shouted casually:

"Qingxue..."

Chai Zhengzheng was stunned for a moment.

Qingxue, when she shouted for her to run, she hugged the thief's leg,

and then...

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

If only it were just a dream.

A maid walked over, holding a bowl of cold boiled water in her hand.

"Young Lady..."

Chai Zhengzheng took it and drank a mouthful, but when she lay back down, she couldn't sleep at all.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 237 =====