Chapter 322: Fifth Young Lady climbs a tree [Thank you all for your support! Bowing again!]

End of the Chen hour (after 9:

Clusters of white clouds drifted across the sky,

and behind the white clouds, the deep blue sky was faintly visible,

with sunlight spilling down through the gaps between the clouds from time to time.

Although the weather had cleared, the drizzling rain from the early morning still left the ground both inside and outside Bianjing somewhat damp.

At the Jinyao Gate, located in the northwest of Bianjing's outer city near the canal,

a procession of carriages and horses emerged from the gate tunnel.

From time to time, female family members in several of the carriages lifted the curtains to look outside.

After exiting the city gate and crossing the wide Hulong River,

the young noblemen on horseback picked up their pace, with two or three of them laughing and chasing each other.

Xu Zaijing rode his fine horse, smiling as he patted its neck to soothe it.

After riding out of the city for a while, a massive manor appeared before Xu Zaijing's eyes; within the Yangzhong Garden, there were lush flowers and trees in all four seasons.

During the Double Ninth Festival, many of the flowers and trees used to decorate Madam Wu's polo field had been borrowed or purchased from the Yangzhong Garden.

At this moment, the main gate of the Yangzhong Garden was wide open, with garden servants maintaining order around the entrance; whenever a manager-like figure saw the approaching carriages and horses, they would bow and salute from time to time.

As Xu Zaijing rode in, the manager of the Yangzhong Garden was chatting and laughing with a head nurse from the Liang family; phrases like "the wooden tower is already prepared" and words of thanks could be heard occasionally.

After entering the main gate,

Xu Zaijing cast his gaze forward; from the gate, several paths branched out, leading deep into the garden.

Following the path on the right, there was a long, two-story wooden tower built along the water; there were many pavilions and corridors at the far end below the wooden tower, and one pavilion was even built right in the middle of the pond, connected by a corridor.

On the way to the wooden tower on horseback, Xu Zaijing could occasionally see light-colored, bright clothing flashing in the depths of the garden; clearly, there were those who had come early to enjoy the spring.

Arriving at the wooden tower,

Alan led the Xu family's horses away to be settled,

while Xu Zaijing, accompanied by Qingyun, went up to the second floor.

The layout of this wooden tower was quite similar to the first floor of the Wu Tower, in that the entrances for male and female guests were separate—one on the south side of the building and one on the north.

The upper floor was open on three sides with no rooms, only pillars and a wooden wall separating the female guests.

In the middle, there was a long writing desk from the garden, placed horizontally on the floor.

Elsewhere, there were a few small tables and chairs that did not belong to their group, with maidservants standing by the side.

Their own maidservants and attendants began to busy themselves spreading tablecloths, brewing tea, and moving chairs.

Gu Tingye and Zheng Xiao, who had been racing horses earlier, had arrived a while ago and were already standing by the railing on the second floor, pointing at things in the garden.

Xu Zaijing walked over; at this time of year, the trees in the Yangzhong Garden had not yet sprouted leaves and the flowers had not bloomed, so the overall color was still on the dark side, which matched perfectly with the light colors of the silk and satin clothing.

Gu Tingye stood on the floor with his hands behind his back, looking the part, and said, "Seeing this scene, it is only fitting to compose a poem."

Qi Heng nodded from the side, "Jing Ge'er, why don't we have a little competition?"

Xu Zaijing took a breath of the cool spring breeze and smiled:

"That sounds fine! But, it would be better to have a prize!"

Gu Tingye nodded from the side, "Jing Ge'er is right!"

As he spoke, he glanced toward Buwei, who was busy arranging the writing desk; seeing that the inkstone he had seen in Qi Heng's study during the New Year was not on the desk, he shook his head with some disappointment.

"Second Uncle, what are you looking at?"

Qi Heng asked, looking with some confusion at Gu Tingye, who was shaking his head.

Gu Tingye touched the corner of his brow and said, "Nothing, I was just thinking about what prize to offer!"

Qi Heng gave an "oh" in response.

As everyone was talking, a shout came from downstairs: "Hey! Heng Ge'er! Second Brother! Fifth Brother!"

Xu Zaijing turned his head to look and saw Liang Han, wearing a forehead band, jumping around downstairs and waving to them.

There was also a carriage with the character "Liang" hanging on it, heading toward the entrance for female guests.

*Clatter, clatter, clatter, *

Liang Han ran upstairs in an excited state.

After greeting the brothers, he came to the desk covered with a tablecloth and peered at the characters Qi Heng had written.

Zheng Xiao put down the brush in his hand, looked at Liang Han, and said, "Sixth Brother, why are you shouting so loudly? The lines I had just thought of have all been scared away by you!"

Gu Tingye picked up a candied fruit from a tray held by a maidservant nearby and said, "Who's to say otherwise! Always so jumpy!"

Liang Han seemed to be in a very good mood today; he hurriedly smiled and bowed in apology. Seeing Xu Zaijing looking over, Liang Han walked over with a smile and said:

"Jing Ge'er, why haven't you written a single character?"

Xu Zaijing scanned Liang Han once, then smiled and said, "Nice forehead band."

Upon hearing Xu Zaijing's words, the others stared at Liang Han's forehead band to take a look.

Liang Han smiled and gave Xu Zaijing a thumbs-up: "Jing Ge'er, you have an eye for things! Brothers, I'll provide the prize!"

As he spoke, he untied a jade pendant from his waist and placed it on the desk.

Zheng Xiao picked up the jade pendant and said, "Hiss, such fine jade, Sixth Brother, are you willing to part with it?"

Liang Han: "Xiao Ge'er, today your brother is feeling sharp; you really won't be able to take it away! Come on!"

As he spoke, Liang Han rolled up his sleeves and walked to the desk to pick up the brush.

The people on the floor looked at each other and all began to think.

The noisy sounds coming from Bianjing City in the distance, along with the voices occasionally drifting up from the garden, made the second floor of the wooden tower seem even quieter.

Gu Tingye, with his hands behind his back just as before, came not far from Xu Zaijing.

Seeing that Xu Zaijing hadn't written a single word, he nodded, then paced to the railing.

Looking at the scenery in the garden, Gu Tingye's eyes lit up!

Then,

"Second Brother!!!"

A loud shout from Rong Xian came from downstairs; Gu Tingye only felt his mind go blank, and then he painfully closed his eyes.

Rong Xian came up to the second floor, and looking around, he saw everyone except Xu Zaijing glaring at him.

"Uh..."

Gu Tingye returned to the desk, picked up the brush, scribbled a few characters, gave the paper to Zhi Que, and said:

"Send someone downstairs! When you see someone coming, just hold up the paper."

"Yes, Young Master."

Zhi Que took the paper and walked toward the stairs; Rong Xian peeked and saw the four characters written on it: "Do not shout."

When Rong Xian raised his eyebrows and walked in, he even covered his own mouth.

The tower became quiet once again.

Liang Han, rolling up his sleeves and holding the brush, heard the voices of girls coming from the second floor of the female guests' area, separated by only a wall, and he smiled again.

Xu Zaijing put down the brush and, imitating Gu Tingye, came to the railing and looked out.

Only then did he discover that on the north side of the building, which was also where female guests came upstairs, there was a wooden bridge crossing the river, drawing in living water from the canal, which separated the area on the other side of the bridge.

Xu Zaijing's excellent eyesight allowed him to see quite a few girls running around there holding paper kites, and he could vaguely hear blurred words being spoken.

Looking at the color of the cloak on one of the girls, then looking down at his own clothes, Xu Zaijing blinked with some confusion and muttered to himself, "Clashing colors?"

As he spoke, Xu Zaijing shook his head and turned to walk downstairs.

"Jing Ge'er, where are you going?" Qi Heng asked.

Xu Zaijing waved his hand and said, "I'm going to walk around the garden to see if I can find some inspiration."

Liang Han put down the brush and sleeves and said, "Let's go together, let's go together."

And so, when Xu Zaijing came out of the tower, he was followed by a group of people.

Walking in the garden, sawdust or wooden boards had already been laid in several places on the path where there was standing water.

This group of teenagers, including Xu Zaijing, occasionally walked around or stepped on these surfaces, discussing the varieties of flowers and trees nearby.

Along the way, one could occasionally see areas in the flower and tree thickets not far from the road where wealthy families had enclosed a space with silk to drink tea and enjoy the scenery inside.

Among them, many were families gathered together.

After walking for quite a while longer and taking a detour, the return journey followed the small river of living water that separated the garden.

The trees on both banks of the small river grew very thick and sturdy.

There were many more girls on the opposite bank than on this side, and one could see quite a few of them strolling among the trees.

Seeing Xu Zaijing, Gu Tingye, and the whole group of young noblemen coming over,

those who were walking in groups of two or three close sisters mostly turned their backs and walked in the direction away from the small river, or two or three of them walked directly behind the trees to avoid their sight.

As for those walking in groups of five or six girls, seeing Xu Zaijing and the others, they did not hide or dodge, and they could even point and gesture while chirping like birds, with bursts of laughter occasionally drifting over.

Hearing the girls' laughter, Rong Xian would walk to a rock by the river, place his hands on his waist, and say a few lewd words toward the opposite side.

The effect was significant; very soon, a chorus of "Pah!" sounds came from the opposite bank,

interspersed with coquettish scolding like "Bah!", "Shameless!", and "Lecher!"

Rong Xian proudly lifted his chin at the crowd.

Xu Zaijing smiled and shook his head, while the others chuckled and walked quickly away from that spot.

Rong Xian shouted toward the opposite bank: "Hey! Don't go! Scold me a couple more times!"

Seeing that no girls were paying attention to him, Rong Xian jumped down from the rock on his own and quickly caught up with Xu Zaijing and the others.

After continuing to walk forward for a stretch of road,

Xu Zaijing stopped his steps, causing Liang Han, who was behind him and busy "consulting" with Rong Xian, to bump into him.

"Jing Ge'er, what's wrong?"

Zheng Xiao, noticing that Xu Zaijing had stopped, turned his head and asked.

Liang Han also looked over with curiosity.

Xu Zaijing looked at Zheng Xiao and asked, "Can Fifth Sister climb trees?"

Zheng Xiao asked in confusion, "Which Fifth Sister?"

Looking at Xu Zaijing's incredulous expression, Zheng Xiao patted his forehead and said, "Yes! Why?"

Xu Zaijing pointed to a light-colored figure in a tree in the distance and said, "Fifth Sister, she seems to have climbed a bit too high."

Zheng Xiao's expression changed as he looked over there, but his eyesight was not as good as Xu Zaijing's, so he could not tell who was in the tree.

"Go!!!"

Before the words had even finished, Zheng Xiao lifted the front hem of his clothes and started running.

Xu Zaijing hurriedly followed, and Second Brother Gu did not fall behind either.

After running for a while, the group arrived at the opposite bank of the tree and could clearly see a girl clinging to the tree on the other side; she was lying on a branch that was not very thick and was reaching out.

The target of her hand was a kite hanging on the branch.

A somewhat strong gust of wind blew over, causing the large tree to sway, and there were girls under the tree shouting loudly:

"Fifth Sister, come down quickly!"

"It's just a kite, I'll go buy you a better one!"

Xu Zaijing could vaguely tell that one was Gu Tingyi and the other was Chai Zhengzheng.

Chai Zhengzheng's voice seemed to have been used with too much force and had become somewhat hoarse.

"This was bought for me by Brother Zheng, I can't let it hang here!"

The Fifth Sister on the branch shouted.

Hearing this, the people around Zheng Xiao glanced at him.

Xu Zaijing did the same; seeing Zheng Xiao open his mouth to shout, Xu Zaijing hurriedly pulled him back and said:

"Don't shout, you'll scare her; it'll be even more dangerous if she lets go."

Zheng Xiao nodded, his eyes looking at the small river in front of him with some anxiety; although it was called a small river, it was quite wide, and jumping across it was basically impossible.

It was also some distance from the bridges on either side, and the Fifth Sister in the tree was already crawling toward the kite, the branch trembling slightly.

Suddenly,

*Crack, crack, crack, *

The branch, which was not very thick, emitted a sound of being unable to bear the weight, and both the Fifth Sister and the girls under the tree were startled into screaming.

Xu Zaijing looked at the Fifth Sister high up and was just about to speak when he saw Zheng Xiao already walking toward the river.

Xu Zaijing grabbed him; Zheng Xiao looked at Xu Zaijing with an anxious expression and whispered, "Let go, I have to go save her."

Xu Zaijing hurriedly nodded and said, "I know, come here, I'll throw you over!"

Zheng Xiao frowned: "Huh?"

After a few breaths,

Zheng Xiao: "Ah!"

Zheng Xiao, having reached the other side of the river, took a few more quick steps to dissipate the force on his body; when he turned his head back, he saw Xu Zaijing take three or four steps back.

Then, after a running start, he leaped over.

Zheng Xiao shook his head, wanting to shake this image out of his mind, and then looked up at the tree.

On the branch, the Fifth Sister of the Zhang family, who was about to hook the kite and was hugging the branch, looked down and then let out a surprised "Eh."

"Brother Zheng???"

Gu Tingye patted the few people beside him who were stunned, pointed to the wooden bridge in the distance, and then they all ran toward the wooden bridge.

On this side of the riverbank,

Gu Tingyi and Chai Zhengzheng were stunned as they watched Zheng Xiao fly over,

and then they saw Xu Zaijing jump over as well; they looked at each other in disbelief.

Xu Zaijing arrived under the tree, first turned his head to glance at the cloak on Chai Zhengzheng, and then focused his attention on the tree.

Chai Zhengzheng, after glancing at Xu Zaijing, pursed her lips with some embarrassment, then continued to look up, anxiously watching the Fifth Sister in the tree.

She wanted to shout loudly, but was choked by the wind and could only cough twice.

Chai Zhengzheng immediately turned her head to look at Tingyi and said in a hoarse voice, "Quick, tell her not to move anymore!"

As she turned her head, she met Tingyi's somewhat confused gaze; Tingyi looked at the tree with worry, then looked at Chai Zhengzheng with worry,

and whispered with great concern:

"You, him, how did you end up clashing colors!"

"You and Fifth Sister, how are you both so... worrying!"

Chai Zhengzheng looked anxiously at the tree and thought with some annoyance: Who knew he would still be wearing this outfit!

Then, continuing in a hoarse voice, she said, "Oh, never mind me!"

On the tree side,

Zheng Xiao was already hugging the trunk and climbing up.

Xu Zaijing looked at the Fifth Sister of the Zhang family high up and said:

"You see us now, Fifth Sister, don't move around! I promise to help you get the kite back!"

The Fifth Sister on the branch looked at the two people under the tree: "Oh!"

Although Zheng Xiao's tree-climbing speed was not slow, there was still a gap compared to Xu Zaijing.

Very soon, Xu Zaijing reached the tree and shook his head as he looked at the Fifth Sister of the Zhang family, who had already crawled to the edge of the branch.

Xu Zaijing walked past the thick branch below the Fifth Sister, supported that branch with one hand, and said to Zheng Xiao, who was climbing up while panting:

"I'll hold it, you save her."

The Fifth Sister of the Zhang family pushed hard with both hands, turned her head to look at Zheng Xiao, and gave a silly smile: "Brother Zheng."

"Don't move!"

"Oh!"

The Fifth Sister of the Zhang family continued to tremble slightly as she crawled backward from the branch.

After the Fifth Sister retreated to the main trunk of the large tree without incident,

Zheng Xiao grabbed her; he was just about to scold her a few times, but looking at the Fifth Sister's appearance, Zheng Xiao could not bring himself to say the words.

The Fifth Sister hugged the trunk and said weakly: "The, the kite."

Xu Zaijing shook his head and applied a little force with one hand,

*Snap, *

after the branch was snapped off by him, it was thrown to the ground along with the kite.

Returning to the ground.

Zheng Xiao glared at the Fifth Sister's maidservant and was just about to say something.

Xu Zaijing said: "Fifth Sister, do you know what would happen to your maidservant if something happened to you?"

"Have you ever thought about it?"

The Fifth Sister's expression changed, and she nodded.

"Next time, go find the garden managers or servants, don't put yourself in danger."

"Mm!"

After finishing, Xu Zaijing glanced at Chai Zhengzheng again and said to Zheng Xiao: "Let's go, let's head back."

At this moment,

Gu Tingye and the others had just panted their way to this spot.

Tingyi and Chai Zhengzheng both patted the Fifth Sister several times in resentment, and there were worried tears in both of their eyes.

The Fifth Sister could only hug their waists and apologize: "I'm sorry, I made you worry, it won't happen again."

As she spoke, she also gave a very apologetic look to her personal maidservant.

(End of chapter)