Chapter 390

Great Zhou, Bianjing.

The first quarter of the Xu hour (after 7:00 PM).

The night color is like water, with twinkling stars.

Quyuan Street.

Marquis Yongyi's Mansion.

In a courtyard of the mansion,

The lanterns hanging under the eaves illuminated the nearby ground, walls, and eaves, vaguely allowing one to see the two characters "Ancestral Hall" on the plaque at the entrance.

In the places where the lanterns slightly further away could not reach, autumn insects were chirping "Qu-qu... Qu-qu."

The sound of insects made the courtyard appear even quieter.

In the room in the center of the courtyard,

Bright candlelight spread out from the room, illuminating the ground outside the threshold.

In the night color not far from the ground at the entrance,

Two "Xu" lanterns were being carried by people, approaching the entrance.

Arriving at the bright spot at the entrance,

They were two madams dressed decently, carrying bamboo baskets in their hands, following behind a lady dressed in light-colored magnificent clothing, crossing the threshold and walking in.

About half a quarter of an hour passed.

A small piece of paper ash was blown into mid-air by blue smoke, drifting out toward the outside of the door.

Looking into the room, rows of bright candles were lit inside the ancestral hall,

Which made the candlelight in the room very sufficient, illuminating the forest-like ancestral tablets behind the lifted curtains.

In front of the ancestral tablets was an offering table,

On which were offered melons and fruits and an incense burner with incense sticks inserted.

In front of the offering table,

The Marquis's Mansion's Madam, Sun Shi, along with her personal maids, Bamboo and Dan, were kneeling on prayer mats.

Sun Shi held a slender fire poker, poking at the yellow paper in the fire basin in front of her.

Looking at the bright flames in the fire basin, Sun Shi said in a low voice: "Today is the Double Ninth Festival... Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Grandfather, Grandmother, and all ancestors, currently my husband and children are on an expedition abroad; I ask all ancestors to protect them."

"The battlefield is dangerous, and swords have no eyes. If there are any who can give my husband and children dreams, please help your daughter-in-law to exhort them more..."

"Now that An'er, who has married out, is also pregnant, please protect her so she can give birth to a son..."

Looking at the paper ash flying everywhere in the blue smoke, Madam Bamboo behind Sun Shi said: "Madam, look! The ancestors are happy."

Madam Dan on the side echoed: "Yes! Look at how high this ash is flying."

Sun Shi nodded happily.

Sun Shi chattered on for quite a while, and when she wanted to stand up after kowtowing, her knees were already a bit numb.

It was only with the help of the two personal maids behind her that she was able to stand up.

After bowing once more to the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall, Sun Shi led the people out of the ancestral hall.

After leaving the courtyard,

Sun Shi looked up at the stars filling the sky and walked toward her own courtyard.

The Matriarch's courtyard,

Sun Shi had just taken a sip of throat-moistening soup on the Arhat bed,

When a little maid shouted outside the door: "Madam, a letter has been sent from the gatehouse of the front courtyard."

As she spoke,

The little maid walked in holding the item.

"It's so late, why is there still a letter coming?"

Listening to Sun Shi's words, the little maid said: "I heard from the gatehouse that this letter came together with the letter entering the palace."

Sun Shi nodded, took a sealed wooden box from the hands of the passing Madam Bamboo, and hurriedly opened it.

A moment later, Sun Shi said: "Go, call the eldest son's wife."

"Yes, Madam."

Half a quarter of an hour later,

Xie Shi and Hualan arrived at the hall together.

Hualan looked at her mother-in-law and smiled: "Mother-in-law, your daughter-in-law thinks that Fifth Young Master's coursework has likely been sent as well, so I came over with my sister-in-law."

"Give it to my husband tonight, and let him take it to the school tomorrow."

Madam Sun nodded with a smile: "Come, sit down first. Is Zaizhang still in the study?"

Hualan nodded with some heartache and emotion.

Madam Sun: "This is also not bad, at least he is more diligent than before."

As she spoke, Madam Sun picked up the envelope from the wooden box and handed it to Xie Shi: "Eldest son's wife, this is the letter your husband sent back."

Xie Shi took the envelope somewhat shyly, opened it, and read it carefully.

Madam Sun took out a somewhat thick envelope with the two characters "Coursework" written on it, pulled it out, and handed it to Hualan: "Hualan, come, same as before, you look at it first, and then evaluate it for me."

After finishing,

Madam Sun took out the letter her own husband had written to her and also read it.

"Slap!"

Madam Sun slapped the letter on the table.

Hualan, who was looking at Xu Zaijing's coursework, raised her head and looked at her somewhat angry mother-in-law.

Xie Shi also put down the letter paper with some surprise on her face.

"Mother-in-law, what's wrong?"

Madam Sun exhaled, waved her hand to indicate it was fine, and after taking a sip of soup, she looked at the two daughters-in-law and said: "The Marquis told me that Xu Zaijing wants to join the scout team!"

"Ah? That's too dangerous!"

Xie Shi said with a frown.

Madam Sun shook her head and said: "It really makes me worry! Now that we have received the letter, perhaps Xu Zaijing has already gone out to scout a few times with his cousin! And the Marquis didn't even stop him!"

Hearing this, Hualan and Xie Shi exchanged a glance.

Seeing Xie Shi's eyes look at the letter paper in her hand several times, Hualan looked at the letter paper and said with a flash of inspiration: "Mother-in-law, look at the text written in Fifth Young Master's coursework; it has quite a bit of the heroic spirit of the battlefield!"

Madam Sun: "Is that so? Let me see."

Hualan hurriedly said yes, pointed to Xu Zaijing's coursework, and started talking.

Listening to Hualan's evaluation, Madam Sun nodded continuously.

After finishing, Hualan gave her eldest sister-in-law a wink.

Xie Shi understood, picked up the porcelain bowl filled with soup, moved to Madam Sun's side, and said: "Mother-in-law, today at the polo field, there were quite a few madams who brought their daughters to us; which family's young lady do you think is better?"

Madam Sun took the porcelain bowl, drank a sip, thought for a while, and said: "Speaking of which, the most outstanding ones are the two young ladies of the Chai and Rong families! They are truly beautiful, and their temperaments are also quite good."

Xie Shi and Hualan nodded in agreement.

Xie Shi said again: "Mother-in-law, your daughter-in-law was so angered by Dai Ge'er when I got home today that I forgot to ask you."

"Why does it seem like Da Niangzi Rong Feiyan and the legitimate daughter of the Dou family are getting a bit close? Do their two families have any relatives?"

Madam Sun raised her eyebrows: "I heard from Madam Wu that the Dou family of the Duke of Fu has the intention to marry into the Rong family."

Xie Shi and Hualan pretended to have just found out, with faces full of sudden realization.

Afterward,

Madam Sun talked enthusiastically with her daughters-in-law about the gossip she had heard from Madam Wu.

After talking for a while, Madam Sun made an excuse that she was tired and let her daughters-in-law return to their respective courtyards.

After leaving the Matriarch's courtyard,

Hualan and Xie Shi walked side by side.

"Eldest sister-in-law, do you think Mother-in-law's mind should have been diverted by us?"

Xie Shi nodded: "Looking at the way Mother-in-law chatted about gossip, she wasn't that angry anymore."

Hualan: "Father-in-law is really something; why write everything in the letter! Being so far away, he doesn't even know how to tell a lie!"

Xie Shi nodded in agreement.

The two daughters-in-law of the Xu family left the hall,

And Madam Sun looked sideways at the letter paper on the table where Xu Zaijing wrote that he wanted to be a scout, and sighed heavily.

Under the same starry sky,

Marquis Yongyi's army encampment,

In the main camp,

A tent was lit with candlelight,

Qingyun walked in with a food box in one hand and a bundle in his arms.

"Young Master, these are rice cakes sent by the Marquis's personal guards, and a few pomegranates! This bundle was sent to you by the Eldest Young Master, saying it's things sent from the capital."

Behind the simple wooden table,

Xu Zaijing, who was sitting on a folding chair holding a writing brush, didn't even lift his head, gave a hum, and continued writing attentively.

Qingyun placed the food box under the wooden table, walked to the side to put away the bundle, and began to help Xu Zaijing make the bed.

About half a quarter of an hour passed,

Xu Zaijing put down the writing brush and carefully read his coursework again. After checking that there were no errors, he folded it and put it aside.

Pinching a piece of rice cake from the food box, Xu Zaijing said while eating: "How is it, have the Bai Gao scouts we captured confessed?"

Qingyun nodded: "They have! But this scout's mouth is really hard; if it weren't for Physician Yu's intervention, it might not have been pried open."

Glancing at Xu Zaijing, who was chewing on the rice cake and signaling him to continue, Qingyun said: "The person you asked about, Mele Amai, is from Xingqing Prefecture of the Bai Gao Kingdom."

"Apart from hearing that this person's archery is very formidable, he doesn't know anything else."

"And their duty these past few days was to clear out our scouts in that area."

Xu Zaijing swallowed what was in his mouth: "Why? Just purely to poke out the eyes of the great army?"

Qingyun shook his head: "He doesn't know the specific reason either."

Xu Zaijing nodded, pinched out another piece of rice cake and put it into his mouth, and threw the pomegranate from the food box to Qingyun.

Qingyun caught the pomegranate, and while peeling the pomegranate skin, he said somewhat hesitantly: "Young Master... I want to go play where the falconers are."

"The falcons they raise are too formidable! Watching them these past few days, they can actually distinguish between the flags of the Bai Gao Kingdom and our Great Zhou!"

"Go ahead, and when you come back, remember to call He Guan, Alan, and Xunshu back together."

"Yes, Young Master!"

As he spoke, Qingyun placed the peeled pomegranate on the table and happily lifted the tent curtain and walked out.

Xu Zaijing lightly swept a few pomegranate seeds with his fingers and put them into his mouth, feeling the sweetness in his mouth, and nodded in appreciation.

Looking sideways at the bundle on the bed, Xu Zaijing stood up and walked over.

After Xu Zaijing opened the bundle,

He saw a few silk pouches on the very top of the bundle;

Under the pouches was a letter that was thicker than the envelope containing his own coursework;

Under the letter was a piece of personal ring-lock armor that looked even more exquisite than the one his father, Marquis Yongyi, wore.

Xu Zaijing put the pouches and the envelope aside, lifted the ring-lock armor with one hand, and after looking at it carefully, confirmed that it was better than the one his father wore.

Such extremely exquisite and fine ring-lock armor is not something one can necessarily get just by having status.

"Who sent this?"

Xu Zaijing put the things on the bed and scratched his head in confusion.

Afterward, he picked up the envelope on the side, opened it, and looked at it.

The letter was sent at the end of August,

Tutor Zhuang wrote the most, all of which were guidance for the coursework Xu Zaijing had sent to Bianjing on the way.

Putting the tutor's letter aside first,

Xu Zaijing looked at the letters from Gu Tingye, Qi Heng, Changbai, and Changfeng with a smile on his lips.

What surprised Xu Zaijing somewhat was that the three young ladies of the Sheng family also wrote, but rather than calling them letters, it was more like one sentence each.

Looking at the handwriting on the paper—some elegant and handsome, some earnest and careful, some unique—Xu Zaijing felt that seeing the handwriting was truly like seeing the person.

Finally, Xu Zaijing picked up the few pouches in the bundle and looked at them.

In the few pouches, some contained thick gloves, some contained forehead bands, and some contained scarves.

There were two pouches containing forehead bands. Although Xu Zaijing didn't do needlework, the needlework of the three maids in his courtyard was quite good.

Looking at the two different forehead bands, he could distinguish that they were embroidered by two different people, and these two people were not the maids in his own courtyard.

Thinking of this, Xu Zaijing picked up a forehead band mixed with cotton wool and brought it to the candle to look at it.

There was a small "Jing" character embroidered on this forehead band with cotton wool. Xu Zaijing looked at this character and felt that the handwriting was somewhat familiar. After a good deal of recollection, his eyes brightened: "Previously, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the 'Jing' character on the five-colored thread obtained at the Sheng family school also had this handwriting!"

"So it was Madam Fang's handiwork."

Xu Zaijing said to himself.

After figuring out this forehead band, Xu Zaijing picked up the other one.

The handiwork of this forehead band was somewhat inferior.

Xu Zaijing had seen quite a few good things since he was a child.

Looking at the printed pattern on the material and touching the texture of the material, the material of this forehead band was actually much better than the one with cotton wool! It was on par with those materials bestowed by the Empress in the Marquis's Mansion.

Xu Zaijing could tell at a glance that the gloves and scarf were the handiwork of his own three little maids.

He reached out to try the gloves, and they were still very handy.

After another two quarters of an hour,

Qingyun and He Guan and the others returned to the tent near Xu Zaijing's.

The candlelight in the tent lit up and then went out.

Soon,

The main camp under the starry sky quieted down,

Listening to the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers and the occasional knocking sound of reporting the time, Xu Zaijing soon fell asleep.

The next day,

The tenth day of the ninth month,

Before dawn, Xu Zaijing got up to eat.

While eating, he also received a military order sent by Zhu Qinghu to guard the southwest direction of the main camp and to kill any enemy scouts seen on the spot.

After the meal,

Xu Zaijing put on his armor with Qingyun's help.

"Qingyun, today we have to stay outside for at least six hours; who knows when we might have to fight, so we must pack the dried meat we brought from Bianjing."

"Don't worry, Young Master!"

As the two were talking,

When preparing to put the helmet on Xu Zaijing, they had to pad it with a forehead band.

Qingyun looked at the few forehead bands by the pillow on Xu Zaijing's bed and asked: "Young Master, which one should I wear?"

Xu Zaijing pointed to the forehead band with very exquisite material: "This one; the one with cotton wool is a bit hot to wear right now."

After putting on his armor, Xu Zaijing and Qingyun walked out of the tent.

Looking at He Guan, Alan, and the others who were also fully equipped and leading their horses over outside the tent, Xu Zaijing waved his hand, and everyone mounted their horses one after another.

Afterward,

Joining the other few old scouts sent by his cousin Zhu Qinghu, everyone, with two horses each, galloped out along the road leaving the camp.

Three quarters of an hour later,

Everyone arrived at the "mission area" a few dozen miles southwest of the main camp.

Looking at the distant mountaintop, where the Great Zhou flag used by scouts to signal and warn the rear was waving non-stop,

Xu Zaijing, who recognized the flags and drums, took the lead and galloped toward that side, preparing to save the comrades who had encountered danger.

As a result, just halfway there, Xu Zaijing saw the Great Zhou flag on the mountaintop shake a few times and then disappear from everyone's field of vision.

There was only one reason for this situation:

The comrades on that side had been completely wiped out by the enemy!

(End of chapter)