si-mexico Chapter 956 I really hope to welcome the coming of age day with Brother Xiaokang
Chapter 956 I really hope to welcome the coming of age day with Brother Xiaokang
Xu Zize, who traveled to Jiangnan to supervise the construction of the canal, actually came very close to the capital twice.
It was a misty evening with drizzling rain. When the map was slowly unfolded on the table, his fingertips moved along the winding ink line and finally stopped at the familiar place name - the fork in the river, only thirty miles away from the capital.
The conversations of his colleagues in the Ministry of Works gradually faded. He seemed to be able to hear the maid's silver bell-like laughter as she chased butterflies in the courtyard, and see her standing on tiptoe to tie a red silk under the crabapple tree.
The cinnabar pen turned three times between his fingers and finally landed heavily on a tributary further south. This choice made the canal bypass the capital, and also separated him from the girl he missed day and night by eighty miles of mountains and rivers.
The dusk shone through the window lattices of the temporary government office, casting mottled marks on his blue shirt. He stared at the northern sky for a long time without moving, and only handed the blueprint to the river engineer who had been waiting for a long time until the lights were turned on.
Just when the access point of Huangsha River and Huai River was being selected, the girl who had been so close to his father and whom he missed day and night chose to pass by his home without entering and only chose to meet his father in the villa outside Beijing.
The night the carriage left, the fragrance of autumn osmanthus from the nearby yard seeped in through the gaps in the curtains. It was exactly the same as the scent of the old golden osmanthus in the back garden of Rong Enbo's mansion in his memory. It made him hesitate for a moment and wanted to stay.
Green Shadow asked tentatively if they wanted to take a break. He tightly grasped the sachet embroidered with lotus in his sleeve, his Adam's apple rolled three times, and finally he ordered in a hoarse voice to walk into the inner city.
The lanterns beside the official road swayed in the wind, cutting his silhouette on the wall of the car into a hard outline. Only when he passed the vermilion lacquered gate did he subconsciously lean towards the car window, as if to catch some fleeting light and shadow, but he only saw two stone lions in the light of the lanterns.
The busyness of the day eased the longing, but the stillness of the night made it impossible to sleep. Even in my dreams, I could only see the girl's smile. The clamor of the supervisor and the pounding of earth temporarily filled my mind, but when the moonlight streamed over the levee, those suppressed thoughts burst forth like a tide.
Sleeping on the humid night air of Jiangnan, I always see Xier wearing a red gold hairpin with kingfisher feathers, running down the stone steps with her skirt lifted up. The pearl necklace in her hair rustles with her movements. When I wake up, the touch of him straightening her pearl hairpin in my dream can still be felt on my palm.
He didn't dare stay, worried that he would be trapped in the girl's gentle embrace and unable to return. The last time they parted, the little girl was bewitched by him, but the image of him holding her in his arms for so long was still etched in her heart. If he really saw her tearful eyes, he was afraid that even if he exhausted all his willpower, he would find it difficult to pull himself away.
What's more, the construction of the canal is at a critical moment, and some important details of the construction, as well as the access points at the river mouth, need him to decide. If he leaves, the entire project will definitely be delayed a lot, or even come to a standstill.
This section of the river channel happens to have a soft soil foundation, and the slightest carelessness could cause a landslide and a dam breach. He has been calculating on the sand table in the shed for seven days and nights, his eyes bloodshot but he dare not close them.
"The food in the space is about to overflow. Xier has discussed with her mother and father and plans to go south. The journey will be soon," the girl wrote in the letter. The ink on the rice paper was blurred by the dripping tea, which looked very much like her tears of grievance. "We are going south and plan to unload half of the food to Lord Xiao in Jiangnan; and keep the other half in Zhaoqing Prefecture. This way, if Jiangnan or Lingnan is hit by a disaster, it will be convenient for Lord Xiao and my third uncle to make arrangements; the space can store the harvest for another year or two, so that the people in several counties outside the capital will not have no porridge to eat." There were also pieces of dried osmanthus flowers between the lines, which must be because it was the flower harvest season in the courtyard when the letter was written.
"Also, several sisters are traveling with us on this trip. Let's send Sister Ling to Leizhou to marry Third Brother, and also visit the newly born Sixth Cousin in Zhaoqing Prefecture." Jing Chunxi rambled on in the letter, and the last paragraph was particularly heartfelt. The strokes suddenly became soft, as if hiding an expectation that was too shy to speak out.
"I really hope to see Brother Xiaokang. On October 17th, Xier will be coming of age. I've already agreed with the elders that we'll have the coming of age ceremony when I return. But Xier really hopes to greet that day with Brother Xiaokang."
There was a small fingerprint on the lower right corner of the letter, as if the girl had repeatedly rubbed it before sealing it. He gently placed his lips against it, but what appeared in his mind was the girl's soft, pink lips.
Although Princess Anping did not make a big show of traveling, her outing was still quite grand.
Although Ling Xiao did not bring a dowry, she saved a lot on daily necessities and brought several large carts. The caravan was huge, with more than a dozen carriages alone, connected end to end like a swimming dragon.
The carriages were all made of high-quality nanmu wood. Although the curtains had dark patterns and were not ostentatious, they were made of cloud-patterned brocade that was tributed from the south of the Yangtze River. They glowed faintly in the sunlight and were no longer as gray as they had been in the previous trips.
There were more than twenty guards in public. Although they were all dressed in ordinary plain clothes, they all rode tall horses, wore long swords at their waists, and scanned the movements on both sides of the official road with eyes like hawks.
When they stopped along the way, maids in ordinary cloth bodices, old women in navy aprons, and followers in green clothes and small hats shuttled among them, serving tea and water, and sorting luggage. There were at least a dozen people in total, and although they were low-key, they had the style of a wealthy family traveling.
Sanlang had written earlier that shipping in Leizhou was booming, with thousands of ships sailing out of the docks daily and a constant stream of merchant vessels. He had originally planned to stay busy for a year or two, waiting for the flood and drought disaster mentioned in the letter to pass before returning to Beijing to get married, but Ling Xiao couldn't wait.
She stood by the window, holding the letter, gazing at the kapok tree in the courtyard that had been transplanted from Lingnan. She whispered, "I know what he's worried about, but since we're already engaged, why bother with all this formality?"
She had lived with her father in the northern border region since she was a child, accustomed to the sight of rolling yellow sand and the sound of melodious camel bells. Later, when Lord Ling's position was reassigned, the family lived in a small coastal town in Lingnan for two years before returning to Beijing. The salty sea breeze and the soft local dialect became vivid memories.
Over the past ten years, she had moved three or four times. The prosperity of the capital, in her eyes, was not as impressive as the vastness of the northern frontier or the freedom of Lingnan. Furthermore, having never been to Leizhou, she longed to visit her future husband's home—the vibrant land described in Sanlang's letters had long taken root in her heart.
After consultation, the Jing and Ling families chose an auspicious day for Ling Xiao to reverently pay homage to her ancestors at the Jing family ancestral hall. Amidst the lingering scent of incense and candles, she kowtowed three times and bowed nine times, completing this important ceremony. Then, accompanied by Jing Chunxi and several other sisters, including Jin Jie'er, Mingzhu, Yan Jie'er, Ling'er, Yaya, Xiaoyu, and Qiaoqiao, the group journeyed to Leizhou for the wedding.
Jin Jie'er and her sisters were so overjoyed at the chance to travel south that they didn't know what to do. They'd started packing their trunks two days before departure, spending half a day just choosing clothes and jewelry. By the time they finally boarded the carriage and left the capital, their excitement was unstoppable.
Sister Jin lifted the curtain and kept looking around, Mingzhu repeatedly counted the sachets and purses she carried with her, and Xiaoyu counted the gifts she had prepared over and over again.
After walking for dozens of miles, the girls were still chattering non-stop, talking about everything from the new styles in the capital to the rare treasures that might be seen in the south, with smiles all the time. Even the coachman was infected by their laughter and hummed a little tune.