Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 39 2.16 Brother Zhou!
Volume Two

2.16 Brother Zhou!
There is an ancient poem that goes, "The beauty of the world is exhausted in April." Naturally, it is not so absolute. There must be more than one kind of flower in the Xue family garden, but in mid-April, the bright red camellia has really reached the last stage of its annual flowering period, but it also makes the whole The fragrance of flowers was everywhere in the Xue family. On this day, in the beautiful building in the backyard of the Xue family, Xue Baochai was doing needlework out of boredom while chatting with the maid Ying'er.

"Girl, I heard that this Mr. Zhou is very powerful." Ying'er twitched for a while, but chattered in her mouth, "At first, the master just prepared a hundred catties and two pounds that ordinary warriors usually use. The one hundred kilograms of stone locks were not used for long, so Mr. Zhou begged the master to replace them and got three hundred kilograms of stone locks."

"But it's nonsense again. It's not that I haven't heard of this martial arts. It's the martial arts test of courage. The left and right are only three hundred catties of stone pier offering seals. That's the limit of ordinary human strength. If you don't have normal practice, you can lift it. Three hundred kilograms of stone locks? You haven't broken them all yet." Xue Baochai lightly hit the maid, obviously not believing it.

"Girl, you have forgotten what the ancients said. The King of Chu can carry a cauldron with strength, and there are even people who can carry a thousand catties of strength. If you practice martial arts with a stone lock of three hundred catties, it will only be five or six hundred catties of strength, which is far away. It can't lift a big cauldron far away, let alone lift a thousand catties.

I also heard from the servants who followed the master back from the capital last time and the guardians that Zhou Xianggong is an expert archer. He has a powerful bow that takes one stone and a half to hit the target with hundreds of shots. He can kill the thieves who want to rob the master in just a few strokes. It's a pity. We walked the canal with my wife and came back early, if we could have seen each other—oh! Ying'er continued to talk, and was "beaten" by her own girl before she finished speaking.

"You girl, I'm afraid you are crazy. Why do you keep talking about my foreign husband?" You didn’t say anything about shooting the thief, and which unreliable gossip did you hear about it?”

"Girl -" Ying'er looked aggrieved, but her eyes rolled around, "How can I dare to talk nonsense? Now it has been spread throughout the house. Mr. Zhou has shot more than one or two people. Otherwise, he would not be so valued by the master. , keeping people for a short stay and hosting banquets from time to time?

If the girl doesn't believe it, this servant has heard that Mr. Zhou practices hard in the guest room garden every day. How about we go and take a look?The servants will definitely not be able to see the overlord of Chu who can carry a cauldron, but it would be a pity not to take a look at this strong man who can lift three hundred kilograms of stone locks. Girl, why don't we go take a look - Ouch! "

"Damn it, are you waiting here?" Xue Baochai was obviously annoyed, "Girls in the boudoir, how can there be any reason to go see your foreign man? If you are tempted, I will ask my mother to send you away someday. Get over it."

"Girl, how could you arrange your own girl like this!" Ying'er covered her head with a look of aggrievement, but she didn't forget to continue to encourage, "This slave is committed to the girl and will serve her for the rest of her life. Besides, what kind of extravagance is Mr. Zhou?" Man, as soon as the master came back, he held a family banquet. At that time, he introduced the wife, the eldest master and the young lady to each other, so of course they are his family members!

Sitting at home every day is annoying to death. It’s hard to find interesting things. If you can’t even take a look, that would be a pity, right?What's more, the servant heard that in order to practice martial arts, Mr. Zhou kept shouting and shouting every day, and he could hear it even in the inner courtyard. "

"This -" Xue Baochai, who was also bored and even secretly read "Xianshu", was obviously moved, but there was still a hesitant look on his face, "How can I just go and see the girl in the boudoir?"

"My girl, today the master and the wife took the post and went out to socialize. I don't know where the master ran away. There is no one at home. Let's go and have a look. Is there anyone who dares to talk? At most, this slave will go there first. , just send the Li brothers to one side to guard the door." Seeing her young lady's heart fluttering, Ying'er immediately stepped up her "fooling".

"No, we can't." Xue Baochai was obviously unsteady.

"Slave, please go over and make arrangements right away!" Ying'er simply hammered it down.

"Ying'er, you stupid hoof." Xue Baochai stomped her feet angrily as she watched her girl leave in a hurry, but she didn't say anything to stop her.

A moment later, in the guest room garden, Zhou Yang was helping each other with the Li brothers doing stretching exercises when they heard brisk footsteps coming from the door, and a young girl dressed as a girl strode into the yard.

"It turns out to be Miss Ying'er, today this is..." Zhou Yang smiled and casually held his hand as a greeting, and put on his gown at the same time, but saw that Ying'er only had a slightly red face and didn't say much about it.

The two rarely met each other on weekdays, so they were not familiar with each other, and they didn't even exchange a few words. After all, there is an inner courtyard and a guest room, but they are not unfamiliar. Leaving aside the introduction on the first day, Xue Baochai's foreign affairs are usually She is the one who takes care of it, so it can be regarded as looking down and not seeing up, but she is not familiar with it to the point of "familiarity". "My servant has seen Mr. Zhou!" Ying'er giggled, but turned to greet the Li family brothers, "Hey, you two stupid bears, go back to the guest room first—no, go out and check the passage from the guest room to the garden, here There are other arrangements."

"Master?" The Li brothers just glanced at her and didn't pay attention at all. An angry Ying'er stomped her feet and glared at them, while Li Xiong turned to Zhou Yang for instructions.

"Miss Ying'er, do you have something to arrange?" Zhou Yang would naturally not send people away in a hurry. Although he was now positioned as "the best in the family" by Xue Tu, he also knew that the only master left in the Xue family today was Xue Baochai. , it’s really inconvenient.

"Let them go out first." Ying'er didn't answer, but still glared at the Li brothers, obviously not wanting to give in.

"Forget it, you two will follow what Miss Ying'er said, and go to the passageway outside the guest room to guard." Xue Baochai was the only one who could make Ying'er arrange it in person. Directly avoiding the "inner courtyard passage".

"Hehe, Mr. Zhou must have guessed it too." Seeing Zhou Yang's words, Ying'er smiled happily and said, "The camellias are blooming the best in this garden. Our girls also want to come and have a look. Anyway, this guest room is in the courtyard. There is only Mr. Zhou, so we only need to make arrangements."

"Oh?" Zhou Yang frowned, "Why, I know that the garden in the mansion is famous in Jinling, and the camellias there should be better."

"You are such a long-winded person." Ying'er waved her hands impatiently. She couldn't say that she wanted Xue Baochai to come over because she wanted to see Zhou Yang's martial arts practice and strength, right?He simply turned around and left, without forgetting to say one more sentence with a blushing face, "Just keep practicing, the girl and I will know how to greet each other, and you are not allowed to hang your coat in the garden again."

"I got it." Zhou Yang turned around speechlessly and took a look at the garden. It was not too small. It was roughly a circle larger than a modern basketball court. But if he was practicing martial arts on the side, people could still enjoy the flowers without being disturbed. , that is really insulting to the intelligence, not to mention that the camellia has reached the final stage of flowering, he doesn't believe it
"Girl, we're here!" Just as I was thinking about something, I heard the voice of Ying'er greeting me at the door, "My slave said that the camellias in this garden are blooming better than inside. Do you believe me this time?"

"I've met Brother Zhou!" Xue Baochai was not as rude as Ying'er. After entering the door, he walked up to Zhou Yang and gave her a gentle blessing, "My little sister is greedy for this camellia and disturbed my elder brother's martial arts practice. Please don't blame me. "

"Sister Xue was joking. If the flowers are only frightened by a vulgar person like me every day, it will be really ruined." Zhou Yang smiled and cupped his hands to return the gift. Although he knew the girl's name in front of him, But they can’t be called. After all, according to the rules, the name of the girl’s family cannot be said indiscriminately. The direct translation of "waiting for the word boudoir" means "waiting to tell the name to the future husband".

"Oh, you are not one of those poor scholars, why are you talking about these things?" Just as the two were going through the "ceremony ceremony", Ying'er on the side was not so interested, and she saw that she was very lively and surrounded the six The [-]-pound stone pier spun around a few times, then raised his long sword with both hands with a slight frown, and then interrupted Zhou Yang's politeness, "Ms. Zhou, I heard that you can lift three hundred pounds at will." It’s a big stone pier, isn’t it?”

"Huh?" After grasping the key point for a moment, Zhou Yang turned to look at Xue Baochai, only to see that her cheeks were slightly red and her head turned slightly to the side, but she did not open her mouth to explain.

"Hahaha!" Zhou Yang couldn't help but laugh. Xue Baochai's cheeks, which only smiled, became increasingly red, as if they were rouged. Until she felt that she could no longer hold on anymore, she bowed and said, "All day long I have lost my brain while practicing martial arts here, and I forgot to show it to my master, so I will treat it as an apology today - hahahaha!"

"Brother Zhou!" Xue Baochai stamped his feet anxiously, turned around and left, not forgetting to give Ying'er's head a slap on the head as he covered his mouth and snickered.

"Mr. Zhou!" Now it was Ying'er's turn to be anxious, and she kept winking to indicate that she should stay.

"What is Sister Xue doing? It's just a joke!" He rushed over and closed the garden door directly. Then he smiled and said to Xue Baochai who turned his back, "Anyway, I practice very well every day. If Xue My sister feels that she has practiced well, and I hope to reward her with a few copper coins, hahaha!"

"Brother Zhou!" Xue Baochai couldn't maintain her habitual dignity any longer, and Zhen Capital was so ashamed that her breasts were almost glued together!
(End of this chapter)