Wei Shao was silent. He stood, she sat, he looked down at Xiao Qiao, but Xiao Qiao narrowed her eyes and didn't look at him. The two were only separated by a case, but they both seemed to be caught in their own thoughts. There was only silence in the room. Wei Shao even seemed to hear the sound of the blood in his body constantly rushing through his chest and the heart beating along with it.

A gust of night wind came in through a crack in the corner, the candle flickered, and the figure that Wei Shao threw on the opposite wall also swayed a few times. Finally, there seemed to be a trace of life in the room. Wei Shao's shoulders finally moved with the shadow. He raised his feet and was about to walk towards her. Xiao Qiao had already stood up from the couch. He raised his eyes and said warmly, "It's getting late. Rest."

She stayed, walked past him under Wei Shao's gaze, came to the door, opened the door, and whispered to the servant girl to come in and serve Wei Shao in the bath.

…

Wei Shao's marching troops also bathed in cold water in winter, not to mention it was summer now.

The water drawn from the deep well in the back garden was already very cool. Wei Shao closed his eyes and raised the whole bucket to pour it down from his head. The water flowed down the top of his head, face, and shoulders. With the sound of splashing water, his skin felt a cool breeze, but the water under his skin felt cool. The burning sensation that the blood flow brought him that seemed to keep stabbing him didn't go away at all. And he felt tightness in his chest, as if it was blocked by a rag.

He felt bad, very bad.

He opened his eyes. Wet all over. Water dripped down his hair.

Wei Shao wanted to ask her to come in and wipe herself up. When he was bathing every night recently, she would come in to serve him, help him wipe his hair and body, and sometimes make out with him in the bathroom.

He opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't scream. He pulled a bath towel that was quietly hanging on the shelf, wiped it, put on some clothes and went out, seeing that she was not waiting for him on the bed, and It was like when she first came here, standing aside, she should have waited for him to go up first.

Wei Shao hesitated, walked towards her and said, "Go to sleep, it's getting late."

Xiao Qiao smiled and nodded. He bolted the door and lowered the two curtains hanging in front of the bed.

The light in front of the bed dimmed.

Wei Shao lay on the bed. She blew out the light.

A slight rustling sound. Wei Shao turned her face and watched her take off her clothes one by one with her back to him in the dark, leaving her middle clothes on, and finally climbed into the bed.

She fell asleep as if she fell asleep at once, without turning over again, breathing evenly.

…

Wei Shao experienced many things that day. During the day, he rushed back to Yuyang from Zhuo County, and in the evening, he met Wei Yan and Qiao Ci outside the city. After a long turn, he finally came back and lay back on this bed with her.

Wei Shao felt restless, but not because of physical fatigue. He was young and energetic like a male leopard in the deep spring season. He was able to walk for three days and three nights without sleep, and the next day he still appeared in front of his trio of soldiers full of energy.

What disturbed him was the uncertainty she gave him.

She is just a woman, he can lift her with one arm, and her neck can't stand his anger, if she really angers him completely. When he came to the study and suddenly found that the box had been moved and left dazzling scratches, he did think of her for the first time, and became uncontrollably angry. Because he had so clearly told her not to touch the box. And from the bottom of my heart, I really don't want to let her touch. He made rules, but she didn't follow them. He felt offended by her ignorance.

If this was in the army and she was his subordinate, then she should have been beheaded on the spot. But what Wei Shao didn't understand was that she was clearly at fault. Because she did move things he didn't want her to touch, ignoring his orders. But after so much tossing, why did he feel as if he had done something completely wrong at this moment.

Especially, it seems that he shouldn't be so angry at her.

As soon as he closed his eyes at this moment, it would appear as if she had been called by him to question her. Her face, which was still smiling a moment ago, immediately lost its color, and he looked at his eyes with the kind of panic, shame and pleading remorse that he did not fail to see. .

Wei Shao was a little uncomfortable tormented by his tangled emotions, and he also slowly developed a feeling similar to frustration in his heart.

He went out in a rage, then calmed down and went to the East Room. From his mother's reaction, it was not difficult for him to judge that her self-defense was true: she did touch the box, but did not make any attempt to completely anger him. The stupidity of opening a box by picking a lock.

Frankly, he was a little relieved at the time. On the way back to the Westinghouse, he guessed that after he went out in anger, she should be very frightened. He also thought about it. After entering, of course he would not immediately reconcile with her. Because she did make a mistake and didn't take his words seriously. He will let her take the initiative to reflect on her mistakes again, and promise to tell her that he has already helped her find out the whole story and will return her innocence.

She would be grateful for her generosity and for taking the initiative to clear her of suspicion. And more importantly, with this necessary lesson, she will definitely give up on herself from now on, and she will not dare to do anything similar to this time. After thinking about it, although he was a little distressed by the panic she showed when she was frightened, he didn't want to cause her a misunderstanding, thinking that he would tolerate any behavior of her indefinitely.

This is similar to how he disposes of a general in the army who violated the military order but still needs to be retained. First power and then kindness, and both kindness and power, such a means of governance has never been unfavorable.

After he came in, he saw her sitting on the couch with a calm expression. He opened the lock in front of him in twos and threes. Without him, he washed her away from the suspicion of picking the lock.

…

In this era, except for the upper class, which constitutes a minority of the population, the education level that the remaining class can receive is extremely limited. A slightly advanced calculation is farther away from the vast majority of people. Wei Shao has been very interested in arithmetic since he was a child. After his father Wei Jing knew about it, he specially ordered a set of 272 jade chips for him and put them in a bag, and the seven-year-old Wei Shao hung on his body. Take it with you anywhere, you can take it out and play with it anytime, anywhere. The Jiugong lock used for this wooden box was also carefully crafted by a locksmith out of brass when he was ten years old, according to the "Cosmic Rubik's Cube" that had aroused his great interest in Hetu Luoshu.

It never occurred to him that someone could open the lock. At least in this family, there will be no second person besides him.

He never thought that she would unlock the lock in front of him so easily.

A woman from an aristocratic family, before getting married at home, would have received some cultural education since childhood, including simple arithmetic, and later went to her husband's housekeeper Su Yong, but it was impossible to learn Hetu Luoshu. The degree of species, at least he has never heard of it.

At that time, Wei Shao could not say he was shocked, and then he was faintly disappointed. He felt that although he stepped into this door, he seemed to have eaten a closed door from her.

…

Wei Shao couldn't sleep. He clearly felt it just now, although she repeatedly apologized to herself, she still smiled at herself and spoke softly. But she seemed to have changed back to the Qiao girl she was when she first came to her house.

He is not a fool, he can naturally feel it. He felt a little stuffy in his chest.

He didn't like the way she looked at him.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her breathing coming from the pillow. Finally, he couldn't help it, stretched out his hand towards her, and tentatively placed it lightly on her waist.

She seemed to have fallen asleep, motionless and unresponsive.

Wei Shao stretched his arms a little further until he slowly wrapped her waist completely around his arms, and then leaned towards her.

Xiao Qiao suddenly turned over and fell asleep with his back to him, as if he was just accidentally turning over in his sleep.

Wei Shao hesitated for a while, then continued to stick to her back, and finally took her completely into his chest, put his lips to her ear, and whispered, "I believe you. You really didn't move the lock. of."

He stopped for a while and saw no response from her. Then he tightened his arms, his palms began to move slowly along her waist, and finally reached into her clothes, gently stroking her with gentle force, and his lips also fell on the back of her neck, following her The back of the neck kissed all the way to the shoulder, and when the chin rubbed against her, she took her shirt off the shoulder.

His breath gradually became hot, and his snorts fell on her naked skin. Then when he tried to turn her over to face him, Xiao Qiao suddenly raised his hand, grabbed his hand that was gradually getting hot, and took it out of his shirt.

"Husband, I'm really tired tonight, can you let me sleep?"

Xiao Qiao opened his eyes in the dark and said. The head did not come back.

Her tone was still soft, but her voice was indeed low and weak.

Wei Shao paused slightly for the hand she had removed. After a moment, he released her and turned out.

…

The next morning, at five watch, Wei Shao got up and left.

Xiao Qiao really didn't know when he got up and left. She woke up as usual, and when she saw no one around, did she know he was gone. Not long after getting up, while still dressing, I suddenly heard a faint cry from the yard outside, as if something had happened.

Xiao Qiao didn't go out to look. After a while, Lin Nuo ran in and told her that Madam had already found out that the person who dared to sneak into Junhou's study to break the lock yesterday was indeed the Sun Nuo she had caught a glimpse of. The Jiang woman next to Mrs. Fang Cai brought someone over to kidnap the sun woman. Sun Li was crying and screaming, Jiang Li asked someone to put mud in her mouth on the spot, and finally dragged her feet upside down and forcibly dragged her away.

As Lin Ni described this, her eyes were wide open, and she seemed very angry: "The lady is kind and generous, she doesn't want to repay the master, and she does such a thing against bullying the master! Heaven's law is intolerable!"

There was a sound of footsteps coming from the door, Xiao Qiao raised her eyes and saw that Jiang Hao came. The attitude was uncharacteristically respectful. Standing outside the door, he bowed to Xiao Qiao and said, "The lady was very angry when she learned that the madam knew what happened here. She interrogated the evil woman all night, and found the evil woman named Sun early in the morning, and the woman confessed. No secret. The maid has already bound her, and she will be severely punished when she takes her there. Madam was so angry last night that she didn’t sleep well all night. She went to the North House early in the morning to apologize to the old lady, and she just lay down when she came back. Madam said, On her side, there is no need for a lady to go there."

Jiang Li finished her words before leaving. Xiao Qiao packed up and went to the north house as usual.

Zhu Shi had been here early in the morning and had just left for a while. Seeing Xiao Qiao coming, Mrs. Xu looked a little down, she beckoned her to sit beside her, looked at her face, and said, "Just now your mother-in-law came to me and said that there was a quilt in Erlang's study. People broke the lock without permission, Erlang was furious last night and asked her to be held accountable, she dealt with the matter early in the morning, and people also found out?"

Xiao Qiao said: "Mother-in-law was very resolute, and I am very grateful to have caught the person who broke the lock so quickly. Fortunately, nothing happened this time, just a false alarm. When I came over in the morning, in addition to seeing my grandmother, I also stopped by. There is something I want to discuss with my grandmother."

"you say."

"There are a lot of servants in the Westinghouse. I remember that when I got married, there were only about ten people. Later, because of my grandmother's love, I sent some people over there, including some from my mother-in-law. There were a lot of servants, but only my husband and I served. The two of me. My husband is always absent during the day, and I don't need so many people. I saw my grandmother here, and there are only a dozen people who sweep the courtyard. My husband and I are young, and our seniority is small. Fei so far. It just happened that such a thing happened again. I wondered if I could reduce some unnecessary manpower. First, it will prevent people from being superfluous, and secondly, it will also prevent people from doing nothing and regenerating right and wrong. "

Mrs. Xu nodded: "It's reasonable. Although people like us don't care about the idleness of one or two servants, but if the right and wrong like yesterday are born out of idleness, it is the housewife who doesn't pay attention, and it shouldn't be. It's rare that you don't. Don't care about ostentation. You can make up your own mind about what's going on in your house, so you don't have to ask me."

Xiao Qiao smiled, thanked Mrs. Xu, and sat with him for a while before leaving.