Side Story: Poems and Far Away (Free)(1/2)
[I'm really sorry, I'm still stuck in a serious problem at the moment, and I'm still trying to think of the follow-up plot, so I can't write the main text for the time being. But in order to prove that I don't have a eunuch, I'll put together some materials that were prepared in the previous outline period and are no longer needed. Share it with everyone in the form of an extra.]
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1. Spring tree
When Gu Xu first visited Lu Mansion in Qingzhou, spring was returning to the earth, and the grass was growing and orioles were flying.
Before that, he had heard from many people that this mansion occupies a huge area and is magnificent. It can be described as "the mansion of the gods in Jinmen and Yuhu, the home of the concubine in Guidianlan Palace". It is different from the residences of ordinary officials and wealthy families. Same.
When I saw it today, it was indeed the case.
Carved jade seals, embroidered cloud lintels, golden jade steps, Tongting Huihui. Decorated with Chinese cypress and jade, flowing scenery of the sun. The bright wall is illuminated by the moon, and the red pillars shine brightly...( 1)
It seems that no matter how beautiful the words are, how sophisticated the rhetoric is, they are not enough to describe its splendor and luxury.
Gu Xu's second impression of it was "strict rules and numerous etiquette".
There is an order of elders and younger ones, and there is a distinction between seniority and inferiority. Men and women are not allowed to sit at the same table, and concubines are not allowed to sit at the same table. The etiquette when meeting, the seating position when eating, clothing on different occasions, the value of gifts, and even the order of using chopsticks... All have extremely strict requirements.
Because of this, although Gu Xu had a polite smile on his face and greeted everyone calmly, he actually paid attention to every step, always caring, and did not want to cause unnecessary trouble by admitting the wrong person or saying the wrong thing. .
As a time traveler, and an orphan from a civilian background in this life, Gu Xu was used to being free and easy, but now in such an environment, he undoubtedly felt a little depressed, feeling like a golden bird that accidentally got into Caged wild sparrow.
After lunch, Lu Huan, the chief minister of the Daqi Dynasty's cabinet and the head of the Lu family, asked his eldest son Lu Bingde to take Gu Xu around the compound to get acquainted with young people of his generation.
After all, Gu Xu is considered the most dazzling genius among the younger generation of Da Qi Dynasty.
Lu Huan also hopes that his descendants can form friendship with him. When Gu Xu becomes successful in the future, he can also support the Lu family's descendants.
It would be even better if he could be recruited as his son-in-law.
"Master Gu, this is my sister Lu Wanru. She has been very talented since she was a child. She knows everything about music, chess, calligraphy and painting."
"Master Gu, this is my sister Lu Jingshu. She is a cultivation genius of the younger generation in our family. She is sixteen years old this year and has already broken through to the third realm."
"Master Gu, this is my cousin Lu Huaixin. Although he is only six years old, he is already familiar with etiquette and knows how to humbly give pastries and fruits to his brothers and sisters."
"..."
Gu Xu followed Lu Bingde, walked through the winding corridors and beautifully decorated halls, and met the Lu family's children one after another.
Both men and women, young and old, are all dressed in embroidered clothes, gold and silver hair ornaments on their heads, jade pendants and sachets hanging on their waists, looking like gods.
Standing in front of them, Gu Xu, dressed in a dark official robe, looked simple and plain.
When they saw Gu Xu, these young people all saluted and greeted Gu Xu. The men bowed and the women bowed their knees. Some looked reserved and frightened, or they greeted him enthusiastically, or pretended to ask for advice on spiritual practice, but in fact were beating around the bush. Flattery and attentive.
Gu Xu responded politely, but there was no smile in his eyes.
He just hoped that time would pass faster so that he could leave this suffocating mansion as soon as possible.
However, at this moment, his eyes caught a plain white shadow under a crabapple tree in front of him.
It was a girl wearing a snow-white dress, her long hair was combed into a simple pony bun, she was not wearing any gold or silver jewelry, and she had no makeup, but her eyebrows were picturesque.
He is tall and has a slender waist.
Where she is, everything seems to fade away, leaving only pure black and white, like a plain ink painting.
At this time, she was standing on tiptoes on a small wooden chair, holding a pair of large scissors in her hand, staring at the branches and leaves of the crabapple tree with her eyes, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"Who is she?" Gu Xu asked Lu Bingde beside him.
"She is my half-sister Lu Shiyao," Lu Bingde replied. "She has always been eccentric and not very gregarious. She just likes to toy with the cats, dogs, flowers and plants in the yard alone. We usually don't have much time.
Deal with her."
Gu Xu did not respond.
He pondered for a moment, then took a few steps forward, walked to the girl in the white dress, and asked softly: "Do you need my help?"
The girl named "Lu Shiyao" turned her head and was stunned for a moment, as if she didn't expect that the distinguished guest visiting the Lu Mansion today would take the initiative to talk to her.
She shook her head, subconsciously wanting to refuse.
As a sensitive and introverted person, she has always been unwilling to trouble others and is used to solving all problems by herself.
But when she once again caught a glimpse of the dark brown spots on the leaves of the crabapple, she hesitated for a while and chose to step down from the wooden chair. She bowed to Gu Xu nervously and said cautiously: "Master, this crabapple tree
If it gets sick, if the necrotic branches and leaves are not cut off in time, it will become more seriously ill...but those branches and leaves are too high, I can't reach it..."
As she spoke, her eyes were a little moist, and it seemed that tears might roll out at any time. Looking at her anxious look, it seemed that the person who was sick was not a plant, but a relative or friend of hers.
However, seeing that Gu Xu didn't respond for a while, Lu Shiyao thought that what he just said had offended the other person, and immediately lowered his head and said apologetically: "Sorry, sir, I'll do it myself-"
"——Give me the scissors." Gu Xu interrupted her with a slight smile.
He has already figured out that this crabapple tree should be suffering from "anthracnose" - in the early stage of the disease, small oval reddish-brown spots will appear on the leaves of the plant, and later they will expand into dark brown round spots. In severe cases, most of the leaves will turn black.
die.
This requires timely pruning of diseased leaves, dead branches and dead leaves in green areas, and burning them to prevent expansion.
This is not difficult for him to accomplish.
So he took the big scissors from Lu Shiyao's hand, stepped on the small wooden chair, and quickly cut off the dead branches and leaves of the crabapple tree.
Then he moved the small wooden chair and cut off the dead leaves from another angle of the crabapple tree in three strokes.
Lu Shiyao was on the side to help him.
Help him hold the chair and hand him tools.
Gu Xu noticed that because the ground was uneven, every time she helped move a chair, she would always shake and push it first to make sure the chair was stable, then she would purse her lips, nod slightly, and agree with him.
Step on it.
Soon, Gu Xu pruned all the spotted leaves.
Then he threw a talisman into the fallen leaves, and bright flames immediately appeared on the fallen leaves, turning into black ashes.
At this time, Lu Shiyao took out the handkerchief he carried with him, handed it to him, looked up at him, and said softly: "Master, you just sweated a little..."
Gu Xu looked at the clean and dust-free handkerchief, as well as her clear black and white, smart and lively eyes, and raised the corners of his mouth and said: "Miss Lu, we are just meeting for the first time, are you going to give me your personal handkerchief?"
Hearing his words, Lu Shiyao's face immediately blushed slightly.
She put the handkerchief back and lowered her head, not daring to look into his eyes again.
At that moment, she saw the sweat beads on his face, and she just wanted to give him a handkerchief to wipe the sweat. However, she forgot for a moment that in the traditional customs of the Daqi Dynasty, girls' personal handkerchiefs were often regarded as
A token of love.
At this moment, she just wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
…………
After Gu Xu followed Lu Bingde and left, Lu Shiyao slowly raised his head, his eyes narrowed into two crescent moons, and a pure smile appeared on his beautiful and refined face.
She watched Gu Xu's back disappear from sight, then glanced at the crabapple tree beside her, patted its trunk gently, and said to it: "You must remember this young master, he will help you get rid of your illness."
Where is my benefactor..."
…………
That night, Lu Shiyao returned to the house where he lived, opened the drawer and took out a colorful flower note.
She has almost no friends in the Lu family.
As an introvert, she prefers to pay attention to her inner world than the noisy external environment.
She can quietly look into the distance all day long, feel happiness from the touch of the sun, or look at the pond after the rain and imagine the dialogue between dragonflies and lotus leaves in her mind.
In her eyes, everything in the world seems to be a life with soul and thought. They can be happy, sad, laugh and cry.
For example, today, when she saw the dark brown spots on the leaves of the crabapple, she seemed to feel its pain and heard its low sobbing.
She also likes to record her mood every day with flower paper in different colors, and then hides them quietly in her drawer.
It's like there is a close friend living in the drawer.
She can freely tell him what she sees, hears and feels.
But in addition to recording moods, these flower notes also have another purpose -
Because Lu Shiyao is face-blind, he often cannot distinguish other people's faces and cannot match other people's names and looks in a timely manner.
In the Lu Mansion, which has a large number of people and complicated rules, this is almost a nightmare.
Therefore, she would promptly record the identity and physical characteristics of everyone she met on flower paper, and force herself to review and recite it over and over again, so as to avoid making a fool of herself and being punished by her elders for admitting the wrong person.
So at this moment, while trying to recall Gu Xu's appearance, she wrote on the paper in regular regular script with hairpin flowers:
"Gu Xu, the head of the Exorcism Department, is taller than a weakling, thin and tall, with a fair complexion, regular facial features, and thick eyebrows..."
Halfway through writing, she suddenly stopped writing.
Because she felt that it seemed difficult to summarize the unique temperament of that young master using these too broad and too popular adjectives.
He deserves to be described in better, more thoughtful words.
So she thought for a while and wrote:
"Bright as a jade tree before the wind."
To be continued...