MHNEB 35
Chapter 35: Too "Handsome"
He Mulan, who finally came back from her horse walking saw the three people not talking to each other, and frowned due to the strange atmosphere.
When she saw that He Guang who had almost lost his soul riding on the horse, she was even more curious about what had happened.
She knows that Hua younger brother is a typical nice person who never sought conflicts with others. A-Dan Zhuo's character is very simple and honest, and he is also a taciturn person who would not speak nonsense.
What exactly happened after she left and made the atmosphere to become what it is like now?
She rode to A-Dan Zhuo's side and asked him softly:
"What happened?"
"Nothing..." A-Dan Zhuo was more baffled than He Mulan. "When they are talking about cabbages and radishes, he became like this. Uncle Hua can't even lift his head and dare not speak. "
Why is he upset to hear about radishes and cabbages?
Is he homesick? Maybe he has thought of
the cabbages and radishes his mother made for him?
He Mulan did not know why He Guang, who suddenly had his face turn dark, but she firmly believed that such a rich young gentleman would get better when he arrived at the market, so she did not worry too much.
Maybe it is because these few people did not know what to do except to hurry to their destination. Soon, they arrived at the place where they were rushing to-Majiao Bridge.
Majiao bridge is a place where people of the three townships gather. People around will take out their home products and sell them here. Because of the small population of near the vicinity of Yu City, the bazaar of Majiao bridge does not have a wide array of sold products as compared to Yu City's Bazaar, but this place is better in terms of the shorter distance to their home and the location is good as well, so they are able to come over here every five days for a small haul and every seven days for a bigger haul.
As He Mulan said, no matter what He Guang is depressed about, when he arrived here, He Guang would eventually curiously look around at this place. A-Dan Zhuo, on the contrary, probably went to the market many times, so he did not show curiosity. Instead, he skillfully helped Hua MuTuo parks the carriage and offered to take care of the carriage and horses here.
"Uncle Hua, you didn't take a shoulder pole to carry the items? Didn't you take a wheelbarrow or something? " A-Dan Zhuo saw that Hua MuTuo didn't take the wheelbarrow out of the carriage and didn't carry a shoulder pole. His eyes were wide open.
"Hehe." Hua MuTuo looked at his sister who is standing not far away and saw that He Guang and her were talking about something. "You will know later…..."
"When you go out with my sis, merely bringing another person will do.”
On the other side.
"Since your paternal cousin wants you to come out and experience the vicissitudes of life, I can't pamper you." He Mulan took some pearls from her bosom. These pearls were the bag of pearls You Ke gave her.
"I'll give you these beads of pearls, and you'll exchange ten jin of salt for me."
"It's impossible to do it." He Guang is not that easy to cheat as compared to a three-year-old child. "Who dares to sell salt? This place is just a small market. It is not a shop with the authority to sell salt in Yu City. How can I buy so much salt here! "
"I can't imagine that you know so much..." He Mulan put on a frightening expression and said with a smile: "Haven’t you heard of those above have policies while those below have their own countermeasures?”
“What?”
"If everyone goes to Yu City Governor’s Manor to buy salt, what do you think that people in winter use when they are pickling food?”
“Huh?”
He Mulan pushed him forward.
"I will tell you that ten jin of salt can be bought in this market. But they don't sell it outrightly."
She looked at He Guang's blank look on his face and continued to badly frighten him.
"Though your beads of pearl are precious, its’ not easily accepted here. You'd better go to ask around quickly. When it is late, all the salt sellers will go home. If you cannot buy it, there will be no paper available tonight. You can only use A-Dan Zhuo's toilet cloth…... "
Hearing the last sentence, He Guang immediately grabbed the beads and ran into the market.
"Managed to shoo one away." He Mulan breathed a sigh of relief and told her little brother who was running over with a small basket of cloth and silk flocs on his back.
"A-Dan Zhuo and He Guang both live in our family. He Guang is born with a silver spoon. I'm afraid he is not used to our closestool. You can go buy a new closestool, I’m a little embarrassed to carry it around…... "
"I got it, sis, I'll go now!" Hua MuTuo nodded, glanced left and right, and pointed somewhere not far away from here strangely. "Why did the He family’s young master talk to the old Auntie selling pickled vegetables?"
"This kid is really smart..." He Mulan praised and patted her brother on the shoulder. "I asked him to go purchase a certain goods. If you are free, look after him while you can. "
"Sis, where are you going?"
"I’m not going anywhere, go ahead and
continue with what you’re doing…..."
He Mulan clenched her fists.
"I'll catch some mice."
He Mulan noticed that from the time they got to the Majiao bridge, a few people were not looking right.
She often came here to buy things with Hua MuTuo. Naturally, she knows what the market of Ma Jiao bridge looks like. The surrounding villagers would set up a stall in such a place around the bridges and roads or set up a donkey cart or something akin to it to sell some daily necessities and home products.
Before they came here, she found that there were several horses in front of them, travelling at an extremely slow speed. They had been moving towards the Majiao bridge coincidentally as well. When they arrived at certain intersections, they would occasionally stop and acted like they were taking a break.
Later, she took the opportunity to walk her
horse and sped past them. At the same time, she carefully looked at them and
finally determined that they were not Han-ren.
Hu-ren and Han-ren have many different habits, whether it is horse riding or horse control. Ordinary people cannot differentiate it, but Hua Mulan has been in the army for 12 years. She had seen Hu-ren of any race. When He Mulan saw their riding posture and patterns on the saddle, she learned from Hua Mulan's memory that they must not be Han-ren in the Central Plains.
In fact, she also noticed that He Guang had not acted like a Han-ren in some aspects. However, his temperament is too refined. At first glance, he is a child who has learned Chinese characters and good knowledge. It is common to think of the intermarriage between Han nobilities and Xianbei in the north. Hence, He Mulan didn't think much about it.
It may not be much to see Xianbei-ren in Yu City, especially in the countryside of Yu City, but it is suspicious to see Xianbei-ren in Han clothes or in clothes of Hu-ren. In addition to her passing by them, these calvaries merely kept their head down and did not look at her, which made her even more suspicious.
Is this the revenge of the Lushuihus?
Or, as Cui Lin said, Tuoba Tao always sent people, to spy at her to see if she “doing fine or not”?
Either way, He Mulan didn't want to bear with it.
So, after she left her brother and He Guang, she pretended to buy items like pin thread and makeup powder and stopped at a stall. She looked at the back with the small copper mirror on the rouge stall.
When she was sure that the people were just randomly strolling around the market, He Mulan dropped the bronze mirror and rushed towards the suspicious people.
She really had rushed over.
In an instant, He Mulan reached somewhere close to them. In the surprised eyes of these people, she stretched out her fist and swung!
Bam!
The sound of fists hitting the flesh sounded.
The man hit by He Mulan arched his body in pain on the spot and cried out in pain.
He Mulan pinned this man down, squeezed his arm with one hand, used another hand to wedge his neck, and in an extremely disgusted tone she questioned: "Who are you, people! Why are the group of you following us for! "
He Mulan thought that these people might be baffled, or shout to attract others' attention, or ignore the hostage in her hands to attack her, but she didn't expect this kind of……
These men actually performed an accurate military etiquette salute and reported their origins in Xianbei language.
"General Hua, we are the ‘White Egrets’ by Your Majesty’s side. We are here to monitor the movements of the Lushushus. It is a coincidence that we met you. Please spare us! "
He Mulan listened to what they said and the hostility she felt towards them was reduced, but her hands were not loosened. She frowned and did not speak.
The men looked at each other helplessly and took out the bronze plate with the pattern of egret from their bosom. She saw that it was engraved with the words "Governor of the Commandery Scout, adheres to the imperial power, a bureaucrat with respect". It was indeed the commandery scout who plays the same role as the imperial censor the Hans.
He Mulan saw that he was not a villain, so she removed her hand from him and said "please forgive me" as she clenched her fist.
At this time, in the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, many institutions had two systems, Xianbei and Han, and different places adhered to this policy as well. There was not only the Han provincial governor but also the Xianbei provincial governor. They govern a place together.
During the reign of several emperors in the early period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, although there was also the imperial censors of the outer royal court, it was the "commandery scouts" of the inner royal court who really played a supervisory role.
The commandery scout is an official position established during the Han Dynasty when the official name is determined. Originally, this official was the scouting ears and eyes of several emperors of the Wei State. In the Xianbei language, they were called "White Egret", and this term was used because it held the meaning of "stretching the neck and looking far, being alert and pure". Later, their jobs slowly evolved to be a spy or a scout. The Xianbei-rens with upright character, flexible and adaptable was chosen as the officials.
Because the Xianbei language had only had a verbal language but no written words, it was not unusual to translate it directly into "White Egret" when it was established. The Chinese characters were written as "Commandery Scouts (候官)". The Yamen of these commandery scouts were called "Governor of the Commandery Scouts”.
There were too many ethnicities in the Northern Wei Dynasty and there were disputes between Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism and various contradictions were present, and the disputes are complicated. During Tuoba Tao’s reign, the number of Commandery Scouts increased rapidly, and they almost distributed in the cities and the prefectures. They hid under the disguise of different clothing they were present in the countryside and the wild. If they heard about the local changes and illegal behaviours of all officials, they could be sent there to act under the imperial edict.
As the commandery scout does not have a high rank, but they are not low in status, He Mulan does not want to start a feud with them.
Obviously, these commandery scouts are not willing to have any form of dispute with Hua Mulan. Seeing that someone has noticed the commotion around them and started to approach, they lowered their voice and kindly reminded He Mulan: "The people of Gai Wu are not gone, please pay attention to the Lushuihus!"
When they had finished speaking, they did not linger much and left in a hurry.
They only left behind the baffled He Mulan and the curious surrounding villagers.
"Are you catching the thieves, warrior?" An old lady who was speaking indistinctly was laughing and praising her. "I lost five eggs here last time. My son actually said that I miscalculated! I said, how did I miscalculate? It must have been stolen by that thief. Why did you let them go? What did they steal from you?"
“……” He Mulan looked at the old woman and didn't know how to answer for a while, so she perfunctorily said, "Ah, it's a misunderstanding. They didn't steal anything."
"Why did you beat them if they didn't steal?" The old lady changed her face in an instant. "This person is also an unreasonable posterity! If you want to catch someone, you must catch them when they are committing the deed! How can you hit people randomly! "
“That’s right, that’s right!”
More people started to crowd in the surrounding areas.
He Mulan left with her head down, speechless. She could not tell the truth to these people or reason with these people.
When the villagers saw He Mulan escaping, they were even more enthusiastic in shouting.
"I just saw that he didn't look like any decent person, he didn't buy anything, and he also flipped around Seller Li's rouge and makeup powder and caused a mess!"
"It seems that he is also in his thirties. He went to find some trouble with a few young men. Fortunately, they didn't care to argue with him. If they were some ferocious men, even if he was Xianbei-ren, he would be beaten up!"
He Mulan almost slipped down when she heard “in his thirties”. She felt that she almost burst into tears.
What kind of White Egret is this? How fraudulent!
Why are they hanging around by her side when they could be off dying somewhere else!
To make them so suspicious of her!
Tomorrow, Yu City's newest gossip will
become "middle-aged men beat innocent young lads violently"!
Thank you very much
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete💖💖💖↖(^ω^)↗💖💖💖
ReplyDeleteThat must the crown prince's secret guard. My suspicion is getting stronger
ReplyDelete