Chapter 7 withered blood
As soon as the country returned to calm, Wei Jing's attention returned home.The cassock became more and more beautiful, and Tiger Chiyo also grew rapidly. She was only seven months old, but she was very strong.The doubts in Wei Jing’s heart did not disappear. When the waitress put all her energy into taking care of the dark-skinned, piercing eyes and non-stop moving Tiger Chiyo, Wei Jing thought: “There is nothing like me in him! Like my other children! Not like any of my kind! How glad I would be if he were even a little bit like my family!" The thought burned into his mind like a stencil.He's always been troubled by it, and sometimes he thinks it's like a long-term ailment, and it's a sin!
Because it was too painful, he also thought of sending Xuangui to investigate the experience of Kasao before marrying him. In fact, he called him one day, but seeing Xuangui's virtue, he felt that it would be inappropriate to tell the secrets in his heart. , So I ordered other things and sent him away.He secretly made up his mind not to let anyone know about this matter, but to keep it in his heart forever.
But the mother's mind is so sensitive, although Wei Jing has been careful to pay attention to his words and deeds, Kasaya knows that he does not love Tiger Chiyo after all.One day she said, "Master, do you think Torachiyo is cute?"
Wei Jing was taken aback by the sudden question, and asked back, "Why do you ask such a question?"
"Because I see that you don't think he is cute." Kasao mustered all the courage to say it, her face was pale.
"You mean I don't love my children?"
Wei Jing couldn't say the word "love" clearly, so he had to use the word "pain" instead, but even so, it was still as painful as drinking iron slurry.
Kasao followed closely and said: "It is said that parents always love their youngest son the most, but..." with an expression on the verge of weeping.
Although Wei Jing felt sorry for her and knew that such an answer would never satisfy Kasao, he could only say this: "I'm old, even if I feel sorry for him, I can't love him like I used to, because I'm tired."
Wei Jing doesn't even know his own mind, he thinks he's a pretty cunning person, he will deceive people, intimidate people, betray people or take advantage of people depending on the situation, but when he does it, he never feels distressed in his heart, he thinks The cowardly nature of worrying about everything in his heart is equivalent to making himself a fish and meat in this world, and letting others slaughter him. Only in the case of Tora Chiyo, he couldn't say that he didn't have any pain in his heart. He thought: "It's because I love cassocks! "But even so, he still couldn't let go of it. It is natural to love the person he loves, her parents, brothers, and the people around her. The feeling of loathing was unexpected to him.
He thought about it, and found that this feeling was a kind of jealousy, so he smiled wryly, "So, I hate Torachiyo's father!" He thought, "Perhaps there is such a person, but it was before Kasaya came to me, If I just pretend that there is no such thing, maybe there will be no such troubles, I just need to try to believe her!" But this kind of thinking did not alleviate the pain in his heart at all.
After this time, Kasao no longer complained about Tiger Chiyo.She didn't understand her husband's psychology at all, and only thought that he was indifferent to family by nature, and the only way to explain it could make her feel better.As far as she could see, Wei Jing didn't have much affection for the other children, no matter what the children did, Wei Jing would not reprimand them.Qingjing has a bad temper, cowardly and unable to control her emotions, and her likes and dislikes are often extreme.But Wei Jing ignored him most of the time and rarely stopped him.Even if it is stopped, it is never taught to understand the truth, it is just an order.
Kasaya thought to himself, Wei Jing is very ruthless, he just suppresses himself occasionally.Kasaya gave up on this, and she pitied Tora Chiyo for having such a father, so she doted on Tora Chiyo even more.
In the spring when Tora Chiyo was four years old, Kasaya caught a cold and had a fever for three consecutive days. Xuanan's rescue was ineffective and he died suddenly. When his mother was sick, Tiger Chiyo was still reluctant to leave the ward.Although he is small, he is strong and sensible, and he is always so smart that everyone is amazed.Xuan'an said to him like a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy: "This disease is contagious. If the young master is also infected, he will die immediately, which will make Lingtang worry. It is the most painful thing to be hurt by the disease. If it is not good for five days, it will take ten days. Ten days will not Okay, let’s extend it to twenty days, because of this, can you please change the room?” He reasoned earnestly, and Kasao persuaded Torachiyo with pain, and asked the nanny to take Torachiyo to another room.Hu Chiyo sat in the room with a sullen face and didn't say a word. No matter how the nanny tried to persuade or coax him, he just kept his eyes on the front and ignored everything.His chubby cute face had an unusually gloomy expression. The nanny got impatient with her persuasion, and thought it would be good to leave him alone for a while, so she left her seat.When I came back soon, there was no sign of Torachiyo, so I hurriedly searched and found his small body sitting in the corridor outside the cassock ward.The maidservants were startled, and hurriedly gathered in front of him, and someone said: "Young master, you can't go in, if you stay here, you won't be infected!" Tiger Chiyo didn't hear it.A waitress wanted to take him away, but when she approached, she screamed and jumped away.It turned out that Torachiyo was holding a short knife in his right hand, staring at a pair of eyes that were not at all like children, like a mouse showing its white teeth and resisting to death. Although it is spring, there is still snow in places where the sun does not shine, and the coldness of spring has not faded. If you stay in the unheated corridor for a while, you will almost freeze. If you stay for a long time, Tiger Chiyo will definitely catch a cold, so the waitress Hurry up to report as a king.Wei Jing was praying for the safety of the cassock in the Buddhist hall. He was shocked when he heard the report.Although he knew that the child was concerned about his mother's illness and felt sorry for him, he felt that the child was disobedient. He wanted to scold him, but suppressed it, and said in a gentle tone: "Oh! Xiaohu, what are you doing?" ? Don’t trouble everyone, just go back to your room obediently!” Torachiyo didn't answer, just rolled his eyes and didn't move his body. "I know what you want, come on, go back obediently, I'll take you back!" When he was about to pick him up, Torachiyo shouted: "No!" His small body was full of murderous looks, sharp The blade is facing the scene. Wei Jing was taken aback, facing the young son who looked like a little beast, he poured out his hatred like an adult.He wanted to stare at him, but he couldn't do it because he couldn't let people know that he hated this child, so he smiled wryly and said, "Okay! Then I won't touch you." He stared at Torachiyo tenderly, thinking about what to do , Then turned around and said to the nanny: "It's not good for the patient to make noise here, let him in!" After finishing speaking, he got up and left with infinite regret in his heart-"This child actually pointed a knife at me!" Doubt filled his mind again. Torachiyo was taken into his mother's room.Kasaya fell asleep breathing heavily, but as soon as Torachiyo came in, she opened her eyes.Because of the persistent high fever, her thin face was burning red, and she squeezed out a weak smile: "What's the matter? Come here, come to mom!" She said in a low voice, as if she knew what happened in the corridor just now.Torachiyo walked up to her, and she stared at the child's face and said, "Poor child, what will you do after I die?" After speaking, she began to cry. "I don't want you to die! I don't want you to die!" Tiger Chiyo gritted his teeth and shouted, his big eyes shed tears the size of peas. Three days later, on a morning with spring snow falling, Kasao died.Before she died, she told Weijing again and again in shortness of breath: "You have to take good care of Xiaohu, you have to take good care of Xiaohu!" Wei Jing repeated again and again: "Don't worry! You can definitely rest assured!" However, Torachiyo was not present when his mother closed her eyes.He was drenched, walking around in the yard where the snow was falling, his cold eyes stared at the sky, he did not shed tears, his eyes were dry and burning; he did not have sadness, anger swept his little body, he hated everything that took away his mother, whether it was a god or a buddha or a demon. The cassock was buried in the Linquan Temple of Nagao's Bodhi Temple. He was still in full bloom at the age of twenty-five.From this time on, Torachiyo's temper seemed to change, and he became taciturn, always brooding in melancholy. In the spring of the second year after Kasaw's death, Wei Jing went hunting in Xinjingye, four or five miles south of Chunri Mountain City.He galloped in the green field full of flowers all day long, feeling very happy, and the fatigue accumulated for a long time disappeared, and he didn't set foot on his way back until evening.Not far from Xinjing Village, there is a farmhouse with luscious spring water, where the group rests. The farmhouse is surrounded by beautiful scenery. On the left side of the village road is a clear river, with young willows hanging from the river bank, swaying in the breeze.There used to be a mountain of red pine trees on the river bank, with cherry blossoms mixed in the pine trees, the scenery is indescribably elegant. Sit on the river beach for the scenery, drink the leftover sake in the gourd alone, and enjoy the scenery leisurely.The young guards didn't seem interested in the interest of the elderly. They gathered in a group a little further away, riding horses in turns, comparing equestrian skills. When someone failed or showed their skills, the crowd burst into laughter, laughing like a group of children. child.He was also happy to see the scenery from afar, his cheeks were slack, he turned his head to look at them for a while, and stared at the scenery for a while, leisurely killing time. Soon he felt that the voice from the guards was a bit strange. He turned his head and saw a horse galloping on the river beach. The warrior who was left behind by it might have bumped into a certain part, or he might be ashamed of his skills. , a good distance behind the horse.The people divided into two teams, one went to pick up the samurai, and the other went to chase the horse.Wei Jing said to the boy who had been by his side all the time: "You don't have to be so restrained!" He said and handed him the wine ladle. He turned his head to look in the direction of the young man who had fallen from the horse, raised his eyes suddenly, and saw the horse galloping forward in a cloud of sand and dust. At this moment, a black figure suddenly appeared from the grass beside the road, jumped on the head of the horse, and the horse swung Pulling his mane and raising his forelegs, he tried desperately to get rid of him, but the man clung to the horse's neck and galloped straight towards the river bank.The figure was still tightly attached to the horse. After running for about ten meters, he turned over and jumped, and the man straddled the horse. He grabbed the reins, adjusted his posture, and galloped the horse.His movements were so dexterous that Wei Jing was stunned.Seeing him approaching this way, he couldn't help being startled, the person on the horse seemed to be a woman.His old eyes lit up, and he asked the boy next to him, "That person looks like a woman, doesn't he?" "Yes! It's a young common people girl!" "This is wonderful!" At this time, people and horses have arrived in front of Weijing.She was poorly dressed, but very beautiful.She turned over lightly and got off the horse, and then said loudly, "I'll give you this horse back! In fact, it was an honest horse, but it just happened to be in heat, so it's no wonder it ran around like it was dying!" The samurai who was thrown off by the horse just now had regained his energy and was not injured. The woman didn't seem to want to talk to the crowd, so she turned around and wanted to leave. bring!" "yes." The servant boy ran over to stop her, and after seeing the servant boy asking and answering her for a while, she reluctantly came over.She was slender and strong, with the lightness of a cat on her feet. She looked straight at Wei Jing with a bold and fearless expression.She has a pair of big brown eyes, her skin is as fair and tender as a woman in the Snow Country, her face is rosy, and her slightly larger lips are even more colorful.She put down the bamboo basket on her back and knelt down in front of Wei Jing. "I want to thank you." "Don't dare to be." "What's your name?" "My name is Matsue, and I am the daughter of Arai Village Goemon." "How old are you?" "Eighteen." A simple obsequiousness flashed across her smiling face. Moisturized by Jing's sixty-seven-year-old dry blood.
Songjiang is a very strange woman, she is good at equestrianism, and she is beautiful, and she couldn't help recalling her back to the city for the sake of the scene, but she seems to be completely unsuitable for the life of a noble lady, her words and expressions are still vulgar like a native, and her behavior is also unreasonable. Also, she doesn't even want to put on makeup, she seems to only like to wear beautiful kimonos, the clothes given to her by the king, she is always happy to put on her upper body, but even in silk and satin, she still seems to be walking on a field path Kicking the hem of the skirt and swaggering.Some old maids couldn’t see it, so they teased her a few words, and Wei Jing often admonished her, but she still didn’t change her nature, and she didn’t even intend to improve at all. In the end, she simply said: “If you talk to me again, I will kill you.” Go back to the village! Let me go back!" According to this situation, she really has no way to be a regular concubine, Wei Jing only let her accompany her for two or three nights, and then demoted her to an ordinary maid.Songjiang didn't think it was disobedient, but accepted it happily. Wei Jing has no attachment to her either. For Wei Jing who is old and feels more than enough for everything, this kind of rough and energetic woman is too stimulating, but feels oppressive.Wei Jingxin thought that wild flowers should bloom in the fields, but soon he found that Hu Chiyo liked Matsue very much. After Kasaya's death, Tiger Chiyo became more and more difficult to deal with.When Kasaya was alive, he was just full of energy, running around and tiring those who followed him, but other than that, he wasn't much of a nuisance.He has no preference for food, he doesn't care about what he wears, he eats enough and sleeps well, he seldom cries, seldom makes trouble for no reason, and seldom even gets sick.But since his mother died, everything has changed. He is always sullen, as if he is thinking about something. His face sat on the ground without moving until the adults agreed to his request. Wei Jing's hatred for this child became stronger and stronger, and he thought to himself: "I don't know whose child it is, but I have to think about the future of this annoying child!" Thinking of this, he felt even more annoyed. Not only for the sake of scenery, but even the servants of the family in the city, no matter men or women, seem to dislike Tiger Chiyo.But it is strange to say that Tiger Chiyo seems to be obedient only to Matsue.When something goes wrong, he rolls his eyes and stays motionless on the ground, as long as Song Jiangyi says: "Don't be so unreasonable! Come on, be in a better mood, let's go somewhere else! Children are only cute if they are not annoying." !" He obediently let Songjiang carry him away.If it were someone else, he would have screamed, "Don't touch me!" Then he would have drawn out the dagger in his waist, and would not allow anyone to approach him. When Kasaya was alive, there were three maids who took care of Torachiyo, but for a while they all found him annoying, so the job of taking care of Torachiyo fell on Matsue. Wei Jing secretly felt strange, maybe these two people are both strange, so they have similar tastes! Tora Chiyo is five years old, and he should have found a male teacher for him, but it has been delayed, maybe it is because of his age, maybe he has no love for Tora Chiyo, or maybe Matsuebi just found a man casually. The master is also suitable.She always said to Torachiyo vehemently, half-yelling and half-cursing: "Boys just want to be straightforward, how can they be so indecisive and have no ambition, just like a woman!" He learns to ride a horse. Matsue herself is proficient in riding, so she is particularly enthusiastic about teaching Tiger Chiyo to ride a horse.With the bridle in her mouth, she lay down on the ground and let Tiger Chiyo ride on her back, circling around the room.She spit out the rein from time to time and shouted: "The rein has to be pulled lightly. If you pull so hard, the horse will not be able to bear it, you know? If you fall off, it will be terrible. Do you know how hard it is?" Falling to the ground from a height of two feet will cause at least this big blister! Clamp your knees, not sit on a horse's ass, come on! Try again!" As she spoke, she picked up the rein again, and walked around rattling, suddenly she neighed and lifted her body up, but Torachiyo couldn't catch it, and fell to the floor with a thud, then she said: " Your knees aren't pinched, that's what it is, come on! Again!" Seeing it in Weijing's eyes, she thought to herself: "It's okay, she is more competent than ordinary men, she is really a strange woman!" Therefore, she also decided not to change to a male master.
Matsue's job is not just to take care of Torachiyo.In this era, the local powerful families cannot be compared with the great masters of the Edo period.The maids of famous families in the Edo period were pure idlers. They didn’t do production, and they didn’t even know how to sew their own clothes. They had special workers to take care of them.But in this era, the maidservants in the samurai family had to work hard. They had to raise silkworms, reel silk, weave hemp, sew clothes, pound rice, wash clothes, comb the fluff on the samurai armor, and even deal with the enemies brought during the war. first level.If it is the head of a general, he needs to be cleaned, his hair tied, powdered and lipsticked, so Songjiang still has a lot of work to do. Songjiang's temperament is exactly like that of a man, which doesn't match her beautiful appearance. She can't do those delicate and complicated tasks, but she does the work of chopping firewood, pounding rice, and fetching water with great enthusiasm.She is always happy to do these tasks, and Tiger Chiyo is also by her side to help.When chopping firewood, he would hand over the big firewood to be chopped to Songjiang, and then send the chopped firewood to the storage place; when pounding rice, he would take out rough rice from the rice bag and give it to Songjiang. When the good rice is put into the dustpan, he immediately opens the mouth of the rice bag to make it easy for Songjiang to pour the rice in. He will also help Songjiang collect the rice bran; it is the same when fetching water, he always tries his best to do it first. . He was covered in sweat when chopping firewood, and his head was covered with rice bran when he was pounding rice, like a little mouse in a warehouse;He likes working with Songjiang very much, just like a filial son trying his best to help his mother, like a mouse mother and son working hard to make a nest and collect food. The other maids couldn't see it, so they scolded Songjiang and said: "You are too much! Even if the lord doesn't hurt, he is still the young master! How can you let him do this!" But Songjiang didn't care at all: "What's wrong? I don't think there's anything wrong with this. At this age, the children in our hometown have already gone to the fields to mow grass and thresh grain. Even the stupidest children can stay at home to take care of the little ones." Yes, when the time is up, I will boil a pot of water and send it to the fields for my parents to drink. It’s not a bad thing for a child to do something! Master Hu is a healthy child, if you want to be healthier, it’s good to help me do things!" Someone was unconvinced and said: "Do you think he is a child of ordinary people? Don't do this again in the future!" But Songjiang still didn't listen. If someone talked about her again, she would reply: "It's useless for you to tell me, you can go and talk to Master Hu! I told Master Hu a long time ago, and he doesn't listen at all!" So someone went to persuade Tora Chiyo, and Tora Chiyo rolled his eyes violently as usual, and turned his head away to ignore it.Those people had no choice but to report to Wei Jing, Wei Jing only said: "Leave him alone! There will always be such a strange child in everyone's family!"
Weijing knew from daily trifles that Songjiang's strength was great, probably not inferior to ordinary men, but it was early autumn that year when he knew that she possessed strength beyond ordinary people. Every year in this season, the girls' middle school will go to the mountain to cut arrow bamboo.At this time, the bamboo has recovered from the weakness of growing bamboo shoots, and the new bamboo shoots have not yet grown, so the energy is most abundant, and it is ideal for making arrows.It is the job of the fletcher to make arrows from arrow bamboo, but before handing it over to the fletcher, the bamboo must be cut to an appropriate length and polished. This is the job of the maid. The maids in the city are divided into the bamboo cutting group, the polishing group and the drying group. The bamboo is on the floor of the hall, piled up into several hills.The bamboo cutting group holds a small knife and sits side by side on the floor, picks up the bamboo, sees the thickness and bend of the bamboo joints, holds the small knife in the right hand, turns the bamboo with the left hand, and cuts the bamboo with two or three turns.The cut bamboos are piled on the left and handed over to the polishing group in the yard.The polishing group puts a big pot in the yard, filled with water and rice, and holds a grass brush in their hands, soaks the bamboo in the pot, and carefully brushes the bamboo with the grass brush dipped in rice and water, After brushing, it is placed on the table in front of it. After it is piled up to a certain extent, it is taken away by the drying team, and it is spread on a well-ventilated trapezoidal long skip in a dark place to dry.Because the sunlight in early autumn is still strong, if the sunlight is exposed directly, the bamboo will warp, so it must be air-dried in the shade. Most of the maids are already familiar with these tasks, so it goes smoothly, but it still takes a full ten days, because there are so many arrow bamboos.When Kasao was alive, she was responsible for supervising and rewarding them, but now, Wei Jing has to do it. Although it is troublesome, he still comes over at least once a day, bringing a pot of pastries filled with fish balls to comfort them. "Everyone has worked hard! Come on, take a break, and eat some snacks before doing it!" The waitresses also happily put down their work for a while, eating, drinking and resting for a while. After four or five days of work, when Wei Jing came to comfort everyone with snacks as usual, he saw a waitress being scolded by an older waitress. No doubt it must be Songjiang.It's really not the right time for Jing Xin to think about it.He saw the old maid holding a bundle of arrow bamboo with her left hand, pointing to a certain part with her right hand, and cursed endlessly: "Your eyes are bigger than others. Why can't you even see the crookedness? It's so crooked that even a fletcher can't fix it with a fire! Why don't you throw it away and keep the other part?" ?Even a child can tell the difference. Look, hasn’t this been bitten by insects? You just left this part, why don’t you cut off this part and leave the part that has not been bitten by insects? Also, the lengths should be cut neatly, right? You always cut randomly, and now you have broken such a large bundle, how can it go on like this..." Torachiyo's expression was unusual, his expression was tense, his eyes were angry, his small fists were clenched tightly, and his body was still shaking. Wei Jing had no choice but to make a sound: "What's going on?" The old waitress was only focused on scolding Songjiang, but didn't see that Wei Jing had come. When she heard Wei Jing's voice, she knelt down in panic and said, "She's ruined all these bamboos!" Holding the bamboo in her left hand, she wanted to explain to Wei Jing. , Wei Jing was afraid that she would talk endlessly once she opened her mouth, so she stopped immediately: "I know, I know, she is not used to it yet! Forgive her!" The old waitress replied "yes", seeming to have an indescribable regret.She slapped the bundle of bamboo by Songjiang's knee as if saying "you can figure it out", and stood up. Wei Jing said: "I brought cakes, you can share them with everyone!" After the old maid left, Wei Jing said to Songjiang: "You just started making this year, of course you are not used to it, but you repeat the same thing over and over again. If you make a mistake, it’s not good, you have to be careful and clear before cutting, and you don’t have to rush to make the same progress as those skilled people.” Matsue nodded.Her hair was wrapped in a black turban, and her white and shiny neck drew a graceful arc, reaching her back.The strands of hair came out from under the scarf and stuck to her graceful back, indescribably charming. Wei Jing suddenly opened his eyes wide, watching Songjiang's movements.I saw Songjiang use the ring finger of his right hand to press the bundle of arrow bamboo thrown by the old maid just now. She pressed lightly, and the bamboo joints made a light and crisp sound, breaking!She didn't use any special force, only her pink fingertips turned slightly white, and the green bamboo knots were crushed like withered reeds.It's an unimaginable power.He stared blankly at the scene as if seeing something strange, and it took him a long time to recover, feeling that he had to say something. "do you understand?" "I see." Songjiang nodded honestly, raised his head and smiled sweetly, as if a little embarrassed. Tiger Chiyo still stood still, looking at the two of them suspiciously. That night, Song Jiang was summoned again for the sake of the scene.The old maid brought Song Jiang with an awkward and ambiguous smile on her face.After the old maid stepped back, Wei Jing said, "Show me your strength!" "Power?!" Songjiang looked puzzled. "Yeah, don't you have amazing strength?" "My strength is not small." She was a little embarrassed. "There's a chessboard over there. You can lift it up with one hand, and you should be able to lift it up." Wei Jing pointed to a chessboard he had placed in the corner of the room in advance. It was a six-inch square chessboard made of Torreya wood. "I've never lifted a chess board, but there's nothing I can't lift." She kicked open the corner of her skirt, strode out, rolled up her long sleeves, lightly clasped her hands on the bottom and edge of the chessboard, and lifted it up easily, just like lifting a thin book, and her The snow-white arms are not knotted with muscles.Wei Jing swallowed a breath and said, "Use your left hand to lift it up!" Songjiang put the chessboard in his left hand, and it was the same. "Fan the candles out!" Songjiang put the chessboard back on his right hand, and fanned his left hand towards the candlestick like a fan. The candles flickered as if being blown by the wind, but they didn't go out. "Alas! The fan is not extinguished. I have regressed, or the chessboard is a bit heavier!" Songjiang smiled and stretched out his arms, which looked very cute. From then on, Song Jiang became Wei Jing's concubine again. Rather than saying that Wei Jing loved her beauty, it would be better to say that she needed her to defend her side.Because although the country has calmed down, there is no telling when the fighting will start again, so I don't dare to forget that I have made many enemies for a moment.Naturally, Tiger Chiyo had to find a male master.
In the spring when Tora Chiyo was four years old, Kasaya caught a cold and had a fever for three consecutive days. Xuanan's rescue was ineffective and he died suddenly. When his mother was sick, Tiger Chiyo was still reluctant to leave the ward.Although he is small, he is strong and sensible, and he is always so smart that everyone is amazed.Xuan'an said to him like a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy: "This disease is contagious. If the young master is also infected, he will die immediately, which will make Lingtang worry. It is the most painful thing to be hurt by the disease. If it is not good for five days, it will take ten days. Ten days will not Okay, let’s extend it to twenty days, because of this, can you please change the room?” He reasoned earnestly, and Kasao persuaded Torachiyo with pain, and asked the nanny to take Torachiyo to another room.Hu Chiyo sat in the room with a sullen face and didn't say a word. No matter how the nanny tried to persuade or coax him, he just kept his eyes on the front and ignored everything.His chubby cute face had an unusually gloomy expression. The nanny got impatient with her persuasion, and thought it would be good to leave him alone for a while, so she left her seat.When I came back soon, there was no sign of Torachiyo, so I hurriedly searched and found his small body sitting in the corridor outside the cassock ward.The maidservants were startled, and hurriedly gathered in front of him, and someone said: "Young master, you can't go in, if you stay here, you won't be infected!" Tiger Chiyo didn't hear it.A waitress wanted to take him away, but when she approached, she screamed and jumped away.It turned out that Torachiyo was holding a short knife in his right hand, staring at a pair of eyes that were not at all like children, like a mouse showing its white teeth and resisting to death. Although it is spring, there is still snow in places where the sun does not shine, and the coldness of spring has not faded. If you stay in the unheated corridor for a while, you will almost freeze. If you stay for a long time, Tiger Chiyo will definitely catch a cold, so the waitress Hurry up to report as a king.Wei Jing was praying for the safety of the cassock in the Buddhist hall. He was shocked when he heard the report.Although he knew that the child was concerned about his mother's illness and felt sorry for him, he felt that the child was disobedient. He wanted to scold him, but suppressed it, and said in a gentle tone: "Oh! Xiaohu, what are you doing?" ? Don’t trouble everyone, just go back to your room obediently!” Torachiyo didn't answer, just rolled his eyes and didn't move his body. "I know what you want, come on, go back obediently, I'll take you back!" When he was about to pick him up, Torachiyo shouted: "No!" His small body was full of murderous looks, sharp The blade is facing the scene. Wei Jing was taken aback, facing the young son who looked like a little beast, he poured out his hatred like an adult.He wanted to stare at him, but he couldn't do it because he couldn't let people know that he hated this child, so he smiled wryly and said, "Okay! Then I won't touch you." He stared at Torachiyo tenderly, thinking about what to do , Then turned around and said to the nanny: "It's not good for the patient to make noise here, let him in!" After finishing speaking, he got up and left with infinite regret in his heart-"This child actually pointed a knife at me!" Doubt filled his mind again. Torachiyo was taken into his mother's room.Kasaya fell asleep breathing heavily, but as soon as Torachiyo came in, she opened her eyes.Because of the persistent high fever, her thin face was burning red, and she squeezed out a weak smile: "What's the matter? Come here, come to mom!" She said in a low voice, as if she knew what happened in the corridor just now.Torachiyo walked up to her, and she stared at the child's face and said, "Poor child, what will you do after I die?" After speaking, she began to cry. "I don't want you to die! I don't want you to die!" Tiger Chiyo gritted his teeth and shouted, his big eyes shed tears the size of peas. Three days later, on a morning with spring snow falling, Kasao died.Before she died, she told Weijing again and again in shortness of breath: "You have to take good care of Xiaohu, you have to take good care of Xiaohu!" Wei Jing repeated again and again: "Don't worry! You can definitely rest assured!" However, Torachiyo was not present when his mother closed her eyes.He was drenched, walking around in the yard where the snow was falling, his cold eyes stared at the sky, he did not shed tears, his eyes were dry and burning; he did not have sadness, anger swept his little body, he hated everything that took away his mother, whether it was a god or a buddha or a demon. The cassock was buried in the Linquan Temple of Nagao's Bodhi Temple. He was still in full bloom at the age of twenty-five.From this time on, Torachiyo's temper seemed to change, and he became taciturn, always brooding in melancholy. In the spring of the second year after Kasaw's death, Wei Jing went hunting in Xinjingye, four or five miles south of Chunri Mountain City.He galloped in the green field full of flowers all day long, feeling very happy, and the fatigue accumulated for a long time disappeared, and he didn't set foot on his way back until evening.Not far from Xinjing Village, there is a farmhouse with luscious spring water, where the group rests. The farmhouse is surrounded by beautiful scenery. On the left side of the village road is a clear river, with young willows hanging from the river bank, swaying in the breeze.There used to be a mountain of red pine trees on the river bank, with cherry blossoms mixed in the pine trees, the scenery is indescribably elegant. Sit on the river beach for the scenery, drink the leftover sake in the gourd alone, and enjoy the scenery leisurely.The young guards didn't seem interested in the interest of the elderly. They gathered in a group a little further away, riding horses in turns, comparing equestrian skills. When someone failed or showed their skills, the crowd burst into laughter, laughing like a group of children. child.He was also happy to see the scenery from afar, his cheeks were slack, he turned his head to look at them for a while, and stared at the scenery for a while, leisurely killing time. Soon he felt that the voice from the guards was a bit strange. He turned his head and saw a horse galloping on the river beach. The warrior who was left behind by it might have bumped into a certain part, or he might be ashamed of his skills. , a good distance behind the horse.The people divided into two teams, one went to pick up the samurai, and the other went to chase the horse.Wei Jing said to the boy who had been by his side all the time: "You don't have to be so restrained!" He said and handed him the wine ladle. He turned his head to look in the direction of the young man who had fallen from the horse, raised his eyes suddenly, and saw the horse galloping forward in a cloud of sand and dust. At this moment, a black figure suddenly appeared from the grass beside the road, jumped on the head of the horse, and the horse swung Pulling his mane and raising his forelegs, he tried desperately to get rid of him, but the man clung to the horse's neck and galloped straight towards the river bank.The figure was still tightly attached to the horse. After running for about ten meters, he turned over and jumped, and the man straddled the horse. He grabbed the reins, adjusted his posture, and galloped the horse.His movements were so dexterous that Wei Jing was stunned.Seeing him approaching this way, he couldn't help being startled, the person on the horse seemed to be a woman.His old eyes lit up, and he asked the boy next to him, "That person looks like a woman, doesn't he?" "Yes! It's a young common people girl!" "This is wonderful!" At this time, people and horses have arrived in front of Weijing.She was poorly dressed, but very beautiful.She turned over lightly and got off the horse, and then said loudly, "I'll give you this horse back! In fact, it was an honest horse, but it just happened to be in heat, so it's no wonder it ran around like it was dying!" The samurai who was thrown off by the horse just now had regained his energy and was not injured. The woman didn't seem to want to talk to the crowd, so she turned around and wanted to leave. bring!" "yes." The servant boy ran over to stop her, and after seeing the servant boy asking and answering her for a while, she reluctantly came over.She was slender and strong, with the lightness of a cat on her feet. She looked straight at Wei Jing with a bold and fearless expression.She has a pair of big brown eyes, her skin is as fair and tender as a woman in the Snow Country, her face is rosy, and her slightly larger lips are even more colorful.She put down the bamboo basket on her back and knelt down in front of Wei Jing. "I want to thank you." "Don't dare to be." "What's your name?" "My name is Matsue, and I am the daughter of Arai Village Goemon." "How old are you?" "Eighteen." A simple obsequiousness flashed across her smiling face. Moisturized by Jing's sixty-seven-year-old dry blood.
Songjiang is a very strange woman, she is good at equestrianism, and she is beautiful, and she couldn't help recalling her back to the city for the sake of the scene, but she seems to be completely unsuitable for the life of a noble lady, her words and expressions are still vulgar like a native, and her behavior is also unreasonable. Also, she doesn't even want to put on makeup, she seems to only like to wear beautiful kimonos, the clothes given to her by the king, she is always happy to put on her upper body, but even in silk and satin, she still seems to be walking on a field path Kicking the hem of the skirt and swaggering.Some old maids couldn’t see it, so they teased her a few words, and Wei Jing often admonished her, but she still didn’t change her nature, and she didn’t even intend to improve at all. In the end, she simply said: “If you talk to me again, I will kill you.” Go back to the village! Let me go back!" According to this situation, she really has no way to be a regular concubine, Wei Jing only let her accompany her for two or three nights, and then demoted her to an ordinary maid.Songjiang didn't think it was disobedient, but accepted it happily. Wei Jing has no attachment to her either. For Wei Jing who is old and feels more than enough for everything, this kind of rough and energetic woman is too stimulating, but feels oppressive.Wei Jingxin thought that wild flowers should bloom in the fields, but soon he found that Hu Chiyo liked Matsue very much. After Kasaya's death, Tiger Chiyo became more and more difficult to deal with.When Kasaya was alive, he was just full of energy, running around and tiring those who followed him, but other than that, he wasn't much of a nuisance.He has no preference for food, he doesn't care about what he wears, he eats enough and sleeps well, he seldom cries, seldom makes trouble for no reason, and seldom even gets sick.But since his mother died, everything has changed. He is always sullen, as if he is thinking about something. His face sat on the ground without moving until the adults agreed to his request. Wei Jing's hatred for this child became stronger and stronger, and he thought to himself: "I don't know whose child it is, but I have to think about the future of this annoying child!" Thinking of this, he felt even more annoyed. Not only for the sake of scenery, but even the servants of the family in the city, no matter men or women, seem to dislike Tiger Chiyo.But it is strange to say that Tiger Chiyo seems to be obedient only to Matsue.When something goes wrong, he rolls his eyes and stays motionless on the ground, as long as Song Jiangyi says: "Don't be so unreasonable! Come on, be in a better mood, let's go somewhere else! Children are only cute if they are not annoying." !" He obediently let Songjiang carry him away.If it were someone else, he would have screamed, "Don't touch me!" Then he would have drawn out the dagger in his waist, and would not allow anyone to approach him. When Kasaya was alive, there were three maids who took care of Torachiyo, but for a while they all found him annoying, so the job of taking care of Torachiyo fell on Matsue. Wei Jing secretly felt strange, maybe these two people are both strange, so they have similar tastes! Tora Chiyo is five years old, and he should have found a male teacher for him, but it has been delayed, maybe it is because of his age, maybe he has no love for Tora Chiyo, or maybe Matsuebi just found a man casually. The master is also suitable.She always said to Torachiyo vehemently, half-yelling and half-cursing: "Boys just want to be straightforward, how can they be so indecisive and have no ambition, just like a woman!" He learns to ride a horse. Matsue herself is proficient in riding, so she is particularly enthusiastic about teaching Tiger Chiyo to ride a horse.With the bridle in her mouth, she lay down on the ground and let Tiger Chiyo ride on her back, circling around the room.She spit out the rein from time to time and shouted: "The rein has to be pulled lightly. If you pull so hard, the horse will not be able to bear it, you know? If you fall off, it will be terrible. Do you know how hard it is?" Falling to the ground from a height of two feet will cause at least this big blister! Clamp your knees, not sit on a horse's ass, come on! Try again!" As she spoke, she picked up the rein again, and walked around rattling, suddenly she neighed and lifted her body up, but Torachiyo couldn't catch it, and fell to the floor with a thud, then she said: " Your knees aren't pinched, that's what it is, come on! Again!" Seeing it in Weijing's eyes, she thought to herself: "It's okay, she is more competent than ordinary men, she is really a strange woman!" Therefore, she also decided not to change to a male master.
Matsue's job is not just to take care of Torachiyo.In this era, the local powerful families cannot be compared with the great masters of the Edo period.The maids of famous families in the Edo period were pure idlers. They didn’t do production, and they didn’t even know how to sew their own clothes. They had special workers to take care of them.But in this era, the maidservants in the samurai family had to work hard. They had to raise silkworms, reel silk, weave hemp, sew clothes, pound rice, wash clothes, comb the fluff on the samurai armor, and even deal with the enemies brought during the war. first level.If it is the head of a general, he needs to be cleaned, his hair tied, powdered and lipsticked, so Songjiang still has a lot of work to do. Songjiang's temperament is exactly like that of a man, which doesn't match her beautiful appearance. She can't do those delicate and complicated tasks, but she does the work of chopping firewood, pounding rice, and fetching water with great enthusiasm.She is always happy to do these tasks, and Tiger Chiyo is also by her side to help.When chopping firewood, he would hand over the big firewood to be chopped to Songjiang, and then send the chopped firewood to the storage place; when pounding rice, he would take out rough rice from the rice bag and give it to Songjiang. When the good rice is put into the dustpan, he immediately opens the mouth of the rice bag to make it easy for Songjiang to pour the rice in. He will also help Songjiang collect the rice bran; it is the same when fetching water, he always tries his best to do it first. . He was covered in sweat when chopping firewood, and his head was covered with rice bran when he was pounding rice, like a little mouse in a warehouse;He likes working with Songjiang very much, just like a filial son trying his best to help his mother, like a mouse mother and son working hard to make a nest and collect food. The other maids couldn't see it, so they scolded Songjiang and said: "You are too much! Even if the lord doesn't hurt, he is still the young master! How can you let him do this!" But Songjiang didn't care at all: "What's wrong? I don't think there's anything wrong with this. At this age, the children in our hometown have already gone to the fields to mow grass and thresh grain. Even the stupidest children can stay at home to take care of the little ones." Yes, when the time is up, I will boil a pot of water and send it to the fields for my parents to drink. It’s not a bad thing for a child to do something! Master Hu is a healthy child, if you want to be healthier, it’s good to help me do things!" Someone was unconvinced and said: "Do you think he is a child of ordinary people? Don't do this again in the future!" But Songjiang still didn't listen. If someone talked about her again, she would reply: "It's useless for you to tell me, you can go and talk to Master Hu! I told Master Hu a long time ago, and he doesn't listen at all!" So someone went to persuade Tora Chiyo, and Tora Chiyo rolled his eyes violently as usual, and turned his head away to ignore it.Those people had no choice but to report to Wei Jing, Wei Jing only said: "Leave him alone! There will always be such a strange child in everyone's family!"
Weijing knew from daily trifles that Songjiang's strength was great, probably not inferior to ordinary men, but it was early autumn that year when he knew that she possessed strength beyond ordinary people. Every year in this season, the girls' middle school will go to the mountain to cut arrow bamboo.At this time, the bamboo has recovered from the weakness of growing bamboo shoots, and the new bamboo shoots have not yet grown, so the energy is most abundant, and it is ideal for making arrows.It is the job of the fletcher to make arrows from arrow bamboo, but before handing it over to the fletcher, the bamboo must be cut to an appropriate length and polished. This is the job of the maid. The maids in the city are divided into the bamboo cutting group, the polishing group and the drying group. The bamboo is on the floor of the hall, piled up into several hills.The bamboo cutting group holds a small knife and sits side by side on the floor, picks up the bamboo, sees the thickness and bend of the bamboo joints, holds the small knife in the right hand, turns the bamboo with the left hand, and cuts the bamboo with two or three turns.The cut bamboos are piled on the left and handed over to the polishing group in the yard.The polishing group puts a big pot in the yard, filled with water and rice, and holds a grass brush in their hands, soaks the bamboo in the pot, and carefully brushes the bamboo with the grass brush dipped in rice and water, After brushing, it is placed on the table in front of it. After it is piled up to a certain extent, it is taken away by the drying team, and it is spread on a well-ventilated trapezoidal long skip in a dark place to dry.Because the sunlight in early autumn is still strong, if the sunlight is exposed directly, the bamboo will warp, so it must be air-dried in the shade. Most of the maids are already familiar with these tasks, so it goes smoothly, but it still takes a full ten days, because there are so many arrow bamboos.When Kasao was alive, she was responsible for supervising and rewarding them, but now, Wei Jing has to do it. Although it is troublesome, he still comes over at least once a day, bringing a pot of pastries filled with fish balls to comfort them. "Everyone has worked hard! Come on, take a break, and eat some snacks before doing it!" The waitresses also happily put down their work for a while, eating, drinking and resting for a while. After four or five days of work, when Wei Jing came to comfort everyone with snacks as usual, he saw a waitress being scolded by an older waitress. No doubt it must be Songjiang.It's really not the right time for Jing Xin to think about it.He saw the old maid holding a bundle of arrow bamboo with her left hand, pointing to a certain part with her right hand, and cursed endlessly: "Your eyes are bigger than others. Why can't you even see the crookedness? It's so crooked that even a fletcher can't fix it with a fire! Why don't you throw it away and keep the other part?" ?Even a child can tell the difference. Look, hasn’t this been bitten by insects? You just left this part, why don’t you cut off this part and leave the part that has not been bitten by insects? Also, the lengths should be cut neatly, right? You always cut randomly, and now you have broken such a large bundle, how can it go on like this..." Torachiyo's expression was unusual, his expression was tense, his eyes were angry, his small fists were clenched tightly, and his body was still shaking. Wei Jing had no choice but to make a sound: "What's going on?" The old waitress was only focused on scolding Songjiang, but didn't see that Wei Jing had come. When she heard Wei Jing's voice, she knelt down in panic and said, "She's ruined all these bamboos!" Holding the bamboo in her left hand, she wanted to explain to Wei Jing. , Wei Jing was afraid that she would talk endlessly once she opened her mouth, so she stopped immediately: "I know, I know, she is not used to it yet! Forgive her!" The old waitress replied "yes", seeming to have an indescribable regret.She slapped the bundle of bamboo by Songjiang's knee as if saying "you can figure it out", and stood up. Wei Jing said: "I brought cakes, you can share them with everyone!" After the old maid left, Wei Jing said to Songjiang: "You just started making this year, of course you are not used to it, but you repeat the same thing over and over again. If you make a mistake, it’s not good, you have to be careful and clear before cutting, and you don’t have to rush to make the same progress as those skilled people.” Matsue nodded.Her hair was wrapped in a black turban, and her white and shiny neck drew a graceful arc, reaching her back.The strands of hair came out from under the scarf and stuck to her graceful back, indescribably charming. Wei Jing suddenly opened his eyes wide, watching Songjiang's movements.I saw Songjiang use the ring finger of his right hand to press the bundle of arrow bamboo thrown by the old maid just now. She pressed lightly, and the bamboo joints made a light and crisp sound, breaking!She didn't use any special force, only her pink fingertips turned slightly white, and the green bamboo knots were crushed like withered reeds.It's an unimaginable power.He stared blankly at the scene as if seeing something strange, and it took him a long time to recover, feeling that he had to say something. "do you understand?" "I see." Songjiang nodded honestly, raised his head and smiled sweetly, as if a little embarrassed. Tiger Chiyo still stood still, looking at the two of them suspiciously. That night, Song Jiang was summoned again for the sake of the scene.The old maid brought Song Jiang with an awkward and ambiguous smile on her face.After the old maid stepped back, Wei Jing said, "Show me your strength!" "Power?!" Songjiang looked puzzled. "Yeah, don't you have amazing strength?" "My strength is not small." She was a little embarrassed. "There's a chessboard over there. You can lift it up with one hand, and you should be able to lift it up." Wei Jing pointed to a chessboard he had placed in the corner of the room in advance. It was a six-inch square chessboard made of Torreya wood. "I've never lifted a chess board, but there's nothing I can't lift." She kicked open the corner of her skirt, strode out, rolled up her long sleeves, lightly clasped her hands on the bottom and edge of the chessboard, and lifted it up easily, just like lifting a thin book, and her The snow-white arms are not knotted with muscles.Wei Jing swallowed a breath and said, "Use your left hand to lift it up!" Songjiang put the chessboard in his left hand, and it was the same. "Fan the candles out!" Songjiang put the chessboard back on his right hand, and fanned his left hand towards the candlestick like a fan. The candles flickered as if being blown by the wind, but they didn't go out. "Alas! The fan is not extinguished. I have regressed, or the chessboard is a bit heavier!" Songjiang smiled and stretched out his arms, which looked very cute. From then on, Song Jiang became Wei Jing's concubine again. Rather than saying that Wei Jing loved her beauty, it would be better to say that she needed her to defend her side.Because although the country has calmed down, there is no telling when the fighting will start again, so I don't dare to forget that I have made many enemies for a moment.Naturally, Tiger Chiyo had to find a male master.