Chapter 368 Bracelet
In the past few years, every New Year's Eve, Xia Zihan would receive a letter from Chu Jingqi, a package of gifts, and the New Year's money that Chu Jingqi had promised.
Xia Zihan held something in her hands, happily entered the house, closed the door, and hid on the kang alone, reading Chu Jingqi's letter.
The letter stated that in the twelfth lunar month of this year, the Tatars sent 50,000 troops to attack Shuimu City, and Chu Jingqi was appointed as a vanguard general to go out of the city to fight against the enemy.
In just one hour, more than 16,000 enemy troops were killed. Such overwhelming momentum made the enemy troops turn around and flee in horror.
This letter was written by Chu Jingqi after he returned from a victorious battle. He traveled day and night, and five horses died on the road before he arrived in the capital on New Year's Eve.
The letter also said that after several years of Chu Xuanyu's devilish training, the overall strength of the Chu family army had improved by more than one level.
Now, Chu Xuanyu is basically directing behind the scenes, and Chu Jingqi is the vanguard general, leading the troops to resist the Tatars.
Shuimu City's original tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, under Chu Xuanyu's training, their force value also increased steadily.
Chu Xuanyu's status in the hearts of the soldiers also increased with the tide.
However, this also caused dissatisfaction among some people.
And these people are the lieutenants who originally guarded Shuimu City.
Chu Jingqi only briefly mentioned the fact that several lieutenants were secretly stumbling upon Chu Jingqi, without going into details, but Xia Zihan could guess it from his few words.
There must have been a lot of overt and covert fighting between him and those lieutenants.
In fact, it is understandable that people are dissatisfied with Chu Jingqi.
Those lieutenants, who didn't hang their heads on their belts, slowly climbed up from the position of a soldier step by step, and narrowly escaped death before climbing to this position.
And Chu Jingqi was only ten years old when she first went there. A ten-year-old kid, her aura was even more powerful than theirs.
Over the past two years, Chu Jingqi has participated in large and small wars, achieved more than a dozen military exploits, and killed countless enemies.
Now, at only twelve years old, he has become a pioneer young general by virtue of his military exploits. He is brave, fearless and unstoppable.
Several lieutenants who had been robbed of their chance to stand out became increasingly dissatisfied with him.
Every time after Chu Jingqi won a battle, several lieutenants looked happy on their faces, but in their hearts they were all jealous of him.
Every time, they felt that Chu Jingqi's achievements came so easily. If they had been sent there, they would have won the battle. But now, they were taken advantage of by a little brat.
They were dissatisfied and jealous of Chu Jingqi's achievements, but they were also afraid of Chu Xuanyu and did not dare to show it, nor did they dare to trip up Chu Jingqi openly. They only dared to trip up Chu Jingqi secretly.
Chu Jingqi also regarded it as a test, and silently filled in all the holes they dug without telling Chu Xuanyu.
This only emboldened them, and the pit they dug for him became bigger and deeper.
While Chu Jingqi was training boringly, she regarded their obstacles as spices in life and dealt with them with ease.
After reading the letter, Xia Zihan opened the package and saw some small jewelry and some toys inside.
A small hand stove as big as a palm, a snuff bottle as big as a child's fist... and a small square wooden box exuding the rich aroma of agarwood.
Xia Zihan picked up the wooden box and opened it gently.
Xi Shui's beautiful eyes lit up, full of surprise and disbelief.
Inside the box is a bead bracelet.
There are twelve red gemstones as big as peanuts, arranged into a bracelet.
What surprised Xia Zihan was that the ruby was said to be a gem, but in fact it was not. It was made of a material that she had never seen before, but it felt cold in her hand, rather like a stone.
The strange thing is that there are animals inside the transparent ruby, lying or running, which is very magical.
Xia Zihan's face was full of surprise and he quickly picked it up and looked at it carefully.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the animals inside were actually twelve zodiac signs.
The dragon soared in the beads, showing its teeth and claws, lifelike.
This craftsmanship is simply miraculous, beautiful and exquisite.
Xia Zihan liked it very much and immediately put it on her wrist. Not long after, Xia Zihan could faintly feel the bracelet getting slightly warm, and the heat penetrated through her skin and into her body.
"Birthplace." Xia Zihan called out the door.
"Well... here we come..."
Shengdi responded vaguely. When he came in, he was holding a chicken leg in his hand and his mouth was stuffed with chicken.
He chewed hard a few times, swallowed the chicken in his mouth, and then asked, "County Lord, what are your orders for the servants to come in?"
Wow, can't you wait until he finishes eating?
In order to rush on the road, he hadn't had a good meal for half a month. He finally asked Chu Cong to give him a chicken leg to eat. Is it easy for him?
Seeing that his mouth was filled with oil, Xia Zihan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, so he raised his hand and asked him, "Do you know this bracelet? How did your master get it?"
"Ah, this bracelet." Shengdi blinked and nodded, "I know that the master got this bracelet when he went to the Tatar territory to survey the terrain."
It was his master who spent ten thousand catties of white flour and one thousand taels of silver in exchange for it.
His master wanted to capture the Tatar leader and force the Tatars to sign a peace agreement once and for all. However, since Chu Xuanyu guarded Shuimu City, the leader lost a battle and stopped fighting. The leader of every attack on Shuimu City was the brother of the Tatar leader.
The leader no longer leads the troops to fight.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, his master transformed into the son of a businessman who sells flour. He hid in a caravan and infiltrated the Tatar territory.
I saw this bracelet in a small market in the Tatar territory, and the owner spent 10,000 kilograms of white flour and 1,000 taels of silver in exchange for it.
It's not expensive to say the least. Ten thousand kilograms of white flour cost less than one hundred taels of silver. This bracelet cost more than one thousand taels of silver.
Worth it.
"What do you mean?" Xia Zihan's heart trembled, "Aqi went to Tatar territory?"
This bastard, he is crazy, he has the courage to go to the enemy's territory, and he is still in the mood to buy her a bracelet.
This bastard...
Xia Zihan's teeth itched and she really wanted to bite someone.
Shengdi seemed to notice that she was angry and hurriedly explained, "Master is fine. Master made plans before he went. Ma Bao and Vice General Zhen will accompany him."
Before going to Shuimu City, Lieutenant General Zhen was just a guard around Chu Xuanyu. He had been with Chu Xuanyu since he was a child. Later, when he made military exploits on the battlefield, Chu Xuanyu promoted him to lieutenant general and stayed with Chu Jingqi.
This time when we went to the Tatar territory, Vice General Zhen was the businessman father pretending to be Chu Jingqi.
Although he knew that Chu Jingqi was not a reckless person and that he had returned to Shuimu City, Xia Zihan was still a little worried after learning that he had gone deep into the tiger's den.
She took a pen and ink and wrote a letter in reply to Chu Jingqi. She sealed it and handed it to Shengdi, "Tell the kitchen to prepare another table of food and wine for you. Have a good rest for two days and don't leave until the second day of the new year."
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"Thank you, County Lord." Shengdi hurriedly bowed, but with a bitter look on his face, he said pitifully, "Master said, you must return as soon as you get the County Lord's reply without any delay."
The master's yearning for the county master is like the surging sea water and violent storms, which are continuous.
How dare he waste time?
Wow, he is so miserable that he doesn’t even have a break during the New Year. His life is miserable.
Hey, he worked really hard for the love of his master who traveled thousands of miles.
Shengdi went to the front yard, greeted Mrs. Zhuo and Mrs. Zeng, and then handed the two red envelopes from Chu Xuanyu to the twins, as well as a letter from Chu Xuanyu to Mrs. Zhuo.
Mrs. Zeng ordered the cook to prepare a table of dishes for Shengdi, and also ordered several guards from He Donglin to accompany Shengdi to drink.
At dawn the next day, after resting for a few hours, Shengdi set off in a hurry and left.
When he left, he also took away several spring clothes and three pairs of shoes that Xia Zihan made for Chu Jingqi.
After a month, it's time to change into spring clothes.
……
After the Lantern Festival, news came down from the court that the imperial examination would be held this year.
And the date of the imperial examination was advanced to April 12.
As soon as the news came out, countless students were shocked. Even Xia Shiming became nervous and took the initiative to extend the lecture time for the students.
Min Sibo, in particular, is the most talented student in Xia Shiming's class, and Xia Shiming has particularly high expectations for him.
Xia Shiming even told Xia Zihan that as long as Min Sibo performed normally, he would definitely be on the gold list.
If you don't get the top pick, one of the top picks or the second pick will definitely not be able to escape.
On this day, Xia Shiming left school half an hour earlier than usual. He rushed to Chu's house and told Xia Zihan that he would attend a banquet at Wang's house in three days.
"Master Wang, Ding You, has expired and has taken office. He is appointed as the Left Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and has been promoted two levels. This is a happy event. In three days, the Wang family will hold a banquet. At that time, you and your eldest sister will go together."
Then he added, "Young Master Wang plans to take the imperial examination this year. He thought it would be in August, so the Wang family wanted to set the wedding date in September. Once Young Master Wang passes the examination, it will be a double blessing. I did not expect that the imperial examination will be brought forward."< br>
"Young Master Wang and your eldest sister are not young anymore. Yesterday, the Wang family sent someone to set the wedding date on the second day of May."
That's only a few months.
Time is a bit tight.
It seems that Xia Ziqing's wedding dress has not been embroidered yet.
"Are you ready to come here, dad? Do you want to move the date to the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Xia Shiming said, "I wrote to your grandmother last year. Your grandmother said that she would send someone over when the spring and summer family gatherings begin. Although three months is a bit urgent, it is not impossible."
"Did grandma tell me in the letter who would come over?" Xia Zihan asked.
Mrs. Xu returned to Jiangning City, and the only people who could come over to prepare for Xia Ziqing's marriage were Mrs. Xia and Mrs. Xia.
Mrs. Xia is in poor health. If she can't bear the bumps on the road, she might not be able to come. When the time comes, it will be Mrs. Xia or Mrs. Xia San.
Thinking of Mrs. Xia San, who had the same temperament as Xia Zilan, a cold light flashed in Xia Zihan's eyes.
(End of chapter)