Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter

Chapter 26: Advancing at a Rapid Speed

Now, she didn't have time to think about these things, as Qiao Zhen and Master Wu must have been waiting for her in the martial arts arena.

Her martial arts master's surname was Shang Mingzhen, and he was a deputy general under her grandfather Qiao Mu. He was brave and resourceful. He was injured a few years ago and retired from the battlefield to recuperate. Because he was the only son, after he recovered from his injury, his old mother threatened him with her own life and would not allow him to go to the battlefield again, so he had to waste his time at home.

The family fortune earned through military merit in those years could not keep going out, and soon their life became difficult. That day, he went to the old Duke's wife to beg for help, wanting to join his father Qiao Xuan's army again. It happened that Qiao Lili needed a martial arts master, so he kept Shang Zhen.

He doesn't have to go to the battlefield, his monthly salary is more than the army's pay, and he can go home to visit his mother at any time in the capital. Shang Zhen thinks this position is really great, and his mother is also very happy.

Qiao Lili has inherited the true martial arts from her mother since she was young, and with the guidance of her fairy aunt, she has actually reached a very high level of skill. Although she has not had a master to guide her in recent years and her practice has been intermittent, once she starts to train systematically again, her progress will be rapid.

In the morning, Qiao Lili, like Qiao Zhen, practiced martial arts with Master Wu for an hour, and then went to have breakfast. Qiao Zhen went to school, and Qiao Lili had to study military tactics with Shang Zhen for another hour, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Shang Zhen also recommended several military books to her and asked her to study them carefully.

This was the common idea of ​​Shang Zhen and Qiao Lili. Qiao Lili knew that her father and brother would die in battle at the border in two years, so she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. Before that, she would definitely go to the border to face it with them, so she wanted to learn something that could be used in the army.

Shang Zhen discovered that Qiao Lili's Kung Fu was vigorous and fierce, and each move was murderous. These were all moves for killing the enemy in battle, and those seemingly gentle martial arts were actually the use of softness to overcome hardness and cleverness to win. With the two combined, if Qiao Lili appeared before the two armies one day, he would be an undefeated general.

In front of the two armies, that was the place he longed for the most. Now that his little apprentice had such a talent, he just wanted to teach her more. Shang Zhen was not a person who only read a few military books and talked about war on paper. He had really fought on the battlefield. The strategies and tactics, experience and lessons he had learned from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood were all invaluable.

As soon as she came back from the martial arts arena, Caiqin and Caiwei came in to serve her.

Seeing that the two were wrapped up like wounded soldiers, Qiao Lili quickly asked them to rest, "Let Cai Ge come, it's time for her to practice."

Cai Ge is a young girl with a good memory and surprisingly calm. When she heard the young lady call her name, she was not panicked at all. She simply tied up Qiao Lili's hair into a double bun, and decorated it with a few white pearl flowers. She inserted two kingfisher hairpins on the left and a turquoise hairpin on the right, and a tender red crabapple flower between her eyebrows.

She wore a light green brocade chest-length skirt, and a light green Xiangyun gauze blouse on the outside. She had a cloud-patterned jadeite around her neck, a emerald green jade crotch around her waist, and two imperial green bracelets on her wrists.

This was the first time Cai Ge dressed up Qiao Lili. Qiao Lili did not give any opinions. When Cai Ge finished dressing her up, the woman in the bronze mirror, who was already tall and graceful, was as fresh and refined as a bamboo, and the flower ornament between her eyebrows made her look even brighter and more charming.

"The young lady is so beautiful." Cai Ge looked at the young lady whom he had dressed up himself, with stars in his eyes.

"I'm not going out today. Did you dress me up specially for you guys?" Qiao Lili asked Cai Ge and Nanny Sun who was helping her with a smile.

"Today is the tenth day of the lunar month, and the people from the East Courtyard are coming to pay their respects to the old Duke's wife." If Cai Ge hadn't said it, Qiao Lili would have really forgotten what day it was. The family from the East Palace would come to the palace every tenth day of the lunar month.

The East Courtyard is the family of the old Duke Dingguo's half-brother. Unlike the simple personnel of the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, Qiao Lili's second grandfather took seven or eight concubines and fathered more than a dozen sons, but only four were left alive in the end. These four sons were just like their father, marrying wives, taking concubines and having children as if it were a competition. You can imagine how chaotic the backyard is. Although there are still not many children who survived, there are still many more than in the Duke Dingguo's Mansion.

Nanny Sun stole a glance at Qiao Lili and saw that she looked normal without any guard. She sighed and reminded her, "It's not that I am committing an offense. Those girls in the East Courtyard who flatter the weak and look down on the powerful will definitely have bad things to say when they know that you have broken off the engagement. If you just go there casually, they will definitely give you an excuse to accuse me."

They would definitely think that this person who broke off the engagement looked so depressed, so what was the point of keeping such a person at home? It would be better to send her to the temple to pray for blessings to avoid bringing bad luck to others. If they thought so in their hearts, they would inevitably express it in their words, so she asked Cai Ge to dress the young lady up beautifully, so that they would have no way to complain.

"Other people have mouths on their bodies, they can say whatever they want, it can't affect me anyway." Compared with the sufferings in the previous life, being ridiculed by others is nothing worth mentioning.

Nanny Sun knew that she would think this way. The young lady was not willing to quarrel with them on these issues, but her disdain was considered to be a good temper, easy to bully and easy to manipulate.

"Why should our young lady let them talk? I will go with you later. If they dare to talk nonsense, I will slap them in the face." Nanny Sun took out the dressing box and found two lilac earrings inlaid with green jade and put them on Qiao Lili.

"Don't bother, Madam Sun. Be careful, your hands hurt. If you want to slap someone, let Caiqi and Caixing do it. They have time to hit hard, but they won't be hurt." Everyone living in the East Palace now deserves to be beaten. In the previous life, their fathers and brothers died in the war, and Bai Junzhe accused them of treason and collaborating with the enemy. The grandmother died in anger.

Although the two mansions had frequent exchanges, the East Manor family almost relied on the Dingguo Mansion for their livelihood, and all the houses belonged to the Dingguo Mansion. It was only because the two mansions had been separated on the surface that the East Manor was not implicated. However, not only did they not hold a funeral for their grandmother, nor did they take care of their younger brother, but they added insult to injury and looted all the valuables in the mansion before the imperial decree to confiscate the property was issued.

When she was imprisoned in the dungeon, Lou Xinyue told her that the evidence of treason was put into her father's study by the people from the East Palace in order to stimulate her. Originally, treason was just a fictitious charge, but after the items they put into her father's study were found, it all became a fact.

In this life, she must see these people in the East Palace clearly. No evil spirits can dare to jump around in her place. If she lets them take even a penny from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, it will be considered that she, Qiao Lili, has lived her life in vain.

As for who framed her father, she would find out. Even if she didn't tear him into pieces, she would never let him off easily. All the grudges from the previous life would be avenged one by one.

*

The king spent the night in the hibiscus tent and never attended court again early in the morning.

What morning court? The emperor just gave himself a day off. It’s not too much to ask for a day off for his son’s birthday.

The civil and military officials who were attending the morning court had all arrived outside the palace when they received the notice that the court was suspended and a temporary rest day was in effect. This was the first time since Emperor Yong'an ascended the throne sixteen years ago.

It doesn’t matter, if there is a first time, there will be a second time.

Today is Ayan's eighteenth birthday. He hasn't celebrated his birthday for four years. He knows that once he leaves the gate of Yunxiao Palace, it will be harder than climbing to heaven to get back in, so he won't leave.

Just lying down, sitting, and strolling here in Yunxiao Palace waiting for the birthday party in the evening.