Jian An Kee

Note 1: The popular saying is that watermelon was officially introduced to China in the Five Dynasties (around 800 AD).Xu Guangqi's "Agricultural Encyclopedia" in the Ming Dynasty: "Watermelons are grown in the Western Regions, so they are named." However, how can there be no watermelons in summer!The hostess expressed dissatisfaction!

Note 2: Ji Zuo, Sun Kuang, Sun Quan's younger brother, styled Ji Zuo.

In August of the 13th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan challenged Huang Zu again. Lu Meng defeated Huang Zu's vanguard, Huang Zu was defeated and fled, and was chased and killed by Feng Ze.Liu Biao, the herdsman of Jingzhou, died of illness. Cao Cao raised his army to go south, and his successor Liu Cong led his troops to surrender, and Liu Bei entered Xiakou.

Chaisang's summer is hot and humid, Zhou Yu is the most bitter summer person, so there are big basins of ice everywhere in the governor's mansion.There are traces of ice melting everywhere in the corridor, and the sticky water stains are the most annoying.

When I stepped into Zhou Yu's study, I saw him with loose hair, sitting leaning on a few tables, his large white gauze robe cascading down, covering the jade mat under him; The wisteria tree has already bloomed in sevens and eighties, and the scattered flowers are swaying in the wind.

"There's news from Jiangbei." He smiled and rolled his eyes, and waved to me a wax-sealed silver tube, "Your letter is from your husband."

I took the silver tube that was still covered with a thin layer of wax, pushed the mechanism inside with my little finger, pulled out the letter paper made of bamboo pulp, and looked at the window. Small hole.

"Morse?" I couldn't help clicking my tongue: "Uncle help me translate."

Zhou Yu raised his eyes from the document in hand: "Don't be lazy, do it yourself."

Reluctantly, I replied, "These letters... are beyond my ability."

"You should have learned more about industrial civilization in the first place..." He didn't care much about my sulking, took the letter paper, and read it casually in Mandarin: "There are sages in Ezhou who can visit; You encourage each other."

After listening to this, I grabbed a frozen watermelon (Note 1) on the table and took a bite, deliberately splashing the juice: "Come on, don't drag me, are you sour?"

Zhou Yu frowned and pulled the hem of the robe far away from me, "Tsk, can't you keep your ladylike image in front of me for a while?"

I interrupted him with a wave of my hand: "Is this all in the sir's letter?"

"I have tried my best to be trustworthy, expressive and elegant..."

I stuck out my tongue at him to express my displeasure.

At this time, Gefu, the little boy who served Zhou Yu, walked into the study with his horoscope.When he saw me, he smiled shyly, and immediately bowed to Zhou Yu: "Master, Master Lu is here."

Zhou Yu changed his laziness just now, and sat up straight: "Oh? Please."

"Yes."

I watched Ge Fu turn out of the study, and hurriedly jumped in front of Zhou Yu, Ma Liuer tidied up the desk in front of him, moved the fruit plate to the back of the cupboard, and knelt on the ground with my handkerchief to wipe the water stains.

Zhou Yu was stunned: "There is something wrong with the watermelon you ate? Why are you crazy... No, Zijing is coming, what are you still doing here, go away."

I raised my head and looked up at him with a righteous look: "For the sake of my hard work, uncle let me see him."

"Little ghost!" Zhou Yu took the longest slip on the desk and hit me on the head, then "humph": "It's cheap for you. When he comes in, you pretend to be going out. I'll introduce you casually. Did you hear that?"

"Okay, okay." I lost no time in giving flattering eyes.Sneaking down on the top of my head, it hurts...

Two days later, Zhou Yu went to the General's Mansion again, then packed his toothbrushes and towels (?), and went to Poyang County on a business trip.Except for the reeds, the place where the birds don't shit is the eggs of wild birds. It is perfect as a hidden military base, but I know that he has deployed a navy there.

Soon Cao Dayi sent a statement to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jiangdong: My niece and her husband’s brother, our in-laws haven’t seen each other for so many years, I feel very sorry, you see, I just won hundreds of thousands from the Jingzhou Navy, just passing by Jiangdong , I want to come to visit relatives, drink tea, go hunting or something.Besides, as the prime minister of the imperial court, I have never done you any favors. If I go to Jiangdong this time, how about asking for a reward for you and a bunch of younger brothers under your command?Haha, don't worry, if I come to be a guest, the million-dollar army will not be brought to Jiangdong...

I held a copy of the call to action from Sun Shangxiang in my hand, and explained it to the maids in the room while reading it seriously.But they all seemed indifferent, Le Ling also said: "General Sun can learn from Liu Biao's son! Maybe he will become a high-ranking official in Luoyang."

I shook my head with a wry smile.

It's not even clear that the imperial court has moved to Xudu. Do you expect them to worry about the situation of the war? Maybe it's because they don't know how cruel the upcoming war is.The so-called cruelty is just a light and fluffy word. The real cruelty probably lies in the fear that there is nothing to do when things are imminent.

After reading the proclamation, I sent all the maids out and prepared to sort out my thoughts alone. Why don't the two little guys, A Xun and A Yin, rush into the room one after the other, and tell me in a soft childish voice, mother invited me to come. Go to Qushui Hall.

I scratched Ah Xun's nose, told him to lead the way, picked Ah Yin up in one hand, and carried him to Qushui Hall.

Thinking that I was a generation shorter than Sun Shangxiang, who was a few years younger than me for no reason, I felt very upset.Until one day Ah Yin threw herself into her arms and called "little aunt" and turned around to call me sister. I immediately regained my balance, winked at Sun Shangxiang, and smiled smugly.

Qushui Hall.

"Ma'am." I bowed my knees to salute Xiao Qiao, she approached lightly, and stretched out her hands to help, "Alan is still so polite."

"Alanju grew up in the mountains, so I dare not learn to be more polite." I smiled, fearing that I couldn't help staring at the beauty again, so I quickly looked away.

"Before your uncle left for Pengze, I had an invitation card from Cao Rong, wife of Ji Zuo (Note 2). The invitation card said that seasonal flowers will be shipped from Jiangbei in the past few days, please Alan. Let's watch it." She said as she picked up the blue valerian silk invitation card from the table and handed it to me.

I took it over and saw it clearly: this Cao Rong is exactly the niece of Prime Minister Cao who has been in the headlines every day recently. She is one year younger than me, and she was pampered at home. very big.What's more, now that Prime Minister Cao is in the limelight, she is in the glory of her natal family, so she can't do without being high-profile.

"Is Alan willing to go? Although your uncle has ordered you, it's fine if you don't want to. After all, it's a long way to Ezhou, and it will take half a day to ride a horse."

I smiled gratefully at her, "It's okay, since she sent someone to deliver the post, someone at home must go there, so it's fine to come back earlier. Don't ask Mrs. Cao to misunderstand that we don't appreciate it."

For the clans, this kind of gathering is similar to the briefing meeting before the official meeting, and the battle between Jiangdong and Jiangbei is imminent, and no one wants to miss this opportunity to find out gossip and even directly contact people from Jiangbei .What's more, that Mrs. Cao Rong personally wrote a post for me, so I can't beat the beauty.

Zhou Yin, who stood aside blankly, blinked and interjected: "Mother, I want to play too."

The little adult Zhou Xun coughed in disguise, and hurriedly said, "Mother, I'll take my younger brother down first."

If there is nothing important to do, it is also feasible to take the two little guys out for a walk this time.Regrettably, from the very beginning, this invitation was nothing more than a cover for me. I set off from Chaisang with my attendants two days later, went to Shiliting to change my attire, and hurried to Ezhou, leaving everyone behind.

It took me one-half of the usual journey to get to Ezhou, and I stopped to pack up and set off for Xishan to visit the "sage" mentioned in my husband's letter.

Today my guard is still Lai Yan.Because he can speak Mandarin well, Zhou Yu simply assigned him to me.It's a pity that this guy always dresses so low-key, he doesn't have the heroic and well-known appearance that a master should have, and his kung fu is in vain.

This guy Pang Tong really has a backbone, and he lives in this kind of barren village in order to pretend to be a reclusive expert.In Ezhou in September, the weather is not very cold, but the non-stop wind blowing on the side of the river makes me feel uncomfortable all over my clothes.This hellish evil wind has a strong fishy smell, it's really hateful!

Resisting the curse that blurted out for the umpteenth time, Lai Yan finally told him that Mr. Xishan Fengchu's little hut was just one mile away.

Two big living men and two horses poked at the door of Pang Tong's house against the strong wind for nearly an hour, and finally a boy in a brown coat came down the path leading to the top of the west mountain.He held the fish basket in one hand, and when he saw Lai Yan and me, he bowed politely: "I don't know there is a guest, but Mr. Servant apologized to the guest." After he finished speaking, he put the fish basket on the porch and opened the door. The door led us in.

I didn't move for a long time, Lai Yan hesitantly stepped forward to ask for instructions: "Miss, can you go in?"

No matter how temperamental a person is, he will lose his edges and corners when he is blown by the evil wind on the river.It took me a long time to forcefully answer him: "Miss, I got messed up in the wind..."

The purpose of visiting this time was nothing more than to communicate with Pang Tong first before the Battle of Chibi.The so-called ventilation is to support the behind-the-scenes operation of this great god in spirit or material or both.Everything is aimed at preparing for the fierce battle three months later.

It should be noted that it costs a lot of money to make friends with refined scholars and talk about poetry and Taoism. If every hermit is like Mr. farming, I am afraid they will not be able to bear it.That's why there are war upstarts like Zhou Yu, who have to provide sponsorship to them from time to time in order to maintain their decent lives.In return, they will naturally come up with many intelligent ideas to contribute to the cause of expanding the territory, or praise and criticize the people at the time, making them famous all over the world.

This kind of behind-the-scenes matter has always been tacitly understood by a group of dignitaries. I am afraid that the only thing that Mr. Feng Chu did not expect is that this time Zhou Yu sent a girl to bargain with him.

Holding my breath, I drank the tea with unknown condiments brought by the waiter, then raised my head and said to the guy who looked like a representative of Picasso's painting school: "I have heard Mr. Pang's name for a long time, and I am fortunate to be able to pay a visit today." .My uncle will invite you to visit the house someday. Alan expresses his thanks to Mr. Fengchu on behalf of my uncle."

He seemed to have seen through my slander, and smiled slightly, "Miss Zhou, please tell the governor to take charge of the humble people in the countryside and not want to be disturbed, just live in the countryside and do things cheaply."

The servant boy refills my tea.

"That's fine." I agreed without hesitation, and poured down the cup of tea again in one gulp, regardless of poor Mr. Stomach.

Pang Tong looked at me approvingly: "Miss is very courageous, she is really very human."