linked to the collar

It was almost noon when the two returned to the White Mansion, they had a short rest, and after lunch, Bai Ye dragged the drowsy Xiao Ran to the flower hall.

The sky that had been sunny in the morning was now gloomy again. Bai Ye asked people to close all the windows, leaving only the door open, but there were two charcoal braziers at the door.

Moved Xiao Ran's favorite bed to the door, pulled Xiao Ran to nest on it, Shi Er and Kui Xi sat on the chairs behind, one was making tea, and the other was waiting for other orders.

"what to do?"

"Did you forget? I invited the juggling troupe over, but I feel cold everywhere, but here is an open space in front of the court, and they just perform, so you won't be cold if you stay here."

After a while, a group of people in different costumes followed Butler Liu to the front of the court, first bowed to Xiao Ran and Bai Ye together, and then began to perform one by one, such as breathing fire, walking rope, throwing knives, swallowing swords, etc. Xiao Ran was dumbfounded.

Bai Ye is not interested in these things, but is more curious about the various looks that Xiao Ran will show around him for a while, seeing his eyes wide open, staring intently, his mouth slightly open, he can see the little pink tongue inside...

Bai Ye picked up the cup and took a sip to suppress the evil fire in his heart.

"It's not that you haven't been outside, why, you haven't seen these"

Xiao Ran couldn't take his eyes off the person outside who was performing a show of shrinking himself into a ball and putting himself into a wine jar, and he replied casually: "I don't like seeing these things always crowded with people, so I don't go there when I see them on weekdays." Join in the fun." He paused, and the words behind him were a little soft. "Besides, I always feel that this kind of stuff is for children and idlers, I..."

Bai Ye stretched out his hand to gently hold his hand, and said with a soft smile, "I'll watch it with you from now on, if you are idle, you can be idle, as long as you are happy."

After watching the juggling, it was almost three o'clock in Shen Shi, Xiao Ran said that it was time for him to go to Zhang's house.

Bai Ye asked Huanxi to prepare the things he and Xiao Ran needed to spend the night in the old house, asked Shi Er to prepare the carriage, closed the door by himself, pressed Xiao Ran on the couch for a long time, insisted that Xiao Ran promise him to come back as soon as possible And after stealing countless kisses, he was reluctant to let go.

Originally, Bai Ye wanted Xiao Ran to change into a new set of clothes before going to the Zhang family. He had already prepared a new set of clothes for Xiao Ran, a corresponding jade crown and a belt inlaid with jadeite, and he even specially put his favorite piece of purple The jade pendant was found.Bai Ye felt that the phrase "a gentleman is like jade" is the most appropriate thing to describe Xiao Ran, so it is most appropriate to use jade to dress him up.

But Xiao Ran refused, he said that there is no need to be like this in front of Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhang has known him for so many years, no matter how embarrassing he was, Mr. Zhang has seen him, that old man is not a person who pays attention to external hypocrisy, and does not need these external things to set off.

In fact, Bai Ye didn't care what Zhang Ting's father thought, he just wanted to see Li Ran's beautiful appearance, but unfortunately the entanglement was fruitless, so he had to give up and dragged Xiao Ran out.

There were still two cars parked at the door as in the morning, and Bai Ye and Xiao Ran sat in the car driven by Laifu, and Kexi sat next to Laifu.Shi Er took some things and got into another car.

Only then did he turn out of the alley, and a blue soft sedan came towards him, and when he saw the carriage approaching, he got out of the way first.Kuixi in the carriage saw that the sedan chair looked familiar and asked Laifu to stop, and asked for instructions inside the carriage, "Second Master, son, it seems to be Mr. Zhang's sedan chair."

As soon as Xiao Ran heard this, he pushed away Bai Ye who was holding him tightly and got out of the carriage. Zhang Ting also opened the sedan chair curtain and stepped out. When he saw Xiao Ran, he hurriedly saluted him first. "Sir, are you ready to go out?"

Xiao Ran returned the salute, and said with a smile: "Yes... Are you here to visit someone?"

"No, Hanwen wants to pick up Mr. and go with him." He stepped aside slightly, and Xiao Ran even stopped a small sedan chair after seeing his sedan chair. "It rained last night. It would be inconvenient for Mr. Han Wenxiang to walk there, so..."

"No, I'll just send him there, thank you Master Zhang for your kindness." At this time, Bai Ye also jumped out of the car and walked to Li Ran's side, hooking Li Ran's shoulder "naturally" with one hand.

Zhang Ting's pupils shrank, but his expression was still respectful. "Sir, I'm going to my house later, anyway, it's on the way, Mr. Bai doesn't need to be polite with Hanwen."

Seeing that Bai Ye and Zhang Ting were about to stand in the middle of the road and stare at each other again, Xiao Ran pulled Bai Ye's hand off his shoulder and said to Zhang Ting with a smile: "Han Wen, Bai Ye and I have to go first." Go back to the old house once, and you have to go to tidy up before going to your house, so you should go first, and I will come later."

Zhang Ting's face seemed to froze, but he immediately smiled again and took a step back. "Okay, then Hanwen is waiting at home for Mr. to visit."

Xiao Ran and Bai Ye got into the car again, and waited for Zhang Ting's sedan chair to leave before starting again.After getting into the car, Bai Ye's expression was a little bit bad. He pulled the curtains of the car until he saw that the two sedan chairs were no longer visible, then he backed into the car with a snort and leaned against Xiao Ran's body. "This child really cares about you."

"Although the Zhang family is regarded as a family of merchants, they have always had strict family education. Let alone Hanwen, the Zhang family has always been polite when they saw me. How could you think so much?" Xiao Ran glared at Bai Ye. This person's strange thoughts are already a little helpless. "Didn't you sell a batch of newly printed "Three Character Classics" a few days ago? Master Zhang bought them for the children of the Zhang family's servants to learn to read. According to your statement, is this also Hanwen taking care of? My business?"

Bai Ye pursed his lips, thinking, this is really uncertain.

Shaking all the way to the old house, Bai Ye dragged Xiao Ran into the room, Kui Xi and Shi Er directed the two servants who came with the car to take the vegetables, meat, fish and shrimp, etc. brought by the second car into the kitchen .

As soon as Bai Ye entered the room, he hugged Xiao Ran's waist and refused to let go, his voice mournful. "Are you leaving now?"

"...You let me at least sweep the house."

"This kind of thing, just let them do it, you can stay with me for a while."

"Don't be like this... I won't come back very late, if you do this again, I'll go back straight away." Xiao Ran pushed Bai Ye's head away, blushing with shame. "Don't, don't go too far with you!"

Bai Ye was so tickled by Xiao Ran's behavior, he dragged him into the inner room, pressed on the wall and kissed him enough before letting go. "Why is it too much, huh? Tell me, what is too much?"

Bai Ye was satisfied after making a fuss. He let go of Xiao Ran, who was in messy clothes and breathing disorderly, and tidied his clothes with a smile while saying, "Do you want Shi Er to go with you later? It's dark when you come back at night. Someone will light a lantern for you."

"No need, it's cold at night, and I know the way very well. Winter solstice, let them go back earlier for the holiday."

Hearing this, Bai Ye raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Are you suggesting to me that you want to be alone with me at night?"

Xiao Ran ignored him, tidied up in front of the bronze mirror again and went out.Bai Ye understood Xiao Ran's insistence, so he didn't agree to Shi Er who volunteered to go with him, and asked them to clean the inside and outside of the old house, then sent everyone back to the city, lit the oil lamp and sat down In the kitchen, propped his head up and looked at the door, waiting for Xiao Ran to come back.

When Xiao Ran walked to Zhang's mansion, the lights were on for the first time.The boy at the door welcomed Xiao Ran into the door, and Zhang Ting hastily greeted him when he reached the hall. "Mr. is here. Dad has already asked Hanwen several times."

While speaking, he led Xiao Ran inside.

Xiao Ran felt guilty for a while, if he hadn't gone crazy with Bai Ye, how could he have come so late?

Entering the main hall, Mr. Zhang, who was sitting in the main seat, was about fifty years old but was in good condition. When he saw Xiao Ran, he stood up and greeted him. "Mr. Xiao, you are here!"

Xiao Ran hurriedly bowed and bowed. "Sorry for keeping Master Zhang waiting."

"Haha, just joking and joking, there are still a few people who haven't arrived yet. Sit down first, we haven't had a good conversation for a long time." Master Zhang asked Xiao Ran to sit down, let the servants serve tea, and saw Zhang Ting standing beside Xiao Ran. Beside, just smiled. "Mr. Xiao, look at Hanwen, he is still like this. As long as you are here, you are more respectful than me."

Both Xiao Ran and Zhang Ting laughed, Zhang Ting sat down beside Xiao Ran and handed a plate of pine nuts to Xiao Ran.

"Several of my elder brothers will come over in a while, sir, I haven't seen them for a long time."

Originally, Master Zhang wanted to invite Xiao Ran to be a teacher to teach these children in Zhang's residence, but Xiao Ran seemed to prefer to open a school by himself, so he didn't force it.However, several young masters of the Zhang family had studied at Xiao Ran's school before, but after getting older, the other Zhang masters re-selected more targeted teachers according to their different habits, only Zhang Ting followed Xiao Ran all the time. At the end.

At that time, Master Zhang expressed his apologies to Xiao Ran for this, and he was worried that Xiao Ran would think that they would think that he was not good at learning, but Xiao Ran had always been very open-minded, and instead always praised Master Zhang's idea of ​​teaching students according to their aptitude.It was also because of this incident that Master Zhang admired Xiao Ran even more, praising him for his humility, politeness and grandeur.

After sitting for a while, people came in one after another.Needless to say, the young masters of the Zhang family all saluted and bowed to Xiao Ran as soon as they came in. Afterwards, several family members of the young masters and relatives of the master of the Zhang family, including two young girls, saluted and greeted everyone one by one and then sat down. Down.Zhang Ting secretly told Xiao Ran that these are all his cousins, who are now sponsoring at his house for various reasons.

Since Zhang Ting was the only official in several generations of the Zhang family, and they all knew that Zhang Ting was taught by Xiao Ran, so not to mention Master Zhang, the young masters and relatives of the Zhang family were extremely respectful to Xiao Ran. When the banquet started, Xiao Ran was specially invited to sit in the host and guest seats, and Zhang Ting was to accompany him.

After drinking for three rounds, the atmosphere gradually heated up. While everyone at the table was chatting and laughing, Xiao Ran suddenly felt his sleeves being gently pulled. Looking up, Zhang Ting came closer. "Sir, it seems that you don't eat much, but the dishes are not to your liking?"

Hearing this, Xiao Ran smiled apologetically, how could he say that he didn't dare to eat more because he thought he would have dinner with Bai Ye later?I had to explain: "No, it's just that my stomach is a little bloated these days, so I don't eat a lot, Hanwen, don't think too much."

Zhang Ting stopped asking after a while, and asked softly after a while: "Sir, you came here by yourself just now, is there someone to pick you up when you go back?"

"Oh, I live in an old house tonight, and I won't go back to the city, so I don't need anyone to pick me up."

Zhang Ting still wanted to say something, but at this time Master Zhang raised his glass to toast Xiao Ran, so he could only say no more.

Master Zhang made a toast to Xiao Ran, and after Xiao Ran drank it up, he filled it up again himself. "By the way, Mr. Xiao, I always forgot to ask you, your old house is coming back now?"

"Uh...Actually, those people are the subordinates of a relative of mine. He usually stays at my house when he comes to Wuzhou. I left suddenly at that time. He came to see that I was not there, so he sent someone to look after the house for me. This matter Even I don't know, those house watchers are just obeying orders, so when I came back at the beginning of the year, even I was turned away." Xiao Ran stood up while explaining, respecting Master Zhang: "Not yet Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for your concern for Xiao Ran, Xiao Ran should be the first to do it first."

After a while, Mr. Zhang said that he was too strong to drink, so he asked his servants to burn a charcoal basin and make tea in the compartment, and then he went to rest first.Xiao Ran saw that it was almost time, so he wanted to leave.Just stood up, there was also a servant over there, saying that Mr. Zhang invited him over.

Zhang Ting also entered the cubicle with Xiao Ran, Master Zhang invited Xiao Ran to sit down, and took some calligraphy and paintings that he just got to admire with Xiao Ran.

"By the way, Mr. Xiao, how many years has Madam been there?" While speaking, Master Zhang suddenly asked.

"It's been more than five years."

"Oh...it's been so long." Master Zhang nodded, his eyes seemed to be focused on the painting.For a moment, Xiao Ran didn't understand what Master Zhang meant by asking, and looked at Zhang Ting suspiciously, but Zhang Ting looked at Master Zhang and frowned.

"Mr. Xiao has lived alone for many years. Have you ever thought about finding another caring person? I have a niece who is sixteen years old. Because of the death of her parents, she began to live with me a few months ago. Although this girl Not to mention her beautiful appearance, but she is also docile and lovely, reasonable in conversation, and proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Since I am her parent now, I naturally hope to find a good home for her." Master Zhang finally raised his head and spoke kindly. She said with a smile: "Mr. Xiao and I have known each other for many years, and I know Mr.'s character and knowledge well. If my niece can marry Mr., it will be a beautiful thing. What do you think?"

Surprised, Xiao Ran was stunned for a moment and hurriedly took a few steps back to bow. "This matter... must not be done. Xiao Ran once swore with his late wife that he would never marry another person in this life. If he violated the oath, he will be destroyed by heaven and earth! Although his late wife has passed away for many years, Xiao Ran has never thought about it. With such kindness, Xiao Ran can only apologize..."

"But sir, you are still young now. Do you want to grow old alone? Your wife did not give birth to any heirs for you until she died. There are three things that are unfilial and have no offspring. Mr. Xiao, even if you don't want someone to take care of you to see you die, don't you be afraid Are people blaming you for not supporting the Xiao family? What's more, you have been single for so many years, I believe that if your lady is really alive, she will understand and not blame you for not keeping promises." Master Zhang took a step forward. He wanted to help Xiao Ran up, but Xiao Ran maintained his bowing posture and took another step back.

"No, even if Qionghua could forgive Xiao Ran, Xiao Ran didn't want to be sorry for his sincerity at that time. What's more, Master Zhang, if I married your niece with my heart full of dead wives, I would be sorry for your niece. Say, isn't it really unfair? What's more, Xiao Ran has no ambitions and is a scholar who has no skills other than reading. Your niece will only suffer if she follows Xiao Ran. How can Xiao Ran have the heart to delay her life? Master Zhang, please think again!"

Master Zhang was silent, staring at Xiao Ran who was standing three steps away from him and maintaining a bowed posture, and nodded after a while. "I didn't expect Mr. Xiao to be so affectionate to his deceased wife. I was reckless. Please forgive me, Mr. Xiao."

Hearing the words, Xiao Ran was busy and gave another deep sigh. "Master Zhang speaks seriously. It's because Xiao Ran has his own interests, and he really doesn't want to delay others."

Master Zhang stepped forward to support Xiao Ran, and patted his hand. "Don't worry about this matter, think about it carefully, don't make a decision in a hurry. Come on, don't talk about it, let's continue to look at the painting."

Just as Xiao Ran wanted to nod his head, Zhang Ting, who had not spoken a word behind him, suddenly took a step forward and said, "Father, it's getting late, Han Wen has to go back to the mansion before the gate of Guancheng, so I'm leaving here."

"Oh, that's right, you have to go back..." Mr. Zhang patted his head and laughed loudly, "Oh, I'm getting old, and my memory is a bit bad. Then Mr. Xiao lives in the city now, why don't you let him Will Hanwen take you with me?"

Xiao Ran also just wanted to say goodbye before, upon hearing this, he hurriedly smiled and said: "Then there will be Lao Hanwen."

After politely rejecting Master Zhang's farewell, and saying goodbye to the rest of Zhang's family in the hall, Xiao Ran followed Zhang Ting and walked slowly towards the gate.

Xiao Ran was not a good talker, and Zhang Ting seemed to be thinking about something. His eyebrows that had been furrowed since just now had not been loosened, and he was silent all the way. Zhang Ting stopped when he was almost at the door. "I'm sorry, sir. I really didn't know that Dad invited you here. It turned out that he was trying to be a matchmaker and made it difficult for you."

Surprised, Xiao Ran continued to walk forward after a while, and said with a smile: "Your father is also thinking about me, so there is no embarrassment. It's just that I... It's really hard to accept your father's kindness and let him down gone."

"Then...Then sir, do you really not consider my father's proposal at all?" Zhang Ting followed Xiao Ran a few steps and walked beside him and asked.

Xiao Ran stood still and shook his head. "I believe this young lady of your Zhang family must be virtuous and virtuous, but Xiao Ran... is really not a good candidate."

Looking at Xiao Ran's handsome and gentle face in the night, Zhang Ting's heart felt hot, and the question in his heart blurted out. "Sir... Does Mr. already have a heart?"

Xiao Ran smiled slightly, with a bitter arc on his lips. "Xiao Ran's mind has never changed."

Zhang Ting's heart ached when he saw it, and without saying anything, he sent Xiao Ran to the door. "Would you like to go back to the city with me?"

"No, I'll stay in the old house tonight, and I'll go back tomorrow morning when the city gate opens."

"Then, shall I take Mr. there?"

Xiao Ran shook his head. "No, you'd better go back quickly, it will be too late if the city gate is closed. It's not far from my house, I'll just walk slowly."

Zhang Ting asked a servant to bring a lantern to Xiao Ran. "Then, sir, be careful on the road."