Southerners

Chapter 10 Wind and Rain 2

Song Zhi was anxious and didn't care about etiquette, so she stepped forward and picked up a pen to write.

Song people value literature over martial arts, and literati can often live very comfortably. Song Zhi's father was a civil servant, who was born in the imperial examination, and he was full of poetry and books. Song Zhi was enlightened at the age of five, and he was with his father for seven years, and he was good at writing.

Song Zhi studied willow style, which is crisp and straight, with strong bones.

Meng Huan didn't pay attention to it at first, but when he looked at it later, he realized that Song Zhi's handwriting was really good. He couldn't understand the colors and styles, but only knew that it looked pleasing to the eye, like a painting.

Just like the hand holding the pen, thin and well-articulated, seemingly weak, but holding the pen firmly, the white hand against the black ink is like an ink painting.

After Song Zhi finished writing, she raised her head and looked at Meng Huan. Waiting for Meng Huan's reply, Meng Huan paused for a moment before saying, "It's half a city from Danguifang to here. It's very inconvenient for you to go back and forth every day. What's wrong here?"

Song Zhi couldn't explain it. He really wanted to ask Meng Huan why he must be allowed to live here, but he was afraid of angering Meng Huan for no reason. This man's temper was really unpredictable. After hesitating for a while, he wrote: "Can I come back tomorrow?" , let me go back and explain to Xiu Niang today, don’t bother your lord to send someone there.”

After seeing it, Meng Huan nodded, "Yes."

Song Zhi breathed a sigh of relief when he got the promise, and then frowned again. He had to find a way to convince Xiu Niang without making Xiu Niang suspicious.

Otherwise, Xiu Niang would have kowtowed to death on the stone lion, and would not have agreed to let Song Zhi come to Meng Huan's place.

Meng Huan ignored what he was thinking, waved his hand and said, "We'll be here today, you can go down."

Song Zhi responded "Yes", bowed and retreated.

When he walked to the door and opened it, Qino was at the door. Seeing the injury on Song Zhi's neck, he raised the corners of his lips and glanced at Song Zhi gloatingly.

Meng Huan ordered in the house: "Take him to his residence."

Zeno agreed.

Song Zhi's residence is a side room on the west side, not big, but clean and tidy. There is a desk for reading and writing, and even brushes and paints for painting.

The bedding, etc. have been packed, and you can move in immediately.

Zi Nuo said: "The young master has ordered, you will live here in the future, if you need anything, please order, if there is no paper and pen, the servants in the mansion will help you."

Although Zi Nuo was very reluctant, he didn't dare to disobey Meng Huan's intentions, so he said it in a sharp and harsh tone, and finally gave Song Zhi a sideways look, and left.

Song Zhi ignored him, and went up to check. The brushes, ink, paper and inkstones were all top-quality, and the paints were also top-quality, better than what he usually used.

These stationery supplies are expensive. Song Zhi and Xiu Niang used to rely on painting and female celebrities for all their living expenses. They lived in poverty. The few taels of money they earned were all used to buy books. They had no spare money to buy them. pen and paper.

Seeing this, Song Zhi's mood finally improved a bit. Although Meng Huan was brutal and rude, he did not treat him harshly in this regard, thinking: This person still has merit.

As for the medicine that Meng Huan "given" to him, Song Zhi took it out to look at it, and put it in her bosom temporarily.

At Shen Shi, Song Zhi greeted Meng Huan, then left the Meng Mansion and went back to Xingshun Hutong in Danguifang.I threw away the bottle of medicine on the way, and no one could find it, so I went to buy another bottle by myself.

However, when he walked to Xingshun Hutong, Song Zhicai suddenly remembered that her neck was bruised, if Jiao Xiuniang saw her, she would definitely be worried again.

Fortunately, in late autumn, it got dark early, and when Song Zhi got home, it was already dark.Xiuniang lit the oil lamp to be a female celebrity inside.

Song Zhi lied that she was tired, and quietly went back to her room. She didn't even eat dinner, and used cold water to freeze the ice, and then applied the medicine. By the next morning, the traces had disappeared a little, but they could still be seen.

Song Zhi pulled up the collar and pulled it up, but it couldn't be covered. Finally, she rummaged through the box to find a fur collar, wrapped it around her neck, and came out to see Xiu Niang.

Facing Xiuniang's strange gaze, Song Zhiyan said succinctly, "I'm caught in the wind and cold." She pointed to her throat, signaling that it was inconvenient to speak.

Xiu Niang immediately went to boil ginger soup, Song Zhi drank it obediently, and then said: "Xiu Niang, I'm going out today."

Xiu Niang raised her eyebrows: "No way!"

"Since you have caught the wind and cold, you should rest at home and what are you going out for?"

Song Zhi said again: "...Moreover, from now on, I will also have to stay at the client's house, and I won't be able to come back every day."

Xiu Niang was startled, and said sharply, "Master, did something happen?"

Song Zhi's voice was troublesome, and she felt uncomfortable after speaking a few words, so she took a pen and paper and wrote: "Xiu Niang is worrying too much, it's fine."

"Does Xiuniang remember that client a few days ago? The client looked at my paintings and was very satisfied. He asked me to follow him in the future. Because it is inconvenient to travel, the client asked me to live in his house in the future."

After seeing it, Xiu Niang was silent for a while, and asked, "Who is that customer?"

Song Zhi lied without changing her face: "A salt merchant, Han."

Although traders and traders are also unworthy in Xiuniang's eyes, they are better than Mongolian officials, and there is no principled error.

Xiu Niang looked suspiciously at the fur collar on Song Zhi's neck, as if she really wanted to tear it off to have a look, but she didn't do it in the end, and asked, "A few days ago...the scratch, what happened?"

Song Zhi smiled and said, "The scab will heal soon."

Xiu Niang was silent for a long time, then asked again: "Will the young master come back?"

Song Zhi wrote: "Of course I will come back. Xiuniang is here, and Song Zhi's home is here. I will come back to visit Xiuniang every ten days."

Xiuniang had no choice but to let go. After all, although Song Zhi regarded her as a half-mother, she could not really regard herself as a mistress, and could not influence Song Zhi's decision.

Song Zhi went out late today, and arrived at Taipingfang too late.

When Song Zhi arrived, Meng Huan had just finished training in the morning. He was only wearing a thin robe, and was wet with sweat, and sweat hung on his chin.

Meng Huan saw him and said, "You go to the study and wait first, I will come later."

Song Zhi bowed in response without making a sound, and went to the study.

Meng Huan's study room is the same as yesterday's. There are many books in it, most of which are Meng Huan's beautiful military books, such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Sun Bin's Art of War", "Six Secret Teachings", "Wei Liao Zi", "Sima Law" and so on. More than half of the bookshelf was taken away.There are many other historical books, from "Historical Records" to "Zhenguan Zhengyao", even Xu Tianlin's "Eastern Han Huiyao", Yuan Shu's "Tongjian Jishi Benmo", in addition to a small number of Confucian classics, such as "The Analects of Confucius" and "Shangshu". kind.

Song Zhi read the old and new books, and found that these Confucian classics seemed to have been read carefully, and it should be more than once, and she became more and more confused about Meng Huan in her heart.

When Meng Huan came to the study, he saw Song Zhi was concentrating on observing the books on the bookshelf, and didn't notice anyone coming in at all.

Meng Huan coughed lightly, and Song Zhi suddenly came back to her senses, bowed quickly, and said in a hoarse voice, "I've seen you, sir."

Seeing the fur collar on his neck and hearing his hoarse voice, Meng Huan knew that yesterday was too hard for the thin Han man to bear, so he nodded his chin and said, "You can't speak, so teach me how to write." , I see that your handwriting is good."

Song Zhi was a little surprised, and quickly agreed: "Thank you for your understanding."

This attitude changed quickly. It seems that yesterday he suffered a lot, but today he learned how to behave, Meng Huan thought.

Meng Huan pointed to the table: "There is tea, it can moisturize your throat."

Song Zhi didn't make trouble with her throat, obediently poured tea and drank it, and then said, "You must first correct your posture when writing. My lord, let me see if you adopt the usual writing posture."

Meng Huan said: "You don't need to call me your lord, just call me your young master just like Zeno."

Song Zhi responded: "Master."

Meng Huan sat down as he said. He was used to martial arts, so his back was straight, his shoulders were flat, and he sat very upright, with his right hand holding the pen.

Song Zhi took a look and found that there was nothing wrong with it, she pointed to Meng Huan's right arm: "Don't make your arm limp."

Meng Huan adjusted his right arm according to his words.

Song Zhi said again: "I read your handwriting yesterday, and it's considered correct."

Meng Huan thought: "Is this blowing with your eyes closed?"

Song Zhi: "Use the current posture, write a few more words and I'll see."

Meng Huan thought for a while, picked up a pen and wrote down the words "Song Zilan".

Song Zhi has been in contact with literati and inkmen these years, and even Zhang Hui is a Confucianist. His handwriting is not very beautiful, but it is not bad. It is the first time that Song Zilan can write three characters so ugly, so he is silent for a while.

As soon as he was silent, Meng Huan couldn't help but raise his eyes and take a look.

Song Zhi's face was as usual, and she said: "Your handwriting must be straight, just like your sitting posture. You must not be crooked. You must stand upright and stand firmly."

Meng Huan looked at him and said nothing.

Song Zhi had no teaching experience and didn't know what Meng Huan meant, so she took the pen and wrote "Song Zilan" next to the three words Meng Huan wrote.

These were probably the first few characters Song Zhi knew how to write, and it was also the most familiar and smoothest to write.

After Song Zhi finished writing, pointing to these three characters, she analyzed to Meng Huan the strength and angle of the brush stroke by stroke.

It was rare that Meng Huan didn't make any more fools, he didn't ridicule Song Zhi, he didn't mock Confucianism, he listened very seriously.

Song Zhi talked too much, her throat started to hurt again, she coughed a few times, and felt that she was about to vomit blood, so she quickly drank a few mouthfuls of tea.

Because of the heat, Song Zhi took off the fur collar, and the scars on the neck can be seen at a glance. When they were practicing calligraphy, the two were close together, and the bruises were swaying in front of Meng Huan. Meng Huan couldn't help asking: "The medicine I gave you yesterday , is it useless for you to go back at night?"

Song Zhi: "Use it."

Meng Huan: "Then why hasn't it worked?"

Song Zhi couldn't answer, she couldn't say that he threw away the medicine.

Meng Huan said: "You Han people are really troublesome. If you touch them casually, you will get hurt."

Song Zhi paused, and then turned the topic back to writing: "Your Song writing is much better than before."

Meng Huan said, "How long will it take to practice handwriting as well as you do?"

Song Zhi glanced at him in surprise, thought for a while, and said, "Three to five years?" Song Zhi's handwriting is a little practice, and she has been writing for more than ten years.

The whole morning passed like this, and when it was close to lunch, Song Zhi said, "You have been writing Chinese for many years, and it is not suitable for young children to practice in elementary school."

"I think you won't like those delicate and beautiful fonts. I'll find a few calligraphy posts with strong strokes for you to see. You choose the one you like, and practice like that in the future."

Meng Huan smiled and said speciously: "I think your handwriting is very good, can't you practice it like you?"

Song Zhidao: "The villain's handwriting can still be read, but he can't compare with the real masters. If the young master wants to improve his handwriting, he should use everyone's copybooks. I don't want to mislead the younger generation."

Meng Huan nodded, "That's all for today, and we'll continue tomorrow."

Song Zhishu breathed a sigh of relief, took a sip of tea, and then went back to her room.Meng Huan ordered someone to deliver the food to the house alone. After all, he was the cook of Gaomen's courtyard, and the food he cooked was very delicious. Song Zhi was so hungry that she ate two big bowls of rice before giving up.

In the afternoon, Song Zhi stayed in the house to read a book. Around the same time, she heard someone talking outside the door: "Is the Chinese teacher that Hazier hired here?"

A young man replied: "If you go back to Miss, it's in this room."

The voice said again: "Open the door for me, I want to meet this Chinese teacher, but he is qualified to be Hazier's teacher."

The voice rang right outside the door, very clear, pulling Song Zhi out of the book, and then Song Zhi realized: Trouble is coming—the lady who spoke is Chuo Man.

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Note: Xu Tianlin and Yuan Shu are both from the Southern Song Dynasty.