Chapter 1: Drums (Part 3)

Wheat is the abbreviation he gave to Maierzud's youngest daughter. This daughter originally had a very long name, but Wang Xun found it difficult to pronounce the name, so he gave her the name "Lao Mai" based on the abbreviation everyone gave to her father.

The name was renamed.

The woman protested several times at first, but with no results, she had no choice but to agree with Wang Xun's statement. Anyway, as her father's attention in the Dawan Dudu Mansion increased, her own status also rose. In the entire Dudu Mansion,

In the back house, except for Wang Xun, no one else had the guts to call her by this nickname.

If it were normal times, when she heard Wang Xun's footsteps, Xiaomai would have walked out the door with excitement. Today, she made no movement at all. Lazy guy! Wang Xun smiled and continued to walk inside.

I was about to teach the wayward little girl a "lesson". I opened the bedroom door and lifted the brocade curtain on the bed, only to see an unfamiliar face.

"You..." Wang Xun quickly took half a step back and pressed the knife on his waist. The woman sleeping on the bed also woke up instantly, quickly turned over and knelt down, "Mister, I just fell asleep."

Yes. My sister asked me to wait for her here. I..."

Hearing this stammering Tang Yan, Wang Xun immediately remembered the identity of the other party. She was another daughter of Malzoud. The one who tried to assassinate him. Later, fearing that her daughter would be punished by the tribe, Malzoud refused.

After taking her home, Wang Xun ordered someone to arrange a house for the girl and ignored her from then on.

Although she is also an "assassin", Xiaomai is treated much better than her sister. The main reason is that she is young and has a girlish "rogue" temperament. After the assassination failed, she immediately "pleaded for mercy", which led to Wang Xun not treating her at all.

He couldn't get angry. His sister could not save the dignity to admit her mistake to Wang Xun, so her position in the back house became increasingly embarrassing as time went by.

According to the traditions of various places along the Yaochashui, a husband can marry dozens or even hundreds of wives, as long as he can afford to support them. After the status of the Tang army was initially established, in order to please Wang Xun, the princes from all over the country also gave away the most beautiful ones in their families.

His daughters were sent to Zhezhe City to sleep with him. Wang Xun couldn't resist it, so he gave these girls to his close subordinates as wives and concubines on the pretext of not wronging the other party. Although his family was a little disappointed with this move,

But when I thought about it, I couldn't please the Hammer King, but it would be a good thing to get closer to the Hammer King's confidants. My mentality gradually calmed down.

The wives and concubines from Chang'an did not come, and the women sent by the princes were not in Wang Xun's eyes. After coming and going, Xiaomai became the mistress of the inner house of the governor's mansion. Although the status of this mistress was not confirmed by Wang Xun personally, the women in the courtyard

Brothers and servants, but dare not show any disrespect to them.

Married to an indomitable hero, who is not only young and handsome, but also takes great care of his family, the girl Xiaomai is naturally satisfied. She grew up in a local wealthy family like Malzud, with many aunts in the family. Even if she doesn't study hard, she has been studying since she was a child.

She knew how to consolidate her position in the mind of her husband. Since Wang Xun was the strongest man in this place, she could not always be the only woman by her side. Therefore, the girl Xiaomai naturally thought of other women.

Sister, trying to eliminate the misunderstanding between the latter and Wang Xun to prevent the two sisters from fighting together in the future.

But the results of his efforts were not satisfactory. Although Wang Xun responded to her request and "gave" her sister a Tang Dynasty name, "Xiao Zhuo", he had no intention of bringing her sister back to renew their relationship. But once

For women who have had skin-to-skin contact with Wang Xun, no one along the Yaochashui River would dare to have any idea of ​​her again. Seeing that her sister was getting more and more haggard day by day, the young girl Xiaomai simply became worried.

Used the last resort.

The two parties involved had no idea of ​​Mai Mai's wishful thinking, and for a moment, they both felt very embarrassed. Fortunately, Wang Xun reacted very quickly, and after a slight hesitation, he smiled and ordered, "Since it was Mai Mai who asked you to come, I'll tell you later."

Let’s have dinner together. Have you eaten yet? Where has the wheat gone?!”

"She, she was here just now. She said she was going to the kitchen to prepare food for the adults!" As a femme fatale who almost succeeded in assassinating Wang Xun, Xiao Zhuo's performance was extremely inconsistent with her original ruthlessness. Not only did she mention it

He stuttered over his words, his eyes still staring at the ground, not daring to raise his head to meet Wang Xun's eyes.

"Get up and sit at the dining table over there!" Wang Xun had no choice but to face such a clumsy woman. He shrugged and ordered in a low voice.

That act of "murdering her husband" was purely a farce. There was no poison on the silver hairpin, and the skills of the two girls were not vulnerable at all. As time went by, the anger in Wang Xun's heart had long since dissipated. But

Whether as a powerful governor or as a pampered noble son, he had no intention of taking the initiative to show kindness to the woman in front of him. So he simply treated her indifferently and pretended that he had never interacted with her in his life.

I have met this woman before. Anyway, I am absolutely capable of doing what I promised Malzud. As for who this woman married and how she lived after arriving in the Central Plains, it has nothing to do with the Wang family.

The woman named Xiaozhuo by Wang Xun is older than her own sister, has experienced more things, and her inner world is more sensitive. You don't need to elaborate, you can detect the coldness in Wang Xun's words. But who can blame this?

Who? When I stabbed out the hairpin, I had the thought of dying with him. Who told him to attack Zhezhe City? Who told so many people to die because of him?!

But then his attitude, his kindness and tolerance, and his glorious achievements kept hitting her heart. He only used more than 800 people to conquer Zhezhe City. He did not issue the order to massacre the city. On the contrary,

Many people have avoided the fate of their families being destroyed because of his protection.

All this can only be attributed to fate. My sister has a good life and is smart, so she naturally has a good destiny. And I... I really accepted the new name he gave me, Xiaozhuo, so clumsy.

These days, it’s not like Xiao Zhuo hasn’t thought about making amends with Wang Xun again. After all, she has slept with him for one night. According to the tradition here, she should always be his woman. But if she also carries bamboo sticks on her back, like her sister

Kneeling down to apologize to this man like that, she asked herself that she couldn't do it. First, with Xiaomaizhuyu in front of her, this move lost its novelty. Secondly, the pride in her heart did not allow it.

"Is something wrong?" Seeing the woman kneeling on the ground and not getting up, Wang Xun frowned and asked impatiently.

"No!" the girl Xiaozhuo responded quickly, got up and walked out of the house. She was so hurried that she didn't see the way clearly, and almost hit Wang Xun's arms.

Wang Xun quickly dodged down and left the bedroom first. His concubine Maimai hadn't come back yet, and she had even taken several maids away, which made the room feel a little empty. There was no one who could share the joy of being granted the title of Marquis.

Less than.

Xiao Zhuo shrank and followed behind, keeping secretly looking at Wang Xun's back. I had to admit that the man in front of him looked very majestic, with broad shoulders and a broad back, and his arms and thighs were slender and strong. Especially that one.

The bronze face looks like it was carved from the back, with sharp edges and corners. It gives people a very strong sense of impact and security.

Facing such a man all day long, my sister must have been having a good time recently. Unknowingly, Xiao Zhuo began to be distracted again. "What's wrong with me! He won't pay attention to me at all!" She pinched secretly.

He pinched himself, trying to wake himself up. The slightly resentful thoughts in his heart became stronger and stronger, so strong that it was difficult to extricate himself.

There was a person behind him, and Wang Xun felt very uncomfortable. For Melzud's sake, he couldn't drive the person away immediately. He found a place to sit down, and then asked without saying a word: "

I haven’t seen you for a while, are you still getting used to living here?”

It was just a casual greeting, but it made Xiao Zhuo's eyes turn red instantly. He lowered his head and murmured in response, "Okay. Not bad. Nothing out of the ordinary. Thank you, Lord Governor!"

"As a family, there's nothing you can't say thank you for!" Wang Xun smiled and shook his head. Deep in his heart, he didn't want to hurt this woman. After all, the other party's assassination that day didn't really hurt him. What's more, old Melzud was always working for him.

The Dudu Mansion is busy with affairs, and has become his right hand in governing the place. "If you want to go home, or want to go out for a walk, just go out with Wheat. The security in the city is pretty good recently, and there are many in the market.

Something new.”

"Well! I've been out already. Things have changed a lot outside." The answer was still simple and clear. Xiao Zhuo lowered his head and moved his fingers together in front of him.

"Really?" Wang Xun cared most about other people's evaluation of his governance, so he continued to ask almost instinctively, "Can you tell me about the changes?"

The questioning tone was so urgent that Xiao Zhuo couldn't help but raise his head in surprise. Upon looking at it, he suddenly discovered that the King of Hammers, whom he had once regarded as a ferocious man, actually had an unconcealable childishness in his eyebrows.

"He turns out to be so young!" In an instant, a secret that was not a secret was revealed by Xiao Zhuo. In addition to being surprised, the fear in his heart suddenly eased a lot, "It turns out that he also cares about other people's opinions. Instead of...

"

"What changes? Just tell the truth, I don't care!" Wang Xun was a little anxious while waiting, and couldn't help but urge in a low voice. Of course, he had heard countless praises from people around him. But if similar words could be heard from a person who once hated

If you say it from your own mouth, it will definitely feel very different.

"The streets have become much cleaner and neater!" Xiao Zhuo snickered in his heart, while organizing his words very carefully, "There are more things in the shops, and there are more people shopping. Also, everyone

The colors of the clothes are also much brighter!”

"That's all?!" Wang Xun felt a little disappointed. What kind of achievement is this? This is probably the case in any place without war.

"This is what the folk girl saw." Xiao Zhuo nodded and boldly confirmed, "In the eyes of adults, these may be insignificant, but in the eyes of locals like the folk girl, they are already unbelievable!"

"Oh!" Wang Xun ignored the second half of the compliment without hesitation. When it comes to the level of flattery, Xiao Zhuo is indeed a clumsy tongue.

But the other party didn't seem to have this awareness. He thought for a while and continued: "I don't know something, sir. Before you came, men were only allowed to wear black and white clothes in Zhezhe City. Women, after they get married, they can't do it without their husband's permission."

, are not allowed to go on the streets at all. Even if you go out, you must wrap your face, hands and feet with cloth, and only one pair of eyes is allowed to be exposed!"

"Ah!" Wang Xun opened his mouth in surprise, with disbelief on his face. His attention was on the overall situation and high-level affairs, and he had no intention of thinking about these trivial things among the people. When he suddenly heard someone say it, he realized the meaning contained in it.

.

Changing customs and customs. This is the superior way of governance advocated in the book. Subconsciously, Wang Xun is still deeply influenced by Confucian ideas, but he just doesn't know it. "Is this change good or bad? You say

To be honest, I won't blame you!" As if hoping to get some kind of affirmation, he continued to ask. He didn't even notice the expectant tone when he spoke.

"Minnu, Minnu actually doesn't know too much!" Xiaozhuo raised his head and mustered up the courage to say. "Although Minnu's family has followed the Tianfang Sect, they are not devout believers!"

"I know this!" Wang Xun commented nonchalantly. With old Melzud's shrewdness and fickleness, it was strange to be a devout believer.

"So, folk girls and younger sisters don't like to have themselves wrapped up tightly since they were young." Xiao Zhuo looked at Wang Xun with a frank look in his eyes, "And they don't like to be locked up in a big yard all the time.

At night, I stare at the sky in a daze. Folk girls like colorful clothes, colorful carriages, and all colorful things. They don't like simple black and white. That's too plain and too depressing!"

"Yes, it is indeed too depressing!" Wang Xun agreed loudly with a smile, and suddenly felt that the girl in front of him was very pleasing to the eye. "Women, there is no one who doesn't like to wear beautiful clothes. In our Tang Dynasty, almost everyone like you and Xiaomai

Girls of all ages will dress themselves up beautifully. Not only can you drive a carriage and go shopping during the day, but at night, you can also go to the night market with a lantern accompanied by a servant!"

The second half of the sentence was almost showing off, but the listener was full of envy. "Do you want to turn this place into the Tang Dynasty? Your Excellency, you are governing Zhezhe City according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, right?"

"No!" Wang Xun denied with a smile, "It's a bit difficult to turn this place into the Tang Dynasty. The folk customs are different, and the lifestyles are also very different. I'm just like you, I don't like black and white, I don't like it, I don't like that

A depressing feeling.”

Yes, it is indeed depressive. Although this word is simple, it is extremely appropriate. The two people suddenly discovered that they felt very similar to each other, and they smiled in unison, and the barrier instantly disappeared.

"Then what is the Tang Dynasty like? Can you tell me, sir?" After hesitating, Xiao Zhuo raised his head, his smart eyes full of fantasy about the future.

"The Tang Dynasty -----" The answer that came easily to his lips suddenly disappeared without a trace. Yes, what exactly is the Tang Dynasty like? Wang Xun found that there was only a vague feeling in his heart.

The outline of the blurry outline. The reason why he fled Chang'an that year was because he couldn't stand the depressive atmosphere in Chang'an City. As he moved further and further away, those once disturbing memories slowly faded away, and many happy and happy things became less and less.

The clearer it is.

Maybe it's because distance creates beauty. Maybe it's because as he grows older and has more experience, he has a deeper understanding and a stricter reference. Chang'an, which once bored him, and Datang, which confused him, are now in the

The memories turned out to be extremely lovely. The prosperous market, the bustling crowds, the carefree young people, the radiant girls. There are also the poems of the four unique poems of the big four, the graceful dances of the small four, and the Qujiang Pond.

The boundless lotus leaves in the sky, the autumn flowers reflecting the sun in the depths of Lishan Mountain... Everything is familiar and yet strange. Everything is haunting.
To be continued...