Chapter 47

Zuo Ran was originally the daughter of the head guard of the rich merchant of the Wang family. She followed her father to practice martial arts since she was a child, and grew up with the prince. But Prince Wang fell in love with the fire-burning girl at home. The old lady was very angry and forced him to marry his fiancée as soon as possible, and planned to give Zuo Ran to her as a concubine.

Yin Pinglu, who is a concubine, knew about this matter. She was calm and calm, and wrote a letter of divorce without authorization, but was blocked by the magistrate.

And something happened to Prince Wang. It turned out that the girl who burned the fire came to avenge her father. After the two died together, Zuo Ran’s father was also executed by the old lady because of his ineffectiveness.

The magistrate completely canceled the marriage, but he was not idle, and planned to send Yin Pinglu to renew the marriage of an official who was over fifty years old.

Yin Pinglu didn’t want to be a vassal in the power struggle for the rest of his life, so he packed his bags and prepared to escape, but ran into Zuo Ran at the city gate. He galloped all the way on the horse, and said: “I have no home… You should bring enough money, as long as you take care of me, I will always protect you.”

The two went north all the way, along the mountains and rivers, wandering around, but they also enjoyed themselves and leisurely. Until he met the ration team that was besieged by the heavy rain and the road was blocked, Yin Pinglu happened to be familiar with the terrain, so he led some soldiers to open the way in the distance, and asked Zuo Ran to take a group of people to report to the big team and bring people to rescue .

Therefore, the two got acquainted with Yan Mingting.

Yan Mingting saw that the two of them had suffered some injuries due to this incident, so they stayed in the army doctor for treatment, and Yin Pinglu suggested a few ideas to help the army from time to time, and Yan Mingting laughed and called them a little think tank.

Zuo Ran also became friends with Zhong Yuehong and others, and spent all day practicing with them in the barracks, and would also go to the battlefield with them, but he was always unwilling to be named, and just be an unknown soldier, so as not to be found by the magistrate Yin.

After the victory of the war, the two stayed in the small town on the border. Yan Mingting left some money for them so that the two could live and work here in peace.

The good times didn’t last long, but the magistrate still found out here, and took Yin Pinglu away while Zuo Ran was out shopping. When she returned home, she saw a mess on the ground, and a note left by Yin Pinglu in the dark—My father’s people, hurry to find the general.

Zuo Ran had just been on the road day and night, the skin on both sides of his thighs was torn, he didn’t even have time to drink saliva, and he barely closed his eyes.

“General, only you can help us.” Zuo Ran burst into tears, “Her father is powerful, we don’t know anyone who is more powerful than him, so I can only beg you.”

“Don’t worry, we will find a way.” Yan Mingting patted her on the shoulder to calm her down.

It’s just that it’s easy to say, but it’s a bit cumbersome in practice. As the saying goes, it’s hard for an upright official to break up housework. It’s unreasonable for a general far away in the capital to meddle in the housework of the prefect of Huaizhou out of thin air.

It can be said that the prefect’s daughter is already married, and no one will object to his taking her back to marry him.

Would it be possible to tell the world that Yin Pinglu doesn’t want to get married at all, and that she and Zuo Ran can support each other until they grow old?

Will anyone believe it?

They will think that this is a big joke, which violates the three cardinal principles and five constant rules. How can there be a woman who does not marry?

Public opinion will only turn to the prefect.

“Isn’t this simple?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Several people looked at him together, and heard him say: “You go and ask the prefect to marry your daughter to you, and you can intervene in this matter openly. If the prefect Yin is afraid of your notoriety as a lone star, then You won’t agree to this matter. If he is not afraid, you can simply accept him and let Miss Zuo live in the General’s Mansion as a maid. This will protect both of them. Who knows what is in the mansion? Condition.”

When He Cuizhang heard it, he also felt that it was feasible. Anyway, only those close to them knew the situation inside. The general would not touch them, and no one would dare to bully Yin Pinglu and Zuo Ran in the future.

Yan Mingting said, “I don’t agree.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him intently.

“Although I won’t do anything to them, but they escaped because they didn’t want to become vassals and maidservants, how could they return to this fate?” Yan Mingting said.

Zuo Ran nodded heavily.

Zhao Yelan raised his brows. He didn’t expect him to reject a simple, effective and harmless solution. The reason was that he put himself in the shoes of these two women. He was surprised and admired at the same time. Frank Yan Mingting.

“Let me take a look at the map first.” Zhao Yelan took out the map in his arms, and as soon as he unfolded it, they saw a big **** on the map.

Several people:”…?”

Zhao Yelan’s face froze, immediately crumpled it into a ball of paper, threw it aside, and said, “Is there a more detailed map in the study?”

“Yes.” Yan Mingting glanced at the ball of paper curiously, always felt that the **** was himself, after all Zhao Yelan had painted on his face before. While guessing when the other party drew it and why he drew it, he rummaged through the box to find the map of the Xuan Dynasty that his father had drawn before, which was extremely detailed.

“Found it!” He took out a map from the drawer and unfolded it on the desktop.

“How long will it take Miss Zuo to return to Beijing?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“Five days.” Zuo Ran replied.

“Starting from the border town, you, a woman, traveled all the way through the desert and the mountains, and it took only five days to reach the capital. It is really not easy. The prefect’s people must not be rushing as hard as you. If you follow the usual pace and follow the official road , They are still in the Quzhou area, the terrain here is complicated, and the official roads are built on the hillside, so it is not easy to travel. So there are at least ten days before they reach Huaizhou.” Zhao Yelan pointed to the map and analyzed.

Zuo Ran let go of his heart that had been hanging all this time, and in ten days, he will definitely be able to rescue Yin Pinglu before she gets married!

“What if they don’t take the official road?” Yan Mingting pointed to another remote path, “From here, you can bypass Quzhou directly, and you should be able to reach it in seven or eight days if you drive overnight.”

“Even if we arrive in Huaizhou in seven or eight days, the prefect of Yin may not be busy with the concubine’s marriage right away.” Zhao Yelan looked at him and pointed to the route to the south of the capital, “Look at this route again.”

Yan Mingting thought for a moment, and suddenly realized: “The team transporting the disaster relief money is about to arrive in Huaizhou and Zhizhou, and he is going to start this important matter of the court.”

“Exactly. If you want to go south to suppress the bandits, you will definitely have time to set off the day after tomorrow. After arriving in Huaizhou, you can temporarily pick up Miss Yin from the mansion on the grounds of old acquaintances, and then you can arrange things according to the specific situation. “Zhao Yelan said.

“Thank you Master Zhao!” Zuo Ran was very grateful.

“Go back and rest first. Seeing how you look, you didn’t sleep well last night. Rest well in the past two days, adjust your state, and then go south with me.” Yan Mingting ordered.

“Yes, I’m going to rest now!” Zuo Ran put down the stone in his heart, relaxed a lot, turned around and went back to the room to catch up on sleep.

“General, then I…”

“You go to send a few teams to go south today, and then go to hand over to the Ministry of War.”

“Yes!” He Cuizhang took the order and hurriedly left the general’s mansion.

There were only two people left in the room, Zhao Yelan put away the map and stuffed it into his sleeve as if nothing had happened. This map is much more detailed and effective than the one he drew from memory, and it will definitely be useful in the future.

“I just want to ask, could the **** you painted on it be…” Yan Mingting picked up the paper ball, and asked cautiously, “Could it be…”

“You don’t need to guess, it’s you.” Zhao Yelan said frankly.

“Why did you paint me again? How did I offend you?” Yan Mingting looked at him aggrievedly.

Seeing this, Zhao Yelan’s mood improved slightly, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help curling up: “I just want to paint, do I need a reason?”

Yan Mingting shrugged his shoulders indifferently, and then put it away with a smile: “Oh, you may be duplicity.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

Yan Mingting walked up to him, stretched out his hand to remove the belt on his official uniform, and stretched his eyebrows: “You are looking at the map and counting the days, so you have spent such a lot of trouble, isn’t it just to convince us to set off again at a later date? ?”

“You originally planned to leave the day after tomorrow?” Zhao Yelan looked up at him.

“Yes, the emperor wanted me to leave tomorrow, but I postponed it for a day.” Yan Mingting smiled, but it was as bright as the sun shining in front of him, “Because tomorrow is my birthday, I I want to spend this year’s birthday with you.”

Zhao Yelan’s hand hanging by his side shrank slightly.

“Do you also want me to celebrate your birthday with you before leaving?” Yan Mingting asked.

Zhao Yelan didn’t say a word, but the other party took another step closer, imprisoned him by the table, with no way to retreat, and simply admitted frankly: “Yes.”

Although it was the expected answer, Yan Mingting couldn’t help but feel warm in his heart after hearing his own confession, as if it was about to burn. He suppressed his throbbing heart, smiled and said: “I have never expected so much. own birthday.”

Zhao Yelan returned to the Imperial Academy with a heavy heart, but he still didn’t care about government affairs. Yan Mingting’s expectant look appeared in front of his eyes from time to time, and he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of expression would appear on that face after he left?

Fortunately, time will heal everything, even if he will be sad for a while, Yan Mingting should recover soon, the most important thing right now is to spend this birthday with him.

“You’ve been restless all day, are you really okay?” Ruan Xian asked worriedly.

“fine.”

“Are you sure? Didn’t you find that the book is reversed?”

“…” Zhao Yelan poured the book back calmly.

“I lied to you, you just took the book down now.”

“…” Zhao Yelan gave him a gouged look, “Go and cool off.”

Ruan Xian didn’t mean to move away at all, but began to guess: “Recently, everything in the Imperial Academy is normal, and so is the court, so what is it that makes you so restless? These days… By the way, tomorrow is General Yan’s. Birthday, right?”

“How do you know?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“You’re confused, everyone knows General Yan’s birthday, after all, many people are thinking…” Ruan Xian said in a low voice, “Putting him up.”

Indeed, he was really confused when thinking about things. He even forgot such a simple truth, thinking that he was the only one who knew about this day.

It seems that there will be a lot of excitement in the mansion tomorrow, but what kind of gift should be given so that it will not be the same as others?

“What are you going to give?” Zhao Yelan asked him.

“I still want to ask you, what does General Yan like on weekdays?” Ruan Xian asked.

“Swords, guns and sticks.”

“anything else?”

“Candied haws.”

“Uh… anything else?”

I. does it count?

Zhao Yelan’s thoughts shifted, and then he secretly cast aside his wild thoughts.

“You can figure it out.” Zhao Yelan was still worried.

When he returned to the mansion, Zuo Ran was still sleeping, and it seemed that he wanted to make up for the sleep of the previous few days at once.

Yan Mingting told her not to disturb her, and after having dinner with Zhao Yelan, he went back to his room, pretending to read a book on the Art of War, and secretly observed Zhao Yelan’s movements.

Seeing that Zhao Yelan opened a brocade box, took out a wooden hairpin from it, wrapped it properly in a handkerchief, and put it away carefully.

Suddenly Zhao Yelan looked over to this side, Yan Mingting immediately withdrew his gaze, looked at the Art of War seriously on the surface, but wondered what kind of congratulatory gift this was? That’s all, it doesn’t matter if it is a wooden hairpin or a gold hairpin or a silver hairpin, as long as it can bind hair.

Zhao Yelan put away his mother’s relics so that he could take them away together. After Yan Mingting left the day after tomorrow, he would go back to the Zhao Mansion and bring his parents’ ashes with him.

He walked around the room while figuring out what to take away.

Yan Mingting saw him pick up a knife for a while, then put it down and change the sword for a while, repeating this, and finally sat by the bed and sighed.

Yan Mingting really wanted to tell him: I like them all! I love all these knives and sticks! Send whatever you want, don’t sigh!

However, Zhao Yelan fell into deep autism. With so many weapons, he couldn’t use anything. It cost him more than twenty dollars, and he couldn’t even lift the epee. In the end, you may still only be able to bring the small crossbow/arrow.

In the end, Yan Mingting saw him pick up a stack of ledgers and began to look through them with a candle. The huge family property was all on it.

Yan Mingting was extremely excited—could it be that Zhao Yelan, an old money fanatic, was willing to give him all the family property? !

Seeing him frowning while checking the accounts, Yan Mingting thought to himself that there was no need to worry about it. If he was really reluctant, it would be fine if he didn’t give it. Anyway, he wouldn’t take over so many properties. Having such a heart is already very touching!

Zhao Yelan was indeed very worried, with so much money, he would be able to squander it in his next life, but it’s a pity he didn’t have another life, alas.

“Don’t you go to bed early?” Yan Mingting felt sorry for his eyes and was busy with his congratulatory gifts. He was so busy at this point that he hurriedly urged people to go to bed.

Zhao Yelan rubbed the center of his brows, and while he was going to the kitchen, he put away the ledger, which was also to be taken away. However, it is possible to leave a little bit for Yan Mingting to buy a bunch of candied haws.

After he took a bath, Yan Mingting returned to the room, holding a few freshly baked buns in his hand, and said, “Come and taste the buns I made, I learned from the shopkeeper Mingji last time.”

“Did you just make buns?” Zhao Yelan walked over in surprise.

“Well, you’ve been busy all night, you must be hungry, eat something first, we’ll eat it tomorrow.” Yan Mingting picked the biggest one and handed it to him.

Zhao Yelan took it in disbelief, and took a few bites slowly.

“How is it?” Yan Mingting looked at him expectantly.

Zhao Yelan directly handed the one in his hand to his mouth, Yan Mingting was stunned, and when he lowered his head, his gaze inadvertently swept across his chest.

The weather was getting hotter. Zhao Yelan only wore a white undershirt after taking a bath. His chest was open, and as he stretched out his hands, they overlapped and hung down, revealing a small piece of fair skin, so white as hell.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter!

Yan Mingting took a deep breath before taking a big bite of the steamed stuffed bun. As he ate, his expression became ugly.

“Thick-skinned stuffing is not familiar, so I have to practice more.” Zhao Yelan smiled, and was about to eat another bite when Yan Mingting snatched it away.

“Don’t eat it, be careful not to spoil your stomach.” Yan Mingting threw away the rest of the buns, and solemnly promised, “Next time, I will definitely succeed in making it next time!”

next time…

Zhao Yelan nodded, and lay down on the bed with a sleepy expression. He heard the sound of the other party making the bed, extinguishing the candles, and even breathing.

Until Zhao Yelan hadn’t fallen asleep, he heard a rustling sound outside.

Yan Mingting knelt down beside his bed and poked Zhao Yelan’s face: “Mengting, wake up.”

Zhao Yelan opened his eyes, his eyes were clear, and he sat up with his arms propped up, his blue hair hanging behind him, and he looked at him through the hazy moonlight: “What’s the matter?”

“It’s time.” Yan Mingting smiled.

The eyes of the two intertwined, although the light was not clear, but Zhao Yelan seemed to be able to see his shining eyes, and the corners of his eyes were unconsciously stained with a smile, and whispered: “Yan Fangli, auspicious birthday.”