Chapter 20 Just a concubine

In the academy, it is common for brothers and sisters to have meals together.

After Lian Zhou finished speaking, he saw his young master's eyes turning slightly and looking back from a distance.

Lian Zhou also looked over, and saw the girl at the back of the crowd, wearing a tooth-colored double-breasted robe, who seemed to have heard the words. She was still sitting on the cloth cushion blankly, looking towards the platform.

But there was obviously no one on that platform.

Lian Zhou: "."

Qin Shen: "."

Qin Shen cleared his throat, looked at the silly little girl, and was about to say something when Fu Wen suddenly walked over quickly.

"Sir, I have something urgent to discuss with you."

Qin Shen suddenly calmed down.

*

Qin Shen left Heming Academy. As he left, news spread among the crowd.

Qin Tian heard about it, but that was all.

Today, as usual, she went to the pondside plum grove that she had made an appointment with Qin Zhou, the old steward, at noon.

The pond's plum grove is a little far from the school, but there are fewer people there, so it's a quiet place.

Qin Tian walked briskly today, jogging all the way to the edge of the plum forest.

"Uncle Zhou, is this the food from the school kitchen?"

Uncle Zhou repeatedly asked her to slow down. As he spoke, he opened the food box for her and placed it on the bamboo table that had been set up.

Chang Zi, the young boy who was following Qin Tian, ​​was also called back to Qin Tian by the old steward after Qin Tian moved out. He then set up the bamboo stools and waited for the girl.

"This is the meal that Uncle Zhou personally served for you in the kitchen," Chang Zi said, laughing. "It took me a long time to select it!"

When Qin Tian heard this, he covered his mouth and smiled.

The old steward didn't hide it, "Girl, if you don't want to eat good home-cooked food, you have to taste the food in the school. Why bother? Does the food from the big pot in the school taste good?"

The old steward watched Qin Tian grow up since she was a child. From a swaddled baby, to a toddler girl, and now a tall and graceful girl, the old steward couldn't bear to let her endure hardship.

But Qin Tian didn't think so.

In the past, she had been trapped in the house and could not come out. Now that she could come out and see the sky outside, she naturally wanted to try everything.

It was like she was in the mouth of the storyteller in the storybook. She could never have imagined that a rich scholar standing on a high platform and giving lectures could actually make people's minds and hearts get involved in every word he said, until people

I left, but my thoughts were still stuck in it.

Therefore, Qin Tian wanted to try everything. He wanted to listen to lectures from the best teachers, and he also wanted to taste the food of ordinary students.

Maybe in the future, when she leaves the Qin family, the most ordinary and ordinary life will be her life.

She sat down, looked at the four dishes and one soup on the table, and couldn't help but glance at the old steward.

Even if it is an ordinary meal in the school, does Uncle Zhou have to make enough for four dishes and one soup?

But this was finally the beginning. Qin Tian picked up the chopsticks and started eating seriously.

Qin Zhou saw that the little girl was not used to eating, but was eating seriously. He sighed and said no more.

He actually talked about another thing.

"In the past few days, the old slave has to go to a distant town to look at the house for the girl. If he can't come to take the girl to and from school, let Chang Zi come, okay?"

Anyone can come. Qin Tian can go to and from school by himself, but she still asked the old steward.

"Do you really want to look for another place to live? It's quite nice to live here."

The old steward would no longer give in on this point, "No matter what, the girl is also the only young lady in the Qin family. The master will definitely not allow the girl to live here for a long time. It was inconvenient for the eldest son to go back and forth when he was studying, so he chose a nearby place to deal with other courtyards.

"

When the old steward said this, he thought of something, "The eldest son's courtyard is empty, isn't it?"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Qin Tian in shock.

Did she go to occupy Qin Shen's other courtyard because she thought she didn't live long enough?

"What did Uncle Zhou say? That is my brother's house after all. Maybe my wife bought it for my brother. It has nothing to do with us. We should find another suitable place."

Qin Zhou said, "Then the old slave will buy another place for the girl, which belongs to the girl alone."

Qin Tian nodded quickly after hearing this, and then let out a long breath.

After a brief lunch, we returned to Tantai.

The pondside plum forest where she ate was far away from the platform. When she was walking halfway, more than half of the people in front of the platform had already returned.

The Confucian scholar, the mountain chief and the gentlemen have not yet arrived, and everyone is gathering in twos and threes. Some are discussing knowledge, while others are gossiping.

"Qin Da is gone."

"That's not surprising. He doesn't come here even once every few months."

"But don't you think the Qin family is a little strange?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone had strange looks on their faces.

"It seems that there is something strange between the brothers and sisters." One of them said slightly implicitly.

The other person was much more straightforward, "What do you mean by stranger? I think there might be a gap! Qin Da didn't even let his concubine sit in front, and that concubine didn't dare to mess around. She didn't even have a decent seat.

No, I hurriedly sat down at the end."

As this person spoke, someone also clicked their tongue.

"Qin Da just left without saying a word to that concubine from the beginning to the end."

After everyone said this, someone immediately asked.

"I heard that Mrs. Qin is not in good health. She seems to have been calling a doctor every day recently. If something really happened, was it because she was overcome by that concubine?"

Before he finished speaking, someone suddenly shouted.

"Are you annoyed by the noise?"

Everyone looked up and saw a tall, thin girl wearing a dark dress walking over.

She picked up a long branch from somewhere in her hand, and when the branch hit the ground, it made a sound of breaking through the air.

Everyone immediately shut up completely and looked at Shen Xiao, daring to be angry but afraid to speak.

When Qin Tian came back, he found that the place where he had sat at noon was empty. There were only two cloth cushions left. Shen Xiao sat cross-legged on one of them, closing his eyes as if he was meditating, looking like he was working hard to cultivate himself.

It seems that the other one belonging to Qin Tian is still empty.

She didn't know why everyone around her avoided coming, but Qin Tian still walked forward and asked in a low voice.

"Can I still sit here?"

This time, she finally heard Shen Xiao speak to her, even though it was just one word.

"Um."

The two girls sat in the last place that had been left alone, causing everyone to look back a few more times.

There is a place on the edge of the grass where male students gather. There is also some space around the place where these people gather.

The man sitting in the middle was wearing a dark red robe, which was very eye-catching among the beige and cyan students. However, he had a meaningless attitude, leaning on the desk with one hand, looking back sideways, and his eyes fell on the back.

.

"It's quite pretty. Is the Qin family so disdainful of it?"

Several people around him said they looked down upon her, "That Qin Da, he never said a word to this concubine from the beginning to the end. And the Qin family's daughter was still serving food in the academy, tsk, she is not welcomed very much."

The man in red robe snorted, "If you don't like him, why did the Qin family send him to the academy?"

Someone replied, "She is still the daughter of the Qin family after all. If she gets married in the future, it will be the face of the Qin family. It can't be too bad."

The Qin family is the highest-ranking sect in power in Qingzhou Mansion. How can an idle person climb up to it?

Many families are still thinking about marrying their daughters to the Qin family, but the Qin family has not yet engaged Qin Shen.

Marriage and marriage make the Qin family's lintel even more unattainable.

"That's right." The man in red robe said, stretched out his hand to the side, and someone pulled out a golden gourd and handed it to him. The man in red robe raised his head, drank the golden gourd in one gulp, and narrowed his eyes.

He looked straight at Qin Tian with interest.

"I wonder what kind of temperament he has? Don't be too fierce."

*

Qin Tian spent the entire afternoon immersed in the great Confucian's lectures.

When she came to her senses and returned to school, she found that her position seemed to have been adjusted.

Wei Miao said that she was afraid that the weather was getting hotter and the sun was getting sunnier, so she changed seats with others. She no longer sat in front of Qin Tian, ​​but moved to a place in front against the wall.
To be continued...