Chapter 2 Little Loli

  Outside the courtyard, the moon is in front of the gate.

  Zhou Jian stood with his hands clasped behind him, admiring the picturesque scenery, and pondering several matters in his mind.

  Cai Yong was a great literary figure of his time. He was forced to flee and live in exile after impeaching eunuchs, and he took his daughter to live with Qiao Xuan's family.

  Her daughter Cai Yan was exceptionally talented and beautiful, well-versed in music. She became famous for her work on the history of the Han Dynasty with her father, but her life was marked by hardship. After marrying early, she lost her husband, and just as the Xiongnu were causing trouble, she was captured by them and taken beyond the Great Wall for over a decade. The hardships she faced elicited sympathy from countless people.

  Zhou Jian never thought that he would unexpectedly come to this era and become bosom friends with Cai Yan.

  The Zhou family was a prominent clan in Shu County, and Zhou Shang served as the magistrate of Anhui County during the Guanghe era.

  Zhou Jian lived with his father in Wan County and watched Cai Yan grow up day by day, with a different feeling in his heart.

  The servant hastily came out and said: "Master Zhou, the young lady has summoned you."

  Zhou Jian nodded, seeing the little girl being held by the servant woman, and a smile appeared on his face. He really hadn't expected that the two famous beauties who would be renowned for generations to come, one was not yet four years old, and the other had just learned to walk.

  He rushed forward and picked up Qiao Ying, laughing and asking, "Yingying, how many more characters have you learned from your sister Cai Yan recently?"

  Qiao Ying said in a clear and crisp childlike voice: "Hello Brother Zhou Jian, I've learned five more characters."

  "Not bad, not bad."

  Zhou Jian nodded repeatedly, rubbed Qiao Ying's face and said, "Growing up will also be a talented and beautiful woman."

  My wife smiled secretly, this Master Zhou is indeed a wonderful person, still having a childlike heart, actually playing with the kids.

  Qiao Ying burst out laughing, full of innocence and charm.

  Zhou Jian walked into the courtyard when Cai Yan hugged Qiao Jia and came out to greet him.

  "Big Brother Zhou has arrived, little sister is polite."

  Cai Yan's sleeves were spread out as she paid her respects, and the number of rituals was extremely thorough, showing good family education.

  Zhou Jian put down Da Qiao and said with a serious face: "No need to be polite, it's me who often comes to disturb you, I'm afraid I've been too abrupt."

  Cai Yan smiled slightly and stepped aside to let the guest in.

  Zhou Jian didn't stand on ceremony and sat down in a red wooden chair in the courtyard.

  The three kingdoms had no chairs, and everyone sat on their knees on a couch.

  Zhou Jian was not used to kneeling and sitting, and it was also uncomfortable. He instructed the bamboo craftsman to make a few chairs and tables, but unexpectedly, he was scolded by Zhou Shang for being indulgent and losing his will. Therefore, he did not dare to place them at home and gave them to Cai Yan. Only here could he sit on a chair.

  In the courtyard there is a green field, planted with clusters of flowers and vines. Although it's already October autumn, they still smell fragrant and pleasant to people.

  Cai Yan handed Xiao Qiao over to the servant girl and sat down across from him, smiling as she said: "What tune does Big Brother Zhou want to hear today?"

  Zhou Jian always listens to Cai Yan's music whenever he comes, especially in the past year, it has become a habit.

  In this era, productivity was extremely backward, and there were no entertainment facilities. To pass the time, Zhou Jian occasionally asked Cai Yan to teach him music scores, and he slowly developed a taste for them and came to like music.

  Zhou Jian said: "Nie Zheng assassinated King of Han!"

  Cai Yan smiled lightly, took the guqin, and her jade fingers gently tapped out beautiful notes; her ethereal singing voice was like a celestial sound that washed away worldly noise, seeming to gradually dispel even the dryness in the air.

  Zhou Jian held Da Qiao in one arm and Xiao Qiao who was crying loudly in the other, his heart was completely intoxicated.

  The only regret is that Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are still too young, their legendary beauty has yet to fully develop.

  Cai Yan's vocal is light and agile, with a slightly crisp tone that seems to wash away the worldly noise.

  People are beautiful, and their singing voices are even more beautiful.

  Nie Zheng assassinated the King of Han, this is an eternal masterpiece.

  Perhaps this song title is less well-known, but one of the top ten famous songs "Guangling San" is well-known to everyone.

  Zhou Jian didn't know that "Guangling San" was actually written by Cai Yong, only knowing the song title as "Nie Zheng Stabs Han Wang". It wasn't until he heard Cai Yan play and sing it once that he asked and found out, that this ancient masterpiece was actually written by the great master Cai Yong.

  As for when it was renamed "Guangling San", it is unknown.

  The majestic and generous melody implies the sound of golden armor and iron horses, listening to it makes one's blood boil with excitement.

  The music has ended, but the melody lingers on.

  Zhou Jian was still immersed in those stirring notes and beautiful singing voices, unable to extricate himself.

  Next door was the residence of Cai Yong.

  In the study, Cai Yong was writing a book when he heard the music and couldn't help but stop his brush, slightly furrowing his brow.

  Weining was reading a volume of strategy, when she heard the music start, then unknowingly her mind wandered off, immersed in those stirring notes and beautiful singing voices, until the end of the song, before gradually coming back to herself.

  Suddenly thought of something, his face turned very unsightly.

  "My little sister is getting married."

  Cai Yan finished playing a piece and put down the guqin with a faint smile.

  Zhou Jian lightly clapped his hands and smiled, saying: "Every time I hear this song, it always gives people a different feeling. Although there have been many heroes throughout the ages, but as for righteous men like Nie Zheng, they are indeed rarely seen, truly worthy of admiration."

  Cai Yan said: "Brother Zhou, have you recently created any new works? Can you let me hear one or two?"

  Zhou Jian nodded, "No new pieces today, but I'll play an old one."

  Tsai Yen asked: "What tune?"

  "You'll know soon enough."

  Zhou Jian smiled mysteriously, took out an ancient zither, tuned the strings, and began to play.

  The clear piano sound quickly resonated, the beautiful and elegant melody, the passionate and unrestrained singing voice, depicted the deep and lingering, bold and explicit confession, conveying the unspoken heart's voice.

  In the Han Dynasty, men and women were less restricted than in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and their pursuit of love was also more direct.

  Sima Xiangru composed "Phoenix Seeks Phoenix" in pursuit of Zhuo Wenjun, which is the best proof.

  Cai Yan's face turned red all the way to her ears, but she still listened very seriously.

  The music ended, and Zhou Jian sat for a while longer, then stood up and bid farewell.

  Cai Yan and Wei Ning hastily stood up to see them off. The servant woman led Da Qiao by the hand, carrying Xiao Qiao, also following them out.

  "Study hard and make progress every day."

  Zhou Jian patted Da Qiao's head and smiled suddenly, then strode away.

  Cai Yan gazed at Zhou Jian's strong and confident back, her clear eyes revealing a complex and hard-to-express admiration.

  "Miss."

  My wife called out softly, her face full of worry, wanting to speak but hesitating.

  Turning around, I saw Weining standing not far away, his face extremely gloomy. His originally handsome face had turned somewhat pale and ferocious, with an inexplicable flame burning in his eyes. Suddenly my face turned white, filled with shame and guilt.

  "Teacher, I plan to return to Hedong tomorrow."

  Weining arrived at the study, his face calm, but his tone revealed a strong sense of bitterness.

  Cai Yong put down his bamboo slips and said in surprise: "Didn't we agree to return after the first month? Why do you want to go back now?"

  Weining furrowed her brow and remained silent, then fell to the ground in a bow.

  "Alas!"

  Cai Yong sighed and had already thought of why his beloved disciple wanted to return to Hedong now.

  ……

  The county town is bustling with cars and horses, but the people have worried faces.

  The government is corrupt and the officials are rotten, the most direct victims are still the poor people.

  On the streets and alleys, homeless refugees can be seen everywhere. With natural disasters and man-made calamities, countless people have lost their land and can only flee with the elderly and children, although the government has made every effort to resettle them, but still every day there are refugees pouring into the county town.

  Next to the county government office is a large mansion, covering an area of about 7 or 8 acres.

  Living in the county government office is not very convenient. Zhou Jian built a separate residence and moved out, first to practice martial arts diligently, and second to train his personal guards.

  Eight years ago, Zhou Jian took in over a hundred vagrant children and selected twenty robust ones around the age of ten to be his followers, training them with special forces methods. Now each one can hold off ten people.

  It's just that due to limited conditions, it can't be expanded in scale.

  Firstly, training and maintaining dead soldiers requires a huge amount of money and resources. Secondly, having too many of them will only bring disaster and calamity.

  Although the imperial court is corrupt nowadays, the foundation of the Han dynasty has not been damaged, and the hearts of the people have not wavered in their loyalty to the Han. Even if someone has ambitions, they cannot reveal them, or else they will only bring disaster upon themselves. The first one to do so would be Zhou Shang, who would rather die than betray his family.

  Zhou Jian passed by the front yard when twenty attendants were doing physical training.

  These followers were all young and robust guys, the oldest was twenty-three years old, and the youngest was also eighteen years old.

  Zhou Jian not only taught the special soldiers combat skills, but also taught them to recognize characters, read military books and deploy troops, and even took them out to attack nearby bandits and pirates, each with more than ten lives on their hands.

  The young master has returned.

  Zhou Wu, who was in charge of supervising the training, hastily ran over to pay his respects.

  Zhou Jian nodded and asked, "Have you inquired clearly? Who has the Zheng family offended?"

  Zhou Wu hastily said: "Return, young master, I've inquired clearly."

  "Alright, let's take a break and rest for now, conserve our energy, we'll move at night."

  Zhou Wu responded with a sound and immediately ran over to let his followers disperse and rest.

  Zhou Jian walked past the central courtyard and arrived at the western corridor when more than 200 young people were studying scriptures, reading aloud in unison.

  In this era, everything is in short supply, but what's never in short supply are homeless vagrants.

  The number of trained assassins cannot be too many, otherwise it will bring disaster and calamity.

  Zhou Jian selected younger boys from the refugees and also found scholars who had fallen on hard times to teach them to read. Over seven or eight years, there were already over 300 people. In their spare time, they would open up wasteland for farming and practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies.

  "The petty person has seen the young master."

  Teacher Chen Fang hurried over and paid his respects.

  "You're welcome."

  Zhou Jian waved his hand and asked: "How many more days can we use our money and food?"

  Chen Fang replied, "In the autumn, we harvested 2,000 dan of grain from the 10 qing of land. After deducting various taxes and fees, if we are frugal, it can barely last us a year. However, our silver reserves have been greatly depleted; I wonder if you, sir, have any good strategy to resolve this?"

  Zhou Jian nodded, "I'll take care of this, let them just focus on studying well. Remember not to only read dead books, but also exercise and develop the ability to handle political affairs and miscellaneous matters. If there are any bookworms who can't be enlightened, it's better to let them specialize in farming, so as not to waste food."

  Chen Fang nodded, and this point he had a number in his mind.

  Zhou Jian turned around and left.

  It's not an easy thing to support more than 300 people.

  Although the Zhou family is a prominent clan, the one who holds the power and makes decisions at home is not Zhou Jian, nor can he provide a large amount of money and food to support the refugees.

  More than 300 people eating and drinking, also need to buy books, pens and ink, it's absolutely a considerable amount of money for the whole year.

  Zhou Jian could only rely on his father Zhou Shang's connections to get ten mu of land, allowing the refugees he took in to cultivate and farm during their free time, occasionally going out to do some small business without capital, barely making ends meet for seven or eight years.