Great blessings and good fortune

  In the afternoon, Min An couldn't see Fei Yi's face, so he reluctantly returned to his own quarters and waited for Hua Cui to come in and powder herself. Before going out to buy ingredients for simmered soup, Hua Cui would always tidy herself up again, feeling satisfied only when she looked like a charming spring flower walking out the door. Min An thought that since Fei Yi liked flowers and plants, Huangshi County, famous for its rare and exotic species, must have some unusual varieties. If he asked Hua Cui to go to the market and ask the old farmers, perhaps they could collect some rare flowers and grasses that Fei Yi didn't have.

  It wasn't long before Hua Cui walked in, dressed to the nines, and saw Min An standing off to the side. She smiled slyly and said, "How come you're not allergic to your sister's pollen today?"

  How could Min An not react, he let out his sleeves and sneezed several times. Every time Hua Cui came out of the kitchen, she had to wipe her whole body clean with a fragrant smell, removing the greasy smoke. Min An lived with her for several years, but still couldn't stand her full-body fragrance, so he thought of a way to mix ginger slices, white sandalwood, and chrysanthemum together to make incense slices, which he applied to his nose every morning and evening, and also drank phoenix tail tea during breaks. After two years, his body had some elegant fragrance, which could finally suppress Hua Cui's powdery scent.

  Min An selected two or three flower and grass patterns from the books collected by his master, copied them with a brush, and handed the painting paper to Hua Cui, making a request.

  Hua Cuimou gently patted Min An's face and smiled, saying: "Hey, you're quite concerned about Ni Yi's affairs. Have you also taken a liking to him?"

  Min An hastily blushed and waved his hand: "I am a man, how can I like men. I have an ulterior motive, so I thought of catering to his tastes, letting him agree to my request."

  "You're asking him to let the young lady of Xiao Zhuang go with you, aren't you?" Min An pursed his lips and didn't speak, recalling the past when Xiao Bao'er wouldn't let go of him regardless of time or place. His pale face seemed to have a hint of peach blossom red, revealing a few threads of shyness. Hua Cui pointed at Min An's forehead with her finger, chuckled and said: "Does this silly goose also want to invite the young lady to watch the stars and moon?" After that, she walked away with a swagger.

  Min An let out a sigh of relief in the room, muttering to himself: "Xiao Bao'er is just a little tyrant, I can't even hide from her, and she dares to ask me to watch the stars and moon with her? I'm glad she finally stopped coming to find me and shifted the trouble to Fei Yi's body." He felt extremely relieved and happily leaned on the table to start drawing the design of a long wooden war chariot, preparing for his battle with Mao Thirteen in ten days' time, ensuring that his superior officer Bi Si would win without fail.

  In the evening, Hua Cui returned with good news that a "Purple Beauty" flower tree really grew at the foot of Huangshi Slope. Picking its petals and putting them in a pillow could calm one's mind and help sleep. Min An heard it was Huangshi Slope, which belonged to Xiao Bao's hunting grounds, and begged Hua Cui to go with him the next day. However, Hua Cui refused Min An, citing the long distance and the sun beating down on them at dawn.

  At the hour of Xu, the night sky had stars but no moon. Min An took the chariot diagram to Bi Si for review and only left after they had discussed the details. As he walked back to his quarters, he habitually looked up at the wing room on Master's side to see if the lamp was lit, but instead found a familiar figure standing in front of the tightly closed window.

  A girl wearing a small flower hat with pearl and jade pendants, dressed in a light red silk skirt, was holding a whip to lash the flower rack in the yard, her mouth filled with sobs: "Master, take me back! I want to see my sister!"

  Min Anyi heard Xiao Bao'er's voice and hastily bent down to walk along the low wall. Before he could turn the corner, Xiao Bao'er jumped out of the door with a whip in hand and shouted: "Min An, stop right there!"

  Min An was almost at the exit when Xiao Bao blocked his way from the side courtyard, pushing him back and trapping him between the two walls of the alley.

  Min An stopped in his tracks, steadying himself just in time as Xiao Bao's rapidly approaching figure nearly bowled him over. Xiao Bao tightly hugged Min An, shaking her head and sobbing, with the dazzling pearls and jade ornaments on her headdress swaying before Min An's eyes, truly dazzling him.

  "I miss my sister so much, would you take me to Changping Prefecture? The young master doesn't want to see me and even more unwilling to bring me back."

  Min An was sandwiched between the two walls, being held tightly by Xiao Bao'er, and his movements were not very convenient. He raised his hand to pat Xiao Bao'er's back, wanting to help her breathe smoothly, but then he found that she was actually lying on his chest, making a gesture like a small dog licking food. If he patted again, he estimated that she would see the bottom of the earth.

  Min An raised his hand and asked in mid-air: "Isn't Ni Yi from Changping Prefecture? Which family's young master is he?"

  Xiao Bao'er, overcome with longing for her sister and extreme distress, fell to the ground from Min'an's chest, sobbing: "Young Master has become too powerful, none of us in the Xiao family dare to move him, my sister must also consider his mood."

  Min An listened to the key point and didn't dare move, letting Xiao Bao cry as usual, asking: "Is Xiao Zhifu Xiao Daren not the biggest official in Changping Prefecture? Does he still need to look at someone's face? Is he from the Chu Nan Wang family?"

  Xiao Bao'er lifted her tear-stained face and knelt down in front of Min An, looking up at him: "Don't guess anymore, are you trying to get me beaten by my father? My sister wrote a letter specifically warning me not to reveal the young master's true identity. The young master is already unkind by nature, and it would annoy him if he found out. He has even more ruthless methods to deal with our Xiao family... Moreover, his older brother, the heir, is also someone you don't want to mess with... And to make matters worse, my sister has been manipulated by the heir and become a servant in their household..."

  Xiao Bao'er had not seen her sister's face for three consecutive years, and was strictly controlled by Xiao Lao Ye, unable to leave Huangshi County. As time went on, she was only 15 or 16 years old, a playful young girl who couldn't bear it. Xiao Lao Ye still doted on Xiao Bao'er, but her repeated attempts to go to Changping were unbearable, and he had beaten her many times for this reason. Since childhood, Xiao Bao'er had lost her mother and was extremely dependent on her only sister, so she wanted to find a way to avoid punishment and go to the Changping Prefecture.

  Min Anping had been entangled by Xiao Baoer many times, and he knew her heart knot. He was also powerless about it, and could only patiently comfort her. Xiao Baoer told him not to guess the origin of Fei Yi, but in fact, he had almost guessed the truth about Fei Yi, lacking only evidence to prove it.

  Xiao Bao'er fell to the ground crying, hiding her face in Min An's long shirt under his waist, and conveniently wiping away her tears and snot with the fabric. From the exit of the alley, Xiao Liu and Xiao Jia poked out their heads, looking at Min An and Xiao Bao'er who were standing and kneeling in a row. They raised the lanterns in their hands to shine brighter, and their eyes suddenly widened, then they exchanged knowing glances with each other before slowly withdrawing their heads.

  Min An suddenly came to his senses, and Xiao Bao was crying on his body. From a distance, it seemed that she had first licked his chest, then his waist, and finally the base of his legs. Those postures were extremely ambiguous.

  Min Anxin hastily sent Xiao Bao'er away and before he could hide in the yamen, Xiaoliu and others surrounded him, handing him some melon seeds and dried fruits. They said: "Young Master's good fortune is not shallow, right? Non-clothed gentleman just rejected Miss Xiao's invitation, but Miss Xiao immediately ran into Young Master's arms, serving Young Master for a while, that enchanting taste made several brothers jealous. Why don't you tell us about the twists and turns in between, let us brothers satisfy our curiosity?"

  Min An scolded Xiaoliu and others, trying to scare them away. They turned around and asked Min An for the reward silver for melon seeds and dried fruits, reasoning that Min An had driven away Xiao Baoer, causing their prepared small tea snacks to go to waste. Min An reluctantly handed over his wages to Xiaoliu and others, but Xiaoliu was dissatisfied with him being too slow and jumped forward to give him a violent kick.

  Min An couldn't swallow this insult, and immediately struck out with his palm, hitting Xiao Liu in the chest. Since childhood, he had followed Wu Ren to learn martial arts, and although his fists and feet were not as good as those of the Flowering Green Brocade from the General Command, they were more than enough to deal with ordinary characters, and naturally Xiao Liu was no exception. Xiao Liu also refused to be bullied, and jumped over to fight Min An again, causing the surrounding yamen runners to burst out laughing.

  Hua Cui, who was sleeping, was woken up and picked up a bamboo stick used to press down the quilt. She swept everyone out of the gate with one stroke and stood at the entrance, saying: "If you disturb Miss's sleep again, be careful with your life!"

  As the night fell, Min An dared to sneak into the courtyard. He thought that he would go to visit the purple beauty flower on Huangshi Slope early in the morning and it was necessary to sharpen a hatchet to open up the mountain path.

  Hua Cui slept for half the night, and outside the courtyard, the light was dim. The windowsill reflected a bit of icy cold light, and there were some whooshing sounds, which sounded eerie to her ears. She got dressed and walked into the courtyard, patted Min An on the back of his head, and scolded: "It's the middle of the night, can't you even light a lamp while sharpening your knife?"

  Min An said with a hint of grievance: "The lamp is in your way again, you didn't sleep well."

  Hua Cui sighed and asked Xiao Zu to move aside, then sharpened the hatchet with a few strokes and applied some oil wax. A bamboo clapper used for night watch was thrown into the yard from outside and hit Min An's head, followed by Xiao Liu's voice: "It's midnight, why are you sharpening knives? Can't you light a lamp?"

  Min An picked up the bamboo clapper and went to sleep, rubbing his head. At dawn, he had to beat the clapper to report the time at the county government office. He hastily passed through the mansion gate, the main hall gate, the ceremonial gate, and the main gate, and randomly hit the cloud board and the clapper tube, waking up officials like Bi Si in advance. Bi Si saw that Xiaoliu's usual bamboo clapper was left in the corridor and scolded Xiaoliu severely.

  Xiao Liu was supposed to return to his living quarters in the prison to rest after a night of guarding, but he was unexpectedly scolded and suffered unjustly. He remembered every detail of his past grievances with Min An, with whom he had fought. Like Min An, Xiao Liu held multiple positions in the county government office, and he was also responsible for handling documents transmitted from various counties. While running errands, he learned some important news, but did not tell Min An about it.

  The son of the King of Chusannan, who was in charge of assisting the government, Li Peinan, who had already inherited his title, privately went on a tour and came to several famous counties in Chuzhou for hunting. The officials at all levels prepared their residences to welcome him.

  Huangshi County is small, with only about 300 households under its jurisdiction. There is no manpower or material resources to maintain the post house, let alone find a good mansion for the prince's visit. Bi Si worries about this matter and wants to discuss it with Min An, but hears that Min An has gone to Huangshi Slope.

  Thank you for Dayu Ming and Mai Qi's hand grenade of chewing gum, thank you for Mao An and Zhu Er Duo's landmine.

  Thanks for your message, sister!

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