Volume 1: Hanyang Chapter 3: Change

  After Zeng Lang left, the surroundings returned to calmness. Lu Xuan walked into the wooden house and unknowingly arrived at his brother's room. He casually picked up a book from the bookshelf and started flipping through it.

  In an era when books were extremely valuable, their father left them a large number of books. These books could have been exchanged for enough money to support the two siblings for ten years if they had wanted to, but neither of them ever thought of doing so, nor dared to think of it.

  These books, Lu Xiang had read some of them before. However, she was a woman and the most she could do with her reading was just that, so she didn't put much thought into it.

  But as soon as she opened the book, Lu Xuan found that every sentence written in it had become very easy to understand.

  The outside gradually darkened, and it was unknown how long had passed. Lu Yun's voice came from one side, "Sister, it's very late."

  Lu Xiangru woke up from her dream-like state, she lifted her head and glanced at Lu Yun, then slowly closed the book in her hand.

  Lu Yun did not notice that her hands were trembling at this moment.

  The book "Zhongyong" in her hand was a very profound Confucian classic, at least for this girl who didn't read much. But somehow, when she flipped through it just now, she felt that the content of the book was easy to understand, and those knowledge that used to be profound and difficult to understand suddenly became clear and simple.

  After a moment of stunned silence, Lu Xuan spoke in a low voice: "You should get some rest too." She wanted to keep reading, but her family was too poor to afford lamp oil, let alone use precious firewood for lighting.

  "En." Lu Yun didn't notice his sister's abnormality and turned around to walk towards the bed.

  In the following days, Lu Xuan was surprised to find that the strange sensation had not disappeared. So, Lu Xuan, who couldn't do heavy work due to his injury, would pick up a book and study carefully whenever he had some free time.

  My sister suddenly became obsessed with books, Lu Yun was a bit puzzled but didn't ask much. It's said that after Liu Xiu built the capital in Luoyang, he strongly promoted Confucianism and valued scholars from all over the country, even the imperial concubines loved to read books. My sister doing this is also following the trend.

  Lu Yuang had been nursing his injuries for several days and was now fully recovered. The wound on the back of his head had even disappeared without leaving a trace.

  No longer having a headache, she took down the cloth strip wrapped around her head, temporarily put down the book, and picked up the embroidery that had been accumulated for some time to go out on the street.

  Hanyang Street is actually a small town, and in this small town, Lu Yun's maternal family, the Ping clan, is the local tyrant. Since they are tyrannical, they naturally don't care about Confucian etiquette. The distant relatives of the Ping clan who think of coming here to freeload are always daydreaming. If Lu Yun's siblings didn't have a legendary father from a large family, they wouldn't have received protection from their maternal grandparents' home.

  Now, although the maternal grandparents' home has put them aside, they have given them a place to live. During festivals and holidays, they will also give them some small money as a reward. Moreover, due to Ping Shi's identity as Lu Yue's cousin, when she goes to the store to buy embroidery products, she is rarely bullied by others.

  After buying the embroidery, Lu Xuan also had twenty five-copper coins in his hand. He weighed the heavy iron money in his hand and thought of his brother's thin appearance, turned around and walked towards the butcher shop.

  Pork is a common food, but Lu Xue and her brother didn't have that much extra money to enjoy it. This time she went just to buy some bones that the butcher didn't want. On those bones there were still some unshaven meat, most importantly, she found out that when the pork bones are cooked in a pot, the soup tastes extremely delicious, and her brother would also look more spirited after eating it.

  Lu Xuan took out ten five-copper coins, wrapped a large pile of white flower bones that had been scraped to have almost no meat threads left, and then asked Zhang Butcher to chop the bones into small pieces in a soft and gentle voice.

  For such a small amount of money, Zhang the butcher wouldn't even give it a glance, but looking at the girl's beautiful eyes and her pleading expression, he cracked a smile, stared intensely for a moment, then started chopping with all his might.

  Before long, Zhang Butou wrapped up the pig bones and handed them over to Lu Xuan.

  With a somewhat heavy burden, Lu Xuan didn't want to go back. She lowered her head and thought for a while before turning around and heading towards the Xuanyuan Temple. A few days ago, she had inexplicably fallen down, not only did she have many changes, but also, without any reason, she wanted to figure out why she fell down at that time. Although she believed everything that Er Lang said that day, being cautious, she still wanted to go to the scene and understand it clearly.

  Luoyin didn't notice that she had changed now, becoming more cautious and meticulous.

  Yuanyuan Temple is a small Taoist temple built on the waist of a mountain. In recent years, Confucianism has been flourishing, and the incense fire in the temple has not been as prosperous as before. The mountain gate is no longer bustling with people and horses.

  As soon as Lu Yuang arrived at the foot of the mountain, he heard a loud cry coming from a valley on his right side. Amidst the ups and downs of the sound, there was a familiar crying voice, and faintly, there was also a woman's sobbing and pleading voice.

  "Good heavens! That crying sounds a bit familiar, it seems like Second Sister's voice!"

  Lu Xuan's footsteps turned around and hurriedly searched for it.

  As she walked through a small hill, Lu Xuan saw at a glance that at the foot of Xuanyun Temple, where it was most spacious, there were about ten people surrounding. The thin figure covering her face with both hands and sobbing repeatedly was none other than her second elder female cousin.

  Second sister-in-law had married early and was not familiar with Lu Yue. However, Lu Yue still remembered that two years ago when her younger brother caught a cold, she knelt outside her grandfather's house begging for help but no one paid attention to her. When night fell and she returned home in despair, second sister-in-law rushed over and quietly handed her thirty pieces of five-copper coins...

  Seeing her second sister crying heartbreakingly, Lu Xuan quickened her pace and hastily walked towards her.

  In a flash, she arrived behind her second sister. However, Lu Yue did not hastily approach her second sister, but instead looked up towards the center of the crowd.

  In the crowd, a man and a woman stood there. The man was about thirty years old, with an ordinary face that showed a bit of rustic simplicity, and he was quite tall and sturdy, which was exactly Er Jie's husband.

  But at this moment, Er Jie Fu's hand was supporting the waist of a young woman with a slightly protruding belly, and his eyes were looking at Er Biao Jie with guilt and unease.

  In the midst of the hubbub and discussions, the young woman with an ordinary face, who was being held by her second sister's husband, looked at her second sister with tears in her eyes, sobbing and saying: "Sister, I didn't...I just admired Wu Lang!" She was even more heartbroken than her second sister, and after saying this, she became choked with sobs and couldn't catch her breath.

  The second sister-in-law was clearly shocked by the scene in front of her, she stared blankly at her husband with empty eyes, only tears flowing silently and soundlessly down her cheeks.