Chapter 93 Visiting the Zhen Mansion

During the Han Dynasty, there was a saying that one should bathe every three days and wash hair every five days. There were even special bathing holidays for officials every week.

When Yuan Xi was in Beixin City, he didn't have a dedicated bathroom due to limited conditions, but obviously, a place like the Yuan Mansion in Ye City would not lack one.

By the time Yuan Xi finished his bath, almost half an hour had passed, and the fatigue of the past month had almost vanished.

When he came out, wiping his hair, he found Wu Zhao kneeling on the ground, laboriously turning over his lamellar armor, using a damp linen cloth to wipe away the blood stains on the armor plates.

If blood is not cleaned from the iron armor plates in time, it will cause the plates to rust over time.

Wu Zhao cleaned each piece of armor leaf, pulled the leather rope on it to make sure it was firmly attached, and then used another piece of linen cloth dipped in a block of lard to apply a layer of grease on the armor leaf. Only in this way could the armor leaf be prevented from rusting.

Yuan Xi walked over and said, "These things should be done by soldiers and servants. Why are you bothering yourself so much?"

Wu Zhao shook her head and said, "I don't trust them to do it."

She saw many new marks on the armor plates from weapons chopping and cutting, and knew that Yuan Xi had encountered another fierce battle this time, and she felt a burst of fear in her heart.

Yuan Xi took the linen cloth from her hand, and together they wiped and smeared all the remaining armor leaves clean, and put them aside to dry in a cool place.

Wu Zhao picked up a piece of bath beans, which were made of grass and wood ash mixed with soap pods and cleansing cream. Her fair fingers soaked in clean water, washing away all the remaining grease on her hands, and a fresh fragrance filled the air.

Yuan Xi took a wooden box, opened it, took out a golden hairpin, and inserted it into Wu Zhao's hair bun.

When Wu Zhao saw it, she said, "Is it appropriate for me to wear such a valuable thing?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "What's appropriate or inappropriate? They are all the people's fat and blood that Old Cao scraped together. I saved his life, so these things are all mine now."

"In the future, I will use those things on the people, which can be regarded as returning them to the people."

Wu Zhao wiped her hands clean, sat on the mat, and smiled, "I'm afraid he hates you to death."

Yuan Xi took the opportunity to sit behind Wu Zhao and put his hand into Wu Zhao's deep sleeves.

Wu Zhao's body trembled, but she didn't stop him, just sat there, only her occasionally trembling fingers betrayed her.

Yuan Xi began to push his luck, and Wu Zhao's breathing also became rapid, and she said softly, "It's still bright, and there may be a family banquet tonight."

When Yuan Xi heard this, he thought of the last time he was plotted against at the banquet, and said, "This Ye City Mansion is much more dangerous than the city head of Beixin City. Once things here are over, let's hurry back to Beixin City."

Wu Zhao chuckled: "When officials take office, they can't bring their wives. If you marry Miss Zhen one day and leave the next, wouldn't that make her sad?"

Yuan Xi sighed: "I'm afraid the marriage with the Zhen family won't be so smooth. My third brother is determined to ruin the marriage between the two families, and I can't think of a good way for the time being."

Wu Zhao thought of Zhen Rong's matter and said sadly, "That Zhen Rong was also used by others. She kept her widowhood and was deceived by the Third Young Master. She is also very pitiful."

Yuan Xi leaned over, smelled the scent of Wu Zhao's nape, and said, "Don't worry, Gao Lan is not dead yet."

Wu Zhao breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this: "That's the best. If General Gao dies, the feud between you and the Zhen family will be settled, and the matter of marrying Miss Zhen will be even more troublesome."

Yuan Xi used a little force, "You keep talking about the Zhen family, what about you?"

"If you restore your identity, it would be more than enough to be a wife."

Wu Zhao immediately shook her head and said, "I can't."

"I am still a widow of the Wei family, and if the matter between you and me is spread out, the reputation of the three families will be ruined."

"Let me be Wu Zhao, at least I have no worries."

Yuan Xi had a headache. That's right, if Wu Zhao were to restore her identity as Cai Zhaoji, he, as a son of the Yuan family, would have no way to explain it to the world.

Perhaps only when he has enough strength in the future can he completely solve this problem.

Wu Zhao saw the loss on Yuan Xi's face, and said with a sly smile: "Besides, if I become your wife, I will have to stay in Ye City, and I will be alone in my boudoir just after getting married. What's the difference between that and being a widow?"

"Now that I am a maidservant, I can justifiably follow you back to Beixin City, which is better than being a wife."

Yuan Xi smiled bitterly when he heard this: "I guess we won't be able to return to Beixin City for the time being."

"I talked to my father a while ago, and I'm afraid my father will still have to fight Tian Kai and Kong Rong of Qingzhou first before he can free up his hands to deal with Gongsun Zan, who is located in Yijing."

Wu Zhao nodded and said, "That's actually a good thing. There are many gentry clans in Ye City, and the young master can take the opportunity to cultivate and establish his own power."

"So it is still very necessary to form a marriage alliance with the Zhen family, but before that, the problem of Zhen Rong must be solved."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "You're right, let me think about it carefully."

"However, the price of bribing those gentry clans is very high. It is difficult to persuade them without giving them benefits."

"It's easier with the poor scholars and common people, but in terms of governing a place, they are generally less capable than the great gentry clans."

"I want to imitate Liu Jingsheng and establish a righteous school, but it will take at least three to five years to see the effect. Time waits for no one."

Wu Zhao leaned in his arms and said softly, "Does the young master think that the local gentry clans in Youzhou are all unreliable?"

Yuan Xi nodded: "That's right. When Liu Yu raised troops to attack Gongsun Zan, many of his generals and counselors were informants."

"This is because Gongsun Zan bribed a large number of local gentry clans in Youzhou with land and wealth, so that they were extremely loyal to Gongsun Zan. Even if we subdue them, they may betray me for profit in the future."

"I don't have that much money, and even if I do, I won't waste it on them. The result of buying each other will only be buying a group of people who are greedy for profit and forget righteousness."

"The Youzhou gentry clans are already weak, so I'm thinking of simply eradicating them, establishing righteous schools to select officials, and reorganizing the layout."

Wu Zhao nodded and said, "What I admire most is that the young master not only allows common people to enter the righteous school, but also allows women to enter. This is an unprecedented initiative."

Yuan Xi knew that some of his practices were indeed shocking to the world at this time, so it took Wu Zhao a long time to accept them.

In this era, the gentry clans are nobles, and in the eyes of the scholars, the common people are no different from livestock.

Women are often regarded as appendages of men. Even in the Han and Tang dynasties, when women had the highest status in successive dynasties, women still had a lot of helplessness.

The Women's Righteous School is not actually Yuan Xi's creation. There were village schools in the Tang Dynasty that allowed women to study.

But since the Han and Tang dynasties, the status of women began to decline.

Yuan Xi said: "Now there are years of war, and men have gone to the battlefield, and there is a shortage of labor. Women can actually do a lot of things."

"Moreover, scholars and common people, nobles and poor people, men and women, all have something that is not determined by family background, but is born to change their destiny."

Wu Zhao was stunned: "What is it?"

Yuan Xi pointed to his head: "This."

"There are also stupid people among the scholars and rich people, and there are also extremely intelligent people among the common people and poor people."

"What is lacking is whether they read books and recognize characters and open their minds."

"Now the world is in chaos, and there is an urgent need for talents, so I want to try to allow more people to obtain the ability to change their lives."

Wu Zhao listened and said softly, "I also want to see how far the young master can go."

The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere gradually became ambiguous.

Yuan Xi decisively got up and locked the door from the inside.

More than an hour later, Wu Zhao lay in Yuan Xi's arms and gasped: "Young Master seems to be very knowledgeable in some aspects."

Yuan Xi smiled wryly: "I said I know the art of observing the stars, and the stars in the sky can tell me many interesting things."

Wu Zhao thought to herself, who are you kidding?

Yuan Xi looked at Wu Zhao's fair neck and quickly changed the subject: "I see that the spots on your face seem to have lightened a lot?"

Wu Zhao blushed slightly: "Now that I am the young master's person, I don't want to wear this face all day long. Although the pine ink cinnabar has penetrated into the skin, I can still wash it off a little by soaking it with bath beans, grass and wood ash, etc."

"However, it will take a year or two to restore my original appearance."

She saw Yuan Xi staring at her face and quickly turned her head away and said, "Is it very ugly?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "No, it looks good inside and out."

Wu Zhao's face turned red again.

She quickly said, "Let's think about your unmarried wife."

"Have you noticed that every scheme of the Third Young Master is a double-edged sword, and he is never willing to suffer losses."

"I suspect that while he is destroying the marriage between the two families, he is also thinking of coercing the Zhen family."

Yuan Xi thought about it carefully and agreed: "What you said is really possible."

This branch of the Zhen family does not have a hereditary title, so what is worth plotting?

Could it be that he has taken a fancy to Zhen Mi?

That's really possible!

Then Yuan Xi became suspicious again. The Zhen family's daughter would not be a concubine for anyone. Yuan Shang already has a wife, so what else can he do?

He vaguely felt that there was something he hadn't figured out, but it was impossible to find out anything from Yuan Shang's side.

As for Yuan Shao, Liu and Yuan Shang are constantly influencing him, and he is probably already prejudiced. If he wants to convince Yuan Shao, he needs to understand the truth of the matter in advance.

Thinking of this, he said to Wu Zhao, "Let's go to the Zhen family."

Wu Zhao was stunned: "Now?"

"Now."

Inside the Zhen family's mansion, Zhen Mi sat in front of the window on the second floor of the small building. Through the window, she could see seven or eight soldiers guarding outside the Zhen family's mansion gate.

She turned her head and looked at Zhen Rong, who was in a daze beside her, and sighed in her heart.

Zhen Rong's personality was usually lively and cheerful, but today she has suffered repeated blows and has become like this.

Her husband is dead, and she has been accused of seducing the Yuan family's son. If Yuan Shao hadn't been concerned about the reputation among the gentry clans, the Zhen family would have been implicated and convicted.

After Madam Zhang knew about the matter, she scolded Zhen Rong severely. Now Zhen Rong is like a living dead person, out of her mind.

Zhen Mi couldn't help but comfort her: "Sister, things may not be so bad. The news about Brother-in-law is just one-sided by the Third Young Master Yuan."

Zhen Rong came back to her senses, shook her head and said, "Little sister, don't comfort me. How can a leading general disappear for no reason?"

"It would be better if he died in battle. If he defected to the enemy, the Zhen family would also be implicated."

"Oh, I forgot, I have already dragged the Zhen family into the water."

Seeing that Zhen Rong was starting to talk nonsense, Zhen Mi was about to comfort her when she saw a carriage coming down the street and stopping at the gate of the Zhen Mansion.