The stunning beauty of Qing Dynasty

Chapter 285: Entering the City

There were soldiers at the city gate who were responsible for guarding and checking the passes. Lines of civilians, carrying all kinds of things, carefully handed the passes, which were equivalent to identity cards, to the soldiers, and then walked in immediately after the soldiers had read them.

Qingyin was standing in the line in a patched long skirt and was not noticeable. At best, she was just a pretty country girl with dark skin.

Qingyin looked back curiously in the direction she came from, but Duan Heng was gone, so she turned back.

I don’t know how Duan Heng will get into the city?

The guards at the front were still diligently confirming the entry tickets for every person entering the city.

It was just a morning's work, and no matter how diligent one was, one could already feel a little impatient. Liu Dazhuang was a guard on duty. Although this line of work was considered working for the government, it had to be said that being a guard was the hardest job among all public servants.

What Liu Dazhuang envied most every day was his cousin, who married the daughter of his superior and was transferred by his father-in-law to work in the government office. Not only was his salary higher, but it was also an easy job, as he could take a lunch break from time to time when he was on shift change.

Thinking of this, Liu Dazhuang's somewhat fierce face became even more worried, but when Liu Dazhuang's face was worried, it looked even more fierce, which often led to misunderstanding.

Sure enough, not long after, the peddler carrying two baskets of pears saw the soldier in front of him holding his door handle tightly with a ferocious look on his face, and he became frightened.

"Sir, what's wrong with my door guide?"

Liu Dazhuang looked at the vendor who was about to cry, and said in confusion, "No, go in."

Hearing the adults' voice, the vendor ran forward in a panic, not forgetting to leave a few big pears and stuff them into Liu Dazhuang's hands, "Here, here, please accept it, sir."

Liu Dazhuang: “……?”

The soldier next to him patted his shoulder and raised his eyebrows: "That's fine, brother, but you should do less of this kind of thing. If our captain sees it, he will criticize you!"

Liu Dazhuang is innocent—doubtful.

"What did he do?"

Especially after the pear vendor in front did that, the other people more or less handed Liu Dazhuang some of the things they had brought with them.

Soon, a bunch of "offerings" appeared around the dark-faced and fierce soldier.

Qingyin saw this short scene and couldn't help but smile.

The line just happened to be here for her.

Liu Dazhuang, who was in front, said to the people behind him without even looking up: "Bring out the door."

"Sir, give it to me." A soft and sweet voice sounded, and the pleasant voice made people's ears blush.

Liu Dazhuang couldn't help but subconsciously raised his head and looked towards the source of the sound.

The girl had black hair, curved eyebrows and a pair of big black and bright eyes. Liu Dazhuang had not received many years of education, so he could not find any words to describe these beautiful big eyes. They were just like the clear and winding stream that he passed by every time in his hometown, clean and gentle. Liu Dazhuang was stunned for a moment.

Qing Yin raised her eyebrows slightly and said with a smile: "My Lord, my Lord! Is my gate guide not ready yet?"

The tall, dark man was awakened by the girl's voice. He lowered his burning face in embarrassment: "Oh! Sorry, that's enough."

With his hands full of sweat, he nervously handed them back to the girl without even being able to see the door clearly.

Qingyin smiled slightly, took back her pass, and walked in openly.

Only one guard was left, staring at her back in a daze.

"Hey, what are you looking at? Brother, the people behind you have been waiting in line for a long time, why don't you check the door guide?"

The man who had just teased Liu Dazhuang was responsible for guarding the people queuing on the other side. He turned around and found Liu Dazhuang distracted.

Liu Dazhuang subconsciously interrupted the man, not wanting to let him know what he was looking at.

"Nothing, just my head felt a little sore, so I twisted it in a different direction."

The other guard didn't believe it. He turned his head and looked in the direction Liu Dazhuang was looking. However, because of Liu Dazhuang's delay, Qingyin had already walked far away and her back could no longer be seen at the door.

The guard, who was watching nothing, turned his head back with a lost look.

I seemed to have heard a very pleasant female voice coming from next to this brother just now, but it seemed to have disappeared now.

I don’t know if she is a girl who came to the city. I will ask this brother about it when I am done with my work.

……

Qingyin entered the city and looked at the bustling city in surprise.

Everywhere you look, you can see all kinds of stalls that are moving around and stopping, the voices of vendors' enthusiastic sales, the laughter of girls, the noise of children... all mixed together, it's so lively.

Qingyin looked and looked until she felt her eyes were not enough.

And in the early morning of Taohua Village in Emingshan, He's mother's scream echoed throughout the village.

This attracted the curiosity of the villagers, and they all came to watch the fun.

"What's going on? What's going on? Sister He!"

He's mother and Lin's father looked at each other, looking at the empty cabinets and clothes in the second girl's room, they knew that the dead girl had run away.

When Father Lin walked out of the house, his face darkened when he saw the yard packed with people. He glared fiercely at Mother He from a place where no one was paying attention.

This idiot made everyone know about this. Could it be that everyone knew that his daughter ran away? How could he save face?

Being glared at, Mother He's face turned pale, and she came close to Father Lin and whispered, "Boss, that damn girl ran away, what are we going to do when the people from the Hu family come?"

"What can we do? We should find the person back as soon as possible, idiot!"

Father Lin glared at Mother He again, then smiled bitterly at the crowd: "My fellow villagers, my family is poor, but we managed to raise Erya with great difficulty. Now Erya is old, and we have prepared a good marriage for her. But Erya didn't want to get married, and she packed up and ran away from home. I don't know if she went into the mountains. Please help us look for her. There are so many ferocious beasts in the mountains, and we don't know where Erya is..."

As he spoke, Father Lin secretly twisted Mother He's waist again and whispered, "Cry quickly."

Mother He grimaced in pain, and she understood what Father Lin was thinking. She burst into tears immediately: "Oh, my little girl is so ignorant. I found a good marriage for her, but she was not happy and ran away secretly. What if she was taken away by a wolf in the mountains?"

The people gathered around the courtyard looked at each other in bewilderment. "Is the second daughter of the Lin family so ignorant? She ran away secretly after getting married?"

"Oh, no matter where this girl ran off to, there are ferocious beasts in this mountain. We have to find her back quickly."

"Yeah!"

……

The villagers' voices mixed together, and Father Lin listened to the voices and showed a satisfied smile with his back to people.

No matter how early the second girl ran, she never left the mountain, and it is estimated that she could not run far. When she was found and left, she would be handed over to the Hu family and tied up.

No matter how hard Lin's father thought, he never expected that there would be a cheater (Duan Heng) who ran away with his daughter and even sneaked into the city.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

While people in Taohua Village were still looking for Qingyin, Qingyin squatted on a road with eager eyes, drooling at the old man selling candied haws across the street.

When Duan Heng came over, he saw the person he was thinking about squatting alone in front of the candied haws stall, staring at the big, red candied haws with sparkling eyes. He knew what she was thinking at a glance.

Duan Heng walked over helplessly and patted the little village girl on the shoulder.

"what!"

The girl's slightly frightened expression turned into calmness when she turned around and saw a familiar face: "Duan Heng, you're back."

It was rare that Duan Heng felt a little guilty.

After all, it was he who brought the little village girl out, and she was her savior. No matter what, it would be easy for her to be scared if she left the little girl who had never been out of the mountains waiting for him alone.

Duan Heng pursed his lips and walked to the candied haws stand, "Uncle, give me a string of candied haws."

The man selling the candied haws was an old man with gray hair and poor eyesight. He smiled kindly and slowly took down two strings of candied haws: "Young man, that is your sister, right? The little girl is very obedient. She has been sitting here waiting for you. She has brought me a lot of business. I will treat you to the other string."

Duan Heng paused for a second. Although he had no memory, he inexplicably felt that this was the first time someone was willing to give him something for free.

A strange feeling, but in a good way.

After taking the candied haws, Duan Heng handed the money for two strings of candied haws to the old man and left quietly.

Qingyin, who was hurriedly led away, shook her head and said, "Duan Heng, why are you leaving in such a hurry?"

"Something happened."

"Oh." Qingyin nibbled on the candied haws in her hand, with sweet dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth.

The little village girl who had been quiet for a short time always had a lot to say.

Sure enough, not long after, the girl's soft and sweet voice sounded again, "Duan Heng, where did you get the money from? Did you steal it?"

Duan Heng glanced at the extremely courageous girl and said, "Take the money you earned from selling it."

"Humph, I don't believe it!" Qingyin glared at Duan Heng who was talking nonsense, stopped opening her mouth, and concentrated on chewing the candied haws.

She kept chewing and chewing, and sooner or later she would spend all the money of that bastard Duan Heng.

After finishing the candied haws in her hand, Qingyin turned her gaze to the candied haws in Duan Heng's hand that had not moved at all.

"Duan Heng, don't you like eating candied haws?"

Duan Heng raised his eyebrows slightly, picked up a candied haws with his bony hand and waved it in front of a greedy girl temptingly, "How do you know I..."

The deliberately slowed-down ending came to an end just as the girl's eyes lit up.

"I can eat candied haws!" As he said this, the man slowly took the candied haws and started eating it bite by bite.

"Duan Heng!" Qing Yin's face turned red.

"What's the matter?" the man asked frivolously.

Qingyin, furious, turned her head away and ignored the man who was deliberately trying to tempt her.

Duan Heng looked at the angry girl walking away in front of him, feeling a little amused and helpless.

It is true that he wanted to see the girl angry on purpose, but he was not stingy by not giving her the string of candied haws. He just remembered vaguely that eating too much sweet food is bad for people. It was enough for the little village girl to finish just one string of candied haws. Any more would be bad.

The man who had finished eating the candied haws in two or three bites suppressed his inner anxiety and followed.

"Okay, let's go to the restaurant for dinner later, okay? You can eat whatever you want?"

Hearing this, the girl's ears twitched.

Duan Heng hid the smile in his eyes, "The restaurant has all kinds of roast chicken, roast duck, braised pork, steamed fish, and all kinds of dim sum... Are you sure you don't want to eat, Miss Lin Erhua?"

The sulking girl in front couldn't move anymore.

Qing Yin turned her head away proudly, "Since you are so sincere and generous in inviting me to dinner, I will do it reluctantly."

"Let's go."

Duan Heng chuckled, "Not yet."

Qingyin looked at him in disbelief, "You lied to me."

Duan Heng smiled helplessly: "Now please ask Miss Lin Erhua to go with me to the clothing store to buy some clothes."

To be honest, he had already been annoyed by the sight of the girl's clothes covered in patches.

"Really? Duan Heng, you're so nice!" When the girl was happy, she called out the name Duan Heng as if it were honey.

Even though he was used to hearing the sweet voice of the little village girl, Duan Heng's ears couldn't help but move at this sound.

"Okay, let's go, let's go, otherwise he will get worse again later." The man muttered in a low voice with a hot face.

As he spoke, Duan Heng couldn't help but carefully glance at the girl walking in front of him, as if he was afraid that the girl might have heard him.

Qingyin walked aside, immersed in the joy of having new clothes to wear and did not hear the man's words.

On the way, Duan Heng asked a few passers-by and soon arrived at the largest garment store in Xian County.

An hour later, when the two came out again, Duan Heng had changed into a crescent-white brocade robe, looking more like a gentle nobleman, while Qingyin also happily changed into a close-fitting dark green miniskirt with a waist that didn't make her look too dark.

After getting dressed up like this, Qingyin's body was transformed by the beauty pill. Although her skin was still dark, her facial features had undergone subtle changes and became more delicate. After taking off her patched long skirt, Qingyin was undoubtedly a rich lady with outstanding temperament and somewhat dark skin. Standing next to the fair and handsome Duan Heng, she did not seem to be outdone at all. Instead, she suddenly became even more eye-catching.

Qing music played and she walked around in front of the man, dragging the hem of her skirt.

Duan Heng looked at the brand new Qingyin and was a little dazed.

"How's it going? It looks good!"

Duan Heng turned his head away in embarrassment: "General."

Qingyin rolled her eyes, "You don't have any experience."

Passersby looked at the intimate couple with a friendly and teasing smile. They probably thought they were a pair of siblings who had a good relationship.

The brother is steady and the sister is lively.

The main reason for this guess is that Qingyin's previous physical condition lacked too much nutrition. The beauty pill will slowly improve this body and make it open up. Now Qingyin looks like a younger girl.

In the crowd, two handsome men and beautiful women with outstanding temperament became the center of attention.

Duan Heng noticed this and quickly pulled Qingyin away.

With the questions from passers-by, Duan Heng quickly found the number one restaurant in Xian County.

In Qingyue Tower, the waiter standing behind the counter was dozing lazily.

Although Xian County is not far from the capital, it is not close either. It is separated by the closer Dongjiao County and next to it is Jiangle County by water. The soil in Xian County, which is sandwiched in the middle, is poor and can't grow much food. The whole county is poor. Even the big businessmen passing by are too lazy to come to the poor and remote Xian County. Naturally, no one is willing to eat at the county's number one restaurant.

Naturally, the business of the first restaurant in the county was very bad.

The waiter was always worried that the restaurant would go bankrupt one day, leaving him without a job. However scared or worried he was, he still had to work and dozed off at the counter as usual.

Duan Heng held tightly to the curious girl who wanted to run around like a wild horse with one hand, and knocked on the door of the restaurant with the other hand.