The Lantern Festival Assassination Incident (Three Updates)

In the late twelfth lunar month, the family began to prepare for the New Year, and they also received New Year goods from the north and south.

In the north, Qiu Jing bought some smoked meat and the like. He still remembered that Su Liang said that she liked to eat smoked meat from a shop in Nanping City, so he asked Qiu Cong to buy a lot of it and send it to the capital.

In the south, Lin Qi prepared one New Year's goods for the Lin family and one for the Su family, mostly specialties from the south. In addition to the New Year's goods, there were also a lot of gifts prepared by Nian Jincheng and Lin Qi for Gu Xiaonuan.

Previously, Nian Jincheng and Lin Qi had bet on whether Su Liang was pregnant with a boy or a girl, and it was agreed that whoever guessed wrong would lose the opportunity to be the godfather of the child. As a result, Lin Qi, who first said that he wanted to be the godfather of Gu Xiaonuan, guessed wrong.

But he didn't admit it. In the letter, he completely regarded himself as Gu Xiaonuan's godfather, and he looked like he wanted to grow wings and fly to the capital to hug Gu Xiaonuan.

Lin Qi didn't mention Yuan Ying, but they already knew something. If there was any news, Su Liang would tell him. If there was no news, there was no news, and it was useless to ask.

Su Liang also asked Song Qi to prepare the New Year's goods and send them to Xuanbei City and Jiaye City at the beginning of the month.

The couplets were written by Gu Ling, and he also cut a lot of window paper-cuts.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Cen Man and Lao Mu looked after the children, while Su Liang and Gu Ling posted the couplets together.

After the confinement period, Su Liang wanted to move, but he couldn't do strenuous exercise for the time being, so he found something to do.

Gu Ling applied the paste, Gu Ling was responsible for pasting, and Su Liang was responsible for handing the couplets to Gu Ling and checking whether they were pasted properly.

"Is Xiao Nuan crying?" Gu Ling suddenly stopped what he was doing and asked Su Liang.

Su Liang pricked up her ears and listened, then shook her head, "No. I think you have separation anxiety. You've been thinking about your child since you were separated from her, and you always feel that others can't take good care of her."

"Is there such a disease?" Gu Ling frowned.

"Yes, it's a psychological problem." Su Liang said, "You'll get used to it. We can't stare at her all the time."

"But Xiao Nuan is really crying." Gu Ling said.

Su Liang looked helpless, "Master, what are you doing..." Halfway through her words, she also heard the crying coming from the direction of Yuanming Pavilion. Her baby's crying was so penetrating.

Then came the voice of Lao Mu calling her, "Xiao Liang! Nuan Nuan is hungry!"

Su Liang immediately put down the couplet in her hand and rushed over.

Gu Ling followed him, and the couplet that had not been firmly pasted was blown up by the wind and smeared on Qi Yan's face who just wanted to come over to help...

Su Liang held Gu Xiao Nuan to feed her, and complained that she had only fed her not long ago.

As a result, Gu Xiaonuan refused to eat, giggled, danced in Su Liang's arms, her big black eyes full of smiles, as if to say it was fun.

Su Liang handed Gu Xiaonuan to Gu Ling, "Your daughter is a little liar."

Gu Ling smiled and gently held her daughter and shook her, "So smart?"

Su Liang: ... It seems that I can only rely on her to beat the child in the future, when necessary.

At this moment, Su Liang's mentality is different from when she just gave birth to the child. It may be that Gu Ling is too good a father, which makes Su Liang feel that she can only be a strict mother and hold on to her reason.

But just now, Su Liang rushed back to Yuanming Pavilion when she heard that Gu Xiaonuan was hungry, indicating that her reason is also limited.

After playing with Gu Xiaonuan for a while, Gu Ling and Su Liang went to post couplets, but just after leaving Yuanming Pavilion, they heard Gu Xiaonuan crying again.

Su Liang complained, "God, your prenatal education seems to be useless. I remember you told her the story of the boy who cried wolf."

Gu Ling chuckled, "If she could understand and remember it at that time, I would be scared." Could it be another time traveler?

After several verifications that day, Su Liang and Gu Ling found that as long as one of them was by Gu Xiaonuan's side, she would not make a fuss. When neither of them was there, she would howl from time to time.

But Su Liang wanted to post couplets, and Gu Ling wanted to post couplets with Su Liang, so it became a family of three posting couplets. Gu Ling held Gu Xiaonuan in one hand and posted couplets with the other hand. Although it was a little slow, it was fun.

Gu Xiaonuan was wrapped tightly, but she couldn't hide her excitement outside, and she laughed non-stop.

When the couplets were posted, Gu Xiaonuan fell asleep in a daze and was put in the cradle by Gu Ling.

Gu Ling was in a good mood, spread paper and ground ink, and painted a picture. The painting shows a warm scene of a family of three pasting couplets, but he is shown from behind because he cannot see his expression and has never painted his own portrait.

Gu Xiaonuan likes red things very much. Gu Ling made them by himself. The Chinese knot hanging on the head of the bed has been moved to the cradle.

…

Twenty-nine, steamed buns.

Gu Ling and Su Liang haven't cooked together for a long time. While Gu Xiaonuan was asleep, the two were busy making flower buns in the kitchen.

Gu Ling kneaded the dough and got a little flour on his face. Su Liang came close to help him wipe it off, but was hugged by Gu Ling and kissed by him.

Both of them had been abstinent for a long time. When their lips and tongues were entangled, they were all moved. They didn't even hear the boiling water in the pot.

In the end, it was Gu Xiaonuan's crying that separated them.

Su Liang blushed, "Master, I've been out of confinement for more than half a month. I'm clean now, so it should be ok. Why don't we have sex tonight..."

Gu Ling's eyes moved down to the position below Su Liang's neck, "I really want to."

"No buts. It's settled happily." Su Liang took the apron, washed his hands, and went to coax the child.

Gu Ling let out a long sigh, turned his head and noticed the boiling water in the pot. If he didn't eat meat, he really couldn't bear it.

When Su Liang entered the kitchen again, the flower buns were already in the steamer. Gu Ling had a good habit of cleaning up while cooking, so the kitchen was still clean when the buns were done.

When the flower buns came out of the pot, Su Liang saw something with a strange shape inside. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bamboo shoot...

"Is this specially made for Gu Xiaonuan?" Su Liang felt that when Gu Xiaonuan grew up, she must tell her that her dear father had thought of giving her the nickname Xiaosun.

"I made it for you. Bamboo shoot bean buns." Gu Ling broke it open to reveal the filling inside. He didn't add sugar to the bean buns, but used steamed and mashed sweet potato mash to sweeten the taste.

Su Liang took a bite, it was hot, sweet and delicious, very delicious.

...

It was agreed that they would have meat that night, but when the passion reached its peak, Gu Xiaonuan howled so loudly that Gu Ling was a little overwhelmed. Maybe because she slept too much during the day, Gu Xiaonuan was full of energy that night and didn't fall asleep until midnight. Su Liang was also very tired, so her and Gu Ling's "exercise plan" could only be postponed temporarily.

When she got up the next day, Gu Ling decided that in order to let her daughter sleep well at night, she should not let her sleep too much during the day, and she should develop a regular life and work schedule from an early age to have a good body.

So, on New Year's Eve, Gu Ling and Su Liang played with Gu Xiaonuan very seriously for a long time.

It started snowing again in the evening. Gu Ling's family of three had a New Year's Eve dinner with the people in the mansion. It was made by Nangong Qian and Qiuyue. Cen Man also made two dishes, and Gu Ling cooked a fish. Because Su Liang couldn't eat fish for a long time when she was pregnant before, she felt nauseous when she smelled it, and today she said she wanted to eat it.

After eating the New Year's Eve dinner, Gu Ling and Su Liang first bathed their daughter, and then took turns to accompany their daughter, letting the other person take a bath.

When Su Liang returned to the bedroom after taking a bath in the study, he saw Gu Ling's deep eyes as soon as he entered the door.

Then, both of them waited for Gu Xiaonuan to fall asleep quickly. Fortunately, their "plan" was successful. Gu Xiaonuan squinted her eyes after feeding and fell asleep soon.

Gu Ling put Gu Xiaonuan in the cradle, covered the light-blocking gauze curtain, turned around and pressed Su Liang down on the bed...

Gu Ling said that we should stay up tonight and don't need to sleep.

Su Liang thought it made sense.

There was heavy snow outside the window, and the house was full of spring.

...

The year was over with the sound of firecrackers.

Lao Mu put on new clothes early in the morning and ran to the door to set off firecrackers.

Gu Ling, who was awakened by the sound of firecrackers from afar, had just fallen asleep for a short time. He pulled Su Liang, who was half asleep, to do a "morning exercise" again, and then got up refreshed to change his daughter's diaper.

Su Liang was too tired and slept for half an hour. Gu Xiaonuan had received several New Year's money.

When Su Liang got up, took a bath and changed into new clothes for the New Year, she went downstairs and saw Gu Ling holding Gu Xiaonuan and looking at the snow outside the window.

The father and daughter looked back at Su Liang. The two faces, one big and one small, looked very similar. One was as beautiful as a banished fairy, and the other was as beautiful as an elf. People couldn't help but sigh at the Creator's preference.

Gu Xiaonuan waved her little hand at Su Liang, which was a sign that she liked someone.

Su Liang walked over with a smile. The family of three wore parent-child clothes, and the patterns on the collar and cuffs were the same.

Cen Man arrived at the door and saw this scene. She thought it was so beautiful.

"Happy New Year to Master." Su Liang bowed, and Cen Man smiled and took the "New Year's money" that had been prepared for her. It was not silver, but her favorite hidden weapon.

Lao Mu came over with a large wooden box and asked Su Liang to guess what was inside mysteriously.

"I guess it's a piece of wood." Su Liang said.

Lao Mu was speechless, "Guess carefully."

Su Liang said he couldn't guess. Lao Mu is now keen on tinkering with Gu Ling to make some strange things, many of which are beyond Su Liang's imagination.

But this time, Lao Mu's gift to Su Liang was not this kind, but something that Su Liang had described earlier, and Lao Mu made it.

He slowly opened the wooden box, revealing the fortune cat-shaped ornament inside, and touched a mechanism behind the ornament, and one of the fortune cat's hands began to shake towards Su Liang.

Su Liang felt it was magical, because the fortune cats in her previous life were all powered by batteries. She had only asked Lao Mu and Gu Ling before, whether it was possible to use the mechanism alone to achieve the kind of thing she described, but she didn't expect Lao Mu to really make it. And he tinkered with it himself without Gu Ling's knowledge, just to give Su Liang a surprise.

However, Lao Mu's aesthetics are a little different from Gu Ling's. The expression of the cat head is quite weird, which looks quite funny, and Su Liang likes it very much.

"Thank you, Master. Master is really amazing." Su Liang picked her up and let Gu Xiaonuan touch hands with the lucky cat. Gu Xiaonuan laughed.

Su Liang declined the banquet in the palace on the grounds that she had just finished her confinement and could not see the wind. It was obvious that it would be boring. The biggest pleasure for her and Gu Ling at the moment was to raise a baby and exercise.

Duanmu Chen had long been accustomed to it and did not mind. He just planned to wait for the weather to be good to go to the Su Mansion to see his goddaughter. It was temporarily impossible to let Gu Ling and Su Liang bring their daughter to the palace to see him.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Su Liang had no mother's home to return to, so she stayed at home with Gu Ling to take care of the baby.

The envoys sent by the royal families of Liang and Yan to visit the princesses who were married to the princesses happened to arrive in the capital on this day. After all, their princesses could not return to their mother's home, so it was considered that their mother's family came to visit.

Duanmu Chen readily let Situ Yao and Ji Yueyan meet the people who came to see them, and asked people to prepare gifts in return.

Outsiders could not stay in the palace for long, and the visitors left on the same day.

Before they left, Duanmu Chen already knew all the contents of the conversation between the two sides.

Ji Yueyan had nothing to say. The visitor was just doing routine work, asking her whether she had adapted to the soil and water of the country, whether she was well, etc. Ji Yueyan's mother had passed away long ago, and now her father had died years ago. The emperor of Yan State had become her half-brother Ji Yuebai, whom she was not familiar with. For her, there was nothing worth lingering over there.

Duanmu Chen was even more concerned about Situ Yao's "secret talk". The visitor might know that there were ears on the other side of the wall, so the questions he asked were very obscure. Situ Yao did not say anything that Duanmu Chen ignored her, but only said that she was living a good life, so that her family did not have to worry.

But the master who monitored was sure that he heard Situ Yao crying.

Why cry if you are living a good life? Is it just missing your hometown and relatives? However, Duanmu Chen did not ignore Situ Yao. Even if she was pregnant, Duanmu Chen would occasionally go over to sit, but the tacit understanding and affection between the two at the beginning were no longer the same as before.

After listening to the report, Duanmu Chen did not do anything. Regardless of whether Situ Yao has awakened or become smart, Duanmu Chen only looks at the results. This is his woman, who will give birth to his child. As long as Situ Yao does not say things that should not be said or do things that should not be done for Liangguo in the future, Duanmu Chen will treat her well.

…

The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is coming soon.

There is a grand lantern festival in the city tonight, but whether Gu Ling and Su Liang want to go to see it depends on Gu Xiaonuan. There are too many people, and it is not safe to take the child out, and they are afraid of scaring her, but the child cannot accept that both parents are not around for the time being.

Zheng'er had long begged Gu Ling to make him a lantern in the shape of a small airplane, and Gu Ling agreed.

When it was dusk, Lu Yu brought Zheng'er over, and Gu Ling handed the lantern to him.

After lighting it, Zheng'er liked it very much, "Master is so amazing! It looks so good!" The lit up small airplane was hung by a rope, and it looked more like flying.

Zheng'er wanted to go to see the lanterns with Gu Xiaonuan, but Su Liang said his sister was too young to go.

Zheng'er reluctantly expressed his understanding, "My mother said my brother couldn't go either. Then I'll tell my sister about it tomorrow after I finish watching!"

Su Liang said that this was fine, although Gu Xiaonuan couldn't understand it at this stage.

Gu Ling also made other lanterns, a rabbit lantern for Su Liang, and another for Gu Xiaonuan, which was in the shape of a bamboo shoot as Su Liang expected...

Gu Ling said that he couldn't think of what shape was most suitable for his daughter, only the bamboo shoot that Su Liang had named Xiaoshen had a strange connection with Gu Xiaonuan.

Su Liang said that bamboo shoots were bamboo shoots, and Gu Ling's was still very cute.

Lao Mu and Cen Man accompanied Nangong Qian to see the lanterns, and Qiuyue followed. As soon as they arrived at the street, Nangong Qian couldn't stand the crowds and the smell of fireworks in the air, and kept coughing. Old Mu cleared the way, and the group quickly entered the Wanjia Restaurant. There was a private room reserved for them upstairs.

After going up, they found that the Lin family was all there, so they sat together. The Lin family brought their children out to watch the fun, but the children were young, so Lin Shuzhi didn't let them go downstairs, fearing that it was unsafe.

After a while, Lin Shuzhi's parents came with Lin Shan, followed by Yuan Pei.

Only Nangong Qian and Lin Shan, two unmarried girls of similar age, knew each other in the Su Mansion before, so they sat together and talked.

Lin's father played chess with Lin Shuzhi, and Cen Man chatted with Mrs. Lin.

Old Mu felt bored and stared at the street market below, wanting to see if there were any beautiful lanterns to take back and hang at home for his beloved apprentice to play with, but he saw a pickpocket in the crowd.

Since he was free anyway, Lao Mu jumped down from the second floor, caught the thief who had already succeeded and was about to escape, searched out the stolen purse and returned it to the owner, and then called the officers and soldiers who were patrolling outside to maintain order to kidnap the man.

After that, Lao Mu returned to the restaurant and simply continued to watch the thieves below, thinking it was also a serious matter.

Lao Mu, who had been watching the flow of people, saw Lu Yu and Zheng'er appear in his sight. Zheng'er rode on Lu Yu's neck, wearing an exquisite painted mask covering the upper half of his face, holding a peculiarly shaped small lantern in his little hand, and was looking around excitedly.

Many people wear masks when shopping during the Lantern Festival, which is also a custom. Lu Yu wore a large mask of the same style as his son on his face.

Lao Mu's eyes followed Zheng'er, and when the father and son were about to walk away, Lao Mu suddenly noticed two suspicious people squeezing through the crowd and approaching Lu Yu. They looked ordinary, but what caught Lao Mu's attention was that he saw the posture of their arms, which clearly showed that they were hiding short knives in their sleeves and ready to attack at any time.

"Lao Cen!" Lao Mu's eyes condensed, and he called Cen Man and jumped out of the window again.

Cen Man didn't know what happened, but she didn't hesitate to follow Lao Mu out.

Others walked to the window and looked down.

Soon, there was a commotion in the crowd. There were too many people and it was too chaotic to see clearly. Only someone shouted "Murder".

However, the short commotion was soon quelled. Some people did die, but most people didn't see it. When they found out, the street market had returned to normal order again, and the parties involved had "disappeared".

Cen Man escorted Lu Yu and Zheng'er back to the restaurant. Lao Mu dragged the two bodies into the dark alley and told the officers and soldiers who came that he was Su Liang's master. After asking their superiors, the officers and soldiers let Lao Mu deal with it on his own and find them again if necessary.

Those two men were indeed assassins, but it was not Lao Mu who killed them. It was Lao Mu who tried to stop them. After Cen Man injured them with hidden weapons, the two men committed suicide by taking poison, preferring to die rather than be caught.

Using the light from the alley, Lao Mu searched the two assassins. There was nothing that could prove their identity. They looked ordinary, and their weapons were cheap goods that could be bought at street stalls. As for their martial arts skills, they were dead and there was no way to find out.

Lu Yu was worried about Wan Hui and the children at home, so he wanted to entrust Zheng Er to Cen Man and go home to see him.

Cen Man thought that Lao Mu would come again, so she told Nangong Qian and she escorted Lu Yu and his son home.

Lao Mu found the officers and soldiers who had greeted him before and asked them to help send the bodies to Su Mansion, and then went to the restaurant to pick up Nangong Qian and go home together.

Su Liang and Gu Ling were about to go to bed, and Lao Mu called Gu Ling downstairs of Yuanming Pavilion.

"I'll go and see." Gu Ling put on his clothes and went downstairs.

...

Upon learning that Lu Yu and Zheng Er had been assassinated, Gu Ling frowned immediately, "Who?"

Lao Mu shook his head, "I don't know." After saying that, he took Gu Ling to see the two bodies.

Gu Ling didn't find anything either, so he asked Qi Yan to dispose of the body before dawn.

"Old Cen has not returned from sending Zheng'er home yet. I wonder if anything happened to the Wan family." Old Mu sighed.

While they were talking, Cen Man came back and said that everything was fine in the Wan family and there was no abnormality tonight.

Gu Ling asked them to rest, and he returned to Yuanming Pavilion.

He first looked at Gu Xiaonuan, who was sleeping soundly.

Gu Ling went to the bed, took off his shoes, socks and outer clothes, and lay on the outside, and then heard Su Liang ask what happened.

After Gu Ling finished speaking, Su Liang was thoughtful, "Lu Yu and Zheng'er usually walk outside, and the location of their home is not a secret. The assassin chose to attack on the busy street tonight. Does it mean that the person behind the scenes is not sure and can only take advantage of this opportunity? Could it be that someone in the Li family is still alive and intends to kill Lu Yu and snatch Zheng'er away?"

Zheng'er's biological father was the head of the Li family, the largest porcelain merchant in Gan Country. The third son of Li tried every means to snatch Zheng'er away before his death.

"If they were from the Li family, they shouldn't be dead men." Gu Ling thought it was not reasonable.

"That's right." Su Liang shook his head, "Then it's even less likely that they were human traffickers."

But if they came for Su Liang and Gu Ling, because Zheng'er had a good relationship with them, so they wanted to capture Zheng'er... Su Liang felt that her and Gu Ling's enemies didn't seem to be so weak.

...

At this time, in the Nian family mansion that had been vacant for a long time in the capital of Gan State, a courtyard was lit up.

This place had been sealed off before. After the crime of deceiving the emperor by the sisters Nian Ruxue and Nian Ruting was exposed, the entire Nian family was exiled.

On the day of the incident, Nian Ruxue disappeared and never appeared again. Later, Nian Ruting was rescued from the Tianlao by Su Liang when he rescued Nian Jincheng. She was supposed to die, but Yan Shiqi kept her by his side privately and fell into Duanmu Yi's hands. Because Duanmu Yi failed to disgust Gu Ling with Nian Ruting, he told Duanmu Chen that he had executed her.

Later, after Gu Ling regained his identity, Nian Jincheng also got back everything he had and became the owner of the Nian Mansion, but he never lived here again and the servants were dismissed.

"Ting'er, those two rubbish you sent are useless!" A middle-aged woman with heavy makeup dusted off the chair and sat down.

Another woman in the room slowly walked to the chair next to her and sat down without wiping the dust. Her voice was hoarse and dry, "Once, Nian Ruxue liked to sit here the most."

If Su Liang was here, she would recognize at a glance that this was Nian Ruting, the fifth lady of the Nian family who was once infatuated with Gu Ling. And that middle-aged woman, Ren Dong was most familiar with, was her master Shaoyao.

Even Duanmu Yi didn't know that Nian Ruting was still alive. Because he did order Nian Ruting to be executed, but the person who did it was Shaoyao, and Shaoyao was extremely dissatisfied with Ren Dong at that time. She suddenly thought of it and secretly saved Nian Ruting's life and accepted her as a disciple.

Shaoyao looked unhappy, "Ting'er, the master is talking to you."

Nian Ruting stroked the armrest of the chair and still ignored Shaoyao, "My life was ruined by Nian Ruxue. She must still be alive, but I don't know where she is hiding in the gutter."

Shaoyao looked angry. She accepted Nian Ruting just to make her grateful and be her obedient servant. What she couldn't stand the most was being disobedient by her apprentice.

So Shaoyao stood up and slapped Nian Ruting hard, "Are you awake?"

Nian Ruting seemed to feel no pain. She pulled the corner of her mouth that was injured and smiled instead, "I heard the master's question. Those two are useless. Their only advantage is that they are devoted to me. I am willing to let them die. Tonight was just a trial. I wanted to kill that child to make Su Liang suffer. It was a great opportunity, but it didn't work."

"You just said that you hate your sister Nian Ruxue the most. Why do you insist on coming to trouble Su Liang now?" Shaoyao snorted coldly.

Nian Ruting sneered, "Master, I said that Nian Ruxue ruined my life. I hate her, but I didn't say I hate her the most. What I hate the most is, of course, Su Liang, because she took away my life and everything I wanted! Coincidentally, isn't Master's new master also Su Liang's enemy? If Master wants to be reused by the new master, the best gift is, of course, Su Liang's head."

Peony looked at Nian Ruting coldly, "Don't even think about using me! What Master wants is not only Su Liang's life, but also the life of Gu Ling, who you have been thinking about!"

Nian Ruting's face finally changed, "He... Why does he always look down on me? Obviously, we are destined to be together and should be engaged. It's all because of those two bitches Nian Ruxue and Su Liang!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Shaoyao looked impatient, "I'm not here for you. Just be calm and don't do things I didn't ask you to do without permission! I don't want stupid actions like tonight to happen again! "

.