Chapter 251

The winter sunlight was not very warm.0

But as long as there was sunlight, one's mood would improve.0

Mianmian was helping her father organize books in his study.0

Books were an important resource, and a whole carriage was filled with them on their journey to the capital.0

The courier industry wasn't very developed at that time, otherwise it would have been more convenient to ship books by courier.0

Due to underdeveloped courier services and inconvenient transportation, they only brought carefully selected books.0

Or more often, people memorized information in their minds.0

Father's study was quite large.0

Perhaps because Uncle He had seen the Inspector's suite in Jingzhou, he decorated Father's study with a similar flavor, including a wall-to-wall bookshelf.0

Father was organizing the books onto the shelves.0

When it came to tidying up, Father wasn't very gifted and worked rather slowly.0

Often, he would take out a book, flip through it, then sit down and keep reading.0

This greatly reduced his progress.0

However, browsing through books randomly was also a kind of enjoyment.0

Mianmian was called by her father to stay and help with this task.0

Although Mianmian didn't like memorizing books, she could understand what she read. She classified and arranged the books for her father one by one.0

Modern people have too many channels to acquire knowledge, so they don't like memorizing books. Ancient people had few channels to acquire knowledge, so they wanted to memorize every book.0

Mianmian discovered a pile of books on Yin-Yang and the Eight Trigrams. She hadn't expected her father to believe in such things, or to enjoy reading these types of books.3

There were also many books on Chinese medicine, including one titled "Interpretation of Herbal Medicine" authored by Changtian Recluse.0

It was obvious that this was her father's pen name.0

Calling himself a recluse was quite amusing.0

Jiang Mianmian thought about whether she should write a book herself.0

At that time, if you wanted to publish a book, it seemed you didn't need to buy an ISBN.0

The main limitations were printing and paper.0

Jiang Changtian would often pick up a book he hadn't read in a long time, suddenly flip through it, have some memory of it, and then feel a sense of realization.0

He closed the book and looked at his busy little daughter arranging the books.0

"Mianmian, what do you want to do when we get to the capital?"0

"Keep a low profile?" Jiang Mianmian tentatively replied.3

Jiang Changtian: Uh-oh.0

Something must have gone wrong in her education.0

But thinking carefully, it seemed his little daughter was speaking the truth.0

As a Fifth-rank Commander, an official pardoned from being a rebel, they would indeed be at the bottom of the heap in the capital.0

Above them were officials of the fourth, third, second, and first ranks.0

There were also various royal relatives and nobles.0

Their only relatives in the capital now were their in-laws, the Mengs.0

The court valued civil officials over military ones, so their in-laws probably weren't doing very well either.0

When he visited the Meng family, he found no signs of factionalism or nepotism, which indicated two possibilities: either his in-laws were too upright, or they had been excluded from the inner circles.0

Jiang Changtian, who always assumed the worst about people, felt it was probably the latter.0

The Meng family had been excluded from the center of power.0

But to advance in officialdom, one must collude, form factions, and take sides.0

Pure officials, straight officials, only become the emperor's tools because others won't play with them.0

Becoming a tool means losing one's personality.0

Every word seemed pale and powerless.0

She didn't even know how to reply to the letter.0

The weather was fine.0

There was an endless stream of people leaving the city for an outing.0

At the foot of Yanshan Mountain, there was a green lawn, not the flat kind, but a large slope where one could roll down from the top.0

There was a river.0

Even in winter it didn't freeze, with water flowing gently, making a pleasant sound.0

It was already evening by the time they arrived outside the city.0

When the sunset glow filled the sky.0

It was at such a time that Mianmian saw her childhood friend again.0

He stood in front of the grave, dressed in white robes, with his black hair tied up only in the front, the ends of his hair and clothes fluttering gently in the wind.0

"A peerless gentleman in the world, like jade among the common folk."0

This poem had two more lines.0

"Unable to be born in the same era, I only wish to be buried in the same earth."0

Seeing a uniquely handsome and jade-like young man, although they couldn't be born at the same time, the ancient people hoped to be buried in the same place after death.0

The practicality and romance of the ancients.0

Seeing a handsome man, they even thought about the burial place.0

In her memory, the five or six-year-old boy didn't like to talk, was very serious, a bit precocious, probably lacked love, liked her mother, his eyes always wandering to her mother.0

Now he had become a dashing young man, a teenager of about fifteen or sixteen, very tall, like his father.0

Not fat, but lean and lanky.0

Very beautiful.0

Zi Lu had a bearded, romantic, and gallant air, like a martial arts alliance leader, with the free and easy manner of Xiao Feng.3

Zi Congheng grew up clean and beautiful, with a pair of cold and clear eyes.0

For Jiang Mianmian, who was used to seeing her father every day, seeing Zi Congheng again and finding him so beautiful was quite rare.0

Fortunately.0

Her childhood friend hadn't grown up ugly, but had become even more handsome.0

Zi Congheng turned to look at Mianmian.0

They had exchanged letters.0

Not many.0

Just a few words, but he always felt her life was vivid and exciting.0

He remembered her as a very pretty chubby child.0

Now, she had grown up, a graceful young lady, walking slowly towards him.0

Her pace was as he imagined, a bit quick.0

She liked to jog while walking.0

She almost ran over to him.0

Standing in front of him.0

They faced each other wordlessly.0

Mianmian reached out her hand.0

Zi Congheng was stunned for a moment, then also reached out his hand.0

Her hand grasped his.0

"Long time no see."3

"Long time no see."3

...0