Chapter 7047 Eyes

Chapter 7047 Eyes
At this moment, Chen Xi's eyes even had a somewhat strange look. There was no way around it; Hua Sheng and Bu Yao were at least normal-looking objects, but anyone with a normal sense of aesthetics could tell that this phoenix hairpin was definitely not an ordinary thing.

Chen Xi has bought similar things for his wife before. Gold phoenix hairpins are sold in every gold shop, and there are also old craftsmen who will make a set for you if you provide the gold and they provide the craftsmanship.

However, gold is ultimately a metal, and metals always convey a sense of inanimateness. Therefore, it is extremely rare to create a piece that is lifelike, with expressive eyes, so that it seems to take flight as if it were alive at first glance.

As for the phoenix hairpin that Zhang Changpu is holding now, which can make the wings tremble with the slightest vibration of the pulse, and seem to take flight as if a gentle breeze is blowing, it is a top-tier item that even Chen Xi's family has few of.

This thing doesn't belong as a gift for a little girl; it's meant to be a family heirloom or a gift from a nobleman to his wife. To put it bluntly, there's definitely something wrong with Zhong Yao taking this out today.

Shi Xie and Liao Li were both exceptionally intelligent men, and after so many years of experience, they understood the ways of the world. Seeing this, they naturally stopped and let Zhong Yao distance himself from them. Liu Bei also pulled Chen Xi aside, while Zhang Shi looked Zhong Yao up and down, assessing his intentions.

"If Minister Zhong has some free time, he may come to the Prince of Jin's residence." After thinking for a while, Madam Zhang felt that although she couldn't figure out if Zhong Yao had lost his mind, considering that Chen Xi also had moments of losing his mind, and that Yang Dao of Zuo Fufeng was also a typical example of someone who lost his mind, it was best not to make any random comments. Therefore, after thinking for a moment, she still asked Zhong Yao to come to the Prince of Jin's residence for tea.

Even in the unheard thoughts of Chen Xi, Zhang was muttering to herself, wondering if even the most brilliant strategists had moments of such lapses in judgment, like Chen Xi, Xun You, and now Zhong Yao. Were they really without problems?

However, Zhang only thought these things and would never show them on her face. Even as the Princess Consort of Prince Jin, Zhang did not want to provoke any of these brainless fellows.

Therefore, no matter what she was thinking, Zhang still extended an invitation. After all, Zhong Yao was one of the world's top civil officials, with exceptional abilities, and he was also the head of the Zhong family in Yingchuan. His conditions were so good that if you searched the whole world, you probably wouldn't find many guys who could fight better than Zhong Yao.

Moreover, personal charm is not simply about being pretty; it's a combination of many factors, such as background, status, power, family, and even suitors. These are all components of personal charm.

While age and appearance do contribute to personal charm, they are often insignificant compared to status, power, and background, especially when the latter are exceptionally high. In such cases, the former two become quite unimportant.

It's obvious that Zhong Yao has extremely high overall charm. As for whether he's suitable for Zhang Changpu, we'll discuss that later. At the very least, Zhang feels that he can't just reject Zhong Yao outright.

Given this guy's background, status, and power, directly refusing him would easily make him an enemy.

Zhong Yao was actually a little embarrassed at this moment. He felt that he had really acted impulsively and took out the item. But now that Zhang had said so, Zhong Yao felt that it would be a loss if he didn't agree. So he calmly said that he would go to the Prince of Jin's residence when he had time.

Upon hearing this, Zhang had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on. Most men who behaved this way had already given in to their inner desires, but were simply unwilling to face reality.

After muttering a few words to herself, Zhang Shi stopped talking, nodded to Liu Bei, and left with her distant grandniece. There was no other way; although she had seen older men and younger women before, Zhang Shi felt she needed to calm herself down, as Zhong Yao was a bit too old!
"Yuan Chang, you're almost sixty, aren't you?" Chen Xi asked tentatively after Zhang Shi left.

"What do you want to say?" Zhong Yao didn't hold back. At other times he would have been intimidated by Chen Xi, but this time he decided to let it go. "I just happen to have this on me, so what?"

"Stop harming other people's little girls," Chen Xi said directly. At this moment, he had to show his authority as an uncle and stop this troublemaker from doing anything reckless.

"I heard that when one of my cousins ​​met my aunt, was she ten years old? Or nine?" Zhong Yao directly exposed him, "You son of a bitch, if the eldest brother doesn't say the second brother is good, what makes you better than me?"

"I was twenty years old back then, how old are you now!" Chen Xi said with a dark face.

"My aunt was ten years old back then?" Zhong Yao gave him a look that said, "Go on, I'm listening."

"Stop talking nonsense. I'll be keeping an eye on this." Chen Xi said irritably. Zhong Yao, you're already sixty years old, and you're still messing with girls who look only fourteen or fifteen years old.

Okay, Zhang Changpu is only ten years old now, and will be eleven after the New Year. However, because she is from Taiyuan, which is close to the northern border, the conditions have been good in recent years. The supply of meat, eggs and milk in the summer is very abundant. At only ten years old, she has already grown to nearly 1.5 meters tall. Moreover, because of the good nutrition, she has developed well and is no different from a young woman in the past. Therefore, her parents have brought her here to find a husband.

However, her parents didn't expect it to happen right now. They figured it wouldn't be a rush to wait a few years, since she looked like a grown woman now and they could start looking for her.

Zhang Shi also assumed that Zhang Changpu was quite old because he was so big. After all, Zhen Mi was only about the same size when she was fourteen or fifteen. When she was ten years old, she was not even as tall as Chen Xi when she was sitting down while serving tea to Chen Xi.

Just think about the conditions of the Zhen family. Zhen Mi is the only legitimate daughter, and at fourteen or fifteen years old, she has only grown to the size of Zhang Changpu now. Zhang Shi never thought that her grandniece was only ten years old. However, although Zhang Shi did not know Zhang Changpu's age, she found that her grandniece was a bit slow after spending the last few days with her.

Of course, Zhang felt that this stupidity was somewhat like her nephew hadn't properly educated her daughter, resulting in a lack of knowledge. But the child herself was quite intelligent. Even though she hadn't learned anything related to the subject, if Zhang taught her once, Zhang Changpu would be able to handle it on her own the next time she encountered the same situation.

Therefore, Zhang did not consider that her grandniece Chun Chun was not very old, but very intelligent. After all, she was already quite big. Based on the experience of the previous era, she must be fourteen or fifteen years old. Even Chen Xi thought so, so it was not wrong for Zhang to think so, right?

It can only be said that the geographical advantages of the large ranches in northern Xinjiang are so obvious, especially since the local big farmers rely on their own connections to reasonably reduce some waste in the large ranches, which can be considered a good thing.

At least someone like Zhu Jun no longer feels it's a waste when he sees buckets of milk being poured onto little girls. After all, it's better to pour it onto little girls than to feed calves. Damn it, Zhu Jun felt something was wrong the first time he saw buckets of milk being carried to feed calves.

Zhang Changpu was a product of the Northern Ranch, where he was fed a lot of milk from a young age. As a result, he managed to catch up with the average height of girls in later generations in terms of physical development. He was just a few days shy of eleven years old and was already 1.5 meters tall!

However, since dairy products are not yet widespread in the Central Plains and children's development has not reached the level of later generations, Chen Xi would have called the police directly.

Of course, to be fair, Chen Xi overlooked one point: Zhong Yao did indeed have a concubine named Zhang Changpu in official history, and she gave birth to Zhong Hui when Zhong Yao was seventy years old. If we're talking about destiny and such things, Zhong Yao and Zhang Changpu were at least on par with Yang Dao and the Second Miss in terms of destiny, although they certainly deserved to be shot.

“I think you still don’t have enough work,” Zhong Yao said honestly. He didn’t mince words, even though Chen Xi was trying to stop him. It seemed he wasn’t getting enough work. He really needed to find Chen Xi some work too.

"Yuan Chang, you don't actually have feelings for that girl, do you?" Liu Bei frowned and asked Zhong Yao. He found this strange. You scions of noble families should all have implemented anti-addiction measures, especially you heirs to the family headship. You all implemented anti-addiction measures to avoid becoming addicted to women. How come you, at your age, failed the anti-addiction measures? What's going on?

"I don't know." Zhong Yao shook his head and said, "I wouldn't say I'm obsessed, but I just feel that it would be best to have her. But what you said is quite right, the age difference between her and me is indeed not suitable."

When Liu Bei spoke politely, Zhong Yao stopped being sarcastic and became much more sincere.

“I don’t really understand why I have this feeling either,” Zhong Yao said after a moment of contemplation. “Oh well, let it be.”

Upon hearing Zhong Yao's words, Shi Xie and Liao Li's previously respectful but distant attitude softened considerably. After all, sometimes it's purely impulsive, and everyone has those moments in life. As for the so-called anti-addiction measures, they're not invincible; they can only make people more sober and rational.

The problem is that some people make a clear-headed and rational choice. To be honest, in this situation, it would be better not to implement anti-addiction measures at all. At least if you don't implement anti-addiction measures, the other party will be full of enthusiasm when they rush in and won't think about what to do next.

Even with anti-addiction measures in place, this is still happening. If people are still trying to get hooked, then they're definitely going to fight the clan.

Zhong Yao is clearly in a clear and rational state now, but he is still like this, which means that it is true, as Zhong Yao said, that meeting is fate, which makes things very difficult.

On the other side, Zhang was tentatively asking Zhang Changpu for his opinion on Zhong Yao. At this moment, Zhang Changpu was holding the phoenix hairpin and gesturing with it against his head, looking quite happy.

"Is that man called Zhong Yuanchang?" Zhang Changpu stopped what he was doing and asked.

“Yes, he is the head of the Zhong family of Yingchuan and the de facto leader of the Ganges River mid-lower reaches region. If the Ganges River lower reaches are divided into prefectures in the future, he will be the governor. Moreover, unlike other governors, he will have certain military power and will be one of the most powerful figures in the country.” Zhang told Zhang Changpu about Zhong Yao’s various conditions in a down-to-earth manner. “Furthermore, if he becomes the governor, he will definitely hold the title of one of the Three Dukes in the future.”

The middle and lower reaches of the Ganges are too important as a directly administered area. In order to prevent anyone from causing trouble here, they will definitely be given a high position. Therefore, there is a high probability that Zhong Yao will be promoted to one of the Three Dukes in the future.

After all, whether it was reputation, ability, or seniority, Zhong Yao was qualified to try and get his hands on the position of one of the Three Dukes reserved for those outside Liu Bei's faction.

To put it bluntly, nowadays, there is no one more suitable than Zhong Yao. Even Zhou Yu, as long as Liu Bei and Chen Xi don't do anything foolish, they will never let Zhou Yu touch the Three Dukes.

"Is this the important person my mother-in-law told me about?" Zhang Changpu asked with a smile, tilting his head.

"What do you think of this person? Let's leave aside all the unnecessary details and just talk about how you feel about them?" Zhang asked with a hint of curiosity.

Zhang herself wasn't really against this kind of thing. Although she felt that it was a bit perverted for Zhong Yao to give Zhang Changpu this, given Zhong Yao's current conditions and the fact that the position of the matriarch of the Zhong family was vacant, if Zhang Changpu married Zhong Yao and could give birth to a son and secure the position of matriarch of the Zhong family, it would honestly be beneficial to Zhang. However, if Zhang Changpu didn't catch her eye, Zhang wouldn't actively push for it.

After all, Zhang Shi was already of a certain rank, so there was no need for her to do these things. With Liu Shan ascending the throne, Zhang Shi, as the legal mother, would definitely become the Empress Dowager. She really didn't need to do these things, so she could just go with the flow.

"Love at first sight?" Zhang Changpu recalled Zhong Yao, "The uncle seemed quite refined?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang looked at Zhang Changpu with a strange expression. Zhang knew how old Zhong Yao was; he was ten years older than Liu Bei. But Zhang Changpu thought he was an old man.
Zhang thought Zhang Changpu would consider Zhong Yao his grandfather. Since Zhang Changpu considered him his uncle, Zhang thought the matter was still worth discussing, and it all depended on whether Zhong Yao had the nerve to show up.

However, Zhang felt that if Zhong Yao really didn't care about his reputation, this matter could definitely be accomplished. After all, if we disregard age, Zhong Yao had too many halos around him, and those things were all the charm of a supermodel.

"Mother-in-law, is this phoenix hairpin very expensive?" Zhang Changpu played with the phoenix hairpin in his hand for a while, and then asked Zhang Shi as if he realized something.

The Zhang Changpu family, after all, was a branch of the Zhang family of Hanoi and a further branch of the Zhang family of Qinghe. They were responsible for some tasks, so they could be considered a branch of the family.

In addition, Zhang Changpu has always been intelligent and was well-liked by his parents, so his mother gave him a lot of jewelry. However, compared with the phoenix hairpin in his hand, which Zhong Yuanchang handed him after casually saying that meeting was fate, it seemed to be much inferior. Even his mother did not have anything similar.

“He gave it to you, so just take it.” Zhang glanced at the phoenix hairpin but didn’t mention the price. At this level of craftsmanship, talking about the price was meaningless. It wasn’t actually expensive, but most people couldn’t find a craftsman like that to make it.

The core of Chinese luxury goods does not lie in the expensiveness of the materials. Often, the materials used in Chinese luxury goods are just average. What is truly terrifying is that the materials and the craftsmanship are brought to their fullest potential. For example, the same silk can produce different results in the hands of different weavers.

Modern silk Xiuhe dresses can now achieve the brilliance of gemstones; this is true craftsmanship.

Similarly, most jade stones are priced similarly, but when it comes to true craftsmanship, top-tier jade carving can create the concept of softness in corundum.

The cold material of gold can be imbued with the spirituality that only living things possess.

Often, you can get the materials, but you can't find the person who can give them those properties. Zhang Changpu was also limited by this understanding. For her, gold was just gold, very expensive, but not impossible. As for skills, they were beyond her understanding, and she could only judge them by common sense.

The problem is that this kind of thing can't be judged by common sense.

“My mother told me that if you receive a gift from someone, you should give one in return,” Zhang Changpu said very seriously. “I was dazzled by the gift at the time, but now I think I shouldn’t have accepted it.”

“Everyone has a love for beauty,” Zhang said calmly, though it was unclear whether she was referring to Zhang Changpu or Zhong Yao. “If you feel embarrassed, then prepare something you made yourself as a return gift. Perhaps Zhong Yuanchang will really come to the Prince of Jin’s residence in a couple of days.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Changpu tilted his head, indicating that he was quite skilled at embroidery.

Zhang glanced at Zhang Changpu sideways, thinking that the child would be tricked away by Zhong Yao sooner or later.

After confirming that he had a chance to return the gift to Zhong Yao, Zhang Changpu was no longer so worried when playing with the phoenix hairpin. After all, he had seen the world and, although he thought the phoenix hairpin was indeed incredibly exquisite, he did not think that it would be so expensive that he could not make one even if he sold himself.

Zhang Changpu's thinking was still at the level of simply seeing it as gold, without considering that the material was only the lowest level of value, and the upper limit depended entirely on the level of craftsmanship; it was all about craftsmanship.

"Do you know how to weave?" Zhang suddenly asked.

"Yes, I learned it from my mother, and I can even weave some patterns," Zhang Changpu nodded and said, showing that she was quite skillful.

“The Prince of Jin’s residence also has looms. You can try it. Zhong Yuanchang won’t be here so quickly; he has some things to take care of,” Zhang said slowly.

"Grandma, do you also need to weave?" Zhang Changpu asked curiously, as she remembered that her mother rarely wove anymore.

“Occasionally, I will also make a set of clothes for my husband, daughter, or son-in-law by hand.” Zhang said confidently. “These are basic skills that you still need to know. They may not seem important, but they are the skills that make men feel most at ease.”

"Are you cooking?" Zhang asked Zhang Changpu after she finished speaking.

"I can make some simple meat porridge and milk porridge," Zhang Changpu said after thinking for a moment.

"What is milk porridge?" Zhang asked with some curiosity, as she had never actually made such a strange thing before.

Lying in bed