Bustling outside the city, bustling inside.

Entering from the West City, the sound of hawking along the street is endless, and on the wide bluestone paved street, seven or eight children are running along the various stalls and shops on the street, making a string of pleasant laughter.

The goods outside the door of a morning market stall were knocked down by this group of chasing and fighting children, and the children did not cry, but got up and ran away without a trace.

When the shopkeeper heard the sound, he hurriedly walked out to take a look, and couldn't help but scold: "You little hairy teeth, you broke things and ran away, do you think I don't know where your adults are?"

The shopkeeper scolded and picked up the overturned items, but a few immature people who had broken things returned here and sang to the shopkeeper: "Li Dazui, big head, the scale at home is nine, two, nine!"

When the shopkeeper heard this, he immediately rushed over, and the children seemed to have understood the boss's movements, and then ran away without a trace, but the shopkeeper held his waist and scolded into the distance: "You little bastards, don't let me see you again! ”

When the shopkeeper squatted down and continued to clean up, the children came back here in twos and threes and continued to sing with a smile: "I can't run, I can't catch up, and I can't use my big mouth and big head!"

After singing this paragraph, they all laughed and bent over.

The shopkeeper with a big head was angry enough, he stretched out his hand and scolded loudly: "Butcher Zhang, Wang Mazi, look at what kind of seed you have born!"

Saying that, while the children were not paying attention, he rushed over and grabbed a child's collar, and scolded with a smile: "Little Maoya, look where you are running!"

The child who smiled and bent over was not afraid, but struggled hard, until his feet were off the ground, then he turned his head and said, "Li Dazui, let go of me!"

"It's not big or small, your father Zhang Mazi taught you to speak like this?"

picked up the child's big head shopkeeper and hung the child on the shelf, then said with a smile: "You little hairy teeth, go and tell Zhang Mazi that his son smashed my goods and asked him to come over and pay for ransom." ”

The child hanging on the shelf laughed and said loudly: "Li Dazui, you don't want to get a penny from my father." ”

"Then you will honestly stay on it for half a day, and it will be regarded as a guard for me, and the salary will be regarded as compensation for me. Li Dazui turned around and wanted to go back to the shop, and a slender voice came from behind him: "Yo, Li Dazui, you will only bully and bully children!"

Li Dazui was not angry, turned his head and scolded with a smile: "You dead sissy, don't be nosy!"

The man with a slender voice stretched out his finger and tapped it around, and said angrily: "Dead mouth, you just ask the neighbors if I am a sissy?"

The people around nodded and said, "Yes!"

The man stomped his foot angrily, turned back to his rouge shop, and shouted outside the door: "Next time I am forced by your old ladies to go to my store to buy rouge, I can see that I will give you the lowest discount!"

The little boy on the shelves where the items were placed had been rescued by his companion at some point, and ran to Li Dazui's shop and sang a ballad.

Pedestrians laughed knowingly, and occasionally a few adults passed by and shouted a few words to the naughty children, and the children scattered in fright, but after a while, they ran wildly down the street again.

Tai'an City is auspicious and plain inside and outside, Chen Jingcang took the two girls slowly entered from the city gate, and most of the people on the street cast curious eyes, but after a glance, they were all busy.

Although these young ladies are good-looking, the handsome sons and beautiful ladies they have seen over the years are not a hundred, but eighty.

Chen Jingcang, who was stepping on the street, was tilting his head and talking to Su Qing'er at this time, mostly focusing on introductions. Su Qing'er came to Tai'an for the first time, she was a little strange, and she was full of curiosity about many things that she had never seen in Bingzhou, and after repeated inquiries, Chen Jingcang still introduced her along the way.

Tai'an's appearance now has not changed much from three years ago, but the flow of people on the street is more dense, after passing through the West City, all the way into the inner city of Tai'an, looking back, Chen Jingcang couldn't help but sigh slightly and said: "It's really a blink of time, three years have passed." ”

Chen Feizhu said: "I'll go home if I go forward." ”

"Yes, I've been walking the way home for three years, and I don't know if the courtyard where I live is still the same as before? Should I go to the palace to see him first? Or go back to the courtyard first?"

This is located outside the imperial city, there are people cleaning all the year round, today's courtyard is more thorough than in the past, the maid Hu heard the news that the owner of this courtyard is coming back today, the servants and maids in the courtyard have not left in recent years, there is nothing else to do except simple cleaning every day, and the days are really leisurely.

Today there are a few more new maidservants, listening to the arrangement, carefully wiping the corners of this small courtyard, after all, this small courtyard is not big, the work is not heavy, and the salary is also more, in addition to the small courtyard owner is not there all the year round, many people who serve in it, the past few years have been extraordinarily leisurely.

This morning the steward came to say that the master of the courtyard would be back at noon, and this time he was busy, and the steward rejected the idea of a few maidservants to hang some red lanterns.

After all, the Tai'an Lantern Festival is coming, and now many large families have hung lanterns, which is more festive if it doesn't look good, but the steward said with a serious face: "The main family doesn't like it, just keep it as it is." ”

Although the maidservant was rejected by the steward, she still walked away with cheerful steps, and they had seen the young boy, who did not like to talk, and stayed in the house all day, and if she went out, she did not come back for several days, and when she came back, she went into the house again. As long as the main family is at home in the backyard of the small courtyard, they can't go over to take a look, if they violate this taboo, then they will only be dismissed, but few people are willing to give up such an idle errand easily.

Most of the maidservants in the small courtyard had sneaked around after the lord's house had left, but there was a large clearing, and there was nothing in the clearing, only a few weeds.

Later, the steward ordered them to clean up the backyard in a few days, and the people gradually lost interest in the backyard.

There are also many older maidservants who have been married in the past three years, but this errand is still leading, and the days of staying at home, the monthly money is still never in arrears, and in addition to being grateful to the master who has rarely seen him, he is particularly attentive to this errand, so the few people who were originally in the small courtyard seem to be particularly hard at this time.

Is that talkative boy finally coming back?

In those years, a few bold maidservants often deliberately found some words to tease the little boy who looked very gentle, and I never saw him angry, just waved his hand gently, and then went back to the house by himself.

If you are more daring, ask the little boy: "Do you have a favorite girl?"

The little boy was silent for a while, and then nodded lightly: "There is a favorite woman." ”

For such a gentle master, the few people who teased the little boy all 'giggled', and the little boy would smile most of the time, and even a few young but bold maids smiled and asked: "Master, what do you think of the slave?"

The little boy smiled slightly: "My sister is a Peugeot born by herself." ”

This sister made the little maids laugh and tremble, and in the future, the visible stiffness on the little boy's face made them dare not continue to laugh, but someone still asked: "What troubles have happened to the master's family?"

The little boy did not answer, but went back to his room and stayed all day.

The location of the small courtyard is very close to the imperial city, and the maidservants also know that this son's background must be extraordinary, but there have only been three guests in the small courtyard so far.

A woman with a pale face, they have never seen such a brilliant woman, three years ago after the departure of the son, the woman would come to the courtyard almost every day to take a look, after that, there was a slender figure beside her, a dignified middle-aged man, the maids received the order of the steward, all of them were not allowed to approach, standing in the distance and watching the two stay in the courtyard for an hour before leaving.

It was like this almost every day for those days, but after a few days, no one came to the courtyard again, and it has been until now.

The maidservants who were cleaning today were wiping the door, the gate had not been painted, but it was not eroded by the wind and frost, and the wood that came to make the gate must be excellent, and after cleaning for a while, I saw two people coming outside the door at some point.

There were two men, one was standing outside the door with his hands down, and behind him was a man who was bent down and looked like he was in charge, at this time, the middle-aged man was holding his hands behind his back, but his eyes were looking into the distance, as if he was waiting for another person.

The maids who cleaned guessed that the middle-aged man whose head was already covered with wisps of silver should be waiting for someone, but his body kept standing straight, looking not so much like waiting for his juniors, but like waiting for something important.

After standing for a long time, Wu Lingzhi, who had been bending down and bowing his head, felt the footsteps of the person next to him move slightly, and he knew that the person had come to the small courtyard first.

The middle-aged man's eyes kept staring at the young man who was walking unfast, and the young man must have seen him when he walked this way, but after the young man's steps stopped slightly, he returned to normal and continued to walk towards the small courtyard.

It seemed that the person standing in front of him was a stranger, but at a distance of dozens of zhang, the middle-aged man seemed to have been waiting for ten years, looking at the young man who was a little thinner, the middle-aged man finally couldn't bear it at this time, and greeted the three people who were walking slowly.

Chen Jingcang looked at the man in front of him, his eyes retreated for a moment, but he hurriedly smiled at Su Qing'er beside him and said, "Look, this is the house I lived in three years ago, and you will be a hostess in the future." ”

Su Qing'er's eyes flashed with joy, her steps were a little faster, and she reached out to grab Chen Jingcang's arm, and the joy on her face couldn't be hidden.

The middle-aged man looked at the oncoming young man, stretched out his hand to stop him, the man did gently dodge sideways, the middle-aged man kept his hand in a state of distraction, looked at the young man who stepped on the steps of the small courtyard, sighed, and followed.

At this time, Chen Feizhu bowed slightly towards the middle-aged man and shouted, "Uncle Chen." ”

The middle-aged man's eyes full of disappointment regained some brilliance, and he smiled: "Xiao Zhu'er, uncle... Alas..."

Su Qing'er, who had been following Chen Jingcang, also asked in a low voice, "Who is that person?"

Chen Jingcang stepped into the small courtyard before he said, "A timid person!"