Lian was anxious, and urged his daughter to visit and recognize her relatives early the next morning.

Ling Xiang persuaded him, saying that he would take a look at the environment of his aunt's house first, so he asked for a set of small clothes, changed to men's clothes, brought Ah Long, the boss of the Gong family, and a few bags of gifts, and followed his uncle to ride a horse all the way to the area of Jugongfang.

Kyoto Prefecture City called Ying Tianfu, Jugong Fang is the place where the low-level soldiers who have meritorious service are given when the founding of the country live, not far from the prosperous place of Qinhuai, because of the founding of the country for a long time, most of the houses here appear to be old, also opened some shops, all kinds of tricks flying, although there is a ditch in front of the house, but the filth is blocked, the head of each building splashes a basin of water from time to time, the bluestone slab in the middle of the road has been ground smooth in many places, the cracks are covered with mildew and dark moss, and the capable people will obviously not live here anymore. In the early years, the soldiers still had some status, and there was no war in the customs for many years, and their status gradually declined, and they were essentially reduced to tenant farmers of generals, which were inferior to small farmers who were self-cultivators.

Ling Xiang's uncle Cheng Shaomei originally inherited a small old house from his ancestors, which was later renovated by Ling Dongcheng, and when he found it with his niece, he saw that it was a three-story two-story black lacquered building facing the bluestone street, and one of the first three stores was used for entry and exit, which was decent on this section of the street.

Knocking on the door, the person who came to answer the door was a woman in her fifties, with a wide forehead, white temples, and a solemn face.

Although Ling Xiang had never met, he couldn't help but feel very cordial when he saw it, and subconsciously bowed deeply: "Auntie!"

The woman was stunned, looking up and down at the young man dressed as a small maid in front of her, her skin was as clear as a spring pear, her eyebrows were delicate and her life was rare, her figure was slender, and the coarse cloth could not hide her natural fragrance and national color, and she was clearly a pretty daughter.

Lian Chengxian hurriedly arched his hand and said: "In the next Lin'an Lianyi, the eldest sister married Mr. Dongcheng, who is the daughter of my brother-in-law and sister, and this time the family moved to live in the capital, and I came to move around. ”

The woman was in a trance for a moment, only then did she realize, she was overjoyed, grabbed Ling Xiang's hand and let it go in again and again, shouting as she walked: "Run'er Daddy, Run'er Daddy, who are you here?"

The room greeted a white-haired old man, his body looked quite strong, he could be called a crane-haired childish face, and he was carrying a hammer in his hand, and he had just entered the late spring weather, and his kudzu cloth clothes had been soaked with sweat, and he asked loudly according to the woman's words: "Who is coming?"

The woman clapped her hands and laughed and said, "It's my niece and nephew!" I think it's because my daughter's family is not easy to show up, but you see, she dressed up as a boy, and said that the whole family moved to live in Beijing, and I will never be a person without my mother's family in the future......

Ling Chunniang was obviously too happy, a little incoherent, and ignored Lian Xian in her words.

Ah Long and the others were instructed by Ling Makeup to act carefully, and as soon as they entered the door, they closed the door for the woman and closed the bolt.

"Who said you don't have a mother's family, and you're not afraid of making relatives laugh!" Cheng Shaomei counted down her mother-in-law's words, quickly dropped the hammer, lifted the placket of her clothes with her hand and wiped it, and motioned to Ling Chunniang to serve tea and burn snacks while giving up her seat.

Lian Chengxian hurriedly grabbed him, and Ling Xiang also pulled Ling Chunniang not to be busy, so Ah Long presented a gift, Ying Ying smiled and said: "Uncle and aunt, don't be busy, my niece came in a hurry today, but she just knows the door, and when she settles down, she will send her family to inform her of the residence, and she will often pick up her aunt to talk to her mother." ”

Sitting down and taking a breath, Cheng Shaomei and Lian Chengxian saw each other again, Ling Chunniang brewed a few strong walnut pine nut tea, served a dish of homemade spiced dried bean curd and a few dry mountain fruits, sat down and rubbed his hands, Fang felt a little abnormal, and asked with a little doubt: "Two years ago, my brother also asked people to bring a letter to say that his nephew and daughter were married, this is ...... When you say that the whole family moved into Yingtianfu, do you mean your mother's family or your mother-in-law's family?"

Ling Makeup understated: "Since it is accompanied by an uncle, it is naturally a mother's family, and there are a few things that need to be explained in detail to my uncle and aunt, this first thing is that my niece has left the Shen family, and now she is free, and I hope I will not mention it again in Beijing in the future." ”

Ling Chunniang listened, and looked at her husband for a long time.

Fortunately, although they are close, it is the first time they have met, and many words are not easy to say, Cheng Shaomei came back to her senses first: "Oh, you are here this time, the two brothers are not at home, sister-in-law and your sister-in-law - is it a sister? They are all in the backyard, hurry up and let them come over to meet their niece." ”

The first paragraph was with Ling Makeup, and the latter turned to Ling Chunniang.

Ling Chunniang smiled: "Look at what I liked, I forgot about it." As he spoke, he took a few steps and shouted twice into the patio behind him.

After a while, two young women, a girl of sixteen or seventeen, and a girl came from behind.

Ling Chunniang pointed and recognized each other one by one.

Wearing a light apricot dress is the wife of the eldest cousin Cheng Run, Xue, who is extremely petite, baby-faced, with pomegranate flowers on his head, and a bead of red beans hanging between the flowers.

Mo Shi, the wife of the second cousin Cheng Ze, has a long horse face with a slightly concave face, rough and yellowish skin, clear pores, and a half-old lotus-colored woman with the same material as the clothes on the top of the bun, revealing a small piece of silver hairpin, with only a simple twig pattern on it, and the carving is quite rough, and the appearance is a decent woman, but the abdomen is slightly raised, and she should be pregnant.

The girl and Ling Makeup had a tooth, one year younger, at this time she was seventeen years old, and she had not yet allowed anyone, Ling Makeup saw her aunt talking about her daughter's marriage with a little flicker, knowing that there must be a reason, every family has a difficult scripture, the first time they met, it was not good to ask more, so they affectionately held hands and exchanged names.

It turned out that my cousin's name was Cheng Ai, with single skin eyes, flat nose, long hands and long feet, slightly masculine, wearing a burgundy brocade with cut-out collar small sleeves and half arms, slightly undressed, not that the clothes were not cut properly, it was clear that her temperament was extremely incompatible with the clothes.

Cheng Ai saw Ling makeup dressed up as a little girl, which was very novel, so she couldn't stop asking each other frequently, and she didn't speak stiffly, and even moved her hands and feet.

Ling Makeup thought to herself: It seems that my uncle and aunt are middle-aged and have a daughter, and they are very fond of her, so they are used to a little bit of temperament. didn't break it at the moment, just laughed: "Sister, men and women can't kiss!"

Besides, the girl baby, like an onion, without a trace of baby fat, combed with hanging buns, Ling Chunniang pushed her forward to call "aunt" and "uncle".

Ling Xiang heard that it was the eldest cousin's daughter, and hurriedly turned around and took off a chain from her neck to put it on for her, and used it as a meeting gift.

This is a very fine gold chain, and there is a small round openwork gold incense box hanging underneath, which can be unscrewed to hold a little spice, and it can be worn close to the body, which is much better than those sachets.

Sending it away, Ling Makeup didn't introduce the trick, glanced at Xue's joy when he saw the gold chain, guessed that she would find out the beauty of the incense box sooner or later, and saw that she suddenly became a lot warmer, and her heart was not happy, so she straightened her face and told Ling Chunniang about the major events that happened in the family one by one.

Ling Chunniang and Cheng Shaomei gradually turned from joy to sadness, hearing that Ling Dongcheng was assigned to Lingnan, and the niece, mother and son couldn't stay in Hangzhou, so they transferred to Beijing, one wanted to do something for their younger brother, and the other wanted to buy a house and continue to do some business, so they couldn't help but worry.

Ling Chunniang shed some tears, and said: "Your eldest cousin is not in good health, he doesn't need to join the army, he used to work in Yun Jinxuan, and he was introduced by your father, but he was beaten out last month, so I wondered what happened, and I had no choice but to send a letter to your house and there was no news...... Since the government has lost so much of its family assets, you should be frugal and save some money, not to mention that the money in the capital to pay for the yamen is a small amount, and what kind of house do you buy! ”

Cheng Shaomei also nodded and did not object.

Xue learned that the Ling family had fallen to Beijing to make a living, and gradually revealed a lawsuit, and when he heard that his mother-in-law wanted them to live, he couldn't help but speak: "Mother, our sister hasn't talked about good relatives, both brothers are married, Cheng Run can't find a job if he is not angry, his younger brother sees that he wants to add a ding, but he can't spare enough yards to divide the family, his cousin's family is rich and noble, and the dead camel is bigger than the horse, where can I suffer so much, don't make jokes!"

Ling Chunniang saw that her daughter-in-law didn't like what she was talking about, and it was inconvenient for her to have a seizure in front of outsiders, and her face was already black to the bottom of the pot.

Ling Xiang glanced at his uncle, got up and said goodbye, only saying that his mother was waiting for him to settle down at the inn, and they had to go to find a house and buy it quickly.

Cheng Shaomei and his wife couldn't persuade her, Ling Chunniang was so anxious that she patted her heart and asked where Lian was and she wanted to visit.

Even Chengxian can be regarded as having seen many big scenes, and in his eyes, the Xue family is really not as good as the previous slaves and maids of the Ling family, how can he hold back his breath, and he insists on resigning, and asks loudly where the eunuchs in the capital are gathered, and the mansion with a garden for his sister and niece to spend their leisure time is to buy.

Xue couldn't hide his sarcastic tone, and said with a smile: "The Taipingfang outside Zhengyang Gate is the place where the officials of the six departments of the palace live......

Seeing that her mother-in-law looked at her angrily, she hurriedly covered her lips with a handkerchief and smiled, and said: "It's both sides of Qinhuai, where businessmen gather, live lively, and it's close to our house, isn't it just right?"

The second cousin-in-law, Mo Shi, was stunned: "Needless to say, there is no need to say that there is Taipingfang, how can it be bought by ordinary people? I don't look at the house by the Qinhuai River, it is expensive and narrow...... There are more fireworks in Willow Lane, so it's better to buy farther. ”

Ling Makeup ignored Xue's ridicule, but when he saw that Mo was speaking truthfully, he couldn't help but be a little more favored. Seeing that there were two strange flushes in her burnt yellow face, her heart moved: "The second cousin-in-law has been feeling a pain in her waist and abdomen recently, upset, and frequent hot flashes?"

Mo was stunned, in addition to the symptoms mentioned by Ling Xuan, she even occasionally saw blood, and talked to her husband a few times, all of which prevaricated that pregnant women could not use medicine, so that she would raise herself. Mo has never been a pampered person, and he is afraid of his husband and mother-in-law, so he doesn't say much, but now he asks, not only curious: "How did my cousin know?"

If Ling Xiangxin said that if he let it develop, he was afraid that the child would not be able to keep it, but when he came to the door for the first time, he didn't say it clearly, so he only said: "My family has a medicine hall in Hangzhou, and I remember that there are many fetal supplements in my bag. ”

Mo's mother's family is poor and has the lowest status in the Cheng family, so she was overjoyed when she heard the words and thanked her again and again.

Ling Xiang noticed that his uncle was squinting at Xue's daughter on the side, his expression was strange, he must be distressed about the gold chain, and he was a little ridiculous, so he hurriedly said to Ling Chunniang and his wife: "Uncle and aunt are relieved, niece and uncle will go to Yaxing to find a Chinese person, it is not difficult to visit a suitable house, settle down in a few days, and send someone to pick up my aunt's family to go over." ”

The Xue family also heard the sound of Ling makeup: no matter how the Ling family declines, it will not be her turn to look down on her, and the Cheng family's family background is fundamentally different from it, and she can't help but feel red on her face, as if she is annoyed and ashamed, and she pulled her daughter back to the house to take a closer look at the gold chain without even sending it out of the door.