The group paused, crossed an alley, turned a corner, and walked out of town.

After walking for two quarters of an hour, we came to a large vegetable field outside the town, where people came and went, as if it were more lively than in the town, almost all of them were young girls, all laughing and hurrying with their heads bowed.

Li Xiaonuan suddenly came to her senses, covered her mouth and "giggled" and laughed, Gu Xiao turned her head around inexplicably, and then looked at Li Xiaonuan, who was smiling so that her eyes narrowed into a slit, leaned over to her ear, and asked in a low voice:

"What are you laughing at?"

Li Xiaonuan rubbed her toes and whispered to Gu Xiao:

"I know what the two of them are going to do, let's not go, just wait for them here, otherwise, the eldest sister and the second sister will lose their temper in annoyance!"

Gu Xiao blinked in a daze, Li Xiaonuan pulled him, and then explained:

"Yesterday, I heard the end of winter say, let's go to Li Town, during the Lantern Festival, there is a custom, called 'stealing green onions, marrying a good son-in-law', the eldest sister and the second sister, go to steal the green onions in other people's fields!"

Gu Xiao opened his mouth wide in astonishment,

"Why haven't I heard of this custom?"

"What did you hear? It's a girl's business! ”

Gu Xiao scratched his head and suddenly realized:

"It turns out that the eldest sister and the second sister are trying to steal a 'good son-in-law'!"

Li Xiaonuan nodded seriously,

"I heard that it's very accurate!"

The two stood on the edge of the vegetable field and talked for a while, Gu Yunshan and Gu Yunhuan came back with smiles on their faces, Gu Yunshan pulled up her sleeves, didn't look at Gu Xiao and Li Xiaonuan, and told her mother-in-law with a smile:

"Let's go back."

"No! How about going back now? I haven't looked at the lights yet! ”

Gu Xiao jumped and screamed all of a sudden, Gu Yunshan coughed lightly, turned to look at Gu Xiao, and said with a straight face:

"When we came out, the ancestor didn't confess, so we wanted to go back early!"

"Humph! You steal ......"

"Gu Xiao!"

Li Xiaonuan hurriedly interrupted Gu Xiao's words, pulled him and whispered:

"Let's go back, anyway, those grandmothers surrounded us so tightly, and didn't take us to a lively place, this lamp is really nothing to see, it's better to go back to the boat, sit in the cabin, eat snacks, drink tea, look at the lanterns on both sides of the river, how comfortable! Let's just let the boat lady hold the boat slowly! ”

Gu Xiao thought about it and nodded,

"Nuan Nuan, you're right, then let's go back."

Gu Yunshan breathed a sigh of relief, pinched Li Xiaonuan's cheek with a smile and praised:

"Our Xiao Nuan just can talk!"

Grandma Sun and the mother-in-law surrounded the four of them, turned two or three corners, and then returned to the dock and got on the boat.

As soon as the four of them sat down in the cabin, the boat lady untied the cable, held the boat steadily, and slowly went back in the direction of Gufu.

Li Xiaonuan pulled Gu Xiao, leaned on the cabin window head to head, pointed and commented on the lanterns along the river, and watched the excitement of the lively people.

The boat traveled slowly for more than half an hour, and then entered the private river fork of the ancient mansion, stopped the boat on the dock outside the back corner gate, and the four of them went ashore and entered the corner gate, Gu Yunhuan yawned and became sleepy,

"I'm tired! I didn't sleep well last night, I'm going back to sleep quickly, I'm tired! ”

Li Xiaonuan was also yawned by Gu Yunhuan's yawn, and in the night room not far from the corner gate, two small glass lamps flashed out, Bilian took two little girls to greet her, and bent her knees with a smile.

"The old ancestor said, if the young master and young ladies come back, just go back and rest, I will go back to the old ancestor, saying that the young master and young lady have come back safely, I haven't heard this peace letter, the old ancestor is afraid that he won't be able to sleep!"

Gu Yunshan hurriedly smiled and said:

"I'm annoying Sister Bilian!"

Bilian smiled and bowed, saying "don't dare", and walked through the garden with the four of them, and went back separately.

Out of the fifteenth, even if the year has passed, on the sixteenth day of the first month, Mrs. Li and Mrs. Zhou talked slowly in the east chamber of Ruixuan Hall,

“…… I didn't expect Xiao Er to be very talented in this painting, otherwise, find him a good master and teach him to study hard, if he can really paint a good painting in the future, maybe he can really have some uses, what do you say? ”

Old Madam Li looked at Mrs. Zhou, who was pursing her lips tightly, smiled and continued:

"Xiao Er is a loyal and kind-hearted person, it is okay to be an idle and rich son, if he enters the court as an official in the future, this place is too loyal in the people's affairs and human relations, if he can have a little fame in this calligraphy and painting, he can also rely on it.

You also know that today's governor Zhang Che Zhang, calligraphy and painting is very famous, I heard that in the early years, the emperor also called him because he liked his calligraphy and painting, the emperor said that his calligraphy and painting are open, and people's hearts will be right, because of this sentence, I don't know how many times he saved him, so ...... I thought, it's a good way to go. ”

Mrs. Zhou hesitated, her face loosened, and she said with a smile:

"Mr. Zhang's calligraphy and painting is really handy, I heard that he just entered the Shi at that time, just in time for the old prime minister's birthday, others have to work hard, spent silver to prepare the gift, he only painted a picture of longevity and sent it in, the old prime minister likes it so much, even boasting that the painting is good, at that time it was hung in the main hall, how many people were envious!"

Old Madam Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded again and again,

"That's it! Looking at Xiao Er's spirituality in painting, if you are willing to work hard, you will study for ten or eight years, which is no worse than Master Zhang's strokes! ”

"I'm at my mother's disposal."

Mrs. Zhou hesitated slightly, and said gently, Mrs. Li laughed,

"There is a talent named Lin Mengyun in Yangzhou Mansion, known as Mr. Yunshan Mengshui, the landscape flowers and birds are painted very well, and he is also a person who has been famous for many years in our Jiangnan, it is better to bring a generous gift to invite him, if he can invite him to Shangli Town, teach Xiao Er for three or five years, it is excellent!"

"Mother arranges that."

Mrs. Zhou agreed with a gentle smile, Mrs. Li nodded, called Grandma Sun in, and instructed her to call the chief steward outside to come in, and arranged it carefully.

Li Xiaonuan accompanied Gu Xiao, under the pretext of looking for celebrity calligraphy and paintings, pestering Mrs. Li to let people open the warehouse, Gu Xiao's eyes lit up and looked at those celebrity monuments one by one, Li Xiaonuan quickly flipped through the scroll of calligraphy and paintings, and found a painting with a dream of clouds and mountains.

After almost a whole day, Li Xiaonuan found a picture of a large rich flower and flowering bird with "Lin Mengyunjing" in an inconspicuous small corner, Li Xiaonuan happily spread out the picture scroll and called Gu Xiao over,

"Come and see this painting!"

Gu Xiao hurriedly put down the ancient painting in his hand, ran over and looked at the flowers and birds spread out on the long table side by side with Li Xiaonuan.

"Is the drawing good? Do you like it or not? ”

Li Xiaonuan seemed to inadvertently block the payment, turned his head, stared at Gu Xiao with a smile and asked, Gu Xiao looked carefully for a while, and nodded,

"It's not as good as the one just now, but it's excellent, and I like this style of painting!"

Li Xiaonuan breathed a sigh of relief, rolled up the picture scroll with a smile on her face, and yawned,

"I'm tired, are you optimistic? Let's go back. ”

Gu Xiao nodded hurriedly,

"Nuan Nuan, you're tired, then let's go back quickly."

In the following days, Gu Xiao and Li Xiaonuan attended classes every day, but they were looking forward to it, eagerly waiting for the good news of the big steward.