Chapter Seventy-Five: Toddler

Early the next morning, as soon as Li Xiaonuan got up to wash, Gu Yunhuan sent the little girl over and reported with a smile:

"Miss Cousin, our girl sent me over to say, so that Miss Cousin don't forget that she is going to Cuiwei Hall to listen to things today."

Li Xiaonuan blocked her throat in one breath, nodded sullenly and agreed, sent the little girl back, took Lan Chu, and went to Ruixuan Hall to ask for peace.

After eating, Mrs. Zhou gently explained to Li Xiaonuan,

"Don't be afraid, you follow Yun Huan to learn first, a few days ago, I was afraid that Yun Huan would not be able to be busy alone, I sent Mama Zhou to help her every day, and now I still let her go over every day, she is familiar with the rules and regulations in the house, if you two don't understand anything, ask her."

Li Xiaonuan hurriedly stood up, bowed his hand respectfully and listened, bent his knees and agreed, and resigned from Mrs. Li again, before going to Cuiwei Hall with Gu Yunhuan.

On the couch in Cuiwei Hall, Gu Yunhuan's position was sitting in Gu Yunshan's position, Li Xiaonuan sat in Gu Yunhuan's original position, and glanced at Mama Zhou, who was standing next to Gu Yunhuan with a straight back, Mama Zhou's expression was still dignified, and her face seemed to be a little gloomy, as if she didn't see Li Xiaonuan sitting next to her.

The mother-in-law one after another, cautiously stepped forward to reply to the matter, Gu Yunhuan took the account details, and stuffed it to Li Xiaonuan.

"Xiao Nuan, you are right for this number."

Li Xiaonuan took the accounts, checked the numbers, and instructed Lan Chu to take the account books of the past years, check them again, check the discrepancies, and then nod or shake his head, and handed over the account details to Gu Yunhuan.

Mama Zhou's eyes were gloomy and she stared at Li Xiaonuan, who was carefully checking the numbers and comparing them with the old routine, for a while, and then she turned her eyes and swept over the mother-in-law who was standing with her hands down and waiting for a reply.

The housekeeper's mother-in-law presented the kitchen procurement list, reporting the rice dishes and other expenses for the next month, Li Xiaonuan pressed the list handed over by Gu Yunhuan, checked the number, and took the account book to check, frowned slightly, turned his head to look at Gu Yunhuan and said:

"Second sister, the eldest sister got married last month, and Mr. Lin also quit the museum this month and went back.

Gu Yunhuan turned his eyes to look at the housekeeper's mother-in-law, who glanced at Mama Zhou quickly, looked at Li Xiaonuan and said with a smile:

"How can this cook and cook hats? You have to set aside some surplus, and you can't be wronged by the masters of the courtyards, right?!"

Li Xiaonuan looked at her, smiled and didn't speak, only tilted his head to look at Gu Yunhuan, Gu Yunhuan's face sank, threw the account list to the ground, stared at the mother-in-law, and asked angrily:

"Before my sister got married, you were all hats that you could make with your heads? There are seven or eight masters in the house, and now there are two people, and this number does not need to be moved, which one was deducted from the past? Or are you still holding on to hats? ”

The mother-in-law knelt on the ground with a "plop", kept kowtowing, Mama Zhou moved slightly, and said with a smile:

"Second Miss, be quiet, I have vaguely heard from the people in the kitchen a few times, and all the courtyards have more or less complained that the food delivered by the kitchen is always not enough."

Gu Yunhuan raised his eyebrows, turned to see that Mama Zhou was about to speak, Mama Zhou hurriedly smiled and continued:

"The meals sent by the kitchen, the masters must have more than enough to eat, but our house has always been generous, and the girls who are waiting for the masters are mostly eating with the masters, back and forth, it is inevitable that it will not be enough, and now there is a lot of these small money in the house, so it is more generous, which is also the style of our house."

Li Xiaonuan looked at Mama Zhou with a smile, and then turned to look at Gu Yunhuan, Gu Yunhuan looked at Mama Zhou with a gloomy face, Shiqin looked at the painting, turned her head to look at Mama Zhou and said:

"Mama can't talk nonsense, in our yard, there has never been such a thing, the girl has a girl's share, we naturally have our share, you go and ask the big kitchen, we individuals, which meal didn't go to the big kitchen to eat? Mama doesn't say we're all going to eat twice, right? ”

Li Xiaonuan lowered his eyes expressionlessly, Lan Chu looked at Li Xiaonuan, and also lowered his eyebrows, and stood quietly with his hands down.

Gu Yunhuan raised his eyebrows, looking at Mama Zhou with a smile, Mama Zhou was embarrassed and a little annoyed, Gu Yunhuan picked up the cup, took a sip of tea, turned his head to look at Li Xiaonuan and said with a smile:

"This style in our house, it's the first time I've heard of it, when my sister was at home in the past, she went there a lot, I never saw Pearl and Yucui and they ate with their sister, and I don't have such rules here, what about your Songfeng Courtyard? Eating with you at the end of winter? ”

Li Xiaonuan smiled and shook his head,

"Except for the time when I was sick, I ate at Ruixuan Hall."

Gu Yunhuan turned his head to look at Mama Zhou, and said slowly:

"In this mansion, my sister and I are both harsh, without the generous rules you said, Xiao Nuan and Gu Xiao have always eaten in Ruixuan Hall, I don't know, which courtyard is this convention you are talking about?"

Mama Zhou's face turned purple, she was stunned for a long time, pursed her mouth tightly, and stopped talking, Gu Yunhuan stared at her with a smile for a while, and then looked away, staring at the mother-in-law who was timidly lying on the ground and commanded:

"You go back and come back clearly."

The mother-in-law hurriedly kowtowed, picked up the account list on the ground, and carefully withdrew.

Li Xiaonuan drank tea slowly with a cup, looked at Mama Zhou, whose face was purple, and secretly calculated in her heart.

Li Xiaonuan was distressed and busy, and went to Ruixuan Hall every morning to ask for peace, and went directly to Cuiwei Hall with Gu Yunhuan to listen to the mother-in-law.

After coming back from Cuiwei Hall and changing clothes, I had to go to Ruixuan Hall, have dinner, accompany Mrs. Li to the small Buddha hall behind, copy the scriptures for a while, and then sort out those old brochures, old documents, correspondence, and other piles of old papers.

That is, after dinner in the evening, he returned to Songfeng Courtyard, and he could still read a book for an hour or two, Li Xiaonuan sighed and adjusted his rhythm, when can he arrange his own life, and live how he wants?

In this year, Li Xiaonuan's body has grown faster, and he seems thinner than in previous years, Mrs. Li saw Li Xiaonuan, who was becoming more and more beautiful day by day, became more and more pityful, as long as she saw the new clothes, she ordered someone to make them for Li Xiaonuan and Gu Yunhuan to wear, this spring and summer, the clothes of the two were several times more than the share.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is getting hotter and hotter day by day, Mrs. Li's nap is a little longer, Li Xiaonuan finished copying the scriptures, and has some free time, so he inquired with Gu Xiao about the books and articles that Mr. Chen is teaching, and finds out and reads them.

On a summer afternoon, Li Xiaonuan wore a white cardigan snow silk blouse, a white background embroidered with pale green bluegrass and 16 folded silk skirts, which was the new skirt in Beijing this year, and sat in the wing room next to the small Buddha hall to read the anthology.

This is a collection of essays by Qian Jiyuan, the current scholar of Liangzhejiang Road, the words are magnificent, and the peaks are repeated, all say that the text is like his person, and this Qian Jiyuan must be a talented and eccentric literati.

Li Xiaonuan depressedly put down the anthology in his hand, looking at it like this, Mr. Chen is planning to let Gu Xiao get out of the exam next year, Gu Xiao's writing is also the same as his person, more than generous, not enough spirituality, to learn Qian Jiyuan's style of writing, I am afraid that I am powerless.

Li Xiaonuan stood up, walked to the north window, looked at the lush flowers and plants in the backyard through the silk screen window, do you want to talk to Mrs. Li about such thoughts?

In a daze, Cuilian entered the wing room and greeted with a smile:

"Miss Cousin, the old ancestor has woken up."

Li Xiaonuan hurriedly turned around, thanked Cuilian with a smile, and hurriedly entered the east wing.

Mrs. Li was cleaning her face, Li Xiaonuan hurriedly stepped forward to take the target mirror and held it, waiting for Mrs. Li to clean her face, Qiu Shi came up with tea, Li Xiaonuan took it and gave it to Mrs. Li, Mrs. Li took it, slowly drank two sips, looked at Li Xiaonuan, and asked with a smile:

"What about reading Xiao'er's article again?"

"Hmm"

Li Xiaonuan smiled and nodded, sat sideways on the edge of the couch, looked at Mrs. Li hesitantly and asked:

"Does the ancestor know a person named Qian Jiyuan?"

"I know that it is the current academic politics of our two Zhejiang roads, and he is a great talent"

"Hmm"

Li Xiaonuan nodded in agreement,

"A few days ago, Gu Xiao said that Mr. Chen asked him to study Mr. Qian's articles carefully, so I looked for a few articles, which are really good articles with words and sentences, magnificent and abnormal, different everywhere, strange peaks emerge, the articles are thrilling to see, I really don't know how he wrote them, those words and sentences, that artistic conception, how did he think of it?"

Li Xiaonuan sighed heavily, and Mrs. Li laughed, nodded and said:

"This Qian Jiyuan is Xiao Er's father behind the Tanhua Lang, a son of the capital family, before he was moved, he was very famous in the capital, he was talented and temperamental, and he had no eyes, but there were not many people who could see it, but he came to our house to visit Xiao Er and his father."

Li Xiaonuan raised her eyebrows and laughed,

"Then if Gu Xiao is next year to take the exam, maybe he can add up his blue eyes and take care of one or two."

Old Madam Li paused, frowned slightly and thought about it, and shook her head gently,

"No, this Qian Jiyuan is a student and politician, and his reputation has never been very good, his temper is too weird, and he is only willing to take articles that suit his taste, those articles that are stable and decent, he has always been unsightly."

Li Xiaonuan looked at Mrs. Li worriedly and said:

"Ancestor, Gu Xiao's article is stable and decent, if so, wouldn't it be a big loss? Mr. Chen asked him to read Mr. Qian's anthology, did he want him to learn some such style? ”

Li Xiaonuan shook his head slightly, and then said:

"Ancestor, no one can learn such an article as Mr. Qian"

Old Madam Li's brows furrowed, she thought carefully for a while, turned her head, looked at Li Xiaonuan and said:

"What you're very worried about is that Xiao Er is too generous, and he can't learn such a strange article."