Qi Xiangsi waited for a while after the carriage of the Qi Mansion came, and after the jade came down, she took her into the carriage with an umbrella, and the rain was still heavy at this time, and the ditch under the eaves was full of water, and it flowed into a small stream.

After returning to Qi Mansion, it was already dark, the lamp was lit in the corridor, and the cloves had boiled the water early, so they waited for Qi Xiangsi to go back and take a hot bath to drive away the dampness and cold.

"This morning, He Xu's palace ordered someone to send a basket of small red scales, and it didn't take long to catch them, and they were pressed with thick ice, but they were fresh." After bathing, Lilac lifted the lid of the urn, and a thick porridge fragrance wafted out, and she smiled and scooped a bowl for Qi Xiangxi, "I made a small red scale fish porridge in the kitchen, and I also added live clams." ”

After going out in a hurry at noon, Qi Xiangsi couldn't help but gurgle when she smelled the aroma at this time, and Yushi took a piece of clothing to put it on her and smiled: "Kyoto is far away from the sea, and it's not easy to eat and live." ”

The kitchen lady in the kitchen is good at cooking porridge, soft and glutinous and not sticky to her teeth, and her warm throat is very comfortable, Qi Xiangsi drank a small half bowl and looked up at them: "He Xu Wangfu?" ”

"Well, we are here in the west of Kyoto City, He Xu's Mansion is in the south of the palace, half a year ago, the old princess of He Xu's Mansion had a serious illness, and the second master stayed there for several days to pull the old princess back from the ghost gate, He Xu is a filial son, and he is very grateful to the second master, and then he will let people send something over from time to time."

"Second uncle's medical skills are not very clever." From the edification from childhood to adulthood, Qi Xiangsi has some curiosity about this second uncle who has not yet met, and it seems that the Qi Mansion can not have today's situation without the efforts of the second uncle.

"The second master is extremely talented, he went out to travel six years ago, and when he came back two years later, his medical skills have improved a lot, and he has a deep trust in the saints." Jade was sold into the Qi Mansion when he was very young, and he was on an errand in the Qi Mansion for more than ten years, and the Qi family was not like this when he first entered the mansion, when the old lady was still alive, and the second master entered the hospital for a few years, even if the Qi family was rich at that time, it was nothing in this official Kyoto City, and then the second master gradually emerged, and the third master was appointed outside, and the Qi family was getting better and better.

Studying medicine does not seek fame and fortune, otherwise it is easy to lose one's heart.

In her memory, her grandfather and father were very powerful people, who came to Qi's house for medical treatment, and their grandfather was cured well no matter what incurable diseases, but Qi's family has always been low-key, and what grandfather and father most often do is to carry a medicine box out to see a doctor.

"Next month, the second master, they should come back." Jade filled her with porridge, "The second master is approachable, the girl likes to read medical books, maybe she can borrow some books from the second master to read." ”

Qi Xiangsi smiled and didn't think about it anymore, and after drinking the rest of the porridge, he asked Jade to take the face ornament he brought from Jinxiuyuan today, and what was placed in the box was a set of face ornaments made of jade stone, two hairpins, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.

Lilac had never been to the inner courtyard to serve before, and it was the first time she had seen a set of jewelry, looking at the round and bright gems, she opened her mouth, quickly covered herself, and took a step back embarrassedly: "The girl must look good with this." ”

"It's just right with the clothes you just delivered." Jade asked Lilac to put the box back, helped Qi Xiangsi to the dresser, picked up the comb and combed her hair, "The girl has to rest well these days." ”

Lilac put the box and went out, Qi Xiangsi looked at his face in the bronze mirror, raised his hand and pinched it gently: "It seems to be fat." ”

"It's a girl who was too thin before." Jade picked up the hair cream and smeared it on her hair, "The girl looks good now, and she's not fat." ”

Qi Xiangsi looked down at his still slender hand: "Jade, how old are your younger brothers and sisters now?" ”

The hand that wiped his hair behind his head paused: "The eldest is sixteen, and the younger brother and sister are only seven or eight years old." ”

"At the age of sixteen, it's almost time to say goodbye." Qi Xiangsi knew that Jade's eldest brother was an apprentice in a restaurant in the town, and this status was more popular than only farming and farming, and there was an older sister who was on an errand in the Kyoto City Mansion, and his marriage was better said.

"Daddy, they still want to wait two years."

"What about you?" Qi Xiangsi turned his head to look at her, his eyes were clear.

The maid in the house can be redeemed by the family at the age of sixteen, and let go out of the house, and there are also those who have sold the death deed, and from now on they are the people of the Qi family, and the younger brother was only three years old when Jade left home, and she followed the distant aunt to the Qi Mansion at the age of five, and when she was ten years old, she went to the Splendid Garden on an errand with the help of the aunt, and was transferred to the outside of the lady's house four years later.

Two years ago, her aunt, who was on an errand in the outer courtyard, persuaded her to go home and let her father and mother come to redeem her, but her father and mother wanted to save more money for her younger brother so that she could marry a daughter-in-law in the future, so she wanted her to stay in Qi Mansion for a few more years; According to the rules of the Qi Mansion, when the maid in the mansion reaches the age of ten □□, the master can marry her.

She hadn't thought about this, and now she wouldn't think about this when she was serving by the fifth girl's side, so when Qi Xiangsi asked, Jade was stunned, and then understood what she meant, and said busily: "I'll just serve the girl, don't dare to think about anything else." ”

"Think, what's not to think about here." Qi Xiangsi got up and walked straight to the bed, Jade followed and took off her shoes, above which was Acacia's voice, "When you are old, you should get married, if you want to stay with me, I will match you with a house, and you will take care of it in the future, if you want to go home, you can't delay you, I will beg my mother to let you go back as soon as possible." ”

Jade took off her shoes and half got up, helped her to lie on the bed, lowered her head slightly, and said in a soft and firm tone: "Madame pointed me out to the girl, that jade is the girl's person, and she should listen to the girl in everything, and I will do whatever you say, girl, and I will do it, without two hearts." ”

Qi Xiangsi took her expression into her eyes and looked at the inside of the bed: "I believe it." ”

――――――――――――――――――

On the third day of the fifth month, the day of the banquet of the Chengye Marquis.

Early in the morning, Qi Xiangsi followed Gu out and sat in the same carriage with Qi Minyan.

In the past two days, Chen's mother came to Yirongxuan to teach her a lot of rules, and there are many more rules in a place like Houfu where the courtyard is deep, and there are many more rules than Qifu, that is, yesterday, when listening to Chen's mother talk about a few people in Chengye Houfu, Qi Xiangsi suddenly remembered that she had seen them in Zhenshui Temple, the five-room lady of Chengye Houfu and her daughter-in-law.

Qi Xiangsi was thinking about what Chen's mother had said, and Qi Minyan's kind voice came from her ears: "When the time comes, you will be with me, and I will introduce you if you don't know me." ”

The same is the young lady from the Qi Mansion, Qi Xiangsi knows, the eldest girl of the Qi family is married well, like the banquet held by the Chengye Hou Mansion, why are the eldest aunts and the third sister not invited.

Holding this doubt, Qi Xiangsi looked at Qi Minyan: "Fourth sister, why didn't the eldest aunt and the third sister come?" ”

"Uncle doesn't like to move around on weekdays." Qi Minyan explained with a smile, "As for the third sister, I'm afraid I'm obsessed with something else, so I'm too lazy to come." ”

Qi Xiangsi nodded, and Qi Minyan said again: "When the second uncle's family comes back, there should be a banquet in the house, and I can meet more people at that time." ”

The two of them talked all the way, and in the blink of an eye, they had arrived at the door of the Chengye Marquis Mansion.

After getting out of the carriage, he followed Gu Shi in, and someone greeted him at the door, looking at the person who went in before, it seemed that it was the third lady of the Chengye Hou Mansion.

Without waiting for the Gu family to say hello first, the third lady who had just sent in a guest over there immediately walked towards them and greeted them with a smile: "Mrs. Qi, I haven't seen you for a long time, come and come in quickly." ”

Mrs. Cheng San pulled Gu Shi to look very intimate, she looked younger than Gu, she was very able to speak with one mouth, and when she turned her head and saw Qi Minyan, she smiled and praised her for getting more and more beautiful, and then her eyes fell on Qi Xiangsi, she couldn't tell which one she was, and praised her appearance first: "Yo, whose pretty girl is this?" ”

"This is Min Ying, the second girl of my family." Gu smiled and pulled Qi Xiangsi and asked her to greet Mrs. Chengsan, "Ying'er, I've seen Mrs. Chengsan." ”

Qi Xiangsi obediently called out to Mrs. Chengsan, Mrs. Chengsan looked at her with a smile, and then joked to Gu: "I haven't heard you talk about it before, it turns out to be hidden, what a clever girl." ”

"Where?" Gu clapped her hand, "You get busy first." ”

"Okay, the greeting is not good, today I invited the best troupe, let people take you to the theater first." Mrs. Cheng sent someone to take them in, and soon another guest came in

The servant who led the way took them outside the theater, and then the maid who was waiting outside took them in, and after the small corridor, there was a stage in front of them.

There are a lot of tables and chairs in front of the stage, with snacks and melons and fruits on them, a few maids are busy, and there are many people in the attic surrounded by three sides, all of whom are invited guests.

The maid took them to the attic near the left side of the stage, which was also arranged in advance, here are some female relatives who are familiar with the Gu family, as soon as they entered the door, someone greeted the Gu family, and Qi Minyan and Qi Xiangsi, who followed the Gu family in, naturally received a lot of stares.

"Mrs. Qi, you're late, we've been sitting here for a while." Coming in front of him was the family of Qi Herui's colleague, Mrs. Wang, whose husband's official position was about the same, and the wives of the two families walked closer on weekdays.

Getting closer naturally learned more about the other party, Mrs. Wang saw Qi Xiangsi at a glance: "This is Miss Qi Wu." ”

The rest of the ladies also gathered, aren't the five girls of the Qi family the one who came out of the concubine, and they have seen it twice, and it doesn't look like this.

Mrs. Wang had already taken Qi Xiangsi's hand and looked at her with a smile: "It's not a loss that the people raised there in Huizhou, look at this water spirit." ”

Qi Xiangsi was praised and blushed, and lowered her head embarrassedly, Gu Shi smiled beside her and said: "I was raised in Huizhou since I was a child, and I only picked it up at the beginning of the year, and the old lady was in a lot of pain, and she was reluctant to let it be brought out." ”

Qi Xiangsi is wearing a brocade green skirt, the emerald green gems do not look heavy to wear, but reveal a few touches of the playfulness of her daughter's family, the age of twelve is ready to be opened, can not be said to be beautiful, I feel that this girl is pretty, shy and bowed her head there, no one will hate it.

There are a few ladies who showed a look of sudden realization, and there were some things about the Qi family a while ago, saying that the third master of the Qi family abandoned his daughter and lived on the streets, and they all became beggars.