The day before the banquet, Qi Xiangsi left the house early in the morning and went to Zhenshui Temple with jade, and the jade also brought a basket of incense and candles.

After the carriage reached the foot of the mountain, Qi Xiangsi gave the guard a list and asked him to go to the market not far away to buy things for her, while he walked up with the jade, and when he reached the middle of the mountain, he went down from the trail to the halfway up the mountain.

There are many courtyard houses at the foot of Zhenshui Temple Mountain, and many people have cultivated land on the mountainside and planted some vegetables for their own consumption.

Qi Xiangsi searched among several reclaimed fields, and found a place to plant peanuts, in early summer, the peanuts were in bloom, the yellow corolla bloomed on the green leaves, the dew had not dried yet, and the past was full of vitality from a distance.

Qi Xiangsi took the gloves handed by the jade, held the bamboo tube in his hand, walked around the edge of the ridge, and found it lightly.

After a while, Qi Xiangsi found a bug next to the bud of the peanut, with a slightly round body, a few brown and yellow stripes on the back, and a slight fire color.

Feeling that someone was approaching the insect and crawled under the branches and leaves, Qi Xiangsi was not in a hurry, and soon found one in another place, picked up the chopsticks and clamped it and put it in the bamboo tube to seal it.

This kind of insect jade is very familiar, occasionally go home to visit relatives, help my father and mother work in the field together, especially in the hot summer, there are many such insects bite crops, trampled to death and smell.

"Girl, what's the use of these shell worms?"

"These can be used in medicine." Qi Xiangsi quickly grabbed seven or eight of them, pressed the sealed cloth inside, and wanted to suffocate these insects, and looked at her after getting up and smiled, "But you can't use it indiscriminately." ”

There are too many things that can be used in medicine, and Jade has listened to a lot of the girl in the past few months, and seeing that she doesn't catch it, she reached out to help take the compacted bamboo tube and put it in the incense basket: "Does the girl still go to the temple?" ”

"Go." She had to appear in Zhenshui Temple on the grounds of incense.

When Qi Xiangsi arrived in the temple, it didn't take long for the guards to come up, she went to the main hall to pray for blessings, and went to the back of the hall to ask for a peace charm, and returned to Qi Mansion after going down the mountain It was not yet noon, at this time there were several maids in the outer courtyard who were already busy, preparing for tomorrow's banquet.

Qi Xiangsi hurriedly returned to Yirong Xuan, Qi Minlan happened to be absent, Qi Xiangsi took the jade to the backyard, and took out the suffocated flower shell insects inside and put them on the stones to dry.

The noon sun was hot, and it was placed on the stones, and it was like a scorching sun against the sun, and it dried quickly, Qi Xiangsi brought them in, found the stone bowl and chisel, carefully ground it into powder, and quickly poured it into the bottle, and after cleaning the stone bowl and chisel, let the jade carry the water outside the house and pour it out.

At this time, there was a muttering sound outside, Qi Xiangsi put the bottle in his arms, and Lilac followed Qi Minshu and walked in together.

Qi Minshu saw that the corners of Qi Xiangxi's mouth were taller, looked around at her room, and then looked at Qi Xiangxi, and said straightly: "Fifth sister, where do you live here, it's small and old." ”

The original good house was newly added by the Gu family, and when she said this and looked at her expression, it seemed that it was really inferior, Qi Xiangsi chuckled: "Maybe the window is closed, it's too dark." ”

"My mother said, after the banquet, I will arrange another yard for the fifth sister, according to me, Chaoyang's water pavilion is the best, that is where the eldest sister lived before she got married, anyway, she is already married, and the fifth sister is not good in the past."

Qi Minshu still doesn't like it, and Qi Xiangsi has just chiseled the powder of the flower shell worm, the windows in the house are closed, the smell is not completely dispersed, and there is always a bad smell.

"Fifth sister, you better open the window." Qi Minshu frowned, "Why does it smell weird." ”

"I just wiped the house, and the moisture hasn't dissipated yet." Qi Xiangsi pushed open the window with her hand, the air in the room circulated quickly, and the fragrance of flowers under the eaves dispersed, Qi Minshu's face was a little better, and she looked at Qi Xiangsi with a smile and said, "Tomorrow's banquet, grandmother asked me to take you to know more of the official daughters who usually make good friends with the Qi family, but the people I know are younger than me, I am afraid that the fifth sister will have nothing to say to them, but I promised my grandmother again." ”

After saying that, Qi Minshu's expression looked a little distressed, and it seemed that she was all thinking about her, what if she couldn't get along, Qi Xiangsi asked Lilac to bring tea over, and smiled: "It turns out that my grandmother told you this, and I also told Min Yan that I would entertain Miss Wang and them together." ”

"It turns out that the fifth sister has an arrangement." Qi Minshu obviously breathed a sigh of relief, and the corners of her mouth curled slightly, "The fifth sister will be with me first, and then I will entertain Miss Wang and them when they come." ”

"Okay." Qi Xiangsi nodded, and wanted to ask her to sit down for a while, but Qi Minshu didn't want to stay longer, walked towards the door, and said goodbye with a smile, "Fifth sister, then I'll go first, tomorrow there will be more guests, I'll help my mother." ”

Qi Xiangsi pursed her lips and smiled, watching her leave with the maid, Lilac came over with the freshly cut peaches, and saw that the seventh girl had already walked away, and sighed: "Why did you go." "She had just prepared the fruit, and the tea had just been poured.

"She's not here for tea." If she really came here to get close to herself, Qi Xiangsi would be unbearable.

At this time, there was movement on the edge of the wall, Qi Xiangsi took two pieces of peach meat directly from the plate of the lilac and walked down the steps, the wild cat did not find the small dried fish between the flower pots, turned his head to look at Qi Xiangsi, and meowed with some doubts.

Qi Xiangsi shook the peach flesh in his hand, and squatted down not far from it to look at it: "Yuanbao, come here." ”

After listening to it for more than ten days, the wild cat is already very familiar with the name ingots, and the first few days I didn't know that it was calling myself, and gradually reacted after many times, and now I turned my head as soon as I called it, staring at the peach meat in Qi Xiangsi's hand, as if he was not interested, and hesitated for a while before slowly coming over.

Qi Xiangsi stretched out his hand and handed it over, it came up and took it away, the taste was not very attractive, and he vomited.

At this time, Lilac brought the small dried fish, only to see it raise its head, just waiting for Lilac to put the dried fish in the flower pot, Qi Xiangsi didn't, took a heel and put it at his feet, waited for it to eat, took another one and put it on her knees, and before she could react, it jumped into her arms.

This action startled the cloves, worried that it would scratch the girl, Qi Xiangsi asked her not to move, took the dried fish and fed it to it, and gently touched its hair, unexpectedly, the hair was very smooth.

It seems to be particularly enjoying Qi Xiangsi treating it like this, it squints, its tail flicks slightly, and the cloves can't help laughing, and it looks very cute when it is not fierce.

After the dried fish in Qi Xiangsi's hand was fed, Yuan Bao jumped down and walked around Qi Xiangsi twice, this time he was not in a hurry, but jumped to the edge of the wall, yawned on his stomach, closed his eyes and took a nap.

"Prepare a bowl in the morning and dusk and add some bibimbap." Qi Xiangsi pointed to the flower pot where it frequented most

Qi Minlan didn't come back until it got dark, and when she came back, the door was closed, and only the maids came in and out.

The lamp was lit in the room, Ming Cui took out the one hundred taels of silver that should have been brought back from his arms, and Qi Minlan looked at the jewelry box, her face was gloomy.

"Girl, the fifty taels have been sent." Ming Cui is in charge of the six girls' accounts, so it is clear that the six girls do not have too much silver in their hands that can be supported at one time, in the past, the six girls asked Aunt Lu for everything, and they didn't pay attention to the moon silver given in the house every month, but now it is different, everything in Xiuhe Garden is in Madame's place, including some of Aunt Lu's own things.

Fortunately, the six girls have a lot of jewelry.

"Put it away." Qi Minlan closed the box, she didn't feel sorry for the jewelry she had lost, as long as these silver came in handy, she could achieve her purpose.

Now she only wants to see her aunt, and she doesn't know how she is doing in the outer village, she sent someone to send some things and was stopped and retreated, and she couldn't inquire about the situation in the village, so she was always a little uneasy.

"The five girls went out early in the morning and came back before noon." Mingcui told Qi Minlan the news that the maid had come in, "Later, the seventh girl came and left after not staying long." ”

"How could she stay here for so long?" Qi Minlan snorted, "She didn't come to Yirong Xuan before. ”

"Tomorrow is the banquet, girl, you are going to wear that dress." Mingcui asked Xiaohe to bring the two newly made clothes, "Girl, you look good in your clothes, tomorrow it is estimated that it will be hot, it should be more refreshing to wear this body." ”

"Bring me the face mask that my aunt made for me last time." Qi Minlan liked the bright yellow body, and the jewelry that her aunt gave her last time was just right, Ming Cui saw that the girl understood what she meant, so she didn't say more, helped her change her clothes, and put on jewelry, and looked at the bronze mirror, "Comb the girl's hair tomorrow." ”

Qi Minlan saw the jewelry and thought of Aunt Lu again, and then thought of Minying who lived in the wing, and the eyes in the bronze mirror complained a little, her current bad times are all due to her, she is good.

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The banquet of the Qi Mansion came soon, the house was busy before dawn, the maids outside prepared everything in a very orderly manner, and the table that was empty yesterday had already put snacks and melons and fruits when the guests arrived when the door of the mansion was opened.

The Wang family and the Gu family greeted the guests in the outer courtyard, and the Fang family accompanied the old lady in the hall, and when Qi Xiangxi passed, all the girls of the Qi family were already there.

The Qi family has not held a banquet for more than half a year, and this time it is all because the second son returned with the car, and the banquet was held with this honor, and at the same time, it can pave the way for the third son.

Mrs. Qi also hopes that this time she can let others know more about the girls of the Qi family, in addition to the eldest lady who has been married, Qi Minshi and Qi Minhua are both talking about the age of their relatives, if they can marry well, they can also bring the Qi family up by the way, so they are dressed very well today.

"Shu'er, those friends of yours are here, take your fifth sister over to get to know each other." Mrs. Qi didn't forget to ask her baby granddaughter to take Qi Acacia out for a walk, Qi Minshu was very well-behaved, and responded sweetly, "Then I'll take the fifth sister over to have a look first." ”

After that, he walked to Qi Xiangsi's side, took her hand very naturally, and smiled at her: "Fifth sister, let's go quickly." ”

Mrs. Qi watched from behind: "Look at her like that, I wish I could take the five girls out early, and I was still talking in my ear a few days ago that I like the five girls." ”

Fang Shi showed a faint smile: "Min Shu is like a younger brother and sister, she can speak well and is close to people. ”

"Yes, one of the two children is like a mother and the other is like a father, but they are all right." Mrs. Qi's favorite is this granddaughter, and when she looked up and saw that Qi Min painted them, she smiled and urged them all to go out for a walk, "What are you doing here with me, get out quickly, let's go out too." ”

The people in the front hall all came out, here Qi Minshu took Qi Xiangsi to the door of the small garden, and the hand holding her was naturally released, Qi Minshu looked back at her, a little regretful: "Fifth sister, they haven't arrived yet, why don't we go in and wait." ”

"Miss Wang and Miss Luo, they may have arrived." Qi Xiangsi smiled and refused lightly, "I'd better go find the third sister." ”

"Okay, I don't know when they're coming, so it's not a good idea to wait." The corners of Qi Minshu's mouth curled, "Then the fifth sister, go ahead." ”

Qi Xiangsi nodded, and didn't take a few steps towards the corridor, Qi Minshu behind him immediately entered the small garden with the maid, and the goal was clear, and he walked straight towards the small attic where the guests were feasting.

The maid behind him was anxious: "Girl, don't you bring five girls." ”

"Who's going to take her." A hint of disgust flashed in Qi Minshu's eyes, "She used to be a beggar, if you let them know, you don't want to laugh at me." ”

The maid hesitated for a while but said, "But Madame said that you should get along with the fifth girl." ”

"Didn't I get along well with her?" Qi Minshu turned her head to look at her, and said semi-threateningly, "I don't get along well with her, if you dare to talk nonsense, I will pull out your tongue." ”

After that, she looked at her with a smile again: "Go quickly, get the score I bought." ”

At this time, Qi Xiangsi, who walked to the corridor outside the small garden, turned his head, saw that Qi Minshu had already entered the small garden, and turned around and entered the inner courtyard.