The Jiang family is just a small five-grade official, if it is placed outside, it still has some weight, but in the capital, it can only be a person with his tail between his legs. This house is still the reward that when Mrs. Jiang was a doctor, he cured the illness of the Empress Dowager and received it. Therefore, although the house is not very big, the location is not bad, not too far from the six yamen, at least it is a "silver lot", if according to the current official position and income of the Jiang family, it is really impossible to buy a house in this location.

The house has three entrances, and the yard is quite spacious as the houses in the south. When the carriage drove to the second gate, I saw a middle-aged woman, surrounded by some maids and women, who were standing there to greet her, and when she saw Jiang Xi, she smiled: "The third brother is back, and my father has been talking about it for several days." ”

Jiang Xi hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and called Cao's and Taohua and others: "This is sister-in-law." ”

Taohua quietly looked at the eldest aunt. Jiang Xi sometimes talked to his children about the long house in Beijing, although he often talked about the old lady Jiang, but occasionally showed a few words of gossip about others. This eldest aunt is the niece of Mrs. Jiang, and because she is a cousin, she and Jiang Jun can be regarded as childhood sweethearts. I heard that when I got married, Mrs. Jiang was unwilling, it was Jiang Jun who took a fancy to him, which made Qin Jin good, and he came to kiss and kiss.

Xiaoshi was born very beautiful, although she is now in her thirties and her figure is a little fat, but she still looks like a beautiful woman. He has a new purple bat-long gown on his body, which hides his lower abdomen well, and he is obviously a person who can dress up.

Cao subconsciously straightened the hem of his clothes. In fact, Xiao's dress may not be more elaborate than her, but somehow, Cao's eyes on this eldest sister-in-law are a little timid. Perhaps because of being a stepfamily, she always has a feeling of lack of confidence for these husband's relatives who have never met.

Xiao Shi smiled and nodded to Cao's family: "My brother and sister have come from afar, and they have worked hard all the way." The attitude is not very enthusiastic, but it is not rude, when his eyes turned to Taohua, he became a lot more affectionate, "This is Sister Tao, it is really the eighteen changes of the female university, and she is so handsome." If it weren't for the fact that she looked like her mother, I really wouldn't dare to admit it. As he spoke, he took Taohua's hand, and took off a bracelet from his wrist and put it on her hand.

This "her mother" of course refers to the late Lee. It's always a little embarrassing to mention the original match in front of the steproom. Taohua couldn't help but quietly glance at Xiao's again, and for a moment she wasn't sure if she really remembered the Li family or deliberately embarrassed the Cao family.

Jiang Xi didn't feel the embarrassment of the atmosphere, but said with a little pride: "Sister Tao was born like her mother." But after saying this, he didn't forget to signal Jiang Yanhua to step forward, "This is Sister Yan." ”

Xiao Shi also nodded with a smile to Jiang Yanhua, and also took a bracelet from his wrist to her: "This child is also born beautiful." However, she didn't pull Jiang Yanhua's hand, and Taohua could see clearly that although the two bracelets looked golden, the one given to her was obviously heavier than the one given to Jiang Yanhua.

Jiang Yanhua took the bracelet and said in a low voice, "Thank you, aunt." She also saw that Taohua's bracelet was different from hers, and Xiao's attitude completely distinguished her from Taohua, so she couldn't help biting her lip and silently leaning towards Cao's side.

Jiang Bohua was the only one who was completely unaffected, looking around at this strange courtyard with wide eyes in Sanqi's arms. Taohua patted his little buttocks: "Come and call the eldest aunt." He followed in a daze, "Auntie." ”

"Ouch, little fat man." The youngest child of the younger family is also in his teens, and the eldest son has not yet married his own son, so he likes such children the most, and he stretches out his hand to hug him with a smile. Jiang Bohua didn't recognize her life, and let her hug her with two small arms, and didn't forget to argue seriously: "Brother Bai'er, not fat." ”

Xiao Shi laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth: "Yo, don't let me say it, what a clever ghost." ”

Taohua smiled: "Auntie, he can sink now, and he is not honest, don't tire you." ”

Xiao Shicai hugged it, and felt that the weight in his hand was indeed not light, so he had to return Jiang Bohua to Sanqi again, and sighed: "What a sturdy boy." Let's go, go inside, your uncle and grandfather are already waiting, if you see you, don't be happy. ”

As soon as she said this, Jiang Xi couldn't wait for the first one, and walked to the main room with a step, and when she stepped into the door, she saw two people sitting on it, and her nose was sour, and she couldn't wait for the maid next to her to lay a prayer mat, so she knocked down: "My nephew asks my uncle to say goodbye." ”

Before Yuanzhi said that Mrs. Jiang was in good health, Taohua thought that she could see an old man with crane hair and a childish face, but she didn't expect that the crane hair was crane hair, but the child face was not, and the old lady Jiang had a lot of wrinkles on his face, especially the deep Sichuan lines between the eyebrows, which made the whole person look a little heavy.

However, his face is not bad, his eyes are even clearer, there is no old man's cloudiness, but he is bright, and he seems to be a little out of place with the whole person. Seeing Jiang Xi, these bright and sharp eyes suddenly seemed to be covered with a faint mist: "Hurry up, hurry up!" Saying that, he couldn't wait for the maid to help, so he simply got up and went to pull Jiang Xi by himself.

Although they are only uncles and nephews, the appearance of the two is five or six points similar, Taohua feels that when Jiang Xi reaches the age of Mrs. Jiang, it will probably be like this.

"Uncle, are you okay?" How dare Jiang Xi let Old Lady Jiang help him, he quickly got up, caught Old Lady Jiang's hand, and looked up and down, "Look at you, you seem to have lost some weight......"

"I'm fine." Old lady Jiang also looked Jiang Xi up and down, "It's you, what's dark?" ”

"Last year, my nephew went to Guangdong." Jiang Xi became excited when he talked about traveling, "Some of the medicinal herbs from Nanyang are quite interesting. The nephew bought some benzoin and a kind of Shenshu powder, which is said to cure malaria...... "He has tanned skin, and when he went to Guangdong, he got a little tanned, and when he came home, he didn't have to do whitening like a woman, so his complexion never changed back."

Seeing that Jiang Xi was about to start a tirade, Taohua hurriedly coughed with tears and laughter, Jiang Xi suddenly came to his senses, and suddenly laughed a little embarrassed. A middle-aged woman standing behind Mrs. Jiang just now also walked over, held Mrs. Jiang's arm, and laughed softly: "Old lady, let the third master give the old lady a salute first, and you can also meet a few grandchildren." The third master's family has to live in Beijing for a long time, and there is time to speak. ”

This, judging from his age, must be the cinnabar aunt who lived in the side courtyard with Mrs. Jiang, right? Taohua looked at it secretly. The second master Jiang Zhu was born to her, so it seems that he should be in his fifties, but he looks well maintained, that is, he is in his forties, but his facial features are mediocre, not outstanding, and he can't see any favored capital, so he can actually live with Mrs. Jiang.

That's right, although Yuanzhi didn't say anything that shouldn't be said, Taohua still heard some strange things from it, such as the relationship between Mrs. Jiang and Mrs. Yu.

According to Yuanzhi's words, Mrs. Jiang moved out of the main house and lived alone in a small courtyard in order to sort out the medical case and not be disturbed. However, if you want to be disturbed, why do you let the concubine room be around? It can be seen that at least a large part of the so-called disturbance refers to the old lady Jiang Yu. In other words, the relationship between Mrs. Jiang and his wife Yu is probably worrying.

Jiang Xi had come back to his senses at this moment, and hurriedly saluted the Yu family next to him: "Nephew greets aunt." ”

Although Yu and Xiao are aunts and nephews, they have no similarity in appearance, but compared to Aunt Zhu, who can hardly find any appearance, Yu is still much better. It's just that she also looks like Mrs. Jiang, with deep Sichuan lines on her eyebrows, so that although she has been carefully maintained, she still looks old.

Seeing Jiang Xi saluting, a smile appeared on Yu's face: "Quickly help up." After walking such a long way, you must be tired, don't be polite. ”

That smile was really squeezed out, Taohua looked at it from the side, and always felt that the Yu family didn't seem to welcome their family to come, not to mention that compared with the heartfelt affection of Old Lady Jiang, it was a big difference compared to the somewhat patterned closeness of the Xiao family.

Xiaoshi also found out about this problem, and immediately smiled: "Father and mother, take a look at the children of the third brother, this is Sister Tao, I haven't seen her for ten years, can my father and mother still recognize it?" ”

This is equivalent to jumping Cao Shi over, and Cao Shi was about to step forward to salute, when he heard the words, he didn't know what to do. But Mrs. Jiang glanced at her and nodded first: "Third child, is this your daughter-in-law who remarried?" ”

Although it was clear that he was remarried, in the end, he saw it in his eyes, and Cao hurriedly saluted: "My nephew and daughter-in-law ask my uncle and parents to say goodbye." ”

Old lady Jiang looked at the Cao family, nodded and said, "Look at him, he is an honest man, live a good life." With a slight nod, Aunt Zhu stepped forward with a smile and sent a purse to Cao's hand.

It's a bit embarrassing. Although Aunt Zhu is a concubine, she is a generation older and gave birth to a son, and the Cao family took the purse, and I don't know whether it is better to salute or not. If you don't salute, it will inevitably hinder the face of Old Lady Jiang; But if he saluted, he hadn't seen it from Yu's place, but he saluted an aunt first, which was tantamount to Yu's face stepping on the ground again.

The Cao family was at a loss for a while, and the old lady Jiang also found out, coughed, and said to Aunt Zhu: "Let the girls come." ”

Aunt Zhu lowered her eyebrows and smiled, and said softly: "It's the concubine who is reckless." He took a step back and still stood behind Old Lady Jiang.

Cao Shi breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly saluted Yu's family, and also got a purse.

Before the Cao family could stand up, Old Lady Jiang's eyes had already fallen on Taohua, and she was slightly excited: "This is Sister Tao, she is so high." ”

Taohua smiled slightly, and took Jiang Yanhua and Jiang Baihua to kowtow and salute: "Say hello to my uncle and grandmother." Before he could bow down, Mrs. Jiang called the maid repeatedly: "Quickly help up, help up." The maid behind him had already prepared a purse, and the running water was generally delivered to the three sisters and brothers.

Old lady Jiang looked at Taohua, then at Jiang Bohua, and nodded again and again: "Okay, good boy." ”

Jiang Bohua got two purses at once, and Xiaopang couldn't hold them in his hand, so he stuffed them all to Taohua: "Sister will hold it for Brother Bai'er." ”

Old lady Jiang couldn't help laughing and said, "This kid is really smart. ”

Taohua pursed her lips and smiled: "Where is he smart, he is lazy." ”

Jiang Bohua immediately raised his brain shell to argue: "Brother Bai is diligent, can read and write, and is not lazy." This is what Taohua said when he praised him for his active literacy on the boat, and he immediately used it to defend himself.

At this time, even Yu Shi smiled, stretched out his hand and said, "Is it okay for Brother Bai to come to Grandma's place?" Uncle and grandmother have peanut crisp, do you like to eat it? ”

Jiang Bohua's eyes lit up, and he became depressed after just a few steps: "Sister won't let you eat ......" Taohua is afraid that he will eat too much sugar and bad teeth, and the toothbrush and toothpaste in this era are not so easy to use, so there are many restrictions on his sweets.

The appearance of his drooping brain shell was very funny, and even the maids laughed in the room, and Taohua also smiled and said, "Grandmother Uncle gave it to you, you are allowed to take it and eat it slowly." ”

Jiang Bohua immediately trotted in front of Yu's family, hugged the two small meat fists in front of his chest, raised his face and said sweetly: "Thank you, Grandmother." ”

Yu Shi reached out and touched his little chubby face, and smiled: "No thanks, Grandma Uncle still has a lot of delicious food here, all for Brother Bai'er to eat." ”

Old lady Jiang looked at Bai Ge'er, the smile on her face deepened, and she turned to Jiang Xi and Cao Shi and said, "It's been a bumpy road, what are you still standing for, why don't you sit down and rest." ”

Among the people in the room, only Jiang Yanhua was ignored intentionally or unintentionally. Although she, like Taohua and Jiang Bohua, got a meeting gift from Mrs. Jiang and Yu, no one talked to her, and no one looked at her. Jiang Yanhua lowered his head and slowly shrank behind Cao to stand.

Cao's eyes were on his son and he didn't pay attention, but Taohua saw it, but he didn't say anything. No matter how Jiang Yanhua changed her surname, she is also the daughter of the Chen family, for the Jiang family, she will never be the same as Taohua and Jiang Bohua, this is an unchangeable fact. Although Jiang Xi treated her well, he didn't intend to make her exactly the same as Taohua, if Jiang Yanhua could understand this truth, life would be easier.

Yu Shi teased Bai Ge'er and said a few words, and couldn't help but look at the door: "Why haven't Dan and Xing Yatou come over yet?" Jiang Xi's family arrived, Jiang Songhua went out of the city to greet him, Jiang Yuhua was studying in the school, and he couldn't come back for a while, but the two girls in the family should come over to see their uncle quickly.

Xiao Shi also felt that it had been a bit long. After Jiang Songhua received the person just now, he sent his subordinates to rush back to report the news, and Xiao Shi packed up and went to the second gate to greet him, and on the other hand, he asked the maid to inform Jiang Danhua and Jiang Xinghua, even if the two of them have only changed their clothes since then to prepare, it is time to come over now.

"Ma'am, ma'am, no!" A sharp female voice suddenly came from outside, and a maid ran so that her hair was scattered, and she pounced out of breath, and knelt on the ground with a plop, and said tremblingly, "Four girls, four girls are not good!" ”

"What's wrong!" Xiao Shi's eyebrows jumped, and he stood up suddenly, "You have something to say, don't startle the old lady and the old lady!" ”

Old lady Jiang and Yu didn't look like they were shocked, Jiang Bohua was startled by this girl, and he still held a piece of peanut crisp in his hand, so he rushed back to Taohua's side.

The maid trembled: "The fourth girl fell into the lotus pond, at this moment, she is already out of breath!" ”

With a bang, there was immediately chaos in the house, and Xiao Shi grabbed the maid and said sharply: "Why didn't the five girls come over, could it be that the five girls also fell into the water?" ”

The maid cried: "The fifth girl is not, she is saving people by the pool at this time." ”

Old lady Jiang had already gotten up and went out first, Jiang Xi went to help him, Taohua hugged Jiang Bohua and coaxed, handed him over to Mint to hold first, and he followed Jiang Xi out.

Although the old lady Jiang looked old, as soon as he walked up, he found that Yuanzhi's words were good, the old man's feet were windy, and he could take two steps towards those female dependents in one step, and the maid who was supposed to lead the way was thrown behind in a few clicks.

In addition to Jiang Xi, the only one who can keep up is Taohua, and the three of them strode towards the west of the house.

This house is said to have been a high-ranking official's house, built quite exquisitely, because the original family population is small, actually willing to dig a large area of a lotus pond, although it is still early spring, there are already small lotus leaves in the pond, a little bit of green like the size of a copper coin, it looks very gratifying.

But at this time, no one had the heart to look at any lotus leaves, and a group of maids and women surrounded the edge of the pool, only to hear a female voice crying and shouting: "Girl, girl, wake up!" Don't scare the slave maid—" A few steps away, under the willow tree, a girl in a pomegranate red jacket was supported by a maid, pressed her chest and stood in a daze, until she saw the old lady Jiang, and then murmured: "Grandfather-"

"Old lady!" The crying maid suddenly saw Old Lady Jiang, and immediately pounced, "Old lady, save the four girls!" ”

As soon as Mrs. Jiang arrived, the people around her hurriedly spread out to both sides, revealing a young girl lying on the ground, her apricot-colored gown had been stained with muddy water, dirty and wrinkled, her pale face was a little blue, lying there quietly, completely like a corpse.

"Did you turn her over and spit water?" Old lady Jiang said in a deep voice, squatting down and pressing the girl's abdomen, "How long did it take to be rescued from falling into the water?" ”

Several mothers-in-law looked at each other, and the maid who had just asked for help knelt down: "After the girl fell into the water, the maids of the five girls did not go to save her!" The girl sank before someone came to ......"

"You talk nonsense!" A maid next to her immediately became anxious, "We can't swim in the water, how can we save it?" Didn't you go down and save it? ”

Old lady Jiang didn't have the heart to listen to these maids shirk their responsibilities, he pressed it twice, and the people lying there didn't have the slightest reaction, and his heart couldn't help but sink, and he immediately pulled out the hairpin on his head with his backhand, and stabbed a few acupuncture points.

The maid with tears on her face stared at the hairpin in Mrs. Jiang's hand with hope, the hairpin was copper-clad silver, and the tip was very sharp, and it could be seen that it was specially polished like this, but I was afraid that it was used by Mrs. Jiang to replace the silver needle when necessary. However, after these few stabs, the girl on the ground still lay upright, and did not react.

The maid's body fell to the ground as soon as she softened, and Mrs. Jiang's face changed. Taohua stared closely at the side, and then stepped forward and said, "Uncle, I'll try it." ”

Old lady Jiang glanced at her, hesitated slightly, and actually gave up her position. Taohua took out the handkerchief in her sleeve and put it on the girl's mouth, pinched her nose and lowered her head, and began to do artificial respiration.

"Four girls - what are you doing here?" Yu's surprised voice came, and a group of female dependents finally caught up out of breath, Jiang Danhua, who had been standing under the willow tree, seemed to see the life-saving straw, and pounced on it, "Grandmother, grandmother, scared me to death!" Fourth sister her, she slipped as she walked and fell into the pool! ”

The maid who was kneeling on the ground quickly turned her head and cast a hateful look at her, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something. However, the maid next to her had already preemptively said: "Yes, yes, there is some ice on the edge of this pool, the fourth girl never saw it, and she slid into it as soon as she stepped on it-the girl didn't pull it if she wanted to!" The slaves and maids wanted to save them, but they couldn't even find a rope for a while, and they called several times before someone came to ......"

"You-" The maid kneeling on the ground had red circles in her eyes, but she only said two words, and then turned her head in a dejected manner, just staring at Jiang Xinghua on the ground.

Momoka turned a deaf ear to the noise. After she blew into Jiang Xinghua's mouth, she quickly let go and pressed her chest with her other hand. It was very difficult to blow so vigorously that after a while, I felt my ears buzzing and my head was a little dizzy.

"Girl-" Jiang Xinghua's maid looked at it blankly for a while, and then crawled over with a roll, "Can I blow the air?" ”

This girl is not small. Taohua glanced at her, immediately moved out of the way, and pointed at her: "In this way, you will blow when I say blow." ”

With someone collaborating, Taohua rhythmically pressed Jiang Xinghua's chest, and kept saying: "Blow, blow, blow again-"

"This, what exactly is this doing? What happened to the apricot girl? Yu Shi put his arms around Jiang Danhua and looked at Taohua and the girl's strange behavior with wide eyes, "Wisteria is-"

Old lady Jiang waved her hand, interrupting the questions of the female dependents: "Be quiet!" ”

The lotus pond was quiet. However, many people exchanged glances with each other, and each saw doubts in each other's eyes - can this blowing can save people?

"Cough-" A low cough sounded in the deathly silence, the wisteria was already dizzy, and his heart was almost desperate, suddenly hearing this voice, he suspected that it was his own ears ringing, and when he looked down, he saw that Jiang Xinghua's eyelids on the ground had really moved slightly, and he was ecstatic and shouted: "The girl is awake!" ”

Taohua stopped, feeling that Jiang Xinghua's heartbeat had gradually returned to its normal rhythm and gradually became stronger, so she sighed softly, looked at Jiang Xinghua's slowly opened eyes, and smiled slightly: "Fourth sister, what do you think now?" ”