was interrupted by the birthday ceremony, and the Cao family didn't say anything, and everyone sat down around the table and started eating.

According to the usual practice, after dinner, Jiang Xi always went to the study to sort out his medicine recipes, although he was about to go out, he would not change this habit. Cao took his two daughters to pack up the things he needed on the road. Kankan packed up the things almost, Cao Shi finally couldn't hold back, while wrapping a pair of shoes, he drooped his eyelids and said: "Your father is not young at this age, over there in Guangzhou, I heard that the summer is surprisingly hot, and there is miasma, so he really shouldn't be called there." "

Jiang Yanhua said softly: "Mother is worried about Daddy, so take two more people to serve her." "

Cao Shi glanced at Taohua, and lowered his eyes again: "Your father's temperament is that people listen to what they say, and they leave when they say it...... It should be persuaded more, this is good at home for a thousand days, and it is difficult to go out everywhere......"

Taohua didn't know whether she was angry or funny, she dared to love Cao's and felt that Jiang Xi was going out, and she was hooked up by looking for a gift? It was all discussed with Mao Tongyuan, how could it be a temporary decision.

But she has no intention of saying anything to the Cao family, three years of getting along, what kind of temperament the Cao family is, she can also see seventy or eighty percent, a little soft and sticky, and the roots of the ears are soft, only in the back house This acre of three points of land is circulating, not to mention any knowledge, but not a wicked person. Because she is very considerate of Jiang Xi, Taohua respects her and does not have any conflict with her. At this moment, Cao Shi was talking about these words, she didn't like to hear them, so she just didn't understand them, and looked at the things that were almost there, so she said: "Tomorrow, I will go to the medicine hall to get a few commonly used medicines and add them." It's not early, my mother will rest for a day, so I'll go back first. "

Out of Cao's yard, Mint said a little unevenly: "Obviously, the old man is going out, but the wife is talking to the girl......"

Taohua only smiled, she didn't expect anything from her stepmother, as long as she was considerate to her father, she didn't just think about calculating her stepdaughter all day long. What she cares about more is another thing: "Mint, I really want to go to Guangzhou...... "She has been to Guangzhou in her previous life, and she also wants to see what Guangzhou is like now."

Mint was very helpless: "Girl, you are already old...... not to mention that this is to follow the caravan, a group of all big men, how can the girl's family be involved."

Speaking of this, Mint couldn't help but say a few more words: "The girl is not as old as before, she is older, and it is not good to go out casually anymore." Next year, I also said that I would go to the capital, and the slave maid heard Qing's mother say that the rules in the capital are much more than ours. Besides, when we got to the courtyard where the longhouse lived, the girl must not be like her own again......

Taohua grimaced at her: "Mint old mother, you haven't gone to the capital yet, you're chattering?" After saying that, he giggled and ran away.

"Girl—" The old lady mint stamped her foot in resignation, and hurried up with the lantern......

Although Cao's chatter, Jiang Xi still set off five days later. The matter is decided, and the Cao family only has to advise. The family sent Jiang Xi to the dock together, and watched him get on Mao Tongyuan's ship and set sail, and they were reluctant to leave. It wasn't until the boat was out of sight, and another boat docked and began to set up a gangplank to get off the people, that Cao Shi said, "Go back." "

The mother and daughter got into the carriage and slowly returned to the door of the house, where they saw a mule cart with its feet parked on the side of the road, and a mother-in-law was bargaining with the coachman. Cao got out of the car, and when the mother-in-law saw her, she immediately exclaimed with joy on her face: "Grandma! "

As soon as the woman shouted, the people in the mule cart hurriedly stretched out their heads: "Sister! "

Cao Shi just helped the girl's hand to get out of the car, and when he heard this sound and looked back, he immediately showed joy: "Sister-in-law! How did you get here? "

Taohua heard this voice before she got out of the car, and Mint lowered her voice: "It's Mrs. Cao Wu." "

Mrs. Cao Wu is the sister-in-law of Cao's relatives, and now the family is following Cao Wuye in Shaoxing, although it is not very far away, but it is rare for this to come suddenly. Cao Shi hurriedly opened the door, and Qingguo, the eldest girl beside her, paid for Mrs. Cao Wu and welcomed people in.

After entering the main courtyard, Taohua and Yanhua gave a salute to Mrs. Cao Wu, and Bai Ge'er asked the nurse to hold her, and she also learned to bow down with a small fist. Mrs. Cao Wu hurriedly grabbed one by one and looked at it carefully, and then took Brother Bai to hug her, and said to Cao with a smile on her face: "My sister is really blessed, look at these two girls, they are like shallots; Giving birth to a brother is a blessing, and my sister's great blessing is still to come. Is this a family that just went out? What about my brother-in-law, but he's still in the medicine hall? "

Cao Shi said: "Where is the medicine hall, I followed the caravan to Guangzhou, saying that I wanted to buy a fragrant medicine, and I just left from the dock." "

Mrs. Cao Wu hurriedly praised her twice and said: "It's strange that my brother-in-law's medicine hall is thriving, and he has gone so far just for the sake of medicine, which can be seen carefully." There is nothing bad about this medicine. "

Cao likes to listen to this, and the original sorrow and hatred are gone. Taohua ordered tea and snacks on the side, and Mrs. Cao Wu smiled and said: "Because your brother is going to Beijing in a few days, I am afraid that he will not be able to come back for the Dragon Boat Festival, so I asked me to come over early to give a festival gift, so as not to be delayed." He remembered that his brother-in-law loves to drink, and there is nothing else in Shaoxing, and Huadiao wine is the best, so he asked me to send a few jars over. There are also some dried plum vegetables and tofu cakes, all of which are native to Shaoxing, and my sister should not be too simple. "

Cao Shi hurriedly smiled: "Shaoxing Huadiao wine is famous, and Bai Ge'er and his father have always liked it. The dried plum dish is also good, so it is called the cook to go down and steam a piece of pork - we also have it here, and I always feel that it does not taste right. "

When Taohua heard this, she got up and said with a smile: "Then I'll go to the kitchen and ask them to make it." "

In the kitchen, Mrs. Liu was picking up the things brought by Mrs. Cao Wu with Di Ding'er, in addition to the four jars of Huadiao wine, it was just two small jars of bean curd, a basket of dried plum vegetables, and a box of fragrant cakes.

Mint is not a person who likes to break his mouth, so he really couldn't help it, and he didn't pay attention to Mrs. Liu and Di Ding'er, and said in a low voice: "It was said that it was a gift for the festival, and I came all the way to bring only this little thing...... What's more, this is only a few months, and it is clearly in the name of the Dragon Boat Festival to ......" The second half of the sentence "fighting the autumn wind" came to his mouth and swallowed it back. It's only early March now, who is giving Duanyang a gift at this time?

Taohua waved his hand: "That's it, it's a relative after all, and it only comes half a year, and I can't care about the silver of ten or twenty taels." "As long as Mrs. Cao Wu comes, the return gift that Cao has prepared for her must be extraordinarily thick, and she will also prepare her share of a pair of children, according to the usual, twenty taels of silver I am afraid that I can't beat it," Father didn't say anything, and we shouldn't open our mouths. "

Mint nodded and stopped talking, but he was thinking in his heart, these ten or twenty taels of silver are just a festival gift, last year Mrs. Cao Wu came over, saying that Cao Wuye wanted to donate a prisoner, and took a hundred taels of silver from Cao's family. However, it was Cao's own dowry, and Jiang Xi didn't say anything when he knew about it.

After entertaining Mrs. Cao Wu for lunch, Taohua took Brother Bai to take a nap, Yanhua wanted to write, and everyone went back to the room, Cao's only left a green fruit here to serve, and then asked Mrs. Cao Wu: "How are my brother these days?" How well is the messenger deserved? "

Cao Wuye only passed the examination at twenty-six, and failed the township examination twice, so he said that he probably couldn't pass the exam in this life, so he abandoned the books and pondered another way out, and finally set his sights on the way of donating prisoners. The Cao family has a large population, Cao Wuye is a concubine, and his mother went early, and when she became a relative, she was separated, and she couldn't count on the family's help, so she had to make up her own money. During the Chinese New Year last year, Cao's gave birth to Bai Ge'er, and Cao Wuye brought his family over to say goodbye, and mentioned to Cao's about donating prisoners, saying that there was a county seat, as long as he donated it, he could get it by walking the door.

Cao's family and Cao Wuye are the same mother, and when she was kicked out of her ex-husband's house, it was Cao Wuye who took their mother and daughter at home, and she never treated her badly every day, and later chose a good family like Jiang Xi for her, and she was grateful in her heart, so she immediately took out her dowry and silver and made this happen for Cao Wuye. Now that my brother is an official in Shaoxing, and it is not far away, the Cao family is happy.

When Mrs. Cao Wu heard her ask this, her eyes turned red, which frightened Cao's and hurriedly asked what was wrong. Mrs. Cao Wu pressed the corner of her eye with a handkerchief, and said without crying: "My sister doesn't know, your brother has suffered a crime now." When I first arrived in Shaoxing, it was okay, but since I changed my head, I changed to a county magistrate, and it was not pleasing to your brother. Just sent him the hard and tiring work, counting the military households, escorting grain and rice, running around every day, and the slightest mistake was reprimanded by the Shangguan......"

When Cao Shi heard this, he was anxious: "What did you say?" Where did my brother offend the county order? "

Mrs. Cao Wu simply wiped her tears and said: "It's not that your brother wants to offend him, it's that the adult entrusted by your brother at the beginning is not in agreement with this county magistrate." I'm a woman, and I don't know how it's illegal, but seeing your brother lose weight every day, it's really ......."

"How, how is this good?" The Cao family is not an idea, Mrs. Cao Wu said this, she was only anxious, but she couldn't think of a way.

Mrs. Cao Wu quietly looked at her sister-in-law from behind the handkerchief, and sobbed: "I think, I have to change places for your brother, otherwise if you stay up for so many years, your brother's body will collapse." I inquired, and now I really have a chance, but at least, I have to have five hundred taels of silver. "

Cao Shi gasped: "Five hundred taels!" "She is a concubine, the Cao family has many children, when she got married, she only bought a dowry of three hundred taels of silver, and spent a lot of money in her mother-in-law's house for eight years, and when she was kicked out of the house, there was only half left, and she has been filled in to Cao Wuye in recent years, and now Mrs. Cao Wu is five hundred taels when she opens her mouth, where can she get it?

"Yes, this number is too big, and my aunt and grandmother also know that we can't make up this number even if we smash pots and sell iron, so we can't borrow money for this, right?" Mrs. Cao Wu said with her mouth, but her eyes quietly slipped back and forth on Cao's head.

This sister-in-law can't marry for the first time, but she is blessed to marry again. The Jiang family opened a medicine hall, had a shop and a village, and was very generous in terms of money. Cao's married in and became the wife of the family, and now that he has given birth to a son, he is more confident - not to mention anything else, just look at the clothes Cao wears, it is the best makeup satin, the head is a red gold small phoenix tail hairpin, and there is a pair of red gold openwork beaded bracelets on the wrist, up and down combined, it is also worth dozens of taels of silver.

Mrs. Cao Wu looked at Cao's makeup and couldn't help but want to look down at herself. Although she is here to cry poor today, it is not good to wear new clothes and new jewelry, but the best clothes and jewelry in the family are not comparable to Cao's. My sister-in-law was kicked out by her husband's family, if she hadn't been taken in by her brother and sister-in-law, how could she have a good life now? The more Mrs. Cao Wu thought about it, the more justified she became, and she simply covered her face with a handkerchief and sobbed.

Cao's was at a loss, and only after a while did he say: "This, these five hundred taels, it is really, it is too much......" There are not a few dowries left, and the Jiang family can't afford the five hundred taels, but Ming Huanghuang takes the things of the husband's family to paste the mother's brother, and Jiang Xi is afraid that it will not be successful.

Mrs. Cao Wu wiped the corners of her eyes, and saw that there was no one else inside or outside the house, a Qingguo was the daughter of the Cao family who brought her from the Cao family, and she could be regarded as her confidant, so she no longer covered it up, and whispered: "Five hundred taels of silver is too much, and your brother really can't raise it, but there is another way." "

Cao Shi hurriedly asked: "What else is the way?" "

Mrs. Cao Wu pointed to the top of her head: "Your brother thinks about going to the capital to congratulate the wife of the family on her birthday......"

The family she is talking about refers to the Dinghai Hou Cao family in the capital.

Lao Dinghaihou and the old lady of the Cao family in Jiangnan are cousins of the same grandfather, but the path they took behind them was really different. The old Marquis Dinghai went to Liangguang, and when the Quartet was not peaceful at the beginning of the dynasty, he worked hard to earn a marquis; Mrs. Cao has been a small official in Jiangnan all her life, but she has given birth to a bunch of children.

Now the old Marquis Dinghai is deceased, but his children and grandchildren have a mansion and a title in Beijing, which is really Xuanxuan. Old lady Cao is still alive, living in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, and there are countless grandchildren and daughters-in-law.

Although the Cao family is a concubine, they have also heard of the relationship between their family and the main family in Beijing. In fact, if you talk about it, Mrs. Cao was the long house at the beginning, but now it is difficult to say, the people of the Yigan clan think that Jingzhong is the descendant, and everyone else is a side branch.

"Brother is trying to ......"

Mrs. Cao Wu coughed dryly: "Today's Hou Ye is a filial person, and he listens to Mrs. Tai the most." Mrs. Tai has always cherished the old and the poor, and is willing to take care of the people......"

In fact, it is not that Mrs. Tai is willing to take care of the clansmen, but that her old husband was working hard outside, and he was bullied by the clansmen intentionally or unintentionally. Because of this, she especially likes the flattery of the clansmen in Beijing, and if there is flattery that she likes, she will bring one or two.

This is a blessing for those who seek wealth, and for those who seek officials. Of course, this official is not a big official, but he is just a good word for Dinghaihou in terms of promotion, or arranging a subordinate in the capital to do something. Dinghaihou is a filial son, he listens to everything the old lady says, and over the years, there are more than a dozen people in the clan who have pleased Mrs. Tai and have a future.

However, Mrs. Dinghai Marquis is not so easy to please. In the end, people who have seen the world, to put it mildly, they just want to shoot sycophants, and these people from the Cao family in Jiangnan may not be able to shoot the right place. What's more, Cao Wuye's father and mother didn't have a good impression in front of Mrs. Tai at the beginning, Cao Wuye wanted to take this path at this time, and he had to think carefully about the birthday ceremony.

"I heard that Mrs. Tai loves jade." Mrs. Cao Wu peeked at her sister-in-law's expression and said slowly, "Mrs. Tai is old, and she also likes little girls to talk and laugh around. I thought about finding a piece of good jade, taking Luo'er to celebrate her birthday, and sending it to Mrs. Tai. "

Today's Dinghai Marquis also followed his father to kill the enemy, and he is also quite talented, and he is in the limelight in Beijing, and I don't know how many people will go to give gifts when the time comes, if they can't squeeze in front of Mrs. Tai's eyes to make a show, I'm afraid that the gifts will be sent to the dark shadow.

Cao Luo is the daughter of Mrs. Cao Wu, she is fourteen years old this year, she looks a little beautiful, and she has also studied in a private school for a few years, she should be the type that Mrs. Tai likes, if she takes it, she should be able to go to Mrs. Tai to say a word of congratulations in front of her, but this gift is not easy to find.

"This good jade, where can I find it for a while?" Cao was a little happier, and he was worried again. Gold has a price, jade is priceless, if you really want to find a "good" jade, maybe five hundred taels is not enough.

Mrs. Cao Wu coughed dryly again, leaned forward, and then whispered: "Actually, this jade, good or bad is secondary, but it wants a fresh appearance." Mrs. Tai, what jade is missing? Spending thousands of taels of silver to buy a pair of bracelets, her old man may not see it in her eyes. "

Cao nodded again and again, and Mrs. Cao Wu said again: "Last year, Brother Bai caught Zhou, and Sister Luo saw a pot of jade carved narcissus on the shelf......"