Xia Chunchao looked at the handwriting in small letters, and the writing was neat and beautiful, and he thought in his heart: This Mrs. Ji is well-educated, although she is the daughter of a merchant, the font is neat and tidy. Shooting such a bold shot must be an ordinary official eunuch.

After bowing his head and thinking about it for a while, he opened his mouth and ordered: "Take my name card and ask Bao'er to make up for it, I remember that I received a soft gold inlaid ruby pomegranate flower and pressed the temples last year, and took it out." Then ask your sister-in-law Wang'er to take the key to open the warehouse door and bring the cloisonné lotus leaf tray sent by your father in the first month. When Zhu'er heard this, she knew what she meant, and couldn't help but persuade: "Grandma, the pomegranate flower pressed the sideburns, but it cost two hundred taels of silver to beat it." Grandma was reluctant to wear it, and after buying it for a year, she didn't go to it for the first time. There is also that tray, since the thug sent it out, it has been placed once in the first month, and it has never been used again. Are they all rare objects, so give them away like this? ”

Xia Chunchao smiled and said: "You don't understand, although the courtesy is light and the intersection is not on this, but it can't be very out of line." In the past few years, I have been dedicated to running my family, and I have not accumulated any precious things, and the relatives and friends I have come and gone are ordinary people, so I have never cared about it. At first glance, I made such a sister, and in a hurry, I really didn't get a gift that I could get. Even if there are a few things that can be seen, they have also been given out as a gift for returning to the Hou Mansion a few days ago, and only these two things are slightly comparable. Since I have a sincere fellowship with her, if I pick some ordinary objects at random and prevaricate, it will appear disrespectful, and secondly, it will make people think that we are deliberately cowardly and have no intention of interacting. ”

When Zhu'er heard these words, she had nothing to say, so she had to pouted and went out to command. Bao'er went to open the makeup, and according to the words of the master's mother, she took the sideburns. Xia Chunchao took a look at Bao'er's hand, and saw that the jewelry was shining in the sun, shining with golden light, and smiled and said: "The ruby on this sideburns was originally bought from a jewelry merchant from a foreign country. This color texture, we can't find a second one in the jewelry shops in the capital, that is, we are lucky to come across it. The style of the pomegranate flower on the top is still invited by the master, and it is played according to the style copied from the palace, and the salary alone costs more than ten taels of silver, which is also extremely extravagant. Such an object, presumably Mrs. Ji can see it. ”

That Bao'er is straightforward by nature, not like Zhu'er who can speak well, but only listens honestly on the side, without saying a word. After a while, Zhu'er came back with the cloisonné lotus leaf tray. Xia Chunchao took over, took a closer look, and saw that the tray was intact and as bright as new. Then he ordered someone to seal the box, tie it carefully, send it to the front hall, and send someone from Ji's mansion.

After the gift box was sent, Xia Chunchao took a nap on the kang, and Zhu'er came up to clean up the pen and ink, and said with a smile: "Grandma has only cared about the family affairs over the years, and there are few sisters in the boudoir. It's so easy to get acquainted with one, and that's it. After a pause, he said: "Grandma doesn't like to associate with such irrelevant people on weekdays, but now she has reversed her temperament." Xia Chunchao smiled lazily and said: "In the past, it wasn't that I pretended to be high, but those women were always fine, and they only knew what was right and wrong, which was really annoying." Since I have not spoken to them, it is better not to see them, and not to speak in vain. However, this lady is different from those laity women, and although my fellowship with her is short, I feel that her words are very bright. The two of us have similar backgrounds, so we naturally fall in love. ”

Zhu'er smiled again: "Grandma likes it like this, why don't you inquire about other people's family backgrounds and how the men in charge make a living?" Don't talk in one place in the future, and you say the wrong thing for a while, and you don't have to make jokes. When Xia Chunchao heard this, he also felt reasonable, so he nodded and smiled: "I've always been busy, but I forgot about this." You're right, so I sent two family members to inquire. "That's it.

There was nothing to do that day, and in the evening, Lu Chengyong came back from the yamen, and when he entered the house, he was amazed: "There was a strange thing today, I hurried back to tell you." Before he finished speaking, he didn't wait for Xia Chunchao to speak, so he said: "Brother He asked for a new concubine yesterday, guess who it is?" Xia Chunchao took the clothes for him, and handed him a towel to wipe his face, and when he heard this, he smiled and said: "This rambling, how can I guess?" Having said that, he thought about it for a while, and tried to ask: "That day, I watched people outside the opera garden send things to him, could it be that the servant of the Desheng class can't do it?" Lu Chengyong took the handkerchief, wiped it, threw it back, and smiled at her: "The servant is the servant, you can't guess which!" ”

Xia Chunchao glanced at him, and said with a smile: "If you want to say it, just make it clear, what's the point of exposing the flesh with bones in your mouth like this?" Lu Chengyong saw that she was displeased, so he smiled and said: "It's the pillar of the Desheng class, Liu Yuniang who sings Xiaodan!" When Xia Chunchao heard this, he felt deeply puzzled, and couldn't help but say: "This He Haogu is also a son of the family, the great-grandson of the Marquis of Dingguo, and his status is noble. No matter how famous Liu Yuniang is all over the world, after all, it is just a play, and recruiting her into the family as a concubine will inevitably defile the court. The elders of his family, don't they just let him do this? ”

Lu Chengyong said with a smile: "So Brother He didn't dare to bring her home in a fair way, so he only rented a small courtyard outside, bought household goods, added a few family members, and had an old mother who Liu Yuniang used to serve in Desheng's class, so she settled down." Xia Chunchao sighed: "This is the outer house, although the world is like this, it is not unusual, but in the future, it will be passed inside, it is difficult to ensure that there will be no trouble, in the end it is not a good thing!" Then he asked: "I don't know if this He Gongzi has ever been married, and if his wife knows about it, she still doesn't know how to be angry." Lu Chengyong said: "It's good, he hasn't married yet." He used to have a famous saying - I want to read all the beauty of the world, how can I be bound by one person. These words reached the ears of his master, and he beat him several times, and his temper could not be changed. This Master He is also a person with a personality like fire, so he said angrily - how can a girl from a good family spoil him, but he also doesn't want to let that fan-headed rotten prostitute into my door! So he dragged on to this age, and he has never married. ”

Xia Chunchao listened to this story, nodded and sighed, then asked again: "Then since Liu Yuniang is just popular and the pillar of the Desheng class, then the class master will let her go so lightly?" Lu Chengyong said: "Naturally not, He Haogu has really invested in redeeming the little lady." Just to get rid of the brand, she used 800 taels of silver, red envelopes inside and out, and all kinds of expenses, which was about 1,000 taels of silver. The head of the class also saw that Brother He was tall and didn't dare to strangle him, so he let the girl out. Xia Chunchao said first: "It's okay, this is because Liu Yuniang finally got out of the prison pit hell." As he spoke, he nailed Lu Chengyong and chuckled: "Listening to what you said so familiarly, I must have seen you ask your brother for an excellent outer room, and your eyes are tight, so remember this method clearly, and you will learn the same in the future?" ”

Lu Chengyong heard her words very sourly, smiled loudly, stepped forward to hug her waist, and whispered to her ear: "If I have this heart, then you can only be in the house." Xia Chunchao didn't look good when he heard this, and saw that the two girls were hiding their mouths and snickering on the side, and said with a red face: "Bah, what kind of crazy thing are you talking about!" Well, why should I go outside? You have never come home drunk, but you have said such drunken words, and you don't have to make people laugh. So saying, he broke out and told the two girls to put the table and set the supper.

Since the fight before the day, the Xia Chun Dynasty had a quarrel with the Liu family, and the Lu family's usual 'rules' have been abolished. Whenever she eats, Liu no longer dares to ask her to serve, and she is happy not to go. At the moment, the couple ate at the same table.

During the banquet, there was a dish of pheasant soup with bamboo shoots, which was very good for Lu Chengyong's taste, and after drinking two bowls of bitter drink, it was not enough, but he still ordered Bao'er to serve the soup. Xia Chunchao looked at it in his eyes and said, "You drink so much soup, you can't eat for a while, and you're hungry at night." Don't think I'll get up in the middle of the night and eat eggs with you! Lu Chengyong smiled: "If the lady doesn't mention it, I can't remember it." Before going to the northwest, every night at home, when I was hungry, the lady would definitely take our small stove of stewed tea and hang the hanger, and stew eggs for me to eat. I don't know how the lady regulates it, it's just an egg, it can be so delicious. Since I went to the northwest, I can't eat this bite anymore. The lady brought it up today, but it hooked out my gluttony. I don't dare to work my wife tonight, so I'll make it for me tomorrow morning. ”

Xia Chunchao scolded with a smile: "I clearly have the food cooked in the kitchen, but I don't eat it, I just want to do everything I can!" With your command, I have to get up a moment early to serve you tomorrow! I'd like to sleep a little longer, but you'll order. Lu Chengyong smiled and said: "Ask the lady to give me a reward, I will leave at the end of this month, and it will take another month to come back." After soaking for a while, Xia Chunchao, who had just begged, agreed.

Lu Chengyong said again: "The soup of this pheasant hanging is really stronger than that of domestic chickens." Whether it's bamboo shoots or not, the taste of this soup is just so full. Did this pheasant buy it from outside? Xia Chunchao ate a small half bowl of rice, and was already full, so he put the bowl aside and said: "No, this is the filial piety of Li Laoer, a tenant in the countryside, at the end of last year, saying that he came from the mountains." I didn't finish it in the first month, so I left it here. Then he said to him, "I have an idea, but I don't know if you will do it or not." Lu Chengyong said: "What are the ideas, you can tell me and listen to them." Xia Chunchao told what he had been thinking about for a day during the day, and said: "I want to take advantage of the fact that the family is still rich in money, add a few hundred acres of land, and put a few more old and reliable family members to take care of it." In addition to ordinary crops, we also plant some fruits and vegetables, and our family's year-old rice, noodles, vegetables and vegetables have been settled, and we don't have to buy them in the market, but we can save them and chew them; second, to save some grain, but also to prepare for the rise in rice prices in disaster years; The third is that if there are leftover fruits and vegetables, they can be put in our shop to sell after they are dried, which is less profitable than the goods outside, and naturally has more inputs. How do you feel about it? ”

When Lu Chengyong heard her words, he felt very reasonable, and there was nothing to refute, so he immediately nodded and said: "The lady's master is the most righteous, and the lady looks at it." After a pause, he said: "It's just to add a hundred acres of land in one go, but I'm afraid that I won't have so much silver for a while." I have received many rewards from the previous time, and they are all locked up in the storehouse. I saw that they were all things that I couldn't use for years, and the lady looked at the disposal. If it can't be done, even the golden bread can be sold. When Xia Chunchao heard this, he smiled unconsciously and said: "Where it is like this, it is better to receive the things given by God." You don't have to worry, I know what I can say. As they spoke, the couple ate.

At night, the two sat on the kang to eat tea and gossip, and Xia Chunchao did a round of needlework. Seeing that it was time to get up, and the sleepiness could not be achieved, he immediately packed up and went to sleep, and there was nothing to say that night.