Sure enough, as Kou Zhun said, when the group arrived at Xiabang Kou Mansion, it was just dark. Xiao Yiran first went to meet Mr. Kou Xiang, and was about to pay a big salute to Kou Xiang, but Kou Xiang stopped him, so he had to bend his knees and give a blessing. The gifts prepared by his parents for Mr. on the ground with both hands, as well as the wedding gift for his senior brother Kou Zhun, were also handed over to Mr. Kou Xiang.

"Let's go to the backyard to meet your master, since the teacher came home, your master and mother have been chattering, always asking what kind of female disciple the teacher has received."

Xiao Yiran smiled, raised his legs and was about to go to the backyard. Suddenly, Mr. Kou Xiang stopped her again.

"Wait a minute."

Xiao Yiran stopped when he heard the sound and looked at Mr. suspiciously. Seeing Kou Xiang circling around him, he looked up and down carefully before he said:

"Go ahead."

Xiao Yiran was seen by Mr. Kou Xiang and muttered in his heart, what did he find out for his husband?

The subordinates of the Kou family are in front, Xiao Yiran is behind, and behind him is Xiao Xi holding a gift. The house of Kou is not very large, but it is very exquisite. Along the hand-copying verandah under the wall of the east courtyard, zigzag to the backyard. A maid came to lead the way, and took Xiao Yiran directly to a delicate laughing living room in the backyard. Seeing that under the bright candlelight, an old lady with white hair, but abnormal spirit, and a little rich was sitting on a chair, Xiao Yiran took a few steps, stepped forward and knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to the old lady.

"My wife is above, Xiao Yiran knocks on my wife."

"Hurry up, hurry up. Our Kou family doesn't like this, Xiaorui quickly helped Miss Xiao to come. ”

As she spoke, the old lady also stood up tremblingly, pulled Xiao Yiran, who was helped up by the maid Xiaoxi, to her side, and looked at her carefully. While looking at it, he said:

"No wonder when the old man came back, he always kept praising him. I said, what kind of female apprentice did you accept, and you actually made the master like that. Sure enough, everyone loves it, even if you can't read or play the piano, just this lovely appearance, not to mention that the old man has seen it, even if the old man has seen it, he must let the old man accept it. ”

"My wife praised it falsely, and I couldn't afford it."

Xiao Yiran, who was a little embarrassed by his wife, hurriedly beckoned Xiaoxi to present the gift he had prepared for his wife. The maid had already taken it from Xiaoxi's hands and put it on the table of the Eight Immortals.

"It's good if I can come and see my husband and my wife, and what gifts do you bring?"

"It's not a precious thing, just a little bit of thought."

"You must be tired after such a long journey, so sit down and drink tea."

At this time, Kou Zhun came in from outside the door, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed before standing up.

"Did you take good care of your junior sister along the way?"

"Senior sister left a few days earlier than me, and she arrived in Huayin a long time ago, I only arrived in Huayin today, and then rushed back."

"Why did you come to Huayin early and not come to home?"

"Back to my wife, Yiran came two days early, and I plan to revisit Huashan. If Senior Brother hadn't arrived tomorrow, he would have planned to come over directly. ”

"Climbed the mountain? Tired or not? ”

"I've climbed, and when Senior Brother arrived this afternoon, we just came down the mountain."

"Mother, along with my junior sister, there are also the maiden niece of the old woman Wang of the Ministry of Rites, and the grandson of the maiden family, Lin Chen."

"What about people? Why didn't you come along? ”

"Lin Xiaogongzi is also from Xiabang, and after he and his sister arrived in Huayin, they went home. I said that I would come back when the children got married in two days. ”

"Is this Lin Chen what your father often mentions, that famous prodigy in Xiabang County?"

"It's Lin Xiaogongzi."

"I'm here another day, I'm going to take a good look, I met your junior sister today, and then look at that little prodigy. It is really the back waves of the Yangtze River pushing the front waves, and one generation is stronger than the next. ”

"Mother, Daddy asked me if dinner should be set together or separated?"

"Together, together, and there are no outsiders, just the four of us. Your brother and sister-in-law are not around, but Ran'er is still a child, so there is no need to distinguish between inside and outside. ”

"Okay, I'll make arrangements, and my mother and sister will sit down and go to the dining room."

After Kou Zhun left, Mrs. Kou, the old lady, took Xiao Yiran's hand again and said:

"What are you reading now?" I heard your husband say that the Four Books and the Five Classics have long been familiar with the chest, and we women do not participate in the imperial examinations, so we always depend on what those Laoshzi do. ”

"I didn't read those books for a long time, but now I just look at poetry and songs, practice the piano and something. My father also found me a copy of "Boudoir Training", and told me to read it carefully. ”

""Boudoir Training"? Don't waste your efforts on that. People are made, not learned. When I was young, I hated reading "The Lady's Training" and "The Biography of the Daughters" the most. Especially in "The Biography of the Daughters", it is normal for girls to observe festivals, so why write it in the book and let the world read it? ”

"Old lady, the dinner in the front yard is ready."

The maid's words interrupted Mrs. Kou, and Xiao Yiran supported her and walked along the verandah to the living room in the front yard. Seeing that Mr. Kou Xiang was already sitting at the table, the senior brother Kou Xiang was standing at the door, one on the side of the maid, raising the curtain, and inviting the two of them in. The master sat next to Mr. and pulled Xiao Yiran to sit next to her, and Kou Yi sat down on the lower hand.

Xiao Yiran wanted to pour wine for his husband personally, but was stopped by his wife.

"As I said, there aren't that many rules in the house. After such a long journey, I also went to climb Huashan, eat well, and go back early to rest. ”

After the old gentleman Kou Xiang drank a few glasses of wine, he looked at Xiao Yiran carefully again.

"I haven't seen my lord for a few days, why don't you know him?"

"Haha, knowing is knowing, but there are some changes."

"Haha, listen to your gentleman, I haven't seen you for three or four months, what can I do?"

"Yiran, let me ask you, who did you meet on this trip?"

Hearing Kou Xiang's more solemn tone, the old lady stopped interrupting, and together with Kou Zhun, they carefully observed Xiao Yiran, and when they saw that there was nothing unusual, they couldn't help but stare at Xiao Yiran, waiting for her to answer Mr. 's words.

"Mr. Bu said that he did meet two people when he climbed Huashan this time. A man and a woman, both in their twenties. ”

"Oh, go on."

"The female is Sister Xu Ying, and the male is Brother Xiang Hu. Sister Xu Ying said that the two of them were from Kongtong. In front of the Xuannu Niangniang Temple, Ran'er met Ren Long, the son of Huazhou Zhizhou, and when he was entangled, he was thrown into the stream by Brother Xiang Hu and his three family members. After that, Sister Xu Ying invited me to climb the mountain together, and I agreed. ”

"And then?"

Later, I climbed to the east peak before dark. Because I didn't have lunch because I only cared about climbing the mountain along the way, Sister Xu Ying gave me two fruits that I didn't know the name of, and I didn't feel hungry after eating them. Then somehow I fell asleep. ”

"That's all?"

"When I fell asleep, in a trance, I seemed to hear something to Brother Xiang Hu."

"Did you hear what you said?"

"Brother Xiang Hu said: I have done everything that should be done when I am entrusted by people to be loyal to people."

Originally, Xiao Yiran didn't plan to tell Mr. Sù Xu Ying's sister about her actions after she fell asleep, but seeing that Mr. was still looking at him with a puzzled expression, he continued:

After that, I seemed to feel that Sister Xu Ying patted my chest and back with her hands, as well as the top of my head. After that, nothing is known. When I opened my eyes, it was already this morning. ”

"Senior sister mean, you spent the night at the top of the mountain?"

"yes."

"Where do you stay at night?"

The gentleman hurriedly asked.

"It's in a crevice in a rock. When I first went up the mountain, I still felt that the mountain breeze was very cold, but when Sister Xu Ying grabbed my hand, I felt a hot current from the palm of my hand, which instantly spread throughout my body, and I never felt cold again. ”

When Xiao Yiran said this, he stopped talking. Seeing that Mr., Mrs., and Brother were all looking at him in a daze, Xiao Yiran hurriedly said:

"That's all, nothing else."

"What about the two men?"

"When I opened my eyes in the morning, I saw them again. Oh, by the way, it seems that after saying the sentence just now to Brother Hu, he also said that the moon has risen, and it should be those people. ”

"Was Ran'er taken up the mountain by that Xu Ying sister all the way?"

"Yes, sir. Such a steep mountain road, if it weren't for Sister Xu Ying, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to go up at all. ”

Mr. Kou Xiang looked at Xiao Yiran, then at his wife, lowered his head and thought about it, and then said:

"That's it, don't say anything, let's drink."

"Sir?"

"You don't need to ask, the teacher knows what you want to ask, and the teacher doesn't know. Everyone has their own encounters and opportunities, and a qiē thing has its own fixed number in the dark. In the future, just act as if nothing happened, don't bother to guess anything, remember? ”

"Noted down, sir."

After being silent for a while, the topic turned to the marriage of senior brother Kou Zhun.

"Zhun'er, there is still exactly one month before April 16, and the gifts that should be given are ready to stop, just waiting for you to come back. If there's nothing to do, I'll rest for a day tomorrow and send it over. If you send it over a day earlier, the Song family will have a day of time. ”

"Yes, Mother."

Xiao Yiran just listened silently, and his wife told his brother a lot of words. In the meantime, the gentleman had been drinking without interjecting a word. Obviously, the affairs of the Kou Mansion are all handled by the old lady. It wasn't until the mother and son finished discussing the big wedding that Xiao Yiran chuckled and asked his senior brother Kou Zhun:

"Senior brother, what does the sister-in-law of the Song family look like, has you seen it?"

"You laughing girl, the marriage of the girl is the order of the parents, the matchmaker's words, where will your senior brother have the opportunity to meet your new sister-in-law?"

"Senior brother is not afraid of candle nights in the cave room, take off the hijab, there is a saltless woman below?"

Xiao Yiran knew that his wife was joking with him, so he ignored his wife's words and deliberately made fun of his brother Kou Zhun.

After listening to Xiao Yiran's question, Mr. Kou and Mrs. Kou both smiled and said nothing, looking at Kou Zhun with their eyes. Kou Zhun said curtly:

"I inquired, your sister-in-law of the Song family is okay."

Whether it was Kou Zhun's tone or expression, it made the two old men laugh. Xiao Yiran also laughed. However, don't forget to ask again:

"Senior brother, what do you mean to be okay?"

Kou Zhun's face turned red as soon as he soared, and hurriedly snatched the wine jug from the maid's hand, and was busy pouring wine for his father to hide his embarrassment. Seeing Kou Zhun's appearance in his eyes, Xiao Yiran is not beautiful, and secretly thought in his heart that it is indeed a great pleasure in life to have the opportunity to tease the future generation of famous people.