Compared with the desertion of the imperial city of Xudu, the Qihou Mansion far away in Longkou is now very lively. At the end of the year every year, the house is lit up with lights inside and outside, not to mention that Cai Ji will also invite orphans adopted in the lecture hall to come to the house to spend the New Year together. Even if Cai Ji happened to be leading the troops like the previous year, as the housekeeper of the Hou Mansion, Suzu Lan would buy rich banquets and new clothes, and be tired of money to entertain the orphans who entered the mansion for the New Year. And if the Lord happens to be in the mouth of the dragon this year, the children are even more eager to try, because it means that they will receive an additional gift from the Lord.

In the same way that later generations gave New Year's money, the elders of the Han Dynasty would also give copper coins to their children during the New Year, so that when evil spirits or "Nian" hurt children, children could use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good fortune. It's just that the New Year's copper coins issued to children in the Han Dynasty are not the currency in circulation in the market, but are specially minted into the shape of coins to ward off evil spirits in order to wear and play rewards, so they are called tired of winning money.

In Cai Ji's view, new clothes and tired of money are all things that children deserve in the New Year. The small gift represents her heart and expectations for the children. In fact, not only the orphans of the martial arts hall, as long as the children under the age of eighteen who come to the house to visit the New Year, they can get a gift from Cai Ji. The first month of the seventh year of Jian'an (202 AD) is no exception.

On this day, Cai Ji, who rarely stole half a day of leisure, enjoyed the snow and cooked tea with a group of boys and girls in the garden of the Hou Mansion. Among these children, there are not only orphans from Jiangwutang, but also children of official eunuchs like Tai Shiheng and Guo Yi. I saw Cai Ji sitting in the center, leaning on a few hands, and softly asked the girl sitting in the right row about the current situation. Behind her, Lily of the Valley was squatting in front of the small stove, concentrating on cooking tea.

The girl who spoke to Cai Ji was named Ye Xiaocui, who had just turned twelve years old this year, and was an orphan adopted by Jiangwutang four years ago. Because he excelled in his studies among orphans of the same age, he was qualified to sit on the right hand side closest to Cai Ji. It's just that this honor seems to flatter the girl a little, so that she seems a little restrained in her gestures. However, Rao is like this, and the girl can still answer Cai Ji's questions fluently, which makes the boys of the same age sitting next to him envious.

Ye Xiaocui's simplicity also made Cai Ji very satisfied. As Cai Ji's power gradually expands, she needs not only more generals who can fight well and resourceful ministers. At the same time, it is also necessary to enrich the court with female officials with both ability and integrity. After all, there are always many inconveniences in struggling in a purely male society as a Cai Ji woman. Especially in terms of ceremonial sacrifices, men and women are not kissed after all. If there were female officials to assist Cai Ji in various rituals, the situation would be much better. In addition, Cai Ji's inner courtyard also needs a suitable woman to take care of the housekeeping for him, and Lily of the Valley alone is obviously far from enough.

In fact, if Cai Ji is a man, then this qiē will not be a problem. With her identity and age, marrying a famous lady is not a problem at all, and there may be more than one room. These ladies will set up her backyard and connect with the family members of the famous family members of the township party, and of course they may represent a certain family in their own right. And now these need to be completed by female officials for Cai Ji, and even marriage.

Cai Ji may not have thought so much about it when she first adopted the orphan girl. But now she is really ready to arrange for those orphan girls to marry her with the retainers and the famous families of the township party for her. Is it cold? Yes. Shameless? Yes. From the moral standpoint of 1,800 years later, Cai Ji's approach is both ruthless and shameless. But this is the end of the Han Dynasty! Don't say that ordinary people, even the emperor's daughter, can't decide their own marriage. The famous family is also responsible for cultivating the marriage of the ladies. As for the daughter of a famous family, it is not uncommon for her to be taken back by her mother's family to remarry after being widowed.

In Cai Ji's opinion, if the female officials under her account have the courage to pursue their true love, then she will give the other party freedom and blessings. If a girl does not have the consciousness to fight against tradition, then she will arrange a suitable marriage for her. At least the level of marriage will not be inferior to that of ordinary township party celebrities. And after the female official gets married, Cai Ji will also protect the interests of the female official in the marriage like the family protects its own daughter.

Of course, Cai Ji will not let every orphan girl marry for her, and girls who are qualified to marry into famous families need to respect virtue and etiquette in addition to talent and appearance, so that they can be called beautiful girls. For this reason, Cai Ji specially invited the relatives of the official eunuchs from famous families to explain women's etiquette to the girls in the martial arts hall, and the content was mainly based on Ban Zhao's "Female Commandment", but weakened the "three subordinates". After all, if a female official strictly obeys her father, her husband and her son, then where is she, the master?

Ye Xiaocui is undoubtedly better than boys in the same grade, but her demeanor is full of childishness. Cai Ji, who felt a little regretful, asked her about the study of women's etiquette. "Can you still adapt to the new women's ceremony? ＂

Ye Xiaocui replied. "Back to the Lord, Mrs. Ning explained the four lines the day before yesterday. There are four lines of words. One is women's morality, the second is women's words, the third is women's appearance, and the fourth is women's merit. Husband Yun woman virtue, you don't have to be different; Women's words do not need to be argued; Women's appearance does not have to be beautiful in color; Women don't have to be skilled. Quiet and chaste, neat and tidy, shameful in doing one's own thing, and having a law in movement, it is said to be a woman's virtue; Choose words and speak, do not speak evilly, sometimes speak, do not be dogs to others, it is a woman's words; The dust is filthy, the clothes are fresh and clean, and when bathing, the body is not dirty and humiliated, which is called a woman's appearance; Concentrate on weaving, not good at laughing, clean wine and food, for guests, is called women's work. These four are the great festival of women. Cui Shen thought so. ＂

Although Ban Zhao's "Female Commandment" strongly advocates the superiority of men and the inferiority of women, it is the way for women to survive in a large family. At this moment, seeing that Ye Xiaocui was so familiar with the "Female Commandment", Cai Ji encouraged him, "Well, since you have this understanding, your daily words and deeds should be taken as a commandment." ＂

After Ye Xiaocui, Cai Ji was admitted to the school of several orphans one after another. Children who are qualified to come to the Hou Mansion for the New Year will naturally not be far behind in their studies. However, a few young children were already a little unable to sit down after eating the pastries in front of them. Seeing this, Cai Ji smiled knowingly, and turned to Ling Hujiu behind him to nod and wink.

Ling Hu Jiu immediately pursed his lips and smiled knowingly, got up, and ran away with a smoke. After a while, I saw her leading a few maids to the garden with a bunch of gifts. Faced with the colorful gifts, the young children suddenly burst into cheers. Even the older Tai Shiheng, Guo Yi, Ye Xiaocui and others couldn't help but show a look of anticipation.

After all, they're still kids. That will really have the patience to accompany Gu to drink tea. After secretly laughing at himself in his heart, Cai Ji began to send gifts to the children. However, the first person to receive a gift from the Marquis of Qi was neither a student of the martial arts hall, nor the children of Tai Shiheng and Guo Yi, but "Xiaobao? Come? Hug your aunt? Cai Ji took the white and chubby baby from the nurse's hand, held it in his arms and rubbed it vigorously. The feeling of soft flesh made Cai Ji quite fond of it.

But the little meat ball didn't buy it, and saw him stretch out his fleshy little hand and desperately push Cai Ji away, "Men and women can't kiss!" ＂

The righteous and strict little meat ball in front of him is Gongsun Zhan's son who was rescued by Zhao Yun from Yi Jingcheng - Gongsun Xiaobao. This baby has just turned three years old this year, and it is in the first rebellious period of young children. Seeing that the little little dot in his arms was stubborn and proudly defending his "chastity", Cai Ji couldn't help but laugh and couldn't help but sprout a hint of mischief. I saw her hug the little meat ball tightly. "Men and women are not seated at the same age as of seven. Xiaobao is not seven years old? ＂

Xiaobao couldn't react for a while, so he had to protest loudly with his hands and feet, "Don't! Don't! The result was a burst of laughter.

Cao Pi stood behind the flowers, looking at Cai Ji from afar surrounded by a group of children, talking and laughing, and his heart was both envious and stunned. In the past, at this time, my mother would sew a new set of clothes for her brother and prepare a variety of delicious dishes. Cao Chang and Cao Zhi will stick to their backs like. At that time, I didn't pay attention to the new dishes, and I felt that the two younger brothers were very annoyed at that time. But now Cao Pi doesn't even know when he will be able to go home to visit his mother and brother. You may not even be able to see your loved ones for the rest of your life. I can't know what my newborn brother Cao Xiong looks like.

A cold wind blew, and Cao Pi felt that there was sand in his eyes, so he rolled up his sleeves and rubbed his eyes. But the more you rub it, the more painful it becomes, and the more you rub it, the wetter it becomes. But when he shook his hand and gave up, he looked up and saw Cai Ji on the other side of the flower bush having finished handing out the gift and was smiling and waving to him. Cao Pi wanted to turn his head and slip away, but he didn't think that he would still walk towards Cai Ji like a ghost.

"As Gu thought, Zihuan is suitable for cyan. Cai Ji commented on Cao Pi's new clothes quite smugly.

Cao Pi was standing in the middle of a group of children, uncomfortable. His identity is Cai Ji's fiancé. But the eldest of the orphans adopted by Cai Ji was only a year younger than him. This gap in identity and age makes it extremely difficult for Cao Pi to make friends among his peers.

"It seems like it's a little bit close. Ignoring Cao Pi's awkwardness, Cai Ji muttered to himself and took out an object from his sleeve and hung it on the young man's belt, "Ah, this is it." ＂

Cai Ji's sudden action made Cao Pi subconsciously shrink back as if he had been electrocuted. When he came back to his senses, he saw that there was already an extra jade pendant on his waist. It is an extremely rare fish-shaped white jade, not only finely carved, but also as warm as mutton fat, which makes people know that it is valuable at a glance.

"This thing is very valuable"

Cao Pi stammered and wanted to take off the jade pendant. was stopped by Cai Ji stretching out his hand. "New Year's gifts, those who see them have a share. ＂

Anyway. Cai Ji turned his head and smiled at Tai Shiheng and Guo Yi, who were watching the excitement, "I'm afraid that you have no intention of accompanying Lone to enjoy tea and snow." Say, what game do you want to play in the house? ＂

Tai Shi Heng, who is about the same age as Cao Pi, inherited the burly physique of his father Tai Shi Ci, and his height is no different from that of an adult, but he still has a child's temperament in his heart. But seeing that he was eager to try, he said, "It's better to compare archery!" ＂

Guo Yi on the side glanced at the jade pendant on Cao Pi's waist slyly and coaxed, "It's better than anything, you have to have a colorful head." ＂

"Okay. Cai Ji readily agreed to the request of the two monkey cubs, and immediately asked Ling Hujiu to take a horned bow and a manuscript of the Book of Songs, and handed it to the two people, "You can compete in martial arts, and you must not cause trouble." ＂

"Whoa! Tai Shiheng and Guo Yi happily took over the lottery of the game.

It's just that before the two of them left, Cai Ji turned back to Cao Pi and said, "I heard that Zihuan is good at shooting, it's rare to have this opportunity, why don't you give Zihuan a try?" ＂

Hearing Cai Ji say this, many boys, including Tai Shiheng, cast a provocative look at Cao Pi. Cao Pi wanted to refuse, but before he could say anything, Guo Yi suddenly stepped forward and hugged Cao Pi's right arm warmly, pointed to the jade pendant on his waist with one hand and smiled, "Master Cao, don't refuse." With the talent of a son, why not be afraid of our children. Why don't you use this jade as a lottery to compare the last game? ＂

Without waiting for Guo Yi's fingertips to touch the jade pendant, Cao Pi suddenly shook off his right hand. But seeing him stride forward, he first bowed to Cai Ji, then straightened his waist and turned his head to raise his eyebrows at Tai Shiheng and the others and asked, "How to compete?" ＂

Not to be outdone, Tai Shiheng raised his hand and invited, "Please come with me." ＂

Seeing a group of children hugging Cao Pi and Tai Shiheng to the open place to test archery, Cai Ji stretched out comfortably and leaned on the backrest behind him. The chair she sat on had a backrest and no legs, somewhat similar to the lazy chairs of later generations. Usually, when discussing official business or entertaining guests with his retainers, Cai Ji did not dare to take it out and use it. After all, the Han Dynasty paid attention to etiquette, and sitting cross-legged would be reprimanded as rudeness, let alone leaning there without sitting like this. But in private, Cai Ji doesn't mind taking out the lazy chair to enjoy it, no matter what, this is her backyard, and she doesn't have to worry that the old master will come over and point fingers at her.

At the same time, Lily of the Valley brought a boiled cup of tea to Cai Ji along with two small clay pots. One of the two clay pots contains boiled milk, and the other contains honey. Since tea was not grown in the area under Cai Ji, the tea she received was all aged tea. In addition, the way of drinking tea in the Han Dynasty is still extremely primitive, not to mention that it is like copying tea and making tea like later generations, and even tea powder and tea paste have not yet appeared. So Cai Ji decided to do it himself. The "milk green" soaked in milk and honey tastes better to her than the tea soup made with ginger and minced garlic. Just as Cai Ji was carefully mixing milk green for himself, he suddenly heard a familiar voice in his ears.

"The Qihou Mansion is really lively. I don't know when Guo Jia has appeared behind Cai Ji. As usual, the chief strategist of the Qihou Mansion was dressed in a loose crane and a dark square scarf wrapped around his head, just like a wanderer.

"Get another chair." Seeing this, Cai Ji instructed the maid to bring a lazy chair for Guo Jia, and at the same time greeted him loudly, "Mr. Fengxiao will drink tea together." ”

Guo Jia was not polite, and immediately sat down on the chair without mind, glanced at the milky green on the food table by the way, shook his head with a smile, and said, "This snow and this scene should be green plum cooking wine." ”

――――――

Small Theatre:

Xiao Cai: I pinch ~ I pinch ~ pinch pinch pinch ~ feel good ~

Gongsun Xiaobao: Uncle Zilong, this is the person! (To be continued......)