Zhao Xiu jumped out of the carriage first, and then turned around to help Zhang down.

With the support of his granddaughter, Zhang stepped on the footstool and went to the ground, while chanting: "Girl, don't be so rude, isn't it good to step on the footstool and get off the car steadily?" You have to jump off. What if the wind blows up the skirt? Even if there is no wind, it is not good for people to see your feet. ”

Zhao Xiu could only respond and go back in a wordy manner: "I know, grandmother, don't talk about it, be careful, don't step on the air, go slowly." ”

Zhao Wei handed over the horse to his entourage and walked over with a smile: "What does grandmother think?" The front yard has been repainted, and the damaged doors and windows have been replaced. The emperor gave the imperial pen with the four big characters of 'Jiannan Houfu', and his grandson asked someone to make a plaque, but he has not sent it back. Now the plaque hanging on the gate outside is the imperial pen of Emperor Taizu, and the plaque on the main hall in the front yard is used today, right? ”

Zhang looked at the house in the front yard and nodded with satisfaction: "It's really good." The craftsmen are doing a great job, and you remember to reward them well. ”

Zhao Wei responded, and pointed to the newly planted trees in the yard and said: "This is to ask people to find adult trees according to the previous tree species, and raise them for a month, which is still spiritual." It is now the spring of March, and the flowers and trees are blooming very well. When we move back to the house, my grandmother will be able to enjoy the flowers every day. ”

Zhang looked at the spiritual flowers and trees, was in a good mood, and asked, "Have all the flowers and plants in the garden been planted?" How does it look? ”

"It's all planted, and it's growing okay." Zhao Wei replied, "Grandmother can come over and have a look in a while." There is also a small garden in your yard, and the view is not bad. The ability of the style program is really not empty. ”

After saying this, Zhang's family looked forward to it even more, and said to Zhao Xiu with a smile: "Look at the garden in a while, and your yard." If the view is really good, let's move in this month. Just taking advantage of the brightness, you can post to the ladies in Beijing, and also be the host, and invite them to have a poetry meeting. You've been a guest twice, and it's time to return once. ”

Zhao Xiu was a little surprised, she had never thought of doing the Dongkai Poetry Club by herself, so she hesitated: "Is this necessary?" Although I have been to the poetry meeting twice, one is the Cao family, who is familiar with us, and the other is when Fang Wu, a girl who has a private family with me. Cao Luo and Miss Fang Wu are all compatible with me, and it is normal to invite me to the poetry club. But the other girls may not have that friendship with me. After the beginning of spring this year, they have also had two or three poetry meetings, and they have been hosts to each other, and the five girls have also participated twice, but no one has given me a post? What if I have a poetry meeting and post out, but no one is willing to come? Even if Cao Luo and Fang Wu were willing to come, it would be embarrassing for the number to be so small. ”

Ask from her heart, she actually doesn't really want to invite some girls who don't agree with her to come to the house as guests, greet people to eat, greet people to drink, wait for people to be comfortable, and be criticized when she turns around.

Zhang disagreed: "You have less dealings with other ladies, they are not familiar with you, and it is not strange not to invite you." You personally go back to the east and invite them to your house to play for a day, won't you get acquainted with them later? Don't worry about someone holding a poetry meeting and not inviting you. This is how the ladies in Beijing are entertained, you always have to learn to deal with them, you can't stay at home all day, read books, copy books, or settle accounts by housekeepers. A good girl, there was still a bit of aura, but it has become vulgar. ”

Zhao Xiu pursed his lips and responded dryly, but he was not very happy in his heart. She still learns piano, chess, calligraphy and painting at home, and she also knows what other ladies will do, why is it vulgar? Don't those ladies learn to settle accounts with housekeepers? Besides, if she is vulgar, she is vulgar, what's the big deal? Anyway, it is impossible for her to meet the standard of "unearthly" in her grandmother's mind in her life.

She helped Zhang and followed Zhao Wei for a brief walk around the front yard of the middle road. This is the place where the most formal ceremonies and activities are held in the Hou Mansion, and all major events in the Hou Mansion, whether it is happy or mourned, are carried out here. The furniture placed here is also the most precious, and many of them are gifts from the Emperor. After experiencing the accident of raiding the house, this courtyard is the easiest to recover, because all the things that have been stolen have a list to check, and when the first emperor gave back the old things, he also gave all the things back. Except for some curtains and minor furnishings, the layout in the main hall is almost exactly the same as it was before the death of the old prince ten years ago. Zhang looked at this familiar and unfamiliar scene, and his eyes couldn't help but turn red.

Then they went straight to the front yard of West Road. It was the courtyard where the old county prince was retired before his death. According to Zhang's instructions, there are almost no major changes here, but according to the old state, repair the old as before, repair some damaged places, put the original furniture back, and return the missing tree seeds, and be sure to maintain it in the same state as when the old county prince lived in it.

The craftsmen are very good at their work, and the old servants who do things have a good memory. As soon as Zhang stepped into this courtyard, she thought that this place had never changed, but when she found that the old osmanthus tree she planted with the old county office had become a newly planted small osmanthus tree, she came to her senses. She looked at the courtyard with tears in her eyes, her mood was a little gloomy, and she only whispered to her granddaughter: "Let's go into the house and have a look." ”

The house was still a little empty. The contents of the house were cleaned up long before the raid, and there was nothing left, which was even cleaner than the raid. Even if some of the furniture can be recovered now, not everything will be preserved until now. Some furniture that has long been lost can only be temporarily replaced with similar appearances. Therefore, when Zhang looks at it, it is easy to recognize which ones are old and which ones are new.

Changed. No matter how many things are recovered, this house is not the same as it used to be.

Zhang sadly propped up the edge of the table and sat down on the Taishi chair next to the Eight Immortals Table in the middle hall. This was where she used to sit, and the chair was still the same chair, but the chair had been replaced with a new one. She carefully touched the table top of the Eight Immortals with her hand, and found that there were many more nicks on it, and she didn't know who left it. This is a favorite thing that the old county has used for decades, how can anyone dare to spoil it like this?

She was still crying silently, Zhao Wei and Zhao Xiu glanced at each other, and they didn't know how to persuade them. If my grandmother was going to be sad once she saw this yard, then they had to put her yard next door, and I don't know if it was a good idea. She is getting older, her health is not very good, she has been living well in the past ten years, but don't go back to her old home, but wash her face with tears every day, which burns her body.

Zhao Xiu whispered to her, "Grandmother, don't cry." I don't remember anything about my childhood, have I ever been to this house? Which pieces of furniture were there at the time? Tell me, okay? ”

She has seen the list of the furniture she has recovered, how can she not know? It's just trying to find a way to divert Zhang's attention. But now it seems that this method has had little effect, because Zhang is still crying silently and has not responded.

After a long while, she put away her tears and said lightly to Zhao Xiu: "You naturally came here when you were a child. Every day your brother comes to your grandfather to say goodbye. Sometimes when the weather is good, you'll come along. Your grandfather has hugged you several times, and once you actually ......" She wanted to say that her granddaughter actually urinated on her grandfather, but when the words came to her mouth, she thought about it, this kind of thing naturally doesn't matter to the child, but Zhao Xiu is already a big girl, she will be ashamed, so she changed her words: "Once your grandfather put you on this table, you were crawling around on it, and you kicked over your grandfather's tea bowl and splashed your grandfather's tea." You don't admit your mistake and don't say anything, but you start crying. Your grandfather can't even do anything about you. ”

Zhao Xiu laughed dryly, there is nothing strange that children will have such an accident. She circled around the Eight Immortals table, estimating the size of its tabletop, which was about one square meter, and in such a small space, it was normal for a child to kick anything.

At this turn, she saw that the Eight Immortals Table was leaning against a corner of the back table, and it seemed to have broken a corner, and she couldn't help asking: "Was this accidentally broken by someone when it was lost outside?" ”

Zhao Wei looked at it: "Huh? It's really broken. Maybe they were careless when they carried things? ”

Zhao Xiu touched the corner of the table: "It should have been broken before, and it was polished quite smooth." Because of the proximity, she saw a dark brown stain around the corner of the table, because the color was similar to the color of the wood of the table itself, and she couldn't see it in the dim light just now, so she smiled and asked, "Grandmother said that I kicked over my grandfather's tea bowl back then, could it be that this is the tea stain I left at that time?" Looks like it's been a few years coming. ”

Zhang stretched his neck to look over, and was stunned when he saw this: "When did this knock?" How could it break like this? This is Huanghuali's table, you should be careful when carrying it! ”

Zhao Wei turned around and asked Wang Fulai, the big housekeeper who came with him. Wang Fulai hurriedly replied: "Old lady, when this table was sent back, the little one also asked. But according to the people who smuggled away the table, the corner of the table was already broken by the time they moved the things away. Even the stains on the top were there at that time. Several of them saw it. However, because of the light color, it was not very noticeable when it was dark in the house, so they only found out after moving out. At the time, I thought it was strange, I didn't know what it was, as if it couldn't be wiped clean, so I had to let it go. ”

Zhao Xiu hurriedly asked someone to light the lamp, took it to the beach to illuminate the stain more clearly, touched it again, smelled it, and then said, "It doesn't seem to be oil...... It's a little red, so it can't be blood, right? ”

Zhang's face changed: "Nonsense! How can this be bloodstained? I was here the morning of your grandfather's death to talk to your grandfather. At that time, the table was still in good condition, there was no knock at all, and there was no stain on it! They must have done it accidentally. ”

Zhao Wei saw that Zhang's suddenly became a little excited, and hurriedly said, "Grandmother, don't be angry. When you see this table, it's still good. But the people below moved it after we left the capital. During this period, several months passed, perhaps after my grandfather died, this house was unoccupied, and the people below did not carelessly break and stain the table, and it is not known. ”

Zhang's expression softened slightly: "You have a point. "I looked around and looked around at the arrangement, and I couldn't say that I was not satisfied, but it was not easy for my grandson and my descendants to do this. She didn't want to force too much, so she gave Zhao Wei and Wang Fulai a smile: "You have worked hard and done a good job." He specially instructed Wang Fulai: "The person who helped to find the old things of the county grandfather, you have rewarded me for it." One second-class envelope per person. Tell them to be good on errands, and I will not do them any wrong. ”

Wang Fulai bowed down and responded.

Zhang glanced around again, a little distracted. She said to Zhao Xiu: "Let's go back." When you move back, take a closer look. Zhao Xiu answered and helped her stand up. Zhang suddenly felt a little dizzy, and his body shook. Zhao Xiu hurriedly held her up: "Grandmother, what's wrong with you?" ”

"......I don't know," Zhang was a little dazed, "I just now seemed to feel a little dizzy." She stared at the floor in front of her feet, and vaguely felt that something was wrong: "The ground here ......"

"What's wrong with the ground?" Zhao Wei asked. He looked at the floor at his feet: "There is nothing broken in the ground, and my grandmother has instructed that the yard should be kept as it is as it is, so the craftsmen did nothing to do with the ground, but just had people clean it again and wash it with water." ”

"No...... Zhang raised his head suspiciously, "the ground of this main house...... Not this color...... It's a little shallower. I didn't notice it when I came back, but I thought it was because of the dust. But now there is no dust on the ground, why is the color of the ground still different from the original? ”

The color of the ground? Zhao Xiu looked at the floor suspiciously, and felt that this color didn't seem to be anything special. Isn't the floor in the warm pavilion on the left and right similar to this color?

Zhao Wei stared at the floor for a long time, and then ordered, "Open all the windows." Wang Fulai hurriedly called people to open all the doors and windows, and the light from outside penetrated in, illuminating the whole main house.

At this time, the color of the floor appears clearer. If you look closely, you can see that the ground in the middle of the main house seems to be a little darker than the surrounding color. There is only one point, and if you don't look closely, you can't find it.

However, this subtle difference does not seem to be a big deal.

Zhao Xiu couldn't understand his grandmother's persistence, but Zhang suddenly lost his temper: "Who is this who repainted the ground here?" Tell someone to scrape it off! ”

With an order, Wang Fulai had no choice but to call the craftsmen back. Zhang got into the carriage home with a straight face, and ordered the craftsmen to restore the floor of the main house to its original state ten years ago within three days. She will come back in three days, and then she will have to see the results. She has a good memory, and if anyone dares to fool her, she will definitely not follow her.

Zhao Xiu hurriedly got into the carriage with his grandmother, only to feel that Zhang's seizure was a little inexplicable today: "Grandmother, what's wrong with you?" Don't be offended even if the color of the ground is a little different......"

Zhang shook his head: "You don't understand...... You don't understand ......"