The Zhao family gathers, the clansmen are scattered in most of the block, with the ancestral hall as the center, the left is the sect room, the right is the second room, the third room is in the middle of the second room, next to the back door of the ancestral hall, and the house of the outer nine rooms is concentrated in the back of the sect room, densely packed with a large area.

The outer six-room house is some distance from the two-bedroom old house. Zhao Qixuan came out of a separate family and was not treated well by his brothers, so the house he was assigned to was the farthest away from the six-room main house, but closer to the second and third rooms. When people walk over, it is only the time for a stick of incense (five minutes), and the ladies are a little slower, and it will not exceed a cup of tea (ten minutes).

Zhao Xiu said hello to Lu's mother and his wife, and he didn't have to ask someone to prepare the carriage, he only brought one Bilian, plus Sister Zhao Qing's girl Madder, and the four little girls walked to Zhao Qixuan's house together.

The people nearby are all surnamed Zhao, and there are no outsiders, so even the eldest girl Zhao Qingjie doesn't feel embarrassed, but Shen got the news, and chased after him in the car, and learned that Zhao Xiu was going to find Zhao Qixuan, and it was not easy to stop it, so she simply let her aunt and nephew get in the car, she went with her, and asked someone to rush back to the sect to prepare a few fruits, and sent them over as much as possible, so that she could make a souvenir for her visit.

Zhao Xiu actually prepared a gift, two packs of exquisite cakes made by the chef at home, two rulers, a knife of paper, and a piece of high-quality new ink, as a gift for her first visit to her brother's family, which was already enough. But she didn't stop Shen's movements. The Shen family wants to give gifts, which is the Shen family's business.

They soon arrived at Zhao Qixuan's home, and Zhao Qixuan's wife Ma had already gotten the news and went out to greet them. The Shen family often comes and goes, and the two are quite intimate handkerchiefs, so you don't have to be polite. But Zhao Xiu came to the door for the first time. Although she is just a little girl, she is the granddaughter of the county grandfather. Behind her stood the highest-ranking county lady Zhang in the whole family, and the Ma family did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Shen could see Ma's nervousness. took the initiative to smile and said: "Our sister Qing has been with her little aunt for the past two days, but somehow, I suddenly remembered your sister Yuan, and Sister Xiu took her over to play with Sister Yuan." Although he is an elder, he is actually still young, and he is the age when he loves to play and laugh. Don't be too restrained, as long as the gift is good, why bother the family? Let's take my sister into the house to watch the tea. ”

Ma comprehended, and a warm and flattering smile appeared on his face. said to Zhao Xiu: "Sister, please come into the house and sit, as soon as you return to our house for the first time, you can also taste our tea and snacks, which are naturally incomparable with the craftsmanship of the chefs of the Hou Mansion, but there are also some different tastes." ”

Zhao Xiu politely smiled and thanked her, and when she saw Sister Zhao Yuan and her brother Zhao Huai, who ran out of the door to greet her, she also gave a somewhat shy but definitely not arrogant smile, and instantly won the favor of the brother and sister. Sister Zhao Yuan is nine years old this year, and she heard Sister Qing say two words of introduction. immediately took Zhao Xiu's hand enthusiastically: "Little aunt, it's a coincidence that you came, my father brought some fresh dates back, but they are delicious." It's a jujube in Yiwu, it's sweet! With that, he pulled her in the door.

Zhao Qixuan's house occupies a small area, and it is a small and compact two-entry courtyard. Green tiles and white walls, twenty or thirty pots of flowers and plants are placed along the base of the wall in the front yard. There are also two gardenias planted in the corner of the courtyard, and the white flowers the size of the wine glass exude a refreshing fragrance. It is blooming vigorously. There are three main rooms, the middle is the hall house, the two sides are slightly narrower, there is a small door on the right side leading to the backyard, the depth of the east and west wings is very shallow, one is closed, you can't see what it does, and the other seems to be a study, but there are only a few books on the shelves. Zhao Qixuan was wearing homely clothes and stood at the door of the room with some embarrassment. Zhao Huai, who was originally smiling on his face, put away his smile when he saw his father, but Zhao Yuan, who was originally squeaking and talking, was the opposite, and immediately pounced: "Daddy, Aunt Xiu came to play with me!" ”

Zhao Xiu saluted Zhao Qixuan: "I've seen my cousin." ”

"Hello sister, I didn't expect my sister to come to our house, this is really ...... It's overjoying. Zhao Qixuan rubbed his hands and turned half of his body sideways to show avoidance. He and Zhao Xiu are brothers and sisters, so naturally there is no need to avoid it, he avoids the Shen family.

Shen was generous, bowed, and pulled Ma's sleeve, and Ma hurriedly beckoned his children to welcome Zhao Xiu and Sister Qing's mother and daughter into the hall. When Zhao Huai passed by his father's side, he gave him a look: "Aunt Xiu came to find her sister to play, Aunt Jing came with her, my father is inconvenient here, let's go elsewhere and come back after spending some time." ”

Zhao Qixuan didn't have a dissatisfied expression on his face, he had long been accustomed to the contempt of his wife and children, and he was not angry when he was treated coldly by his fourteen-year-old son, but he was a little relieved that his daughter couldn't let go of his daughter, and when he saw his wife go out to ask the girl to pour tea, he told her: "You look at the child, although Sister Yuan has a good temperament, she rarely sees people in the second room, don't make her aunt angry." ”

Ma Shi gave him a blank look: "It's not that you spoil her on weekdays and spoil her?" Don't worry, with Jing's sister-in-law here, it doesn't matter if there are some quarrels between children. She patted her son on the shoulder: "Hurry up and go in, they are all their own brothers and sisters, there is nothing to taboo, and the mouth is sweet." The second room just sent you paper, pen, money and food, and now your aunt has given you a good piece of paper and a piece of new ink, presumably hoping that you can have a good time studying. ”

Zhao Huai agreed, raised his feet and stepped into the door, Zhao Qixuan was about to walk out, Zhao Xiu just sat down in the house, saw it and hurriedly said, "Where is my cousin going?" Ma stepped forward with a smile and said, "He made an appointment with a friend and was about to go out for an appointment." He is a person who is not at home all day, my sister pays attention to him, and our own sister-in-law speaks. ”

Zhao Xiu came here to rush to Zhao Qixuan, how could he let him go: "I still have something to ask my cousin, he is gone, who should I ask?" ”

Ma Shi was taken aback, and hurriedly looked at Shen Shi: "But Brother Huai's father is in trouble again?" The implication is that he is worried that his husband has done something bad and angered Zhao Xiu.

Shen didn't know, so she had to look at her daughter, Sister Qing had already asked Sister Yuan for the shoe-like foreign language book, and handed it to Zhao Xiu: "Little aunt, look, but this?" ”

Zhao Xiu took a look, he was really lucky, it happened to be in English, although it was ancient English, but there were still traces to be found, he could barely see what the word was, and then turned the cover. The title of the book is "The Wealth of Britain from Foreign Trade".

What a tall title, maybe this can be used as more than just a shield?

Zhao Xiu immediately became interested in the book. When she was in college, she took the English level 6 test very smoothly, and her reading and listening skills were good. The spoken language is slightly worse, but it is enough to read the text jiàn magazine. It's a pity that many pages of this book have been cut off, and it seems that these lost pages have all been reduced to Zhao Yuan's shoes.

Zhao Xiu jumped out of the chair with the book, walked to the threshold and said to Zhao Qixuan outside the house: "Cousin, where did you get this book?" Is there a second one? Are there any other books? ”

Zhao Qixuan was greatly surprised, and hurriedly said: "There are still other books, but this is the only one." Does my sister want this? This is a book printed by Westerners. We don't understand, but we just look at the pictures inside, and the pictures are fresh. I've heard people say that the person who wrote this book is quite knowledgeable, and what he wrote is not the most common kind of book, so it must be worth reading, so I took this book to the eighth old lady to see, but unfortunately he didn't look down on the old man. I thought that no one wanted to see it anymore, so I would give it to Sister Yuan. They all told her to cut it off. ”

Ma Shi hurriedly smiled: "It's just a book, Sister Yuan can't understand it, so she cuts it indiscriminately, and spoils good things in vain." Ruoxiu's sister likes it. Take it. He glanced at his son again: "Brother Huai's father brought back several books, some of which have pictures and flowers." There are those who paint people, and there are those who paint houses and gardens. I thought it was funny, and I thought it would be better to stay and do tricks. Just put it away. If my sister likes it, I'll give it to my sister, and we can't understand it horizontally and vertically. ”

Zhao Xiu was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Really? I thought the text was interesting, so I wanted to read it. If my cousin or sister-in-law is willing to give my love, I am willing to give the silver according to the price. ”

Zhao Qixuan smiled and waved his hand: "What kind of silver?" This was accidentally obtained by a friend, and I couldn't understand it, so I was going to throw it away, but I saw that no one wanted it, so I took it back. My sister likes it, so I just take it, and I just can't look down on us when I talk about silver. Ma on the side showed a satisfied look on his face, today's husband is clever enough to not hold back.

Zhao Xiu thought for a while, and said, "My cousin and sister-in-law are kind, but I will be disrespectful." These books are worthless to Zhao Qixuan and his wife, she can take something they need as compensation and return the favor.

Seeing that she accepted this gift, Ma's face couldn't help but show joy. In these years, who in the clan doesn't want to get a small second room? The pearl of the small second room is willing to accept their family's things, which is a blessing for their family! A few worthless books can be exchanged for such decency, which is really a good deal!

It took a while for Zhao Huai to come back with a leather bag, which looked a bit like a modern backpack, but it was made of leather, and the stitches were rough and rough, obviously old, and it still exuded a fishy smell of seawater. He put the leather bag on the table in the middle of the hall and said to Zhao Xiu: "Little aunt, the books are all in it, and this bag was also brought by my father from a friend, saying that it was the old thing of the original owner of the book." ”

He opened the bag and took out several books of various sizes, the thickest of which seemed to be the most read Bible, and a thin copy of the Treatise on Taxation, two books in non-English with unclear contents, a Latin dictionary, two illustrated sonnets, two diaries, a sketchbook, which had been torn out of many pages, and the remaining twenty or so drawings, either of still lifes or ships, and of various bearded crew members.

Zhao Xiu looked at the torn off page, and was a little suspicious that Zhao Huai had just torn it before taking out the bag, and there was a page with more leftover parts, looking at the lines of that part of the picture, it seemed to be a corner of the sofa, and there was a piece of cloth on the ground at will, and there was a pattern of a suspected toe on the cloth.

This can't be a naked woman, right?

Zhao Xiu suppressed the curiosity in his heart, thanked him with a smile, and put the books back in the bag.

Over there, Zhao Yuan has already taken out the treasured music box, this thing is far less compact and delicate than the products of later generations, almost half the size of a computer host, and the music released is a bit monotonous, not a chord, of course, in this era, it is already an extremely rare thing, which caused Shen and Sister Qing to be amazed.

Zhao Yuan still looked at Zhao Xiu a little nervously, she didn't care about a few books, but she was unwilling to give away this music box. How did she know that Zhao Xiu was not interested in her cherished music box, and what she wanted was to go home early and take a good look at those books. (To be continued......)

PS: I heard that between the 28th and the 7th, there is a double event of pink tickets, a certain L please please, please support ~~~