After leaving the capital of Chu State, Uncle Xia and Gongzi Pingguo returned to Zhuye day and night, and met with Chen Gonggong as soon as possible to report the specific results of their trip to Yingdu.

Gonggong Chen was very pleased with the recognition and guarantee of the national integrity of the State of Chu by the State of Chu, and was very satisfied with the performance of Gongzi Pingguo and Uncle Xia Yushu, and rewarded them with a palace respectively.

Fan Rui and other officials also took the opportunity to make a big slap and praised Chen Gong as an unprecedented generation of virtuous monarchs.

When Uncle Xia returned to the Xia Mansion from the court, he immediately wrote a simple letter to his wife Xia Ji with a flying pigeon, informing him that he had completed the mission of envoy to Chu and returned to Zhuye.

Two days later, Xia Ji received a flying pigeon from Uncle Xia Yu. In the past few days, she was thinking about whether she should return to Zhuye, but the war between Chen and Chu subsided, so that she no longer hesitated and decided to return to Chen as soon as possible.

Xia Ji wanted to return to Chen Guo for several considerations:

The first is that Xinzheng is a place of non-law for Xia Ji, and Xia Ji will always feel the shadow of Princess Ji Shao here.

The second is that Xia Ji is anxious to go to Zhuye Chen Damao's house to find Qu Hao's whereabouts, which is very important to her.

Third, if you can't find Qu Hao's whereabouts, Zhuye is also an ideal place for her and Xia Zhengshu to live in peace, where there is a sense of home, and Xinzheng's palace makes her always feel like a guest, although Haomeng Palace is recorded in her Xia Ji's name.

After a while, the housekeeper Li Zhou came to report, saying that after his secret investigation, Li Cang had died half a year ago, and his sister Li Hao was still in Xinzheng, Li Hao's husband Zheng Rong suddenly handed over good luck two months ago, and his uncle made him a stepson because of the death of his son, and let him inherit his manor and title, and became a viscount, enjoying 300 fiefdoms and more than 1,000 acres of land, and also found an errand in the government.

Of course, Li Zhou didn't know why the master wanted to check Li Hao and Li Cang's two sisters and brothers, and he didn't dare to ask, he told Li Cang how he robbed the rich mansion and was hacked to death, and said that Li Hao seemed to be pregnant.

Xia Ji breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that the housekeeper said that Li Cang had died, and gave Li Zhou a bounty of two taels of gold, telling him that he was entrusted to investigate them, so that he would not disturb Zheng Rong and Li Hao and his wife in the future, and not allow the investigation of them to be spread.

Xia Ji asked Li Zhou to continue to stay in Haomeng Palace, except for the guards and a small number of maintenance personnel, the other redundant personnel were paid an extra three months' wages and then sent home.

After making preparations, Xia Ji took Xia Zhengshu to take the carriage to say goodbye to the young concubine, the young concubine was very reluctant to let her grandson leave, but she knew that the child was too young to eat mother's milk, so she had to tell Xia Ji to return to Xinzheng as soon as possible next time.

Xia Ji gave the young concubine two bottles of homemade perfume, a bottle of gardenia and a bottle of jasmine, the young concubine was very surprised, and after trying it, she learned that this perfume was made by her daughter, and the exquisite bronze perfume bottle was designed by her daughter, and she felt incredible.

After bidding farewell to the young concubine, Xia Ji came to Zheng Mugong's office to resign.

Zheng Mugong also likes the innocent and lovely Xia Zhengshu, in addition to giving Xia Ji a box of gold jewelry and some silk rewards, he also specially told Xia Ji to let Xia Zhengshu grow up and send him to King Zheng's palace to receive education.

The next day, Xia Ji took Xia Zhengshu to leave Xinzheng under the escort of the escort team and headed for Zhuye.

Xia Ji sat in the carriage, looking back at Xinzheng who was drifting away, her mood was relaxed, and she couldn't help but think of Xu Zhimo's song "Farewell Kangqiao".

She hugged Xia Zhengshu and gently recited the last four sentences of the poem, and changed the last sentence:

Quietly I'm gone,

As I came quietly;

I waved my sleeves,

Just take my boy.

After a few days of walking, Xia Ji's convoy entered Chen Guo, and when approaching Zhuye, the motorcade passed through Chenjia Village again, Xia Ji lifted the carriage curtains, and saw Chen Damao's house, still only Da Mao's parents stood outside to watch the excitement, and Da Mao's three brothers and sisters did not see any of them.

Back in the Xia Mansion, the people of the Xia Mansion greeted them outside the courtyard under the leadership of Uncle Xia Yu, and the atmosphere was very warm. For the people of Xia Fu, Xia Fu will only be a complete, vibrant and life-like place only when the hostess returns.

Xia Ji handed over the child to Chun'e and asked her not to let anyone see Xia Zhengshu, she didn't want others to deduce his birth date based on the child's appearance, and when the child grew up, she could postpone Xia Zhengshu's birth by two or three months in a grand manner so that outsiders could not see it.

Natsuhime stepped out of the carriage and was greeted by everyone.

Xia Ji turned around and asked Jiang Wei to lead the carriage carrying Chun'e and Xia Zhengshu to continue walking into the courtyard, and after getting off in a secluded place, he carried the child into the inner room.

Uncle Xia Yu stepped forward, took Xia Ji's hand and walked to the lobby together, Uncle Xia Yu said to everyone as he walked: "Today is a good day, the kitchen will add vegetables to everyone later, there is meat and fish."

When everyone heard this, they all cheered with joy.

Uncle Xia Yu couldn't wait to walk to the inner room, picked up Xia Zhengshu happily, and kissed Xia Zhengshu's little face with his mouth.

For Uncle Xia Yu, who is already in the age of confusion, this child is his future and hope.

Xia Ji saw that Uncle Xia Yu cherished Xia Zhengshu so much, and her heart was mixed, although the person she loved was Qu Hao, but Uncle Xia Yu was really the benefactor of their mother and son, if it wasn't Uncle Xia Yu, who would accept her when she was pregnant? Maybe neither of her mother nor son exists in the world.

Xia Ji was full of gratitude to Uncle Xia Yu, which made her feel very conflicted, after all, Qu Hao couldn't erase it in her heart.

Xia Ji sometimes wonders if Xia Zhengshu had the thinking of an adult, would he accept Qu Hao or Uncle Xia Yu as his father?

Qu Hao gave him genes to bring him into this world, but obviously it could not bring him a prominent hereditary title and a stable life, and these things were very tempting for men in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Uncle Xia Yu told Xia Ji some things in Yingdu, saying that he also met Mr. Qu Wu who had come to Xia Mansion to donate a pound of gold in Yingdu, which made Xia Ji feel very magical.

Uncle Xia Yu also told Xia Ji that Mr. Qu Wu wanted him and his wife to attend his wedding ceremony on the New Year's Day.

After Xia Ji returned to Xia Mansion, because Uncle Xia Yu accompanied her and Xia Zhengshu every day, she had no chance to go to Chenjia Village, so she had to wait for the opportunity.

After living in Xia Mansion for a few days, Xia Ji moved to Zhuyuan, which was quieter and more comfortable.

Xia Ji listened to Chen Ke's report in Zhuyuan, and was very satisfied with the harvest of the experimental field, and the growth of chickens and ducks in Zhuyuan also surprised her.

Xia Ji used to like to eat roast duck very much, and when she saw those ducks that had grown fat after eating insects, she thought that she had also seen the production process of Peking duck introduced on TV, and thought that there should be a five or six points of resemblance to imitate it.

Xia Ji called Jiang Wei over, drew a rough outline of a roast duck oven, and asked him to make a roast oven, so that he could make roast duck, barbecue, and pizza.

Jiang Wei was very perceptive, and quickly made an oven according to Xia Ji's sketch and meaning.

The problem Xia Ji faced was that she couldn't find soy sauce and light soy sauce, which obviously hadn't been invented yet, and there were only sauces made with fresh meat on the market.

Natsuhime knew that soy sauce was made by fermenting tempeh, but she didn't know exactly how to do it. There is no way, Natsuhime can only use meat sauce instead of soy sauce.

Xia Ji asked Jiang Wei to slaughter a fat duck first, marinate the duck with meat sauce, ginger, garlic, and peppercorns for two hours, brush it with honey water, and hang it in the oven for slow roasting.

After the roasting is completed, I feel that although I don't have the attractive color of Peking duck, the taste seems to be much worse, after all, this duck has grown up in a natural environment and has not eaten any hormones that stimulate growth, which is far better than those roast ducks in modern society.