Yizhou, Daotai Mansion, diagonally opposite.

This is an open space, and because it is near the Daotai Yamen, it is said that few people stay here. However, now there is little smoke and the figures are shaking.

On the sixth day of the 11th lunar month, there is an extra porridge shed here, in which two pots are set up, and the porridge is given at the beginning of the day (9 o'clock in the morning) and the beginning of the Shen (3 o'clock in the afternoon).

Speaking of which, it was Mr. Zhuang's idea. The sixth day of November is Niuniu's first birthday, according to the meaning of Chu Yu and Amethyst, it is necessary to do a good job, and there is the joy of Tian's safe production.

Mr. Zhuang is not a person who talks about these false courtesies, because of the number nine weather, the poor people are lonely and cold, and there are people who freeze to death and starve to death every year.

Chu Yu and Amethyst are both people who worship Buddha, and they naturally agree very much after hearing this, and even take Mrs. Lu and Mrs. Han to get involved. After discussion, everyone decided to get together and build a porridge shed.

Now is not a year of famine, even if it is a porridge shack, it is just a poor and helpless person with homeless beggars in the city, so even in the name of Daotai Mansion, it is not considered a taboo in the imperial court.

Because it was mainly for Niuniu's first birthday, Mr. Zhuang asked Lianqiu to take out forty taels of silver and hand it to the housekeeper Cao Fang, and asked him to arrange the soup kitchen. Chu Yu reduced the wait, so he sent thirty taels, and on behalf of his sister-in-law Wu'er and Tian's who gave birth to Fang, they each gave sixteen taels; Amethyst is second, twelve taels; Mrs. Han and Mrs. Lu each gave six taels; The jade dragon and the jade spider are two taels each.

The total was one hundred and thirty taels of silver, and it was expected to be given to the fifteenth and seventieth day of the first month. Nearly two taels of silver a day, but it is still very rich.

This said, after a while, the rice was in the pot, and in the afternoon, the porridge began to boil again, and after a while, the rice fragrance overflowed.

This side of the porridge shed was originally an open space, and the location was even spacious. In addition to the two temporary cauldrons in the middle, the east and west sides are places to queue up to receive porridge. For the sake of the ritualistic system, the men are in the east and the women are in the west, and they receive porridge separately.

In the shed on the east side, Wu Mao took care of it with a few small servants; In the shed on the west side, there are two grandmothers with a few maids. In addition to these, there are also Ren Shuyong and Ren Jiyong who took a few Daotai Mansion families to maintain order.

In the corner of the shed on the west side, there was a young woman, only eighteen or nineteen years old, with a withered face, dressed in a patched garment, holding a baby of a few months in her arms, and staring at the porridge pot.

On the other side, Little Walnut looked at it and felt that this person was very pitiful, and said to a bigger girl next to her: "Sister Un, that sister-in-law is so pitiful, that child is not much older than the little boy!" ”

The girl next to her was thirteen or fourteen years old, slightly tall, with a round face, her eyes crooked and smiling, and she looked a little coquettish. He was wearing eighty percent of the new cotton clothes, which was different from the other maids.

She is the little slave girl Wu En brought back from Cao Hao's early years of hunting on the grassland, she is thirteen years old this year, and she has been following Amethyst all the time, and she has not had any serious errands.

These are called soup kitchens, and there is nothing to do with Uen and little walnuts. It's just that the two of them are the youngest in the house, and their surnames are the most jumpy, and it is really uncomfortable to be confined to the inner house, so they go around around Amethyst, grinding out the errand of soup kitchen.

The little walnut came from a tenant farmer's family, a few years ago, he had no father, and he followed the widow to live a child, and he was hungry and full in recent years, and his condition was better after meeting Tian's. After two months in Daotai Mansion, I was nourished by good food and food, and my body was a lot stronger.

However, after all, she is ten years old and has been remembering things for several years, and when she saw the woman holding the child, she remembered that she had not eaten three meals with her mother in the past, and the little girl's eyes were a little sour.

Unn is a slave girl, and she has been doing odd jobs since she can remember, and she also came through small hardships. Seeing the woman dressed thinly and shivering in the cold wind, she couldn't see it.

This young woman began to come three days ago to receive the porridge, and she came every morning and afternoon, with a bowl in her hand, and every time she received the porridge, she did not drink it, but brought it home, probably because there were other people in the family.

Une, who was older and more sensible than Little Walnut, looked at the child in the young woman's arms with a little concern. It's a little bigger, not much stronger than a cat, and it's one of the nine days of freezing weather. In case you get sick from the cold, it's a life.

Thinking of this, Unn looked up at the gloomy sky, afraid that it would snow again. She frowned slightly, and said to Little Walnut: "It's not okay to go on like this, let's go talk to Sister Amethyst and see if we can directly give this sister-in-law some rice grain, or see her holding the child and tossing, it's really uncomfortable!" ”

Little Walnut nodded busily and said with a smile: "That's it, that's it!" Sister Amethyst is the most good-hearted, we can't see it, Sister Amethyst will naturally be kind! ”

While talking, the two little girls greeted the housekeeper of the porridge shed and went back to Daotai Mansion.

* Daotai Mansion, Inner House, Upper Room.

Zijing sighed, looked at Chu Yu worriedly, and asked, "County Lord, this uncle hasn't come back yet, Grandma Tian's side, it's not very good!" The big one is better, but the small one is getting weaker! Although I am staring at all kinds of good medicines, I am afraid that it will not be easy to make up! ”

Chu Yu held the stove, sat on the edge of the kang, frowned, and said: "Now that the master is not here, we can't tie our hands anymore, otherwise if this child misses something, we will be sinners!" Before the Tian family's sister entered our house, the master carefully explained that she should take care of it wholeheartedly. There was really no way, so Ming'er sent someone to the capital to see if he could find a good doctor to come over! Speaking of this, he looked out the window and said, "It's going to snow again, if there is no accident, the master is already on the way back, and I don't know how much I will suffer!" ”

Amethyst comforted: "The county lord is relieved, even if the uncle is careless, there are still two aunts and grandmothers in the capital, and the designated uncle will also set off well!" At this point, he couldn't help but be silent.

For the sake of Cao Hao's ascension to Beijing, Chu Yu and Amethyst both knew. At the beginning, the rumors about Cao Yi in the house only learned about it after it reached Amethyst's ears.

It's just that Cao Yi is an aunt who has left the cabinet, and Chu Yu, as a sister-in-law, is really hard to say. Because this is not a good thing, Amethyst, as a subordinate, has no room to speak.

It's just that I didn't want to mention it today, and Amethyst remembered the rumors that came out inexplicably last month. Because the rules of the Cao family are bigger, it has always been the most taboo for subordinates to make up this, and it is the gossip of the aunt and grandmother who is out of the cabinet, so it is naturally necessary to track it down.

After checking and checking, I found the jade cicada in the west courtyard, and finally fell on the jade dragon. Chu Yu and Amethyst both felt that Jade Dragon had always been honest and not this kind of person who couldn't distinguish between the important and the important, so they sent someone to invite her over and asked carefully.

The jade dragon was very uneasy, but she didn't say anything, and admitted that it was indeed her unintentional to talk about it, and somehow she was listened to by the jade cicada.

The jade cicada is okay, even if it is a person in the second room, he is in this side of the house, and he has the monthly money here, and there is no discipline that cannot be disciplined, he will stop the monthly money for half a year, play 20 boards, and change from the second-class maid treatment to the third-class. The other mothers-in-law who gossiped about it were also severely punished.

Only Jade Dragon, after all, is Cao Song's house, even if she doesn't officially open her face as an aunt, she can't be regarded as the same as other servants. Chu Yu and Amethyst are both difficult to discipline.

Besides, after listening to the jade dragonfly, they both faintly felt that something was wrong, as if the jade spider was deliberately causing her to speak. However, the identities of the jade spider and the jade dragon are generally the same, so this matter was put aside for the time being.

Chu Yu heard Amethyst stop talking, and also remembered the matter of the jade spider and the jade dragon, and said to Amethyst: "The matter of the two of them, even if the master comes back, it is not easy to cook!" It seems that he can only wait for the master to come back, and ask him to write to the second master to ask how to settle it! If this is really what they started up, it's not good to leave it alone! The master is the most impatient with housework, and the place that was originally good has made a miasma, which is really a bit too much! Speaking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head and looked at Amethyst with a slight inquiry: "Sister Amethyst, Jade Dragonfly...... Jade Spider ...... This, hey! She's a fool, and she still thinks it's her fault! ”

Amethyst listened to Chu Yu's opinion, and seemed to be worried about the jade dragon, thinking of the jade spider's usual pretentiousness, and also sighed for the jade dragon, but persuaded in her mouth: "The county lord has been worried, what is their identity now, the second master still has more than two years of filial piety, if she is really a smart person, she should treat the jade dragon well, and the two of them will have a companion in the future!" ”

Hearing "Companion", Chu Yu touched his heart, put down the hand stove, hesitated slightly, was silent for a while, and asked Amethyst: "Sister Amethyst, in our room, Brother Shan, what will the old lady think......?"

Amethyst saw Chu Yu's eyes with a hint of uneasiness, thinking about the two of them, Zhu'er and Cui'er, who were getting older, and the two of them would be nineteen in the New Year, but their thoughts were still on the uncle, and they didn't know what to do in the future. The uncle seemed to be aware of it, and no longer let the two of them wait closely, and even when he laughed at Xiyun and Xicai.

The Li family came over in September, but they didn't see Zhu'er and Cui'er waiting in front of them, and they thought that their daughter-in-law couldn't tolerate it, so they asked Amethyst carefully at the beginning. When he realized that it was his son's idea, he said nothing more.

After Chu Yu asked, Fang Province was speechless, and smiled: "Xu is because of the clouds, I only feel that my heart is heavy, and I can't breathe!" ”

Amethyst was touching her right eyelid, feeling uncomfortable when she was jumping, and when she heard Chu Yu's words, she couldn't help but worry in her heart.

Xiyun lifted the curtain, came in and said, "Sister Amethyst, the two girls of Wuen and Walnut are looking for their sister, as if they have something to find their sister, waiting outside the courtyard!" ”

Amethyst smiled and said, "The two of them are naughty, where can there be serious things?" I'm afraid it's cold outside, so I've been helping out in the porridge shed for two days, and I'm tired! With that, he got up and said goodbye to Chu Yu.

Chu Yu's side, when it was also time to breastfeed Tianyou, got up to send amethyst.

Xiyun bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and whispered to Chu Yu: "Gege, the slave also wants to stay in the porridge shed for two days!" It's boring in this house, it's just breathable, and it's good to look at the street scene! ”

When Chu Yu heard this, she couldn't help but glare at her with disgust, and said, "Listen, it's obviously a matter of helping the poor and helping orphans, but in your mouth, it's a trick!" ”

"Gege!" Xiyun changed his pitiful expression and begged Chu Yu.

Chu Yu was so troubled that she couldn't cry or laugh, so she had to say to Amethyst: "Sister Amethyst, I can't do anything with her, when Sister Ming'er sends someone to go, count her in!" ”

Amethyst smiled and answered, and then walked out of the room.

* At noon on November 13, Cao Hao and his entourage arrived in Mengyin County. Looking at Yimeng Mountain in the distance, Cao Hao thought of the drumming case of Qiu Laohan, which had not been solved so far, and his heart was a little heavy. Whether it was the "mountain bandits" or the outsiders pretending to be "mountain bandits", if you want to find out the answer, I am afraid that you have to go into the mountains first to know.

However, in this mountain that stretches for hundreds of miles, isn't it child's play to find the legendary "mountain bandits"? If there is no person who knows the bottom to lead the way, even if you ask for an order and dispatch the green battalion soldiers, you may not gain anything.

If you want to check this piece, I'm afraid you have to find the snake first, figure out the relationship and then make plans, and you can't be in a hurry.

Because there are more than 100 miles, it is Yizhou, so after the restaurant is sharpened, everyone will get on the horse again and rush to Yizhou.

Although the sky is getting cloudier and cloudier, and the north wind is gradually rising, thinking that he can warm the kang head of his wife and children at night, Cao Hao only feels that the chill on his body has also decreased.

Out of Mengyin County more than ten miles, I met a group of funeral teams, the gong suona, it was lively, more than 100 monks and Taoists, followed behind the coffin, and then all kinds of gold mountains, silver mountains, pavilions and pavilions, mighty and mighty, enough to have a mile of land.

Cao Hao was slightly surprised, he didn't expect that there would be such a rich and magnificent funeral in the countryside. After thinking about it, I have become a little shallow, there are more landlords in the countryside, and it is nothing to pay attention to pomp and circumstance.

(To be continued)