Jiangning, Caojia Xifu.

Hearing that his brother summoned him in the side hall of the front yard, Cao Fu was very worried in his heart, and asked in a low voice: "Fourth brother, do you know what the reason is?" ”

Cao Xiang turned his head, looked at his younger brother with clear eyebrows, and said, "What else can there be?" I persuaded you before, but you didn't listen, the second brother's temper is not good, you can recognize more later, don't talk back, you are not a matter of concern! ”

Although the two brothers are not the same mother, because they are only half a year apart, they have been together since childhood, but they are closer than other brothers.

Cao Fu stuck out his tongue mischievously, and said with a smile: "It's not Mama He, I feel sorry for my brother who has been wearing coarse cloth clothes for four months, and now that the season is changing, I remember that it is not in the way, and others can't see it, so I found muslin underwear!" ”

Because there are also mother-in-law and two elder brothers above, it is not Cao Xiang's turn to speak, but seeing his younger brother not admitting his mistake at all, he can't help but be a little annoyed, stops, and said: "'Filial piety comes first', my father gave birth to us, we are children, and what we can repay is to keep filial piety!" Even if you hide it from everyone, can you hide it from yourself? Is it muslin or soft silk, you can't be the only one in the house? ”

Cao Fu was said to be sad, laughed twice, and said, "Okay, fourth brother, my brother knows it's wrong!" These etiquette rules are very cumbersome, but they are just things on the surface, and they may not be observed, that is, filial piety, heart, heart! ”

Cao Xiang shook his head, he didn't agree with his brother's remarks, if he couldn't even keep the filial piety on his face, what would the filial piety of the "heart" look like? For the sake of his younger brother, Cao Xiang couldn't help but mention something and asked him to put away the purse on his waist. This one is also made of white muslin cloth, but it is embroidered with silver thread.

Cao Fu followed the advice, untied it and copied it into the cuffs.

The two brothers didn't want to keep their brother waiting for a long time, so they walked a few steps quickly to the front yard.

The main hall in the front yard is dedicated to Cao Quan's spiritual seat, and now he is often not talking over there, but is here in the west hall.

In addition to Cao Song, Zhaojia and Cao Shuo were also present. Cao Fu was more stable in his heart, since his mother was here, his brother was just a reprimand.

Cao Xiang didn't expect his brother to invite his mother-in-law, although he was a little surprised, but he still invited him in a proper manner. Cao Fu is also here, saying goodbye to his mother and two brothers.

Zhao Jiashi wanted to speak, but before opening his mouth to look at his eldest son, he still closed his mouth. Cao Song grimaced, glanced at Cao Fu, and then pointed to the seat under Cao Shuo, and said to Cao Xiang: "Fourth, sit!" ”

After Cao Xiang sat down, Cao Songfang looked at Cao Fu and didn't speak for a while.

Cao Fu was looked at weakly, and a smile appeared on his face and said, "Brother! ”

Cao Song snorted coldly and asked, "What kind of clothes are you wearing in your jacket?" ”

Even though Cao Fu had been prepared, he was treated like this by his eldest brother in front of his mother and other elder brothers, and he felt uncomfortable, so he bowed his head and said, "Muslin clothes!" ”

"What a muslin garment! You have taken away the jacket outside, and see if everyone has wronged you! Cao Song was very annoyed when he saw his younger brother's appearance.

Zhao Jiashi felt sorry for his youngest son, and persuaded his eldest son in a low voice: "He is still young, even if he wears bad clothes, let him change it, don't say a word!" ”

"Mother, the fifth is twelve, and the next year will be thirteen, where is it still young? Over the years, whatever happened at home, they were all taken care of by the uncle, and our Xifu followed suit. Now, the uncle is old, and the elder brother is working on an errand for the future of the family, so do you have to wait for the younger brother to develop a gentleman, and they are so tired that they will not talk about it? Cao Song said.

Cao Fu was listening, very disapproving, and couldn't help interjecting: "It's wearing silk clothes, what's the big deal?" If you keep the ancient rites, everyone should 'settle down' in front of the Fengrun tomb, where will they come back to Jiangning? According to the second brother, it is also unruly for my mother to use chicken soup when she was sick in June......"

Cao Xiang saw that his brother was already full of anger, and his younger brother was still talking unconsciously, so he knew that he wanted bad dishes. Sure enough, I saw Cao Song's "poof", stood up from his seat, and before everyone could react, he rushed over and gave Cao Fu a kick.

Cao Fu was small and defenseless, and was kicked to the ground by his brother, "oops", with fear on his face.

After Cao Song kicked him impulsively, seeing his scared appearance, he also felt a little regretful, and thought about reprimanding him indiscriminately and ending with two more sentences, but he happened to see Cao Fu's silver thread embroidered lace purse falling out of his cuffs, and immediately tightened his eyebrows, and he had the urge to hit someone.

Cao Shuo and Cao Xiang both left their seats and went to help Cao Fu. Zhao Jiashi was startled, came over and grabbed Cao Song, and kept saying: "Just say it well, just say it well!" ”

Cao Fute was aggrieved, pouting, tears rolling in her eyes, and muttering: "If you can't talk about people, just do it......" Cao Xiang covered his mouth with his hand.

Cao Shuo hurriedly persuaded: "Brother is angry, although Xiao Wu is not small, but he shouldn't be able to think of changing this, maybe it was a slave who made him lose his senses!" ”

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Cao Fu. Cao Fu was already afraid, but he didn't want to say that Mama He came to be punished by everyone, so he glanced at the fourth brother Cao Xiang with a little pleading, and then whispered in the back, "No one plucked me, right...... It was because I was afraid of coarse cloth and clothes, so I thought about changing it during the change of seasons! I...... I knew it was wrong, and I didn't dare anymore! ”

Cao Song's face was so black when he heard this, he couldn't help complaining to his mother: "It's all what you're used to, pampered, and you don't even have a sense of etiquette and shame!" ”

Cao Fu didn't dare to reply again, Cao Shuo saw that his brother had always been careless, and he was afraid that a word would be bad, and the younger brother would suffer again, so he persuaded: "Since Xiao Wu knows that he is wrong, my brother will spare him and let him copy the "Book of Filial Piety" ten times!" ”

Although Cao Song was annoyed by his brother's ignorance, he really didn't come up with any way to punish him, but he just thought about beating and scolding once, and when he heard Cao Shuo's suggestion, he was very satisfied, nodded and agreed, and waved his hand to tell the brothers to go down first.

When he got out of the house, Cao Fu couldn't help but wrinkle his nose and twitched twice. Cao Xiang was a little worried and asked, "But just now I fell to the ground, where did I hit it?" ”

Cao Fu sat down and squatted just now, and it was indeed a little painful, but because he was so strong, he shook his head and said, "I didn't knock, I just didn't defend myself, I didn't stand firm!" I was thinking, the second brother didn't treat us like this, he often took us to play a few years ago, how can he become a pedantic old master now, and the ......" Speaking of this, he consciously lost his words, looked back, and saw Cao Shuo looking at him coldly.

Cao Fu couldn't help but want to give himself a mouth, why did he owe it like this, he just slandered a few words in his heart, and he wanted to say it.

Cao Shuo no longer looked at him, and said casually: "Fifteen times of the Book of Filial Piety, can it be made?" ”

Where will Cao Fu find it again, fifteen is fifteen, so he responded very obediently: "Yes, third brother!" ”

In the side hall, seeing that his younger brothers were all out, Cao Songfang breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his seat. When Zhao Jiashi was still annoyed, he said good things for his youngest son: "Cao Fu has been the most well-behaved since he was a child, these are also children, I don't know the severity, and I can't blame him!" Your father is not an old-fashioned person......" When he mentioned his husband, he couldn't say anything, and his eyes were already red.

Cao Song saw that his mother, who had always been cool, was now unhappy and had no spirit, and he also felt sorry for her, and said: "My son is also good for him, how can I say it at home, my flesh and blood are close to each other, and I can't hurt him if I annoy him again?" If you are not at home in the future, you will act so wantonly and cause trouble, won't it affect your mother's worries even more! ”

The mother and son were talking about family life, and a housekeeper came to report that Mrs. Dongfu had come back from Shandong.

* Weaving House, Kaiyang Temple.

After sitting in the carriage for six days, Li only felt that his body was sore, and after changing his clothes, he was crooked on the side kang. Xiuluan helped Li pinch his shoulders, and at the same time roughly talked about the housework in the house.

Xiuluan is in her twenties, and she is the girl next to Li's side, and she has always acted steadily. Although Cao Yin has two concubines, they are all indifferent, but in recent years, Xiuluan has helped the Li family a lot.

This time, the Li family went to Shandong to see his daughter-in-law and grandson, but Xiuluan did not follow, and let the Li family stay to take care of Cao Yin's daily life.

Hearing that his wife was back, Cao Yin also called the yamen in the front yard to come over, and when he saw her tired, he said with a little disgust: "I have gone all the way, why have I come back in a few days, running back and forth, how can I be tired!" ”

Li Shi sat up straight, rubbed his arm, and said with a smile: "In the end, I am old, and I feel that my body is sore after only a few days!" Don't be annoyed, sir, you don't know what our son's surname is. It's just that I want to stay any longer, and I'm afraid that I'm going to urge me to come back and wait for the master! ”

Cao Yin listened, and a slight smile appeared on his face. In recent years, Cao Hao has been very concerned about his health and has found all kinds of medicinal materials; Every time I write to my family, there is also a small half moon that mentions this matter; is now deliberately sending Wu Sheng to Jiangning on an errand, also to prevent his parents from getting sick and hiding it from him.

Li remembered his son's name of looking at his grandson a few years ago, and couldn't help laughing, and said to his husband: "The master is also a good surname, didn't he start flipping through the book when he found out that his daughter-in-law was pregnant, why hasn't the name of Tianyou been good yet?" You don't know, but you have to repeat those words sooner or later, and you can't guess what name the master will come out here! ”

Cao Yin shook his head, a little gloating, and said, "What's the hurry, it's too urgent to think about it before enrolling!" ”

Li remembered that when his son was born, his father-in-law had been dead for many years, and her husband thought of a name, but it was also undecided, and in the end it was the name given by the emperor's grace. I have to admit that he really has no talent for choosing a name.

The maid came to report, and the second wife and the second master came. Li smiled and said, "Please come in, I'm about to send someone to invite!" ”

Cao Yin was not finished with his previous errands, and after saying hello to Zhaojia and Cao Song, he went back to the yamen first.

* Jinan Mansion, outside the Yamen of the Political Envoy Division.

Cao Hao went out of the yamen, and Gan Guobi, the chief political secretary, personally sent it out. Although in terms of official positions, Cao Hao is his subordinate; But when it comes to the identity of the lord and the county lord, it is much higher than the identity of Gan Guobi. Therefore, although he did not deliberately stammer, he did not want to be rude.

Regarding Cao Hao's behavior of taking the initiative to seek "official business" to share the worries of the chief official when he came to the political envoy to the Yamen this time, Gan Guobi naturally found it even more difficult to stop him, and he also agreed with it.

At the beginning of the month, on the Holy Birthday Festival, Kangxi issued an edict to the household department, to make "lead the soil and be anointed". Except for provinces other than Zhili, Fengtian, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hubei, and Hunan, Kangxi's 50th and 51st years of land and grain were all exempted. The old arrears of money and grain over the years are also exempted. In addition, for the four provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Jiangxi, where droughts and floods are frequent, in addition to Caoxiang, Kangxi should levy silver per mu of land and silver per person in 52 years, and all of them have been exempted. The arrears of the past years are also exempted.

This exemption, even though it benefited Shandong Lishu, it also suffered from the side of the political envoy Yamen. There is a shortage of money in the treasury, and it will be a little inconvenient for some government decrees to be implemented next year.

This year's expenditure budget is reported to the Ministry of Households, and I don't know how much it can be approved. A few months after Gan Guobi took office, he encountered this big problem, and these people were thinking about how to act with their staff.

Cao Hao came just right, not only the old man of the household, but also this noble identity that cannot be easily offended, if he goes back to Beijing to run the household, it is not everything. Therefore, he very reasonably gave Cao Hao this opportunity to make a mistake.

Cao Hao's side is naturally very satisfied, and he is grateful for the adult's care, and if he has the opportunity to reciprocate, he will definitely serve.

When he was far away from the Yamen of the Political Envoy, Cao Hao's face was difficult to look at, and he was indescribably angry in his heart. Although it is true that Cao Yi is his cousin in terms of blood, emotionally, he treats this little girl more like a daughter.

That is, regardless of blood, regardless of the affection for more than ten years, just talk about the number of people in Hangzhou back then. In this world, it is not only the fourth elder brother and the thirteenth elder brother who owe him a life-saving grace, but also Ping'er, who stood in front of him and confronted others for a steamed bun.

For this girl who is kind to herself and works hard, Cao Hao really loves her in her heart. After overhearing the gossip of the people of the Daotai Mansion mentioning the old things in the capital and asking about the truth, he really even had the heart to kill Seshtu.

(To be continued)