In winter, the capital is so cold that people shiver.

Gu Xi has lived in the capital for seven years, and he has not been able to get used to this kind of weather.

Especially every morning, I have to get up and personally decoct the medicine and send it to the eldest wife.

But she was at peace.

Because she has a son now.

She was pregnant in the sixth year of her marriage with Pei Tong.

That year, Pei Tong and Shen Fang of the Shen family participated in the Spring Festival together.

Shen Fang, who participated in the Spring Festival for the first time, was successful, but Pei Tong, who participated in the Spring Festival for the second time, failed the list.

Pei Tong didn't say anything, but he was very bitter in his heart. During the day, I went out to congratulate those Jiangnan veterans who passed the exam, but when I returned home at night, I locked myself in the study and drank a small wine for a few days.

She couldn't get used to Pei Tong like this, and felt that she had no ambition.

How many people have taken the exam five or six times in a row to succeed, Pei Tong is still so young, but his spirit seems to have collapsed, too decadent.

Don't talk about the men walking outside, it's them, the women of the house, if she was tortured by her stepmother and accepted her fate early, would she still be where she is today?

She deliberately brought a bowl of decanting soup to Pei Tong's study that day.

Pei Tong's eyes were red with gratitude, and he held her hand and kept saying to the eldest lady: "She must be very disappointed in me!" She told me from a young age to study hard...... When I finished reading, she was happy...... The death of her father was a blow to her, and she was very happy that I was divided, so she held her breath, thinking that I could be named on the gold list and raise my eyebrows in front of those people in my hometown...... Not only did I fail to make her proud, but I ......"

He couldn't go on.

Gu Xi couldn't get used to her mother-in-law.

What is it? There has never been a clear distinction between north and south!

Even her mother-in-law's sister-in-law didn't want to deal with her mother-in-law after seeing her mother-in-law a few times when she first came to the capital, if there was anything to send a mother-in-law to pass the word, or call her back to her parents' house to talk, it was the Yang family, except for after the news of Pei Tong's fall from the list, Mrs. Yang came once and comforted the eldest lady a few words, and she didn't set foot in their door for several days.

She couldn't help but encourage Pei Tong at that time: "Look at my brother, he is also preparing to take a break after passing the exam, you are too anxious." ”

Pei Tong didn't speak for a long time.

Yin Mingyuan also asked him to wait for a few subjects, but his mother ...... So much so that Yin Mingyuan doesn't talk to him much now.

He didn't want to blame his mother for staying in the inner courtyard of the house for many years, but his mother's urgency was really a knife around his neck.

Pei Tong couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said insincerely: "I still don't have the ability." Look at Ah Chan and Ah Po. ”

Pei Chan and Pei Bo participated in the imperial examination three years ago, and they were admitted on the field, and both of them were admitted to Shu Jishi, and now they are over in the Liubu Guanzheng, he heard the second uncle Pei Xuan say that Pei Chan stayed in the Imperial Court to do the imperial history, and Pei Bo stayed in the Ministry of Industry.

This is also the result of the Pei family's struggle with Peng and Jiang in recent years.

His third uncle, whether he is in the court or in the opposition, is not a person who can be ignored.

Five years ago, his third uncle didn't know why he started targeting the people of the Peng family, so that the Peng family lost the resources of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, not to mention, and he still didn't give up, and he confronted the Jiang family, and tore the Ministry of Industry belonging to the Jiang family into a big hole.

The whereabouts of Pei Chan and Pei Bo are the fruits.

Moreover, his second uncle Pei Xuan has just been promoted to the head of the household department because of his good financial management, and he has been named a scholar of the Jinshen Palace, and he has become a cabinet assistant.

The Lin'an Pei family, after many years, once again stood on the cusp of the storm and became one of the most prominent families in the dynasty.

What Pei Tong could think of, how could Gu Xi not think of it.

She saw Pei Tong, who looked so sad that she couldn't cry, and suddenly thought of the way Yu Tang hugged Pei Yan that year.

Gu Xi couldn't help but hug Pei Tong, and said in a tone that she didn't realize herself, similar to Yu Tang's comfort to Pei Yan back then: "It's okay, it's almost the Dragon Boat Festival, I'm going to give a gift to the second uncle and aunt soon, I'll tell the second uncle about you." They took good care of us all the time.

Pei Tong burst into tears.

In the New Year, she gave birth to a son.

Her son not only looks like Uncle Xiao, but also has a temperament, and is also like her eldest brother Gu Chang.

Thinking of his son who was still sleeping in bed, Gu Xi's heart warmed, and the biting cold wind in the capital became able to endure it.

He Xiang married a housekeeper in the family, but she was still on an errand in front of Gu Xi.

She is more low-key and understands Gu Xi better.

Seeing Gu Xi's appearance, Hexiang quickly put the steaming decoction into the kettle, and said with a smile: "Are we going to Pei's Mansion these two days?" This year, we were able to buy so much charcoal in our house, thanks to the second wife. ”

Those of them who came from Pei's Mansion are still used to calling Pei's Mansion in order of Pei's Mansion, and in this newly built mansion, it can be regarded as a kind of show-off seniority.

Gu Xike never thought of breaking off contact with Pei Fu.

This year, it is said that there is a bandit in Shanxi, not to mention the price of charcoal in the capital, and the idlers can't buy it, if she doesn't often hang in front of the second wife, the second wife often thinks about them, and their family is afraid that it will be difficult to burn charcoal this winter.

"Definitely going to go." Gu Xi didn't think much about it, and said, "When I went last time, the second wife had a bad cough, this time, you remember to bring some pear paste made by us." ”

The second wife, like her, has been in the capital for so long, but she still doesn't adapt to the climate of the capital, and the Gu family used to be an official in the capital, and she left a recipe to nourish her lungs, and she did it according to it, and the effect was good. After that, she would send some to Pei's mansion every year.

It will not be delivered all at once, one after another, and it will be sent for a winter.

It's a strategy.

Lotus Xiang wrote it down.

The two of them, surrounded by the maids and women beside them, walked along the verandah, through the garden, and went to a small courtyard with three rooms to the east where the eldest lady lived.

In the distance, they heard the cough of the eldest lady.

Gu Xi and Hexiang couldn't help but glance at each other.

Pei Tong fell off the list for the second time, and the eldest lady couldn't stand the blow, cried for a night, contracted lung disease, and then coughed out of breath every winter, so she especially liked to call Pei Tong to lecture when she coughed badly.

Although Gu Xi can make pear paste, she doesn't want to honor the eldest wife, so when she gave pear paste to the eldest lady for the first time, she put a lot of Chuanbei, and the eldest lady disliked the bad taste, so Gu Xi added rock sugar, and then the eldest lady ate too much rock candy, and the cough became even worse.

She simply stopped giving pear paste to the eldest wife, and said to Pei Tong: "After all, this is just a health prescription, my mother-in-law is afraid that it will hurt her lungs, so it is better to use medicine seriously." ”

Pei Tong felt that what she said made sense, every year in autumn, she began to invite a doctor to come over to check the pulse of the eldest lady and prescribe medicine, Gu Xi would be sick all winter, and after a few years, there was her mother's sister-in-law Yin to help publicize it, and the families of Jiangnan who were officials in the capital and the relatives of the marriage basically knew it, and Gu Xi got a reputation of "virtuous and filial".

The eldest lady vomited half to death when she heard this, and it was even more unpleasant to look at Gu Xi.

Tossing Gu Xi has to get up every morning to decoct her medicine.

Gu Xi has been begging for a living under her stepmother since she was a child, and she has a lot of experience in how to control the inner courtyard, not to mention that the Pei family doesn't know whether it is intentional or unintentional, and handed over all the money that Mrs. Pei gave them to this house, although she has a mother-in-law on her head, but the money in the family is in her hands, if she wants to make this family solid, she can't pass on a word, she can't pass a word.

The eldest lady has a plan, and she has a countermeasure.

When Pei Tong went back to the inner room for the night, she started at the end of the day, and when Pei Tong was studying in the study, it was hard to say.

In addition, after Pei Tong fell off the list last time, Gu Chang found him, Uncle Lang closed the door of the study and talked for a long time, and found a new teacher for Pei Tong, Pei Tong has been studying in the study most of the time in the past two years, even if the eldest wife wants to sue, Pei Tong wants to be willing to listen and have time to listen.

So when Gu Xi and Hexiang went in, the eldest lady couldn't help but start sarcastically mocking her daughter-in-law in a weird way: "Why is the young grandmother free to come over today?" Don't have to accompany your husband to study? ”

When his subordinates were defeated, Gu Xi said a few words to her when she was in the mood, and when she was not in the mood, she bowed her head and was silent, looking respectful and humble, which made the eldest lady angry.

She was in a good mood today, and after letting Hexiang hand the medicine to the maid serving beside the eldest lady, she sat down on the embroidery pier opposite the eldest lady uninvited, and said softly: "Yesterday, the prime minister rested in the study. But I'm going to Pei's Mansion today, so I have to go out early. Then he was glad, "Fortunately, my mother-in-law's medicine was early, otherwise I would have hurried over in the afternoon." ”

The eldest lady was so angry that she coughed violently on the spot.

This is also one of the places where she is very dissatisfied with Gu Xi.

Gu Xi has been going to Pei's Mansion as long as she is free in the past few years, and she is more filial to the second wife than to her mother-in-law.

The maid who served next to her was busy helping the eldest lady to get lucky.

After so many years of fighting, Gu Xi certainly knows what knots the eldest lady has.

She smiled slightly, looking very happy, and continued in the cough of the eldest lady: "I heard that the fifth aunt will also be down next year, I have to ask, and I have to prepare some things to prepare for the exam and send them over at that time." ”

This is another knot in the heart of the eldest lady.

Some people are lucky and will have good luck for the rest of their lives.

Pei Dan at the beginning was docile and shy, and she was not brilliant among her sisters at all, but who knew that she married the best.

However, in the past few years, Aunt Qin has been continuous, showing talents and lifting people all the way, and this year will be the imperial examination.

Lord Qin's official authority is also growing.

The Pei family's ability to tear the Jiang family's Ministry of Industry into a big hole has a lot to do with Lord Qin, the squire.

Lord Qin said nothing in the Ministry of Industry, and with the support of the Pei family, he almost wanted to empty Jiang Hua.

This was something that no one expected at the time.

Gu Xi didn't want any accidents to happen to his eldest wife, otherwise Pei Tong would have to keep filial piety for three years, and he wouldn't be able to participate in next year's Spring Festival.

She stayed with the eldest lady for a while, then went back to her house, personally watched her son Brother Yuan'er have breakfast, and then took him to Pei's mansion.

Pei Dan's eldest son is about the same age as Brother Yuan, Mrs. Qin regards it as a treasure and does not let go of her leisure, and the second wife rarely sees her grandson once, so she is very good to Brother Yuan.

Gu Xi hugged his son over, which was also one of the means to please the second wife.

It's just that she didn't expect that when she arrived at Pei's Mansion, the cross-courtyard servant women in the west of Pei's Mansion were weaving, and it seemed that they were cleaning the courtyard over there.

In the past few years, the second wife's family has lived in the courtyard to the east.

The courtyard on the west side used to be where Yu Tang lived.

Gu Xi's heart was pounding suddenly, and he hurriedly pulled a familiar little guy and asked, "What is this?" Before Laba arrived, did he start to raise dust? ”