On February 26, Yu Jiayan, Mingyue and the members of the Ming family took the family's mule cart to the small courtyard of the Gu family behind the county office.

The Gu family has few servants, even if it only invites the Ming family and the Yu family, Mrs. Gu has already called three tables from the restaurant to entertain the guests.

Old Madam Gu, who rarely came out of the house, also stood in the courtyard with Mrs. Gu to greet the guests, and when the Ming family and the Yu family saw Old Madam Gu, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute in order according to their seniority.

Mrs. Gu smiled and exchanged a few words with everyone, and then took Mrs. Ming's hand and entered the main room and sat down.

The first to give Mrs. Gu a birthday gift was Mrs. Ming, and on behalf of herself and Mrs. Ming, she gave Mrs. Gu a palm-sized pure gold Ruyi.

The gold Ruyi is small and delicate, and the used gold looks like it is only a dozen taels, but its exquisite workmanship from the best silver building in Fucheng adds a lot of color to it.

Next is Mingdi and Xie's two sons, they prepared a set of spring shirts sewn by Xie and a golden longevity peach ornament for Mrs. Gu, the base of the golden longevity peach ornament was carved into several peach leaves by the craftsman, and the two longevity peaches sitting side by side on the peach leaves were engraved with the auspicious words "Fu Ru Donghai" and "Shoubi Nanshan" respectively.

Following them to give the birthday gifts to Mrs. Gu were Tao and Mingcheng, and the birthday gifts prepared by the two of them were a box of official swallows and a small kang screen for the longevity of pine cranes. The embroidery inlaid on the kang screen is embroidered by Dow himself, and the wood of the kang screen is the most popular rosewood.

As for Mingtang and Zhou, Zhou did not attend the banquet because he had to stay in his hometown to take care of the workshop. In addition to the two pairs of soft embroidered shoes embroidered with ruyi moire embroidered on the bottom of the mille-feuille by Zhou, Mingtang also presented Mrs. Gu with two snow-white fox skins that he had finally bought with others.

He bought these two fox skins last winter, when he was invited by Mingyue to go to the vast grasslands in the northwest of Fuxing County to see if he could buy fertile pastures suitable for raising cattle, sheep, horses, mules and other large animals.

Although he was limited by the actual conditions, he finally failed to buy the large grassland that Mingyue wanted, but Mingtang, who has a bold personality, did not really run in vain.

After a while, he not only sold all the agricultural and sideline products he brought with him at extremely high prices, but also bought rare things such as furs, medicinal herbs, dried meat, and cheese that were not available in Fuxing County.

After two trips back and forth, Mingtang not only made a lot of money for the Ming family, but also added a lot of private house to the small family of himself and the Zhou family.

It was the turn of the juniors of the Ming family, and they didn't send any more valuables.

Ming Xu sent a painting of Songhe to prolong the year, Erlang sent a painting of Magu offering his birthday, Saburo sent a picture of Baishou, Shiro followed Saburo to send a picture of Baifu, and Goro sent a hand-copied Diamond Sutra.

On the side of the female dependents, Zheng Caixia and Huang Xiaoying have children to take care of, and the other is bulky because they are pregnant, neither of them came to the county seat from Wulitun, so all the gifts they gave to Mrs. Gu were handed over by Mingyue.

Zheng Caixia didn't do well in needlework, so she gave two brocades with 10,000 characters and continuous head patterns to Mrs. Gu to make clothes.

Although Huang Xiaoying's skills are good, she is pregnant, and Mrs. Ming and Mrs. Xie don't let her use needlework and scissors, so Huang Xiaoying also learned from Zheng Caixia to give Mrs. Gu two brocades. It's just that what she gave was two cloud brocades with a multi-blessing and longevity pattern (the pattern is a longevity peach and several bats).

As for Mingyue and Yu Jiayan, what the two gave to Mrs. Gu was a set of clothes, a pair of embroidered shoes, a forehead, and a little jade Buddha who had been presided over by Qingshui Temple and opened the light before Mingyue revealed to Ming Xu before.

Mrs. Gu said "Let you break the bank again", and asked Mrs. Gu to help her put all the things that everyone gave her into the cabinet and put them away.

Mrs. Gu smiled and responded, and helped Mrs. Gu put away her things with her own hands, and then beckoned the rough mother-in-law of the family to help her serve tea and snacks to the guests.

Mingyue took the opportunity to take out the pastries she brought to the two little girls to eat, and the two little girls cheered and gathered around her very consciously.

Gu Zhixian sat with Mrs. Gu for a while, and then took her nephew, Yu Jiayan and the men of the Ming family to the front yard.

After a while, the female ancestor who Mrs. Gu invited to read was led in by the rough envoy mother-in-law, and everyone accompanied Mrs. Gu to the hall to listen to the female first-timer.

Old Madam Gu hadn't enjoyed such excitement and joy for a long time, and her face, which always had a somewhat sick face, was rarely rosy.

Mrs. Gu was secretly happy when she saw it, and she couldn't help but become more and more dedicated when she entertained everyone.

It wasn't until midnight (two o'clock in the afternoon) that Mingyue, Yu Jiayan and the people of the Ming family, who had eaten and drunk enough, resigned from Gu Zhixian and others and returned to their homes.

"Young grandma, this is the rice noodles and pickles that Mrs. Gu gave you and the young master." On the mule cart on the return trip, Dong Zhi pointed to a cloth bag and two small jars in the carriage and said to Mingyue and Yu Jiayan: "Mrs. Gu said that this pickle is also unique to their hometown, let the slave maid bring it back for you to taste." ”

Mingyue nodded to indicate that she knew, and she asked Yu Jiayan, "Why don't we eat casserole sour soup powder tonight?" You can also try these two small pickles given by Mrs. Gu. ”

Yu Jiayan rubbed his somewhat sore temples, "You are free." ”

He is very relieved of Mingyue's cooking skills, and he is not a picky eater in the first place, so he can basically eat whatever Mingyue does with a happy face.

Mingyue had expected this, she leaned her head against the wall of the car like Yu Jiayan and began to close her eyes to recuperate, and the winter solstice saw that she was busy and quietly exited the carriage, and sat on the wheel with Ping'an, who was slowly driving the mule cart.

"Young master, young grandmother, I'm home." About a quarter of an hour later, the crisp sound of the winter solstice came from outside the carriage.

Mingyue slowly opened her eyes, and Yu Jiayan stepped on the mule cart.

"Jiayan! Good words! Mingyue and Yu Jiayan were about to go back to their backyard to wash and change their clothes, and Gu Zhixian's nephew was already panting and chasing after them.

Yu Jiayan looked surprised, "Brother Gu Xian? ”

He turned to Gu Zhixian's nephew and greeted him, "Why did you suddenly come to my house?" But something is looking for me? ”

Gu Zhixian's nephew nodded again and again, "You go on the front foot, and my sister-in-law's maiden brother will arrive on the back foot, so my uncle sent me to inform you." ”