In the blink of an eye, winter went to spring, and the forty-first year of Kangxi arrived.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, the fireworks in Beijing City were very lively, and Qi Suniang pasted red couplets and red blessing characters on the small courtyard, bought narcissus in the flower market, wrapped red paper tape, and placed them on the god cabinet and Qi Qiang's room.

The stone tables and chairs in the courtyard are covered with snowflakes, and there are more than a dozen lanterns hanging under the eaves. The drums have already sounded, the lanterns are swaying in the cold wind, they bump against each other, greeting, as if because of these partners under the New Year's Festival, the little fire is gathered in one place, reflecting the snow is red, it is extraordinarily cheerful.

Qi Su Niang shrunk her neck, rubbed her hands, and stood in front of the courtyard gate, looking out through the crack in the door, looking forward to Qi Qiang, who was still at the Ninth Master's Mansion, coming back to celebrate the New Year together.

In the second half of the night, the drunken Qi Qiang was sent back by An Sheng and Fu Ming.

"Sister...... Sister, the Ninth Master asked me today, how did I learn the rules so well recently, everyone outside said that Qin Da Steward is getting better and better at handling errands, and the Ninth Master's Mansion is more decent. Qi Qiang was helped to the side of the kang by Qi Su Niang, fell crooked on the kang bed, and said with a vague smile, "Qin Daoran is really traitorous, I only said that someone taught, and he immediately guessed that it was you who taught, no wonder my brother I planted it in his hands and became a slave."

Qi Su Niang smiled bitterly, coaxed Qi Qiang to lie down on the warm kang bed, and was about to turn around to serve him the sobering soup, but was pulled by Qi Qiang. Qi Qiang struggled to sit up, took out a big red gold-painted paper envelope from his arms, and stuffed it to Qi Su Niang, stunned and drunk, "...... Come, my brother's New Year's money for you......"

Qi Su Niang laughed out loud, opened the red envelope and saw that it was a big gold coin wrapped and strung with colored money. She was about to speak, but Qi Qiang fell back onto the kang with a thud and muttered, "Okay...... Fortunately...... Let's ...... And two siblings......"

The lanterns hanging outside the window swayed in the cold wind, making a slight friction sound, bringing some liveliness to the courtyard where there were only two people. The corners of Qi Su Niang's eyes were slightly wet, she looked at Qi Qiang, covered him with a quilt, and turned around to serve sobering soup from the kitchen.

There was only one oil lamp lit in the house, and the lonely flame burned lonely, Qi Su Niang slowly fed Qi Qiang soup, but she thought in her heart that Chen Yan was alone in Qinghe, without relatives and friends......

Qi Su Niang tossed and turned this night, and when it was dawn, she took Qi Qiang to find someone, brought clothes and food to Qinghe. Qi Qiang Suri also treats Chen Yan as his own brother, although he wants to regret his marriage for the sake of his sister, there is naturally no reason for these things to be inaccurate. Qi Su Niang got the letter, so she went out to buy some snacks in the Beijing in the dumpling shop on the street.

Jiuye's Mansion is on Dongzheng Street in the Imperial City, surrounded by powerful people, snow is falling in the sky, the road is covered with snow and mud, most of the people with status are coming and going in carriages, Qi Su Niang walked carefully along the eaves on the side of the road, still splashed with the stain of the skirt, I can't help but regret that I didn't hire a carriage to go out in order to save money.

She bought more than ten catties of wine in the old store in Beijing, eight pieces of puff pastry, oil sugar cake, peach crisp, honey and other food, felt that her feet were already cold, so she found a teahouse and sat down, ordered a pot of dry tea, asked for a noodle soup, and planned to warm up her body before leaving.

Qi Su Niang put down the bowl, took the tea, opened the tea lid, brushed the tea foam, and the sound of a mule cart passing by came from outside the store.

It was nearly noon, the mule cart ran over the snow, out of the sound of chirping, more than 20 longboard floats full of thousands of pots of rhododendrons, begonias, thistles blooming in winter from You'anmen, heading for the imperial city. Qi Su Niang knew that this was the float of the eighteen villages of Fengtai Flower Township, which sent flowers to the palace every day.

As soon as the float passed, she saw four or five leather shops on the other side of the street. The black fox fur behind the counter was shiny, and she couldn't help but feel moved in her heart, thinking that she would make a leather hat for Chen Yan and Qi Qiang, so that she could survive the winter. Before she got up, four masters and servants went up to look at the fur, and were bargaining with the shopkeeper, so they were a little anxious, so they called the guy to calculate the account, and saw that the person who looked like him paid for the fur and followed the master out of the store.

Qi Su Niang sighed, and suddenly saw a four-horse carriage rushing over at the corner of the street, Nanmu jade top, blue tweed curtains, and I don't know if the road was slippery or uncontained, and suddenly knocked the long entourage holding the leather goods to the ground, and the black fox skin was thrown out of the mud and blood, and it was falling in front of the teahouse.

The master turned his head to see this situation, and immediately became furious, pulled the whip from the hand of the house slave, and whipped the coachman fiercely, and shouted, "The evil slave from there, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, in the good land, there is no king's law?" ”

The coachman rolled from the car and fell to the ground in pain, the blood on his left eye flowed, and he screamed, Qi Su Niang was shocked again, although the coachman was at fault, this one was too ruthless.

"Gao Shiqi, you slave, the old man is here, don't you know the master?" The carriage window opened with a bang, revealing a face, but Qi Suniang recognized it as Suo Etu, and immediately stood up, so she wanted to hide away, so as not to suffer from the disaster of the pond fish, and secretly wondered in her heart: "Gao Shiqi, is it the ...... who shocked Mingzhu off the stage?"

When Qi Qiang went home at night, he heard Qi Su Niang talk about this paragraph, and immediately laughed, and said: "This one has been angry for a few years, and I'm afraid I'm going to do it." Turning her head back to the Prince's Mansion, Qi Su Niang thought for a long time, and she didn't know whether Qi Qiang was talking about Suo Etu or Gao Shiqi.

After a few days, before the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival, Qi Qiang packed up his things, wanted to go to the south, took all the things that Qi Su Niang had brought with him, told Qi Su Niang to be careful about the door, and rode away.

Qi Qiang's usual errand in the prince's mansion on weekdays, he talked to Qi Su Niang from time to time, but this time there was no news at all, Qi Su Niang knew that it was a big errand, although she was worried, she had to wait.

After Qi Qiang left, she stayed at home, and her interest in going to see Qinhuai River in Jiangning was gone. The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister, she can put everything away, but Chen Yan and Qi Qiang are gradually taking root here, whether it is a blessing or a disaster, she owes Chen Niangzi, owes the Qi family and his wife, and always has to watch Chen Yan and Qi Qiang marry wives and have children, so as to find a way out for themselves. As for her and Chen Yan, Qi Su Niang stroked the thirteen letters in the pillow box, he could live in peace, and she lived up to Chen Niangzi's trust......

Standing up? Qi Su Niang stared at the top of the bed tent in the dark night, hating the blurred blank space countless times, she knew the consequences of standing in the wrong team, but she really couldn't think of who Qianlong was after Kangxi, she knew that the year name had a "positive" in it, but she didn't know whether he was the prince or the eldest brother.

In any case, Chen Yan has been regarded by the prince as the eldest brother's party because of the Yongding River embankment, although Qi Qiang is forced, but he is getting deeper and deeper, the fourteenth elder brother has a straightforward and righteous temperament, likes military affairs, and has always been friendly with the eldest brother who has followed the emperor to conquer Galdan three times, and he is also very affectionate with the eighth master.

is already the eldest son party, Qi Su Niang smiled silently and comforted herself, Suo Etu has been cut off real power, the crown prince - Qi Su Niang remembered that midsummer afternoon in Changchun Garden, and prayed silently: God, let the eldest brother be the emperor.

Thinking like this, Qi Su Niang didn't close her eyes until it was almost dawn, and she didn't sleep long before she was woken up by a rapid knock on the door, "Qi girl, Qi girl" Qi Su Niang was startled, sat up from the bed, put on her coat, stood at the door of the room and shouted: "Which one?" ”

The people outside the door seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, "Miss Qi, the slave maid is Shuanghong, the maidservant in the house, and the steward of Qin asked me to invite you over." ”