In the spring of the thirtieth year of Kangxi, Guangzhou.

More than a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and it has just begun spring, and the air still carries the residual chill of winter, and the light rain has been falling for a few days, but it is unexpectedly blowing a warm wind from the south, and the city is wet everywhere, and the walls and doors of the house are full of water, which makes people feel depressed.

Shuning is eleven years old, Tong is over thirty-five years old, and Xianning is no longer a little milk baby crawling around, but has grown into a little kid who can walk, run, and be naughty. A letter from Beijing just came, and the old lord greeted his friends in the army a few years ago, and in the autumn, he let Duan Ning enter the camp in western Beijing to practice.

Zhang Bao is now a person of Bensi, and he has done a great job in political affairs, not only has he been excellent in the performance evaluation of the officials for two consecutive years, but he is also among the twenty outstanding local officials awarded by the imperial court in the New Year. Most of these twenty officials are local officials, and the leader is Yu Chenglong, the emperor's most favored person. Zhang Bao's entry into the list can be regarded as an earth-shattering shock. In fact, Zhang Bao knew in his own heart, this may be that when he wrote a letter to Yu Heng the year before last, he indirectly proposed to Chen Liangben to rebuild the government-run postal system, so that this Lord Chen made another contribution, and only then did he give a little reward to the original proposer.

Zhang Bao thought that he was worthy of this commendation, so he accepted it generously. Chen Liangben did not have any knots about the Earl's Court because of Wanning's affairs, and wrote to Zhang Bao last year, in which he asked him about the reason for proposing a government-run postal service. Zhang Bao generously replied that it was the youngest daughter who was thousands of miles away from her brother and complained about the inconvenience of communication, so he remembered the post of the Xiangjun recorded in the history books. After that, he and Chen Liangben also exchanged letters occasionally, and after the Earl's Mansion in the capital noticed it, he found that this third son was no longer an object that could be ignored in the past.

Tong sat on the couch in the upper room, looking at the letter from Jingli. Frowning in contemplation. Shuning came in from outside to salute her mother, and asked, "What is E-Niang worried about?" She glanced at the letter in her mother's hand, "But the letter from Kyori the day before yesterday?" Is there anything wrong? ”

Tong smiled and pressed the letter under the book in his hand. "What's wrong?" E-Niang is just thinking about our family going back to Beijing in half a year. She looked at the water red silk satin robe and lilac-colored embroidered vest her daughter was wearing, and said with a slight smile: "My daughter has grown much taller now." Look at it, it's taller than Eniang's shoulders. You did the embroidery on the vest yourself, right? It seems that Master Zhong taught you very well. ”

Shuning said with a smile: "Master Zhong taught him well, but he was too strict, not only the needles and needles should be evenly proportioned, but even the threads on the back should not be messed up." If the waterway on the embroidered map is crooked even a millimeter, she will tell me about it. Tong Shi nodded her head: "If it weren't for the master's strictness." How can you do so well now? I should thank her. ”

Shuning smiled a little embarrassedly: "My daughter also knows, so she has always listened to the master's teaching." Now I'm embroidering that picture of spring flowers, full of three feet square, embroidered me for three months, and I haven't complained. ”

Tong asked, "Is the embroidery finished?" Shuning shook her head: "There are a few flower bones." Tong smiled and said: "When you finish embroidering, I will ask someone to inlay it and make it into an embroidery screen, and put it at home every day to see, okay?" ”

Shuning waved her hand: "That's it." I'm just trying to embroider, and if the connoisseurs see it, they'll laugh off their big teeth. I'll talk about it when I'm really embroidering in the future. What's more, if you leave in half a year, why bother with any bulky screens. ”

Tong nodded. He added, "I see that you are doing a good job of embroidery now." You don't need Master Zhong to teach you every day, she told me yesterday. I just got pregnant, and I want to quit and go home to raise the baby, I have already promised, you will have to work your own in the future. ”

Shuning had heard about it a long time ago, so she should have said that she knew. The mother and daughter talked some more gossip before Shuning went back to the room.

As soon as her daughter left, Tong took out the letter again, sighed, and continued to worry.

This is a letter from Beijing, written by an old lady, but not to her, but to Zhang Bao. Zhang Bao loved his wife, so he showed her the letter.

There are two main things written in the letter. One is that Zhang Bao has been excellent in the performance examination of the officials for two consecutive years, and his term of office will expire in half a year, and he will definitely be promoted, and the old lady wants her son to keep his valuable belongings for gifts, and he does not have to send them home every year. She said that the gifts sent back at the end of the year, enamel and ivory carvings are very valuable, but they are not as affordable as real money, and the three thousand taels of silver tickets are not a small amount. Although there are some difficulties in the house, Zhang Bao needs these more to seek a future, so that he does not have to send it back.

Every time Tong saw this, he couldn't help but pout, he was about to leave, so naturally he wouldn't give any more New Year's gifts, what did she say these words? What difficulties did the Earls Court have? Jin Bao Rong Bao has been promoted, the business of the second room is booming again, and the house is making money every day, but it is more prosperous than before, the old lady doesn't know these when she looks at them in Guangzhou? I'm afraid to imply that the third son has a benefit, don't forget the family, right?

And the other thing mentioned in the letter is where Tong's current troubles lie. The old lady hinted that Zhang Baodu was almost forty years old, and he was about to be promoted to the fourth grade, and there was no one waiting for him except for the main room, which was really not like words, and his daughter-in-law was not young, so she had to find someone to help her share the housework. His sister Fuli's husband's family has an adopted daughter who has just turned eighteen years old this year, although she is from a lower background, she also raises the earth like a daughter, not only beautiful and dignified, but also knowledgeable and courteous. The old lady had the heart to tell this girl to Zhang Bao to make a second room, and asked him what he thought.

Zhang Bao himself has no idea, this girl he has seen the ground, his biological father is his brother-in-law's old father's personal soldier before his death, in order to save the boss died, the old man adopted him as an orphan, raised as his own daughter, after his death, this girl lived with the family of the righteous brother. I have the impression that she has been very smart since she was a child, and she is indeed knowledgeable, but Ride had already had the intention to marry this girl to a dignitary as a marriage, how could she be a concubine for an official of four or five grades? Therefore, Zhang Bao did not take it to heart.

But for Tong, although it is impossible, it is also a warning of a wild forest. After a few years of dissipation, the old lady once again started to think about installing people in the third room. It is conceivable that if this family affair is not successful, she will send a cronie girl to wait for Zhang Bao in the name of "making amends". When the time comes, you won't be able to push it off. Now that the three rooms are much more prosperous than before, Zhang Bao and the Tong family have the intention of hiding their real property and don't want to be divided by others. Once the family entered the outsider. You can't hide it.

Tong thought about it and always wanted to find a way to stay for a long time. Otherwise, if you push it once, you can't push it a second time. She had a vague thought in her mind, but she couldn't make up her mind. Just when she was worried, Su Yun entered the house and reported: "Grandma Rong sent someone to return the gift, saying that it was the jade pendant and medicinal herbs sent by Mrs. Xie the previous child. ”

Grandma Rong is the big Liu, and she married a general manager named Rong Zhi last year. Although Na Rongzhi is forty years old. There are still scars on his face, and he hasn't married a wife at a great age, but he is upright, and he is very good to his wife, and the husband and wife are affectionate, and Da Liu has been pregnant for five months.

The Tong family ordered someone to accept the return gift, and asked the visitor about the situation of the big Liu family, and then sent her away with a high-class reward seal. When she sat down again, she remembered Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu did not follow his sister to his new brother-in-law's house. Instead, she continued to stay at her uncle's house, but her uncle died at the end of last year, and she had no sister to support her. The days are getting more and more difficult, and her aunt already has the intention of forcibly arranging family affairs for her.

I wonder if Xiao Liu can help himself?

So Tong wrote a post. Ordered someone to carry a sedan chair to invite Xiao Liu to be a guest.

Less than half a day. Xiao Liu came, and the two gossiped for a while. Tong noticed that the other party was wearing a half-new robe, and the cuffs were slightly worn. Xiao Liu saw Tong looking at her clothes, and shrank his hand embarrassedly.

Tong said: "Your aunt is getting more and more excessive, you want to go out as a guest, and you don't even have some clothes?" Xiao Liu smiled shyly: "My brother and daughter-in-law want to leave relatives, so I borrowed two decent clothes." I thought I was at home all day, and it was nothing for them. Please don't be surprised if it's rude in front of you. ”

Tong sighed and said, "You are just too soft-tempered, your sister has asked you to move in again and again, why are you so desperate?" ”

Xiao Liu shook his head: "In the past, when I was in the Shen family, my sister's situation was even richer than now, but I was in their family, and my sister suffered a lot of gossip. Now that my sister finally has a good home, why should I bother her again? ”

Tong pondered for a while and asked, "Don't you still want to marry again?" Xiao Liu shook his head. Tong asked again: "You also read the letter I sent to you the day before yesterday, right?" Your in-laws have passed away now, your little treasure lives with your aunt, I heard that the situation is very bad, have you ever thought about taking your son to your side? ”

Xiao Liu's eyes were red when he heard this: "Why don't I want to?" But now that I'm not in the capital, even if I have this heart, I can't do it. Then he wiped away his tears.

Tong got up and walked back and forth in the room a few times, plucked up his courage and said, "Sister of the Liu family, don't be surprised when I say this." Are you willing to marry into our family to be a second room? We will return to Beijing in half a year, and you can go back with us, and you can see your son again. ”

Xiao Liu was taken aback, and the whole person was stunned. Tong took a step forward and said: "You know the character of our master, and I am not a difficult person, as soon as I return to Beijing in the future, I will ask someone to take your son over, and you will agree." Xiao Liu's face turned red and white, white and red, and he said intermittently for a while: "I...... I didn't think about it...... And, besides, I don't want to marry another man. My ...... He...... He ......"

Tong Shi knew in his heart, and said busily: "If this is the case, it is okay to have a false name, as long as you occupy the name of the second room." Xiao Liu was taken aback again.

Tong said bitterly: "I won't hide it from you, it's really my mother-in-law who wants to marry our father, but our husband and wife are unwilling." I was worried that she would stuff a restless person in, and that my children and I would be angry. But we don't have a concubine at home, so it's really hard to refuse. I've known you for a few years, so I know what kind of person you are. If you really don't want to, you will be considered a false name. I can borrow you to push away your mother-in-law's arrangement, and you can also settle down in our house from now on, and when you return to Beijing in the future, you can take your Xiaobao over, your aunt is unwilling to raise a son for you, and she will definitely not refuse our family at that time. ”

Xiao Liu's face was very complicated, and Tong could see that she was not unmoved, so he said softly: "I know this thing is too sudden, no wonder you hesitate." In that case, how about you go home and think about it for two days, and then reply to me? ”

Xiao Liu nodded slowly, then got up and said goodbye.

Tong sat there full of worries, and her daughter pulled her younger brother to joke with her, and she didn't feel like she was thinking. Seeing her like this, Shuning thought that she was annoying about housework and didn't want to disturb her, so she took Xianning to the East House and taught him to read.

After dinner in the evening, Zhang Bao discussed a few official matters with Mr. Su in the study, and Mr. Su left. Tong walked into the study and saw Zhang Bao rubbing his eyebrows with his hand, so he asked him, "What?" Is there anything wrong with business? ”

Zhang Bao reluctantly smiled: "It's nothing." By the way, a few days ago, there was chaos in Sichuan Tiandi, and the government arrested many people, and I heard that some of them fled to Liangguang, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces. The governor's yamen has ordered martial law, and you have been going out as little as possible lately, and your family should also be stricter. ”

Tong Shi listened and hurriedly asked for details, Zhang Baoan said: "I just heard that some bandits have entered Guangdong, I don't know if they will come to Guangzhou, as long as you are careful in and out, don't take it too seriously." ”

Tong Shi relaxed a little, hesitated for a while, and still told Zhang Bao what he said to Xiao Liu today.

Zhang Bao was stunned, his face was a little pale: "Isn't this harmful?" Why didn't you ask me first?! ”