Li Xiaoqi was in a stable mood, handed the hand stove to Dongping, put it aside, watched Su Zicheng get into the car with a calm face, and whispered to Dongping: "Master has important things to do tomorrow, wait a while to stop at the mouth of Huaihua Hutong, just let me down." Dongping's lips moved, he quickly glanced at the carriage, he didn't dare to agree, Li Xiaoqi got on the car with his eyes down, and sat down opposite Su Zicheng, the carriage was as warm as spring, Li Xiaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "It's still warm and comfortable." As he spoke, he took out the purple clay pot from the warm kiln, poured a cup of tea and handed it to Su Zicheng, Su Zicheng reached out and took it, took a sip, and looked at Li Xiaoyi, the mess was still messy, the group was in his heart, and he still didn't know where to start and where to start. Li Xiaoqi didn't wait for him to speak, and talked about business with a smile: "I'll go to Zhuangzi early tomorrow morning, just to see how the preparations for raising silkworms in the spring are going, let's Kaiping Mansion is cold, the spring silkworms grow slowly, the silkworms are slow, this silk is good, and then put more effort into the weavers, maybe they can really weave the high-quality silk, and come back in the afternoon to see Mr. Liang, Brother Shui wants to try this year's Enke martial arts, and I want to ask Mr. Liang to guide and guide the strategy of the art of war." ”

"Wei Shuisheng is very passable in his immediate efforts, and if he works the art of war, it is not difficult to win a martial arts." Su Zicheng's mood gradually eased and stabilized by Li Xiaoyi's casual gossip, and the lump of hemp was pressed down by Li Xiaoyi's words little by little, and it sank as if it was gone.

"Brother Shui Sheng writes well, in the past, when we were in Taiping Mansion, he did good handwriting and found a job as a bookmaker, and at that time, several celebrities also made a special trip to Brother Shui to copy books for them." Li Xiaoqi smiled and said leisurely: "Brother Shui Sheng wants to take the martial arts test, and the Huwei camp has to take a half-year vacation first, and he is about to discuss with his master, and he will take the test in February. ”

"It's in the camp, Wei Shuisheng's bow is not bad immediately, and he can also pass the exam in the Fourth Army, so he doesn't have to be transferred to Kaiping Mansion." Su Zicheng suggested, Li Xiaoqi is as good as flowing: "Then in the Fourth Army Examination, Brother Shui Sheng's kung fu is good, the writing is good, and the knowledge is good, he will definitely be able to take the exam, after the New Year, the Xiucai from all over the country who want to take the exam should enter Kaiping Mansion one after another, I looked for Shuitong Da/Grandma, let her see if she can vacate some empty houses, and keep them for those poor Xiucai to borrow, I told her, simply let those Xiucai teach the children to read and write to pay for the house and food, Shuida \/Grandma also feels good••••••"

Li Xiaoyi's tone was calm with a smile, and he kept talking, Su Zicheng leaned back on the pillow with a relaxed and soothing face, smiling and listening, and a peaceful and pleasant breath flowed out of Li Xiaoyi's words, overflowing the carriage. Li Xiaoqi was gossiping, while paying attention to the movement outside the car, only to hear Dongping slightly mention the voice, as if he was talking to someone: "Huaihua Hutong in front?" Li Xiaoqi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly took the words, and said with a smile: "This should be Huaihua Hutong, turn the corner is Willow Hutong, Lord has a lot of things to do tomorrow, I will get off here, don't delay Lord more." Li Xiaoqi said, stretched out his hand to take his cloak, and was about to lift the curtain to tell Dongping, Su Zicheng straightened up all of a sudden, raised his hand to stop: "I'll send you back, it's late, how can you go out alone with a girl's family?" Li Xiaoqi hurriedly retracted his hand, and did not argue with Su Zichengqian, only nodded 'um' and thanked: "Then it will be more troublesome." ”

Su Zicheng looked at her, hesitating as if he wanted to say something, Li Xiaoqi had already moved to the door of the carriage, picked up the curtain and looked out, saw the car turn into the willow alley, put down the curtain, and said with a smile: "This is here, thank you." Li Xiaoqi said while carefully putting on the cloak, the car paused and stopped, the curtain was lifted from the outside, Li Xiaoqi and Su Zicheng said goodbye, and jumped out of the car neatly without waiting for a good step, Su Zicheng followed closely behind Li Xiaoyi, almost clinging to her and got out of the car, Li Xiaoqi didn't seem to know that Su Zicheng also got out of the car, and walked a few steps up the steps without looking back, almost at the same time, the door opened inside, Wei Shuisheng hid in the shadows outside the door, let Li Xiaoqi look at Su Zicheng, who was not wearing a cloak and was standing under the steps with a calm face behind his back, Looking at Li Xiaoqi inquiringly, Li Xiaoqi flashed his eyes and motioned him to close the door, Wei Shuisheng closed the door and tied it, turned his head to look at Li Xiaoyi, Li Xiaoqi yawned exaggeratedly, and hurriedly blocked back without waiting for him: "It's okay, I've been shopping for a long time, I'm tired!" I'll go back and rest first, what time will I leave tomorrow? ”

"Tatsuchu ••••••"

"So early," Li Xiaoqi yawned again, interrupting Wei Shuisheng's words, and continued as he walked inside: "I know, it's been so early, I have to go back and rest quickly." Wei Shuisheng put his hands behind his back, sent her to the gate of the half-acre garden, watched her enter the courtyard, stood for a moment, sighed, and then turned back with his hands behind his back to rest.

Li Xiaoqi listened to the sound of the courtyard door closing behind him, let out a long breath, his shoulders slackened suddenly, pulled the cloak with both hands, dragged his heels slowly, and entered the main house along the verandah.

Seeing that her face was not good, Wisteria didn't dare to say much, looked at her face, and asked carefully: "The fifth master is tired, let people send more hot water in, and the fifth master will soak in hot water for a while?" ”

"Hmm." Li Xiaoqi agreed, went to the clothes and transferred them into the clean room, soaked in the tall bath bucket, washed his hair and curled it up by the light moon, closed his eyes and whispered: "No need to wait, I want to be alone and quiet." Danyue agreed, beckoned Liuyun to come over, carefully added half a bucket of hot water to the bucket, and then retreated lightly with Liuyun.

Li Xiaoqi shrank into the bucket, raised his hand to cover his face, tears gushed out like a floodgate, but he couldn't cry loudly, he choked and gasped, hating to flow all the grievances of his past and present lives into this bucket of water. I don't know how much time passed, the water in the bucket was almost cold, Li Xiaoqi cried out of the sullen breath, and didn't speak, only knocked the wall of the bucket, Danyue and Liuyun pushed the door in, Li Xiaoqi signaled to add some hot water, soaked his body, and then came out of the bucket and changed into half-used muslin clothes and pants.

When Wisteria saw her come in, he hurriedly smiled and bent his knees and reported: "Fifth Master, Nanning just sent a box over, saying that it was all picked by the prince himself, let the fifth master see if you like it." Li Xiaoqi sat down on the kang by himself, and while motioning for Danyue to twist his hair, he commanded: "Nanning is gone?" ”

"I'm still waiting in the second gate, saying that the prince has ordered, the fifth master likes it best, if you don't like it, the prince will pick something else and send it over." Wisteria held a rosewood box that was only half a foot square and handed it to Li Xiaoqi to put it down, gently pushed open the box, the box has three layers, full of all kinds of Fu Lu Shou three-color jadeite, there are bracelets, there are wear, there are pendants, there are pressure steps, etc., Li Xiaoqi stared at the dazzling three-color jadeite for a while, signaled Wisteria to put it away, turned his head to look out the window, weighed it for a moment before ordering: "Pick the two pieces you like and keep them, and give the rest to Nanning, tell him that he has picked two favorites, and the side ones are not needed, and I will thank the prince in person in front of Ming'er." Wisteria blinked, full of puzzlement but didn't dare to ask more, smiled and agreed, opened the box, looked at it, picked a moist and transparent three-color bracelet and a peony step, held it in front of Li Xiaoyi, Li Xiaoqi swept his eyes, waved his hand casually, Wisteria signaled Begonia to put away the two jade pieces, held the box himself, went out and called a little girl, and hurriedly went to the second door to pass the word.

Nanning returned to Liang Wangfu with the box in distress and replied, looked at Su Zicheng, and replied cautiously: "The wisteria girl said that the fifth master said that he was tired, and he picked up something and rested." Su Zicheng pushed open the box, looked at it carefully, and made a vague 'um' sound, gently pushed the jade ornaments in the box with his fingers, and was silent for a moment and ordered: "Go to Jigu Zhai early tomorrow morning, and let the shopkeeper send some three-colored jade objects in for me to see." Nanning lowered his hand and agreed, seeing that Su Zicheng had no other instructions, he quietly retreated to the side and waited, Su Zicheng sat for half an hour in front of the box shining with warm and shining jade, and then stood up and went to the inner study courtyard with a gloomy face.

Su Zicheng's New Year was very busy, starting from the morning of the second day of the new year, he met Su Ziyi, the king of Ning, first visited several elderly ministers who had gone through several dynasties, and then went to Guo's house in a circle, and came back to the Shui family to feast and drink.

Li Xiaoqi and Li Zongliang went out of the city early in the morning, and rushed back after having a good time outside the city, there was no willow alley, with a basket full of fresh fish obtained by smashing ice, and went to Mr. Liang's house to pay New Year's greetings to Mr. Liang, Mr. Liang naturally agreed, the two drank tea, chatted for a long time about the anecdotes of the court of Wu, drank good tea and chatted about the day, Li Xiaoqi said goodbye and left.

The next day, on the third day of the new year, Shui Yan had already sent someone to send a post, inviting the Li family brothers and sisters to come over to watch the drama and feast, Li Xiaoqi and Li Zongliang and Wei Shuisheng discussed, Fan Da Niang and Sun Da Niang are both filial piety, and they can't go out, except for her, only Sister Zhang can go among the female dependents, and discuss it, in addition to the four brothers, Li Xiaoqi and Sister Zhang will go to the water family to play wine that day.

Li Zongliang and others rode horses, Li Xiaoqi and Sister Zhang sat in a car, Sizheng set off from Willow Hutong, not long, arrived at the Jingjiang Hou Mansion, Shui Yan came out, picked up Li Zongliang and others to go in, Li Xiaoqi and Sister Zhang's car entered the second door from the side door, Li Xiaoqi jumped out of the car, Shui Lian led a fourteen or fifteen years old, delicate figure, sweet and clean face of the little girl to meet up, the little girl looked at Li Xiaoqi and Sister Zhang with curiosity, Shui Lian took two steps forward to see the salute, and introduced with a smile: "This is the eldest daughter of Jingjiang Mansion, in our family line fourteen, A single name is a cherry blossom character. Shui Lian was about to introduce Li Xiaoqi and Sister Zhang to Shui Ying, Shui Ying bent her knees lightly, and intercepted Shui Lian's words with a smile: "I know, this sister must be Li Wuye!" Fifth sister, I admire you the most! Shui Lian hurriedly pulled Shui Sakura, Shui Sakura quickly stuck out the tip of her tongue, turned to Sister Zhang, and bowed her knees with a smile: "I saw the eldest sister last time, and the eldest sister looked much better than the last time we met." Sister Zhang returned the salute with a meticulous smile, and a few people let go all the way to the inner courtyard.