There were bursts of exclamations around her, as well as the sound of servants scrambling to avoid her, although Shuning was not afraid of a solar eclipse, but if she was found to be here to meet Tongying, it would definitely cause her mother to blame, and she couldn't help but panic. was in a hurry, his hand was warm, and he was already held by Tongying, only to see him say to her gently: "Don't be afraid, it's not a big deal, let's just go into the house and hide." ”

Her heart was beating faster from the warmth of her hands, and by the time she woke up, the two of them were already in the house.

Tong Ying lifted the hem of his clothes, revealing a layer of jackets, covered by a thick black veil on his face, he took out a knife from the purse on his waist, "hissed" and pulled out a piece of black yarn, folded it in half, raised it to the sun, and said, "You see, it's not a tengu eclipse of the sun, it's just that the moon is blocking the sun." I saw the teacher in Qintianjian observing the sun. ”

Shuning had heard that his teacher who studied painting worked in Qin Tianjian, which was actually the astronomy and calendar institution of the Qing Dynasty, and it was not surprising that Tongying knew this, so he followed his meaning and looked at the sun through the black veil, but he still didn't dare to look at it for a long time, so he turned around and glanced at Tongying's purse, thinking about when to make one for him.

Seeing the embarrassment of the hem of Tongying's clothes, she still frowned, this dress was obviously made by a needleworker, and it couldn't be seen outside, but it was luxurious inside, so it was ruined, a little wasteful, so she said: "I'm actually not afraid of this solar eclipse, it's a pity that you tore your good clothes like this." ”

Tongying touched her head and said embarrassedly: "I know, it won't be like this in the future." ”

Shuning was shocked to realize that she was not married yet, so she took care of the other party's affairs, was slightly shy, and was bowing her head and saying nothing. Outside, however, there was a sudden gust of wind, and some tiles fell to the ground and shattered, and some people exclaimed. A man ran in from outside the gate of the small courtyard with his coat on, and beckoned to the people behind. Shuning panicked for a moment. Ducking back, then a warmth in his hands, he was taken to the back of the door in the blink of an eye, and then the door closed silently.

The men outside quickly rushed into the ground houses to the north and listened to them. It seems to be Niu Xiaosi's friend, but he only had time to hide under the eaves, but now he can't hide, so he has to flee to a nearby house. As for Niu Xiaosi, he probably went to hide in a nearby house.

Shuning didn't dare to make a sound, holding her breath until she was sure that the two of them didn't find out that they were in the house, then she breathed a sigh of relief and turned around and smiled at Tongying. He was about to whisper something, but he found that Tongying was staring at him, and the two of them were a little too close. She could even smell the breath on the other party's body, and she couldn't help but blush.

Tongying shouted in her heart: "When did this little girl become so cute?" It's much prettier than the last time I saw her. "The devil sends the gods to the earth. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Shu'er." You're so good-looking. ”

Shuning's face turned even redder, and she saw that Tongying was closer to her. hurriedly reached out to block it, but it happened to press on the other party's left chest, feeling the extraordinarily fierce heartbeat under the palm, his heart moved, and he didn't push it away, letting the other party hold him.

When Tongying woke up, she had already hugged Shuning, and her heartbeat was unusually fast, and it took a while before she calmed down. He buried his chin in the other's hair, quietly feeling the tenderness and sweetness of this moment.

Shuning snuggled in his arms, also feeling the tranquility, the heartbeat under his palm, strangely and his own heartbeat gradually converged, and later, as if they were integrated, the same stability and power.

There was a strong wind outside, and it was getting darker and darker, but in this hut, they listened to each other's heartbeats in the dark, felt each other's body temperatures, and the surroundings were magically filled with warmth and tranquility, as if they were two worlds outside. …

After a while, the sky outside grew brighter, sunlight filtered through the crack in the door, and the wind stopped. The people of the North House walked out of the house and left the small courtyard. Shuning looked up at Tongying, only to see that he was smiling big in that glimmer of dazzling sunlight, and he also looked at each other and smiled, not the toothless smile of everyone's girlfriends, but a really happy smile. Tong Ying was stunned for a moment, and smiled even brighter.

The two suddenly seemed to have some kind of unprecedented tacit understanding, if they used to always test each other and carefully express their affection, now they are more sure of each other's feelings, knowing that the other party is the person they want to spend their lives with.

Tong Ying let go of her arm, opened a little crack in the door, and saw that there was no one outside, so she opened the door widely, turned around and smiled: "I'm leaving, while there are not many people outside now, so as not to be discovered and hinder your reputation." ”

Shuning asked, "Don't you see my mother and brother?" Tongying shook her head and said, "Forget it, lest they be too careful, I'd better go back to Beijing as soon as possible." Shuning nodded, and said softly: "Be careful on the road, go back, no matter how busy you are on an errand, don't delay eating and sleeping." ”

Tongying responded with a smile, but as soon as she walked out of the door, she remembered one thing again: "Do you remember what I wrote to you last time about choosing a house?" Shuning then remembered that since she received the letter, Tongying went to Saiwai with the holy car, she followed her family to worry about Wanning, and she forgot about it, and said busily: "I see a few places you choose, most of them are near the water, if you like it, find one with water, but I'm worried that it will be far away from the yamen, and it will be very inconvenient for you to go on a business." ”

Tong Ying smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Actually...... I mean, because there is going to be a war, I don't have time to pay attention to these things for the time being, so if you have time, go around, and stay away from a place you like. Even if it's far away from the yamen, I just need to sign in, and I don't have to go early, so it's okay. ”

Shuning smiled: "Okay, I see." Although it is not convenient for her to go out now, if she really wants to go, it is not impossible, just use the excuse of offering incense and praying for blessings or something.

Tong Ying said: "I know that it is not easy for girls who are married according to the rules to go out at will, but this is where we will live in the future, and my aunt will not say anything if I want to come." And you've always been different from other girls, and I know you have a way. ”

There is indeed a way, but what does it mean to be "different from other girls"? Shuning asked.

Tongying smiled: "How can other girls earn a dowry for themselves?" When I heard your brother talk about it, I admired it very much. I'll just say, of course the girl I like will be different, because I have a good character. ”

Shuning's face was hot. Smacked him: "I was originally such a character, what does it have to do with your character?" Less gold on your face! After finishing speaking, I realized that I seemed to be back to the situation where I was so angry with him that Tongying was arguing with him before. I can't help but be a little funny.

Tong Ying also thought it was funny, and laughed a few times before saying, "Okay." I'm really leaving, take care of yourself, I'm probably not going to go that soon, I'll write to you in a few days. ”

Shuning smiled. nodded, sent him out of the small door, left through the side door along the mezzanine, watched him mount his horse from afar, greeted the two guards in the distance, waved his hand at himself, and galloped away.

It wasn't until she couldn't see Tongying's shadow at all that she closed the door and walked back to her yard along the mezzanine. Knocking on the small corner door, Buckle quickly opened the door and welcomed her into the backyard. With a nervous face, he said, "Is the girl okay?" The tengu ate the sun, and I was alone in the courtyard. I'm so scared that I beg for a magic post. ”

Shuning smiled: "It's okay." Don't be afraid. She smelled the aroma of some kind of food and asked what it was. Kou'er said a little embarrassedly: "I was worried about the girl, so I kept guarding the door, and just now the tengu ate the sun, so I hid in the small kitchen, anyway, there was nothing to do, so I made some snacks." ”

Shuning said: "That's right, I didn't see Niu Xiaosi when I came back, I'm afraid that he won't find me, I'll panic, you bring a snack to him, by the way, I'm back." ”

Kou'er blushed and nodded, and found a food box with half a basket of snacks. Shuning returned to the room, remembered the recipe she had promised Tongying, and took a pen and paper to write it down.

Tong's mother and son came back before lunch. It is said that today's solar eclipse, the second elder of the Yu family thought it was too unlucky, and thought about getting out of the marriage, but Mr. Yang listed many reasons and rejected this statement, and the girl of the Yu family also agreed. Mr. Yang has lived in the village for half a year, has a gentle attitude, and occasionally brings a few Mengtong, so he has a lot of prestige among the villagers. In the end, under the official wife Tong, the big landlord Grandma Li (Lu Ziyu) and the village head, the hiring was carried out smoothly.

Tong once asked Shuning if she was afraid of the solar eclipse, and Shuning said: "It's nothing, I was thinking about walking around the garden, and when I encountered this incident halfway, I found an empty house to hide for a while." Actually, there's nothing to be afraid of. When she saw that her mother believed it, her worried heart calmed down a little, but she still felt a little guilty about hiding from her mother and meeting her fiancé privately, but it was even more impossible for her to confess.

Duan Ning accompanied his family to dinner, and accompanied his wife to take a lunch break, and the two fought for a long time. Seeing that Shen Shi was approaching, Tong urged him to go on the road as soon as possible, and rushed to Beijing when the city gate was closed at sunset. Duan Ning was reluctant, but she still said goodbye to her family and went back to Beijing.

Before leaving, Shuning privately asked him to bring the recipe to Tongying, but Duan Ning said with a smile: "Speaking of which, after today's solar eclipse, I saw a few people riding horses to the north from a distance. ”

Shuning bit her lip and tugged at his sleeve, and Duan Ning let it go with a smile.

In the following days, Shuning housekeeper and calligraphy during the day, and needlework at night, and it was made for Tongying, purses, clothes, gloves and so on. She vaguely remembered that she used silk to make underwear, which seemed to reduce the damage of arrows, so she specially made a lot of underwear undershirts from solid silk materials, and later even made Chinese clothes and jackets, and also made him very warm and light sheepskin gloves and ground leather gloves for spring.

It wasn't until Tong reminded her that she remembered that she should start preparing for the embroidery in the dowry. Although clothes, shoes and socks are not made for the time being, it takes a lot of effort to make quilts, bed nets, hijabs, handkerchiefs, purses, etc., so I set aside some time to do these.

Although she has a lot to do, she still finds time every day to practice calligraphy. In addition, although it is not as good as Tongying in terms of painting, it is not too bad. It's Go, because Tong found out that Zhenzhen used chess games as pastime reading, and ordered her not to touch anything related to chess before giving birth, and even Shuning couldn't touch it. So now Shuning moves the piano to the yard next door and plays a few songs to Zhenzhen every day, which is regarded as prenatal education.

This incident reminded Shuning of another thing, so she picked two daughters-in-law from her thirties and forties with rich production experience, invited several of the most famous stable women in the neighborhood to teach her experience, and asked the doctor to teach the method of taking the pulse, as well as what food should pregnant women, mothers, and newborns eat, what to avoid, etc., and wanted to train two "confinement sisters".

In fact, the grandmothers in the house were responsible for this kind of work, but most of them were based on traditional practices and had many unreasonable bad habits, such as the delivery room could not be ventilated, underwear and diapers had to be dried in the shade, and so on. Shuning found a half-crippled medical book from his father's study, which is said to be the "Obstetric Codex of the Civilian Medical Center" written by the disciple of the Song Dynasty Wang Yuma, pointing out those unscientific practices and asking the confinement sisters to correct them.

Originally, those women all thought that Shuning, a girl who had not left the cabinet, could compare to their rich experience, and they were all skeptical of her words. Fortunately, one of the stable women has learned some obstetric theories, and the doctor also has some knowledge, so her approach was accepted by the sisters-in-law.

Seeing this, Tong felt that this method was good, and the daughters-in-law were at least younger and more energetic than the grandmothers, with better tempers, and they had learned more. So she picked two more young daughters-in-law to study. Shuning was a little strange, thinking that the original two people were enough, and this was not a one-time thing. The Tong family didn't say much, but said that there would be Xianning and Xiaobao in the future, and it would be good to cultivate two more people. Shuning responded.

The confinement ladies got started quickly, although the medical convenience was slower, but there was no problem in taking care of Zhenzhen's diet and daily life. Tong felt that he was relaxed, and there was nothing to do at home, so after returning to Beijing to participate in Susu's wedding, he asked his daughter to take care of the family and took a few people to Baoding in a carriage.

This time I went, it was more than half a month. She reunited with her husband in Baoding, and helped to take care of the favors that were ushered in a year ago. When it was time for the annual vacation, the couple returned to Beijing together, passed by Fangshan, took their daughter and daughter-in-law, and went back to Tatara Mansion.

Tongying did not go with the army, but there were rumors that the emperor would drive the expedition in person, and presumably Tongying would also follow. When Shuning heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief. Although I don't remember how this battle was fought in history, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, because Kangxi still has decades to live. Tongying followed him, and naturally it was safe.

However, this New Year, the Tatara family did not have a good time. First of all, at the clan meeting before the year, Jin Bao barely kept the position of the patriarch with the support of the two brothers Zhang Bao and Rong Bao, but his prestige has been greatly damaged; the second is that the Nala clan sent to take Wanning back to his home for the New Year, but he did not get the permission of Sifujin, because Wanning was already a member of Baylor Mansion and had no reason to spend the New Year in her mother's house; The third and most important point is that in the first month, the emperor issued an edict to personally conquer Galdan, and Jin Bao and Rong Bao were on the list of enlistments. Rong Bao, as the leader of the guards, will wait in front of the emperor, but Jin Bao is to lead the troops outside, and it will be a little dangerous. The whole family was worried about him, but Jin Bao himself didn't care, in his opinion, this was a good opportunity to earn military merits, if he did well, the knighthood and official character that had been demoted because of the lack of strict goddaughter would definitely be promoted back. Therefore, he only told his wife and children to take care of the family and wait for him to return.

For the first time, Qingning realized the heavy responsibility of being the eldest son, and the whole person became much more mature and stable, repeatedly promising his father that he would take care of his mother and sisters, and Shunning also expressed the same meaning. Jin Bao saw that they were so sensible, but he was also relieved.

Rong Bao took the third brother Zhang Bao and his nephew Duan Ning to drink, and asked them to help take care of his wife and children, and Zhang Bao and Duan Ning also responded one by one.

Shuning packed all the clothes, shoes and socks she had made, and asked her brother to send them to Tongying. When Duan Ning came back, he helped Tong Ying carry a dagger with an ivory handle, and a line of Mongolian script was engraved on the outer sheath. She accepted the dagger and silently prayed for Tongying's blessing.

In February of the 35th year of Kangxi, the emperor told Zongmiao Sheji and ordered the crown prince to stay behind and personally lead troops to the northwest.

On the day of the army's departure, Shuning and her mother took a carriage to the outside of the city with the Nala clan, the Shen clan and others, and together with other female relatives who saw off their families, they saw off their relatives on the expedition.