Since Xia Ruibei got married, there have been a lot fewer things in the Xia family.

Master Xia no longer manages the shop, nor does he plan to start a new stove, and Mrs. Xia only takes care of the family's small accounts. There are no children to worry about, Mrs. Xia began to be confused, showing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and she has no energy to make a fuss, as long as the girls serve three meals a day; The Wang family was afraid of Xia Ruibei and Yue Mingtao, and secondly, without the support of the old lady, and knowing that Master Xia was not rich before, the number of times he came to make trouble was significantly less.

Since there were no more things to worry about, Mr. and Mrs. Xia drank tea, read books and chatted every day to pass the time, saying that they wanted to make up for the days of separation in the past, and thought that Xia Rui was tight, so they read the letter brought back by Mu Feituo from left and right, and got some comfort from it.

Xia Ruixi and Ou Qing arrived, and the old couple was very happy. Li Niang was busy arranging dinner, Master Xia dragged Ou Qingjin to drink tea and play chess, and Mrs. Xia pulled Xia Ruixi to see the small clothes and quilts she made for her future grandson.

Ou Qing looked at Master Xia, although he had a smile on his face and was much more leisurely, his spirit was getting worse and worse, and he was not fat, but getting thinner and thinner. Speaking of which, he still hasn't figured it out, Xia Ruibei's matter hit him too hard.

Ou Qingjin no longer mentioned Xia Ruibei's matter, but instead euphemistically talked about the behavior of several famous shopkeepers and bookkeepers in the industry.

Master Xia's eyelids jumped, and he quietly changed the topic away, and Ou Qing knew that it was not good to ask again, that is, he couldn't ask this topic.

Leaving the Xia family, Ou Qingjin said to Xia Ruixi: "My father-in-law didn't even want to recommend anyone. I have a suitable person here, you go and tell the third sister that these people have a good reputation, but in fact, I don't know much about them, so she will do it herself. We can't control her affairs, we can only go so far. ”

As he was talking, the carriage stopped, and Tuan'er said, "It's someone from my aunt's house." ”

Ou Qing looked in, and saw Fang'er standing on the side of the street with a fair-eyed little guy saluting the carriage. I don't know how long I've been waiting for the two of them here, which shows how anxious Xia Ruibei's heart is.

As soon as Xia Ruixi and Ou Qingjin returned to Ou's house, Ou Mo next to Ou Er's master was waiting at the door, saying that the master was waiting for Si Shao in the study.

Ou Qingjin returned to the Splendid Garden, his face was very bad, and he pulled out a book sullenly and sat under the lamp to read.

When Xia Ruixi asked, it turned out that he was scolded by Ou Er, saying that he had abandoned his studies. In fact, at that time, the second master Ou also had a lot of complaints about Xia Ruixi, which meant that Xia Ruixi encouraged Ou Qingjin to just want to make money. The Ou family is a scholarly heirloom, or to read and do learning, everything is inferior, only reading is high, and said that Ou Qingying, no matter how busy he was, was locked in the study every night to read at night, and Ou Qingying wanted to learn from Ou Qingying, don't think that you are satisfied with a little fame.

Ou Qingjin's mind has completely changed at this time, and he thinks that there is nothing wrong with him in his heart, he can't eat enough, what books do he read, if he has no food to eat, he must exchange books for rice to eat, so it doesn't matter if he insults Sven or not. It's just that he didn't dare to say it, Master Ou Er was in his sixties, so there was no need to make the old man angry.

But he still couldn't help but confess a few words for Xia Ruixi, saying that Xia Ruixi was the most supportive of his reading, in order not to delay him from reading and practicing calligraphy, his body was so heavy, and he insisted on helping him share the accounts, and also helped him polish ink at night. Another example is that Xia Ruixi made clothes for Ou Xinyang in order to support Ou Xinyang to go out to study, and took out the good paper, ink, and pen for the marriage to use for the Ou Xinshe brothers, and there is no one more supportive of the children in the family to study than her.

When the second master Ou heard this, he was happy in his heart, but when his son said this, he felt that he couldn't hold it on his face, so he scolded Ou Qingjin loudly with a calm face. asked Ou Qingjin to spend no less than two hours a day reading and practicing calligraphy, and then kicked him out of the study.

Ou Qingjin pouted and complained to Xia Ruixi: "It's okay for my father to scold me, but how can he indiscriminately get involved with you?" After saying that, he regretted it a little, he shouldn't have told Xia Ruixi this.

Although Xia Ruixi knew that it must be Bai's troublemaker when she heard it, she was not angry at all but felt that Bai's was ridiculous. The second master Ou or the second lady of Ou did not say that they would hand over the shop and Zhuangzi to Ou Qingjin, and Ou Qingjin was only temporarily doing it.

The Ou family is not as prosperous as those people, the family is big, and the brothers and relatives have to rely on killing each other to get to the top of the business, and the focus of the Ou family is still on the children's study. However, a few small shops, small Zhuangzi, Ou Qingying has been in charge for so many years, and he has never made a mistake. Where is the reason for suddenly changing him? If Bai wants to take care of it, let her take care of it, and her own porridge is not cold, so she wants to fight for power and profit? It's ridiculous.

Xia Ruixi smiled and persuaded Ou Qingjin: "Don't you know your father?" He's here for our good, he's old, don't make him angry. What about reading, if you have time, don't fall behind, if the opportunity is right in the future, hold the official seal in one hand and the silver in the other, and you can afford to put everything down, isn't it? Take 10,000 steps back, you can't be an official, even if people mention you, they are talking about the elegant and unparalleled big boss, not the scholar who is full of copper smell. ”

A sentence made Ou Qing happy, calculating accounts in his mind, holding the official seal in one hand and silver in the other, all the good things in the world were accounted for? It's better to hug your wife with one hand and your child with the other to make it easier and more comfortable. I'll just be the elegant boss who is unparalleled in the world, don't want to have too much silver, just use it, and let's go around as a family to play. Don't you want to go across the sea? When the time comes, let's go together, and also write a codex, just use your name, called "Ruixi East Travel", you dictate, I will write for you, how about it? ”

Xia Ruixi was extremely useful in his heart, and pretended to be angry: "It's so unproductive, it's just a match with me." What "Ruixi East Travel", it's hard to hear, and I dare to think that my handwriting is not good. Ou Qingjin smiled and hugged her to bed: "What are we doing touching the little things?" He actually guessed that there must be a reason why Second Master Ou suddenly scolded him like this, but he didn't care, the Bai family really wanted to take care of the family's shop so much, so they had to toss it. He didn't want to do this thankless thing, he was the youngest, and even if the sky fell, it wouldn't be his turn to stand up.

The days passed without being salty, and Xia Ruibei never came to complain or ask for help. I only heard that when she was in July, she had someone send a box of silver tickets to Xia's house. Master Xia asked people to throw the box out.

At the beginning of August, when Xia Ruixi's belly was already big and his body was very heavy, Ou Qingying, who had been away from home for nearly two months, appeared at the gate of the Ou family wearing ordinary cloth clothes and carrying a carriage.

The carriage went straight into the inner courtyard, and the people carefully carried down from the carriage the sick and emaciated Ou Dashao.

When Ou Dashao went, he was tall and well-dressed, with dozens of servants, and when he came back, he was haggard, and there was only an old servant and a few taels of silver left by his side. It turned out that on the way, he met a group of hungry people who were doing business, and the people around him died and fled, and all the horses and belongings were taken away.

Fortunately, the old servant was very experienced, and he hid a bag of silver taels in the grass in advance. Nine deaths finally escaped, but because of the fright of the cold, he couldn't afford to get sick, and in desperation, the old servant had to accompany him to find a cheap inn to live and recuperate. The old servant went to inquire every day if there were any travelers to Xijing, and sent someone to pick it up when he brought the letter home.

I don't know if it's because of bad luck or because the world is too chaotic, I searched for many people, but I didn't bring this letter. If it weren't for Ou Qingying to find Da Shao, he wouldn't know how long he would drag it out in that dilapidated little inn.

Second Mrs. Ou and Wu were so distressed that they burst into tears, and quickly ordered the doctor to pull Ou Qingying to ask what was going on. When Bai saw Ou Qingying, he was happy, but he didn't dare to go over, he just pushed his son and daughter to get close, and he was so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground.

Ou Qingying was not too disgusted with Bai's hospitality, and even gave her a gold-inlaid pearl hairpin, saying that it was a gift for her that it was difficult for her to go out.

Bai didn't say anything in his mouth, but his eyes were as bright as stars in the sky, Xia Ruixi looked at it, and only felt that she was pitiful. No matter how much trouble the Bai family makes and fights, it is just to get a look back and a smile from her husband. But she and Ou Qingying are not on the same level, they are not smart enough, and they have a competitive heart that is unwilling to be left behind, and they can only look up to Ou Qingying's back forever.

Compared with Da Shao's physical condition and suffering, the news he brought back was even more terrifying. The emperor's illness was cured, but his spirit was very poor, and he always spent most of the day in a coma, and he did not express his position.

The situation in the capital is too chaotic, and the two factions led by the eldest son of King Rui are fighting each other fiercely, and they are fighting happily. And the fourteenth son of the emperor, who had just passed on to the concubine Niangniang, was almost stabbed to death with a hairpin by a palace maid who had been with her for more than ten years.

The situation outside is even more chaotic, this drought has lasted for a long time and has covered a wide range of areas, which has not been encountered in a century. The hungry people were fed and rioted everywhere, and the state capitals were afraid that they would be on the wrong side, and they had to deal with the dispute between the two factions and were busy suppressing the mob, so that they were exhausted and miserable.

The men of the Ou family sensitively smelled a dangerous aura. That night, the helmsmen and successors of the other rooms of the Ou family, Ou Qingying and Ou Qingjin, including Ou Dashao who was lying on the hospital bed and Ou Ershao, who was almost a transparent person, were all invited by the second master Ou into the hall of the old man's mansion that had not been opened for a long time.

After the refreshments were put down, the people were sent out, and everyone was sternly told that no idle people were allowed to come near the hall, and if they violated, they would be beaten to death with sticks. It is rare for the Ou family to give such a strict order, and the women are panicked and speculate wildly.

The hall was brightly lit, and there was no noise to be heard except for the sound of breathing and the speaker's low, deliberate voice, only a heavy atmosphere and worries and fears about the future fate of the family. Everyone saw each other's horror and worry in each other's eyes.