On the morning of the thirteenth day of the lunar month, the second son, the eldest grandson Wuyi, and the third son, the eldest grandson, Wuxian, came to the outer courtyard hall early. The eldest grandson Wuxian summoned the steward of the outer courtyard and arranged everything to be done that day.

Just after the hour, the eldest mother and her husband Wang Shao, the second mother and her husband Zhang Cong, the doctor of Chaosan, all came to the mansion of the eldest grandson general as promised.

The eldest grandson Wuxian asked the housemaid to lead the eldest lady and the second mother into the inner courtyard to meet Gao Qiuniang, welcomed Wang Shao and Zhang Cong into the hall of the outer courtyard to take a seat, and briefly told the two about the day's schedule, and both of them agreed.

If you go out of the city too early, it is really inappropriate to wait outside the cold and windy city gate for a long time, so the four of them talk to each other about some strange things in the capital to pass the time.

When the day was approaching, the four of them walked out of the gate of the Changsun General's Mansion together, twenty cangtou were ready to go, the eldest grandson Wuxian and others took the reins of the horse handed by the servant, and the group turned over the saddle and swept out of the north gate of Yongxingli, along the street in front of Chengtianmen to the east, and galloped towards Tonghua Gate.

The newly built Chang'an City, the whole city is rigorously designed, the layout is orderly, the scale is unprecedented, the momentum is magnificent, the north and south are long, and the east and west are 20 miles wide.

The north-south central axis of Suzaku Street is one hundred and fifty steps wide. Like the street in front of Chengtianmen, there are five streets connecting the east and west city gates and the north and south city gates, which are 100 steps wide.

The width of the other roads varies from 40 to 70 steps, and the width of the lanes in the square is 25 steps.

A nullah with a width of one zhang was dug on both sides of each road for drainage, and willow and locust trees were planted on both sides of the nullah.

On a cold day, the pedestrians on the wide and straight street in front of Chengtianmen were sparsely populated, and the eldest grandson Wuxian and his party of more than 20 horses rolled up a slip of smoke and dust.

The north gate of Yongxingli is only five miles away from Tonghua Gate, and it will be there in a moment. Out of the city gate, everyone dismounted and flashed to the side of the road to wait.

Outside the city, the north wind was like a knife, cutting through everyone's faces, and the dead grass at their feet was covered with a layer of frost. Looking eastward, the empty field, thousands of trees withered, withered grass.

Waiting in such a winter feels like a long torment for half an hour.

The four family gentlemen are dressed in brocade clothes and fur cloaks, which can still be tolerated.

The thinly dressed pale heads, one by one, were so cold that their noses were red, their faces were stiff, and they couldn't even speak, so they had to shrink their heads, hold their shoulders, and keep stomping their feet to resist the cold, facing the east, hoping that Changsun Sheng and his party could appear in the field of vision earlier, and the mood seemed to be much more urgent than that of Changsun Wuxian.

Finally, at the end of the line of sight, a few shaky black dots appeared, and those black dots slowly turned into a black line that swayed up and down, and the crowd waiting at the city gate cheered and jumped, and someone shouted: "Lord Lang is back!" ”

I don't know if it's really the excitement of meeting my master, or the celebration of being relieved from the difficult wait.

The four of them stood quietly, staring at the direction of the black shadow's shaking, hoping to confirm the identity of the other party as soon as possible.

Soon the black shadow turned from a line to a mass, and it could be seen that it was a horse team composed of dozens of people galloping forward.

When the horse team galloped nearly a hundred steps away from the city gate, Changsun Wuxian had already determined that the person who came was Changsun Sheng and his party, and the old man who led the way was his father who had been away from home for half a year.

The four of them, the eldest grandson, marched forward and ran towards the galloping horse team. The old man who was walking in front also reined in the reins of his horse and slowed down his progress.

When he got closer, Changsun Sheng reined in his mount and stopped in front of Changsun Wuxian and the others.

The eldest grandson Wuxian hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed the horse's reins with one hand, held the horse's head with the other, and shouted: "Grandpa." ”

Changsun Sheng turned over and dismounted, took a step forward, patted Changsun Wuxian's shoulder and said, "San Lang, is it cold?" ”

The eldest grandson Wuxian hurriedly said: "The clothes are very thick and not cold. As he spoke, he patted his clothes with his hand.

Then the eldest grandson Wuxian handed over the reins of the horse to the Cangtou who followed behind him, took three steps back, straightened his clothes, knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.

The people who came to greet him also knelt down and kowtowed.

After seeing the salute, he stood up, and the eldest grandson Wuyi, Wang Shao, and Zhang Congfang stepped forward to greet the eldest grandson Sheng.

At this time, the eldest grandson Wuxian carefully observed his father, only to see that he was wearing a sudden riding hat, a purple robe, a cyan cloak, and a dusty body.

Everyone talked as they walked, telling their feelings about the aftermath. After walking through the city gate, Changsun Sheng ordered each of them to get on their horses and go straight to Yongxingli.

The Changsun General's Mansion is located in Yongxingfang, the house is fifty zhang wide, sits in the north and faces south, the gatehouse is three, the vermilion aconitum gate, the red pillars on both sides, the carving on the top is painted black, the middle double door is open, the door hangs the black background gold plaque, and the book "Changsun Mansion".

Several servants were already waiting outside the door, and when they saw Changsun Sheng and his party heading towards the gate, there were already domestic servants running to the second gate to inform the news of General Changsun's return to the house.

Everyone dismounted in front of the door, and five people, including Changsun Sheng, Changsun Wuxian, Changsun Wuyi, Wang Shao, and Zhang Cong, entered from the main gate. The retinue was led by servants through the West Point Gate, led the horses into the stable, and then arranged for food and lodging.

The servants and slaves in the courtyard all knelt on the ground to welcome the lord back to his house.

Entering the gate, Changsun Sheng did not stop in the outer courtyard, and walked straight to the inner courtyard along the verandah. The eldest grandson Wuxian was sent to the second gate, and the eldest grandson Wuyi, Wang Shao, and Zhang Cong went to the outer courtyard hall to talk.

Gao Qiuniang was already waiting in front of the front hall of the inner courtyard with the help of the scholar, holding the eldest grandson Wuji in her right hand. The two daughters, Auntie and Erniang, and their three daughters-in-law, Zhen, Ku, and Helan, stood behind them.

Changsun Sheng strode into the second gate, Gao Qiuniang and the others hurriedly approached and stood still when they were three steps away from Changsun Sheng. Changsun Sheng also stopped, staring at his wife with a high belly, with infinite pity in his eyes.

Gao Qiuniang, her two daughters, and three daughters-in-law bowed their knees and bowed to the eldest grandson. Changsun Wuji knelt and kowtowed, stood up and made a fork of his hand, and then ran over to hug Changsun Sheng.

Changsun Sheng picked up Changsun Wuji, pouted and kissed Changsun Wuji's pink little face.

Eldest Sun Wuji hurriedly avoided his face, as if he was disgusted, and wiped the place that had just been kissed by Eldest Sun Sheng a few times with the back of his right hand. Then he pushed Changsun Sheng's face with both hands and said, "The beard is too tied." ”

Everyone in the courtyard pursed their lips and smiled.

Everyone walked into the front hall of the inner courtyard with a smile, and the eldest grandson Sheng took off his cloak and handed it to Yuhan, sat on the left head on the middle couch, and took the eldest grandson Wuji in his arms.

Shuxiang helped his wife to sit on the right, and his two daughters and three daughters-in-law sat down on the couches on the east and west sides of the hall.

Changsun Sheng asked about some of the situation at home in the past few months, and his daughter and daughter-in-law answered them one by one.

Seeing that it was almost noon, the eldest mother said to her father: "Grandpa, you have been tired all the way on the saddle horse, and your mother's body is inconvenient, you better rest first, and we will retire for the time being." ”

Changsun Sheng nodded slightly and said, "It's okay, I'll talk about it in the afternoon, you guys disperse." ”

The two daughters and three daughters-in-law stood up from the couch, bowed with crossed hands and bowed, and then exited the antechamber of the inner courtyard.

Changsun Sheng motioned to Shuxiang to take Changsun Wuji away, then stood up, personally helped his wife up, and went out of the back door of the front hall and returned to the upper room through the verandah. Gao Qiuniang arranged for Mo Zhu and others to wait for the master to bathe and change clothes.