At dinner time, the family gathers.

Ma set up two seats in the upper room of the main courtyard, a big table in the middle hall was occupied by men, even the two children of the reef and the small stone were on the table, and another table was placed on the big kang in the warm pavilion, and the female dependents sat around, and everyone did not pay attention to any dining etiquette, chatting while eating, talking and laughing with each other. Although the meals were simple, everyone ate happily.

The long journey can finally come to an end. The Haijia mansion in Chang'an is a familiar home. Settling down in this mansion is a great place for everyone to feel at ease.

Hai Xiya discussed with his cousin Xie Wenzai that he and his friends should rest for a few more days, stop thinking about other things, and make up for the fat lost during the trip as soon as possible, so that they can go around to meet old friends in the New Year. As for his own work in the yamen? I've already reported for duty today. At present, it is only necessary to make material preparations for the cultivation task after the beginning of spring next year, which is not busy, but it is necessary to visit the local officials and military officials first to recognize their familiar faces. This kind of thing doesn't need Xie Wenzai to accompany him. He wasn't very used to seeing strangers everywhere yet.

Ma took leave for his grandchildren by the way. Although the two children seemed to be in good spirits and fierce, the old grandmother felt that they were tired, and they must have been very tired, and they needed a few days of rest to recover. Anyway, it will be the New Year in more than a month, so why bother tossing the children on a cold day? It's important to tidy up your home first.

Hai Chang'an has already begun to think about going to sweep the graves of his deceased father and mother-in-law and father-in-law. Last night, when I was resting in Beizhuang, my wife Hu talked about it. The four old men have not seen their grandson Xiaoshi yet, but they can't delay until the New Year before taking the child to incense.

Cao Gengyun was a little worried about the house he was used to living in and wanted to move back in. He remembers that his house was the best in terms of light, and that when he woke up every morning, he could see the sunrise.

However, Xie Wenzai and Lu Bainian both beat his idea back, because his former room was upstairs in the front yard, and there was no ondol, so he could only rely on a charcoal basin for heating. It didn't matter when I was young, but now that I'm older, where can I hold up without a kang? In the winter, don't aggravate his old cold legs, he can't get out of bed when he turns around, he can't go out, and he can't follow his old friends to play around and visit friends, it's too late to cry.

Cao Gengyun was told by his old friends to bow his head and admit it, and reluctantly accepted the arrangement of Haixiya and his wife, stayed in one of the rooms with a fire kang in the front yard, and continued to huddle with Lu Bainian. But he'd already said hello, and when the spring flowers bloomed next year, he would have to move back to his old room upstairs. In the past, when he was in Suzhou, the house was narrow, and he had to squeeze a room with his old friends. Why does he continue to smell Lu Bainian's feet now that he has such a spacious residence in Chang'an?

After saying this, Lu Bainian, such a good-tempered person, couldn't help laughing and scolding.

During this period, Haijiao tried to ask his grandfather about the case of Jin Jiashu's family, but Haixiya only vaguely said that the prefect's yamen had ordered Chang'an and Wannian counties to assist in the search for the murderer, so he changed the topic. The reef is not good to ask more, so I have to press the table.

When they were full of wine and food, they dispersed happily and went back to their rooms to rest.

Begonia returned to the backyard with the grapes.

Now the room she lives in is the main room in the backyard plus an east secondary room, and the east room opens separately, and the Ma family's mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandfather and grandson live in. The two rooms on the west side are stacked with large luggage brought back from Suzhou, and we need to find another time to sort them out slowly, and one of the rooms may be turned into a sewing room in the future.

Almost all of the Hai family's needlework was done by Ma with his daughter-in-law Hu and the maid at home, and now that Ma is old, Hu is busy taking care of the children, and they are a little too busy. Ma has long intended to set up a sewing room. Now that their family has just returned, they must go out to socialize during the Chinese New Year, and they need to make at least two sets of coats for everyone to go out as soon as possible, and they must be in line with the styles that are popular in Chang'an City at the moment.

It is said that Aunt Ma and her daughter-in-law Ma Changnian's family are very good at needlework, and they happen to be arranged in the needlework room. It just so happened that they had served in the third room of the Zhou family for many years and were familiar with the situation in Chang'an. What to do and what style to do with the latest batch of clothes is all up to her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. As long as it can be completed by the end of the year, they can ask for as many dollars of clothing as they ask. Ma handed over this important task to Aunt Ma and his daughter-in-law before dinner.

This is the first big challenge that Aunt Ma's family will face after entering the new owner's house. Time waits for no one, the task is heavy, Aunt Ma is under a lot of pressure, and she is anxious to discuss a charter with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Ma Changnian's family still had to go to the Hu family to help with the work, so she had to come to find her granddaughter grapes first.

As soon as Grape poured hot water for Begonia to wash her face and feet, Aunt Ma came to the door.

Haitang didn't want anyone to share a big kang with her at night, and it was inconvenient for her to mess with her own affairs, so she generously said to the grapes: "Aunt Ma's errand over is important, you hurry over to help, you just need to help me go to the kitchen to bring hot water tomorrow morning, you don't need to worry about anything else." The most important thing is to get my new clothes ready so that I can go out in the New Year. ”

The grapes hurriedly responded, picked up the used basin and retreated, Aunt Ma apologized to Haitang again, and the grandparents and grandchildren hurriedly left together.

Haitang went around the house a few times under the kang, and thought about the order of tidying up the house in the next few days, so he yawned, blew out the candles, and went to sleep on the kang.

A good night's sleep.

When Begonia got up the next day, it was just dawn. There was no movement in the next room, and the three grandchildren of the Ma family must still be asleep. Haitang didn't call anyone, combed his hair and dressed, went to the outside stove to scoop some cold water, wiped his face with a wet cloth, applied moisturizing oil, and went out.

See more clearly during the day than at night. The backyard is quite large, nearly forty meters long from east to west, almost four or five meters wide from north to south, and a flat space of more than 100 square meters, which is enough for her to practice martial arts. This is more than twice as big as the courtyard in Suzhou before! If you take advantage of the length of the east and west ends of the yard and place the arrow target diagonally, you may be able to expand the distance of archery practice to 50 meters.

Begonia walked around the yard and was very satisfied with this new home.

She looked up at the walls on both sides of the courtyard again, circled the small building, carefully watched all the corners, and also turned around the staircase to the second floor, and even opened the windows upstairs to observe the strength of the doors and windows, and found a few marks that were obviously newly repaired.

Although she couldn't really see it at night, now that the light was full, she could see the environment of her residence clearly.

The two-story building in the backyard is almost seven meters high. The ceiling on the ground floor is already relatively high, and the floor height on the upper floor is not short. Climbing out of the window and climbing the bucket arch under the eaves, as long as you are not bad, you can easily climb to the roof, right? The two sides of the roof are closest to the wall, that is, about 1.5 meters wide, and you can jump to the wall with a little force on your legs. The wall is not high, and it is close to the eaves, so this design is not very beneficial to anti-theft.

Fortunately, the outer wall of this mansion is about two and a half feet high, straight up and down, and it is smooth, and there is nowhere to put your feet. Unless you encounter a snitch who has achieved light achievements and can leap to the wall in one breath, it is impossible for ordinary people to touch the Hai family's mansion. If you want to use a ladder, there is no ladder that is so long. There are many official residences in the vicinity, so no one should be so bold, right?

Begonia couldn't help but open her mind. If she needs to hide from her family in the future, she sneaks out at night and can leave by taking this "air route". With her current light skills, it doesn't take much effort. It's easy to go out, but it's more troublesome to come back.

If there was such a day, shouldn't she have prepared some equipment for climbing the wall in advance?

(End of chapter)