Wiping his hands and face with a hot towel, Xu Doulian walked into the side hall.

In the side hall, Wen Xiuying has been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Xu Doulian coming in, Wen Xiuying bowed and said, "Wailang." ”

"Hmm. ”

Nodding, Xu Doulian sat on the main seat, saw that Wen Xiuying was still standing, pulled out the chair on the side and said, "Xiuying, although our marriage has not been decided, we can be regarded as confirming the relationship." Didn't I say that when you eat at the table in the future, you can sit down and eat together, and you don't have to stand. ”

In response, Wen Xiuying sat down and began to serve dishes to Xu Doulian.

Xu Dou ate two mouthfuls of food in a row, thinking about how to ask Wen Xiuying about her information and the person she brought into the mansion today, so he seemed a little absent-minded, and swallowed it back several times when he wanted to speak.

Wen Xiuying saw that Xu Doulian's state was not quite right, so she asked, "What's the matter, is it that today's meal is not appetizing?"

"Ah, no. Xu Doulian came to his senses and quickly denied it, thinking that he was going to say it anyway, so why bother with such a mother-in-law.

Putting down the dishes and chopsticks, Xu Doulian said: "I heard Xu Huai say that you brought a woman back to your house today, saying that it was your distant relative?"

Wen Xiuying saw Xu Doulian mention this stubble, put down her chopsticks, stood up and apologized: "Yes, I did bring my distant relatives back today, and I have not agreed to it, and I asked the outsider to punish him." ”

Xu Doulian was afraid of such a situation, so he nodded to the table and said, "You sit down first, I didn't say to punish you, but the house is indeed not very short of people at present, and it is not easy to settle." ”

Wen Xiuying just sat down, and when she heard Xu Doulian say this, she hurriedly said: "I know it's a little reluctant, but she just arrived in the capital, can you let her borrow it from me for two days first, and when she finds a job, I will send her the next month's money and send it away immediately, and I won't cause trouble to the outsider." ”

Xu Dou waved his hand again and again and said: "No, no, no, that's not what it means, your relative will be my relative in the future, how can I drive her out of the house, you tell me about your relative, I see if I can arrange for her to do some work in the house, so that you also have multiple relatives to talk about your heart, and you feel bored when I am not in the house." ”

Wen Xiuying breathed a sigh of relief, a look of triumph flashed in her eyes, and she introduced: "Her name is Wen Yuesheng, she is my distant cousin, a native of Yan State, and her family is in distress, so she came to Qin State to join me. Because I came to the capital a few days ago, she didn't find me in the Guankou camp, so I arrived in the capital, and it happened that I met her on the way to buy medicine. As for what she's good at, I really haven't asked in detail, why don't I call her over?"

Xu Doulian frowned and said, "Yan Guoren?"

Wen Xiuying just stood up, heard Xu Doulian's words, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Doulian sighed and said: "There is a little, but it is not a big problem, I will ask my colleagues in the household department to check it tomorrow, so as not to have some unnecessary situations." You just said that you met her on the way to buy medicine, and you are sick?"

Wen Xiuying said: "It's nothing, it's just that I was infected with some wind and cold, and the doctor prescribed some medicine, saying that it would be fine if I ate it for three days." ”

Xu Doulian put his mind at ease and said: "That's good, but since you're sick, then don't go, I'll ask Xu Huai to call your cousin over, just let her have dinner together, I also understand the situation, and it's better to talk about going to the household department tomorrow." ”

"Hey, okay. Wen Xiuying answered and sat down again.

Xu Doulian called Xu Huai and said, "Go to Xiuying's room and ask her cousin to come over." ”

Soon, Xu Huai brought the pink bell over.

Pointing to the chair next to Wen Xiuying, Xu Doulian said, "Sit first." ”

Fan Ling pretended to be restrained, sat down in the chair, lowered her head, and did not speak.

"I heard Xiuying say that you are a distant cousin from Yan Guolai, can you tell me in detail about your family and your affairs?" Because Fan Ling didn't speak, he could only ask Xu Doulian himself.

Fan Ling had already written down all the information in the afternoon, and when Xu Doulian asked, she barely thought about it, so she began to answer: "My name is Wen Yuesheng, and I am the distant cousin of Xiuying's cousin.

A month ago, my father went out to do business and died in an accident, and the family who reported back said that all the silver goods carried by my father were lost, and in order to accompany the loss, all the goods that could be sold by the family were sold, and the family was also dismissed, so they barely paid off the debt.

After that, my mother became ill because of her thoughts, and only two days later, she also went. Before she died, my mother told me that I had a distant cousin in the Guankou camp of the Qin State, asked me to come and defect, and gave me a portrait.

I finally relied on the remaining money to come to the Guankou camp, but found that my cousin's house was empty at all, and the neighbors said that my cousin had gone to the capital, so I thought about coming to the capital to try my luck to see if I could find any work, and I also thought about whether I could find my cousin.

Coincidentally, not long after entering the capital, I met my cousin, and after my cousin found out what happened to me, she said that she could let me live here temporarily, so I followed my cousin over. Cousin, all this is because of me, and please don't blame my cousin. ”

After listening to Fan Ling's words, Xu Doulian said: "What's to blame for this, your sister and I have already expressed our hearts, and I will play a marriage proposal in the near future, so you should treat this as your home, live first, and don't have too much burden." ”

Fan Ling was pleasantly surprised: "Really?"

Then he lowered his head and said: "This is not very suitable, I can't just eat and live for nothing, I will write the work of sewing and mending pulp and washing, I don't know if there is a shortage of people in the house?"

Xu Doulian thought for a while and said: "There is not a special shortage of people in the house, you can live first, and we will talk about these later." ”

Wen Xiuying glanced at Fan Bell, and said in her heart: "This Fan Bell can't even do such a trivial thing." ”

Then he said to Xu Doulian: "My cousin, I often take care of some flowers and plants, I don't think there seems to be a small garden in the house, why don't you let her build a small garden?"

Xu Doulian doesn't particularly like flowers and plants, so there has been no garden in the house, but since Wen Xiuying has spoken, she is not very easy to refute this face, so she nodded and said: "Okay, then it's decided, you stay with Xiuying for the next two days, chat, and when my official business is completed in a few days, I will draw a garden." ”

Seeing that Xu Doulian was relieved, Wen Xiuying and Fan Ling hurriedly said, "Thank you for being a foreigner (official)." ”

Xu Doulian said to Fan Ling: "You don't need to call me official, we Daqin don't have such a statement, you can call me a member of the Wailang like Xiuying for the time being, and after I play the marriage proposal, you can change your mind." ”

Fan Ling nodded again and again: "Yes, Wailang." ”

"Hmm. Xu Dou responded, now that the pink bell was there, it was not very convenient for him to ask Wen Xiuying anything, so he could only say, "You haven't eaten yet, let's eat together." ”

Fan Ling first faked: "This is not appropriate." ”

But after seeing Xu Doulian's eyes, Fan Ling said, "Yes." ”

Seeing that Fan Ling had no dishes and chopsticks, Xu Doulian called Xu Huai in, pointed to Fan Ling and said, "Get her a pair of dishes and chopsticks, and you won't wait outside, go to dinner with them." ”

Xu Huai bowed and went to get the dishes and chopsticks.

Fan Ling's performance is indeed like a refugee, and after the dishes and chopsticks arrived, he was not too polite, and he didn't care about the image of eating the food.

Seeing this, Xu Doulian said: "Eat slowly, don't choke, if it's not enough, you can do it again." ”

Fan Ling smiled embarrassedly and slowed down a bit.

After dinner, Fan Ling picked up the teacup and drank a cup of tea, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, "Thank you, Wailang, this is the best meal I've had in a month." ”

Xu Doulian said: "Don't thank me, it's all done by your cousin." ”

"Thank you, cousin. Fan Ling turned her head to Wen Xiuying and said, seeing Wen Xiuying cleaning up the table, she stood up and said, "I'll help you." ”

Xu Doulian said: "Yuesheng, you go and rest first, I still have something to say to your cousin." ”

Fan Ling could only say, "Okay then." ”

After Fan Ling left, Xu Doulian said: "Xiuying, you put it down first, don't worry, I have something to ask you." ”

Wen Xiuying put down the plate, wiped her hands with a hand towel, sat down and said, "What is there to ask so urgently?"

Xu Doulian said: "That's the case, although we have already expressed our hearts, but if we want to get married, I still need to ask the saint for marriage, which also involves some other procedures, which must be handed over to the household department for an investigation." So I'm just asking you.,About your matter.,When I asked me in the saint.,I also answered.,When I go to the household tomorrow, I can go through the procedures first.。。 ”

Wen Xiuying's eyes rolled and said, "Oh, it turns out that this is the case, and it's my fault, I didn't tell the outsider." ”

I didn't expect Xu Doulian to ask about himself, but fortunately, he mentioned some things about himself when he helped Fan Ling to do his identity, and he made it up quickly, Wen Xiuying's brain turned quickly, weaving lies.

Xu Doulian said: "Actually, I didn't think it through and didn't ask you earlier, but it's too late now." ”

Wen Xiuying said: "I am from Guankou Ying, I live in Langning Lane, Xiuning Street, and my family has no business, only less than three acres of land. Every year, we communicate with distant relatives by letter, and some of them return and some do not. A few years ago, my parents died of illness, and I couldn't farm the land, so I sold all three acres of land and buried my parents. After that, I took on some sewing and washing work in the village. Two days ago, thinking of going to the city to find a better job, I met you. After that, everyone knew about it. ”

Knowing that the more she said, the more flaws she had, Wen Xiuying introduced herself very briefly, some of the things were true, and the others were naturally fake. But none of this matters, as long as you go back to the household department and replace the content of the survey, everything will be true.

After listening to Wen Xiuying's brief answer, Xu Doulian wrote it down, nodded and said, "Okay, I know, you can continue to clean up, I still have some official business to deal with." After cleaning up, you will accompany your cousin more, there is not much official business, and I will rest after I finish dealing with it in a while. ”

After speaking, Xu Doulian left the side hall and walked in the direction of the study.

Wen Xiuying smiled and continued to clean up the dishes, chopsticks, pots and plates on the table.