Wei Ni

Xia Houhui didn't know that the emperor Cao Rui had already planned to let him take off his duties in Huainan and stay in Luoyang directly.

Now that he is in Yangquwubao, he feels that the years of his life are quiet and beautiful.

This place is almost adjacent to Yiyang County, and Luoshui is sandwiched between Xiaoshan Mountain and Xionger Mountain.

Noble families or caravans will choose to enter Guanzhong from here, and there are very few idlers coming and going, but it seems quiet.

And this time is the beginning of summer and April, which is exactly when "the world is full of fragrance in April, and the peach blossoms in the mountain temple begin to bloom". Looking around, those colorful wild flowers that cannot be named, red, yellow, blue, and purple, are all covered. Weaving and embroidering on the lush grass, the breeze blows gently, just like the colorful clouds in the sky, rippling, making people's mood brighter.

Wang Yuanji is sitting on the hillside with her knees hugged.

Sometimes I watch butterflies and bees swimming among the flowers, sometimes I look down at the colorful sunlight refracted on the water surface of Luoshui, and occasionally I glance at Xia Houhui, who is lying on the grass with her arms on her pillow and pretending to sleep, from the corner of her eye.

She was born in a wealthy family, and she rarely goes out at ordinary times.

Occasionally, the whole family goes out for an outing or something, and they will not come to such a deep and quiet place.

Therefore, she felt that everything here was very novel.

Not just the beauty of the scenery.

The earliest forty or so households here were poor tenants. Some of them had served as Xiahouyuan's bodyguards, or because they were killed or injured in battle, or because their livelihoods were difficult to survive after being disarmed and returned to the fields, they were collected and resettled here by Xiahouheng.

The treatment is also very good.

The basic necessities of life, food, housing and transportation, as well as seeking medical advice, are all handled by the master's family.

Moreover, during the holidays, the host family will also reward people according to their hair, so that they can buy new clothes and other things.

If their families have weddings, funerals, or other activities, the master will give them some money to manage.

The most important thing is that if there is a famine year with no crops, most of the main families outside will sit back and watch the disciples sell their children or gnaw bark and grass roots, while Xiahou's family will take out their stocks to let them eat. They survive.

And after they were assigned to Xia Houhui a few years ago, the children in the family still had the opportunity to learn or learn bow and horse.Among them, if some children are excellent seedlings, Uncle Sun will follow Xia Houhui's instructions to fund and train them, so that these children can learn something in the future and earn a future.

It can be said that the life they lived as apprentices and tenants for Xia Houhui was much happier than that of Wei Guo.

So they are also very grateful.

As a female monarch, Wang Yuanji felt the respect and love from the heart of these tenants when she came to Yangquwubao on the first day without doing anything.

This kind of living atmosphere like a paradise is something she has never felt before.

So she also felt that Xia Houhui's way of distributing almost all the money was good.

On the night she came to Wubao, Xia Houhui told her all the income and expenditure situation here.

She also let her know that Xiahouhui asked Uncle Sun to take part of the fixed income from Wubao every year to help and rescue some old Xiahouyuan tribes who had difficulty making a living but were not accepted as apprentice tenants.

In Xia Houhui's words, he wanted to do his best for his late father.

Because if Xia Houyuan hadn't died in Hanzhong, then those old ministries who hadn't been accepted as apprentices would definitely be settled properly.For example, arranging a position like a pavilion chief for the descendants of the old ministry, or asking the county government where their hometown is located to draw enough fields to make them have enough food and clothing.

Following this thread, Xia Houhui also mentioned his friendship with Wang Ji.

He wants to make paper.

Let the family have a profitable industry.

As it happens, more than ten hectares of fields on the Wubao side at the west end of Yangqu are covered with sangmapo fields, and if it is only used for silkworm raising and weaving, the tenants will be too busy.

And he also vowed that when he made the paper, he could also record the biography of her father Wang Su and make it into a book, sell it or give it to others, so that more people can accept and recognize her father's words. theory.

For this, Wang Yuanji thanked her with a smile on her face.

Although in her opinion, Xiahou Huiying would not succeed.

Growing up in a family of poets and books, how could she not know that no matter the rich or the aristocratic family, they don't like paper that is easily damaged?How can we transcribe the extremely precious scriptural annotations on paper that is not easy to preserve?

But she didn't pour cold water on Xia Houhui's enthusiasm.

After all, the two just got married, and he was thinking about doing something for the Wang family, isn't it rare to have this kind of intention?
Another reason is that the meaning of the scriptures is readily available.

In her dowry, except for the small house in the west of Luoyang City that Xia Houheng gave in the name of the royal family, her family only gave a little money, but sent many scriptures annotated by Wang Su himself.

They were all transcribed by Wang Su instructing her to transcribe after the emperor Cao Rui pointed out the marriage.

This is also the benefit of marrying into a family.

Not only can you get the help of contacts above the temple, but you can also get the family background of poetry and books.

Therefore, if Xia Houhui wanted to transcribe the scriptures and commentaries of the scriptures and make them into a book on paper, she wouldn't bother her father, Wang Su, and let him do whatever he wanted.

Of course, these are not the main reasons why she feels that life here is quiet.

It's about Xia Houhui's personality.

Before she got married, she had worried whether Xia Houhui, known as upright and upright, would be strict and rigid in life and difficult to get along with.

Now it seems that she is overthinking.

After being married for nearly a month, she found that her husband's conduct was completely different from the evaluations circulated in the government and the public.

Almost like two different people.

Perhaps, it is the different relationship between living at home and working in office.

Her husband is not strict and domineering at all, on the contrary, he is very approachable.

Not only have I never reprimanded the servants, servants, and tenants at home, but occasionally I will teach calligraphy or martial arts to the children here on a whim.

What's more, after being a meritorious and powerful person, he was born with rich clothes and good food, and he was actually good at cooking.

It is not at all pedantic like other scholars who pay attention to "a gentleman stays away from the kitchen". He cooks pig meat, ribs of lamb or dog meat by himself every now and then for self-entertainment.

It can be seen from this that he is really not what the idlers in the wine shop have said by word of mouth.

By the way, she also drank the tea he made.

One afternoon, when she was going to make tea to pass the time, Xia Houhui also urged Tufu to learn the papermaking skills of Donglai craftsmen in Qingzhou. When she saw that she wanted to make tea, she also thought of it The words on the wedding day, immediately showed her how to make tea with great interest.

It is to boil spring water, break out a small piece of tea brick and soak it directly, and when the tea leaves are stretched and soaked, then filter out the soup and drink it.

Hmm, it's very hard to drink.

Bitter and astringent, with a grassy taste.

Just like the taste of chewing tree bark and chewing grass roots described by some people who have experienced famine years.

Originally full of expectations, she only took a sip and put the pottery bowl on the table.

Just like Xia Houhui was drinking tea in the back hall of her home, she felt that this taste should not exist in the world, and it should not be named as an elegant thing to drink tea.

And Xia Houhui's performance is also unbearable.

He spit out the tea he brewed himself when he first took it in, and his face was still full of astonishment.

It also made Wang Yuanji frown.

Co-author, he claimed to "make" tea and "drink", but he has never practiced it.

"I see, the tea bricks were made incorrectly!"

After being stunned for a moment, he seemed to suddenly think of something, and then made such an explanation suddenly.

Wang Yuanji didn't believe it.

These tea cakes were brought from home by her.

It is also the tea cake with the highest price and the best quality among the capital Luoyang!

If the process of making these tea cakes is wrong, is there still edible tea soup in the world?
Of course, she didn't object.

Not to mention that Xia Houhui's strong words were not exposed.

Instead, he tried his best to suppress the smile on his face, and said following his words, "Oh, so that's the case, maybe it's because the tea cakes weren't made well."

Hehe~ If he says it's not right, he's right.

No need to be serious.

And he has a strong expression on his face, which is really interesting~
Of course, Xia Houhui could see her agreement against her will.

Then, I asked Uncle Sun to find a time to transplant a few tea trees from other places to plant on the hillside here, so that he would have the opportunity to process the tea himself in the future, and vowed to prove to Wang Yuanji that it is correct to brew tea and drink it. The tea soup made with a lot of condiments is wrong
When Wang Yuanji heard this, she couldn't hold back any longer, and laughed so hard that her branches trembled on the spot.

It was hard to stop smiling, and tried to make a very sincere expression, saying that I believed in Xia Houhui and thought that my husband would definitely be able to do it, and then looked at Xia Houhui's depressed and angry expression, and couldn't help laughing again self.

There are many other laughing and trivial things like this.

It was something that Wang Yuanji had never felt in the palace where etiquette and rules were so important in the past.

Therefore, sometimes she also thinks, if the rest of her life can be like this for the rest of her life, she can discuss books and biography together without lacking in gags; It would be great if she gave birth to children, farmed, studied and inherited her family here in Wubao, which is clean and untainted~
However, she also knew that this was impossible.

As the pillow person, she knew that her husband had an ambition to make contributions.

In the past few months, he has enjoyed the peace of life like a hermit who ignores world affairs and fame, but Sun Lou, who lives in a town outside Luoyang City, returns every three days to report the temple's dynamics. , Let Wang Yuanji know that Xia Houhui has always been devoted to his official career.

And occasionally she would find that when Xia Houhui was alone in the study, she would always frown and close her eyes, immersed in her own thoughts.

He didn't even notice that she had entered the study.

Although she pushed the door lightly and came in slowly, as a vigilant lieutenant general, if Xia Houhui hadn't been lost in thought, how could she not have noticed?
So she had a faint feeling that her husband was planning something or worried about something.

It's just that he didn't say it, and he was carefully hiding it.

It's not easy for her to ask.

Perhaps, it was because he didn't want her to be involved in the treachery of power.

Just like during the time he was in Wubao, he never talked to her about anything other than official career.

I hope everything is as he wishes.

What I can do is to take good care of my family so that he doesn't have to worry about trivial matters.

Sitting with her knees hugged, Wang Yuanji, whose eyes were chasing a butterfly, leaned her head gently on her knees, looked at Xia Houhui who seemed to be asleep on the grass beside her, and was still thinking like this in her heart.

It's late April.

Xia Houhui, who had been on leave for two months and had to arrive in Huainan on the first day of May in midsummer, was leaving for Shouchun in two days.

She is mentally prepared.

But there is reluctance in the heart, that is inevitable.

Especially according to the previous hearing, her husband seems to be greedy for merit and taking risks.

So she is also looking forward to the fact that the emperor Cao Rui can give up his duties in Huainan as soon as possible, and let him return to Luoyang to be a stable and stable general.

Xia Houhui also mentioned this matter.

According to his estimation, he should still serve in Huainan Shouchun for two years.

The reason is not said.

Wang Yuanji knew that Sun Lou just came back to Wubao that day and informed that Cao Zuan, who was serving as Xiahouhui's deputy in Huainan, was awarded the post of Anfeng prefect by Emperor Cao Rui.

Two years is not short, but it is not long either.

During this period, with his character of earning fame, he should not return from leave, right?

It seems to be heard that his father secretly urged him to come back to get married this time!
The gentle mountain breeze made the wild flowers all over the place proudly flaunt their colorful colors, and gently played with Wang Yuanji's hair and clothes, but it couldn't take away the faint worry in her heart.

"Patriarch! Mistress!"

Just as she was thinking wildly, she was interrupted by a loud call.

Looking up, he saw the dusty Sun Lou standing more than ten steps away, maintaining a posture of bowing and bowing.

It also surprised her slightly.

Sun Lou would come back to Wubao at the west end of Yangqu every three days, but he only came back yesterday, and he came back before noon today, which shows that there must be something urgent.

"What happened?"

Xia Houhui, who worked hard after nightfall and took a nap while he had nothing to do, also heard the sound at this time.When greeting Wang Yuanji to go back to Wubao, he also asked Sun Lou.

"Go home, it's Qilang's message."

Sun Lou, who followed closely behind, lowered his voice and replied respectfully, "It's not time for today, so the emperor is accompanied by many close officials. And Qilang came to look for me in a hurry after leaving the palace, and asked me to come back immediately and tell the master, Bingzhou Something happened over there."

Bingzhou?

Could it be that Xianbei Kebineng invaded the border?
Or did Tian Yu or Bi Gui do something out of the ordinary in Bingzhou, so that the ministers of the court found an excuse to persuade the emperor to suspend the management of Yanbei in Bingzhou?
Xia Houhui's footsteps paused a little before continuing to walk forward, but at a slightly faster speed.

"Is righteousness mentioned, and what happened to Bingzhou?"

"No. Qilang just asked me to come back and tell the Patriarch that he will meet with the Patriarch in the small house outside the city tonight."

I didn't say it, it seems that this matter is not small~
Xia Houhui thought to himself.

Then she turned her head and wanted to say something to Wang Yuanji, but she was preempted by her who had been looking at him from the side, "Husband, go yourself, I and my family don't need to worry about it."

Her understanding smile is like a flower, making the flowers blooming on the hillside feel ashamed. (end of this chapter)