Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 52 Gifts
Sleeping in the dark, Xue Bai opened his eyes and saw a layer of golden sunset on the window hinges, looking calm and peaceful.

still alive.

It can be seen that Princess Xianyi's mansion really didn't know about it, and Xin Twelve died early enough.

At the end of last night, he didn't burn the fatal contract. What he thought was that if he had the strength in the future, he could be Xue Pingzhao.

Think about it for a while, if you can use the hands of Li Linfu to abolish the crown prince Li Heng, and then get rid of Li Linfu, support a prince who is kind to you to ascend the throne, reverse the case for Li Ying and Xue Ruo, or you can inherit the title of Duke of Hedong in the identity of Xue Pingzhao , and then take advantage of the prestige of the Xue family in Hedong to seek the post of Jiedu envoy, he will be regarded as a prince of one side.

The ambition is no longer small, even Du Jin thinks it is whimsical.

To do this, at least you must have the power of a red-robed senior official.

In short, it was because of this ambition that they continued to hide the deadly object.

Xue Bai knows that such greed often leads to disasters, but the power field is like this, the greater the opportunity, the greater the risk.

He also received a visit from Mrs. Guo Guo's mansion in the past two days. It is not suitable for him to hide things, so he will be kept by Du Yu for the time being.At this moment, I was thinking that this girl will remarry sooner or later, and if her position changes at that time, she may not be as credible as she is now...

Suddenly, a faint sound of arguing came from the direction of the front yard.

Xue Bai got up unhurriedly, tidied up his appearance, and just walked to the front yard.

"Jingzhao Du's family is also considered famous, so how rude?"

"Although my master's family is down and out, it is by no means something you can humiliate. Take the gift back."

"What is humiliation? My family, Alang, was born in Hongnong, the son of the second king of the Yang family, Sanke, the son of Gongqing..."

"roll!"

In the front yard, Quan Rui was still arguing with others, and across the courtyard wall, Du Youlin yelled loudly in the second courtyard. The servants of the Du family rushed up and moved several wooden boxes out.

Xue Bai went to the corridor and stood side by side with Du Wulang who was watching the fun, only to see a group of well-dressed servants stopping there and trying to persuade him.

"Dugong, my family, Alang, is sincere and sincere. Your family is just a small family offshoot of the Du family, and you were convicted and dismissed from office..."

"The old man tells you to go!"

Du Youlin couldn't hold back, and rushed to the front yard in person, grabbed a gift slip from Quan Rui's hand and threw it out the door, cursing, "Get out! Get out!"

"it is good."

Du Wulang waved his fist and said hello.

A group of servants pushed out the box and closed the door forcefully. With a bang, Du Youlin was still angry, and rushed back to the backyard, followed by Lu Fengniang crying and chasing after him.

"Aron..."

Du Wulang was so angry that he turned to Xue Bai and asked, "Do you know what happened?"

"I don't know, have you eaten yet?"

"Come to my house to eat, and I will tell you while eating. My family has been humiliated, it is really hateful."

~~
They ate soup cakes for dinner, and according to Hu Shisanniang in the kitchen, only Du's father and son and Xue Bai had a few pieces of mutton in their bowls.

Du Wulang asked her to carry it to the east wing room, and the door was closed, so he didn't care about the rules of not eating or sleeping.

"You know Yushi Zhongcheng Yang Shenjin, right? He was one of the presiding judges at Dali Temple that day, and he talked to you."

"Ah."

"This old man is two years older than my grandpa, but he said he was going to propose marriage to my eldest sister. Last night, someone sent a gift to him. At first, my grandparents thought he was asking for marriage, so they happily talked about it with his housekeeper. In the last few sentences, I talked about it in a roundabout way, and it turned out that I wanted to take a concubine, how could this be possible?!"

Du Wulang also became excited when he said this.

Xue Bai quickly moved the bowl away.

"My family is a side branch. Grandpa also lost his official position, but he is also a descendant of Wang's surname. There is no possibility of selling his daughter to be a concubine. Returning the two kings and Sanke, the Sui Dynasty has been dead for many years. I really think that I am a descendant of the emperor. The steward of the Yang family kept talking about the rich gift list in front of grandpa, and the more grandpa listened to it, the more angry he became."

"How is your eldest sister?"

"The elder sister was so angry that she cried, saying that if the parents agreed, she would die. There was no way the parents would agree, what a shame this would be to the Du family..."

Du Wulang chattered for a long time, seeing that Xue Bai was quite calm and silent, he asked, "Why don't you speak?"

He not only looks like Lu Fengniang, but also has a personality like Lu Fengniang.

Xue Bai said: "Yang Shenjin doesn't wink, but he doesn't necessarily want to humiliate the Du family."

"Whether he intends it or not, if this matter gets out, my family's face will be lost."

"Ah."

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about what gift to give to Mrs. Guo Guo."

"Ah, really, you only have Mrs. Guo Guo and sisters on your mind. But what can you afford? The poems are pretty good."

Du Wulang kept talking, Xue Bai chewed slowly and had already finished eating, but there was still more than half of his bowl, complaining that it was either Hubing or Soupbing at home.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you after making such a fuss. Right Prime Minister Li Shilang sent you two boxes of pastries, which are cheese shortbread, named 'Yulu Tuan', and left a letter saying 'New Year's gift for you, and good times together' , he treats you very well."

"Ah."

"Which Xiangfu girl gave it in the name of Li Shilang?" Du Wulang heheed, shook his head and said: "I reminded you, you have to be careful about the selection window of the right Xiangfu. In the beginning, if you don't turn your face towards it, you'd better..."

Having said that, he looked around and said in a low voice, "Even I know that being the son-in-law of Suo Douji is not a good thing."

"I'm not as cautious as you are." Xue Bai was able to deliver good words casually, and seemed very sincere.

"Ah." Du Wulang thought it was true, and asked, "Do you really want to marry a Xiangmen girl?"

"No rejection, it depends on the situation."

Xue Bai looked at the soup cake soaked in Du Wulang's bowl, and knew that he couldn't eat it.In today's world, there are no stir-fried dishes. They are either steamed or grilled every day. If you eat too much, you will get tired.

Looking out of the window, the setting sun dyed the snow into gold.

Before Du Wulang finished his dinner, he got up and went to the front yard.

"Where are you going?"

"Let's talk about it later, it's almost curfew."

Just after leaving the door of the East Wing, Xue Bai realized that he had no money on him, and was about to turn around to look for Du Wulang, but found someone standing on the porch looking at him.

……

"Are you sober? Dizzy?"

Qing Lan lowered her head shyly, and looked up at him, her eyes were bright.

"I only drank three cups, and I was still too sleepy last night."

"Where is Mr. Xue Lang going?"

"Buy something."

"My servant will take you there." Qing Lan said a blessing, she knew he didn't like politeness, but she wanted to put pressure on him on purpose.

Xue Bai looked at the sky and said, "Alright, do you have any money? I lent you the bento, and I will pay you back when I come back."

"Huh?" Qing Lan took out the purse again, "Yesterday my lady rewarded me with a hundred dollars."

~~
Du Wulang finally stuffed a bowl of soup cakes into his stomach, and the sound of the evening drum was almost [-] times.

It's really annoying to have a "dong dong dong" and then a curfew every day.

"Be patient, the Lantern Festival is coming soon."

Half a month after the New Year's Eve, before and after the Lantern Festival, there will be no curfew in Chang'an City for three days, the lights will be brightly lit all night, and there will be endless vendors.It is the day that Du Wulang looks forward to the most every year.

Recently, Du Youlin didn't care about him, he slacked off a lot, and now he was too full and tired, and he didn't want to read books.He probed his head and walked towards the front yard to find out where Xue Bai was.

The sound of the evening drum had stopped, he went to the west door and took a look outside, and saw Xue Bai and Qing Lan running back with a bamboo basket each on their backs.

"Hey, what did you buy?"

"delicious."

Du Wulang was quite disappointed because he was already full.

And there is also a Yulu dumpling from Youxiangfu at home, which is snowy and glutinous, and it is delicious at first glance.How can I buy something delicious when I go to the small vendors in Shengpingfang?

"Go to the kitchen and ask Hu Shisanniang for help."

"Uh-huh."

Turning his head to look, he saw Qing Lan nodding happily, her cheeks flushed... Du Wulang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that she was much more beautiful at this time, and he immediately understood.

He shook his head involuntarily, thinking that she would not hide her thoughts, and A Niang would punish her later.

Then I thought that my mother would also like to find a marriage for me, but I don't know if it is the little lady of the He family, what kind of temperament, I hope it will be interesting...

"Hey, wait for me."

Going to the kitchen to watch Hu Shisanniang cooking is of course more interesting than Wen Shu, so Du Wulang followed Xue Bai and Qing Lan to the back yard.

After running a few steps, I suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

I don't know who can walk at night, and can't find the porter by the side door, so the Du family should open the middle door to welcome them?
Du Wulang was not in charge of these matters, he trotted after Xue Bai.

"Do you want to send food to Mrs. Guo Guo? It's too shabby. It's fine for someone to give you some snacks, but you can't be negligent in returning the gift."

~~
When I got to the kitchen, the servants were washing the dishes.

Hu Shisanniang heard Xue Bai said that she wanted to try two dishes, and immediately asked: "Mr. Xue, the soup and cakes made by the old woman are not good, so do you want to cook something else?"

Xue Bai said: "It's Thirteen Niang's superb craftsmanship that reminds me of some delicacies I've eaten. If Thirteen Niang makes them, they will definitely be more delicious than the original ones."

Hu Shisanniang was overjoyed when she heard that, she wiped her hands with a cloth and turned around cheerfully, as if preparing to flex her muscles.

"Just tell the old woman which dish Mr. Xue Lang wants to cook."

It was Xue Bai's first time to the kitchen, and when he looked around, he saw that the kitchen utensils were complete.

Du Wulang introduced him knowledgeably, there are pottery cauldrons for stewing vegetables, big steamers for steaming rice, and big casserole for cooking vegetables.

"Is there an iron pot?"

"That's a military weapon, how can we have it in our family?"

Xue Bai's thoughts moved because of these words, and he had a rather distant idea.For the time being, the vegetables have to be fried first.

"This casserole is too thick, I'm afraid it won't work."

"I remember that there is a copper pot. It is my mother's dowry. She hid it well. I don't know if it was found when the house was searched last time. I will look for it?"

Xue Bai felt that the copper pot might not be good enough, but he had to try it first.

"Let's find it. If it succeeds, it will be very beneficial to Du Zhai."

"Okay! You guys prepare the dishes first."

Du Wulang was really knowledgeable, and he also instructed them to take the mutton tripe out of the basket and serve it with ice and snow.

"It's not good for you to buy such fatty meat. Huh? There is also cheap meat here. Oh, it's really... I'll go find the pot first, and I will teach you later."

He didn't know what Xue Bai was buying fat and cheap meat for, so he turned around and went to the main room, and then he went to the fourth courtyard, when he met Caiyun hurriedly trotting towards the front courtyard.

"Sister Caiyun, where is my mother?"

"Wulang, that Yang Zhongcheng has come in person. The lady is very angry. Ah Lang is meeting the guests in the front hall." After Caiyun finished speaking, she hurried away.

Du Wulang hurried to the front hall, and the cat looked into the hall from behind the soft wall.

This is far less convenient than the window for choosing a son-in-law in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, where you can only see a corner of Yang Shenjin's gorgeous fur clothing.

Fortunately, you can hear clearly when you speak. Before you squat down, you have already heard a sentence full of enthusiasm——

"Du Weng, I have a sincere heart for my wife!"

Du Wulang was stunned when he heard that, he poked his head out to look out, and saw that Yang Shenjin's demeanor was still very good.

And Du Youlin had already stood up, and was furious. Although he didn't roar out, he was obviously trying to restrain himself, and his voice was as cold as iron.

"Yang Zhongcheng, please go back, there is absolutely no room for discussion on this matter."

Yang Shenjin seemed to really not be able to read his face.

Or he was born too noble, and he never cared about the emotions of others.

"Du Weng has been in a vain position for a long time, so I'm afraid I don't understand it. I was born in the direct line of two kings and three Ke. The so-called 'Hu Jiangli and Pi Zhixi are admired by Ren Qiulan'. Beloved, I will never disgrace Ling Ai."

"It's me, Mrs. Du, who is not worthy of Yang Zhongcheng, come and see off!"

"If I can accept my mother-in-law, I will treat each other as a regular wife. I can shade the three sons of an official, but now I only have one son. If my mother-in-law comes out in the future, if she has a son, she will be shaded by the door, and if she enters an official position, she will be on the eighth rank. It's not difficult; if you give birth to a daughter, you can be a public official, and she must be more expensive than ordinary officials. Du Weng has been dismissed from office and has become a white man. After all, my mother lost her husband, so she can have this..."

"Get out! Get him out of here!"

Suddenly, Lu Fengniang yelled and rushed out from behind the screen, picked up a teacup and threw it at Yang Shenjin's feet.

"Not going out yet?!"

Seeing this, Du Wulang immediately came from behind the soft wall to help chase Yang Shenjin away.

Yang Shenjin didn't want to lose her demeanor, so she quickly backed away.

"Don't push me, Alang."

The steward next to Yang Shenjin was furious, raised his finger and scolded angrily.

"Du Youlin, if you don't want to marry a daughter, return the dowry gift from me, Alang!"

"You're talking nonsense, when did my Du family accept your betrothal gift?"

"I, Alang, don't want to haggle with you, but you guys are too deceitful! You exchange the expensive colored training with linen cloth and wrap it with red silk, put sand and gravel into the box and cover it with a layer of utensils, thinking that you can distinguish the real from the real? Do you want to deceive me?" A Lang's money?!"

(End of this chapter)