Traveling to Daliang Kingdom starts from falling into the water

It was snowing heavily and everything was white. After the first snow in early November, several more snowfalls followed, turning Qinghe Village into a silver world of snow.

As the end of the month came, in addition to the shops, there were also many small vendors setting up stalls at the market at the intersection of Guanlu Road. Near the end of the afternoon, there were still quite a few people visiting the market.

Inside a tightly covered carriage, Dajiang was quite surprised to hear the hawking sounds as the carriage passed by. After thinking about it for a while, he understood a little.

Look, tomorrow is the first day of the twelfth lunar month, a day off.

As the New Year draws to a close, not only do people in the mountains sell their prey while it's fresh, but people in the surrounding villages also set up stalls as they have nothing to do in the fields.

Unlike the market here which is open every day, the town has large and small markets on several days of each month. In previous years, during the winter season, people living nearby would naturally go to the market unless there was something important to do.

Not only did his third sister and brother-in-law allow his father to sit comfortably at home and collect rent from the shop, they also did a good deed that benefited the surrounding villages.

"What are you looking at?" Gu Wenxuan looked at Zhou Yujiang, who was looking at him with admiration, with amusement, "The list hasn't been released yet. If I'm not number one, you'll have to pay me."

What he meant was that because of the annual exam, the monthly exam that was supposed to be held at the beginning of December was cancelled, but the county school still held another mock exam during the three days at the end of November.

Of course, there will be no rewards for the top three in this mock test, which means that the rewards in December will have to wait until the results of the annual joint examination of the prefectural city area are released.

Zhou Yujiang couldn't help but shake his head when he heard that. "Definitely first place. If you weren't almost certain to get first place this time, County Master Cheng wouldn't have let you go back so early."

"Didn't you come back together?"

"It's different. You are my third brother-in-law. The teachers are naturally relieved that I can go home with you early. Besides, it doesn't matter if you take half a day. Isn't tomorrow a holiday?"

As they were talking, the carriage suddenly stopped slowly. Even if Gu Wenxuan didn't lift the curtain to look outside, he knew that it should have arrived at the entrance of Gujia Village.

as predicted.

Then Jiaxing came to report.

Gu Wenxuan responded and immediately bent down, stood up and patted his brother-in-law on the shoulder. "Let's talk tomorrow. Go home early and say hello for me."

Zhou Yujiang knew that his third brother-in-law was thinking about seeing his third sister who had a twin brother as soon as possible, so he pushed him without saying anything and said, "Please tell my third sister that I will go to see her tomorrow."

"Okay, go home and have a good chat with my parents and brother, get a good night's sleep tonight and get enough rest before reviewing. You don't have to get up too early tomorrow, as you still have to go to the county school the day after tomorrow."

Having said that, without waiting for Zhou Yujiang to reply, Gu Wenxuan jumped off the carriage, took two quick steps, waved to the coachman, and took the whip handed to him by Jiaxing.

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Yujiang saw Gu Wenxuan jumping onto his horse in front of the workshop at the entrance of Gujiazhuang village. He was so happy. Was he so impatient to see his third sister?
Gu Wenxuan didn't realize for a moment that his brother-in-law was laughing at him in his heart. Otherwise, he had to explain himself. If he didn't ride back to the manor directly, someone would stop him immediately.

In the middle of the workshops on the left and right is the first checkpoint to enter the manor.

The gatehouse next to the checkpoint is fine, there are guards guarding it and no one is allowed to enter. Outsiders naturally cannot go in to keep warm or drink water, but the gatehouses of the workshops on both sides are very lively.

If the clerks who come to transport or deliver goods come here to stop for a rest, they will be entertained by the manager and servants. But it would be bad if they just ignore their fellow villagers.

Last time, he was a little slow on his way home and was surrounded by villagers from the neighboring village. He was forced to listen to their gossip for a long time.

His grandmother's family is not a local household, so God knows where so many cousins ​​came from. Later, when he heard the introduction, he found out that they were cousins ​​from his mother-in-law's side.

Relatives like these, all of them stand on his father-in-law's side and say bad things about his mother-in-law's family. As a son-in-law of the Zhou family, he cannot treat them lightly or with any respect.

After riding for a short distance, Gu Wenxuan slowed down and waited for Jiaxing to catch up. He didn't need to speak, because he had the answer. "Xiao Shizi said that the uncle who brought the game to the door was warming up and drinking tea with his people. He wanted to wait for his aunt to go to the market and go back together."

Then they are not relatives at all. Anyone who comes to Majiaao to sell game comes directly from Dongkou Village to the Ma family.

The Ma family's long-term workers would then take the game to the canteen of the pancreas workshop to settle the bill. After the canteen processed the game, they would select some of it and send it to the manor's kitchen.

Gu Wenxuan nodded in understanding. Seeing that they were about to reach the manor, he was in no hurry to ride as fast as he could to listen to Jiaxing's report on what had happened at home during his absence.

Apparently, it's generally OK.

As the year draws to a close, business is still good at the tofu shop at the entrance of the village, the oil press, and the pancreas workshop at the foot of the mountain, and few servants make mistakes.

The guards also performed their duties and patrolled day and night. During this period, no outsiders sneaked into the workshops or warehouses, and no one broke into the manor without permission.

As for his family, his wife has been very obedient in recent days and has not left the manor. She has been taking good care of her pregnancy in the west courtyard as agreed.

During this period, he also wanted to go to the main courtyard to pay his respects to his parents, but the devil is always stronger than the way, and his wife was defeated by his parents who had anticipated the opportunity.

I heard Jiaxing mention that Zhou Banxia wanted Mai Huang to report to Ma Shan to go to the main courtyard together when the snow stopped two days ago, and then go to the east courtyard in the afternoon, but it didn't work out.

Gu Wenxuan smiled secretly. Just as he finished listening, he knew that he had to turn left in about fifty or sixty meters and would soon reach the manor.

In front of the manor.

A pair of stone lions.

There is a gate on each side of the main gate, called the East Corner Gate and the West Corner Gate.

The main gate is usually not opened at other times. It is usually opened only on major festivals or formal occasions for ceremonial purposes.

Gu Wenxuan dismounted, threw the whip to the servant who ran out, and strode up the steps. After entering the east corner gate, he reached the outer courtyard.

Further inside, past the small garden, is a five-room hall used specifically for receiving guests, with corridors and greenhouses on both sides of the hall.

Passing through this front hall is the Chuihua Gate, which is also the gate connecting the inner and outer courtyards. It is commonly known as the Second Gate, also known as the Inner Gate, where the old women live to guard the gate at night.

After passing the Chuihua Gate, you will reach the inner courtyard area.

The entire inner courtyard is centered around the main courtyard and is divided into the central courtyard, the east courtyard, and the west courtyard.

The backyard of Xiluyuan.

The warm room in the main house.

Not only Liu, Gu Baoya, and Ma Shan, but also Zhou Daya were there. Several of them were wearing casual clothes and sitting on the platform, doing needlework around a small kang table.

There is a desk near the window on the north side. In addition to the four treasures of the study, there are also several boxes of paints. In the corner is a painting jar with several scrolls of calligraphy and paintings standing upright.

Zhou Banxia, ​​who was forbidden to do needlework, was sketching patterns at the table, while Mai Huang and Mai Qing stood on either side of her and passed things to her from time to time. (End of this chapter)