Yu Tang Golden Boudoir

Chapter 8 Cousin and Uncle

In the courtyard, the eldest son of the Li family, Li Xiaozu, had already stretched his neck and waited in the porch. Seeing Mrs. Zhou entering the courtyard, he hurriedly greeted her and helped her to sit on the kang, and said with a concerned smile: "I'm back. It’s so late, Auntie lost her temper again? I heard about the fifth sister’s return. Don’t take it to heart, are you starving? Drink a bowl of soup first to calm your breath. The food is cold. I’ll ask someone to heat it up. hot."

"If you don't drink soup, you'll be full of gas, and your feet will be sore, rub it for me!" Zhou's voice was soft, and she rubbed her foot against Li Xiaozu coquettishly. Nanny coughed a few times heavily, Zhou Shi pouted at Nanny Xiao, reached out and patted Li Xiaozu away and said, "I didn't ask you to rub it, so I'll just talk about it."

"Then I'll rub it for you at night." Li Xiaozu turned his head and glanced at Aunt Xiao, leaned closer to Mrs. Zhou, and smiled in a low voice. Mrs. Zhou gave him a sideways glance, and softly sniffed from his nose. Hmm' sounded.

A five-entry courtyard in Beicheng, with sparse flowers and trees, carved beams and painted buildings, red lanterns are gently swayed by the wind, illuminating the quiet courtyard, the warm red light actually illuminates the courtyard with a desolate and chilly winter.

On the east side of the main courtyard, there was only a thin red candle burning on the five-headed candlestick in the corner, and the candlelight fell steadily on the freshly written appointment letter on the kang table. , sitting cross-legged was a middle-aged man, with bowed head and shoulders, motionless. Opposite the middle-aged man, a young man in brocade clothes in his twenties stared anxiously and restlessly at the middle-aged man. It's hideous.

"Father!" the son couldn't help shouting, the middle-aged man slowly raised his head, the son picked up the official appointment and held it in front of the middle-aged man, pleading eagerly: "Father, don't you think about your son ? This is the future of your son, and the future of our Huang family! You have worked hard all your life as a slave, and you just want to earn a future for the Huang family and your son, so that each generation of our Huang family will be stronger than the previous generation? Dad!"

"The old lady treats us well..." The middle-aged man said with difficulty: "You let me think about it, you go out first, let me think about it."

The son held the official appointment in both hands, and suddenly knelt straight in front of the middle-aged man, looked up at his father, gritted his teeth and said, "Father, the son is your son, whether you agree or not, the son will never dare to complain, but This future... If my son has no future, he might as well die!"

"You..." The middle-aged man looked at his son anxiously and painfully, he raised his hand weakly, and his voice was hoarse: "Get up, the old lady treats us well, not to mention the trust, since your eldest father We are divorced, and it is the grace of the old lady that you can grow up as a slave..."

"Big daddy and daddy have worked for her as cows and horses for two generations. We deserve it. Besides, the old lady is dead!" The son stared at his father and said as if gnashing his teeth. The middle-aged man held his head in his hands, and the old lady Treating the Huang family well, but after she died, her son had the appointment of the magistrate of Ningyuan County. With this start, the Huang family will also be a family of officials in the future. That Mrs. Li Wu... the past two years , She sold seven or eight shops and pumped so much water, where did the money go?Who is in charge of her?As the saying goes, once the emperor and the courtiers, Mrs. Li Wu is not an old lady after all, and the old lady is dead, so I can't blame myself...

"I... resigned from this big shopkeeper, but let's not do anything else, we can't do anything else, and we can't break our conscience." The middle-aged man said with difficulty, his son's face was full of ecstasy, and he nodded his head: " Grandpa Dai said, as long as Father is willing to go with me, Grandpa Dai wants to say a few words to you, just a few words, nothing else! My son will invite Grandpa Dai right now."

Seeing his son rushing out full of ecstasy, the middle-aged man sighed and looked up at the dark window. Mrs. Li Wu is only thirteen, a girl's family, too much money is not a good thing, and he just doesn't like it. If you leave, you can't keep those shops for her. It's only a matter of time before the family business withers, so what can you do by yourself?I can't blame myself for this, besides, I am also a person with a family and a son, who doesn't think of himself first...

"Grandfather Dai, please!" The son respectfully let in Master Dai, who was dressed in Chinese clothes with his chin raised and the corners of his mouth curled down. Master Dai stood proudly into the room, with his hands behind his back, squinting his eyes and looking around first. After looking it over, the middle-aged man had already got off the kang, and politely said: "Guan Dai, please sit down."

"Treasurer Huang, please sit down." Steward Dai said perfunctorily, and took the first seat unceremoniously. He took out a few pieces of paper from his arms, patted them on the kang table and pushed them in front of shopkeeper Huang: "Please." Shopkeeper Huang has a look, if there are any omissions, and who is available, please give advice to Shopkeeper Huang."

Shopkeeper Huang looked down at the papers, scratched them a few times with his fingers, and said, "These houses have been sold to other houses a few years ago." He pinched a few places with his nails and whispered: "Can you I don’t dare to say if it can’t be used, but Guanshi Dai will give it a try.”

"Okay! Shopkeeper Huang is really a straightforward person! I will speak kindly to the Patriarch on behalf of Shopkeeper Huang. I don't know when Shopkeeper Huang plans to leave? When will you ask your boss to resign?"

"Leave in ten days, please resign before you leave, just a note." Shopkeeper Huang's face relaxed, and Steward Dai stood up with a laugh, and casually cupped his hands and said, "Treasurer Huang is a smart man who knows the current affairs." People! Well, I will bid you farewell, Master Huang is going to go to the mountains and rivers, and the future is bright!"

Shopkeeper Huang looked at the son who sent Steward Dai away and returned, sighed and ordered: "Quietly ask someone to pack their luggage. Let's sell the two houses in the capital. We will never come back to this capital."

Early the next morning, Li Tian was standing on the porch looking at the plum trees in the yard, and was hesitating whether to go over to greet Mrs. Yang, when the little girl Yin Hua turned into the Hanging Flower Gate and reported, "Fifth lady, the eldest lady of the Yu family is here!" It's time to see you." Li Tian hurriedly greeted them along the verandah, and before the two of them entered the room, they heard Lin Ke's crisp voice coming from outside the hanging flower door: "The eldest sister of the Yu family has arrived? She is so fast! I'm late again!"

The two stopped at the door of the main room and waited for Lin Ke to come in before entering the room together.

Lin Ke frowned, and looked around at the furnishings in the room. Yu Yaofang pulled Li Tian to sit on the kang, and first reached out to touch the kang. Seeing that the kang was warm and just right, she asked her family how she treated Li Tian with concern. But okay?Have you met the sisters?Is it easy to get along... and so on, Lin Ke turned around in each room, jumped over and sat down next to Li Tian, ​​listened to a few words, pulled Li Tian and said: "Tian'er, your room is too cold, waiting for you After leaving the filial piety, let's make a good arrangement together, by the way, there is something I couldn't ask you yesterday, how did you know they were going to set fire the night before?"

"Did I tell you that they were going to set fire to it?" Li Tian laughed angrily, Yu Yaofang reached out and tapped Lin Ke's forehead and said: "What Tian'er said is that as long as there is something unusual, it will be over, so why not?" Said it was set on fire?"

"That's what I meant. How did you know something unusual happened?" Lin Ke rolled her eyes at Yu Yaofang, shook Li Tian and asked, Li Tian sighed: "How would I know? It's just in case, when grandma is around , They have harmed me more than once or twice, now that grandma is gone, if you think about it with your heels, you can figure it out!"

Yu Yaofang pursed her lips and smiled, her eyes bent to one place. Lin Ke pouted and muttered, "You have more heels than I thought." Rolled his eyes.

The three of them were chatting and laughing when they heard Yin Hua shouting at the door: "Fifth Lady, Fourth Lady is here to see you." Li Tian was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly motioned for the two to sit down, and lifted the curtain to welcome them out.

The second daughter-in-law and fourth wife, Li Yutang, is wearing a gorgeous and fashionable pink blue dress. Her face can be described as a young version of the second wife. She turned her head to look around while walking, and kept curling her mouth. Seeing Li Tianying coming out and standing at the door, she also Ignoring her, she just looked into the window, and said with a bossy face: "I heard that you have a guest here, which young lady is it? I'll help you accompany the guest, don't be rude."

Li Tian sighed inwardly depressed, this fourth elder sister is exactly like her mother, mean, stupid and stupid, but she also thinks she is extremely shrewd, Zhang Yang proudly wants to come to accompany her, it seems that she is pretending to befriend a noble girl idea.

Alas, Li Tian sighed secretly, and had no choice but to politely sideways to let Li Yutang pass, and followed behind into the house.

Li Yutang greeted Lin Ke and Yu Yaofang enthusiastically: "I just heard that the mother-in-law said that the second lady of Nanning County Prince's Mansion and the eldest lady of Qingjiang Marquis Mansion are here, so I hurried over here. It's late, don't be surprised. , my sister is young and ignorant, if there is any negligence, please don't worry about it for my sake, the woman in our house is old and smart, and she didn't report it to me early, such things are not easy If you don't care about it, you really should fight, the two of you must not be offended."

Lin Ke stared at Li Yutang, stunned and didn't know what to say. Yu Yaofang looked at Li Yutang with a strange expression, raised her head and glanced at Li Tian, ​​who put a hand between her eyebrows, and Li Tian coughed softly and said politely: " I don’t know how to address this elder sister, so I don’t dare to take it seriously, the two of us and Wu Niangzi have been close friends since we were young, so we can’t say whether we are negligent or not, this elder sister is being polite.”

"That's good, that's good. My girlfriend's name is Yutang. Xing Si, you are Mrs. Yu? This little lady is so outstanding, she must be Mrs. Lin! Tsk tsk, she is really like a flower, we all They are very close relatives, and the second lady Lin should come and walk around more often." Li Yutang didn't need to be moved at all, and sat on the kang with a golden knife, swept around, beckoned Qingzhi to reprimand: "Look, here is such an honored guest. There is no tea or snacks. Our family has never treated guests like this. You have lost the face of the Hou Mansion. Hurry up, just say what I say, and let everyone Hurry up and send some good snacks from the kitchen."

Qing Zhi was not willing to raise her stuffy head, she bent her knees and backed out, she just fanned her handkerchief a few times while standing in the porch, before she could catch her breath, Yin Hua ran into the Hanging Flower Gate with her skirt in her hand and shouted: " Fifth Lady, Second Lady has come to see you too." Before the words finished, Second Lady Li Zhulan entered the Hanging Flower Gate with her handkerchief thrown. Walking in style, she is quite charming, and there is often a teardrop hanging from the corner of her eye, which makes people dare not show mercy.

Li Tian looked at the second lady who came in with weak willows and Fufeng all the way, but it didn't matter, since there were too many lice, it didn't itch anymore.

Li Yutang looked at the second lady in disgust, and before she could say anything, he pointed to Li Zhulan and introduced, "She is the second lady Li Zhulan, born to my aunt, so there is no need to be polite to her."

This time, Yu Yaofang's eyes widened. It was the first time she saw someone so rude, but Lin Ke looked at Li Yutang with a smile. She hadn't seen such an interesting idiot for many years. Interesting!
"By the way, what did you just say? I'll listen too." Li Yutang turned his head, looked at Lin Ke and Yu Yaofang with great interest and said, Lin Ke rolled his eyes slightly, looked at her and said with a smile: "We were just talking, tomorrow There is a Chrysanthemum Tasting Party at Duke Wen’s mansion, but it’s a pity that Sister Tian can’t go.”

"Why don't I go for Fifth Sister." Li Yutang's eyes lit up: "Speaking of which, Duke Wen's Wu family is still my natal family."

"Pfft!" Yu Yaofang was too lazy to talk to Li Yutang, just picked up the cup and took a sip of tea, and then all of a sudden, Lin Ke didn't pay attention to Li Yutang, stomped his feet on the spot and laughed, and Li Tian had black lines all over his head, so he had to wave his hands Signaling Yu Yaofang to take Lin Ke away first, Yu Yaofang wiped her hands with a handkerchief, turned her head and said to Lin Ke, "Sister Tian is busy today, let's go back first." Lin Ke couldn't stop laughing, and Yu Yaofang pulled her up and dragged her. Follow her to go out.

Li Tian turned his head and glanced at Li Zhulan who was covering her sneering face with a handkerchief, and said: "I'm keeping a filial piety for my grandma, so it's inconvenient to receive guests. Please forgive me for my incompetence, so I won't keep my second sister." Li Zhulan glanced at Li Yutang, whose face was flushed by Lin Ke's smile, stood up and politely said goodbye.

(End of this chapter)