Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 211 Cold Food
Li Ding listened to his father's question, and replied with a smile: "I can't blame my father for saying that my uncle treats people generously. This year's Cao family's birthday gift is [-]% richer than in previous years!"

Li Xu shook his head: "I have been dissatisfied with my father for most of my life, and now I really don't know what to say! Thinking about the friendship between the Cao family and our Li family when they beat your grandfather, this counts for decades! Because your uncle has always loved to study knowledge and was not keen on dealing with officialdom, as a father he looked down on him very much, thinking that he was not inferior to him in any way! Looking at it now, it is this tolerance, as a father It is also better than him!"

After listening to his father's words, Li Ding's expression was a little stiff, as if he had a few mice in his heart, he just felt messy and clueless.

It is also from the Baoyi family, now that others in the Li family dare to neglect, who would dare to be in the Cao family?Not to mention Cao Yin, even if Cao Yong went to the north to take up his post, the scenery along the way has already been reported to Li's family.

19-year-old Daotai, how many people have there been since the founding of the Qing Dynasty?Why, why, just because you married the princess, and your sister married the **** mansion?From this point of view, the Li family is the serious relatives of the emperor. His eldest sister entered the palace in the early years, but died of illness the next year because of poor fortune.Isn't the concubine Wang in the palace now a close relative of the Li family, who entered the palace through the Li family?

Li Ding thought about this, and the resentment in his heart could not be dissipated.Because of his dissatisfaction, he even began to doubt Cao Yin. If the Cao family hadn't been in the way, how could his father, the head of the General Administration Department, have resigned after only half a year?Not to mention, it was the Cao family's in-laws, the Sun family, who took over.

Li Xu didn't notice his son's dissatisfaction, and said to himself: "Galli is going to fall, and it will be difficult for Zhang Boxing to stay in Jiangnan! Tsk tsk, since they started tearing each other down in 48, there have been signs of it, which is lamentable. My father was really greedy, so he insisted on joining in! Look at the Cao family, your uncle is sick and obsessed with Buddhism, so he hides away. It was their second room who unintentionally took in someone who had something similar to the governor's mansion. The concubines who are involved are all just 'postpartum sudden death' in the end, and they don't care about half of the relationship! As a father, I always boast that I am no worse than your uncle, but now I have missed several tricks!" At the end, I was very sad.

Li Ding said seriously: "Father, why should you be so arrogant about yourself? If the Cao family didn't have the previous plan, how could they have the power they have today? If we say that we are not as good as the Cao family, it is just that we can't lose face and learn from the Cao family. , it is 'changing properties for sale', and 'a filial son and a loving father'. They take turns to play the game! If you are really poor, what is the birthday gift? First, you sell your property, put on a posture of repaying the debt, and then create a tea garden , so that it is difficult for Long Live God to interfere easily. Taking advantage of the country's tea, the Cao family's furniture is fattened, this is the "loyal servant" praised by Long Live God!"

Li Xu frowned after hearing this.He has known Mr. Cao Yin for more than 40 years, and he still has some understanding of his personality.Although Cao Yin is more cautious and thoughtful, he is not the hypocritical, artificial, and greedy person his son said.

Thinking of Cao Yong's indifferent attitude when facing his accusations, and seeing his son's slightly mean face at this time, Li Xu suddenly felt a wave of evil fire in his stomach.He gave Li Ding a hard look, and said angrily, "Nonsense, Uncle Cao is your elder, how can you be so disrespectful? Can you, a junior, say such nonsense?"

Seeing that his father was annoyed, Li Ding quickly stood up and stood with his hands down.After Li Xu had finished reprimanding him, he muttered: "It's not that the son intends to defend himself, it's just that uncle is not the only one in the Cao family!"

Li Xu was taken aback when he heard the words, squinted his eyes, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Now, my father and your Cao family uncle are both old, what happens to the two families in the future depends on your generation! The case of Gali has come to an end, and the matter of retiring the engagement was cold, you should go to Beijing too! The eldest son of the grandson has also come to Beijing, and your elder brother should have been allowed to go, and your elder brother has such a character! If you are in Jiangnan Fortunately, being a father can still protect him; if he enters the capital, he will not be swallowed alive!"

Hearing what his father said, Li Ding was afraid that the Li family would be handed over to him in the future. He was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Father, don't worry, the cousin of the Cao family and his son are close relatives, how can we be estranged? Although the son is young It's longer, but I value this cousin very much, so getting close to him will be indispensable in the future!"

The father and son, with a good idea in their hearts, thought of the prosperity of the Li family in the future, looked at each other and smiled, and the haze that had been hidden for a long time dissipated immediately.

*
Shandong, Yizhou, Daotai Yamen, Pianting.

Cao Yong sneezed several times in succession, and his face was flushed. Looking at the two Juren sitting across from him, he was a little embarrassed, coughed, and said to them: "I still have some chores, excuse me first." ! If you have any questions, you two can just ask Mr. Zhuang!"

Those two people hurriedly stood up, cupped their hands and said, "Respectfully send off, Your Excellency!"

Cao Yong glanced at Mr. Zhuang who was holding back a smile, made a slight gesture, and got up first to go out.

This is good, as soon as he left the side hall, Cao Yong's sneezing began again.He walked into the yard, took out his handkerchief, wiped the spittle that accidentally splashed out, and said to himself with some doubts: "Who is this talking about me, why is it endless?"

It happened that Cao Song came back from outside and saw his brother standing in the yard, and asked, "Didn't you say you want to find a criminal name? Why is brother here?"

Cao Yong pointed to the side hall: "Just came out, sir is here!" Speaking of this, he looked at Cao Song's attire, and saw that he was wearing a coarse cloth jacket: "Why is he dressed like this, and he went out to hunt in the city? Didn't see you Bring something back?"

Qingming is coming soon, and it is a cool and clear day with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. A few willows in the yard are swaying gently, which makes people feel very comfortable.

Cao Song raised his chin, patted his chest and said, "Brother, my brother is having fun now! I didn't expect that there are more martial arts gyms in such a small place than ours in Jiangning! I went out to see two of them today, tomorrow I still have to go and have a look, find a good one, not only can I learn some kung fu, but it is also convenient for my brother to order people around here!"

Cao Yong nodded: "It's good if you have this thought, but if you want to pass martial arts, the main thing is to look at riding and archery and strategy theory, but you can't be sloppy in these things!"

Cao Song felt a little uncomfortable when he heard this, touched his cheeks, and said wistfully, "There are still three years left, so why worry about it!"

Last year, Cao Song participated in the provincial martial arts examination in Zhili. Because his wisdom teeth were being replaced, his face was swollen and his head hurt like hell.When it came to riding and shooting, he didn't perform well, so he fell off the list.

"Who said we have to wait for three years?" Cao Yong patted his forehead: "This year's Longevity Festival is different from usual. It is [-] years old. If there are no accidents, it is likely that Jia Enke will be there!"

Cao Song's eyes lit up, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother, really? You didn't lie to anyone?"

Just as Cao Yong was about to speak, he sneezed twice again, and then glanced at Cao Song: "I didn't see that I'm going to be busy here, what are you doing to coax you? If Enke is added, it will be for the autumn and winter exams, and the rural exams will probably be passed. Arranged in February or March, this is only a year's work, you have to know it!"

Cao Song hastily agreed: "Understood, let's go back to the yard. From now on, I will learn how to shoot more arrows every day when my brother was a child! No matter what happens, don't miss the target!"

Cao Yong saw that he was eager to try and couldn't stand up, so he smiled and waved his hands: "Well, well, go! Go!"

Cao Song ran out a few steps, and then remembered about "Jing'er". Is that ugly girl really a cousin of Cao's family?Looking back, seeing that my brother had already gone to the inner courtyard, I didn't bother to think about it anymore, and went back to the courtyard to find someone to set a target.

*
Inner courtyard, main room.

Chuyu and Zijing are discussing about the festival. Tomorrow is the Cold Food Festival, and the day after tomorrow is Qingming.Speaking of which, it was the first festival after arriving in Yizhou, and the two of them wanted to make arrangements for it.

Qingming is going to sweep the tomb, but where is the tomb of the Cao family around here?Chu Yu was originally kind-hearted, and wanted to pray for the child in her womb, so she thought of donating some money to the Puji Hall and the Yoying Hall.

Pujitang is for adopting orphans and poor people from other lands, and Yuyingtang is for adopting abandoned babies. There are two places in most counties.According to the custom in the north, the Puji Hall and the Yuying Hall will go to the wild to collect the exposed skeletons on Qingming Day, and ask the monks to perform rituals, so that these lonely ghosts can be reincarnated as soon as possible. This is called "forgive orphans".

When Cao Yong came in, he just heard it, and he praised him very much, but what he meant was not to donate money to the two places of practice, but to send some rice, grain, meat, vegetables, etc. to make these homeless people have a good festival .

After Zijing heard this, she smiled and said to Chuyu: "Look at this servant, the kindness between the uncle and the princess is very similar to the old lady who has gone! Before the old lady was alive, every Qingming also thought about the lonely and poor outside! "

In a word, Cao Yong also thought of his grandmother, and said to Zijing and Chuyu: "Although this place is not close to our ancestral grave, it is not too far away. When the old lady dies this year, let's see if we can round up the grave. !"

Chu Yu nodded in approval, Zijing regretted her slip of the tongue, and said in a different way: "The arrangements for the Qingming Festival are in order, and there is also the Cold Food Festival, and all the things you need for the day will be ready in the next afternoon! This pasta, porridge Ah, what, do the uncle and the princess want to chew it!"

Cao Yong thought about the prohibition of fire during the cold food festival, looked at Chuyu's flat stomach, and felt a little worried, just wanted to ask Zijing whether it is safe to eat cold food like this, but then thought that Zijing is a girl's family, how can she know these things?After thinking about it, he looked a little hesitant.

Chuyu has been married to him for more than a year, and seeing his worry, he said with a smile, "It's because I'm impatient and greasy. Chinese toon sprouts mixed with gluten, and young willow sprouts mixed with tofu are Chuyu's favorite foods!"

*
The capital, Pingjun Wangfu, inner house.

Baoya sat in front of the window, staring at the crabapple flowers in the yard in a daze, and waited until the spring breeze suddenly picked up, making the delicate crabapple sway, and finally fell to the ground with two petals.Her heart tightened, she felt that she was the only one left in the world, she couldn't cry, she couldn't sigh, her chest was stuffed with a ball of cotton, it was so oppressive...

Lingque came in with a bowl of milk, and put it in front of Baoya: "Gege, you should use less breakfast, drink a bowl of milk! There are two more months... You must take good care of your body!"

Baoya turned around, tilted her head to look at the sparrow, and said with a smile: "Look, this is not a big deal, she has become a housekeeper! All the royal palaces in the capital are counted, who else is as good as me?" Such a strong body!"

Lingque was her maid since she was a child, and she was also going to marry the grassland as a dowry. Hearing Ge Ge teasing herself like this, she couldn't help blushing, and said angrily, "Ge Ge really, Ge Ge can say these words? Be careful not to let the nuns hear you." , It's endless nagging!"

Baoya turned around, looked at the crabapple in the yard, and said in a low voice: "How many days can I chatter... If I have a choice, I would rather die in this palace and let them Nagging forever..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Lingque: "Gege, it's not good to say such things again! This... this..."

Baoya lowered her head: "You are afraid that my word will become a prophecy, don't you know that I am looking forward to this..."

Lingque knew what was on her mind, and her heart ached so badly, her eyes were red, and she didn't know how to unravel for a moment.After all, that thought is absolutely unacceptable, even a girl from an ordinary family is not allowed to be free, not to mention that her master has such a noble status.

Bao Ya patted his face, turned around, picked up the bottle, drank it in one gulp, and said with bright eyes: "The first day of March next year, the Pantao Palace temple fair at Xibianmen, let's pay homage to the Queen Mother of the West! "

Seeing that she was interested in coming, Ling Que replied with a smile: "Yes, Ge Ge ask Fujin, it just so happens that we can go together!"

Bao Ya heard this, and frowned slightly: "If you go with my sister-in-law, where is there any chance to have fun?" Speaking of this, she thought for a while, and said with a smile: "I heard that my sister-in-law has been sour again these two days. Hee hee, don't you want to add another little elder brother?" You sister-in-law thought of Cao Yong and Chu Yu again, and said, "I didn't expect Chu Yu to have a baby, but it's younger than me! Cao Yong I don’t know how to be happy to be Ama!”

Seeing Bao Ya mentioning the child's smiling face, Ling Que asked, "Why, Ge Ge looks greedy? There is no need to rush this, next year at this time..."

After Baoya listened to a few words, Fang felt something was wrong, flushed with embarrassment, and came up to chase the sparrow: "Okay, are you kidding me? See if I don't twist your mouth..."

Two masters and servants, fighting and making noise, seemed to dispel the loneliness in the room.
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(End of this chapter)