in spring

Chapter 194 Talking in the Car
Chunying clearly remembered that Guanshi Cai said not long ago that Hu Fei was seriously ill in the south, so he couldn't go back to Beijing with them.She thought that she would not see this old friend in a short time.

However, he suddenly appeared in front of her like this, which made her wonder if she was hallucinating?She asked stupidly, "Are you really back?"

Hu Fei smiled, sat back, and patted the low chair opposite: "Come up and talk!"

Chunying hesitated: "But Master Xu's side..." She turned to look at the carriage in front of her. Li Xu's family was still coaxing the children, as if they had no idea what was going on behind them, but a middle-aged man standing beside the carriage The man, probably either the coachman or the long follower, glanced at her secretly, then turned his head quickly.

A female voice came faintly from the carriage, saying that the child was probably hungry and it would be inconvenient to go outside, so it was suggested to take the child home first, so as to avoid people feeding the child.

Next, the people in the carriage seemed to have no idea that there were companions behind them, they creaked and started to go forward, and stopped in front of the four-bedroom house in the middle of the back street. Chang Sui ran to knock on the door.After a while, a servant came out of the door, Li Xu opened the curtain and shouted a few words, the servant hurriedly opened the door to welcome him in, then called a little boy who was playing nearby, and let him go to Wang's house Zhaizi reported to his wife and young master.

From the beginning to the end, the young master Li Xu didn't even look at the carriage behind, and the people following him didn't ask a question.If Chunying still doesn't know what's going on, she's out of her mind.Speaking of which, although the fourth house is not as prestigious as the Hou's mansion, it still has some money. There are more than a dozen servants in the family. With his wife and children, he parked the carriage on the side of the road, and couldn't even go in for a drink of water.How could she believe it so easily just now? !
She gave Hu Fei a sideways look, curled her lips, but secretly smiled, pushed the floor of the car neatly, jumped on it, and then quickly burrowed into the car, and Hu Fei casually put down the curtain.

The light in the carriage was much darker, but Hu Fei lifted the curtains again, leaving only a layer of tulle to breathe, and the surroundings became bright again.He changed his sitting posture, stretched his legs and feet a little more relaxed, and smiled at Chunying: "Didn't it scare you? That is my friend, and I came to Beijing on his boat this time. Because I If I want to see you secretly, I ask him to cover it up."

She guessed it even if he didn't say it.When Hu Fei was still a young man with a mustache on purpose to pretend to be an adult, he made friends with that young master Xu and seemed to often drink together.On the night of the Lantern Festival that year, she went out to watch the lanterns, and met a frivolous man in front of the restaurant, maybe it was this young master Xu.It's just that he was a few years older and calm again, so she didn't recognize him at all.

Chunying stared at Hu Fei, and said angrily: "Do you need to be so secretive? You are not shameless, why don't you look for me openly? Otherwise, you can find the second uncle?" Without waiting for Hu Fei's answer, she He remembered the other party's condition again: "I heard from Guanshi Zhou and Guanshi Cai that you are sick, is it okay? Are you well now?!"

Hu Fei was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "It's been a long time ago. How about you? How have you been these past few years? I think you look good, but why have you lost weight?"

Chunying smiled and said: "How could it be? I have grown taller, so I look thinner, but I am actually a little chubby!" Then she asked worriedly: "Is your illness really cured? Manager Zhou Said that you didn't pay attention to make the condition worse, are you really okay?"

Hu Fei was in a very happy mood, and said casually: "It's actually just a minor cold. I didn't want to go on the road with them, so I deliberately pretended to be seriously ill to coax them. In fact, I was already cured when they got on the boat."

Chunying was a little puzzled: "Why is this? You hate them?" Thinking about Guanshi Cai, she felt the same way: "That's right, that Guanshi Zhou is okay, but Guanshi Cai's temper is too weird. People feel uncomfortable!"

"Have you seen them?" Hu Fei frowned, "But they visited Miss Huo after they came to Beijing? I just heard you tell Brother Xu that you are now Miss Huo's girl - aren't you Do you work as an errand in the courtyard of the third young master of the Hou Mansion?"

"After returning to the mansion, I was transferred to Miss Biao's side." Chun Ying replied, "As for the two stewards, it's a long story. I was almost betrothed by the miss to that steward Cai! Think about it." Just be afraid!"

Hu Fei was stunned, and his face gradually turned livid: "What's going on?!"

Chunying only thought that he was angry for herself, so she briefly explained what had happened, and then said: "Later, Miss Biao knew that he had promised marriage outside, but she kept it from the mansion, trying to trick a girl into going back to be a concubine. , got angry, and personally issued an order that the maidservant of the family is not allowed to marry him! This marriage will be over. Thinking about it, I feel lucky. Fortunately, he offended the young lady, so that Shi'er and I escaped unharmed! "

Hu Fei twitched the corner of his mouth, showing a sneer: "Even if he didn't offend Ms. Huo, he wouldn't be able to jump around for long! Fortunately, he was confused, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Chunying looked at Hu Fei suspiciously, feeling that his expression at this moment seemed very strange.

Hu Fei seemed to have noticed Chunying's gaze, quickly put away his sarcasm, and smiled: "Do you know why he and Zhou Guanshi were sent back to Beijing? You take it as a good thing?"

"Isn't it a good thing?" Chunying was puzzled. "Today is the day when Guanshi Zhou married Nanqi. Others say that Guanshi Zhou has already obtained an official position. It seems to be some kind of deputy promotion? To become an official in a single leap can be regarded as a triple jump, isn't that good?"

"That's Lao Zhou. He treats people honestly and is thoughtful, so he gets rewarded. As for Fatty Cai..." Hu Fei raised his lips, "The fleet's income has dropped a lot in the past two years. The old man filled his pockets, but he didn't know whether it was Lao Zhou or Cai Fatty, so he recalled both of them to Beijing. Now it must be because Cai Fatty was found to be unclean, so he was demoted. In fact, it’s just an assistant official.”

Chunying's eyes widened, gloating: "It's okay, it's okay, I don't like that fat man talking in a weird way, and he obviously has the intention of being a good girl, but he still eats what's in the bowl and looks at what's in the pot." , Do you think you are Pan An alive?! He deserves to be unlucky! Does he have a disagreement with you? From the tone of his speech, it seems that he doesn't like you very much. "

Hu Fei smiled, and changed the topic: "Let's not mention the spoiler, anyway, he is down and out now, so he can't hinder our eyes. Tell me how you have been in the past few years? That Miss Huo... no Would it be too mean to you? She wants to promise you to Fatty Cai, which is really too much! Fatty Cai is just a little clever, greedy and vulgar. He said he didn't marry a wife, but in fact he had already taken several concubines in the south Room, the last time I went to sea, I hired a Japanese girl in Ryukyu, how can a person like him be worthy of you? Miss Huo has no vision!"

Chun Ying was very angry when she heard this: "What?! I thought he was just a scumbag, but I didn't expect him to be the best!"

"What's the best?"

"No, it's nothing." Chun Ying coughed lightly, "Because of this incident, I feel discouraged towards Miss Biao. No matter how friendly she is usually, Miss is always superior. I dare not treat her because of my status." Complaining, I have no choice but to vomit bitterness to you good friends in private."

Hu Fei frowned dissatisfied when he heard this: "Actually, it seems to be the habit of the Huo family to give their maids to stewards as wives. The wives of several fleet stewards I know are all Huo family maids. They are all served by the wives, only Lao Zhou's deceased wife was married outside, and I heard that she was only allowed to enter the mansion to pay her respects after a full year of marriage. This is probably the rule of his family."

Chunying thought about it carefully, and found that this was indeed the case. Jinxiu, Linglong, Tanxiang and others were all in charge of the marriage, but she was still very upset: "What's the big deal about the rules? I just don't like her meddling in my marriage affairs!"

"That's right!" Hu Fei laughed. "It's so strange. I obviously didn't mention Fatty Cai, so why did I mention him again? Back to the topic, how have you been these past few years?"

"It's not like that. Now I'm slowly learning to be good, and I know a lot of things, but I feel that such a life is more and more boring." Chunying sighed, and grabbed Hu Fei's sleeve with a smile, "tell me Tell me about your trip abroad?! You must have seen many interesting things outside, right?"

Hu Fei nodded stiffly, and straightened up uncomfortably. Chunying felt strange, and was about to ask him what was wrong, but suddenly found that the sleeves and fabrics she was grabbing looked familiar. This was not the dark brown muslin she made for him back then. Straight?The clothes were a little gray from the washing, and the black silk sash around his waist was also half-worn. Although he looked in good spirits, this outfit didn't look like he was well-dressed.He is black and thin now, and he seems to have suffered a lot. You must know that when they set up a stall at the gate of the city under the sun and rain, he was much fatter than now!

Chunying said sadly: "You have suffered a lot outside, right? In fact, wealth and so on are just floating clouds. Why don't you come back to Beijing? At least you can live a more stable life."

Hu Fei was stunned, and smiled faintly: "It doesn't matter, no matter how hard the days are, we can get over it. There are too many noble people in Beijing, so it's better to do business in the south."

"Are you worried about the Hu family?" Chunying grabbed the sleeve and moved closer, "Don't worry, the Hu family is not as good as it used to be. Do you still remember that your eldest brother once took refuge in a high official?" What? Last year, the official went to prison for a crime. The Hu family had no reliance, and spent a lot of money to pick him out. He was pretending to be his grandson because he was afraid of being held accountable. Now even Grand Master Liang has to be careful, you Even if the eldest brother knows that you have returned to the capital, he will not dare to blatantly harm you. If you are worried that he will do something behind the scenes, you can say hello to my second uncle and the others, and borrow the power of the Hou family? Otherwise, the Huo family will do as well. I remember that the second master of the Huo family seems to have a very well-known teacher."

After hearing this, Hu Fei didn't show any surprise on his face: "I've heard it all, don't worry, those people can't do anything to me now, it's just that I have established a firm foothold in the south and bought some property. I thought it would be easier to make a living there, so I decided to settle down there."

Chunying didn't know whether it was disappointment or happiness: "Really? That's really good, you can finally live a good life. Then what's the matter with your outfit? Do you dress plainly on purpose to show that you don't forget the past?"

Hu Fei laughed and said: "This is to deceive people. I was supposed to leave for another two months when I return to Beijing this time, but I have something to do, so I left early without telling people. Even your young master and the Huo family are afraid I don’t know, and you don’t want to mention it to your family.” After a pause, his eyes softened a little: “I wanted to see you after the business was over, but I was worried that you didn’t know how you were going, so I still couldn’t help it. I'm here to see you."

Chun Ying felt a little strange, shook her head, thought it was an illusion, then smiled and said: "I'm doing well, you don't have to worry." Then she wondered, "What do you have to do? You really can't let people do you know?"

Hu Fei smiled: "Actually, it's nothing. In the past few years, I have followed the fleet and traveled to Nanyang twice, and I have gained some knowledge. But the Huo family fleet has changed owners, and the newcomers have trouble with the people below. I don’t know, it’s annoying. After the matter is finally settled, there are a few newcomers who want to take the idea of ​​​​the fleet. Those people are in a daze, and they don’t know that there is a god watching them. Let’s just see how unlucky they are! I will come Meet the gods, see if you can fight among them, maybe you can get some benefits."

Chun Ying was confused when she heard that, and only asked: "Will it be dangerous? If it's too dangerous, let's forget it?"

"It's okay, I know what's on my mind."

Chun Ying saw that he was determined, so she had no choice but to stop asking, but she still felt strange: "You said you can't let my family and the young master know, what is the reason? Could it be that they are involved in the matter? You can't Mess! My second uncle is messing around with the young master now!"

Hu Fei hurriedly said: "How could it be? Didn't I avenge my kindness? Don't worry, it won't bother the young master and the Huo family. They will get a penny of money. I came back early, just... He hesitated for a moment, "Make some preparations... The Hu family..." He didn't say any more.

Chun Ying somewhat understood that this was Hu Fei's knot in his heart, and she couldn't persuade him too much, so she had to remind him: "Remember to keep calm, and don't hurt yourself just for revenge. Your parents still expect you to live a good life Woolen cloth."

Hu Fei smiled and nodded, remained silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and asked, "Sister Xiaochun, when I finish my work, you...would you like to go back to the south with me?"

Chunying was taken aback, and he immediately said: "Actually... you prefer the life outside the residence?" He looked at Chunying sincerely, as if expecting her to nod her head immediately, but Chunying remained silent.

(End of this chapter)