Rebirth of the first courtier

The founding emperor of Dayu used to think that the annual holidays of the previous dynasty were too few, so he directly changed the holidays of the New Year officials from the junior year to the Shangyuan Festival, so that all officials from other places could go home to worship their ancestors.

After Hu Li heard it, he pretended to be emotional and said: "The founding emperor is really kind. Brother Xiao, you said that the Chinese New Year holiday in the previous dynasty was only three days. Doesn't that mean that some adults can't go back to their hometown?"

"Well, that's right." Xiao Qi'ao handed the not-so-heated hand stove to Shuzhu, "But at first, Emperor Shizu just wanted to get away because he was constantly irritated by the ministers during the New Year. That’s why this regulation was made.”

"Ah!" Hu Li blinked in surprise, and looked at Xiao Qi'ao in disbelief, "Brother Xiao, how did you know?"

Xiao Qi'ao smiled and said nothing, how did he know?Because he once read part of the royal collection, which had records.

"Young master, the stove is going to be sacrificed. Didn't you say you wanted to see it yesterday?" Qiu Xi ran in from the outside like the wind, and immediately suppressed the smile on her face when she saw Xiao Qi'ao, and saluted respectfully, " I have seen the young master."

Hu Li looked at Xiao Qi'ao excitedly, "Brother Xiao, I haven't seen how to sacrifice stoves yet?"

Xiao Qi'ao stood up and led Hu Li outside, "Let's go, don't you want to see the sacrificial stove?"

Shuzhu and Qiuxi hurriedly brought over the cloak and cape hanging on the side, put them on Xiao Qiao and Hu Li, wrapped the refilled hand stove and put it in the hands of Xiao Qiao and Hu Li.

Sacrifice to the stove was actually not as lively as Hu Li had imagined. Mother Xiao was being supervised by the old lady for a while. Although the power of housekeeping was still in Mother Xiao's hands, it was not as easy to use as before.Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the stove, it was just the butler of Xiao's mansion and a few chefs who were about to prepare the sacrifices for the Kitchen God.

Xiao Qi'ao and Hu Li came over and stunned the housekeeper and several chefs, they were clean, there were only two young masters in the house, and the eldest master was not even a little bit better than the second young master.As long as he is not blind, he will not follow the wrong person as long as he is not blind to whom this Xiao Mansion will belong to in the future, so the arrival of Xiao Qi'ao cheers up the butler's heart.

Originally, he only planned to prepare a lot of things in the kitchen according to the housekeeper who came to worship the stove in previous years. Hu Li, who was already drooling, really didn't take his eyes off the tributes for a moment.

Xiao Qi'ao had no choice but to ask the kitchen to distribute some for him, the butler saw Xiao Qi'ao's indulgence to Hu Li, suppressed the words that came to his mouth, and turned around in his heart.

Eldest young master, that is a tribute to the Kitchen God, so you just distributed it to the young master? !Is it really okay for you to pamper the little boy like this? !

Xiao Qi'ao looked at Hu Li squinting his eyes and eating deliciously, and thought, it seems that everything made in the kitchen in the past few days must be sent to Hu Li.

Hu Li thought of the god's punishment that his grandfather said before, but he was always curious about the gods in the sky. While eating the crispy and delicious roasted pig's trotters, he thought, it would be great if the kitchen god could come out and let him meet.

The Kitchen God, who was enjoying the offering, sneezed suddenly, and Tong Er, who was serving at the side, quickly handed over a handkerchief. The Kitchen God blew his nose, his round belly twitched, and muttered, "Twelfth lunar month 23 is really a day. What a disaster!"

Tong'er twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking that you ate the most on this day!

Of course, Hu Li is now gnawing on the pig's trotters like a kitchen god, and Hu Li doesn't understand about offering sacrifices to the stove. Although he is very curious, he happily followed Xiao Qi'ao to the old lady's place for lunch in the end.

The old lady was telling Nanny Yu that she would call all the juniors back tomorrow so that they could have a gathering together when the new year was approaching.

"Look, the young master and the young master are here without talking about it? It can be seen that people can't help talking about it." Nanny Yu greeted the two with a smile, and the old lady smiled and clapped her hands, "That's not true, Hurry up and do it. Ouch, Xiao Li has gained some weight this winter, it seems that Qi Ao has a lot of food for you."

Hu Li was pinched on the cheek by the old lady, and his words were a little unclear, "Old lady, brother Xiao said two days ago that he would take my chicken leg."

The old lady laughed, and didn't dislike Hu Li's mouthful of fat from the roasted pig's trotters just now, she directly hugged her into her arms, laughing non-stop, "Oh, you little monkey, you should let Qi Ao let you down." Eat some."

Hu Li pouted, looked at the narrowed eyes of Xiao Qi'ao who was laughing at the side, and turned his eyes, "Old lady, brother Xiao said that he has prepared something for you, please ask him to take it out and have a look."

The old lady smiled and looked at Xiao Qi'ao, "Oh? What have you prepared?"

Xiao Qi'ao pulled Hu Li out of the old lady's embrace, smiled and patted the top of his hair, "It was originally a New Year's gift for grandma, grandma wanted to see it, so my grandson will get it." As he spoke, he asked for the bamboo to fetch it.

The old lady waved her hand and called the man back, "Since it's an annual ceremony, of course it's most appropriate to give it on the first day of the new year."

Xiao Qi'ao smiled without saying a word, and asked his servants to come over with a wet handkerchief to clean his hands, and then squeezed his soft palms.

On the second day, except for Xiao Jingshu who couldn't come back casually at Qi's house, Xiao Qiao, Xiao Hongyong in the barracks, Xiao Jinghao who had been with the old lady, and Hu Li who followed Xiao Qiao all gathered at the old lady.

Because Xiao Qi'ao went to the reception of Master Lin of the Imperial Academy yesterday, he still had a headache when he got up early in the morning. Although his capacity for alcohol was not bad, after several adults were happy after drinking, he was extremely unreasonable.Seeing that Xiao Qi'ao was relatively sober, the last few people took turns to get Xiao Qi'ao drunk.

It was Hu Li who brought him back with Shu Zhu, Hu Li had never seen Xiao Qi'ao drunk, and his handsome face turned red because of drunkenness, Hu Li thought blankly, Brother Xiao is the most beautiful person he has ever seen besides his grandfather.

When Xiao Hongyong came back, he ran into Xiao Qi'ao by chance, and had a cup of tea before going to the old lady's courtyard together. As for what they talked about, only God knows and the two of them know.

In addition, Hu Li, who trained Chiji to unconsciously eavesdrop when speaking!

Because the old lady hadn't called the juniors together like this for a long time, Father Xiao also came over at noon. Although his heirs were not abundant, every child was quite obedient.In time, Xiao Jingshu took care of everything except that kind of thing properly, so when Father Xiao saw his children sitting and talking together, his heart was filled with joy.

"Madam is not in good health this year. Mother is taking care of many things during the New Year's Eve. My son thought to himself, after the New Year, I will send you back to my grandfather's house." Sitting beside the old lady, Father Xiao whispered .

The expression on the old lady's face did not change, but a trace of nostalgia and sigh flashed in her eyes, "No, your uncle wrote a letter, and the past two years there have not been peaceful."

Father Xiao was taken aback when he heard the words, "Mom hasn't been back for more than ten years, so uncle must miss you too."

The old lady waved her hands, seeing Xiao Qi'ao hugging Xiao Qi'ao with a smile after being thrown onto her body by Hu Li, a trace of unknown emotion flashed in her eyes, "Let's talk about it, Qi'ao will be seventeen after the new year, It's time to find a good girl and settle down."

Father Xiao frowned, and turned to look at his eldest son, "My son thinks that this matter should be left to Qi Ao himself, I hope he can find someone who is sincere."

These words surprised the old lady, but thinking of the Qi family, the old lady nodded, but looked at Hu Li with a vague look, "Forget it, although Qi Ao has been sensible since childhood, we still have to be cautious when it comes to marriage. , let’s follow him for a few more years.”

The old lady smiled. After these days, she also knew that Hu Li was a good boy, but it was just a child's heart.But Qi'ao's attitude made her a little worried, but she believed that Qi'ao would choose what was best for him.

If the final result is really as she expected, then it can be regarded as destiny.

At this moment, Hu Li suddenly turned his head to look at the old lady, and frowned suspiciously when he saw the old lady and Father Xiao talking with a smile.Is the old lady going to find a wife for Brother Xiao?Well, Brother Xiao's wife should be as good-looking as Brother Xiao, and capable of doing things.

"What are you thinking? You are frowning so tightly."

"Hey, it's nothing." Hu Li hurriedly turned his head, "Brother Xiao, what kind of girl do you like?"

Hu Li's blunt words made the other two look at him in surprise, Xiao Qi'ao said with a smile: "Why do you ask this, does Xiao Li want to be my matchmaker?"

Hu Li wrinkled his nose and shook his head, "No, the old lady said just now that she wanted to find a wife for Brother Xiao. I was wondering what kind of wife Little Brother would like?"

Xiao Qi'ao was taken aback for a moment, thinking of his wife and child who had been pregnant for six months in his previous life but both mother and child died, and suddenly found that he was a little fuzzy about her appearance.

"Of course I like it."

Hu Li frowned, and turned to look at Xiao Hongyong who was standing aside, "Hongyong, what do you like?"

Xiao Hongyong blushed a little, and after being seen by sharp-eyed Hu Li, he said in surprise: "Brother Xiao, look, Hongyong blushed, does he have a woman he likes?"

Xiao Qi'ao thought that Xiao Hongyong should have met General Yu's daughter by now, so he also looked at Xiao Hongyong jokingly, and even Xiao Jinghao who had been sitting quietly listening to their conversation looked at Xiao Hongyong curiously.

Xiao Hongyong stammered a rare moment, "Don't...don't talk nonsense."

Hu Li seemed to have discovered a new continent, he laughed, "Brother Xiao, Hongyong really has a woman he likes."

With this voice, Father Xiao and the old lady who were talking on the other side were called to look over, "Does Hongyong have a girl he likes? Whose girl is it?"

Xiao Hongyong's blushing face turned red again, and he stammered, "Grandmother, father...father."

"Don't be shy, whose family is the girl, so that grandma can help you take a look."

Xiao Hongyong pursed his lips. He knew that if his grandmother could help with the arrangements, it would be the best for his marriage. In the end, although he was a little shy, "It's Miss Yu, the youngest daughter of General Yu of the army that my grandson belongs to."

The old lady thought about this young lady for a while, and after confirming that she had never heard anything bad about this young lady, she smiled and said: "Okay, after Chinese New Year, grandma invited her to come to the house as a guest."

Xiao Hongyong blushed and nodded, Hu Li leaned into Xiao Qi'ao's ear with a smile, and whispered: "Brother Xiao, will you be like this when you have someone you like?"

Xiao Qi'ao looked at Hu Li inexplicably.