The return of Fengxi of the Red Chamber

Naturally, Wang Xifeng also understood what Jia Lian hadn't said, and immediately ordered: "Laiwang and his wife go down to have a rest first. I promise you three days off, so you don't have to come to serve me. Lin Zhixiao's family, go and prepare two carriages." , bring hot tea and hot soup, and follow me to the gate of the palace to welcome Second Lord Lian."

After hearing this, Jia Shishi looked at her nearly six-month-old belly, feeling a little worried.

"It's windy and snowy, and the road is slippery. How can you wait at the gate of the palace with your body? In my opinion, it's better to ask Lang Geer and Mao Geer to go there, and send two capable women Follow along with the steward, that's all."

Wang Xifeng thought for a while, and said with a smile: "It's still the ancestor who thought carefully, so we will do as the ancestor said. There is only one thing. Now that the second master is back, I reckon Brother Bao will soon come home, and I will send another A carriage followed, maybe our family will be able to have a reunion dinner tonight."

Naturally, Jia Shishi had nothing to disagree with, and nodded in agreement with a smile.

Wang Xifeng was lethargic during pregnancy, after saying goodbye to Jia Shishi, she lay down and fell asleep not long after returning to the house, and she didn't even have lunch.

When she woke up vaguely, she heard the north wind outside blowing in bursts, howling and beating the glass on the window.After opening his eyes, he saw that the room was dark, except that there seemed to be someone lying on the kang not far away.

"Chunliu, pour me a cup of jujube tea."

The people on the kang seemed to be sleeping very soundly, but they didn't hear or move for a while.

Just as Wang Xifeng was about to get angry, the beaded curtain outside rattled crisply, but it was Xia Zhu who crept in, holding a cup of hot tea in her hand.

Xia Zhu served Wang Xifeng to drink tea, and whispered: "Sister Chunliu has gone to the old lady's house. Grandma has slept for a long time, and it will be Shen time now. The second master has lunch. It's time to get home, after seeing everyone in the mansion, I came back to take a shower, ate something, and fell asleep just now."

Only then did Wang Xifeng suddenly realize that it was Jia Lian who fell asleep on the kang!

She was still a little dazed, and asked in a low voice: "Why didn't you call me up? And let the second master go to the warm pavilion to rest, after all, the kang is a little harder."

Xia Zhu pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Second Master saw that you were sleeping soundly, how could he wake you up. Besides, no matter how good the Nuan Pavilion is, there is no Second Mistress."

Wang Xifeng was not annoyed when she was teased by the maid, she got up lightly, and went to the Nuan Pavilion to freshen up and change clothes.

After changing clothes, Wang Xifeng sat down in the Nuan Pavilion, and Dongxue lifted the curtain and came in: "Grandma, are you hungry? There are all kinds of food in the small kitchen, how about I ask them to bring them here?"

After sleeping for so long, Wang Xifeng was really hungry, so she asked, "What have you prepared in the small kitchen today?"

"Black-bone chicken soup with ginseng and dendrobium, as well as various vegetables from the hot spring village, and a serving of crystal elbow and longjing shrimp. The staple food includes tofu skin buns, three fresh wontons, siu mai and dumplings, and rice is also available."

Wang Xifeng listened to it but was indifferent, feeling that there was no taste, staring at the heavy snow outside, regained his senses, and suddenly said: "These are all tired, change them to fresh ones, let them make a hot pot. Make more Qingcai, I remember that Grandma Liu sent some black fish yesterday, maybe I can make some fish meatballs."

Dongxue hurriedly took orders, and came in with a food box after a while: "Grandma will drink a bowl of black chicken soup to pad her stomach, and the hot pot will take a while."

After finishing speaking, a large bowl of black-bone chicken soup with ginseng and dendrobium, a plate of plum blossom cakes, and a plate of rose cakes were placed on the Kang table.

Wang Xifeng wanted not to eat it, but thinking about the baby in her stomach, she asked Dongxue to fill half a bowl of black chicken soup and drank it slowly.He picked up another piece of plum blossom cake, ate half of it, and put the rest away as usual.

After finishing the soup, Wang Xifeng suddenly remembered something and asked, "Did Second Master Bao take it back?"

Xia Zhu replied from the side: "I'm back, I came back with our second master. It is said that it was only half an hour after the second master entered the palace, someone spread the word that it was the bitter cold on the mountain, and asked the second master Bao to come home too." Rest and recuperate. Lin Zhixiao's family happened to be at the gate of the palace, and after listening to the words, he took someone to Tanyun Temple to pick up the second master Bao's family."

Wang Xifeng hummed noncommittally, but her heart was full of contempt.

This emperor's younger brother is becoming more and more confused now as he gets older, since he wanted to show favor, why didn't he do it in advance.

Now the Jia family, even the most ignorant sister, Qiao, knows that Baoyu is suffering on the mountain.And this bitterness was all bestowed by the royal family. When Jia Lian came back, Jia Baoyu could return home, but Jia Shishi, the old lady, was beaten in the face.

After putting down the soup bowl, Wang Xifeng came out of Huizishen again in a daze, her thoughts were chaotic, but she couldn't figure out what to do, so she simply got up to see Brother Mao and Sister Qiao.

Brother Mao was studying, Wang Xifeng glanced through the window, but did not go in to disturb him.

Sister Qiao, on the other hand, was turning over the flower rope with a few little maids, laughing and joking happily.

Seeing Wang Xifeng coming in, he threw away the flower rope and turned down the kang quickly, hugged Wang Xifeng's thigh and called to his mother: "Mom finally woke up, when father came back, I went to see you, you didn't even know. The father said that it was because the little brother in the belly likes to sleep so much, so even the mother likes to sleep, is it true?"

Wang Xifeng touched her head and nodded with a smile: "That's right, the little brother in her stomach is too small, and she has to sleep for seven or eight hours a day, so mother has to stay with her. When the little brother comes out, Sister Qiao will be able to play with her younger brother, and then she won't have to envy others for having a younger brother."

Sister Qiao pursed her lips and smiled, and got on the kang together with Wang Xifeng, lying on Wang Xifeng's lap to listen to the fetal movement.

After a while, Dong Xue came over and said with a smile: "Grandma, the hot pot in the small kitchen has been prepared, one with black chicken soup base, one with mutton and black fish soup base, both are ready."

"Hot pot, sister Qiao wants to eat it too."

Seeing her daughter's anxious eyes, Wang Xifeng laughed and said: "Is it possible that I didn't have enough at noon, so I am also hungry now? If you want to eat, let's go there together, and Qiuyue will call Mao Geer, and ask him to drink some soup In such a cold weather, if you only focus on practicing calligraphy, your hands will be numb later on."

Thinking that eating hot pot would be fun, Wang Xifeng ordered a few little maids to ask Li Wan, Tanchun, and Xichun if they wanted to come and eat together.

As soon as Wang Xifeng sat down with her two sons and daughters, Tanchun and Xichun came out hand in hand.Li Wan was annoyed, saying that he had eaten too much at noon and was not hungry now, so he didn't come over.

The craftsmanship in Wang Xifeng's small kitchen is naturally good, and the hot pot soup cooked with fish and sheep is also extraordinarily delicious.Since Wang Xifeng was pregnant, she drank too much chicken soup, and now she only cares about cooking fresh vegetables in the soup.

Lian Xichun sighed: "It's strange that the ancients used fish and sheep as fresh food. This black fish and mutton are cooked together, which is really delicious. What's even better is that the green vegetables are fresh and tender, so delicious and sweet to eat."

Tanchun also nodded in agreement, and then said: "It's not easy to get this idea of ​​green vegetables. They are specially cultivated in Xishan Hot Spring Village, and then transported into our mansion every day. I heard that such a plate of green vegetable seedlings outside, You only need three or five taels of silver, and you can’t buy it like this.”

Xichun smacked her tongue when she heard the words, and poured a plate of womb cabbage cores into it by herself: "Then I want to eat more, it's still the right way to eat, the big kitchen sent it over, either fried or stewed , I really can’t taste the original taste.”

"You're so particular, isn't the food in our mansion not good? Today, the second brother Bao and Ming Yan talked about what they ate on the mountain. It's possible that you didn't hear it, and that's the bitterness. "

Tanchun smiled and scolded Xichun, but Xichun stuck out her tongue and stopped talking.

On the contrary, Wang Xifeng heard the words, remembered that Jia Baoyu had returned, and hurriedly asked: "Brother Bao is back, why no one came to call me over? According to the third sister, he suffered a lot on the mountain?"

Tanchun nodded, and said with concern: "Second brother used to be such a lively and laughing person, but now after he came back, he is quiet and doesn't like to talk, and he coughs from time to time, and his face looks pale. .”

"It's more than that. It's even more difficult for Mingyan to talk about." Xichun put down his chopsticks and said anxiously, "You said that it was the second sister-in-law who sent someone to deliver it at the beginning, but all the monks in Tanyun Temple have come down on their own. I don’t even have one out of ten.”

"It is said that the second elder brother wants to eat a bowl of hot rice and drink some hot tea, and he has to pay extra money to buy it. There is not enough charcoal fire in the house, and both the flower sweeper and the hoe have frostbite on their hands."

Tanchun sighed: "The old ancestor seemed to be distressed for something. He asked Sister Tingzhu to take good care of the second brother. There were also a few hoeing medicines. They were all on holiday, and they even rewarded a lot of medicinal materials and ointment, and asked them to raise them. Get well and come back to duty."

Hearing Tanchun and Xichun's gossip, Wang Xifeng's complexion also changed: "This monk from Tanyun Temple is too greedy! Ever since Brother Dabao went to Tanyun Temple to recuperate, everyone in our mansion The monthly expenses there, at least two or three hundred taels of silver, not including the money for the sesame oil offered by the old lady and the lady!"

Tanchun and Xichun are now following the housekeeper, so naturally they all know that the white money and the cartloads of things are sent to Tanyun Temple every now and then.But even so, he didn't get a good one. Baoyu and his close servants really suffered a great crime this time.

Several people were filled with righteous indignation, when suddenly a servant girl came to report that Jia Lian had woken up.

"Ah, the second brother Lian is awake, my fourth sister and I should go back first."

Tanchun's expression was a little teasing, and he wanted to leave while pulling Xichun.

Wang Xifeng glanced at her and said with a smile: "Third young lady who is so narrow-minded, is your second elder brother Lian someone else? My brother and sister have not seen each other for a long time, so it would be good to sit down and have a meal together."

Tanchun and Xichun only pursed their lips and smiled, but after hearing Wang Xifeng's words, they didn't say they wanted to leave.

While talking, Jia Lian lifted the curtain and came in, and said loudly: "When I fell asleep, I smelled a fragrance, and my stomach was rumbling, so I couldn't sleep anymore. You sisters are good at hiding things. Eating hot pot around the stove in winter is nothing more comfortable."

Seeing him coming in, Wang Xifeng and the others stood up, Brother Mao and Sister Qiao rushed over to salute and say hello.Tanchun and Xichun also saluted, and Jia Lian returned with a smile. They then divided the priority and sat down without mentioning it.