embarrassment for man and wife

Today was the time when Zhuo Hua and Xie Junnan returned home, Ziqing got up early in the morning and started to get busy, even Hong'er followed him around.

At a quarter (9:15) Xie Junnan and Zhuohua came to the door, Hong'er had been sitting on the threshold, and when she saw the Xie Manor's carriage approaching, her bored little face instantly brightened: "Third Brother !! Third Brother!!!" Hong'er yelled, got up and rushed towards them.

Zhuo Hua and Xie Junnan jumped into the carriage, and Hong'er plunged into her arms.Holding Hong'er with both hands, Zhuo Hua originally picked him up smoothly, but this idea was only twirled in his mind before being rejected by Zhuo Hua.

Xie Junnan was watching from the side, but he picked up Hong'er without any hassle: "You boy, your third brother is thin, how can he stand up to your pounce, if his feet slip, what should we do?".

Hong'er smiled: "I almost forgot, and I will definitely pay attention to it in the future."

Xie Junnan chuckled, he let go of Hong'er and put Hong'er down, but Hong'er immediately grabbed the two of them and took them to the yard: "Third Brother, come quickly, Second Brother prepared a lot of food early this morning, even I followed along Halfway through."

Zhuo Hua heard it funny, and let Hong'er pull him in the door.

Ziqing was also waiting early in the morning. Seeing that Hong'er had brought Zhuohua and Xie Junnan in, she hurriedly pulled the two of them to the edge of the stove, fearing that they would be frozen, Xie Junnan just smiled and just let Ziqing Looking at it, Zhuohua was dragged by him to look over and over several times.

Zhuo Hua felt a little dizzy, and hurriedly broke away: "Second brother, don't look at me, I'm fine, if you do this again, I'll get dizzy."

"Well, I'm getting fat." Ziqing was satisfied after summing up in two words. .

Zhuo Hua didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Feelings, you drag me around like this just to see if I'm fat?".

Ziqing raised his eyebrows: "Could it be possible that you can lose a piece of meat?".

Zhuohua feigned anger: "What you said is true". .

Xie Junnan shook his head slightly, and then said to Ziqing: "This time I came back with Zhuohua and brought a lot of things, just take a look, where and when are those things put." .

Ziqing was obviously taken aback: "Why did you bring something here?" He patted Zhuohua's head: "You just need to remember to help me bring this person back. How can you bring so many things?".

Xie Junnan chuckled: "These are the things you should accept, just accept them."

Zhuo Hua also persuaded him: "Yes, second brother, don't refuse. When we have money in the future, I will bring him a big car back. This is called a gift and a ride, so don't pay too much attention to it."

Ziqing laughed, and slapped him on the forehead again.

When they returned to the door again, the servants of Xie's mansion still stayed where they were, Ziqing sighed lightly when he saw the situation, and then asked everyone to help move all the things to the storage room for the time being. After finishing their work, Hong'er beckoned them to rest in the guest room, then turned around and ran towards the dining hall.

In front of the hot pot, four people gathered around to form a round table. On the middle table was a small stove with a hot pot on top. The hot soup inside was steaming. I don’t know why the hot pot was cleared by the quilt. Well, it can be divided into two from the middle, while boiling the spicy pot, and boiling water at the same time, it is clearly the cold and hot weather, but it just makes a few people sweat.

"This is interesting, I don't know what kind of trick it is?" Xie Junnan was quite curious.

Ziqing said with a smile: "This is called Shuangyang pot, and it is a very common way of eating in our countryside."

"Shuangyang Pot?" Xie Junnan said lightly, "The name is unique."

Ziqing picked up some vegetables and put them into the pot, and said: "In the past, there were disasters in the countryside, and food shortage was a big problem. Later, my mother came up with this method, cooking all the vegetables together and eating them. In this way, one meal can be eaten several times, and sometimes the food is not enough, and the soup can be full, and slowly the villagers also eat like this, not to mention, sometimes it tastes like cooking Instead, it's fresher."

Xie Junnan nodded.

It's not that he has never seen this way of cooking a soup pot, but Ziqing's Shuangyang pot seems to be the opposite of the one he knows. The soup pot he knows will never cook all the dishes. Cook them together, and the kind of soup pot is turned off the fire directly after cooking, how can it be like Ziqing's Shuangyang pot...

Four people in a room ate around this Shuangyang pot for nearly an hour and a half, each of them was full, and they leaned on the couch and didn't want to move, but they were kicked out one by one by the quilt Qing with a broom Going out for activities is afraid that they will accumulate food.

Xie Junnan watched from the side, shaking his head amusedly.

Zhuohua and Hong'er were kicked out, thinking that there was nothing to do, Zhuohua simply took Hong'er to the storage room to fiddle with the things that were put in it. In the hall, there were only children left Qing and Xie Junnan.

"I received a letter from my uncle the day before yesterday," Ziqing said suddenly.

Xie Junnan was slightly taken aback, and turned to look at him: "Then what did he say in his letter?".

Ziqing frowned: "My uncle has already gone back to the village. He was very happy to know that I brought Zhuohua and Hong'er to the capital, and he even sent some money for the trip. My uncle said that he would not date until the beginning of the month. After four or five days, the army will be able to return to the dynasty after the spring of next year."

So... this is Wan Qixiu coming to the capital.

Thinking of the discrepancy between Wan Tuxiu and himself, Xie Junnan couldn't help frowning slightly, and he even rubbed the center of his brows with a headache.

Ziqing said again: "I plan to go back to the village in two days, and take my parents and the others into the capital. If the journey is slower, it will be around March, when my uncle will come back. , and there is no need to go to Taocheng, our family can be reunited in the capital directly, but these days, Hong'er may have to ask you and Zhuohua to take care of her temporarily."

Xie Junnan nodded: "This is what I should do, besides, the first few days of March are also when the school is about to start, Hong'er has to make some preparations."

Ziqing nodded, and suddenly reminded: "Don't let Zhuohua know about this, so as not to worry him. It would be great if you can settle the matter between you and Zhuohua before I come back. If not..." Ziqing Qing shrugged: "You can ask for more blessings."

Xie Junnan suddenly laughed.

He believed that if Li Mu and his wife knew that he and Zhuohua were married, they should not object too much, at most they would not wait to see him for a while, but Wan Qixiu...

This person is the most troublesome, especially...he came in and heard the news from Dajun that the relationship between Wan Tuxiu and Zhuge Huangyue is very unusual...

If he came to ask for someone, Xie Junnan would really not be able to fight him.

Zhuohua didn't know what Xie Junnan and Ziqing said in that box, he and Hong'er squatted in the storage room, dug out all the practical things they needed to use, and even took a big red envelope from his bosom. To Hong'er, Hong'er's expression changed in fright and he almost let him out.

Zhuo Hua was amused, he pinched Hong'er's face: "Silly boy, why did you return what I gave you?".

Hong'er stared at him with wide eyes: "Third Brother, didn't you go to rob?"

Zhuo Hua laughed: "Why are you talking, do I look like the kind of person who would rob?".

"Yes!" Hong'er revealed his old background in a serious manner: "When I was playing with you at the entrance of the village last year, Uncle Niu's dog was about to leave the village, but you stopped him and snatched two apples from him, and you gave me one of!".

Zhuohua: "...".

Hong'er continued: "The year before last, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, you took me, brother Xiaohu, and brother Bitang to block the fork, blocking the villagers passing by, and you wouldn't let them pass if you didn't give the lucky money. He even tried to block people up in a different way.”

Zhuohua: "......".

"And last year's Mid-Autumn Festival, you...".

"Okay." Zhuohua couldn't listen anymore, the more he listened, he was afraid that he would feel that he would be more and more in need, he coughed lightly, and said seriously: "This is the red envelope given to me by Brother Xie and Grandma, I don't need it now , I’ll just take them all for you and the second brother to use first, and then wait for the second brother to be free, and then we’ll return it, seeing what you’re thinking, it’s still not clean.”

Only then did Hong'er understand and accept the red envelope with a shy smile.

Zhuohua pulled him to his side and sighed softly: "This capital city is no worse than our country, and everything here is more expensive. If you only rely on second brother's salary in the kitchen, it is not difficult to maintain daily expenses, but if It's impossible to take over the parents as soon as possible, and after the new year, you will go to school, and you will need money to manage. Actually, I have already thought about these things, so we should ask Xie Junnan We borrowed it, and when the time comes, we will return it to him.”

Hong'er nodded: "Third brother, what you said is that a gentleman loves money in a proper way, and what you are doing now is also repaying the favor of Brother Junnan before. We really can't take these things for nothing."

Zhuo Hua narrowed his eyes and smiled, rubbing Hong'er's head with both hands.

This time when returning to the door, Xie Junnan and Zhuohua sat until noon, then got up and went back, thinking that Changyang Street is not too far from Xie's Mansion, and in the future they can come and walk around often if there is nothing to do, Zhuohua also readily followed Xie Junnan returned.

In the carriage, the two sat quietly, but... Zhuo Hua was holding the snacks that Zi had made for him early in the morning while eating together.

It is also a kind of egg cake. It is made of eggs and ashes flour together to make various cake shapes. It is a small piece with various cores inside. It is so crispy that the teeth are full of fragrance when bitten down.

Seeing that Zhuo Hua only cared about eating this and didn't have time to pay attention to himself, Xie Junnan laughed a little, but after laughing, Xie Junnan suddenly said: "Ziqing's craftsmanship is so good, it would be great if he could open a shop in this capital."

Zhuo Hua's eyes lit up: "What shop do you open?".

Xie Junnan said: "You can do wine shop business, mainly eating food, supplemented by staying in the hotel, and then living in the elegant hall and ink room, where students and poets gather to taste paintings, and the business will naturally come."

Zhuo Hua suddenly frowned: "But even so... the principal is not small, right?".

Xie Junnan pursed his lips and smiled: "It's okay, I can lend you half of the principal."

Zhuo Hua was slightly startled: "Borrow half?".

"En." Xie Junnan nodded, with a slightly serious expression on his face: "If Ziqing agrees, I will buy half of the shares, and the money I earn in the future will be reserved for your prodigal."

Save it for your prodigal...

For some reason, these words seem to have an echo, and they have been recalled in Zhuohua's mind all the time, and Zhuohua was so frightened that he choked so badly that he even coughed up the egg cake in his mouth.

Xie Junnan frowned immediately, and quickly poured him a glass of water: "How old is he, and he's not a child, how can he choke on something?".

"Cough cough cough...cough..." Zhuo Hua coughed heavily, and he was relieved a little after drinking water: "It's not your fault, the sudden words are scary."

Xie Junnan raised his eyebrows: "Is what I just said scary?".

Zhuo Hua gritted his teeth: "What do you think?".

"Okay..." Xie Junnan sighed softly: "Looking at your timid appearance, you can't even make a joke, so I won't make jokes with you. I will talk to Ziqing about it later. If he wants to We will come to sign a document, so that in black and white, it will not be scary."

Zhuo Hua stroked his chin and nodded solemnly: "It's so good, it's worth considering."

Xie Junnan couldn't help but laugh, and raised his hand to slap him on the head.

*******************************************************************************

Regarding the matter of the wine shop, Xie Junnan didn't think of it on a whim, but after serious consideration for Ziqing and others. What kind of state it is, Xie Junnan is not sure, whether the situation of Zhuohua's family will improve at that time, Xie Junnan also dare not say, but if it really comes to that time, the family's expenses will definitely not be a small figure.

Two days later, Xie Junnan went to Changyang Street again, and told Ziqing all the things he had said to Zhuohua before, Ziqing pondered for a moment after hearing this, and agreed with Xie Junnan's statement The two hit it off immediately, and by the way, they even signed the paper that Xie Junnan said.

Ziqing couldn't read, couldn't understand what was written on the paper, Hong'er went out to be mischievous and was not in the house, but thinking that Xie Junnan's character was here, Ziqing did not hesitate to press it Fingerprints, as everyone knows, when Xie Junnan held this document, the smile on his face was like a fox.

After discussing this with Xie Junnan, after another two days, the snow stopped, and Ziqing was about to leave for the village.

Xie Junnan remembered Ziqing's entrustment. On the day of Ziqing's parting, he went to Changyang Street to pick up Hong'er. Walking along with Xie Junnan, he saw someone coming out with two big bamboo tubes, yelling to buy tofu nao, Hong'er's eyes lit up, and she immediately looked up at Xie Junnan.

Xie Junnan chuckled, patted Hong'er on the shoulder, and pulled Hong'er towards the boss.

"Boss, how do you sell this tofu brain?".

The boss is in his forties, with an honest face, and when he sees a business coming to his house, he is all smiles: "This small business is worth a few dollars, and it costs four yuan a bowl."

Hong'er was a little speechless when she heard that, for four Wen, you can buy two big meat buns and a bowl of sauced noodles in Taocheng, but Si Wen...in a place like Beijing, it's really not a big deal.

Xie Junnan nodded, looked at the ingredients covered with lotus leaves on the big bamboo tube, and asked again: "Can you take away this tofu brain in a big bag?".

The boss's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded immediately: "Yes, yes, of course you can take it away in a big bag, but... if you want to take it away in a big bag, you have to pay eight cents a bowl, look...".

Hong'er was confused: "Why is it more expensive to take the big bag away?".

Xie Junnan didn't say much, and just asked the boss to make two big bowls for them.

When the boss heard this, he immediately laughed from ear to ear, and hurriedly filled two full bowls for Xie Junnan. Hong'er was a little suspicious at first, but after careful inspection, he understood.

The container used for this big bag is not the lotus leaf that is commonly used in Taocheng, but a round, sunken deep wooden bowl.

Porcelain bowls are very expensive, and most people can't afford to use them at all. They use the same kind of inferior stone bowls, which are rough to the touch and yellowish in color. It is actually not worthwhile to use that kind of bowls for this kind of small business, on the contrary. This kind of wooden bowl is much cheaper, and the workmanship is simple. There are almost many people in ordinary people's homes who use this kind of wooden bowl.

The big bag of tofu nao was handed over to Sangji to carry, Xie Junnan and Honger turned around and walked forward again, but when Honger lowered his head and frowned, Xie Junnan couldn't help being a little suspicious: "What is Honger thinking?".

"I was thinking that if I could become an official in the future, the first thing I would do would be to improve the lives of the common people."

Xie Junnan was slightly taken aback.

Hong'er's face was full of seriousness: "I don't say that I can help all the people in the world, but if it is under my jurisdiction, I will definitely do what I say and do better!".

There was a faint smile in Xie Junnan's eyes, and he patted Hong'er on the head: "Your ambition is very good, but don't forget, haste makes waste."

Hong'er nodded heavily, obviously understanding what Xie Junnan meant.

The two of them walked for another section, but they could vaguely see that there were more and more pedestrians on the street, probably because there was no snow, so everyone who was stuck at home came out to move around, and when there were more pedestrians, relatively speaking What's more, there was a lot of chatter among people. Xie Junnan and Hong'er were about to turn into the carriage after walking for a while, but they didn't expect someone to pass behind them, but the conversation involved the Xie family's affairs.

Hong'er tilted her head slightly, staring suspiciously at the backs of those two people, seeing that they were both seventeen or eighteen year olds, Hong'er couldn't help frowning slightly.

Xie Junnan squeezed his shoulder, shook his head as a gesture to him, and then just pretended nothing happened, and pulled Hong'er into the carriage.

Since Zhuohua and Xie Junnan's marriage, there has been speculation about the relationship between the Xie family and the royal family. Although everyone in the Xie family was greeted not to speak nonsense, but at the wedding banquet that day, those who sat around in one place Among the people at the table, apart from one Dongfang Qingming, which one of the rest is not from the royal family?Such a face may not even be available in the prime minister's mansion today, let alone a mere minister's mansion?

All of a sudden, there was a lot of discussion outside, everyone said everything, outrageous, some people speculated that Zhuo Hua's identity was not simple, he was probably a child of someone from the royal family who was living outside, that's why he had such an honor, because... It is said that he was very happy that day Then, someone discovered that the second prince Zhuge Mingxiao, the Chess King and others all entered the gate of Xie's family following the wedding ceremony.

Xie Junnan had already heard these things when he was walking outside for the past two days. He didn't pay attention to them, but just ignored them and ignored them.

When they returned to Xie's mansion, the two first went to pay a visit to the old matriarch. As soon as the old matriarch saw Hong'er, she seemed to like her very much. Xie Junnan was kicked out, although Xie Junnan couldn't laugh or cry, he could only obey the order and retreat, but Mrs. Xie was quite suspicious about this, and couldn't help muttering to Mrs. Xie: "Today, I saw my mother looking at Hong'er. The expression on her face is almost as if she is looking at her great-grandson-in-law, you said that mother would not be... ".

Old Mrs. Xie laughed a little: "What are you thinking, mother likes Hong'er because she is well-behaved and sensible. Even if she regards Hong'er as a great-grandson-in-law, she is definitely not from our Xie family...".

Mrs. Xie was slightly taken aback, but she understood in an instant.

The old lady saw Hong'er as the eighth youngest daughter-in-law.

Thinking of this, Mrs. Xie couldn't help sighing a little: "At first, I thought, with the kind of friendship between our Xie family and Ba Shao, this chess princess must come from our Xie family, but...".

"You've got it." Old Master Xie interrupted her, "The Chess King's temperament is unpredictable. After he reaches the crown, if he really lets a girl from the mansion marry him, maybe something bad will happen and the friendship between the two mansions will be ruined. Simply put, Hong'er's third brother is now Shiro's wife, and Hong'er and Shiro have a very good relationship with each other. This matter, no matter how you look at it, won't damage our Xie family. As for other things, you should stop thinking about them." .

Mrs. Xie frowned immediately: "I didn't think about it, I just said it."

Old Master Xie patted her hand with a smile, got up and went out with the birdcage in his hands, and when he arrived in the courtyard, he happened to meet Xie Junnan. Seeing the things Xie Junnan was carrying in his hand, which was tightly packed, the old man smiled even more .

When Xie Junnan returned to Fengya Garden, it was warm inside, Xie Junnan turned around and saw Zhuohua sitting on the couch behind the bead curtain, holding the medicine and looking fiercely accustomed.But standing in front of Zhuohua was Nanny Wu and a little girl next to the old matriarch. With just one glance, Xie Junnan guessed what Zhuohua was drinking at the moment—an abortion drug.

With a strong smile in his eyes, Xie Junnan stepped forward and said: "This is a world of ice and snow, how can I bother Madam Wu to come here in person?".

Nanny Wu bowed slightly to him, and replied: "This old slave is also ordered by the Majesty to come here to give the Fourth Young Madam an anti-fetal medicine, it's only a few steps away, it's okay for this old slave to walk."

Zhuohua put the bowl on the table, hiccupped, rather decadent: "I'm done drinking!".

Grandma Wu laughed, took the bowl and put it on the tray held by the maid behind her: "The fourth young lady should rest well, and this old servant has returned to the Taijun."

Zhuo Hua nodded: "Mommy, go slowly."

Mother Wu stepped out, and Zhuo Hua slumped on the couch with her back legs, her face was decadent and hopeless.

Seeing him like this, Xie Junnan couldn't help laughing: "Then the anti-fetal medicine doesn't taste very good?".

"Bitter..." Zhuo Hua frowned, "It's so hard!".

Xie Junnan reached out and took a pastry and handed it to him: "Eat some chestnut cake for a change."

Zhuohua glanced at him, turned over and lay down on the couch, then took the chestnut cake and put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, then suddenly asked him what Zhuohua thought of, "Did you take Hong'er here? What about others?"

Xie Junnan said: "Grandma Tai knew that Hong'er was coming, so she left him to talk in the courtyard."

Zhuohua let out a cry.

Xie Junnan smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "When I came back, I met a tofu nao seller on the road, so I want to eat some."

Zhuo Hua got up instantly: "Since you have this thing, why didn't you take it out earlier?".

Xie Junnan said: "Didn't you just drink the medicine? If you don't taste the medicine in your mouth first, maybe you will still feel bitter after taking this."

Zhuohua didn't answer, only to open the tightly wrapped wooden bowl in Xie Junnan's hand. When he saw that the tofu inside was white and tender, and the spicy oil was red, accompanied by some chopped soybeans, scallions, chopped radishes and folded ears, his eyes were full of tears. lights up.

"You should ask the boss to put more peppers, so that the spicy ones are more delicious!".

Xie Junnan shook his head and smiled: "Taste it first, if you like it, I'll ask the kitchen staff to make it and deliver it."

"Hmm... delicious!" Zhuohua directly stuffed a spoon full into his mouth: "It's just not too spicy!".

Xie Junnan patted him directly on the head, but turned his head and asked Sangji to go to the kitchen to get some spicy oil.

Zhuohua took two mouthfuls with satisfaction, then asked with a mouthful of tofu in his mouth: "By the way, my second brother has already left, right?".

Xie Junnan nodded: "I've already left, and I went with the purchasing master of the back kitchen of the restaurant. This trip, your second brother is mainly going to see the purchasing channels of those goods. It will take a lot of time to review and review, you And just stay here and wait for his return.”

For Ziqing's departure, Xie Junnan gave Zhuohua's explanation that Ziqing agreed to their previous proposal to jointly open a restaurant, but because Xie Junnan had helped them a lot, Ziqing decided that it would be more appropriate to go by himself for some things, especially The channel for purchasing food should not be faked, the explanation is reasonable, Zhuohua never doubted it, even Ziqing said the same to Hong'er, so they were not afraid of what Hong'er would say when she came to the Xie Mansion.