Chapter 268

The eldest daughter who married into the Marquis's mansion was pregnant.

The nannies, maids, and servants of the Sheng family from top to bottom all received quite a few rewards.

For the past two days, the large kitchen had been cooking, and there were even several more hearty meat dishes, which gave the maids and servants a treat.

This evening

Lin Qige

The maid stood to the side to serve.

Mo Lan was copying calligraphy. Although the floor heating in the room was burning warmly, Lin Qinshuang was still holding a hand warmer wrapped in silk.

"It's been more than two months, and you still haven't found any farmland worth buying?"

"Wei Xiaoniang, I can't find any! There was excellent farmland when the Marquis Ruyang's mansion had an incident before, but it's a pity we couldn't snatch it!"

Hearing this, Lin Qinshuang also sighed quite melancholically.

The Marquis Ruyang's mansion had fallen, just like a piece of fat meat appearing in this den of tigers and wolves that was Bianjing. Those with power and claws naturally tore and divided it with force.

If Lin Qinshuang were the legitimate wife, it would be easier to handle, but she wasn't. When the people handling it heard she was a concubine, even if she offered more money, there was no chance.

"The paddy field in the western suburbs before, that didn't work either?"

"Wei Xiaoniang, it didn't work! That family didn't know where they got the connections, borrowed a sum of money for turnover, and didn't sell!"

Mo Lan, who was to the side, stopped the brush in her hand.

"Mother, a few days ago when I went to the manor with Grandmother, I did see a piece of land, not far from Grandmother's manor."

Lin Qinshuang was startled. She thought about the location of the Sheng Old Madam's manor in her mind and said:

"Good girl, tell me about it."

Mo Lan said a few brief sentences, and Lin Qinshuang's eyes lit up. She looked at Zhou Xueniang and said:

"With what Mo'er said, you must find out clearly!"

"The Master is here."

Hearing the maid's announcement, Lin Qinshuang hurriedly walked to the door to welcome him.

While the maids were setting up the meal, Sheng Hong looked at Mo Lan's calligraphy, then revealed dimples, and nodded toward Mo Lan with a smile on his face.

"My Mo'er, the calligraphy is very good."

"Thank you, Father, for the praise."

"Go, go eat first."

"Yes."

After Mo Lan left the room,

Lin Qinshuang was serving Sheng Hong's meal to the side. After putting the dishes Sheng Hong liked into his bowl:

"Hong-lang, the shop you set up for me this year is doing a booming business and has made quite a profit. I was thinking of setting up some more property for Feng'er and Mo'er."

Sheng Hong ate the food and nodded, saying: "You can make your own decisions."

"Hong-lang, if you want to talk about our Mo'er, she is also a silly girl."

Sheng Hong stopped his chopsticks and frowned, saying: "How can you talk about your own daughter like that!"

Lin Qinshuang poured wine for Sheng Hong and smiled, saying:

"Mo'er knows from me that you, Hong-lang, have always been grateful for the Old Madam's kindness!"

After putting away her smile, she continued:

"Sigh! In those years, for the sake of the Master's official career expenses, the Old Madam sold more than ten qing of land in Xiaoyu Manor. Those were all top-grade fertile fields!"

That was the dowry prepared for her only daughter when the Marquis Yongyi's mansion was at its most prominent decades ago!

Sheng Hong also nodded with emotion on his face.

"Mo'er knows that you, Hong-lang, want to redeem those sold fields! When she went to the manor with the Old Madam, she went out early in the morning to inquire about the surrounding fields."

Hearing this, Sheng Hong's eyes were full of gentle smiles, moved by his daughter's filial piety:

"She is truly my good girl!"

Lin Qinshuang said again:

"Heaven does not disappoint those who have a heart. Mo'er actually really found out!"

Sheng Hong looked at Lin Qinshuang incredibly and said:

"Hiss! Really?"

Lin Qinshuang nodded with crystal clear tears in her eyes, then while serving Sheng Hong's meal, she repeated Mo Lan's words.

After listening to Lin Qinshuang finish, Sheng Hong sighed and said: "Listening to the general location you said, Shuang'er, that is not the Old Madam's dowry."

Lin Qinshuang was startled and then continued: "Hong-lang, you can also pity Mo'er's filial piety. Can you go and inquire a little..."

Sheng Hong pondered and looked at Lin Qinshuang, then pulled her to sit on the embroidered stool beside him.

Holding Lin Qinshuang's hand, Sheng Hong nodded.

Seeing him nod, Lin Qinshuang softly leaned her head on Sheng Hong's shoulder and called out softly, "Hong-lang~".

Hearing this 'Hong-lang', Sheng Hong hugged Lin Qinshuang's shoulder quite self-satisfiedly.

After pressing his chin on Lin Qinshuang's head, he narrowed his eyes, his face full of enjoyment.

After the Minor Snow solar term, it was already late October.

In the biting north wind,

the willow trees in Bianjing City had already lost their leaves, and what was blown down were mostly withered branches.

The withered branches didn't need the Street Department to sweep them up, because they would soon be picked up by residents as firewood.

The Great Zhou Dynasty didn't have any talk of copyright protection,

so the peddler's carrying poles walking through the streets and alleys now would more or less hang a few imitation-style earmuffs.

The materials and quality were certainly not comparable to those in shops like the Liang family's, but they were cheap, and they could still sell quite a few.

And what sold even better were the curved bamboo strips processed by bamboo craftsmen, usually shouting "earmuff curved bamboo strips" in the alleys of the city.

Women or maids would come out to buy a few, take them home, and process and make them themselves.

Although it couldn't be said to be a daily necessity,

earmuffs indeed saved many people in Bianjing City from freezing their ears.

3:00 AM (4:00 AM)

Xu Zaijing walked out of the room. The snow had started falling since he finished school yesterday.

At this time, it still hadn't stopped, and it was still snowing pellets.

Huaxiang, who followed him out, just wanted to speak, but felt a sense of suffocation from the cold wind coming toward her face.

Huaxiang looked at her Young Master walking away, put on the hood of her cloak, wrapped a rabbit fur scarf around her neck, and then followed him while carrying a lantern.

With the obstruction in front of her mouth and nose, her breathing became much warmer and smoother.

Xu Zaijing walked in the Marquis's mansion.

Although it was still early, the surroundings were not quiet. Dog barking came from afar,

causing the large Xu family dogs kept near the stable to bark a few times from time to time.

On the road in the courtyard, it could be seen that the nannies who were on night watch and guarding the gate had swept it once, but it was a pity that the snow continued to fall and covered the road.

At the gate leading out of the backyard, Xu Zaijing nodded to the nanny who opened the door and said:

"Cui Cui Mama, you've worked hard."

The nanny guarding the gate bowed.

Subsequently, he continued to walk forward. Under the lantern light, the accumulated snow had already reached the middle of his calves.

A few wind gaps had even blown up snowdrifts that were over his knees.

When he arrived at the horse racing track,

the cold wind whistled, blowing snow pellets everywhere, and the dim lantern at the entrance of the Master's room also swayed along with it.

Seeing Xu Zaijing and Huaxiang walking over, the two large dogs stood up and wagged their tails.

And outside the stable, Alan and Xunshu were wearing straw rain capes, stepping on the wooden ladder leaning against the eaves, and using wooden scrapers to clear the accumulated snow on the roof of the stable.

Huaxiang entered the small room to warm up. After Xu Zaijing came to the Master's side, he heard him sigh and say:

"Fortunately, the stable was repaired early, otherwise such heavy snow would be a bit dangerous."

Xu Zaijing nodded to the side and said: "Qingyun isn't here! Did he go to the surrounding families?"

"Yes, this snow is too heavy! He must have gone to turn around at each family to remind them to clean the roof, otherwise it's easy to crush the house."

Xu Zaijing looked at the deep footprints he had walked all the way and said hmm.

Subsequently, he exhaled a puff of white air, turned around and entered the room, and took out a few shields as tall as a person that Qingyun often used.

Borrowing his powerful strength, he casually tied three shields horizontally to a refined steel long spear with a rope in a few movements.

"Hoo!"

"Ha!"

After stretching his muscles and bones, Xu Zaijing exhaled and opened his voice, and then, like a small bulldozer, he pushed the three shields and began to jog on the horse racing track.

Soon, a road appeared on the wide horse racing track.

The accumulated snow that Alan and the others had raked down from the roof of the stable was also pushed by Xu Zaijing to a place near the exit.

Two quarters of an hour later, a "snow mound" appeared on the horse racing track.

Afterward, Xu Zaijing didn't exercise, but instead took a bamboo broom and began to sweep the snow.

With such thick snow, ordinary people certainly couldn't sweep it, but it couldn't stop Xu Zaijing, who had great strength.

If one looked down from above the Marquis's mansion, Xu Zaijing was like boiling water flowing finely, "pouring" a dark road out of the white snow-covered ground.

Matriarch's courtyard

Sun Shi woke up from her sleep. Listening to the brushing sound outside, she cleared her throat and said:

"What is that sound?"

"Da Niangzi, it's the Fifth Young Master sweeping the snow."

"Hmm, can't others in our mansion sweep it? Why does he have to join in the fun?"

"Uh, Da Niangzi, with such thick snow outside, it seems really only the Fifth Young Master can sweep it."

Although his movements were leisurely,

Xu Zaijing still sweated a little after sweeping. After wiping himself in the warm room and having breakfast, Xu Zaijing walked on the road of his "exercise results,"

feeling quite content in his heart.

When he arrived near the stable, the Li Ju horse had already been put on cyan-white silk cotton-padded horse face armor by Alan, and was draped with leather neck guards and horse body armor, looking very majestic.

Zaizhang's mount was also dressed the same way.

The passage out of the mansion had already been cleared of accumulated snow by the servants of the family.

On the street outside the main gate, the male servants of the Marquis's mansion who had finished clearing their own family's accumulated snow were busy together with the gatekeeper and servants of the Marquis's mansion.

The canopy of a few stalls had been crushed by the accumulated snow, making a mess.

Because the snow was heavy and difficult to travel, Xu Zaijing didn't bring any maids today and only let Qingyun follow.

At this time, the sky was still pitch black.

Along the way, places where people had swept the snow were easier to walk, while places where no one had swept were harder to walk.

The road conditions were sometimes good and sometimes bad.

When crossing the bridge, Xu Zaijing even dismounted directly and led the Li Ju horse across. Looking into the river from the bridge,

in the dim morning light,

a few boats were moored by the riverbank, flags were fluttering on the bows, and dim candlelight was reflected on the boat windows.

Blue smoke drifted from the chimneys on the tops of the boats, thinking that the boatmen living on the boats were keeping warm.

When he arrived at the Sheng family, it was a bit later than usual.

Leaving Qingyun in the Sheng family's stable to serve the Li Ju horse,

Xu Zaijing himself carried his book box and entered the warm and dim lecture hall with his elder brother. When he went to his own desk,

he found that the tea in the teacup in front of Changbai had already gone down a lot.

After staying in the lecture hall for three quarters of an hour, when the sky began to brighten, Gu Tingye and Qi Heng entered the room with a breath of cold air.

When Master Zhuang arrived, he looked at the students sitting full in the lecture hall, nodded with satisfaction, and then came to the window.

Opening the window, Xu Zaijing looked over and found that the snowflakes were even bigger than when he arrived, and the bamboo branches outside the window were pressed even more curved.

Master Zhuang didn't have the elegance to appreciate the snow, and only recited a line by the window:

"If only I had a thousand rooms... Sigh!"

Lunch was a spicy fresh fish soup sent from the small kitchen of Shou'an Hall that could warm the body.

Also at this time,

at the Xiaoyu Manor outside the city,

the large warehouse that previously stored cotton had become much larger in space because most of the cotton had been sold.

But today it didn't seem empty, because the warehouse door was opened, and the women and young ladies of Xiaoyu Manor poured in one after another.

After receiving cotton and cloth for their own families, this group of women and young ladies who were good at needlework were assigned to a few households in Xiaoyu Manor that had large heated kang in their rooms.

Subsequently, the men were busy sweeping the roofs and roads,

while the women were chatting and doing needlework on the warm kang.

Because they knew that these cotton-padded jackets would eventually be distributed to the manor, everyone did it extra carefully.

After lunch, Master Zhuang looked at the snowflakes that were falling heavier and heavier,

and directly let the students in the lecture hall finish school early,

and stated, "Rest for three days, and you all do some things within your power."

After the crowd in the school thanked Master Zhuang for his teachings, they each returned to their own homes.

Before leaving the Sheng family, Wang Ruofu also sent Mother Liu to send Zaizhang a hand warmer made of excellent sable fur.

When Zaizhang was thanking her non-stop, he found out that this was given to Hualan by her mother-in-law.

Enduring the cold wind and snowflakes,

when Xu Zaijing returned to Quyuanjie,

before he and Zaizhang and the crowd dismounted, they were covered in snowflakes and had almost become snowmen.

The horses were led into the stable with charcoal fire, and Alan and the others wiped the horses' bodies with dry towels.

But Xu Zaijing and the others didn't return to the courtyard, but instead first roasted the fire in the Master's small room for nearly two quarters of an hour to warm their bodies.

Because it was a snowy day, it got dark very quickly.

After Xu Zaijing finished dinner, he walked in the wind and snow, feeling the snowflakes hitting his face, and he sighed like Master Zhuang.

If this snow doesn't stop, it's really hard to say.

Heaven does not follow people's wishes.

This snow was intermittent, falling straight for seven days from the beginning, and there was still no sign of it stopping.

In Xu Zaijing's courtyard, the accumulated snow was two feet deep.

Bianjing was almost surrounded by heavy snow, and for a time, the price of grain in Bianjing began to rise.

But fortunately, there were vegetables sent by relatives of the Zhu family before, plus the Xu family bought fruits and vegetables themselves, and at the same time, there was some output from the warm shed plowed by Uncle Deng.

Beside the stable, there was even more accumulated horse feed.

The entire Marquis Yongyi's mansion, both people and horses, did not go hungry.

The old acquaintances of the Marquis's mansion near Quyuanjie were greeted to take their things and enter the side rooms where the personal guards of the Marquis's mansion lived before.

The pregnant remarried wife of Uncle Shu was especially taken care of.

But the faces of the three ladies of the Xu family were still a bit worried, because they didn't know how the situation of their relatives was.

On this morning, Xu Zaijing looked at his mother's look and said: "Mother, this child is thinking of going to our relatives' homes to see if there is any need for help."

Sun Shi looked at her youngest son and said worriedly: "This snow is so heavy, the horses can't walk, how can you go?"

Xu Zaijing smiled and said: "Mother, don't worry, this child has a way. Yesterday the Master already made a few pairs of snow-walking shoes, this child can just wear them and go out!"

Hearing this, Sun Shi nodded.

After speaking, Xu Zaijing walked out of the room.

Zaizhang, who was to the side, looked at Hualan, who had a worried look, smiled, and also walked out.

Xu Zaijing gave a few instructions at the door, and Qingyun ran away first.

When the two brothers changed their clothes and arrived at the main gate, a few pairs of "shoes" with wide wooden boards and a few pairs of polo mallets had already been placed at the door.

Xu Zaijing's Master also made a "sled bed," on which a few bags of rice, flour, fruits, and vegetables were piled.

Looking back at his worried mother and sisters-in-law, Xu Zaijing said: "Let's go."

After speaking, the crowd, having changed into their "equipment," dragged the sled bed and followed.

(End of chapter)