Chapter 561: Silly sister [Thanks! Bow again! Owed 40K]

"Just now, the Duke kept calling you Zaijing, he didn't call you Jing Ge'er!"

Gu Tingye said.

Zheng Xiao was startled, then raised his eyes to look at Xu Zaijing.

Xu Zaijing smiled: "Ye Ge'er, there's no difference, is there?"

Gu Tingye sighed: "The difference is huge! When you toasted, the Duke wouldn't even let your cup be lower than his! Heavens, my father might not even have this kind of face."

Lu Zezong, sitting to the side, heard Gu Tingye's words, puffed out his chest proudly, raised his cup, and said: "Shou Ge'er, come, let the four of us have a drink."

Zheng Xiao, sitting to the side, picked up the wine pot and leaned toward Xu Zaijing. Xu Zaijing hurriedly raised his cup to let Zheng Xiao pour the wine.

After pouring a full cup for Xu Zaijing,

Zheng Xiao poured another cup for Gu Tingye,

and when pouring wine for himself, Zheng Xiao said: "Jing Ge'er, let's not talk about what happened in the past few years!"

"Based solely on the merits you and Yuan Erlang established in Beizhou, the Duke must be very grateful in his heart. Although you are a junior, how could he let your wine cup be lower than his?"

Zheng Xiao sighed, raised his cup, and said: "Sigh! Sometimes when I think about it, I wish those merits were established by me!"

Xu Zaijing touched cups with Zheng Xiao and smiled: "In that case, you could let General Zheng come to the Zhang family to propose marriage sooner?"

"Pfft."

Hearing the conversation, the Zhang family juniors couldn't help but laugh.

Zheng Xiao looked at Xu Zaijing helplessly.

Gu Tingye smiled and moved his wine cup over, saying: "Zheng Erge must be thinking exactly that."

After the three of them drained their cups, Zheng Xiao continued to pour wine for the three of them and said: "Yuan Erlang, don't talk about me! Jing Ge'er is the youngest in his family, it's fine if he gets married later, but you still have Sister Yi behind you!"

Gu Tingye ate his food and said: "Why are you dragging me into this? My marriage still has to wait two years!"

Zheng Xiao shook his head with a smile: "That might not be certain!"

Gu Tingye was startled: "Ah?"

Subsequently,

Zheng Xiao didn't continue speaking, just stared blankly at the screen in the room, lost in thought.

Gu Tingye saw this and just ate his food, not disturbing Zheng Xiao.

Xu Zaijing, to the side, smiled and had a drink with his four sworn brothers.

After a while,

Xu Zaijing looked at Zheng Xiao and said: "Zheng Erge, what are you thinking about?"

Zheng Xiao took a deep breath and said: "Nothing! Come, let's toast to the longevity and eternal prosperity of the two Sages and the Crown Prince!"

Listening to Zheng Xiao's incomparably sincere tone, Xu Zaijing raised his wine cup thoughtfully, repeated Zheng Xiao's blessing with Gu Tingye, and drained the fine wine in their cups together.

Jiying Lane,

Sheng family,

backyard,

the bamboo branches and leaves by the wall had long been dyed white by the snow.

In Changbai's study not far from the bamboo,

it was overcast and snowing, and although it was near noon, the light in the room was still somewhat insufficient.

Changbai, sitting in the chair, could only rest his eyes for a while after reading a few pages of books.

"Changbai!"

"Changbai?"

A calling voice came vaguely from outside the study.

Changbai, who had his eyes closed, opened them and walked toward the door suspiciously.

Before he reached the door, Han Niu pushed open the study door and said: "Young Master, it's our family's son-in-law who has arrived."

"Brother-in-law? Then has Eldest Sister returned?" Changbai asked hurriedly.

"This, this small one doesn't know!"

After Han Niu finished speaking,

the figure of Zaizhang, wearing a cloak and holding an oil-paper umbrella, appeared at the study door.

"Changbai, what kind of books are you reading in this weather, it hurts your eyes! Come, follow brother-in-law to pile up snow lions!" Zaizhang said with a smile.

Changbai was startled: "Ah? Pile up snow lions? Brother-in-law, I... I don't know how!"

Zaizhang smiled: "As if I know how! Quick, get dressed, we don't need to know how to carve, we can pile them up if we know how to pile snow."

Changbai nodded suspiciously and continued: "Brother-in-law, have Eldest Sister and my nephew arrived?"

"They have! They are at Shou'an Hall!"

"Oh, oh! Han Niu, hurry and get my clothes!"

Shou'an Hall,

the path swept clean in the morning in the courtyard was now covered again by the newly fallen snow, and there were quite a few footprints on it.

On the ground beside the path were snow heaps the height of a stool, looking vaguely like little pigs or little dogs,

and on the railing under the eaves stood a row of neat snowballs the size of goose eggs, made with snow clips.

At this moment, both the snow heaps and snowballs were covered with a layer of new snow.

Inside the hall,

the Old Madam sat on the Arhat chair with a full smile, tilting her head to look at Xu Xingzhong in Wang Ruofu's arms nearby.

"Zhong Ge'er, is it cold on the road?"

Wang Ruofu, sitting in the chair, asked while holding her grandson Xu Xingzhong with doting affection.

After asking, she would occasionally press her face against her grandson's little face.

Nanny Liu, standing behind, looked at Xu Xingzhong in Wang Ruofu's arms with even more love and a smile.

Hualan, to the side, held Changmei in one hand and a piece of paper full of handwriting in the other, and said in surprise: "Little brother, did you really write this?"

Sheng Changmei looked at the Old Madam and nodded with a smile: "Hmm!"

Hualan nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, it's really well written!"

As she spoke, Hualan tilted her head to look at Wei Shuyi, who was standing to the side, and said: "Little Niang is thoughtful!"

Wei Shuyi bowed with a smile: "It is the Old Madam and the Matriarch who have taught him well."

Hualan shook her head with a smile, looked at her son, and said: "I hope that when Zhong'er is the same age as his little uncle, he can also write such beautiful characters."

Wang Ruofu widened her eyes and chided: "Hualan, what are you saying? Our Zhong'er will definitely be able to write them! Isn't that right, Zhong'er?"

"Hmm! Yes, Grandmother!"

Wang Ruofu touched her grandson's head with a smile and said proudly: "What a good child!"

Rulan, to the side, moved toward Wang Ruofu and reached out her hand: "Mother... I want to hold my little nephew!"

Wang Ruofu thought for a while and nodded: "Reach out! Be careful!"

"Hmm!" After taking the child, Rulan smiled: "Come, call me Aunt and let me hear it!"

"Second Aunt~"

"So obedient!"

Xu Xingzhong, in Rulan's arms, turned his head, looked at Seeing Mo Lan and Minglan on the other side, and called out with a smile: "Wu Daniang! Little Aunt!"

Hearing him call them,

Minglan smiled happily,

and Seeing Mo Lan also raised the corners of her mouth, squeezing out a smile.

At this moment,

the sound of men talking came from outside the house,

and the maid's announcement came: "Son-in-law and Second Young Master and Third Young Master have arrived."

After putting down the oil-paper umbrella and taking off his cloak outside, Zaizhang led his two brothers-in-law into the hall.

First, he bowed and cupped his hands to the Old Madam and Wang Ruofu to greet them,

then Changbai looked at Hualan in the room and said with a smile: "Sister."

Changfeng also called out with a smile.

Hualan responded with a smile.

"Eldest Uncle, Little Uncle," Xu Xingzhong, in Rulan's arms, shouted loudly as if performing.

"Yes!" Changbai and Changfeng responded with smiles in unison.

Wang Ruofu saw Zaizhang, and her face was full of proud smiles. After taking a sip of tea, she said: "Son-in-law, I heard from Hualan that you brought some mold for molding snow lions, is it really as magical as she said?"

As soon as these words were spoken,

the four Lans, nannies, and maids in the hall looked at Zaizhang one after another.

Zaizhang nodded with a smile: "Really, Mother-in-law, you will be able to see it clearly in a while."

Xu Xingzhong nodded with a smile and said: "Grandmother, it's true! This morning... Little Uncle piled up many snow lions, they were so beautiful!"

Wang Ruofu reached out and touched Xu Xingzhong's little face with affection, smiling: "Oh my~ my good Zhong'er! You speak so fluently now! Really good!"

Hearing his grandmother's praise, Xu Xingzhong pursed his lips happily, and looked at his mother Hualan with some embarrassment on his face.

As they were talking, Zaizhang, Changbai, and Changfeng sat down, nodded after taking the hot drink offered by Nanny Fang, and looked at the smiling Old Madam:

"Grandmother, actually, this mold for molding snow lions is also the first time I've used it."

Wang Ruofu nodded repeatedly: "Then don't use your hands later, it's very uncomfortable to get your clothes and boots wet and be frozen!"

After Wang Ruofu finished speaking, the Old Madam nodded with a smile: "Zhang'er, your mother-in-law makes sense! But if you don't pile up a snowman or snow lion after snow, the fun of snowing would be much less!"

Zaizhang nodded with a smile: "Grandmother, it's not that I didn't want to pile up snow lions in Quyuanjie, it's just that I couldn't!"

Hearing this, everyone in the hall looked at Zaizhang suspiciously, and Changfeng smiled: "Brother-in-law, why is that?"

Zaizhang licked his lips with an embarrassed smile and took a sip of tea.

Everyone looked at Hualan beside the Old Madam. Hualan glared at Zaizhang chidingly and smiled: "Feng Ge'er, it's because when your brother-in-law went out this morning, the snow in the Marquis's mansion had already been swept up by Little Five and piled into snow lions."

Changfeng widened his eyes in surprise: "Ah? Then what time did Jing Ge'er get up?"

Changbai, sitting above Changfeng, sat up straight with a thoughtful expression on his face after hearing this and looked at his sister Hualan.

Hualan looked at Zaizhang, and Zaizhang put down his teacup and smiled: "Since he doesn't have to come to our house to study, Little Five has delayed it by half an hour these past few days, getting up around Mao Chu (5:00 AM) to exercise."

After Zaizhang finished speaking,

Changbai nodded in approval.

"Old Madam, the snow has stopped, the servants outside the courtyard said that the mold has been set up halfway according to what the son-in-law said."

The little maid Danju at the door said with a smile.

"Good!" Zaizhang stood up with a smile, bowed, and said: "Grandmother, Mother-in-law, then we will go out to pile up snow lions first."

The Old Madam nodded with a smile: "Go! And don't grab them directly without wearing gloves!"

Zaizhang agreed with a smile and led Changbai and Changfeng toward the outside.

Rulan put her nephew down into Wang Ruofu's arms and said: "Mother, daughter wants to..."

Wang Ruofu held her grandson, looked at the smiling Old Madam, and waved her hand: "Go! Wear your cloak and ear muffs!"

"Yes! Mother!"

Rulan walked to Xique's side in high spirits and let the maid put on her cloak.

Wei Shuyi also bowed to the Old Madam and Wang Ruofu and said softly: "Old Madam, Matriarch, I will go get busy too."

The Old Madam nodded, and Wang Ruofu gave a hum with a smile.

When Wei Shuyi walked to the door of the hall, Rulan, who was dressed, also walked over.

Wei Shuyi lifted the door curtain very naturally, and Rulan walked out from under the curtain directly. Xique, following behind, bowed to Wei Shuyi before following.

After going out of the house and standing at the entrance of the courtyard, looking at Zaizhang and the others laughing and sweeping snow and piling snow outside, Wei Shuyi's face was filled with a smile.

After sniffing the cold air outside again and smelling the scent of snow, Wei Shuyi led the maid and walked toward Jin'an Study.

When passing near Zaizhang and the others, Wei Shuyi paused for a moment, looked at the iron mold, and bowed her head.

Zaizhang saw this and nodded in greeting with a smile.

Soon,

Wei Shuyi's figure turned and disappeared on the corridor.

At this moment,

Seeing Mo Lan and Minglan also came to the outside of the house, dressed and carrying hand warmers with maids.

Looking at Rulan, who was helping to shovel snow, Seeing Mo Lan raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a look of disgust, and said: "Dirty and cold things, I don't know what she's having fun with!"

Minglan, beside her, didn't answer, her bright eyes curiously looking at the mold, and walked over. Looking at the busy Zaizhang, Minglan said: "Brother-in-law, this mold looks so rough on the outside!"

Zaizhang, who was patting the snow tight with force, exhaled white vapor and pointed to a mold that hadn't been tied up yet, smiling: "Sixth Younger Sister, you'll know once you go over there and look."

"Oh!"

Minglan took Xiao Xiaotao to the mold and looked at it carefully. After touching it, she discovered that although the mold looked rough on the outside, the inside for shaping the snow was very exquisite.

"Wow! This..."

Looking at Minglan's appearance, Zaizhang smiled: "Sixth Younger Sister, this was cast by a master craftsman in the Ministry of Works, you can't see it on ordinary days!"

Minglan nodded, handed the hand warmer to Xiao Xiaotao, took the gloves from Danju who had followed, and said: "Xiao Xiaotao, go get my big winnowing basket!"

"Yes, Da Niangzi."

After a while,

Minglan used a tightly woven winnowing basket to hold the fallen snow and handed it to Changbai, who then poured the snow into the mold.

After a flurry of activity,

Zaizhang capped the mold and pressed it tight,

and everyone to the side waited in anticipation for what it would look like after being taken apart.

At the same time,

Duke of Ying's mansion,

in the garden in the backyard,

another "completed" mold was slowly opening,

Zhang family's Fifth Da Niangzi exhaled white vapor, leaned in to look at the formed snow lion, and sighed: "Wow! Beautiful! Quick, bring the embroidered ball and let it step on it!"

Yu Yanran, standing beside Gu Tingyi, also had eyes full of surprise and said in a low voice: "This is really beautiful!"

As she spoke, Yu Yanran tilted her head and said to Gu Tingyi in a low voice: "Sister Tingyi, do you think it would sell well if we made some smaller ones, wooden or porcelain molds?"

Chai Zhengzheng, on Gu Tingyi's other side, looked over with a smile and nodded in approval: "Yanran, I'll take a share."

Listening to Chai Zhengzheng's words, Gu Tingyi looked at Yu Yanran with a smile and said playfully: "Younger Sister Yanran, why do you always want to make money from Xu Xu Wu Ge? Before it was creating many patterns for ear muffs, later it was improving snow clips, and now you've taken a fancy to this mold?"

Hearing a certain name, someone's ears pricked up.

Yu Yanran was instantly somewhat embarrassed and said: "Where... where did I... I wanted to let Da Niangzi Wu share some profits with the Xu family before, but Xu Xu Wu Ge didn't want them."

Gu Tingyi smiled and said: "Then, why not share more profits with me?"

Yu Yanran nodded with a smile: "Good!"

Tingyi smiled and exhaled white vapor, touched Yu Yanran's cheek with some pity, and said: "Silly sister."

Chai Zhengzheng had been in Bianjing for a long time, so she naturally knew about Yu Yanran's background of losing her mother at a young age.

Moreover, Chai Zhengzheng had also heard a story from Gu Tingyi that came from the mouth of Marquis Xu's wife, Sun Shi, herself,

which was what she saw on the way to Xiangzhou to attend the funeral: Yu Yanran's own dowry property from her late mother was being transferred and sold by the Matriarch who had remarried her father.

At that time, when Sun Shi was telling this story to Bai Shi, Gu Tingyi, who was young, was on the side and didn't avoid Gu Tingyi.

At this moment,

Chai Zhengzheng, who was listening to the two talking on the side, couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth when she heard "Xu Xu Wu Ge didn't want them," and her eyes were very gratified, quite like "as expected of my..."

Rong Feiyan, standing on the other side, had no abnormality on her face, just looking at the snow lion not far away with a smile.

Actually,

when Rong Feiyan first heard about this, she felt quite uncomfortable in her heart and had once wildly imagined that Xu Fifth Young Master doing this was because he had a crush on Yu Yanran, and she had been anxious and worried for a period of time.

It wasn't until later when she went into the palace to chat with her sister Watching Watching Rong Fei that Rong Feiyan pretended to inadvertently mention this matter and heard her sister's analysis of the Yu family's situation, that she understood:

'Xu family's Fifth Young Master is just kind-hearted, hoping that Yu Yanran, who lost her mother at a young age and wasn't loved by her own father and had a stepmother, could save more dowry for herself! He is a kind-hearted good child!'

Subsequently,

the snow lion was decorated.

The Zhang family maid also brought out several snow clips, making it convenient for the visiting noble young ladies to clip snowballs themselves to play.

On the other side,

in the corridor separated from this garden by a wall,

Xu Zaijing was walking side by side with Gu Tingye,

and there was a flower window every so often on the wall to the side, from which one could vaguely see the scenery in the garden.

"Jing Ge'er, are you saying that Zheng Erge wishing the Emperor longevity just now was because he had no confidence in his marriage?"

Xu Zaijing nodded: "Hmm! Zheng Erge's mind is clear, he knows that the Duke of Ying considers state affairs paramount and won't care too much about the love between children."

Gu Tingye nodded as if he understood.

In the garden,

Gu Tingyi, holding a snow clip, saw her second brother Gu Tingye walking in the corridor through the flower window on the white wall.

Looking at the entrance that Gu Tingye was about to pass,

Gu Tingyi hurriedly smiled, clipped a snowball with the snow clip, and walked over.

"Sister Tingyi, what are you doing?"

Rong Feiyan asked, looking at Gu Tingyi suspiciously.

Gu Tingyi pointed to the flower window with a smile,

and after the noble young ladies talked to each other for a while, they all walked toward the garden entrance with mischievous smiles.

Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye continued walking in the corridor,

and the few young ladies walking from the other side of the flower window on the wall,

Xu Zaijing thought they were the Zhang family's maids,

and continued walking forward without paying attention.

When passing the corridor directly opposite the garden entrance,

"Whoosh"

A snowball suddenly flew out from inside the door and smashed toward Xu Zaijing.

"Pfft"

Xu Zaijing didn't even look, reached out, and caught the snowball in his hand.

"Ah? This... this can even be caught?"

Behind the wall at the entrance, Gu Tingyi poked her head out in surprise and sighed.

Xu Zaijing smiled proudly.

Gu Tingye glared at his younger sister somewhat angrily, and just as he was about to point his finger at Gu Tingyi to speak, he saw Zhang family's Fifth Da Niangzi and the other noble young ladies, each holding a snowball in their hands, about to throw them at him.

Xu Zaijing walked quickly and said: "The enemy is many and we are few, let's go."

Gu Tingye looked back and shouted: "A good man doesn't fight with women!"

As soon as the words fell, several snowballs flew over!

Subsequently,

Chai Zhengzheng and Rong Feiyan threw two snowballs at Xu Zaijing with hatred, and looking at Xu Zaijing, who was "embarrassed and fled" after being hit by several snowballs, they laughed happily.