Old Master Qin stood up and looked at Xu Lanyin again, smiling, "Are you Miss Yin?"

He spoke Mandarin with a strong Jiangnan accent.

Qin said to Xu Lanyin, "Yin'er, he is your great uncle."

Xu Lanyin quickly kowtowed and said, "Junior greets Uncle. I'm glad to see you. My mother often mentions you."

Old Master Qin smiled and said, "Get up and come closer so I can take a good look. Yeah, she looks a lot like Hui Niang when she was young."

He gave Qin Shun a set of combs in an ivory gift box as a gift. The combs consisted of sixteen pieces, inlaid with gems and gold, and were extremely luxurious.

After Xu Lanyin and Qin Ru finished washing up, they sat in the side room of the upper house and had a private conversation. They talked about the situation in the Princess Nanyang's mansion and the situation of forcing Chai Zhengguan to return the dowry.

When Qin heard that Chai Zhengguan had returned to his hometown in Shaanxi with several of his direct descendants, with only fifty taels of silver on him, she burst into tears again. She said, "They did all sorts of evil things for money, and in the end, one was left with nothing. Heaven has mercy on them, and my mother can finally rest in peace..."

She felt that she was unfilial and shouldn't think of her father like that, but she still thought of it that way. That man had killed her own mother and pushed her to a dead end step by step. What a cruel heart he had.

Li Luo was embarrassed to listen to the secrets of the Xu and Qin families, so he said goodbye and returned to his own home. A few days ago, a small door was opened in the wall of the front yard of the Zhao and Xu families, so the two families could visit each other without having to go out of the main door.

He can now walk normally and even jog, but he has a slight limp and his legs are much thinner than normal. Dr. Huang had previously said this was normal and that more exercise would help.

As soon as he walked out of the hanging flower gate, he heard a few giggles behind him. It was Qin Hongyu.

Li Luo's face turned red, he paused and continued to walk out.

I have nothing now. I rely on my younger brother for support and my sister-in-law for medical treatment. I am also a cripple. Why should I yearn for that delicate and beautiful girl like a flower?

What he has to do now is to plan revenge for his parents and take back what belongs to him and his brother.

More than half an hour later, the delivery car to the Min Mansion brought back Xu Lanyue and Min Jia, and then Xu Lanting was also released from school. The three children hugged Xu Lanyin and were naturally affectionate. Xu Lanyin took out the gifts she had bought and those sent by the Princess' Mansion, the Zhou Mansion, and the Min Mansion in the capital and handed them to them.

Of the three children, Xu Lanyue was the most excited. Minjia had a very good relationship with his father, and Xu Lanting had always had a good relationship with his mother. Xu Lanyue missed her father and elder sister in the capital even more.

She was crying, and her rich facial expressions made the long scar look even more hideous.

Seeing the scar, Xu Lanyin felt helpless. She asked the shopkeeper Wan again, and Wan said that she could only wait until the child was old enough to endure the pain, and then use a knife to cut off the bulging scar or corrode it with medicine, and then apply the jade-like regenerating ointment.

Xu Lan was a little confused. In this era, there were "height-increasing drugs", "beauty drugs", and thirsty pills that did not exist in her previous life, but there was no anesthetic.

Manager Wan said that there was also a painkiller called "Ansan", but because two of the ingredients were extremely difficult to find, the little that was produced was purchased by the Imperial Hospital and used by the royal family.

Xu Lanyin felt that even if they had it, they wouldn't take it out.

In the evening, Zhao Wu and Qin Che came back from the yamen.

Qin Che's eyes narrowed with smiles when he saw the old ginseng. He said, "Give it to my father. He can live to be a hundred years old." He then took the Golden Thirst Pills and said, "A few days ago, I begged for a long time before I bought five pills from the Imperial Hospital. Yin'er is capable and bought so many at once."

Seeing the wrinkled, long-bearded old ginseng and the twenty golden pills, Old Master Qin smiled broadly. He wanted two things most: to live a few more years, and for his sons and grandsons to have a long and stable career in officialdom.

He was already surprised and delighted that the poor Qingyan was still alive. He hadn't expected her to be adopted by the Princess of Nanyang as her daughter. Furthermore, Xu Qingyan was a trusted guard of the King of Wu, who was also crown prince. Therefore, the descendants of the merchant family had some support in the court.

After seeing off the Qin family members after dinner, Zhao Wu asked Xu Lanyin to go next door to see the decoration of the house.

Qin knew that her two children had something to say in private, so she pulled aside a few of the children who were clinging to her and asked Xu Lanyin to go with them.

The two walked to the outer courtyard. There was no one there and it was dark. Zhao Wu took Xu Lanyin's hand and asked quietly, "It's been so long, have you missed me?"

Xu Lanyin answered honestly, "Yes, I do. I really, really want to."

Zhao Wu laughed out loud and said, "I miss you too, even in my dreams..."

Thinking of his reaction in the dream, his heart beat faster and his palms were sweating.

Even if Xu Lanyin didn't hear his inner thoughts, she could feel the heat and sweat in his palms and think that he was having a "spring dream".

Xu Lanyin laughed because she had the same dream.

The two men released their hands in front of the small gate. On the other side of the gate was a completely different scene. The Zhao family was in the midst of a major construction project; the master and servants had all moved, and the furniture maker they had hired was still busy.

The five rooms at the back are the gatehouse, kitchen, warehouse, and two servants' rooms.

In the second courtyard, the west wing was the guest room, the east wing was Li Luo's bedroom and study, and the upper room was the reception room and Zhao Wu's study. Two trusted servants also lived in the side rooms. In the upper room, half the room was filled with betrothal gifts. Zhao Wu even opened the boxes and boxes for Xu Lanyin to see.

The third courtyard is where Zhao Wu and Xu Lanyin live, with three additional rooms on either side. Construction began last month, and they aim to be completed this month. The main house will also need a fresh coat of paint, whitewash, and window paper, and the garden's flowers and trees will also be rearranged.

This will soon be the home for herself, her husband, and their future children. Even though it's a mess now, Xu Lanyin feels very close to it and can't wait to move in. But she still said, "It's such a big project, why set the wedding date so quickly?"

There were also several craftsmen working day and night in her backyard. Qin said that the wages were high and they were required to carve flowers and birds, so they had to work until the beginning of the night before going home.

Zhao Wu squeezed her hand and smiled, "I'm worried, and so is my mother-in-law. She says it's not good for you to wait until you're eighteen to get married." He sighed again and said, "My mother was already nineteen when she married my father..."

What he couldn't say was that his mother had been dead for many years, and Old Madam Wen had scolded her harshly, saying that Zhao had stayed in the temple until she was nineteen, but she couldn't stand the loneliness and was still hooking up with young men at such an old age...

Xu Lanyin said softly, "I'm luckier than your mother. I don't have any unkind elders to pressure me at home."

She was embarrassed to call his mother "mother-in-law" now.

When Zhao Wuyi came back, she heard him call Qin "mother-in-law", and he did it very fluently.

The stars were shining brightly, and there were many lanterns, illuminating the courtyard. Xu Lanyin and Zhao Wu walked around and put forward some of their own suggestions and ideas.