The river was turbulent on the way back, making it difficult for the boat to sail. In addition, it was getting dark at this time of year, so by the time the boat reached Fenshui, it was already dark. It was not a good time to bring people back home, so Cao Xiangnan left Zheng Shubo and his family of three at Manager Liu's place for one night and made arrangements the next day.

The carriage headed back to Caojia Village at night.

When they got home, the doors of the yard were already closed, and they were afraid that everyone inside had fallen asleep. So he was going to climb over the wall? Cao Xiangnan stood at the door of his house, silently weighing the possibility of climbing over, which seemed not very likely.

"Do you want to go in?" Gan Weiqi asked.

Isn't this nonsense? ! He should go to Cao Gang to borrow a ladder to get over. Cao Xiangnan nodded silently, thinking silently in his heart.

Gan Weiqi turned over neatly and went inside. The two dogs did not bark when they saw an acquaintance climbing over the wall and went in. Instead, they wagged their tails as if they had seen a relative. At this moment, the door was opened from the inside, and the two dogs jumped out, wagging their tails wildly at their owner, "Little Black and Big White, it's worth loving you two." Cao Xiangnan patted the dogs' heads twice, and the two dogs' tails wagged. It was too dark. He realized that he really raised the two dogs into stupid things that only knew how to act cute.

The door opposite was opened from the inside. Cao Gang stood at the door and said, "Xiangnan, Wei Qi, Wei Lin, why did you come back at this time?"

"The river was flowing too fast when we came back, so we were a little late." Cao Xiangnan looked at the lights in the house and saw that they were all dim. He thought that the people in the house had already fallen asleep. Seeing Cao Gang walking towards him, he said.

At this time, Qi Wanfeng was still lying in bed and couldn't fall asleep. Hearing the noise outside, he propped himself up on the bed and got up carefully, and lit the oil lamp in the room. Cao Xiangnan saw that the light was on, and knew that the people inside had woken up, so he shouted, "Wanfeng, it's me."

Husband? Coming back so late, Qi Wanfeng put on a coat, opened the door of the house, and went out with a lantern in his hand. He saw that the door to the yard was already opened. It was really his husband who came back.

"Why are you back so late?" Qi Wanfeng walked out with the lantern in his hand.

"It's cold at night, why did you come out?" Cao Xiangnan said, holding the hand of the person who came out.

Qi Wanfeng shook his head, meaning that it was nothing.

The horse was pulled into the stable at the back, and Gan Weiqi and Gan Weilin also went back to Cao Gang. Cao Xiangnan sent the people out and closed the door. He turned around and saw the people standing at the door waiting for him, and strode over.

Seeing that this person didn't even bother to put on an extra layer of clothing when getting up at night, and that his clothes were thin, Cao Xiangnan quickly led him into the house, turned around and closed the door, and asked, "Are the children asleep?"

"Yeah." Qi Wanfeng nodded.

But they didn't know that just now a door was gently opened, and a little head came out, listened to the sound outside, and then shrank back, closed the door gently, and climbed into bed to sleep.

"Wait for me here, I'll take a shower and come back." Cao Xiangnan pulled the person to the bed, lowered his head and pecked the person's lips, and said.

"I'll go boil some hot water for you." Qi Wanfeng was about to get up.

"It's okay, I can just take a cold shower."

"No."

In the end, Cao Xiangnan went to the kitchen to boil some hot water for himself, poured it out and poured the water into the pot to warm it up, and took a bath in the warm water. When he came back, the person on the bed was still waiting for him and hadn't slept.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Cao Xiangnan got on the bed, smiling, stretched out his hand and scratched the man's straight nose, and asked.

It was cold now, so the sheets on the bed were replaced with quilts. Fortunately, the quilts at home were fully prepared, so there was no need to worry about not having quilts even if the weather was cold.

The person looking at him had eyes full of smiles, but didn't say anything.

"When I was not at home, was the baby in your belly well behaved?" Lying down, Cao Xiangnan hugged the man in his arms, touched the man's belly in his arms, and asked.

"Yeah. Be good." Qi Wanfeng said.

That night, she lay in her husband's familiar arms and had a dreamless night. She woke up drowsily in the middle of the night, and a familiar pair of hands soothed her. She fell asleep again quickly, and slept very soundly that night.

When she woke up, it was already the next day.

The husband who had cuddled her to sleep last night was no longer there. She reached out and touched the sunken place, and Qi Wanfeng knew that her husband had really come back. It was just getting light outside, and he propped himself up to get out of bed.

In the morning, she worked in the kitchen for half a day and was sweating all over. Cao Xiangnan also learned about the recent situation at home from Liu Baishu, and knew that the family was well taken care of during his absence. To express his gratitude, he prepared a sumptuous breakfast for everyone.

"Baa..."

The sheep in the sheepfold bleated when they saw someone coming.

When Cao Xiangnan came back from the back, he had a bowl of milk in his hand. Unexpectedly, he saw someone getting up, so he strode towards Qi Wanfeng and asked, "Why are you up so early? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Qi Wanfeng shook his head and didn't say anything because his husband was gone and he didn't want to continue sleeping.

"I just squeezed some goat milk. I'll go cook it first and make it for you later." Cao Xiangnan saw that Qi Wanfeng didn't want to go back to sleep, so he led people to the kitchen. There was a fire burning in the morning and it was warm, so he led people there. At

this moment, even the two children in the house hadn't gotten up yet, but Xiangzi got up early to help with the work. The child is eating well now, and has grown taller. He is more than half a head taller than when he first came to their place.

"Wanfeng mommy." Xiangzi came over and called out to mommy Wanfeng when he saw her coming.

"Well, good boy." Qi Wanfeng reached out and touched the child's head, knowing that the child had gotten up early to work.

Being praised by mommy, Xiangzi smiled shyly.

Liu Baishu saw Qi Wanfeng, nodded to him, and said good morning.

"Good morning." Now that they are gradually getting familiar with each other, Qi Wanfeng no longer feels restrained with these people at home. When her husband is not at home, the people at home help him and do all the work for him, not giving him a chance to do anything.

"Let's have something fresh this morning. I'll make sliced ​​noodles and steamed buns with meat for everyone. I've stewed bone and radish soup in the pot, which will be used for the soup later. I'll also make three-fresh dumplings. I guarantee you'll like them." Cao Xiangnan heated up the milk and put it in Qi Wanfeng's hand, saying, "Here, drink this first, and I'll make steamed buns with meat for you."

Now there is pork for sale in the village almost every day. He bought pork offal and pork early in the morning and prepared them for breakfast. Qi Wanfeng took the milk, smelled it, didn't like it, but drank it in one gulp.

"Are the ewes in the sheepfold about to give birth?" Cao Xiangnan asked.

"Yeah." Qi Wanfeng nodded and responded.

"I forgot to tell you something. I got back more than 20 sheep." Cao Gang just came out from inside and heard what they said.

The implication was that you can rest assured that there is goat milk and mutton for the winter.

"Brother, you are awesome." Cao Xiangnan gave a thumbs up and smiled.

Hmm? Cao Gang didn't quite understand what he said, but it didn't prevent him from feeling the compliment. The

arrogant General Cao went back inside with an expressionless face and got busy.

The sky outside was gradually getting brighter. Sun Bailian came with the second kid. When he came, he brought a small bucket of goat milk. As soon as they arrived, they joined the ranks of the workers. The two little ones at home also woke up.

Seeing that the children had woken up, Cao Xiangnan first boiled all the goat milk that Sun Bailian brought, and saved some to prepare for baking cookies later. The children didn't like to drink this not-so-good thing. Even if his children didn't like to drink it, they drank it obediently. Kang Kang also drank it in one gulp, but Jingbao was making a fuss.

"Look, the brothers have all drunk it. If you don't drink it, you won't grow taller." Sun Bailian pointed at the brothers who had drunk all the water and said.

"If you don't want to drink, I'll give it to Kang Kang. Look, Kang Kang is so much taller than you."

"No, I want to be taller than my brother."

The breakfast was served on the table. There were steamed dumplings filled with three delicacies, eggs for the children, and fragrant steamed meat buns. The adults had big bowls of sliced ​​noodles, and the children had small bowls of sliced ​​noodles.

"Well, this is delicious." Wang Dahu took a bite of the steamed meat bun and liked it.

Men like to eat meat in big mouthfuls, and this steamed meat bun tasted really good.

"If it tastes good, eat more." Every cook is happy that others like to eat his food. Cao Xiangnan naturally likes that his food is popular with everyone, and he also doesn't forget to take care of the people around him.

Seeing that Qi Wanfeng didn't like to eat the steamed bun with meat, Cao Xiangnan took the half-eaten steamed bun from Qi Wanfeng's hand.

Qi Wanfeng preferred to eat dumplings with a lighter flavor, which tasted very fresh when dipped in sauce. He ate several of them in a row. His appetite today was better than the days when his husband was not at home. It might be because these things were made by his husband, so he thought they were especially delicious.

Cao Xiangnan told everyone about the invitation of a scholar from Nanyang to be a teacher, and the other party was a family of three. It would be fast if the academy could be built before winter, and it would take at least one or two more months.

"I am now thinking about whether to not let them live in Yipinzhai, or rent a house in town for them to live in first?" Because the other party was an invited gentleman, it would not be good to neglect him, but it would not be good to treat him too well right away. This is what Cao Xiangnan was thinking about.

"Husband, if you want to invite them to live at home, it's okay. Then let An An and Xing Xing sleep there." Qi Wanfeng said.

Cao Xiangnan shook his head and said, "Don't invite them to our home."

Considering that the people at home were not very familiar with the other family, Cao Xiangnan naturally put Qi Wanfeng first.

"If you rent a house in the town, you will have to buy a lot of things. If you are only going to live here for a month or two, it won't be that much trouble." Sun Bailian thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you talk to the storekeeper Liu to see if he has a better place, or you can just live in Yipinzhai."

"Okay, I'll go ask the storekeeper Liu later." Cao Xiangnan nodded and said.