The women were chatting about family matters. Aunt Chan picked up her teacup and coughed. Mrs. Hu smiled at Xu Lanyin as if she had received an order, "Why did you stay in the provincial capital for so long? My Fang'er has been talking about little uncle and little Xingxing so many times."
This is the news. Xiaochan has become Hu's superior, and Hu has to listen to her.
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "My family bought a house and two shops in the provincial capital and are busy renovating them. Also, Lord Min went to the capital on business, and Miss Min got along well with Lan Ting and Xiao Xingxing, so we went to accompany her. In fact, we have been wanting to come back for a long time, especially my mother, she was so worried."
Mrs. Hu smiled again and said, "Miss Xu is very smart. She used to have a good relationship with the daughter of the Min County Magistrate, so Brother Zhao went to the county government to work as a constable. Now that she has a good relationship with the daughter of Lord Min, Brother Zhao will definitely be transferred to the Judicial Inspection Office in the future, and maybe even become an official."
The words were a bit sour, implying that Xu Lanyin was trying to achieve some purpose by currying favor with the daughter of a high-ranking official. It was very unpleasant to hear, but this statement was currently the most beneficial to Xu Lanyin, attributing her relationship with the Min family to her impure motives, currying favor with the Min family for Zhao Wu... This must have been something Hong Zhen had her say, to confuse Aunt Chan and the people behind her.
Since Mrs. Hu was such a good actress, Xu Lanyin had to play along. She paused for a moment, then quickly adjusted her expression and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law Hong, you're joking. Zhao Wuneng is a capable officer, and I just introduced him to him through Madam Min. As for Lord Min, he's the sky, and we ordinary people are the earth. We can't curry favor with him even if we want to. To be honest, Lord Min and I have only met twice, and both times, I communicated through servants. As for whether Zhao Wuneng can go to the Judicial Inspection Office, it depends on his real ability."
A few words pushed Hu back.
Aunt Chan was so angry that she cursed Hu as a "silly woman" inwardly. She put on a smile and asked Xu Lanyin, "They say the eldest sister of the Min family can't speak and is a little stupid. Is that true?"
Xu Lanyin was secretly furious, but couldn't let it out. She smiled and said, "It's true she can't speak. She's not stupid, just not very bright. She plays well with Lanting and Xiaoxingxing, and her nurse is happy, so she lets me take the two children to Minfu to keep her company."
Hu Yi couldn't discern the subtle wit in their words. Seeing them laughing, she assumed they were on good terms. Mrs. Hu frowned, thinking to herself, "Hong Zhen took a concubine. Is Mrs. Hu so mad she's mad she can even say such things in public? I'll have to remind her someday."
When Aunt Hu was allowed to sit on the brocade stool just now, Xu Lanyin could see that she was very unhappy. To annoy her, during lunch, Xu Lanyin even wanted to play dumb and set up a small table for her.
Mrs. Hu laughed and said, "When we were at home, our grandfather said that there were not many people at home, so he asked Aunt Chan to eat at the same table with us."
What this means is that Aunt Chan can also eat at the same table with them.
If Mrs. Hu could tolerate it, Xu Lanyin could tolerate it too.
The two families played until the afternoon before leaving.
The next day, Xu Lanyin went to Tian's carpenter shop and ordered a small carved chicken-wing wood table screen stand, which would be inlaid after Qin's "Poppy" was embroidered.
In addition, he also ordered several sets of chess, military chess, and checkers, specifying that they should be made of fine woods such as wenge and nanmu. The chessboard was to be made by a carpenter in the provincial capital, and the blueprints had already been given to Ding Gu.
To avoid trouble, the "king" and "queen" in chess were changed to "general" and "inspector", and their appearance was also changed. In feudal society, the "king" and "queen" were the supreme rulers, and the public was not allowed to entertain themselves on the chessboard.
Two days later, Qin's "illness" was much better, so she sent someone to notify Xu Zhiniang and her family to come and visit.
Xu Zhiniang brought her husband, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and their family to spend the day. They honestly brought 50 kilograms of peanuts, 50 kilograms of homemade soybean oil, and two large baskets of homemade mung and soybean sprouts.
Before this, Xu Lanyin had only met Xu Zhiniang twice and they hadn't exchanged many words. But this day made her have a much better impression of Xu Zhiniang.
At noon, he also invited Xu Dashi to drink with his uncle.
Seeing that Xu Dashi seemed to have something to say to her, Xu Lan took him to the side room.
Xu Dashi whispered, "Wang Li came to me this morning and told me that his mother is seriously ill, and he wants to go home to take care of her, so he won't be working in the shop anymore."
Wang Li was the spy sent by higher-ups to monitor the Yi Ju Restaurant, and Xu Dashi also knew this.
Xu Lanyin thought to herself that Min Hu said he would send some more people to investigate Yi Ju Restaurant, so it was very likely that someone would take over Wang Li. So she said, "Maybe someone else has taken over."
Xu Dashi asked, "Should I continue to monitor?"
Xu Lanyin said, "Wang Li has left, so don't worry about it. Just be careful."
Xu Dashi nodded.
On the twelfth day, Wang Sanni and Wang Jincai came to Xu's house. Mrs. Wang had passed the seventh day of mourning, and they were ready to leave for the provincial capital the next day.
Xu Lanyin gave them some instructions and asked them to squeeze in with Li and the others before they could rent a house. She also wrote a letter to Manager Wu and asked her to pass it on.
Wang Sanni was very happy to hear that Xu Lanyin would go to the provincial capital again in twenty days.
On the 15th, Xu Lanyin made some more glutinous rice, sweet dates, and sesame cookies and brought them to Daxiang Temple. Since the old monk Jie Chi was still facing the wall, he asked the younger monk to deliver them. This time, he didn't dare add any toppings, fearing he'd be caught and punished again. Even without any toppings, it was still better than his usual meal.
Yefeng Ridge was blanketed in snow, a blanket of silver. Ho Tung had left his mule cart at the foot of the mountain and then accompanied Xu Lanyin and Zhangqi up the mountain. He gave snacks to the young monk Mingzhi and then went to the main hall to worship the Buddha, donating ten taels of silver for incense and praying for the Buddha's blessing for Zhao Wu's safe return.
When we returned to the county town, the sun had already set.
What Xu Lanyin didn't expect was that Gui Fu actually came and was drinking tea in the west wing with He Xi.
Ho Tung and Ho Sai's excuse for visiting the Xu residence was a request Zhao Wu had made to Min Hu before leaving for the case. He explained that his sister was beautiful and had been frightened at the Longxing Inn, and that someone needed to protect her while he was away. Wanting to make the case easier for Zhao Wu, Min Hu had no choice but to have them temporarily come to the Xu residence.
He Dong pretended to complain, saying that they were guards at Lord Min's house, but now they were being used as servants for a country girl, and even the carriage they drove was a mule cart...
Gui Fu smiled and comforted them, "Brother Zhao is a martial arts expert with a promising future. He will definitely have a good future after solving this case. You should establish a relationship with him first, that's right."
He Dong curled his lips and said, "You're so arrogant before you even become an official, and you dare to make unreasonable demands on Lord Min. You can't have a bright future..."
Xu Lanyin was very enthusiastic towards Gui Fu and said with a smile, "Master Gui, please come to my house for a drink tonight. I will personally cook you some of my specialties."
Gui Fu smiled and said, "Miss Xu, you are too polite. I came to Nanping to handle some official business. Miss Xu invited me to your house for dinner, so I came with a thick face."
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