In the evening, the Zhao Wu brothers arrived first, and the gift they brought was a set of blue and white porcelain tea sets.
As soon as Xu Dashi's family of four arrived, little Xu Man proudly announced, "My mother is pregnant with a little brother again."
Xu Dashi smiled foolishly, and Li's face turned red.
Qin and Xu Lanyin congratulated him repeatedly.
Xu Dashi smiled and said, "From now on, the child's mother won't have to work anymore."
He also said that the second house had been simply renovated, and they had bought some furniture, a mule, a cart, a wife and a son, and that the family had moved in the day before yesterday. When Old Man Xu and the others arrived, they would invite the second wife to a moving dinner.
After congratulating her, Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Sister-in-law is now the young mistress. From now on, just enjoy your life at home."
This made everyone very happy.
Li smiled and said, "I'm used to being busy, so I may not be used to being idle." What she couldn't say was that the old man and mother-in-law both loved to make trouble, and they were idle at home every day, so they were bound to be bored.
Xu Dashi and his wife gave a golden lotus hairpin, which was considered a valuable gift from them.
Qin smiled and said, "You have many places to spend your money, why bother giving such an expensive gift?"
Xu Dashi smiled and said, "Our family's good life is all brought by my sister. When our life gets better in the future, I will give my sister a hairpin inlaid with gems."
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Brother Dashi, you are too modest. Your good life is earned by you and your sister-in-law's hard work. No matter how good the opportunity is, it takes someone to seize it."
There were no outsiders around, so everyone had a great time and didn't leave until the beginning of the night.
At night, Xu Lanyin was sleeping soundly when she was awakened by the sound of window paper. She guessed it was Zhao Wu, so she got up and put on her clothes.
When he came to the window, he saw Zhao Wu hiding behind the pillar. He opened the door and let him in.
Xu Lanyin chuckled quietly, "Didn't my father tell you not to climb the wall?"
Zhao Wu smiled and said, "I told you that Uncle Xu doesn't allow me to take my sister climbing the wall, but he didn't say I can't climb the wall alone." As he said that, he took out a small brocade box from his arms and said, "This is my birthday gift for my sister."
Xu Lanyin was amused. This guy was also good at finding loopholes in people's words. She took the brocade box. Inside was a peacock hairpin inlaid with red gold and gems. It was very delicate and beautiful.
She said angrily, "You don't have much money, why did you buy such an expensive hairpin?"
Zhao Wu was even happier when he saw Xu Lanyin liked it. He smiled and said, "As long as you like it, I'm willing to buy it no matter how expensive it is."
The two of them had barely exchanged a few words when they heard thunder and lightning outside, signaling a heavy rain was about to begin. Xu Lanyin urged Zhao Wucai repeatedly, and he finally got up and went out, jumping onto the roof and returning to his own home.
The rain continued for two days, finally stopping on the afternoon of the third day. The next afternoon, Old Xu and his wife, along with Xu Qingming and his wife, rode an oxcart to the provincial capital and found their new home. By then, the sun was setting, and Xu Dashi's family was just about to have dinner.
The four of them toured the courtyard, the inner and outer courtyards, the flowers and plants, the mules and mule carts, and then saw the respectful servants He and Wu Shitou standing nearby, calling them "Old Master," "Old Madam," "Master," and "Madam," and they all smiled. They were even more delighted when Xu Man reported that Li was pregnant with a younger brother.
Xu Dashi asked Wu Shitou to go to the street corner to buy some braised food to go with the wine. Old Man Xu asked him to call the second family, Zhao Wu and Wang Sanni to come and have dinner together.
Xu Dashi smiled and said, "Second Aunt and Master Zhao live far away. Let Shitou tell them to come home early for dinner tomorrow. Sanni and the others went to the capital and are no longer here."
He didn't dare say that Wang Sanni was sent by Xu Lanyin, for fear that the old man would be unhappy.
When they heard that Wang Sanni had actually gone to the capital, several people were amazed.
Old Lady Xu said, "That girl Sanni is becoming more and more promising. She is capable of going to the emperor's feet."
Old man Xu said sourly, "That's what you call success? The girl is out and about every day, let's see which young man dares to marry her."
It was already 10 p.m. when Wu Shitou arrived at the Xu family in the north of the city to report the news, and invited Xu Lanyin and her family to go to the Xu family in the east of the city for dinner and fun the next day.
Xu Lanyin said Qin was not feeling well, and Zhao Wu had to take care of his brother. She would go tomorrow afternoon, and Xu Lanting would go directly after school. Old Xu had always disliked Qin, and Xu Lanyin didn't want Qin to be bullied. As for Zhao Wu, the old man had always felt that he had taken Xu Ershi's position, and the other had seized the opportunity to move to the provincial capital. Now that Xu Qingyan had become a "high-ranking official," the old man would definitely not like him.
The next morning, Xu Lanyin went to Hu's house first with gifts.
Hu Wan's son was named Hu Bai, which is pronounced as Bai and Bai in Chinese, in memory of the department store his family opened.
Little Hu Bai was white and fat, very lovable. Xu Lanyin hugged and kissed him for a long time, and then gave him a set of red gold tableware that she had prepared long ago.
Hu Yi hugged Xu Lanyin and acted coquettishly for a long time, complaining that Xu Lanyin came to see her just now, but her brother did not allow her to go to the Xu family, saying that the Xu family had a distinguished guest.
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "The distinguished guest has left. If you have nothing to do, come to my house. Come to my teahouse in a few days and I will introduce you to two of my close friends."
She was talking about Min Nan and Qin Hongyu. She missed them too. Especially Qin Hongyu, she wanted to maintain a good relationship with her.
Mrs. Hu said Hong Zhen had already arrived at the Ningzhou military camp, but the camp was on the outskirts of the city. Mrs. Hu and her two children would arrive next month and had already bought a house nearby.
Xu Lanyin also looked forward to their arrival. If they came, she would have more acquaintances.
After having lunch at Hu's house and playing until the end of the day, Xu Lanyin went to the street and bought a double-panel screen and two sets of fine porcelain bowls and plates as gifts. Zhao Wu also asked her to bring a set of blue and white porcelain tea bowls as his gift to Xu's house in the east of the city.
Old Man Xu was sitting in a bamboo rocking chair on the porch, humming a tune. Old Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Gu were teasing Xu Yuan and Xu Man, while Xu Qingming was building a chicken coop behind the screen door.
The old couple loved the screen very much. The old lady asked them to put it away and use it during the New Year or other festivals. The old man disagreed, saying, "They say a good horse deserves a golden saddle. If we don't have a screen in such a big house, people will laugh at us for being so shabby."
The old man insisted on using it immediately, so he put it on the table.
The old lady pulled Xu Lanyin aside again and said with a smile, "You had your birthday a few days ago, and this is a gift from grandma."
She gave him a satin jacket, which was a gift from the emperor sent by Xu Qingyan, and he had Gu help make it. Gu also gave him a long dress and a blouse, also made of the satin sent by Xu Qingyan.
The color of the clothes was a bit old-fashioned, but Xu Lanyin still appreciated their kindness and thanked them with a smile.
Old Man Xu added, "Because the girl is already seventeen, we can't delay any longer. Now that my second son is a high-ranking official, he will definitely be able to find a good son-in-law, who will also be a help to your brothers."
Xu Lanyin ignored him. This old man, even the nice things he said were not pleasant to the ears.
Old Mrs. Xu was also worried about Xu Lanyin's marriage and said, "I always thought Zhao Wu was good..."
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Old Man Xu, "How can the Zhao family kid be suitable? He is not a good match for us. Because the girl wants to find a young man from an official family, it sounds good to others and will also help the descendants of the Xu family in the future. You, an old woman, are so short-sighted that you can only see the few people in front of you..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
