Mrs. Li usually doesn't come to the temple unless there is something important.

Eleventh Lady thought of Xu Lingyi going to the palace, so she asked the maid to invite Madam Li to sit in the flower hall, and called Zhao, the steward of the affairs office, to come over and ask, "What happened to General Li in Fujian?"

Manager Zhao said respectfully, "I heard that General Li mistook civilians for Japanese pirates and surrounded them, then reported his military achievements to the Ministry of War, and was discovered by Lord Jiang. The emperor was furious, and a few days ago he ordered the imperial envoy to quietly go south and escort General Li back to the capital. According to the date, the imperial envoy should have arrived in Fujian."

General Li is too bold.

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but frown.

It seems that Li Ji's future is worrying.

Feeling more confident, she went to the flower hall to meet Mrs. Li.

Mrs. Li did not mention General Li. She only said that the New Year was coming soon, and she knew that Eleventh Lady grew up in Fujian, so she brought some Fujian specialties. Then she asked about Xu Siyu's marriage: "... With such an outstanding character and a mother-in-law like you, I think the people who come to propose marriage will break down the door!"

The Li family has always emphasized that they do not allow concubines. Mothers are naturally willing to marry their daughters into such a family, but mothers-in-law may not be willing to marry such a daughter-in-law. Therefore, the eldest son of the Li family quickly picked a daughter-in-law from a wealthy family before Li Ji got married. The eldest daughter of the Li family has been very picky and has not yet arranged a marriage.

When Eleventh Lady thought of this and what Mr. Zhao had said just now, she immediately became wary and stopped her from talking: "There are many people proposing marriages. And they are all close friends who I usually interact with, so there is no rush. I want to slowly choose from them."

Madam Li smiled and nodded, "That's right. After all, the second young master is the eldest son of the Marquis, so we can't be careless." Then she smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Madam and I are familiar with each other. Madam should know my personality. I like to be straightforward and won't beat around the bush. I wonder if your second young master's marriage has been settled?"

"Not yet." This kind of thing cannot be concealed, Eleventh Lady admitted it, but said, "The main thing is that there are three candidates, and we have to wait for the Marquis to take a closer look before deciding."

Mrs. Li leaned forward and smiled at her: "Since you haven't decided yet, I will recommend myself - what do you think of my eldest daughter?"

Sure enough, he was planning a marriage!

Eleventh Lady sighed secretly in her heart and said with a smile: "Miss Li is outstanding in appearance and lively in character. If she can talk to our brother Yu, there will be nothing else to say. However, you also know that these matters in our family are decided by the Marquis. I have to discuss what Madam Li said with the Marquis."

"This is a big matter, so I naturally have to discuss it with the Marquis." Mrs. Li knew that this matter would not be accomplished in a short time, so she laughed twice, said, "Then I will wait for news from the madam," and then stood up and said goodbye.

When Xu Lingyi came back from the palace, he brought back two baskets of oranges and took out a box and gave it to Shi Niang: "This is a reward from the Queen."

Eleventh Lady opened the box, and inside were five agarwood scented hairpins, four of which were made of bamboo joints, and one was carved with a lotus.

She asked Zhu Xiang to distribute the oranges equally to each room, send the lotus hairpin to Zhen Jie'er, and divide the remaining four hairpins among Xu Siyu's four brothers. Then she told Xu Lingyi the purpose of Mrs. Li's visit.

"No!" Xu Lingyi said without thinking, "When you become a general, you want to be an assistant minister, and when you become an assistant minister, you want to be a minister... With relatives like this, we can't expect peace in this life. We may even be dragged down by them in the end."

"I understand that, too." Eleventh Lady smiled as she helped Xu Lingyi change his clothes. "Just tell the Marquis so that he will know what's going on."

Xu Lingyi pondered and said, "The eldest lady of the Li family is older than Brother Yu, right?"

Eleventh Lady nodded: "Looks like he's one or two years older."

"Then tell Madam Li that we have read Yu'er's fortune and it says that he cannot marry a girl older than himself." Xu Lingyi said, "Report this matter."

Eleventh Lady smiled and replied “yes”.

Xu Lingyi said, "You've been busy these days. After the New Year, we'll discuss Yu'er's marriage." Then he talked about Zhen'er's affairs: "Next year is the Year of the Dragon, and the Spring Examination will be held. The eldest brother-in-law will go to Beijing to participate in the military examination. You should prepare some clothes and food in advance so that you can send them over when the time comes."

Eleventh Lady thought of Qian Ming: "I should also go and see Fifth Brother-in-law."

The couple talked about trivial matters at home. The next day, Madam Li came, and Shiyi Niang rejected Madam Li according to Xu Lingyi's words.

Madam Li looked very disappointed. She took Eleventh Lady's hand and started crying, "I'll tell you the truth. I'm afraid that our master's affairs will spread to the capital, and my daughter's marriage will be even more uncertain." Then she told Eleventh Lady about General Li while crying, "It was the Marquis who recommended him. Now I hope the Marquis can help to say hello to the Ministry of War." She looked at Eleventh Lady with tearful eyes.

Eleventh Lady felt that General Li was not worth helping in this situation.

She refused directly: "My Lord, I hate it when women take care of these things. I'm afraid I can't help you!"

Mrs. Li had been asking for help everywhere these days, but she was the first to be rejected directly like Shiyi Niang. She was slightly startled and cried even louder.

Eleventh Lady gritted her teeth and refused to agree. Finally, Madam Li left with a hint of resentment in her eyes.

She was a little frightened, and sighed with Xu Lingyi: "Even if I helped her thousands of times, if I didn't help her once, she would not only remember it, but also bear a grudge against me."

"Don't take these things to heart." Xu Lingyi comforted her, "She can hold a grudge if she wants to, but it's a pity for Li Ji, who was dragged down by her father."

Eleventh Lady disagreed: "Whether he is a burden or he is involved, I am afraid it is still unclear!"

"The behavior of the parents has a great influence on their children." Xu Lingyi explained what he meant by "involvement". "Otherwise, how can there be the saying 'the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam is crooked'?"

That's true.

Eleventh Lady sighed.

Within a few days, word of Li Zongbing's crime spread, and people said all kinds of things, but they all laughed at Li Zongbing's family rule of "not taking concubines": "...it turns out that he was just pretending to be nice in order to gain reputation for himself."

Eleventh Lady's attention was focused on Shandong.

Qi Niang wrote to say that she followed the Fifth Lady's instructions and adopted the son of the family that was most enthusiastic in the adoption. The adoption ceremony would be held in the ancestral hall on December 24th, the eve of the New Year. She asked her to tell the Fifth Lady.

Finally, I passed the inheritance.

Even if Qi Niang gives birth to a child in the future, the adopted son’s inheritance rights will come before this child.

She showed the letter to the Fifth Lady.

Madam Wu chuckled, "Qiniang, don't give up halfway, otherwise, she will only be able to rely on this child to worship her after a hundred years."

As the two were talking, a little maid ran over and said, "Madam, the mother who brought the New Year's gifts from Cangzhou came in to greet you."

Eleventh Lady bid farewell to the Fifth Lady, offered sacrifices to the Kitchen God, pasted new talismans, and swept the dust... In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve. After the New Year's Eve dinner, Xu Lingyi, Xu Lingkuan, Xu Siqin, and Xu Siyu were talking in the house, while the Second Lady and Fang accompanied the Grand Lady. Eleventh Lady and the Fifth Lady held Jing'er and Chen'er under the eaves and watched Xu Sijian, Xu Sizhun, and Xu Sijie set off fireworks in the yard with their personal servants.

The big red lanterns illuminated a vast expanse of red light, and fireworks blossomed in the night. The days in the Xu residence were just like the world in this world, rich, peaceful, and harmonious.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, she would go to the palace to congratulate the Emperor and the Empress. In the afternoon, she would start visiting each household to wish them a happy new year, and the process would not stop until the tenth day.

Xu Siqin's uncle came to visit unexpectedly.

"...The children have grown up, and it's time to plan for their future." He sat steadily on the armchair, blowing the tea leaves floating on the teacup, and said, "My brother-in-law wanted me to find a good teacher for the children, and send them to Sanjing Hutong to study behind closed doors, so that they can pass the imperial examinations and bring honor to the Xu family. I didn't find a teacher before, but later I found one, and it was almost the New Year. It was delayed until today. I came here specifically to discuss with the Marquis to see when the children should move. By then, as their uncle, I will have to bring a few servants to help."

Xu Siqin could move out, but Xu Lingyi couldn't bring it up, lest people misunderstand that Xu Siqin was driven out by him. Xu Lingyi had been waiting for a step down. Now that the Gan family had moved the ladder, he naturally followed suit.

"Since it's for studying, it's okay to move out." He thought, "Or, it won't be too late to discuss it after the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month."

It's just a formality!

Xu Siqin's uncle was a little disapproving. He handed in his assignment and said he would discuss it on the 19th day of the first lunar month. After chatting for a while, he got up and said goodbye.

Fang finally understood her mother-in-law's plan. She felt extremely embarrassed, but could only smile bitterly and start packing up the boxes.

Fortunately, she had just come in, and most of the boxes and crates were not opened, so there was not much to do. She slowly packed up, and soon it was the tenth day of the first lunar month.

Her eldest cousin Fang Ji suddenly came to Yanjing from Jiangnan.

Xu Lingyi personally came out to entertain him.

Fang Ji was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and looked very similar to Fang. When they stood side by side, they looked like siblings.

He behaved generously and spoke neither servilely nor arrogantly: "...I came to participate in this year's spring examination. I thought that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles, so I went to Beijing in advance to see the customs and customs of Yanjing." Then he asked someone to bring the specialties brought from Huzhou, "Aunt was thinking about my younger sister, so she made some food she liked and asked me to bring it over."

Xu Lingyi thought Fang Ji was handsome and liked him very much. He introduced Xu Sizhun to him and asked Xu Siyu to take Fang Ji to meet Fang.

Fang was overjoyed, and took out the eight kinds of Beijing cuisine that the uterus had rewarded to the lady-in-waiting and the lady-in-waiting had rewarded her a few days ago to entertain Fang Ji, and she also personally brewed the Dahongpao tea that Shiyi Niang had given her.

Fang Ji saw that she was much more cheerful than before the marriage. The furnishings in the room looked ordinary, but they were elegant everywhere. The tea and snacks were also very expensive. Only then did he feel relieved: "It seems that my aunt was right to marry you to the Xu family against all odds!"

Fang blushed and said angrily, "Brother, you only talk about me, why don't you talk about yourself? Didn't you say in your last letter that you would arrive in Yanjing in mid-February? How come you arrived so early? Could it be that your old illness has come back? So you ran away early?"

The outgoing censor Fang had only one son, Fang Ji, alive, and the other children were all from County Magistrate Fang. He was somewhat spoiled, and developed a hobby of collecting gold and stone objects. When he saw something good, he would often exchange his jade pendants for something else, which inevitably caused his mother to nag him.

Fang Ji felt a little uncomfortable when his sister said that. He looked around and said, "The weather in Yanjing is really cold. The food is rough. I think I'd better go back to Jiangnan as soon as I finish the exam!"

※

I'll post a draft first and catch some bugs tomorrow!

O(∩_∩)O~

PS: Friends who have pink tickets, please give more support!

Thanks!