Perhaps it was because this child was not easy to come by, Yingying’s full-month ceremony was not only lively, but Xu Siyu also rushed back from Le’an in a dusty state.

Holding his daughter who looked like a glutinous rice ball, his eyes were slightly wet.

"She's very pretty, isn't she?" Eleventh Lady walked over and gently touched the child's black hair. "She's very well behaved, too. She sleeps when she's full, and makes quiet noises when she's hungry or needs to poop. Second Sister-in-law said she's like you when you were a kid."

Xu Siyu grinned and carefully handed the sleeping child to the wet nurse.

"What about me when I was a child?" Jin Ge'er pulled Shiyi Niang's sleeve.

"When you were little, you would cry loudly whenever you were unhappy." Eleventh Lady held her son's shoulders, "You made us cry so hard that our heads hurt. We don't know how naughty you were."

Jin Ge'erfeng's eyes widened: "No way?" He asked Xu Sizhun, "Second brother, you must have seen me when I was a child. Was I a good boy?"

"Very well behaved!" Xu Siyu laughed. Jing'er looked at Qi Shiyi's ears and said, "Sixth brother has grown so tall, but I still have nothing to show for it!" He looked very emotional.

"What happened?" Xu Siyu rarely said such words, and Shiyi Niang couldn't help feeling a little worried.

"No!" Xu Siyu smiled, "I'm fine!" He couldn't help but touch his head, "I just feel that... now that I'm a father, I have to do well in the provincial examination next year." Like a friend, he naturally told Shiyi Niang what was in his heart.

"You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry." Eleventh Lady laughed, "This is not a matter of who has more strength."

Xiang brought in the tea herself.

Xu Siyu presented it to Shiyi Niang personally.

"Just let the little maid do it." Eleventh Lady took the tea and told Xiang, "You're only one month old!"

The corners of Xiang's eyes and eyebrows were full of the joy of being a mother: "After lying in bed for a month, I'm going to get moss!"

Her father-in-law and mother-in-law named her eldest daughter, and she was very grateful. She turned around and brought in a plate of snacks: "I asked the kitchen to make mung bean cakes and lotus seed cakes. Mother and Sixth Uncle, how do you like it?"

Mung bean cake is Jing'er's favorite, while Shiyi Niang prefers lotus seed cake.

"Hmm! Delicious." Jinger took a bite and said, "It seems to have rock sugar in it."

"Uncle Six is ​​really amazing." Xiang smiled and nodded, "Frosted sugar can easily cause internal heat, so I specially used rock sugar."

Jing'er was obviously impressed by Xiang's creativity and even ate two pieces.

Xu Siyu looked at Jin Ge'er and laughed, with smiles in his eyes.

"I copied all the articles I thought were well-written and showed them to my father-in-law." He was talking to Shiyi Niang. "My father-in-law felt that they were more stable than sharp. He asked me to go to his post to take a look. Mr. Jiang and I have discussed it and decided that we will stay in Yanjing for a few days and then go directly to Huguang, and return to Le'an in the fall."

Three years ago, Mr. Xiang was promoted to the Governor of Huguang.

The key part of the exam is the policy essay, which is to talk about your views on national affairs in connection with the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics. Instead of staying at home and studying, it is better to go out and see.

Eleventh Lady nodded slightly.

Jinger said, "Brother, are you going to Huguang? I'm going to Datong with Daddy in a few days."

Xu Siyu was a little surprised.

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "Your father went to Baoding Prefecture before the New Year. After he came back, he suddenly couldn't stay at home. After the New Year, he said he wanted to go to Datong after Yingying's full moon ceremony. Now that you're back, your father will definitely not leave for a while."

"Father has been at home all these years, so it's good for him to go out for a walk." Xu Siyu suddenly realized and said to Jin Ge'er with a smile, "You stay with father and take good care of his health. See him more often, and when you grow up, you will know how rare such an opportunity is."

He didn't know how rare the opportunity was, but he knew that he had to take care of his father.

Jinger smiled and said, "When I was with my father, I helped him wash his feet and lead his horse!" He looked very proud. But as soon as he finished speaking, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

This was something my father had repeatedly told my mother not to know.

"Mother," he explained to Eleventh Lady, "Daddy wants me to learn how to serve others..." This was not right, and he added, "Father meant that a real man should be able to bend and stretch. Even if I am a servant, I should be the best servant, a servant that people cannot do without..." This did not seem right either, "Mother, I think it is quite fun..."

"Alright, alright!" Eleventh Lady looked at him sweating profusely, feeling both amused and angry. "I know your father is just trying to temper you..."

"Yes, yes, yes." Jing'er said hurriedly, "That's what Daddy meant. He said that if I can do small things, I can also do big things."

Xu Siyu looked at the smiling face of Eleventh Lady and privately instructed Xiang: "You must take good care of Yingying. If you are undecided about anything, go and ask mother for advice. Mother is kind and generous, with a broad mind. Look at your eldest aunt and your fifth brother... The most undesirable thing for a woman is pettiness."

Xiang nodded repeatedly.

Xu Siyu spent two days visiting his elders.

Fang Ji came over after hearing the news: "You didn't come to see me when you returned to Yanjing!"

He now serves as a censor in the Censorate.

"Aren't you afraid of being reported by you?" Xu Siyu joked.

Fang Ji couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

He reported Zhongshan Hou some time ago, and as a result, Zhongshan Hou was stripped of his two years' salary. He can be said to have become famous in one battle.

"I was just kidding!" Xu Siyu clenched his fist and hit him lightly on the shoulder, "I was just about to go see you!" Then he pulled him into the study, "I'm going to Huguang in two days..." and told Fang Ji his plan.

"You should have gone out a long time ago." Fang Ji agreed. "I have several classmates who are serving as county magistrates there. You can also go and take a look." He was a man who did what he said. He immediately asked Xu Siyu to ask the maid to come in and grind ink. "I will write a few letters for you so that you can come and visit me when the time comes."

Receiving the son-in-law of a governor is different from receiving a friend from the same department.

Xu Siyu was very happy.

In the following days, Fang Ji and I went out together, met some literary celebrities in Yenching, as well as some masters of classics and history. We gained a lot. We did not set off for Huguang until April to celebrate the birthday of the lady.

Xu Lingyi then took Jing'er to Datong.

Eleventh Lady suddenly had free time.

Xu Sijie accompanied her on the days when she didn't go to class.

"...The quality of this gold is good to begin with. With a little polishing, it will sparkle. Adding gemstones is just the icing on the cake." Eleventh Lady hired a craftsman to refurbish her jewelry. Xu Sijie gave her an idea, "I think it's better to make it into foil and shape it into a peony flower. Wearing just one of them is enough to dazzle people's eyes." The needlework people came to make autumn clothes, "First go to East Street to see those shops selling Su-style. People in the palace are still wearing moon-shaped skirts, but people outside are starting to wear three-inch narrow skirts." He also told the little maid to hang jasmine balls in the gauze curtains, "It's more elegant than the smell of magnolia flowers and more timeless than the smell of gardenias."

Eleventh Lady felt like she had raised a daughter.

"How's your schoolwork?"

Xu Sijie raised the corner of his mouth and smiled: "Mr. Chang said that I should give it a try next year."

In other words, I learned quite well!

Eleventh Lady was happy for him and made the examination curtain for him herself.

Jiang saw this and reminded Xu Sizhun: "Father and Sixth Brother are not at home. You should go to mother's house more often when you have time."

Xu Sizhun has been acting mysterious these past two days, and no one knows what he is doing. He is often not seen.

"Isn't my fifth brother with mother?" he said with a smile. "Among us brothers, only my fifth brother can talk to mother about jewelry and clothes. We can't get a word in!" He looked a little embarrassed.

Jiang couldn't help but frowned slightly. After thinking for a while, she continued, "Did you write a letter to father? I heard from my second sister-in-law that my second uncle wrote a letter to her, asking her to make a pair of fur knee pads for father and sixth brother. He said that father might go directly from Datong to Xuantong and would not come back until winter."

Xu Sizhun was a little surprised: "I wrote a letter to my father. But he only said that everything was fine. He didn't say anything else." He hesitated, "Did you hear it wrong? You are going to give birth in the fall, how could your father come back in the winter? If your father came back in the winter, mother should have received the letter a long time ago. When I went to greet mother this morning and told her about my father's return, she didn't say anything!"

Even her mother didn't know, but her second uncle knew, which made her worried.

"Sir, you should write another letter to father," said Jiang. "You can ask about his diet and daily life these days!" Then she asked him what he was doing these days. "...Father is not at home. It's the Dragon Boat Festival soon, and it's also mother's birthday. Although we can't do much with grandmother around, we, as children, should also spend some time to think about it!"

"Don't worry about this matter." Xu Sizhun smiled, "I have my own plans!" Then he touched Jiang's belly, "Is our son naughty?" His eyes were full of joy and concern.

Jiang was speechless for a moment.

After Xu Sizun arrived at Shuangfuyuan, he immediately ordered Yuan Baozhu's family: "Find the fox furs I brought as a dowry. I will make fur hats for my father-in-law and my sixth uncle."

"Fourth Young Madam," Yuan Baozhu's wife hesitated, "those fox furs are as white as snow, a quality that money cannot buy. You are the daughter-in-law of the legitimate grandson, how can you succeed without a few treasures? Instead of using those fox furs, why not go out and buy some good furs quietly? This is Yanjing, we are willing to spend money, and we are not afraid of not being able to buy good things."

Jiang thought of the time when she was doing household chores with Eleventh Lady in the Flower Hall, when Madam Li, who was in charge of the kitchen, tactfully said that the steward of the outer courtyard had not been able to do a good job in purchasing these days. Her mother-in-law also smiled and said that the steward's keeping a mistress was discovered by the principal wife, and the backyard of the house was on fire, so it was natural that he had not supervised the purchases these days. At that time, the stewards who often walked around the inner and outer courtyards were all shocked, obviously hearing about it for the first time.

"Although my mother-in-law lives in the inner house, she can't hide anything happening in the outer courtyard, let alone the inner courtyard." She shook her head gently, "I have good things but I can't bear to give them away because they are my dowry. If I buy things outside to honor my father-in-law and uncle, it will be inferior and people will look down on me. Forget about this matter, I will think of another way."

※

When I woke up in the morning, I received a call. I was so happy!

O(∩_∩)O~

Post a draft first.

PS: Additional update will be added on September 2nd.