After the first day of the new year, the days that followed seemed to go by a lot faster.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Bai Wu and Bai Miaoqing, father and daughter, followed Bai Yi (the son of housekeeper Bai) to Longxian Village.
The provincial capital is far away from Longxian Village. Bai Wu and his companions set out several days ago and only arrived here on the eighth day of the first lunar month.
They arrived just before noon.
Song and Zhao smiled as they saw off a woman about their age.
The woman who came out had a matchmaker's mole on the corner of her mouth, and she was a bit plump, with a smile on her face whenever she looked at people.
This is Matchmaker Li from the next village. She knows exactly which family in the surrounding villages has a girl who is about to get married or which family has a child who is about to get married.
The Shen and Zhang families have been here for so long that other people have gradually become familiar with them.
Originally, we only knew that the two families who had fled famine had some small property, but later the news that Shen Rong was a scholar also spread.
After this incident, not only the people in Longxian Village, but also people in several neighboring villages knew about it.
For people like them, it would be a great honor if a scholar appeared in the village.
Therefore, people of the right age like Shen Dalang and Damen naturally became popular in the eyes of outsiders.
Song, Zhang and Ding Hehua also happened to be interested in finding a match for themselves, so they would not refuse the matchmaker who came to inquire about the information.
As soon as Song and Zhao sent Matchmaker Li out, they saw a carriage parked in front of their house, and the driver was Bai Yi, who had sent them here in the first place.
Bai Yi jumped down from the shaft of the carriage, then moved a stool from the side, put it on the ground and knocked on the carriage.
"Second Master, Miss, we are here."
The carriage door was pushed open from the inside, and Bai Wu walked out first.
He stepped down on the stool that Bai Yi had just placed on the ground, and then helped Bai Miaoqing, who had poked her head out from behind, down.
The smile on Song's face hadn't faded yet when she saw them.
She stood in front of the door and said, "Oh, you're here. This road is too long. Why did you make this trip?"
Although he said this, he did not slow down at all and invited people in.
Song asked Bai Wu and Bai Miaoqing to go inside, while Zhao asked Bai Yi to drive the carriage into the yard through another door.
The matchmaker who had just been sent out was so excited when she saw such a luxurious carriage arriving in front of the Shen family's door.
This Shen family actually knows such a wealthy family.
If her family didn't have a suitable son or daughter, she would have wanted to try out this marriage.
But even if she couldn't marry into such a family, as long as she could arrange a marriage, the money she would get would definitely be a lot less.
Matchmaker Li thought so and left happily, rubbing the handkerchief in her hand.
Everyone in the Shen family was surprised to see the arrival of the Bai family's father and daughter.
He quickly greeted the person and invited him into the house.
Bai Yi also took the gifts he brought from the carriage and followed Zhao.
Everyone in the Shen family looked at Bai Wu and Bai Miaoqing. They were both wearing clothes made of silk and satin.
While they were looking at the Bai family's father and daughter, they were also looking at the Shen family.
Seeing that the Shen family members all looked good, they knew that they were living a good life here.
After Xiao Zhang finished her confinement, she also sat in the main room chatting and warming herself by the fire.
She and Old Mrs. Shen each held a chubby-looking baby.
The two babies just turned one month old. A few days ago, the Shen family dyed a lot of red eggs and gave them to people in the village.
Now both babies were wrapped in thick swaddling clothes. Bai Wu took out two pure silver longevity locks from his arms and stuffed one into each baby's swaddling clothes.
The longevity lock was prepared before they came.
Bai Wu was a doctor. He estimated that little Zhang would give birth before the end of the year, so he prepared two gifts for the children in advance.
Bai Miaoqing played with the baby for a while, then she and Shen Yu'an held hands and left the main hall and returned to Shen Yu'an's own room.
Shen Yu'an looked at Bai Miaoqing beside him and asked her how she was doing in Bai Mansion.
Bai Miaoqing smiled without showing her teeth, unlike Shen Yu'an who was lively and outgoing.
She replied: "I am doing very well. My uncle and aunt are all doing well."
Once you enter the house, the cold wind is blocked outside.
Bai Miaoqing saw a stack of papers casually placed on the table and picked up the top one.
After taking a look, Bai Miaoqing asked in surprise, "Did you write this?"
Shen Yuan smiled and asked, "I told my elder brother and the others to take turns writing it down. Have you read it?"
Bai Miaoqing picked up the next page, which was connected to the content on the previous page.
She nodded and replied, "I have read it. My cousin Mingzhe likes to read these things, so he asked the servant in the mansion to buy them for me. He was afraid that I would be bored in the mansion, so he brought two books for me."
She said with admiration, "The content is indeed very well written. I didn't expect it was written by someone I know."
Shen Yu'an smiled embarrassedly. In fact, she also had the advantage of time, place and people.
Because she grew up in the 23rd century, which is several hundred years later than this era, many of the things she has come into contact with are not available here, so they will be more attractive when they are brought out.
Bai Miaoqing said this and picked up the next page to continue reading. She was very happy to know the follow-up one step ahead of everyone else.
As she read, she said, "This storybook has a great reputation. In just a few days, it has brought a new bookstore to life. Even many women in the city are very familiar with the contents of this storybook."
Bookstore?
Shen Yu'an asked, "Is this Wuyang Bookstore?"
Bai Miaoqing moved his eyes from the paper full of words to Shen Yu'an and replied, "That's it. This bookstore suddenly appeared in the most prosperous place in the capital. Who would have thought that it became famous by relying on storybooks?"
As if she remembered something, she said with a smile: "Come to think of it, many writers don't like things like vernacular novels, and think that the writers of these things insult the character of the writers. So after this vernacular novel became popular, you can hear self-proclaimed proud writers criticizing the writer of this vernacular novel in any teahouse."
Bai Miaoqing suddenly paused, then deliberately imitated the expressions of those writers when they were criticizing, straightened his back, and raised one hand.
"Humph, this is really a disgrace to us scholars. We have studied hard for decades, but now we are writing a book about love. If I, Li, saw him..."
Naturally, these people had not read the content of the storybook. They just thought that the storybook was mostly about love, so they started to criticize it directly.
Bai Miaoqing parroted what he said, and Shen Yu'an laughed repeatedly as he listened.
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