"As a thank you for taking care of me and my father."
"But..." Hu Xu wanted to refuse again, but when he met Song Qiao's eyes, he nodded involuntarily, "Okay then."
Song Qiao smiled at him.
Hu Xu's eyes flashed, then he drank the rest of the tea, stood up with the flowers in his arms, and said goodbye to her.
"Thank you for the tea and flowers. It's getting late, so I'll go back first."
Song Qiao saw him out and watched him enter the yard. When he turned around, he suddenly saw Song's father leaning against the door of the hall. He was startled and then his face turned red.
Father Song sighed, "This is a beautiful Fragrant Mountain tree. I've carefully nurtured it for three years. It finally adapted to the local climate and soil and blossomed. My family hasn't even had enough of it, and now they're giving it away. Alas, I can't keep it. I can't keep it after all."
"Aren't you drunk?"
It sounded sarcastic, and I couldn't tell whether he was talking about the flowers or the people.
"Drunk, then sober again." Father Song looked at the tea on the stone table and said, "Give me a cup of tea too. I drank too much and I'm feeling restless."
Song Qiao closed the door, put away the cups, and went to pour him tea.
Song's father walked into the yard, looked at the circle of pot marks on the ground, and snorted, "That kid got away with it."
Hu Xu walked into the house holding flowers. When Hu's mother and Hu Jin saw them, they surrounded him in surprise.
Hu's mother asked, "What beautiful flowers! Where did they come from?"
Hu Jin understood and said, "Where else could it be? In our alley, only Ah Qiao's house has so many flowers."
She touched the petals lovingly and said, "It's so beautiful." Then she changed her mind and said to Hu Xu, "You're a grown man, I'm afraid you can't take good care of this flower. Why don't you bring it back to me? This color will make the house festive."
Hu Xu took two steps back holding the flower. "It's a gift from someone else, so it's not easy to give it to someone else. I'll just keep it for myself."
"Am I someone else? I am your elder sister."
"It's not good anyway. If you like it, I'll ask my brother-in-law to buy another one for you."
"Hey, look at your little nose and eyes. Could it be that you're reluctant to part with it because it was given to you by Ah Qiao?"
"……no."
"What if I insist? Will you give it to me?"
"No."
The two siblings started arguing over a pot of flowers. Instead of trying to stop them, Mother Hu watched and laughed happily.
It’s okay for siblings to quarrel. The more they quarrel, the better their relationship will be, and the more lively it will be.
"A Jin." Hu's husband came out of the house, walked up to Hu Jin, and persuaded Hu Xu: "If you want, I'll go find Madam Song and buy you another pot. This pot will be left for A Xu, okay?"
Hu Xu thought to himself that there might not be any more, but he didn't reveal it on his face. He just nodded in agreement, "Brother-in-law is still sensible."
Hu Jin didn't really want it, she just wanted to test Hu Xu. Now that her goal was achieved, she went down the stairs.
"Forget it, forget it, I'll just give it to you. I'm your sister after all, so I should give in to you."
"Then I'm going to read." Seeing that she agreed, Hu Xu quickly left with the flowers to prevent her from regretting it.
After everyone left, Hu's brother-in-law wanted to go to Song Qiao's house to buy flowers, but Hu Jin quickly stopped him.
"Silly boy, don't go. I'm just teasing Ah Xu."
Mother Hu sighed, "You're already an adult, and you're still bullying your brother."
Hu Jin said angrily, "Oh, mother, you don't understand."
"Who understands your cunning mind?" Hu's mother scolded him with a smile and said, "I'm going to see your father."
After Hu's mother left, Hu's brother-in-law said to Hu Jinqing, "I understand."
Hu Jin turned around and looked at him with amusement, "You understand? What do you understand?"
Brother-in-law Hu leaned over and whispered a few words into Hu Jin's ear.
Hu Jin was surprised and asked, "You figured it out too?"
"Well," Hu's brother-in-law advised, "It's better for us not to interfere in their affairs, lest we end up making things worse. Besides, Ah Xu is about to take the imperial examination, so we don't want to distract him."
Hu Jin thought about it and said, "That's right." Then she pinched her husband's face and said, "You are very considerate."
Hu's brother-in-law smiled gently under her hand, and then asked, "You really don't want that flower?"
"What do you want? Where have you seen this flower before? It's probably a rare find. Even if Ah Qiao still has it, I'm afraid she won't accept payment if we go to her to buy it. Why should we let her spend money?"
Hu Jin looked around and saw that no one was in the yard, so she pulled her husband over and took a bite of his mouth, whispering, "Your kindness is more beautiful than flowers."
Hu's brother-in-law grabbed her hand and squeezed it again and again. After a while, he said, "Let's go say goodbye to Mother. It's time to go home."
Hu Jin narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Okay."
Hu Xu cleared out a flower table and placed the flowers Song Qiao gave him on it. The red flowers immediately brightened up the dim study, making it very festive.
But the flower bloomed so brilliantly, so breathtakingly, that one inevitably feared its withering and decay. Hu Xu pondered for a moment, found a pen and paper, mixed some paint, and began to depict its beauty.
He painted several pictures, thinking that since it was the beginning of the new year, the flowers would be beautiful and festive, and they could be given as gifts to others, so the paint would not be wasted.
By the time he finished the painting, it was already late at night. He went to sleep with his clothes on, letting the flowers in the painting bloom brightly until the New Year.
————High School Dividing Line————
In February, the ice and snow melt and spring arrives.
The gate of the Imperial Examination Hall, which had been closed for nine days, was finally opened. The examinees staggered out as if their souls had been taken away, and were then taken home by their relatives who were waiting outside to rest.
Hu Xu followed at the end of the crowd. Although his body was dull and tired, his spirit was still good.
He was very satisfied with the answer sheet he submitted this time and he was confident that he would be on the list.
It depends on what place you get.
"A Xu is out!"
Hu Xu heard Hu Jin's voice, looked up, and saw the whole family waiting for him.
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