Lanhua, who was watering the flowers in the yard, heard their conversation, put the sprinkler on the ground, lifted the door curtain and walked into the house. Lancao scolded him, "You are the one who should be chopped off. How can you talk to your uncle?"
After talking about Chunlan, Chunhua said to A Lu, "If Uncle wants to give these pens and inks to others, then give them away. You can use them however you want. Anyway, these things are prepared by Grandmother for the young master. However, I also think that we should take the gifts prepared by the Foreign Affairs Office. If you don't take them, those snobs will benefit."
Although Ah Lu was shy and polite, he was rather stubborn and still shook his head. In his opinion, the gifts prepared by the Foreign Affairs Office were nothing more than a few packets of snacks and candies, which were not worth much money. If he took them, people would say that he went back to his uncle's house and took things from his brother-in-law's house as gifts. Those little things would be said to be not worth the money.
Soon, Sanquan arrived.
Chunhua scolded again, "Why did you come just now? The young master has been waiting for you."
San Quan chuckled and said, "My two sisters, you still have time to rest, but I'm busy all day long. Today is my uncle's day off, so I should be able to sleep in."
He bowed again and said to A-Lu, "Uncle, let's go."
Lanhua then told A-Lu, "Uncle, don't give money to those shameless people for no reason. You are the eldest grandmother's brother and the master. There is no need to spend money just to please them." She then said to Sanquan, "Did you hear me? Keep a close eye on your wallet, uncle."
Sanquan and Lancao both blushed. Lancao rolled her eyes and Sanquan nodded in agreement.
The two men came to the corner gate, but did not see the carriage sent by Haopai.
A doorman said, "Oh, Uncle has to go out. The carriage has been waiting for you for a long time, but you didn't come. Manager Jiang thought you were not going out, so he took the carriage to go out of the city to do some work. Otherwise, I will go to the stable again and ask them to send another carriage?"
San Quan said, "Do you even need to ask? Go now."
Chen A Lu said, "Thank you, brother. Never mind. No need to adjust it. I'll just go out and call a car."
Sanquan was so angry that he pouted, and dared not say anything more. He knew that his uncle was short of money, and he would definitely use a bullock cart or a donkey cart to go out. Those carts had no compartments, and it was hot and embarrassing to sit in them.
After exiting the corner gate, Sanquan said, "Uncle, why don't you ask the porter to call another carriage? It's so shabby to go visit your uncle in a donkey cart."
Ah Lu said, "If we get another car, we'll have to pay at least two dimes for the doorman's errands and the driver's errands. If we hire a donkey cart, we'll spend a few cents."
Sanquan said, "Uncle is too honest. Even if I don't give them any money, do they still dare to say they won't go? If they really dare not go, I will report it to Grandma and make them pay for it."
A Lu shook his head and said, "Forget it, my sister is in poor health and there are many things to do in the mansion. I don't want to bother her with these trivial matters."
Sanquan added, "If the great grandmother had sent someone as powerful as Luo Mama to my uncle, my uncle wouldn't be looked down upon by those people, and the servants would be able to enjoy the good life. You see, Bao Ge'er is not the great grandmother's biological son, but because of Luo Mama, no one dares to look down on him. But my uncle is the great grandmother's biological brother, but he still..."
Ah Lu was really angry and said angrily, "Shut up, I said what you said, but why are you making up stories about Dabao like this? My sister and brother-in-law both regard Dabao as their own son, and I also regard him as my own nephew. If my sister hears this kind of talk, I will make you mouth broken."
Sanquan was so scared that he quickly bowed and said, "It's my fault. I said something careless. I won't dare to do it again next time."
A Lu added, "Don't worry, I will tell my sister that I will leave alone when I leave, and I will not let you go to the countryside to serve me."
He knew that Sanquan and Lancao were most afraid of becoming his slaves and following him to the countryside. They were now slaves in the General's Mansion, and they might return to the capital and become slaves in the Marquis' Mansion. If they followed him, they would be slaves of the landlords in the countryside. People always wanted to move up, and he didn't want to block their future.
Sanquan chuckled awkwardly, but did not deny that he did not want to go to the countryside with him. He said, "It's not that I don't want to go and serve my uncle, but my father and mother are both in the mansion, and I can't bear to leave them."
When they reached the entrance of the alley, they saw ox carts and donkey carts. An ox cart cost six cents, and a donkey cart cost five cents. Chen A-lu said there were only two of them, so he spent five cents to call a donkey cart.
Just as Chen A-Lu was about to get in the car, Sanquan quickly wiped the car with his sleeves and invited A-Lu to sit in. A-Lu was dressed very respectably today, a moon-white satin gown with embroidered round flowers. If he sat on a ball of black dust on his butt, he would definitely be scolded when he returned home.
On the way, Chen A-lu saw a snack shop and got off the car to buy two bags of snacks and two bags of candied fruits. He also bought two ribbons for Chen A-man and Wang Xiaomei to use as hair ties.
It took more than three quarters of an hour to arrive at Chen Shi's home. Not only Chen Shi's family was there, but also Wang Cheng's family.
Seeing them, A-Lu smiled with his eyes curved. He felt that here he could not only laugh freely, but also breathe freely. In fact, he wanted to stay here or at his uncle's house at night and go to the general's house for classes during the day. But he was afraid that if he brought it up, his sister would be sad, so he never dared to bring it up.
He took out the gifts and gave each of them one, especially Ah Tang and my younger brother, who liked the pen and ink he gave them very much.
Chen Aman also chuckled and said, "Thank you, brother Alu, for thinking of buying two hairbands for me when you visit me. You are really considerate."
After lunch, Chen Shi was going to the restaurant. He had taken half a day off to entertain A-Lu. Before he left, A-Lu secretly asked him to help change the ten taels of silver into five small silver ingots of one tael each and the other five taels into dozens of small silver coins.
Chen Shi glanced at him, said nothing, and changed the ten taels of silver according to his request. Then, he asked him indirectly whether he was used to living in the General's Mansion.
Ah Lu told him that he lived very well, and went to the main courtyard to eat with his sister at noon and evening. He only ate breakfast by himself, and there were so many servants to serve him. He just missed his father and mother and Luyuan very much.
Chen Shi left, and Wang Cheng couldn't stay at Chen's house any longer, so he took a few boys to go shopping. Ah Lu had been to the city before, but his leg was not healed yet, so he had never been out to play. Today, he went out to play with Ah Tang and Ah Di, and he was very excited.
Wang Cheng treated everyone to dinner. They had some snacks at a restaurant and the boys were all grinning from ear to ear.
Afterwards, Wang Cheng called another donkey cart and first sent A Lu and San Quan back to the General's Mansion, then sent Atang back to Chen's house, and took Wu and Xiaomei home.
Arriving at the corner gate of the General's Mansion, Wang Cheng saw A Lu's reluctant look and said with a smile, "Next time you have a day off, come to your uncle's house to play."
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