Pei Weixuan only went home once in late summer. On the island, the colored glass firing workshop had been built and the first batch of colored glass had been fired. Most of the first batch of colored glass were used to hold things, such as tea sets and kitchen utensils. They were complete sets, colorful and very beautiful.

Huo Ye looked at the first batch of utensils and couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, these things are quite beautiful. No wonder they are so popular. However, these utensils are not as beautiful as the hairpin that Your Highness made."

Huo Ye still remembers that hairpin. It was truly dazzling, with golden light flowing in the crabapple color.

The hairpin was made with great care.

These utensils were all made by the craftsmen in the workshop, who were either the black-armored guards on the island or people selected from Chen Yi's gang of bandits. They were also taught by Pei Weixuan, who had been busy teaching these craftsmen how to make glassware in the past two months.

Pei Weixuan said: "Go find Zhou Yan and send these glassware to Tongzhou."

Although Tongzhou is not as wealthy as the capital, it is well connected due to its geographical location and it is easy to sell things.

Rare handicrafts like this should have been donated to the palace for use in the first place.

Huo Ye asked, "Your Highness, do you want to go home?"

"Yes." Pei Weixuan said, "You will escort the vessels this time."

"Okay, Your Highness, go back without any worries."

Pei Weixuan did not leave immediately, but asked about the crop planting.

Among these crops, the ones that Yuniang called potatoes and sweet potatoes had the highest yield. They could be used as food and as vegetables in cooking. They were delicious whether cooked alone or with meat. Several other crops, which Yuniang called peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, corn and onions, were also planted, but potatoes and sweet potatoes were the most planted.

"Remember it's time to harvest the potatoes and sweet potatoes."

The potatoes and sweet potatoes harvested this time are enough to plant almost the entire island.

By the year after next at the latest, these two crops will be fully grown in the southwest.

After discussing business for a while, Pei Weixuan set out to return to Yuanbao Town. The island was only a day's journey away from Yuanbao Town even if one rode at full speed.

When Pei Weixuan returned to Laixi Lane, it was dusk. His grandmother was at home with Fengger and Yanjie. The two children were practicing calligraphy. They were very happy to see him come back. Yanjie stammered and called him "Uncle".

Pei Weixuan asked: "Have you had your evening meal?"

Sister Yan nodded and said, "I have eaten it. My aunt sent it to me."

Sister Yan is talking more and more now. On weekdays, Xu Qinyu would hug her and ask her questions whenever she had time. When she came back in the evening, she would ask her how her classes were going in the private school and how the teacher was teaching her. She didn't want to make her aunt sad, so she would talk to Xu Qinyu without stammering, so the little girl spoke more fluently now.

Zhu said, "Brother Xuan is back, do you want to go to the restaurant to eat something? Yu Niang and your mother should be back soon, and Sister Ning is still busy in her Linglong Pavilion, so she should go back with Yu Niang and the others."

"No need." Pei Weixuan said, "I'll just cook some noodles at home."

He didn't want to go over and ask Yu Niang to prepare evening meals for him.

Zhu nodded and went to the backyard to cut some chives.

She had nothing to do on weekdays, and there happened to be a vacant space in the backyard, right next to the grape trellis. She cleared it and planted some small vegetables such as eggplant and leek, which she could eat on weekdays. If she couldn't finish them, she would send them to Yu Niang's restaurant.

Pei Weixuan washed the leeks, cooked a bowl of leek noodles and ate it.

As soon as they finished eating and cleaned the kitchen, Yu Niang and the others returned.

Xu Qinyu was still chatting and laughing with Wen and Ning Jie'er. As soon as she passed the screen wall, she saw Pei Weixuan standing by the wooden pavilion under the courtyard. She was startled for a moment, then she shouted happily, "Fourth brother is back."

In the past two months, the winery has started to wrap up. There are no wild grapes in the mountains, and the last batch of wine was just brewed in the past two days. The previous batches of wine were delivered to the capital one after another. It was the wine handed over by the eunuch. He didn't owe any money, nor did he do anything with the wine. He paid the money very readily. So Xu Qinyu also received her share in the past two months, a silver note of 28,000 taels. For a moment, she really couldn't figure out who in the palace bought the wine.

But she did feel more relieved, at least not as worried as she had been in the first two months.

Seeing her fourth brother now, she felt even more relieved. She wanted to tell him about this matter and ask him to help her analyze who in the palace bought the wine and whether anything bad would happen.

Mrs. Wen was relieved to see her son return. She was really worried that if Xuan'er didn't come back, Yu Niang would go directly to Raozhou City.

A few days ago, Yu Niang told them that she was going to go to Raozhou City to see if there were any vacant large shops or spare land for her to buy. She wanted to build a big restaurant, and she even wrote and drew on rice paper every night after returning from the restaurant. They must have been the drawings for the restaurant.

Pei Weixuan raised the corners of his lips slightly, and said softly: "I'm back."

Xu Qinyu hurriedly lifted the hem of her skirt and trotted to Pei Weixuan's side, smiling and asking, "Has Fourth Brother eaten his evening meal? If not, I'll cook something for you."

There was nothing to do in the winery, and she had more free time now with Dong Qian and Chef Wang helping to cook in the restaurant. Tao Qi and his friends had specially gone to the mountains to pick a lot of wild persimmons to make persimmon cakes.

But even when it came to making persimmon cakes, it was only Cheng and his brothers Feng who helped. This year's persimmon cakes were basically all made by them, so Xu Qinyu didn't have to worry much.

Persimmon cakes sold very well last year, and this year Xu Qinyu still plans to sell them at five cents each.

I don’t make much money from persimmon cakes, so I will continue to send some back to my family in Beijing this year.

Pei Weixuan said: "I have eaten."

Xu Qinyu thought about wine and her marriage to her fourth brother, and planned to talk to him.

"Fourth brother, you're back just in time. I just have something I want to talk to you about. How about we go to the pavilion and talk about it?"

Pei Weixuan's eyes darkened, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Okay."

Seeing this, Wen and Ning said hurriedly, "Then we will go back first."

Even Sister Ning knew what Fourth Sister-in-law was planning.

She is almost fifteen years old this year, and Wen and Xu Qinyu will discuss any matters at home with her.

As a grown-up girl, she naturally knew the relationship between her fourth brother and his wife, but she could also see that her fourth brother seemed to treat his sister-in-law differently.

It is time for Fourth Brother and His Wife to resolve their own issues.

The two of them entered the room silently. Zhu had already taken Sister Yan and Brother Feng into the room to wash up and go to bed.

Xu Qinyu entered the wooden pavilion first. The grape racks next to it were full of lush grape leaves. Some vines had even climbed up to the pavilion and hung down, covering half of the pavilion. In addition, it was already very dark, so after the two of them entered the pavilion, if they didn't look carefully, they couldn't see that there were two people inside.

There were benches on all four sides of the wooden pavilion. Xu Qinyu sat down and saw her fourth brother sitting opposite her. She then told him what she was worried about. "Fourth brother, this is what happened. This year, Zhen Biaotou will send the first batch of wine to the capital, just like last year..."

She told her fourth brother the story in detail.

This was what she was most worried about. As for the divorce with her fourth brother, she felt that it was not a big deal and there was no problem. It should be easily resolved. Her fourth brother would agree to the divorce, but he would most likely not agree to her moving out of the Pei family because he would be worried about her safety when she was alone outside.

Xu Qinyu stopped talking about wine.

As soon as she finished speaking, Pei Weixuan said, "Don't worry, Yu Niang. It's probably not the new emperor and the queen mother. I guess it's the King of Handong's people."

King of Handong?

Hearing the title of the prince, Xu Qinyu was a little confused for a moment. She was calculating in her mind how many brothers the new emperor had. In addition to the eldest prince and the fourth brother, the remaining princes should have been crowned as princes. However, the new emperor would not allow the princes who could leave the palace to stay in the capital. Who was this King of Handong? How could he leave the palace and not be sent to a fiefdom by the new emperor?

The new emperor has no brothers or sisters from the same mother, so he is very jealous of his other brothers who are crowned kings and usually does not allow them to stay in the capital.

Even if brothers from the same mother were made kings, some emperors were suspicious by nature and would still send people to the fiefdoms.

Pei Weixuan saw Yu Niang's appearance and told her, "The King of Handong is the Queen Mother's biological brother."

Xu Qinyu was shocked. You know, in the Great Sheng Dynasty, no matter how great the merits were, people with different surnames would not be granted the title of king. They would only be granted titles. Empress Dowager Fu's father had long been granted the title of Duke. After her son ascended the throne, she actually granted her own brothers the title of kings with different surnames. She was really bold and was not afraid of being reported to death by the censors.

Xu Qinyu murmured what was in her mind.

Pei Weixuan then told her that because of this matter, the empress dowager was reported again and again by the censors in the court, but the empress dowager didn't care at all.

Moreover, some things have happened in the capital recently, but the southwest is far away and the people in the southwest are not very clear about it.

Actually, it was not a big deal. It was just that the new emperor and the empress dowager in the palace built a temporary palace, which was extravagant and wasteful. They also built a temporary palace for the King of Handong. It was full of extremely luxurious gold, silver and jade wares, and even the floor was paved with luxurious white jade. Even the colored glaze crafts that Pei Weixuan brought back from Erlai last year, most of them ended up in the King of Handong's temporary palace. The King of Handong was the empress dowager's younger brother, and his food and clothing were the same as the new emperor and the empress dowager in the palace. There were groups of slaves in the temporary palace, and the prince in the palace was even more arrogant and domineering, bullying men and women. He dared to snatch away any woman he liked, even the granddaughter of a duke.

Thanks to the late emperor's great reputation, a lot of wealth was accumulated in the early years and the treasury is full. But with the new emperor and the empress dowager's extravagant and wasteful behavior, I'm afraid the treasury won't be able to last for a few more years.

Even the military pay allocated to the border town barracks was embezzled by some officials. This year, the military pay in the barracks in various places was reduced by half, which made the soldiers guarding the border towns very dissatisfied. Even the leading generals in the barracks were so angry that they submitted a memorial to the court.

Governor Zhu was also extremely busy with this matter.

After Xu Qinyu heard her fourth brother talk about the developments in the capital and various other matters, she felt a little uneasy and muttered, "There won't be an increase in taxes and labor service in the future, will there?" Why did she feel that the world was going to become chaotic?

You have to know that the rulers of the feudal dynasty were so wasteful. If there was a little disaster and they were unwilling to use the money in the national treasury for disaster relief, once the money in the national treasury was spent, they would naturally increase taxes, making the people miserable and the world would easily become chaotic.

Xu Qinyu felt that the Empress Dowager and the new Emperor in the palace were simply sick. If they were just seeking pleasure, how much more joyful would it be to be a concubine or a leisurely prince? But they wanted to gain power and even harmed the previous Emperor and the eldest prince in order to ascend to that position.

Pei Weixuan chuckled. Even Yu Niang could see through it, but the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu in the palace did not understand.

Because they not only want pleasure, they also want the greatest power in the world, to make everyone crawl at their feet. They want the most honorable position, not for the sake of a prosperous future for the Great Sheng Dynasty, not for the sake of letting the people live in peace and contentment, but just for their own selfish desires. It is only a matter of time before problems arise, and now they are already showing signs.

Since the King of Handong had someone buy all the wine, even if he was greedy and only wanted to enjoy himself, and he also gave money, Xu Qinyu would have nothing to worry about if he didn't make a fuss about the wine and implicate the Pei family.

She then spoke again, "Fourth brother talked to me, and I feel relieved. Today I went to see fourth brother, and I have another matter to discuss with him. My marriage with fourth brother was just a plan by the new emperor, the old lady of Dechang Marquis, and Xu Qinhui, but I have never blamed fourth brother and the Pei family. We are all innocent. It has been almost three years since I came to the border town. Fourth brother, mother, and Ning Jie'er have been living together for three years. I have long regarded fourth brother and you as relatives. But fourth brother is already twenty-three, and it's time for him to consider himself, so I thought about divorcing fourth brother. It just so happens that I also plan to open a larger wine shop and restaurant in Raozhou City."

"After this year's wine is sold, I will have more than 50,000 taels of silver on me, and I will go to Raozhou City to have a look. Xu's Restaurant has Dongqian and Chef Wang, so I don't have to worry. If I go to Raozhou City, I will also bring Xu Feng and the others, so Fourth Brother doesn't have to worry."

She chattered on and on to her fourth brother about her future plans.

Pei Weixuan's expression had turned pale since she opened her mouth. He lowered his eyes, motionless, and listened to Yu Niang finish the rest of her words.

After Xu Qinyu finished speaking, she saw that her fourth brother didn't move or speak at all, so she couldn't help but glance in his direction. However, it was already completely dark, and she couldn't see his expression clearly. She also vaguely felt that something was wrong. His fourth brother didn't move at all, like a statue in the dark.

The atmosphere seems wrong.

"Fourth brother?" Xu Qinyu couldn't help but shout.

"Yu Niang."

Xu Qinyu heard her fourth brother finally speak. He said, "Don't divorce."

His voice seemed to be trembling a little.

Xu Qinyu was stunned, and for a moment she didn't understand what her fourth brother meant.

But when she heard Fourth Brother's words, she felt a chill in her heart for some reason.

"Fourth, fourth brother." Xu Qinyu stammered, "If we divorce, fourth brother can also get married. Fourth brother is already twenty-three..."

She felt that in the darkness, her fourth brother finally raised his head, his eyes fixed on her.

She heard her fourth brother say, "Yu Niang, don't get divorced. From the beginning to the end, the only person I want to marry is you."

His voice was a little trembling, with a barely perceptible hint of pleading.

Even though he knew that he would have to support Dasheng and lead troops to fight in the future, and he didn't know what his fate would be, he didn't want to let Yu Niang leave. He didn't have the idea of ​​letting the woman he loved leave just because he didn't know what her fate would be. He just wanted to keep Yu Niang by his side.

The moment he heard her talk about divorce, he suddenly felt an urge to do whatever he wanted. He even wanted to take Yu Niang away, lock her up, and keep her by his side forever.

But he was more afraid of scaring Yu Niang, so he forced himself to suppress these thoughts.

Xu Qinyu was struck by lightning, her heart was beating wildly. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but she couldn't say anything. She thought that Fourth Brother just treated her as a sister, but Fourth Brother actually wanted to marry her? Fourth Brother liked her?

Xu Qinyu only knew that her heartbeat was not normal. She finally stammered, "Fourth Brother, you want to be my real husband and wife."

Pei Weixuan nodded, staring at Yu Niang's somewhat flustered eyes in the darkness, "Yu Niang, are you willing to be my real wife?"

Hearing him say it so bluntly, Xu Qinyu felt a little dry-mouthed for some reason. She was a little confused. In her two lifetimes, this was the first time she had experienced such a thing. She inevitably felt a little overwhelmed, but she didn't seem to reject her fourth brother's words.

It's just that this was all a bit sudden. She had been reminding herself before that she was actually 28 years old. When she first came here, her fourth brother was only 19, a nine-year age difference. She must not be seduced by his beauty and have any inappropriate thoughts. She herself had followed this warning very well. Every time she saw her fourth brother's face, she would remind herself not to be confused.

But now Fourth Brother suddenly said this.

Xu Qinyu thought for a moment and said, "Fourth brother, give me some time to think about it."

She didn't know what to think for a while, and now her mind felt like a mess.

"good."

After a while, the fourth brother finally replied with a good word.

Xu Qinyu stood up in a hurry and said, "I'll go back to my room and wash up first. Fourth brother must have been traveling a long way, so you should also wash up quickly and go back to bed."

"Um."

After Yu Niang entered the room, Pei Weixuan sat in the wooden pavilion for a while before slowly getting up. His tall figure merged into the darkness.

He thought, if Yu Niang insisted on divorcing him tomorrow, and if Yu Niang really didn't like him at all and only treated him as a brother, what should he do?

The palms of his hands hanging on the outside of his thighs slowly tightened into fists.

…

Xu Qinyu returned to her room. It was dark in the room and she could not see anything. Her heart was beating violently. After a long while, she fumbled for the tinder on the table. She opened the tinder and the faint light allowed her to see things. She lit the oil lamp with the tinder and light began to slowly come out of the room.

She stared at the light.

After three years of being together, is it really just a brother-sister relationship?

The wick suddenly crackled, and Xu Qinyu came back to her senses and calmed down. She sat down at the table, looking at the inkstone, brush, ink, and rice paper on the table. On the paper was the picture of the restaurant she had drawn, and she began to continue drawing.

But she just couldn't put pen to paper. Her heart still couldn't calm down, but she didn't know whether her fourth brother had washed up and gone to bed. She had to go to the kitchen to fetch water, and she was worried that it would be embarrassing to run into her fourth brother. She could only tilt her ears to listen to the noise outside, and planned to go to the kitchen to fetch hot water after hearing the sound of her fourth brother washing up and returning to the room.

Just as I was listening to the noise outside, there was a sudden knock at the door.

Xu Qinyu was startled and asked hurriedly, "Who is it?"

Pei Weixuan's voice came from outside, "It's me, bring hot water to Yu Niang."

Xu Qinyu responded, lifted her skirt and went to open the door. It was her fourth brother. He was holding a bucket of warm water and standing in front of the door. In the light from the room, she saw that her fourth brother's face was the same as usual, with handsome and gentle eyes. Her fourth brother was always very gentle in front of her.

On weekdays, when fourth brother is at home, it is always him who brings her bath water.

At this moment Xu Qinyu felt a little embarrassed.

Pei Weixuan asked, "Do you want to help Yu Niang carry the water in?"

It would feel even weirder if I didn't let my fourth brother fetch water at this moment.

Xu Qinyu nodded, "Thank you, Fourth Brother."

Pei Weixuan took two trips to fill the bathtub in the room with water, and then said, "Yu Niang, wash up and rest early." He glanced at the rice paper on the square table and said, "Don't paint for too long at night, it will hurt your eyes."

The light from the oil lamp is still a little weak and can hurt your eyes.

Xu Qinyu nodded obediently to show that she understood.

After Fourth Brother left, she took off all her clothes and got into the bathtub.

Although it was late summer and the temperature had gotten a little cooler, she was sweating from working in the restaurant kitchen during the day.

Xu Qinyu entered the bathtub and could not help but raise her snow-white arms to smell if there was any sweat, worried that her fourth brother might smell the sweat on her body. As soon as she raised her arms with this thought, Xu Qinyu was stunned and put her arms down awkwardly. She half-lay on the edge of the bathtub, revealing her snow-white and smooth shoulders, with her jet-black hair scattered on her shoulders and beautiful white shoulder blades.

Her shoulder blades were like beautiful butterflies, their wings slightly spread, slender and weak.

She always felt that her appearance could not compare to that of her fourth brother. Although she was also good-looking, her fourth brother's appearance was the best-looking one she had ever seen in her life.

Xu Qinyu had no idea how alluring she looked at the moment.

After lying on the edge of the bathtub and thinking for a while, Xu Qinyu washed her hair and body, changed into soft silk clothes, and went to sit down under the window.

Normally after washing her hair she would go sit in the wooden pavilion outside to slowly wipe and blow dry it. But now she was too embarrassed to go out to the wooden pavilion, so she could only open the window in her room and sit under it looking at the starry sky outside.

She had a lot of hair, and it took her half an hour to finally wipe and blow-dry her hair. She felt a little sleepy, but she couldn't help going to bed thinking that her hair was almost dry. She thought she would have a dream at night because of her upset mood, but she did. She stayed awake all night and woke up with a headache and a groggy head.

Apparently it was because she went to bed yesterday before her hair was completely dry.

When we go to the restaurant later, ask them to add more shredded ginger when cooking porridge. A bowl of steaming hot porridge with shredded ginger and rolled fish slices will basically be enough.

Xu Qinyu rubbed the back of her head, pulled her clothes over and put them on listlessly. After all, she had a headache and was not in good spirits.

When she went to the kitchen, Pei Weixuan was there, boiling water. When he saw her, he asked, "But you went to bed with your hair wet last night, so you have a headache?"

Apparently, she couldn't hide anything from her fourth brother, so Xu Qinyu nodded dejectedly.

She thought she would feel strange seeing her fourth brother, but actually it was fine, no different from usual. She didn't know what to do, but she definitely couldn't talk about divorce anymore, she had to wait until she understood her own feelings before saying anything.

Pei Weixuan stretched out his hand towards her, "Come here, I'll give you a massage and it won't hurt."

Xu Qinyu hesitated, but still walked over and sat down on the small stool in front of her fourth brother.

Even when Pei Weixuan was sitting behind her, he was still more than a head taller than her.

He loosened Yu Niang's hair, which was usually not very nice, and her black hair mixed with a faint fragrance fell behind her.