Chapter 112 New Year Gift

[The emperor is hosting a banquet today. I will be accompanying my mother to the palace, so I sent the New Year gifts here early. I wish you a happy New Year.]

Shen Yuan put down the note. There was also a small jewelry box and a red envelope in the box.

There was a picture of a little girl on the red envelope, and it seemed that she was thanking him for drawing it.

So Shen Yuan picked up the red envelope first. If he guessed correctly, the little girl pictured on it should be her.

Thank you for your painting skills... At least she can tell that the painting is of her, Shen Yuan muttered silently in her heart.

"The first thing the girl received today was a red envelope from Master Xie!"

"It's quite thick." Shen Yuan squeezed the red envelope before opening it.

Inside were ten brand new silver notes for 100 taels each and a note saying that these were new silver notes issued by the Ministry of Revenue for its annual meeting.

When Shen Yuan was holding the banknote and didn't know what to do, Bai Zhi sighed beside her, "Miss, Master Xie is so generous."

"It's really too generous. I don't know whether I should accept it or not."

Shen Yuan was wondering if she had bad luck with money recently. First, her grandmother sent a silver note worth two thousand taels to her and her brother, and her father only told her to accept it and he would arrange the return gift.

Now I have received another one thousand taels from Xie Hui, which is not a small amount.

"The annual salary of the Junior Official of the Dali Temple is only a few hundred taels of silver." Although Shen Yuan knew that Xie Hui certainly did not live on the salary.

Shen Yuan put the banknote back into the red envelope and opened the jewelry box. Inside the box was a bracelet inlaid with gold and red coral.

"Miss, this bracelet matches your clothes today. Do you want me to put it on you?"

Shen Yuan found Qingdai's impatient look funny, so he handed the bracelet to her and stretched out his hand again.

"Here, help me put it on."

"It looks good! Girl, this really suits you, Baizhi, don't you think so?"

Bai Zhi smiled innocently, "I don't really understand this, but it looks really good on you, young lady."

Shen Yuan smiled and put the red envelope into the drawer. There was also a square jewelry box in the drawer. This was the New Year gift that Shen Yuan had prepared for Xie Hui earlier.

"Qingdai, have someone send this to the Princess's Mansion for Master Xie."

"Hey! I'll go right away!"

Qingdai took the things and went there happily immediately, looking even happier than Shen Yuan.

"It's getting late, Baizhi, let's go check out the front."

It was already late when Shen Yuan came out, and everyone in the family was busy. After asking, she found out that her father and uncle were outside the gate directing her brother to put up couplets.

"Hurry up! You are responsible for pasting the couplets in all the courtyards of the house today. They are crooked. Move the left side a little higher."

When Shen Yuan came out, she heard her father "commanding", so she ran over and looked up, "It's tilted to the right, brother, it's too low."

Shen Su heard his sister's voice, stopped what he was doing, and teased, "Hey, our little lazy pig has left the den?"

"Just do your job. If you stick it wrong, Dad will beat you."

Shen Yun nodded seriously, "Well, if you stick it wrong, I'll beat you up."

"Alas, I have a miserable life. I must have been picked up by fate."

"Dad, uncle."

"Manman, you look really beautiful today. Your uncle will give you a big red envelope tonight."

"Thank you, uncle! Dad, how about you?"

"Don't worry, you'll be there."

Over there, after Shen Su had finished pasting the couplets, he came down from the ladder, grabbed his sister's collar from behind and carried her away.

"Come on, Xiao Hong Bao, come with me to post the couplets."

"What did you call me?!"

"Little red envelope, you are dressed like this, what else could it be but a little red envelope?"

Shen Xu's words made Shen Xi and Shen Yun laugh.

Shen Yuan originally thought that her brother was playing a joke on her, but she didn't expect that Shen Yu would actually ask her to post couplets in every yard.

"Why did Dad ask you to put up the couplets? Aren't all the couplets except the one at the front door arranged by Uncle He?"

"Dad told me to do more work and exercise to strengthen my body so that I can survive the imperial examination."

The Spring Examination lasted for a total of nine days, with one test every three days. During the test, students had to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in a small holding cell. During each test, some students could not hold on and were kicked out halfway through, so in addition to knowledge, health was also very important.

Even when I was in the Imperial College, I had half a day of riding and archery lessons every five days.

"Dad is right, so you can post these couplets yourself. I'm going to find my sister-in-law and elder sister." Shen Yuan wanted to run away while Shen Su was smearing paste on the couplets.

But before he could run two steps, he was caught by Shen Su's quick eyes and hands.

"Your sister-in-law has Xixi, and your grandmother and aunt are with her. They don't need you. Just stay with your brother and work."

Since he couldn't run away, Shen Yuan had to stay and work with his brother. However, the brother and sister worked well together, one spreading the paste and the other pasting it, and they worked very quickly.

"Let's go, to the next one." Shen Su clapped his hands, pulled his sister, and went to the next yard.

On the way, Shen Su suddenly asked Shen Yuan: "What do you think about your grandmother?"

Two days ago, after her father told her to keep the silver, she handed over the two thousand taels of silver that her grandmother said was for her brother. At that time, Shen Su had no expression and did not say anything, and just accepted the silver.

"I didn't think much about it. My father told me to accept it, so I accepted it. If I go to Jinling in the future, I will go to see my grandmother."

She understood her grandmother's feelings, but she couldn't get close to her, after all, she hadn't seen her for so many years.

"Grandma, she is mother's mother. She will love mother's children because of mother, no matter if the children are ours or not. But now mother is gone, it's not wrong for grandma not to want to see us." Shen Su said, ruffling his sister's hair again, "Don't be sad, be happy, everyone in the family loves you the most, much more than me. But brother doesn't mind, because I love you too."

Shen Xu always felt that he should love his sister more. After all, their mother had been with him for ten years. But their mother passed away when his sister was still young and could not remember anything.

"You've messed up my hair." Shen Yuan slapped his brother's hand away and hid his tears with a fierce tone. "You stinky brother, why do you say such disgusting things for no reason?"

Shen Su smiled faintly and said nothing. He was not angry even when he was beaten. He had seen through his sister long ago. He knew his own sister well: she was coquettish, soft-hearted and simple-minded.

Shen Yuan was moved by his brother, and then he remembered that he had never told his brother about thanking him. Suddenly, he felt that he was wrong because his brother had told him about his relationship with his sister-in-law a long time ago.

So she rolled up her sleeves and showed her brother the coral bracelet on her hand.

"Brother, do you know the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, Mr. Xie? His name is Xie Hui."

"I heard about it, what's the matter?"

"He gave this to me. He and I..." Shen Yuan was still thinking about how to put it when he heard Shen Su's shocked voice.

"What?! Why did he give you this? Is he trying to bribe his superiors through you? We can't take this. Give it back. I'll buy you something better."

"What? What does this have to do with anything..." Shen Yuan was speechless.