On the third day after Shen Tingxuan arrived, Xu Jingrong's academy also had its annual holiday and he returned from Lancheng.
He was not alone. The second son of the Marquis of Changnan, Jiang Rui, the youngest son of Aunt Xu, personally sent the person back.
Jiang Rui is only seven or eight years older than Xu Jingrong, but a generation older than Xu Jingrong. With Jiang Rui watching over him, Xu Jingrong has not made much progress in his studies during the few months he has been in the academy, but at least he has not regressed and has become much more obedient.
If Jiang Rui had not been home for many days, Mrs. Lu would have wanted to keep him in her house for a few days.
Shen Tingxuan originally wanted to move into his own house before the New Year and spend the New Year alone, but Mrs. Lu did not allow it.
They said that he couldn't have a good New Year when he was alone in his house.
There was a heavy snowfall in Shengjing at the end of February, and on New Year's Eve, the snow was still very thick.
Mrs. Lu was very busy. After seeing the little ones in the morning, she found an excuse to drive them out of the main courtyard. Xu Jingrong was bored, so he brought his two younger brothers to Wen Ye to play snowball fights.
The rule is that they both have to hit Xu Jingrong three times in a row, either one after the other or at the same time, to win.
The west yard is also big, enough for them to have fun.
Wen Ye didn't want to play. She sat down under the window of the west study, which was close to the corridor. There was a thick mattress on the soft couch, so she didn't feel cold at all when she sat on it.
There was a charcoal stove burning not far from her feet. She was holding Tang Po in her arms. Even the window sill where her elbows would hurt was cushioned. Wen Ye leaned on it, looking into the yard from time to time.
It was as if the boys were having a snowball fight just for her.
In the yard, Xu Jingrong was alone with his gang, and the remaining two little ones joined forces to hit him.
Xu Jinglin was fine. He was almost seven years old and had gained some strength, so at least he could throw it out.
Xu Yuxuan was much younger than the two brothers, and he couldn't hold the snowball with both hands, so he couldn't throw it far.
And many times, even though he was clearly intending to throw the snowball forward, for some reason, the snowball would inexplicably go behind him.
Either it would hit Nanny Ji's feet, or it would wet the sleeves of Honeysuckle or He Xiang.
Xu Jingrong, who was standing opposite him, had an expression of disbelief on his face.
That expression seemed to be saying: I've already put enough water in, if it can't hit you anymore, I have no other choice.
For several times in a row, Xu Yuxuan saw that Xu Jinglin had succeeded, but he himself had not, and his chubby face was full of distress.
Xu Jinglin couldn't bear to see him sad, and was about to teach him step by step, but Xu Yuxuan suddenly turned around and ran in the direction where Wen Ye was.
The snowy ground was slippery, and Nanny Ji hurried to follow.
Xu Yuxuan did not enter the house, but talked to Wen Ye through the window, but he was held by Nanny Ji.
Otherwise, with his short legs, Wen Ye might not be able to see the top of his forehead.
Wen Ye looked into his bright round eyes and asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Xu Yuxuan nodded his head, hung himself on the window, and said to Wen Ye: "Mother, I want 'Xuan'er!"
Nanny Ji, who was holding him, was puzzled after hearing this, but Wen Ye seemed to have understood: "What do you want that for?"
Xu Yuxuan: "Xuan'er wants to throw a snowball!"
Wen Ye raised her eyebrows slightly and did not ask any more questions. "Okay, wait a moment."
She calmly got down from the couch and walked towards the desk. Xu Yuejia had left not long ago, and the used pen, ink, paper and inkstone were still there.
Wen Ye used the ink pen he had used before, found a piece of paper at random, and wrote the words "Xuan'er" on it. After it dried slightly, he handed it to Xu Yuxuan outside the window and said, "Here, go and play."
Although Xu Yuxuan was still young, he was already very familiar with his own name. After recognizing it several times, he looked up at Wen Ye and smiled innocently: "Thank you, mother~"
Nanny Ji looked at the piece of paper with Xu Yuxuan's name on it, and couldn't imagine that this was what he meant by "I want Xuan'er".
Back at the snowball fight, Xu Yuxuan wrapped the snowballs he had made with paper and handed them to Xu Jinglin: "Second brother, smash them~"
Xu Jinglin was confused: "Brother Xuan, why do you need to wrap it with a piece of paper?"
Xu Yuxuan said, "That's not paper, that's Xuan'er. Use it to wrap a snowball and throw it at big brother, and we'll win!"
After saying this, he took the initiative to return to Nanny Ji's side, wrapped his small cloak tightly around himself, and smiled harmlessly.
Xu Jinglin looked down at himself, alone in the cold snow, his hands red from playing in the snow.
Something doesn't seem right.
Xu Jingrong, who was not far away, twitched his mouth when he heard this. He secretly glanced at Xu Yuxuan's current small body, and suddenly felt lucky that what was thrown at him were just papers and snowballs.
Wen Ye watched this scene, and when Tao Zhi approached to pour tea, he withdrew his gaze and sighed, "Fortunately, Mr. Xu didn't teach him that he could write on stones."
After the lively and noisy snowball fight, the three brothers went into the house to warm themselves by the fire.
Xu Jinglin just reacted at this time. Just when he was about to open his mouth to say something, Xu Yuxuan ran around with his two short legs, bringing hot tea and snacks.
Xu Jinglin was very comfortable with the service and soon forgave Xu Yuxuan's lazy behavior.
Xuan Di was still very nice to him.
The New Year's Eve dinner in the evening was not much different from last year. The dishes were rich and complete. Wen Ye took a look and found that there were a few more of her favorite dishes.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Mrs. Lu gave the children New Year's money as usual, and Xu Yuxuan got a little golden pig.
Probably because he knew that he would receive the New Year's gift tonight, Xu Yuxuan asked Nanny Ji to bring the big golden pig that Wen Ye gave him last year to the main courtyard before coming to the main courtyard.
Now, it contained not only the little golden pigs he had collected earlier, but also the silver notes given by Duke Xu, and the gold and silver melon seeds given by his aunt and Yao.
And she had to hold them while sleeping every night, so much so that Nanny Ji would shake out a lot of gold and silver melon seeds from the quilt every morning.
It was not until today that Wen Ye understood why Lu would give Xu Yuxuan a little golden pig every year, and why it was such a coincidence that his birthday was the same day as Duke Xu.
Because that day was actually his biological mother's birthday.
In order to match the date when Xu Yuejia got married, Xu Yuxuan's birthday was pushed back a few months. On paper, he would be three years old in a few days, but in reality his birthday would be moved forward to the end of summer.
Because his mother was in poor health when she was pregnant with him, and he was born prematurely and with difficulty, at first glance there is not much difference whether he is three years old or three and a half years old.
But even though he was a year older, Xu Yuxuan was still powerless to hold the increasingly heavy golden pig after bending down to hug it.
Staggering as if he had drunk fake wine, it added a lot of laughter and excitement to this New Year's Eve.
Just like last year, Lu and Duke Xu returned to Ding'an Marquis Mansion on the first day of the new year, leaving the second day for Wen Ye and Xu Yuejia.
Early in the morning on the second day of the Chinese New Year, Wen Ye got into the carriage back to the Wen Mansion. The three of them were still in the carriage.
Xu Yuxuan was excited to go out and play, but when he got into the car, he saw Wen Ye had her eyes closed. He was very confused and asked, "What's wrong with mother?"
Xu Yuejia looked down, moved her head to her shoulders, and said, "You didn't sleep well last night."
Xu Yuxuan asked again: "Why didn't you sleep well?"
Xu Yuejia remained calm: "Reviewing my lessons."
Xu Yuxuan exclaimed curiously: "Mom also has to do homework?"
Xu Yuejia hummed and said, "Keep your voice down and don't disturb your mother's rest."
Xu Yuxuan quickly covered his mouth and nodded, then returned to his seat and sat quietly, only occasionally grabbing a piece of cake to eat.
The carriage drove all the way towards Wen Mansion.
This was not his first time here. Xu Yuxuan was much braver than he was last year. His memory had also improved after going to school. He still remembered several of the Wen family's younger cousins.
Wen Lan, Wen Hui and their family arrived about half a minute earlier than Wen Ye.
With four daughters coming back at the same time, and more than a dozen grandchildren, Shen was given a headache by the noise.
Fortunately, everyone was a reasonable person, and Shen did not keep them for too long. After a simple greeting, she let them go.
Wen Yuwan hadn't been back to her parents' home for quite some time. This time, her youngest child had grown up a lot, so she brought them back to her parents' home to let Shen take a closer look.
Wen Ye was the last one to leave the main courtyard, holding the jumping Xu Yuxuan along with him.
Wen Yuwan looked at her graceful and elegant back and said to Shen with emotion, "No wonder my mother-in-law always says that Fourth Sister is very lucky."
Shen took a sip of tea and said, "She knows how to run it herself."
Wen Yuwan agreed with this point, but she couldn't really refute what her mother-in-law said.
"Oh, right." Wen Yuwan suddenly remembered something and asked, "I heard that mother and fourth sister went to the hot springs outside Beijing to soak in the hot springs?"
Shen glanced at her daughter and said, "Did your mother-in-law say that again?"
Wen Yuwan smiled and said, "I really can't hide anything from my mother."
Shen said, "I did go there once, and I brought Xiaowu with me."
Wen Yuwan said, "I also own a hot spring manor. If mother wants to soak in the hot spring again, please write to me anytime."
But before that, she had to take her mother-in-law there first.
Upon hearing this, Shen looked at her lovingly and said, "You still have several children to take care of, so don't bother me, or your mother-in-law will worry too much."
It is not easy for a woman to live well in her husband's family.
Wen Yuwan’s current situation is all due to Shen’s original idea.
From the day Wen Yuwan got married, she could not get closer to Shen than Lady Yongcheng within her sight.
Lady Yongcheng was a person who cared a lot about her reputation. It was true that she loved Wen Yuwan, but in her heart, she definitely hoped that her daughter-in-law would put her husband's family first in everything.
Shen didn't think there was anything wrong with this method. She just hoped that everything would go smoothly for her daughter in her husband's family.
How could Shen not guess what her daughter, whom she had raised, was thinking? "As long as everything is fine with you in the Earl's Mansion, it doesn't matter if we don't see each other often."
Wen Yuwan was silent for a moment, then raised her eyes and said, "I'll listen to you, mother."
Shen stroked her hair like she did when she was a child and said, "Your fourth sister said that if I want to take a hot spring bath in the future, I can ask her for help."
Wen Yuwan couldn't help laughing when she heard this. Although she didn't know much about her sisters at home, she vaguely remembered that Wen Ye was the laziest and trouble-fearing one among them.
I'm afraid it's a little different from the original words, but it's rare to see her mother joking with her, so Wen Yuwan finds it quite fresh.
On the other side, after Wen Ye handed Xu Yuxuan over to Xu Yuejia, he brought the maids to Xi Cuiyuan.
Aunt Chang had been waiting early. Wen Ye did not bring Xu Yuxuan because he had something important to tell Aunt Chang.
When they arrived at the main hall of Xi Cui Yuan, Wen Ye found an excuse to let his younger sister go back to her room first.
A quarter of an hour later, when Aunt Chang learned that Wen Ye did not plan to have a child, she was dumbfounded.
Wen Ye had anticipated the scene that was likely to happen and had made preparations in advance. She said without panic, "Auntie, I am serious about this matter. You don't need to persuade me."
There was a deep determination in his eyes.
Aunt Chang was stunned for a long time before she spoke in a hoarse voice: "Did I scare you when I gave birth to your little sister?"
Wen Ye shook her head: "What are you thinking, Auntie? You don't know my personality. I don't want to have a baby because I'm afraid of the hardship of pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, and death."
When Aunt Chang heard the last word "death", she said "Pah" immediately: "It's New Year's Day, why mention it?"
Wen Ye: "Will my aunt still persuade me to have a baby?"
Aunt Chang was silent for a long time, then she sighed deeply and said, "Well, if you don't want to have a baby, can I force you to do it?"
Wen Ye paused, having never expected such a scene. There was no sign of the 'hysteria' she had expected.
Apart from the disappointment and regret revealed in her eyes, Aunt Chang was relatively calm.
Aunt Chang saw her eldest daughter staring at her and studying her, and laughed angrily, "Why? Are you afraid that I will regret it?"
Wen Ye: "I thought my aunt would give me some more advice."
Aunt Chang looked at her and said, "You are the child I carried for ten months. Aunt Chang knows how hard it is to be pregnant."
Although she still doesn't understand and can't comprehend the strange thoughts in her eldest daughter's mind, she doesn't want to push her daughter into danger with her own hands.
She knew that she was not a smart person and did not think deeply about many things.
But she also understood that some things cannot be forced.
Since the eldest daughter can live well without children in the Duke's Mansion, why force her to do things she doesn't want to do?
Thinking of this, Aunt Chang still felt a little regretful: "It's a pity that I saved all those fabrics for your future children."
Wen Ye smiled and said, "Leave those fabrics to my younger sister to make clothes. The Duke's wife is very kind to me. My daughter's storeroom is now filled with so much good fabric that she can't even wear them all."
Aunt Chang said, "I know what's going on."
......
After leaving Xi Cui Yuan, Wen Ye was halfway there when she remembered that she had forgotten to give her younger sister's birthday present in advance, so she hurried back.
In the Xicui Courtyard, Aunt Chang was discussing with her youngest daughter, "Half of the money I save in the future will be left to your fourth sister. Don't be estranged from your fourth sister because of this."
Wen Ran didn't think it was a big deal. She said, "Fourth sister, are you in trouble? I still have a lot. Auntie, just take it all."
She had only spent a small portion of the reward she had received earlier, and there was still a lot left.
Aunt Chang smiled with relief and said, "You keep yours for yourself, and I will slowly collect your fourth sister's share. It's enough."
Wen Ran thought for a moment and said, "My father said he would ask me about my homework tomorrow. I will try to do well. If my father is happy, he will definitely give me money."
Since entering the palace, my father's income has decreased a lot. It seems that it is time to start over.
Wen Ye stood in the corridor, feeling mixed emotions for a moment.
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