It was no use for Mr. Huo to lament that his daughter shouldn't have divorced. Mrs. Huo and Liu Yanjing had already divorced, and the emperor had even arranged a marriage for Liu Yanjing and Princess Zhaoyang. There was no turning back for Mrs. Huo.
If Da Huo and Lord Ouyang were only engaged, then the engagement could be cancelled. However, in order to prevent Da Huo from influencing the other girls in the family, they had urged Da Huo to get engaged and married quickly.
Even if Da Huo married a few days later, she could still break off the engagement with Lord Ouyang, and then she could still go find Liu Yanjing. Perhaps Liu Yanjing would let Da Huo marry him for the sake of his two children.
Unfortunately...that's just their fantasy.
"If you go there again, you should let her live a good life." Master Huo said, "Don't let her think about the past. She will never become the Crown Prince's wife."
"That's right," Mrs. Huo said. "Fortunately, we still have a pair of children. The Marquis of Jingning's Mansion will also belong to her sons in the future. I'm just worried that Princess Zhaoyang..."
"Why are you saying this? If they really let Princess Zhaoyang's son inherit the title, then we have no say in it," said Uncle Huo. "If it weren't for our grandson and granddaughter, do you think our two families would still be able to interact?"
Uncle Huo didn't think so. They didn't provide any help to the Liu family, nor did they send anything to them. Uncle Huo had never intended to care much about his grandchildren, so he wanted to stay away from them for fear of being implicated.
At the time, Master Huo thought that since his eldest daughter and Liu Yanjing had not divorced, everything would be easy with his eldest daughter around. However, if his eldest daughter divorced Liu Yanjing, it would mean that their House of Lords and the House of Jingning would break off relations.
"Even now, I'm afraid there's nothing good to do with you." Uncle Huo didn't think that Marquis Jingning would be so stupid. Marquis Jingning would definitely not have much contact with him.
However, the Jingning Marquisate was rising again, and Master Huo had to pay attention to the Jingning Marquisate. The emperor intended to make Prince Su the crown prince, and Prince Su had been to the northwest and had seen the culture medium. Prince Su would definitely make use of the Jingning Marquis.
The Huo family had secretly sided with other princes, but when things got tough, they withdrew. If Prince Su really wanted to make a fuss, the Huo family wouldn't have a good time.
When Prince Su becomes emperor, if he does not value the Huo family, the Huo family will easily decline.
"Has anything been sent to the northwest?" asked Uncle Huo.
"No..." Mrs. Huo was just thinking about how hard life was for Mrs. Huo, and she didn't think about her grandchildren who were far away in the northwest at all.
“…” Uncle Huo was silent. He didn’t say anything, and his wife didn’t make any arrangements.
The other people in the Huo family were speechless about the behavior of the eldest lady Huo, but since she was Uncle Huo's biological daughter, those people did not say much.
The Mei family, Madam Mei Ershao, has not been very happy recently, mainly because Jiang is pregnant. A concubine who used to be a co-wife is pregnant, and those people are still so nice to Jiang.
How did Jiang get pregnant?
Mrs. Mei Ershao originally thought that if her husband visited Jiang less often, Jiang wouldn't get pregnant so quickly. But Jiang did get pregnant. What should she do?
If a concubine is pregnant and the wife is not, should the concubine give birth to the eldest son? Then what about the children that Mrs. Mei will have in the future? A legitimate son is suppressed by the illegitimate son?
Mrs. Mei, the second young master, also found that Mr. Mei, Mrs. Mei and others were very happy. They all pampered Jiang, told her not to get too tired, and told her not to pay her respects to Mrs. Mei, the second young master.
This made Mrs. Mei Ershao very unhappy. It was almost the New Year, but such a thing happened.
At this point, Madam Mei Er Shao was in no position to approach Madam Qin Da Shao, nor could she find someone to make the decision for her. She had been married into the Mei family for four or five years and still hadn't conceived or borne a child. It seemed that when the Mei family's property was raided by the Liu family, they wanted to divorce her, but they were afraid that divorcing her would affect the family's reputation, so they didn't.
Jiang was pregnant, but Mrs. Mei couldn't ask her to have an abortion.
Those people would definitely say that she was not pregnant, but Jiang was, and she was jealous of Jiang.
On the other hand, Jiang asked someone to get some medicine and found a doctor.
Jiang Shi was not pregnant, but had used drugs to create a false pregnancy. She wanted to use this incident to deal with Mrs. Mei, the second young master, to make the Mei family feel guilty about her and make those people hate Mrs. Mei even more.
If it weren't for the second young master Mei's wife, Jiang Shi thought she wouldn't have to be a concubine at all. She was originally said to be a co-wife, but in the end she was just an ordinary concubine. Jiang Shi felt that the Mei family had played her around. The Mei family only wanted her money, not her as a person.
The people in the Jiang family just wanted her to be with the Second Young Master Mei, and didn't care at all about whether she had a good life in the Mei family.
"Miss." The maid beside Jiang leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Everything has been arranged."
"Okay." Jiang nodded.
Just wait a few years, and after this New Year is over, there will be no need to celebrate the first month of the lunar year.
Jiang looked down at her belly. She couldn't possibly be joking about her own child. She would resort to such tactics if she wasn't pregnant. If she were pregnant, she would definitely find a way to give birth to the child, not use the child to cause such trouble.
Jiang decided to do this after she saw a doctor who said she was not pregnant.
In the northwestern county town, the academy was on vacation. Liu Yanbo did not go to the academy again, but waited until after the New Year to go there again.
Because Su Qiuya went to the academy in person and said so much, the students' views on Liu Yanbo changed. However, there were still some who didn't want to get too close to Liu Yanbo. Those people said that Liu Yanbo was not a very kind person. They said that he didn't want to burden his family and didn't want others to support his studies, but that was all fake.
Su Qiuya's shop can make a lot of money, and not so many scholars are foolish enough to believe what Su Qiuya says.
Some people thought that since Su Qiuya's shop could earn so much money, they didn't need to ask other family members to give them money. On the contrary, Su Qiuya and her husband could still take money home. In the final analysis, it was Su Qiuya and her husband who were unwilling to take money home, which was why they proposed to separate the family.
What Su Qiuya wants is not for everyone to believe what she says, but for those people to stop saying bad things about Liu Yanbo.
"Business has been much worse these past two days." Su Qiuya thought that it might be because the students from the academy had all gone back home to celebrate the New Year, so there were no students coming to eat, so the business in the store was a little worse.
Originally, the academy had a cafeteria, but the food there wasn't that good, and since Su Qiuya's shop didn't charge high prices, the students mostly went to Su Qiuya's shop to buy food, hoping to save some money.
"We'll close the business for a few days and reopen it after the Chinese New Year." Liu Yanbo said. Their shop is not a big restaurant, and they don't serve those classic dishes.
If it were a big restaurant, some people might choose to celebrate the New Year there. However, their shop is only open for a few months, and they only serve some home-cooked dishes and noodles. During the New Year, everyone likes to eat good food, so it is normal for their shop to have a slow business.
"Okay." Su Qiuya nodded. There were fewer people on the street, and there was no need for them to do business in these two days. It would be better to take a few days off.
Su Qiuya's family had no intention of going to Shiyuan Village for the New Year. Shiyuan Village was in the countryside, and there were many poor people there. Even if their family didn't have a close relationship with other families, what would they do if someone asked them to borrow money?
It would be better if they didn't go back. They could celebrate the New Year in the county town. They had a shop in the county town, and their residence was right behind the shop, which was convenient. If they went back, they would have to buy all kinds of things and bring them back with them, which would be too troublesome.
"The cotton cloth sent by the eldest wife is pretty good. Let's use it to make underwear." Su Qiuya looked at the two pieces of cloth, one was white and the other was blue.
The colors of these two pieces of cloth are not very good. I don’t know if they are left over from the eldest son’s family or if they were not dyed properly.
The people in the first house didn't know that Su Qiuya would have such thoughts. If they knew, Liu's mother would definitely not give these people cotton cloth. Liu's mother was doing it for Liu's father to see, so that Liu's father would know that she, the legitimate mother, was tolerant.
As a result, the second branch of the family started saying those things in the academy, and some people even said bad things about Liu's mother. After this incident, Liu's father would never ask Liu's mother to give more gifts to these people again.
Su Qiuya is good at scheming, and Liu's mother will naturally fight back.
"Let's make underwear." Liu Yanbo nodded. "Shoes and socks are also fine."
Liu Yanbo's thoughts were similar to Su Qiuya's. He didn't think the eldest wife would give him any good cloth.
When they were in the capital, Liu Yanbo thought his mother would give them better cloth because the mansion was rich. But now, the mansion was just an empty shell, so how could his mother afford to give them such good things?
In Shiyuan Village, Widow Zhang had a smile on her face. The tricycle was really useful. Their family had recently taken a lot of New Year's goods out to sell. After selling them all, they had almost earned two taels of silver in just half a month.
Widow Zhang thought that during the first month of the lunar year, there wouldn't be as many New Year goods to sell, and she wouldn't need to bring expensive things when visiting relatives. However, many people get married during the first month of the lunar year, and some people would borrow tricycles, which cost money to rent.
Widow Zhang calculated that the tricycle would pay off quickly. Luckily, she bought the tricycle quickly, capitalizing on the impending Lunar New Year. If she had waited until after the Lunar New Year, they wouldn't have been able to recoup their investment so quickly.
The price of a cow was ten taels of silver, and the government often sent people to check on the oxen to make sure they were well cared for. If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to keep the cows.
A tricycle is a dead object, so there's not much to it. However, a tricycle can't really replace oxen, which are still needed to plow the land.
"Put all the meat away." Widow Zhang raised pigs at home. This year during the Spring Festival, she slaughtered a pig and kept dozens of kilograms of meat. The rest of the meat was sold.
Widow Zhang was rarely so generous before. She always hid some things and it was impossible for her to let those people eat so much.
The Zhang family was delighted to see Widow Zhang's actions and the large amount of meat she had left behind. This meant they could have more meat to eat, and they had been wondering if they could have a good New Year after all the hard work they had done.
The main reason was that Widow Zhang was very stingy and liked to save money. It was not her fault, as she was originally a widow and had worked hard to raise the people in her family. She didn't know the hardship of being a head of the household until she was in charge. She saved money for a rainy day.
Children always have headaches and fevers, and at this time they need money.
If Widow Zhang hadn't made a lot of money this year, she wouldn't have been so generous.
"Go kill another chicken or duck. Just one will be enough." Widow Zhang didn't care how many people there were in the family. It was good enough to have food for them. Why, did they want to eat more?
Widow Zhang couldn't let them eat more, as the chickens and ducks at home had to be sold for money.
"Got it." Widow Zhang's eldest son didn't dare kill more chickens and ducks, as there were more than a dozen people in the family. If they divided it up a little, it would be gone. They would just have more soup when the time came.
Widow Zhang took a pound of pork to the home of Village Chief Zhang and also sent a pound of meat to the home of Clan Chief Zhang. She was a widow who had received support from the village and clan chiefs before, and it was only natural for her to send something to their homes when she earned money.
"Why don't you keep it for yourselves? There are so many people in your family." The village chief's wife took the pound of pork with a smile.
"They have enough to eat," Widow Zhang said. "It's not that they've done more work this year, but I left some extra for them."
"Your family has built a new house and bought a tricycle. So many girls want to marry into your family," said the village head's wife. "From the neighboring village, from several villages, they all want to marry into your family."
"Look, let's see which girl can work." This is the attitude of Widow Zhang. She wants her grandson to get married, not to let those people come to her house to enjoy themselves.
Widow Zhang didn't dare to think about having a grandson's wife who couldn't do anything at home. That was too terrible. She didn't think about marrying her grandson to a girl from the town, but she thought about marrying her grandson to a capable grandson's wife.
Their family wasn't particularly well-educated, nor did they have any scholar-level masters. They mainly made a living from the land, and even if they were appointed to manage a farm in Rongning County, they still had to work in the fields.
Widow Zhang didn't want a woman who didn't know how to cook or work in the fields to come into her house. The girl didn't have to be very good at doing farm work, but she had to be able to do other things.
"If there are any capable women, please keep an eye out for them for my family," said Widow Zhang. "It doesn't matter if they look good or not. Looks and figures can't make a living. Once they have children, who knows what they'll look like."
So, there was no need to look for a particularly good-looking girl in the first place. Widow Zhang had this attitude. She didn't care whether her grandson liked pretty girls or not. They were all country people, so why bother thinking so much?
"There's a family in the next village with five daughters and a son," said the village chief's wife. "Their daughters are pretty and capable."
"Let's just forget about this." Widow Zhang knew that family. They worked so hard to have a son that their daughters were used as maids. "After their eldest daughter got married, she often brought back gifts from her parents' home."
"That's right." The village head's wife nodded. "It's just that the girl in their family is quite good-looking, and when a man sees her, he insists that the family arrange a marriage for her."
"If my grandson dares to do that, I will separate them directly." Widow Zhang sneered, "Let's see if that girl will still try to seduce my grandson."
Widow Zhang didn't want to help others raise their son, and she also looked down on those who took everything from her parents' home. If her husband's family was a little rich, it would be fine, but if her husband's family was not rich, and she still did that, it was too hateful.
"They still have daughters who haven't married off yet," the village head's wife said. "Everyone knows what kind of daughters they have. It's just that those young men only care about their looks. Who would want someone who's always taking things out of the house? I heard that they even have daughters who went to the county town to be concubines."
The village head's wife had heard from others that "they have tasted the benefits and it's time to marry their daughters off to the town or the county seat."
"That's great." Widow Zhang said, as long as her grandson doesn't fall in love with the girl from that family.
The girl from that family really had a crush on Widow Zhang. She didn't want to be a concubine, nor did she want to be a slave to her brother. She even tried to run into Widow Zhang's second grandson, but he didn't even bother to look at her and just walked away.
Widow Zhang's second grandson knew that he had no say in his marriage and had to listen to his grandmother. He also thought that his cousin's wife was a good one and that their grandmother had good taste.
How could a grown boy casually tell his grandmother which girl he met today? Widow Zhang's second grandson didn't tell her these words, so Widow Zhang didn't know.
In the Liu family's main house, Liu Yulian saw the wood carvings brought back by He Xiyuan.
After they had lunch, He Xiyuan gave the things to Liu Yulian.
"I plan to read more." He Xiyuan sat in Liu Yulian's yard. "Military merit isn't easy. Read more books and take the imperial examination when we return."
He Xiyuan had once been admitted to the Imperial College, so he didn't have to start from the Tongsheng exam and could directly take the Jinshi exam. In the military camp, he read a lot of books and also learned a lot of other knowledge.
Liu Yulian had developed the culture medium and the wool mill, which made He Xiyuan feel that he was not strong enough. He Xiyuan really wanted to become stronger quickly, but he also knew that it was not something that could be done all at once, so he made preparations for both situations.
When the Jingning Marquis family returned to the capital, Liu Yanjing and He Xiyuan also returned. The court had no regulations prohibiting those who had served in the army for several years from taking the imperial examinations. He Xiyuan thought he could continue his literary career, as long as he could make Sister Lian live a good life.
He Xiyuan had considered this carefully, even if he still had to return to take the imperial examination. He didn't think it was a waste of several years. This was a kind of training for him, and after this training, his character would be more resolute.
"By then, I might just have to endure it slowly," He Xiyuan said, "and maybe just become a small official."
"So what if you're a small official? Don't people rise up little by little?" Liu Yulian said. "You don't need to be a high-ranking official. Just being able to support your family is enough. I'm not expecting you to go down in history."
"But you are going to be remembered in history." He Xiyuan looked at Liu Yulian with burning eyes, "I should work hard."
"Are you afraid that I won't like you?" Liu Yulian wondered.
"No." He Xiyuan shook his head. "I'm just afraid that someone will say your husband's name isn't He Xiyuan, but something else. They don't know and are just making it up."
He Xiyuan had read quite a few books, including some unofficial histories. Those books contained numerous similar accounts, some of which were fine if they were written about Mr. X, while others were pure nonsense. He didn't want his wife's husband to be named after someone else instead of himself.
He just wanted someone to remember their names and know that they were a real couple.
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