There weren't that many unique people. He Xiyuan didn't dream of being the one and only person in Liu Yulian's heart; that was too difficult. Uniqueness was relative. He should show it more in front of someone he liked, rather than letting her think he was unattainable.
He Xiyuan thought that Liu Yulian acted very normally in front of him, and it was impossible to tell what she had studied. Liu Yulian never put on airs or criticized anyone, just like she was a very ordinary person.
Perhaps ordinary is the most common.
"Will love disappear in the end?" He Xiyuan asked.
"Maybe." General Xu didn't know if love would fade away in everyone. What he did know was that he had more respect for his wife than love. They had been together for so many years; it was impossible to talk about love or not like a young person would.
General Xu thought that they were family, and that's how family members are.
"Oh." He Xiyuan thought that even if love would disappear, the relationship between him and Sister Lian could not be bad.
"Who knows, you might fall in love with someone else by then." General Xu joked.
"Impossible!" He Xiyuan was too lazy to say anything. These people all liked to say that.
In fact, He Xiyuan knew that what they said was very correct. Many people who once seemed to have a good relationship, those men eventually took concubines, and those women's eyes lost their luster.
He Xiyuan couldn't possibly do that. He believed that as long as a person could control themselves, such a situation wouldn't occur. As for suddenly falling in love with someone at first sight, that was also difficult. Many people claim to fall in love at first sight, but it's often based on superficial attraction. It's only with frequent encounters that a deeper connection develops.
After all, this kind of emotion can still be controlled a little.
Su Qiuya and Liu Yanbo had already moved to the city. After arriving, they packed up their shop. They had to continue to open the shop and do business. They couldn't stop doing business.
Liu Yanbo did not go to the academy for the time being, but planned to apply to a better academy.
"Wait a month first." This is Liu Yanbo's idea. "If I don't get into a good academy by then, I'll go to another one."
"Okay." Su Qiuya had no objection. She did not force Liu Yanbo to study hard so quickly.
Su Qiuya knew that Liu Yanbo's perception had been overturned, and that he must be feeling very bad. If she pushed him any further, she was afraid it would backfire.
"Mom's out. I guess it'll be a while before she comes back." Liu Yanbo said, "The prefectural capital is more convenient and bustling than the county town."
"It's lively." Su Qiuya still yearned for the capital, which was truly prosperous. She also had to settle accounts with her stepmother and couldn't stay in the northwest forever.
Su Qiuya didn't tell Liu Yanbo much about her stepmother. If she did, she might accidentally let Liu Yanbo know that there was something wrong with her identity. She was still taking medicine to recuperate, and the medicine had a medicinal smell. When Su Qiuya was boiling the medicine, Aunt Qing knew it.
In order to avoid Aunt Qing's suspicion, Su Qiuya said that she wanted to get pregnant earlier so she could take care of herself.
Fortunately, many women also take some medicine before getting pregnant, so Aunt Qing didn't think too much about it.
"If you like something, go out and buy it." Liu Yanbo said, "We have some money at home, so there's no need to be so frugal."
Liu Yanbo looked at Su Qiuya's hair accessories. Su Qiuya didn't wear that many jewelry. Liu Yanbo felt that he had neglected Su Qiuya. He would occasionally buy her some jewelry, but not much.
This is because he doesn't make much money and doesn't have that much, so he can't buy more of those things.
"It's not that I'm frugal, I just haven't found anything I like." Su Qiuya chuckled, "If I find something I like, I will definitely buy more."
Su Qiuya had never thought about dressing too plainly. Some women thought that if they looked more plain and elegant, were more frugal, and gave more to men, men would treat them better. However, many men just didn't like their wives, and some of them looked for other women outside.
Women should still think more about themselves and not sacrifice themselves for men. Don't be too picky. Women should still dress up when they need to.
"Do you want to knead the dough?" Liu Yanbo asked.
"We won't open today. We'll open in two days." Su Qiuya said, "We still need to prepare some things."
Su Qiuya didn't plan to open the shop so soon, as it would be too tiring. They had just moved from the county town, and it would take a while to clean up the house, not to mention the shopping for the store, which was too tiring.
"Then wait a couple of days," Liu Yanbo said. "I'll go with you when you want to go shopping."
"Okay." Su Qiuya nodded. She didn't say that Liu Yanbo should stay home and study without accompanying her. If the man was willing to accompany her, then she would let Liu Yanbo go with her.
Su Qiuya knew how to make Liu Yanbo pay more attention to her, and she didn't do those things foolishly. When she was at her mother's house, she had seen her stepmother's tricks and her father's concubines. If a woman wants to capture a man's heart, she must have some tricks.
Concubine Qing came back from a stroll outside. While she was in the Marquis's Mansion, she rarely had the opportunity to leave the house, but she did go out. Concubine Qing preferred the prosperous capital. No matter how prosperous the prefecture city in the northwest was, it couldn't compare to the capital. However, she now had more time to wander outside and didn't have to worry about whether the mistress was looking for her.
Most concubines were not allowed to go out at will. They had to get permission from the mistress of the house before going out.
Qing Yi Niang is the type who always wants to be stronger than the mistress, but she can't. When she was in the Marquis's mansion, she didn't dare disrespect the Marquis's wife. If she did, the Marquis would be cold to her. The Marquis has always been like that. He doesn't interfere in the affairs of the backyard, and even if he does, he lets the Marquis's wife take care of it, and he always respects her.
"There are quite a few food shops outside," Aunt Qing said, "and some are setting up stalls."
"The cost of setting up a stall is low." Su Qiuya said, "You can make some money, but it's not good when it's windy or rainy."
Su Qiuya and the others didn't want to set up stalls outside, as they didn't want to work so hard. Since they had money, they could just buy a shop and sell it when they left. Selling a shop didn't necessarily mean a loss; sometimes they could even make money.
Just like Su Qiuya and the others made a little money from selling their shop in the county town. They hadn't paid rent when they opened the shop in the county town, so they could still make a profit.
"That's exactly what happened." Aunt Qing also thought that setting up a stall was not a good idea. A shop with a yard would be better. If you get tired, you can go to the backyard to rest. There's no need to stand in front to work.
"There are a lot of new things out there." Su Qiuya had seen them all. She wasn't afraid of others having all sorts of new things, but she was afraid of not having any new things herself. Everyone opened a shop to do business, so it all came down to who had the best craftsmanship.
Su Qiuya's shop is basically a commoner's shop, and the things in the shop are not particularly expensive. It's not that she doesn't want to sell expensive things, but the common people here don't have much money, and her cooking skills are not good enough to attract those wealthy people to come here all the time.
Those wealthy families all have chefs at home. Su Qiuya’s cooking skills are much better than those of ordinary chefs, but they are not necessarily as good as those of the chefs in big restaurants.
Su Qiuya knows her own limitations, so she has no intention of taking the high-end route.
"Let's just do our own thing." Su Qiuya said, "We should still be able to make money."
"Yeah." Aunt Qing nodded slightly. She didn't care about this. It wasn't her who was going to cook. She still had to see what Su Qiuya cooked.
In Shiyuan Village, ever since Liu Yanqing knew that Lin Xiaowan was pregnant, he hadn't made much noise, at least he was quiet in front of Lin Xiaowan.
This made Lin Xiaowan a little uncomfortable. How could her husband be so quiet?
"Did I make some mistake?" Lin Xiaowan couldn't help but wonder.
Otherwise, Liu Yanqing stayed at home obediently and didn't go out on his bike much. How could Lin Xiaowan believe it? It shouldn't be like this.
"Nothing wrong." Liu Yanqing said quickly, "Aren't you pregnant? I'll just stay home and see what you want me to do."
Liu Yanqing said that he was not a scumbag and could always see the excitement outside, but Lin Xiaowan's pregnancy was a big deal. He had to let Lin Xiaowan take good care of the baby and not let anything happen to the baby in Lin Xiaowan's belly.
"You are pregnant and I am working, isn't that great?" Liu Yanqing said.
"Are you working?" Lin Xiaowan asked, "The food at home is almost gone."
"..." Liu Yanqing blinked. Did his wife dislike him for eating too much? "I'm a man. Don't all men eat too much?"
"Other people aren't sitting there eating to their heart's content." Lin Xiaowan looked at the bowl of dried sweet potatoes beside her and said, "You've eaten all of this bowl of dried sweet potatoes."
"Dried sweet potatoes aren't something valuable," Liu Yanqing said. "I don't even dare to eat too much of those delicious pastries, so I just eat things like dried sweet potatoes to satisfy my cravings."
Liu Yanqing didn't eat all of Lin Xiaowan's food, unless Lin Xiaowan couldn't eat it. As a grown man, he had to think about his children and couldn't just think about eating all the food himself. That would be too bad.
"Eat it." Lin Xiaowan thought about it and realized that these dried sweet potatoes were not very valuable. If Liu Yanqing wanted to eat them, then he could eat them.
They made a lot of dried sweet potatoes at home and stored them in the cellar.
Lin Xiaowan didn't really like sweet potato porridge, which some people in the village ate at home, as it helped save food. Lin Xiaowan didn't do that, mainly because her family was financially well off.
Last year, those people harvested a lot of food, but most of them didn't eat as much as they could, just adding a little extra rice to their porridge and occasionally making extra dry rice.
Lin Xiaowan's family was considered well-off in the village. They had several rooms, some of which were still empty. Other families were so overwhelmed that some children slept in one room, while others shared a room with their parents.
"Well, I'll just eat some dried sweet potatoes. All the eggs at home will be left for you." Liu Yanqing understood everything. If Lin Xiaowan wasn't pregnant, he could have eaten a few more eggs. But now that Lin Xiaowan was pregnant, all the better things had to be left for her.
Lin Xiaowan glanced at Liu Yanqing. Liu Yanqing was sometimes capable.
Liu Yulian, the eldest wife of the Liu family, asked those who were willing to go to the capital with her to follow the Marquis's team back. This was to prevent them from encountering bandits on the way to the capital. At least the Marquis's team had many guards and people sent by the emperor.
The emperor asked the Liu family to return to Beijing, and sent someone specially to prevent Liu Yulian from getting into danger.
Father Liu had originally planned to hire guards. They didn't have many people, but they had a lot of books. Box after box of books inevitably gave the impression they had a treasure. Because of this, Father Liu had them escorted separately. Some would deliver the books, and those who could go to the capital first, while the rest would go with Father Liu and the others.
In this way, the other team will not have as many things, and the bandits will not want to rob them when they see that they have less things.
As for those books, if there are really bandits who want to rob them, let them rob them.
Liu Yulian instructed those who were escorting the books back to Beijing to abandon them if they encountered danger. People were more important than books. If a book was lost, it could be found again. Not all books were unique, and there weren't that many.
The person in charge of escorting the books did not expect Liu Yulian to ask them to abandon the books and run for their lives, but they knew that they had better protect the books.
"It's too much trouble." Liu Yulian sent the people escorting the books away and looked at the empty room, worried that they might have an accident on the way. If she had known earlier, she wouldn't have bought so many books. There weren't so many express deliveries in this world. She should have bought those books in Beijing, or at least she should have bought fewer.
When Liu Yulian bought those books, she didn't think she bought a lot of books at all, and even thought she bought too few. When the books were shipped back to Beijing, Liu Yulian knew exactly how many books she had.
Even if they wrote on the box that the things were books, or even opened the box directly, the robbers might not believe that there was no silver in the box.
"What's the trouble? Just ask them to send it back." Princess Zhaoyang stood beside Liu Yulian. She looked at the empty house and thought that Liu Yulian needed a very large study.
"I've written a letter asking the housekeeper to buy a house." Liu Yulian said, "Then they can deliver the books directly to that house."
"A separate house?" asked Princess Zhaoyang.
"Yes." Liu Yulian nodded. "Put it in a separate house so others can check it out."
Liu Yulian's main purpose was to make it easier for her to find the books. While they were doing research, there must be other people who liked to browse the books. Among the families in the capital she brought them back, some were literate and some read these miscellaneous books.
Some people have no achievements in the imperial examinations, but are relatively strong in other aspects.
"A bigger house," Liu Yulian said, "where we can eat and live, so that no one will forget to eat or the time of day while reading."
"Just like when you were a child, you slept in the middle of the bookshelf." Princess Zhaoyang heard from Liu Yanjing that Liu Yanjing told her many interesting stories about Liu Yulian.
Liu Yanjing said that to Princess Zhaoyang so that she could get along better with her family. Princess Zhaoyang also knew Liu Yanjing's intention. Liu Yanjing didn't want Princess Zhaoyang to flatter anyone, but just let her know what those people were like, so that she would know how to get along with her family.
Princess Zhaoyang was not like this when she was at the home of her previous husband. The husband was not that nice to her. The previous husband was sometimes a little afraid of her. He pretended to be very nice in front of her, but he was a completely different person behind her back.
"Yes." Liu Yulian touched her nose. "At that time, I just thought those books were interesting and wanted to read more. I wished I could skip sleep and eat and just read all the time."
Fortunately, there were maids who went to look for Liu Yulian. If they saw Liu Yulian fell asleep, they would take her back.
Nowadays, Liu Yulian rarely falls asleep in the study because the maids will always keep an eye on her. She doesn't stay in the study all the time. If she feels sleepy, she goes to her room to sleep to maintain a healthy body.
Liu Yulian couldn't help but feel that she was getting a bit old and should be more careful to avoid accidents. In ancient times, there were doctors with excellent medical skills, but this didn't mean that those doctors could cure any disease. Taking good care of one's own health was the most important thing.
"We need to eat and sleep," Princess Zhaoyang said with a smile. "Wait a couple of days, until your brother comes back. We should be setting off soon."
"Yeah." Liu Yulian nodded.
Liu Yulian didn't miss the Northwest. After nearly two years there, she still preferred returning to the capital, her original home. It wasn't because the capital was so prosperous, but because it was where she was born.
"Your fiancé will go with you," said Princess Zhaoyang.
"Yes, we are going together. He said he wants to go back to take part in the scientific examination." Liu Yulian's cheeks were a little hot. He Xiyuan also sacrificed a lot for her.
"That's good. It's good that he has returned to Beijing. In the future... when you get married, you can live a stable life." Princess Zhaoyang said.
In the military camp, He Xiyuan was packing his things. He didn't have that many things, and he mainly wanted to take the wood carvings away.
He Xiyuan chose to return to Beijing not only because of Liu Yulian's return, but also because he was not suitable to stay in the military camp. Liu Yulian was so capable and could research so many things. The emperor did not deliberately conceal Liu Yulian's existence, and Princess Rongning was still very prestigious among the people.
If He Xiyuan stayed in the military camp, it would be difficult for him to control military power in the future. The royal family might worry that he and Liu Yulian were too powerful and might develop rebellious thoughts. Even if Liu Yulian and He Xiyuan didn't have such thoughts, who could guarantee that their children wouldn't have such thoughts?
Given the court's plentiful military command, how could the emperor possibly allow Liu Yulian's significant other to control the military? If Liu Yulian were to marry out, her children, not the Liu family, would be most important. While Liu Yanjing's control of the military was fine, He Xiyuan's marriage to Liu Yulian was a different matter.
He Xiyuan didn't need anyone to tell him anything, he could figure it out on his own. It was fine if he didn't want to go to the battlefield, then Liu Yulian wouldn't have to worry about him all the time, after all, swords have no eyes.
"Are you still so fond of those woods?" Liu Yanjing saw what He Xiyuan had sorted out. He didn't think about sorting out clothes or anything like that, just looking at the wood carvings. He Xiyuan also sorted out some clothes, most of which were made by Liu Yulian.
He Xiyuan could tell which ones were made by Liu Yulian, and Liu Yulian had told him so before. He thought the clothes were still wearable, so he would take them back. If the clothes were no longer wearable, he would put them away.
"We have to take everything away." He Xiyuan said, "We can't waste it."
Of course He Xiyuan wanted to take those things away, as he had carved them with great care. He also wanted to give them to Sister Lian.
Compared to He Xiyuan, Liu Yanjing had even less stuff. With a little tidying up by Liu Yanjing, he sorted everything out. After returning to the capital, they probably wouldn't have many opportunities to come here again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com