After Mrs. Huo returned to her parents' home, her brothers didn't have any complaints. However, her sisters-in-law, brothers' wives, and unmarried illegitimate sister were quite dissatisfied with her. They felt that Mrs. Huo had brought shame upon the reputation of the Huo family's daughters, and they were worried about what they or their daughters would do in the future.
We can't share hardships, but we can share happiness.
When Mrs. Huo was at her mother's house, her attitude towards her sisters-in-law and brothers' wives was not very good. She was originally a very arrogant person, especially after experiencing the events of her past life, she felt that these sisters-in-law and brothers' wives were not good people at all. In her past life, these people had not cared much about her and had not given her many gifts.
This made Mrs. Huo very dissatisfied, so of course she couldn't be too nice to these people now.
Mrs. Huo could also feel that her eldest daughter was not getting along with some people in the family. If she kept her daughter at home all the time, something would happen sooner or later. So Mrs. Huo worked even harder to find a better marriage for her eldest daughter.
Forget about the Marquisate or anything like that. Even if they were thinking about marrying a minor official, it would be a good idea for Da Huo to be the principal wife. Families with higher status didn't like people like Da Huo.
Many people knew that it was Mrs. Huo who wanted to divorce Liu Yanjing, and it caused quite a stir at the time. Any family with a bit of dignity would not want Mrs. Huo.
"Who are they?" Mrs. Huo looked at the portraits and couldn't help frowning.
"One is Lord Ouyang, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Lord Ouyang's first wife died young, leaving behind a son and a daughter," said Mrs. Huo.
"I don't want to help others raise children." Mrs. Huo thought that she might not be able to raise her own children well, let alone what others said.
"And there's the Dali Temple Secretary, he..."
"No, it can't be him," Da Huo said quickly. In her previous life, she had lived in the northwest, where she had met some officials. She knew of an official from the Dali Temple who had caused the deaths of several women. It wasn't quite right to say he had caused them to die; it seemed as if someone had secretly murdered his fiancée.
Mrs. Huo didn't want to die in obscurity. Even if the person behind the scenes had been caught in her previous life, she didn't know who it was. If she married this person, it might not be all right.
"There's another one..." Madam Huo paused, "This family is from a baron's family, but the one seeking marriage is a bastard's son. After passing the imperial examination, that bastard has been working as a teacher. Although he doesn't have a son, he does have a daughter."
The daughter was born to a maidservant, and Mrs. Huo was not sure whether there was anything going on.
In a wealthy family, the life of a concubine's son may not be easy, and he may be watched closely by the mistress of the house.
Mrs. Huo was a baron's wife, so she was always on guard against those illegitimate sons, and she couldn't let them become too powerful. Those illegitimate sons' wives were also trembling in fear in front of her, for fear of doing something wrong.
If Da Huo were to become the legal wife of a concubine's son, she would still have to bow her head more before her stepmother and mother-in-law.
"That's the only one." Da Huo said, "As the tree grows bigger, it's time for their family to split up."
"Why divide the family? If we were still in the Earl's Mansion, the children born there would still be considered his." Madam Huo said, "If the family were divided, their status would be different."
The eldest Huo family member remained silent. In a previous life, Liu Yanjing had leg problems, and those people were afraid of paying for the medical expenses, so they proposed to split the family after arriving in the northwest. Later, Liu's father bit the bullet and went to the other branches to borrow money. Although the second branch made a lot of money, they were unwilling to lend more money to Liu Yanjing's leg treatment. As a result, Liu Yanjing delayed treatment and his leg could not be healed.
Perhaps it was because of these things that the Huo family was so willing to split up.
"After the family split up, he's just a juren, not an official. He's not as good as the Imperial College's chief academic officer." Madam Huo still thought the Imperial College's chief academic officer was a better choice. "The Ouyang family does have a son and a daughter, but you're not young anymore. If you can have another child, even a son, you can still fight for it. But if you don't have any children, you'll have to let them take care of you in your old age."
"Mother." Mrs. Huo frowned.
"It's only a matter of time before the family splits up," Mrs. Huo said. "Once their parents are gone, they'll have to split up. Think about it, which family is better?"
Mrs. Huo knew that the family of the Duke was high-ranking, but the man was a bastard. Even if he passed the imperial examination, it would be difficult for him to become a high-ranking official. Her daughter would have to live under the control of others, and with her daughter's hot temper, she was afraid that it would not be easy.
"It's up to you guys to choose whichever family you want." Mrs. Huo twisted the handkerchief in her hand. She didn't want to marry too badly and be ridiculed. But she was a second marriage after a divorce, so even if she was the legitimate daughter of the Bo family, she couldn't do anything about it.
In Shiyuan Village in the northwest, the Liu family had no idea that Da Huo was planning a marriage proposal, and even if they did, they believed it had nothing to do with them. Da Huo and Liu Yanjing had already divorced, and the marriage was irrelevant.
Liu Yanjing's father and mother had no intention of arranging a marriage for him so soon, mainly because Liu Yanjing was in the military camp and rarely stayed at home. Liu Yanjing's two children stayed at home, and he mainly relied on Liu Yulian's sales to make money.
If Liu Yanjing married a wife and asked her to stay at home and wait for Liu Yulian to support her, that would not be appropriate. Even if Liu Yanjing's new wife was capable and could support herself, that would not be very good either, leaving her to be a widow and have her take care of stepchildren.
Liu Yanjing and He Xiyuan will return to the military camp on the fifth day of the first lunar month, and Liu Yulian plans to prepare some food for them to take with them.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, not many people were selling things. But starting from the second day, many people started selling things. Butchers were also open. During the first month of the lunar year, these meats were relatively easy to sell.
If Liu Yulian buys a lot, the butcher's family will send it directly to the main house.
"Didn't you say you wanted to move to town?" He Xiyuan asked Liu Yulian while cutting meat.
"We need to move there, but we'll have to wait a few days," Liu Yulian said. "The house in town already has quite a few things, so we just need to bring the quilts and other things over. It's pretty simple and not difficult. When the time comes, we can buy an ox and get an ox cart, which will make things even more convenient."
If they arrived in the town, it would be difficult to rent an ox cart from Mr. Zhang, so they would have to go to other people in the town. It would be better to buy an ox and two servants, one to drive the ox cart and the other to take care of Xiao Liu Qingyun.
Mrs. Xie can take care of Xiao Liujia. By the way, someone still needs to do the laundry and some rough work.
Liu Yulian calculated that this would require a lot of money.
He Xiyuan put down the knife in his hand and moved closer to Liu Yulian.
"What?" Liu Yulian was surprised.
"Here." He Xiyuan took out a silver note from his sleeve. He brought a lot of money with him when he left Duke Cheng's Mansion.
He had saved some money since he was a child, but he never spent it. He was not a bookworm, so he knew that he needed money to live outside.
He Xiyuan thought about the many places where the Liu family had to spend money. When he came here, he always saw Liu Yulian working without any servants to wait on her. He felt distressed when he saw her. However, the money he brought with him was not particularly much. If he gave it all to Liu Yulian, she would not accept it.
Liu Yulian took the thing that He Xiyuan handed over and took a closer look. It was a silver note worth one hundred taels.
"What are you doing for me?" Liu Yulian stuffed the banknote into He Xiyuan's hand again, "Our family can make a living without your money."
"I think... I can support you." He Xiyuan was a little shy. "You are my fiancée."
"A fiancée is not a wife, so it's still different." Liu Yulian said, "Put the banknote away. I won't use it."
"Just think of it as something you borrowed from me," He Xiyuan said again.
"No, if I lend it to you, I will have to remember to return it to you." Liu Yulian turned around and started to light the fire.
"You don't have to pay it back." He Xiyuan said quickly, "You can wait until we get married. Then, what's mine will be yours."
"..." Liu Yulian looked at He Xiyuan. Could someone tell her, isn't it said that people in ancient times were more reserved? He Xiyuan is not reserved at all.
"Take it." He Xiyuan said, "If you don't take it, I'll put it under the quilt when I leave."
"Why not put it in my hand?" When Liu Yulian was wondering whether to take it, Liu Yanjing appeared. "Didn't you say you wanted to make dried meat? Are you going to make dried meat, or see if this meat can become numb."
"Brother." Liu Yulian didn't expect her brother to tease her.
Liu Yanjing took the banknote from He Xiyuan's hand and said, "If he insists on giving it to you, just take it. I'll give it to him when he recovers."
Liu Yanjing didn't want his sister to work so hard. His sister was so well-behaved and sensible. If nothing had happened to their family, his sister would still be a rich lady in the boudoir, with maids and servants to serve her, and she wouldn't have to worry about these things at home.
"Yes, yes, yes." He Xiyuan nodded, "Sister Lian, just take it."
He Xiyuan thought, couldn't his uncle show up later? He would definitely be able to make Sister Lian put away the banknotes.
"Okay, take it then." Liu Yulian said, "I'll make more food for you when I have time."
"There is food in the barracks." Liu Yanjing said.
"How can we eat so well?" Liu Yulian knew that food was not plentiful in ancient times, and that the people in the military camp might not have enough to eat. "Let's make some dried meat first, and then cut the meat."
"I'll do it." He Xiyuan returned to his original position and prepared to cut the meat. He looked at Liu Yanjing and said, "Brother, you should go and spend time with your nephews and nieces. They must miss you very much."
In a few days, they will have to go back to the military camp, and Liu Yanjing will not be able to see his children more often.
Liu Yanjing understood what He Xiyuan meant. He wanted to spend more time with his children, while He Xiyuan wanted to spend time with Liu Yulian.
"Don't cut it too thin," Liu Yulian said. "We'll marinate it later."
Liu Yulian found that He Xiyuan's knife skills were pretty good. The slices were not too thick, nor did they look particularly ugly.
"Okay." He Xiyuan responded.
Liu Yanjing left the kitchen and carried his little daughter to the strawberry patch in the yard. Little Liu Jia loved to run to the strawberry patch to pick strawberries and even liked to put them directly into her mouth.
Fortunately, there were no pesticides in this era, and Liu Yulian hadn't prepared any. Even if there were pesticides, Liu Yulian couldn't use them on the ground in the yard, lest the children accidentally eat them.
"Don't you even want to wash?" Liu Yanjing asked.
"Delicious." Xiao Liujia just thinks strawberries are delicious.
During the Chinese New Year, many children will visit other people's homes just to see if the adults will give them candy or other things.
There were still a lot of children in the village, and the eldest wife of the Liu family was not stingy. When the children came, they gave them some candies and a strawberry. Although the gifts were not much, the children were very happy to take them. They might not be able to get a few candies at other people's homes, let alone strawberries.
Mother Liu looked at the children and thought that they were really lively.
Some families learned that the Liu family's main branch was still giving out candy, so they asked other children in the family to go over to the Liu family's main branch to see if they could get some more.
Liu Yulian made a lot of candies, and she also made some beautiful candy wrappers. Some of the candies even had small pieces of dried fruit inside. She bought those dried fruits in town, choosing the ones without seeds so that children wouldn't swallow them whole if they weren't paying attention.
"Take it." Liu's mother saw some little girls wearing thin clothes and immediately realized that those people saw their boys taking candy, so they asked the girls to come out and take it. "Eat it."
Mother Liu also peeled candies and stuffed them directly into the little girls' mouths to prevent them from taking the candies home and leaving them with nothing to eat. After she came here, she saw that some families always asked their daughters to do things and used their daughters as maids. Mother Liu felt distressed when she saw this.
But Liu's mother was not one of those people, and it was difficult for her to stop those people from asking the girls in the family to do things. Even Liu Yulian, the eldest daughter of the Liu family, did a lot of things.
"Grandma." Little Liu Jia stopped picking strawberries after picking a few and ran to her mother's side. She saw her mother giving candies to those people and was afraid that she would have no candies to eat in the future.
"We have candy and strawberries at home." Seeing her granddaughter tugging at her clothes in grievance, Mother Liu hurriedly explained, "I left them all for you?"
"Really?" Little Liu Jia tilted her head, fearing that her mother was lying.
"It's true." Liu's mother nodded. "If you don't believe me, go back to the house and see if there's a jar of candy."
"Okay then." Xiao Liujia said, "You give it to them."
Little Liu Jia hurriedly moved a small chair and sat next to her mother, watching her distribute candies to those people.
"..." When Mother Liu saw her granddaughter like this, she smiled and touched her granddaughter's head.
Seeing this, Liu Yanjing turned around and saw his son standing there. Although his son was young, he was very sensible and must have sensed the changes around him.
"Dad." Xiao Liu Qingyun spoke.
"Study hard." Liu Yanjing had also studied, so if he wanted to pass the imperial examinations, he would have to take them again. Passing the imperial examinations wasn't always easy for exiles, and Liu Yanjing joined the army because it was more practical in the northwest, especially for exiles like them.
"Yeah." Xiao Liu Qingyun nodded.
At the palace, the emperor met with Prince Su. He had originally planned to have Prince Su go to the northwest after the Chinese New Year. He wanted Prince Su to see if the wheat planted by the Liu family's eldest branch had a high yield, as well as to take a look at the cotton.
In fact, regardless of wheat or cotton, the Liu family should be rewarded just for the recipes of wound medicines, cold medicines, fever-reducing medicines, etc.
But since the Liu family can make culture medium and grow wheat, the emperor wants to see it even more.
If the Liu family is really that capable, then why not let them restore the title of marquis?
The emperor sent Prince Su to go, intending for him to show favor to the Liu family. If the Liu family was truly capable, Prince Su would be able to use them when he ascended the throne.
"This time when you go to the northwest, you must see how the wheat is growing and what the harvest is like," the emperor said. He wanted to prevent fraud, lest someone bury someone else's wheat. "I'm giving you two imperial edicts. When you go, I'll only announce one to ensure the wheat harvest is good. You'll stay there for a month or two, and then I'll announce the second one."
After the emperor finished speaking, he coughed twice. His health was not that good, but he could still hold on for another year or two. During this time, he had to arrange some things so that Prince Su would not miss out on such a talented person.
Normally, if the emperor's health wasn't good enough, he shouldn't have allowed his favorite heir to stay outside for too long. This time, however, was different. The emperor couldn't allow any other princes to go, so he had to have the culture medium that would increase crop yields sent up through Prince Su.
Even though General Xu had submitted a memorial to the emperor before, few people knew about it. Prince Su's visit to the site and his return to the capital with the results would be different. This would further elevate Prince Su's reputation among the people.
These things were discovered when the old emperor was still alive, so the current emperor would also be praised by the people. The people would say that the emperor was benevolent and that God allowed the Liu family to research these things. It was precisely because of the emperor's benevolence that the Liu family, even though they were exiled, still informed the emperor as soon as they discovered these good things.
"Your son obeys your order." Prince Su took the two imperial edicts.
The emperor intended to pave the way for Prince Su, and Prince Su also knew the importance of this matter. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be named the crown prince when he returned from the northwest.
Before Prince Su made his contribution, he went to the Imperial Concubine. Prince Su had already seen the two imperial edicts: one that conferred the title of County Master on Liu Yulian, and the other that restored Liu's father's title.
However, Prince Su did not tell the imperial concubine the contents of the two imperial edicts, for fear that it would be disastrous if others accidentally knew about it.
"If you want to go to the northwest, go to your aunt's place," the imperial concubine said, "and see if she has anything for you to bring to Yuan'er. Your cousin is really good at running away, fearing that others will not agree to him marrying his fiancée. He is quite decisive."
The imperial concubine wondered how many people in the world could do what He Xiyuan did. Many men were unfaithful and unfaithful, and most men still chose to cancel their engagements. If someone said otherwise, they would say it was their parents' orders and the matchmaker's words, and that as sons, there was nothing they could do if their parents wanted to cancel the engagement.
"I will go there after I leave the palace," Prince Su replied. "We will set off early tomorrow morning."
"Yes." The imperial concubine nodded.
"Although this trip wasn't secret, not many people know why I went there," Prince Su said. "I won't tell you much, and if someone asks you about it, you don't need to say more."
"I am not the kind of person who likes to gossip." The imperial concubine still thought that Prince Su could do good things, and it was a good thing that the emperor valued Prince Su.
When Prince Su went to the Duke of Cheng's mansion, he did not mention the Liu family's affairs. When the old lady of the Duke of Cheng's mansion learned that Prince Su had come, she came over specially.
"If the prince sees Yuan Ge'er, please persuade him to come back." The old lady said, "There are so many good women in the world. Why suffer so much for one woman?"
"It depends on what my cousin thinks." There was no way that Prince Su would try to persuade He Xiyuan any more. If he really wanted to persuade him, it would be to let He Xiyuan and Liu Yulian be together well. This engagement must not be cancelled.
"..." The old lady was not in a good mood after hearing what Prince Su said, but she didn't say much for fear of making Prince Su unhappy.
Prince Su went to He Xiyuan's eldest brother, who was still in a wheelchair.
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