When Qiao Yunqing went to see Qiao Xin after leaving court, he happened to meet Butler Yu who came to report something.
Qiao Xin pointed to the bamboo lounge chair beside her, indicating that he could sit down and listen!
Housekeeper Yu bowed respectfully and said, "When I went there, the Zhao family had brought people to the house to cancel the engagement... Mr. Wang's illness was delayed. The imperial physician told me that if he treated it well, he would recover in half a year. Miss Wang wanted to come and kowtow to you in person, but I persuaded her not to do so."
Miss Wang gave me the title deed to the house in South City, but I didn’t dare to take it on my own initiative. But if I don’t take it, she might not be at ease.”
Qiao Xin stopped the rocking chair, opened her eyes and said, "It's right not to accept it. Once we extend our hand, we can't stop. When you send flowers tomorrow, bring the dental room and silver. We are cooperating, but we can't be accused of bullying and occupying other people's property."
"Mother, are you going to buy another house?"
"Yes, I tell you, our fruits and vegetables will be ready for sale soon. When we send them to the capital, we can find a place to store them. I saw a yard today. It's in the outer city. It's five acres. It's pretty good. I can buy it for five hundred taels."
Qiao Yunqing was very puzzled. "Mother, every inch of land in the capital is very expensive. How can five hundred taels of silver buy such a big house? Is there something strange about this?"
It would be more accurate to say that this house is half sold and half given away rather than being sold. He doesn't believe that Qiao Xin can't see it!
Qiao Xin laughed meaningfully, "That house is haunted. Five or six buyers gave up on buying it. The reputation has spread!"
"Well... since the rumor is so credible, it can't be groundless. Should we investigate it first?" Qiao Yunqing suggested to Qiao Xin. Even Butler Yu pricked up his ears to listen.
Qiao Xin glanced at him and said, "You really believe that there are ghosts in this world? It's just a trick played by people. I looked around the house and got a glimpse of some of the tricks."
Qiao Yunqing understood the meaning of the words, "Then the Wang family knew that my mother had seen through it but didn't say it out loud, so they mentioned giving the house to us?"
"That's about right. The Wang family may not really want to sell it, but the words have been spoken, and right now they are really forced to do so. I, Qiao Xin, will not take advantage of others' misfortune or add insult to injury."
Manager Yu suddenly realized.
"No wonder before I left, Mr. Wang cried and thanked us for letting bygones be bygones and showing mercy. Now I understand what's going on!"
"Haha, everyone likes to attribute things they don't understand to the gods and ghosts. Some things are just people bluffing. In the mound next to the Wang family's gate lived a nest of hedgehogs.
If someone feeds a bowl of sugar water every now and then, as soon as someone moves in, they will always hear someone knocking on the door and coughing in the middle of the night.
If you go out to check, you won't see anyone. If this happens more often, won't there be rumors of ghosts? But no one thinks it's just the symptoms of the hedgehog drinking sugar water.
"Speaking of the people laughing in the middle of the night, do you remember when you were a kid, you fainted from fear from the fox your grandfather caught?"
How could Qiao Yunqing not remember it? That was one of the few embarrassing moments in his life.
When he first arrived at the Qiao family, he came to a strange environment where everything was unfamiliar. The child was terrified. His grandfather wanted to cheer him up, but he was unable to do so.
When he came back from hunting in the cold winter, he brought a fiery red little fox as a playmate. The fox was very smart, quiet and well-behaved during the day, and even took the initiative to please him.
But at night, he always dreamed of a fox turning into a human and laughing at him. The laughter startled him and gave him nightmares.
At first, everyone thought he just couldn't adapt to the new environment and was talking nonsense in his dreams. This happened for several nights in a row, but even his grandfather and adoptive mother could see the clues.
The adoptive mother kept him under guard for several nights and finally figured out the whole story. It turned out that the fox's laughter was no different from that of humans. Then she remembered that people in the north often regarded foxes as fox fairies. What else was there to be unclear about?
His grandfather and adoptive mother fell to their knees on the spot.
With her hands clasped together, she muttered to him, no, to be more precise, to the little fox in his arms. The atmosphere was creepy no matter how you looked at it.
"You are so young, yet you are able to communicate with the spirits. Fairy, we were wrong. We did not mean to offend you. We only invited you to our home to protect the child's safety.
If the immortals really want to blame someone, then blame me. Don't look for the child. If you have any requests, just tell me in your dreams. And try not to hurt the child. We really didn't mean it, didn't mean it!"
Under Qiao Yunqing's confused gaze, the grandfather carefully untied the hemp rope on the little fox's legs and lit three more incense sticks. He took out a pheasant that he was reluctant to eat that night from the kitchen cabinet and gritted his teeth and brought it to the little fox.
This incense and this meat are all considered as offerings. As long as it eats them, it will not blame our family. This is how my grandfather explained to Qiao Yunqing later.
If you don't sacrifice your child, you won't be able to catch the wolf; if you sacrifice your pheasant, you can save your life. The fox fairy was full and didn't want to take revenge on them. It took a whole stick of incense for the little thing to be full, and was personally sent back to the depths of the mountains by my grandfather.
He was chanting chicken for several nights!
Now that Qiao Xin mentioned it again, Qiao Yunqing immediately understood what Qiao Xin meant.
"The Wang family compound has foxes. Don't they believe in fox spirits?"
"Isn't this normal? Most of those who believe in fox spirits are ordinary people. There are always people in this world who are fearless. Otherwise, how did the lady get the fox fur?"
Qiao Yunqing was speechless for a moment. This was really hard to refute!
"Miss Wang is a smart woman. She will clean up these things when she hands over the house. Steward Yu will send someone to clean up the place. Especially the back door next to the river must be repaired."
"Don't worry, old lady. I'll get someone to do it right away! But this orchid..."
"Go find Shunzi and ask him to accompany you back to Laohu Town. These flowers are managed by Cao's mother. You can just go and get them."
After receiving the confirmation, Butler Yu quickly said goodbye and left!
Qiao Xin then remembered that Qiao Yunqing didn't know that he had planted a lot of orchids at home. He was also a man of letters, so he must be interested in these exotic flowers and plants.
"I have a lot of orchids planted at home. I sold some today. If you like, you can pick any you like!"
"Orchids are not easy to grow. You should sell them to supplement the family income. My son is not very interested in them!"
"Don't be embarrassed. We planted a lot this year, at least four or five varieties, ghost orchids, emerald orchids, lily of the valley, and even spring orchids and gladioli, and we have about 10 to 20 of them. Together, they cover at least one-third of the land.
A few days ago, Aunt Cao complained that these beautiful flowers were destroyed by our cows, and many of them were eaten as weeds! She asked us to quickly find a place to transplant them, or sell them? There are too many in the field to store them! "
“Ahem…”
Qiao Yunqing spat out a mouthful of tea. Why did his mother always do such unexpected things?
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