Since Xie Baotian became the clan leader, Xie Yushu decided to stay an extra day and give Xie Baotian, Xie Baoshu, and Xie Tianlin a crash course in dozens of commonly used characters.
These are all names of Xie family members and words used on land deeds and property deeds, to ensure that Xie Baotian wouldn't be caught off guard if he encountered these matters.
To help them memorize these characters quickly, Xie Yushu went to great lengths. She first wrote the characters with an eyebrow pencil, and fearing they would forget them in a couple of days, she drew pictures under the characters for those who could draw. For example, for "cow," she drew a small cow's head; for "stone," she drew a stone egg; for "field," she drew a piece of land; for "tree," she drew a tree; and for "brave," she drew a fierce-looking strongman.
Through drawing and memorizing, by the time Xie Yushu and the others left, the family members had managed to recognize about a hundred characters.
Before leaving, Xie Yushu left them fifty taels of silver to buy a donkey and a cart, and the rest to fund the clan school.
Since Xie Baotian is now the clan leader, Xie Yushu left the imperial edict at home to maintain appearances for the clan, and took the other rewards with her.
With the matter of Xiejia Village settled, the group set off back to Jinyang.
Upon arriving in Jinyang, Liu Qiang and Xie Tianqi returned to their posts at the yamen. Thinking of how Liu Qiang had contributed a lot in dealing with the assassins sent by Chu Mingzhu a few days ago, Liu Qiang gave Xie Tianqi a bolt of cloth, a gift from the Emperor, as a token of his gratitude before parting.
Back at the villa, Chu Jinyu finally met his beloved sister, Xiao Haitang. The siblings chatted warmly for a while, and then Xiao Haitang offered to take Chu Jinyu on a tour of the villa.
Chu Jinyu, who had been kept under Xiao Yi's strict control, had never had the chance to run around the mountains and play. When Xiao Haitang wanted to take him out to play, he hesitated and looked at Xie Yushu.
Running away from the capital to here was already his greatest act of courage, but now that he's by Xie Yushu's side, he instinctively becomes a good boy again.
Xie Yushu said
"You're a little man now, you don't have to ask your elders for permission for everything!"
As long as you don't go to dangerous places and hurt yourself, feel free to have fun!
Do you know what dangerous places are?
Xie Yushu asked the two little ones another question.
The siblings both shook their heads.
"If you can't swim, then any place with water is dangerous for you. If you don't know the way, then places with many forks in the road are also dangerous for you. If you can't recognize bad people, any kidnapper on the street can abduct you."
In short, anything you can't handle with your current abilities is dangerous, so for now you can only play in places you're familiar with, understand?
"If you want to go on adventures, wait until you're older and more capable, okay?"
"Okay, we'll just stay here at the resort and won't sneak out."
The two children seemed to understand but not quite, but they roughly knew that Xie Yushu was worried about their safety and didn't want them to run far away, so they agreed to Xie Yushu and ran out to play.
Xie Yushu didn't care whether they could understand or not. Often, people don't understand what they learn or hear at the time, but they gradually understand it later. There is always a process involved.
After the two children left, Qu Xiaodie went to the training camp in the back mountain, while Nanxing went to Aunt Su to report what happened in Xie Family Village, especially the matter of the assassin.
She felt that she would definitely have to deal with Chu Mingzhu again in the future, so she had to find Aunt Su to discuss how to deal with this crazy woman in order to prepare for future troubles.
Xie Yushu's idea was to meet force with force and deal with whatever came her way; as long as she became strong, she wouldn't care about any of Xie Yushu's tricks, whether they were overt or covert.
However, speaking of which, she won a great victory in Xiejia Village without lifting a finger, and she has to thank Han Zhongyu for that. A title is much more prestigious than her taking action against Xie Dafu and his family. It directly established the status of Xie Baotian's family in Xiejia Village. This is the difference between official intervention and private intervention.
Han Zhongyu quietly did such a big favor, so we should at least thank him.
While arranging the gifts bestowed by the Emperor, Xie Yushu wondered how to express her gratitude. These were things that the Emperor had plenty of, and what might be extremely precious to Xie Baotian and his ilk were just ordinary items to him. After thinking it over, she decided to simply invite him to a meal.
Having made up her mind, Xie Yushu packed her things, rested for two days, and then took Nanxing to Han Zhongyu's residence on the day Han Zhongyu took a day off.
This was Xie Yushu's first time visiting Han Zhongyu's home; she had always met him at the government office before.
She was a little worried about whether the gatekeeper would recognize her and let her in. But after she gave her name, the gatekeeper ran in to report. The gatekeeper's manager heard the commotion and came over to lead Xie Yushu in, smiling as he introduced the layout and scenery of the mansion to her.
Xie Yushu was genuinely shocked. Was this how hospitable Han Zhongyu's household was? Seriously, you exposed your master's secrets on your very first visit. Was that really a good idea?
Before Xie Yushu could think too much about it, Han Zhongyu had already come out to greet her after receiving the report.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have sent someone to pick you up! Or had Lanting send a message!"
"No need for all that trouble! Lanting is busy training me, and I just wanted to come see you and thank you!"
"oh?"
Han Zhongyu glanced at Xie Yushu's empty hands and deliberately asked...
How should I thank you?
I'll treat you to a meal!
Since you have the day off today, I'll treat you to a meal at a restaurant!
"That's so insincere! I rushed over here as soon as I received the imperial decree to make you proud!"
Han Zhongyu was not very satisfied.
"Oh? What do you want then? Aren't you supposed to be an honest and upright official? I thought treating you to a meal would be enough!"
"I'm tired of eating at restaurants. Why don't you cook me a dish or two yourself? Come to think of it, I haven't had any authentic Northern cuisine since I took office here!"
"That's easy. Let alone two dishes, twenty dishes wouldn't be a problem. I'll let you try them all today!"
Xie Yushu thought it would be a difficult request, but when she heard that it was just to make two simple dishes, she immediately patted her chest and said it was no big deal!
Having succeeded in his scheme, Han Zhongyu dared not ask for too much and said that it was still early, so he took Xie Yushu to the living room to sit down.
Xie Yushu did not refuse, as it was indeed still early, and followed Han Zhongyu into the living room.
Han Zhongyu's residence was quiet and elegant. In the courtyard, there were only a few green pines and a few vigorous red plum trees. Not far away was an artificial lake, which was covered with a thick layer of ice, so there were no fish in it.
The living room is simple yet grand, with a plum blossom painting hanging on the main wall, which looks like a newly painted courtyard scene.
Below is an eight-immortal table, with a carved mahogany chair on each side.
To the side was a display shelf, filled with artworks that Xie Yushu couldn't understand.
Seeing Xie Yushu looking at him, Han Zhongyu introduced them one by one.
"This is a crystal feather tube, which I won in a bet with Eighteen. This is an amber butterfly, which is said to be tens of thousands of years old and very precious!"
Xie Yushu also had her eyes opened; she had only heard of this before, but had never seen it. She looked at it and said...
"Yes, not only the timing, but the formation of the amber is also very coincidental. It must have been formed by a chance drop of resin that trapped an insect, and under certain pressure and heat, it was formed. It is indeed a rare thing!"
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