Chapter 188 Earrings
When Chu Jingqi thought about this, he felt happy in his heart. He said, "Ayu, my father once said that a man should get married first and then start a career. I haven't even gotten married yet, so why am I talking about starting a career?"
"You're just a little kid who wants to get a wife. Are you ashamed? I think you'd better practice your martial arts first. Didn't you vow to be the number one master in the capital?"
Yes, since she blocked the knife for him, he vowed to practice martial arts well. During this period of time, with the help of her two boxes of martial arts secrets, his martial arts has indeed improved rapidly. Even when fighting a fox, he can do it without fifty moves. defeat.
In three more years, he will definitely defeat the fox.
But...
Chu Jingqi felt aggrieved, "I'm almost paralyzed from exhaustion these days. Apart from coming to your place, I practice almost all the time. During the Chinese New Year, I only gave myself three days of freedom."
Then he told Xia Zihan, "On the second day of the Lunar New Year, my parents will come to the Chu family to pay New Year greetings."
Zhuo's adoptive father's home is in the south of the Yangtze River, far away from the capital. After she got married, she and Chu Xuanyu never went back to her parents' home to celebrate the New Year.
Now that she has accepted Mrs. Chu as her godmother, she has a natal family in the capital to go to.
Chu Jingqi stayed there until almost dawn, when Xia Zihan urged her to leave.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, according to the custom of the Dasheng Dynasty, the younger generations of the family would come home early in the morning to pay New Year greetings and ask for lucky money.
It can be lively and noisy all day long.
But the Chu family is deserted on this day every year. After the death of Mr. Chu Ge, leaving Xia Zihan and his grandson, it becomes even more deserted.
Not being able to give Mr. Chu Ge an heir to inherit the Chu family has been a worry for Zeng for many years. Especially in the three years since Mr. Chu Ge passed away, every time during the Chinese New Year when other people’s houses were busy and prosperous, Mrs. Zeng couldn't help but hurt Qiu Beiyue and felt guilty towards Mr. Chu Ge.
Every time at this time, Xia Zihan would try to make Mrs. Zeng happy. It wasn't until she put aside her worries and started playing with everyone that Xia Zihan would silently breathe a sigh of relief.
Today, Xia Zihan, who had stayed up all night, came to have breakfast with Mrs. Zeng, and then invited a large group of maids to come to the house to have fun.
Those who played chess, those who played leaf cards, those who embroidered, those who knitted braiding, the whole room was full of people, no one could speak a word, and it was a lively celebration.
Mrs. Zeng gradually let go of her sadness and sat with Xia Zihan to make knots.
Zeng is older and her hands and feet are not as sharp as when she was young, but her Luozi weaving is neater than Xia Zihan's.
Embroidery is Xia Zihan's strong point, but braiding is Nuan Xiang's strong point. Unfortunately, Nuan Xiang is not here, and Nuan Xiang is still in Yi'an City.
As for Master Lin, Qi Mei, Qi Lan and the others, they are celebrating the New Year in another house.
Xia Zihan specially ordered Qi Mei to buy that house after returning to Beijing.
With the opening of two more branches in the capital, Master Lin and Qi Mei Qi Lan gradually became known to people. After all, Xia Zihan opened the shop in secret. If Qi Mei Qi Lan wanted to take care of the shop, she would have to spend less time with Xia Zi. Han met to avoid being suspected.
As soon as Xia Zihan arrived in the capital, he ordered Qi Mei to buy a three-bedroom house for nine thousand taels of silver. The location was not far from here and it was in a good location.
After the house over there was cleaned up, Master Lin and Qi Mei and Qi Lan moved there.
Apart from occasionally coming over to discuss things in the shop with her, they rarely came to Chu's house, and every time they came, they avoided anyone's attention.
"Grandma, look, you are different from the braided braid. I braided it crookedly." Xia Zihan quickly took a braided braid from Zeng's hand and put it together with her own braided braid.
I didn't know, but I was shocked to see that the knots she made were not even slightly worse than those made by my grandmother.
"Grandma, just give this to me." Xia Zihan asked for something from Zeng with a shy face.
Mrs. Zeng raised her finger and tapped her forehead, and scolded her with a smile, "I don't study hard, so I just want to take advantage." Then she said with a doting look on her face, "Take it, I'll give it to you. The thread used in this thread is fresh and colorful. It’s for you little girls. Grandma might as well give you another jade pendant.”
Then he told Hongmei, who was embroidering, "Go and get the mutton-fat jade pendant from the bottom of my dressing box."
Hongmei said yes, then quickly put down her embroidery work, went to the ground to get the jade pendant and brought it over.
Xia Zihan has been running a jewelry shop for three years and has seen many rare items. As soon as he saw this jade pendant, Xia Zihan recognized it as a fine piece of jade, which was delicate and flawless.
Mutton-fat white jade is nephrite and is very suitable for little girls to wear.
Mrs. Zeng took the jade pendant and tied it to her waist, while telling Xia Zihan, "This was given to me by your great-grandmother when my grandmother was as young as you. In the blink of an eye, my granddaughter is now this big." , this time flies so fast, I don’t want to be old anymore.”
"My grandma is not old. When I went out with my grandma, when other people saw it, they thought we were a mother and a son."
Xia Zihan coquettishly held Zeng's arm. After Zeng tied the jade pendant and hung it on her waist, Xia Zihan coaxed Zeng a few more words, and then lay down on Zeng's lap like a fool.
"Grandma, I'm sleepy."
"Then take a nap, there's still an hour before lunch." Mrs. Zeng touched her little head and said gently, and then told Qingya, "Bring a blanket."
Xia Zihan, who had not slept all night, fell asleep as soon as his head stuck to Zeng's thigh.
When I woke up again, I had missed lunch and had to eat dinner directly.
Mrs. Zeng thought she read too late and didn't sleep well, so she scolded her, "Be careful, don't read too late in the future."
"I know, grandma, I won't do it next time." Xia Zihan nodded dejectedly. It's all Chu Jingqi's fault. She didn't leave until almost dawn these two nights, which made her unable to sleep well for two consecutive nights.
Unexpectedly, Chu Jingqi came again at night when Xia Zihan fell asleep.
However, seeing that she was sleeping deeply with dark circles under her eyes, I couldn't bear to wake her up.
He quietly sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her sleeping face all night long. In the early morning, before she woke up, he left as quietly as he came.
Two hours later, he accompanied Chu Xuanyu and Zhuo to pay New Year's greetings to Zeng.
Chu Jingqi kowtowed to Mrs. Zeng in a polite manner. Mrs. Zeng held his hand with a smile and stuffed a bulging red envelope into him, "Here, this is a New Year's gift from grandma to you."
This was the first time that someone other than Xia Zihan kowtowed to her to pay New Year greetings. It was also the first time that she felt what it was like for her daughter and son-in-law to visit her to pay her New Year greetings.
Seeing that Mrs. Zeng's eyes were red with joy and excitement, you knew she was really happy.
After her daughter Chu Jiahui married Xia Shiming, she did not come to pay her respects during the Chinese New Year because they were far away, and she died of dystocia shortly afterwards.
And Xia Shiming has been in office all these years. Not to mention the Chu family, he has never been back to the Xia family a few times.
At most, it was for the New Year and the holidays, just a few things.
Chu Jingqi thanked her obediently, and then went to the inner courtyard with Xia Zihan to play.
Mrs. Zhuo was very pleased to see that the two children had a good relationship with each other, so she and Chu Xuanyu helped Mrs. Zeng to chat on the kang in the side hall.
Chu Jingqi pulled Xia Zihan and trotted all the way. After arriving in the study room, the two children climbed onto the kang.
Chu Jingqi signaled Xia Zihan to send his servants away, then with a smile, he took out a pair of gold beaded lantern earrings from his arms and placed them in Xia Zihan's palm.
"I bought this with my New Year's money on the way here. Do you like it?" A pair of dark eyes blinked, expecting Xia Zihan's appreciation and surprise.
There are surprises, but there are also shocks.
Xia Zihan glared at him, "Why are you buying me something on your own initiative? Didn't you say you don't have to buy it for me? I have everything."
"No one knows." Chu Jingqi said anxiously, "I also bought a pair of earrings for my mother, and my mother didn't suspect it."
Xia Zihan remained silent and glared at him hard.
Staring until Chu Jingqi looked away guiltily, she said softly, "I just won't buy it anymore."
Then he coaxed her, "Ayu, don't be angry. As soon as I saw these earrings, I thought they would look good on you, so I couldn't help but buy them."
Seeing that he was aggrieved, Xia Zihan softened her heart and said helplessly, "I'm not angry."
"The eyes are bigger than a cow's eyes, and he says he's not angry." Chu Jingqi muttered softly.
"What did you say?"
"I didn't say anything. I said Ayu had a good temper and he didn't even get angry with me."
Xia Zihan just hummed twice.
Chu Jingqi happily took out the New Year's money given to him by Zeng, opened it and saw twenty taels of gold inside, she grinned happily.
Xia Zihan remembered that when she opened the New Year's money he gave her yesterday, she was shocked by the twenty taels of gold inside, and asked him, "Who gave you the gold you gave me?"
"My grandfather gave it to me." Chu Jingqi put the two gold ingots back into the red envelope. Seeing her glare again, he quickly added, "It's not lucky money, it was given to me during the New Year."
There is a saying that the New Year's money given by the elders to the younger ones on the eve of New Year's Eve can only be used by the younger ones after the New Year's Eve. This is said.
Xia Zihan thought this bastard had tricked his grandfather into giving him the New Year's money, and he gave it to her behind the scenes.
Fortunately not.
Xia Zihan said, "You were blown by the cold wind on the road. I'll call the maid to come in and make tea for you."
Chu Jingqi hummed, moved her body, took two steps back, and was separated from Xia Zihan by a small kang table.
Xia Zihan called to Silk Grass, "Make a pot of Qihong tea."
Qi black tea can dispel cold and warm up the body, so it is suitable for drinking in winter. Its main function is to refresh the mind, relieve fatigue, nourish the stomach and prevent cold.
Si Cao bowed and left the tea room. Soon, a pot of hot black tea was placed on the Kang table.
Si Cao picked up the teapot, poured a cup for Xia Zihan and Chu Jingqi, and then stepped aside.
The tips of the Qihong shoots soaked in boiling water are bright red in color, bright and moist. When you smell it, the aroma is fragrant. When you take a sip, the taste is mellow, sweet and refreshing.
(End of chapter)