Chapter 318 Crying out of poverty
"Yes, Master." He asked again, "Do you want to package and send the hosta you personally made for Prince Chu?"
Xia Zihan was silent.
It was also an accident that she knew how to make that hairpin.
When she went to Cuiyuxuan, she accidentally saw a very beautiful white jade bead, which was white, crystal clear, and clear. She immediately thought that it would look good if she made a men's hairpin for A Qi to wear.
As a result, by some strange coincidence, she took the white jade bead, and with the help of a master jeweler, she made a golden hairpin with the white jade bead inlaid on the top of the golden hairpin.
After she got the hairpin back, she didn't say it was for A Qi, but none of the maids around her were smart. She didn't need to explain, everyone knew that it was for A Qi.
Xia Zihan was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Put it together with the letter."
"This slave knows."
The day when the birthplace came was the day before the Dragon Boat Festival. Xia Zihan was not at the mansion, so he invited Miss Wei to Xia Mansion to enjoy the roses.
The roses on the entire side are in bloom, almost like a long piece of cloth embroidered with roses spread on the wall, very beautiful.
Xu got the news and came over in a hurry.
She found an opportunity to complain to Xia Zihan behind Wei Kaiyue's back, "Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival. The money I gave you is enough to buy festival gifts for relatives and friends. I can't even make eight-treasure rice dumplings for myself. Yu Niang, Tell me, how is your mother’s life?”
"Mother says this, but she dislikes father's low salary?" Xia Zihan sneered.
"Dang... no, I never said such a thing." Mrs. Xu was about to say the words 'Of course less', but she quickly changed her words.
Just kidding, the salaries of court officials are all regulated, how could she, a woman, arrange it.
"A little is a lot, but your father's salary is not enough to support the family." Mrs. Xu made a sad face and peeked at Xia Zihan secretly.
Seeing that Xia Zihan was indifferent, she lamented even louder, "I haven't paid the monthly payment I owed to my debtor last month. Yesterday, the manager came to ask me. Everyone was waiting for the money to spend the holidays, but I am penniless now. I It’s also difficult.”
"If mother is in trouble, then go and tell father, tell me, there is nothing I can do." Xia Zihan said coldly.
After Aunt Zhang went to live in the Chu family, the stewardship of the Xia family was handed over to Manager Han. Unexpectedly, Manager Han contracted the cold within a few days and was bedridden, unable to take care of things for a while.
Then, problems continued to arise in the Xia family.
First, people in the kitchen were lazy and used the water left overnight to cook, which caused stomachaches to everyone in the family.
That night Xia Shiming happened to go to the Chu family to see that Aunt Zhang was not at the house, so he escaped.
Then there were two pieces of fabric for summer clothes sold back from the house, and the fabric was not enough. However, the money was approved by Manager Han, but the purchasing manager insisted that the price of the fabric had increased.
No, we have to ask the steward to solve the problem. But the steward is ill, so no one will take care of this matter.
When Xia Shiming came back, a lot of things in the inner house came to him, which made Xia Shiming very annoyed. At this time, Xu's mother-in-law made snacks for him to eat, saying that it was Xu's order.
After Xia Shiming finished eating the snacks, he had to temporarily leave the family affairs to Xu.
No, Xu had only been in charge of the family for less than half a month, and she started crying about her poverty in front of Xia Zihan, but Xia Zihan pretended not to understand her disguised request for money.
Finally, when it was noon, Mrs. Xu didn't ask her to stay for dinner, so Xia Zihan invited Wei Kaiyue to have dinner at Juxiang House in front of Mrs. Xu, which made Mrs. Xu's face darken with anger.
"You damn bitch, you would rather invite an outsider to Juxianglou for dinner than give a penny to your family. This bitch, the master just gave birth to her."
Mrs. Xu stared at her retreating back and cursed fiercely.
"Hmph, I heard that a meal at Juxianglou costs dozens of taels of silver." Xia Ziying's eyes were filled with jealousy.
"Why is the second sister inviting others to eat at Juxianglou? Why don't you invite us? We are the second sister's biological sisters." Xia Zilan said sourly.
Xia Ziqing glanced at the three women with disdain and sneered in her heart.
If she were Xia Zihan, she would stay away from Mrs. Xu and Xia Ziying. This mother and daughter are obviously vicious and have no good intentions.
Otherwise, Mrs. Xu would not have encouraged her second uncle to marry her to a poor scholar without a father or mother.
Hum...
If she hadn't refused even to the death, maybe Xu's conspiracy would have succeeded.
Xia Zihan didn't care what the women in the Xia family thought, but she was very happy to see Mr. Xu talking down to her and speaking softly and gently.
After she invited Wei Kaiyue to have a meal at Juxianglou, the two of them happily walked around the streets for an afternoon before heading back home.
But after she returned home, when she saw Shengchi, the corners of her mouth kept turning up, and her face was filled with joy.
Shengdi stayed at the Chu family to celebrate the festival, and asked Nuanyu to prepare eight-treasure rice dumplings, various pastries, and some dry food for Shengdi to take on the road in two days. Then, she took the letter from Shengdi and hid in the study. inside.
The letter wrote a lot about Chu Jingqi in the military camp, saying that he had a little guard beside him who was only twelve years old.
During one military training, the little guard also participated. I don't know how he practiced, but he almost cut off half of his own ear.
Ma Bao joked that he wanted to fry pig ears and eat them. Then, Chu Jingqi said that he also wanted to eat it, he really wanted to eat it.
The letter also talked about many things around him. In the end, thousands of words turned into one sentence: 'He misses her so much. ’
Xia Zihan read it several times, her eyes were red and moist, but her heart felt warm and sweet.
After coming out of the study, she asked Chu Fei to go to the street and buy ten pig ears.
Then, carrying ten pig ears, she went into the small kitchen and marinated the pig ears with salt.
Two days later, she braised the pig ears herself and wrapped them one by one. Together with her reply letter to Chu Jingqi, she wrapped them together with the hosta and carried them on Shengdi's back.
After Shengdi tied the bundle tightly, before getting on the horse, he told Xia Zihan happily, "County Lord, Ma Bao will come back next time. Ma Bao said that he loves to eat the beef with soy sauce made by the Chu family cook the most. Let the County Lord come Prepare a few extra kilograms for him to take on the road.”
His favorite food is roast chicken, and the county owner prepared two for him.
Chu Fei wrinkled his nose and said, "Huh, when did you two come back, the master didn't prepare good wine or meat for you. He even packed a dozen of my favorite braised eggs for you. What else do you want?"
As she said that, she reached out her claws to retrieve her braised eggs from the bag under the saddle.
Shocked, he immediately got on his horse and took a few steps to avoid her clutches.
Suddenly, he turned around and smiled, "Aren't you worried that the county master will forget it, and that kid Ma Bao will cause trouble for me if he doesn't eat delicious food?"
Then he said pitifully, "Chu Fei, you don't know that the northwest is poor. There is nothing delicious. Even the rice is made of thick noodles. That is unpalatable."
"What I usually eat is a kind of thick dough with some salt in it. I don't even see soy sauce, MSG, and chili. Wow... I have never eaten anything so unpleasant, but we have tens of thousands of people per day. That’s what I eat every day, and so do the Duke and the Crown Prince.”
The Duke of Guo said that the soldiers and horses under his command must be united. Whatever the general eats, the soldiers also eat. Therefore, the Duke of Guo and the Prince insisted on eating with the soldiers every day.
Every time he saw the prince's face showing that he didn't know how to eat, but his little mouth kept chewing like a spinning top, he felt heartbroken.
Every time he and Ma Bao came back, they would spontaneously buy ten kilograms of dried meat halfway along the way and use it as pickles for the prince and the prince.
However, the prince and the duke wanted to share more than half of it with their soldiers.
Hey...
Shengji rode away.
But Chu Fei's group of maids were unlucky.
Xia Zihan asked Chu Fei to buy a hundred kilograms of thick noodles, a specialty of the Northwest, and then asked the cook to make a kind of thick noodles with only a little salt for everyone in her yard to eat.
This meal lasts for three days.
For three whole days, Nuanyu's and several maids' faces changed drastically when they saw the noodles, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Xia Zihan himself was no exception. He also ate raw gnocchi for three days and suffered one of the hardships that Chu Jingqi suffered in the Great Northwest.
On the fourth day, when she saw that Nuanyu and the others were glaring at Noodles as if they were enemies, she finally spoke up, "You guys, please don't tell me that my eyes are not eyes and my nose is not my nose."< br>
"Tens of thousands of soldiers eat these noodles every day and go to the battlefield to fight. You can't stand it after eating it for only three days. It's hypocritical."
Then he told Chu Meng, "Go to the kitchen and tell the cook that the meals in our yard will be cooked as usual."
"Yeah, long live my master." Chu Meng jumped up and down and ran to the kitchen.
Their disaster was finally over.
Nuan Yu, Chu Fei and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.
As for Xia Zihan feeling sorry for Chu Jingqi and forcing them to eat gnocchi for several days, they would not care about it.
In the evening, Xia Zihan also ordered the maids to inform the cook to make shabu-shabu for Nuanyu and others in the evening as compensation.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, news spread that the second prince returned to Beijing.
In five days, the Second Prince's troops will enter the capital. Everyone in the court is preparing to welcome the Second Prince. The Emperor is very happy and specially asked the Queen to recruit the Second Princess and Princess Qinghui into the palace to reward them. They bought them more than a dozen bolts of silk and satin.
The next morning, Chu Cong brought back three horses.
"The princess said that the queen rewarded her with six pieces of cloth, but she couldn't wear that much, so she gave two pieces to the master and one piece to the slave."
With that said, Chu Cong pointed to one of the most colorful horses and said, "Slave, please choose this pink one."
Knowing that his master didn't like to wear bright colors, Chu Cong took the initiative to choose pink.
The colors of the other two pieces of fabric, one yellow and one bright purple, were both a bit bright. Xia Zihan didn't like them very much, so he asked Cui's mother to put them in the warehouse.
(End of chapter)