Chapter 338 New Year’s greetings
The fox followed Song Boqing for a month but failed to find out who was behind him. In the end, he placed the target of surveillance on Shopkeeper Ma.
But Shopkeeper Ma, apart from taking care of the shop, only went to see Song Baiqing on weekdays and never met any other outsiders. Even if the fox wanted to take advantage of him, he had no clue.
Shopkeeper Ma was very powerful in kung fu, and the fox didn't want to alert the snake, so he continued to struggle until the twelfth lunar month. The fox still couldn't find out anything about the pen and ink shop. He only knew that the shop was run by the Song family's father and son.
Finally, Xia Zihan said, "Since we can't find out, let's stop investigating now." She didn't believe it. Just one shop could save the Song family?
Huh, the pen and ink shop is already a small profit shop. It makes an extra one or two thousand taels of silver every year. Although the Song family and his son can save a little money, it is enough, but if they want to use it to save the Song family, then don't dream.
If a shop could bring a family from dire straits back to life, wouldn't those second- and third-rate noble families that were about to decline have already opened shops all over the street?
"Remove the people, and you can have an easy New Year." Xia Zihan said seriously.
The fox frowned, then snapped his fingers at the secret guards hiding in the dark, "Call Xiao Wu and the others back, and just leave two of them to continue monitoring."
Xia Zihan heard a yes from the rafters, and then a black shadow flew out of the window.
Xia Zihan stared at the black figure and broke into a sweat.
Then, she glared at the fox and gritted her teeth and said, "No one is allowed to come in my house in the future."
She broke into a cold sweat at the thought of a strange man staring closely at her from the rafters while she was taking off her clothes, taking a shower, or sleeping.
The corner of the fox's mouth twitched and he said expressionlessly, "You are overthinking, they don't want to be beheaded by their little master."
The little master in his mouth is Chu Jingqi.
Huh, just kidding, who dares to spy on the mistress-to-be while she is taking a shower and sleeping? She doesn’t want to live anymore.
Worried that Xia Zihan would misunderstand, the fox also explained in a low voice, "Xiaoqi sneaked in because he wanted you and me to talk here, so he was waiting on the beam for fear that he might have something to say."
"Then they really never come in on weekdays?" Xia Zihan stared at the fox with disbelief.
The fox shook his head, "Unless Flower Snake and I are here, they won't come in and will just stay outside the house."
Then she would be relieved.
Xia Zihan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This group of secret guards were all very skilled in light skills and their martial arts were higher than hers. If they sneaked in, she wouldn't be able to notice them at all.
However, she still believed in Chu Jingqi's arrangements deep in her heart. If they were untrustworthy people, Aqi would not leave them to her.
During the twelfth lunar month, the Xia family and the Song family sent people to send New Year's gifts early, and Xia Zihan also prepared a generous New Year's gift to return to the two families.
The Yuan family, the Liao family, the Dou family, and Xia Zihan also prepared a new year's gift to send there, as well as the Second Prince's Mansion...
Xia Zihan didn't want to be said to be fawning over the second prince, so she didn't send food. Instead, she prepared a fox fur cloak for each of the second princess, Princess Qinghui, and the little princess who had just arrived.
These large cloaks were all designed by her and embroidered by the best embroiderers in Yusha Pavilion.
The design and workmanship are all top-notch, especially the patterns, which are unique and not even sold by Yusha Pavilion.
Chu Cong and Chu Kuang sent them there together. The two princesses also left Chu Cong to talk for a while, and each of them rewarded them with a red seal.
When leaving, the second princess also prepared a return gift, which was a few boxes of pastries and a box of mangoes shipped from the south.
Mango, a southern fruit, Xia Zihan likes to eat.
When she was in Jiangnan, Xia Zihan ate mangoes a lot and liked the fragrant taste. Unfortunately, they were rarely sold in the capital, and she couldn't buy them even if she had money.
Nuanxiang has shipped fruits from Jiangnan several times, but it is still not as comfortable as being able to buy and eat them anytime and anywhere.
A box of mangoes only weighs fifty kilograms, and Zhuo got ten kilograms from her. Her twins are over half a year old and can drink some juice squeezed from the fruit. Soft fruits like mangos can also be fed to them with a small spoon. .
So Xia Zihan got an extra share from her place.
Zeng's teeth have been bad these past few months and she can't eat hard fruits. Such soft-fleshed fruits can be chewed, and Su's mother, Hongmei, and the others also like to eat mangoes. Xia Zihan also asked the maid to carry ten kilograms past.
Aunt Zhang, on the other hand, was alone, and her belly was already seven and a half months old. It was the time to eat less to prevent the baby from growing too big and difficult to give birth to.
Xia Zihan asked Chu Kuang to carry three kilograms to her.
Mr. Lu, Mr. Cui, the second housekeeper, Aunt Yu, Cui's mother and several other housekeepers in the house each gave two catties.
There wasn't much left, so she kept five kilograms for herself, and the remaining four or five kilograms were given to Xia Shiming to take back to the Xia family to eat.
The next day, when Chu Lin smelled the wind and hurried back to eat mangoes, there were only three mangoes as big as a child's palm left in the fruit bowl.
Xia Zihan knew that she loved to eat, so he specially left it for her.
Chu Lin rushed over and purred, "My mango, my favorite."
Chu Fei joked, "Isn't your favorite the little beggar team trained by you? Why did you change it to Mango?"
"Humph, you are jealous of me."
Chu Lin sat down, took a mango, peeled it off and stuffed it into her mouth.
Seeing her embarrassment, Chu Fei said with disdain, "I'm jealous of you. Are you like this?"
"What's wrong with me?" Chu Lin squirted while eating, her juices splashing everywhere, and she said proudly, "What's wrong with me? I'm beautiful, capable, can settle accounts, can do martial arts, can cook, and can even farm. I know how to cook. Go and search all over the capital. How many can compare to me?”
Before Chu Lin became a street child, she was a rural girl who was good at farming and growing vegetables. It's just that her father was seriously ill and died suddenly, and her mother couldn't take a breath and fell on top of her father.
In order to buy a large coffin for her parents, Chu Lin sold her family's land and house at a young age.
After her parents were laid to rest, Chu Lin became homeless and had no choice but to wander elsewhere.
Fortunately, she was young and clever at that time, so she was not abducted by human traffickers, and she was lucky enough to meet Qi Mei.
Qi Mei just bought two meat buns for her to eat when she was so hungry that she followed Qi Mei to Chu's house.
While arguing with Chu Fei, Chu Lin ate several mangoes in one go.
After she was full, Chu Lin wiped her mouth and came over to please Xia Zihan, "Master, the Chinese New Year is almost here. I'm here to ask for permission. Should we also let the little beggars have a good New Year?"
"You want money again?" Xia Zihan looked at her funny.
Chu Lin's face turned red and she said sarcastically, "It's not easy to raise a bunch of young men. You have to spend money everywhere."
Then with a shy face, he stretched out his hand towards Xia Zihan and said, "Master, would you kindly approve a sum of money for me?"
"Of course." Xia Zihan said.
"Since they are already my people, I won't starve them, but..." There was a hint of cunning on the smiling face, as if he was planning something, "I can't let them be beggars for the rest of their lives, I think. Just leave them to the fox, who happens to be quite free at the moment.”
Master, where am I free?
What an injustice.
I've been busy protecting you and following your butt all day long, so where can I be free?
The fox looked at the sky on the roof with a depressed face.
However, it seems that it would be good to collect a few brats to play with and pass the time.
By the way, since he joined the county lord, his life has indeed become much more leisurely.
"Master, what do you mean, you are going to take them in?" Chu Lin's eyes lit up and she jumped three meters high with joy, almost knocking her head. "Then I will tell them now and bring them over."
"Xiao Nizi, why are you so anxious?" Xia Zihan rolled his eyes, "Fox..."
she shouted from the rooftops.
The fox put down his legs, turned over and jumped down.
The figure slowly walked in from the door. Before Xia Zihan could speak, he said, "I have no objection to letting me train a few brats, but the master must give me a sinecure Zhuangzi."
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Training secret guards cannot be done in an open and aboveboard place, at least not visible to others, and Zhuangzi on the outskirts of the city is the most suitable place.
Xia Zihan immediately decided, "Tell the farm owner that after next spring, we will build a few more farms outside the city."
"I'll go." Chu Linxing said hurriedly, "I just happened to go to Zhuangzi to pick up a few boxes of fruit and give them to the beggars."
In fact, you can just tell the head of the farm about this when he comes to pay his New Year greetings. Anyway, there is still a month until spring.
But seeing that Chu Lin likes to run, let her run.
Xia Zihan waved his hand and motioned for her to go.
With a hiss, the fox man disappeared again.
Well, I was lying on the roof depressed.
These boring days, hey, I really want to follow my little master to the battlefield and kill enemies happily every day.
How happy were those days?
After New Year's Eve, the second day of the Lunar New Year, Xia Shiming led Xu, Aunt Guo, and sisters Xia Ziqing and Xia Zilan over to pay New Year greetings to Zeng.
At that time, Aunt Zhang was also there, with a round belly, and she was sitting on the fire kang chatting with Mrs. Zhuo and Zeng.
Xia Shiming and a group of people kowtowed to Mrs. Zeng as they entered the house to pay New Year greetings.
When she looked up, Mrs. Xu noticed that Aunt Zhang was there, and she was sitting very close to Mrs. Zeng.
Then just now, didn't they also kowtow to a cheap maid and aunt to pay New Year's greetings?
Immediately, Xu's face turned as dark and shiny as a dung beetle.
The anger in Mrs. Xu's heart was rising, and she wanted to get angry immediately, but when she thought about the struggle between her and Aunt Guo, she was at a disadvantage every time, and suffered a lot of hidden losses from Aunt Guo, so she bit her He gritted his teeth and endured this breath.
As for Aunt Guo, she had long known from the servants of the Xia family that Xia Shiming had a favored concubine who was pregnant and was taken in by Xia Zihan and raised in Chu's house.
Therefore, she easily guessed Aunt Zhang's identity.
(End of chapter)