The system asked me to chase his wife

Xia Mang stopped the carriage, then got off the carriage, holding up her skirt, and went to buy candied haws.

As the Chinese New Year was approaching, prices were rising. The candied haws that used to cost two cents a string now cost three cents a string. Xia Mang counted out six cents and considerately bought a string for Qiao Yuandong.

After Qiao Yuandong got off the car from Xia Mang, he lifted the curtain to look at her. When he saw her bringing back two strings of red candied haws, his eyes flashed but he said nothing.

"Madam, please try it. This hawthorn is big and red, and the sugar coating is shiny. It tastes sour and sweet. It is guaranteed to whet your appetite and refresh you!"

Xia Mang used her ability to persuade people to eat again, and at the same time stuffed a string of candied haws into Qiao Yuandong's hand.

Qiao Yuandong took the candied haws without hesitation.

There are six round red fruits on a half-foot long bamboo stick, covered with a layer of crystal sugar coating, which looks as beautiful as gems.

Qiao Yuandong held up the skewer and opened his mouth to bite the hawthorn on top. With the crisp sound of the sugar layer breaking, a small half of the hawthorn was bitten off.

The sour and sweet taste of the hawthorn neutralizes the sweetness of the sugar coating. For her, who has never been very fond of sweets, the taste is just right.

Compared to her elegant eating style, Xia Mang was much more casual.

She directly put the whole hawthorn in her mouth, puffed up her left cheek, then the right cheek, and finally spit out the seeds one by one like a pea shooter.

As he was eating, the system in his head said, "I can't believe that Dong Niang actually likes to eat this?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Mang could not help but look at Qiao Yuandong. She ate very slowly but never stopped. She had eaten only two of the six hawthorns in the string.

"Hehe, indeed, I didn't expect that Madam would also like these street gadgets." Xia Mang fully agreed with Xiang Xiukai's surprise.

As Qiao Yuandong was eating, he noticed that Xia Mang was looking at him with interest. He inexplicably felt embarrassed as if his little secret had been discovered, and he was too embarrassed to eat the remaining two hawthorns.

When Xia Mang saw her stop, he hurriedly urged her, "Madam, eat quickly. We'll be at the Duke's Mansion soon. If they see us when we go back later, we won't be able to eat!"

Qiao Yuandong: “.”

I don't know what kind of mentality Qiao Yuandong had, but he actually ate all the hawthorns.
As the saying goes, after Laba Festival it is the New Year.

Ever since Xia Mang knew that Qiao Yuandong might have feelings for her, she always consciously or unconsciously avoided being alone with her, for fear that she would break the window paper directly and make her unable to cope with it.

Later, Xia Mang discovered that this was completely unnecessary worry.

As the year draws to a close, the palace starts to get busy starting on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the nobles in the capital also have to get busy together.

Whether it was sacrifices or banquets, there was hardly a day off.

I don’t know whether it’s because the disaster relief work was done well this year, or because those aristocratic families were dealt with, but after the Emperor gave the order, this year’s New Year was more lively than previous years.

Also, because of the heavy snow that blocked the roads, the princes in their fiefdoms had to avoid going to the capital to offer congratulations. As a result, only the nobles in the capital were left to take turns to please the emperor.

As a first-rank lady, Qiao Yuandong was naturally a member of the busy army. For safety reasons, she always asked Rongzhu to accompany her every time she entered the palace.

Although she had her own palace maids to serve her after entering the palace, Rongzhu could only wait outside the palace gate. However, there were many maids waiting outside the palace gate during the New Year. Rongzhu was calm and composed and was not likely to come into conflict with others.

In this way, Xia Mang was almost on a long vacation, and she didn't see Qiao Yuandong for several days.

It was not until the New Year's Eve that His Majesty the Emperor had a family dinner behind closed doors, and there was no need for the clan relatives and nobles to join him.

After Qiao Yuandong returned to the Duke's Mansion, she also closed the door and prepared for the festival. The maids in her room took turns to take a holiday on New Year's Eve and go home to celebrate the New Year.

This year it happened to be Helan and Hehuan's turn. Xia Mang was a bought maid, so naturally she had no parents to visit.

So Qiao Yuandong added an extra set of winter clothes to the holiday gift she received, and Xia Mang only discovered this when she compared it with Rongzhu and the others in private.

The custom on New Year's Eve is for the whole family to sit together and eat dumplings. Today, the lady insisted that Xia Mang accompany her to the table to eat.

But it was not appropriate to give her special treatment alone, so the lady had an idea and asked all the maids and servants who stayed in the mansion to sit together and eat dumplings.

Qiao Yuandong didn't want to disappoint the old lady, so he arranged it as she said.

Everyone was naturally happy about the master's order to eat dumplings together. After all, who doesn't want to eat a meal of hot dumplings during the Chinese New Year!
But whether the kitchen is happy or not is none of their business.

Nearly half of the people in the mansion went back home to celebrate the New Year. The remaining people, divided into men and women, moved to the two open pavilions in the front and back. Cotton curtains were hung in the pavilions to block the wind, and there were several burning braziers, so it was not cold at all.

As for those respectable maids, they were qualified to sit in the same room with their masters, but they were just seated at a separate table.

Apart from those who went home, there were only three maids in the old lady's room and two maids in Qiao Yuandong's room, who could just sit around one table.

As for the servant in Xiang Xiu'an's room, he was naturally squeezed into the outer courtyard and sat with the other boys.

At night, the kitchen set up five large stoves to cook dumplings, which were served first to the master's room and then to the servants' table.

After a while, the dumplings were on the table, and the busy cooks, who were sweating profusely, sat down happily at the table.

Although they always ate in the kitchen in previous years, who wouldn’t want to join in the fun this year?

The lady and several others were sitting in the warm room eating dumplings. Ji Tong led a few maids to serve the dumplings to the masters before sitting down at their own table.

The dumplings they eat in this room are naturally different from those in Changxuan. Not only the fillings but also the appearance are particularly exquisite.

Xia Mang stared at the dumplings that belonged to him, and his saliva could not be controlled.

There were five or six big, plump, white dumplings stacked in the porcelain bowl in front of her. The skin was thin and the fillings were rich. She could even vaguely see the pink meat underneath the skin.

The meal had already started in Changxuan, and the noisy sounds coming over made Xia Mang even hungrier. For the first time, she felt that being a second-class maid was not bad.

But no one in the warm room had started eating, and the lady still had to speak.

Everyone looked at the old lady with a smile, and the old lady also smiled with a kind and happy look on her face. She looked around at everyone in the room.

"There are fewer people in our house, so there are fewer rules. What happened today was considered a violation of the rules in the eyes of others, but these rules are only for others to see. I have been used to being free all my life, so I don't care about those. Today is New Year's Eve, and we will all sit together to have a reunion dinner and have a happy New Year!"

The Madam looked at Xia Mang's table and said to the girls, "Just sit down and enjoy your dumplings. No need to rush over to serve you." Ji Tong smiled and replied, and Shuang Yu also joked, "The Madam is annoyed by us!"

The lady laughed and scolded: "You sharp-toothed little girl, eating can't stop your mouth!"

After everyone laughed and joked for a while, they started eating dumplings.

Seeing that she had finally completed the process, Xia Mang pounced on her dumplings like a hungry tiger. She scooped one up with a spoon and stuffed half of it into her mouth.

Suddenly, there was a crisp "click" sound, and Xia Mang felt something hit his teeth.

Oh no! The cook chopped a stone into the meat?
Xia Mang was reluctant to spit out the meat, so he swirled it around in his mouth and used his tongue to move the stone out, then held it in his hand and took a look.

Eh? It's actually a golden flower!
The lady's laughter suddenly rang out: "Our Dong Niang has spent money on food, and next year she will definitely have more good luck and good fortune!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Mang immediately turned to look at Qiao Yuandong, and saw that she was holding a coin in her hand just like herself, and was smiling and thanking the lady.

Rongzhu, who was sitting next to Xia Mang, noticed the money in her hand and immediately laughed, "Mang Xia also spent money on food!"

So everyone looked over, and the lady praised her: "I told you this girl is blessed!"

The others followed suit and said a few nice words, and Xia Mang responded with a bright smile.

With this start, other people also started to spend money on their food, but Xia Mang's bowl had extra food.

There were six dumplings in her bowl, and she was asked to eat five of them and spend money. Rongzhu's eyes widened.

Xia Mang's teeth were numb from knocking against the wall and she was in so much pain that she was crying.

This coin is made of gold. Although it is beautiful and valuable, it hurts my teeth!

When the maids saw that Xia Mang spent so much money on food in one go, they all envied her luck.

But only Xia Mang knows how much pain his teeth are suffering!
This is not just good luck, such a high winning rate, it is obvious that someone did it on purpose!

The culprit was sitting at another table.

In order to please her eldest grandson, the old lady specifically asked Ji Tong to give Xia Mang more dumplings with money in them.

What she didn't expect was that Qiao Yuandong had made the same arrangement, but because she was too secretive, the lady didn't know about it at all.

So, under the combined favor of the Lady Dowager and the Lady, Xia Mang almost broke her teeth.

The lady sat in her seat and watched Xia Mang eat with tears in her eyes, and smiled with satisfaction.

Well, look, my eldest grandson was so moved that he cried!
Xia Mang finished eating the dumplings happily but painfully. The lady was obviously not satisfied yet and asked someone to fetch some wine.

"On this New Year's Day, we sit together and have a couple of cups of tea. It's warm and comfortable."

The wine was prepared early, and when the lady gave the order, Lian Bi hurried to get it.

The wine had been prepared long ago and was packed in small jars with red seals sprinkled with gold on the jars.

Ji Tong and Rong Zhu opened the jars of wine and poured the wine into several wine dispensers, placing two on each table, and then poured a glass of wine for each person.

Xia Mang sniffed twice and smelled the clear aroma of wine.

When she was a worker, she drank a lot for social reasons, but she never liked the strong style of white wine.

When she smelled the wine today, she felt it was very sweet. Her years of drinking experience told her that this wine was good!
After the wine was distributed, the lady raised her glass to drink with everyone. Xia Mang picked up the wine cup and took a sip. The moment the wine entered her throat, her eyes couldn't help but brighten.

This wine is not strong, it has a sweet floral and fruity aroma and a lingering aftertaste.

nice one!
Once the wine is served, there must be fun. In order to make the lady happy, Ji Tong led several maids to show off their skills.

It was not until now that Xia Mang discovered that these people were truly talented and each had his own strengths.

Ji Tong can tell jokes, Shuang Yu can sing songs, Lian Bi can recite drinking games, and Shang Qing and Xing Zhu have gone home, and no one knows what skills they have.

The most amazing one was Rong Zhu, who performed a little trick. Somehow a piece of silk turned into a flower in her hand, and Xia Mang's eyes were wide open!

When she came to her senses, she found that everyone was looking at her.

The meaning couldn't be more obvious; she was asked to go up and perform her talent!

Xia Mang had no idea that there would be this part on New Year's Eve. If she had known, she wouldn't have been so unprepared!
What's the show?

The singing program has been taken up by Shuangyu, so I don't know anything. But the old lady is looking at me eagerly, so I can't disappoint her, right?

She scratched her head and thought about performing a show for everyone by eating a chicken leg in one bite. Qiao Yuandong saw her confusion and reminded her.

"It doesn't matter what, as long as it amuses me. What do you usually do when you get together?"

After Xia Mang heard what she said, an idea suddenly occurred to her. Before she had time to think about it, she said, "Let's play truth or dare!"

Xiang Xiu'an, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, suddenly had bright eyes when he heard this: "Adventure? Where to adventure?"

Xia Mang: “.”

Anyway, the words had already been spoken, so Xia Mang simply explained the rules to everyone.

It's nothing more than playing finger-guessing games to bet on who wins or loses. The loser chooses truth or dare, and the winner can ask any questions or make any requests.

This was Xia Mang’s regular program when she used to get together with friends!
The rules of the game are very simple, and everyone understood them immediately. You can ask anything and make any request.
That’s so exciting!

"That's good, that's good!" The old lady was the first to agree. Seeing that the old lady was willing, everyone agreed.

(End of this chapter)