Ordinary clear day

Chapter 119
That night, in order to celebrate the official joining, the family set up two seats in the inner hall.Considering that the funeral is still in progress, all firecrackers and red papers are waived, and only eight or nine good dishes are prepared, and a small jar of good wine is also invited. Concubine, let Xiao Liu attend the banquet.

Shuning hasn't seen Mr. Su and Mrs. Chen for more than two months. They seem to be thinner than when they met last time, but they are in good spirits.Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Tong, Mrs. Liu, Mrs. Shuning and Mrs. Cheng's wife were at the same table. During the chat, Shuning found out that they moved here on the third day after Zhang Bao bought the other courtyard.

It turns out that since Mr. Su entered Beijing, he has been staying in the guest room of the Earl's Mansion, studying his homework and preparing for the imperial examination next year.Originally everything was fine, but after Zhang Bao became a nobleman, some so-called fellow villagers, classmates, old friends or family friends often came to him.He originally thought that his own situation had improved, and it would be fine if he could help his old friend. If he could find one or two talents with good character, he could also recommend them to Zhang Bao as his successor.Unexpectedly, among the people who came to him, there was no one who was really capable, and they all wanted to hang out in the capital and had no connections. They planned to use his power to gain power, and he became impatient.What's more, those people come here every day, not to mention disturbing my preparation for the exam, and it will also annoy the people in the Earl's Mansion.He once tried to imply that those people should not come to him if they have nothing to do, but unexpectedly, some nasty rumors came back, saying that he would see no one when he was developed, and the husband and wife were very troubled, and both of them lost a lot of weight.

Later, an elder from the fellow villager's club wrote him a letter reprimanding him, and he became angry. When he was down and down, no one helped him, but now his life is better, and he lingers like a fly.After he reported it to Zhang Bao, the people in the Earl's Mansion stopped letting those dubious people in, and he didn't go out, so he concentrated on studying his lessons and lived a peaceful life.But recently, according to Ah Song's inquiries outside, it seems that one of his distant relatives who lived in Hejian heard that he was rich and was going to sell his house and bring his family to Beijing to join him. After buying another courtyard, I asked for permission, packed up my things in a hurry and moved here.Except for the people in the third room, everyone in the mansion thought he had resigned, and the Tong family had issued an explicit order to the servants under his command not to reveal his whereabouts to others.

Mr. Su came to Fangshan and lived in a courtyard of his own. The mountain residence is quiet and there are no idlers to disturb him. Although the house is being refurbished everywhere, he still feels very comfortable. He has already made up his mind that he will not move back to Beijing before the scientific examination. went.Zhang Bao also agreed very much, and asked his elder brother Jin Bao to slowly find one or two good friends for him.

After listening to Shu Ning, seeing Mr. Su smiling and persuading Master Cheng to drink, he believed that this man had indeed returned to his former free and easy appearance. When he saw him last time, he was frowning. If his face hadn't changed, She can speak well, she thought someone was wearing it.

But from her point of view, the one who lived the happiest life after moving here was Mrs. Chen.Mrs. Chen grew up in Guangdong and was not used to the food in the north. When she was in the mansion, she could only eat what the kitchen gave her. It is said that she often ate very little. Maybe after moving here, she can cook by herself. Rice, so his face is much ruddy.

Shu Ning looked at the dishes on the table with a mixture of northern and southern flavors, and thought to herself: Actually, I can also take charge of the spoon again and practice my cooking skills.

Cheng Niangzi was only in her early thirties, pale, and extremely thin. She heard that her health was just getting better, so she came with her husband in order not to be rude.Seeing that she was too weak, Mrs. Tong ordered a little girl to take care of her. Mrs. Cheng was flattered and thanked her in a long-winded manner.When Tong and the others saw her like this, they knew that she was a woman from a small family. If she was not used to socializing, it would not be difficult for her. Except for the necessary greetings, let her eat some dishes by herself, and those who were rude to her The place turned a blind eye, and after a long time, Cheng Niangzi also heaved a sigh of relief.

Tonight, each servant was assigned two meat dishes and a bowl of wine, and received rewards according to their ranks. Everyone happily kowtowed to the master, then lined up to share the wine and meals, and then went back to their respective posts to continue working.

When Shuning returned to her own yard, Suxin and Dongqing were huddled in the room, tinkling as if they were counting something. When they heard Shuning's call, they hurried to the conservatory, lit up the stove, and shrugged embarrassingly. Smiling, one boiled the water and the other made the bed.

After washing her hands and feet and sleeping on the bed, Shuning secretly sighed, it was really comfortable.It's not cold tonight, so I didn't burn the kang. I covered the thick quilt and looked around the whole room. I was the only one. The small kang in the corner of the room was also empty. It felt really good.In the past few months of living in the Earl's Mansion in the capital, there has been a servant girl playing the floor in her room. It is said that the room is not enough to live in, which made her feel awkward after years of sleeping alone. Now, she can finally monopolize the entire room up.

No, not one, but three, and there is also a yard.Shuning shrank back under the quilt, grinning secretly.

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When Shu Ning opened her eyes, she found that the air had become very cold, and there was a "whirring" wind outside the window, which surprised her.Hearing a sound in the room, he looked over and found that it was Suxin who was lighting the brazier.She raised her head and saw Shuning woke up, said: "Miss, are you awake? Did you sleep well? There was a strong wind in the middle of the night, and it's snowing now." After she finished speaking, she asked Dongqing to pour water, and put the brazier on by herself. Go to the bedside and wait for Shuning to get up.

After putting on her clothes, Shu Ning stretched her hands into the basin to wash her face, only to find that the steaming hot water was only lukewarm.Was it so cold all night?Fortunately, the quilt was thick enough, and the windows and doors were closed tightly, otherwise, she would wake up from the cold without burning the kang.

Dongqing poured out the water and came in with a bowl of hot ginger tea.Su Xin waited for Shu Ning to comb her hair, and asked: "How about I burn the kang later? The room will be warmer." Shu Ning said: "I will stay in the main courtyard in the morning. If you want to burn it, just burn the small kang next to it." Go. It's fine to work there." Suxin agreed, and gave Dongqing a wink, the latter raised the corner of her mouth slightly, and Shuning pretended not to see it.

She was about to go out to the main courtyard for breakfast, but she saw Kou'er cleaning the yard, so she greeted her and asked how she was sleeping at night, but Kou'er blushed and wondered, "The wall is a bit thin, it's so cold..." Shu Ning went to the backyard to look after hearing the words, the building's walls were indeed not thick, probably because it was added recently, and it wasn't a major place, so some cut corners.In addition, the backyard is relatively empty, and there is no kang or brazier in the house. Let alone night, it is not very warm during the day.

Shu Ning frowned, looked around the other room, saw the same situation, and went back to the front yard silently.The two big girls were standing on the porch, Dongqing hesitated for a while, and said: "How about... let Kouer sleep in our room first? It will be fine when spring begins." Suxin moved her mouth, but did not speak.

Kou'er looked around and said, "Actually... I can live in the hut to the north... It's warmer there... It's okay without a kang..."

Su Xin said: "That's the place to put things. Now there are several big boxes, how can they sleep?...Forget it, you should live with us."

"As long as there is enough space to put the bed board, it doesn't matter if you put things on, my hands and feet are very clean..."

Suxin frowned, and was about to speak, when Shuning said: "Since it's your intention, I'll let you move to the hut in the north. Turn around and Suxin and Dongqing check the things there, and take out anything that can be used. Then put the empty boxes side by side, I remember that they are all the same size, then put the bed boards on the box surface, spread the mattress, and move the button. It’s just that you said it yourself, and you are not allowed to go back on your word later.”

Kou'er quickly responded, and Su Xin joked: "It's lucky, we still need two people to share a room, but you occupy a room by yourself." up.

Shu Ning turned her head and said to the two big girls: "Leave the back room empty first, I can use it for myself." Dongqing asked what it was for, and she smiled and said: "In our courtyard, only the south room has a stove for making tea. But what is it enough for? A bucket of hot water is brought from the kitchen, and it has turned into cold water. How about setting up a stove or a stove in the house in the backyard, we can boil the water for our own use, and we can also cook some food. Like the small kitchen in Huaiyuan, okay?"

Suxin and Dongqing looked at each other, they were a little excited, this way, they could save some effort, and they didn't have to go all the way to get hot water or steam pastries.But Shu Ning has another plan. There are two houses in the back, one has only one high window, but it is warmer, and the outside of the house is the drainage ditch.Wouldn't it be a bathroom if you asked someone to raise the floor with bricks and slabs, and make some shelves for things?In the winter, I boiled water next to me, and I mentioned that taking a hot bath in the bathroom is better than getting wet all over the room.It's not far from the room anyway, and there are high walls on all sides, so I rushed back to the room after washing, but it wasn't that cold.It is even more convenient if it is summer.

This is a relatively large project, and she has to ask Tong Shi first.When I arrived at the main courtyard, I greeted my parents, and went to the inner hall with them for breakfast.After dinner, she told her mother about the renovation plan of the backyard. After thinking about it for a while, Tong agreed, but said: "Forget it this year, let's talk about it in spring, and ask Changfu to help you do it." Shuning had no choice but to agree. .

The following days can be said to be extremely happy.

Shu Ning gets up early every day, first has breakfast with her family, then helps her mother with housework, and learns something by herself.Then the elder brother brought the younger brothers back to practice archery, and she will be responsible for teaching the two little guys.After lunch, she went back to the hospital to take a nap, and then she could arrange her own time, go to the study to write, practice the piano, read books and so on.She hadn't practiced the piano for a few months, and her hand was really raw. After several days of practice, she returned to half of her original level. Before the teacher invited her back, she could only rely on practice to regain her hand feeling.

Sometimes when I’m tired, I can go back to my room and do needlework with the two girls, or go to the training ground to watch my brother teach my two brothers how to ride horses and shoot arrows. Talent, although stronger than the two boys, always shoots beyond the target, making the two brats laugh out loud.

She didn't believe it, as long as she practiced more, she would definitely be able to hit the middle of the target!So she came to shoot for half an hour every day, firmly believing that one day she would be able to surpass those two brats! (Too unpromising, actually targeting children~)

Because of the old grudge in the archery field, she deliberately arranged some problems for Xianning and Xiaobao, such as knowing that they don't like to learn idioms, but they still assign homework in this area, and when they keep scratching their foreheads and making all kinds of jokes, To explain to them the correct meaning.It's not that she is unkind as an older sister, it's that this method helps them deepen their memory of these idioms, and she won't teach them one by one from the word "one" like she used to memorize idioms in high school. All of them are those idioms with simple meanings and interesting stories, such as "playing the piano to a cow", "the foolish old man moves the mountain", "the blind man touches the elephant", "the fox pretends to be the tiger", "wait for the rabbit", "the superfluous", "there is no silver 300 taels here" And so on, when the two children listen to the story, they both remember it very well, but they like to add extras to these idiom stories, which makes people laugh and cry.

When the weather is fine, Tong will let them play in the garden.Although there is ice on the surface of the lake, because it is flowing water from the mountains, the ice is only a thin layer, and there is still water underneath.Shuning, Yuge who followed, and Xiaobao's girl, Axiu, all watched the two monkeys closely to ensure that they would not do anything dangerous.

After two snowfalls, dozens of plum blossoms on the side of the mountain bloomed very well, a large area of ​​white, pink and red.Sometimes Zhang Bao took Tong Shi to the house near the water to admire the plum blossoms.Several other pavilions, such as the Zhenxia Pavilion in Shuning and the Guanlan Pavilion in Duanning, were all named. The pavilion in the center of the lake was also named "Huxin Pavilion" by Tong's lack of creativity, but it was built in the middle of the lake. The house on the platform has not yet decided on a name.

Mrs. Tong thought it would be more appropriate to call it "Shangmei Terrace", but Zhang Bao thought it should be called "Lingbo Terrace".

Shu Ning asked Tong Shi in private, why did she argue with her father over such a trivial matter, but Tong Shi laughed and said, "Do you think I'm arguing with your Ama? Actually, he's happier because of this kind of quarrel." Shu Ning glanced at Looking at Zhang Bao's smug face, he deeply believed in it.

In fact, Zhang Bao is not so free every day. He also entertains neighbors who come to visit his new neighbors. Most of the time he spends his time inspecting his fields and forests.The land purchased by their family included [-] to [-] hectares of farmland and [-] to [-] hectares of hillside land. Zhang Bao planned to take advantage of the slack time to plan first and then repair water conservancy facilities.

These industrial management matters were originally the responsibility of Tong as a housewife, but Zhang Bao thought that he was more familiar with farming affairs, so he took over.Tong Shi didn't ask questions, she just took care of everything in the house, but she was a little dissatisfied with Wang Er, the steward of the other courtyard, and felt that he was not thoughtful enough in many aspects.When Shu Ning followed her mother to learn housework, she often saw her reject Wang Er's request and teach him what to do.Poor Wang Er was originally an honest man, but he was often told that he was sweating profusely and his face was full of shame.

Time flies by, and it's the twelfth lunar month in a blink of an eye. Mrs. Tong took a few confidantes back to Beijing to help Mrs. Nala prepare for the New Year.Their family is not celebrating the New Year in other courtyards, so they only need to make simple decorations.Mrs. Tong confessed to Mrs. Wang and his wife, and ordered Shuning to follow her to supervise, and then gave instructions to her husband and son, and then left.

(I came to an important task early this morning. I thought I would have to work overtime until very late, so I didn’t have time to update it. After finishing it one day, I found that it was actually not that bad. I should...can continue to update it? The response is slow, and it takes half a day to open, which is really strange...)
(End of this chapter)