Because Jia Lian did not give any instructions in advance, Zhang Yong and others did not wait outside the study.
Jia Lian thought that today was a festive day, so he didn't ask anyone to call them, so he could only let A Qi and A Qin serve as sparring partners.
Originally, the effect of the beauty's companionship was average. Later, Qingwen brought the hot dishes. Seeing that there were no slaves around, she stayed there, wiping her sweat for a while and squeezing her legs for a while...
Jia Lian had no choice but to skip physical training and practice archery in the hall, letting Qingwen go back and forth to pick up arrows to consume her excess energy.
Unexpectedly, Qingwen saw that archery was interesting and wanted to try it. Jia Lian hugged her again and taught her archery.
After this, Jia Lian knew that it would be difficult to achieve results today, so after an hour, he said goodbye to sisters Aqi and Aqin, and led Qingwen home.
After entering the house, Qingwen walked around Jia Lian, stretched out her hand to touch his body, and then said with a smile: "Second Master, you haven't sweated today, do you still want to take a bath? Or just get a bucket of hot water, we Just give me a wipe and it’ll be fine?”
The tub that Jia Lian and Sister Feng used to take a bath was too big, consuming water and labor.
Because Jia Lian has to practice martial arts, he has to take a bath almost every day. Taking a bath every day is a waste of time and unnecessary, so most of the time, he just takes a simple shower.
Seeing Jia Lian nodding, Qingwen happily prepared to go, taking the opportunity to scold the girls and women who were lazy during the festival.
When he was ready, he still served Jia Lian in the bathhouse to take a bath.
…
In Rongqing Hall, although Mrs. Xing and Mr. Lou left one after another because one wanted to go back to take care of Jia She and the other was inconvenient to stay for a long time, the atmosphere was still lively.
The second watch has passed, and Jia Mu's interest is rare.
This was due to the thoughtful arrangements of Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng. Another more important reason was that Aunt Xue was able to come and be a foil.
As the wife of the Xue family, just a proper compliment in front of Jia Mu would make Jia Mu feel very happy, so she was happy to show the wealth of Jia family and her hospitality and friendliness in front of her.
It was already late at night, and Wang Xifeng arranged for people to deliver glutinous rice balls with various fillings such as sesame and peanuts for everyone to enjoy, setting off another wave of family reunion.
It was hard for Jia Mu to eat two more. Then when everyone had finished eating, Jia Mu smiled at You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law:
"It's rare that you have been staying here with me. It's already this hour, and you don't want to go home to get together with your men? You were reluctant to leave before because you didn't receive the reward. Now that you have eaten the Lantern Festival, what else do you have? Insufficient?"
Everyone knew that Jia Mu was joking, and Youshi also smiled and replied: "Look what our ancestors said, we have nothing to do together. Their way of having fun is different from ours. When I go back now, I don't know if they are at home." at home.
As long as our ancestors don't dislike us and are willing to take us in, we might as well stay here and joke with our ancestors until dawn. "
Jia Mu had joked before that she would sit with Aunt Xue until dawn, so Youshi said this.
Mrs. Qin also smiled and echoed her mother-in-law Youshi's words. Her gentle and pleasant voice refreshed even women who heard it.
Sure enough, Mother Jia was even more happy after hearing this. She felt that several grandsons and great-granddaughters-in-law were more capable than two daughters-in-law.
One of the two daughters-in-law was shallow-sighted and uninformed, and the other was as dull as a gourd, neither of which pleased her.
She also knew that what Youshi and others said was true. The way of having fun at the man's house was very different from theirs, so he didn't urge them to go back.
Just because she didn't hear Wang Xifeng's voice for a while, Jia Mu noticed it. She looked around and saw no one, so she asked, "Where did Feng girl go? I saw her here just now?"
Sure enough, everyone quickly found Sister Feng, and Mrs. Wang said that Wang Xifeng had reported to her that she was going back to change clothes.
Coincidentally, the mother-in-law next to Jia Mu smiled and said: "In our opinion, we are not going back to change clothes. Just now we saw that the second mistress made a special trip to let Ping'er scoop up a bowl of red bean stuffed Yuanxiao, thinking it was given to the second master Lian. …”
Everyone understood, and Mother Jia also smiled, and then asked doubtfully: "Why isn't her Lian Er still at home? Didn't she go out with brother Zhen to have fun?"
This sentence can only be understood by the adults in the family, because they all know that Jia Lian is the first in the Jia family to eat wine, watch theater, and have fun outside.
Lin Zhixiao, the housekeeper's daughter-in-law, said with a smile: "All the men outside followed Uncle Zhen before. Only Mr. Lian didn't go. Later, I heard from the boys that Mr. Lian went to the yard behind the study as usual. I’m practicing boxing and kicking.”
"He's still practicing on a day like today?"
Jia's mother naturally knew about Jia Lian's martial arts training at home. After all, it had become a serious matter in the house.
Although Jia Mu felt that she could achieve something great by practicing in a small courtyard, she couldn't say much. Because... the former site of the flower hall built for her in the mansion was the old Duke's private martial arts training ground.
After the death of the old man, the place was deserted, so she used it as a garden. It happened that the garden of Rongguo Mansion was allocated to the unsatisfactory eldest son Jia She.
In the past two years, Mrs. Wang and others spent tens of thousands of dollars to decorate and renovate this place to please her, and it became her big flower hall.
Others felt as strange as Jia Mu. Why does Second Master Lian seem to be possessed by evil spirits? Now that a serious official has done this, why are he still working so hard? What does he want?
If the old Mr. Guo was still here, he could still show off, but now that he is the biggest official in the family, does he need to show off like this?
For a time, there were some who were joking, some who were incomprehensible, and even more who admired him.
Daiyu had long known that those who spoke ill of Jia Lian were slanderers. She knew very well that Lian's second brother was a man who was strict with himself and lenient with others, and worthy of respect.
Otherwise, how could someone as tough as Sister-in-law Lian be so respectful and obedient to Brother Lian? It's so late and I still want to send food to Brother Lian...
Baochai, Yingchun, etc. either entered the house late, or they were still young when Jia Lian did ridiculous things, so they couldn't hear it, and they didn't understand it well when they heard it. Therefore, the sisters did not find anything surprising.
Baochai even thought to himself: If he didn't have such perseverance, I'm afraid it would be difficult for him to sit in such a high position at such an age, even with his family's connections.
So Jia Mu and others chatted and sighed, and the sisters listened casually. In their hearts, they have completely distinguished Jia Lian's virtue from Jia Zhen and others, almost to the same level as the upright and strict Jia Zheng.
There is no doubt that among all the men in the Jia family, Jia Zheng was the most respected in terms of virtue!
After a long time, Sister Feng didn't come back. At this time, Jia Zheng had ordered people to put fireworks and firecrackers outside in the yard, waiting for Jia Mu's order to put these things worth thousands of taels of silver. , sent to the sky to see the flowers blossom.
Jia Mu then sent people to arrest Wang Xifeng, saying that in such a lively scene, without the person who spoke out, the excitement would be reduced by half.
…
But Sister Feng, seeing that no one was checking, took the time to rush home.
When I got home, I asked others to be silent, and walked quietly to the main room, and came under the window to listen to what was going on inside.
This was the move she used most often to catch Jia Lian's finishing move.
Although there is no need for it now, she is also curious and wants to see what Jia Lian likes to do when he is away from her. As long as she can catch a little bit of Jia Lian's duplicity, she will have something to talk about!
Therefore, she thought to herself, if Jia Lian really favored some little girl or stole money, not only would she not be as angry as before, but she might be happy.
In this way, she won't have to be so confident when facing Jia Lian.
Wang Xifeng is domineering, but not unreasonable. If she hadn't been able to sit upright, she wouldn't have been able to crush the former Jia Lian. After all, Second Master Lian was not a vegetarian from the beginning to the end.
Unfortunately, although there was indeed some laughter and laughter inside, there was nothing worthy of criticism. The heartless one seemed to be playing cards with the two little girls.
So he invited Ping'er and others to enter the house generously, and sure enough, on the Kang in the west room, Jia Lian, Qingwen and Xiangling, wearing thin clothes, sat around on a low table, playing cards.
On the short table, in addition to leaf cards, there were peanuts, melon seeds, a few small wine glasses, and a silver wine flask, which were placed casually on the footstool below.
On the ground, two pots of steaming charcoal fire were burning, heating up the room.
The faces of the two little girls were all red, and they didn't know whether they were burned by the heat on the kang or caused by eating too much wine. As a result, when they saw her coming in, they stood up in a disharmonious manner.
"Hey, I've been working very hard over there to help you take care of your elders. It's a good thing that Second Master Lian is hiding in the house with peace of mind, hugging my little wife and having a drink. It's really comfortable."
The signature way of greeting made Jia Lian just glance at her, and then stretched out his legs to stop Xiang Ling who was about to go into the pit, "We haven't decided the winner yet, let's talk after the fight."
So after the cards were played, he turned back and asked Sister Feng: "The old lady is still here?"
"It's still early. The old lady is in a good mood today, so I will take the time to come back and change my clothes. I will go over to serve you soon."
Jia Lian then pulled her to sit down and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I will accompany you there soon."
"Tsk, tsk, I'm willing to hear a thank you from the current Second Master Lian, even if I'm exhausted."
As soon as the teasing words fell, Qingwen, who was hiding next to Jia Lian, laughed. Sister Feng immediately looked at her: You little hooves seeking death are so outrageous, how dare you laugh at me?
Qingwen was so frightened that she immediately shrank her neck, and then she could only pretend to play cards seriously to avoid looking directly at Sister Feng.
At this time, Ping'er also opened the food box and brought glutinous rice balls over. Sister Feng took it, scooped up one and blew it, then handed it to Jia Lian's mouth and said with a smile: "This is this year's Lantern Festival. I picked you specially." Do you want to try the stuffing you like?"
Jia Lian just ate it. He just lost the game. Then he put down the cards and took the bowl from Sister Feng's hand. "I'll do it myself. You've been tired for a long day, so why don't you sit down."
So Sister Feng smiled, told him not to make the kang dirty, and then led Ping'er in to change clothes.
