In the pavilion, Xu Gulei put down the wine bottle in his hand, took something out of his arms and placed it on the stone table in the pavilion. A white handkerchief wrapped two azure Ru kiln wine cups.
He motioned Xu Pingqi to sit down, but Xu Pingyi just stared at him without any reaction.
He sighed, patted Xu Pingyi's shoulder hard, and said, "When you were a child, you loved to run to my study room to play with me. You hugged my legs and asked me to teach you Cha Baixi. How come you are like this when you grow up?" You’re so unfamiliar, you’re not as good as Liu Niang?”
After he finished speaking, he sat down first, poured the wine, and laughed heartily.
Xu Pingyi also sat down, his hands resting on his legs weakly, and his eyes looking toward the pond. He said, "Uncle, everyone says I look like you, but I am far inferior to you."
His voice was low and his mood was so depressed that it made people feel sad to see him.
A young man with such an arrogant appearance, speaking such words in such a tone at this moment, seemed to be as low as dust and hidden in darkness, without any energy at all.
Xu Gulei did not expect Xu Pingyi to react like this, his face suddenly changed, and he said: "What nonsense are you talking about? You are in a good time now, how can you be so low-spirited!"
The Dalang he met when he came to Beijing with Lu and Xu Nuo was still handsome and majestic.
How could he become so depressed and negative now?
He originally thought that the uncle and nephew had not talked for a long time, so he asked Dalang to come and talk. The two most handsome men in the Xu family talked about their recent experiences together.
But I didn't expect Dalang to be in this state. What had he experienced these days, how could he become like this!
"Dalang, what difficulties have you encountered?" Xu Gulei is the youngest son of Mr. Xu and a concubine. He does not need to worry about many things at home. He is eleven years older than Xu Pingyi. Although he clearly felt Xu Pingyi's low mood at this moment, he I can't see the reason for his depression.
"Uncle, I'm really sorry that Si Niang is in such a situation..." Xu Pingyi returned to the Xu family and found that the family was very indifferent to Xu Qian's marriage. Even the grandmother who loved Xu Qian the most was unwilling to interfere with the matter. She was shocked. , which made him feel particularly chilled.
Siniang was once the girl that everyone in Suzhou wanted to marry, but now she didn't even know if the already arranged marriage would come true.
When Xu Gulei heard this, he knew that Xu Pingyi did not know what happened to the Xu family in the past year or so. He pushed a wine cup in front of Xu Pingyi and said, "You don't know about many things if you are not at home."
Xu Pingyi looked slightly calm, held the wine cup, looked at Xu Gulei, and asked: "Uncle, what happened, can you... tell me?"
When he went out to study, his family always reported good news but not bad news. He only found out about his mother being poisoned and mute after his father came to Beijing to report on his work. The family kept it secret from him for half a year!
For such an important matter, even Aunt Twenty-one came back to Suzhou to visit her mother, but he didn't know anything about it!
He regretted and blamed himself for not waiting for his mother at the bedside, but he also knew that this concealment was the result of his parents' painstaking efforts.
As a child, he can't go to his parents to reason about this matter.
Come to think of it, apart from this, there are many things he doesn't know.
Xu Gulei nodded, drank all the wine in the wine cup, and said: "Now that you have decided to become an official, your father will treat you differently than before, and will let you handle more things. As for the most trivial things in the family, You can’t know everything about things…”
After the conversation, the wine bottle in Xu Gulei's hand was empty.
Xu Pingyi's originally dull heart was now filled with pain.
He has been well protected these years, and everything has been smooth sailing. He took it for granted that everything was going smoothly for the Xu family.
There were so many ups and downs that he didn't know about.
How could he be so stupid, so foolish, thinking that what he sees with his eyes and what he hears with his ears is true.
He has been living in a safe "room" for more than ten years. If he had not decided to become an official, he would have lived in that "room" for the rest of his life, protected and unable to see what he loved most. human pain.
Just like the insect wrapped in the cocoon, no matter how windy or sunny it is outside, it cannot affect the insect inside the cocoon.
Now, perhaps it is time to tear apart the layers of this cocoon.
The next day, Xu Guyu and Xu Pingyi set off on their journey, carrying valuable gifts prepared by the Xu family on the carriage.
After a day and a half of travel, the two arrived in Hangzhou.
When they arrived at Zhang's house, Zhang Xian personally greeted them outside the door. He was wearing a green brocade robe, black boots, and his hair tied up with a jade crown. When he saw the two of them getting off the carriage, he hurriedly greeted them and said, "My nephew has seen the Xu family. Uncle, it’s a hot journey, please come in.”
"My nephew is so polite." Xu Guyu asked the servant to take the gift, and then entered the Zhang Mansion with Zhang Xian.
Xu Guyu first went to visit the old man of the Zhang family and gave him gifts, and then returned to the front yard flower hall with Zhang Xian's father and Zhang Xian.
Tea merchants will always have tea-ordering props in their waiting rooms, and the Zhang family is no exception. After they sit down, a maid kneels beside them to order tea.
The maid had a round figure, and her cheeks were so tender that you could pinch water. She was a bit charming in her movements when ordering tea, which made Xu Pingyi frown. After all, the Zhang family is a family of tea merchants. How could the tea girl who orders tea at home look like this? There is no trace of elegance at all!
Xu Guyu didn't hide it, and said directly: "Brother Zhang family, I wonder if you have heard anything about the capital?"
Mr. Zhang leaned on the table, looked at the maid who was ordering tea, and asked with a smile: "There are too many things in the capital. I wonder which one you are talking about?"
When Xu Guyu heard this, he was extremely dissatisfied. The two have frequent business contacts and have always been on equal footing in Suzhou and Hangzhou. They were originally very familiar with each other, but now they are acting like this!
Now, for such a trivial matter, she actually ignored him and spoke to him in such a tone!
Xu Guyu gritted his molar teeth and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang family, nephew Ziye, what I want to say is about Siniang. She was young and was induced to do some stupid things that she shouldn't have done. .”
He said this, but he was thinking in his heart: Siniang has always been smart, but she would do such a stupid and childish thing? Wasn't she very shrewd when she framed Erniang?
Thinking that Xu Qian first interfered with Erniang's marriage, and now made her own marriage look like this, Xu Guyu felt disgusted with her, even a little bit hateful.
If it weren't for her, why would he, the largest tea merchant in Suzhou, be so humble and disrespectful?
Mr. Zhang twitched his lips and asked, "I heard that Siniang also went to Bianjing alone?"
"Who said this nonsense? Since Si Niang is the wife of my Xu family, and her father and mother are in Bianjing, how could she be allowed to enter the capital alone? She must be escorted to the capital by her family."
Xu Guyu was extremely unhappy with Xu Qian, but he still had to maintain her image in front of outsiders.
After all, both are prosperous and disadvantaged.
Mr. Zhang chuckled, obviously not believing it: "Haha."
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Update this week.
Thank you zhimuqd for the sachet and peace charm. (To be continued.)
