Lin Yuanqiu nodded, his father was smart, and that was what he originally planned.
After agreeing on the embroidery business, the next step was naturally to do the embroidery work. Feng also divided the patterns into points as before, and each person was only responsible for the pattern assigned to him. This way, after he became proficient in embroidery, he could improve his hand speed. Much faster.
After Gao Cui and others received the pattern, they immediately went to the room and brought the bamboo basket, wanting to try to embroider it.
…
The New Year's Eve at the foot of the Imperial City is unusually lively. Although it has not yet reached the Lantern Festival, all kinds of lanterns are already hanging all over the streets and alleys.
The Lin family did not lead their children to the streets like other families. In Wu's words, you think the lanterns are beautiful, but the flower photographers think your children are beautiful, so none of them are allowed to go to the streets!
Lin Yuanqiu naturally approved of the method of milking. Seeing the children's envy, Lin Yuanqiu took them directly to the study to make lanterns.
Lin Yuanhuai and Lin Yuanbai, who were still childlike at heart, followed closely after hearing that their fifth brother actually taught the children how to make lanterns.
Then came Lin Yuanfeng and Lin Yuansong. What they both thought was that they had been fathers for many years, and it would be too embarrassing if they couldn't even make lanterns.
As for Lin Dazhu and Lin Erzhu, they thought that today was New Year's Eve and the lantern shops were closed. There would be no place to buy thin bamboo strips, so they took hatchets and went directly to the small bamboo forest in the back garden.
Lao Lintou is not idle either. He can't cut bamboo strips by himself, but he can still paste paper for bamboo lanterns.
Therefore, this year's New Year's Eve, the family did not just sit and chat, but rarely moved their hands while chatting.
On the night of the first day of the first lunar month, lanterns of various shapes were hung up in the main courtyard, including those with little rabbits, some with butterflies, and some with flower baskets. Although they were slightly crudely made, the little children I walked around them in circles and couldn't bear to leave.
Lin Yuanqiu planned to write some more guessing notes and hang them on the lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and then prepare rewards so that their family could have a lively Lantern Festival.
After Zhou Zixu and Wang Wenchang learned about their uncle's good idea, they even "forcibly" participated in it. Not only did he help come up with many riddle questions, but he also led the children to make lanterns again, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough riddles.
…
Lin Yuanqiu's birthday was in February. On the day of the coronation ceremony, the Lin family did not hold a grand ceremony. They only invited Master Qin and his wife, and Zhong Rong and his wife.
Qin Yu crowned him, and then gave his favorite disciple the name "Zi Qing". Zi Qing means perseverance, smartness and studiousness, and will surely become a wise man.
Lin Yuanqiu knelt down to thank his teacher.
…
After the Peach Moon (March), it was the day when the Zhong family was discharged. Removing mourning clothes is also called removing mourning clothes. After taking off mourning clothes, there is no need to observe filial piety anymore.
Chapter 166 Acceptance
Now that the obedience has been removed, naturally those who have marriageable men and women at home can start talking about marriage.
Zhong Rong felt that if his daughter had not already found a marriage partner, the couple would have been anxious every day during the twenty-seven months of observing filial piety.
After all, Yurou will be seventeen after she becomes a filial piety, and there are not many girls who have not started talking about marriage at the age of seventeen. It will definitely not be easy to find a good marriage then.
Now, all they have to do is wait at home and wait for the Lin family to come to propose marriage.
Thinking of this, Zhong Rong couldn't help but sigh, indeed everything has its own destiny, and his daughter is a lucky one.
She said she was blessed, but Zhong Rong was really not putting gold on his daughter's face. Looking around, in the entire court, it would be difficult to find a few young talents like Yuan Qiu who knew people well and had good temperaments.
Also, it’s not that Zhong Rong is self-deprecating. With his family background, getting a good son-in-law who is a scholar in the Hanlin Academy is almost like being happy from the sky.
Zhong Rong said that not only his family Yurou was blessed, but he and his wife were also blessed.
…
Qin Yu, a teacher, would naturally help arrange the marriage of his own student. As for the person who protects the matchmaker, there is no need to hire someone else. Qin Yu can do the job himself.
When Lin Sanzhu learned about it, he was overjoyed. Mr. Qin was a third-rank official, so he helped arrange the marriage. Not to mention that his dog's face was flattering, even the woman's side was very respectable.
The fact was indeed as Lin Sanzhu expected. When Qin met the Zhong family, Zhong Rong, who had thought that the Lin family would invite the official media, was beyond words to express his excitement and respectfully invited the people into the house. Then they discussed the future matters.
After the initial discussion, it is Nacai. There is a saying in "Etiquette. Shihunli": "Xunli, when the ceremony is over, Nacai is used, and the geese are used."
When catching the wild geese in the ceremony, Lin Yuanqiu did not say hello to the Orion in advance like others, so that the other party could help catch them. Instead, after getting off duty the day before, he rode directly to Zhuangzi.
At night, geese generally like to rest in reeds with water. There is a river about two or three hundred meters away from Zhuangzi, with patches of reeds on both sides of the river.
Several times when Lin Yuanqiu passed by the river on horseback, geese would flap their wings and fly out of the reeds. So if you come here to catch wild geese, the probability of harvesting something is very high.
After dinner, Lin Yuanqiu took the big net and went to the river, and Xu Laoshi followed him. Tomorrow was the day for his son to take action, so tonight they had to catch a pair of wild geese no matter what.
Pingshi followed closely behind holding a lantern. He was indeed a brother. Pingshi, who is eleven years old this year, looked very similar to his brother Ping'an. Lin Yuanqiu was sure that if it weren't for the obvious height difference, he felt that he would definitely recognize the wrong person.
Also, Lin Yuanqiu also saw Xiaoya today. He hadn't seen her for several months and felt that the little girl had grown taller. Today's Xiaoya looks rosy and has a lively and cheerful temperament, which is in sharp contrast to the thin and dull-eyed little girl three years ago.
To be honest, when he bought Xu Laoshi's family, Lin Yuanqiu just didn't want to see their family being forced to break up.
As for expecting their family to be of great use, Lin Yuanqiu had no idea at all. After all, except for Xu Laoshi, a regular laborer, the rest of the family consisted of women and children.
But what Lin Yuanqiu didn't expect was that Xu Laoshi and his wife not only kept the village in order, but also raised a lot of rabbits.
After these rabbits are made into pickled rabbit meat, the family has more income.
It can be said that I bought Xu Laoshi's family out of kindness and benefited a lot.
The sky gradually darkened, and under the moonlight, Lin Yuanqiu quickly arrived at the river.
After waiting quietly for a while, Lin Yuanqiu took the lantern from Ping An's hand and lit it. The book says that after geese see light, they will make a "quacking" sound to alert their companions.
Sure enough, after Lin Yuanqiu walked for a while holding a lantern by the reed swamp, he heard movement. Lin Yuanqiu was not in a hurry. After seeing the position of the wild geese clearly, he blew out the lantern and walked over with the net bag.
Among the dozen or so geese, some of them would not react for a while and would not have time to escape, so Lin Yuanqiu caught all the geese that were going to be sent to the woman's house tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Lin Yuanqiu rode back to the city.
The rest of the Nacai gifts have been prepared at home, including seven kinds of fruits, cakes, snacks and wine.
The two geese had been staying in the net bag last night, and they looked a little lethargic now.
Mrs. Zhou first grabbed a handful of wheat grains to feed them, and then fetched water. Together with Mrs. Liu, she helped pick up the bamboo poles, and then tied them with the red silk that Ms. Feng had found. The two geese immediately changed their clothes. "Refreshing" look.
This was Lin Yuanqiu's first time visiting Zhong's house. It was a two-entry courtyard facing north and south, with the main door opening in the southeast corner.
Like other second-entry courtyards, when you enter the door, you will first see a screen wall. On the south side of the screen wall is a row of inverted rooms. It looks like there are six or seven rooms. Going around the wall is the front yard.
Seeing the three middle-aged men sitting in the hall, Lin Yuanqiu guessed that they must be Uncle Zhong's brothers. Before Zhong Rong could make an introduction, the three of them stood up and saluted Lin Yuanqiu.
Lin Yuanqiu turned sideways and did not receive the full ceremony.
After sitting down, Zhong Rong introduced them one by one. As Lin Yuanqiu suspected, these three people were indeed Uncle Zhong's three concubine brothers.
When Zhou Xing and Lin Sanzhu talked about the Zhong family in detail before, they also mentioned the situation of the other concubines of the Zhong family. Except for one of them who was not a city gate attendant, the other two basically relied on the income from the division of the family. Daily needs.
From today's conversation, Lin Yuanqiu learned that Miss Zhong's two brothers are currently serving as city defenders under San Bo. Zhong Rong himself is also planning to find a job in the capital or the surrounding areas. Otherwise, doing nothing every day will become a habit, and gradually he will really not want to do anything.
As for returning to the Jingzhou camp, I'm afraid it will be difficult. Although he has been keeping his filial piety for the past few years, Zhong Rong has been practicing every day and has not slackened off. But from that day on Ding You, he had expected it in his heart. After all, in three years, it would be impossible for someone to still reserve a place for you. Even though the position of Xiao Xiaodu's head coach is inconspicuous in the capital, it is still a position with some power in the Jingzhou camp. There are many people who want to replace it. In addition, Zhong Rong is now old, so he wants to take it again. Going back is basically impossible.
Lin Yuanqiu admired and agreed with Uncle Zhong's views.
As he said, if a person stays at home for too long, he will become lazy. Therefore, no matter whether there are opportunities in the future, it is very necessary to keep yourself in a good state first, so that if the opportunity comes, you can seize it.
In the end, Lin Yuanqiu was led to the backyard by Zhong Rong's eldest son Zhong Jinan. This was to arrange a meeting between the man and the woman.
There was a row of stone benches near the entrance of the verandah. Not long after Lin Yuanqiu sat down, Zhong Yurou came over accompanied by the maid Liu Ye.
Lin Yuanqiu saw that there was still about ten meters away from here, so Miss Zhong waved her hand behind her to signal the maid not to follow her, and then slowly came over here.
The last time the two met was when Wanqing was almost kidnapped. It has been more than two years since today, which means that Lin Yuanqiu and Miss Zhong have not seen each other for more than two years.
Therefore, when we met again, I didn't know how to start the conversation.
Fortunately, the embarrassment only lasted for a moment. Lin Yuanqiu soon spoke first, but the words he said made Zhong Yurou couldn't help laughing, because Lin Yuanqiu directly introduced himself, including his last name and how old he was. Wherever he lives, even the word "Ziqing" that his teacher gave him not long ago has never left his mind.
Lin Yuanqiu had no choice, mainly because it was difficult to find a topic out of thin air. He couldn't just ask people if they had breakfast, or what they had for breakfast.
Fortunately, although the self-introduction was awkward, the originally tense atmosphere of the meeting was made more relaxed by Lin Yuanqiu.
Then Zhong Yurou asked about Wanqing's current situation, and Lin Yuanqiu answered. Then Lin Yuanqiu talked about how several children in the family were learning to read and draw.
Just like this, the two people who were having a somewhat awkward chat became more natural as they chatted, and half an hour passed before they knew it.
When Zhong Yurou returned to her room, her mother and two sisters-in-law were already waiting there.
Seeing her daughter's rosy face and the smile in her eyes, Mrs. Zhou knew that her daughter was happy at this moment, so she couldn't help but smile on her face.
Just remembering her previous instructions, Mrs. Zhou hurriedly asked, "Yurou, have you asked what my mother asked you to ask just now?"
Zhou still hasn't figured out why the Lin family took the initiative to marry her. She thinks this way not because she thinks her daughter is not good enough, but because she thinks that the Lin family could have found a better daughter-in-law who matched their family background, but they chose her instead.
The reason why I asked my daughter to ask Lin Xiuzhuan tactfully today was because my sisters-in-law suddenly reminded her yesterday.
Because several sisters-in-law said that the Lin family would take the initiative to get married, maybe they were attracted by the power of Uncle Zhongyong's house, right?
As soon as he heard this, Mr. Zhou tossed and turned and didn't fall asleep at all last night.
Originally, she could have written to her brother and sister-in-law to find out, but it was too late. She had to accept it today. After today, the marriage between the two families would be settled.
That's why Mrs. Zhou thought of letting her daughter ask. She thought this way, if the Lin family really wanted to cling to Uncle Zhongyong's house, then they should not let this marriage go, lest she would not be able to help the Lin family and make her daughter unpopular in her husband's family.
Seeing the eagerness in the eyes of her mother and sisters-in-law, Zhong Yurou shook her head, "My daughter didn't ask."
Didn't ask, Zhou was stunned, what a great opportunity, why didn't you ask.
The eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law of the Zhong family on the side also felt regretful. It was about their own lives. How could the younger sister be so relieved?
Naturally, Zhong Yurou would not stupidly ask, "Why does your family want to marry my family?" Not to mention whether it was necessary, even Brother Lin didn't look like such a person.
What's more, in Zhong Yurou's view, if the Lin family really wants to rely on the Yue family to climb up, wouldn't it be more straightforward to marry a high-ranking official's family? By then, even a concubine would be more troublesome than their family's roundabout way. I don’t know if I can help Yue Jiaqiang.
As for herself, Zhong Yurou felt that no matter what Brother Lin's feelings for her were, she believed in her future management.
After all, people change people's hearts. Zhong Yurou believes that as long as she works hard, there is no reason to have a bad life.
The reason why Zhong Yurou has such confidence is entirely because the other party is Brother Lin.
Although the two of them had not been in contact for a few times, Zhong Yurou could tell from his words and deeds that Brother Lin was a down-to-earth and steady person who could make him feel at ease.
…
Chapter 167 Recruitment
Before accepting the proposal, Lin Yuanqiu had never told anyone about his marriage in detail. His colleagues in the Hanlin Academy only knew that Lin Xiuzhuan had a marriage partner, and no one knew which girl it was.
