Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but mourn for Cheng Zheng in his heart for a few moments.
Cheng Chi is very busy now.
Ever since the Crown Prince asked him about the topic of the Fourth Prince, he often asked him to stay after class to talk. Sometimes he asked where Huzhou Prefecture was? How far was it from Jiaxing? Sometimes he asked how many people there were in Xi'an? How much grain was produced each year? Was there more grain in Huguang or in Xi'an? Sometimes he asked in which year Yuan Weichang passed the imperial examination? Who were the people in his family? In addition to the marriages with the Li and Huang families, what other prominent relatives did the Yuan family have
Once I even asked him in a joking tone, I heard that you are marrying your niece. Is it true that you have never seen your niece before getting married
He answered very frankly at the time: "Of course I have seen him. So when my mother mentioned this marriage, I immediately agreed."
The Crown Prince seemed very interested in what he heard and wanted to continue talking, but the eunuch serving him coughed lightly, and the Crown Prince stopped the subject somewhat embarrassedly.
He actually doesn't mind being asked that.
Who doesn't get talked about behind their back
When he dared to split the sect, he thought he would be criticized.
Besides, the Crown Prince is only an eleven-year-old child, so it is normal for him to be curious about these things.
All he could do was not let his little girl take the blame.
But it may also be that his attitude was too frank, the Crown Prince liked to talk to him even more, and sometimes he would ask him questions even if it was not his class. This invisibly took up his time and made him often leave early and come back late.
Since the couple had time to chat today, he didn't want these family trivialities to occupy their time.
"You said a few days ago that you were learning painting from Yun'er. How is your learning going?" He sat on the kang, poured a cup of tea for Zhou Shaojin, and said with a smile, "I'll go see your paintings later."
Zhou Shaojin's face flushed red, and she said coquettishly, "No, I haven't learned it yet. I'll draw it for you when I've learned it well."
Yun'er was not yet two years old, and she had the basics of drawing patterns. Mrs. Guo casually told Yun'er to learn to draw, and she also learned to draw a few strokes when she was free. Logically, she should be better at drawing than Yun'er, right? Who knew that Yun'er just took the brush and dotted randomly, and then added a few strokes to make a chick, but everyone said that the chick Yun'er drew was more interesting than hers.
In front of people outside, she could only smile and praise Yun Ge'er for being smart, but in front of Cheng Chi, she couldn't help but feel a little frustrated and said, "Mom said that I didn't carefully observe what a chick looks like, so it's not as interesting as Yun Ge's drawing... But has Yun Ge'er ever seen what a chick looks like?"
Cheng Chi had also heard about this incident, so he wanted to see what was wrong with Zhou Shaojin's painting.
Hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "I'm afraid there are chickens in the bird-singing forest."
Zhou Shaojin suddenly realized.
During the Chinese New Year, Cheng Rang gave Yun Ge'er two golden pheasants and kept them in Yun Ge'er's house. Yun Ge'er chased the two chickens every day, and Snowball also joined in the fun and helped Yun Ge'er chase the two chickens. At first, the two chickens turned back to peck at Yun Ge'er, but after Snowball joined in, they were so scared that they trembled and jumped onto the hibiscus tree and didn't want to come down.
She had no choice but to clean up a remote and quiet corner in the northeast of the garden and named it Birdsong Forest to house the two golden pheasants. Later, Yun Ge'er was only thinking about running around with Ji Ying every day and had no time to bother the two golden pheasants, so Zhou Shaojin forgot about it.
Zhou Shaojin felt a little embarrassed.
Cheng Chi was very interested and said, "Let's go and take a look."
Zhou Shaojin accompanied Cheng Chi to the Bird's Singing Forest.
Compared with the beginning when there were only two golden pheasants, the Bird's Singing Forest has become very different.
Not only did they add common birds such as parrots, orioles, pigeons, and starlings, they also raised two single-crowned cranes and two peacocks.
Zhou Shaojin was amazed at what he saw.
She also saw the group of chickens digging in the soil under the camellia tree.
Xiao Que, who was in charge of the bird-singing forest, had grown into a tall and thin young man. He murmured to Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Chi with a pale face, "They were all sent by Madam Qin San. Master Yun came with them... The old lady knew... I thought Madam knew..."
Mrs. Qin San is Jiying.
Zhou Shaojin rubbed his forehead.
Since she got pregnant, she eats and then sleeps, then eats and then sleeps...
Zhou Shaojin asked: "When were these birds delivered?"
Xiao Que said, "They were delivered intermittently after the beginning of spring."
"Don't we feed the birds in the bird-singing forest? If we need to feed them, where does the food come from?"
A big part of the reason why she didn't know about the changes in Bird's Singing Forest was that she didn't see the name of Bird's Singing Forest in the household expenses.
Xiao Que said proudly: "Mrs. Qin San brought some corn and other things. There are wild fruits and birds in the woods. The Bird's Singing Forest doesn't have much expenses." After saying that, she looked at Zhou Shaojin timidly, as if she was afraid that Zhou Shaojin would disband the Bird's Singing Forest.
Zhou Shaojin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She glanced at the maids and servants surrounding her and said, "Master Yun is still young. If you encounter something like this again in the future, remember to tell me."
Everyone looked towards Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi's face was grim.
The maids and old women bowed their heads hurriedly and responded.
Zhou Shaojin's face brightened slightly.
Cheng Chi and Zhou Shaojin discussed: "Why don't we keep two red-crowned cranes in your room? You can also draw red-crowned cranes when you have nothing to do!"
Zhou Shaojin felt that this was too difficult, and smiled awkwardly: "I'd better learn to draw chicks with Brother Yun!"
Cheng Chi smiled and squeezed Zhou Shaojin's hand, and asked someone to catch a few chickens and raise them in Zhou Shaojin's yard.
When Yun'er saw it, he cried out, "Mother, the chickens will eat your lilies."
"No!" Zhou Shaojin smiled and patted Yun Ge'er's butt, and asked him, "What did you do today?"
Yun Ge'er pouted and said, "Chen Xiang and I are playing shuttlecock. It's not fun at all. Aunt Ji has already..." He counted his little fingers, "One day, two days, three days... five days without her period."
Zhou Shaojin laughed and wondered whether he should send someone to Xizhimen to check. Qin Ziping came personally to inform Zhou Shaojin that Jiying was three months pregnant. Because she had been in good health and had no reaction, if the maid beside her had not reminded her, Jiying would probably not know it until now.
"Congratulations! Congratulations!" Zhou Shaojin was overjoyed and hurriedly told Jixiang to open the warehouse and get two boxes of bird's nests for Qin Ziping.
Qin Ziping knew that Zhou Shaojin had great goods that could not be bought even with money, so he accepted the goods without hesitation and thanked Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin hurriedly took Qin Ziping to see Mrs. Guo.
Mrs. Guo was also very happy.
This is Qin Shouyue’s first great-grandson.
She gave Qin Ziping most of the tonics and clothes as rewards, and repeatedly told him to take good care of Jiying. She also said that pregnant women usually have a lot of thoughts, and asked him to spend more time with Jiying and be tolerant in everything. She even made Zhou Shaojin jealous.
Qin Ziping smiled and thanked Mrs. Guo, then returned to Xizhimen with the things.
Early the next morning, Jiying came to thank Mrs. Guo.
Mrs. Guo saw that she had a ruddy complexion and a slender figure, and did not look like a pregnant woman at all. She nodded continuously, accepted her greeting, and asked Madam Lu to help her sit down below her. She said, "When is the due date? Remember to come and inform us when the time comes?"
Ji Ying has always been generous and polite. She agreed with a smile and said, "The doctor said that the baby will be born in the middle of the 10th month. By then, we will have to ask the old lady to take care of her."
Mrs. Guo and Zhou Shaojin were both very happy to hear this.
By this calculation, Zhou Shaojin's child and Jiying's child will be born one after the other.
Mrs. Guo said "OK" repeatedly and gave an experienced maid to Jiying, saying that she was to take care of her during her pregnancy.
Ji Ying heard that this old woman had taken care of Zhou Shaojin before, so she did not refuse and agreed with a smile.
A few days later, the Ji family, who had received the news, not only sent gifts and servants to serve, but Ji Ying's sister-in-law also came in person. After greeting Madam Guo, she also sent a lot of things to Madam Guo and Zhou Shaojin.
Mrs. Guo smiled and thanked the eldest lady of the Ji family.
Zhou Shaojin was a little disappointed.
In her imagination, the eldest wife of the Ji family should be a heroic woman, but the eldest wife of the Ji family is gentle and kind, plump and fair-skinned, and looks like an ordinary wife of a wealthy family.
After knowing this, Ji Ying covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "Do you think we are all supernatural beings? I'll tell you the truth, my sister-in-law and my family are a perfect match, and they have a set of small grappling techniques that are most suitable for girls to learn. Even if you don't have to travel the world, it will be no problem for you to deal with your husband after learning this set. I was thinking that if you give birth to a daughter this time, you should ask my sister-in-law to teach her a few moves so that she won't be bullied like you."
Zhou Shaojin felt embarrassed and hurriedly poured tea for Jiying with good intentions.
Jiying laughed non-stop, and took Yunge'er's hand and said, "Let's go to the Bird's Singing Forest to play." He added, "I've already told my sister-in-law to ask my eldest brother to keep an eye out for her and find a way to get you a few sika deer to raise in the garden. That would be fun!"
Zhou Shaojin smiled bitterly and said, "Then the Bird's Singing Forest will be in chaos."
Jiying disagreed and said with a smile: "Your family has such a big garden, you should raise more small animals."
I'm afraid this isn't a good idea, is it
Zhou Shaojin told Cheng Chi about this.
Cheng Chi disagreed, saying, "If we raise too many birds and animals, there will be a lot of mosquitoes in the summer and it will be easy to get sick in the spring. But it is good for Yun'er to have more contact with birds and animals since childhood... Why don't we buy a farm in Daxing or Wanping and raise some small animals..."
Zhou Shaojin was stunned and asked, "Are we going to start buying farmland?"
When the family was divided, everyone knew that Cheng Chi did not get much money except for this house. And it was also very expensive to maintain this big house.
Cheng Chi smiled and said, "I have asked Xiao Zhenhai and Xu Mu about the Seven Stars Hall. Both of them want to take over. But the elders of the Xiao family disagreed and would rather abandon their family and come to the Central Plains to start a new life. Xiao Zhenhai had no choice but to give up. Xu Mu will worship me as his master in a few days and slowly take over the affairs of the Seven Stars Hall... In a few years, the Seven Stars Hall will have nothing to do with us."
In this way, the descendants of the Cheng family can live an ordinary life.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but nod his head and said, "Okay, then we'll buy some land in Daxing or Wanping."
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Hey guys, today's update.
PS: Thank you to the Tieba Zhizhi Fan Alliance, Xiaofeirui for the spirit beast eggs, and Diudiu Jianjian for the fairy flowers in Langyuan.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)