Do you know: I’m Xu Jiazi

Just now when Minglan came out of Jin'anzhai,

Under Wei Shuyi's eyes, she walked to the unswept snow. After taking the first step, half of her body suddenly sank into the snow.

In the second step, it was difficult to pull out the legs.

After struggling for a few steps in the snow, Minglan was exhausted.

After finally coming out of the snow, Wei Shu patted the snow on Minglan's legs and said:

"Tomorrow, you've been gone for so long, are you tired?"

Minglan gasped and nodded.

"But your cousins ​​came from Quyuan Street. Do you know how far that is?"

Minglan: "Yeah!"

Wei Shuyi squatted down, looked straight at Minglan and said:

"Ming'er, you are a smart boy. You must know that the most important thing in life is to be sensible and know what is good and what is bad."

"Your cousin traveled all the way to care for the family, but you said that the charcoal in the yard could not be burned out, and regarded this kindness as unnecessary. Is this right?"

Minglan pursed her lips and shook her head:

"Auntie, I was wrong."

Wei Shu looked at Minglan helplessly: "Huh?"

"Little girl."

Looking at his pouting daughter, Wei Shu said with interest:

"Go ahead."

Minglan was at the end of the corridor. After looking back at her mother who was returning to the courtyard, she continued walking forward.

Seeing another patch of snow in the yard, she stepped in again with some reluctance.

When she came out, Minglan was very tired from using all her limbs. Xiao Tao, who was following her, was covered in snow because she had to pull her out of the snow.

Minglan looked back at the marks on the snow and sighed.

After the master and servant patted the snow on their bodies, they continued to walk towards Shou'antang.

Entering the hall,

After responding to Ru Lan’s words,

Minglan put her little hands in front of her body and bowed solemnly to her two cousins.

Xu Zaijing and his brother sat on chairs, smiling and nodding to Minglan.

The old lady looked at Minglan who was covered in snowflakes and said:

"How come it's all over her body! Suqin, go and help her change her clothes."

Fang’s mother on the side held Minglan’s hand and walked towards the inner room.

While walking, Xu Zaijing's voice came:

"Auntie, I haven't seen you in the past eight or nine days. Why do you feel that Sixth Sister has gained weight again?"

Minglan's footsteps froze when she heard this, while Rulan covered her mouth and laughed.

Xu Zaijing turned to look at Ru Lan who was laughing and said: "Fifth sister's face is also fat!"

Rulan stopped laughing.

Wang Ruofu on the side looked at Rulan and said with a smile:

"They don't have to go to school these days. The three girls have to eat and sleep. If they sleep and eat, they will definitely gain weight!"

When Minglan changed her clothes and came out, she heard her father's voice:

"Sanlang, please don't worry, sister-in-law and Hua'er. Everything is ready in the Sheng family. My mother brought back a lot of things from outside the city a few days ago."

Minglan walked behind Wang and stood together with Rulan. The two sisters looked at each other with "the same hatred" and then looked at Xu Zaijing.

Xu Zaijing did not look at them, but looked at the old lady,

The old lady smiled in agreement and nodded with the two brothers.

Knowing that the Sheng family was safe, Zai Zhang and his brother looked at each other and then stood up and said:

"My aunt, my father-in-law and my mother-in-law, Xiao Wu and I are going to another place! In this case, my two brothers will leave first."

Sheng Hong said: "It's better to stay one night and then leave!"

The old lady waved her hand and said, "Are you still going to Xie's house?"

Xu Zaijing cupped his hands and said, "My aunt has a wonderful plan."

The old lady looked at Xu Zaijing and shook her head helplessly:

"Since there is still something else to do, I won't keep you old lady!"

"Go!"

After the two brothers Xu Zaijing stood up and bowed, surrounded by everyone, they put on their coats and other clothes and walked out.

Leaving the old lady and her female relatives in Shou'an Hall, the Xu family and the men of the Sheng family walked out together.

At the entrance of Sheng’s family,

Qingyun and others were already ready outside the door.

When they bowed to speak, the aroma of wine from their bodies was carried by the wind.

At this time, the little girl Danju came out with a jar of wine, and Qingyun beside her quickly took it and put it into a basket with a cotton mattress.

The north wind howled and brought flying snow,

The snowflakes flew towards Xu Zaijing, Sheng Hong, Chang Bai and others, causing them to narrow their eyes and their robes to tremble.

After cupping each other's hands, Xu Zaijing and the others walked away in the distance under the gaze of the Sheng family.

Sheng Changbai watched Xu Zaijing and others walking away,

"Bai'er!"

Hearing Sheng Hong's voice, Chang Bai entered the door.

Been walking for more than an hour

After everyone in the Xu family entered the inner city through the Zhuque Gate, they walked along the alley under the city wall for another three quarters of an hour before arriving at the entrance of the Xie family's house in Xiaozhifang.

Only two stone lions can be seen at the door, and the stone platform has been buried in snow.

"Ding-deng-deng!"

The sound of the Xu family's guards knocking on the door reached the courtyard, but no one answered.

After another half-quarter of an hour, no one opened the door.

Xu Zaijing, who was standing at the door, shook his head. He walked to the door and exerted a little force:

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The sound suddenly became several times louder,

A lot of dust also fell on the door frame of Xie's house.

"Who!"

The old man's voice came from far away in the courtyard.

"How come there are still people in this weather!"

The sound comes from far to near,

soon,

After a conversation with the family members, Xu Zaijing and his brother took off their hats and asked someone to identify them, and then the front door of the Xie family was opened.

"Sanlang, Wulang! Please come inside, please come inside!"

"Go to the inner courtyard quickly!"

After Xu Zaijing looked at the elderly concierge of the Xie family who was wrapped up in a ball inside the door, he and his brother looked at each other.

Crossing the threshold and entering Xie's house,

Xu Zaizhang and others walked in front, and Qingyun went to the small room where the concierge stayed at Xu Zaijing's signal.

When he was about to enter the inner courtyard of Xie's house, Qingyun caught up with him and whispered: "Master, I don't have a stove to light."

Xu Zaijing looked at the deep snow on the road in the courtyard and whispered: "I'll find an excuse later and go to the kitchen to have a look."

"Yes, sir."

When Xu Zaijing and his brother entered the inner courtyard, Qingyun, the steward of the Xie family who was accompanying him, said that he was hungry and wanted to heat up some meat buns.

Because the third girl of the Xie family has reached the age of marriage proposal, the wife of the Xie family did not follow her husband to the south at this time, but was in the mansion.

The two brothers came to the middle and outer rooms of the house. When they saw Mrs. Xie and the third girl from the Xie family coming out in winter clothes, they quickly bowed and saluted:

"I met my aunt."

"Sister Rui'er/Sister Zhuang'an."

Xie Ruifu, who followed him out, bowed and said, "I've met Brother Zhang/Brother Jing."

Madam Xie looked at the two brothers Xu Zaijing and said:

"I miss my relatives. Sit down, sit down quickly! How are you at home?"

"Go back to aunt, everything is fine! My sister-in-law is thinking about her parents' family. Is there anything we are short of at home?"

Hearing this, Mrs. Xie smiled slightly and said: "There is no shortage, everything is fine!"

After finishing speaking, Mrs. Xie continued: "Is Dai'er still obedient?"

After Xu Zaizhang replied:

"Auntie, since everything is fine at home, Xiaowu and I want to go back, so I'll say goodbye."

There was no male member of the Xie family at home, so it was difficult to let the Xu brothers stay overnight.

"Okay, I'll see you off."

The Xu Zaizhang brothers hurriedly declined, but Mrs. Xie still sent them to the second gate with her daughter.

Looking at the Xu brothers walking away, Xie Rui said:

"Mom, why didn't you tell your relatives that our family doesn't have enough coal?"

Mrs. Xie said:

"What's the point of talking about it? Can't we ask our relatives to carry coal for us?"

"Save some of that charcoal, it will last for ten days, so don't cause any trouble to your relatives."

After leaving Xie's house, I walked on the way back to Quyuan Street.

Xu Zaijing and his brother heard Qingyun's report: There is still a pile of coal in the Xie family's kitchen, which looks like it will last three or four days.

Perhaps Mrs. Xie had stayed in the south for a long time and had forgotten how much coal was needed in the winter in Bianjing, so she had not prepared it before.

"When I go back today, I have to find a way to send some pebbles to the Xie family tomorrow."

Listening to his brother's words, Xu Zaijing nodded.

After saying that, everyone continued to walk against the north wind.

After walking towards Naomi for three quarters of an hour, Xu Zaijing patted Zai Zhang on the shoulder. Zai Zhang followed the direction pointed by his brother and looked towards the roadside.

The words "Carbon Line" are hung on the door of a yard on the roadside.

I opened the door and found this carbon row.

There were only three people watching the yard.

Half an hour later,

small paper shop

At the door of Xie’s house,

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The door frame was once again dusted with dust.

The old steward of the Xie family recognized the person again and opened the door. The young boy of the Xie family hurried to the second door to communicate.

When Mrs. Xie came to the door with her daughter, she only saw the closed door and four to five hundred kilograms of coal piled inside.

"Where are the people?"

After hearing Xie Rui's question, the old steward patted his thigh and said:

"Alas! Brother Xu said it was getting late! After pouring out the charcoal, he tricked the young man outside into turning around. When I turned around, the door was already closed!"

Mrs. Xie looked at the dim sky and sighed:

"Old steward, lock the door. We can go and say thanks when the weather gets better."

After Xu Zaijing and his brother left the small paper workshop,

After sharing some wine given by the Sheng family with everyone in the shelter to warm up, we actually returned to Quyuan Street.

On the way, the uninjured bodyguard of the Hou Mansion looked at his comrade who had been hit with a stick and rubbed his shoulders:

"Aren't you comfortable letting you show off your talent?"

"Then we can't both young masters carry a large basket of coal. I'll leave it empty!"

"That's right. Anyway, it's not me who feels uncomfortable."

"Fuck you! Young Master! I'll have another drink!"

Xu Zaijing said from the front: "Take it yourself."

The back and forth of carrying coal for the Xie family took a lot of time.

Halfway through the walk, it started to get dark.

It suddenly became cold all around.

Two of the torches given by my grandfather’s family were lit.

Fortunately, the wind on the road was much lighter at this time.

Under the orange light of the torches, no one spoke, only the sound of walking.

The flag placed on Ling's bed was blown slightly from time to time.

Maybe I heard the sound of the Xu family walking, and there were dogs barking from time to time on the roadside.

The crowd stopped after they had gone far.

Xu Zaijing walked to the bridge and looked into the river out of habit.

On the boat in the river, there was still a dim candlelight coming out of the window.

Also, there is no danger of a passenger ship collapsing.

After crossing the bridge, candlelight often shines on the snow from the windows on the street.

I also encountered two waves of soldiers holding torches patrolling the bunkhouse.

From a distance, I was asked what I was doing.

Xu Zaijing and others were walking,

I saw a lantern ahead of me on the roadside,

Then there was a slight downhill slope under my feet, and the ground under my feet became hard.

Xu Zaijing looked at the light of the torch and found that the snow here had been cleared for a distance.

We have already returned to the vicinity of Quyuan Street.

When I wanted to take off the Lingxue shoes that were getting in the way and throw them on the Ling bed,

Only then did I realize that the soles of my feet were already frozen.

After a lot of effort to get it down

Everyone walked forward briskly.

"Woof woof woof!"

"Woof!"

Two black figures ran towards Xu Zaijing, wagging their tails as they came to him.

"Young master, they are back!"

Chu Zhan's shouts were getting farther and farther away, and he must have been running to report the news.

Xu Zaijing walked to the lantern and said:

"Master!"

"Uncle Yin!"

Uncle Yin limped as he walked and said, "Let's go home!"

From the street entrance, Xu Zaijing could see the large lantern hanging in front of his house, swaying in the north wind.

When Xu Zaijing and others came to the door, the lantern was picked off by the porter with a bamboo pole and they entered the Hou Mansion together.

After asking, I found out that everyone had been out for almost six hours.

Then, the side door closed behind everyone,

It was dark and cold outside.

Qingyun and the other six went to the greenhouse by themselves.

Xu Zaijing and his brother were invited to their mother’s house.

Walking on the road, nothing can be seen under Mother Bamboo’s lantern.

After the two of them passed through the double-layer cotton curtain,

After entering his mother's house, the candlelight became much brighter. When he was about to take off his cloak, Xu Zaijing realized that the clothes on his upper body had frozen solid.

There was ice on the trouser legs of the lower body.

The room was very warm. Xu Zaijing changed out of his outer clothes, sat on the embroidered pier and soaked his feet. He shivered in comfort.

Zai Zhang was about the same, but there was Hua Lan who was beside him and massaging his shoulders.

While Qingcao was adding hot water to Xu Zaijing, she listened to the conversation between her young master and the eldest lady:

‘Everything is fine with the Sun family’

‘The Sun family took the Ni family brothers and sisters’

‘It’s good to have a prosperous family’

‘The Xie family is short of fire’

Seeing his sister-in-law's worried look, Zai Zhang hurriedly said that he and his brother had carried hundreds of kilograms of coal on their backs.

"Have you had a smooth journey?"

Hearing Sun’s words,

Xu Zaijing shook his head and said:

"Mother, thieves have appeared outside the inner city and are robbing homes."

"I heard from my grandfather that those temples attract evil people and evil spirits."

Mrs. Sun looked at her two sons worriedly and said:

"Did you meet him on the road?"

Xu Zaijing nodded and said:

"Yes! Don't worry, mother, my brother and I took Qingyun and the others to clean it up."

Hearing Xu Zaijing's words, Hua Lan looked at Zai Zhang worriedly, with a questioning look in his eyes. Zai Zhang said softly:

"Don't worry, my daily sword practice is not in vain."

After the two brothers Xu Zaijing soaked their feet and warmed up, Mrs. Sun took her two daughters-in-law, daughter and grandson into the bedroom to prepare for bed.

Xu Zaijing and his brother slept on the Arhat bed outside with the help of Mother Zhu.

I don't know how long the snow will continue to fall, but Mrs. Sun has asked everyone in the Hou Mansion to gather together to reduce unnecessary consumption of charcoal fires in each courtyard.

Soon, there were only a few candles in the main courtyard and the racecourse stables in the entire Marquis Mansion.

In the hut next to the racecourse,

When the Li family came for renovations before, they added a fire pit to the hut.

The small stove is burning brightly, and the heat in the water tank is steaming out.

Keep the cabin warm and humid,

Alan and Xun Shu were fast asleep on the fire bed. They were very tired today, and the constant barking of two big dogs at the door of the cabin did not wake them up at all.

After feeding the night grass, Uncle Yin walked into the hut, and two big dogs followed him in and lay obediently on the ground.

Uncle Yin did not go to the Kang, but sat down on the chair in front of the stove. He took a sip of the strong wine in the gourd and looked at Alan and the others.

I won't ask them both tonight, the old man will carry it on his own.

The mother-in-law's son,

back room,

Xia's mother in Xu Zaijing's yard filled a few pieces of charcoal into the stove mouth of the fire wall and covered it with a copper lid.

She sat on the small bench and leaned against the wall,

The candles in the room have long been blown out,

Because the firelight coming from the cracks in the copper cover was enough to see clearly what was in the room.

Listening to the howling cold wind outside the window and the roar of the strong fire in the stove,

Feeling the warmth of the wall behind her, Xia's mother sighed happily after taking a sip of warm water.

"Sister Xia, let me give you some soup."

Mother Xia quickly stood up: "Sister Xiaozhu, give it to me and I'll give it to you."

As she said this, Mother Xia opened the copper lid, and the room became much brighter. She opened the pot lid again, and a stream of white steam steamed up.

Mother Bamboo on the side said:

"Sister Xia, thank you for your hard work tonight!"

"Hey, why bother? Let the sisters in the mistress' courtyard take more rest! And such a warm place is rare! Besides, I'm used to it in the Wulang courtyard."

"That's what Sister Xia said."

Soon Tang Pozi was filled, and Xia's mother stuffed the cork, covered it with leather, tied a slip knot with force, and handed it to former Xiaozhu.

In the following time, from time to time, the female maid came to drink boiled water or soup, and Xia's mother's attitude was the same.

By midnight (after eleven o'clock in the evening), there was no one around, and there was only the sound of fire and the wind outside in the back room.

At this time, a female envoy came over holding a lantern:

"Mother Xia, I brought you some food for the night."

Hearing the sound, Xia's mother smiled and said, "It's still Qingcao, remember me!"

Watching the green grass lift the lid of the pot,

Mother Xia said, "Why did Yun Xiang that girl push Mrs. Tang out of the quilt again?"

Qingcao smiled and hummed: "Tang Pozi is so cold."

Mother Xia filled the soup pot, looked at the green grass and said with a smile: "Silly girl!"

Qingcao was stunned for a moment and then quickly retracted her hands into her sleeves, held Tang Pozi through her sleeves and left here. Tang Pozi would be very hot on the way.

"Mother Xia, tomorrow is still Mao time."

"good."

It’s ugly time (after one o’clock in the morning)

Mother Xia lit two sticks of incense and clamped them between her fingers. After covering her legs with a small quilt, she leaned on the bamboo chair and took a nap.

Sometimes she wakes up by herself, sometimes she wakes up from being burned. No matter what, the fire in this stove is always strong.

In the quiet morning,

When the drum beats at midnight, Mother Xia will wake up the envoys.

The kitchen starts preparing breakfast.

Before Mao hour (five o'clock in the morning), Xia's mother woke up Qingcao,

In less than half a quarter of an hour, Xu Zaijing walked out of his mother's courtyard. He wore ear protection and gloves and moved his body as he walked.

Arriving at the racecourse in light snow,

Alan and Alan, who went to bed early last night and had their shoes drying on the water tank, were busy taking care of the horses in the stables.

After the morning exercise, the sky became brighter, but it was still snowing lightly.

Mrs. Sun and her daughter-in-law and daughters were watching the child from the bedroom window, doing needlework.

Xu Zaijing and his brother were practicing calligraphy and writing questions outside.

Two more days passed like this,

When Xu Zaijing went for morning exercise again, the snow stopped.

Even the sun rose in the morning.

Under the noon sun, long icicles hang out from the eaves of the roofs in Bianjing City;

Some streets that had been cleared had snow and water flowing across them at noon, and then turned into ice in the afternoon, making them slippery and difficult to walk on.

The sun is gone,

The night was even more bitter and cold than when it snowed.

The second day after the snow stopped,

An imperial decree was issued in the palace,

Open warehouses in Beijing to provide disaster relief,

He also ordered the Great Wednesday Division to produce 200,000 pounds of charcoal and sell it at half price. At the same time, it would be used for disaster relief, porridge cooking and snow removal for free.

In this situation,

Gu Tingyu and Zhaomeifeng returned to the capital after being out of Beijing for many days.