Shi Cui Restaurant.

The hall was almost packed inside and outside. Fortunately, Tan Jian had already reserved a round table under the stage and let the waiter clear the way to the table.

He said it was a pity that the younger sister didn't come, "I looked at her because I wanted to come, but my mother was afraid that she would be bumped into again, so she left her at home. Otherwise, we would be more lively. This time the troupe came to Qinghan for more than half a year. Once, you asked me to wait..."

Yang Zhen said that Tan Jian was not familiar with the troupe, but she felt that Tan Rong was too timid, so it was okay not to say it. As she said this, she thought of the sister-in-law beside her.

My sister-in-law has such a quiet and gentle temperament, wouldn’t she be afraid of so many people now?

Yang Zhen encountered the bullying of her elder sister-in-law when she got married. She was immediately concerned about whether Xiang Yi was scared and didn't want to turn around to look, but she saw that the interest in her elder sister-in-law's face had dropped and her eyes were not far away.

Xiang Yi saw the eldest son of the Tan family.

She paused, then walked over again.

Tan Ting was still stunned by her suddenly cold look. Seeing her coming over on her own initiative, Tan Ting breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she arrived in front of him and bowed to him, her expression calm and cold.

"The uncle is here. Is there something going on at home? I'll go back right away."

The play on the stage was about to begin, and the noise in the hall was drowned out by waves.

Tan Ting's ears were so silent that only Xiang Yi's two sentences remained.

She didn't seem to have thought about other possibilities besides this, and was about to leave now.

Tan Ting and Yang Zhen hurriedly followed.

"Sister-in-law is going home?" Tan Jian was surprised.

Yang Zhen was even more surprised, "The show hasn't started yet. Didn't my sister-in-law say she hasn't seen a show in a long time..."

She smiled and said it didn't matter, "It will be the same next time..."

Tan Ting could almost imagine that she was about to bow to him and leave, and he couldn't help but speak before her.

"Everything is fine at home, you don't have to go back."

He seemed to speak a little fast, and all three of them looked at him, especially his wife, with confusion in her eyes.

Yes.

If there was nothing wrong at home, why would he come here suddenly?

After all, he knew that the three of them were here, but they were not invited.

He couldn't explain why he ended up here inexplicably...

He simply called Tan Jian.

"Leave the escort behind, and you come home with me."

Tan Jian heard a blast in his ears and was stunned for a few seconds.

The eldest brother actually came to see him? !

The theater troupe that he cherished so much, the precious time when he took his wife out for the first time, the little bit of leisure he stole from his busy life...

all gone?

Tan Jian was dumbfounded.

The show was about to begin, and the noisy crowd began to quiet down.

Tan Ting didn't want the man to continue looking at him with puzzled eyes, so he asked her and Yang Zhen to go to the stage to watch the show.

Tan Jian was left alone.

Looking at his eldest brother's uncertain expression, he didn't know where he went wrong.

However, the eldest brother didn't seem to say he was leaving immediately, so Tan Jian held on to some illusions.

"Brother, haven't you been to the theater for a long time? This troupe has some good plays that even the princes from all over the country like to listen to. They often invite them to come and sing."

He said, seeing that the eldest brother didn't mean to refuse, his eyes fell on I don’t know if it’s on stage or in front of the stage.

Tan Jian gained a little more courage and whispered about the play he was most looking forward to.

"... That scene really made people cry. If it weren't for the unexpected obstacles, how could the two of them be separated... After the young lady died, the scholar did not want to live alone. After his mother passed away, The scholar disappeared. No one in the village could find him, and finally found out that he buried himself next to the lady's grave..."

Tan Jian said, almost crying.

There were already babbling sounds on the stage, singing exactly what he was talking about.

The eldest brother seemed to be looking in the direction of the stage for some reason.

Tan Jian was full of hope. Was Brother Xindao also moved by such a poignant story?

However, his eldest brother, who was looking forward to being moved, saw that since his arrival, his wife was no longer as interested as she was just now.

Yang Zhen playfully said something to her, but she just nodded with a shallow smile.

No interest at all.

Tan Ting's pressed lips formed a line.

Tan Jian didn't notice it and said, "Brother, isn't this kind of peerless love really touching?"

Before he finished speaking, his brother's eyes fell over.

That look was full of displeasure.

"Peerless love? Do you believe the exaggerations that theater troupes use to make a living?"

Tan Jian was so scolded that he didn't even dare to raise his head, and heard his eldest brother snort again

.

"I think you just memorize too little historical literature. I will ask someone to buy you five books tomorrow. If you have time to read more, how can a man indulge in love between men and women?!"

He said coldly, and stood up with a stern face. He strode out of Shicui Restaurant.

Tan family.

Qin Jiao did not dare to delay Mrs. Lin's affairs about Mrs. Tan, for fear that something would go wrong and make Mrs. Lin unhappy, so he did everything personally.

He didn't want much, he just asked Mrs. Lin to help him find a job as a county magistrate for the sake of his seriousness.

Poor Qin Jiao, he spent his whole life studying for imperial examinations and could only be stuck in the imperial examinations.

There are countless people in today's world, and the children of some aristocratic families may not be able to get good jobs, let alone a poor scholar from a poor family with no one to rely on.

The only person he can rely on now is Mrs. Lin.

Qin Jiao ran away for many days and returned to Tan's house with pain all over his body.

When I returned to Tan's house, I heard about Xiang Yi's account being audited.

He didn't even have time to drink tea, "Have you checked Xiang's account? How should I say? How much corruption did you have? How did you punish me?"

However, the boy who replied scratched his head.

"Sir, I have checked the accounts and every number is correct. Madam, she is not greedy. The uncle actually opened an ancestral hall and personally punished the clan members who made trouble..."

After the boy finished speaking, Qin Jiao froze. land.

Not corrupt, not taking bribes like her father Xiang Zhiyuan...

This surprised him, but he thought of another thing.

Suddenly he called the boy.

"Where's the letter I gave you before!"

On that letter, he was sure that Xiang's hands and feet were dirty and the matter hadn't been found out yet, so he hurriedly wrote down to send it to Mrs. Lin.

Now that Mr. Xiang is not greedy, wouldn't his letter become a joke?

He urgently asked the boy to return the letter to him.

But the servant scratched his head even more, "How can I get this back? There were people in the house who wanted to go to the capital three days ago, and I have already given them the trust and taken them to the capital!"

The letter was sent away three days ago.

Qin Jiao breathed in, feeling that he too was about to be sent away.

But Xin went to the capital three days ago, and it is impossible to recover him now.

Qin Jiao was dizzy. He had worked hard to count the land, but he made a big mistake here.

Is his county magistrate and state magistrate gone?

Qin Jiao felt sad in his heart, but then he thought -

Mrs. Lin doesn't want to see Xiang, and that won't change just because Xiang is innocent. To put it bluntly, she doesn't want to see Xiang's background.

After all, in her opinion, how could a corrupt official's daughter from a commoner family be worthy of the eldest son of the Tan family?

Therefore, even if what he wrote in the letter was not true, Mrs. Lin would not doubt it, but would be happy.

After all, this made her think that the Xiang family was no longer worthy of the Tan family.

And Mrs. Lin can also act according to her own wishes.

Qin Jiao thought about it and regained his temper.

The most important thing for Mrs. Lin is to act as she pleases. If she doesn't check carefully, she probably won't find him.

The new year is approaching, everything is busy, and life seems to be back to normal again.

It's just that Xiang Yi's eldest son and husband, for some reason, stayed in the courtyard of the house for a long time in the past two days, which only caused a lot of inconvenience.

Just like yesterday, Qiao Yun ran in in a hurry and didn't see the old man reading in the inner room. She opened her mouth and said, "Madam's sum seal was sold for thirty taels!"

Xiang Yi was surprised, she thought it was twenty taels. It’s already quite a lot.

She was about to ask, but suddenly realized that the old man was still in the room.

She looked over and found that the old man's hand while turning the book paused. She didn't know if he saw something, but his face was a little soft.

Xiang Yi doesn't understand. Although there is no rule in the Tan family that prohibits the daughter-in-law from doing things outside, she does not want to talk about her private affairs in front of him.

So he asked Qiao Yun to go out to talk...

He was always at home, so Xiang Yi couldn't chase him away. This was his place, and she was just here to do things.

If it's inconvenient, avoid it.

At this meeting, Xiang Yi arrived at Qiao Yun's room.

Qiao Yun sewed a thick cushion for her, fearing that she would be cold in her room, so she drank soup for her and put it under her hand.

Xiang Yi thanked her with a smile and opened the family letter he just got back from Jixiang Printing Shop.

The letter was still written by Xiang Ning, so he talked about the current situation first.

Xiang Yi saw that her handwriting was much stronger, and knew that her sister had become stronger recently, and was not as ill as she had been in previous years, and had not had a good time in the winter.

Xiang Ning briefly talked about some trivial matters, and also said that in order to strengthen her body, she had to walk a lot more every day, but her brother Xiang Yu did not allow her to walk at night for fear that she would become night blind and fall into a ditch.

Xiang Yi was so funny that Xiang Ning wrote about Xiang Yu again. She said that Xiang Yu was quite popular among the teachers in the academy recently.

She said that a gentleman who was in charge of Qingzhou newspaper selected Xiang Yu into the newspaper team and asked him to help select articles for the newspaper.

Although it was a time-consuming job, I was able to read many more articles every day, as well as interesting stories about the government and the public. Xiang Ning also read a lot of them, some of which were quite absurd and interesting, and I don't know if they were true or false.

This Qingzhou newspaper was suddenly remembered when I was looking through the Qingzhou newspaper one day during my father's last year in office.

The Dichao can be used to convey important events in the imperial court, and all scholars should read it. However, it is too far away for scholars who have not yet been elected as Jinshi. Therefore, my father asked Qingzhou Academy to combine the Dichao with the good times and seal it. Come and show it to the students.

Later, although my father no longer worked in Weiping Mansion, the influence of Qingzhou's newspaper became even greater. Scholars from poor families in several nearby counties were not unhappy with it. They also wrote back to Qingzhou Academy and shared the anecdotes they heard. Write it in a letter and send it to the academy.

From time to time, the academy would select a few anecdotes submitted by scholars and attach them to the newspapers at the back.

Xiang Yu is still just a scholar. If he joins the newspaper team, he will probably not be responsible for selecting articles for publication. Instead, he may be assigned to select anecdotes.

No matter what, it’s always good to gain knowledge.

Xiang Yi didn't pay much attention to this matter. He just saw that the family letters were stable, especially that his younger brothers and sisters were in Qingzhou and had not heard about what happened to him in the Tan family. He was relieved a lot.

I picked up my pen and wrote a reply.

...

Tan Ting has been staying in the courtyard a lot in the past few days and has not seen Xiang Yi much.

He understood that she was avoiding him.

He didn't do well in the past, and she had some grudges against him, so he couldn't force anything.

Some things are said, but it is better not to say them but to do them.

He arranged a few things and received a letter from Magistrate Liao, saying that the reinforcement of the Chaoyun River dam was about to be completed and he was asked to come and inspect it.

Tan Ting didn't want to go, but after thinking about it, he went anyway.

As soon as he left, Xiang Yi felt much quieter and more relaxed. He took care of family affairs every day, and even asked Qiao Yun to visit Aunt Xing and her daughter.

The matter came to light, but Aunt Xing and her daughter were no longer embarrassed to return to Tan's house, for fear of embarrassing Xiang Yi again.

Fortunately, Xinggu's uncle and aunt heard about the mother and daughter's plight and were willing to take them in for the winter. They were now preparing to leave for relatives.

Xiang Yi sighed after hearing this. There was only so much she could do.

But that's fine, Aunt Xing and her daughter no longer need to be looked down upon by some members of the Tan family.

The weather was getting colder and colder, and Tan Ting did not go back the same day.

The day he went was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and after one day, it was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

He used to be fine when he wasn't at home, but now that he's back home, he feels a little uncomfortable when he meets them on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth day of the lunar month.

Today is the fifth day of the lunar month, and as night falls, lights are being turned on in the courtyard one after another, but he has not been seen back.

Xiang Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, leisurely sewed under the lamp for a while, and then got ready to sleep.

Unexpectedly, at this time, there was a sound of footsteps in the courtyard.

She heard the maid's report.

"The uncle is back."