C77

The day when he received the letter was the seventh day of the lunar month. It was the day when he was ready to welcome the new year with a bowl of rice porridge on the second day.

Since Dong Shu insisted on coming to make the porridge this year, she and Xu Shiqiu decided to stay in the Old Madame Xu's courtyard to pick the beans.

A moment ago, Old Madame Xu was still teasing Xu Shiqiu that her wife knew how to work. But in the next moment, Ling Xiang walked in with a bundle in her arms.

"This coming letter, is it from Beijing?" Old Madame Xu opened her mouth to say something first. When she finished speaking, she saw Xu Shiqiu hurriedly throw down the beans in her hands and look towards Ling Xiang, then continued with a smile on her face: "Could it be that this is a letter from your sister? She has been writing to me every year until now."

The letter was indeed written by Big Sister Xu Shiqiu. Following the letter, there was also the gift slip for Xu Family and the gift slip for the unborn child in Dong Shu's stomach.

However, Xu Nuanwen's letter and things were not the main point.

This was because along with Xu Nuanwen's letter, there was also a letter personally written by Prince Duan.

"Since Prince Duan has a letter, why don't you let your brother deliver it, and instead entrust it to your sister?" The Old Madame Xu was curious, but she didn't ask Xu Shiqiu to show her the letter.

Xu Shiqiu didn't understand it at this time either. He and Prince Duan didn't have much interaction before, it was just that the relationship between Prince Duan and his father was good.

When he was young, he had seen the Prince Duan, but had seen it from afar. Because of his uniqueness, even if his father had a good relationship with the Prince Duan, he would not be allowed to approach him.

However, Prince Duan still gave him a greeting gift that day, as he could tell that Prince Duan's personality was compatible with his father. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen his elder brother as the husband of her eldest daughter.

Thinking back to how his elder sister had said that the letter in her letter was personally written by Prince Duan in front of her and delivered to him through her mouth, Xu Shiqiu felt that the contents of the letter were not simple at all.

The most important thing was the Prince Duan did not allow his big brother to deliver it. Why did he need big sister's help?

"If mother is curious, I'll open it right now." Xu Shiqiu said as he prepared to open the Prince Duan's letter.

But after hearing his words, the Old Madame Xu immediately stopped him.

"There's no hurry. Since your sister said to let you think it through before she breaks it down, then you can just wait until she thinks it through." Old Madame Xu's intuition told her that the contents of this letter were not simple.

Otherwise, her daughter wouldn't have specially written to let Xu Shiqiu think it through before she opened it.

Although Xu Shiqiu stopped opening the letter after hearing what Old Madame Xu said, his attention was completely focused on the letter.

He was truly worried, worried that something might have happened to His Majesty, that the Prince Duan might have warned him of something out of respect for his father.

But when he thought about it, he felt that it was impossible.

Although the relationship between Prince Duan and his father was good, the relationship between Prince Duan and His Majesty was even more so that of brothers.

From the start, Dong Shu did not speak, only when she saw her husband holding the letter and not daring to look at it did she speak, "Hubby, you still haven't thought about it properly, so you put down the letter. I feel that it shouldn't be a bad thing, otherwise elder sister would not help deliver the letter."

Old Madame Xu and Xu Shiqiu never thought that Dong Shu would open her mouth at this time. Hearing Dong Shu's words, Old Madame Xu immediately laughed, "That's right, if your wife says that it's not a bad thing, then it definitely isn't a bad thing." Old Madame Xu already believed that Dong Shu was fortunate, so she was very happy after hearing what Dong Shu said.

Xu Shiqiu also instantly understood what his mother meant. He knew that his mother was happy because of Young Girl's words.

It was just that this letter was written by the Prince Duan, so it was destined to not be simple.

However, because he had Young Girl's words, Xu Shiqiu's heart felt a little better, and didn't continue to think about it.

"Let's continue picking the beans. Since I've said that I will cook the porridge for you tomorrow morning, I'll prepare it tonight." Dong Shu was very happy. Although she had cooked eight congee in the Dong Clan in the past years, she could only cook eight congee due to her poor family.

This year was different.

This year, not to mention eight, he could even collect a total of eighteen.

However, Dong Shu prepared to cook the sweet and salty porridge. With the various ingredients, other than the ones that she absolutely needed, she would open the other dishes to him.

Hearing Dong Shu's words, Xu Shiqiu regained his senses and laughed, then lowered his head and continued to pick the beans with her.

Seeing that Xu Shiqiu did not think about the letter so quickly, Old Madame Xu became more satisfied with Dong Shu.

She knew her son's character. If she received such a letter based on his character in the past, she would probably associate it with him for a long time.

"Tomorrow morning, when the porridge is ready, give some to the Dong Clan. After all, they are relatives. "In the past, even if we wanted to send some rice porridge to our relatives, we couldn't do anything about it. This year, we finally have a place to send some rice porridge to our relatives." When Old Madame Xu said this, Xu Shiqiu looked at her in shock.

Xu Shiqiu understood that his mother's words were not simply just to deliver the porridge to the Dong Clan.

According to the customs of the capital, every year, the basil would be boiled and sent to relatives and relatives.

However, a few years ago, his family had left the capital and even if they wanted to gift him a bowl of porridge, they would not have the chance to do so.

Dong Shu didn't know so much, but when she heard Old Madame Xu's words, she looked up at Xu Shiqiu in puzzlement.

After Xu Shiqiu explained the custom in the capital, Dong Shu smiled and said: "We will also eat porridge here, but it will not be sent to our relatives. Later, I will ask Ling Xiang to head to Xiahe Village and have Cousin send some tomorrow morning."

Dong Shu also knew that the Dong Clan's conditions would definitely not be as good as the Xu Family's, but it was a custom in the capital city after all. Thinking about how her Xu Family had not received any porridge from her relatives for so many years, she wanted the Dong Clan to send her some.

Hearing Dong Shu's words, Xu Shiqiu was stunned for a moment before reacting to Dong Shu's meaning.

He knew that Young Girl only said these words because he hadn't received the porridge in so many years. Otherwise, based on her personality, he definitely wouldn't take the initiative to ask the Dong Clan for something.

Then, when Ling Xiang goes over later, please bring the new year gift with you. Cousin has done well this year, we cannot lack the gifts that you deserve. Xu Shiqiu did not want to take advantage of the Dong Clan, so he said these words.

Dong Shu did not think too much about it. After all, the reason Xu Shiqiu mentioned the Cousin, she thought it was because of the Cousin.

"Ling Xiang, go and explain it to the Dong Clan later, your wife is very heavy, and my situation is not good, so this year's New Year's gift was sent by you." After saying this, Xu Shiqiu thought for a moment, then continued, "You should make the matter of the porridge clear. Tomorrow morning, we will also send them our Xu Family."

Although Ling Xiang was not as capable as Cui Hua in handling matters outside, but in regards to the matters at home, she could still take care of them.

This small matter of going to the Dong Clan was not difficult for Ling Xiang.

So after hearing Xu Shiqiu's words, Ling Xiang quickly nodded his head, "Do you want to follow the rules for the new year's gift?"

Just say that it's for your wife and cousin. I heard that Cousin is sending him to the academy at the beginning of next year. "

All of Xu Shiqiu's instructions were done in front of Dong Shu, so when she saw that Dong Shu did not say anything, he did not say anything more and only lowered her head to continue helping to pick out the beans.

After they had returned to the Shihuan Courtyard, Xu Shiqiu looked at Dong Shu and said, "My wife, later on, tell me what to do with the porridge. I'll come over tomorrow morning.

"It's fine. I can get some sleep tomorrow morning after I've cooked the porridge." In the past, it was her who cooked the porridge. If she didn't cook it this year, she wouldn't have worried.

Xu Shiqiu also knew that it would be best if he didn't say anything more when Young Girl persisted, so he didn't say much in the end. He only made up his mind that he would wake up early tomorrow morning with Young Girl.

At this time, the Dong Clan welcomed Ling Xiang and Xu Jie who was helping to carry the things.

When Ling Xiang and Xu Jie came to the Dong Residence with their stuff in hand, they attracted the attention of many families in the village. They did not need to go down to the ground even in winter, so they stayed at their doorsteps to talk.

Now, seeing that Ling Xiang and Ling Xiang had directly come to the Dong Clan, many people followed along.

Ling Xiang was not afraid of the stage, and immediately said out Xu Shiqiu's orders.

"Our wife was very heavy, and had just snowed yesterday. Young Master couldn't be at ease with her going out, so he sent some servants over." Saying that, Ling Xiang passed the brush, ink and paper to the Madame Dai, "This is what Young Noble specifically told the Dong Clan's little gongzi to go study at the academy next year."

At first, they saw that the annual gifts sent over by the Xu Family were all very ordinary. The villagers secretly laughed at the Dong Clan, but when they took out the ink and paper, no one said anything.

Although they couldn't understand the grade of the ink and paper, they all knew that the things that could be used to read books were extremely expensive.

Then, they recalled that because of the Dong Clan's Xu Family, not only did Dong Lei get a good job, Dong Miao even got married to a good family. Now, even the smelly brat of the Dong Clan wanted to go to school.

Ling Xiang looked at Madame Dai's agitated face as she received the brush, ink and paper. Then, she started to talk about how she would send the rice porridge tomorrow morning.

"This is the custom of the Xu Family in the capital. It is usually given to each other by relatives. Madam has long ago instructed the eldest young master of the Dong family to go and send some to the Xu Family."

When Madame Dai heard Ling Xiang's words, she did not feel that she was unwilling at all.

Because she had heard it clearly, only relatives could send each other away, and their Dong Family was now recognized as relatives by Xu Family!

"Don't worry miss, I will prepare the beans soon. I will have Lei'er deliver them tomorrow morning." The Madame Dai watched as Ling Xiang finished speaking and then hurriedly turned around to fetch an old hen that she had just killed.

"I just finished packing. I originally wanted to get Lei'er to bring her tomorrow morning, but since this lady came, I might as well bring her back. Tonight, Shu'er can eat chicken soup from the stew. This is a 3 year old hen."

Madame Dai's move not only shocked the villagers, but also the eldest uncle of the Dong Clan.

Because he knew that this hen was originally prepared to be left in Madame Dai for his daughter and son-in-law to eat tomorrow.

Ling Xiang did not stand on ceremony with the Madame Dai. She took the hen and left the Dong Clan together with Xu Jie.

After they left, there were many people squatting at the entrance of the Dong Clan mansion talking to each other. It was only after an hour had passed that the sky turned dark did the people disperse.

At this time, Xu Shiqiu, who was in Xu Family, fell asleep early, and finally opened the letter Prince Duan had written to him.