With his father taking care of the affairs of the store, and Li Duanyi as his backer, Xu Ping didn't want to take care of it, and watched Zhou Qing leave crying, but he felt funny with Xiuxiu. A powerless little yellow door, if no one is his backer, it is really nothing.

I bought a candy man for Xiuxiu, let her take it, and the two of them went back to the hotel where the dealer was ruined.

Liu Xiaoyi got the order and had already rushed over and looked at Zhuang Ke. He had been under Xu Zheng for a long time, and he felt that it was pleased, so he brought it to the capital to help the family take care of some chores.

When Xu Ping arrived, a group of villagers were surrounding Liu Xiaoyi, gossiping, each telling what they wanted to do when they arrived in the capital, and asked Liu Xiaoyi to take him to do it.

Seeing Xu Ping, Liu Xiaoyi came up to salute and sighed: "It's good that the little official is here!" ”

Xu Ping also had a headache when he looked at a group of enthusiastic villagers, and said to Liu Xiaoyi: "Brother Xiaoyi, tomorrow is the winter solstice, and tonight will be the New Year's eve as usual, is there anything fun in the capital?" ”

Liu Xiaoyi understood and said busily: "What's so fun about going back to keep the New Year?" Tonight in the capital is the loneliest! From tomorrow, the emperor will bring the ministers back to the suburbs, and it will be lively! ”

Xu Ping said to the villagers: "I heard Brother Xiaoyi's words, there is nothing to go out tonight, everyone should not go out." By the way, there are a lot of restaurants nearby, let Brother Xiao Yi take you to pack a few tables, and take two jars of good wine brought by the family, eat and drink happily, rest early, and nourish your spirit to play tomorrow! ”

He turned to Liu Xiaoyi and said, "Brother Xiaoyi will go home and get the money in a while." ”

Liu Xiaoyi hurriedly responded.

Hearing that they couldn't go out to play tonight, some of the villagers were deflated and muttered quietly, and some heard that they could have a meal in a restaurant in the capital, and felt that it was worth the trip.

After appeasing Zhuang Ke, Xu Ping took Xiuxiu to his home.

After getting off the main road by the Bianhe River and passing through a few small alleys, Xu Ping said to Xiuxiu: "Take two steps, and you will be there in front of us, this is our new home in Tokyo." ”

Xiuxiu kept looking back along the way, and when she heard Xu Ping's words, she said with a crying voice: "How can this twisted and turned, how can you remember the road?" Official, when you arrive in the capital, Xiuxiu doesn't dare to go out, no one will definitely get lost and can't go home! ”

Xu Ping saw that she was serious, and smiled An Wei: "It's okay, there are other people at home, it's good if you go out with someone every time, and you will be familiar with it if you go two more times." Besides, we won't be able to stay here for much longer. ”

Xiuxiu didn't believe it, but kept looking back at the way it was.

Baofu, the new servant at home, was looking at the door, and when he saw Xu Ping, he hurriedly beckoned: "Little official, come back to the house, Mrs. is impatient!" ”

Xu Ping took Xiuxiu and walked two steps quickly, and when he arrived at the door, he said to Xiuxiu: "Remember the door." This is the blessing of the newcomer to the house, and if you want to go out, you can let him take you with you. ”

Xiuxiu saw a salute, but just hid behind Xu Ping and peeked at Baofu. Strange places, strange people, make Xiuxiu, a little girl who has never been far away, very uneasy.

Baofu was only twelve years old, and he didn't have any delicate thoughts, just urging Xu Ping to enter the door quickly.

After passing the small courtyard and arriving in the hall, Zhang Sanniang saw Xu Ping inside and shouted: "My son, you are here!" Come over and let my mother take a good look, I haven't seen you in some days! ”

Xu Ping stepped forward and said with a smile: "Mom is exaggerating, it's only been less than a month." ”

Zhang Sanniang said: "You are the meat that fell from my body, even if you don't see it for a day, you feel that something is missing!" ”

Mother and son were talking over there, and Hofu and Xiuxiu were standing aside, not knowing what to do.

Zhang Sanniang looked at Xu Ping carefully, and then said to Baofu: "Go and ask Dou'er to order tea, my son has worked hard all the way." ”

After a while, a little girl came up with tea and put it on the table for Xu Ping to drink.

This is the new female envoy Dou'er in the family, who is thirteen years old this year, although she is also neatly cleaned up, but she looks less agile than Xiuxiu. Dou'er was bought from another family, it was originally a three-year employment contract, and there were only two years left in the Xu family. Unlike Xiuxiu, who is hired for the first time, the price is much cheaper.

At this time, most of the male and female servants hired by the family were minors around the age of ten, and sometimes Xu Ping also sighed, no wonder future generations should ban child labor, this system is not good for children, and it is not good for the whole society. For the poor, raising such a big child at home is also a food consumption, so it is better to hire it out and let someone else raise it, and you can get a few dollars to use. Therefore, the price of these slaves and maids who can only be regarded as child labor is extremely cheap, and as long as there is a slight decent family in the capital, they will hire two to clean up the housework.

The mother and son talked about it here, and Xu Zheng came over. Tomorrow morning to worship the ancestors, Xu Zheng is busy cleaning up all the affairs, one is that this kind of thing is not good to fake his subordinates, and now there is no one at home to use it, Xu Zheng is extremely busy, not as easy as when he was in Baisha Town.

After meeting my father, the family sat there and talked.

Baofu and Dou'er went to work on themselves, only Xiuxiu stood there helpless. When Zhang Sanniang saw it, she called Dou'er over and took Xiuxiu to make wontons.

Xiuxiu looked at Xu Ping with blank eyes, Xu Ping knew that she was panicked when she arrived in a strange place, so Wen Yan said to her: "You just go with Sister Dou'er, you will be a family in the future, get familiar with it as soon as possible." ”

At this time of the winter solstice, the procedure of the festival is similar to that of the New Year, tonight is the same to observe the New Year, and to eat wontons when it is late. Although it is called wonton, Xu Ping always feels that it is similar to dumplings, and it is not as delicate as that of later generations. At this time of the New Year's Festival, I don't eat dumplings, but eat a piece of soup, and I don't know when the rule was handed down.

Speaking of the Chinese Spring Festival, the earliest is the winter solstice as the year, to this time, although it has been changed for more than a thousand years, but many customs are still the same as the New Year, so that the two festivals are not clear. However, in Kaifeng City, because of the winter solstice suburban ceremonies of the imperial court, it was more grand than other places. Generally speaking, the winter solstice pays more attention to etiquette, and the New Year pays more attention to entertainment, especially when it is connected with the Shangyuan Festival, which is a big carnival across the country.

There were no people around, and the family was gossiping around the brazier, Xu Ping went to Li Yonghe's house when he talked about it, saw Duan's old yard, and asked his father to go to the old man's house to chat if he had nothing to do.

Li Yonghe is busy with official business, Li Zhang is a half-grown child, and the old man is actually quite lonely sometimes. Although there are a few old brothers, due to the particularity of their previous work, there are not many contacts.

The official duty of the Imperial City Division is to guard the palace, but because they are the emperor's closest guards, there are still many hidden things entrusted to them, and many of them are actually dirty and unsightly. The previous name of the Imperial City Division was Wude Division, but because the reputation of making small reports and arresting people in the capital was too bad, Emperor Taizong changed its name to the Imperial City Division. But the status of this organization is there, especially the emperors of the past dynasties have relied on them to govern corrupt officials and corrupt officials, although there is a positive effect, but the negative effect is greater, it has always been a thorn in the eyes of Dali Temple and Kaifeng Mansion, and the reputation of the people is extremely poor, it is the predecessor of the Jinyi Wei of the Ming Dynasty, but it did not swell up in the Song Dynasty.

The inner courtyard is a very special commander in the Imperial City Division, the first commander in the Song Dynasty is basically 500 people, and the number of people entering the inner courtyard is more than this, but less than two commanders, between 500 and 1,000 people. Entering the inner means entering the Great Interior, these two words have explained everything, and the official saying is to handle chores for the Imperial Palace, and there is no specific position. But the more there is no clear position, the more all-encompassing, except for buying something for the people in the palace and running errands, most of what they do is to spy on the news, and inquire about the privacy of the ministers in the capital, which is a shady thing, especially by the ministers of the court.

The power of the eastern and western provinces of the Song Dynasty was extremely great, and except for special periods, there were great restrictions on the emperor. For example, at this time, the emperor's decree must go through the Chinese letter, and without the prime minister's countersignature, his subordinates will refuse to carry it out, and the prime minister will be held accountable if it is executed. As early as in the Taizu Dynasty, after Zhao Kuangyin's throne stabilized, he dismissed the governor left by the Later Zhou Dynasty, and wanted to appoint and dismiss Zhao Pu as the prime minister.

In this case, the identity of Old Courtyard Duan is very embarrassing. Because of Li Yonghe's competitiveness, he has been retired at home in addition to his military status, but in the relationship with his previous work, there are many people who taboo him, and he must be honest at home and not go out to cause trouble, otherwise it is not fun to be caught by Kaifeng Mansion. In fact, it was also because Li Yonghe had a good reputation among the literati that this old courtyard left a positive reputation.

After listening to Xu Ping's words, Xu Zheng sighed: "Since I came to the capital, I often think about going to this old brother to drink two bowls of wine. It's just that the shop is newly opened, everything is busy, where can I get out? I had to wait a few days and everything went well in the shop before I took time to see him. ”

Xu Ping said: "Daddy has been in business all his life, and he always cares about a money word. Our family is not selling wine now, but selling sugar, and the interest earned by this kind of business will cost how many restaurants can catch up! There are countless wealthy nobles in the capital, and when they see making money, I don't know which one is eyeing our shop. Let's just say that today, as soon as I got to the shop, there was a wealthy family who sent a small yellow door in the palace to look for trouble in the shop, and this kind of thing will only increase in the future. Grandpa Duan has served in the palace for decades, and he has pretended to have a stomach for the grievances of these wealthy nobles. ”

Xu Zheng was stunned for a moment and asked, "What trouble is that little yellow door looking for us?" How did you get rid of it in the end? Are there any consequences? ”

Xu Ping said: "It was Zhang Tianrui, who was in charge, and went to Zhang Weiying, the senior official who supervised the goods in the capital, and scared that little yellow door away." Who can know if there are any troubles? ”

Seeing Xu Zheng's appearance, Xu Ping sighed: "Daddy, you don't have to worry about these things, we are partnering with Captain Li Defense to do this business, and these things are taken care of by their family." Daddy, don't worry about this kind of thing in the future, what is the identity of our family? How could you possibly manage such a thing? It's good to listen to Grandpa Duan's stories more and understand the doorway in the middle, and don't interject a word! It's nothing to these giants, but it may be a trouble for us! The left and right are just a business, not a net worth, and we still go back to Baisha Town to sell wine after the shop is closed, and we live a good life with good food and drink. ”

Zhang Sanniang listened to Xu Ping's words, and couldn't help but push Xu Zheng: "Old man, listen to your son's words, he is a person who has read books and knows the way of the world!" Although you and I have sold wine for a lifetime, when have we seen these princes and high-ranking officials? And how do you know what they think? ”

Xu Ping said: "We don't want to know what they think, just don't mess with them." ”

Xu Zheng has always been shrewd, if he loses money in business, he will understand it in a flash, but these things outside the business field can't be turned around for a while, but only a voice.

Not long after, Xiuxiu and Dou'er brought wontons. In the end, it was a child of about the same age, and the two little girls stayed for a while, and Xiuxiu was not so panicked.

After the family ate the wontons, they kept the New Year with peace of mind, waiting for the lively tomorrow to come.