Jiangning, Weaving House, Front Yard, Qiu Yongtang.

It was a three-bay room, with nothing on the floor except for a few tables and chairs. On the left and right walls, there are musical instruments such as flutes, shengs, flutes, sanxian, and pipa.

In front of the hall, several musicians holding flutes sang in unison. In front of the musician, a man whispered softly.

Cao Yin sat at the edge of the table, his fingertips tapping on the table with the sound of the song. Cao Fu stood beside Cao Yin, smiling, and whispered to Cao Yin: "Uncle, this play is worth it today!" The uncle's words are filled in well, and Liu Heng's voice is also good! ”

Just as the song ended, Cao Yin couldn't help but applaud.

The man bowed his head slightly and said, "Don't dare to boast about being a master and a fifth master!" ”

Cao Yin looked at him with a hideous face, and couldn't help but sigh. He waved his hand, sent the musicians down, and then motioned for the man to sit down, and said, "Qiguan, your voice, if you don't go on stage, it's really a tyrannical thing!" Why don't you look around, ask a clever doctor, and look at your face? ”

The man who was called "Qiguan" was Liu Zidan, a famous singer in the capital who ruined half of his face, and now he has changed his name to Liu Heng and joined the Cao family as a slave.

Liu Heng's wife, the Liu family, is the ** of Tianyou, and followed Tianyou to the south with Cao Yin and his wife at the end of March. Subsequently, when Cao Hao went to the letter to Shandong, he also arranged for Liu Heng to go to Jiangning.

Before Cao Yin left Beijing, Cao Hao told his father about Liu Heng and his affairs.

In his early years, Cao Yin had frequent and harmonious contacts with Jiangnan literati in Jiangnan, and had contacts with many opera artists. Hearing his son talk about Liu Heng's situation, he was also embarrassed in his heart.

After Liu Heng arrived in Jiangning, Cao Yin listened to one of his songs, and he was shocked and highly respected.

Although Liu Heng was grateful for Cao Hao's kindness and became a slave in Cao's mansion, Cao Yin did not regard him as an ordinary slave. Because he knew that he had no words, Cao Yin sent him "Qiguan" as the word.

In the early years, in order to welcome the holy driver, Cao Yin also worked at home here, and personally wrote a two-fold play. It's just that he has been tired over the years, and he looks at these things lightly.

Now, when Liu Heng came, Cao Yin ran less to the temple, and studied the music score and singing every half of the day. So far, several Taiping dramas have been choreographed, and Cao Yin uniformly called them "Taiping Joy".

Although Liu Heng was grateful for Cao Yin's appreciation, he really didn't want to show his face, and said in a low voice: "The old man's kindness, the little gratitude is not close." The little one has been learning drama since he was a child, and he has been on stage for more than ten years, and he has no love for the son on the stage. If the old man plans to support the family class, the little one will learn the skills and find apprentices to teach them. ”

Cao Yin was quite moved, Cao Fu was listening, and remembered that he had heard his uncle and aunt talk about the Li family's opera troupe in Suzhou, so he said to Cao Yin: "Uncle, do we want to arrange a troupe like my uncle's family?" My nephew has heard people talk about it several times, and they all say that his family's drama troupe is the best. also said that our family had a similar team earlier! ”

Cao Yin smiled and nodded, in the early years, in order to take over the driver, the house was a rehearsal troupe. At that time, all the opera masters who lived in Jiangnan had come to the weaving house to talk about opera.

Later, due to the shortage, the money in the house was tight, the theater troupe was streamlined, and new plays were rarely rehearsed. In the year of Lao Taijun's death, due to the filial piety of the family, it was not suitable for the house to support the servants, and the troupe was dismissed.

In a flash, it's been seven or eight years.

Cao Fu saw Cao Yin's face showing remembrance, so he said with a smile: "Uncle, just in time for Liu Heng to be in our house, our house will set up another drama troupe." Arrange a new drama and show it to the eldest mother, which also saves the eldest lady boredom. ”

Cao Yin listened to his nephew's children's words, shook his head, and said, "Your aunt has been revolving around her grandson all day, and she is too busy to be busy, where do you feel bored?" ”

When Cao Fu heard this, his expression was a little gloomy, and he lowered his head and did not say anything.

Cao Yin knew that he had always relied on the Li family and respected the Li family as his mother, and now he saw that his aunt was thinking about his grandson, and the children's hearts were not happy. Therefore, he smiled and said to Cao Fu: "You are also getting older, you should also grasp your schoolwork, and you can make a difference in the whole house, what can you do?" You are a young and smart man, if you work hard, your uncle still expects you to become the first third-class jinshi in our Cao family! ”

Cao Fu heard his uncle's appreciation, his face lit up, and he nodded vigorously and said: "Well, my nephew can save it, and he must study hard, glorify the lintel of the Cao family, and don't let his uncle lose face!" ”

Cao Yin was very pleased to see him speak loudly, his eyes were firm, and he was very pleased. I also remembered that when the eldest son and the youngest son were young, how could they have been so well-behaved.

Before being kidnapped, Cao Hao was used to being too bad by the old lady, and he only knew how to be naughty throughout the whole day; After being kidnapped, he became like a little adult, stereotypical and boring.

But what the old lady said before his death was right, now that he looks at his son, he wants to see himself many years ago. At that time, he was also a young man and an old man, and his mind was quite heavy, although he had many friends and friends, but there were few people who could put his heart into his heart.

Youngest son...... Cao Yin sighed in his heart, only feeling unhappy.

As for the reorganization of the troupe, forget it. It's really a waste of money, and it's better to make a tune in your spare time like this and do it at will. With a decision in his heart, Cao Yin put out his plan to rearrange the team.

Because Liu Heng mentioned the matter of teaching art, Cao Yin thought that his skills needed to be passed on, so he said: "It's too troublesome to work at home, so I won't toss!" If you want to take in apprentices, you can look for them among the children in the house, or buy children from outside! Tell Cao Yuan, let him make someone do it! ”

Liu Heng said: "People are easy to find, qualifications are not easy to find, this little one is not in a hurry, and I will talk about it when I encounter it in the future, so as to save the trouble of the big housekeeper!" ”

Cao Yin nodded, looked outside the window that it was not early, and it was time to eat, and said to Liu Heng: "Come here first, and then arrange another show tomorrow!" ”

Liu Heng got up and leaned over to respond. Cao Yin asked him to go back to dinner, and he went back to Kaiyang Courtyard with Cao Fu.

In the upper room of Kaiyang Courtyard, Tianyou was wearing a sky blue jacket and sitting on the kang outside, with a bunch of dominoes scattered on his face.

Tianyou has been saying all his life, although Cao Yin and Li have been trying to teach their grandson to learn to speak this month, but the little guy is just "babbling", and he refuses to spit out a clear word.

Cao Yin and Li Shichu were still anxious, but later thought that other people's children were also late talkers, so they gradually settled down.

It's just a one-year-old child, and some of them can recognize people. Seeing that it was his grandfather who came back, Tianyou waved his little arm and "giggled".

When Cao Yin saw his eldest grandson, he was also happy, and was just about to step forward to hug him, but Li grabbed his arm and said angrily: "Master, I haven't changed my clothes yet!" As he spoke, he turned his head to Cao Fu and smiled: "Fu'er too, hurry up and wash your hands, and call someone to eat immediately!" ”

While changing clothes, Cao Yin looked at the dominoes in front of Tianyou and asked Li, "Why did you think of taking this out?" ”

Li replied with a smile: "At noon, I asked the maid to clean up the cabinet and took it out, just so that Tianyou saw it, so he asked for it!" The concubine was afraid that he would find it boring, so she stacked her bones and coaxed him. When he saw that the yard was high, he stretched out his little hand to push it down, and then asked someone to re-yard it. When he is high, he stretches out his little hand to push again, and looks at his appearance, he likes to listen to this 'bang-la-la' sound! ”

Cao Yin was finishing changing his clothes, took the wet towel from the maid and wiped his hands. Hearing Li say this, he laughed "oh" and said, "If that's the case, then I'll take him to the front yard to listen to the tune." Today, we have a new choreographed play, which sounds very festive! While speaking, he had already walked to the side of the kang, hugged Tianyou and said, "Good grandson, do you miss your grandfather?" ”

Tianyou "babbled" couldn't speak clearly, and stretched out his little hand to grab Cao Yin's beard.

Cao Yin laughed and said, "Little ancestor, grandfather's beard is about to be pulled away by you!" ”

Li saw her husband smiling happily, and she also felt happy in her heart. There is an extra child in this house, and it is no longer deserted, and he is busy working every day, and his life is no longer difficult.

Although he gave birth to a pair of children, it was the first time that Li had taken care of the children himself. When she first grew up with a daughter, Cao Yan, she was still a new daughter-in-law, and she couldn't take it, so she set rules in front of her mother-in-law when she was confined, and she was busy with housework inside and out.

After giving birth to Cao Hao, because it was a difficult birth, she raised it for a few months to get better, and Cao Hao followed the old lady.

Now, being able to pull his grandson in person, the Li family can be regarded as making up for the regrets of his early years. But comparing her heart to her heart, thinking of her eldest daughter-in-law, she was also very unbearable. If it weren't for seeing Cao Yin cherish her grandson so much, as if she was more than ten years younger, she wouldn't bear to say goodbye to her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

Cao Fu had already wiped his hands, and because he remembered what Aunt Fang Cai said, he sat on the edge of the kang and stacked the dominoes very high with a smile.

When Tianyou saw it, he twisted his little body on his grandfather's lap, leaned on this side, stretched out his little hand, and pushed him down at once. Seeing the dominoes fall to the ground with a "bang", Tianyou raised his little head, looked at Cao Fu, and laughed "giggle".

Cao Fu saw that his nephew really liked to play this, and he was also moved by his childlike heart, his hands moved together, and in a blink of an eye, he stacked the bones again.

Where will God bless you? He stretched out his hand and pulled it.

Two children, one older and one younger, laughed and laughed on the kang.

Cao Yin touched his beard, which was becoming thinner, this was all caused by the eldest grandson. It's strange to say, if the son was a child, he just crawled on top of him, and a few slaps on the ass would be less; Now it's the grandson's turn, no matter how naughty he is, but only the heart is distressed.

Li sighed in his heart, thinking of his son and daughter-in-law, if the family can be together, then it should be more harmonious and beautiful.

* Cao Hao is in the capital, and he is also thinking of his mother at this moment.

Today is the fourth day of October, and it is Li Ding's appointment to the Fucha family. Originally, the marriage date agreed by the two families was Layue, and they had to wait for November to be hired. However, because the old concubine in the palace is not healthy, and they are afraid that they will catch up with the national filial piety and delay the happy event, the two families will advance the lottery and the marriage of the child.

Although Li Ding's father and brother are not in the capital, many relatives are here. In order to accept the matter of hiring, Li Ding invited his uncle, Jiang Zhuo, the alternate prefect, and Sun Jue, the director of the in-law rites department, to help him. As a cousin, Cao Hao also received a post and came to help.

It was the first time Cao Hao had seen someone from the Jiang clan, and when he saw that the other party was just faint, he didn't make much progress.

Because of the "adopted son case" that was making trouble in Beijing a few years ago, Cao Hao knew more about the Li family than before.

When the Eight Banners entered the customs that year, many banner people captured the people in the customs as adopted sons. It has been passed down for several lifetimes, and the main family and the division sometimes have to make trouble. The descendants of the master's family only said that the other party was a domestic slave, denied his identity as an adopted son, and wanted to embezzle his family property. Of course, there are also those who were originally domestic slaves, but later developed, and when they saw that the master's family withered, they pretended to be adopted sons to occupy the master's family and property.

Because the blackmail failed, he called the other party his grandfather's house slave, so as to accuse the banner people who wanted to grow old and benefit.

At the end of September, there was another incident in Beijing, and I don't know how to get to the front of the emperor, which caused Kangxi to be furious.

Kangxi was most disgusted with such greedy villains, so he called the six ministries and nine Qing collegial.

Because it involved many officials inside and outside the imperial court, the six ministries and nine secretaries did not dare to ignore it, and the final charter was the major fifty boards.

These are really bad people who do not abide by the law, and they should be named by the ministry. "Those who have positions are dismissed, and those who are not in office are put in a shackle for two months and a hundred lashes. If there is any trace of extortion of money, it shall be verified and punished according to the law of blackmail, and it shall be a law".

At the same time, after the adopted son separates and opens an account, the children and grandchildren of the adopted son may pretend to be close brothers, and they will be bullied and fight over the family property, and it is also strictly prohibited.

Li Xu's father Li Shizhen's surname was Jiang, and he was a member of the Changyi Wang family, and when he entered the Eight Banners, he was plundered by Li Xiquan, who was the leader of the white flag, and changed his surname to Li.

Because it is not a decent thing to be plundered and change his surname, few people mention it, and Cao Hao does not know about it.

Now, he is quite insightful, and somewhat understands why his grandmother Gao is grateful to the old lady of the Wen family and Li Xu for taking care of her.

Cao Hao's maternal grandfather was Li Shizhen's cousin Li Yuegui, so he and Li Xu were not related by blood.

These messy relationships give Cao Hao a headache, although there is no blood connection, but with Li Xu's love for taking care of his widowed aunt and cousin for many years, it is really more touching to Gao Taijun and Li than blood relatives.

(To be continued)