The Xu family has been busy until the tenth day of the first month in order to hire them, and it seems that it is about to reach the most lively Shangyuan Festival, that is, the Lantern Festival.

From the eleventh day of the first month to the twentieth day of the first month, the major gates of the capital are not closed day and night for ten days, and the inner courtyard of the palace is all forbidden to the people from the noon gate, allowing the women to walk all kinds of diseases, touch the copper nails on the palace door and dip some blessings, put lanterns on the Qinhuai River, and people from all over the world enjoy singing and playing.

It's a pity that there is bad news, last year the old lady did not allow his family to go out, and this year there is even a word from the house, saying that the old man is not feeling well and should not go to Beijing for a reunion, which makes the girls in the family very disappointed.

In addition, the annual allocation of the usual amount is less than half, and the housekeeper explained that due to the increase in the expenditure of the house, many young masters and young ladies have reached the age of marriage, and the other half may have to stop in the coming year.

Xu Qingtang had already known about this the year before last, and he had dragged it out until now, but the eunuch's words somehow reached Wang's ears, and he sent a maid to invite Xu Qingtang to meet him, planning to demolish the entire north courtyard and rebuild a courtyard.

Seeing that he was going to spend a lot of money again, Xu Qingtang had no choice, so he told the matter of allocation, saying that he hoped that his sister-in-law would be considerate if there were difficulties in the family, and asked the Wang family not to say it.

Before a day passed, the old lady over there got the news, and after being shocked, he ordered someone to call Xu Qingtang and his wife to his eyes and interrogate the reason.

Xu Qingtang smiled bitterly: "My son really didn't know why, he personally went over to ask the third brother, the third brother said that he didn't know, and asked the fourth brother, and the fourth brother immediately ran to the old man's house, and there was no follow-up." The son had no choice but to look for the eldest brother, but the eldest brother didn't say a word, and sneered and served tea to the guests. ”

"How can it be?" The old lady slapped the table case heavily, and said sharply: "The old man is not rare in the silver money in his house, and if it is broken, it will be broken, so I have to give it to the head!" This is obviously the intention to save money and grain, and plan to break off family affection with each other. Okay, they dislike us, we won't climb them in the future, everyone will live their own lives from now on. ”

Xiao Shi hurriedly said: "Mother, you are angry, maybe the house has encountered difficulties recently, and it is inconvenient to say it, so don't be angry." ”

"What's the difficulty?" The old lady sneered a little in disappointment, and said quietly: "In the early years, the population of the two families was about the same, and one-third of the annual income was given to our family, and then I thought that the expenses over there were large, so I took the initiative to reduce it to a quarter, but I didn't expect that now I even give too much of these." Let him go. ”

Xu Qingtang sighed: "In the past few years, the eldest brother has been in charge of the affairs of the house, he has been cold-faced and cold-hearted since he was a child, and he is far less affectionate to our family than the third brother and the fourth brother, but I didn't expect the old man to be alive, so mean and unkind." ”

The more the old lady thought about it, the more annoyed she became, and suddenly coughed angrily, Yuelan hurriedly handed over a bowl of grits soup, Wang took the spittoon first, the old lady coughed badly, Xiao reached out and patted her back, only then did she spit out the phlegm caused by the false fire, took a sip of hot soup and pressed it down, rinsed her mouth with clear tea, and finally relieved her breath.

"The more this happens, the more you can't bow your head."

As the old lady became angry, Xu Qingtang and his wife knew that it was bad when they heard it, and sure enough, the old lady said slowly: "We must repair the yard, we can't let the royal palace look down on our family, and we can't let those people wait to see jokes." ”

"Yes." At this point, Xu Qingtang lowered his head, he decided that no matter what method he used, he could not disappoint his mother.

The old lady was not ignorant of the truth at home, and waved her hand lightly and said, "There are three thousand taels of silver in the box in my house, and there are some other fabrics, so let's use them." ”

Xu Qingtang said categorically: "My son will take care of this matter, and no one is allowed to worry about your own body." ”

The Wang family wanted to be distinguished in front of their relatives, and couldn't help but say: "Mother is also well-intentioned, do you still have to go out to borrow debts?" If you take it, you will take it, and it will not be too late to pay it back when you have the money. ”

Xiao Shi glanced at his sister-in-law angrily, and secretly said that you didn't tell the old lady secretly, and now you dare to use the old lady's coffin book? Before this festival was over, the whole family was upset, and it was too selfish to think about their own son.

And Liu watched this scene coldly from the sidelines, and couldn't help but gloat in his heart, thinking that he should keep an eye on it in the future, and when the old lady left, he quickly divided the family property, and let the eldest brother and sister-in-law take advantage of the province.

At this time, Xu Hao suddenly spoke: "My father said that he would solve this matter, and it will definitely be resolved satisfactorily, grandma and aunt don't worry." ”

Wang Shiqi said: "Can you father and son still conjure silver out of thin air?" ”

"It's not far away." Xu Hao smiled mysteriously.

The sad and disappointed old lady stared at the only grandson who was still by her side for a long time, and then looked at the second son who raised his head and looked calmly, and finally had a sense of relief.

"You take all these belongings, the old body is already old, what is the use of keeping the things outside the body?" After the old lady finished speaking with a wry smile, she smiled again: "I believe in my grandson's words, and I believe in my son's promise." On the contrary, the silver is idle and useless, so it is better to use it to buy fields, so that it can continue to grow. ”

Xu Qingtang was not a pedantic person, and immediately said: "Yes, my son knows." ”

Xu Hao frowned as if he was recalling something, and asked, "Is it true that the land property used to sacrifice the ancestral tomb will not be confiscated even if something happens?" ”

Xiao Shi was startled, and hurriedly scolded: "What nonsense are children, shut up for me." ”

Xu Hao explained unhurriedly: "I just asked, as the saying goes, people have blessings and misfortunes, and the moon has profits and losses. ”

This unintentional sentence was like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, and the old lady and Xu Qingtang's expressions suddenly changed greatly. The old lady sighed with a cloudy face: "Yes, I should think of this section, I should think of it." ”

Xu Qingtang was no longer as calm as before, rubbed his hands in panic, and said hurriedly: "Oh no, a catastrophe is coming." ”

The three daughters-in-law below were so frightened that their hearts were pounding, and Xiao Shi hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, you can tell me clearly." ”

"Ugh." Xu Qingtang looked depressed and sat on the chair in despair.

However, the old lady calmed down, and said to Xu Hao with a wry smile: "It's useless, but you can give it a try, and then I can only pray for God's blessing, bless my Xu family to leave a trace of blood, and live by Tian Xi's ancestors in the future." ”

Xu Hao was stunned for a while, but finally came back to his senses, his face became pale, and his unintentional words hit the nail on the head? Could it be that the Xu Mansion is about to be beheaded by Zhu Yuanzhang?

That's not right! Anyway, I have to be a ghost under the knife, so why should I be so clear at this time, and even if Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor, he will not dare to risk the disapproval of the world and attack the most loyal first hero of this dynasty for no reason.

"No, there's something strange about it." Xu Hao shook his head and said his thoughts as they were.

Lao Taijun and Xu Qingtang felt that it made sense when they heard Xu Hao's analysis, if it was because of the crime of rebellion, then none of them would be able to escape. If not, then even if there are relatives who are involved with each other, they will not be guilty of their own family, after all, they are each branching out, not Xu Da's direct descendants.

So what is it for? Xu Qingtang thought about it, and ignored his wife, who was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, and muttered: "Could it be that someone in the house over there has the possibility of being confiscated because of greed for ink, so he didn't dare to tell us openly, but secretly cut off contact with each other, and our family in the province was implicated and copied together?" ”

"Where can I get rid of all the accounts?" The old lady disagreed, and then suddenly realized, "The old body knows, it seems that it is the same as Hao'er's thoughts, this is to remind us to prepare in advance just in case!" ”

Xu Hao breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't believe that someone in the Xu family would be illegally corrupted, and he was not short of money to spend? Could it be that Lao Zhu saw that the Xu family was living a prosperous life? Thinking about enriching the treasury for my grandson in advance. Well, the garden of the Xu family's house is indeed too big.

He also knew that his thoughts were too lustful and just fun in misery. In any case, as long as you can save a small life, there is still a chance to start over.

For the Xu family, this matter is no less than earth-shattering news, second only to the whole family being tied up at the entrance of the vegetable market. How dare the Wang family repair the yard in Zhang Luo, like a walking corpse.

Xiao also has some six gods and no masters, standing there frowning, but Liu is the most calm, she has her husband's official position as a guarantee, even if it is not three years of Qing Governor's Mansion 100,000 snowflakes of silver, but the life of food and clothing can still be guaranteed, as for other relatives, the disaster can be provided for the elderly wife to spend her old age is considered to be filial piety.

There are obviously still many doubts in this matter, and the reason is also a little unreasonable, obviously and secretly sending someone to spread a message, why do you want to hide your head and show your tail so much?

But the Xu family would rather believe it, even if the Xu Mansion really wants to cut off the supply of property, it is not a big mistake to be careful, anyway, they have to buy some ancestral fields.

Nowadays, the real estate transactions of the Ming Dynasty are extremely active, every year there are a group of officials' heads fall to the ground, a group of rich people for various reasons, not to mention that there are few people in the land at this time, as long as there is silver in hand, there is no worry about not being able to buy land.

Xu Qingtang is going to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to secretly buy some fields, and then go to Fengyang's hometown to repair the ancestral tomb, buy the nearby land and file it with the government, and it will take at least half a year to come back.

Xu Hao thus became the only male in the family, and since he boasted that he didn't need to spend too much money in Haikou, it was naturally his duty to repair the new house.

didn't explain too much to his father, only said that the bell still needs to be tied to the bell, and Xu Qingtang, who was suspicious, didn't have time to spend at home, and told him not to fix it if it didn't work.

In the evening, Xu Hao personally took Noble and others to the capital by carriage.