Because Li Qiu was about to get married, he did not quietly leave Beijing with Xu Hao in the name of being ordered to do business, and had been busy building furniture at home and cleaning up the new house.

There are two new houses, in the capital mansion and in the Zhuangzi of Weijia Village, Li Qiu's busy feet do not touch the ground, and the silver money rewarded by the young master in the past year has been spent, and there is not much left. Li Qiu is filial and considers that there are many brothers and sisters, and among the brothers of the same generation, he is the most decent to follow the young master, and now his status in the Xu family is second only to his grandfather Father Li, who doesn't compete to meet him wherever he goes?

So the whole family is counting on him, not to mention reaching out to the family, what are the three disasters and six disasters of the relatives on weekdays, who doesn't open their mouths to him? Isn't it that someone came to his hometown last night, and the locust plague can't go on, and in the face of the expectations of his relatives, Li Qiu's head was hot and he gave the only fifteen taels of silver left.

Li Qiu pondered about the money in his heart, and according to the instructions of the young master when he left, he took eight thousand taels of silver from the business under the Yanwang Gate and came back, sat in the bumpy carriage on the way, looked down at the sealed silver box in front of him, sighed softly, and as soon as he returned to the Xu Mansion, he handed it over directly to the Xiao family in person.

In the flower hall, Li Qiu said: "Mrs. has nothing to do, and the little one will retire first." ”

Xiao Shi held the one hundred and eight agate prayer beads that his daughter was honoring, and said with a smile: "Wait and go, I have something good here for you to take back." ”

It turned out that Li Qiu was Xu Hao's number one confidant, and almost all the girls in the house had dealt with him, and they thought of Xu Hao himself, so they prepared some congratulatory gifts to a greater or lesser extent.

Xiao Shi felt that Li Qiu'an took care of his son before and after the horse, and specially prepared sixty taels of silver and four pieces of silk, Xu Qinglian and Cuitao Luzhu each had five taels and a few sets of new clothes, Cuiyun Cuiliu and Xiao Yushi each had two taels and a few pieces of jewelry, etc., and the red leaves were the largest thirty taels of silver.

Yuelan and other maids have begged Li Qiu from time to time to help buy things, Li Qiu always does her best every time, and everyone remembers this feeling, so each person has one or two halves and a few sets of old clothes. There are a lot of decent maids in the inner house, so it adds up to a lot of silver taels, Li Qiu held a heavy gift in both hands, and secretly said that he really sent charcoal in the rain and snow in time, and he was so happy in his heart that he thanked him again and again.

As soon as he left on the front foot, Zhu Qiaoqiao came in with a large group of servants, she was more generous, and sent someone to reward Li Qiu with two hundred taels of silver early in the morning to reward him for his loyalty to Xu Hao. Of course, it has been lost by Li Qiudu.

Xiao beckoned Zhu Qiaoqiao to sit down beside him. Waiting for the little maid to offer tea, she said with a smile: "I am thinking about discussing the dowry with you, Cui Tao has purchased it earlier and put it in the hands of the eldest lady, do you have the list of the past?" If there is, it will be good to see what else needs to be prepared as soon as possible. In addition, there is Qinglian's dowry, I have also written a list in the past few days, you can see what are the shortcomings. ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao took it with both hands and asked, "How much does it cost?" Because of the recent tie-up with the autumn leaves. I don't have much cash left. However, there are more than 2,000 silver in the account room that can be used, and the monthly money has already been sent, and it is useless for a while, in case the money is needed. The daughter-in-law will find a way to make up for the shortfall. ”

Xiao Shi said with a smile: "Hao'er left eight thousand taels of silver, plus the body I saved, it is enough for the two girls." ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao was stunned for a moment, and secretly said that the third child was so generous silently! Then his heart became angry. Dare to love this bastard and hide it from himself, and when he comes back, he must not be spared this time, and he can't be handled lightly like the previous few times. Otherwise, he doesn't have a long memory, this brother with no conscience, he hurts you in vain from his mother.

To be honest, she really doesn't want to use her own money to buy a dowry, and the water spilled by her married daughter will be someone else's daughter-in-law in the future, so why should she spend money on her sister-in-law? If it's just one thousand eight hundred taels, I'm afraid that my wife will hurt the lion and open her mouth, and I'm even more afraid of the stupid three big hands.

These days, Zhu Qiaoqiao is still worried about this, and she has reminded the third child not to be too righteous, blindly remembering the good of her sisters, but she has made the family miserable. I didn't expect people to keep it in their hearts if they didn't say it on their faces, and they didn't even touch a penny at home, so they prepared it in advance.

Xu Hao is Xu Hao in the end, and he can never look down on him, thinking of this, Zhu Qiaoqiao sighed: "Hao'er has a heart." After speaking, he picked up the list and looked carefully, and saw that there were sixty-four cages, one hundred and eighty-eight tables, kang chairs, and forty-eight wardrobes, beds, etc., which were all made of pear blossom wood, one hundred and eighty-eight antique bottle stoves, tea and wine utensils, tents, etc., etc., Zhu Qiaoqiao was confused, and quickly swept down, and saw the silk and satin used in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and all kinds of clothes were countless.

Zhu Qiaoqiao was slightly moved, and made a rough estimate, so it would not be 10,000 taels of silver? The heart said a good guy, obviously the big head is still behind, raised his head and said in surprise: "It's not that the daughter-in-law doesn't listen to what he says, plus the money for hiring craftsmen and miscellaneous expenses such as food and drink, to say the least, it will cost fourteen or five thousand taels, wife, are you really going to let it go?" You must not die because of Hao'er, you have to suffer to save face, and toss all your life savings. ”

Xiao Shi smiled and sighed: "This is the opinion of our whole family, Hao'er said that he doesn't need to prepare anything at home when he gets married, and Hongye himself is not short of money, so that my mother can only give all her heart to their eldest sister, which can make her beautiful and decent after marriage, even if she scatters all her family wealth for this." This is still hidden from Qinglian, otherwise she will definitely not agree, you must not leak out. ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao only felt warm in her heart, thinking back to when she got married, didn't her late father want to give everything she had? So that today I don't have to worry about food and clothing, but it's a pity that I'm not the daughter-in-law of the second room. It's a pity that I was really blind at the beginning.

Zhu Qiaoqiao, who remembered his father, continued to look with red eyes, and said in shock at first sight: "God, 10,000 acres of land? Madame, you didn't make a mistake, did you? ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao is completely dizzy now, her dignified county lord is just a thousand acres of fertile land, the Xu family is good, and the eldest lady is married to ten thousand acres! Ten times more than her. knew that the Xu family was rich in private, so why did he stupidly raise their whole family? Zhu Qiaoqiao was suddenly angry.

However, Xiao Shi smiled proudly and explained in a low voice: "In fact, only 500 acres of land for this marriage is really good land, located in the suburbs of Beiping. And those are unowned wastelands, and what are they? Hao'er's bastard boy still has more than 100,000 acres of land in his hands. ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao's heart was boiling, and he hurriedly asked, "Where did you come from, where is it located?" Hao'er didn't want to die, and dared to buy land and property on a large scale. ”

Xiao Shi smiled: "How can he have that guts? Let's be honest. These fields are all in the Liaodong area, where there is more ownerless land, ten taels of silver can buy one hundred and eighty acres, but it costs more than five thousand taels of silver, His Royal Highness King Ning will sell half and give it away, pointing to the map to draw him a piece of the boss, Hao'er said that if he is not worried about being criticized, let alone hundreds of thousands of acres, it is a piece of cake for several million acres. ”

"I see." Zhu Qiaoqiao couldn't help but laugh and said: "What is the use of such barren land in Liaodong, no matter how much land there is?" Except for the sinners and border soldiers who were distributed. Who wants to settle there for a long time, Hao'er is really playing the piano. ”

Xiao said: "I said the same thing, but Hao'er swore to me that sooner or later Liaodong will become a big granary, even if you can't see the benefits in front of you, but there are many mountains and land, and there are treasures and minerals, as long as they are managed properly, they are compared to rich places such as Jiangnan in Guannei." In fact, Liaodong is the real treasure land of feng shui, and the person who dares to be the first to eat crabs is called ability. ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao sighed: "Then let him toss at will, but this 10,000 mu of land deed is really scared to death." It can't be known by the imperial court, otherwise it will be taxed according to the number of acres, and what will it give to others? ”

Xiao Shi smiled: "It's okay, these places are all registered. It is indicated that it is outside the border, and there are no people, what can the government say? I'll wait until someone farms. Hao'er said that in the future, the imperial court would encourage the people to reclaim wasteland outside the gates. At least 20 years, you don't have to hand in a grain of grain. ”

Zhu Qiaoqiao said in surprise: "No wonder, he has a long-term view, and he does not hesitate to take action early for this." But I haven't heard of it. ”

"Who knows, he just has his own plans anyway." Xiao Shi didn't care, and now she has an almost blind trust in her son.

Since the third child is so capable, Zhu Qiaoqiao felt that there was no need to worry about money anymore, so she discussed the dowry with his wife with great interest, and as a result, the two losers added the most valuable gold and silver jewelry, so that Xu Hao was caught off guard later.

Here, the Wang family is also preparing a dowry for their daughter, and instructed his subordinates to open the treasury and move out all the things inside to sort out. Fortunately, it has not been placed for a long time, and there are people cleaning on weekdays, and the furniture and cages look like they are new, cleaning and painting or something, and it is no different from the new one if you don't look carefully.

Wang Xuanqing felt pain in his flesh, so he said: "How many acres of land will be given for the marriage?" Once you give too much, when you wait for the green clouds and willows, the face will not look good, and the children of jewelry and silk feel that it is enough, anyway, they will prepare for it, and then they will be the next people, and they will have to think about it when they send a few households over. ”

Wang stroked the wardrobe made of mahogany and said, "Anyway, Miss Cui Tao is a young lady, who can say anything if the dowry is more?" Like you said, anyway, Cuiyun Cuiliu has the money over there, so what's the matter with her? Forget about the field, the princess's mansion is not lacking in this, but there are too many people below, just take the opportunity to send some more, this matter is handed over to you, there is that delicious and lazy to do, and the whole family will marry in the past. ”

Wang Xuanqing grinned, stroking his round belly, knowing that in the future, with the death of the princess, Huangzhuang Fenglu or something would be canceled. If Cui Tao didn't plan carefully for this, if the Li family continued to live in luxury, maybe the family would be poor all of a sudden, but she deliberately didn't say it, and let his wife be self-righteous.

Suddenly, Wang looked at his daughter-in-law Geng, who didn't say a word, and said strangely: "You talk a lot on weekdays, why are you dumb today?" ”

Geng hurriedly smiled and said: "I am happy for the second girl, when I want the slave family to marry, I don't know how many times the family quarreled over the dowry, and they didn't give in to each other for an object, thinking about it makes the slave family sad." Who knows that the wife is distressed about the second girl, and the slave family who sees so many good things is dazzled, and I really dare not compare. ”

Wang was proud in his heart, and sighed on his face: "Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, and I still have too few of these." You must know that when you got married by chance, the person with a lot of dowry was scared to death, so you must not compete with that hot household in the future, and it will be more beneficial to please her by following her. Even the dowry brought by your second grandmother is also quite a lot, and it is a hundred times more valuable than the little sour thing sent by your family? No, I have to go over tonight to see what the second wife has planned, but I can't let Cui Tao suffer a loss and be laughed at by her mother's family. ”

Geng's most afraid of seeing the grandmother now, just about to say that there is something to do, I heard Wang's undoubted words: "You accompany me into Beijing at night, and then you will flatter your grandmother, if you can coax her back, I will reward you with a pair of gold bracelets and two fine silks." ”

"Yes." The boss was reluctant, and Geng reluctantly agreed.

Wang Xuanqing suddenly said: "The child in the womb is about to be born, mother, don't forget to ask the ancestor to give the name, these days I want to go to the temple to burn incense and worship the Buddha, and ask the Buddha to bless my mother and son safely." ”

Wang nodded and said: "I remember, this is the great-grandson of our family, and I don't dare to be sloppy with my name." Wen'er's generation is learning from the royal family, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, it's Jin's turn. (To be continued......)