At the end of the year, there will be a great chaos in the house, and the deacons and maids in each room, as well as the insiders and outsiders, under the command of the housekeeper and the housekeeper's wife, must clean up inside and out.

Shu Erniang of the Hanging Flower Gate urged all the bedding and table circumference to be removed and replaced with new ones.

Sixi was busy instructing the mothers-in-law of each class to lead the people of the greenhouse, holding all kinds of flowers, washing and replacing the large and small vases in Qianshoutang, Yi'an Hall and other places; The women and girls swept the floor and wiped the table, washed the dishes, cups and plates, put away the candlesticks and lamps, and the mothers washed and dried the clothes, cleaned the baths and toilets, and cleaned the courtyard.

Mu Ningxue sat in Daoxiangju, Qingwen and Musk Yue assisted left and right, and the stewards outside wrote posts, sending silver and receiving silver endlessly; There are also various silver taels that should be repaired in the courtyard and garden, and the sisters-in-law who listened to the errand waited in line to get the money.

Zhiqing and Xiangling Xiangxuan exchanged several silver, refuted the accounts, and wrote off the lists, and registered them one by one. Yuelan was in charge of the inner kitchen in the house to receive money from her sisters-in-law, all kinds of sea vegetables and fresh ingredients shipped from all over the country; Zhulan took the key to distribute rice and meat, oil, salt, firewood, etc. for the New Year, and the people took food as the sky, and the yard was full of people.

Xiao Yushi in accordance with the rules, in advance to pay the monthly wages that should have been issued on the first day of each month, lively all morning, all the houses signed and received, and then came to help the relatives and friends in the first month of the birthday, marriage, marriage, childbirth, funeral, funeral and other celebration and mourning ceremonies, entrusted the family master and guest to write one by one, together with the gift money in advance.

Here, Qingwen also has to open a warehouse to distribute tea, wine and fruits, snacks and fruit boxes, etc., so that the little girl can register on the account.

There are so many relatives and friends in the Xu family that it is staggering, and from time to time someone goes to the Hanging Flower Gate to inform who is the wedding and funeral of the family, these things Xu Hao has never liked to work hard for his wife, it is Zhiqing They can only try their best to discuss and consider the importance one by one. Please ask Xiao Yushi to nod in agreement, and then ask the daughter-in-law to lead the collar and hair, and hand them over to Shu Erniang and Sister-in-law Ye of the Weeping Flower Gate, and then transfer them to the foreign steward to collect, and the account will be written off on the same date when the matter is finished.

As for the large and small rewards, they must be given to the bookkeeper, and they will be distributed every month according to the position of the head.

What is very interesting is that when Zhu Qiaoqiao drafted the family rules, Xu Hao was out of supervision. The signature system is stipulated, and to this day, the sister-in-law who runs an errand must take the list, first go to sign for the corresponding housekeeper, and then go to sign for the housekeeper's 'aunt', and the last is the 'aunt' on duty.

Xu Hao knows that in the past few days, the family has been busy up and down like a pot of porridge. When she got up early in the morning, the little girl served him to comb his hair and wash his face, and put on a white jade crown with his hair tied; And Mu Ningxue was wearing a white spun silk shirt with green piping and a water-red single silk coat. With a red brocade quilt on his body, he was sleeping soundly on his side.

Xu Hao leaned down and kissed his wife lightly on the forehead, and said in a low voice, "I'm leaving." ”

Mu Ningxue slowly opened her eyes and said with a smile: "I have no conscience." Leave us to worry about labor, and you go to freedom alone. ”

Xu Hao laughed dryly and said, "It's too noisy at home. Besides, the exchange of favors during the New Year's holidays gives me a headache, so I simply go out of the city and hide for a few days. I went back to the village to stay for a few days, and I hadn't seen the villagers for many years. ”

"Hmmm! Go ahead, I'm taking a nap, I'm busy today. Mu Ningxue smiled and closed her eyes again.

In this way, Xu Hao returned to Xiaojia Village, he didn't plan to disturb the Mei family and Xiao Yuying's mother and daughter, as well as the Xiao family and the Xue family and other relatives.

Yesterday, I received the news that Cuihe had fallen into the water and disappeared, and I had sent people to search along both sides of the river, but after so many days, the chances of survival were very slim.

Although this matter has nothing to do with Xu Hao, if it weren't for his appearance, Cuihe probably wouldn't have ended up like this.

Xu Hao is not a sentimental character, and he will not be sad because of Cuihe's accident, but he needs to be quiet for a few days now, away from the hustle and bustle, so that he doesn't think about anything.

Next door lives a family surnamed Wei, who moved from Weijia Village in the previous generation, and the old man's surname is Wei Minghua, who has been farming for a living all his life. His wife, Tao, was extremely kind and raised two sons, the eldest son was named Wei Da and the second son was named Wei Er.

Wei Hua owed a lot of debts when he was young, so the family was very poor, and it was a difficult household in Xiaojia Village, and the houses were all thatched houses, so the brothers went to farm for the big households, which was very common in Jiangnan, and in recent years, the debts have been paid off one after another, and the family has gradually had some savings.

Wei Da married a fellow daughter as his wife, and he was very filial to his parents, but because Wei Er was a young son, his mother had been particularly partial to him since he was a child, and he was obedient to him and developed the habit of talking back.

Tao made an authentic farmhouse dish, Xu Hao likes to eat it very much, he comes over on time every day to eat, the village has been very hospitable since ancient times, and it is a great honor for the Wei family that he can come to eat.

Xu Hao instructed. Don't tell him about his affairs in the village, the Wei family is naturally happy to obey orders.

At noon, Xu Hao tasted the salted fish in the yard, but unfortunately he had to endure the smell of the pigsty. It would be nice to have chili peppers and potatoes as ingredients, but Zheng He's fleet has been out of the country for two years, is this going to come back?

Wei Er squatted on the ground with a grin, drinking the tribute wine brought by Xu Hao with Old Man Wei, when Wei Da walked in and sat on the stool.

His daughter-in-law brought over a night of rice, and Tao did not take Xu Hao as an outsider, and said: "Erlang is old, and there is a daughter in the Shi family in the former village, I see that she is very diligent and thrifty, planting rice, treadmills, accumulating hemp, spinning yarn, and she is also of the same age. ”

Wei Da nodded honestly, agreed to tell the second brother about his daughter-in-law, raised his glass and touched Xu Hao lightly, and said with a smile: "After Brother Hao comes, our family will be blessed to taste the wine, and wait for a pot of 100 taels of silver." ”

Wei Hua scolded: "It's not big or small, can you call it by name?" How many times have I said it and I have not changed it. ”

Wei Da said: "I grew up with a bare ass since I was a child, what's the name?" Brother Hao didn't say anything. ”

"The third young master is polite, it's really funny." Probably the old man Wei himself doesn't care, what do people in a village have to worry about? It's just a habitual lesson for a few sons.

At this time, Wei Er was not happy, and shouted to his mother: "Mother, what kind of eyes do you have?" I often see the eldest daughter of the Shi family, who is numb, black and stupid, and has no wife in her life. I don't want that crooked thing either. ”

Dow said angrily: "You don't want to know the roots, so what do you want?" ”

Xu Hao poured the family full of wine one by one, shook it and ran out of wine, and casually took out two bottles from his side, Wei Hua and Wei Da's eyes lit up.

Wei Er said expectantly: "I went to rent the rice house the day before yesterday, and there is a sister in the room, called Peach Blossom, white and Peugeot, I like her in my heart." No, when she entered the city yesterday, her mother-in-law beat her. She cried and came out to die. So I said to her, 'You have food and shelter, and it's not uncommon for you to get beaten a few times from time to time, so why do you want to seek death and life?' ’。 She cried and said to me, 'Where do you know my suffering?' The upper tube head, the lower tube pin, either hit or scold. The day before yesterday, the old man smiled at me by chance, and was seen by his wife, and he was beaten and scolded to this day, do you say bitter? What can compare to your countryman, living freely. ’”

Xu Hao asked casually, "What is the family's surname?" ”

Wei Er said: "The Jinshi family surnamed Wu." His family has thousands of hectares of fertile land nearby, and people say that he is one of the richest people in Jinling. However, it was a distant relative of his family who rented the rice, also surnamed Wu. ”

Xu Hao nodded and said, "Oh, you go on." ”

Wei Er smiled and said, "I asked her at the time, do you have a good relationship?" What did she shout? This time I'm going to have to go out. It is better to be a monogamy in the country than to be a subordinate in the city to make a house for others.

As soon as I heard the music, I said that I was also looking for a wife from the city, would you follow me? Peach Blossom saw that there was no one left and right. whispered to me: If you have a heart, I will marry you, and my wife is jealous of her good looks. I wish I could sell people. ”

Dow immediately said, "How much silver does that get?" It's expensive, and we can't afford it. ”

Wei Erxian glanced at Xu Hao intentionally or unintentionally, tilted his head and said: "She only sold it for twenty taels of silver, I was afraid that I would have no money and secretly handed over a private house, five or six taels of broken silver, so sincerely want to follow me, is it better than your Shi family's eldest daughter who is a dozen taels of dowry?" I must ask her to be my daughter-in-law anyway. ”

Wei Hua groaned: "It's good, it's good, you have to find a fortune teller to calculate a hexagram first, and see if it fits." I'm afraid that people are from the city, and they are not used to living in the countryside. ”

Wei Er shouted: "You all don't care, give me twenty taels of silver, and I'll ask Second Uncle Xue to help me come forward." ”

Since the third young master of the Xu family lived at home, the old couple and Wei Da and his wife were not worried about being deceived, so they gave him all the money in the family.

Xu Hao felt that the weddings and funerals of real people's families were so simple and casual, there was not so much red tape, and marrying a daughter-in-law was a matter of a few taels of silver, don't look at him It has been almost ten years since he came to the Ming Dynasty, but he has lived a life without white ding, and he has never been close to the ordinary working people. Shame, shame!

The childhood friends in the village have basically started a family, like Xue Wen and other officials in various places, most of the people who should have made a career have already made a career, and those who should not have made a career are still lazy and alive.

Xu Hao didn't plan to catch up with anyone, and when he was walking alone in the fields at night, Wei Er trotted over with a smile on his face.

Xu Hao didn't wait for him to speak, and said happily: "Do you want me to accompany you to buy a daughter-in-law?" Okay, call me tomorrow morning. ”

Seeing Wei Er running away happily, Xu Hao smiled helplessly, he really couldn't be clean anywhere, turned around very chicly, and went back to the house to sleep.

In order to help Wei Er, Xu Hao had a plan in his heart, if the other party's lion opened his mouth and asked for a price, then he would give Wu Siwen a prayer post, and redeem as much silver as he sold.

Early in the morning, facing the cold and fresh air, Xu Hao and his party entered the city in an ox cart, and arrived at Wu's house near Wu Siwen's house, explaining their intentions.

Fortunately, the housewife was annoyed by the peach blossoms, and regardless of whether her husband was angry or not, she happily said to the housekeeper: "Since it is my tenant Wei Erlang, I have to fulfill him, as long as I have six taels of tea ceremony, I can prepare some dowry gifts, and marry home immediately." ”

Xu Haoxin said that women are really generous in this matter, and they saved fourteen taels of silver without bargaining, so what else is there to say?

At the moment, everyone acted separately, Wei Er sealed the silver taels, and happily went out to buy peaches, dates, goose meat and tea four-color dowry, Xu Hao first went to Zhang Luo a carriage, and asked Second Uncle Xue to go back to find a few relatives to come and pick up relatives.

Instructed Li Dong to go home and get a new dress and four palanquin drivers and a horse, and put the clothes on for Wei Er, and the peach blossoms inside were also happily shaved, put on a new peach-colored dress, and said goodbye to his wife.

Eight blowers were hired to carry the bride back to the village. Under the sun, Wei Er, who was riding on a horse, was radiant, and waved his hand from time to time to signal to the villagers who heard the news.

Li Dong, who was the most behind, snickered: "Young master, you returned to the village to hide from the world, why did you know in the first place?" Today, three or four Hou Bofu in the city are holding happy events, and they are all looking forward to your congratulations. ”

Xu Hao smiled: "Compared with going to give them the icing on the cake, I feel comfortable here." (To be continued......)