Chapter 20 Winter Solstice

As soon as her mother left, her father Zhao Cheng came, "Daughter."

"Dad," Zhao Wangshu called sweetly.

Zhao Cheng asked similar questions to Zhao Li, and then told her, "People in the big house are all snobbish, don't be stingy, use a little money, and you can live a comfortable life with everything. It’s worth it.”

“Dad, where did you get the money?” Zhao Wangshu pinched the purse he stuffed and asked curiously.

Zhao Cheng said with a smile: "Don't tell your grandma and your mother what your father earned from copying books."

"Dad, there is no shortage of money in the family. Just concentrate on Read a book and don't be distracted by other things." Zhao Wangshu said.

"Copying books is not a trivial matter. Copying books can not only practice calligraphy and memorize the contents of the book, but also make money. You can also have more books at home. You can count them all in one fell swoop. How great."< br />
Zhao Wangshu smiled, "As long as it doesn't delay dad's study."

"It won't delay." Zhao Cheng said with a smile.

When Zhao Chenggang left after being coaxed happily by his daughter, it was Zhao Yin who came to find his sister.

He also sends money to his sister, and he also makes money by copying books.

Looking at the three purses containing silver in front of him, Zhao Wangshu smiled happily.

When Mrs. Zhao Cui came in to deliver the purse again, Zhao Wangshu couldn’t laugh or cry. How afraid her family was that she would have no money!

"Put your purse away obediently. Grandma will take you to watch making glutinous rice cakes." Mrs. Zhao Cui said with a smile, thinking that her granddaughter was a child.

"Oh." Zhao Wangshu put away his purse obediently and followed Mrs. Zhao Cui to the vestibule of the ancestral hall.

The fog lingers in the vestibule of the ancestral hall, and the aroma of glutinous rice wafts in the wind. The farmers are steaming glutinous rice. The glutinous rice was soaked in water last night.

The glutinous rice is steamed and poured into a clean stone mortar.

Two strong men stood on both sides of the stone mortar, raising their mallets high and taking turns beating the glutinous rice in the stone mortar.

Every once in a while, the village owner would use a wooden shovel soaked in water to turn over the glutinous rice balls in the stone mortar.

While Zhao Wangshu was watching it interestingly, Zhao Yuxiu and Zhao Yuying came over, "Sister Shu."

"Sister Xiu, sister Ying." Zhao Wangshu said with a smile.

"Yue'er, you are playing here and don't wander around." When Zhao Cui saw someone accompanying her, she went to chat with her sister-in-law on the other side.

As soon as Mrs. Zhao Cui walked away, Zhao Yuying couldn’t wait to tell the two of them, “Sister Shang Qing’s house invited a doctor last night, and she said she was frightened.Du, I was frightened and sick. "

" "Didn't you feel better in the carriage? Why did you fall ill again at night?" It's not like he's pretending to be sick. " Zhao Yuxiu said.

"Reverse stamina. "Zhao Wangshu said casually.

Zhao Yuxiu pouted, "She has enough stamina. ”

As the three of them chatted, the glutinous rice balls in the stone mortar had been beaten until they were so sticky that no rice grains could be seen at all, and they had become sticky and tough.

"rise. "The owner of the village shouted, and the strong men worked together to lift the ball-shaped glutinous rice cake into the big wooden basin with the mallet in their hands.

Most of the onlookers shared this first mortar of glutinous rice cake. To eat, each person took a ball of glutinous rice cake and ate it with prepared white marshmallows or soy flour.

After a warm Winter Solstice Festival at home, the girls gathered at the ancestral hall the next day. , waiting for the carriage from the mansion to pick them up.

The carriage arrived at the place where the horse was frightened that day, and there was a bunch of people surrounding it again, not knowing what they were doing.

This time Zhao Shuqing took the initiative and said: "Let's get off the carriage and take a look. "

Zhao Yuxiu asked directly: "Aren't you worried about bad guys this time? "

Hearing this, Zhao Shuqing blushed, pursed her lips, and didn't know how to answer.

"How can there be so many bad people at the emperor's feet. "Zhao Yujia made peace and opened the car door, "Let's go down. ”

But before the girls could walk over, the group of people dispersed.

Then I saw a young man wearing Xuanyi, and several people wearing clothes. The man in navy blue attire got on his horse and drove away.

The coachman exclaimed: "It's Long Tingwei. ”

The Long Tingwei are the emperor’s personal guards and only obey the emperor’s orders.

When the excitement was over, the girls got on the carriage and continued on their way.
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Return to the mansion and see Old Mrs. Zhao.

Old Mrs. Zhao glanced at them, drooped her eyelids, and asked lightly: "Is everything okay at home? "

"Everything is fine at home, thank you, old lady, for your concern. " Zhao Yujia replied.

"You guys have been free for two days. You practice one day, one day gong, and one day you don't practice ten days of sky. You study at night compared to others, so you can't do it even more. Slacked off. "

The meaning of beating is really strong.

The girls stood up, Zhao Yujia bowed and said: "We will work hard and will not let down the old lady's expectations of us. of. "

Old Mrs. Zhao twitched her lips and said, "I'll just listen. Okay, you just left the village.It's hard work coming back. Let's go back to our rooms and rest. "

"Yujia and her sisters will not disturb the old lady. "Zhao Yujia knelt down and led Zhao Wangshu and the others back to the courtyard.

Although the girls did not go to school today, they all gathered in the small warm hall.

They As soon as they entered the courtyard, they were invited into the small warm room by the maid.

The person who asked the maid to wait there was Zhao Shuangzhi. The reason why Zhao Shuangzhi wanted to find them was to show off.

"The empress has admired a box of new palace flowers. Take a look. Does it look good? "Zhao Shuangzhi held the palace flower on his temples and said proudly.

"It's quite beautiful. " Zhao Yujia said dryly.

"The old lady gave us a box of palace flowers, three branches each. If you like it, I can give you one. " Zhao Shuangzhi said this deliberately.

Zhao Yujia waved his hand, "No need."

"Okay, give me a branch. "Zhao Wangshu said with a smile.

Zhao Shuangzhi was stunned. He didn't expect that Zhao Wangshu didn't follow common sense.

"What's wrong? I can’t bear to part with it! Zhao Wangshu raised his eyebrows, "Why pretend to be generous if you can't bear it?" "

After saying that, he turned around and walked out.

Zhao Yujia quickly smoothed things over, "Sister Zhi, we just came back from Zhuangzi. We are a little tired. Let's go back to the room to rest. What's the matter? Let’s talk about it tomorrow. ”

She slipped away quickly, and Zhao Shuhui and the others immediately followed.

Seeing them leave like that, Zhao Shuangzhi stamped his feet angrily.

That evening, when the girls were about to go to bed, Mrs. Zhao sent someone to send a message, "The weather is too cold, and it's going to snow again. Girls, please stay in the yard to eat. Don't brave the wind and snow to come to the upper room. ”

Old Mrs. Zhao’s sudden compassion made Zhao Wangshu feel strange. He always felt that the old lady was holding back some big tricks to punish those of them who were disobedient and insisted on going home for the holidays.
< br /> Facts have proved that Zhao Wangshu’s sixth sense is quite keen.

Mrs. Zhao had already decided that the girls would have three dishes for each meal, one meat, one vegetarian and one soup. If they wanted to eat Better, or if you want a few more dishes, you can pay for them yourself and ask the kitchen to cook them.

The three dishes for lunch on several consecutive days are braised meatballs, vegetarian stir-fried tofu skin and chicken skin soup, and for dinner It was these three dishes again.

Zhao Wangshu looked at the oily skin on the soup, frowned, and pondered for a moment, "Lvzhi, take Bai Rong and Cheng Xiang around. ”

Let them go out and find out if other people's dishes are the same these days to confirm her guess.

Luzhi followed the order and went out for a walk with Bai Rong and Chengxiang. He came back and reported: "In addition to Miss Jia, Miss Hui, Miss Qing, Miss Xiu and Miss Hua, The dishes have been the same these three days, and the other girls' dishes are different, and the old lady also gave each of them an extra dish."

Knowing that it was just as she expected, Zhao Wangshu was so angry that he laughed, Old Mrs. Zhao uses such simple and crude methods to make things difficult for others, which shows that she is confident and has no kindness at all towards the girls.