C203

The weather was getting colder and colder, but other than the moment the letter was sent, Xu Shiqiu had not received any news at all.

Although the family knew that Xu Shiqiu was going to the northern border this time, and wasn't as easily able to send a letter to their family as when they annihilated the horse bandits last time, it had been so long since they received any news, so their family was still extremely worried.

Old Madame Xu could be considered to have experienced this before. Although Xu Zhenbei did not return after a few months outside, it was Dong Shu's first time experiencing this.

At this time, Dong Shu hugged, who was looking at Old Madame Xu, and wanted to ask something, but she was worried that because of her inquiry, Old Madame Xu would become even more worried.

How could the Old Madame Xu not see through Dong Shu's predicament? But thinking about how she had to go through all of these, she did not point it out.

"There's been something wrong with the news in the capital recently. Take note when you give them instructions to go out and buy New Year's gifts." The moment Old Madame Xu opened her mouth to speak, Dong Shu immediately retracted his originally worried expression, and his expression became serious.

As soon as they entered, the price in the capital doubled, especially the price of rice and meat.

As for vegetables, during the summer and autumn, almost every household would have a lot of dried vegetables. Nowadays, a large family would also be able to eat some fresh vegetables.

The Xu Family had its own villas, whether it was rice, meat, or vegetables, they were all brought over from time to time.

Originally, they could not have realized it either, but the people Xu Shiqiu left behind found out about it, and reported it to Dong Shu, who then told the Old Madame Xu.

Old Madame Xu was someone who had experienced a lot in the past, so when she found out about this, she knew that the capital was in a state of turmoil.

Today was the sixth day of the sixth month, and in two days, it would be the eighth. Currently, every family was preparing their New Year's gift, and even if they did use Xu Family, they would still need to go out to purchase some.

That was the reason why the Old Madame Xu gave such an explanation.

As Dong Shu listened to Old Madame Xu's explanation, she continuously nodded her head. At the same time, she thought about the matter that Xu Shiqiu had just told him.

"My husband mentioned to me about the family stewards' annual gifts earlier. It's just that he originally said that I'll take care of the family members. He'll be responsible for the outside stewards." Since my husband is not at home now, I'm not sure what kind of New Year's gift the steward outside is going to prepare either. "

As soon as Dong Shu said this, Old Madame Xu understood what she meant, "This is something that we have been used to in the past, other than having rules and regulations, the rest of it depends on how each of them manage their own affairs this year, and add or subtract from that." Old Madame Xu explained in detail, and Dong Shu listened attentively as well.

This was the first time that Dong Shu was managing a housewife to manage all these matters. Furthermore, in the past few years, all of her Xu Family s were on the Xiahe Village s, and some of her relatives and friends had even sent him gifts on a long journey, which were a little different from normal gifts.

However, since everyone was in the capital this year, these things naturally had to be different from the previous years.

Dong Shu etched the words of the Old Madame Xu into her heart and, according to her own judgement, slightly adjusted the annual gift list for each family.

Dong Shu was busy again, so she missed Xu Shiqiu a lot less. What Dong Shu did not expect was that although Xu Shiqiu had not sent any news yet, but on the night of the seventh day of the twelfth month, Yan Ye had secretly climbed over the wall and entered Xu Family.

Fortunately, Yue Yin and the others who were on guard tonight knew Yan Ye. Upon seeing him, they immediately stopped their attacks and went to help summon Dong Shu who was just about to sleep.

"Third Aunt, there's no need to be busy. I'm just a little cold. Just give me a bowl of hot soup. I've brought some dry rations with me." Seeing that Dong Shu was about to go to the kitchen and personally make dinner for him, Yan Ye immediately called out to her.

After Dong Shu heard Yan Ye's words, not only did he not stop, he increased his speed by a little, "Don't worry, because tomorrow morning we will be cooking porridge, and there will always be a fire in the kitchen. Since this is your first time visiting your new son-in-law, I must make you a bowl of noodles. It just so happens that there's a mutton soup stewed in the kitchen in the afternoon. I'll cook you a bowl of mutton broth noodles. "

Dong Shu insisted on making sure that Yan Ye, this new son-in-law who was visiting for the first time, was not lying. Even the Old Madame Xu who had heard the news and rushed over from the Main Yard nodded at Yan Ye, "We'll listen to your Third Aunt. This is an old tradition and it's rare that she still remembers all of it. We, the ancestors, and the grandson will talk at the Shihuan Courtyard and wait for your Third Aunt to cook some noodles for you to eat. When you finish eating, go rest in the courtyard Yanzhu was in before she was married. After saying that to Yan Ye, the Old Madame Xu continued to ask: "Why are you here in the capital at this time? Where's Yanzhu? "

Yan Ye was currently waiting in the front courtyard of the Shihuan Courtyard, the place where Xu Shiqiu usually received his juniors.

Although he directly entered the Third Aunt's courtyard, he knew that there had always been someone in Dong Shu's courtyard, and it wasn't just her.

Furthermore, the Shihuan Courtyard was directly nearing the outer wall, making it easier for him to enter.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked offending his elders by directly coming to the Shihuan Courtyard; after all, he knew that Xu Shiqiu wasn't at home.

Of course, neither Dong Shu nor the Old Madame Xu had any objections to Yan Ye directly coming to the Shihuan Courtyard s. Not only were the people from the Shihuan Courtyard loyal, there was no doubt about it, the most important thing was the position of the Shihuan Courtyard s.

At a time like this, they wouldn't care so much.

When Dong Shu saw that the Old Madame Xu had rushed over, he quickly walked to Shihuan Courtyard's small kitchen and started to cook the noodles.

There was a chef in the kitchen who cooked the noodles well in case she or Yuanxi would get hungry during the night.

As she did not have much noodles, Dong Shu scooped up half a bowl of mutton. Afraid that Yan Ye would be sick of it, she also scooped up two plates of appetizers.

Just as Dong Shu was preparing the mutton noodle soup in the kitchen, Yan Ye was also replying to Old Madame Xu's words from inside the house.

"After I received news that you and the Third Uncle had given me, I was prepared to come to the capital. Coincidentally, I had some matters to attend to, so I delayed for a few days." After saying that, Yan Ye felt that after being roasted by the fire in the house, his frozen body had finally warmed up.

Due to his warm body, Yan Ye's tone couldn't help but lighten a bit, "Because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to return for the new year, I accompanied Yanzhu at home for another two days. After entrusting her to the Elder Sun, I rushed back to the capital. Before we even reach the capital, I received news from my subordinates that Ye Jingche was preparing to make his move during the New Year. "

Before this, Old Madame Xu only knew that Ye Jingche was not willing to make a move, but she had not received any accurate information. Now that she heard Yan Ye's words, she finally knew the exact time.

"There are still about twenty days. I don't know if he will be able to make it back in time after I send a message to your Third Uncle."

Before she could say anything, Yan Ye smirked and said: "I just received the news and have sent my trusted aide to deliver a letter to the Third Uncle at the northern border. The reason why I have been rushing to the capital this time is also because I want to take advantage of Laba's time to deliver a letter to my aunt and uncle. If we get the news earlier, Uncle and I can get up earlier. "

Hearing that Yan Ye was following him and calling Ye Jingxing his fifth uncle as' uncle ', Old Madame Xu only froze for a moment. Then, as if he had not heard Yan Ye call him just now, he opened his mouth and said: "If that's the case, then go soak in the bath early after dinner. Tomorrow, not only will we give our family and friends the rice porridge, your aunt will probably come to deliver the New Year gift herself. Otherwise, I'm afraid she won't go out. "

At this time, there were definitely a lot of people who were watching the Fifth Prince Palace, and it was possible that Ye Jingche would have people watching the Fifth Prince Palace.

Therefore, the closer it was to the end of the year, the more Xu Nuanwen hated going out. Although she did not like going out, she still came to the Xu Family occasionally.

It was just that every time she came to the Xu Family, on the way there and when she returned, she would always meet some people or something.

This also caused the number of times Xu Nuanwen had to return to the Xu Family to decrease.

But tomorrow was La Ba, according to the customs, the daughter-in-law would return to give her parents a New Year gift. For the past 10 years, Xu Nuanwen did not have the chance to return to her mother's home in La Ba, so she would definitely not miss this year.

So when it was night, Yan Ye sneaked into their house to wait for them, which was a good idea. After breakfast, Xu Nuanwen would probably be there by then.

Yan Ye had the same thought, which was why he was rushing over the past two days, arriving at the capital on the seventh night.

Just as Old Madame Xu and Yan Ye finished talking, Dong Shu entered the room with the tray.

The fragrance of the mutton noodle soup floated into Yan Ye's nose with Dong Shu's entrance. For Yan Ye, who had been relying on snow water and dry pancakes, it was really too alluring.

Both the Old Madame Xu and Dong Shu could see that Yan Ye was in a sorry state, especially his bloodshot eyes.

"There are ingredients specially made by the Doctor Du in this mutton soup, eat more and get sweating. Later, I will have the Wang's Disease bring a few servants to bring some hot water to Yanzhu's yard." Speaking to here, Dong Shu paused for a while before continuing: "I reckon that Yanzhu's courtyard also has your clothes, and they should have been made by her when she was at home before. After you've gone over to look in the cupboard, you'll definitely be able to find them."

Dong Shu had guessed that Yan Ye did not want too many people to know that he was here, so after thinking about it, he did not send anyone to serve her.

Yan Ye was very satisfied with Dong Shu's arrangements, but hearing her say that Yanzhu's courtyard had her own clothes, he grinned happily.

From his bosom, he took out a few letters wrapped in brown paper and passed them to Old Madame Xu. Then, Yan Ye lowered his head and started to eat the noodles.

Yan Ye first drank a mouthful of the rich mutton soup. Due to the fact that there were green onions and the frighteningly expensive pepper in the soup, the soup went down to his stomach.

Old Madame Xu smiled as sshe looked at Yan Ye, who was eating a bowl of noodles. Then, he picked up the letter that Yan Ye sent over and started observing it.

Just by glancing at these envelopes, Old Madame Xu knew that these letters were written by Yanzhu.

The Old Madame Xu passed the letter with the words' Third Aunt's Inherent Skill 'to Dong Shu and wrote it for him to keep properly. She was prepared to read it after returning to her own courtyard.

After sweeping a glance, she gave the rest to Dong Shu: "For your sister, keep them first. Give them to her when she comes back tomorrow." After saying that, the Old Madame Xu yawned, endured his sleepiness, and continued to speak with Dong Shu: "Go and arrange for Wang's Disease and the others to boil some water to Yanzhu's courtyard. Remember to remind them to light the fire in the house, and make the beds thicker as well."

Hearing Old Madame Xu's instructions, Dong Shu hurriedly received the letter she passed over just now, then turned and walked out of the house.

After Dong Shu left, the Old Madame Xu looked at Yan Ye and reminded him, "Sleep peacefully tonight, I will send my trusted servant woman to guard Yanzhu's courtyard, she will definitely not let anyone disturb you. Seeing you like this, I know that you haven't had a good rest for many days. In the morning, you'll sleep until you wake up naturally. Also, your Third Aunt doesn't know so many things. When you talk to your aunt tomorrow, avoid your Third Aunt. " Saying that, Old Madame Xu thought for a moment before continuing, "If their entire family comes, I'll have them find you in Yanzhu's courtyard."

As Yan Ye chewed noodles in his mouth, he did not know how to answer Old Madame Xu. He could only nod at her.

It had been many years since Yan Ye had felt the care and concern of an elder. The care and concern the Old Madame Xu had for him was different from that of the Elder Sun, but because of his identity, the Elder Sun was more concerned with instructing him in his studies.

But Old Madame Xu's concern for these small matters made Yan Ye once again feel the deep love from the elders.

He did not say anything, and after Yan Ye finished a bowl of noodles and left the Shihuan Courtyard, she followed suit.

Tomorrow is the 8th day of the 12th month, I still have some work to do at home.