Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 557 Homely

Lin Wenxuan said as he served himself some rice: "Aunt, have you seen Junior Sister's birthday gift? I heard there's a poem in it. Could you please show it to me? She's so stingy, she wouldn't show it to me no matter how much I begged."

"Song Ying can write poetry now? That's incredible!" Doctor Ma was surprised and looked at Doctor Lin. "Senior sister, we are all family. There is no need for all those formalities. Just show us your poems."

Song Ying blushed, "That wasn't written by me."

Doctor Ma was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized, "Was it written by that kid Yuan Qing? Not bad, that's thoughtful."

Doctor Lin was also very satisfied. Zhu Xi's Family Rites states that after an engagement, all celebrations, good and bad, should be conducted according to the rituals of the in-laws. However, Song Ying and Yuan Qing had only matched their horoscopes and had not yet performed the engagement ceremony, so it was not uncommon for them not to celebrate the birthday of the woman's elders according to rituals.

But Yuan Qing not only sent two pieces of Shu brocade as gifts, but also wrote a birthday poem. His manners were comprehensive and elegant, and he really meant a lot.

Lin Wenxuan finally finished his meal and sat down, shouting, "The new scholar's poems are even more worth reading."

Doctor Lin gestured for Song Ying to fetch the poem and said, "You'll be disappointed. This child's talent isn't in poetry."

Lin Wenxuan was still very interested. When Song Ying brought it to him, he read it softly. After reading it, he was very confused and could not tell whether it was good or bad.

"I think it's pretty good. It sounds like it was written specifically to suit Junior Sister's asparagus fern and Ganoderma lucidum bonsai. The poem doesn't directly mention the word 'longevity', but the nine-stem Ganoderma lucidum and Chunxi are all metaphors for longevity and good fortune."

Doctor Lin shook his head when he heard this. "You're lucky your parents aren't around. Your junior sister hasn't learned to compose poetry, but you learned to appreciate poetry and prose from a teacher in your childhood."

"It's just that I have no talent." When Lin Wenxuan mentioned this, he immediately felt overwhelmed. He didn't want to continue studying at the beginning because, firstly, it was because he was easy to be bullied, and secondly, he really had no talent.

All four of them laughed.

Doctor Ma suddenly remembered something and suggested, "Song Ying, Wenxuan, I think you shouldn't sell this Shu brocade yet. Counting the days, the people in the capital should have received the news and are rushing here.

If there are those with bad intentions who use the fact that Shu brocade is exclusively for the royal family to make a fuss, it will cause a lot of trouble.”

Song Ying thought about it and felt that it made sense. "Then let's discuss it later. Just wait another half month and we can weave more."

"It's not half a month, Junior Sister, you don't know that the news of the incident here was sent by the government through the post station. They changed people and horses day and night, and it took half a month to reach the capital.

Families like the Li and Ruan families were coming to deal with the aftermath, and there were definitely more than one or two people coming from each family. No matter how fast the carriages and horses traveled in the dark, they couldn't go fast.

Moreover, winter is approaching. If the Yellow River freezes over and the ice is thin, they will have to take a detour. By the time they reach Sichuan, the Qinling Mountains will surely be covered in snow as well. This means they won't be able to cross the Qinling Mountains and will have to take a long detour. It will take at least two or three months for them to arrive."

"So far?" Song Ying exclaimed, "Did it take you this long to get to Qingshui County?"

Then she thought that Yuan Qing would go to Beijing to take the imperial examination in the future, and the journey would take several months. The spring examination was in February, when the weather was cold, so it would be best to set off half a year in advance.

Lin Wenxuan nodded, "That's right, I'm almost falling apart in this carriage."

Song Ying pursed his lips and immediately changed his tone, "Master, if you calculate it this way, the New Year will be over by the time they arrive. We are still thinking of selling more during the New Year."

"You can sell it however you want. Don't listen to your uncle-in-law. He's just a coward. There are many private merchants selling Shu brocade in the capital. This is not the past. It's not a big deal."

……

The four disciples ate and chatted about family matters. There were no so many rules about not talking while eating or sleeping, but they were all having a great time.

After dinner, Song Ying and Lin Wenxuan accompanied Doctor Lin back to Shen's house. They took the pulse of the person who was poisoned in Shen's family before going home.

When we got home, it was almost dark. Luo Yanxing smiled and joked, "You two have been seeing each other every day lately, so how come you still have so much to say? It's a good thing we didn't go, otherwise we would have disturbed your good mood."

"We dispersed at 3:00 PM. The master was still thinking of you and said it was just a simple meal for family, so there was no need to be so particular."

Luo Yanxing also attached great importance to his good friend's master's birthday. Like Yuan Qing, he gave a gift. However, thinking that it was a rare gathering of their sect, it would be a bit awkward to have outsiders present, so he declined and did not go to have dinner with them.

Besides, she was really busy. The new shop had been completed and was supposed to open some time ago, but because of the tragedy at the Shen Mansion, it was temporarily put on hold.

After all, the Shen family is a well-known family in the officialdom of Qingshui County. Shen Zhuangyuan, the top scholar, means a lot to the people of the entire Qingshui County. It is a bit disrespectful for them to open a business just when someone else has just passed away.

Therefore, she was very busy during this period. Mei Yue Nanxing was originally in charge of the pancreas shop here, and during this period she often went to the new shop to help out during the lunch break when the pancreas business was slow.

As Luo Yanxing closed the door, he said, "The village chief and the village chief of Rongshu Village came together today. They have something to ask you, so they had to leave until almost twilight."

"Why did they come here when they wanted to see me?" Song Ying asked in surprise. "They didn't calculate the time well. It was already after noon when they arrived. Did I go to Shen's house?"

"There are so many people in the clinic, and some things are hard to say." Luo Yanxing shrugged, "I've been going around in circles. To sum up, the villagers of Rongshu Village want to go to the Shen Mansion to pay their respects and ease the tension.

But they are also worried that the Shen family's attitude will still be cold and tough, and if they kick them out directly, they will be embarrassed, so they want you to help them test the Shen family's attitude first.

As for the village chief, as a fellow villager, people in our village naturally want to go to the Shen Mansion to pay their respects and show our fellow villagers’ friendship.

However, so many people died in the Shen Mansion at once, and they were poisoned. Most of them were children. They were worried that these dead people had heavy resentment, and if they attended such a funeral, they would be contaminated by unclean things.

So, I wanted to find out what the reason was. If it's a case of sowing seeds and reaping the fruits, it was the Shen family that wronged that concubine first, so it's karma. Those who died didn't hold such strong grudges, so they went to pay their respects."

Song Ying: “…”

In the final analysis, they just wanted to go, but they had concerns and wanted her to give them a reason and give them a push.

Song Ying ignored it directly and just said the request of the Wutong Village chief, "I'm not sure about this. According to the rule that you don't go to weddings without invitations, and go to funerals without invitations, if they take the initiative to go to offer condolences, even if the people in the Shen Mansion are unhappy, they won't do anything too much.

But if what they did to the Shen family back then reaches the point of deep hatred, the Shen family might actually kick them out on the spot."

PS: I recently sorted it out and found that the royal generation order was a bit wrong. The Princess Shun'an was changed to the emperor's niece. Well, let's just assume that the old emperor is very long-lived.