At the beginning, there is smoke coming out of the ancestral grave, and the woman is busy in the imp

Xie Mingli: "..." No, you have to keep Mingcheng away from the birds when he comes back. To avoid infecting his little sister with his shallow brainpower.

What should I do if I look at this bird and melon seeds and don't have much aura?

inside the house.

Mrs. Liu changed Xie Yuheng's clothes, gently wiped his hands and feet with a handkerchief, and then covered him with a small quilt.

Looking at the hill between her granddaughter's eyebrows, Mrs. Liu stretched out her wrinkled hand and gently smoothed it away.

He got up and took the soothing incense from the owl tent from the cabinet, and burned it in the incense burner on the huanghuali wooden desk.

After everything was done, Fang tiptoed out of the house.

Looking at her eldest grandson squatting under the eaves, Mrs. Liu sighed quietly and patted Xie Mingli's shoulder.

Ms. Liu spoke in a warm voice: "In our family, people are almost doing the ceremony. Why, when you are unhappy, you act like a child, keeping silent and learning to be a wooden man."

Xie Mingli stood up and called his grandmother, and then he was like a gourd with its mouth cut off.

He has become accustomed to digesting negative emotions by himself.

As the eldest brother, he should shield his younger brothers and sisters from wind and rain and set an example.

"In a blink of an eye, my eldest grandson is already nineteen." Seeing him not saying anything, Mrs. Liu stretched out her hand to straighten the wrinkles on his robe.

After smoothing out the wrinkles, Mrs. Liu patted her grandson's arm and said with a smile: "Back then, your second uncle abandoned his pen and joined the army just like today.

"We are Ming Li. The little one is holding the second uncle's thigh and crying loudly. He refuses to let go no matter what."

Xie Mingli lowered his eyes, covered his lips with his hands and coughed lightly, his earlobes feeling slightly hot. "Is there... such a thing?"

Mrs. Liu smiled lovingly, took his hand, and patted it gently.

Of course that's not the case, silly boy.

But he said: "You were still young at that time, how could you remember these things. Later, your voice became hoarse from crying. After you fell asleep from crying, your father carried you home."

Xie Mingli frowned slightly, why didn't he have any impression at all? Could it be that I was too young at the time and don’t remember...

"Ahem...I'm going to see Master Si make sobering tea. Do you need any help?"

Finding an excuse abruptly, Xie Mingli almost ran away, striding out.

He really couldn't accept that he was a crybaby when he was a child. If word spread, where would his majesty as the eldest brother lie!

Mrs. Liu looked at her eldest grandson's leaving figure with a smile. As the child grew older, he kept everything in his heart.

She looked exhausted after carrying her eldest brother's arrogance all day long.

I just hope that one day I will meet a good man, know that he understands me, and relieve him of all kinds of sorrows.

After solving her eldest grandson's emotional problem, Ms. Liu returned to the house to take care of her younger granddaughter.

Other people's children are ignorant, and as elders, they have endless worries.

On the other hand, their children are too sensible. As for worries, don’t hold everything in your heart until it gets ruined.

That's not entirely true, except for that silly boy Mingcheng.

Thinking of Xie Mingcheng, Liu sighed again. Come on, none of the three brothers and sisters have anything to worry about!

……

Jiangling, North City Gate.

The autumn wind howled and roared, blowing the beams and flags on the city wall.

Under the city wall, two rows of soldiers from the Shenwu Battalion stood upright, their silver spears emitting sharp and dazzling light in the sunlight.

People were bustling inside and outside the city, saying goodbye to their family members who had been drafted into the army.

A seventeen-year-old boy was separated from his family. There was heat in his eyes, but he just gritted his teeth and held on.

Mother said, a man should bleed but not shed tears!

Suddenly, I saw everyone around me running to the same place. I thought they had gathered in advance, so I followed them with my small baggage.

Only when I got closer did I realize that it was a master and student from Xie's Academy who was painting people's portraits for free.

The young man stood in the crowd, looked around, found an older man who looked kinder, and asked, "Do you really want no money?"

"It's free, but we don't have enough people, so each person can only draw one."

"Look, that's the father of Marquis Jiangling. What he said definitely counts!" The uncle held the little girl tightly with one hand and showed the boy with the other.

The young man took a cursory look, thanked the uncle profusely, and then squeezed out again.

I ran to the place where I had just parted from my family. I didn’t know if my mother and sister had left.

Only the landlord in their village has a portrait. I heard that it was painted by the headmaster of Qingshan Academy and cost several hundred taels of silver.

Even if you look for portraits of ordinary literati, if you don’t have more than a fortune, you won’t be able to tell whether the painting is a person or a ghost!

Fortunately, the boy's family is not far away.

"Each person can only draw one. Then draw one for you and keep it for Mom to look at if she has nothing to do."

The woman's eyes were as red as a rabbit. She probably couldn't help but wet her clothes with tears after they parted just now.

The young man pursed his lips. He knew what his mother meant. If anything happened to him... he just lowered his head and silently led his mother and sister back there.

Dad is seriously ill and the family is in urgent need of money.

When he finishes his studies, he will be tested as a scholar. I'm afraid the grass on his father's grave would be ten feet tall. It's different when you join the army. You'll have money to send home next month.

"Give me a moment, please give me a moment, little brother." A woman's voice, as clear as a bell, came from behind.

The young man hurriedly led his family around and saw a convoy of vehicles lining up far away. They were all carts pulled by donkeys, with piles of folded cotton-padded clothes placed on the carts.

"Thank you, little brother." Xie Ruguang bared his teeth at the young man and planned to move forward to clear the way.

Along the street, a shopkeeper who knew Xie Ruguang asked loudly: "Miss Xie, where did your eldest sister get the big order? It's almost the Chinese New Year, and Jinxiufang is such a good business."

"Oh, this is what my master prayed for for Marquis Jiangling and gave it to the soldiers who joined the army." Xie Ruguang looked back and smiled at the shopkeeper.

"This is only part of it. Master said that it is much colder in the north than in Jingzhou. The soldiers have an extra cotton coat, which they can wear alternately with the ones issued by the army."

The shopkeeper took a breath of air and his eyes were as wide as bells. I snatched the abacus from a vendor at a stall nearby and beat it with a bang.

"One foot of cotton cloth costs 20 cents. A strong man wears eight feet of cloth. The cloth alone costs 160 cents."

"One pound of cotton is one hundred and twenty-five cents. Looking at the bulging clothes, it's four pounds of cotton. That's six hundred and sixty cents."

"Including the embroiderer's handiwork money, this is not more than 800 yuan per copy."

Xie Ruguang chuckled and said, "That's not entirely true. The cloth comes from the Zhen family. After that, there will be another 10,000 pieces sent to Bingzhou."

Seeing the convoy far away.

Xie Ruguang waved his hand to the shopkeeper, "I won't talk to you anymore. I'll go ahead and have tea with you someday when I have time."

After that, Bengjuan chased the convoy.

Listening to the conversation between the shopkeeper and the girl, the young man suddenly felt like he was fainting. There are more than 10,000 pieces of cotton-padded clothes, and tens of thousands of dollars cannot be thrown away.

"Are you okay, little brother?" The shopkeeper helped the boy in time to prevent him from knocking over the rouge and gouache on the stall.

The young man shook his head, feeling bitter in his throat. He said: "Xie is really a righteous person."