”Yes, Master Gu’s child Fubao is very young and cannot stand for too long, so he has been held by his mother^[1]mother here as a wet nurse or nanny or momo or mama who is taking care of him. The young master stared at Mama of Li’s family for a long time, until Mama Lan’s legs almost went weak and she fell to her knees. Only then did the young master stop his arrogance and told the servants to bring a blanket.” The eldest nanny smiled happily. The young master was so dignified at a young age and had noble blood.

　　The princess’s expression softened. Seeing this, the old nanny continued to say softly, “The blanket has been moved over. Several young masters didn’t know what to do, so they asked the youngest master. The youngest master said to come up and play. Then everyone knew about it and now they are sitting on it and playing with toys.”

　　In fact, the other older teenagers in the Lin mansion didn’t like to play with toys. They were playing with younger brother Kang An. As they were playing, the situation changed. The guest Fubao was sitting on the blanket playing with toys. Sometimes he would throw them away, and younger brother Kang An would take them and put them in Fubao’s hands. Fubao would wave his arms and giggle, and younger brother Kang An would also laugh, but silently.

　　”Princess, I see that the young master likes to play with Fubao.”

　　”I asked Madam Gu, and that day when Kang An returned to the Li family, he was well-behaved and silent, and he was reluctant to go to bed.” Princess Changtai felt sorry for her son when she spoke of this.

　　The nanny knew that the young master couldn’t sleep because he was frightened and changed his place.

　　”Then he fell asleep next to Fubao.” The princess thought for a moment, “Kang’an was frightened, so he was afraid. He could only sleep peacefully because Fubao was younger than him and would not hurt him.”

　　In this way, wouldn’t you be happy to see Fubao?

　　The eldest nanny thought so too. Adults have cunning and complicated minds. Children don’t know anything. They are just happy. Look at Fubao from Mr. Gu’s family. He doesn’t care about status or position. He just wants to have fun.

　　But the son of Lord Gu is indeed handsome, so handsome that it is rare.

　　What a pity he is a brother.

　　It was a day of great enjoyment for both the host and the guests. Before Li Zhouzhou left with Fubao in his arms, Princess Changtai stuffed a box of toys and clothes into his pocket, saying that they were all made by Kang An when he was a child. Now that she saw Fubao, she picked some up and gave them all to him, saying the madam just didn’t mind disliking them.

　　When Li Zhouzhou heard that it was Kang An’s childhood stuff, he thought it was not valuable, so he just kept it. When he went back and opened the box, he saw all kinds of small clothes, coats, cloaks, shoes, toys, sachets, everything in it, all brand new, never worn or touched.

　　Mother Lan said: “Some of them have never even been in the water.”

　　It can be seen that the nobles of the aristocratic families have endless clothes to wear. Even if they change their clothes four times a day, they still can’t wear them all. They make new ones every year and put the old ones aside.

　　I got to see a truly wealthy family, but it had nothing to do with the Li family.

　　Gu Zhao thought that after this banquet, he had established a favor with the family, and they would not visit each other again in the future, so that the Lin family would not have to bear any burden, and the two families would go their separate ways. Li Zhouzhou felt relieved when he heard his husband say this.

　　Although the Lin family was warm and generous, Li Zhouzhou had little to say to the Lin ladies and had to follow the rules when getting along with them. It was better for him to play and chat freely with Xiaoshu.

　　On the other side, Ningping Prefecture.

　　During the Chinese New Year, Xing Ge’er went to the Su family to pick people. Although the Su family was so poor that they couldn’t afford to build a house, some of them had to wear a pair of cotton shoes backwards. The little ones couldn’t get on the kang, and the big ones who worked wore cotton shoes when they went out. In such a poor situation, it was very easy to have children, and there were a lot of babies.

　　There are still more boys than girls, and there are two brothers.

　　When Xing Ge’er was selecting people, he couldn’t help but think of himself and Zhou Zhou when he saw these two brothers. When he asked their age, one was twelve and the other thirteen years old. Both were a little young and afraid of people. They hid in the corner and didn’t show up. The men in the front row, the oldest was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, were as stiff as a log, didn’t know how to greet people, couldn’t answer when asked about their age, and kept mumbling to themselves and couldn’t utter a word.

　　After picking and choosing, I really didn’t find many that looked smart. They all looked timid and wooden.

　　Xing Ge’er was stunned, but Wang Shitou whispered, “Choose someone younger, so we can still teach him now, and choose someone tall enough to lift heavy objects.”

　　Yes. Xing Ge’er realized that he and Shitou were engaged in the stew business. They had to wash and move things all day long, which was laborious. To greet customers, they had to smile and be smart.

　　Young ones can still be taught, but those who can’t even speak fluently cannot be taught.

　　It just so happened that one of the two brothers was from the Su family and the other from the third brother’s family. They picked one from each family, and then it was the turn of the tall and strong ones – the men in the Su family were tall, but they were all thin and lacked food and meat.

　　”You three brothers should discuss and see which two families can give away two boys.” Xing Ge’er said.

　　When it came to taking the younger boys away, none of the three brothers of the Su family said a word. They were going to take the boys away, but when it came to taking the boys away, they were all reluctant and a little scared. After all, boys can work in the fields, especially the grown-up ones. After so many years of being raised, they can finally go to the fields and be used as full-fledged people. Why are they going to be taken away?

　　Therefore, after much hesitation, they finally gave away two boys of fourteen or fifteen years old.

　　He is very skinny, but has a big appetite and is never full all day long.

　　Xing’er liked the ones who were around 18 or 19 and were still strong, but the Su family was defensive and said they wouldn’t give them anything, so he could only settle for the four younger ones^[2]2 boys and 2 brothers. Finally, they said unhappily, “What are you afraid of? If I don’t need them, I’ll send them back to you.”

　　They agreed that the four of them would go to Wang’s house in Xiping Village on the sixth day of the New Year.

　　Let’s not talk about the fact that Xing’er and Wang Shitou returned home the next day covered in fleas again. Xing’er was disgusted. It was troublesome to boil water for a bath in the middle of winter. He said, “The house is already open, why don’t you be more particular.”

　　”Su Er’s family conditions have improved temporarily, but you haven’t adjusted yet. Let me comb your hair for you,” said Wang Shitou.

　　Xing Ge’er was itchy, “Scratch my back first, with the left side facing up.”

　　On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the four children of the Su family arrived at the door of the Wang family early in the morning. Xing Ge’er saw that it was still early, and the four people were wearing thin clothes. They would have to walk for most of the day, and the four children didn’t know when they set out.

　　After asking, we set off in the middle of the night.

　　”I’m afraid you’ll get impatient waiting.” said one of them.

　　The Su family relied on mountains and climbed over them. After walking more, they got used to it and their legs and feet became better.

　　Out of respect for the Li family, the Wang family treated the four members of the Su family to a good meal. Mainly, the Su family looked pitiful. With so many people coming with them this time, the ox cart didn’t have much food in it, so they just left with their bedding rolls.

　　”I’ll send it to you in a few days when spring comes,” said Wang’s mother-in-law.

　　When we arrived at the prefecture and county, fortunately the yard we rented was spacious and had some extra rooms. The bed was the same one on which Li Da slept, but it was a little bigger. The half-grown children were still small, so they just lay down in a row sideways to sleep.

　　Xing Ge’er and Wang Shitou were doing business while teaching the four people how to work.

　　At first, they stumbled and stumbled, which was really infuriating. They didn’t understand anything. Xing Ge scolded them, which really pissed him off.

　　Every day, Wang Shitou was urged to run to the inn at the entrance of the county town whenever he had nothing to do.

　　After waiting for more than half a month, the caravan finally arrived. When Xing Ge’er found out, he looked at the four people, stuffed some old clothes that he and Wang Shitou didn’t want into their clothes, and made some cakes and steamed buns for them to eat on the way. Finally, he said, “Don’t be afraid if the journey to Beijing is a little difficult. No matter how hard it is, it won’t be better than the days when you were hungry and working for your family in the village. If Zhou Zhou can use you in Beijing, you will be very lucky.”

　　Xing Ge’er couldn’t explain it clearly, but he felt that if Zhou Zhou hadn’t given him this path, he would have stayed in the Wang family in the village, and his life would have been more and more miserable. He wouldn’t have been able to stand up straight like he does now.

　　He taught for half a month, and the four of them knew where they lived by talking: Xiping Village, Ningsong Town, Ningping Prefecture.

　　When he left, Xing’er gave him a hundred coins as a reward, and asked him to take with him letters from the Gu family in the east and west villages, Mr. Zhao’s family, and his father.

　　After everyone left, the yard was empty. Xing Ge’er still felt reluctant to leave, “I hope everyone has a safe journey.”

　　”Are you reluctant to let them leave? When they were here before, you scolded them all day long, and those guys were afraid of you.” Wang Shitou joked.

　　Xing Ge glanced at the man and said, “Why am I reluctant? If they stay, our family won’t be able to feed four mouths. I don’t know if that’s too many people. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Two people are enough for our business. Zhou Zhou has my uncle. Sending four more won’t be too many…”

　　It’s all given away, anyway.

　　From Ningping Prefecture to Jingli, the caravan carrying goods from the south moved slowly, but they also walked along the main roads and pipelines, and the journey was safe. Because they moved slowly, people were not tired, and at least the four half-grown children of the Su family could keep up.

　　The leader of the caravan knew at a glance that the place was in the mountains. If they could walk on the rugged mountain roads, wouldn’t it be easy to walk on flat ground?

　　You don’t need to ask to know why the four children of the Su family went to Beijing. He can’t help but sigh: “The Li family is still generous and has not forgotten their poor relatives.” This is like giving a bowl of rice to the poor relatives.

　　In March, on the emperor’s birthday, the Eighth Prince began to edit the book and completed it successfully.

　　The palace held a banquet, in addition to the royal family, officials of the fourth rank and above in the court with their families could attend. Among them, there was an oral order, that the emperor specially approved the three people in the first class of the Hanlin Academy.

　　Yan Jinxin, Du Ruoqi and Gu Zhao went to the palace for the banquet.

　　This is special. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that the emperor chose these three people probably because of Gu Zhao, the third place in the imperial examination. Gu Zhao saved Princess Changtai’s son that day, and the emperor must have remembered it.

　　Gu Zhao’s attendance at the banquet was an exception, so naturally there was no quota for him to bring his family members to the banquet.

　　Li Zhouzhou was relieved when he heard this and said, “You can go, my husband.”

　　”Yeah.” Gu Zhao felt that it was a good thing that Zhou Zhou did not go to the palace, otherwise, with his official position, Zhou Zhou was destined to be left out and suffer grievances.

　　As soon as Gu Zhao left, the gate of the capital city slowly opened, and the caravans came in one after another with their goods.

　　The person in charge: Send these four to the Li family first.