?

  Reminder from 79 Web: You can quickly find us on "79 Free" or "79 Web" for Chapter Sixty Illness

  The second update

  ——————

  Li lived in Chongyi Fang, with the same black-tiled gate. The doorman saw who was visiting and hastily led them inside. 79 Free Net 79 couldn't help but feel a bit curious. Upon entering, the main hall had five rooms and seven beams, while the two side houses each had two rooms and two beams, which was one level lower than Liu's official residence with its five rooms and nine beams and five rooms and five beams.

  Xue thought of the humble abode of her own family, with its four small rooms and one larger room, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly again. No matter how much money they had, they still couldn't live in such a grand house. Seeing her expression, he knew what was on her mind, and smiled: "Elder sister, both of your nephews are clever and love to read books, they will surely be able to earn a good reputation for you in the future."

  Xue's family heard with a smile, still humble and said: "Our kind of people's younger brother is afraid that it's a bit difficult." The younger brothers of official families have the privilege of being recommended or relying on their ancestors' influence to get an official position, but their own children must work hard and go through layers of exams, and may not necessarily get a good job. Knowing it's difficult, but in this world, there is no mother who doesn't want her child to become a dragon.

  The peony pointed at the black-painted gate of the Li family and smiled, saying: "Isn't this a ready-made example? What others can get, our He family's sons can also achieve."

  Suddenly, a woman's loud laughter was heard: "What you said is right! As long as one is willing to strive and work hard, why worry about not being able to make a name for oneself? You're showing weakness before even starting, it's really not like your usual self. When you first got married, you weren't like this." As soon as the words fell, a tall and full-figured middle-aged woman with a smile all over her face came out like a whirlwind.

  In Peony's impression, this was not Li Yi's mother - that aunt who lived around the mountain and water, but was not close to her. While following He Dalang and Xue Shi to pay respects, she cast her inquiring gaze towards He Zhizhong and Xue Shi, who was this?

  The woman walked forward and helped Xue Shi up, not in a hurry to greet He Zhizhong, but first looked at Peony with a bright smile: "No need to ask, you must be Dan Niang. I just came back and heard about you, guessing that you would come today, and indeed, I guessed it."

  Xue saw peonies full of dew and hurriedly said, "Dan Niang, you're still young, you can't remember your aunt. 79 just came back not long ago."

  Peony suddenly realized that this was Li Maniang, the aunt who was said to be able to walk through walls and liked to raise owls for hunting. She couldn't help but feel a little envious, wondering if she would bring those owls into the capital as well. If only she could take a look and touch them, it would be great. She hastily paid her respects: "Aunt Li, hello."

  Li Maniang smiled and said: "This body of yours, I'm afraid you can't even ride a horse steadily?"

  "Peony thought of her own riding skills, which were not very skilled, and felt a bit embarrassed. She climbed up the pole: 'In recent years, I haven't been feeling well, so I've delayed it. If Auntie has time, teach your niece.'"

  "This is no big deal! I'll take care of it. But you have to be prepared to suffer, otherwise don't say you're my disciple, Li Maniang."

  He Zhizhong suddenly had a chance to speak up and said: "Let's go take a look. I wonder if he's better now? And what about the children's aunt?"

  Li Man Niang said, "He's got thick skin and flesh, it doesn't matter, but his head is more seriously injured than the rest of his body. My sister-in-law is with the doctor getting medicine, so she asked me to come and greet our guests instead. Please go inside."

  Li Yi's courtyard was a small four-in-one courtyard, with several old silver locust trees in sight. The silver-white branches and green leaves were set against the azure sky, making it breathtakingly beautiful. The corridor was surrounded by stools and railings, and under the corridor, more than a dozen robust peony flowers were planted. When the peonies were in full bloom, one could sit on the corridor to admire them up close, which was extremely comfortable. At first glance, the peonies were all of good varieties. He Zhongzhong also noticed this and smiled, saying: "In the capital, is there anyone who doesn't like planting peony flowers?"

  Li Maniang also smiled: "I think there isn't."

  A little maid came in to report, a big maid wearing an ivory white silk short jacket, with light green folded branch flowers on her half arm, tied with pale blue six-fold long skirt, white line shoes, combed double hanging buns, with a lovely face smiled and asked: "The master said that the noble guest has arrived, busy dressing up, please ask the noble guest to wait in the tea house for a while."

  Li Man Niang smiled and said: "Bi Shui, are you brewing tea?"

  The big girl smiled and said: "It's me, slave."

  In the Li family's courtyard, this tea house was built separately on one side. The windows were made of clear lacquer and carved with flowers, and there were several bamboo trees behind the house. In front of the house, a red plum tree had already borne fruit. Just looking at it from the outside, it was already very elegant. Compared to the Liu family's extravagance, this place was instead elegant and refined. Da Lang smiled and said: "Looking at this house, I feel ashamed of myself."

  Everyone stepped into the room, but found that the floor was not ordinary water-milled bricks, but a wooden floor paved with tung oil. A large ice-green silk mat occupied most of the space, on which a long tea table was placed, and on it a set of fine and smooth Zhejiang green porcelain tea bowls. On the right side, another square tea table was placed, on which a set of silver tea grinders, tea strainers, salt dishes, spoons, etc. were placed. Next to it, about an inch lower, a small red clay tea stove was placed, and a young boy was adding charcoal to prepare for brewing tea.

  He Zhitong, who had seen and known much, also sighed in admiration: "Xing Shi is actually a refined person."

  Li Man Niang invited everyone to take off their shoes and sit down, smiling: "Bi Shui, bring out the good tea, good water, and your craftsmanship, don't hide anything."

  She smiled and took down a silver tea infuser from the silk cord hanging from the beam, saying: "The water is from Huiquan Spring in Changzhou, the tea includes Mingshan Shihua from Jianyang, Zi Sun from Guzhu Lake, and Xiao Tuan from Dongchuan. Which one does the old master prefer?"

  He's family also had good tea, but this Changzhou-bought Hui Shan Spring was really over the top. He Zhizhong smiled and said: "Good tea and good water, guests follow the host."

  Bi Shui looked at Li Man Niang with difficulty, and Li Man Niang smiled: "Just brew the Meng Ding Shi Hua tea. In Youzhou, where can you find so much good tea? Sister-in-law, don't blame me for being greedy?"

  He Zhizhong burst out laughing: "How could that be?" But then he asked Li Man Niang in a low voice: "I heard that Hang has found a master tea brewer, I suppose it's her?"

  "It's her."

  Peony heard this and concentrated her mind to see how the green water brewed tea.

  But see the green water first, make the tea cake into a small square shape and dry it, then use the tea mill to grind it into fine powder. Carefully add water to the teapot, concentrate on watching, and when the water surface appears with fish-eye-like bubbles, immediately open the salt tray and scoop in a spoonful of salt with a silver spoon. This is the first boil.

  Peony sighed silently. Why must salt be added? It's not used to drinking it, not used to drinking it.

  But in a moment, the water around it appeared like a spring, and the green water was scooped out with a spoon for later use. Then, bamboo clips were used to stir the water, and then the tea leaves were put into the center of the whirlpool. This is the second boil.

  The water is boiling, the foam is splashing, and the green water is added to the tea pot to stop the boiling. The tea is quickly stirred with a tea whisk to create foam, and the color of the tea soup is fresh and white, producing a flower-like pattern on the surface. This is the boiling process. At this time, the green water carefully lifts the tea pot off the tea stove and pours the tea into the teacups. Her slender fingers are as delicate as jade, her movements are elegant and refined, and what's most remarkable is that the foam is distributed extremely evenly.

  Everyone here was completely intoxicated, praising and tasting. Peony had never seen such a delicate way of brewing tea, even if it didn't suit her taste, she drank a sip with reverence. At this time, the popular thing was to drink heavily, drinking tea was also heavy drinking, Peony's movements were out of place compared to everyone else, which made Bishui look at her several times.

  Li Maniang was completely drunk, and with one breath she finished the drink. She laughed and said: "Biqi Shui's skill is indeed hard to come by. Why don't you go to Youzhou with me? I will definitely treat you well."

  Biqi didn't answer directly, but instead bowed and smiled warmly: "Thank you for not looking down on me, I'm just a humble servant with limited skills. I've heard that at Tong Temple, there's a great master who has recently developed a new technique of making tea, which can create images of animals, insects, fish, and flowers on the surface of the tea soup, as delicate as a painting. That is truly a divine art."

  Li Maniang smiled slightly and looked out of the house, saying: "How come Xingzi hasn't arrived yet?"

  "He's uncomfortable, so let's not call him. Let's just sit for a while and wait until the younger brother and sister are free, then say thank you and leave."

  Just then, Li Yi used a wooden hairpin to loosely tie up her bun, put on a lake-blue silk round-necked robe, stepped on a pair of wooden clogs, held a silver bottle in her hand, and walked over with a smile all over her face. She first smiled at the peony and bowed: "Sorry to keep everyone waiting."

  He Zhizhong smiled and said, "I heard that you were hit on the head with a porcelain pillow and didn't know what was going on. We were worried about you, but now we can see that you're lively and energetic, so we can rest assured."

  Li Man Niang smiled and said: "Your uncle and them just came out from Liu's house and directly came to our home."

  Li Wei smiled and looked at Peony: "Can I get Dan Niang's letter of divorce?"

  Peony saw that there were still blood threads in his eyes, and his face was also somewhat waxen yellow. He couldn't help but feel uneasy, thinking that he had come to visit the sick, but had instead gotten him out of bed. It wasn't right, so he said: "I've already gone to the Jingzhao government office to exchange official documents. Brother-in-law's body isn't well, and it really wasn't suitable for you to get up."

  "Congratulations," said Li Yi with a happy smile, taking out the contents of the silver bottle: "This is Sichuan's tribute lychee, it's really rare, just in time for today to give Dan Niang as a gift."

  The peony suddenly became spirited, her eyes wide open. Lychees from Sichuan? In a silver bottle? Wasn't that the thing that made Red Dust Queen smile? Only after the lychee entered her mouth did she realize it was actually fresh lychee pickled in salt...

  Li Wei carefully observed her expression from the side and saw that she looked a bit disappointed: "Doesn't Dan Niang like it?"

  Peony saw that everyone was looking at her, each with a satisfied expression, and hurriedly said: "How can I not like it? I'm fond of it, I'm so fond of it that I've gone overboard."

  Everyone burst out laughing, but Li Wei was thoughtful and saw Bi Shui staring at the lychee, so he handed one to Bi Shui: "It's a rare opportunity, you try one too."

  "Thank you, sir." Bi Shui's face lit up with joy, and she took the gift with both hands, retreating to a corner to taste it herself.

  He Zhizhong coughed and said: "Actually, I came today for another matter. I want to go to the Beijing Court to accuse several of my nephews."

  ————————

  It's 440 yuan, awesome! I love you guys so much. There are still 480 yuan left today.

  79 Free Web 79x

  Reminder from 79: You can quickly find us on "79 Free" or "79 Net".