On the second day, at dawn, Liu Lang followed Si Lang to look for Zhang Wu Lang. Zhang Wu Lang had not yet gotten out of bed, and his mother was the only one who heard that there were guests coming, so she supported a young girl with braids, about 10 years old, to come out and greet them. Seeing it was Si Lang, she couldn't help but be delighted, inviting him in to sit down, and pushing the little girl to go call Zhang Wu Lang to get up and wash the tea cups, carefully taking the key from her waistband to unlock and take out good tea to brew tea soup.

  The peony carefully measured Zhang Wulang's house, but saw that it was a two-story courtyard with bluestone bricks on the ground. In the center stood an old jujube tree, and along the wall edge were planted several white, yellow, and orange chrysanthemums. The walls were painted spotlessly white like new, and the tables, chairs, household goods, and screens in the central hall were all brand new, although they didn't match, but looked harmonious.

  Zhang Wulang's mother saw Peony measuring her house and smiled: "Little daughter-in-law, these are all my son bought back recently with his hard-earned money, new and good. You come sit on this crescent-shaped stool, the top is covered with Shu brocade. Only you, such a pretty little daughter-in-law, are worthy of sitting here."

  Liu Lang almost burst out laughing, Peony gave him a glance, and hastily thanked Zhang Wulang's mother, sat down on the crescent-shaped stool as she said, and flattered her new household items a few times. Fourth Brother also exaggerated that Zhang Wulang had made great progress, and Zhang Wulang's mother listened with a smile, and brought out another plate of sour dates to entertain the guests. That plate was an inlaid silver plate with a golden rim, which Zhang Old Mother specially took out to show people, saying it was also earned by Zhang Wulang.

  The water had not yet boiled, and Zhang Wulang was already half-undressed, with his shoes untied, walking in while adjusting his pants and yawning: "Why has He Sige come to find me at this hour? Isn't it a busy day today?" As soon as he saw the peony sitting under Liu Lang's hand, he was startled and quickly retreated out the door to tidy up his clothes under the eaves, and took the opportunity to slap the little girl on the head, scolding in a low voice: "You damned little brat, with a female guest here, why didn't you warn me first?"

  The little girl said in a sharp voice: "You didn't ask. Who told you to come out without dressing properly?"

  The voice was so loud that the people in the house couldn't help but hear it. Zhang Wulang's face turned red with anger, and he trembled with rage as he said in a low voice: "Hey! You good-for-nothing, how dare you be so fierce! Be careful or I'll beat you to death!"

  The little girl stuck out her tongue and made a face at him, then ran off quickly. Zhang Wu Lang had no choice but to swallow his pride and enter the house to greet everyone. However, when he greeted Peony, he didn't dare look her in the eye, and after a slight bow, he retreated to He Si Lang's side, using He Si Lang's body to cover most of his own face. Assuming Peony couldn't see him, he smiled and said: "What wind blew today? It brought all you siblings to my humble abode! I slept late last night and was slow to receive guests, please don't mind."

  "It's nothing, it's nothing." Shilang smiled and said: "Is this a doghouse? If we come in and sit in the doghouse with you, then we are just like you."

  Zhang Wulang's face turned slightly red as he said, "I didn't mean it that way."

  Liu Lang said: "Zhang Wu Ge doesn't have to be modest anymore. I think you're having a good time these days, aren't you?"

  Zhang Wu Lang smiled and said: "Not bad, the other day I got a good chicken, won seven games in a row, earned 500,000 yuan and a silver plate with gold trim."

  Liu Lang's eyes widened: "Isn't Dan Niang's peony still worth something?"

  "She's a sure thing, I'm a gamble." Zhang Wulang burst out laughing: "Besides, this is a common thing, that's a refined thing, how can they be mentioned in the same breath? Never mind, never mind, what brings you all here today? I know you're all busy, unlike me, an idle person."

  Si Lang hastily said: "There are two things I'd like to request. One is that I'm going on a long trip, and the spice shop in East Market will be temporarily taken care of by Liu Lang. He wants to invite Wu Lang's brothers for a simple meal to get acquainted and make friends. The other thing is that Dan Niang has asked for your help."

  "That's easy, Six Lang just needs to pick a date and time and let me know. Zhang Wu Lang looked at Peony, who quickly explained the situation, smiling: "Afterwards, I'll have to thank you all properly."

  Zhang Wulang swung his big hand generously: "It's all trivial matters, Dan Niang, you just rest assured, I will handle it properly. But you should still go around and ask questions, set an example for others to see, so as not to lose your true self."

  "Peony smiled and said: 'I had this plan long ago, I'll leave immediately.'"

  Si Lang stood up and bid farewell: "I'm going on a long trip, there are many things to prepare for, we'll take our leave first, let's go to my place for drinks tonight."

  Zhang Wulang, yawning, saw them off at the door: "You're busy, I won't go to add to the trouble. When you come back, I'll set up a soft foot to welcome you and wash away your dust. At that time, drink as much as you want, for as long as you want."

  Shi Lang stopped in his tracks and said in a low voice: "Our boat can still carry a few more people."

  Zhang Wu Lang fell silent for a moment, then said: "I'm not that kind of material. I can only do some running dog things, besides, my family still has an old mother, and that freeloader, what would they do if I left? Thanks, thanks." The two men pushed Si Lang out the door and closed it tightly.

  Fourth brother sighed, Sixth brother said disapprovingly: "I say fourth brother you're really too nosy, marriage is predestined by heaven, and the food one eats in this life is also predetermined. I think he's not necessarily worse off than us now, at least he doesn't have to take such a huge risk of going out to sea, and can still make money while having fun, why not?"

  Fourth Brother frowned and said, "You didn't take Father's words to heart. Didn't you hear him say that there are losses as well as gains? He often wins because he is the one who sets the rules, and most of the time doesn't even make a move. If you really want to gamble, see how many people don't lose? And besides, money won from gambling is always..."

  Rourang didn't wait for him as politely as he did for He Zhizhong, and impatiently said: "What money isn't money? You two take a stroll, I'll go to the shop." After finishing speaking, he threw off Peony and Fourth Brother, and went straight to Dongshi.

  Fourth Brother sighed, "Your Sixth Brother's temper will never change. Dan Niang, in the future if you have any matters don't rely on him. You should get along more with Second Brother and Fifth Brother. What needs to be hidden must be hidden. He is not reliable. This time Father originally wanted to bring him along, but then thought that he still doesn't have a child, going back and forth would delay things again, and Yang Niang would cry."

  Peony was speechless for a moment, and followed Fourth Brother to circle around several Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, making a big show of it. It wasn't until the sun had passed noon that they finally returned home. As they approached the gate, Peony saw two horses tied up at their own door and said, "It seems we have guests?" He strode through the large gate and saw Wu sitting in the gatehouse chatting with the doorman in hushed tones. Peony's heart began to beat violently - it turned out that Jiang Changyang had arrived. He came pretty quickly.

  Wu Jianmudan stood outside, hastily got up to ask well, smiled and said: "We heard that Mr. He and the Grand Duke are going out to sea, originally on the 26th of this month, we should go to Baqiao to set up a farewell banquet, and give each other willow branches as gifts. But on that day, you happened to have something important, couldn't get away from it, so I came to the mansion ahead of time to bid farewell."

  It turned out to be a self-inflicted injury, no wonder. Peony smiled and said: "You're being too polite. Isn't there a guest at your place?"

  Wu Xiao said: "The guest left early this morning, and we are here to see him into the city."

  The peony did not think, Jiang Changyang was able to personally send Zhu Guogong into the city, and it was likely that the relationship between the two had been repaired this time? Was it because of the matter of granting a title that Jiang Er Gong would become so violent, riding his horse wildly and torturing Jiang Changyang's beloved horse to death? The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and she also remembered that there was no Zi Xuan horse among the two horses at the door, so she asked: "Why didn't the Zi Xuan horse come today?"

  Wu said quietly, "The Zi Ju horse is injured and will probably not be able to run for a month or two. It needs to be well taken care of." However, he didn't mention anything about Jiang Er Gong's matter. Peony saw that she couldn't get any more information out of him, so she just instructed someone to take good care of Wu and went into the backyard herself.

  She was worried about the outcome of Jiang Changyang and He Zhizhong's conversation, nervously washing her face and changing her clothes, finding a book to read but only flipping through two pages before feeling anxious and unable to continue reading, so she lay down on the couch by the window and chatted idly to pass the time.

  Nor did she know how much time had passed, but there was still no news from the front, and Peony could not lie down anymore. She got up, smoothed her hair in front of the mirror, thought for a moment, took out a tube of pink lip balm that Mrs. Bai had given her and lightly applied some to her lips. After admiring herself in the mirror several times, she finally went with Kuan'er to Mrs. Cen's room.

  When she reached the outside, all she could hear was laughter coming from inside. Peony lifted the curtain and walked in to see Lin's mother, Feng Dainiang, Yang Yiniang accompanying Mrs. Cui sitting and chatting. The four of them were smiling with their eyebrows open, so she said: "I heard your laughter from afar, what are you talking about that makes you so happy?"

  Mrs. Lin smiled and said, "Aunt Yang is telling the lady about the customs of Yangzhou, and it just so happens that she mentioned setting sail, beating drums, pouring wine to worship gods, and praying for peace."

  "Peony smiled and said: 'What's the point of bringing up Yangzhou out of the blue?'"

  Lin's mother gave her a meaningful look, and smiled: "Isn't it just that we were talking about Lu Wu Lang? I happened to remember that Yang Niang is from the same hometown, so let's talk about it. They say that Yangzhou's water and soil nourish people, prosperous and rich, unfortunately, there was no chance to see it. Yang Niang couldn't help but sigh."

  Peony was not interested in Yangzhou at all, and her heart was only attached to the front. She smiled and walked to Mrs. Cen's side, sat down next to her, played with Mrs. Cen's skirt, and pretended to ask: "Isn't Father at home today? Why can't I see him?"

  Madam Cen had already heard from He Zhizhong about what happened the night before, but she didn't expose her. Instead, she pulled the skirt tie out of her hand and gave her a legitimate reason: "Your father is in the study playing chess with guests. It's that Mr. Jiang, I was just about to send someone to take a look at the front to see what they want to eat, so the kitchen can prepare it. Since you're idle, why don't you go take a look?"

  Peony nodded and got up to go, but the closer she got to the study, the more uncomfortable she felt. This was originally something Jiang Changyang had taken care of last time, and at that time, she had done it with ease, but now she felt that the relaxation and comfort she had felt at that time were completely gone.