"It's really beautiful." Li Dong let out a satisfied sigh and muttered in a low voice.

  Li Xia shifted slightly, sat up straight, rested her chin on her sister's arm, and also let out a sigh, "It's really too beautiful."

  The car drove all the way to the second gate, and several old women moved their feet over, Li Wensong took a step forward, first picking up Li Wenlan, Li Wenshan got down from the back of the car, and picked up Li Xia.

  Mrs. Yan hastened to welcome him, "I was just about to send someone to welcome you again... Li Wenlan has grown a lot this year!" Before Mrs. Yan could finish her sentence, she saw Li Wenlan running towards her to pay his respects, and quickly pulled him over, praising him, then continued talking to Lady Xu: "It's been over ten years since we last met, and my younger brother is still the same as before, how come he hasn't aged at all in these ten years?"

  "Mrs. Sheng praised her, already old and not what she used to be, but Mrs. Sheng is still the same as before." Mrs. Xu replied somewhat stiffly, this sentence was not flattery, Mrs. Yan was as radiant and dignified as when they first met.

  "Look, the kids have grown up so big, and we still don't feel old." Mrs. Yan said warmly to Mrs. Xu while holding Li Wenlan's hand with one hand and stretching out the other hand towards Li Xia, "Jiujie come let me take a look, have you grown taller? And this is Dongjiejie, right? These eyebrows and eyes are just like San Ge... all of their siblings have these kinds of eyebrows and eyes..."

  Mrs. Yan spoke with a smile, and everyone took care of it. The maidservants surrounded them and escorted the crowd into the warm pavilion.

  "It's already late, I thought, let's just have a simple meal tonight and head back to rest. The kids are young and tired from the day, we should get them to bed soon. We'll continue tomorrow. Our accommodations were arranged a few days ago, it's in the Huifang Courtyard next to the Warming Pavilion. Fifth Brother is staying in the front courtyard, two rooms on the second floor of the main courtyard, and also the west wing, a total of five rooms. After dinner, we'll go take a look... I didn't let them make anything too greasy, after a tiring day, some plain congee and small dishes are more refreshing..."

  Mrs. Yan arranged for everyone to sit down while chatting and laughing.

  Li Wensong had already received Li Wenlan, first holding him and sitting down, then letting Li Wenshan sit, while Li Dong pulled Li Xia over, holding Li Xia and sitting down beside her. Mrs. Yan let Mrs. Xu sit down, herself sitting down beside Mrs. Xu, next to Li Dong.

  The old woman brought out four or five kinds of porridge, noodles, steamed buns, glutinous rice, and various small dishes, followed by two or three soups, filling the table to the brim.

  "Mrs. Xiu is being too polite." Mrs. Xiu was moved by the considerate and enthusiastic treatment of Madam Yan, and felt that her sister-in-law was treating them too kindly and warmly.

  Li Xia was starving, pulled Li Dong who was feeling anxious, pointing at the dishes on the table, "Sister, I want to eat rice with that soup and also want to eat that."

  Mrs. Yan laughed, "Asha's taste is just like her aunt's! Her aunt also loves this sour pickle old duck soup with rice, and it goes perfectly with that pickled cucumber dice."

  Mrs. Yan spoke with a smile, and Hai Tang had already taken a slightly larger bowl, soaked the rice in soup, and scooped out a small dish of pickled cucumber, placing it in front of Li Xia.

  Li Xia looked up at Haitang and sweetly thanked her: "Thank you, Sister Haitang."

  Haitang couldn't help but laugh, "Jiuniangzi still remembers me, Jiuniangzi is really clever."

  For more than half a year, Li Wenlan had already learned to follow her sister's example. When Li Xia pointed out the dishes she liked to eat, Li Wenlan also hurriedly pointed out that she wanted to eat vermicelli. While pointing, she called out: "Haitang sister, I remember you too, and Jincheng sister, thank you, Jincheng sister, I want to eat that one too."

  "Big sister is too worried, these two little ones have no discipline at all." Mrs. Xu said to Madam Yan with some embarrassment, looking at the two children who were not polite at all.

  "Isn't it like this when you're at your own home? To be honest, I'm most fond of these two little ones, especially Xia Ya." Madam Yan looked back and forth at Li Xia and Li Wenran, who were eating their meal with relish, her eyes filled with love.

  Li Dong felt a bit more at ease as soon as he entered the door, seeing that Mrs. Yan seemed to really like Ah Xia and Lan Ge, so he ate the bowl of green rice in front of him with a slightly awkward expression, along with the two dishes closest to her.

  Li Wensong and Li Wenshan, from the first time they met to now, every time they meet, they feel closer. At this moment, the two of them are almost head-to-head, Li Wensong is whispering something, while Li Wenshan is eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup with big mouthfuls, nodding his head as he eats.

  Mrs. Xu, although she hadn't eaten well all day, was now deeply moved by her sister-in-law's warmth and hospitality. Occasionally thinking back to the past decade or so of estrangement, she also had to pay attention to the children and be mindful of Mrs. Yan's words, lest she lose face. Whether she herself was hungry or not was no longer a priority, so she hastily ate a few mouthfuls and drank half a bowl of soup.

  A family of five, Li Xia and Li Wenlan ate to their heart's content, Li Wenshan only listened to Li Wensong talk, although he didn't eat much, but was full, only Li Dong, with a table full of food, didn't dare look.

  After dinner, Haitang and Jinju quickly led the young maids to serve everyone in rinsing their mouths. They all left the warm pavilion together and entered the adjacent Huifang Courtyard.

  Inside Huifang Courtyard, starting from the front courtyard where Li Wenshan lived, to the two upper rooms and two wing rooms of the main courtyard, each room was cleaned and arranged neatly and comfortably. As soon as you enter the house, the warm fragrance hits your face, without a hint of coal smoke.

  Mrs. Xü brought only two servants, Sū Yè and Hóng Māma, Qiōng Huā had married before the New Year, in the entire rear compound of Xiāng Shān County, only Hóng Māma and Sū Yè could be brought out, this residence was just Mrs. Xü living with Lǐ Wénlán upstairs, Hóng Māma serving inside the house, Lǐ Dōng lived in the wing room with Lǐ Xià, Sū Yè following to serve.

  Mrs. Yan only followed Mrs. Xu's arrangement, without saying a word more than necessary. After seeing that everything was arranged properly, she instructed Haitang to bring some maids including Manqing and Xiaohong to stay in the Huifang courtyard to serve her, and then she herself, after exchanging a few pleasantries with Mrs. Xu, left with Li Wensong to take a rest.

  The next day, as soon as it was dawn, Li Xia woke up on time, but closed her eyes and didn't move. Her sister had taken care of her all the way in the car yesterday, and she was afraid that her sister would be exhausted, so she waited for her sister to wake up before waking up herself.

  Li Dong had also woken up and saw Li Xia slowly moving out, holding her breath. Just as she was about to get up, Li Xia turned over, opened her eyes, and looked at her with a bright smile. Li Dong couldn't help but laugh and reached out to poke Li Xia's nose, "Did I wake you up?"

  "No, I'm awake, afraid of waking up my sister, didn't dare move." Li Xia sat up.

  Su Ye heard the noise and hung up the curtain, smiling: "It's still early in the morning, Ninth Lady should sleep a bit longer."

  The little maids outside the room heard the noise, hurriedly opened the door, brought in hot water to the dressing room, and then rushed to fetch swallow's nest congee and lotus seed soup.

  Li Dong first took care of Li Xia's toilette, and Man Qing came in to help Li Xia comb her hair. When Li Dong finished washing up and came out, Li Xia had already combed two beautiful buns, each adorned with a string of crimson gold beads shaped like flowers and fruits.

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