Li Dong looked at the two strings of crimson gold, his brow furrowed slightly. Man Qing hastily smiled and said: "Sixth Mistress, this was prepared by the mistress, it was brought over last night, all in that box, I picked one string for Ninth Mistress to use first."

  "Sister, there are new clothes." Li Xia pointed to the thick stacks of new clothes beside her, one stack was hers and the other was Li Dong's.

  Li Dong hesitated for a moment, so many clothes and accessories were too valuable, how could he casually take other people's things, and there were so many, it didn't seem quite right...

  "In November, the lady made clothes for the 4th and 7th daughters. When she saw a piece of fabric, she thought it would look good on the 9th daughter, so she hurriedly asked someone to make it.

  Mei Qing glanced at Li Dong's expression and explained with a smile: "These two pieces were chosen by the 7th daughter for the 9th and 5th daughters. These two pieces were chosen by the 4th daughter for the 9th daughter. Yesterday, when the 7th daughter was about to rest, she even instructed Sister Haitang to make sure that the 9th daughter wore the two pieces she had chosen today."

  "I like this one." Li Xia pointed to the two dresses that Qiuniang had picked out, and chose the one with the hibiscus red skirt. She remembered very clearly that hibiscus red was Qiuniang's favorite color, and she had chosen her favorite color for her.

  Li Dong still felt that accepting so many valuable clothes and jewelry was not proper, even if she did accept them, she shouldn't wear them immediately. But on the one hand, she had a gentle disposition, and on the other hand, this was after all her uncle's home, and she wasn't entirely sure whether those feelings of hers were right or wrong, because previously, many of those teachings had come from Zhong Bazi, and now it seemed like everything Zhong Bazi had said was wrong... She was momentarily at a loss.

  Li Xia put on that sea-pink skirt and a same-colored jacket, making her look even more delicate and pretty.

  Li Dong hesitated in his heart, so he didn't wear the new clothes prepared by Yan's wife. Instead, he asked Su Ye to take out one of the two new sets of clothes she had brought from home that hadn't been worn yet and put it on.

  The two of them went upstairs, and Mrs. Xue had already tidied up. Li Wenlan slept for a while longer, and just came out of the clean room, yawning, sitting upright as Haitang combed her hair.

  Mrs. Xue ordered Su Ye to go and see if Li Wenshan had gotten up in the front yard. As soon as she finished speaking, Man Qing smiled and said: "Replying to Third Madam, Fifth Master got up half an hour ago with Fourth Master, saying they were going horseback riding. The madam just sent someone over to pass on a message, asking Third Madam not to worry, the madam has already chosen suitable attendants to follow them."

  Mrs. Xu looked at Li Dong, both angry and amused, "Look at your brother, this horse, he didn't even ride enough yesterday, and now he's out running again early in the morning."

  "I heard Fifth Brother say before that riding a horse on the road doesn't count as riding, only galloping is real riding." Li Dong explained for Fifth Brother.

  Mrs. Xü smiled as she watched Li Wenlan pack up, then took him by the hand and led out Li Dong and Li Xia. The servant woman sent by Mistress Yán to invite Mrs. Xü and the others to have breakfast in the flower hall was already waiting at the door.

  Mrs. Yan led Li Wenlan, and Li Dong led Li Xia, all walking towards the flower hall together.

  From a distance, they saw Mrs. Xu and others coming over, so the Fourth Daughter-in-law Li Wenfang and Seventh Daughter-in-law Li Wennan hastily came out of the flower hall to greet them along the way.

  Qī Niángzǐ tiē zhe qúnzi pǎo zài qiánmiàn, kàn zhe Lǐ Xià nà yī shēn hǎi táng hóng, dùnshí gāoxìng de méi kāi yǎn xiào, "Wǒ jiù zhīdào Jiǔ Mèimei chuān zhè hǎi táng hóng kěndìng hǎokàn, wǒ jiù zhīdào Jiǔ Mèimei kěndìng xǐhuān zhè hǎi táng hóng! Gěi Sān Shěn qǐng ān, Liù Jiějie hǎo! Jiǔ Mèimei, lái, wǒ qiān zhe nǐ."

  Qī Niángzǐ and Xú Tàitai greeted Lǐ Dōng, then reached out to pull Lǐ Xià.

  Li Dong's hand, Qiuniang pulled Li Xia, tilted her head and smiled at her, Li Xia also looked up at her and smiled.

  This trip to Jiangning Prefecture is most important for Li Xia, as she needs to learn from Seventh Sister how to be a six or seven year old little girl.

  Fourth daughter-in-law Li Wenfang properly greeted Mrs. Xu and Li Dong, looked at the hand-holding pair walking side by side, exchanged glances and smiled at each other - Li Wennan and Li Xia, shot them a few disdainful glances, "Look at you two, like fools."

  Li Wennan didn't care about her, and just pulled Li Xia forward, "Xia, let's hurry. Mother said that after lunch, she'll take us to play at Qixia Temple, and we'll have a vegetarian meal there in the afternoon, so we need to eat more meat for breakfast!"

  "Good!" Li Xia happily agreed and followed Li Wen Nan into the flower hall.

  "Me too!" Li Wenlan shook off Mrs. Xu and followed behind Li Wennan and Li Xia, running forward, "I also eat a lot of meat, only eating meat!"

  Mrs. Yan had already come out to greet them, stepping aside to let Li Wen and Li Xia pass, and smiling at Mrs. Xu said: "Look, my little one is three years older than Ah Xia, but look, she's not as sensible as Ah Xia."

  Mrs. Xü was also chatting and laughing with Li Wen-nan and Li Xia, and her mood became much lighter. Upon hearing what Madam Yán said, she smiled and replied, "They're still young, it'll be better when they grow up."

  Mrs. Xü said with great satisfaction, looking at Li Dong who was following her in an orderly manner.

  "It's probably just as well." Madam Yan also looked at Li Dong with a smile and followed Mrs. Xu into the flower hall.

  After finishing breakfast and having some tea, Mrs. Yan smiled and said: "Later we'll go to Xi Xia Temple for a blessing ceremony, have lunch there with vegetarian dishes, and if we return early in the afternoon, we can visit Fuzi Temple, what do you think?"

  Mrs. Xu nodded hastily, "Everything will be arranged by Elder Sister."

  "That's it for today, tomorrow we'll go to the Tang family to pay our respects to Old Lady Three." Madam Yan saw that Mrs. Xu looked bewildered and hadn't grasped the meaning of this arrangement, so she quietly explained: "As you know, the Tang family has produced two or three imperial tutors, they are one of the most renowned scholarly families in Jiangnan, and can be mentioned in the same breath as the Gu family."

  In the past, when Third Master was still alive, Eldest Master had once studied under him. The one who had been appointed as a Provincial Graduate and was now serving as Minister of Justice in the Imperial Court was actually Third Mistress's son.

  The old lady is seventy-eight years old this year, she has been in seclusion for many years and rarely sees outsiders.

  Mr. Tang himself can't get away, so every year he sends his son and daughter-in-law to keep the old lady company during Chinese New Year. This year it's Eldest Son's wife, Gu Dainai, who has come with the children. The other day I heard you were coming, and Gu Dainai said she wanted to come visit us. How could we let her do that? It would be better for us to go over there instead. If we can see Third Elder Mistress, we can pay our respects, which would be even better.

  Mrs. Xu suddenly understood that this Tang family was the one that used to be called the number one family in Jinling, the imperial teacher Tang family that Master often mentioned, and that Mr. Tang Shangshu who had a high opinion of him. She quickly bowed her head and replied, "Thank you, elder sister, thank you for your concern."

  Mrs. Hsu was not clever, but she knew that Mrs. Yen had taken her and the children to visit An this time, all for their own good.

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