Xie Wan had never liked such gatherings with so many people. After dinner, she sat for a while and then bid farewell and left.

  Wei Xiao looked at her as she went out the door and quietly told Xie Yun, "I'll go to the corridor to clear my head." He walked out alone.

  He caught up with Xie Wan who had just turned a corner outside the courtyard gate, blocking her way and asked, "Can we talk?"

  Xie Wan looked around and saw that it was a cold day with no one else present. She smiled and said: "What does Master Wei want to say?"

  Wei Xiao snorted softly and glared at her from head to toe before saying, "Why should I help you lie?"

  Xie Wan smiled and said, "How can you say that I want you to help me deceive? Hasn't Master Wei kept the things he saw about me from others until now? It seems that all I'm asking of Master Wei is a tacit understanding."

  Wei Xiao was taken aback, and after a moment, he burst out laughing, pointing at her and saying: "You're really good at taking advantage of me!" After finishing speaking, he looked at her twice, but didn't show any intention of leaving. Instead, he put his hands behind his back, with a hint of a smile, and said: "I just wanted to say that I've seen you before, but it's not good for your reputation if I say it out loud. After all, men and women are different, and saying it would be disadvantageous to you. It's not because of anything else."

  Xie Wan pursed her lips and nodded: "Thank you, young master."

  Wei Xiao was deeply grateful. After looking at her for a while, his tone became more relaxed and pleasant: "I asked you, is there anything else fun to do in Qinghe? Where do you usually go to have fun?" There wasn't even a hint of scolding or blame anymore.

  Xie Wan smiled helplessly: "In a small county town, what's fun to do? Even if there is, it's hard to enter the eyes of a young master. I'm usually bored and idle, at most I'll go live in the countryside for two days. Go up the mountain and take a walk to change my mood, nothing else."

  "Tianzhuang?" Wei Jiong heard this. His eyebrows rose, "From childhood to adulthood, I've either been in the capital or Hejian Prefecture. Never been to Tianzhuang before."

  Xie Wan didn't believe he hadn't been to Tianzhuang. He could come to Qinghe at will, so if he wanted to go to Tianzhuang, wouldn't it be even easier? Trying to deceive a ten-year-old child wasn't that easy.

  "There's nothing fun about it, there are a lot of vicious dogs, and even if you go, you can only stay in the yard."

  The courtyard is already searching for people under the leadership of Qi Yao.

  She said: "Master Wei, hurry back inside, it's so cold outside, be careful not to catch a chill."

  He nodded at him and walked towards Yifengyuan with his feet up.

  The next day, early in the morning, the theatrical troupe arrived at the mansion.

  The gongs and drums were beaten to a deafening crescendo. Xie Wan stayed in the pavilion, chatting with the little ones, eating almond milk and roasting by the fire.

  The west window's glass was suddenly hit by a branch with a loud cracking sound.

  Yu Xue and Yu Fang were not around, she directly crawled along the brocade cushion to push open the window, only one person stood under the window with a banana leaf on his head, it was Wei Cai.

  "What are you doing here?" She opened her eyes wide.

  He climbed up the windowsill with his mouth open, patted the bulging small package on his body and said: "Shall we go to the field you mentioned? I've prepared meat bones mixed with broad beans, even the most ferocious dog will fall down after eating it!"

  Xie Wan was dumbfounded.

  "Why don't you come in?"

  Wei Xiao looked back and lowered his voice, saying: "I slipped out of the theater, if I'm found entering the house it won't be good. Your grandfather specially invited the play for us, if someone finds out, he'll lose face. Hurry up and get ready! I'll wait for you at the second gate!"

  Having said that, he didn't wait for Xie Wan's response and quickly slipped out of the window.

  Outside the window is a small courtyard of Yi Feng Yuan. There is a small gate leading to the front yard.

  Xie Wan looked at him hurrying away with a bag of bones on his back and was also afraid that something would happen. She immediately called Yu Xueyu to help him wash and change clothes, then secretly told Wu Xing to take care of him first when Xie Cong returned.

  Luo Ju had already put on his car and was waiting outside the courtyard gate.

  Yi Feng Yuan had a door that led directly to the bottom of Er Dao Men, and after the mule cart passed through the threshold, Xie Wan lifted up the curtain and looked out. Before she could see clearly what was happening, a figure had already quickly climbed onto the front of the cart, and under Luo Ju's guidance, slipped into the carriage.

  "How come it's been so long?"

  Wei Xiao brushed off the snowflakes on his white clothes and complained.

  Xie Wan was speechless and instructed Luo Ju to head towards Nanwa Village.

  Nanwa Village actually she had only been there twice, but because she was always thinking about the rice shop, recently she also divided some of her thoughts on this matter.

  Wei Xiao curiously asked this and that, from what beasts were in the mountains to what fish were in the water, just like any other young noble Xie Zhu had met. It can be seen that no matter how good their family background was, the nature of being curious about unknown things is still hard to change. Xie Zhu leaned against the carriage wall with his eyes half-closed, thinking about the harvest of the past two years, and answered his questions one by one.

  The mule cart soon left the South City Gate and after traveling more than ten miles, it arrived at the head of Nanwa Village.

  Zhuangtou Yang Wu recognized the car sign of the second house and immediately returned to the room to call his wife Shu Niang, and together they went out to greet them.

  Nanwa Village is thirty mu bigger than Wutou Village.

  The Xie family has been devoted to business over the years and only bought a piece of land in Wutou Village as a special supplier of rice for the government.

  Nanwa Village was the dowry estate of Mrs. Yang, and with fewer people in the second house, they couldn't finish eating and using it all, so every year they could still sell over a thousand dan of grain. This income of over a thousand dan became the income of the estate. Under heaven, there's no reason for someone to open only one rice shop; the more shops you open, the lower your costs will be pulled down, so usually those who open rice shops are households with real power.

  The annual output of over a thousand dan of grain in Nanwa Village, if used to supply her future rice shop, is just a drop in the bucket, but it can serve as a reserve source.

  So she also hopes that the yield of Zhuangzi can be improved a little bit.

  "Why aren't you talking?"

  Wei Xiao suddenly poked her with his elbow.

  She came back to her senses and looked at him walking around the house, saying: "What did you just say?"

  He said, "I just said, how come there are not as many dogs on the way as you said?" He patted the pile of bones on the table and said anxiously, "It's all because of this that I brought so many bones, what should I do now?"

  "It's so cold outside, even dogs won't come out." She picked up the lukewarm ginger date tea on the table and took a sip.

  Yang Wu poked his head out of the door and pulled Luo Ju to speak in a low voice under the corridor, mostly inquiring about Wei Jiao's origin.

  She simply said to Yuxue: "You go tell Shu Niang, say that Wei Gongzi has come from the capital, and usually eats a lot of mountain delicacies and seafood. He's not interested in her chicken, duck, fish, and meat, let Yang Wu go to the fish pond to catch two live fish and steam them tenderly. Also, take some mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, and stir-fry a few home-style dishes."

  Wei Xiao heard the two words "winter bamboo shoots" and immediately said: "Are there any bamboo shoots at this time?"

  Xie Wan said, "Winter bamboo shoots are not available at this time, when is it? When spring arrives, it becomes spring bamboo shoots and is no longer as delicious." She thought of her previous life in the Qi family, where her aunt taught her and her cousin how to cook, and couldn't help but smile: "Stir-fried winter bamboo shoots with meat, braised winter bamboo shoots are all delicious. Spring bamboo shoots have a stronger flavor, but are more suitable for making dried bamboo shoots. Dried bamboo shoots stewed with five-flower pork, served with red pepper and scallion threads. Add a little starch to thicken the sauce, and it's even more flavorful when it comes out of the pot."

  Wei Xiao sat in a chair with his hands on his knees, lost in thought, and a look of yearning appeared on his face.

  "I usually just go to the village, and I'm only surrounded by people strolling in the fields, I didn't know there were such benefits!"

  Xie Wan smiled and said, "And then there's the spring, when the mountains are full of mushrooms. We can pick mushrooms while searching for wild fruits like dog tongue and cat ear. In the summer, we can go to the riverbank to catch water caltrops. You may not care about mushrooms, but you must rarely eat wild water caltrops. The flesh is as big as a fingernail cover, sweet and fragrant, melting in your mouth.

  "Wei Qian swallowed his saliva and clapped his hands, 'I've had that kind of big triangular pastry that looks like a cow's horn!'"

  Xie Wan smiled and said, "That kind of raw food doesn't taste good."

  Wei Yan went down dejectedly. But soon he brightened up again: "What else?"

  "Besides," Xie Wan said, sipping her ginger date tea. "In autumn, we can go to the fields and rivers to dig for loaches and eels. Sometimes we have to leave early. We can also pick up exhausted wild ducks under the melon sheds. It's even more fun at this time of year, and it's when boys like to sneak into the countryside, climb mountains to catch wild rabbits, dig out bird nests, and break ice to catch fish——but don't think about these things, follow me out, I definitely won't let you go."

  She smiled and looked at him, mercilessly extinguishing the hope in his eyes.

  "What business is it of yours?"

  Wei Xiao looked at her with disdain, his expression showing that he didn't think much of her youth. However, he was a sensible child after all, and when he came out, no one in the Xie manor knew about it. If anything happened because of this, the one who would be held responsible would be Xie Zhuo. She had already brought him out to experience new things, which made him feel excited and happy, but he couldn't implicate others.

  After some deliberation, he said cautiously a moment later: "Well, can we go pick winter bamboo shoots then?"

  He pointed to the bamboo forest on the hill behind the window.

  Luo Ju heard this and burst out laughing, while Wei Xiao looked at him in confusion.

  Xie Wan smiled and said: "Winter bamboo shoots grow in the ground. Even if you want to go, it's digging, not picking."

  Wei Qian's face turned bright red with anger.

  However, Xie Wan was a sensible person and saw that it was still early, so she let Yang Wu take two small hoes and go out the back door with Wei Zhao.

  Xie Wan was not interested in digging bamboo shoots, she had always been just a spectator. Wei Xiao held the hoe in his hand as if it were a general holding a precious sword for battle, and quickly ran ahead of Luo Ju who was leading the way. By the time Xie Wan and Yu Xueyu Fang caught up with their small bamboo baskets, they had already seen two or three holes that he had dug along the way.

  There was still some thick snow in the bamboo forest, and Yang Wu called two villagers to help shovel the snow near the target. Wei Jiao thought they were moving too slowly, so he took the shovel himself. In less than half a moment, he was buried under a pile of snow.

  Xie Wan stood with his hands in his sleeves, like an old man, and smiled: "Young Master Wei is a golden boy, what's he good at doing these things? Let them do it instead."

  Wei Xiao got up, his face red, and said stubbornly: "I just wasn't paying attention for a moment."

  She looked up to see her wearing a fox-fur cloak with sable sleeves, standing there calmly and serenely, looking as if she had just strolled out of a garden. His heart suddenly stirred with mischief, he bent down and scooped up a handful of snow from the ground, taking advantage of her momentary distraction to stuff it into her collar: "You, this majestic lady who points at mountains and scolds rivers, should also get some exercise!"

  Speaking of which, he danced all the way to a distant place with his hands and feet.

  PS: Thanks cs168111 and yunshan80 for the pink tickets, thanks xiangcuixiaoshuipian and vivian2512 for the peace signs, thank you guys~~~