Requesting monthly ticket, striving for two updates.

  ***

  Mr. Xia sighed and looked at Xia Xiuzai again. Xia Xiuzai slightly lowered his head, not daring to meet Mr. Xia's gaze. Mr. Xia secretly sighed in his heart and let the matter drop. If he said anything more, his eldest son would lose face.

  Anyway, the eldest son still came, right? If even the eldest son held by the Tian family didn't come, that would be a disaster. As they say, ten things are not perfect, and five fingers are not the same length. At least everyone sitting at this table is a good descendant of the Xia family.

  Mr. Xia's face was filled with a smile, and he asked Uncle San to help him and Xia Xiuzai fill their cups with wine. The dishes on the table were sumptuous, aside from the cooked food that Xia Zhi had brought back from the county town, Mrs. Xia had also carefully stir-fried several dishes. Generally, peasant families only celebrated New Year's and festivals in this way.

  Old man Xia looked around the table and saw his youngest son, as well as several of his grandchildren, all smiling happily. The old man's mood immediately lifted.

  "Sixteen, this wine is soft and mellow, why don't you and your mother also try some?" It turned out that he was letting Xia Zhi drink too. Xia San Shu smiled and had Xia San Yi get a wine cup for Xia Zhi, then he held the small wine jug, and as long as Xia Zhi nodded, he would pour him some wine.

  Old Man Xia's words not only expressed his concern and fondness for Xia Zhi, but also subtly implied that he regarded Xia Zhi as a grandson. Everyone present, except for Xia Xiūcái who seemed distracted, had no objections to Old Man Xia's attitude. In fact, they were all delighted by it.

  Everyone thinks summer is great.

  Old Lady Xia smiled and looked at Xia Zhi, as long as Xia Zhi said she wanted to drink, she would accompany her, if Xia Zhi didn't drink, then she wouldn't drink either.

  The little black fish suddenly blinked his big eyes and told Old Man Xia that he also wanted to have a drink. Summer Third Uncle immediately smiled and asked Summer Third Aunt to bring another wine cup.

  Xia San Shu took three wine cups and placed them in front of Xia Zhi, Old Lady Xia, and Xiao Hei Yu Er.

  The wine in this era is not strong, and Xia Zhi sees that Old Master Xia is in a good mood, so he doesn't want to spoil the fun. "My father let me drink it, so I'll just have a cup with my grandmother."

  Everyone then said it was good.

  Xia Zhi wouldn't let Xia San Shu pour her wine, so she took the jug and first poured a cup for Old Lady Xia, then slightly poured some into the cup in front of Xiao Hei Yu, and finally it was her turn.

  This set of wine cups is quite small and delicate, even a full cup only holds two or three coins' worth of wine, so drinking several cups won't be a problem.

  Old Master Xia smiled and watched as Summer poured the wine, then let everyone raise their cups to touch them together. Old Master Xia didn't say any words of blessing, but everything was already understood without needing to be said.

  After drinking a cup of wine, Old Man Xia still didn't forget to observe Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei. "At sixteen, he should be able to drink a few cups. Little Dragon, it's still too early for you to drink now." Actually, Old Man Xia saw that Little Dragon was born with a good capacity for liquor, but he wouldn't say it out loud. Although he loved his youngest son dearly, Old Man Xia meant not to let him develop the habit of being greedy for wine.

  After drinking this cup of wine, Xia Zhi stopped drinking and only Xia Xiuzai and Xia Sanbo accompanied Xia Lao to drink. Everyone else happily started eating dishes.

  The cooked food bought back on the summer solstice is all excellent wine dishes, and Old Man Xia especially likes one of the pig's ears, saying that the taste and flavor are particularly good, and it can't be bought at the Linshui Town Fair.

  "Wait till I go to Fucheng next time, and I'll buy more for Grandpa." Xia Zhi said with a smile.

  Old Man Xia smiled and didn't say a word. Then, Uncle Xia San said that Xia Zhi was filial. In the countryside, when a big family eats together, it's for the lively atmosphere, they never pay attention to not talking while eating.

  So everyone chatted while eating, mainly talking about Xiao Hei Yu and Xia Zhi's affairs in the prefecture. When it came to the prefecture, they mentioned Xia Er Shu's family.

  "By the way, I forgot to mention," Xia Zhi told everyone, "my second uncle has arranged a marriage for Er Zhu."

  "What?" Old Master Xia was startled and put down his chopsticks. He asked Xia Zhi what kind of marriage Xia Ershu had arranged for Xia Zhu.

  "It's like this, Grandpa, you must know. She lives next door to my aunt's house, the daughter of my aunt's husband's older brother." Xia Zhi told Old Master Xia.

  "Is she the daughter of Old Guo's family?" Old Master Xia knew about Guo Xi, but he never expected that his own grandson would be engaged to Guo Xi's daughter. He turned his head and asked Xia Xiucai: "Do you know about this? Did your second brother discuss it with you?"

  Xia Xiuzai honestly replied that he had attended the engagement banquet, but Xia Ershu had never asked for his opinion on the matter of engagement.

  "This is something I didn't expect, something I didn't expect......" His son didn't tell him and had already arranged a marriage for his grandson. Old Master Xia was momentarily stunned. After a while, he asked Xia Xiucan again, "What's Guangxi's daughter like?" The old man still cared about his grandson.

  "I think he's a bit older than the Second Master, either one or two years older." Xia Xiuren said, and if you asked him anything else, he wouldn't be able to say any more.

  Xia Xiuzai has always been like this, not that he is indifferent to his nephew's marriage. Old Master Xia understood his son and didn't blame him, so he shifted his gaze to Xia Zhi.

  When it comes to handling chores and being meticulous, among the descendants of the Xia family, no one can compare to Xia Zhi. Not to mention the younger generation, even among Xia Xiuren's siblings, they probably can't surpass Xia Zhi either.

  "Guo Yuhuan is one year older than Erzhu, and she looks okay." Xia Zhi didn't say much more at the dinner table.

  Old Xia understood and temporarily dropped this topic.

  The children ate quickly, and Xia Lin was the first to finish. Old Lady Xia then brought over a large bowl, picked out some good dishes, and had Xia Lin deliver them to the front yard.

  Xia Xia Lin is still young, but he can already do a good job of running errands. Watching his little grandson holding a bowl and happily going to the front yard, Old Man Xia felt warm in his heart and thought that Old Lady Xia had done a great job.

  After dinner, Old Lady Xia took Xia San and Lao Yue to clean up the table and went to the main room to wash. Old Master Xia kept Xia Xiucai, Xia Sanbo, and Xia Zhida behind to chat.

  The little black fish also stayed behind naturally.

  "Sixteen, tell me about it. How did your second uncle arrange the marriage with the Guo family?" It had to be said that Old Man Xia was still very astute and experienced, he had already guessed that there was something fishy going on here.

  Xia Zhi didn't hide anything and told her everything she knew. In order to clarify things, she also mentioned Xia Ershu's affair at Guifangzhai and the affairs of several Xia Erniangs in the house on Yaowangmiao Hutong.

  She didn't deliberately conceal anything for fear of Old Man Xia worrying or being unhappy.

  "Guo Xina, I've met him twice. To be honest, we don't talk much. He's not one of us." Old Master Xia said to his children and grandchildren. He had already understood that Xia Ershu and Guo Xina were connected by interest, and this marriage was Guo Xina's attempt to cling to Xia Ershu because of the power behind him, which was the Tian family's influence.

  Xia Ershu seems to have benefited from it.

  However, Old Man Xia was not pleased with this at all. On the contrary, he was very unhappy and worried. "A gentleman is persuaded by righteousness, a petty man is persuaded by profit," Old Man Xia had studied in private school for two years, so occasionally he would show off his knowledge of books.

  "Like attracts like. Once things go well, it's as smooth as oil in honey. But once they don't, that's when it gets ugly." Old Man Xia sighed.

  Xia Zhi thinks what Old Man Xia said makes a lot of sense.

  "At first they wanted to go into the city, I didn't want to let them go. Luo's family that Juanzi wants someone to serve her younger sister, letting the second daughter-in-law go for a few days is enough. The second one followed and did what, leaving the land barren."

  Outside the house, stealing business from others... These are things that Old Man Xia dislikes very much.

  "By the way, I also asked my second uncle about what to do with his family. My second uncle said he had arrangements." Xia Zhi took advantage of the gap to say another sentence.

  "You didn't ask him, he probably forgot that there was still land at home. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have divided the land for him in the first place." Old Man Xia said with a sigh of resentment.

  Xia Lao Ye Zi is very dissatisfied with Xia Er Shu, and also worries about him.

  Xia San Shu comforted Xia Lao Ye Zi: "Dad, my second brother is clever and should not suffer any losses. Maybe in the future, he can settle down in the city and live a better life. If he doesn't want to farm, then so be it, as long as my second brother lives well."

  "I'm not afraid that he will suffer losses, I'm afraid that he will make others suffer losses." Old Master Xia still frowned, "You also heard it, his arrogant and unrealistic personality, actually wants to grasp for more, doing things without being down-to-earth, I'm afraid he will suffer greatly in the future."

  "It won't work, it just won't." Old Master Xia couldn't bring Second Uncle Xia back, so Third Uncle Xia could only try to console him with words.

  Old Xia sighed and thought to himself that his eldest son's life had just taken a turn for the better, but now his second son and his family were causing trouble again.

  "Sons and daughters are all troublesome." Old Master Xia muttered in a low voice.

  "Grandpa, isn't it said that children and grandchildren have their own blessings? Don't think too much about it. If my second uncle's family is doing well, then everyone will be happy. Even if something happens, at most we can just go back home to farm, which isn't like we haven't done it before. This household has a house and land, what else do you have to worry about?"

  "Sixteen, you're right." Old Master Xia thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, feeling that Xia Zhi's idea was very practical. "I can no longer interfere with the affairs of my second son. As his father, I'll just make sure to take care of this house and land for him. No matter what happens, let them have a bowl of rice to eat."

  Very simple and very useful. Xia Er Shu is lucky to have a father like Xia Lao Yezi, compared to many people.

  Xia Xiuzai and Xia Sanbo both nodded. The old man is still steady on major events, worthy of being the backbone of the family. Of course, it's rare for Xia Zhi to understand this principle at a young age.

  No wonder Old Man Xia was so fond of Xia Zhi.

  Having learned about the situation of Xia Ershu's family in Fucheng, Old Master Xia asked about Xia Xiucan with concern. Tian Shi had a quarrel with Xia Xiucan, and although she didn't spit it out, there were already signs of compromise.

  But this matter is not over yet. Tian will definitely have more demands on Xia Xiuzai next.

  (。)