"There are only a few months left until the end of the year, where can I find a good husband for your elder sister?" Tian Shi muttered to Xia Zhi.

  Xiatill didn't speak, and with a glance out of the corner of her eye, she saw Da Ya and Er Ya standing not far away. The two sisters were looking at her talking to Tian Shi, seemingly wanting to come over but not daring to. The two sisters hesitated, almost taking one slow step at a time, slowly approaching.

  Tian Shi chatted with Xia Zhi Xue for a while and also found Da Ya and Er Ya. Towards the two nieces from her husband's side, Tian Shi's attitude was not bad. She called out to the two maids: "What are you two doing? Come over."

  Da Ya and Er Ya hurried over. "Aunt," the two people shouted in unison to Tian Shi, both with flattering smiles on their faces. Then the two of them looked at Xia Zhi again.

  "Summer Solstice, want to go out and play? We'll take you along." Da Ya said with a smile.

  Er Ya also chimed in and said she wanted to take Xia Zhi on a tour around.

  When she first arrived at the Tian's house, although these two little girls were secretly sizing her up, they didn't take the initiative to talk to her. Now that they're being so close and affectionate, it's probably also due to the instructions of the adults in the family. Later they will go to Xia Zhi's house to live, thinking of getting close to Xia Zhi first.

  In addition, they should also be very willing to get close to Xia Zhi. After all, Xia Zhi has been to the imperial city, seen the world, and whether it's her speech or that outfit and demeanor, both sisters can't help but admire her.

  Xiatu didn't dislike the two little girls, but she wasn't in the mood to play with them either.

  "I just went out for a walk. Da Ya Jie, Er Ya Jie, you two go by yourselves." Xia Zhi said.

  Tian Shi hastily said, "You don't have anything to do either, just go and play with your cousins for a bit, chat with them." Tian Shi's intention was also very willing to let Xia Zhi and Da Ya, Er Ya get close.

  Xia Zhi had no choice but to agree, but only followed Da Ya and Er Ya to the gate, where the three little girls sat under a tree to enjoy the cool breeze. Da Ya and Er Ya both vied to talk to Xia Zhi, but their topics were very limited. They either asked Xia Zhi how much silver he spent on his clothes and accessories, or asked him about things in the imperial city.

  Fortunately, Little Tree was a clever child. He walked away for a while and soon came back to find Xia Zhi. Xia Zhi then casually found an excuse and took Little Tree away with him.

  Da Ya and Er Ya watched as Xia Zhi walked away, exchanging a glance with each other, both feeling somewhat disappointed. They simply couldn't get enough of Xia Zhi's words. The things Xia Zhi spoke of, the imperial city and the lives of its people, were to them like matters from another world altogether.

  The summer solstice is another world for them.

  "The summer solstice is different from before." Da Ya said in a low voice.

  "She is different from before." Er Ya also said.

  Two little girls said the same thing, but the meaning was not exactly the same. Er Ya's words were just superficial, and Xia Zhi's this time came to wear and wear, as well as speaking and doing things, and the aura around her body, were all completely different from before, as if she had become a different person.

  In the past, Xia Zhi was one of them. Now, Xia Zhi is someone else, a person from a world that they can hardly touch.

  But Da Ya's meaning is that Xia Zhi's attitude towards her and the past has changed. As cousins, although they don't often meet, their relationship used to be pretty good. Every time Xia Zhi came, she would take the initiative to find Da Ya to play with and talk to her.

  Although Xia Zhi didn't show any impatience in front of them now, she could still feel that Xia Zhi was not willing to get close to them.

  Is it because they have passed their prime that you also look down on them?

  Da Ya lowered her head. Anyway, she and Er Ya had to get along well with Xia Zhi, which was what Jiang taught them and also their own wish.

  ……

  Xia Zhi and Xiao Shu'er found Xia Qiao, who was kindly taking Tian Da Bao out to play. "Brother," Xia Zhi stopped at a distance and called out to Xia Qiao.

  Xia Qiao saw Xia Zhi and immediately walked over, leaving Tian Da Bao behind. Tian Da Bao also followed over, but before Xia Zhi could speak, Xiao Shu Er glared at Tian Da Bao with her eyes wide open, scaring him away.

  "Little Tree, why are you bullying him!" Xia Qiao said to Little Tree.

  "I didn't bully him. I just don't want him to get so close to my sister." Xiaoshu said, and then looked at Xiazhi with a pleased expression.

  Xia Zhi patted Xiaoshu's head and thought to himself that this kid would grow up to be someone important if he wasn't so gluttonous.

  "Brother, I have something to tell you." Xia Zhi took Da Qiao and Xiao Shu to a quiet place and told them everything that Tian Shi had just said to her.

  "I said, Big Auntie, why are you always asking about matchmakers and guarantors?" Little Shu'er suddenly looked enlightened.

  Xiaqiao was slightly older and thought things through more maturely. He furrowed his brow: "Finding a rich family for Dahu is not easy, especially since it has to be done before the end of the year. When doing matchmaking, families care about social status!" Xiaqiao started worrying on behalf of Tian Shi.

  "That's for the parents to worry about." Xia Zhi was very relaxed, she wouldn't worry about Xia Xiuzai and Tian Shi on their behalf. "But in the future, they should just come back to our family to be raised. And in the future when they get married, I reckon we'll only be responsible for receiving gifts and whatnot, if they want dowry, it's also our family that has to prepare."

  Can't help but say, Xia Zhi has seen through the Tian family very clearly.

  "It's just a matter of more chopsticks." Xiaqiao said, regarding the two sisters-in-law living and eating at his home, Xiaqiao didn't have any resistant emotions. In many ways, Xiaqiao was similar to Xia Xiuzai. They were both kind-hearted and didn't bother with trivial matters. "However, our family will definitely demand a dowry, who would be willing to give it?"

  This problem still needs to be worried about by Xia Xiuzai and Tian Shi.

  Xiao Shu'er is not as selfless and loving as Xia Qiao. He expressed his concerns, but the content of his worries was different from Xia Qiao's.

  "Many people eat, I don't know how my mother arranged it." Xiaoshu rubbed his chin. He and his older brother Xiazhou shouldn't be affected, but Xiazhi might not be so lucky. "I don't know if sister will lose out."

  This matter, Xia Zhi hadn't thought of yet. She just looked at Xia Qiao.

  "With us two around, how could Sixteen ever go hungry?" Xia Qiao lovingly glanced at his sister, but in his heart he thought that his sister was no longer the obedient and yielding Sixteen of the past. Even if their mother wanted to bully her, she wouldn't take it lying down anymore.

  "That's right." Little Shu nodded, "No matter who she is, if she comes to our house and makes my sister unhappy, that's definitely not okay."

  "You're just a sixteen-year-old little brat!" Xia Qiao said with a smile.

  The little tree chuckled and not only didn't get angry, but felt very happy and honored. He also thought of another issue: "We need to prepare dowry for the two of them, that's definitely a lot of money."

  "It'll be enough when the time comes. It's better than having to take out 200 taels of silver now." Xia Qiao said. Da Ya and Er Ya's dowry, that absolutely wouldn't use up more than 100 taels of silver, probably just a few taels would be about right.

  Xia Zhi nodded slightly, and Xia Qiao's point was indeed correct.

  The three siblings chatted for a while, watching the sky grow darker and smoke rising from the chimneys. They returned to the upper house only when they saw that no one was cooking dinner in the outer room of the upper house. The Tian family had no intention of having dinner at all.

  It wasn't enough to eat at noon on the summer solstice, and now I feel a little hungry.

  Seeing Xia Zhi glance at the stove multiple times, Xiao Shu guessed her thoughts. "Sister, have you forgotten? At our grandma's house, we only eat two meals a day."

  The Tian family usually eats two meals a day, one in the morning and one at night. They don't normally eat lunch unless they're busy with farm work. Now that everyone has eaten lunch, dinner won't be prepared tonight.

  The Tian family has always treated their son-in-law's family this way. Seeing that dinner was moved to noon and they even got meat, that's already high-standard hospitality.

  Just as Xia Zhi was speechless, he saw Tian Wangshi coming out of the house and starting to heat up rice. Not cooking, but heating up rice. Tian Wangshi only heated up two portions of rice.

  That's the hot meal for Tian Dabao and Tian Dashu.

  The Tian family usually eats two meals a day, but Old Man Tian, Eldest Brother-in-law Tian and Big Treasure Tian are exceptions. Eldest Brother-in-law Tian and Big Treasure Tian eat three meals a day, while Old Man Tian is older and his appetite has decreased, sometimes eating two meals and sometimes eating three.

  Today, Brother-in-law's family all came, and Old Tian didn't plan to eat the third meal, only letting Mrs. Tian heat up food for her son and grandson.

  "Grandma, I'm hungry too." Xia Zhi said to Tian Wangshi. She didn't actually care about eating or not eating this meal, she just wanted to see how Tian Wangshi would react. "My brother and my younger brother, we're all hungry. At home, we eat three meals a day."

  "You haven't eaten enough at noon?" Tian Wangshi coldly swept a glance over Xia Zhi, and only said this one sentence, without saying anything else.

  As soon as Xia Zhi walked away, Tian Wangshi put down the work in her hands and rushed to Tian's side like a gust of wind.

  "Look at how you're raising your child. I think Xia Zhi is going to ascend to heaven." Tian Wangshi added fuel to the fire, exaggerating the story of Xia Zhi asking her for dinner. She also brought up the incident where Xia Zhi went to eat with Old Man Tian at noon. "Not a shred of discipline! Asking me right to my face. How am I supposed to respond? And she has the nerve to do so. That little girl, thinking she can have three meals a day! The Xia family may have money to waste, but we Tian family don't..."

  The Tianwang family has been holding back their anger all day, and this anger has been brewing for a long time. It's not necessary to mention the specific reasons now, but finally found an opportunity to vent it out.

  Tian Shi hastily advised Tian Wang Shi not to get angry, and she went to say Xia Zhi. "I won't forgive her."

  "You can't even scold her, and you're probably reluctant to say anything. It turns out that the little girl is still okay, but you've spoiled her rotten." Tian Wangshi stormed off to continue cooking dinner.

  Tian found Xia Zhi, Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu were all there. The three children looked at her together. Those sarcastic words that Tian had on the tip of her tongue couldn't be said anymore.

  (。)