Chapter 498 The cannon-fodder cousin of the hero of the imperial examination essay (20)

 Xu Yin explained it to him.

After hearing this, the village chief seemed to understand: "According to the girl's statement, you want flowers and vegetables to be planted in the house?"

 Xu Yin: "...Absolutely."

 In ancient times without plastic film, it would have been the same as keeping it in the house.

  But the roof and walls can be replaced with straw curtains.

 The village chief pondered and then said: "I know where to build the greenhouse that the girl mentioned."

 He led Xu Yin to a dilapidated courtyard at the end of the village.

This was originally a nunnery. Later, a fire broke out and the nuns in the nunnery fled elsewhere. Later, this place was bought by the ancestors of the Xu family.

The entire nunnery is still very large, but it was burned down by a fire that year and only the ruins are left in front of you.

The villagers were building houses and came here to pick up a lot of usable bricks.

The remaining tiles on the roof that were not burned were also stripped off.

It can be said that except for a few rafters and columns attached to the big stones at the base of the wall because they were too heavy to be pulled out, all the other useful ones were pulled away.

“The girl just said that there is no need for walls, but we can weave some straw curtains and hang them up then? Is this place still suitable?”

Xu Yin walked around the nunnery and found that the ground of the nunnery was all mud, not paved with bricks and stones, and there were weeds everywhere, indicating that things could be planted, and she immediately made a decision:

"I think it's quite suitable, so I decided to settle here. I'll have to trouble you later to hire a few people to tidy up the place. After the New Year, loosen the soil, apply fertilizer, and sow seeds as on the mountain. First, let's see how the flowers and plants grow. . If it works, I can put up straw curtains next winter and it can be used as a greenhouse."

 The village chief responded one by one.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yin settled the matter of the greenhouse before returning home. When Xu Yin was happy, she paid another sum of money and asked Xu Kui to go to the town to buy a fan of pork and treat the villagers to a sumptuous Laba Festival.

This year, because the Xu Mansion is still in the mourning period, it cannot be decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. Unlike in previous years, the gates of the Xu Mansion are not open and gifts are given out.

This year, the gate of Xu Mansion is closed tightly, and people can only enter and exit through the side door, keeping a low profile.

Before Laba Festival, the old housekeeper led a group of servants in the house to clean the courtyards, the flower beds and lawns were trimmed without a trace of weeds, and the furniture was polished to a shiny finish.

Just waiting for the girl, the owner of the house, to return to the house.

 Xu Yin's arrival made the old housekeeper burst into tears.

“Girl, you have worked hard these past six months!”

Xu Yin replied: "I'm not working hard, but you are!"

While carrying his luggage from the carriage, Xu Kui said smoothly: "Dad, do you have clairvoyance? I didn't even tell you, how did you know that the girl has been planting flowers and making perfume in the past six months? , not to mention how hard it is to live..."

 The old housekeeper was confused when he heard it: "What kind of flowers? What kind of fragrance?"

 Xu Kui: “…What about that, you don’t know?”

Glancing at the girl, he seemed to have said something he shouldn't have said.

Xu Yin was amused by the conversation between the father and son: "Okay, let's go in and talk. What does the pestle look like at the door?"

“Yes, yes, yes! Go in and say it, go in and say it!”

 After sitting down, Xu Yin sipped the fragrant tea and talked to the housekeeper about her... uh, great achievements in the past six months?

 The housekeeper was dumbfounded after hearing this: “…”

"Pfft..." Xu Kui couldn't hold it in, turned away and laughed.

 Old housekeeper: "..." Brat, I'll deal with you later!

Thinking about it afterwards, if the girl can get over the sadness of losing her parents and no longer shed tears, she should just be busy. Even if a person loses weight, it will make people feel distressed. If the master and madam were still alive, how could they be willing for the girl to put in so much effort and effort?

So, during the Chinese New Year, the old housekeeper went to the big kitchen every day and directed several cooks around to think of delicious food for his girl.

 If you are fasting and do not eat meat or fish, you can only pay more attention to vegetarian food and snacks. A few days after Xu Yin returned home, snowflakes began to fall in and around Luocheng.

She had nothing to do, so she just lay on the soft couch and read travel notes and miscellaneous talks written by some literati of this dynasty.

Over in the kitchen, Jian Tian sent her the dishes and snacks the chef had recently thought of.

Within a few days, she discovered that she had a double chin.

　　　…”

　　…emmm…I ate too many pasta snacks made with vegetable oil.

Eating vegetarian food can make people fat. I am afraid no one would believe it in modern times.

However, the old housekeeper felt that her little flesh could not be called fat.

 “It seems to me that the girl is going to have a divorce.”

  It was normal for a fourteen-year-old girl to smoke, so she continued to watch the cook tinkering with the dishes, using the few vegetables and pasta available in winter, in various ways to enhance Xu Yin's nutrition.

 Xu Yin: “…”

 After the New Year, the snow on the ground finally melted, and she decided to go back to Chashan Villa.

　　If you continue to eat and drink in the house and be lazy, you will become as fat as a ball.

 The old housekeeper was worried that she was working too hard.

I didn’t know before that she had cleaned Chaishan and planted spice flowers, and built a fragrance shop in Xujia Village. Now she plans to build a greenhouse. I don’t know where she will be able to sit in the future.

You can't let the girl be busy while he enjoys the happiness in the house as a servant, right? He planned to go to another courtyard to serve her, and if there was any need for the girl to come forward in the future, he would do it.

When Xu Yin heard this, she staggered: "No, no, no! As long as you are always in charge of the mansion, I can keep my filial piety in the other courtyard with peace of mind! If you follow me to the other courtyard, no one will care about the people in the mansion. What to do if there is a collective rebellion?”

　　　…”

It is impossible to rebel, but it is possible to work lazily without anyone watching.

 The old housekeeper was hesitant about this.

Xu Yin spared no effort to continue lobbying: "You see, I stay in other courtyards most of the time. When I have something to do, I let Xu Kui run errands, which won't tire me. But you, on the other hand, are getting older, and the mountains are high and the roads are steep and difficult to walk. I'm really worried. You go..."

joke! If the housekeeper went away and urged the cook to cook her three meals in various ways every day, plus two snacks in the afternoon and one supper in the evening, would she still be a slender beauty? This is not the Tang Dynasty where fatness was considered a beauty.

 In the end, Xu Yin persuaded the old housekeeper to stay in the house with his affection, reason and important responsibilities.

With tears in his eyes, he watched the girl's carriage leave until he could no longer see it, then he lifted up his sleeves, wiped the corners of his eyes and returned to the house.

"Oh, the girl is so kind-hearted! She is considerate of the old slave and does not let the old slave run around even though he is old. He just wants to let the old slave stay in the house and enjoy the happiness..."

Sikong paused slightly as he was calculating with his hands, and said in his heart: Even a fool can see that she is afraid of you going. As for why you are afraid, don’t you have an idea in your mind? It's almost like feeding people to a head... Well, after all, I've gained weight. I'm at least a little fatter than when I first returned home a year ago.

 But the truth might hit the old housekeeper, so he should be a kind person and keep shutting up.

 Sikong continued to make calculations and accounts.

Seeing that he didn't talk to him and was talking to himself, the old housekeeper said nothing. He got up and planned to walk around the mansion to see where there was any need to be repaired, especially the girl's courtyard, so that he could find a craftsman in time if necessary.

As he was going out, he asked casually: "Sikong, is it because you offended people by talking too much in the past and suffered a big sin, and now you are like a saw-mouthed gourd?"

 Sikong: “…”

He endures it!

 (End of this chapter)