The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 505: celebrate
Chapter 505 Celebration
Ji Langhua was so sincere that his eyes were a little red.
“I’ll let Chuntao take you back to rest…”
“No need, young lady!” Ji Langhua carried the small medicine box on his back, “I know the way to Bai’s house. Let Miss Chuntao take care of you and you can rest quickly!”
Bai Qingyan sent Ji Langhua out the door and watched her leave. When he turned around and was about to go back to the upper room, he saw Chunzhi sitting under the lamp in the corner of the corridor with a gauze curtain, reading a book in one hand.
Chun Tao saw Bai Qingyan looking in Chun Zhi’s direction and said with a smile, “I don’t know why Chun Zhi has started to study these days. He is quite diligent and even knows to ask for help when he encounters words he doesn’t know.”
Bai Qingyan nodded: “It is good to know more words.”
Seeing Chunzhi reading, she couldn’t help but think of the new recruits in the military camp. Most of those recruits were illiterate. In ordinary villages, it was considered good if there were one or two families with literate people.
Although it is okay for soldiers to be illiterate, this first batch of new recruits… no matter the training grounds that Bai Qingping and Shen Yancong are in charge of, or the “mountain bandits” that Ji Tingyu is in charge of, they should at least be able to become squad leaders or ten squad leaders in the future. It would be bad if they cannot read.
“Go and talk to Chunzhi, and ask her to tell Butler Hao to find a few loyal servants who are older and can read, and send them to the parade ground to teach the new soldiers how to read.” After Bai Qingyan finished speaking, he lifted the curtain and stepped into the upper room.
“Hey!” Chuntao responded and hurriedly ran to find Chunzhi.
Bai Qingyan sat under the lamp and picked up the book. He thought that most of those who could go to the parade ground to sign up to suppress bandits were brave men. If he asked them to learn characters like children, they might not be serious. He might have to come up with reward and punishment measures. For example, the top three people with good literacy performance every day, just like the top three people in daily training, could get meat to take home.
In this way, we may be able to select people who are both civil and military, and focus on training them so that they can be entrusted with important tasks in the future.
It would be safer to let Uncle Ping handle Ji Tingyu’s matter.
·
Xiao’s house.
Xiao Rongyan was sitting under two thirty-six-burnt copper lanterns, leaning against his hidden bag, reading the letter sent from Dayan.
Autumn is approaching, and Dayan’s army in Rongdi will face the crisis of food shortage in winter. Now that Dayan has recovered the fertile land of Southern Yan, there is no need to worry about food. The difficulty lies in transporting food to Northern Rong. After all, there is a State of Jin between Rongdi and Dayan, so this matter still needs to be handled by Xiao Rongyan.
Now Xiao Rongyan’s caravan has entered Xiliang and has been making a big announcement in Xiliang that Jin is going to deploy troops on the border of Xiliang, waiting for Xiliang and Dayan to fight each other, and then taking over the city of Xiliang.
Once the Jin army sets out, the news will surely reach Xiliang and Wei at the fastest speed, and the Xiliang envoys will surely also have to go to Jin. However, Jin will never sit idly by and watch Xiliang seize the land of Southern Yan and enhance its national strength.
Therefore, Xiao Rongyan could put this matter aside for the time being and start planning on transporting grain and grass to Rongdi. He still needed to find the Crown Prince of Jin for this matter, transport the grain and grass over openly, and share some of the profits with the Crown Prince.
Moreover, the Rong and Di people now have food and will not rob Jin as they did in previous years. The prince will certainly be happy about this.
On this trip, Xiao Rongyan would bring food with him and horses back. He would sell half of them to the State of Jin at a high price and take the other half back to the State of Yan.
After reading the letter, Xiao Rongyan burned it and then opened the secret letter sent from the capital city.
The secret letter said that the emperor had approved the dispatch of the newly recruited soldiers to the border of Western Liang, and that 10,000 troops would be drawn from the newly recruited soldiers stationed at the border of Daliang and also be sent to the border of Western Liang. The Jin army that had returned victorious from the northern border was not allowed to go to the southern border.
New recruit?
Xiao Rongyan took the letter and read it for a moment, frowning.
After a while, Xiao Rongyan suddenly figured it out and chuckled… It should be Bai Qingyan’s work.
I think Bai Qingyan will accept without hesitation the tens of thousands of new soldiers sent by the Emperor of Jin to the southern border.
Bai Qingyan always manages to seize opportunities and steer things in a direction that works in her favor. Xiao Rongyan not only admires her… but also feels proud of her.
Thinking back to the day at the Shaohua Courtyard banquet, Dong Changlan said that he came to Shuoyang to give a birthday gift to Bai Qingyan’s mother, Dong. Xiao Rongyan felt that he should also get ready.
Although the Bai family will not hold a banquet this time, they still have to get together to celebrate for Bai Qingyan’s mother.
·
July 26th was Dong’s birthday, and the weather was excellent.
The Bai family did not hold a banquet because they were in mourning. Instead, they gave some reward money to the servants as Dong had instructed, and the whole family just got together for a meal.
As soon as Mrs. Dong woke up, Nanny Qin smiled and came forward to hook the curtains to both sides with copper hooks: “Madam is awake.”
“What happened outside?” Mrs. Dong thought of her husband and son last night and cried silently in bed. She did not sleep well and looked a little tired. She pressed her swollen and aching temples with her fingers.
Nanny Qin saw that Dong’s eyes were swollen, but she didn’t expose Dong. She just smiled and said, “The eldest and fourth girls are tinkering with the fifth and sixth girls in the small kitchen. They said they wanted to make a bowl of hot longevity noodles for Madam. Later, the cousin’s wife also came. It seemed that the noodles she made didn’t taste good, so the eldest girl invited Miss Ji to come over. Now they are all in the small kitchen.”
Nanny Qin knew that Bai Qingyan was afraid of days like today. Dong was sad thinking of Ayu, so she brought her sisters over to join in the fun. Not wanting Dong to think of the sad things, Nanny Qin let the children make trouble in the kitchen.
Mrs. Dong was surprised and felt a little warm in her heart. She looked out through the window lattice, got up and sat in front of the carved bronze mirror, picked up the jade comb and combed her hair: “Put a cold towel for me to apply to my eyes.”
As soon as Dong had finished cleaning up, Bai Qingyan took Cui and her three sisters to set up breakfast in the outer room.
When Bai Jinzhi saw Dong coming out from behind the twelve-man-carried nanmu screen, he smiled and bowed to her, “Aunt, I wish you good fortune and a long life.”
“Aunt, Xiaowu wishes you a bright future and long life.”
“Aunt, Xiaoliu wishes you good health and peace!”
Cui also stepped forward with a smile, bowed and said, “Then I wish my aunt good luck and prosperity, and eternal glory!”
“Mother, please have a bowl of longevity noodles!” Bai Qingyan stood beside the round mahogany table and handed chopsticks to Dong. “We sisters kneaded the noodles together. It’s a long noodle…”
“You are so thoughtful!” Mrs. Dong smiled and asked Nanny Qin to give each of the children a red envelope, and then sat down to eat longevity noodles. “Please sit down. It’s not breakfast yet! Let’s eat together.”
Although the noble family of Qing Dynasty insisted on not talking while eating or sleeping, today was Dong’s birthday, and all the family members were present, and Bai Jinzhi was a lively person, so the meal was extremely lively.
Cui was so envious of the scene of people talking and laughing.
The Bai family can be regarded as a model of aristocratic families with a profound heritage. Such a family… they can set an example wherever they go, even when they are talking at meals. Who can say… that the Bai family is rude?
The third update is here! It’s the last day! If you can get the third place in the monthly ticket, I will give you more updates during the Spring Festival. If you can get the second place, I will give you more updates!