Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

For dinner, they had hotpot with mushroom soup base. After dinner, Shen Liu called Xiao Lan over and said he had something to tell her.

The maids brought tea to help digestion. Shen Liu sat opposite Xiao Lan. Although he was the one who asked people to come over, he did not speak immediately. He just looked at Xiao Lan in a daze.

Shen Liu did not have anyone to serve him here. He personally took hot water to heat the teapot and teacups, then filtered the tea leaves, and finally poured the tea into the tea bowl.

Xiao Lan was stunned as she watched Shen Liu's movements flow smoothly. When he pushed the tea bowl in front of her, she came back to her senses. "Sixth Master, is this Gongfu tea?" Xiao Lan held up the tea bowl with both hands and immediately felt the aroma of tea.

Shen Liu brewed the finest rain-previous Longjing tea, which was the imperial tea. When Shen Liu heard that Xiao Lan actually knew about the tea ceremony, he nodded and said, "I didn't expect that you also know about tea."

At this time, Shen Liu's cold aura and official authority had disappeared with the process of making tea. Now he seemed like a gentle and jade-like nobleman. Xiao Lan sipped the tea and couldn't help but feel moved.

Shen Liu found her to talk today, and she could probably guess something, but she never expected that Shen Liu would treat her so well today, because today Shen Liu actually made tea for her personally.

Based on her understanding of Shen Liu, he is definitely not a person who would do unnecessary things. Why is he doing this now and putting on such an attitude? Xiao Lan had a big question mark in her heart.

Shen Liu waited for a long time, but didn't hear Xiao Lan's answer, so he just said "hmm".

"How would I know that? I just saw it in a book." Xiao Lan replied with a smile.

At this moment, Shen Liu seemed to remember that she was taught by Mr. Huang, so she said, "You are lucky. Mr. Huang is a man of real talent and profound knowledge..."

Xiao Lan nodded repeatedly. Shen Liu was right. She and her younger brothers Xiao Wen were indeed lucky to be able to have Mr. Huang as their teachers.

When Shen Liu saw Xiao Lan put down her tea bowl, he refilled her tea.

"Sixth Master, do you have anything to tell me? Or do you want me to do something?" Xiao Lan picked up the tea bowl again and asked.

Shen Liu glanced at Xiao Lan but said nothing. He just concentrated on tasting the tea.

Seeing Shen Liu like this, Xiao Lan decided not to urge him any further.

In this way, the two of them drank a few bowls of tea in silence. As a result, the dusk outside became thicker and the rain gradually stopped. At this time, Shen Liu and Xiao Lan seemed to be tasting tea carefully and did not speak for a long time. However, only the two of them knew that they were both worried.

"The Emperor's birthday is coming up soon, and I feel like something is missing from the gift list I prepared for him." Shen Liu spoke up at this time. "This October, the Emperor's 40th birthday will be here, and I've already prepared the birthday gifts, but I feel like there's something missing."

Hearing Shen Liu talking about His Majesty's birthday, Xiao Lan quickly corrected her attitude, not only because she heard about His Majesty's birthday, but also because this was the first time Shen Liu was about to tell her such an important thing. Shen Liu was telling her his trump card.

Xiao Lan couldn't help but think of the gourd she saw in the vegetable field when she was visiting Qingyuan that day. Gourd, which is homophonic to "福福", is a very auspicious ornament in China, both in modern times and in ancient times. However, for farmers, gourds have only one use, that is, to make gourds, because farmers don't care so much about 福福, they just pursue a down-to-earth life. But for wealthy families, they will choose gourds with good shapes, and then do special surface treatments, or carve and paint pictures on them, and use them as ornaments.

"Wouldn't it be very interesting if the gourds in the vegetable garden grew words and pictures on their own?" Xiao Lan suddenly had an idea and said to Shen Liu.

"Can you make words grow on the gourds in the ground?" Shen Liu asked.

Xiao Lan was originally inspired by the square watermelon in her previous life, but now Shen Liu was looking at her with burning eyes, she immediately regretted it. But on second thought, it wasn't a big deal.

So she smiled and taught Shen Liu the method of growing watermelons with molds that she had seen in her previous life. Of course, there were also some techniques for printing words on fruits and vegetables. Through these methods, words could naturally grow on the gourds, and the gourds could also grow into the shapes she wanted.

Finally, Xiao Lan said, "I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it will work..." The principle is very simple. Xiao Lan believes that the skilled craftsmen of this era, with this principle and idea, will definitely be able to expand their thinking and then succeed.

After listening to this, Shen Liu nodded seriously and said, "Yes, we can give it a try..." When Shen Liu said "try it" in a serious tone, of course he didn't mean what Xiao Lan thought, that he just wanted to try it for fun. The gourds in the vegetable garden were immediately requisitioned by Shen Liu, but that's a story for later.

But I have to say it first, "Sixth Master, if this gourd grows, I must have a share..." Xiao Lan was most concerned about this and hurriedly confirmed with Shen Liu.

"Don't worry!" Shen Liu agreed immediately.

"Sixth Master, this is easy to say, but it's not that easy to do it and do it well." Xiao Lan reminded Shen Liu. Making this thing not only requires some skills, but also some luck, and the success rate is not very high. Xiao Lan felt that Shen Liu might want to use such a gourd for a big purpose, and was afraid that he would blindly place high hopes on this matter, so she couldn't help but remind him.

Shen Liu looked at Xiao Lan deeply, then nodded.

Shen Liu was very quick in doing anything, and he immediately asked someone to look after the gourds on the ground. After Shen Liu arranged for the craftsmen to come and start working, the vegetable field became a place where no one was allowed to enter.

Xiao Lan had already thought that Shen Liu would definitely send these gourds with auspicious words to the emperor as birthday gifts. As expected, Shen Liu said to Xiao Lan at this time, "This news cannot be leaked for the time being. First, this thing is not difficult to say, but it is rare because of its ingenuity and rarity. Second, if this matter is spread too early, there will be no surprise at that time..."

Xiao Lan nodded, indicating that she understood. This gourd was just as Shen Liu said. If the news was leaked in advance, the surprise would be gone, and it would be easy for others to imitate it. "Don't worry, Master Liu, we won't leak it..." Xiao Lan quickly assured Shen Liu.

"I'll go back tomorrow..." Shen Liu paused.

Xiao Lan just heard the beginning of the conversation, and when she saw Shen Liu didn't continue, she asked, "Master Liu, is there anything else you want to tell me?" She looked outside, the rain had stopped, and it was getting darker. Lanterns were lit in many places in Qingyuan. If there was nothing else, she should leave.

Shen Liu did not speak immediately, but thought for a moment, then slowly said, "That's all for now..."

"Sixth Master, it's getting late. I should leave." Xiao Lan stood up and said.

"I'll send someone to take you there..." Shen Liu stood up and said.

The two came out of the house, and Xiaoqing and Xiaolu also stood up from the veranda and walked over. Just now, when Shen Liu called Xiaolan over to talk, the two little girls did not leave, but sat on the chairs in the veranda, talking while watching the rain and drinking tea...

"The Sheng family has sent someone to pick up Miss Xiaolan. She's right outside..." At this time, a maid who served Shen Liu came forward to report.

When Xiao Lan came out of the house, she told her family that she might have dinner at Qingyuan in the evening. At this time, Zhang and Sheng Xuan thought that dinner should be over by now and it was getting dark. The couple was naturally worried about a little girl who had not returned from outside, so Sheng Xuan brought people to pick her up in person.

"Then there's no need for Sixth Master to arrange for someone to pick me up..." Xiao Lan was very happy to hear that Sheng Xuan was coming to pick her up, "Sixth Master, please go back... Today's dinner will be considered as a farewell for Sixth Master. I won't come tomorrow morning..."

During the few days Shen Liu stayed in Qingyuan, he didn't see any of the local gentry. He was going back tomorrow, and he had spread the news, so the local gentry would definitely come to see him off tomorrow. As a young woman, it would be inconvenient for Xiaolan to come. Shengxuan should come tomorrow...

Shen Liu naturally knew Xiao Lan's concerns, so he nodded happily. He couldn't help but feel relieved. Xiao Lan was a very considerate little girl. She came here tonight, apparently to see him off.

Although it was late, the air after the rain was very fresh. Shen Liu sent Xiao Lan out of the gate of Qingyuan as if taking a walk. Xiao Lan walked out surrounded by a group of maids and servants. Sheng Xuan brought people to pick them up. At this time, he was invited by the steward to the living room to talk. At this time, he saw Xiao Lan and Shen Liu and others coming, and hurriedly responded to go out. After a brief greeting, he got on the carriage and went straight home...

The next day, Xiaolan and her family had breakfast early, and then they rushed to Qingyuan to see Shen Liu off.

As Xiao Lan went to Qingyuan to accompany the Third Grandma of the Shen Family for several consecutive days, many guests suddenly came to their house recently. They were all young daughters-in-law or ladies from the family who came to visit. Most of them had never been to the Shen Family and had no social interaction with the Shen Family. They all wanted to visit the Third Grandma of the Shen Family, but they didn't dare to go there rashly.