Flowers in full bloom

Hua Lei, who was still her original body at that time, looked at her grandfather on the hospital bed and asked tearfully: "Grandfather, you also said that this was just a verbal engagement, and it has been twelve years. Who knows if they still remember it? Even if they remember it, you said that the other party was Dingbei Marquis at that time, and now he may have made further progress. How could they agree to this unequal engagement?"

But Grandfather Hua insisted, "Grandfather Pei is generous and righteous, and will not betray his promise. Even if the rest of the Pei family does not recognize the engagement, Grandfather Pei will definitely recognize it, and I have already written to him. It doesn't matter even if he does not recognize the engagement. Just ask Grandfather Pei to help take care of the Hua siblings."

"But Grandfather, why do we have to go to Shangjing City? Can't we just stay here? Uncle Fu, Aunt Fu, and Aunt Song are all here." "No, take Uncle Fu and Aunt Song with you to Shangjing City. We can't stay here."

Hualei wanted to ask why, but her grandfather fell into a coma and passed away that night. With the help of Uncle Fu and Aunt Song, Hualei and her brother took care of their grandfather's funeral. Before they could even catch their breath, they knew why their grandfather didn't want them to stay in the old house.

A group of so-called relatives from my grandmother's family came to the house, saying that they wanted to take back the Tian family's property. It turned out that Hua Lei's grandmother's maiden name was Tian, ​​and she was an only child without any other brothers or sisters. So before Hua's grandmother got married, her relatives had been eyeing the fields and houses of Hua's family. They were waiting for Hua's grandmother to get married so that they could divide the property of her family into their own pockets.

Unexpectedly, my grandmother's father had long seen through the true colors of the clan members, and gave all the property under his and his wife's name to my grandmother to the Hua family in the name of dowry. The old couple left behind a small house with one entrance and more than ten acres of fertile land in the countryside.

This infuriated all the clan members, and they started to pick quarrels and cause trouble for more than ten or twenty years. They would come to the Hua family from time to time to make trouble and take some benefits back. The situation did not improve until Hua Lei's father passed the imperial examination and was appointed as a county magistrate.

Unfortunately, when Hualei was seven years old, the county where Hualei's parents were working suffered a flood, and they lost contact with them since then. It is said that tens of thousands of people died in the flood, and many of them were left with no trace.

The grandparents had only one son, and something happened to their son and daughter-in-law all of a sudden. It is said that before Hualei's mother died, she was more than four months pregnant. Just after the grandmother received the letter from her son and daughter-in-law announcing the good news, she suddenly received the bad news. She could not bear it and passed away after lying in bed for more than three months.

After losing his son and daughter-in-law, my grandfather also lost his wife. He suddenly became ill and lay in bed for more than half a year before he recovered slowly with gritted teeth. From then on, he lived a hard life with seven-year-old Hualei and two-year-old Hua Moyuan, supported by the loyal servants of the two families. His health was getting worse year by year. Then he caught a cold in the cold weather at the end of the year. He held on for a few months and passed away in early February.

Hualei, who was just twelve years old, suddenly lost her backbone. After losing her loved ones, she was suffocated and fainted after being pushed and shoved by the so-called tribesmen. When she woke up, she was already the Hualei of today.

Fortunately, after Hua Lei woke up, she inherited all of her original body's memories, so she didn't reveal any clues and arouse everyone's suspicion.

Then Hua Lei decided to follow her grandfather's last words. She acted decisively and sold the family's house and land as quickly as possible. She spent money, found acquaintances, and got passes from everyone. With the help of Uncle Fu and Aunt Song, she packed up the valuables in the house and left her hometown with her younger brother overnight.

After traveling for more than half a month, we will finally arrive in Shangjing City tomorrow. When we arrive in Shangjing City tomorrow, we will first find a house to rent or buy and settle down the whole family. The days ahead will have to come slowly.

Hua Lei breathed a sigh of relief and tied her hair with a cloth band. She saw Xiao Xiao had also washed and was drying her hair. After she tidied herself up a little, the waiter brought dinner. Hua Lei took Xiao Yuan and Aunt Fu and several other female relatives to eat in the room, while the men went downstairs to the lobby to eat. While eating, they calmly inquired about the going to the capital.

After the waiter cleared the dishes and left, Hua Lei asked Aunt Song and Aunt Fu to take the children to another room to rest. Xiao Yuan lived with Luo Xile, Sun Xiaoqun and other boys. Xiao Xiao and Hua Lei lived in the same room. This was the arrangement all along. The men were divided into two groups, living in the two side rooms to protect the women and children living in the two middle rooms. Hua Lei originally wanted Xiao Yuan to live with her, but the seven-year-old boy said that he was already an adult and had to protect his sister. He insisted on living with a few half-grown boys, so Hua Lei let him go.

Xiaoxiao carefully checked the doors and windows, and put the clothes, shoes and socks she would wear tomorrow beside the bed. She saw Hualei spread out the map of Shangjing City on the table. This map of Shangjing City was accidentally found by Hualei in the bottom corner of the shelf of the largest bookstore in Fucheng when she passed by Fucheng last time. She bought it for six taels of silver.

At that time, Aunt Fu and Aunt Song were so shocked that they covered their mouths. My goodness, these six taels of silver were enough for a rural family to live on for two years, but now they only bought a piece of paper, and it was old and the edges were all frayed and curled. Every time she saw Hualei take out this piece of paper, Aunt Fu couldn't help but grumble a few words, saying that it was too expensive and not worth it. Hualei was not angry, but she rarely took it out to look at it in front of Aunt Fu.

Xiaoxiao moved the oil lamp slightly closer so that Hualei could see more clearly. She also moved closer to the map and asked, "Miss, you have been reading books and maps all the way. Do you have any plans?"

"Well," Hua Lei moved the map towards Xiao Xiao and said softly, "Look, this is a map of Shangjing City. Although it is not very clear, you can see the general distribution of Shangjing City. Shangjing City is centered on the Imperial City, and then it is distributed radially outward around the Imperial City. From the east, west, south and north of the Imperial City, it is divided into four major districts: East City District, West City District, South City District and North City District. I also went to read books related to Shangjing City, which recorded the distribution of people in each district of Shangjing City.

Most of the people living in Dongcheng District are the aristocratic families in the capital, powerful people like the officials in the capital, and the houses bestowed by the emperor as rewards to the generals and soldiers are generally also in Dongcheng District.

Xicheng District is generally inhabited by very wealthy people, such as imperial merchants and wealthy businessmen. They are engaged in businesses from all over the world. I heard that there are special trading markets for many things such as silk and tea. Some minor officials who come to Beijing also live here.

The majority of people living in Nancheng District are ordinary people. Dongcheng District and Nancheng District have relatively more fertile fields, so these people have to do the hard work of digging for food in the fields. Most of the refugees who fled to the capital due to natural disasters in the past few years were arranged to open up wasteland and cultivate the land in Nancheng District, and they are now also part of the common people. Of course, there are also some small aristocratic families who live near the southern outer city of the imperial city.

As there are many mountains and few farmlands to the north of Shangjing City, the North City has the most hunters, who often sell game from the mountains. There is a market there that specializes in selling game, and there are many Hu people from the north who also sell some foreign goods there, such as northern furs and spices. I heard there are also all kinds of beautiful beads, etc. Therefore, the people there are more mixed and their personalities are more sturdy. "