The wind is gentle and the fun is endless

Xu Qu, sitting in the carriage, had a solemn expression on his face. He kept twisting a cup in his hand, and his thoughts drifted back to four years ago.

"Qu'er, take a look. This is the name card of the second daughter of the prefect Wen's family, and this is the name card of the eldest daughter of Mr. He's family. ... Take a look and see if you like any of them."

In those years, Madam Xie used the connections of the Xu and Xie families to find out information about famous ladies in order to find a marriage for Xu Qu. She always put family background first in order to consolidate the power of the Xu family and expand the influence of her Xie family.

Xu Qu had always been disgusted by this, but he could not openly disobey Madam Xie. In order to avoid being manipulated by Madam Xie and to make the person he proposed to marry back off, and for a reason that only he knew and had never told anyone, he pretended to be a dandy who frequented the entertainment industry, partying every night, which was quite absurd for a while.

He asked Youcheng to find a way to reveal his deeds to the woman in a more exaggerated way, hoping that the woman would take the initiative to refuse the marriage. This method was indeed effective for a while. Once the woman found out that it was true after asking, several marriages were cancelled. Of course, there were times when it did not work, but that is another story.

But this happened several years ago, how did his new wife know about it?

Did you hear it from the servants in the mansion? No. The people in the Xu mansion have always kept their mouths shut, and besides Youcheng, no one in the mansion knew about this.

But then again, Xu Qu had seen Huan Huan herself go to Yihong Pavilion. Wouldn't it be even more strange for a woman like her to go to such a place? Xu Qu hadn't yet questioned her about this matter.

Yes, that was the time. He had been to a brothel not long ago, the only time in the past few years. On the night of the outing, he followed Huanhuan into the Yihong Pavilion. He also protected Huanhuan from the drunk fight in the Yihong Pavilion with his body, so that she would not be affected.

But during this process, Huanhuan never looked up, and finally ran away in a hurry. Therefore, Huanhuan should not have known that it was him, otherwise she would have recognized him long ago and would not have waited until today to confirm with Youcheng.

But he had only been to that red-light district once, so it was only this time that she discovered him. Could it be that something happened recently that made Huanhuan realize that the person in Yihong Pavilion was him? What was the opportunity?

Xu Qu thought about it and felt that she had been in a bad mood since before today. When did it start? It seemed that she had been in a bad mood since she was in Yonghe Village, but Xu Qu didn't think much about it at that time. He just thought that she was in such a bad mood because of her foot injury and couldn't have fun.

Xu Qu carefully recalled everything that happened in Yonghe Village, trying to find out why Huan Huan behaved differently than usual in Yonghe Village. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. The belt, yes, it started when she stared at the belt. Yes, that's it. She also carefully asked Xu Qu if he only had one belt.

Now Xu Qu understood that it was this unique belt that exposed him.

Along the way, Xu Qu was thinking about how to find a suitable opportunity to explain to Huan Huan when he returned, and by the way, ask her indirectly why she went to Yihong Pavilion.

How could Huan Huan fall asleep after returning to the main house of Xin Garden to rest? The sultry weather and the incessant chirping of cicadas made her feel very irritated. She simply sat up from the bed and fanned herself with a round fan.

Suddenly, Xiaoyu's urgent voice came from far outside the door, "Miss! Miss!..." After a few voices, Xiaoyu pushed the door open and walked in.

"Xiao Yu! What's the matter with you yelling and screaming like that?" He slowly put down the fan and stood up in dissatisfaction.

"It's...it's born, Miss, it's born..." Xiaoyu said breathlessly.

"What?" Huanhuan didn't react for a moment.

Xiaoyu swallowed and continued, "It's the young lady, your sister-in-law, she gave birth to a baby."

Huanhuan suddenly perked up, walked over, held Xiaoyu's hand, and asked, "Really?"

Xiaoyu said, "It's true. Our young master sent someone to bring a letter from Heyang. The person who brought the letter is still in the mansion. He said that the young lady started to have labor pains on the way back to Heyang from her parents' home yesterday. She tossed and turned all night and gave birth early this morning."

Slowly, he clasped his hands together excitedly and asked, "Well, did the person here say whether the baby was a boy or a girl?"

"It is said that a little lady was born." Xiaoyu blinked her big round eyes.

"Where is the person? Take me to see him." Huanhuan put on his coat and took Xiaoyu with him to go out. When he reached the door, Huanhuan seemed to remember something and turned back to get his purse.

Huanhuan and Xiaoyu rushed to Madam Xie's Jingyuan, and saw the messenger from Heyang in the main hall. He was a young man dressed as a scholar, with a very kind look.

He bowed slowly to the man, expressed his gratitude, and then took out some change to give to him. But the man refused to accept it, saying, "Mr. Feng has already given it. If it weren't for the rule that people who bring good news must be rewarded, and I want to share in the good fortune, I wouldn't accept Mr. Feng's money. I came to Shanghuai to do business and brought a letter to my neighbors in Heyang. It's just a small favor, madam, don't remember it."

"Thank you from this little lady." She bowed again slowly.

"You are too polite, madam. By the way, there is one more thing that Mr. Feng asked me to tell you. Madam Feng hopes that you can go back to Heyang in person."

Slowly said: "The little lady has made note of it."

"Then I, Qiao, will take my leave now." After saying that, the young man politely bowed to Madam Xie again, stood up and walked out.

Madam Xie asked Huanhuan to go out and see Mr. Qiao off, and Huanhuan went all the way to the gate of Xu's house. Only after Mr. Qiao got on the carriage and left did Huanhuan go back.

After returning to Jingyuan, he slowly told Mrs. Xie that he wanted to go back to Heyang.

Madam Xie nodded and said, "I heard what Mr. Qiao said just now. We should go back and take a look. This is the silver locket I gave to your niece. You can take it back with you." After that, Madam Xie asked Nanny Zhang to hand a brocade box to Huanhuan.

Slowly opening the brocade box, inside was a carefully crafted silver lock, engraved with graceful brocade patterns.

It was custom for elders to give longevity locks to newborn babies, but considering the relationship between Mrs. Xie and the Feng family, she didn't need to give one. Mrs. Xie wanted to give one because it was thoughtful of her and it also gave Huanhuan face.

He slowly bowed his head and thanked Madam Xie, "Thank you, mother, for your thoughtfulness. I will go back and prepare, and plan to leave for Heyang soon. What do you think, mother?"

Mrs. Xie put down the teacup in her hand and said, "Oh? So anxious? Aren't you going to wait for Qu'er to come back?"

Seeing Huan Huan lowering his head and keeping silent, she continued, "Well, it's better to hurry early than late. Let them prepare a carriage for you. You can leave as soon as you pack up."

So Huanhuan said goodbye to Mrs. Xie and went back to Xinyuan. After packing up briefly, he left a note for Xu Qu to explain his whereabouts. Then Huanhuan and Xiaoyu got on the carriage back to Heyang.

Along the way, she was eager to return to Heyang, her home. Xu Qu's visit to the brothel had made her worry too much for several days and she was very tired. She needed the comfort of family affection. Unfortunately, the journey was long and it was dark before they arrived in Heyang.

When I arrived at the door of my house, I slowly discovered that there were many more lights on in the yard than usual, making the yard very bright, as if there was a happy event at home.

She first met her father, Master Feng. Master Feng looked radiant, and his beard couldn't stop his joy. He was a little surprised to see Huanhuan, and asked her why she came back so soon. Huanhuan naturally only reported good news and not bad news. She only said that she was in a hurry to come back to see her little niece, and didn't mention anything else. And Huanhuan's mother, Mrs. Feng, was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling, and kept telling Huanhuan how cute her little granddaughter was.

Their minds were all on the baby, and no one noticed that Huanhuan came back alone. But Huanhuan's brother Feng Shunqing asked Huanhuan why his brother-in-law didn't come back with him.

"Xu Qu went out to do some work in the afternoon. I rushed back as soon as I received the letter and didn't wait for him." Huanhuan talked to Master Feng while walking towards the bedroom where Mrs. Pei, the wife of Young Master Feng, was.

As soon as she entered the bedroom, Huanhuan saw her sister-in-law Pei sitting on the bed, and her little niece was lying in her sister-in-law's arms. Huanhuan gently called "sister-in-law". Pei looked up and saw that it was Huanhuan. She smiled and said to the baby in her arms: "Your dear aunt is here to see you." She was about to get up and come over.

Huanhuan hurried forward to stop Pei and helped her sit back on the bed. She gently teased the baby in her sister-in-law's arms, and saw that she was very small and well-behaved, which was very lovable. She pulled the baby's hand and said, "Little lady, I heard that your last name is Feng. What a coincidence, my last name is Feng too. We are a family, haha."

The baby in sister-in-law's arms seemed to understand Huanhuan's words and grinned too. Huanhuan said excitedly: "Look, she smiled, she understood. She is worthy of being our little Miss Feng. She and aunt are so in tune with each other."

She slowly tickled the baby's palm with her fingers and said in a childish tone, "Miss Xiao Feng, what's your name?"

At this time, the elder brother Huanhuan said, "Father has already given our daughter a name, Yuzhu."

"Yuzu." Huanhuan repeated softly, and said, "This name is good. It sounds nice and has a good meaning. Where did your father come up with this name?" Huanhuan knew his father too well. Whenever neighbors asked him to come up with a name, he would use quotes from classics.

"'In the Five Dynasties, Hu Zai visited Xiangguo Temple and saw lovely bamboos in the courtyard, so he composed a poem about fresh green bamboos. Emperor Chai Shizong sent a eunuch to write it on the wall, and the eunuch praised it after reading it.' It was inspired from here." Master Feng answered in a serious tone.

"I think it's great, too." Sister-in-law Pei Xiushan said, "Bamboo is slender and soft, upright and elegant, bends without breaking, breaks without breaking, and has character and integrity, which is exactly what scholars are constantly pursuing."

"Little Yuzhu, Miss Feng Yuzhu..." She slowly began to tease the baby again.

The people in the room were talking and laughing when a little maid came in and said respectfully, "Sir, Madam, the master and the mistress asked us to carry the young lady to the front hall."

After hearing this, the sister-in-law handed the baby to Feng Shunqing. Mr. Feng carefully took his daughter. His movements were stiff and awkward. He looked like he was afraid of dropping the baby and wanted to hug her tightly, but didn't dare to use too much force. It was very funny.

My brother and the little maid went out, leaving only Huanhuan and my sister-in-law in the room. Huanhuan was about to say goodbye and let my sister-in-law take a good rest, but my sister-in-law grabbed her hand and said, "Sit down, sister. I have something to tell you."