After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

The newcomer was dressed in white, and his features bore a slight resemblance to those of Master Cui.

That's exactly the pretentious guy in white I encountered, oh no, the guy in white playing the flute.

"I never see you all day long, all you do is run around with your broken flute, you don't care about anything at home!"

"Uncle—oh no, Dad! What could possibly need me to do at home? You're in your prime, and you do everything better than anyone else. You can just do more and endure more hardship, right?"

Mr. Cui, nearing sixty: ? ? ? In his prime? ? ?

"Where are you going now that you've just gotten back? You're a grown man, don't you have anything important to do!"

"How can you say I'm not doing anything important? You don't know, I'm busy with important things right now!"

Young Master Cui tucked the jade flute behind his waist, slicked his hair back in a flamboyant manner, and prepared to slip away with his hands behind his back.

"Stop! Explain yourself clearly. What important business are you busy with?"

Master Cui felt that his former nephew, now his eldest son, whom he had adopted from his younger brother's family, was really unreliable and often spoke the truth. He felt he had to correct him.

She's only twenty years old, there's still time, there should be time, right?

Cui Xi stopped and turned around with a grin, saying, "Father, haven't you always been worried about my marriage? You don't need to worry anymore. Just wait to welcome your daughter-in-law into the house!"

"W-what?! Are you serious? Whose daughter is she? Don't you dare do anything underhanded!"

Tell me, and I'll find a reliable matchmaker to propose marriage!

Master Cui was skeptical, but he still planned to ask the best matchmaker in Chunyi County.

Choi Hee looked embarrassed. "Um...no rush, no rush~"

Propose marriage in person? How can you even go to their house if you don't know which way their front door faces?

"What's there to be no rush! You're over twenty, how can I not be anxious? When your dad and your second uncle were your age, you were already running around everywhere!"

It's understandable that Master Cui has a slip of the tongue; his eldest son only officially came of age last month and was registered under their eldest son's name, becoming the eldest legitimate son of the eldest son's family.

Now, only the eldest son Cui Hui and the third son Cui Sheng remain in the Cui family, both of whom are legitimate sons born to the second wife of Cui.

Cui Xi was the son of a concubine in the second branch of the Cui family. He was originally the second son in the second branch of the Cui family.

Of course, if he weren't an illegitimate son, Master Cui and Madam Cui wouldn't have been willing to give up their grown son.

The fact that she waited until she was so old to be adopted was because Madam Cui still wanted to try her best.

However, after more than a decade of taking in over a dozen concubines for her husband without producing any offspring, she finally came to terms with reality.

He accepted the adopted son of the second wife into his own name, making him the only child of the first wife, that is, the eldest legitimate son.

Suddenly, his status was even higher than that of his former brothers. Cui Xi, the person involved, remained calm and continued to live his life as usual.

He showed no awareness whatsoever of inheriting the vast family business of Master Cui. He neither learned how to do business nor how to socialize, and continued to do as he pleased, living a very comfortable life.

This gave Master Cui a real headache, but it also put Madam Cui's mind at ease, as she was initially worried that Cui Xi would seize power. After all, he wasn't her own son, so she still needed to observe him more closely.

At this moment, Cui Xi was scolded by Master Cui in the garden. Madam Cui couldn't help but step forward to smooth things over.

"Alright, alright, sir, it's not that Xi'er doesn't want to get married; she's already trying, isn't she? We can intervene when our son needs our help."

You know he's not the type to act recklessly; he's just a bit playful.

Cui Xi secretly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Madam Cui, his smug look only arousing Madam Cui's maternal instincts, making her even more protective of him.

Taking advantage of Master Cui's inattention, he gave his eldest son a wink, helping him escape from his father's clutches.

After escaping the garden, Choi Hee breathed a sigh of relief, but a sense of unease settled in his heart.

He had only met the girl once, and didn't even know her name, only remembering her lively appearance in that fleeting glimpse.

Sigh, finding that brother and sister is like finding a needle in a haystack. We should have just gone up to them and asked them their names and where they lived. It would have been better than not finding them at all in this sea of ​​people.

Chunyi County Inn

"Mingfei, have you sent a visiting card to Mr. Ouyang's friend's residence?"

"Yes, Li Mo sent it over early this morning. What's wrong, Mother?"

Lin Yueniang put down the two smoked hams in her hands and sat down at the octagonal table.

"Besides these two hams, what else should we prepare? After all, he is a good friend of your master, and we can't embarrass Mr. Ouyang."

After a moment's thought, Jiang Xiaoqi actually browsed through everything in her own space.

He bought countless local specialties and souvenirs along the way, and secretly stored a lot of them in his spatial storage when the other three weren't looking.

There was a large pile of fresh flower cakes, dozens of silk fans, a number of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, and quite a few daggers and swords inlaid with gemstones, as well as some pearls that my senior brother had given me before.

Of all these, swords and knives are quite suitable as gifts, but none of them are.

My master's friend was very likely also a scholar, so I could get him a set of the finest writing implements. Fresh flower cakes are also a representative of later generations' desserts and souvenirs, so I'd like two packs.

Gift-giving is about balance and moderation; you can't give an odd number of gifts. We already have three, but we're still missing one…

Now that we have food and supplies, let's send some impractical gifts. The Cui family must have female members, so let's pick a few pearls and put them together with the few remaining colored gemstones.

That's about it. We have plenty of silk fans here; they're not rare, so I won't show them off.

"Mother, I'll take care of the rest, so you don't need to worry about it!"

"Okay, then you can put these two hams here too. You can decorate them and make them look nicer."

After Lin Yueniang left, Jiang Xiaoqi took out the Four Treasures of the Study from his spatial storage. The penholder was engraved with exquisite patterns, and the ink stick emitted a faint fragrance.

Xuan paper is as delicate as white jade, and inkstones are rare treasures.

Next, select the two largest and fullest pearls, enough to make a pair of pearl earrings.

There aren't many gemstones brought back from the north anymore; what we have now are mostly dark-colored gemstones with a stable hue.

Four gemstones of different colors and almost the same size are placed in a brocade box, surrounding two lustrous pearls.

The flower cakes were the most in stock, and I would occasionally eat them to fill my stomach. Two large boxes of them were packed in a food box that was a foot tall.

Don't ask why I'm being so generous; it's simply because I've got my eye on the salt hot springs on that estate.

You shouldn't hit someone who gives you a gift. Considering such a sincere gesture, you should at least get a soak in the hot springs, right?