Chapter 59: Unexpected Harvest

  The Zhao family clan lived together, with family members scattered throughout nearly half of the block, centered around the ancestral temple. To the left was the main house, to the right was the second house, and the third house was located behind the second house, slightly offset towards the center, adjacent to the back door of the ancestral temple. The houses of the outer nine branches were concentrated in the rear of the main house, densely packed together in a large area.

  The outer six houses are a distance away from the old house of the second branch. Zhao Qixuan was separated from the family and not seen by his brothers, so the house he got was the farthest from the main house of the sixth branch, but closer to the second and third branches. It takes only five minutes to walk there, and even if the womenfolk take a little longer, it won't exceed ten minutes.

  Zhao Xun greeted Lu Ma and her husband, and didn't even call for a carriage to be prepared. She only brought Bi Lian along, plus Zhao Qing's maid, Qian Cao. The four little girls walked together towards Zhao Qi Xuan's home.

  The people around were all surnamed Zhao, and there were no outsiders, so even the eldest daughter, Zhao Qingjie, didn't feel embarrassed. However, Shen's family received the news and chased after them in a carriage. Upon learning that Zhao Xuan was going to find Zhao Qixuan, they couldn't stop her either. So, they let the two girls get on the carriage, and she accompanied them together. She also ordered someone to hurry back to the ancestral house to prepare some fruit, which would be sent over quickly as a gift for her visit.

  Zhaoxuan had actually prepared a gift, two packages of exquisite pastries made by the family chef, two bolts of cloth, a knife paper cutter, and a block of high-quality new ink, as a gift for her first visit to her cousin's home, which was already quite generous. However, she didn't stop Shen Shi from making her move. If Shen Shi wanted to give gifts, that was her business.

  They soon arrived at Zhao Qixuan's home, and his wife, Ma Shi, had already received the news and came out to greet them. Shen Shi was a frequent visitor, and the two were quite close friends, so there was no need for formalities. However, this was Zhao Xiu's first visit to their home. Although she was just a young girl, as the eldest granddaughter of the Duke, with the highest-ranking Duchess Zhang Shi standing behind her, Ma Shi did not dare to be even slightly neglectful.

  "Shen saw Ma's tension and smiled: "Our Qing has been with her aunt for two days, but suddenly remembered your Yuan. Xiu brought her to find Yuan to play. Although she is older, she is still young and loves to play and laugh. Don't be too formal, as long as the etiquette is correct, what's the need for outsiders? Hurry up and bring your sister in to have some tea."

  Mrs. Ma's face lit up with a warm and welcoming smile as she said to Zhao Xiu, "Sister, please come in and sit down. Now that you're back at our house for the first time, why don't you try some of our family tea and pastries? Of course, they can't compare to the culinary skills of the Hou Mansion's chefs, but they have a unique charm of their own."

  Zhao Xun smiled and thanked her with a hint of shyness. She saw Zhao Wan's sister and brother, Zhao Hui, rushing out to greet her. She gave them a slightly shy but not arrogant smile, instantly gaining their favor. Zhao Wan's sister was nine years old this year. After hearing her introduce herself, she enthusiastically grabbed Zhao Xun's hand: "Little auntie, you came at just the right time! My dad brought back some fresh dates, they're so delicious, they're from Yiwu, and they're sweet!" She pulled her inside as she spoke.

  Zhao Qixuan's home was not large, a small and exquisite two-story courtyard with blue tiles and white walls. Along the wall of the front yard were placed twenty or thirty pots of flowers and grasses, and in the corner of the yard were planted two osmanthus trees. The white flowers, about the size of a wine cup mouth, emitted a refreshing fragrance and were blooming vigorously. The main house had three rooms, with the central room being the hall, and the two sides slightly narrower. On the right side was a small door leading to the backyard. The east and west wing houses were very shallow, one room had its door closed, and it couldn't be seen what it was used for. Another room looked like it was used as a study, but there were only a few scattered books on the bookshelf. Zhao Qixuan wore casual clothes and stood awkwardly at the door. Originally smiling, Zhao Huai's smile disappeared when he saw his father. On the other hand, Zhao Wan, who had been chattering away, immediately ran over: "Dad, Aunt Xiu has come to play with me!"

  Zhao Xun bowed to Zhao Qixuan: "Greetings, elder brother."

  "Sister is good, didn't expect sister to come to our house, this is...beyond expectation." Zhao Qixuan rubbed his hands and turned sideways, indicating that he was giving way. He and Zhao Xuan were siblings, so there was no need for him to give way, but he was avoiding Shen Shi.

  Shen was very straightforward, bowed and then pulled Ma's sleeve. Ma hurriedly called out to the children to welcome Zhao Xiu and Qing into the main house. As Zhao Huai passed by his father, he gave him a signal: "Aunt Xiu has come to play with her sister, and Aunt Cui is accompanying her. Father, it's not convenient for you to be here, why don't you go somewhere else to pass the time and come back later?"

  Zhao Qixuan's face showed no dissatisfaction, he had long been accustomed to his wife and children's disdain. He wasn't angry at being treated coldly by his 14-year-old son, but was a bit worried about his daughter. Seeing his wife go out and call the maid to pour tea, he instructed her: "You keep an eye on the child, Yuan sister's temper is good, but she rarely sees people from the second house, don't provoke her aunt into getting angry without knowing."

  "Still not because you usually spoil her and make her worse? Don't worry, with Big Sister Jing here, it's nothing serious for children to quarrel. She patted her son on the shoulder: "Hurry up and go in, they are all siblings, there's no need to be shy, just be a little polite. Your aunt from the second house just sent you paper, pen, money and grain, and now your aunt is sending you a good knife, paper and new ink, I suppose she's hoping you can make progress in your studies."

  Zhao Huai agreed and stepped inside, while Zhao Qixuan was about to leave. Zhao Xuan had just sat down in the house when she saw him and hastily asked, "Where is my brother going?" Madam Ma hurriedly smiled and came forward, saying, "He has an appointment with a friend and is on his way out. He's someone who is never at home all day, don't mind him, sister-in-law, let's just talk among ourselves."

  Zhao Xun came here just for Zhao Qixuan, how could he let him go: "I still have things to ask my brother, if he leaves, who will I ask?"

  Ma looked up in surprise and turned to Shen: "But what about Huai's father, has he caused trouble again?" The implication being that she was worried her husband had done something wrong and angered Zhao Xuan.

  Shen's family was also unclear, and could only look at her daughter. Qing jie had already asked Yuan jie for the foreign language book that had been used as a shoe sample, and handed it to Zhao Xiu: "Little aunt, is this the one?"

  Zhaoxuan took a look and was lucky, the words printed on it were exactly in English, although they were ancient English, but there were still some clues to be found, barely able to make out what the words meant. Flipping over the cover again, the title of the book was "The Wealth of Britain from Foreign Trade".

  What a high-end title, maybe it's not just for being a shield?

  Zhao Xuan immediately became interested in this book. She had passed the English six-level exam smoothly during her university days, with good listening skills and slightly poor speaking skills, but it was enough to read documents and magazines. Unfortunately, many pages of this book had been cut off. It seems that these lost pages have all become Zhao Wan's shoe patterns.

  Zhao Xuan jumped down from the chair with a book in hand, walked to the doorstep and asked Zhao Qixuan outside: "Brother, where did you get this book? Is there another one? Are there any other books?"

  Zhaoyi Xuan was greatly surprised and hastily said: "There are other books, but this one is the only one. Is sister looking for this? This is a book printed by Westerners, we can't understand it, just look at the pictures inside, just to freshen up. I heard that the person who wrote this book has some knowledge. It's not the most common kind of storytelling. It must be worth reading. That's why I took this book to show Old Master Ba, unfortunately he didn't like it. I thought no one else would want to read it, so I gave it to Shanshu, but she cut it up."

  "However, it's just this book. Sister Yuan can't understand it, so she took it to cut randomly and wasted good things. If sister Yu likes it, take it away. He also gave a glance at his son: "Huaigong brought back several copies, some of which have pictures, paintings of flowers, people, and houses. I think they are quite interesting. Thinking of keeping them as patterns is also good, so put them away. If sister likes them, give them to her, anyway, we can't understand them."

  Zhao Xun was overjoyed and hastily said, "Really? I thought the words on this were interesting. I just wanted to take a look. If my elder brother and sister-in-law are willing to part with it, I'm willing to pay the price in silver."

  Zhao Qixuan smiled and waved his hand: "What silver? This was something a friend accidentally got, couldn't understand it, and originally planned to throw it away. I saw no one wanted it so I took it back. Sister likes it, take it then, mentioning silver is just looking down on us." On the side, Madam Ma's face showed a satisfied expression, today her husband performed cleverly enough, didn't drag his feet.

  Zhaoxuan thought for a moment, and then said seriously: "Since my elder brother and sister-in-law are kind enough to offer, I would be impolite if I refused." These few books were of no value to Zhao Qixuan and his wife. She could take something they needed as compensation and return the favor.

  When she accepted the gift, Madam Ma couldn't help but reveal a joyful expression on her face. In this day and age, who in the clan wouldn't want to curry favor with the Second Mistress? The treasured daughter of the Second Mistress was willing to accept their family's gifts, that was their family's good fortune! A few worthless books could be exchanged for such prestige, it was truly a bargain that couldn't be beat!

  Zhao Huai brought back a leather bag after a while, which looked like a modern backpack, but was made of leather. The stitching was rough and had an obvious age to it, and it gave off a strong smell of seawater. He placed the leather bag on the table in the center of the main room and said to Zhao Xiu: "Little sister, all the books are inside. This bag is also something Father got from his friend, who said it was an old item that belonged to the original owner of the books."

  He opened the bag and pulled out several books of varying sizes, the thickest one being a small Bible that looked like it had been read the most. There was also a thin copy of "On Taxation", two non-English books with unclear content, a Latin dictionary, two illustrated sonnets, two diaries, and a sketchbook with many torn-out pages, leaving about twenty sheets of drawings depicting either still lifes or ships, as well as portraits of various bearded sailors.

  Zhao Xuan looked at the torn page, and had some doubts that Zhao Huai had just taken out the bag before tearing it. There was a page with more remaining parts, and looking at the lines of the picture, it seemed to be a corner of the sofa, and there was a piece of cloth casually draped on the floor, with a pattern resembling a toe on it.

  This can't be it, right?

  Zhao Xuan suppressed the curiosity in her heart and smiled as she thanked him, putting all the books back into her bag.

  On the other side, Zhao Yuan had already taken out his treasured music box. This thing was far from being as compact and delicate as later products, it was almost half the size of a computer host. The sound it produced was somewhat monotonous, not harmonious, but in this era, it was already a rare thing, causing Shen Shi and Qing Jie to marvel at it.

  Zhaoyan looked at Zhaoxuan with some tension, several books she didn't care about, but was reluctant to give away this music box. She had no idea that Zhaoxuan was not interested in her beloved music box and was thinking of going home early to take a good look at those few books.

  ps：

  I heard that from 28th to 7th, there is a double pink ticket activity, someone begged for pink tickets.