The father was taking care of the store, and Li Duanyi was the backer. Xu Ping didn't want to care too much. Seeing Zhou Qing leave crying, he just found it funny with Xiuxiu. If no one was a backer for him, it would be nothing.

He bought a candy man for Xiuxiu and asked her to take it. The two of them returned to the hotel where the villager was trampled.

Liu Xiaoyi got the order and rushed over and looked at the shopkeeper. He had been in charge of Xu Zheng for a long time and felt it was good, so he took it to the capital and helped his family to take care of some chores.

When Xu Ping arrived, a group of shopkeepers were surrounding Liu Xiaoyi, talking nonsense, each telling what they wanted to do when they arrived in the capital, and asking Liu Xiaoyi to take him to do it.

Seeing Xu Ping, Liu Xiaoyi came up to see the gift and vented: "It's good that the little official is here!"

Xu Ping looked at a group of enthusiastic shopkeepers and also had a headache and said to Liu Xiaoyi: "Brother Xiaoyi, tomorrow is the winter solstice, and I will stay up tonight as usual. Is there anything fun in the capital?"

Liu Xiaoyi understood it and hurriedly said, "What's the fun of going back to stay up to New Year? The capital is the most deserted tonight! It's only when the emperor comes back with his ministers and worshipers tomorrow that he suddenly becomes lively!"

Xu Ping said to the tourists from all the villages: "I heard what Brother Xiao Yi said. There is nothing to visit tonight, so don't go out. By the way, there are many restaurants nearby. Let Brother Xiao Yi take you to pack a few tables, and take two jars of good wine from your home. Have a happy meal and drink, have breakfast, and keep your energy and have fun tomorrow!"

He turned to Liu Xiaoyi and said, "Brother Xiaoyi will go home to collect the money later."

Liu Xiaoyi responded quickly.

When some shopkeepers were relieved when they heard that they could not go out tonight, they were muttering in a low voice, while others heard that they could have a meal in a restaurant in the capital, which felt that the trip was worth it.

After appeased the shopkeeper, Xu Ping took Xiuxiu to his house.

After going down the road by the Bian River and passing through several alleys, he saw a small courtyard. Xu Ping said to Xiuxiu: "Take two steps and you'll be there before. This is our new home in Tokyo."

Xiuxiu kept looking back all the way, and heard Xu Ping's words and said in a crying voice: "How can you remember the road when you are twisted and twisted? Officials, when they arrive in the capital, Xiuxiu dares not go out. If no one takes her, she will definitely get lost and can't go home!"

Seeing her speaking seriously, Xu Ping smiled at An Wei: "It's okay, there are other people in the family. You'll just go out with people every time. You'll get familiar with it when you walk twice more. Besides, we can't live here for many days."

Xiuxiu was not willing to believe it, but she just kept looking back at the road of time.

Baofu, a newly-conspired servant at home, was Zhang Ran at the door. When he saw Xu Ping, he hurriedly waved: "Little official, come back home soon. Madam is impatient for waiting!"

Xu Ping took Xiuxiu two steps and went to the door and said to Xiuxiu: "Remember the door of the house. This is the blessing of the new home. If you want to go out, you can let him take you with you."

Xiuxiu saw a greeting and just hid behind Xu Ping to look at Baofu. The strange place and strange people made Xiuxiu, a girl who had never traveled far away, very uneasy.

Baofu is only twelve years old and has no thoughts, but just urges Xu Ping to enter the door quickly.

After passing the courtyard and arrived at the hall, Zhang Sanniang saw Xu Ping inside and shouted, "My son, you are here! Come here quickly and let your mother have a good look. I haven't seen you some days!"

Xu Ping walked forward and smiled and said, "Mom is exaggerating. It's only been less than a month."

Zhang Sanniang said: "You are the flesh that fell from me. Even if you don't see me for a day, I feel that something is missing!"

The mother and son were talking over there, while Baofu and Xiuxiu stood aside, not knowing what to do.

Zhang Sanniang looked at Xu Ping carefully before saying to Baofu: "Go and ask Dou'er to order tea, I have worked hard all the way."

After a while, a little maid brought the tea and put it on the table for Xu Ping to drink.

This is Dou'er, a newly-contracted female envoy at home. She is thirteen years old. Although she is also tiring up, she looks less agile than Xiuxiu. Dou'er bought it from another company. It was originally a three-year employment agreement, but there were only two years left in the Xu family. Unlike Xiuxiu, it was the first time to hire someone, the price was much cheaper.

At this time, most of the male and female servants hired at home were children of underage age around ten. Sometimes Xu Ping also lamented that no wonder that child labor should be banned in later generations. This system is not good for children and not good for the entire society. For the poor, raising such a young child at home is also a waste of food. It is better to hire someone else to raise it, and you can still get a few cents of money for use. Therefore, these slaves who can only be considered child labor are extremely cheap. As long as a slightly decent family in the capital, they will hire two people to do housework.

The mother and son talked for a while, and Xu Zheng came here. He was going to worship his ancestors tomorrow morning, and Xu Zheng was busy cleaning up all the matters. First, this kind of thing was not easy to pretend to be a subordinate, and now there is no one at home, so Xu Zheng was extremely busy, not as free as when he was in Baisha Town.

After seeing the courtesy with my father, the family sat there and talked.

Baofu and Dou'er were both busy with their own affairs, but Xiuxiu stood there at a loss. When Zhang Sanniang saw this, she called Dou'er over and took Xiuxiu to make wontons.

Xiuxiu looked at Xu Ping with eyes. Xu Ping knew that she was in a strange place and felt panicked, so she said to her gentle words: "Just follow Sister Dou'er, you will be a family in the future. Get familiar with it sooner."

At this time, the procedures for celebrating the festival are similar to those for the Chinese New Year. You have to stay up tonight and eat wontons when you are late. Although it is called wontons, Xu Ping always feels that it is similar to dumplings and is not as exquisite as those in later generations. At this time, you don’t eat dumplings, but eat sliced ​​soup. I don’t know when the rules passed down.

Speaking of the Chinese Spring Festival, the first time was the winter solstice as the New Year. Although it has been changed for more than a thousand years, many customs are still the same as the New Year, making the two festivals not even apart. However, in Kaifeng City, due to the court's winter solstice suburban ceremony, the festival was solemn than in other places. In general, the Winter Solstice pays more attention to etiquette, and the New Year pays more attention to entertainment, especially the Shangyuan Festival behind it, which is a carnival throughout the country.

There were no servants around, and the family was talking about gossip around the brazier. When Xu Ping said that, he had been to Li Yonghe's house. When he saw Mr. Duan's yard, he asked his father to go to chat with the old man more if he had nothing to do.

Li Yong and his official duties are busy, Li Zhang is a half-aged child, and the old man is actually quite lonely sometimes. Although there are a few old brothers, due to the special nature of his previous work, he doesn’t have much contact.

The official duty of the Imperial City Department is to protect the palace, but since it is the emperor's closest guard, there are many hidden things to them, and many are actually dirty and shameless. The Imperial City Department's former name was Wude City Department, because it was too bad to catch people in the capital because it was too famous for reporting and arresting people in a random city. It was renamed the Imperial City Department during Emperor Taizong. However, the status of this organization was there, especially the emperors of all dynasties who relied on them to govern corrupt officials. Although it had positive effects, the negative effects were greater. It was always a thorn in the side of Dali Temple and Kaifeng Prefecture. It had a very poor reputation among the people. It was considered the predecessor of the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, but it did not expand in the Song Dynasty.

The courtyard inside was a very special commander in the Imperial City Division. The commander in the Song Dynasty was basically 500 people. The courtyard inside was more than this, but less than two commanders, between 500 and 1,000 people. The word inside refers to the entry of the Great Inner. These two words have already explained everything. The formal statement is to deal with miscellaneous matters for the palace and have no specific positions. But the more clear the position, the more everything is included. In addition to buying something for the people in the palace on the surface, most of them are doing spy on the news and inquire about the privacy of ministers in the capital, which is especially hated by the ministers of the current dynasty.

The power of the east and west governments of the Song Dynasty was extremely powerful, and except for special periods, it had great restrictions on the emperor. For example, at this time, the emperor's imperial edict had to be passed through the Secretariat, and there was no deputy signature of the prime minister. The ministers refused to execute it, and if they were executed, they would be held accountable by the prime minister. At the earliest, when Zhao Kuangyin stabilized the throne, he removed all the prime ministers left by the Later Zhou Dynasty and appointed Zhao Pu as prime minister. After the imperial edict was written, he could not find the deputy signature of the prime minister. In the end, he had to let Zhao Guangyi, the younger brother who was envoy, sign the name of the prime minister, complete the procedure.

In this case, Duan Laoyuanzi's identity was very embarrassing. Because of Li Yong and his strength, he had not only been at home from military service, but in the past, there were many people who were taboo about him. He had to be honest at home and not go out to cause trouble, otherwise he would be caught by Kaifeng Mansion. In fact, it was because Li Yonghe had a good reputation among literati later that this old yard had a positive reputation.

After hearing Xu Ping's words, Xu Zheng sighed: "Since I came to the capital, I often think about finding this old brother to drink two bowls of wine. But the shop is newly opened and everything is busy, so where can I get rid of it? I have to wait for a few days and everything goes well in the shop before I take time to see him."

Xu Ping said: "My father has been in business all his life and always cares about the word "money". Our family is not selling wine, but selling sugar. How much restaurants can you get from such a business? There are countless wealthy nobles in the capital. When they see it, they have made money, and some of them have set their sights on our shop. Today, I just moved to the shop, and some wealthy families sent a small yellow gate in the palace to go to the shop to find a business. In the future, this kind of thing will only increase. Grandpa Duan has served in the palace for decades. He has been pretending to be full of grievances of these wealthy nobles. My father often goes to listen to him and only when he does things, he will be very good at doing things."

Xu Zheng was stunned for a moment and asked, "What trouble did that little yellow gate cause us? How did he send him away in the end? Are there any consequences?"

Xu Ping said: "It was Zhang Tianrui who went to find the senior official Zhang Weiying who was supervising goods in the capital and scared away the little yellow gate. Can anyone know if there are any future problems?"

Seeing Xu Zheng's appearance, Xu Ping sighed: "Dad, don't worry about these things. We work with Taiwei Li Fangyu to do this business, and these things are managed by their family. Dad, don't worry about such things in the future. What is our family's identity? How can you manage this? Just listen to Grandpa Duan tells stories more and understand the tricks in the middle. Never interrupt a word! It's not a big deal for these wealthy families, but may just cause trouble for us! It's just a business, not a life. After the shop is closed, we still go back to Baisha Town to sell wine, eat and drink, and live a good life."

After hearing Xu Ping's words, Zhang Sanniang couldn't help but push Xu Zheng: "Old man, listen to his son more. He is a person who has read books and knows the world! Although you and I have sold wine for a lifetime, when have you met these princes and high officials? How do you know what they think?"

Xu Ping said: "We don't know what they think, we just don't mess with them."

Xu Zheng has always been smart. If he loses money in business, he will understand it with a change of mind, but these things outside the business world cannot be changed for a while, just keep saying a lot.

Not long after, Xiuxiu and Dou'er served wontons. After all, they were children of about the same age. After the two little girls stayed for a while, Xiuxiu was not so panicked.

The family had eaten wontons, stayed at the New Year with peace of mind, and waited for the lively tomorrow to arrive.
Chapter completed!