When the pears are green

Chapter 254 Spring is blooming

Seeing Jiang Qingzhou's frown, Song Li asked hurriedly, "Qingzhou, is there something wrong with the content of the letter?"

Jiang Qingzhou held the paper and answered, "The handwriting on the paper is indeed Qingye's. Along with this letter, Chen Yuan also received a letter from Chen Yuan's eldest sister announcing his death. Chen Yuan's fifth brother unfortunately died of illness in Bianzhou a few days ago. Now the caravan has not started business yet, and the letter should have been sent by someone from Chen Yuan's eldest brother-in-law's family. Qingye has always been sensible and polite, and he should not do such a thing as asking the messenger to bring a letter home. In addition, Chen Yuan's fifth brother has a good relationship with Qingye, and no normal person would be in the mood to write such a letter after a friend's death. Qingye only went to Bianzhou on the eighth day of the first lunar month. If he wanted to bring the girl he liked back, why didn't he say it before the eighth day of the first lunar month, but wrote a letter just a few days later? It's really strange."

Although Song Li had never met Chen Ting, he had heard Ruyi mention him several times, saying that Chen Ting was a gentle and elegant young man.

Song Li mourned for Chen Ting in her heart for a few seconds, then took the paper from Jiang Qingzhou's hand, walked into the sun, held it up and looked at it repeatedly, but found no traces of pasting.

"Qingzhou, go get a basin of water." Song Li put the paper on his forehead and prepared to try a different method.

Jiang Qingzhou asked Song Li with a puzzled look on his face: "Xiao Li, what do you want water for?"

Song Li turned her head and answered solemnly: "You'll know in a moment, remember to bring the fire starter."

Jiang Huan and Jiang Yao walked to Song Li hand in hand, and they each held Song Li's arm while waiting for Jiang Qingzhou to come back.

Jiang Qingzhou placed the basin of water in front of Song Li under the expectant gazes of Jiang Huan and Jiang Yao.

Song Li squatted down and put the paper into the water.

Jiang Huan pointed at the gradually disappearing handwriting on the paper and said hurriedly: "Dad, Mom, the ink on the words is gone, and the water is a little black."

"No more, it's dark." Jiang Yao, who was standing by, clapped her hands and imitated Jiang Huan's speech.

Song Li quickly fished out the paper, and the wet paper lay limp in the palm of her hand.

Jiang Qingzhou held back his smile and handed the fire starter to Song Li, covering his mouth and asking, "Xiao Li, do you want to soak the paper first and then dry it?"

Song Li glared at Jiang Qingzhou, whose eyes were bent into a crescent shape, and tried to dry the paper by blowing on the fire stick.

Because Song Li focused on drying the same spot, the middle of the paper slowly turned brown and then suddenly started to burn.

Song Li let go in panic, and the almost burnt paper fell into the basin of water.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly pulled Song Li's hand over to check, and except that the temperature of her hand was a little high, there was no other problem.

"Mom, blow it, it doesn't hurt."

"Mom, I'll blow it too."

Jiang Huan and Jiang Yao took turns pouting and blowing on Song Li's hand.

Song Li felt the warmth in the palm of her hand and was deeply moved.

Jiang Huan squatted down and stirred the remains of paper in the basin with his fingers. He looked up at Jiang Qingzhou who was holding Jiang Yao's little hand and said, "Dad, Mom just wants to burn the paper."

After hearing this, Song Li felt that she was moved a little too early.

Jiang Qingzhou poured out the water in the basin, asked Jiang Huan to take Jiang Yao to play in the yard, and then went back to the main room with Song Li to continue discussing this somewhat strange family letter.

"Xiao Li, can you tell me the purpose of your action just now?" Jiang Qingzhou asked with a smile.

Song Li felt her face getting hot, and she turned her head away uncomfortably and answered, "According to what you said, this letter is really strange. I wanted to check if there was any problem with the letter."

The smile on Jiang Qingzhou's lips slowly disappeared, and he asked thoughtfully: "Did Xiaoli find anything?"

Song Li frowned and replied, "You've seen the whole process. Now I can only understand that Qingye's behavior was due to lust. Let's go and comfort Chen Yuan early tomorrow morning, and then start cleaning and repairing the house next door."

"Okay." Jiang Qingzhou said softly, hugged Song Li and wanted to say something in private.

Song Li slapped Jiang Qingzhou's hand around her waist and whispered to Jiang Qingzhou: "Don't make trouble. The children are playing in the yard. Come in if you want to. If you want to talk, just say it nicely. If you don't want to talk, I will leave."

"Ha ha ha ha…"

The bell-like laughter of the brother and sister could be heard from the yard.

Song Li took Jiang Qingzhou's hand and walked out, and saw Jiang Huan and Jiang Yao, with their backs to the setting sun, swaying their shadows on the west wall of the kitchen.

The two people's shadows sometimes separated, Jiang Huan to the left and Jiang Yao to the right; sometimes they held hands and turned in circles, and the younger Jiang Yao could never keep up with Jiang Huan's pace.

Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou smiled at each other, then stood aside and watched quietly without going forward to disturb them.

After breakfast the next day, Song Li, Jiang Qingzhou took Jiang Huan and Jiang Yao out.

Jiang Huan ran in front carrying a cloth bag containing lanterns, and arrived at Yang Yu's house early to wait for Song Li, Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Yao.

Song Li took out the gifts for Chen Lingyi and Chen Lingze and gave them to Jiang Qingzhou, asking Jiang Qingzhou to take Jiang Yao to Chen Yuan's house first.

Jiang Huan then started knocking on the door and happily hugged Li Xuanhe who opened the door.

Because Li Yun'an needed to concentrate on studying to prepare for next year's imperial examination, Yang Jing often brought Li Xuanhe and Li Jingming back to the Yang family for a short stay.

Li Xuanhe held Jiang Huan's hand and walked into the yard. Song Li followed behind and took out the gifts bought from the county town and distributed them to the children who were playing.

"The butterfly lanterns are for Xuanhe and Yanyin, and these two painted pottery pigs are for Jingming and Yanqi." After Song Li distributed the things, she chatted with Yang Jing and Wu Mingshu about what happened during the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival.

A quarter of an hour later, Song Li took Jiang Huan, who was reluctant to leave, to Chen Yuan's house.

Jiang Yao was running around in the yard with Chen Lingyi and Chen Lingze, carrying a lantern.

Chen Yuan's mood was much more stable than yesterday, but when others mentioned Chen Ting, he still couldn't help but tear up.

Ruyi took Song Li to the main hall and sighed as she told her what happened last night: "I have never seen Chen Yuan so sad. He cried for half the night in his bed. My eldest sister wrote that she buried my fifth brother directly in the country field she bought in Bianzhou, and Chen Yuan didn't need to go there to pay his respects. Alas, a good person was gone without even seeing him for the last time."

After Ruyi finished speaking, she couldn't help but shed tears.

When Ruyi followed Chen Yuan back to Yingzhou after marriage, Chen Ting helped Ruyi a lot in the Chen family.

Song Li was unable to comfort Ruyi with words and could only pat Ruyi's back gently.

On the second day after returning from Chen Yuan's house, Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou began to look for someone to repair the roof of the house.

The two houses originally belonged to the same family and were both built six years ago. The eldest son of this family got into trouble with a lawsuit, and his family hurriedly sold them at a low price in order to raise money to save him. Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou took advantage of the situation.

There was no major problem with the roof. They just re-laid white grass in some places and replaced fifty or sixty green tiles.

After the renovation, Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou began to clean slowly, until the tender grass sprouted out of the ground and the willow branches sprouted, and then they had cleaned all the rooms.

During this period, Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou received another letter from Jiang Qingye, which clearly stated that they would depart from Bianzhou on March 18.

March slowly arrived. Jiang Qingzhou looked at the spacious yard and discussed with Song Li what trees to plant.

Song Li held Jiang Qingzhou's hand and replied, "Qingzhou, this will be Qingye's home from now on. Let Qingye and the girl decide. They will be back in a few days. It's a good time to plant trees."

Jiang Qingzhou nodded somewhat disappointedly.

Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou moved Jiang Qingye's clothes, books and other items as well as the bedding that had been dried in the sun to the house next door in advance. They carefully arranged the main room, study and east wing, rebuilt the stove and added new pots and pans.

As March 18th approached, Jiang Qingzhou became more and more nervous, and he would check almost every day to see if he had forgotten to buy something.

It usually takes three days to drive from Bianzhou to Heihe Town.

On March 21st, Song Li asked Jiang Qingzhou to take Jiang Huan to the restaurant to deliver goods, and then she took Jiang Yao to the market to buy fresh vegetables and meat.

The four members of the Jiang family waited anxiously for Jiang Qingye and the girl from noon to afternoon. Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou became more and more irritated and impatient as they waited, and were unable to do anything.

At dusk, the sound of horse hooves came from the alley.

Jiang Huan hurried over to see that a simple carriage had stopped in front of the Jiang family's courtyard.

The one driving the carriage was a girl wearing a green long gown with narrow sleeves and a black leather belt. Her almond-shaped eyes were full of smiles as she looked at Jiang Huan who was rubbing his hands.

"Are you Jiang Huan?" the girl asked with her red lips slightly opened.

Jiang Huan showed a look of surprise, and took two steps back involuntarily, then asked cautiously: "How did you know?"

The girl raised her eyebrows, and the mole at the right corner of her eye also moved.