On the second day of the first lunar month, it was covered with clouds on this day, and soon a heavy snow fell like cotton pulling and a vast sea of ​​silver was white in the world.

Xu Hao and Lai Bao came to a village in a carriage. Because of the lessons from Master Cao's previous carriage, they were still taking Sun Lao Er and Sun Lao Si and two middle-aged guards when they were on their way. Early in the morning, Feng Quan personally went to Xu's house to pay New Year's greetings to him, and he thought about it and went out to visit him.

Xu Hao didn't have many friends. The first stop came to visit Zhou Peng, who was both a teacher and a friend, and finally found the Zhou family. Xu Hao looked at the several brick and tile houses next to the road, without a courtyard wall and surrounded by a circle of fences, which was half overwhelmed by heavy snow.

There was an old tree outside the wood gate. There was a broken fence hanging on the tree. There was a pile of manure buried by snow next to it. Several chickens were scattered on it. Before the people arrived, the mangled dog tied in the yard screamed wildly.

At this time, Zhou Peng and his wife Wu were vomiting in the room. Wu complained that her husband had lost his hands and the dozen taels of silver he earned from the Mu family helped the poor disciples who came to pay New Year's greetings. The couple had a big fight over this.

Zhou Peng also regretted that he was too generous. He sat on the kang with a drooping head and drooping a plate of fried tofu left over last night, drinking alone.

"I don't know who came to fight Qiufeng, and even those who are poor at home can't get rid of the blame? These days have never happened." Wu heard the barking of a dog, raised his hand and wiped his tears, and walked out to open the door with a nagging voice.

Xu Hao stood alone in the snow and saw a woman in her thirties coming out with a piece of blue cloth covering her head, wearing a thick blue cloth thick cotton jacket, and not wearing a skirt below. She was a pair of half-old cotton pants with purple and two black oil cloth boots on her feet.

"Who are you looking for?" Wu saw that it was a young rich man wearing a martened cloak, with a straight face and an indescribable temperament on his body, and thought he was here to inquire about the road.

Xu Hao was not sure whether the woman with some charm in front of him was a great scholarly lady. Judging from her appearance, she thought it might be, but she didn't look like her clothes. Perhaps it was not known to the servants or relatives of the Zhou family, so he asked politely: "Sister-in-law, is Zhou Xiucai at home?"

Wu was very surprised. Since his family became poor, the husbands and friends of the past have disappeared in front of the door for about several years, but today is strange.

"My uncle is at home, how dare you ask?" Wu said hurriedly and asked carefully.

Xu Hao bowed and smiled, "I have met Mrs. Zhou. My surname is Xu and my name is Hao. I am half of Mr. Zhou's disciple. I came here to wish you a happy new year."

"Oh, come in quickly, it's cold outside." Wu smiled and turned around to invite Xu Hao into the house, thinking that he must be a private school student in her husband's past, and now his family is making a fortune.

Xu Hao followed Wu into the house, and a wave of heat rushed towards him. The fire in the stove was burning vigorously. The porridge that was about to be cooked in the big pot smelled very fragrant. He looked around and saw that the aisle outside was a kitchen, with one light, two dark and three rooms blocking the curtains, which were used in the living room. The one on the left was Zhou Peng's study room, and the right was the bedroom of the couple.

He lifted the curtain and walked into the middle room. Zhou Peng stood up in surprise to greet him. Xu Hao stopped and bowed respectfully to him.

"I dare not take it, I dare not take it."

Zhou Peng smiled and waved his hand to look very happy, and said to his wife: "Go and grab a chicken and stew it. Another half pound of good wine is my classmate."

Wu is very virtuous. She doesn't want to complain in person. Even though there are only a few old hens who can lay eggs in the house, she feels very distressed, so she still turns around silently and wants to go out to prepare.

Seeing that the Zhou family was almost at the point where the house was barely empty, how could he be a villain? He immediately smiled and said, "I won't bother my sister-in-law. When I came, I ordered a banquet at the wine shop at the entrance of the village. I came here to invite Brother Zhou to have a drink."

Wu's face immediately became clearer and he said kindly: "Then sit and eat a cup of tea first, get rid of the cold before leaving."

If Zhou Peng had followed his past temper, he would have to quarrel with him to keep the guests at home for dinner, but after the quarrel in the morning and the family was really out of money, he wanted to speak but stopped and finally sighed deeply.

"Yes." Xu Hao was very respectful to Wu, which made Wu feel a little more favorable.

After ate a cup of tea, Wu tried to keep him with him. Xu Haoke accompanied him for a while. Both of them were very polite and did not ask about Xu Hao's family background, even though they were speculating in their hearts.

For two months, Zhou Peng has always thought that Xu Hao was a companion from an ordinary family. Today, it seems that he is still a family. This good fur is worth at least a few dozen taels of silver.

The Ming Dynasty divided ordinary people into lower households, middle households, and upper households. The upper households were equivalent to a well-off level. There were land and land at home, and there were plowing oxen or one or two servants. The whole family basically had no worries about food and clothing, but it was still a long way from the wealthy households, let alone landlords and rich people like the Xu family.

After sitting for a while at the Zhou family, Xu Hao and Zhou Peng went to the wine shop at the entrance of the village. Until the evening, Xu Hao sent the drunk Zhou Peng back. Seeing that her husband was drunk, Wu said politely that he did not invite Xu Hao into the house. Xu Hao said goodbye outside the door and left.

He held her husband and lie on the kang and covered her with a quilt. Wu heard his neighbor Li Sangou screaming outside, and walked out strangely to open the door bolt, and saw that the door was filled with gift boxes.

Li Ergou stood behind the fence with his face licked his face and stretched his neck and asked, "Sister-in-law of the Zhou family, who gave such good things? Your woman has no strength, so I'll help you move it."

Li Ergou is idle and is a famous ruffian in the village. Wu doesn't like him. She has guessed that it must be left by Xu Hao when he left. She scolded him for being meddling in other people's business and quickly moved a bunch of gift boxes to the house with difficulty.

When Wu closed the door, he was exhausted and panting, and he was both happy and entangled. He didn't know how to deal with these gifts. He thought about waiting for her husband to wake up before talking. While resting, Wu was inevitably curious and opened the exquisite lacquer box on the top and was shocked. The box actually contained four silver ingots. Judging from the size of each, it was estimated that it could be five taels of silver. This was a full twenty taels of silver.

In the middle of the night, Zhou Peng woke up from thirst and saw his wife sitting by the bed and staring at the box in a daze, asking, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

Wu pushed the box and said with a wry smile: "You can see it yourself. In addition, there are a few pieces of silk, some chicken, duck, fish, half a pig, a whole sheep, a few boxes of Suzhou dim sum, and four jars of old wine. What a favor?"

Zhou Peng stared blankly at the twenty taels of silver in front of him. Wu explained the origin of the silver. After a while, Zhou Peng said slowly: "This Xu Hao is a person who is interested. He said that he would give me a gift that day. Today, he saw that our family was poor, so he kept these silver and gifts silently. Even if I gave it back, I would use this excuse to stop me. Since that's the case, then accept them all."

Wu said anxiously: "But after receiving so much money and goods from others, what gifts should I give you in the future?"

Zhou Peng smiled at his wife and said leisurely: "You treat me with sincerity, and I should repay it with sincerity. In the future, I will teach him more carefully. If you mention these external things, you will be vulgar."
Chapter completed!