The morning sun shines on the earth, and the yellowed grass leaves carry the dew of last night, and the air is filled with the fragrance of grass and soil. In the distance, birds are soaring from the grass and flying up the hills.

Xu Ping accompanied Wang Su and Han Qi on the grass, breathing the breath of the grass in the morning, and looking at the herd of horses that sometimes ate grass quietly and sometimes whizzed past in the distance.

"It is said that in the capital, except for the Qingtang horses from far away, the Xu family's horses are the most majestic. When I saw them today, they are indeed well-known! The horses in Yunxing Village are far better than the surrounding horse prisons, and they are not as good as the Qiji Courtyard..."

Wang Su looked at the horse tribute and admired sincerely.

Xu Ping didn't dare to take it, but he looked proud on his face.

Although I had ideas when I was in the manor, I had no chance, and I had no energy to prepare for the imperial examinations. I just raised some riding horses and did not raise horses on a large scale. Later, I handed over the sugar shop, and the Sansi transferred a large part of the aborted Chunze Supervisory to the Xu family as compensation, so there were conditions for raising horses.

The area of ​​this farm is too large now, and it takes huge manpower and material resources to reclaim it all. It cannot be completed in just a few years. A large part of it is left as pasture. After raising cattle, most of the sheep are still in the pen, so they have to raise horses.

Over the past six years, Xu Ping and Lin Suniang taught her how to prepare forage and how to make simple horse breeds through letters. Finally, they raised a herd of hundreds of horses in the farm. Although the herd of horses is still very small and unstable, it is much better than the group of waste raised by the clan's clan. In particular, the stallions are all carefully selected Qing Tang horses, and they are also well-known in Tokyo Bianliang, where good horses are scarce.

There are excellent alfalfa planted in large areas of the farm. When Xu Ping was there, he set the rules for storing hay after mixing. It is excellent forage, which is much better than the forage collected by the Qunmusi Department.

The Central Plains lack horses. Raising horses is really the only way to get rich. Of course, it is necessary to know how to raise them. Although Xu Ping didn’t know much about veterinary knowledge, he knew the commonly used forage machinery, and he could only take a look at them, which was enough to cope with this era.

Wang Su and Han Qi were both well-off, and they usually rode good horses. Shi Yannian only had a horse and was not picky. Others, such as Zhao Xu and Wu Yu, looked at the horses and envied them. It was not popular in this era, and even oil-walled cars were mostly seated by women. Officials and wealthy people mainly relied on horses to travel. A good horse is not only for the sake of going out by themselves, but also practical in normal times.

The price of horses in the capital is nearly fifty horses that can be ridden, not a small amount. Xu Ping is not so generous that he can give away people and horses without any trouble. He just led everyone to see and let them know how to raise the horse immediately.

On the 20th day, everyone had almost all the leave they had taken and they said goodbye and left. After a few days of conversation, Xu Ping roughly understood the current political situation in the capital and had a clear idea. Especially for the Salt and Iron Department, which is closely related to Xu Ping, Xu Ping was basically clear about everyone's background from top to bottom.

Cheng Lin, the commander of the Three Divisions, was quite talented. He had political achievements in both local and courts and was tough-minded. He also had a bit of arrogance and refused to be inferior to others. He was basically considered a person who was a self-developed and not a party. Wu Cheng Lin was more greedy for money, which is also a common problem among many officials in Beijing. He was not as free as using money in the local area. He stretched out his hands everywhere in the capital.

Ren Buren Yingzhi, the deputy envoy of salt and iron, was once appreciated by Kou Zhun and was implicated by Kou Zhun, but it is hard to say that Kou Zhun was a party. He was basically a bureaucrat who did not form a party and was honest and honest, and he was considered honest as an official.

The most complicated one is Xu Shen and Xu Weizhi, who was the judge of salt and iron with Xu Ping. When he was young, he was known to Chen Yaozuo, and Chen Yaozuo had a close relationship with Lu Yijian, but he didn't know what his relationship with Lu Yijian was. Lu Yijian was in power for many years and was the nephew of the famous prime minister Lu Mengzheng, and the network of relationships formed was extremely complicated. Lu Yijian was not ostentatious and cunning, and even if he was seeking profit for himself or his fellow party members, it was difficult for outsiders to see clearly.

What Xu Ping feared most was a group of mixed-up old foxes around him. He had to be careful in everything he did, and if he was not careful, he would offend any big shot. The current situation is not too bad.

On August 21, Xu Ping got up early and prepared to leave Zhongmu, return to the capital to go to the Salt and Iron Department to officially start his middle-level bureaucratic career in the capital.

When I arrived in Beijing in the future, I often saw big people, so I couldn’t lose face. I personally went to the horse shed in the backyard to choose horses. I rode a good horse and rode it comfortably. I also advertised the horses of the Xu family.

Xu Chang moved to the backyard to help Xu Ping consultant. Zhuangzi is his supervisor now, so he is naturally the one who is familiar with these things.

After helping Xu Ping choose the horse, Xu Chang whispered: "Official, Xiuxiu left the Xu family today. She was looking at the door just now, thinking that she was a little reluctant to leave the official."

Xu Ping was stunned: "When did it happen? Why didn't I know!"

Xu Chang sighed: "Mrs. I'm afraid it's the heart of the officials, so I didn't tell them."

The leaves of the big poplar tree in the backyard have turned golden yellow. From time to time, a piece of poplar falls from the trees in the autumn wind, and it floats around in the wind, and gently falls to the ground.

Before I knew it, it was autumn. The rising sun in the east was red and round, and I felt warm at a glance. However, Xu Ping felt that the autumn wind was blowing on his body, and there was a coolness that he had not noticed before, and the coolness continued to penetrate into his bones.

After a long silence, Xu Ping asked Xu Chang: "How long have you been gone?"

"It wasn't long before I came over when I saw Xiuxiu's figure disappear. Alas, my wife is not bad to Xiuxiu. I missed her and accompanied the official to Lingnan for six years and returned her body contract to her. Also, my wife also prepared a large dowry for Xiuxiu, but Xiuxiu didn't want it. My wife asked Qilang to send it to her house tomorrow."

Speaking of this, Xu Chang shook his head and sighed: "It's just that the wife is too anxious. She can tell her family members that she can ask Xiuxiu's father or her younger brother Hu Zi to pick her up."

Xu Ping didn't say anything, looked at the rising sun in the east and looked for a while.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Xu Ping said to Xu Chang: "Supervisor, put the saddle on, I'll go out and try the horse."

Xu Chang nodded, went over and lifted the saddle next to the horse shed, and put it on the selected horse with Xu Ping.

Leading the horse, Xu Ping came out of the Zhuangzi from the back door.

Zhuangzi is very different from when Xu Ping left that year. The village queen lived in more than a dozen families. They were all converted from merchants to tenants in Xuping Village. Many of the merchants have started their own families, have their own wives and children.

Xu Ping walked slowly, and someone saw him greeted Xu Ping. Xu Ping smiled slightly and greeted the people who saluted him one by one. These people were the closest people to Xu Ping. With the arrival of this little official of the Xu family, he changed his life.

After leaving the house and arrived in the wilderness after the autumn harvest in the village, Xu Ping's smiling face unknowingly shed two lines of tears. In front of him, Xiuxiu, who had walked into the Xu family with a small flower cloth bag, Xiuxiu, who had sat on the steps in front of his door all night, Xiuxiu, who had been used to being ignorant and fearless with him to Lingnan, Xiuxiu, who had followed him to travel thousands of miles back to the Central Plains, Xiuxiu, who had grown up, taciturn and unspeakable.

For nine years, Xiuxiu has been by her side. She grew up slowly together and shared the happiness and bitterness of this world together. Back then, she walked to Xu Ping with a small bag, and looked timid like Xu Ping came to this world. Her heart was full of curiosity, panic, and a look forward to her future life.

In nine years, Xu Ping went from a rich young man in the country to today, changing the fate of hundreds of thousands of people. He destroyed a neighboring country that was not always rebellious and became a senior official of the court. He no longer had the panic of the past. Instead, he was full of confidence in the future. His own destiny only needed him to choose a better choice, and no suffering needed him to overcome it.

Xiuxiu learned to read from a shepherd's daughter, and sometimes even learned to be tantrums, but in the end she became an ordinary female envoy who was taught to be silent and silently clean up his personal affairs by Xu Ping.

In the past nine years, Xu Ping has changed a lot and Xiuxiu has become more.

The sun shines on the body warmly, just like the leaves in the autumn wind, turning into a warm golden color in the autumn wind. But it falls helplessly from the trees, floats on the road, and into the ditch.

Looking at the sun in the sky, Xu Ping let out a long sigh, turned over and galloped towards the distance.

The rice fields in the village have expanded a lot, and ditches have been built everywhere, serpentingly spread on the ground, like the roots of big trees.

Xiuxiu sat by the ditch beside the road, next to her was the green donkey she rode out of the Xu family, leisurely eating the yellowed grass on the ground.

In autumn, the water in the ditch becomes very shallow. So shallow that you can see the yellow mud at the bottom of the water, and you can't even see your own shadow. The unknown pond-horned fish churn in the water, occasionally turning a small splash of water.

Xiuxiu held the small flower cloth bag tightly, and the mother gave her the small flower cloth bag that she walked into the Xu family.

In those days, in addition to her old clothes, she also brought snacks to please the Xu family’s young officials. At that time, someone told her that she would suffer and be beaten and scolded when she went to someone’s house to be a slave, so she would be happy and ask for some money and go home.

Xu Ping had never beat her and scolded her in the past nine years. She let herself grow up like ordinary girls. She learned good things and bad things by herself. In the end, she finally learned to be an ordinary girl.

Nowadays, her bag is still a few of her own clothes, which Xu Ping made for her. In addition to the clothes, there are also the pen, ink, paper and inkstones that Xu Ping gave her, and a few gadgets that she gave her when she was a child. She felt that she had nothing else to bring.

The Xu family is a good family, and she didn't let her open her bags when she went out. How could she hear of such a good family? The wife even prepared a generous dowry, and she wanted to treat her as the daughter of the Xu family.

But Xiuxiu didn't like it either. She just wanted to leave the Xu family with this little bag and not have anything else. She only cared about these, and the little things hidden in her heart for the past nine years.

Holding her little bag, Xiuxiu smiled at the water in the ditch. There was no way she smiled in the water, but two lines of tears shed on her face. Sometimes, what life is most precious to people is just that memory.

There was a sound of horse hooves coming from a distance. Xiuxiu turned around and saw Xu Ping's shadow immediately.

Xiuxiu smiled, and the official finally came to see him, send him to send him, and send him the memories of these nine years.

Seeing Xu Ping coming to him and dismounting, Xiu Xiu stood up from the ground, patted the soil on her body, and smiled at Xu Ping: "Xiuxiu is gone, official, remember Xiuxiu's goodness, forget all those naughty things that make you unhappy."

The sun rose, the red light faded, and the sky and earth gradually disappeared.

Xiuxiu led the green donkey and walked towards the distant home, pulling a long shadow behind her.
Chapter completed!