To be honest, the residence that Si Ling had built for the three of them was quite good.
Although it was impossible for one person to enjoy a small courtyard alone as planned, the three of them would share a garden.
Bamboo Garden was temporarily occupied by Si Ling and his wife, whose home had been destroyed. Pine Garden was shared by the guards and servants from the Prince Jing Palace.
However, this kind of life was quite good.
At the very least, they could enjoy the respectful service of the servants of the Prince's Mansion and enjoy three sumptuous meals every day, just like the disciples of noble families.
Si Chong and the others even secretly hoped that Si Ling and his wife would settle down and not move away.
Although the new residence next door, which was being built day and night, was about to be completed soon.
Louis Stu had already returned to the Fengyao Pavilion half a month ago after recovering from his injuries to organize the affairs of the Pavilion.
Of course, following him was naturally the Pavilion Master's keepsake that he had taken from Feng Qingya — the blood jade thumb ring.
Louis Stu secretly swore that once he returned to the Fengyao Pavilion and confirmed his position as the Pavilion Master, he would throw this ominous keepsake into the large lake near the Fengyao Pavilion to feed the fishes.
From then on, the Fengyao Pavilion would only recognize the jade thumb ring as its master.
Of course, that was because the four divisions all had the same jade thumb ring — the one that the previous Pavilion Master had given to them.
As for the one that Si Ling had sold cheaply, he had already redeemed it. When the time came, he would hand it over to Si Ling's doll to receive.
He had made up his mind to drag Si Ling's doll down with him.
Who told that icy-faced guy to be so happy that he was such an eyesore!
Si Chong and Sirou had coincidentally chosen not to return for the time being.
In their words, it was rare for them to be able to live a carefree life. Why would they want to hide in that base that reeked of blood?
It was better to let Louis Stu finish organizing before returning for a visit.
Furthermore, the newly opened "Guang Ci Tower" still needed Si Chong's guidance.
Not long after, Sirou also wanted to go to Langxi again. He was not someone who would be bullied by others.
Therefore, during this period of time, he left early in the morning and returned late at night. There were even a few days where he did not return home at night and practiced martial arts in the depths of Dashi Mountain to break through to the tenth level of perfection.
Ever since that day when he and Little Snow had searched for Lin Siyao, the entire Wolf Clan had chosen to close their eyes and make way for this cold-blooded killer who came and went as he pleased in Dashi Mountain.
Of course, that was if he didn't interfere with their lives.
…
The fifth day of the eleventh month was an auspicious day for everything.
Lin Siyao chose this day to move to his new residence.
First, they would move the large items, then the small items, and finally … they would choose their candidates.
Mama Liang and Chun Lan would naturally accompany them.
In addition, after persuading the son-in-law, Mama Liang picked two servant girls who were nimble and didn't talk much.
Indeed, the new residence was more than twice the size of the old residence, and there were many places where they would need manpower.
The house was divided into two sections.
The front row of five bright rooms was the main room. In the middle was the central room and dining room. On the east and west sides were a bedroom and a study.
Lin Siyao and his wife lived on the east side. In the future, when the children grew up, they would live on the west side.
Behind them, there were five rooms that were slightly lower than the main room. One was a kitchen, one was a pile of miscellaneous items, and three servants' rooms. Each room could accommodate two people.
As for the grain storage and wine cellar, it was naturally underground.
Between the two sections was a small courtyard paved with green bricks. At the foot of the foot, there was a dark stone staircase that led to the cellar.
The entrance was very hidden. It was set behind a large camphor tree that had been transplanted from Dashi Mountain for several decades.
If there was any disaster, they could hide in the cellar to avoid being noticed.
Of course, except for the deaf villagers in this Flowery Town, almost everyone knew that the Lin family had built an underground house that could store grain and wine.
Indeed, this project was too big.
If Lin Siyao hadn't recruited some masons from the city to help, how could they have finished before the end of the year?
Needless to say, there was no need to talk about the silver that flowed out.
The south courtyard was next to the river bank. A small pond had been dug. Above the half meter wide water channel that connected to the river bank, there were several large green stone slabs.
Some lotus seeds had been scattered in the pond. This year, they wouldn't be able to see the beautiful scenery of the lotus fields. They could only prepare for the fragrance of the pond in the coming summer.
Around the lotus pond was an empty space that had been scattered with grass seeds but didn't have any green grass.
The grass seeds were a gift from the Wang family's wife, Madam Lin.
Now was the time to scatter the seeds. When spring came, the ground would be full of green grass. When the babies could crawl, it would be suitable for them to roll around.
The river bank led to the main house. There was a one meter wide green brick path.
On both sides of the path, there was a row of short evergreen shrubs that were half the height of a person.
According to the old people in town who knew about flowers and trees, these shrubs had the ability to repel mosquitoes and insects. They were no less effective than geraniums.
Because the old residence's chicken coop, rabbit nest, and sheep pen had been wantonly destroyed by Feng Qingya, they had hired people to renovate them.
As for the injured pheasants and rabbits, except for a few that were seriously injured and were sent to the kitchen that night, the rest were still raised in the old residence. The three servants took turns to clean them.
They also didn't plan to move into the new residence.
First, they were afraid of destroying the beauty of the large lawn. Second, they were afraid that it would affect the babies' range of activity in the courtyard in the future.
Moreover, according to Lin Siyao's intention, these foul-smelling chickens, ducks, rabbits, and sheep, as well as the cows that they planned to raise in the future, could be placed in the old residence so that the children who would enter school in the future could take care of and feed them.
Killing two birds with one stone.
In the north courtyard, other than the green brick path leading to the large courtyard, there was still a row of neat short shrubs on both sides. The rest of the empty space was toward the east, where there was a miniature fruit forest.
In the midst of the chaos, Lin Siyao had planted pomegranates, peaches, loquats, cherries, pears, dates, apples, plums, and other wild fruit trees that he transplanted from the depths of Dashi Mountain.
They weren't very sturdy or old, so they should be able to survive the transplants.
On the west side of the courtyard, there was a patch of plum trees of different colors.
Lin Siyao had found this when he went to the market. He remembered that Su Shuiche liked to put all kinds of flowers in the porcelain vase on the table.
Spring peach, summer lotus, autumn chrysanthemum, and winter plum trees changed with the seasons.
Therefore, he bought all of the second year plum trees in the owner's possession.
In addition to this miniature plum forest, there were also many wild flowers planted in the flowerbeds made of broken bricks around the walls of the house: orchids, chrysanthemums, begonias, and Chinese roses. They were all found and dug up when he was picking wild fruit trees in Dashi Mountain.
The courtyard walls of the new residence were the same as the courtyard walls of Louis Stu's residence. They were no longer wooden fences, but tall walls made of green bricks.
The walls that were as tall as a person were solid bricks.
The walls that were taller than the top of the head were built with a hollow rhombus pattern.
It not only blocked the peeping of outsiders, but also didn't feel stuffy and breathless.
Such a large number of green bricks couldn't be bought in Fanluo City.
Later, through Tian Dafu, he asked a distant relative in Qingtian Town to buy them from Shi An City, which was hundreds of miles away, where bricks were monopolized.
It took a total of five ships to complete the construction, which took several days to complete.
The remaining half of the ship's green bricks were given to the craftsmen and workers that the family needed in the form of half-selling and half-giving.
No one wouldn't be happy about such a convenient thing.
As a result, the Lin Family's image as a wealthy family in Fanhua Town was truly established.
They had a large courtyard with high walls, servant girls, and servants. When they went out, they had carriages and horses, and imperial bodyguards to escort them. The gossipy people in the town had nothing to say except to click their tongues in envy.
Humans, once the distance between them and themselves was too great, they would no longer have the heart to compare themselves with others.
They knew that they couldn't compare even if they wanted to.
… …
Mama Liang obeyed Lin Siyao's instructions and didn't arrange for the servants and imperial bodyguards to live in the new residence.
As a nanny, she could clearly see that her son-in-law monopolized the young miss's heart.
However, in view of her son-in-law's extraordinary skills, Mama Liang tactfully kept her mouth shut.
The servants were easy to deal with. They lived in the large residence next door at night, and if there was any rough work or errands during the day, she just had to order the servant girls to summon them.
But what about the imperial bodyguards?
They were originally here to protect the young miss's safety.
Now, they had nothing to do and were holed up in the large residence next door all day. She was worried that Bodyguard Xiao and the others would have objections. They had been carefully selected from the Palace to perform their duties faithfully, but she didn't expect that they would be placed in the courtyard with nothing to do.
Just thinking about what would happen if the old prince found out, Mama Liang couldn't help but mutter in her heart.
"I have my own plans for the imperial bodyguards."
On this day, Mama Liang once again "accidentally" mentioned that the imperial bodyguards didn't have any work assigned to them. Lin Siyao said as such.
He did have his own plans.
The residence occasionally needed someone to watch over it, such as when he wasn't around.
However, the head of the imperial bodyguards, Xiao Heng, alone was enough.
As for the others, Lin Siyao shook his head. They weren't useful at all.
It would be better for them to follow Si Chong to the "Guang Ci Tower" and learn some other skills.
Since Mama Liang said that these people had been sent here by the Prince Jing Palace, then they were Shuiche's people.
Then, he hoped to make them as useful as possible, and not just a bunch of elms standing guard at the door and acting as lumps.
In order to make it easier for people to enter and exit, Lin Siyao had already built a wooden door between the four mu mansion and the new residence when he was building the new residence.
After moving into the new residence, he had left the bamboo garden closest to the wooden door for Xiao Heng and the other imperial bodyguards to live in. It could be said that he owed them a favor for guarding Shuiche.
Another reason for doing this was to make it so that if Louis Stu and the other two wanted to take a shortcut to enter the new residence, they would have to go through the Prince Jing Palace's imperial bodyguards.
Although this wooden door was useless in the eyes of Louis Stu and the others, since they were visiting, he didn't think that jumping over the wall to enter was an act of respect for the owner.
Although, it was really difficult to use the word 'respect' on the three of them!
Therefore, after everything was settled, a lively drinking party was held in the ancestral hall of the Flowering Town at the hour of the evening.
This time, Lin Siyao simply threw the task of inviting people to drink to the village chief.
In any case, there were nine tables for the sake of long-term auspiciousness. As for whether there would be enough seats, it wasn't something that he should worry about.
In any case, his family had reserved three tables.
At his table, other than him, Shuiche, and Louis Stu, there were also the innkeeper's wife and children from the Xinglai Inn and Jiang Yingyun and Jiang Yingyue from the Yue Yun Embroidery House who immediately came to attend the banquet after receiving the invitation.
The other two tables were naturally filled with the imperial bodyguards, servants, and maidservants from the Prince Jing Palace.
Originally, Mama Liang, Chun Lan, and the others refused to sit at the table no matter what. However, Lin Siyao and Shuiche both responded with an attitude that "the seats are empty, so it's up to them whether they want to sit at the table or not". They could only carefully sit at the table and make a toast.
In their hearts, they kept reminding themselves that this was a joyous occasion and they couldn't go against their master's wishes.
This time, the cook was rented by Lin Siyao directly from Wu Qin Zhai. Who wouldn't be willing to work for a salary of one tael of silver per night?
Not only did the cook come, but he also took the initiative to bring over tables, chairs, and stools, as well as female workers who washed and served the dishes.
In his heart, he hoped that he would perform well so that the next time there would be such a good job, he would be able to find him again.
As for the dishes, Lin Siyao and Shuiche discussed it and decided to add a few more dishes based on the previous dishes that were served when they entered the house to drink wine. It was considered a way to thank the neighbors for helping each other.
In short, this meal of drinking wine made everyone's faces red. Half of it was due to the smell of the wine, and the other half was due to the shame of the Lin Family's big belly.
Look, not only did the Lin Family not mind that they were talking behind their backs about buying land to build a residence, they even followed the Hua Family's daughter-in-law to complain to the Village Head and even invited them to drink wine in the house.
How could they not be ashamed?
As for the Village Head, after he carefully counted the number of people, other than the Lao Family, Tian Family, and Lin Siyao's entire family, the Hua Family, who were not on good terms with the Lin Family, were too embarrassed to invite the rest of the families to the banquet. He invited the heads of the other families to attend.
As for the young children, it didn't matter if they had a seat or not. They could come and join in the fun.
The truth was, Lin Siyao didn't know who was going to join in the fun in front of the Village Head, and he didn't have the time to find out.
He only cared about Su Shuiche. As long as she was happy and forgot about the nervousness and worry that would appear in her heart from time to time, it didn't matter if he spent more money to invite a few more people.
Subconsciously, he also hoped that this banquet could dilute the danger that might be brought about by the upcoming birth.
What did the doctor say?
Your wife's body is too thin. It's very likely that it will be difficult to give birth to twins.
He didn't deny that these words had a great impact on him.
If he had known earlier, he would have aborted Shuiche's pregnancy when it was less than three months.
If he had a child but could lose her, he would rather not have an heir in this lifetime.
However, he couldn't let her know about these words. He also ordered Mama Liang and the other maidservants to keep their mouths shut in front of her and not gossip.
He absolutely couldn't allow this to happen.
Thus, when the doctor mentioned this possibility, he ordered Mama Liang to send a message to the Prince Jing Palace in the imperial capital, intending to borrow an imperial physician.
However, as the date of the birth approached, the imperial physician still didn't arrive.
This made his anxious heart even more stagnant.
He couldn't sit still and wait for death. After discussing with Si Chong, he sent Situ Yun to the imperial capital. However, he and the imperial physician didn't return.
Was it because the Prince Jing Palace didn't have enough prestige to invite an imperial physician, or was there something else that was holding them back?
Lin Siyao considered many things in his heart, but he didn't have a clue.
He originally wanted to impulsively go to the imperial palace to catch the imperial physician, but he was worried that Shuiche would give birth at this time. Although he was anxious, he didn't show it on his face.
He was afraid that she would see some clues.
Although, recently, from her strange behavior, it seemed that she had already expected difficulties on the day of the birth. Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to sew clothes for all four seasons so close to the birth date.
It was as if she was afraid that he wouldn't have enough clothes.
However, she didn't say anything, and he didn't ask.
However, when he thought of this possibility, his heart ached as if he was suffocating.
(To be continued.)
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