In the suburban camp, a group of soldiers in armor were drinking soup around firewood to keep warm.
The bearded man exhaled, and the white air slowly floated away. "It's really cold today."
Another man who looked a little younger rubbed his hands and responded, "Yes. Fortunately, the firewood and food came quickly this year and were not delayed on the road for too long. Otherwise, we would have to starve and suffer from the cold this year."
An older man held the bowl in his hand and stuffed a mouthful of hot soup into his mouth. He said as he drank: "Fortunately, Lord Ji donated a lot of silver to our military camp every year to purchase firewood and food. Otherwise, we would starve to death relying on the food sent by the court."
At this time, a tall and handsome man walked out of the tent. Everyone saw him and hurriedly called him to drink soup to keep warm: "Brother Ji! You should also have a bowl of soup!"
After seeing this, Ji Yuanbo waved his hand and said: "Come and drink later! There is a letter from home, I will go to get it and come back!" Then he walked towards another tent.
"Brother Ji is the legitimate son of Lord Taiwei. Lord Taiwei is willing to let his only son suffer in the military camp?" The young man couldn't help muttering a few words after watching Ji Yuanbo's back leave.
"What do you know? The Grand Marshal himself also climbed up from a small soldier to the position of Grand Marshal. The hardships along the way were much harder than ours. How could he let his son enjoy happiness? To succeed, one must endure hardships. The Grand Marshal is also very fond of his son." The old soldiers admired military commanders like Ji Pingchuan the most, and naturally knew the hardships and difficulties Ji Pingchuan had gone through.
"Brother Ji, you are here. Here, this is a letter from your family." The young soldier in charge of guarding the keepsakes gave the letters that had been sorted early in the morning to Ji Yuanbo.
"Well, thank you very much." Ji Yuanbo took the letter and went to a deserted place. He squatted down and carefully opened the letter.
In previous years, there were only four letters, but this year there were five. Ji Yuanbo opened the letter from Ji Pingchuan first. The content of the letter was to let him study martial arts well in the barracks.
After Ji Yuanbo put it away, he opened the next letter, which was written by his sister Ji Ruoning. One letter after another was written by Gao Xinman and Ji Ruoyu. Ji Yuanbai read the letters one by one, and the letters were nothing but asking him to take care of himself, etc.
When he got to the last letter, he saw that the signature was Pan Mengqiu. Pan Mengqiu...
Ji Yuanbai couldn't remember who it was for a moment, but he still opened the letter. The content of the letter was as follows
"Brother Yuanbai
Hope you are safe and happy, everything goes well, and you return safely.
Mengqiu"
Mengqiu... Ji Yuanbai seemed to have heard of this name, but he really couldn't remember it, but he was still very grateful for her letter.
After Ji Yuanbai put the letter away, he stood up and walked towards the crowd. When the group saw Ji Yuanbai, they quickly pulled him over to sit on a stool and thoughtfully served him a bowl of soup.
"You're so polite..." Ji Yuanbo said as he drank the soup. Seeing that he had just gone to get the family letter, everyone asked curiously, "What's wrong, brother Ji? What does the family letter say?"
Ji Yuanbo smiled and said, "Nothing else, it just asked me to take care of myself."
A man who had a good relationship with Ji Yuanbo teased, "Brother Ji is already nineteen, right? You haven't married yet? Do you have a woman you love?"
Ji Yuanbo's face turned red all of a sudden, and he stammered, "Not yet, there's no rush..."
The bearded man hurriedly said, "Why not? When I was your age, I already had a child. It seems that we have to find a time for Master Ji to pick a suitable woman for Yuanbo."
Ji Yuanbo still shook his head and smiled "I still want to marry the woman I love."
When everyone heard this, they instantly became excited: "What do you mean? Could it be that Yuan Bo already has a woman he loves?"
Ji Yuan Bo laughed dryly and said: "That's not the case. I just want to marry the woman I love. It has nothing to do with other things."
He paused, and said in a heavy and serious tone:
"What's more, as a military commander, how can I be deeply involved in love affairs."
After hearing Ji Yuan Bo's words, the bearded man laughed first and then patted him on the shoulder: "Haha, you are right! People should be like you!"
Others also laughed, and a group of people began to talk about family matters, and everyone chatted and laughed around the firewood. Ji Yuan Bo looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but think of the scene at home.
He seemed to be a little homesick.
Ji Ruoyu was busy directing the maids to clean the yard. Qiuyu and Dongmei were busy pasting the couplets written by Ji Ruoyu.
After a busy day, it is still night. Ji Ruoyu has just finished the reunion dinner with Ji's father and mother. But this reunion dinner is obviously not very lively.
In previous years, Ji Ruoning led his younger siblings to ask for New Year's money from his parents. After receiving the New Year's money, the family would have a reunion dinner together. There is no rule of not talking while eating or sleeping in the Ji Mansion. In previous years, the family would sit at the dinner table and chat and eat.
But this year, Ji Ruoning got married and Ji Yuanbai joined the army. There are only three people left in the family, and it is inevitable that they will feel different.
Ji Ruoyu was in a daze on the way back to her yard. Although Dongmei was stupid, she still saw that something was wrong with Ji Ruoyu.
"Miss, you will come back to visit your parents on the third day of the New Year, and the eldest master will be back soon." Ji Ruoyu felt better after hearing Dongmei's words.
Seeing this, Dongmei continued to ask: "Miss, how about we cut paper tonight?"
Ji Ruoyu was still hesitating, and Qiuyu followed up with a few words: "Just cut it, Miss, we haven't cut it for several years."
"Okay, I really can't stand you." Dongmei was so happy to see that her goal was achieved.
"Miss and Qiuyu go back first, I'll go get some tools for paper cutting." After saying that, Dongmei went to the housekeeper.
"Miss, let's go back first." Ji Ruoyu nodded and went back to her residence.
While Ji Ruoyu was drinking a cup of tea, Dongmei came back. "Miss, look!" Dongmei put the things in her hand on the table as if showing off.
"You brought so much?" Dongmei said excitedly: "The housekeeper saw that the young lady wanted to use it for paper cutting, so he gave me a lot."
"Young lady, you are best at cutting small portraits, otherwise you can cut your own small portraits." Ji Ruoyu nodded and asked, "What about you?"
"The servants have their own plans, young lady, just cut the small portraits at ease." Dong smiled secretly, as if he had achieved some purpose with Qiuyu.
Ji Ruoyu didn't ask any more questions, and sat obediently on the chair and cut paper quietly. Dongmei and Qiuyu were also cutting paper seriously. They seemed to be cutting something that Ji Ruoyu couldn't find. They were still laughing while cutting.
When Ji Ruoyu was cutting small portraits, she thought of Ji Ruoning, her nose was sour, and she suddenly felt like crying.
She remembered that at this time every year, she and her sister cut paper in the room, and even the small portraits she was best at cutting were taught by her sister.
I don't know how her sister is doing over there? Did her in-laws bully her?
This was her first time to celebrate the New Year without her sister at home. She resisted the urge to cry and quickly cut the paper in her hand.
"I'm done!" Ji Ruoyu said, stretching and yawning to hide her tears.
"The servants are done too." Qiuyu said, and the two hid the cut paper behind them.
Dongmei and Qiuyu's reactions made Ji Ruoyu more suspicious, and she walked over to see what bad things they had done. But they stopped her: "Girl, let's go outside and hang the paper we cut on the plum blossoms."
Ji Ruoyu wanted to take a look at the paper they cut, but the two were so determined that Ji Ruoyu had to give up.
The three of them came to the yard, which was full of plum trees, especially the green plum trees, which were the most beautiful.
Ji Ruoyu came to the most beautiful and favorite green plum tree, and was stopped by Dongmei when she was about to hang it up: "Girl, let's make a deal. Once it is hung up, it must not be taken down again."
"Okay, okay." Ji Ruoyu agreed without thinking too much. Once she hung up her portrait, she was very satisfied. Ji Ruoyu's skill in cutting portraits is really not to be underestimated. The portrait she cut looked like a real person.
Dongmei and Qiuyu saw that Ji Ruoyu had already hung it up, so they took advantage of Ji Ruoyu's distraction to quickly hang up the paper they cut, and the two hung on the left and right sides of Ji Ruoyu's portrait respectively.
"What are you cutting?" Ji Ruoyu laughed. Ji Ruoyu thought the paper they hung up was so cute.
They cut animals, Dongmei cut a piglet, and Qiuyu cut a cat.
"Miss, you don't know this, you are in the middle, I am on the right, Qiuyu is on the left. The two of us surround the girl." Dongmei explained to Ji Ruoyu.
"Yes, it's like we will stay with you all our lives. Even if you get married in the future, we will go with you. The three of us will be old ladies, and we will still drink tea together when we are eighty!" Qiuyu said excitedly, as if she had already planned the future.
The two didn't hear Ji Ruoyu's reaction, and when they looked over, they found that Ji Ruoyu was crying quietly. Her tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn't want to cry, but her tears just couldn't stop falling.
She had obviously held back her tears just now, but she really didn't know why Qiuyu and Dongmei's reactions made her want to cry.
"Why are you crying, girl? Don't cry, aren't Qiuyu and I still with you? We will always be with you." Dongmei was hugged by Ji Ruoyu after she finished speaking, and even Qiuyu was hugged.
"Thank you... Thank you..." Ji Ruoyu's crying voice came, and the two of them were also made to cry by Ji Ruoyu.
The three of them stood in front of the plum tree, snow was still falling from the sky, and they hugged each other and cried.
Even Teng Haojue, who was hiding under the eaves and peeping at Ji Ruoyu, couldn't help but feel a little sad when he saw this scene. He realized that his little girl liked to cry. And she had a good relationship with the two maids.
Teng Haojue was going to steal the little portrait when he saw Ji Ruoyu hanging it at first, but he gave up after seeing this scene. If the little portrait was gone, she would probably cry even more miserably.