"I was just about to tell you. The first release of the elegant words, please visit this site. Among these three pieces of agate, I feel most connected to that black and white one, and I want to carve it into a statue of Amitabha Buddha. But I'm worried that this piece of agate is not as valuable as the red one, and you can't bear to part with it."

  In the world of jade, there is a saying that goes "no red, no wealth". Among jades, those with red and yellow hues are considered top-grade, especially if they have a transparent, fiery quality, known as "fire jade". Although Yang Jianxiu brought back three pieces of jade, only one was red, and not even a bright enough red at that. Still, in terms of value, this piece would naturally be the most valuable. Moreover, red is an auspicious color, making it perfect for birthday celebrations. But Ye Zhen didn't feel anything special about it. While she could design some patterns with it, they would be nothing out of the ordinary and wouldn't reach the level of being breathtakingly beautiful. On the other hand, that one black-and-white piece felt amazing to her, and she was convinced that once carved, it would dazzle everyone's eyes.

  When creating something, as long as you immerse yourself in it and truly enjoy it, whether it's designing or carving, you will be extremely obsessed. If you have a feeling about a certain piece of stone, even if you know it won't turn out well, you'll still do it. Because deep down, there is an intense longing to express your most intuitive ideas. So Ye Zhuo had already started carving the black and white stone before asking Yang Jianxiu.

  Yang Jianxiu smiled: "Since I've given you all three, of course, I won't limit you to carving the red one. As for Nie's family master, we've only met once, whether he remembers me or not is another matter. This birthday gift can be had or not, it was prepared with such care just for you. So don't think too much, just carve what you're best at."

  Yue Chu smiled: "That's great. To be honest with you, I've already started carving that agate, and even if you don't want it, it can't be undone."

  Yang Jianxiu burst out laughing.

  Zheng saw Yang Jianxu chatting with Ye Zhuo and smiled slightly, lowering his head.

  "Aunt Zheng, take a look at this dumpling I wrapped. How is it?" Yang Zhihui leaned in closer to Zheng's side.

  Yang Jianxiu's original wife was married by his stepmother, who was a distant relative of hers. Not to mention that she didn't look good, but also had a petty and narrow-minded personality, speaking in a sharp and acidic tone, with shallow eyelids. During their time in Nanyun City, she often caused trouble for Yang Jianxiu, whom he disliked very much. Worried that his son would learn from his mother's behavior, when Yang Zhihui was five years old, he hired an old Confucian scholar to live with him in the outer courtyard and teach him to read and write. Therefore, Yang Zhihui was not close to his biological mother. However, during these visits to the Ye family, he followed his father's instructions to get to know Zheng Shi, feeling that she had a bright and cheerful personality, treating people sincerely, with insightful conversations and views. He strongly supported his father marrying her and was also very willing to be close to her.

  Guan's family looked at these four people and exchanged a smile with Ye Yuqi, then loudly said: "Jianxiu, are you taking advantage of us all being here to discuss the wedding date?"

  Zheng Manwen felt a bit uneasy, but still sat there and didn't avoid it, pretending he hadn't heard.

  Yang Jianxu glanced at her and said: "I think it's March 6th, that's a very auspicious day. What do you think, Manwen?"

  Zheng Manwen's face turned red. She nodded heavily and said: "Good."

  This temperament is completely different from Yang Jianxiu's ex-wife, and it is extremely pleasing to Yang Jianxiu. Yang Jianxiu looked at her, his eyes couldn't help but linger. Zheng Manwen felt uneasy under his gaze, slightly turned her body, lowered her head and continued wrapping dumplings.

  Mr. Guan found it interesting and clapped his hands, saying: "Good day, spring is warm and flowers are blooming, everything is revived, it's a good day for marriage. March 6th, that's settled."

  Ye Zhuo smiled and said: "Grandma, I found that you are getting more and more knowledgeable, I am far from comparable to you."

  Gu's hand shot out and gave Ye Zhuo a slap, causing his clothes to be covered in flour: "This kid, dares to make fun of even his grandmother, this year's lucky money, gone."

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  Yang Zhihui blinked his eyes, looking at Ye Zhuo and then at Guan Shi, before turning his head to glance at Zheng Shi. His eyes sparkled brightly. Although he had lived in Nanyun City since childhood, with a simple family atmosphere, occasionally following his father back to the old mansion in Nanshan Town. However, whether it was in the house in Nanyun City or the old mansion in Nanshan Town, the family atmosphere was always gloomy, making people feel uncomfortable, and he had never experienced such a warm and harmonious family atmosphere like Ye's big house. Therefore, he looked forward to his new mother's arrival very much.

  "Big brother, big sister-in-law, we've come to pay our New Year's respects." The voice of Ye Yuzhang rang out from outside the courtyard.

  Ye Yuqi and Guan's wife exchanged a glance, turned around and left. Seeing that it was only Ye Yuzhang and Jiang's wife who had brought a few people down to come over, Ye Lin and Ye Jiaming were not seen, let out a sigh of relief, stepped forward to intercept them and said: "You've arrived? Come on, please sit in the hall."

  Ye Yuzhang and Jiang's wife smiled and said a string of auspicious words, then beckoned to the servants to bring over two sedan chairs with gifts. They took out the gift list from above and handed it to Ye Yuzhi: "Big brother, little brother didn't understand things before, but now he knows his mistakes. This year, I and your younger sister sincerely came to pay our respects to big brother and sister-in-law, please don't look down on us."

  Ye Yuxiu hesitated for a moment, took over the gift list, opened it to take a look, and looked at Ye Yuzhang in surprise.

  For so many years, Ye Yuzhang has never come to pay New Year's greetings to the main house in person. Every year on the first day of the new year, he would let his servants come over and deliver a bag of rice flour, a piece of meat, and two pieces of cloth, which was already considered giving face to Ye Yuzhang, this big brother. Now Guan Shi sees Ye Yuzhang like this, she is curious in her heart, but she can't read, so she has to use her elbow to nudge her husband and ask: "What gift did Second Brother give you?"

  Ye Yuzhang didn't wait for his brother to respond, and smiled as he said: "Nothing much, just two pieces of good De Luo Ne fabric, two pieces of satin ribbon, two pairs of Qian Ceng Di silk shoes, two boxes of good tea leaves, half a pig's head, two chickens, two ducks, two fish, plus a bag of crystal rice." His face was full of smiles, but the corners of his mouth twitched as he spoke. It seemed that giving away so many things made him feel quite painful.

  Mrs. Guan's eyes widened in surprise. After a while, she turned her head to look at her husband: "Old man, our days are good now, we don't lack food or clothes, it's not as difficult as before, so we can't accept such a heavy gift from Second Brother. Later when we return the gift, we'll have to go back.

  Ye Yuzhang's face was thick-skinned, and after hearing this, he didn't react much, just pretending not to have heard. But Jiang Shi, who usually didn't like to deal with the people of the main house, frowned.

  They came with good intentions to give gifts to the elder house, but Guan said something like this, isn't it implying that in previous years when the elder house was struggling they didn't send any gifts, now that things are going well they sent such heavy gifts, is she scolding them for being selfish and petty?

  However, the second house has always been dominated by Ye Yuzhang, and Jiang Shi only obeyed. Seeing that her husband didn't speak, Jiang Shi was unhappy but didn't say anything unpleasant.

  "Come, let the two of you sit in the hall." Ye Yuqi didn't dare to lose face in front of his brother and sister-in-law, so he didn't respond to Guan's words, but instead led them into the hall.

  Ye Yuzhang's feet didn't move, but he stuck his head into the kitchen: "Has Lord Yang also arrived? I'll take the opportunity to pay my New Year's respects to him as well."

  Ye Yiqi and Guan Shi suddenly understood. The second house came today, probably because of Yang Jianxiu's arrival. No wonder they sent such a heavy gift, considering that they received it and would be embarrassed not to help the people in the second house plead for mercy.

  Mr. Guan's face suddenly sank and he said, "No need, he doesn't see outsiders at this time."

  Ye Yuzhang's face suddenly changed, looking at Ye Yuqi and saying: "Big brother, big sister can not only be the master of the main house, but also be the master of Mr. Yang's house? Whether Mr. Yang sees it or not, isn't it up to Big Sister to decide?" He had sent so many gifts, but it was a pity that he couldn't see Yang Jianxiu's face. If he couldn't even see Yang Jianxiu's face, wouldn't that be a huge loss?

  This kid's temper, I've never seen it clearer. If I try to stop him now, who knows what kind of trouble we'll stir up? Last time, he lost face in front of Yang Jianxiu, and today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, can't let Lord Yang have a bad start.

  He gave Guan a wink: "Go and report to Yang, just say that the old master of the second house wants to see him, let's see what he says." In his opinion, Yang Jianxiu was unwilling to meet with people from the second house. But if he refused, it would make Ye Yuzhang give up and not make trouble here anymore.

  Guan's family agreed, turned around and entered the kitchen, after a while came out with a strange face, said: "Mr. Yang said to let the people of the second house go to the hall to sit, he washed his hands and came over."

  Ye Yuzhang was overjoyed when he heard this, and hastily bowed to Guan Shi, saying: "Elder sister-in-law, you've worked hard." He then turned to Ye Yuzhi and said: "Big brother, let's go sit in the main hall."

  Ye Yuqi looked at his wife in surprise, seeing that she was also full of confusion, and could only take Ye Yuzhang and Jiang Shi to the hall.

  As soon as they sat down and had tea, Yang Jianxiu entered the hall. Ye Yuzhang and Jiangshi hastily stood up and said a string of auspicious and flattering words with smiling faces. Yang Jianxiu politely responded with two sentences and then sat down in the position on the right side of the south face.

  Ye Yiqi and Guan Shi were both stunned, taking some time to react.

  In ancient times, the seating arrangement was very particular. The position of sitting north and facing south was the most honorable, and among the two positions, the right side was more honorable. Usually, Yang Jianxu considered himself a junior, so when he was with Ye Yuqi and Guan Shi, he would always sit in the lower seat on the left side, indicating that he was both a junior and a guest. However, at this time, he didn't even make a polite gesture of declining, but instead changed his usual demeanor and sat in the honorable position, which meant that he would speak to the Ye family as the county magistrate.

  At this time, using the county magistrate's dignity to deal with Ye Yuzhang was most appropriate. If he acted as a junior, when his seniors had a request, he would naturally have to agree; but when officials were involved, they didn't need to be polite to ordinary people - if one of them was unhappy, they could scold you sternly and you'd still have to stand up and listen respectfully.

  Yue Xi let out a big sigh of relief as soon as he understood this, and quickly pulled Guan Shi over to sit down in the east-facing seat on Yang Jian Xiu's right hand.

  A county official who was not in the mainstream could make Ye Yuzhang sharpen his head to climb high, and at this time he naturally did not dare to argue with Yang Jianxiu, the county magistrate, about the seating arrangement. After sitting down in the position on the left hand side, he smiled and was just about to speak when Yang Jianxiu looked at him and opened his mouth first: "I heard that you want to see me? What's the matter?" His expression was serious, and there wasn't even a hint of a smile on his face.

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