Chapter 450 Hard work
Gold, silver, jewelry and the like are fine, money is just external possessions, you can earn it again if you lose it.

With the current strength of the An family, these things are not lacking.

There is nothing wrong with marrying the daughter of Cui Family. Intermarriage is also a common practice of aristocratic families. The entanglement of interests and complicated connections are the means for aristocratic families to survive in the long run.

Only An Leiting agreed to follow Cui's lead in the future...

Too thorough a bundling of interests is often not a good thing.

Moreover, once these words were spoken, in the eyes of others, the An family would no longer be one of the four major families, but just a family dependent on the Cui family.

For example, the Zhao family, who were once punished for their dependence on the Wen family...

Zhuo Dingsheng couldn't bear to see such scenes.

"It's just a stopgap measure." An Leiting lowered his eyes. "The most important thing right now is to rescue Jingzhong. As for the rest, I can't care too much about it."

"Although the An family is superficially dependent on the Cui family and the Cui family uses the An family to make profits, our An family can naturally use the Cui family's power to do things. When the An family is successful and can be on an equal footing with the Cui family, what dare the Cui family do?"

"It's just a momentary honor or disgrace. Don't take it too seriously."

Although An Leiting said this, Zhuo Dingsheng was still very worried.

Is it really appropriate to seek the skin of a tiger?
If you are not careful, you might be injured by the tiger.

Zhuo Dingsheng sighed, but when he saw that An Leiting's tightly furrowed brows were now filled with wrinkles, and he looked a little older than when he attacked Changzhou City, he felt deeply moved.

It is pitiful that all parents in the world are so worried, and the commander-in-chief really has no choice but to do so.

But this An Jingzhong is useless...

On the second day, Cui Wenshuo sent someone to deliver a message to An Leiting, saying that he had sent someone to rush back to Cui's house to deliver the letter, and that a reply would be received in ten days at the earliest and half a month at the latest.

During this period, all we can do is wait.

An Leiting exhaled and looked at Lu Qiyan, "Qiyan has been training hard in the army recently. The position of the commander of the Shenwu Army has been vacant and is not suitable, so Qiyan will take the position."

"Thank you for your trust, Commander!" Lu Qiyan was "overjoyed" and hurriedly saluted An Leiting "overwhelmed with satisfaction". "I will do my best to serve you, Commander!"

It means serving the commander of the wing, not serving the army, so his position is quite clear.

An Leiting nodded with great satisfaction and raised his hand to signal Lu Qiyan to go out first.

Then he patted Zhuo Dingsheng on the shoulder and said, "An Yunji has always held the title of general, which is somewhat inconsistent with his military achievements. I will keep him by your side for the time being as a deputy commander."

"In addition, Jing Ran and Jing Yue will be assigned to deputy positions. They will be able to gain some experience by following you guys."

An Jingran and An Jingyue are both An Leiting's illegitimate sons. They are younger than An Jingzhong. Perhaps because they were born to a concubine and were never taught by An Leiting, they are timid and cowardly everywhere.

Although the two had been in the army for the past two years, they were only assigned unimportant duties as clerks and in charge of food and fodder, and were not given much importance.

Now An Leiting made such arrangements, obviously he also wanted to give the two people a chance.

Zhuo Dingsheng understood An Leiting's intention. He first bowed and said "yes", but then sighed, "The commander of the wing also has good intentions." An Jingzhong is useless. In order to avoid attracting attention after this incident, even if he can stay in the army, he cannot hold an important position. He can only promote other people first, plant a big tree, and wait for An Jingzhong to enjoy the shade in the future.

This is a helpless move, but it is also the most appropriate choice at this time.

When An Leiting heard Zhuo Dingsheng say this, he smiled bitterly.

He did have good intentions, but no one knew when the person to whom he had poured his efforts would wake up.

Hey……

After the cold wind blew for most of the day, the originally sunny sky turned as gloomy as the bottom of a pot.

By mid-afternoon, snow seeds as small as grains of rice fell from the sky, tiny but densely packed. In just one hour, the entire earth was covered with a thin layer of white snow.

The original snow seeds turned into snowflakes like catkins, fluttering in the air, looking very spectacular.

"The first snow comes really early this year." Yin Qiao added some charcoal to the charcoal basin and turned the sweet potatoes at the bottom of the basin so that they could be baked more evenly.

"Auspicious snow means a good harvest." Xia Mingyue replied with a smile, pulled out the awl that had pierced the sole of her shoe, and pushed the injection in with a thimble.

He pulled the hemp rope connected to the needle and tightened it, then picked up the awl and pierced a small hole on the thick sole to make it easier to use the needle.

This process is repeated many times, and the hemp rope stitches on the thick Thousand-layer sole become fine and neat, and look very smooth.

In the basket next to it was a finished sole and two that had been pasted but not yet sewn.

These are the shoes made for Lu Qiyan and An Yunji. Xia Mingyue did everything herself, from pasting the soles and carving them, one pair for each of them, without any bias.

Qingju was making winter clothes for Xia Mingyue. Seeing that her needlework skills were becoming more and more proficient, she nodded and smiled, "As expected of my lady, your craftsmanship is getting better and better. I estimate that it won't be long before your skills surpass mine."

"It got dark early today. Those who know it know that it is snowing heavily outside. If you don't know, you would think that the sky is full of cows flying."

Xia Mingyue joked, causing Yinqiao and Qingju to giggle.

Zhuang Cui came in through the curtain, brushing off the snowflakes on her body and stamping her feet. "I don't know if there are cows flying in the sky. I only know that I'm so hungry that I can eat a cow!"

"At noon, Madam Xia made the braised noodles with bean sprouts and pork belly. I saw Sister Zhuang eat two full bowls of it with my own eyes. Is she hungry so soon?" Yin Qiao's face was full of confusion.

"That's something we'll have to ask Doctor Yin." Zhuang Cui sighed and saw the sweet potatoes roasting in the charcoal basin. Her eyes suddenly lit up, but when she used the tongs to poke at them, she found that they were not yet cooked. They had visibly wilted like eggplants, so she just covered the sweet potatoes with charcoal fire again.

"What do you mean?" Xia Mingyue stopped what she was doing.

"Doctor Yin asked me to try a prescription for digestion and to try it myself to see the effect. I did as he said. The dosage of the medicine was a bit strong. The effect was really too good. My stomach is beating like a drum and I feel like my chest is sticking to my back."

Zhuang Cui's face was full of helplessness. Finally, she looked at Xia Mingyue and said, "My wife, it's getting late now. Why don't I go prepare dinner first?"

"That's fine." Xia Mingyue looked at Zhuang Cui's eager eyes and thought for a moment, "How about having barbecue tonight?"

Mutton and pork belly are both ready-made and can be cut as you eat them. On a cold day, you can gather around a charcoal fire to grill the meat. It is lively and warm and will definitely be satisfying!