After trying on the new clothes, Ma received a reply from her natal brother and sister-in-law. They welcomed her back to her parents' home in the afternoon.
According to the custom of this dynasty, outsiders should not visit the host's house beyond noon. But firstly, Mr. Ma came to visit his parents as a married woman, and secondly, his elder brother, Uncle Ma, was sick and couldn't get up in the morning. He often didn't feel energetic until about three o'clock in the morning. The afternoon was a more suitable time for him to receive guests. That's why Ma chose to see him again in the afternoon.
Haitang asked Ma Shi a few words and successfully got her permission to accompany Ma Shi out.
I met Uncle Ma again today. His energy was much better than the previous two days. It seemed that he had a new doctor. The medicine he prescribed was quite effective. His leg disease lasted for a shorter period of time and he slept soundly at night. His complexion has certainly improved greatly.
Uncle Ma's wife couldn't help complaining to Mr. Ma: "This medicine is very good, and the doctor's medical skills are also superb. But a pair of medicines is too expensive. Compared with the medicines I was used to before, each pair costs at least seven yuan and eight cents! Doctor!" He was also told to take it for a few more days to see the effect. A dose of medicine a day would cost seven or eight taels of silver in ten days, and more than 20 taels a month! This was more than our family's monthly expenses. My monthly expenses have doubled, how can I afford to eat?!”
A bitter smile appeared on Uncle Ma's face: "Stop saying a few words. What nonsense are you talking about in front of Yumei?!"
Uncle Ma's wife glared at him and said, "I don't know how expensive firewood and rice are when I'm not a householder. What's the matter with my sister-in-law? My sister-in-law is the wife of the household, so she naturally understands my difficulties!"
Ma glanced at her speechlessly: "Which doctor are you seeing? Where did you get the medicine?" After learning the doctor's name and the number of the medical clinic, he added, "Well, I remember his house. When dad was here, It was the doctor that his grandfather and father saw. Unexpectedly, he has grown up now. Since the eldest brother is good at taking his medicine, he should continue to take it. Isn’t it just twenty or thirty taels of silver a month? Can it be better than the eldest brother’s medicine? Is your health important?" After saying that, he paid for his brother's medical expenses to save his sister-in-law from nagging her.
Uncle Ma's wife immediately beamed and said many nice things to Ma and Haitang enthusiastically, praising Haitang until her face turned red.
Uncle Ma was embarrassed when he heard this, and quickly found an excuse to send his wife away: "Didn't you make an appointment with Mrs. Liu next door? Come over quickly, don't keep people waiting."
Only then did Mrs. Ma remember it and hurriedly apologized to Mrs. Ma: "Second aunt, Mrs. Sit down slowly. Mrs. Liu next door has promised to find a good job for the son of Lu Sheng's family. I have to go over and ask for clarification, so that I can rest assured."
It was about the future of her precious grandson, and the sister-in-law who just gave her money and flowers suddenly became unimportant.
Mr. Ma had long been accustomed to her sister-in-law's temper, and waved her hand casually. When she left, only her grandparents and her brother were left in the house. She whispered to Uncle Ma about yesterday's rebellion between the grandparents of the third family of the Zhou family. .
As for Zhang Pinggui's capture, Ma felt it was unnecessary and did not mention it for the time being.
Uncle Ma was very surprised. Zhou Jinpu had always been on the same page with Mrs. Ma and blindly obeyed her. Mrs. Ma always pretended to love her grandson. Zhou Jinpu respects her, his unrelated step-grandmother, more than he does his maternal relatives. I never thought that this pair of cheap grandfather and grandson would fall out at some point!
Although Ma said that Zhou Jinpu still had a bad attitude towards Zhou Ma, it was a good thing for Zhou Ma that he no longer blindly obeyed Mrs. Ma's orders. As for Zhou Jinpu's maternal clan, Uncle Ma doesn't think it's a problem. He has maintained a good relationship with the Tu family over the years. The other party should listen to his advice and give him some benefits in the future. They have no reason to refuse.
If nothing else, the Tu family is now in Chang'an, so they can only count on the in-laws of the Zhou family to support their caravan. In the past, they obeyed Mrs. Ma because she was the mother of the three homeowners in the Zhou family, not because she had any friendship with them. Now that the entire Zhou family dislikes Mrs. Ma, can they still go against the entire Zhou family just for her? Why? She is not a relative of the Tu family!
Uncle Ma immediately took out the Four Treasures of the Study, laid it on the Kang table and wrote a letter to the current head of the Tu family.
The letter was written, but Uncle Ma also reminded Ma: "The Tu family will not refuse you, but you have to be careful. The companions who took care of Zhou Jinpu's mother's marriage to Zhuangzi are no longer the servants of the Tu family. They need to be treated as slaves." Be careful that these people are bribed by Mrs. Ma and are unwilling to obey the old master’s orders.”
Under normal circumstances, most of the servants brought by the daughter of an official family when they get married have their relatives stay in the bride's natal family as servants, so that the natal family can control these servants and not betray the daughter easily just because they are bribed by the husband's family. Owner. But the situation in the Tu family is a little different. It has been more than thirty years since Tu's death. Zhou Jinpu has ignored the general affairs and has been entrusting his late mother's marriage property to Mrs. Ma to take care of it. The servants who manage the marriage property have produced more than one generation, even if they are in name only. They still have the surname Tu, so there is no guarantee that they will still be loyal to their old master. Maybe they had already switched their allegiance to Mrs. Ma privately, which is unknown.
Ma was quite prepared for this: "If this is true, let the Tu family tell Zhou Jinpu that these unscrupulous slaves have betrayed their master and tell him not to use them anymore. Zhou Jinpu will never disbelieve the words of the Tu family. "
Uncle Ma nodded: "Okay, I'll tell the Tu family one more thing." He added two more lines to the end of the letter, sealed the envelope, and told the housekeeper to go over and deliver the letter to the head of the Tu family in person. .
The steward took the letter and took the order and left. Uncle Ma turned back to comfort Ma: "This matter is not difficult to do. I have already reminded the Tu family in the letter not to misjudge the situation. No matter how prestigious Mrs. Ma was in the past, she only relied on the Zhou family to make people Convinced. Now even the Zhou family is no longer willing to support her. The Tu family is best at seeing the wind and steering the ship, so they naturally know how to choose."
Ma nodded. Haitang asked with some curiosity: "Uncle, Mrs. Ma seems to be quite powerful in Chang'an. Is it all because she is a descendant of the Zhou family? Hasn't she developed any other connections?"
Uncle Ma smiled: "What kind of connections can she develop? When the old general is here, whatever she wants to do, the old general will do it for her, so she doesn't have to worry about it. The old general is gone, and it's hard for her to show her face as a widow. Occasionally, he would find jobs for others, and for the sake of the old general's kindness during his lifetime, he would give face to the third wife of the Zhou family. After all, the old general had made many contributions in the past, and he often made plans for his brothers in the border army. , you have received the kindness of the old general, shouldn't you take more care of his wife and children? Besides, Zhou Shigong serves in the army, he is willing to do things for his stepmother, how can others refute his face? "
Looking back on the past, Uncle Ma couldn't help but sigh. Although all three of his brothers and sisters felt that Mrs. Ma was not a good person and was just pretending to be virtuous, everyone in the Zhou family was willing to believe her. No one in Chang'an said anything bad about her, so how could they dare to say anything? This shows how amazing Mrs. Ma’s methods are. However, no matter how successful she was, she could only end up losing ground. In just a few days, even Zhou Jinpu no longer bought into her. This change was really surprising.
What kind of confusion did Mrs. Ma make that made her choose to poach the border army?
Uncle Ma's explanation of the cause of the tragedy in the third house of the Zhou family still lies in the fact that Mrs. Ma secretly built a glass workshop. Ma knew that his brother had misunderstood, but did not give any explanation.
Haitang knew that the real crux of the matter was that Mrs. Ma and her daughter Zhou Shuyi secretly clung to the Sun family and were suspected of betraying the Zhou family. However, she did not say anything and only thought to herself that Mrs. Ma was not outside the Zhou family's sphere of influence. , it is easier to manage your own personal network.
The grandfather and grandson just listened to Uncle Ma's sigh, thinking that Zhou Shigong finally got back on his feet this time. After more than thirty years of living in the third room of the Zhou family, Zhou Ma finally saw the light of day, and no longer had to suffer the anger of his evil mother-in-law. .
As for whether she will continue to be angry with her husband and stepson? That's another story...
(End of chapter)
