"Since Mrs. Xia wants a house full of grandchildren, how can I not satisfy her?" Xia Luotong smiled slyly.
Wu Zechen knew that Xia Luotong did not regard her as Xia Zhihe's daughter at all, so he deliberately avoided her when talking about the heirs of the Xia family. Thinking of what she was curious about just now, he said again: "You want to know about Miss Sun?" Condition?"
"You found it out so quickly?" Xia Luotong was a little surprised.
Wu Zechen nodded and said: "As soon as they showed some signs, I asked someone to check. When you were checking in the bookstore just now, the information about Miss Sun was sent back."
"Then tell me quickly." Xia Luotong said repeatedly.
"Miss Sun's real name is Sun Jiaolan, and she is the concubine of Mr. Sun, the magistrate of Lanlin. However, there are several young masters in Mr. Sun's house, but there is only one daughter, so even though she is a concubine, she is particularly favored. In addition, her biological mother My aunt is very good at winning over Mr. Sun, and Sun Jiaolan is also very good at pleasing Mr. Sun, so she has a high status in the family."
Xia Luotong wondered: "Since you are a young lady from the prefect Lan Lin's family, why do you come to the capital at this time? Don't you have to spend the New Year with your family at home?"
"Master Sun's term has expired, and he happened to return to Beijing to report on his duties at this time, so he brought her to the capital with him." Wu Zechen paused and said, "Master Sun is very likely to be promoted this time and remain as a capital official."
The prefect is an official of the fourth rank. If he is promoted, he will be promoted from the third rank at least.
"No wonder Miss Sun appeared in the capital." Xia Luotong nodded, and then said with a bit of regret, "Since she is the daughter of the prefect, even if she is just a concubine, Xia Zhihe wouldn't dare to take action at will, right? "
The official position of a fourth-rank official is not too small. Even if a concubine in the family marries to a fifth- or sixth-rank official and becomes the mistress, it will be enough for her.
"That's not necessarily the case." Wu Zechen gave a different answer.
Xia Luotong was shocked: "What? Xia Zhihe dares to do anything to a woman of his status?!"
"The more glamorous a place looks, the more filthy it is." Wu Zechen calmly explained her confusion, "It's not that Xia Zhihe is acting recklessly, but that this world has always been like this, and he may not need to force it. Do you think Miss Sun is looking at it?" Does it look like it was done unintentionally?"
Xia Luotong was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Then Miss Sun obviously has some meaning."
"Both of them have this intention, so why is it impossible?" Wu Zechen then mentioned another matter, "Master Jin, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, took a concubine not long ago, and the concubine was also the concubine of a fourth-grade official. At that time, Mrs. Jin made a fuss for two days and then stopped. It was because she learned that the concubine was pregnant with Mr. Jin’s heir. If she did not enter the Jin Mansion, it would not only be a scandal for the two houses, but also cause trouble for the two houses. Mrs. Jin had no choice but to endure the grudge."
Xia Luotong's eyes widened, and he finally understood the meaning of Wu Zechen's sentence "the brighter it is, the dirtier it is".
There has been quite a stir in the past few days about the concubinage in Lord Jin's house, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry. Even Xia Luotong has heard about it. He once heard Xi Menghan mention this gossip in a casual chat, but he didn't know how it was brought into Lord Jin's house. The concubine is actually pregnant.
At that time, we only knew that Mrs. Jin had been making trouble for two days, and then nothing happened again. Outsiders did not know the inside story at all, and they only thought that Mrs. Jin had compromised.
However, since such a situation is not uncommon, it is possible that Xia Zhihe and Miss Sun Jiaolan might actually develop something. After all, Xia Luotong had some thoughts of his own when he looked at the two of them.
However, Xia Luotong was a little disappointed. She didn't expect that Xia Zhihe's charm was so great that he could attract bees and butterflies everywhere. However, Sun Jiaolan was probably not as harmless as she appeared, and she was also a very scheming woman.
Xia Zhihe could tell at a glance that he had a family, so he could cater to her, so maybe she had the intention of joining the family as a concubine.
Perhaps seeing the look in Xia Luotong's eyes, Wu Zechen explained: "No matter how incompetent Xia Zhihe is, after all, he holds a key position such as the Minister of Etiquette. A dignified second-rank official cannot be compared to ordinary idlers. In addition, it is now clear that In the prince's camp, others don't dare to look down on him. There are more women who want to join his house. If Li Shi hadn't kept a close eye on him, I'm afraid the Xia family would have prospered."
Hearing the sarcasm in Wu Zechen's tone, Xia Luotong couldn't help but laugh. After a while, he said: "Then let's see how the two of them get on. If Lang Youqing is interested, then I will be kind enough to help." They lend a hand.”
Wu Zechen looked at Xia Luotong's mischievous winking, with a smile in his eyes, and couldn't help but respond to her: "You are always so helpful."
Unexpectedly, he could also joke. Xia Luotong was so amused by him that it took him a while to calm down.
I don't know when the two got together, and they became more and more natural and casual when getting along. They no longer had the cold and unfamiliar look before. The carriage seemed to always be echoing with the sound of talking and laughing, and Xia Luotong no longer deliberately sat on the farthest seat from Wu Zechen. Instead, he sat by the window not far from him, glancing at the bustling capital city outside the carriage from time to time.
The Great Zhou Dynasty has been prosperous for several generations. Although it is still more powerful than the surrounding countries, it is not as rich and powerful as previous generations. Not only is the border not as stable as before, even in the capital, there are There were some disharmonious situations, but the nobles in the palace seemed to have made an appointment and turned a blind eye to these situations.
As the carriage continued to move, Xia Luotong frowned as he looked at the several ragged figures passing by from time to time outside the carriage window.
She whispered softly: "Why do the beggars in the capital seem to have increased so much recently? And they don't look like they are from the Wuyi tribe?"
Although the people of the Wuyi tribe are, to put it bluntly, beggars, they are much better than those who appear from time to time outside the carriage. Although their clothes are also old and covered with patches, they are enough to keep out the cold, and they are not unkempt and covered in mud. .
At this time, the beggars Xia Luotong saw were dressed in thin clothes, which were not enough to withstand the severe cold. There were even many holes in them. Their faces were sallow and skinny, and they felt like they would fall down at any time. It was freezing cold in the twelfth lunar month in the capital, and they would fall down from time to time. It will snow, but these beggars can only gather together in small groups, huddled in corners and other sheltered places, clinging to each other to keep warm and keep out the cold.
Xia Luotong was just thinking about whether he should ask the company manager of the Wuyi clan next time when he heard Wu Zechen beside him speak.
"These are disaster-stricken refugees who fled all the way to several towns near the capital. Those towns could not accommodate them and tightened their city gates to prevent these refugees from entering. These refugees had no choice but to walk along the official road. Among them Some of them came to the capital." When Wu Zechen talked about this, his expression and voice were a little cold, and his tone revealed his dissatisfaction with the officials' inability to do things well.
