Youshi invited Li Wan to a banquet, and Brother Rong felt uncomfortable not looking for him. He was wandering alone in Huifang Garden, without even a girl following him. Just as we climbed up to Yixia Pavilion, the old woman came downstairs to ask for something.
"Someone is coming from Prince Zhongshun's residence and wants to see the uncle."
After hearing this, Jia Rong was puzzled and thought to herself: "The Thirteenth Master has already led troops to Mongolia, and the only person I know in the palace is the princess. Two days ago, Ke Qing also went to the palace to say hello. How are you doing today? Are you sending someone again?"
He asked his mother-in-law: "Did the person who sent the message to the outside tell the identity of the person coming?"
My mother-in-law doesn’t know either.
Uncle Rong had no choice but to order his mother-in-law to go back to the front hall of Prince Zhongshun's Palace to invite the guests from Prince Zhongshun's Palace. He went back to the courtyard to change his clothes. When he went to receive her, she was the Zhou Chang Historian of Prince Zhongshun's Palace.
When they met, Brother Rong hurriedly invited him back to have tea. He smiled and said, "Why is Brother Zhou here?"
Zhou Changshi stood up to greet him and said hurriedly: "Don't worry about it now, I have been ordered to come here. I have something to ask Sir Genxi."
After hearing this, Jia Rong was confused for a moment. He had little contact with the palace chief, and they were not connected in official matters. Why did this happen? He hurriedly asked: "By what order did eldest brother come? Didn't the Thirteenth Master leave Beijing a few days ago? Could it be that the empress called me?"
Zhou Changshi felt uncomfortable when he saw Jia Rong calling "big brother" from left to right. He invited Brother Rong to sit down together, and sighed: "Let's tell the truth to Brother Rong. Today, my brother was punished in the palace. I was going to your Xifu to ask someone for questioning. I thought about Brother Rong. I came to you first because of my relationship with the royal family."
"Oh?" Brother Rong said in surprise, "The Xifu is questioning someone? Who has offended someone in the palace. Even though Brother Zhou said it, the Thirteenth Master and the Empress are kind to us, and I will not protect them privately."
"It doesn't have to be like this." Zhou Changshi smiled bitterly and said hurriedly, "It's not a big deal at first, but today is the festive season, something happened in the palace again, and several masters in the palace are angry about this matter."
"What did the empress say?" Brother Rong had a bad feeling in his heart and said, "Brother, let's tell you what happened first. If there is a misunderstanding, we might as well take someone to the palace to apologize."
"Brother Rong's words are untrue." Zhou Changshi shook his head and said, "There is a Qiguan who is a Xiaodan in the palace. He has always been at home well, but now he has not returned for three to five days. He is looking for and touching him everywhere. He couldn't find his way. Therefore, after visiting various places, eight out of ten people in this city said: He has been getting along very well with the jade-bearing brother in Rongguo Mansion recently. This is not a trouble at all. There was trouble in the palace in the past few days, and today is the festive season. I planned to liven up the bad luck in the palace, but I didn't expect that I couldn't find the official Qi, which made everyone angry."
This matter is neither big nor small. Brother Rong thought for a while and suddenly glanced sideways at Zhou Changshi. He smiled and said, "Brother got the order from the empress today and came here specially to beat someone."
Zhou Changshi was stunned and said, "Brother Rong, how do you start talking about this?"
Jia Rong chuckled and said: "Eldest brother said that everyone in the palace was angry because Qi Guan left the palace privately to hand over to someone else. It is true for the time being, but it is not worthy of asking eldest brother, a chief historian of the palace, to pass on the message and take care of people. Furthermore, since Qi Guan is It's impossible for outsiders to live in Jia's house. If my brother comes during the festival, he won't find the actor in Jia's house. I'm afraid it's just for the sake of accountability."
Zhou Changshi was exposed by Jia Rong and stopped pretending. He replied awkwardly: "You're showing off in front of Brother Rong. This is not what brothers meant. This Qi Guan's dealings may be a trivial matter in Brother Rong's eyes, but in the eyes of the people in the palace, it is the favor of the Jia family." The arrogant bully has gone to the prince. Although the empress did not give her personal instructions regarding the official’s coming, it was generally her wish.”
Brother Rong was confused and asked, "Is it that serious?"
Zhou Changshi sneered and said, "It's not that brothers don't give honor to the Jia family, it's that the young master named Yu in your Rongguo Mansion is too outrageous. If they are just casual acquaintances, the palace will not pursue the relationship between Ningguo Mansion and Brother Rong. , but these two people actually changed their sweat towels in private, and even went to hang out with the Prince of Beijing County and others. This matter has damaged the face of the Prince's Palace. If they don't show it, both our Prince's Palace and your Jia family will suffer. It won’t be easy.”
"Thank you for coming, brother. I will give an explanation to the palace for this matter." Brother Rong stood up and said with his hands in hand. Thinking back to the time when the female officials and nuns from Zhongshun Prince's Palace came over, he didn't dare to entertain them more arrogantly and politely. Baoyu dared to exchange sweat towels with Qiguan. Isn't this a private lifelong love relationship?
Jia Rong just wants to curse at this moment. This Baoyu is so courageous that he even stole it to Prince Zhongshun's palace. Not only did he steal, he also stole with Beijing Wang Shuirong, and even Feng Ziying, Wei Ruolan and others participated.
This is ridiculous, it really trampled on the face of Prince Zhongshun to death.
Seeing Brother Rong gnashing his teeth, Zhou Changshi calmed down and said, "Brother Rong, let's see and do it. It's not appropriate to make the matter too big. If it does, everyone will know about it, and it will ruin the relationship between brother and the palace." relation."
Brother Rong nodded. After thinking about it, Qi Guan is a loyal and obedient person to the palace. Baoyu doing such a thing is basically equivalent to secretly sleeping with a maid or female official in Prince Zhongshun's palace.
This is equivalent to cuckolding King Zhongshun. Of course, it may also be cuckolding one of King Zhongshun's sons. Anyway, Nima is looking for death.
He asked out of curiosity: "Is that Qi Guan a man or a female Jiao'e?"
Zhou Changshi glanced at the bastard and replied hesitantly: "That Xiaodan's common name is Jiang Yuhan, and she is a boy."
oh. Baoyu, a fool, actually secretly stole a man who was loyal to the king... no, a male favorite. Male favors are rarer than maids in this society, so it’s no wonder that the chief historian can come to the house in person. only……
Brother Rong still has doubts. Prince Zhongshun has not been in the palace recently, and Jiang Yuhan is a male lead. It stands to reason that even if the opera is rehearsed in the palace for the concubines to see, Jiang Yuhan will not have a share.
Male dandies are not in harmony, men and women are on different stages, and all the plays for women are sung by girls. According to the situation of Ningrong and Rongfus, only girls can enter Tianxiang Tower and Grand View Garden to sing operas. If you really want to hear male dancers singing, you will just temporarily invite a few actors to come over and arrange them in the Ningxi Pavilion next to Huifang Garden. You must not allow male dancers other than relatives to enter the inner garden.
This is the basic rule for men and women to guard against each other.
Therefore, Zhou Changshi said that there was a lively rehearsal in the palace, and the person hosting it would not be the princess of the palace and others. Brother Rong narrowed his eyes and asked, "What harm happened in the palace recently?"
Zhou Changshi hesitated and refused to say anything. He smiled and made excuses to leave.
Brother Rong said: "Brother won't even tell me in front of my brothers? If we want to know, we just have to go to the palace again."
"His Royal Highness is seriously ill, and the imperial doctor has diagnosed him. I'm afraid..." Zhou Changshi sighed and shook his head, cupping his hands and saying, "Brother, you can still send someone to get the actor, so let's just say goodbye."
This society is like this. Even in the powerful Prince Zhongshun's palace, even people with extremely noble status can just say no.
King Zhongshun had nine sons and four daughters. Today, there are only five sons and two daughters alive.
The rest all died young.
Now His Highness the Crown Prince, who has just grown up, is seriously ill again. I am afraid that before long, King Zhongshun will be left with only four sons and two daughters, more than half of whom will die in infancy.
This is true for a prince's palace, but it's even harder to imagine the situation for other families.
Jia Rong thought of his two children again and became worried about them for a moment. In a society with such a huge proportion of premature deaths, he had to worry. After thinking about it for a while, I felt that the rule in the house not to get too close to children made some sense.
It’s good to provide discipline for the sake of family education, but on the other hand, isn’t it a choice made reluctantly due to worries about the child’s early death? Without modern medicine, a single infection could kill a child, let alone a child with a weaker immune system.
He stopped thinking and started thinking about Baoyu again.
Jiang Yuhan, Jiang Yuhan, what a good name.
One is holding jade, the other is holding jade, these two are really a couple.
It's a pity that Uncle Rong is planning how to break up this perfect couple, at least to break some of their love for a period of time.
Not long after, a maid came from the Grand View Garden and replied to Uncle Rong that Second Master Bao had not returned to Yihongyuan yet. Jia Rong thought that it was not a good time to go to Mrs. Wang's courtyard to find him. Even if she talked about things, she was not in a hurry for such a short time.
He wandered back to the inner house and went to You's courtyard. It wasn't to join in the fun, but because I was thinking about the many children who had died in infancy in Prince Zhongshun's palace. I recalled that many of the Jia family also died in infancy, so I couldn't help but go see my eldest brother.
As soon as Uncle Xiao Rong entered the courtyard, a maid went to the main room to report to Youshi. After hearing this, Uncle Rong went to the side room again. The people who were eating and drinking all smiled helplessly, but did not pay attention.
They all warmly entertained Li Wan.
Grandma Zhu stopped holding the cup in her hands, her face had already turned upside down, and she said with a blushing smile: "Why did you invite me to celebrate the festival? It's obvious that you guys are bullying me together."
Wang Xifeng's face was not red, her heart was not beating wildly, and she did not look like she had been drunk. She picked up the cup and said with a smile: "How many cups did you drink? I drank more than you did. If you want to bully me, you guys bullied me together."
When Li Wan saw that Sister Feng wanted to respect him, he hurriedly hid the cup and said angrily: "You said it wasn't bullying, you and your family got together to get me drunk."
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room was shocked. No matter grandma, aunt, or maid, their hearts were beating wildly. Suyun behind Li Wan had a look of fear on her face, looking at Wang Xifeng worriedly.
The maid was afraid that Sister Feng would suddenly stretch out her claws and scratch her grandma's face. However, Li Wan was so dizzy from drinking that he didn't even know that he had said the wrong thing.
Wang Xifeng's eyes rolled slightly as if she hadn't heard anything wrong, and she smiled meaningfully: "Everyone who toasts is just to please you. I'm toasting you also to please you. How can I call it bullying."
"Don't use these words to coax me." Li Wan waved his hand.
Wang Xifeng said strangely: "If you don't like the word "please", let's change the word to reward my sister-in-law for her hard work. After drinking this cup, my sister-in-law is still waiting to greet me. I have worked hard in your family for several years, and I have hard work without credit. , do you still need a drink?"
Li Wan was riding a tiger and couldn't get off, so he could only let the waiter drink a glass of wine and then drink another glass in return.
Youshi and Keqing didn't rush to toast, they asked for more food to suppress the drinking, and they got acquainted and chatted. Ask Li Wan to visit Dongfu more often.
Wang Xifeng found it boring and planned to drink wine from Youshi.
Youshi said with concern: "We have just given birth, so we should drink less. You got us all drunk, how can you get any benefits for yourself?"
Sister Feng just gave up.
The girls chatted for a while, and Li Wan felt sleepy. Youshi asked her to rest in the courtyard room, but Li Wan was unwilling.
Wang Xifeng knew Li Wan's temperament, and he was not willing to sleep on someone else's bed. He said calmly: "It will take some time to clean up a room in the several courtyards here. It is better to let her rest in Huifang Garden."
Li Wan shook his head and refused: "No need to bother, Yun'er will just help me back to the garden to rest for the afternoon."
Grandma Zhu was already drunk and wanted to leave first. Seeing this, several people had no choice but to break up the banquet.
Wang Xifeng faced Youshi and Keqing and said calmly: "She is not a talkative person, so there is no need to go out of her way to win over her. She is not the only one in the two houses who is suspicious. Sooner or later, Zhi'er will not be able to stop the fire, even if the wives Even though I know everything, I can only hide the matter in my heart, there is nothing to worry about."
After hearing what Wang Xifeng said, You was speechless for a moment. She knew that Feng Lazi was bold, but she didn't expect him to be so bold. Feng Lazi was going to have a direct showdown with her.
Youshi said bitterly: "You have done good things, but we are the ones who are affected."
But Qing is the one who should complain the most, but now he is caught in the middle of the two, and he can only persuade each other at the moment. Xie Feng Lazi held his hand and said, "It's good to have one less person. It's not a good thing to spread the news."
"Who dares to spread rumors? Let's call it quits today. Don't call me over to treat her to a drink in the future. I won't deal with her." Wang Xifeng snorted and left proudly without being drunk.
Qin Keqing was embarrassed to look at his wife's face and looked at Sister Feng's back. He said goodbye to his wife Youshi softly, called Xiaoque'er and several other maids to follow him to chase the drunken Grandma Zhu.
You sat quietly for a while, and after asking the maids to clear the banquet, she went back inside to take a nap.
On the way, Ping'er persuaded Sister Feng: "Although grandma is not afraid of rumors, Grandma Zhen is not sure what she is doing. On the other hand, saying that in her yard would be a disgrace to Grandma Zhen."
"She knows that I annoy Mrs. Li the most, yet she still calls Mrs. Li because she provoked me first." Wang Xifeng sneered and sneered. "This grandma in Dongfu is the best at doing honorable things. I don't know what she did to show what she did. I think she coaxed Mrs. Qin to leave her eldest brother in her own courtyard because she had something wrong with her."
"Grandma." Ping'er exclaimed, pulling on Sister Feng's sleeves. Such words could not be said nonsense.
Wang Xifeng snorted and stopped talking, and went back to the room to rest.
Over there, Mrs. Qin caught up with Li Wan and saw that she was deeply drunk. She took the initiative and called the mother-in-law to take a break in Yixia Pavilion in Huifang Garden.
This afternoon, Jia Rong was playing with his children in the wing of Youshi's courtyard. No one disturbed him except the nanny and a few maids watching him.
It was so comfortable that I forgot about the time. When the time comes, You wakes up from his lunch break.
Uncle Rong grimaced and planned to go from Huifang Garden to Grand View Garden to Yihong Garden to talk to Baoyu. He was only halfway through the garden when he suddenly saw a woman walking on the second floor of Yixia Pavilion.
Is it Baochai?
Or Sister Feng?
It shouldn't be. If it were one of them, why would they find someone to send a message?
Could it be that there was a thief?
Uncle Rong felt nervous. That's not possible. Yixia Pavilion is special to him and has special feelings. He presided over the construction of this building, which has a different meaning. Later it became a happy place for him, Sister Feng, Ping'er and Baochai, and they were treated even more differently.
Every thing and object there has a special meaning and purpose for him.
Busy, hurry over.
