She held Qiao Jianghong's face, her eyebrows were sincere, and her fair cheeks were covered with tears.
Qiao Jianghong knew her situation and that she couldn't help herself. Although it was a little chilling, he could understand it.
She added: "You know I came here for you, otherwise I wouldn't have waited for you for so many years."
Qiao Jianghong's ears were soft, and once again he was told the truth. He hugged Shen Shuli and murmured: "I know."
Shen Shuli hugged Qiao Jianghong happily: "As long as you understand me."
Qiao Jianghong still had a serious look on his face, and said: "If you want to stay, you will be punished. The country has national laws and the family has family rules. You must not break the rules. If you want to leave, I will make arrangements for you, but I can't give you the status of a legal wife." , my concubine is restricted everywhere, and I can’t bear the hard life you have.”
Shen Shuli didn't believe his lies. He clearly had a beautiful and virtuous wife and a concubine as gentle as water, and now he didn't have enough of her!
She is obviously dispensable to her. Shen Shuli is not stupid. Now that she is back, everything in the Hou Mansion will be hers from now on.
She cried and said: "It's not bitter, it's not bitter. As long as I can stay with the prince, I will accept any punishment."
When Qiao Jianghong saw that she wanted to stay, he didn't stop her. After all, there was affection and she was willing to stay, which made him very happy.
Qiao Jianghong brought Shen Shuli to Mrs. Qiao to admit her mistake.
Both of them were kneeling. Shen Shuli cried and admitted her mistake and told the reason why she wanted to escape.
Mother Wu invited An Qien over.
When An Qien came, Qiao Jianghong was inexplicably afraid that she would be angry and did not dare to plead for Shen Shuli again.
Mrs. Qiao said: "Jiang Hong, you would rather suffer twenty blows than let her go, right?"
Qiao Jianghong acquiesced.
Mrs. Qiao was so angry that she didn't want to say another word, so she said to An Qien: "You handle it. If he wants to take the punishment, he will take it!"
An Qien nodded obediently.
"Your Majesty, your body is not easily injured and your foundation is weak. This incident happened because of Aunt Shen. According to the rules of the Marquis Mansion, Aunt Shen will bear this punishment alone."
Mother Wu echoed: "Madam is thoughtful, the prince is kind-hearted and willing to be punished, but he always thinks about his own health."
Mrs. Qiao held the Buddhist beads in her hand and remained silent.
An Qien continued: "According to the rules of the government, people cannot be retained. Since Aunt Shen knows her mistakes and corrects them, then she will be given twenty slaps, twenty boards, three months of night incense, and a half-year salary penalty."
Shen Shuli was shocked. Not only was she beaten, but her monthly salary was deducted, he actually asked her to pour night fragrance. It smelled so bad every day that Qiao Jianghong would definitely not want to get close to her.
"Hurry up, Madam Xie!" Qiao Jianghong ordered her.
In order to stay, Shen Shuli agreed: "Thank you, Madam."
The two mothers-in-law immediately dragged Shen Shuli to implement the family law, and her crying filled the entire Hou Mansion.
Qiao Jianghong felt extremely uncomfortable hearing this.
........
A few days later, Mrs. Liang couldn't wait any longer and urged Mrs. Liu again.
Mrs. Liu had no choice but to talk to An Qi'en about this matter. An Qi'en did not expect that Liang Wanru was very ambitious.
During these days of picking and choosing, no man caught her eye.
It turns out that she fell in love with her brother.
As the mother-in-law, Ms. Liu spoke up, so naturally she would not be disrespectful to her mother-in-law. She was just saying something.
Mrs. Liu said happily: "Then you choose a day and invite your brother to the house for a drink. Jiang Hong will accompany you. It's just a good time to catch up on old times."
An Qi'en smiled slightly: "Mom, my brother is busy with official work, so he must not have time. I will write to my cousin about my thoughts. If my brother is interested, he will naturally come to the door with gifts. If my brother is not interested, my cousin will not be disappointed. Save face."
Mrs. Liu nodded with satisfaction: "You are always thoughtful."
She is very satisfied with this arrangement.
When An Qien returned to Qiushui Residence, he asked Qingbi to prepare rice paper. After writing the pen and ink, he sent someone to send it out.
Bai Lu couldn't help but laugh and said, "That cousin is really daydreaming, and she doesn't even look at herself!"
Qingbi: "She spent a long time choosing, and finally fell in love with Young Master An. She is really brave enough to think about it. Why doesn't she want to be the queen?"
"Just her? Even the small merchants outside look down on her. She can't go to a wealthy family unless she becomes a concubine!"
"I have such high standards that I don't want to be a concubine!"
The two of you laughed at Liang Wanru with one word.
An Qien said in a normal tone: "When people go to higher places, water flows to lower places. It depends on whether she has this ability."
Bai Lu suddenly asked worriedly: "Madam, tell me, will Mr. An just... because that cousin is pretty?"
Before she finished speaking, An Qi'en knew what Bai Lu meant: "No, brother is not a person who judges people by their appearance."
Qingbi: "Young Master An has never seen such a beautiful woman, but Miss Liang is just average."
Mrs. Liang learned that An Qien only wrote a letter and did not go back to her parents' home in person to talk about it.
Such a perfunctory attitude made Mr. Liang very dissatisfied.
She went to Shuiyingtang to find Mr. Liu. Of course she would not talk about it directly, otherwise she would miss him even if the matter was not done.
Mrs. Liang joked with Mrs. Liu for a while, and asked casually, as if chatting about family matters: "Why is my nephew's stomach still not moving? Who is the head of the house and the mother-in-law has been married for so many years, but her stomach is not moving? Sister, let me tell you, this belly is not moving. It’s hard to concentrate on your husband’s family when there’s no movement.”
"In many families, when a woman gets married and has no children, she transfers all her husband's money to her parents' family. My sister has to push her. What's the point of not having children?"
"Sister, you have a good temper. If it were someone else's family and you had nothing to do for so many years, you would have to be disciplined."
Ms. Liu's ears were soft and could not withstand the wind. She felt that Mr. Liang's words made sense.
"This child Qi'en is doing well everywhere, but she doesn't have children, and she always says that her health is not well taken care of."
Liang continued to provoke: "Just listen to nonsense. In my opinion, she must be unable to give birth. If a woman cannot give birth to a child, what's the use of keeping it? Sister, think about it carefully, if Qi En can't give birth, it's like if she can marry If we go to Anfu, these two families will definitely be able to help each other in the future."
"She can't give birth. Even a princess has to be shorter. You're holding her like an ant. What do you want to do? Do you want anything good?"
Ms. Liu felt that this statement was reasonable. An Qi'en's stomach had indeed been silent all the time, which was a violation of the rule of seven outs.
Immediately, Mrs. Liu sent someone to call An Qien.
"Mother."
An Qi'en had just finished greeting her when she heard Mrs. Liu order with a cold face: "You stand in the yard for five hours. You are not allowed to go anywhere without my permission."
Mrs. Liang gloated and took a sip of tea from the teacup.
An Qi'en paused in her heart, but looked calm on the surface. One look at Liang's scheming eyes, and she knew that it must be Liang who was interfering.
"Mother, what mistake did your daughter-in-law make?"
Mrs. Liang: "Mother-in-law, teach me the rules, why are you asking?"
Ms. Liu said with a cold face: "What mistake did you make? You made a big mistake. There has been no movement in your stomach for so long. Tell me what mistake you made!"
So that’s what happened.
An Qi'en calmly said: "Mother, are you going to punish your daughter-in-law for this? Qi'en has injured her body from overwork for several years and has nothing to do. This is indeed a violation of the seven-out rule. She is unworthy of being treated as the mistress of the Hou Mansion. Bit."
"Qi En feels that standing by the rules only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. It is better to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron than to stop the boil. It is better to reconcile!"
