The palace banquet ended at midnight, and the masters and carriages from each palace left one after another.
The wheels rolled on the stone road, the night was quiet, the moonlight was like water, and in just a few hours, the fate of many people changed.
The lights in the Qinghui Hall of the Zhang Mansion were brightly lit. The Gu family was finally looking forward to the return of their children. Everyone except Li Luansong came. Considering his face, Zhang Chengru also brought Zhou Xueying back.
As soon as she entered the door, Song Qingyue picked up the best ones and said:
"Congratulations, mother, our Zhang family is going to be prosperous again. The eldest brother was praised very highly by the eldest prince today. Guess what, the examiner of Qiu Wei this year has chosen the eldest brother."
Gu was stunned, this was an unexpected surprise, and immediately confirmed it to the boss.
Zhang Chengru said, "This matter is complicated, and my son may be busy for a while. I ask my mother to take more care of the things at home."
Mrs. Gu said yes, "You don't have to worry about it. We ladies are in charge of this family, so you guys just need to rush forward. The glory of the Zhang family depends on you."
Her heart suddenly became happy, and the atmosphere was stirred up. Mrs. Gu said with a smile: "Since I was a child, I have seen that the boss is promising. It is true. Second and third, you should also help the elder brother more. Brothers can work together to make a fortune."
The two said yes repeatedly.
Taking advantage of this joy, Wang Peilan pulled Wu Niang out again: "Auntie, ask her, our Xiao Wu has also gained a lot today."
Zhang Guanhua coyly recounted the story of his encounter with the fifth prince. His words conveyed the feeling that the two fell in love at first sight. After speaking, he did not forget to hold Gu's hand and shake it: "Auntie, do you think it's okay?"
After all, old age is still hot. The old lady has heard about Li Luanhong's reputation, but her brain circuit is different from others. In her opinion, family marriage is for prosperity. Any man who is not a prodigal when he is young will eventually turn around. , Besides, even if the relationship between husband and wife is mediocre, she is still a princess, and the glory of her life is not more real than the unreliable relationship of a man.
Naturally, these words would not be spoken in front of the children.
Mrs. Gu nodded: "As long as you like it, but you have to pursue the victory and don't let anyone stop you."
The fifth lady nodded shyly, then suddenly remembered what her elder sister-in-law said, and quickly complained: "Look, my mother-in-law and the two sisters-in-law have agreed, and even Sister Xueying has agreed, and only the elder sister-in-law, not only does she not expect good things from me, He also said that I am a fool, but you don’t know, my sister-in-law, the way she is dressed today is so blinding."
Gu said angrily: "How can this be true? Is it true?"
When Song Qingyue and Wang Peilan saw that the time was right, they quickly added fuel to the fire and dressed up Shen Que as luxuriously as possible. With his all-over style, those who didn't know thought she was the princess of someone else's family. They almost compared the queen and the noble concubine. Already...
"Where's she? Why didn't she come over to say hello?" Mrs. Gu patted the table. The more her son got up, the more he felt that Shen Zhen was an eyesore.
"Mother." Zhang Chengru thought of his wife's nose that night, and thought it was better not to let her come. If there was another trouble, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, and he would have to prepare errands tomorrow.
"Mom, calm down. Shen Chue... feels unwell. My son asked her to go back first. It's getting late today. If mother wants to teach her a lesson, it's not too late."
The most important thing for Mrs. Gu was to give face to her boss. Even though her son had said it, she could only give up and said, "That's all we can do."
Then he said to the daughters-in-law: "Calculate the expenses in the past two days, and go back to Shen Que to make up for it."
Song Qingyue and Wang Peilan smiled and thanked them, and then the group of people dispersed.
Zhou Xueying listened to this night, thinking about her own affairs in her heart. She was afraid that she would have less contact with the Zhang family from now on. Thinking of her romantic encounter just now, Zhou Xueying was very happy at the moment.
Naturally, no one knows about her. That is something for later. At present, this sister is thinking about giving Shang Shen true a knife again, and said: "Old madam, Xueying has something to do. After thinking about it, I feel that I should talk to you, old madam. Report it."
Mrs. Gu pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed. The two of them were quite close. Zhou Xueying opened her mouth and told Mrs. Gu in an embellished manner what she and Zhang Chengru had witnessed about Shen Que having a secret meeting with a foreign man in the palace.
The old lady was so shocked that she almost fell off the bed.
Although Mrs. Gu doesn't like Shen Que, she still understands her as a person. That's not something Shen Que can do. What's more, she doesn't leave the house all day long. How can she know such a noble person? ?
Zhou Xueying said that was wrong, "Shen Que has many shops and he goes to inspect the business almost every day. Why doesn't he have a chance?"
Mrs. Gu still felt that this matter was strange, "Even if she knew my husband, where was he, in the palace, and she dared to have a private meeting in the palace, then who was he? He must be a high official.
Sure enough, like mother, like son, Gu’s thoughts coincided with Zhang Chengru’s.
From the old lady's point of view, this matter should not be made public. Firstly, it would be detrimental to her son. Secondly, the family scandal should not be publicized. Thirdly, the other party may not be able to offend him. It is not worth it to offend a powerful person for the sake of Shen Zhen.
Glancing at the helpless Zhou Xueying, Mrs. Gu thought in her mind that this girl might be going crazy trying to get into Zhang's house. She could talk to herself about this, and if she couldn't get out, she would talk to others.
Gu smiled and said: "I know about this. Xueying should go back and rest first. I will make my own decision another day."
After sending her away first, Mrs. Gu called the maid Haitang who had been waiting beside her, and said: "Go find a nice boy, follow Shen Que for me, stay close to her, see who she meets, and report back to her I."
Mrs. Gu sighed and fell asleep. The eldest son was destined to have a future. Shen Que had disliked her early in the morning. Now Zhou Xueying is not worthy of her. My son is too good and no one can be worthy of him. Who knows this kind of pain? ah.
The moon casts fine silver light on the gauze curtain by the window, and the wind blows the curtains and dances gently, like dancing elves.
In the bedroom of Cining Palace, all the lights and candles were extinguished, leaving only a few tall candles that illuminated the person in the mirror.
The empress sat in front of the dowry and took off her hairpins and jewelry one by one. The maid behind her said: "Aunt Huang is here." Then she quietly left the bedroom.
Aunt Huang has been serving the Queen since she was a girl. As long as she is here, the others can retreat.
"Where is your majesty?" the queen asked, her voice lazily.
"Back to your Majesty, Your Majesty is at the Concubine Yikun Palace." Nanny Huang rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward to take off the Queen's jewelry. Her hands were very light. She took off the hairpin jewelry and massaged her gently. The Queen felt comfortable. Very well, I slowly closed my eyes.
"I, Song'er, stole the show tonight, overpowering Zheng Wan and his son all night." Speaking of this, the queen actually laughed out loud, "You didn't see, she kept looking at His Majesty longingly, making His Majesty all over the body. The boss is uncomfortable."
The Queen smiled heartily, but Nanny Huang said that was not the case, "That virtuous concubine almost twisted herself into a knot, and almost climbed onto His Majesty's body."
The queen curled her lips and said: "Let her be a demon with all her strength. She won't be ashamed even at her age."
Aunt Huang glanced at the queen's closed eyes, she looked in a very good mood, and said: "My queen, I have discovered that the eldest prince has someone in his heart."
"Oh." The queen's eyes suddenly opened, "What should I say?"
Aunt Huang said: "I can see clearly that His Royal Highness Prince Jin has a private meeting with someone tonight, but I can't see clearly what that person looks like."
The queen lowered her eyes and said nothing. As a mother, she had always been worried about her son's marriage. Now that she saw him destroying his image in public just to avoid looking at the young lady, she felt that the matter was a bit serious.
"Have you seen clearly, are you sure she is a lady?" The queen was a little nervous.
"Ah." Aunt Huang was stunned, "What do you mean by this? Is it possible that our Highness has a private meeting with... a man?"
After saying this, both of them fell silent. After thinking for a long time, Nanny Huang couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl, and she became more and more anxious.
The queen rubbed her temples and said slowly: "In order not to look at the little lady, look what he did. And in the peach garden, I put many little ladies in, but he didn't even look at them. After taking a quick look, I saw that all of them had left Wuyuecha. I thought it was strange, it turned out that they were having a private meeting with someone."
Aunt Huang comforted her and said, "I'm afraid you are thinking too much, I will check carefully."
The queen nodded and stood up, walked to the bed and said, "Amitabha, as long as what he likes is not a man, there is nothing to worry about as a mother."
*
The Zhang Mansion was surprisingly quiet for two days in a row. Not only did Zhang Chengru not come to trouble Li Luansong, but even the Gu family and the two sisters-in-law did not show up.
At noon that day, Li Luansong finally got up, packed his account books, atlases, story books, and a handwritten letter and sent them to Yayunxuan.
Yayunxuan is a four-bedroom independent house. As its name suggests, the house is elegant, interesting, lush and fragrant.
"I have installed all these things, and the princess can just bring them to Your Highness." Li Luansong felt that the Zhang family treated his girl pretty well.
The elder Li Le was unhappy and muttered: "My eldest brother is really troublesome. I'm a married woman and will be someone's mother-in-law soon. He still wants to check after reading a script. Sister-in-law, what do you think this is?" It’s not too much.”
This was Li Luansong's idea for Shen Que. On the pretext of checking the contents of the storybook, he took out the account books, albums and letters from the bag, and returned the rest of the book to Li Le. Anyway, this little princess was not very nervous. Will open it and take a look.
"Your Highness also cares about the princess." Li Luansong said, "The baggage is packed, and I guarantee that I can pass the test smoothly."
Li Le nodded, curled his lips and said, "Sister-in-law doesn't know that my eldest brother only allows the state officials to set fires and not the people to light lamps. When I was a child, I saw the books hidden under his pillow. They were all a mess. , do you know what he looks at..."
Li Luansong felt his scalp numb for a while. This damn girl was really hard to guard against. She turned over his pillow and hurriedly interrupted her:
"It doesn't matter what you are looking at. Princess, go quickly and be careful on the road."
After thinking about it, I didn't forget to add: "Don't talk nonsense when you get to His Highness."
As soon as Li Le was interrupted by him, he forgot about the topic and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm just telling you."
After saying that the two of them went out together, Li Le suddenly remembered something and said in a mysterious and low voice: "Sister-in-law, be careful these days. I heard that they seemed to be settling some accounts and wanted to get some money from my sister-in-law." .”
Li Luan Songdao knew, "Don't worry, princess, I won't let them succeed."
Similarly, Li Le also received extremely high treatment from Shen Que. Shen Que personally cooked a lot of snacks and fruits for her, which made Li Le happy and started talking.
He said: "My eldest sister-in-law is very good to me. Don't worry, brother. My eldest sister-in-law is different from the past. She is invincible at home. No one dares to mess with her. I heard that she even beat up the elder of the Zhang family last time." It’s Dun.”
A picture of Li Luansong chasing and beating Zhang Chengru appeared in Shen Que's mind, and he couldn't help but laugh and said: "He takes good care of you, thank him for me. Please help me bring these two boxes of snacks to your sister-in-law."
Li Le said, "Actually, my sister-in-law should have been like this a long time ago. My life was too boring before. Now my sister-in-law is a bit like you, my elder brother."
Shen Que: ...It seems that this shrew’s hat will never be taken off from now on.
That night, the night was thick, the moon hung in the sky like a silver disk, and the stars blinked at this quiet land.
In the Zhang Mansion, there were candles and shadows everywhere, and Li Luansong was reading the letter Shen Que wrote to him.
In the palace, the lights were dancing, and Shen Que was also reading the letter Li Luansong wrote to her.
Okay, see you tomorrow.
The same smile, the same joy, shining like two bright lights in this dark night.
