There is no moon on this night, and the sky is filled with stars, like rivers and waterfalls, but the grass and trees are covered with frost and the clothes are stained with silver light.
After leaving the Shen Family Courtyard for a while, Deng's steps slowed down. She looked at the Spring Grass Lake not far away, which was sparkling with stars. She stretched out her hand to catch the smoky lake breeze on a summer night. She felt a little bit... A self-deprecating smile: "I don't know when I can see the scenery of Chuncao Lake again after returning to Qingzhou this time?"
"Young Madam, since you are nostalgic for this Chuncao Lake, why do you need to leave?" The confidant who came with Deng tonight was her wet nurse Lin. At this moment, she was supporting Deng as she walked along the lakeside. On the path, while helping her separate the oncoming flowers and willows, he said softly, "It was so easy to wait until the second and fourth young masters are dead. This is because God shows mercy to the eldest young master and the young lady. Just because Shen Zangfeng sent people After giving a hint, he just walked away! Not to mention that the eldest master would be furious, but the maid felt that the eldest young master and the young lady were extremely aggrieved!"
After hearing these words, Mrs. Deng stopped under a weeping willow tree and remained silent for a long time. It was not until Mrs. Lin held her breath that she dared not speak any more, then she said softly: "No matter how angry my father-in-law is, now I only have my husband and his son." , can you still kill your husband with your own hands? And Shen Yaoye is determined to prevent the two families from starting a war. Since he has targeted our family of three, he is willing to remind us and give us a chance to withdraw. Thinking about family ties! If you don’t know, isn’t the Prince Jingping of Ruiyu Hall an example? He is also the nephew of the Wei clan! "
Mrs. Lin said cautiously: "My maid just feels sorry for the young lady and the eldest son. Back then, when Mrs. Qian was still here, the young lady and the eldest son suffered too much injustice. Now that Mrs. Qian herself is dead, even she The two sons and one daughter who were born were not allowed to die well. It was really the law of heaven and the retribution was not good! The maid thought that maybe God saw that the young lady and the eldest son were wronged too much by the Qian family. They all died violently, so that Fufeng Hall could be handed over to the hands of the eldest son and the young lady."
"Fufeng Hall?" Mrs. Deng looked at the willow branches fluttering not far away, shook her head and said, "Auntie, you think running the Su family is too simple. Because my husband is a concubine, and he is The eldest son has always been jealous of the vicious wife of the Qian family, and was suppressed since he was a child. The Qingzhou Su family is known for its martial arts, but my husband's martial arts are not as good as mine. Because he has been weak since he was a child, it would be better to hire a tutor at home to teach me. A strong wife! It’s okay to be poor in martial arts. Because of her grandparents, Qian didn’t dare to stop her husband from studying, but she refused to let him study hard. After all these years, her husband has been harmed by her. Auntie, you also know how my husband has been able to serve as an official for the past two years - it would be extremely difficult for him to be a prefect without relying on his staff!"
"Both of us, husband and wife, are not outstanding figures in our respective clans. Even in front of our biological parents, we are not favored by our brothers and sisters..." Deng said sadly, "We are young, have not been taken seriously in the past, and have no extraordinary talents. , let alone enough to convince everyone, Auntie, why should everyone in the Su family obey us?"
Without waiting for Mrs. Lin's reply, Mrs. Deng said again, "Auntie, look at Shen Yaoye and his wife. Shen Yaoye has been personally cultivated by Yongding Marquis since he was a child. Even his wife Wei is extraordinary in Ruiyu Hall. Although the two of them are young, they are both born to attract attention. The Shen family has long been prepared to be handed over to Shen Yaoye. Shen Yaoye himself has also shown such ability... And what about me and my husband? Before Su Yuliang died, how many people in the Su family had looked at us seriously? Would they be willing to help my father-in-law because he only has one son? Wrong, they simply look down on us! , they won’t give us the respect they deserve like they do to Su Yuxian or Su Yuliang!”
While speaking, Mrs. Deng suddenly opened her hand, grabbed the willow branch brushing beside her, and squeezed it tightly!
She felt that the willow branches and leaves, which were full of juice because they were born not far from the lake and were in the most luxuriant season, were being crushed into pulp in the palm of her hand. She could not see clearly in the dark night, but she could feel the juice flowing smoothly. It drips from your fingertips.
Mrs. Lin was speechless, and after a while she said: "But it's different now. Even if they are still disrespectful to you and the eldest son, Madam, for the time being, once they wake up, the eldest son will only..."
"It's all the same." Madam Deng said calmly, "Auntie, haven't you figured it out yet? Why can't Shen Yaoye see his father-in-law now, but he can just send someone to see her husband? Moreover, En'er has also been taken away. My father-in-law picked him up and he is still with us!"
Lin was startled, and then an answer that she couldn't believe came to her mind - she gasped and said: "This... how is this possible?! The eldest son... The eldest son, he... he is the only heir of the eldest master! Mr. Sun is also the eldest master’s only biological grandson!”
"Although my father-in-law is over fifty this year, he is not allowed to have sex with women during his filial piety period. In three or two years, he will be even older." Deng said coldly, "But Emperor Huanzong was addicted to wine and sex all his life. He is nearly sixty years old and still has some Princess Qingxin, not to mention that my father-in-law is much stronger than when Emperor Huanzong knew his destiny? "
"Even though the eldest man thinks that he can have a son immediately after being filial, but... but if he waits for this young son to grow up, how old will the eldest man be?" Mrs. Lin couldn't believe that Su Xiu Ming was so cruel that she could take advantage of the only one she has now. The eldest son of the concubine who is still alive and the only grandson so far, Su Xien, is used as bait!
Even though Su Ruoqian was not as valued as his legitimate son in the past, he was still Su Xiu Ming's biological flesh and blood! Su Xiu Ming had two legitimate sons dead, and now she only has one son! He also only has one grandson! He dares to risk everything like this. Isn't he afraid that if he has no heirs in the future, or if he has any heirs, he will die suddenly like his two legitimate sons, leading to the loss of his descendants? !
Deng said coldly: "Who knows what my father-in-law is thinking? But my father-in-law is now living in the military camp, and he can't get close to him except his confidants! Even many of my father-in-law's loyal subordinates were brought into the camp together, but we are a family of three. We are still in this courtyard, but we are being guarded casually by a Qingzhou army... Even we can easily move the guards out! Auntie, do you think this is how our father-in-law takes our lives seriously? Yao Ye wants to remind him to leave quickly, why should he wait to give his father-in-law a reason to attack Sanfang?"
She took a deep breath, glanced at the stars in the sky above her head, and murmured, "It is certainly a very satisfying thing to take away something that should have belonged to Su Yuxian and Su Yuliang! But compared with his wealth and life, Fufengtang What does it mean? If I lose my life, the whole world will be empty! Besides, has my aunt forgotten how to save En'er? If I got pregnant while on my way to work, how could it be as simple as not being able to have children in the future? I would have lost one of my daughters. If I had lost my daughter at that time, even if I had survived, I would have died. He immediately threw himself onto the cliff beside the inn..."
Thinking of the time when she accompanied Deng on the road with great trepidation, even when she left the capital, she was afraid that Qian would notice something was wrong, send people to catch up, and take Deng back to the cage in the Taibao Mansion... In order to prevent falling into Qian's trap again, Su Ruoqian and Deng The couple hurried on regardless of Deng's pregnancy, and only breathed a sigh of relief when they entered Jiannan.
But just after this breath of relief, the bitter fruits of the forced journey have already formed. Deng had a fetal movement on the way, gave birth prematurely, had dystocia, and almost lost her life.
That place with no front and no store...
With tears streaming down his face, Su Ruoqian hugged his wife and urged his servants to go find the doctor and Wen Po nearby...
After finally finding an inn, the kind-hearted shopkeeper and his wife hurriedly packed up the upper room and helped boil water. However, they fell into despair because they couldn't find the doctor and the stable woman...
When both mother and son were dying, Mrs. Deng tried her best to open her eyes and asked Mrs. Lin to take out Wei Zhengyin's gift - a patent medicine begged from Ji Qubing's office with a smile on his face and turned it into water. Under the heartfelt prayers of Su Ruoqian, Mrs. Lin and others, , miraculously keeping the mother and child safe.
Listening to the cry of the baby boy who fell to the ground, Su Ruoqian announced with tears that this eldest son would not be named "Yu" like his brothers, but would be named "Xi'en".
Cherish and remember the kindness shown by my aunt Wei Zhengyin quietly.
Recalling the suffering that Su Ruoqian and his wife endured when Mrs. Qian was here, Mrs. Lin still sheds tears and murmured: "My maid knows... Young Madam, please don't say those words anymore. Mrs. Qian's vicious behavior has been punished now." It will hurt my children. Now that the young lady has come to the end of her suffering, no one can cause trouble for the young lady in the future, and everything will go smoothly!"
"I also hope everything goes well." Deng also turned her face away, wiped away the tears, suppressed the sadness of these years, and whispered, "Although she and En'er survived that time thanks to the kindness of the third aunt, but But I can no longer bear children. When I asked Miss Duanmuba to show me to En'er last time, she also said the same thing. When En'er was born, my husband promised me that I would never take another concubine in my life. He is our only child. How can we compare with him in terms of glory and wealth? Besides, to us, all the glory and wealth are nothing more than flowers in the mirror, they are all illusions."
Mrs. Lin wiped her tears and whispered, "My maid is confused!"
"My aunt has been with me for many years, and she has suffered a lot of grievances along with me. Now she is unwilling to accept it, and she is grieving for me. I understand." Deng held her wrist with her backhand and whispered, "But those things were not ours in the first place... There will be no harm in staying in the imperial capital. Let's pack up our things when we return to Qingzhou. Even if we guard the tombs of our grandparents for ten or eight years, as long as we live a stable life, what does it matter now? En'er grows up peacefully, that's the right thing to do!"
Hearing this, Mrs. Lin paused for a moment, but became nervous again: "Then...since the eldest master has plans to use our room as bait, what if we are not allowed to return to Qingzhou to fulfill our filial piety?"
"So I'm going to see Madam Wei tonight." Madam Deng bit her lip and said, "Do you think I'm just going to reassure Shen Yaoye that we know what we're interested in? This is also to let Shen Yaoye try to open a way for us - just wait. Look, Mrs. Wei may have sent someone into the city to report the news to Shen Yaoye by now. Tomorrow, the third house will also help us build the ladder - after all, we have no grudges with the third house, and we have received kindness from the third aunt. Since we have given in, Sanfang can get what he wants without risking harm to us, so why not help? "
At this point, Mrs. Deng finally gnashed her teeth and said, "I originally thought that Mrs. Qian's vicious wife had committed too many sins, so she ended up with three of her children dying without even leaving any flesh and blood. It was considered as a sacrifice for my poor daughter. It was almost life-threatening. But I didn’t expect that my father-in-law was so cruel! They deserved to lose two of their beloved sons! Not even half a girl is left!”
But what Deng didn't know was that in the corner of the Su Family Courtyard, a soldier from the Qingzhou Army who was responsible for guarding the place was reporting to the captain: "The eldest young lady went to the Shen Family Courtyard and stayed there. After half an hour, I came out and stopped by the lake, talking to my wet nurse Lin. My subordinates were afraid of being discovered if they came too close, so they came back to report first when they saw her from a distance."
"You shouldn't get close. The eldest young lady is just as skilled in martial arts as Mrs. Wei." The captain said solemnly, "It would be bad if she finds out."
The soldiers wanted to speak but stopped.
The captain asked: "What else can I do?"
"Although my subordinates did not dare to be discovered by the eldest young lady, they did not come close. However, due to the silence of the night, I heard a few words, and it seems that... it seems that the eldest young lady wants to take Mr. Sun back to Qingzhou with the eldest young master!" the soldier frowned.
The captain showed no surprise at all, and said: "Really? That's okay. The Duke of the Kingdom had already planned it. If the eldest son went to the camp for help this time after the people from the Shen Zangfeng faction went to find him, I will start cultivating the eldest young master. If the eldest young master asks to go, then forget it. Otherwise, why would I let you deliberately neglect me and let the eldest young lady and Mrs. Lin go out easily?"
The soldiers were very surprised: "The fourth son has died recently. Your Majesty has only one surviving son, the eldest son. The eldest son does not want to serve his biological father, but wants to take his wife and children and run away! This is too... too unfair... "After all, I didn't dare to say the whole word "unfilial".
"What do you know?" The captain said indifferently, "It is precisely because the Fourth Young Master is gone that the Duke is so disheartened that he does not force the First Young Master to stay. I am afraid that if I am not careful, the First Young Master may make another move. The footsteps of the Fourth Young Master!"
The soldier was surprised and said: "If this is the case, then why didn't the Duke tell the eldest son? According to the tone of the conversation between the young lady and her wet nurse Lin, it seems that she is dissatisfied with the Duke!"
"Your Majesty, the Duke, is in great sorrow for the Fourth Young Master. How can he explain his mood and speak kindly to the Eldest Young Master and the Young Master and his wife?" The Captain seemed to be Su Xiu Ming's confidant and knew a lot. He said cheerfully at this moment, "Furthermore, once the Duke of the State has something wrong with him, the young master and the others will be safer!"
Seeing that the soldier was still a little dazed, the captain sighed and patted him on the shoulder, "These are not things you have to consider or worry about... Just go outside and say hello to see that the eldest young lady and Mrs. Lin are back, and then pretend to be negligent." , let them come back, and remember to pretend you don’t know anything!” (To be continued)