The old friend that Mr. Sheng went out to visit this time was Xu Baoting, the father of Xu Zijing, the current Marquis of Ningwei.
These two old men met each other in the army when they were young. During the years when they fought against Ruru in northern Xinjiang, you blocked arrows for me and I suffered knives for you. They owed each other more than one life - you can imagine the depth of their friendship. .
Even after they retired and no longer lived together day and night, and the Xu family later became a marquis, they did not become distant, but became more and more intimate.
Even so, where is the gap between the lintel and the door? How can Mrs. Ming not be nervous
Even the daughter and her family who had just arrived had no intention of greeting them, and hurriedly invited Sheng Lanci to come over for discussion: "I don't know what the prince is going to do, and whether our family can help. Besides, the family members The yard is just ordinary, can the prince get used to it?"
"Although the prince's status is noble, since he came back with his father, he must have come to stay as a junior." After all, Sheng Lanci was a Jinshi and Hanlin scholar. When he was in Chang'an, he also followed Ning Weihou's family had met each other and showed no respect for Prince Hou's visit. He said nonchalantly, "It's just a matter of cleaning up a few yards and letting him choose when the time comes - what kind of friendship do dad and Xu Shibo have?" The prince thinks about his elders and will not show it even if he is not used to it."
Mrs. Ming was quite speechless at his answer: "Isn't that wronging the prince?"
"Then the prince will have to kowtow to you when he comes, so why do you think so highly of him?" Sheng Lanci laughed and said, "Besides, he won't be arriving right away. Counting the time for dad to leave, it will still be a few days, mother. What are you worrying about now?"
Before Mrs. Ming could say anything else, he had already stood up and said, "There are too many things to do today. Visiting now may disturb the arrangement of my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I have to go to Feng's house to pick up the dew tomorrow morning! If mother has no other instructions, I will Resign first?"
Mrs. Ming sighed: "Go ahead!"
—The stepson was thinking about his wife who was returning to her parents' home. No wonder he was careless about the prince's upcoming visit!
The old lady could only pray that Sheng Lanci could smoothly take Feng back the next day, so that she could safely host the important event of receiving the crown prince.
Who said that including the old lady herself, everyone else in the Sheng family was in a mess? Why should the whole family be worried if something was not done by Sheng Lanci? Over the years, this has become a habit.
However, she was afraid of what would happen, so Sheng Lanci went out early the next morning with generous gifts, and returned home in disgrace just before curfew.
Mrs. Ming sent someone to inquire and learned: "Although the Feng family let the eldest man in, they only led him to the small flower hall to serve tea, and did not let the eldest man enter the back hall at all - he was stunned to let the eldest man in. After a day of drinking tea in the small flower hall, not to mention lunch, there was not even a plate of snacks. Later, when I saw that it was too late, the eldest man was wondering whether he should simply live in the Feng family, but the Feng family kicked out people. !”
"My sister-in-law has always been held in the palm of her mother's family and her eldest brother. She suddenly suffered such a great grievance. It is inevitable that she can't think about it for a moment. My eldest brother has only been gone for a day? Maybe my sister-in-law will soften her heart tomorrow. After all, Qiao Er is still there. Isn't it the Sheng family?" Sheng Lan saw that Mrs. Ming's expression turned bad after hearing this, and quickly comforted her, "If my sister-in-law really doesn't want to come back, how could she keep Qiaoer in the first place?"
Mrs. Ming was right when she thought about it. The married couple had always loved each other. After many years of marriage, they only had one daughter, Wei Qiao, who had always been her darling. No matter how angry Mrs. Feng was at her husband for breaking his oath, how could she be willing to part with her daughter? After a day or two of fussing, I might as well borrow the stairs to go downstairs.
Unexpectedly, their mother and daughter thought well. Sheng Lanci left early and returned late. She reported to her in-laws for five or six days in a row, but they didn't even see the shadow of Feng. Madam Ming suggested that Sheng Lanxin accompany him to visit. , Mrs. Feng can hang out her husband who brought her back to the other house, but she may not be embarrassed to let her sister-in-law, with whom she has a good relationship, hang out in Feng's house for a whole day, right
However, Sheng Lanci insisted on working alone and persistently to impress his wife and the entire Feng family - he still had the heart to play affectionate here, but Mrs. Ming couldn't bear it anymore and jumped: "Count the days, the old man and the prince will It's coming tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, Lan Ci, you haven't even taken a look at cleaning up the yard for the prince to live in, and sent the steward to do it all, how can this be done?!"
"Then let Sleeping Crane do it!" Sheng Lanci, who was about to go out, patiently listened to her stepmother's story with runny nose and tears, and said, "Isn't it just to see if there is anything in the yard that has been cleaned up? Is it a problem? It’s such a small thing, just let him go for a spin!”
After saying that, he ignored Mrs. Ming, who was so angry that her face was livid, and walked away!
"Since the eldest brother said that Sleeping Crane will be in charge of this matter, mother, why are you angry?" Sheng Lanxin learned the news and rushed over to smooth things over, "You think that although the eldest brother has been in the Imperial Academy, he is not as awe-inspiring for the Hou Mansion as we are. Maybe it's not serious at all, right? In my opinion, the eldest brother probably decided to leave it to Suihe to handle this matter early in the morning - after all, the eldest brother only brought Suihe back, but he didn't mention Suihe's biological mother. This is obviously because he wants to have a biological son as an heir! Then when the son comes back, how can the eldest brother not hand over the family property to him? Now, don’t you just want to let him show off his skills by receiving the prince, and do it for the Sheng family? Look up and down, and give him a good opportunity to get in touch with the prince?"
After hearing this, Mrs. Ming became less angry and said, "But Sleeping Crane is always outside, what can he understand?"
"Eldest brother only has such a son. Even if he is raised outside, how can he not ask someone to teach him something?" Sheng Lan couldn't laugh or cry, "Besides, what eldest brother said before was right. That prince was brought back by his father. He might come to our house." You still have to perform the junior ceremony—don’t worry too much!”
"I said long ago that having no children is not a problem, now am I right?" Mrs. Ming sighed and said to her daughter, "Originally, Lan Ci wanted to leave the matter to his son, so why not just say no?" That's it, why have I been anxious for so many days? Now that I think about it, he is probably afraid that if he arranges it like this directly, Qiaoer will have objections - I said he is really too impatient. Qiaoer is already thirteen, so he sleeps on both sides. The crane has been raised outside, so we can't wait a few more years. When Qiao'er comes out of the cabinet, she will become someone else's daughter-in-law and become sensible. How could she be so willful? You see, even though Lan Ci has made such a circle, If Qiao Er knew that Sleeping Crane was taking on this mission, he would definitely cause trouble for him!"
Mrs. Ming is indeed in the same language!
After Sheng Weiqiao received the report from the little maid that Sheng Suihe was ordered to host the reception of Prince Ning Weihou, he threw the jade comb in his hand into the makeup box without saying a word: "The Xu family has been friends with our family for generations. It's a pity that the two families have divorced." It's far away and it's inconvenient to come and go. This is the first time that the Xu family brother has come to visit. It's such a big thing to ask an outsider who just came back to take charge of it. It's really a shame that dad can think of it!"