"General Meng, am I really hard to find?" In the five-petal sweet red glaze painted mandarin duck and green peach tea bowl, the green tea soup is like flowing jade, exuding wisps of fragrance and at the same time, it is indescribably pleasing to the eye, but Meng Jiayuan just After a brief glance, he put it aside, refused to even touch his lips, and said lightly, "He visited me five times in the past two months, and finally met me!"
Meng Lin from Didong heard the dissatisfaction in his tone and went to explain: "The Hussar General asked the old slave to go outside the city to count the horses and other supplies. Is the old slave not in the house for that reason? He definitely did not mean to neglect the eldest son. ah!"
Meng Jiayuan was a little surprised: "He went to see dad in the small ancestral hall last month. He seemed to be hesitant. Why did he ask me to count the horses? Do you have any plans?"
He frowned slightly and thought to himself that he was not Meng Boqin's eldest son, or the heir who had been appointed by others. Meng Lin already knew his father's plan, so why did he still keep it to himself even though he had been pestering him for so long
"I don't know. I just went to do it if the general ordered me to do it." Meng Lin said apologetically, "My lord, I am planning to change my clothes and go to see the general... Do you think?"
Meng Jiayuan thought for a while, swung his legs and said, "I'll go in and change! He's waiting there. Let's go see dad together later!"
Meng Lin agreed and asked to leave, but he was annoyed by him again, "He heard the waiter at the small ancestral hall say, before, did I take the initiative to visit dad instead of dad summoning me?"
"No such eldest son." Meng Lin heard the words and said, "The Hussars General had earlier ordered me to sort out the baggage, and after calculating it clearly, go and report it at any time. The old slave is stupid, and it was not until yesterday that I could When the business is completed, why don't you find out that the general is in the small ancestral hall and go to pay a visit. Then after the report is completed, the general begs the old slave to check the things on the Jingqi side again. The old slave has been ordered to do it in those two months. No is doing that.”
Meng Jiayuan thought about it for a while and found no flaws. He nodded slightly and said, "I am already a general, so I no longer need to call myself a slave of the Meng family."
Meng Lin said with a smile: "How can that happen? If there is no general, there will be no old slave Mingyue. I hope that after a few years, I will not have the strength to kill the enemy on horseback, leave my errands in the east, and return to serve tea in front of the general. .”
Not to mention the sincerity of those words, they sounded comfortable to Meng Jiayuan, especially when the Meng family suffered such a big loss in Chang'an. Even if he kept saying in front of Meng Boqin that his family had a good chance, he suddenly lost many of his mainstay relatives. Long, it is impossible not to beat the drum in your heart.
At that time, seeing Meng Lin's respectful attitude, he was somewhat comforted. He joked with him for a while and then let him go to change clothes.
After a while, the two of them arrived in front of the small ancestral hall together, and were told that Lian, the wife of Zheng Hou Shi's wife, came in person half a month ago and strongly persuaded Meng Boqin to go back and resettle him.
"When the prince's wife left, she left a message, saying that the general was very tired at that time. No matter what the matter was, just ask for it if it's urgent, so I won't bother you." People around the small ancestral hall told Meng Jiayuan, "Even if it's urgent, I won't bother you." , please inform the prince’s wife first, and then decide whether to alarm the prince or not.”
When Meng Jiayuan heard this, he sent Meng Lin away and went to see his mother, Lian, alone.
Because Lian is not used to the soil and water of Northern Xinjiang, and has not been accustomed to it for decades, his health has not improved since he came to Northern Xinjiang. He has been ill intermittently over the years since he came east, and his complexion is certainly not much better. .
The bad news about Chang'an came a few months ago. The palace of the General Hussars was set up in the mourning hall. Although there was no coffin and no formal wake, Lian, as the daughter-in-law of Zheng Hou, was not a tomb wife, and although she did not follow Meng Boqin went to the small ancestral hall and knelt together for several days and nights, but he also knelt firmly for several red days. He led a group of women and children and burned incense paper for his parents-in-law, uncles and aunts one by one.
After all this trouble, she almost fell ill again.
When I looked at him, his face was sallow, and he looked particularly haggard against the plain red mourning clothes.
Seeing his son coming over, he frowned and asked in a low voice: "You look like you're leaving in a hurry. Do you have something urgent to see our dad?"
Without waiting for Meng Jiayuan to answer, she complained, "I don't know that he has been kneeling in the small ancestral hall for the past two months, and he has not received any water or rice! I don't know that the three-year-old and four-year-old children have not given less in those two years. I was doing leg training. If I had anything to deal with at that time, I couldn't solve it myself. Why don't we come to our dad to worry about everything? In the past month, I kept saying that I would share my worries with him, but when things came to pass, everyone couldn't let go. Legs, ask them to make the decision in everything! If they are gone later, who should we ask?"
"Mom, if the child can make the decision, you don't need to tell me, the child will definitely not be so inconsiderate to his father." Meng Jiayuan glanced around, hinting that the guests had left, and then whispered, "That's not the case. No... our family has set up a mourning hall for so long, but dad has never given any other instructions. Not only the children, but also the people of Didong are worried and confused? "
Lian said calmly: "I don't have to worry about that, my father has his own ideas!"
As soon as Meng Jiayuan heard that, he knew that Meng Boxin had probably already made a decision, and that everyone in the family knew about it. His eyes lit up and he asked, "What are daddy going to do?"
"I'll just go about my business." Lian didn't answer him, so she said, "In those two months, we were wandering around like headless chickens. The brothers and sisters didn't get together for a long time. Let's get together, right? I am the eldest brother, so I should pay more attention to my younger brothers and sisters, especially the family. Ever since he made a mistake in Xijiang, he has been very lonely. What happened to the Fu family before... He has been in these few months , He has never shown his face in front of others! My eldest brother doesn’t know how to go and see him? "
When Meng Jiayuan heard this, he frowned consciously. Meng Jiayuan thought he was his half-brother. However, because the age difference between the two was not big, and Meng Boqin was obviously biased towards the fifth son, Meng Jiayuan asked for help. Considering the deep brotherhood the Meng family has, it's not impossible.
I even heard Meng Boqin say from his own words before that the reason why he behaved harshly towards Meng Jiagan was to put more pressure on his eldest son to prevent him from slacking off. He would be very resentful if he made mistakes against Meng Jiagan.
At this moment, seeing the Lian family blaming herself for the Meng family, she endured it and said: "Mother, it's not the fifth brother who is in charge of the heart, but you also know it! The things that happened in Xijiang before were not the fifth brother's fault. They were all bad. With his Meng family’s arrangement, all of Western Territory fell into Mi Zhen’s lap, and Ping Hong gained a powerful enemy!”
"As for the Fu family matter, is it true that the fifth brother has been wronged?"
"Isn't the second brother even more aggrieved? He even had his wife and daughter kicked out of the house. The niece was just born last year and was still in her infancy at that time. So she begged to follow the second brother and sister to wander around and hide their name... As a Meng family member My children, sacrificing for the Meng family is not a natural responsibility!"
"The fifth brother usually gets Meng's quilts, but Yuanji surpasses the second brother!"
"However, how could his actions in Western Xinjiang be so wrong as Meng's?"
"The child is afraid that after seeing him, he will not be able to help teaching him."
"If he is already depressed, if he listens to the child again, he will feel even more uncomfortable."
"After all, I'm my biological brother, and I can't bear it!"
"So, it's better not to see you."
"Just wait a month later. As time goes by, everyone has forgotten that past event. It's not too late to talk about the brotherhood again!"
"After all, we are related by blood. The fifth brother will not disown the baby's eldest brother just because of the missing confinement, right?"
Listening to his plausive statement, Mrs. Lian was silent for a long time, and then she said quietly: "But what if he wants me to come and see what he's doing?"
Meng Jiayuan was startled. He didn't know why Hong Mingming didn't specifically ask about Meng Jiaqian's mother during those confinements, but Mingyue was so insistent.
But he did not deny it: "Since mother said so, the child will naturally accept the order."
He didn't know that after he left, Lian walked around in his original position for a while, then turned around and entered the outer room.
In the outer room, Meng Boqin was resting, although he was lying on the couch with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes again when he heard Mrs. Lian come in.
"He knew I wasn't sleeping." Mrs. Lian walked up to him, walked away from the edge of the couch, and said sadly, "Just now Jiayuan came over and wanted to see me, but he sent me to check on my family."
Meng Boqin sighed deeply and said, "How can he sleep?"
"Don't think so much." Tears quickly gathered in Lian's eyes, but her tone was calm and she said softly, "Now that you've made a decision, don't hesitate any longer! It's easiest to not Let’s settle down in the east field... Besides, that’s already a good choice, isn’t it?”
Meng Boqin looked up at the top of the tent. He remembered the Chinese tent that Lian had hung before, which had always been sent from Chang'an. The crocodile gauze tent with golden green luan embroidery and lotus flowers on it and beaded jade, the red tent with soft smoke and silver, and the mud gold tent. The tent... At that time, it was because of the death of my parents-in-law and other relatives, so I rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find a piece of plain gauze tent to use. On the top of the tent, you can vaguely see the embroidery marks of the mandarin ducks playing in the water that were temporarily removed.
The tent looked strange to both of them, and they almost felt that it was their own home, just like the future before them.
"It's because I don't know if it's the best choice, so I feel tossing and turning." Meng Boqin was stunned for a while, and said in a tired tone, "When I was a child, I watched my father and two uncles fighting against each other. It was hard, but it's just that. Isn't it hard... I won't know until Mingyue what kind of pressure the three elders were facing back then. Is he not as good as him?"
Lian held his leg and comforted him: "I can't help them, but because firstly, Ruming has no brothers who can trust each other; secondly, at that time, the emperor's throne was stable, and the Queen Mother could always protect Meng's family." , even if Dad and the others failed at that time, they would at most lose some power. The burden of the family would not be a problem, so they should be safe and bold when encountering problems. Could it be that at that time, except for the fourth room with ulterior motives? , we are the only people left in the Meng family, if something goes wrong again... We go back to Didong, how can we have the honor to meet our father and two uncles? We can't afford to lose."
Meng Boqin said melancholy: "No, we can't afford to lose... How many people can afford the consequences of death and annihilation of the family? Every time I think about my father and the others, they are targeting Tiandong, but when it comes to him, I think In order to save the whole family, even Nan Dong and Rong Jing were hesitant to fight to the death, fearing that after the defeat, the entire Meng family would never be able to get ahead... To be honest, he was thinking that if he did this, he would have the honor to meet him later. Are you daddy?"
"Dad always loves me the most, so please be kind to me. He will definitely not blame me." Lian sighed, "Who among the parents in this world wants their children to risk their own lives? Especially not, ours If the whole family is good or bad, the Meng family lineage, at least my father’s lineage, it’s hard to say, there will be no one left!!!”
When the couple was feeling sad, Meng Jiaqian was greeting Meng Jiayuan with some surprise: "Brother, why are you here when you are free?"