Although these people had no verbal communication with Bai Zhan, they could react in a flash of their eyes. There was no doubt that they were all Xu Junying's men. Yesterday, she said that she would go back to her mother's house to visit her mother, brother and sister-in-law. Xu Junying just listened and didn't say anything. Why did she bring a group of people to Qin's house? Bai Zhan went out with Xu Junying in the early morning and returned to Hou's house later. That is to say, the master and servant had communicated. Bai Zhan knew that Lord Hou would come, but he refused to tell her along the way.
Mei Niang changed her mind and didn't want to go in. Xu Junying was like a proud rooster before, refusing to see the Qin family, but now he made such a big noise and came to visit his mother-in-law and brother-in-law. She didn't fully understand what he was planning, but she was very clear about one thing: if she entered this door now, it would create the fact that the couple was close and both returned to their parents' home to visit relatives. Her previous efforts to talk about the various bad things about the Xu Mansion in front of Madam Qin and Qin Boqing would be ignored or even denied, and the impression of Xu Junying as a bad husband would be replaced by the image of a good son-in-law - he could pretend to love his wife in front of Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi, and he might do something shocking in front of the Qin family. In the end, she would be the one who lied. Madam Qin firmly did not support and did not allow her to ask for an order to leave the house. Even Qin Boqing and Qin Fengshi would be shaken and would not easily support her. Mei Niang couldn't stand Xu Junying's fakeness and didn't want to pretend to be affectionate with him. If he wanted a good reputation and face, he could do it by himself. She was just an impostor. For the sake of Qin Boqing's fame and for her own and Heng'er's freedom, she had to endure it temporarily and maintain a normal relationship on the surface. She had no obligation to accompany him in the in-depth acting.
Someone had already reported the arrival of the young mistress. Mei Niang turned her back to the gate, facing the brown-red horse where Bai Zhan was hiding. When she was hesitant and wanted to leave, she heard a heart-warming call from behind:
"younger sister!"
Mei Niang sighed: Opportunities are always like this, fleeting, and today I will definitely be Xu Junying's foil.
She had no choice but to turn around. Xu Junying and Qin Boqing were already in front of her, both with natural and friendly smiles on their faces. Two outstanding men of different styles stood side by side, one was heroic and handsome, full of masculinity, and the other was probably the legendary Pan An, with lips as red as red, eyebrows and eyes as fresh as a painting, and a handsome and elegant scholar's temperament. It was no wonder that Lin Runan secretly fell in love with the engaged Qin Boqing. With such a peerless face and upright character, it is not easy to meet a man in several lifetimes.
In her previous life, she loved to sit in a coffee shop on the street with a few friends in her spare time, enjoying delicious food while catching the handsome men and women on the street with her eyes, admiring them and quietly commenting on them. It was called "eye-washing", but in fact it was suspected of YY teasing. Now, the two handsome men in front of her have made her lose this elegance. They bring pressure to her. One is her husband's reputation, and the other is her brother. No one can disobey them on the spot, let alone tease them.
Mei Niang bowed to both of them, glanced at Xu Junying calmly, and called out "Master Hou!"
Then he smiled at Qin Boqing and said, "Brother, I'm back!"
Qin Boqing smiled and said, "I'm glad you're back! Why are you standing there without entering the house? Mother and your sister-in-law are waiting anxiously inside! A few magpies flew to the corridor early in the morning and sang non-stop. After a while, Lord Hou sent someone to tell you that you would be back today. Mother was so happy that she couldn't sit still all morning. She held Tao'er and watched at the door several times. Finally, she waited until Lord Hou finished his court and came back first. Lord Hou said that my sister had to take care of the affairs of the mansion and would not be back until the afternoon. It turned out to be true!"
Mei Niang looked at Xu Junying again and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Lord Hou! I didn't know..."
Xu Junying took a step forward, and alarm bells rang in Mei Niang’s mind: Here it comes, what is he going to do again!
As expected, Xu Junying put his arm around her shoulders, and she couldn't move. He led her to the door and said with a smile, "I wanted to go back to the mansion after the court to pick you up, but I thought that I have been busy with official duties and have not been able to meet my mother-in-law and my eldest brother-in-law. Since you said you would come, you should come earlier to avoid worrying your mother-in-law. It may not be possible to finish the affairs in your mansion in a short time. I will go first and chat with my mother-in-law, and wait for you to come slowly, the same is true!"
Mei Niang couldn't refuse him. He hugged her in public. She was annoyed and said, "What is Lord Hou thinking? One came first and the other came later. How can they be the same? You are fighting with the enemy for advantageous terrain on the battlefield. Can the first comer and the latecomer coexist peacefully? That means fighting to the death!"
"younger sister!"
When Mei Niang saw the worry and uneasiness in Qin Boqing's eyes, she suddenly felt like she had gotten what she wanted: she wanted the Qin family to see that there was no harmony between Qin Mei Niang and Xu Junying.
Xu Junying's eyes were full of smiles. He said to Qin Boqing, "Your sister has made great progress now. She accompanies me to the study every night, reads my military books, and discusses military strategies and tactics with me. She thinks fighting is very interesting!"
Qin Boqing smiled again after hearing this: "As the saying goes, those who are close to red are red. My sister has been influenced by Master Hou! Before, at home, in addition to reading the Women's Rules, she also read some poems, but she has never read a military book!"
Mei Niang lowered her eyes. Qin Boqing's words, "If you are close to red, you will be red", hit her hard. While Qin Boqing took two steps forward and couldn't see behind him, she reached out to pry the claw on his shoulder. Xu Junying let her pull it a few times before retracting her hand. Mei Niang breathed a sigh of relief, pretending to ask Qin Boqing a question, and took two quick steps to walk side by side with Qin Boqing.
When I arrived at the corridor in front of the hall, I saw Madam Qin sitting on the right side of the hall, and on the left sat an old man in his seventies or eighties with white hair and beard. The twelve seats arranged opposite each other in the hall were empty, but both sides were filled with men and women of different ages. A quick glance and a rough count revealed that there were at least forty or fifty people in the hall.
Mei Niang was very surprised to see so many people suddenly appear in her family. She stopped walking unconsciously. Qin Boqing had already walked to the door. Seeing this, he stepped back and whispered to her, "This is the first time that Lord Hou has come back. He brought sacrificial offerings. Mother thought that we should inform the clan members. When Lord Six heard the news, he brought his uncles and brothers to come and recognize Lord Hou as his relative!"
Mei Niang was stunned: "Didn't they say their ancestors were from Yuezhou? Where did the relatives in the capital come from?"
Xu Junying laughed and said, "They are definitely our clan members. When Taizu was an official, he came to the capital, and later returned to Yuezhou. Some of his children stayed here and started their own families. Now there are so many of them!"
Mei Niang looked at him: "How do you know?"
Xu Junying said: "I came earlier than you and talked to them for a while!"
Qin Boqing sighed, "Sister, you can't remember! Our great grandfather has many descendants, most of whom live in Yuezhou... My father became an official after my grandfather, and brought his wife and children to Beijing to worship our ancestors during festivals. He couldn't go back to Yuezhou, so he worshipped our ancestors together with Sixth Grandfather's branch!"
Mei Niang was very depressed. So many tribesmen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came to claim kinship with Xu Junying. It felt ridiculous. She was about to withdraw. How could they claim kinship
"Is this Sixth Master the same generation as the Great Ancestor or the Grandfather? How should we address him?"
Qin Boqing said: "The Sixth Grandfather is eighty years old. He is the sixth of the same generation as my grandfather. He has four generations living together. He passed the imperial examination and now lives in Wuliupu outside the city. We call him the Sixth Grandfather."
Mrs. Qin had seen Mei Niang coming with Qin Boqing, and Xu Junying was following beside them. She was happily waiting for her children to come closer, but they stopped at the door and huddled together, not knowing what to say. She hurriedly sent Tao'er beside her to invite them.
Tao Er came over briskly and bowed, "Master, son-in-law, aunt: Madam is waiting in the hall, please come in and talk to me!"
Xu Junying patted Qin Boqing on the shoulder and said, "Go in. It's not good to keep the elders waiting! She still can't remember many things. I'll teach her later!"
He reached out and grabbed Mei Niang's hand, pulled her into the hall, walked all the way to Madam Qin, and said to her with a smile: "There are too many pedestrians and horses on the road. Mei Niang is late, and you have kept your mother-in-law waiting for a long time!"
Madam Qin looked at Xu Junying, then at her own daughter, with a smile on her face. Seeing Mei Niang bowing, she quickly stood up to support her, pointing to the left side of the incense table and said, "Look who that is, the Sixth Grandfather is here, and the uncles and aunts from the clan are all here. My son, go and see them first. After the three sacrificial offerings are ready, you and Lord Hou can burn incense to the ancestral tablets together!"
Mei Niang didn't understand why she had to burn incense. Before she could think about it, Xu Junying had already led her to the Sixth Master. Mei Niang bowed and saluted. Seeing that the Sixth Master was trying to stand up with a cane, Xu Junying stepped forward to help him up. The Sixth Master hurriedly said:
"How dare I trouble Marquis Weiyuan? Marquis Weiyuan should be sitting down!"
Two clansmen came up immediately. They were about the same age as Qin Boqing and should be from the same generation. They were dressed like students. One of them helped the Sixth Master up, and the other showed Lord Hou and Madam Hou to their seats. Xu Junying thanked them politely with a smile and pulled Mei Niang to sit down. Then the seats that had been left in order were occupied one after another. Mei Niang remembered the uncles and brothers in the clan that Madam Qin had mentioned, and thought that these were the people. They didn't dare to sit down until Xu Junying sat down, and only sat down together now.
The Sixth Master smiled and said to Mei Niang: "Sixteenth Lady, it was not wrong for Sixth Grandfather to give you this name. You were born on a rainy day, so you had to be given a name that means bright and sunny! Now that you have grown up smoothly and have found such a good husband, Sixth Grandfather is very happy!"
Mei Niang was confused when Xu Junying whispered in her ear, "You are the sixteenth girl of this generation in the Qin family. Your name was given by the Sixth Master!"
So that's it! I've never heard Madam Qin and Qin Boqing mention this before, but Xu Junying knew it before her.
Mei Niang looked at the Sixth Master again and thought that if she had been given another name, maybe the Sixteenth Niang would not have died so early!
As if he had guessed what she was thinking, and that she would not have anything nice to say to the old man, Xu Junying had to express his gratitude to the Sixth Master on her behalf. The Sixth Master was very happy. He watched the clan members bring the steaming three animals to the incense table, and then he stood up with the help of his grandchildren. He personally lit a stick of incense, muttering a blessing that Mei Niang could not understand, and then looked at Madam Qin. Madam Qin hurriedly asked Tao'er and the others to put two cushions on the ground. The Sixth Master said:
"Please burn incense, Lord Hou! Where is Boqing?"
Xu Junying stepped forward, and Qin Boqing appeared in time. Following the instructions of the Sixth Master, he picked up a stick of incense from the incense table, lit it, and solemnly handed it to Xu Junying. Xu Junying held the incense and bowed to the ancestral tablets in the hall, then walked up and inserted the incense into the incense burner. Mei Niang saw a relieved smile on Mrs. Qin's face and thought that was over. Unexpectedly, Xu Junying had burned incense, retreated to her side, pulled her to the mat, and was about to kneel down. Mei Niang was surprised. This kneeling was unusual. It should have some important meaning. She couldn't kneel, and she didn't let him kneel! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian. to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)