On the way back to the city, Prince Qi and Xu Junying were in front, while Lin Runan and Meimei walked side by side behind. Lin Runan asked Meimei why she and Zhang Jingyun fell behind when they left the villa. Meimei deliberately said in a loud voice, "Ask the two genius doctors for a folk remedy. My Heng'er always stays awake in the middle of the night, and I'm worried that something is wrong with him!"
She walked out of the manor gate and didn't see Xu Junying. Later, she found him coming out from the other side, looking at Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi unfriendly. She knew that this guy had his old habit again and didn't bring any guards with him. His brother must have gone to follow them by himself and saw them talking to each other.
I was annoyed, but I couldn't do anything. How could I say anything about him without any evidence? He said he went to relieve himself, how could you not believe him
She had to justify herself and find a legitimate reason so that he wouldn't really hate Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi in his heart. Bad people have bad friendships, and she always insisted on not doing that kind of thing.
Lin Runan said: "There are many children who cry at night and don't sleep in the middle of the night. Aren't my two little ones the same? They just like to make noises at night, but they are fine during the day, they can eat and sleep, and they are not unwell!"
Xu Junying looked back at Meimei, and glanced at Lin Runan at the same time, probably not sure who the two little ones in the family she was referring to were.
Meimei felt that she should explain: "Runan has two brothers and sisters, both younger than Heng'er!"
The King of Qi interrupted: "No wonder she has such a bad temper, she is not like a woman at all. How can she be good after listening to the crying of two little ones every day?"
Meimei and Lin Runan were stunned: King Qi also requires girls to have good tempers
After a moment of silence, Meimei began to speak quietly to Lin Runan: "Come to think of it, you are about to get married, and you have two younger siblings. Your mother..."
"Don't mention it. My grandfather must have a son, or he will die with regret! From childhood to adulthood, I have watched my father change several concubines, but none of them could give birth to children. He was implicated and exiled to Lingnan, and dismissed those women. Who would have thought that my grandfather still had a backup plan. He brought some valuables with him, sold them, and gave them to another concubine, who actually gave birth to two children! Now that he has returned to the capital, my father has become better to the two concubines, and my mother has been neglected. As a daughter, I can't always stare at my father and ask him to treat my mother better, right?"
Lin Runan seemed extremely annoyed and said angrily, "If I really want to get married in the future, I will beat him to death if he dares to have a concubine!"
Meimei came closer: "Then you, then you look around, do you have a man you like? It's better to get married soon. I think living at home is boring!"
She could only say this, and stop there. Zhang Jingyun trusted her. Even if she was thinking about her girlfriend, she couldn't drag Zhang Jingyun into this. What if Lin Runan said it in anger and found out the source of the leak? How could Zhang Jingyun live like this? It was better to be careful!
Lin Runan blushed slightly: "I... am not in a hurry, I don't want to get married yet!"
Meimei thought, you are not anxious, but I am, so she said softly, "In fact, it is better to marry early. Look at my Heng'er, he is already this big. He will be able to walk in a while. When I am 20 years old, he will be as sensible as a little adult!"
Lin Runan glanced at her, and also came closer to tease her in a low voice: "You were forced to marry, and you didn't want to marry earlier! Have you figured it out now? Is it because Xu Hou has changed his personality, no longer taking a concubine, and is devoted to you, that you think he is good again?"
Meimei was sweating. It was really hard to persuade this girl. Should she tell her the truth? That was still uncertain. It was too early to tell.
She acted like a scoundrel: "I'm already married, why are you still staying in the boudoir? One of you is still single, and the other has a child. People find it strange to see you always playing together. Hurry up and get married, have a child, and then we can socialize and have more topics in common!"
Lin Runan just smiled and said nothing, and Meimei was helpless.
As soon as they entered the city gate, two groups of people came to greet them. One group came to greet Prince Qi, saying that the Queen Mother had something urgent to discuss with him. Prince Qi frowned, said something to Xu Junying, looked at Meimei, and rode away first.
The other group was Xu Junying's men, who said that there was an important matter in the government office and they urgently needed Xu Junying to go there. Xu Junying originally had three days of vacation, but he had to go because of the emergency, so he turned his horse around, protected Meimei's horse, and quickly sent her back to the Cen residence. Lin Runan took her own basket of strawberries and wanted to take it home for her mother to taste them. She said goodbye halfway and turned to another street. Xu Junying pointed to two subordinates to accompany her back.
Seeing Lin Runan leave happily, Meimei was a little at a loss. What should she do? Zhang Jingyun said that it was just a discussion and had not been decided. But if it was really decided, could she still stop it? They were all good friends. If things developed in a good direction, wouldn't it be a good thing
But but—oh, I don’t know what to say!
Seeing that Meimei was silent and unhappy, Xu Junying thought she was upset about something else and didn't want to talk either. He sent her to the gate of Cen's house, helped her off the horse, asked Baizhan to train the new mount for the young lady, told Meimei that he would be back early in the evening, then mounted the horse, took the precious horse and his men and left.
Meimei stood at the door for a while, and Cuixi, Cuilian and the maids came out to greet them. When they returned to the inner courtyard, Meimei asked for the basket of strawberries to be divided into two parts. One part was kept in the mansion for Cuixi and the other two to eat, and the other part was sealed and sent to the government office where Xu Junya worked, and he would take it back to Ning Rulan.
After bathing, changing clothes and playing with his son, Xu Junying returned to the Cen residence when it was getting dark. Meimei and Heng'er had just returned from the garden and ordered dinner to be served in the upper room. Heng'er was taken away by the wet nurse to be fed. The couple ate in silence. Meimei thought that Xu Junying was busy and stressed in the office, so she didn't want to talk and didn't want to disturb him. She ate her meal as quietly as possible, picked up some side dishes with her chopsticks, and waited for Xu Junying to put down his bowl and chopsticks before leaving the table.
Xu Junying had some official documents to deal with, so he didn't even drink his tea. He said goodbye to Meimei and went into the study. Meimei looked at the closed door and wondered what she could do to him if he didn't fulfill the 100-day agreement and didn't go to the side room to sleep
She felt so powerless. A weak woman couldn't afford to be hurt. She retreated a hundred miles on the surface, but secretly refused to give in. She could only endure it. She fought hard for a piece of paper, knowing that it would become a joke, just to vent her anger.
I went to see Heng'er take a bath and change his clothes. I was reluctant to let go of him because he smelled so fragrant and soft. The mother and son played for a while. Heng'er yawned and felt sleepy, so I coaxed him to sleep and handed him to the wet nurse Cuisi. I went back to the upper room to take a bath and change clothes. I looked at the account book in the leisure room and told Cuilian to remember to add tea for Master Hou. I don't know how much time had passed. I was halfway through the account book when my eyelids started to fight. Thinking that I didn't sleep well last night and I had played crazy enough today, I asked Cuixi to collect the account book. Cuilian made the bed and asked her to keep watch while she blew out the light and went to sleep.
In her dreams, she always remembered Zhang Jingyun saying: If the lights are turned off, Heng'er will not get up at night. So she thought of telling Cuilian and asked her to go and tell Cuisi and the nanny, but she couldn't open her eyes and her body was too limp to get up. She didn't know how long she had slept. She felt someone beside her open the gauze curtain. She gathered her strength for a long time and finally said desperately: "Cuilian go... find Cuisi... turn off the lights, Heng'er... will sleep!"
He didn't realize that she was talking in her sleep, but he felt that she spoke clearly. Xu Junying, who was sitting beside the bed, was confused when he heard her. However, he understood her meaning. Looking at her gentle and peaceful sleeping face, he couldn't understand how such a woman could be so stubborn and arrogant, and hit people without mercy. He had made up his mind to let her bully him in private, but it was wrong for her to embarrass him in front of outsiders. How could she leave her husband and fight with his friends in the wild? Fortunately, there were no people around. If he was seen by the busybodies like Changle Hou and Anyuan Hou who loved to laugh at others, he would never be able to hold his head up in front of them in his life!
This was the reason for his depression, and the written agreement was like a stone pressing on his heart all the time, making it difficult for him to even breathe.
He tucked in the quilt for her, sighed softly, got up and left, going to sleep in the side room. He still tried to keep his word to prevent her from causing trouble again.
Xu Junying opened the door and walked out of the upper room. Cuilian had been waiting in the corridor for a long time. Xu Junying said, "Go in, and listen carefully to what the young lady wants at night!"
Then he walked along the corridor, passed Heng'er's room, and heard him crying again. He had no choice but to ask:
"What's going on?"
Cuisi and the nurse were taking turns holding Heng'er, unable to coax him. When they heard Lord Hou asking outside, they were startled. Cuisi quickly opened the door and bowed, saying, "Heng'er just woke up, and he doesn't want to sleep anymore. He keeps asking to go to the upper room!"
"Bring him here!"
The nanny carried Heng'er out. When Heng'er heard his father's voice, he stopped crying. As soon as he went out, he stretched out his hands and leaned towards Xu Junying without any hesitation. Xu Junying caught him and carried him to the side room without saying a word.
The wing room had been tidied up during the day. The furniture was clean and tidy. The embroidered quilt and the light lake-colored gauze curtain were all brand new. Xu Junying put Heng'er on the inside of the bed, blew out the light, and lay on the bed with his eyes closed to rest. Heng'er didn't say anything, but fumbled around. His activity area was limited to a small area inside the bed. Xu Junying blocked him outside like a mountain, not letting him crawl. Even when he lay on him, he couldn't shake him. He refused to play with him. In the dark, Heng'er gradually got bored and hummed a few times. Xu Junying said, "Go to sleep! If you make any more noise, I'll punish you!"
Even if he was a general who had commanded thousands of troops, how could a little child understand military orders? He was not happy and cried loudly. Xu Junying had no choice but to get up and light the light for him. Heng'er stopped crying when he saw the light and crawled to pull the gauze tent to play. Xu Junying could sleep again. In less than a while, the little brat stopped playing again and came to bother him again. He cried when he ignored him. Xu Junying got angry and glared at him: "If you don't sleep again, I will really punish you this time and lock you in the tent alone!"
Heng'er continued to cry, with tears in his eyes, he raised his little hand and pointed out the window. He had no choice but to carry him out. Heng'er pointed in the direction of the upper room. Xu Junying said, "Mother is asleep. If you wake her up, she will scold you!"
Heng Er was making a fuss again, so Cui Si came over and said, "My Lord is tired, please leave Heng Er to me!"
Heng'er, however, held Xu Junying's neck tightly with one hand and shook Cuisi away with the other. Just as they were in a stalemate, the door to the upper room opened and Cuilian walked over quickly, holding out her hand: "The young lady has woken up and said to bring Heng'er over. She has a way to stop Heng'er from making a fuss!"
When Heng'er heard that he could go to see his mother, he cooperated and let Cui Lian take him away. Xu Junying breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to his room. He was annoyed and tired by this kid's trouble.
It was quiet for only a short while. Xu Junying, who was lying in the quilt, had just fallen asleep and woke up again. Heng'er's crying was not loud, but she was used to being nervous about his crying, so she woke up as if by reflex when she heard it, and could not sleep well.
He had to get out of bed and put on his clothes. He opened the door and saw the lights in the upper room were on. Meimei's figure was reflected on the window, holding Heng'er and walking around. He smiled: Where did you hear this good idea? Turning off the lights can make him fall asleep? The children of the Xu family are not so easy to coax. I don't know if it was like this when he was a child. I heard from my grandmother that from the old master Hou to the sixth and seventh children of this generation, they all have this problem. They won't stop until they have been making trouble for a year or so.
Not only Heng'er would make trouble, but also the eldest son of the mansion, Shen'er, and Xu Junlang's beloved son, were the same!
Xu Junying tied up his clothes belt, walked to the upper room and opened the door. Heng'er heard his footsteps, stopped crying, raised his head from Meimei's shoulder, looked over, and stretched out his hand for him to hold him. Xu Junying held Heng'er and walked to the leisure room to sit down. Heng'er began to crawl on the chairs and couches and chattered to himself in a way that no one could understand. He clapped his hands and laughed happily from time to time. Xu Junying and Meimei sat aside and looked at him, without saying a word, like wooden men. (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)