After sending the children out, the couple went back to Qinghua Courtyard to look after their youngest daughter. Meimei was a little absent-minded, thinking that the children must have left the city by now. They were all half-grown children, full of enthusiasm. Leaving the city was like leaving a cage. They would definitely ride horses and race all the way. The precious horse might not be able to restrain them. Heng'er was the eldest brother, and he usually put on airs. He should not be able to control so many things when he was outside. After all, he was only seventeen years old and a passionate boy. Meiyi and Meijuan were wearing men's clothes. The thirteen-year-old girls had not yet grown up, but their height had increased. They were like two orchids and jade trees, slender and handsome. They rode horses and mixed in with several teenage boys in the mansion of Kang'er, Zhao Jie, Yi'er, etc. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't tell that they were dressed as girls. There were many boys in wealthy families with such delicate skin and tender flesh. Meiyi and Meijuan seemed to be carrying a small bag on their shoulders. The daughter had grown up after all, and knew how to take some small personal items when she went out... It was also called bringing maids with her. Why didn't they let the maids take them
Meimei thought about the time when she took Cuixi or Cuisi out, and the embroidered small bags they carried were full of valuables, tens of thousands of silver notes, jewelry, her precious mask, some cosmetics and medicines. At that time, she often thought: If I leave the mansion now, I won’t be hungry and cold... My heart suddenly skipped a beat. Her child, Meiyi! Would she have any thoughts
He quickly pushed Xu Junying and said, "I can take care of Meiyi and Meifang by myself. You should go with me to look after the older children. After all, we are out of town, and I am worried!"
Influenced by Meimei, Xu Junying tried his best to take care of and teach the children personally at home whenever he had free time. Although he felt sorry for his sick little daughter, he couldn't help but worry about those outside. So he nodded in agreement, comforted Meiyi and Meifang, gave some instructions to the maids, and took Baizhan out.
It was too late. Meimei's premonition was surprisingly accurate. When Xu Junying caught up with the children, his good intentions had disappeared!
As expected, they were young and playful, so they started racing horses with a mountain far away by the river as their target. Ah Heng didn't want his two sisters to participate, but Meiyi insisted on playing, and he couldn't persuade her. Kang'er and Zhao Jie also helped to persuade her, so she had to follow him. Baoju specifically told his son to follow Meiyi closely, but when they crossed a mountain road, an accident happened. While galloping, at a turn, Meiyi's horse was suddenly frightened, left the road and galloped towards the broken wall on the side. In just a flash, before the people behind could shout, both the people and the horse disappeared!
The broken wall was not very high, probably as high as a house. Below it was a wide river that ran through the north and south, with crisscrossing tributaries. Three or five merchant ships were traveling on it. It was the rainy season in May, and mountain torrents from all over the city poured into the river. The river water was swollen and turbid, and the rapids were surging. Led by A Kang, several brave boys who could swim drove their horses into the river despite the guards' obstruction. As a result, the people and horses were separated and went ashore separately. Fortunately, there were no casualties, and there was no trace of Meiyi at all.
Xu Junying immediately sent someone back to the city to report the news. Of course, he did not go to tell Meimei that her daughter was missing. Instead, he looked for relevant personnel and mobilized all manpower to search in all directions. All boats on the river had to be searched one by one, and the upstream and downstream of the river could not be spared. The people who stayed there also searched the weeds on both sides carefully. They were busy until dark, but found nothing. The Xu family father and son had to return to see Meimei with grief.
When the news reached the palace, the emperor and the empress were shocked. The decree had not even been issued yet and the person had disappeared
The Queen wanted to conceal it, but how could she shut the mouth of the King of Jinling? The Prince knew it that night, and after being dumbfounded, he closed the door and cried. He was the Prince, the noble Crown Prince, and the whole world would belong to him in the future. He could get whatever he wanted, but not now! The girl he promised to marry and the girl he had been thinking about were rejected and disappeared out of thin air. He found that he could do nothing except grief!
From the time he was old enough to understand, he had to accept all kinds of teachings, read many, many books, and learn various skills. He had to be absolutely filial and obey the will of his father and mother. He loved Meiyi with all his heart and thought that Meiyi would be his first wife. When he learned that the Crown Princess was not Meiyi, he was surprised, but then he accepted it calmly. He was the crown prince, and the crown prince was born with the ability to accept all kinds of unwarranted changes! It doesn't matter if she doesn't become the crown princess. As long as they can be together, the crown princess can be a decoration. What is given to Meiyi is the most real and best. He avoided his mother and made up his mind to ask his father to allow Meiyi to marry him as a concubine. He asked again and again, because Meiyi said: I would rather die than marry the crown prince! On the wedding night, he ignored his mother's obstruction and insisted that his father settle it down, but he didn't expect that he was still too late. His father agreed, but Meiyi disappeared!
Meiyi, why are you so impatient? It's only one day away. If the imperial decree is issued tomorrow, we can be together the day after tomorrow!
Meimei fainted after hearing the news and leaned against the round table. She couldn't wake up no matter how much she was called. The children had experienced the pain of losing their limbs, and were terrified to see their mother like this. They cried and shouted in a mess. Meifang couldn't bear it any longer, so she climbed onto a chair and picked up the mother's head to check. Meimei was in tears and hugged her daughter tightly. She bit her lips until they bled, but she couldn't cry out loud. She still had such young daughters and couldn't scare them!
Ah Heng rushed into Prince Qi's mansion and shouted loudly for Xiao Hei. He was so confused that he even forgot to bring the goshawk Xiao Hei with him when he left the city!
The King of Qi and his wife had already left the palace when they heard the news. The King of Qi hurried to look for someone. The Queen of Qi must have gone to accompany Meimei. Zhao Min came out from the corner gate with Zhao Cong. On Zhao Cong's shoulder stood Xiao Hei, who was as big as a millstone. Zhao Min said:
"Brother Heng, Xiao Hei is locked up. We just released him and were about to go to Hou Mansion. We knew you wanted to use Xiao Hei!"
"Jie'er is too naughty. He brought Xiao Hei back but didn't let it fly away. Otherwise, it would be useful now!"
Ah Heng took out a piece of silk from his sleeve and covered Xiao Hei's head with it, then tied it around its paw: "This is Meiyi's handkerchief, Cong'er, quickly release Xiao Hei and let it go to find Meiyi!"
Cheng'er and Xue'er returned home and went out again. They came back in the middle of the night. Cheng'er reported to his parents:
"Master has calculated that within a 300-mile radius of that river today, someone may fall into the river, but no one will be injured or killed!"
Meimei calmed down a little, and her eyes turned, finally stopping at Meijuan, who shook her head with tears in her eyes:
"Mother, I really don't know anything! My sister slept very well last night and didn't say a word to me!"
In front of Xu Junying and many other children, Meimei couldn't ask any more questions. She had already asked what she should ask. She personally went to check Meiyi's room. It was obvious that she had run away from home on purpose. Her girls were never really naive. They knew how to collect their treasures since they were young. Meiyi left a lot of floating wealth and gold, silver and jewelry. Even the priceless string of imperial pearls was placed in the most conspicuous place. But in the small box she locked, she couldn't find any of the banknotes she collected. Her personal maid Hongxia cried and said: The young lady took the key from her before going to bed last night, opened the box alone and checked the items inside before going to sleep...
Cui Xi, Cui Lian and others also rushed back after hearing the news. Cui Lian quietly checked the upper room and whispered in Mei Mei's ear:
"Young Madam, your Ice Spider Mask is missing!"
Meimei bit her lip: She hasn't used the Ice Spider Mask externally for many years. Sometimes she wears it to bed at night for beauty purposes. She has always kept it at the bottom of the cinnamon makeup box. Meiyi, this elf little girl, when did she start to think about it
Cui Xi glared at Cui Si, who lowered her head: As expected, talking too much causes trouble. She exaggerated the young lady's previous actions and made up a story to tell it to her beloved wife. She didn't expect the little girl to take it to heart and stole the ice spider mask. Isn't she trying to follow her example
She didn't think Meiyi would die. Every year, she would take the children out of town to stay in the villa. Cuixi, Cuilian and her children were always there. Cuixi was busy, so she and Cuilian usually accompanied the young lady. In her opinion, the young lady was just like flying a kite when taking care of the children. The children were spoiled in the mansion, but they became wild monkeys when they lived in the villa. They ran around in the villa and up and down the mountain. The girls could play like boys. Meiyi and Meijuan, as well as the girls from their families, could not only float on the water, but also stay in the water for a long time without coming out! Among the girls, Meijuan was good at boxing and kicking, and Meiyi was the best at swimming. As long as they were not knocked unconscious by any hard objects, they could go downstream and find a place to go ashore.
Alas! What good is it for a silly girl to be a princess? If she ran away out of anger, she could have just run away, but why did she jump into the river? The river was turbulent nowadays, what if she got knocked unconscious and was swept away by the whirlpool? If she was really unlucky, it would be useless even if she was good at swimming!
Three days later, the palace held a wedding as usual, marrying the prince's concubines Chen Lanyan and Ling Bingyu. Facing the people celebrating, the prince was always dignified and elegant, with a warm and decent smile, which made Ah Heng, who was accompanying him, look more indifferent and cold, with no expression on his face. Weiyuan Hou Xu Junying had to take care of his sick wife and was unable to enter the palace to celebrate. The Qi Wang family did not come either, saying that something happened in the mansion. The queen looked at the queen mother, but she didn't care. It was just a concubine entering the palace, but she was afraid that the old queen mother would feel uncomfortable. With the emperor's permission, the queen married the girl of the Sun family as the crown princess. The queen made every effort to promote the two concubines from the queen mother's family. In order to make the queen feel balanced and happy, she specially held today's wedding banquet almost as grand as marrying the crown princess. Who knew these people... The queen was waiting for the emperor to arrive, and suddenly saw a eunuch beside the emperor coming to salute, saying that the emperor had something to do and couldn't come, and just passed a verbal order for the queen to do it!
One month after the Crown Prince's wedding, a wedding was also held at the Weiyuan Marquis's Mansion. The Crown Prince Xu Jiheng married Princess Zhao Min of the Prince of Qi's Mansion. The wedding went smoothly. After the newlyweds paid homage to Heaven, Earth and their parents, before they were sent to the bridal chamber, Ji Qing, the palace steward who was watching the ceremony in accordance with the imperial order, took out the imperial edict and read it out with a smile - Weiyuan Marquis Xu Junying was suddenly promoted from Marquis to Duke of Rong. This was the first time the Emperor had bestowed a title of Duke since Duke of Jing was stripped of his title. The honor was extraordinary. The groom Xu Jiheng also received a corresponding reward, and the joy was doubled. Friends and relatives of the Xu Mansion ran around to tell each other, and they were all delighted. Xu Junying's colleagues and subordinates were overjoyed and discussed having a big celebration. For a while, firecrackers and salutes rang out for a long time. Those who came to congratulate the newlyweds wanted to congratulate again, and more people poured into the mansion. The Xu family was overwhelmed and the mansion was in chaos. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)