People feel shallow when they get older, and Mrs. Tao is no different.
Genius polished, she woke up as usual. After washing up, her confidant Mrs. Hu came in, asked the maids to exit, and whispered what happened last night - although Jiang Yadan thought that the guards would not dare to disobey him. There is a gag order, but it would be ridiculous to ask a grandchild who is not close to her to deceive her in the other courtyard where the old lady lives.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Mrs. Tao frowned and asked after hearing this.
Hu whispered: "The Eighth Young Master issued a gag order, and the Nineteenth Young Master found a reason to get injured while practicing... No one knows yet."
"Then don't spread the word. Just pretend it never happened." Mrs. Tao said immediately.
Seeing Mr. Hu hesitate to speak, the old lady sighed, "What? You can't do it?"
"No." Madam Hu said hurriedly, "You said it never happened, so why would you spread it again?" She hesitated for a moment and then said, "I just think that the princess next door... is too unreserved!"
Mrs. Tao said nonchalantly: "Do you care whether she is reserved or not? Anyway, Nineteen likes her, right?"
As soon as Mrs. Hu heard this, she knew that the old lady was still interested in Qiu Yilan's status as the princess and the fact that she had no power behind her. After joining the family, she would not threaten Xiao Tao's position in the fourth room of the Jiang family. Although she felt that Jiang Ya With Shuang's identity, it was really aggrieved to marry such a shameless person, but Ran didn't dare to object. He only smiled and said: "It's Princess Ningyi who has a good life and is more tolerant than the old lady. It would be an ordinary person..."
"It's her ability to hook Nineteen." Mrs. Tao sneered, "Don't think I'm doing it all for Qianbin's child! Believe it or not, go and tell Nineteen now that he wants to marry someone else, and he still won't Yes! Anyway, she’s not reserved because she’s not having an affair with anyone else. She doesn’t care, so why do you care so much?”
Mrs. Hu said awkwardly: "Old slave, that's not what I meant..." She thought to herself that Princess Ningyi was only thirteen years old and was not from Goulanli. How could she be capable of seducing people? It's just because she looks good - I feel that Jiang Yashuang is young and ignorant after all, and doesn't know the virtues of marrying a wife. Suddenly thinking of the little Tao who is recognized as virtuous, she sighed in her heart, "Well, think about it, the Nineteenth Young Master is actually the same as the Eighth Young Master. "The person they like may not have good character, but his appearance must be beautiful."
This way, he no longer felt sorry for Jiang Yashuang. After calming down, he asked, "Then the Nineteenth Young Master will send someone over to report?"
"I will believe whatever he says. If you are suspicious, please write it down and tell me, and I will smooth things over for him." Mrs. Tao said calmly, "Also, tell the guards yesterday to be more careful and determined not to spread the word. If Chao Hai finds out about it when we get to the old house, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Mrs. Hu felt awe-struck and said respectfully, "Yes!"
An hour later, everyone in the other courtyard knew that Jiang Yashuang was distracted from his martial arts practice and was bedridden.
The Jiang family started with military merit, and all the children were required to practice literature and martial arts. Everyone was used to the occasional minor injury, and Jiang Yashuang's maid reported it lightly and didn't look serious - so everyone didn't take it seriously and just sent a servant over to take a look and give something away. .
My sister-in-law, Xiao Tao, and her sister, Jiang Qizheng, made the trip in person. It was just an "unlucky coincidence" that Jiang Yashuang happened to fall asleep after drinking the medicine. They asked the maid and learned that it was indeed nothing serious. I went back with confidence.
When they returned to Mrs. Tao, they happened to hear Jiang Qisheng saying: "Is it possible that Nineteen has been lazy recently? How come you can relax by practicing a few times in your own yard?"
Little Mrs. Tao and Jiang Qizheng were both angry after hearing this. They were about to lift the curtain and go in to argue with her, but they heard Mrs. Tao's lukewarm words: "You still have the nerve to say it?! If you weren't talking to yourselves, He was clamoring for a match for him, and everyone in the house knew that he had a crush on the little princess next door, but he had been kept in the dark - would he be happy when he heard the news? "
What this means is that Jiang Yashuang's martial arts practice this time was because he knew what his sister-in-law and sisters were doing without telling him
Hearing this, the two sisters-in-law outside looked at each other awkwardly and did not dare to go in for a while.
Jiang Qisheng inside felt very aggrieved: "I didn't do those things - it was mainly the 18th sister. I just joined in the fun twice! In fact, let me tell you that Princess Ningyi is not worthy of the 19th brother at all. !”
"You can say whether you are worthy or not?" Mrs. Tao didn't know if she was in a bad mood today, so she was particularly rude to Jiang Qisheng, "Even your parents didn't give any advice on Shijiu's marriage. , what are you worrying about? Where have you learned the rules that Mr. Shao taught you before? I don’t think you’ll be around me anymore. You’ll get a headache when you see it! Go back and copy the “Women’s Rules” ten times! I want to teach you something, don’t waste your status as a good daughter!”
Jiang Qisheng was scolded so much that she said angrily: "Grandma doesn't like me here, so I won't come. As for saying this about me!"
"You're used to talking back, aren't you? I can't tell you anything?" Mrs. Tao's voice gradually became louder, with anger in her tone, "If that's the case, then you don't want to stay here anymore and go back to the ancestral home as soon as possible. Bian, go find your mother! Don’t come to me and suffer injustice!”
"Let's come back later." Little Mrs. Tao tugged on Jiang Qizheng's sleeve and whispered, "Careful when I saw Sister Seventeen when she came out, she thought we were here to listen to her being scolded on purpose!"
When they arrived at a secluded place, the two of them started to worry: "Did Nineteen actually know that we were trying to find out about Princess Ning Yi without telling him? What should we do now?"
"Why don't we start with Princess Ningyi?" My sister-in-law took Mrs. Tao's words seriously. She really thought that Jiang Yashuang was angry about this matter. Naturally, she felt guilty and guilty. She was afraid that Jiang Yashuang would come to her door when she got better. Let's settle the accounts - After struggling for a long time, Xiao Tao suggested, "Nineteen likes her. If she doesn't care, just say a few words for us. I think Nineteen will always look out for her."
Jiang Qizheng wondered: "But last time I didn't know that Mrs. Gu deliberately cheated her and was very cold to her when she left. She seemed to have noticed it, but she didn't pay much attention to me. Now if I come to the door again, how should I open the door? ?”
"Has Shuijin been busy lately?" Little Tao had never met Qiu Yilan. After biting her lip for a while, she set her sights on He Shuijin.
He Shuijin is naturally very busy recently - the Ding family and the Yang family have been fighting to the point of life and death, and there have been several fights between the children and servants - given the family background of these two families, the conflict has reached this level, and they are still in the capital. , it is impossible not to go up to Heaven to listen.
Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang both summoned people to inquire about the specific process - Empress Jiang asked He Shuijin every time who knew the affairs of the government and the public, so she couldn't focus on other places recently.
In this case, Jiang Qizheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to the door in person - she was afraid that her brother would really fall out with her, but Qiu Mengmin and his wife had no idea of the twists and turns. They only said that Princess Chunfu not only sent her brother He came to ask for two dowries for Qiu Yilan, and even came to put pressure on her in person!
"...My lord, what should we do now?" Princess Yang asked listlessly, "When the two Jiang family members came together, they promised to give us three days of light. The day before, the little beast from the Ruan family also said that he would take Fang with him in three days. The family comes to visit—it’s tomorrow!”
Qiu Mengmin was silent for a long time before saying, "What else can I do if I don't take it out?"
"Give it to her?!" Princess Yang opened her eyes in surprise, "That list...if the income from the shop and farm over the years is included, it would be a million taels! Now among the millions of taels of property, you can find... It’s less than one hundred thousand taels! Shouldn’t we all pay for it! Don’t forget that Ruan’s share is better! Does she have to pay for it as well?”
"If you don't post it, they will expose the matter over there!" Qiu Mengmin's face muscles couldn't help twitching, and she said expressionlessly, "We shouldn't post all of Ruan's share, but have you ever thought about it? How much of the concubine’s share can we afford to embezzle?”
Princess Yang said: "Let's just say Ruan sold it! After all, when she was alive, wasn't she the one who kept the dowry?!"
"Are you stupid!" Qiu Mengmin said angrily, "Without Princess Ruan's private seal or autograph confirmation, do you think you can rely on her if she dies?! And the Ruan family sold her own dowry to support the general's palace, you Do you think Ruan Qingyan and Qiu Yilan didn't know about it? But did you think Ruan Qingyan mentioned this when he came over that day? Do you know what this means? "
He breathed a few times, then said tremblingly, "Since both the Ruan family and the Lian family have kept the dowry list from that year, even if our Xihe Palace is ransacked, Qiu Yilan will still have to give her - and Ruan Lian The two families sent two juniors to come forward, obviously they didn’t want to make a fuss about it! They just wanted to take the blame for what Ruan had sold himself!
"In short, you can't talk to Ruan and Lian when you talk about reason, and you can't fight against the Jiang family when you fight for power." Qiu Mengmin said with a sad smile, "Even the Queen Mother is entangled in the Ding Yang incident, how can she have the time to take care of our palace with no real power? ? ! This attack will seriously damage your property, it will really ruin your life, and our title..."
Princess Yang stayed for a long time before murmuring: "But our family's property is only less than three million in total... I gave it to that little bitch all at once, and then the two serious heirs Hongzhi and Yinzhi... What kind of?!"
Qiu Mengmin rubbed his eyebrows: "Burn down a few warehouses tonight!"
Princess Yang was startled.
"I'll keep all the things belonging to the concubine, and just make up for the price according to the dowry list." Qiu Mengmin lowered her voice, "I heard my mother said before she was alive that the Xihe Palace should not only have this kind of industry - it's probably It was hidden by the concubine back then! But over the years, it has never been found... I thought that Qiu Yilan was the concubine's last bit of flesh and blood, and the concubine would tell the Ruan family, but the Ruan family didn't admit it until her death... She didn't know about Qiu either. Yilan suddenly went to war to invite so many people to ask for things for her. Is it related to the missing property? "
Princess Yang's eyes lit up: "How much has the concubine hidden?"
"Mother said that compared to my father's time, the current Xihe Palace is just scraps." Qiu Mengmin frowned and said, "Anyway, Qiu Yilan has to stay in the palace to fulfill her filial piety before going out - keep an eye on her in the past two years. ! If the properties hidden by the concubine really fall into her hands, there will be no clues! The dowry of the concubine and the Ruan family will definitely belong to her, but the property of the Xihe Palace has nothing to do with her! "
These words made Princess Yang feel hot in her heart: "Then why don't you give her the concubine's things, and we'll keep an eye on her secretly until she gets the property? If you don't give it to her, she won't be able to get the property. what to do?"
Qiu Mengmin sneered: "Stupid! Have you forgotten that the Jiang family worked so hard to come forward for her this time? Princess Chunfu has only known her for a few days? As for defending her like this? I think it's nine out of ten that she promised to be with Chunfu Princess Fenrun - If the property hidden by the concubine really needs something from her relics or dowry, how can it be left to our family if the Jiang family has a hand in it? "