But no matter how worried the national treasury is, it is impossible not to have a family based on the golden branches and jade leaves. It is basically impossible to save these expenses - no wonder Qin Guogong gave Xue Chang preferential treatment. As far as the court needs to spend, if there is not a prime minister who is good at replenishing the treasury without disturbing the people, he will have already started scraping the land!
Qiu Yilan sighed for a while about the pressure on the treasury, and suddenly thought of Chu Chunxiao: "Chunxiao and Yongfu are the same age, and they are twenty this year. Yongfu has delayed it until today, so at least the marriage has been decided early. It has been three or five years, right? It can't be Are you still forcing her to marry the King of Puyang? "
Jiang Yashuang was reminded and pondered for a while, then said: "In this way, you can enter the palace in two days and find out what Fourth Aunt says. If Fourth Aunt refuses, I will try to persuade her."
"What if Fourth Aunt is still not allowed?" Qiu Yilan asked.
"Yongfu hasn't seen Xiao Su much in the past two years. Fourth aunt will not be wrong." Jiang Yashuang shook his head and said, "Speaking of Xiao Su - he seems to be sick again."
The corner of Qiu Yilan's mouth twitched: "Then will Yongfu go over to visit?"
"The fourth aunt may not be willing to let her know the news. After all, her wedding date with Bicheng is probably set soon. How could the fourth aunt allow things to happen out of the blue?"
Two days later, Qiu Yilan entered the palace and went to the Taishi Palace to meet the Queen Mother. After greetings, the topic was led to Chu Chunxiao's lifelong affairs. As expected, Queen Mother Jiang did not mention her marrying Xiao Su again, but said: "These two There are so many things going on in the Nian Dynasty that I have forgotten about this child! It seems that Qizhuan is too unreasonable. If you come here and mention it earlier, wouldn't we have remembered it and we wouldn't have delayed this child until now? -Thank you for your attention!"
"My niece thought of it by accident, and she deserves no praise from Fourth Aunt." Qiu Yilan said modestly, and then tactfully asked Empress Dowager Jiang if she had any requirements or instructions for Chu Chunxiao's marriage, "Speaking of which, Third Sister never mentioned Chunxiao. Regarding my marriage, apart from the fact that there have been many things going on in the past two years, I am afraid that it will disturb you. I am afraid that it is just a daughter like Chunxiao. I don’t know what kind of talent to choose for her. Fourth aunt, you are well-informed. If you can help third sister. A palm eye, the third sister must be dreaming of it!"
Empress Dowager Jiang understood what she meant, and said with a smile: "After all, I have good character and appearance, and a decent family background, but I still have to wait for Chunxiao to be good and be filial to Qizhuan and his wife! If they can't decide, they will repay Aijia, but Aijia will be unlucky." I can help you out!”
Qiu Yilan breathed a sigh of relief. The Queen Mother obviously meant that she did not intend to interfere with Chu Chunxiao's marriage.
After chatting with Empress Dowager Jiang for a while and making her happy, Qiu Yilan resigned and went to Beique Hall to find the empress.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, the emperor happened to be there too - the maid outside whispered: "Your Majesty is watching the little prince, I'm afraid he won't leave for a while."
"In this case, I will resign. Please go back and tell the Queen!" Qiu Yilan entered the palace this time because there was nothing necessary to see the Queen. After hearing this, he asked Mu Jin to give the maid a purse and left the palace.
After leaving the palace, I first went to Qiyang Prince's Mansion to visit Jiang Qizhuan's family, and told them about Empress Dowager Jiang's release.
Jiang Qizhuan burst into tears when she heard this. If Qiu Yilan hadn't pulled her faster, she would have almost kowtowed to her. After crying for a while, she accepted the tears with the persuasion of Qiu Yilan and Qiu Yilan, and sighed again: "The prince's health has been deteriorating in the past two years. I am not a strong person myself. I have been calling doctors every three days, but the smell of medicine in the house has not stopped! It has even made Chunxiao not go out much in the past two years! Who knows what is suitable for Chunxiao? People? Please be kind to my brothers and sisters and give us an idea!"
Qiu Yilan was very willing to help them, but she was also troubled when she heard this: "I'm not very familiar with the young people from various families in Beijing. How about I go back and ask Nineteen?"
"It's all down to my younger siblings!" Jiang Qizhuan insisted on calling Chu Chunxiao to come out and kowtow to her aunt to thank her before letting Qiu Yilan go.
Returning to the Duke's Mansion, Qiu Yilan saw that her husband had returned and was playing with their two children in the court, so she stood aside and waited for a while. After Jiang Yashuang came over to ask, she told the story: "... Third sister. Leave it to me to find a husband for Chunxiao, but what do I know about the children of the various families in the capital? I’ll tell you back.”
Jiang Yashuang muttered: "I'll make a list for you tonight... You can bring it to Third Sister later."
After the list was made, Qiu Yilan picked it up and looked at it first. She was slightly surprised when she saw that the first one was Puyang Prince's Mansion. After taking a closer look, it was not Xiao Su, but Xiao Mu. Then she breathed a sigh of relief: "Although Xiao Mu doesn't have any... Wang Jue, but he is in good health. Judging from the previous encounters, he is not a cunning person. As the younger brother of King Puyang, he is suitable for Chunxiao. "
You Qi thought more viciously that at such a young age, Xiao Su was taking medicine as a meal. He got sick every three days. He might not be able to bear it any longer and closed his eyes. Wasn't the title of King of Puyang the same as Xiao Mu's
After calculating, the filial piety in the Puyang Palace has long been fulfilled, but the Xiao brothers have not yet announced their lifelong commitment. Qiu Yilan pointed to Xiao Mu's name and asked: "I think Xiao Mu is good, but why is he You haven’t gotten engaged yet? But what’s the reason?”
"He insists on waiting for Xiao Su to get married before he considers himself. But if you think about Xiao Su's body, who would dare to marry him a daughter? Even if someone is willing to give up their daughter, Concubine Chu will not dare to marry him now. After all, he is about to fall ill after a little effort. What if the fatigue of getting married makes his illness worse?" Jiang Yashuang explained, "So Concubine Chu and Xiao Su both agreed that Xiao Mu should marry first, so as to spread the branches of the Xiao family. - Xiao Su was ill two days ago and I went to visit him. Xiao Su also asked me to persuade Xiao Mu in private. So when you asked Chun Xiao to choose a husband, I immediately thought of Xiao Mu. Chun Xiao is also familiar with him. "
Qiu Yilan wrote down these words and asked about the others one by one. The next day, she took the list to Qiyang Prince's Mansion and introduced them to Jiang Qizhuan one by one, asking her to choose on behalf of her daughter. Jiang Qizhuan looked around but couldn't make up her mind. Finally, she asked Qiu Yilan to choose for Chu Chunxiao.
Qiu Yilan couldn't laugh or cry when she heard this: "Chunxiao grew up in front of my sister. The number of times I have seen her is honestly not that many. How can my understanding of her be as deep as your understanding of her, sister? What if I give it to her?" If the choice is not what she wants, won’t it harm her for the rest of her life?”
Seeing that Jiang Qizhuan was hesitant, she said: "It's not urgent for a day or two anyway, why not do this. I'll leave the list with my sister, and I'll discuss it with Chunxiao for a while. I'll come back in ten days, what do you think about it?" ?”
Jiang Qizhuan thought about it, and the matter was settled.
Qiu Yilan returned to the Duke's Mansion, but before she could change her clothes, Kapok came up and reported: "Just now, my maid went to deliver something to the old lady. I heard that Aunt Gu, the Eighth Young Master, is here."
"Gu Wegna is here?" Qiu Yilan was stunned for a moment, then asked thoughtfully, "Did the people below tell her in private, or did the eighth sister-in-law tell grandma?"
"The eighth young lady went to report to the old lady, and the old lady rewarded me with something."
"Then let's pack some things and send them over. Remember to pick the second-class ones and don't let the Eighth Sister-in-law see the stabbing heart!"
After giving this order, Mulan came up, holding a post in both hands: "My cousin will be here in five days, your Highness the Princess, please be sure to come over to the house to get together!"
It was Jiang Qizheng and Qiu Feng who decided to hold a family dinner for their second daughter Qiu Yejiao's first birthday.
"In the blink of an eye, my niece has turned one year old, and it seems like she was still holding her in my arms just yesterday!" Qiu Yilan looked at the post with emotion, "It seems like I have my eighteenth sister again?"
Mulan smiled and said: "As you said, Madam, that's right!"
"Go to the warehouse to prepare gifts!" Qiu Yilan put the post on the desk, "By the way, take out the newly made clothes and let me see which one I can wear that day."
The busy people first arrived at the Manzhou Banquet on a bright autumn night. The palace of Princess Chunfu was decorated with lanterns and colorful flowers, but because there were not many people who received the message, it was not too noisy.
"Jiao'er is so cute, or Qizheng, you are so lucky, not to mention having children, and now that you are pregnant again, your children are really prosperous!" He Shuijin hugged Qiu Ye Jiao and couldn't put it down, and couldn't help but kiss the baby girl's soft cheeks.
Jiang Qizheng and Qiu Feng are both good-looking, and their children are naturally good-looking. Wrapped in bright red silk pomegranate-patterned swaddling clothes, Qiu Ye's bright pink makeup looks like a snow doll. She is more likable than her brother Qiu Yebai - Fu'er - because she loves to laugh.
She could giggle on her own no matter who was teasing her. Now she and Shui Jin were hugging and kissing each other, and their silver bell-like laughter never stopped, which made people's hearts melt.
"You already have Ya'er, wouldn't it be a good idea to have another daughter?" Jiang Qizheng said with a smile while paying attention to her eldest son Qiu Yebai running around, "And Ya'er looks so good. I'm so envious of you! Look at my two children, Fu'er looks exactly like his uncles, and Jiao'er looks exactly like her father. It's such a pity that none of them look like me!"
Ya'er is He Shuijin's son Jiang Jingya, who was also born in February last year. It was only the beginning of the month, so the Full Week Banquet had already been held. Since Qin Guogong was ill and has not recovered, the scale was smaller than today, so only the Jiang family was invited. I'm a member of my own family, and I don't call anyone by my surname.
"How many more children are there to worry about not being able to look like my sister?" Qiu Yilan, who was feeding Jiang Jingkun with candied fruit, teased, "Maybe the thing in your belly now looks exactly like my sister?"
"Then I can lend you good luck!" Jiang Qizheng smiled, "I really want a child who looks like me, regardless of gender!"
Although there was no big banquet in the Princess Mansion today, Qiu Yilan and He Shuijin were not just invited. So when Zhuang Man heard them chatting endlessly about their children, she pouted: "I don't have any children yet! You guys are just kidding." If you talk about the children, you will ignore me!"
"If you are envious, go back and tell your husband-in-law!" He Shuijin teased her with a smile, "You two got married in April last year, and it hasn't even been a year yet, so why bother? Maybe there will be good news soon, right? ?”
Zhuang Man was not someone who would be teased by such words. Just as he was about to fight back, suddenly someone not far away put down the tea bowl without hesitation - Chu Yitong had a smile on his face, but no smile in his eyes. He stood up and said: "I accidentally dripped tea on my skirt. I'll go change and you guys can talk!"
"... It seems that you have offended sister-in-law?" After she left, everyone looked at each other, and Shui Jin stuck out his tongue, feeling a little regretful, "There has been no news since the eighth sister-in-law had a miscarriage last year, but Aunt Gu gave birth two days ago... We shouldn't have said that just now So many topics for children!”
She is a well-rounded person and doesn't want to form unnecessary grudges, so she thinks so. Zhuang Man didn't think so: "I'm here to eat Jiao'er's Manzhou Banquet today. How can I not talk about the child? If you really don't want to hear it, just walk away quietly. Why throw a tea bowl to attract our attention before getting up?" , this expression... As if we all deserve to see her expression!"
"Forget it, I didn't think it through well." Jiang Qizheng's face was not very good-looking. Just as Zhuang Man said, when children are at the banquet, they will always say a few words related to the children. This Chu Yitong could have predicted it before he came, but now he was trying to show off his face, which was completely a disgrace to her master.
At this moment, he calmly said, "We are all a family, let's accommodate each other! I think the eighth sister-in-law lost her composure because she was extremely sad."
Even so, everyone felt disappointed. There were not many people attending the Manzhou Banquet, so it was inevitable that it would end in an anticlimactic manner. When the banquet ended, they looked at their sister-in-law and sister-in-law who were much colder than when they came. On the way back to the Duke's Mansion, Zhu's mother couldn't help but advise Chu Yitong: "Young Madam feels uncomfortable, I understand, but in an occasion like today..."
"Leave me alone!" Chu Yitong interrupted her expressionlessly.
There was silence in the carriage for a while.