Jiang Yashuang and his wife did not know the sorrow of Jiang Tianchi's confidants.
At this moment, Qiu Yilan was walking slowly through the study room, and saw Jiang Yashuang calling Lu He beside her, patiently explaining the lessons to his disciples, paused for a moment, quietly left the corridor, and returned to the back.
Just then Mulian came to her and reported: "The Fourteenth Young Madam has sent someone here!"
"You guys can take your pick. After all, I'm just a rough guy this time, and I'll be working under you again." Qiu Yilan said casually as she was thinking about things.
Mulian said yes, but did not leave immediately. Instead, she continued to report: "Miss Cousin is here, taking Miss Ling with her."
"Why is she here free today?" Qiu Yilan's slightly frowned eyebrows relaxed and she smiled, "I'll go take a look!"
When he entered the room where he usually stayed, he saw Zhuang Man holding a baby girl with pink makeup in his arms and trying to get her to play with Jiang Huiying.
Jiang Huiying didn't seem to be very interested in the baby girl. She was stroking Nian Xue who was lying on her lap. Occasionally, she would perfunctorily pull the baby girl's little hand, with a look of reluctance on her face. —When he saw his mother coming, he called out hurriedly and softly: "Mother! My little cousin has something to do with you!"
Qiu Yilan agreed with a smile, looked at Zhuang Man and the baby girl in her arms, and smiled: "It's been a few days since we last saw each other, and Guoguo's eyebrows have grown a bit longer?" This baby girl is the one who was born in the first month. , the nickname has not yet been given, because Zhuang Man loved to eat fruits when she was pregnant with her, so the nickname was Guoguo.
"Really? I can't tell that in front of me every day." Upon hearing this, Zhuang Man picked up his daughter and looked at her for a few times, then put her back on the couch and said with a smile, "I want Ying'er to take her to play with her. I think they are all girls—but Yinger doesn’t seem to like my Guoguo very much?”
"No." Jiang Huiying hugged Nian Xue, rolled her big black eyes, and said in a sweet voice, "It's because I'm weak and can't hold Sister Guoguo for fear of hurting her!"
When Zhuang Man heard this, he covered his mouth and said deliberately: "Then I don't want you to hug my sister. I want you to play with her for a while. Are you willing?"
Jiang Huiying opened her mouth, looked at her mother and then at her, then reluctantly pushed Nian Xue away: "Okay!"
"Then let Mother Zhou take you to play in the next room!" Qiu Yilan also curled up her lips and said with a smile.
After sending the children out and clearing the place, Zhuang Man joked: "How come Lang'er and Ying'er don't look like our nineteenth cousin? They are not honest at all at such a young age!" How could she not see that Jiang Huiying just now The so-called fear of not being able to hold her sister is simply an excuse. The truth is that she doesn't like to play with Ling Guoguo
Qiu Yilan smiled: "What can you do if you are born with nature? Besides, aren't you still ignorant now? When you grow up in the future, you will see more and you will be afraid that they won't be able to play together?"
"These are all trivial matters." Zhuang Man brushed her black hair on her temples, looked out the window, and whispered, "You went into the palace to see the Queen Mother today. How is she? I heard that Your Majesty... King Lu's abdication ceremony ended Then she fell ill and hasn’t recovered yet. I don’t know how she got here these two days?”
"Prince Lu is fine. She wanted to go to Lu Di in two days." Qiu Yilan lost her smile when she said this and was silent for a moment before saying, "But you also know that after such a big change, she is now feeling It’s very messy. Please don’t send me there when the time comes—she doesn’t want to see us for the time being.”
Zhuang Man was stunned for a moment, then said: "Really... I also said that Lu Di is so far away from Beijing, so I need to send her things more often in the future..."
"Have you forgotten that the Duke of E and his wife are still here? She will not lack anything." Qiu Yilan sighed, "Let's not talk about anything else now. At least, the husband is here and the children are fine. But she..." said At this point, he suddenly saved his words and hurriedly covered it up, "You also know that the late emperor has always been kind to her when he was there. But suddenly it's gone. Now he has to go to Lu Di... It's better not to irritate her. Wait for two years until her mood stabilizes. Come down, let’s try to contact her again!”
"That's what you said." Zhuang Man pursed his lips, with a look of intolerance on his face, "I think back when we got together, although we had some worries of one kind or another, they were all small things... I didn't think about it. But now…”
"She is still young, maybe in the future..." Qiu Yilan said vaguely, but she did have hope in her heart. If Chu Shao lived, Xin Fubing could only be the Queen Mother Rui and guard her son for the rest of her life. But Chu Shao was gone, and Xin Fubing, who was only in her early twenties, judging from the love and concern Mrs. E Guo Gong had for her, it was impossible for her daughter to live alone like this.
Of course, none of this can be mentioned yet. Even if everyone in the world doesn't agree, Xin Fubing's current state will definitely not be accepted.
The two felt sorry for Xin Fubing for a while, and Qiu Yilan asked Zhuang Man, "You should have seen your mother first when you came, right? Did your mother say anything to you?"
Zhuang Man shook his head: "My aunt asked me about the situation at home, and teased Guoguo for a while... My eighth cousin-in-law wasn't there at first, so I saw that Chang's mother was waiting on me, so I made some insinuations about why my uncle now goes out with him when he goes out. The eighth cousin doesn’t have the nineteenth cousin? My aunt asked me not to worry about it.”
At this point he sighed, "I really don't know what my aunt and uncle think?"
"I know you mean well, but I'd better not ask questions like this in the future!" Qiu Yilan stretched out her finger and tapped her forehead, as if she was still in the boudoir, and reminded her with a chuckle, "Now not only does my father come in and out, he only takes my Eighth Brother with him. , although my mother didn’t give me any cold shoulder, my eighth sister-in-law also ran much more diligently than me... If she knew you said this, she would probably hold a grudge against you! "
"Hate me?" Zhuang Man said disdainfully, "Am I afraid of her?"
Although Mrs. Zhuang is very kind to her daughter-in-law, she also loves her niece very much. After all, blood relationship cannot be replaced by other relationships. Jiang Yadan is not particularly doting on his wife, so Zhuang Man has never put Chu Yitong in her heart. In eyes.
"To be honest, you could say that before, but in the future, you'd better restrain yourself!" Qiu Yilan shook her head and sighed, "After all, my father does love myna more now, doesn't he?" A wife is more valuable than her husband, If the person who inherits the great treasure in the future is really Jiang Yadan, after Chu Yitong's mother performs a ritual in the world, it will be fine if Mrs. Zhuang is still alive, but if Mrs. Zhuang passes away, Zhuang Man will suffer.
Although Jiang Yadan is not bad to his biological cousin, he is far worse than his biological sister - especially since he cannot protect his cousin from being bullied by his wife all day long!
Zhuang Man also understood this, but her temperament was not to be so submissive. She said disapprovingly: "I'm afraid that she will be busy with the lawsuits in San Gong and Sixth Court and won't have time to deal with me!"
"You have such a mouth..." Qiu Yilan laughed and didn't want to continue talking about this topic with her. It happened that she wanted to find someone to talk to about the Zishen Palace. I basked in the sun for a while and didn’t leave the palace until I felt like I had a heatstroke. Finally, my fifth aunt sent me to Zi Shen Palace to rest for a while before I came back.”
Zhuang Man said in surprise: "What are you doing?"
"I haven't seen my grandma for a few days, and I miss her. Grandma hasn't been summoning anyone these days, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity in Zishen Palace to take a look secretly." Qiu Yilan whispered, "On the way, I was picked up by someone. If someone breaks it, who do you think it is?"
"who?"
"Father!"
Zhuang Man's eyes widened: "What is he doing in Zishen Palace?"
"I'm also surprised. But my father asked me what I was doing sneakily when he opened his mouth. He also mentioned that Little Nineteen and Little Twenty were in poor health, so as a mother, I should be more considerate... You think I dare to ask? He?" Qiu Yilan turned the bracelet on her wrist, "He just came back in despair!"
Zhuang Man pondered for a while and said: "It's strange. Could it be that the old lady summoned him to see him privately? But at this moment, my uncle should be so busy in the front office, how can he have time to go to the harem to see the old lady?"
"Do you think it might be... related to Fourth Aunt and... Yongfu?" Qiu Yilan reminded, "Otherwise, even if my father is free, my grandmother may not be in the mood to summon him, right?"
"Empress Dowager Jiang and Yongfu are not dead?!" Zhuang Man couldn't help but his eyes lit up. After blurting out, he quickly covered his mouth with his sleeves and asked in an excited voice, "Is that so?!"
Qiu Yilan frowned and said, "I don't know - but in this situation, unless it has something to do with these two people, my grandmother won't even want to see Shijiu, who was raised by herself, let alone her father who she doesn't have much contact with?"
"Not bad!" Zhuang Man tapped a few cases excitedly and almost stood up, "That's for sure!"
"Even though my father discovered me in the middle, I couldn't enter the dormitory." Qiu Yilan sighed, "So, I don't know if it's true or not - don't spread the word about this! I'm just telling you, there is no one in front of Nineteen It’s hard to mention, you know when Fourth Aunt told Yongfu the bad news, he really scared me!”
Zhuang Man rolled her eyes at her: "You think I'm a fool? Even if Empress Dowager Jiang and Yongfu are fine, if this word gets out, they will be in trouble!"
Qiu Yilan nodded, but she actually didn't have much confidence in her heart - she suspected that Mrs. Tao in Zishen Palace was pretending to say this, and she couldn't tell Zhuang Man.
Because this not only makes Zhuang Man think that the suddenly "recovered" King Lu is also pretending to be someone else, but the most terrible thing is that Mrs. Tao died without mourning. Instead, in order to usurp the throne, she found someone to pretend to be her stepmother, Jiang Tianchi. This is a great act of unfilial piety. According to the moral standards at this time, Qiu Yilan's daughter-in-law would not say such unfavorable words to her father-in-law.
"If grandma is real, then it is very likely that the fourth aunt and Yongfu are alive. At least one of them is alive - basically Yongfu - otherwise grandma would not have been able to survive this long!"
"If grandma is fake, then...then I'm afraid all three of them have..."
"It's a pity that I still couldn't see the inside of the palace!" Qiu Yilan sighed secretly when she remembered the situation at that time. She really didn't expect that Jiang Tianchi was actually in Zishen Palace and found herself - she originally thought that if she could find out good news , I can tell my husband when I get back, but the truth is still confusing now, so naturally it’s hard to go to Jiang Yashuang to follow up.
Just as he was about to continue saying something, there was suddenly a thunder above his head without any warning - followed by the rumbling thunder, the sky was still bright, suddenly darkened, and there were purple lightning and silver snakes. It flashed by, and there was a "crash", like big and small beads falling together, and it was raining heavily in an instant!
The pouring rain continued for two days and two nights. In the early morning of the third day, Mrs. E Guoguo anxiously stopped on the road leading to the outside of the Ganlin Palace: "It's raining so hard, how can I hurry up? Listen to me. Mother, go back first! Mother, I will go to Funing Palace to find His Majesty and ask him to let you stay for a few more days before leaving!"
"You have to leave sooner or later, why bother?" Xin Fubing's indifferent voice came from the carriage she stopped, "This place is so sad, it's better to leave early, isn't it?"
"But… "
"No buts, mother, please give way. Don't forget that if you go to Funing Palace now, you may not be able to find His Majesty." Are all the civil and military officials sending you off in the outskirts of the city?"
The Duke of E was speechless, stunned for a while, and gave way with tears in her eyes - watching the palace carriage drive past her. The outline of her daughter in the silk curtains was so familiar, and the little child sitting on her lap was so familiar. His figure is indescribably strange! She subconsciously covered her mouth tightly to prevent herself from crying.
When the carriage and horse drove away, the wind lantern hanging on the carriage had turned into a small spot of light in the white rain and disappeared. This lady, who was admitted to be pampered and overbearing since she was a child, suddenly squatted down with her arms folded regardless of her image. After falling down, most of the twelve-colored skirt was dragged in the rain without realizing it. She just faced the wind and rain, howling loudly regardless of it!
... In the palace car that was going away, Xin Fubing closed her eyes slightly, holding her arms around a boy of the same age as Chu Shao lovingly, but her expression was as cold as ice. She tilted her head slightly, as if she heard some crying in the wind and rain. He heard the sound, but then he lost a smile: "Is it because of my state of mind? It's just a storm, but it can also be heard as a cry from the bottom of my heart?"
Looking down at the obedient and silent boy on her lap, she sighed silently and closed her eyes. She had lived in the palace for several years and had the status of a mother in the world. Even if she didn't look, she knew where the palace cars were passing by at this moment. When I closed my eyes, the familiar scenery seemed to be vividly visible.
When the palace carriage passed by Zishen Palace, a tear fell from the corner of her eyes - she was carried into the palace along this road to get married. She originally thought that no matter whether she was successful or not, she would be thrown into the palace in this life.
But I didn't expect that less than ten years later, I would be kicked out... The same road, coming and going, I am still young, but it seems that I have completed the joys and sorrows of my life.
In the past, there were grand weddings that were crowded with people, a young, handsome, gentle and considerate husband with ulterior motives, a scheming mother-in-law who cared for her, a quirky, playful and lovely sister-in-law... and even the one who had been fighting against her since before her wedding until the first month of this year. Concubine Jiang just gave up...
The years that once gave her warmth or excitement, sweetness or sadness, happiness or misfortune, are now far away, no matter whether she misses them or hates them, and will never be regained... This palace city will never be with her again. not related.
Now she has a child of unknown origin and identity sitting on her lap, heading alone to a place she has never been before. The future is vast and unpredictable, more confusing than darkness.
… The pavilion outside the city had already been cleared. The heavy downpour filled the area with smoke. Even though there were several layers of curtains surrounding the pavilion, Jiang Qianchuan and others inside still felt wet and uncomfortable.
In the rolling rain and fog, a palace lantern finally lit up. Looking closer, the outline next to the lantern appeared, which was the palace carriage carrying Queen Mother Rui and "Prince Lu", which was belatedly arriving.
"The rain is too heavy and the coachman is afraid of getting into trouble, so he is slowing down. Your Majesty and everyone have been waiting for a long time!" The carriage arrived in front of the pavilion, but Queen Mother Rui did not get out of the car. She just spoke calmly to Jiang Qianchuan and others through the curtain of the carriage. , "The widow does not dare to delay you, so I will take my leave now!"
"Your Majesty's words are serious, a banquet has been held in the pavilion..." Jiang Qianchuan's waiting here was just to show off - they have a lot of things to do now. Seeing that Empress Dowager Rui refused to get out of the car, he gave in: "That's it. , I wish your Majesty and His Highness Prince Lu a safe journey!"
"Farewell!" Queen Mother Rui uttered two words coldly. The coachman waved his whip, and the horse pulling the carriage neighed. Along the official road, the lonely palace carriage gradually disappeared into the rain.
The back of the knight who was watching the last of the team was also blurred. Jiang Qianchuan wiped the water droplets from his clothes and said calmly: "I'll go back later! The front office is busy now, and the banquet that has been arranged in the pavilion needs to be removed!"
"I obey the order!"
(End of this volume.)