For this Dragon Boat Festival family dinner, since Mrs. Sun and Chen Tingjian were sure that the princess and their daughter-in-law would not show up, the seats were arranged as before.
That is, Chen Tingjian and his wife, Chen Tingshi and his wife sat side by side on the two chairs on the north side, and there were two seats on the left and right, where Chen Bochong, Chen Xiaozong, Chen Jingzong, Chen Jizong and their wives sat. The children sat on small seats behind their parents.
As soon as Huayang arrived, her status became the most honorable.
Chen Tingshi was just nervous, but Qi was smarter than him. After greeting each other, she smiled at Huayang flatteringly, and then said to Sun: "Sister-in-law, ask the princess to sit in the chair over here, and we will go downstairs."
Sun looked at her husband. It was proper for the princess to sit in the main seat, but wasn't there the fourth son? How could he have the nerve to bypass his uncle and brothers
Without waiting for Chen Tingjian to speak, Huayang took the initiative to say, "Family members only respect seniority, I will just sit with the Prince Consort."
After hearing this, Chen Jingzong led her to the table on the left near the entrance of the hall.
Seeing this, Chen Tingjian smiled and said, "Princess, please don't be fussy about trivial matters. Just sit like this."
Everyone sat down again.
But with Huayang's arrival, the atmosphere could no longer return to its previous relaxed state. It was about to become dull. Wanyi walked to Huayang's side obediently, and her fair little hands held up a wristband made of five-colored silk threads: "Fourth aunt, for the Dragon Boat Festival, I wove some colorful silk threads and gave them to my grandmother, my great-aunt, and my mother. This one is for you. Do you like it?"
It is said that wearing colorful silk during the Dragon Boat Festival can both ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
Huayang also compiled this when he was seven or eight years old, but he lost interest when he grew older.
"I like it. Wanyi's hands are becoming more and more skillful."
Wanyi's eyes lit up: "Let me put it on Fourth Aunt."
Huayang smiled and held out his hand.
She lifted her sleeves slightly, revealing a wrist as white as snow, but it was lower than the table surface, just enough to be blocked by the tall and strong Chen Jingzong next to her.
Therefore, such a beautiful wrist was only seen by Chen Jingzong and his nephew.
Chen Jingzong couldn't help but recall the erotic scene of her two slender wrists being held above her head with one hand.
There was cold tea on the table. Chen Jingzong grabbed the tea bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
Boldness is about boldness, not the occasion.
Chen Tingjian glared at him implicitly. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." The princess is so noble, how could the fourth son have the nerve to be rough with her
Sun took the opportunity to chat and laugh with Qi to ease the atmosphere.
The greedy Sanlang secretly tugged at his mother's sleeve. Luo Yuyan shook her head at her son and told him to continue to endure it.
After a cup of tea, Sun told the maid to go to the kitchen to serve the meal.
Soon, the maids came in in an orderly manner carrying trays. On each table there was a plate of four bamboo leaf palms, a plate of mung bean cakes, and four vegetarian dishes.
The bamboo leaf rice dumplings had just come out of the pot, emitting wisps of white mist. The little maid skillfully removed the rice leaves and lowered her head to retreat.
There are four rice dumplings, one with plain filling to dip in sugar, one with red bean paste filling, one with candied dates filling, and one with egg yolk filling.
Chen Jingzong asked Huayang: "Which one do you eat?"
Huayang picked up the candied date rice dumpling and whispered, "One is enough for me."
She ate slowly and Chen Jingzong tried hard to think of the rice dumpling in his mouth as meat filling. He was eating it without any appetite when he suddenly heard a whimper, like a pheasant whose throat was pinched and stopped abruptly.
The couple looked up at the same time.
On the right side of the chair, Qi was covering her face with a handkerchief. Seeing that everyone was staring at her, she simply stopped hiding her tears and cried a few times.
Chen Tingshi blushed for her and said helplessly, "We should be celebrating the festival, why are you crying?"
Qi sobbed twice, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and choked up as she said, "I miss my old lady. Every year during the holidays, she would talk about our big family. This year, we are finally all together, but she can't see it."
Huayang had put down his chopsticks when he heard the crying. Now he looked at his father-in-law and saw that he was sitting quietly with his eyes lowered, and his eyes slowly turned red.
Regardless of whether Qi was acting or not, which filial son could tolerate her words
Huayang had heard that his father-in-law was born in a poor family and lived in an official residence when he first came to Beijing, a simple two-room courtyard. When his father-in-law finally got a foothold in the capital and had a house, he immediately brought his mother, brothers, wife and children who were left in his hometown over. But the old lady liked the comfort of her hometown more, and she really couldn't adapt to the climate in the capital, so his father-in-law had to send her back.
The capital city and Lingzhou are too far apart. Even though the officials in the capital city have a month's holiday during the New Year, my father-in-law cannot make it back and it is difficult for him to fulfill his filial piety.
Heavy emotions spread out like a tide. Sun cried, and the eldest sister-in-law Yu Xiu and the third sister-in-law Luo Yuyan also took up their handkerchiefs to wipe their tears. Chen Bozong and Chen Xiaozong also lowered their heads. Even if they didn't cry, their eyes were red.
Huayang was observing when he suddenly saw Chen Jingzong pick up the rice dumpling, dip it in sugar as if nothing had happened, put it directly in front of him, and took a small bite of it.
Although he didn't make much noise, the whole family was in silence and he was the only one who moved. Who could not see it
Huayang looked at his nose and his heart, but his left hand quietly reached out and twisted Chen Jingzong's thigh.
Chen Jingzong was originally holding the chopsticks with his right hand, but he suddenly put down the chopsticks, quickly lowered his hand, and grabbed Huayang before she left, holding her tightly.
He did not just hold it, but rubbed her tender palm with the calloused fingertips.
It's like a hunter waiting for a rabbit to come to him. He finally catches a rabbit leg and even if he doesn't eat it, he still wants to satisfy his craving.
Huayang: …
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, she did not dare to move, but her face gradually turned red, and waves of numbness came from the palms of her hands.
Fortunately, others understood her expression as her shame for having an "unfilial" grandson like Chen Jingzong as her son-in-law.
Qi knew that Chen Jingzong had always been an outlier in the eldest house, hated by everyone. She was resentful of Chen Jingzong for kicking her own son. Seeing Chen Jingzong taking the initiative to hand over the handle, Qi wiped her tears and said, "Jingzong, the old lady loved you the most when she was alive. Don't you miss her at all?"
Chen Jingzong held his beautiful wife's soft little hand, feeling good, and smiled at Qi: "If you miss her only when you cry, then when you are not crying, don't you miss her?"
Qi was almost choked by these words!
Even the most learned scholars like Chen Tingjian, Chen Bochong, Chen Xiaozong and other new and old top scorers in the imperial examinations did not know how to refute Chen Jingzong's words.
Sun came out to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, it's a big festival, let's continue eating. The old lady is very kind, she definitely doesn't want to see us losing our appetite because of her."
After hearing this, everyone picked up their chopsticks.
Chen Jingzong silently let go of Huayang.
Huayang ate the rice dumplings calmly. In his mind, he had already locked Chen Jingzong in a side room and locked it with more than ten layers of locks to see if he could do anything else.
According to Huayang's personality in her previous life, she would not stay here to listen to some family gossip, but now she had other thoughts, so she smiled and sat next to her mother-in-law.
Sun hid her surprise and said to Qi, "I see we have built three more walls behind us. Are you planning to expand the house?"
Qi glanced at Huayang and replied, "Didn't I tell you before that we are worried that we won't have enough bricks to repair the house in the first month of the year? If we buy too much, it will be difficult to return it, and it will be a waste to leave it there, so we will build a wall at the back first. In the future, whether to build a garden or a house for the grandchildren to use when they grow up is entirely up to you and brother."
Luo Yuyan looked towards Huayang. There wasn't much renovation to be seen in the Chen residence. Only Siyi Hall was newly built.
Huayang drank her tea leisurely. She came from afar to mourn for the old lady. The Chen house was too small. If they didn't build a new house for her, would she and her husband have to live in the same yard with one of her brothers and sisters-in-law
However, this task fell into the hands of Chen Tingshi and Qi. In their previous life, the couple could boldly accept 120,000 taels of silver as a tribute from local officials and wealthy people. Now that their father-in-law sent the silver back this time, it was impossible for Qi to spend all the money on Siyitang and the old lady's funeral. She would inevitably pass off inferior goods as good ones and cook the books to enrich herself.
Qi's...
Huayang looked again at the beautiful woman in plain clothes who seemed to be sitting respectfully next to his mother-in-law.
Qi seemed to be aware of something, but when she looked over, she found the fairy-like princess sipping tea leisurely, with a flawless white face. Qi was conceited that she was the most beautiful in the town, but when she really met the princess, she realized what it meant to be a person who only sees the world from a well.
However, when she thought that such a noble beauty had fallen into the hands of Chen Jingzong's rough nephew, and had to serve a rough man at night like the common women like them, Qi felt comfortable and felt that she was not much different from the princesses in the palace.
Sun was still talking to herself: "Da Lang and the others are still young, so there is no rush to expand the house. The master's idea is to temporarily divide the land into two gardens, east and west. The west garden will be for us women to plant flowers and grass, and the east garden will be cultivated by their grandfathers themselves. After they have truly experienced the hardships of the common people in farming, they will know how to always think about the common people when they become officials in the future."
It sounds nice, but in fact it just means finding something for the family to kill time so that they don't get sick from idleness.
Huayang flattered her mother-in-law: "Father cares about the people, no wonder he is trusted by the emperor."
With her support, the matter was settled.
.
When Huayang returned to Siyi Hall, Chen Jingzong had not returned yet.
She took off her shoes and found a comfortable position to lie on the couch.
The sky outside the window is a deep blue, and the elm leaves are round, small and emerald green.
The weather was a little hot. Huayang fanned himself with one hand and recalled what he had seen this morning, especially Chen Tingshi and the Qi couple.
In his previous life, my younger brother issued an edict to punish the Chen family, listing seven crimes against my father-in-law, one of which was corruption and bribery.
Huayang had read the case files of the Jinyiwei. Regarding the corruption and bribery of his father-in-law, the Jinyiwei only found more than 30,000 taels of silver in the Chen's house in the capital. The Chen family's account book clearly recorded that the tens of thousands of taels of income were all rewards from his father. However, the Jinyiwei found another 120,000 taels of silver and the most critical secret account book in the Chen family's ancestral house in Lingzhou.
The account book records every donation that local officials and wealthy people sent to the ancestral home during the decades that my father-in-law served as an official.
The court blamed my father-in-law for this.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the 120,000 taels were received by Chen Tingshi and his wife Qi without the knowledge of their father-in-law who was far away in the capital, so the money was hidden in the east courtyard where the couple lived, and the account book was hidden in Qi's dowry box!
In her previous life, when Huayang came to Lingzhou, she was unhappy and spent most of her time in Siyi Hall. She had no interest in understanding what happened in the Chen residence, and she didn't take Chen Tingshi and Qi, a pair of ordinary people in the town, seriously. After her rebirth, Huayang remembered the account of "corruption and bribery" of the Chen family, and specifically asked Zhen'er and Zhu'er to carefully inquire about the character of the five people in the East Courtyard.
Chen Tingshi, to put it nicely, is honest and simple-minded; to put it bluntly, he is cowardly and useless, and has no say in any of the big or small matters at home.
Qi is a smart and capable person. She controls everything in the Chen family and has the final say.
Chen Jizong is the couple's only son. His cowardly father cannot control him, but Qi can control him but chooses to spoil him. Chen Jizong is like a bully in Shiqiao Town.
As for Chen Jizong's wife and son, one is obedient to Qi and the other is still a baby, so there is no need to worry about them.
Huayang speculated that Qi was the mastermind behind the 120,000 taels, and Chen Tingshi did not have the courage to take them.
Qi's ambition was reflected in all aspects. Before her father-in-law brought them back, the steward of the ancestral home was Qi's cousin!
Suddenly, a big hand touched her leg.
Huayang was startled and instinctively swung the fan in his hand.
With a "slap" sound, the fan hit Chen Jingzong's hand heavily.
Seeing that it was him, Huayang, who had half sat up, kicked him angrily.
Chen Jingzong grabbed her ankle as if he was taking something out of a bag. Looking at Huayang's angry face, he smiled and lowered his gaze.
Huayang was wearing a skirt and now one of her feet was held by him. It was easy to imagine what he could see.
She covered her skirt in time!
Chen Jingzong pressed her feet down, caressing them vaguely, doing something frivolous. He questioned Huayang instead: "Why did you touch my thigh during the banquet this morning?"
Huayang: …
How dare he say that!
"Did I touch you? Everyone else was mourning for the old lady, but you didn't even pretend, so I pinched you as a reminder."
Chen Jingzong looked surprised: "Pinch? Fine, blame me for being thick-skinned. I thought you had some dirty thoughts about me."
Huayang: …
Chen Jingzong let go of her ankles, sat beside her, and looked at her inquiringly: "What are you thinking about? Before, when I came in, you were like a wolf on guard."
When he just walked in, what he saw was her graceful back lying on the couch, lazy and seductive.
Huayang ignored his impropriety and pulled her legs back under her skirt. She shook her fan and whispered, "Is it because you are unpopular? Your father doesn't like you, and your second aunt seems to be quite dissatisfied with you. If you weren't so thick-skinned, anyone else would have knelt down and repented for what you said this morning."
Chen Jingzong looked at her face, which was sometimes covered by a round fan, and asked curiously, "When did you become so concerned about our family's affairs?"
The princess, who was high and mighty, never bothered to discuss the gossip in the mansion.
Hua Yang snorted, "Who made me marry you? I always have to be on guard against others getting angry at me because of you."
Chen Jingzong: "Don't worry about that. Those people would not dare to provoke the golden branches in the palace even if they were brave enough."
Huayang put down his fan and said impatiently: "Just tell me what your relationship with Qi is like."
Chen Jingzong: "It's nothing. I hate people and dogs. I don't get close to anyone."
Huayang smiled. He was quite self-aware.
However, Chen Jingzong did not respect Qi as his aunt, but this was good news for her as it would make things easier for her in the future.
She would pay close attention to why her younger brother hated his father-in-law so much after returning to Beijing, and then find a way to resolve the situation.
But before that, she must eradicate the root of evil at the Chen family's ancestral home. As long as she could not make her father-in-law's "charges" come true, even if her brother still wanted to settle accounts with the Chen family in the future, without the key evidence, her brother could at most dismiss Chen Bochong and others from their posts, and would not end up in such a serious situation as being exiled to the frontier.
(End of this chapter)