Sheng Qingyun, her mother and her two daughters played in the general's mansion until dusk, then reluctantly said goodbye to Sheng Qingluan and returned to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
The next day, when paying respects to the old lady, Sheng Qingyun casually mentioned that Xie Nanjia was adopted as her elder sister's daughter. Except for the old lady, no one else took it seriously.
Her sister is hers, her daughter is hers, and the position of the Duke's wife is also hers. She can do whatever she wants. Xiu'er is her adopted daughter anyway. When she gets married in the future, who knows whether she will be close to them or not. There is no need for them to worry about all these things.
The old lady understood that her eldest daughter-in-law acted out of sympathy for the general's wife. Whether she was an aunt or a stepmother, she just wanted to use Xiu'er to comfort the general's wife for the trauma of losing her daughter. She didn't have much objection to this. The only thing that made her uncomfortable was that Sheng Qingyun always liked to act on his own, act first and report later, and never discuss anything with her.
She was obviously not like this before. Although she always had her own ideas, she would always discuss things with her mother-in-law, and even adopt her opinions most of the time.
Ever since Xiu'er appeared, she has been like a possessed person, impulsive, reckless, unwilling to listen to others, and doing whatever she wants. In order to bring Xiu'er back, she was willing to offend the Queen Mother and disregard the safety of the entire mansion. She is like a completely different person.
Of course, she could understand that it was inevitable for a mother to lose her mind after her child was lost for twelve years, but she was the wife of a duke, not a peasant woman, and getting into trouble again and again was really unworthy of a mother of a noble family.
Because of her disappointment in Sheng Qingyun, the old lady inevitably transferred some of her emotions to Xie Nanjia, and in comparison, she felt more pity for Princess Jinping.
In her opinion, Princess Jinping is well-behaved, smart, well-educated and well-mannered. She has a lively and playful side as well as a dignified and virtuous side. She can act coquettishly when she should and be obedient when she should. She is both pleasing and worry-free. She is a perfect lady from a noble family.
Unlike Xie Nanjia, who was too dazzlingly beautiful, too insightful, and too sharp in eyes, as if she could see through people's hearts at a glance. Even when she was smiling, there was a sense of alienation, as if she was a phoenix hovering in the sky. In her eyes, all living beings were like crows and could only be watched from afar, not played with.
Yes, the old lady admitted that she had underestimated her before. Her temperament seemed more noble and advanced than Jinping's, but what was the use? The only one who could become a phoenix and bring glory to the family in the future was Jinping!
This was a common choice made by her, her father, her mother, her grandfather and her brother. They did not agree with the proposal of an old woman like her and would rather risk losing their heads to let Jinping marry into the palace. What else could she do
All she could do was to try her best to teach Jinping well, hoping that Jinping would be able to protect the Duke's Mansion as the Queen Mother in the future. Then, they would understand her good intentions.
Thinking of this, the old lady calmed down a little, put aside her dissatisfaction, and asked Sheng Qingyun: "Have you arranged the teaching nanny? When will she come?"
To enter the palace, one must understand the palace rules. Ever since it was decided that Princess Jinping would enter the palace, the mansion began to arrange to invite Nanny Xi for advice. After much selection, they finally chose Aunt Xing, who had just come out of the palace last year.
Aunt Xing is not only good at teaching etiquette, but most importantly, she has just left the palace and is familiar with the situation in the palace. She can teach things that other maids cannot.
"Everything has been arranged." Sheng Qingyun replied, "Aunt Xing said that since the Chinese New Year is just around the corner, she wants the young lady to have a good and leisurely New Year. Classes will begin on the sixth day of the first lunar month."
The old lady calculated the time and found that it would only be about half a month, so she nodded and said, "Then let her do as she pleases. Let the child spend the New Year in peace and happiness before we talk about it."
Meanwhile in Kunning Palace, the Queen was discussing with the Crown Prince that they were busy preparing for the New Year and were afraid that they would not be able to spare time to deal with Zhao Jingyu, so it would be better for them to just spend the New Year leisurely first.
After all, if something happened to Zhao Jingyu during the New Year and the emperor got angry, I'm afraid the entire capital would not be able to celebrate the New Year well.
Song Jingxing also privately wanted to further confirm his and his mother's guesses, so he followed his mother's suggestion and kept his troops on hold for the time being, secretly sending people to continue investigating Zhao Jingyu's identity.
Marquis Dingyuan had the same idea. Several incidents had happened in the mansion within a year. If she continued to make trouble, not only the old lady would be unable to bear her, but everyone would be unable to bear it. Therefore, he discussed with Zhao Jingyu that no matter what actions were to be taken against Kunning Palace and the Eastern Palace, everything should be decided after the New Year.
Zhao Jingyu had no objection and didn't take Song Jingxing and his mother seriously. In comparison, he cared more about Xie Nanjia.
Through her secret investigations over the past few days, Xie Nanjia has basically confirmed that Princess Jinping is conspiring with others to commit fraud, and she already has a general direction and goal for the mastermind behind the scenes.
But now that the New Year was approaching, she didn't want to disrupt the New Year celebrations at the Duke's Mansion. She also wanted to spend the New Year peacefully with her aunt, and then take advantage of the New Year holiday to stay with her parents and brother at the General's Mansion for a few days, and stay with her son at the Marquis' Mansion for a few days.
Anyway, the bad guys are there and won't run away, and she doesn't want to ruin the most important holiday of the year for those unimportant people.
Tomorrow was coming, and she couldn't wait to go to the city gate to welcome her father's triumphant return.
This time, she could finally call him father openly.
On the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, General Wu'an drove out the barbarians and returned victoriously. The capital was decorated with lights and music. The emperor ordered the Minister of Rites to lead all the officials to the north gate to welcome him. The people also went to welcome the general, young and old.
In order to accompany his sister to the city gate to welcome his uncle, Su Jincheng specially exchanged shifts for a day. He got up early in the morning, dressed neatly, and took more than a dozen brothers from four rooms and two sisters with him, and headed towards the north city gate in a mighty manner.
Originally, he couldn't spare the time, but last night Xie Nanjia went to look for him. After being rejected by him, she asked him a question: "Tomorrow's grand event will probably be more lively than watching the lanterns. Brother, aren't you afraid that I'll get lost again?"
This way, he could no longer refuse, and even if it rained knives from the sky, he would have to go with her without hesitation.
Xie Nanjia was quite proud of herself for having persuaded this cold-faced brother. But the next day, when she saw the sister-protecting team composed of twelve brothers, she was no longer proud. With such a scene and such a posture, it was impossible for even water to get in. If Zhao Jingyu wanted to take advantage of the situation, it would be harder than climbing to the sky.
If she had known this would happen, she would have gone there quietly.
Even so, Sheng Qingyun was still worried, and prepared the safest carriage in the mansion for the two sisters. He repeatedly warned the twelve brothers to protect their sister well and not to make any mistakes.
The brothers patted their chests and promised that they would always stay by their sister's side, and if any bastard dared to look at their sister for even one more second, they would beat him so hard that even his own mother wouldn't be able to recognize him.
Xie Nanjia: “…”
The carriage left the Duke's Mansion and went onto the street. Twelve handsome and majestic brothers rode on tall horses, three in front, three behind, three on the left and three on the right, surrounding the carriage. It was even more grand than the princess's trip. Wherever they went, they attracted people's attention.
But those brothers are all domineering. As soon as someone glances at them, they frown and shout angrily: "What are you looking at? Don't you want your eyes?"
The more this happened, the more curious people became. They crowded and swarmed, vying to watch, and nothing could stop them.
With so many people watching, I don’t believe they would dare to gouge out everyone’s eyeballs.
Princess Jinping had never been so majestic before. Out of vanity, she lifted the curtain on one side of the carriage and looked out. As soon as she appeared, the people in the county exclaimed:
"Look, it's Jinping County Princess, it's Jinping County Princess!"
"Oh my god, Princess Jinping is so beautiful!"
"No wonder the Queen took a liking to me as soon as I came back. I am simply like a fairy from heaven!"
As a result, people walking on the other side also ran to the other side to see, resulting in one side being empty and the other side being congested.
"Miss, people all praise you for your beauty!" Caidie said proudly.
Princess Jinping's vanity was greatly satisfied, and she even stretched out her hand to wave to everyone.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Xie Nanjia and Liusu, who was accompanying them, looked at each other and were speechless about this master and servant couple.
Su Jincheng was riding in the front. By the time he noticed what Princess Jinping was doing, it was too late to stop her. People were scrambling to get in front of the carriage, almost squeezing out the Su brothers on this side.
Xie Nanjia listened to the noise outside and was afraid that something might happen, so she tried to dissuade them, "Sister, stop waving and put down the curtain quickly. There are so many people outside. If you continue like this, it will cause chaos and lead to casualties."
"You are exaggerating. I don't have that much charm." Jinping County Lady laughed and said, "I have only heard of throwing fruits to fill the carriage, but I have never heard of people dying from watching the excitement. If that were the case, wouldn't more people be squeezed to death at the city gate? General Wu'an would even be a criminal."
Xie Nanjia was surprised at her ignorance and even more angry that she was making fun of her father. His face immediately turned cold, and he pulled her away from the carriage and threw her into the car.
"Sister, you have never seen the world, so just stay still and don't make any rash moves, so as not to embarrass our Duke's Mansion!"
Princess Jinping fell to the floor of the carriage, immediately angry and humiliated, and shouted at Xie Nanjia: "Who are you to teach me a lesson!"
Caidie also rushed over to protect her young lady, and shouted at Xie Nanjia: "That's right, you are just an adopted daughter, why do you have the right to control our county lady? You are rebelling!"
Seeing this, Liusu retorted: "You are just a servant, why do you teach our young lady a lesson? You are rebellious!"
The person standing next to the carriage outside heard the voice inside and shouted, "There is another one, there is another one inside, the adopted daughter is also there..."
"Let us take a look at what your adopted daughter looks like..."
Upon hearing this, Jinping County Lady said sarcastically, "You are feeling unbalanced because I am being praised by others, right?"
"Shut up!" Xie Nanjia grabbed her collar and shouted angrily, "If you dare to say another word, I will smash your face and make you lose face!"
"..." When their eyes met, Princess Jinping clearly saw the murderous intent in her eyes and was so scared that she shut her mouth.
The shouts from outside continued in waves, more and more people gathered around, and it seemed that the carriage could not move forward.
The Su brothers were caught off guard by the sudden chaos. They were all equipped with weapons for self-defense, but these people were all civilians and they could not use force easily.
Su Jincheng was squeezed so tightly that he didn't even have room to turn his horse's head. If he dismounted, the horse would be unattended and would surely be frightened and run away, causing people to panic and trample on it. He couldn't let this happen.
Just when they were at their wits' end, a red figure flew up like a roc, and in an instant landed on top of the carriage. Holding a longbow, he put an arrow on the bowstring and shouted, "Everyone, get out of my way! I'm rushing to the city to meet the general. Anyone who dares to stand in my way will be sent to hell now!"
The noise in the street suddenly stopped. People were stunned at first, and then recognized him as Marquis Dingyuan, the tyrannical and domineering playboy who even dared to hit the crown prince.
"Hurry, hurry, get out of the way! This guy really dares to kill people!" someone shouted in the crowd.
(End of this chapter)