When Cheng Lu was expelled from the family, Min Jia had not married into the family yet. By the time she married into the family, Jiuru Lane had already been divided into different clans. The people in the capital were either hereditary servants or newly bought people. Hereditary servants knew the rules and would not say anything. They also felt that there was nothing worth saying about Cheng Lu, who was driven out by the Cheng family. The newly bought people did not know, so Min Jia naturally knew nothing about Cheng Lu. However, since the signature was surnamed "Cheng", he might be a member of the Cheng family and had a courtesy name, which showed that this person had made achievements.
Min Jia was a little unsure what this man named Cheng Xiangqing wanted her to do - Madam Yuan was in charge of matters in the inner courtyard of the Cheng family, while Cheng Xu was in charge of matters in the outer courtyard. No matter what Cheng Xiangqing wanted her to do, it seemed that she could not help. What's more, she had never met Cheng Xiangqing. To her, he was just an outsider, so there was no question of whether they had met or not.
She handed the letter to the little maid and said, "Give it to the master to deal with."
The little maidservant left in response, and returned a moment later, saying tremblingly, "Master is not in the room. He said he was punished by the master to kneel in the ancestral hall."
After Cheng Xu said this, everyone had to kneel in the ancestral temple.
When Mrs. Guo left, her mother-in-law was so angry that she couldn't speak. I don't know if she is feeling better now. As a daughter-in-law, should I go over and comfort her mother-in-law? With her mother-in-law's temper, I'm afraid she would rather swallow her anger than see me in such a state, right
Min Jia hesitated, but finally went to Yuan's place.
Yuan was so angry that she lay on the bed, and Cheng Jing was sitting there trying to comfort her. When she heard that it was her daughter-in-law who came, Yuan hurriedly shook her head at Cheng Jing.
Cheng Jing couldn't help but sigh and said, "If you had married a wife from a lower social class, you would have a wife to talk to now!"
With such a thing happening at home, Yuan wanted to save face. She would be embarrassed in front of the daughter-in-law of the Min family's eldest daughter, so she had to keep it a secret. Even if she couldn't keep it a secret, she had to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Yuan said unhappily, "There are so many daughters-in-law like that. What's the point of having one? Does this happen every day in our family?"
"When a family lives together, there are times when the upper teeth fight with the lower teeth." Cheng Jing said, "I think you should make some things clear to Min."
Yuan said nothing.
Her mind was not on this at all now, she was still thinking about what Cheng Xu said.
"I'm so sincere to him, how can he blame me like this?" Yuan said, her heart felt like it was cut by a knife, and she couldn't help but cry again.
Cheng Jing frowned and said, "Don't worry about Jiashan's affairs anymore. I gave the child to you because I was busy in Beijing and didn't have time to take care of him. He didn't have a supervisor in Beijing and I was afraid that he would learn bad things from those playboys. Now that the family has reunited and moved to Beijing, you just need to take care of the affairs of the inner house..."
Yuan opened her mouth wide, and after a while she said, "You, are you blaming me too?"
It is true that a son cannot grow up better than a woman's hands.
Cheng Jing used to think that his wife was the daughter of a minister, and that they were all raised by their mother. Even if his wife was not as good as his mother, she was better than ordinary women. In the early years, he saw that she was really dedicated in raising Cheng Xu, so he gave the child to Yuan. But he never thought that he would eventually raise his son astray.
There is no woman in the world who can compare to his mother.
Cheng Jing thought so in his heart, and his expression couldn't help but reveal it a little.
Yuan's heart sank, and she cried, "Why do you think so? I have been helping you with housework, serving my mother-in-law, and raising children in my hometown for these years. I have been working diligently and have not dared to be careless in the slightest. Now that the child is like this, I am sadder than anyone else. Instead of comforting me, you blame me..."
Cheng Jing really didn't want to say anything.
Over the years, it was because he remembered his wife's hard work that he respected her so much and didn't even have a concubine in his official position in the capital for so many years...
He stood up in an irritable mood and said, "You'd better take a good rest! I'll go see mother and discuss the Jiashan matter with my second uncle." After that, he left the inner room without waiting for Yuan to say anything.
Yuan was anxious and angry, her chest ached, and she fell on the bed with cold sweat on her forehead.
There was a sudden panic in the room.
By the time Yuan's wet nurse chased out, Cheng Jing had long disappeared.
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In the study room outside Chen Li's house in Fuchengmen, Cheng Lu was listening to the servant's reply with an uncertain look: "... He said that she is a woman in the inner house and it is not appropriate for her to see a man outside. If you have anything to say, please go to their master."
The servant spoke cautiously while observing Cheng Lu's expression.
Cheng Lu's expression became even uglier.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Xu passed the imperial examination smoothly. Will he take the examination for Shujishi next and stay in the Hanlin Academy to observe government affairs
He looked at the long gown he was wearing, which was only worn by scholars, and his face became even uglier.
Chen Li finally helped himself regain his status as a scholar, so he didn't have to change his name and take the exam again. But even so, the years he wasted could not be made up - he used to be slightly behind Cheng Xu, but now there is a huge gap between them.
It’s all the Cheng family’s fault that he is in this situation!
Cheng Lu clenched his hands into fists.
The boy was so frightened that his legs went weak.
Fortunately, the voice of the servant on duty came from outside the door: "Sir, the steward of the Fourth Prince's mansion came over and said that the Buddha's Bathing Festival is coming soon. The people below presented some incense and candles to the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince thought they were of good quality, so he specially ordered the steward in the mansion to send some over. But the master is not at home. Can you take a look at this gift list?"
The fourth prince’s mansion
The crown prince died, and the second prince, the fifth prince, and the seventh prince were either killed or demoted. The most capable person in the court was the fourth prince.
The Emperor has appointed a Crown Prince, and when the Emperor passes away, one of the Fourth Prince's descendants will not be able to escape.
"Just do what your grandmother usually does." Cheng Lu took a deep breath before he could say this in a calm tone.
If you marry into the wife's family, you are not qualified to handle these matters.
Who knew that the servant quickly turned back and said respectfully: "Grandma said that the son-in-law should be the master of the house for these matters outside."
Cheng Lu calmed down and said, "Then bring the person over!"
The servant went to invite someone in.
The steward of the Fourth Prince's Mansion bowed respectfully, said a lot of polite words, and took out the gift list and handed it to Cheng Lu.
Cheng Lu didn't look at it for long, then handed the gift list to the housekeeper, saying that he would hand it to Chen Li personally when he returned.
The steward left with many thanks.
Only then did Cheng Lu open the gift list and take a look at it.
Just this one glance was enough to make him dumbfounded.
There was actually half a pound of ambergris in the gift list.
That is something that only the royal family can use and is more precious than gold.
He thought about it, took the gift list and went to Chen's place: "Should we return the gift or something?"
"Yes!" Chen wanted to have a child, but there was no sign of pregnancy. She invited the imperial physician to come and take care of her body. She stared at the medicine all day long. Hearing this, she said calmly, "Daddy's rule is that no matter what others give our family, we either refuse it or return the gift in half."
Cheng Lu hesitated and said, "The Fourth Prince's Mansion gave a gift of no less than four thousand taels of silver... Isn't that a bad idea?"
Chen smiled and said, "It's not like the Fourth Prince is the only one who sent gifts to our family! Apart from the one from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, our family has never returned a full gift!"
The prince
This was the first time that Cheng Lu felt the power of the eunuchs at such a close distance!
He was silent for a moment.
Chen thought that it was because of her that he pulled the trigger, and his words made his pride a little uncomfortable, so she smiled and said, "But there is no rush to return the gift. It won't be too late to wait until Dad decides on the return gift. Anyway, we don't understand these things outside."
Cheng Lu nodded.
When Chen Li came back, he handed the gift list to Chen Li.
Who knew that Chen Li looked at it disapprovingly and told the manager: "Just give the return gift of two thousand taels of silver."
Cheng Lu wanted to say something but stopped.
Chen Li still liked this son-in-law very much. After all, he was a member of the Cheng family in Jiuru Lane, Jinling.
Seeing this, he smiled and asked, "Do you think there is anything wrong with this, sir?"
Cheng Lu thought for a moment and said, "To be honest with you, father-in-law, I think we should make friends with the Fourth Prince at this time!"
As expected of a child of an aristocratic family, even though he was forced out, he still has such vision and breadth of mind.
Chen Li asked kindly, "What do you mean?"
Cheng Lu lowered his voice and said, "Father-in-law served the emperor all his life. When the emperor passed away, he would naturally make some arrangements for father-in-law. But I see that the attendants in the past dynasties were either arranged to guard the imperial mausoleum or arranged to leave the palace for retirement. But who hasn't offended a villain while on duty? These villains make trouble and give the attendants who are far away from the forbidden palace the most headaches. Now the crown prince is only ten years old, and the several uncles are all in their prime. Chickenpox and smallpox are both difficult obstacles. I think father-in-law should leave more options. Although he doesn't have to curry favor with the fourth prince, he doesn't have to offend him either."
Chen Li looked at Cheng Lu with a more profound look and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be so concerned with the affairs of the court!"
"Who wouldn't care about the affairs of the court?" Cheng Lu said solemnly, "When the emperor gets angry, millions of corpses will float on the surface. We don't want to get promoted or make money, but we can't let our families suffer!"
Chen Li laughed and said, "The emperor has been feeling a little unwell these days, so I shouldn't have left the palace. But I was worried that you two wouldn't be able to live well at home, so I came out to check. Since you said so, I'll leave this matter to you. If anyone in the Fourth Prince's Mansion asks, just say that I haven't been home."
If it works, he will benefit. If it doesn't, he can just make a move.
Cheng Lu was overjoyed.
It's not that it's too late to start your career, but it's that no one in the court will promote you. You may sit on the bench for ten or twenty years and no one will pay attention to you.
As long as they can get on board the Fourth Prince's ship, Cheng Xu and Cheng Chi can only watch from the sidelines.
Cheng Lu sneered in his heart.
Thinking about the meaning of Chen Li's words just now, after he sent Chen Li away, he discussed with Chen to draft a return gift for the Fourth Prince's Mansion.
The Fourth Prince received the return gift and immediately called his trusted aide over: "Tell me, what does Eunuch Liu mean by this?"
The aide smiled and carefully looked at the gift list, saying, "I'm afraid he wants to have the best of both worlds."
The fourth prince smiled slightly, with a hint of joy in his eyes.
If you have nothing to fear, why change
It can be seen that the old man Chen Li also thinks that he will become the emperor!
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Dear friends, have a nice weekend!
Today's update.
※(To be continued)