The thing that worried Mrs. Guo the most in her life was Cheng Chi, her late son. The thought of him becoming a wandering merchant for the family made Mrs. Guo so sad that she couldn't speak for a long time, let alone have the mood to see the scenery and entertain the aunts and uncles at home.
It's ok now.
Not only did his son enter the official career, he married a wife he loved and also had a son... Now he is about to have another baby.
Old Madam Guo's eyes were smiling till they were slits, and she repeatedly ordered Zhenzhu to open the storehouse: "The bird's nest must not be out of stock, and we also need to prepare some ginseng, deer antlers, and cordyceps. Clean out all the clothes that Yun'er used when he was a child, wash them again, and put them in the boxes. Send someone to tell Chu Jin and the master of the in-laws... and send someone to report the good news to Mrs. Qiu, and to the second old master... ask what Shao Jin likes to eat? Cook according to her taste these days, and let her not come to serve me. Send Yun'er to my place as well, he is so reckless and it will not be good if he offends his mother..." After saying this, she was filled with trouble.
Madam Guo couldn't help but stroke her forehead and said to Madam Lu, "Leave the household affairs to me! Let Shaojin rest and take care of the baby in peace."
Madam Lu replied with a smile, "Yes," and said to Madam Guo in a playful way, "If Madam can give birth to another son this time, your mission will be complete."
Madam Guo thought what Madam Lu said was unpleasant, and said unhappily, "What do you mean by a perfect success? Our Cheng family just has few children. Of course, the more children we have, the better!" She added, "As the saying goes, flowers bloom first, then fruits are produced. It would be great if this pregnancy is a daughter. The next pregnancy can be a son... Having both sons and daughters, that would be great."
Madam Lu hurriedly smiled and said, "The old lady is very insightful. I have followed you all my life and learned from you all my life, but I haven't learned even one third of what you have done."
Old Madam Guo smiled and didn't take her words to heart. She changed her clothes and went to see Zhou Shaojin.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking happily. Mrs. Qiu, who had received the news, came over with her daughter-in-law Mrs. Xie. Everyone was happy again. Mrs. Chang came over with Abao and Aren, and also brought some supplements. She hugged Yun'er, who ran in with a snowball behind him, and said with a smile: "You are going to be a big brother. You will have someone to play with in the future."
Yun Ge'er spoke clearly and logically. He opened his eyes wide and said to Chang: "But I already have Brother Yan!"
Among these cousins, only Brother Yan is younger than him and is his younger brother. The others are either brothers or nephews, and if they are nephews, they are older than him.
Chang smiled and said, "Are you happy that you have another younger brother?"
Every time Yun'er went to visit his aunt's house, Yan Guan was either sleeping or breastfeeding, which was not fun at all.
He doesn't like a younger brother like Brother Yan.
He thought for a long time and said to Madam Guo and Zhou Shaojin, "Can he play with Brother Yan? I want to play with my cousin Guan Da, A Bao, A Ren and my cousin Rui. I don't want to play with my brother."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Madam Guo smiled and said, "If it was a younger sister, I'm afraid everyone would be vying to play with her."
Zhou Shaojin likes daughters, but wants to have a son - in this world, life with a son is much better than with a daughter.
Mrs. Qiu smiled and said, "It doesn't matter whether it's a son or a daughter. We have too few children in our family."
Chang nodded continuously.
Mrs. Guo was very happy and invited them to have dinner at her home.
Cheng Chi came back after receiving the letter.
He acted very calmly, as if he had known about it long ago. He changed his clothes, went to Tingxiang Courtyard to chat with his mother and Qiu and others, and then went to the study in the outer courtyard to prepare the content of the next lesson for the Crown Prince.
Zhou Shaojin was slightly disappointed.
In the evening, Cheng Chi sent a maid to let her go to bed first, saying that she was pregnant and it would be difficult for her to stay up late, and he would be back later.
Zhou Shaojin slept alone.
I was awakened in the middle of the night, smelled Cheng Chi's breath, and felt a coolness on my hand.
She quickly opened her eyes and found a bracelet on her wrist.
Ordinary bracelets are cylindrical, but this one is flat. At first glance, it looks like an armband, made of Hetian jade, with a pattern of 10,000 characters carved on it. It is pure white, like a pile of sparkling snow.
Zhou Shaojin liked it very much at first sight.
She looked at Cheng Chi in confusion.
Cheng Chi smiled and kissed her cheek, but answered irrelevantly in a low voice: "Were you unhappy just now?"
Zhou Shaojin's face turned red.
How could she not be happy when her man was doing serious work
But it cannot be denied that Cheng Chi went to the study room so coldly... She still hoped that Cheng Chi could be more affectionate to her.
Cheng Chi laughed softly, hugged Zhou Shaojin in his arms, put his face close to hers, and whispered, "Silly girl! Don't let your imagination run wild. I have something to do."
Zhou Shaojin nodded obediently, and the unhappiness in his heart disappeared without a trace.
Cheng Chi sighed softly in his heart.
They have been married for such a long time, and she dotes on the child so much that he thought she would pay more attention to the child, but he didn't expect that he was still the first in her heart and eyes.
Cheng Chi felt like he was soaked in a honey pot.
He was a little glad that on the way back from the yamen, he had a sudden impulse to go to the jewelry store and bought a piece of jewelry for his little girl, otherwise her little girl would have been jealous.
Cheng Chi gently touched her still flat belly and whispered, "The Third Prince beat up the Fourth Prince in the upper study this afternoon."
"Ah?!" Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Chi in horror.
Cheng Chi stroked her hair and said softly, "The emperor summoned the fourth prince this afternoon to discuss the tax issues in Jiangnan these days. He wanted the fourth prince to work with the Ministry of Revenue to come up with a plan to reduce taxes in Jiangnan. As a result, not long after the fourth prince arrived at the study, the third prince asked to see him. The emperor didn't want to see him at first, but a young eunuch serving beside him accidentally knocked the "Ten Records of Agriculture and Sericulture" that the emperor had packed up a few days ago to the ground. The emperor looked at the book and suddenly changed his mind and asked someone to summon the third prince in.
"After the Third Prince went in and saluted the Emperor, he punched the Fourth Prince in the face without saying a word.
"The people serving in the upper study were all shocked.
"It was not until the Third Prince knocked the Fourth Prince to the ground and the Fourth Prince kept saying 'What happened to you?' that he came to his senses and pulled the Third Prince off the Fourth Prince.
“The Emperor was furious.
"The Third Prince was shouting something like 'I'm going to beat him', 'I just want to please my father and be a wise king in the future. But he harbored evil intentions and thought that everyone was like him. He couldn't stand seeing me in the limelight, so he thought of ways to hide the pregnant actress in my house, and when the actress gave birth to a child, he brought the child out to embarrass me', 'If he is really an upright gentleman, why didn't he hand the child over to my father to deal with"... The eunuchs serving in the study were so scared that they wished they could be deaf and blind... "
Zhou Shaojin could not help but tightly grasp Cheng Chi's collar and said, "Then, then the Third Prince..."
"The emperor was also very angry," Cheng Chi said, "and wanted to imprison the third prince. But the crown prince came and persuaded the emperor for a long time, and said a lot of good things for the third prince, so the emperor changed his mind. But the third prince also lost his throne. Although he was not demoted to a commoner, he was handed over to the clan house for discipline. As for what will happen to him in the future, no one can predict."
"What about the Fourth Prince?" Zhou Shaojin asked worriedly, "Will the Emperor think that he was wronged and look at him differently?"
"No." Cheng Chi smiled, "Don't you think this is interesting? The eunuch in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the fury of the Third Prince, the plea of the Crown Prince..."
Zhou Shaojin's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "You mean... this was arranged by the Third Prince and the Crown Prince?"
"I don't know." Cheng Chi smiled, "But if it was me, and I was demoted to a prince by the emperor, and lost the qualification to compete for the throne, rather than letting the person who harmed me live happily and possibly continue to be the emperor, it would be better to fight to the death and plant the seeds of suspicion in the emperor's heart, so that your life would not be easy. As for him, he is the emperor's flesh and blood anyway. Even if the emperor is angry with him, at most he will demote him to a commoner. Can he kill him? As long as the prince is demoted to a commoner, as long as his enemy does not take the throne, he will have no worries about food and clothing in the future. What is there to be afraid of?"
Zhou Shaojin sighed and said, "I'd better stay home and do your laundry. Things outside are really complicated."
Cheng Chi laughed and said, "My Shao Jin is also very smart, but he just doesn't like to use his brain."
Zhou Shaojin burst out laughing and said, "If this matter is really related to the Crown Prince, then he is too smart. Could it be true that 'deep love does not lead to longevity, and extreme wisdom will lead to injury'? He died of illness very early in his previous life..." His tone was full of pity, "If the Fourth Prince has no chance of inheriting the throne, and the Crown Prince dies, then who will be the emperor?"
Cheng Chi smiled and said, "If the King of Hell wants you to die at three o'clock in the morning, who can keep you alive until five o'clock? There is nothing we can do about it. At least the Cheng family has been saved."
This too!
She had previously suspected whether the Crown Prince's death had anything to do with the Fourth Prince. Now that the Fourth Prince's ambitions had been exposed in advance, according to what Cheng Chi had just said, the Crown Prince had begun to suspect that the Fourth Prince was plotting something ill. Under such circumstances, if the Crown Prince still did not know how to guard against the Fourth Prince, then even if he became the emperor, he would not be able to sit on the throne for long and would not be able to sit on the throne steadily. If he began to guard against the Fourth Prince now, the Crown Prince would still die in the end, whether he died of illness or was killed by someone, it was fate. They could not change people's fate, could they? !
Zhou Shaojin decided to let nature take its course.
She stopped thinking about the future situation, smiled and rubbed the bracelet on her wrist, changed the subject, and said: "Is this a gift for me?"
"Yeah!" Cheng Chi smiled, "Knowing that I'm going to be a father again, I'm very happy, so I want to buy something for you, do you like it?"
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a smile.
Cheng Chi was also happy, he tucked her in, and said with a smile: "Go to sleep!"
Zhou Shaojin buried his head in his arms.
Cheng Chi laughed softly, the echo from his chest vibrated her ears, and she felt inexplicably happy.
※
Hey guys, today's update.
O(∩_∩)O~
Thank you all for your donations. It seems that I can only repay my debts when I open a new book...
※(To be continued)