After hearing what Zhou Shaojin said, Cheng Xiao covered her mouth with a handkerchief and cried silently.
Zhou Shaojin and Qiu looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.
Originally, Cheng Xiao was the best-married of the Cheng sisters.
Her husband was her cousin, her mother-in-law was her aunt, and the couple had met before marriage and liked each other. Although the Yuan family was a large and powerful family, she had not suffered any hardship since she married.
But now... she was caught in the middle and became the most uncomfortable person.
"If you want to cry, just cry." Zhou Shaojin gently patted Cheng Xiao's back and whispered, "After crying, you have to cheer up. Although the Cheng family is your natal family, a girl can only stand firm in her husband's family if her natal family is powerful after she gets married, but you can't fall out with your husband's family because of your natal family. After all, that is where you will live your whole life. You still have children, you can't just ignore them, right? It's best not to say anything after you go back, and try to find out what Master Yuan is like in private. If Master Yuan doesn't feel sorry for you at all, just pretend that this person doesn't exist. "Yes, just take good care of the child. Your eldest uncle may not fall from power this time, not to mention your second uncle and fourth uncle. Even if your second uncle and fourth uncle are useless, your brother has entered the official career, right? As long as the Cheng family has someone to support the family, the Yuan family will not dare to do anything to you. If Uncle Yuan feels sorry for you, but is powerless to resist under the word "filial piety", you should have a good talk with Uncle Yuan. Even if you can't make him stand up and say a word for you when you are in trouble, he should know your difficulties and know that he feels sorry for you..."
She spoke from the bottom of her heart, but Cheng Xiao stopped crying, opened her bright eyes that were washed by tears and looked at Zhou Shaojin with surprise on her face.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but pause and asked curiously, "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
There was a hint of uneasiness in his tone.
"No, no." Cheng Xiao said hurriedly, "I just didn't expect Auntie to persuade me like this... I thought Auntie would..." She said with difficulty, "Just let me bear it..."
Isn’t this how many women get through this
If it were in her previous life, Zhou Shaojin might have chosen to be patient, but when she knew that patience was useless, she hoped that Cheng Xiao could choose a path that would make her more comfortable.
She smiled a little embarrassedly and explained in a gentle voice: "Although we women are weak, we also help men to bear children and take care of their daily lives. We can't just keep silent about everything because of this, right?"
Cheng Xiao nodded repeatedly and said, "Aunt, you hit the nail on the head. I was just angry at Shi Liang for not standing up for me. Now that I think about it, he was in a difficult situation too... He wanted to talk to me when he came here, but I ignored him..." As she spoke, her eyes began to moisten again.
Shiliang is the pen name of Cheng Xiao’s husband Yuan Ming.
How can I just let go of my loving husband
Zhou Shaojin comforted her, "Then you should make it clear. Otherwise, it will cause estrangement between husband and wife, which is not good!"
Cheng Xiao nodded and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
"Your aunt is right." Mrs. Qiu, who had been listening to them, sighed deeply and said, "As women, we should obey our husbands, but we can't put ourselves in dire straits. The Yuan family was wrong in the first place. Just go and tell Master Yuan. If he stands on the side of the Yuan family, your second uncle will definitely support you and won't let you be bullied by the Yuan family."
Everyone was a little surprised when Qiu said such a thing.
"What are you looking at?" Qiu said with a smile, "Am I not a woman? I can't stand on your side and speak."
"Second Aunt!" Cheng Xiao looked at Qiu gratefully.
"Second sister-in-law!" Zhou Shaojin was a little embarrassed.
Cheng Sheng went forward and hugged her mother, resting her head on her shoulder, and said with a sweet smile: "Mom, you are so kind!"
"It would be bad if I didn't stand on your second cousin's side!" Qiu joked, pushing Cheng Sheng, "Sit down properly. We are all mothers, and you are so rude."
Cheng Sheng sat up straight with a smile.
Qiu advised Cheng Xiao: "Then don't be sad. I believe that Master Yuan is not the kind of unreasonable person..."
Before she finished her words, a maidservant came through the curtain and said, "Second Madam, Fourth Madam, Second Aunt, Third Aunt, Second Uncle is here to pick up Second Aunt."
The people in the room looked at each other in surprise.
Qiu's face was full of smiles. She pushed Cheng Xiao and said happily, "Look, the son-in-law came to pick you up in person. I guess he still misses you. Why don't you go back quickly?"
Cheng Xiao's face turned red, and he seemed to be in a dilemma as to whether to leave or not.
Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Sheng hurriedly followed Qiu's words and urged with a smile: "Why don't you go back quickly? You must come early for Yi Ge'er's full moon banquet in a few days."
Cheng Xiao then blushed and was escorted out of the door by the Qiu family and others.
Yuan Ming no longer had his former cheerfulness, his smile seemed a little awkward. He stepped forward and bowed to Qiu and the others, then whispered to Cheng Xiao, "I saw that you haven't come back yet, so I was afraid something happened, so I came here." There was a hint of caution in his tone.
Zhou Shaojin and the others sighed secretly, and smiled as they saw the couple off to the sedan chair. After watching the sedan chair disappear out of the gate, Cheng Sheng whispered, "I hope Second Sister can get through this difficult time."
"When the upper teeth and tongue are still fighting, let alone living together." Qiu said with the tone of a person who has experienced it, "Ah Xiao seems to be silent, but she has something on her mind. She has an idea of how to live in the future."
I hope so!
The three of them parted ways in front of the Chuihua Gate with heavy hearts and went back home.
No one knew whether Mrs. Guo knew about it. They were afraid that Cheng Jing and others would deliberately hide it from Mrs. Guo but it would be exposed here. Zhou Shaojin stayed behind with the excuse of helping Qiu to clean up the mess. Mrs. Guo took Yun'er back to Chaoyang Gate early in the morning. It was late at night, Cheng Chi had already left the government office and had dinner. Mrs. Guo was tired after a busy day, but Yun'er was still energetic and didn't want to sleep. Cheng Chi saw that it was not his usual sleeping time, so he followed his temper, hugged him and sat on the long table in the study to tell him to draw a chicken.
The father and son were painting and talking at the same time, and Yun'er's clear voice could be heard from afar.
The corners of Zhou Shaojin's mouth curled up. She stopped the maid who was going to report and walked in quietly.
The bright light from the floor lamp next to the desk shone on the faces of Cheng Chi and Yun Ge'er. The father and son looked like they were covered with a layer of glaze, as elegant as jade, making her unable to take her eyes away.
Maybe it was the nature of mother and son, Cheng Chi's attention was all on Yunger, and he didn't notice Zhou Shaojin coming back. But Yunger suddenly raised his head, shouted "Mom" loudly, raised the pen dipped in ink, and opened his arms to Zhou Shaojin for a hug.
Zhou Shaojin's heart suddenly softened into a puddle of water.
She took two steps forward and kissed Yunger twice, "pa", "pa".
Cheng Chi laughed softly and said, "Your mother is pregnant with your sister now and can't hold you, so your father will hold you."
Yun Ge'er nodded sensibly, pointed to the rice paper on the desk, and said, "Mom, look, this is the chick I drew."
"The painting is so lifelike." Zhou Shaojin praised him.
He raised his eyebrows and smiled, and his look was exactly the same as when Cheng Chi was happy.
Zhou Shaojin loved his son so much that he hugged him and kissed him several times before letting him go.
Cheng Chi smiled and coaxed him to sleep.
Yun'er wants to sleep with Zhou Shaojin.
Because she was pregnant, Zhou Shaojin rarely hugged Yun Ge'er or played with him these days.
Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Chi pleadingly.
Cheng Chi said that Yun'er had grown up, and now he was not allowed to sleep with the maids or servants. He had to sleep in a bed by himself, and the maids or servants on night duty would sleep next to him.
He laughed and said, "Maybe it's because you haven't been with him much these days, so he's especially clingy to you. He's asked you several times when you didn't come back. Although I hope he can stand on his own as soon as possible, I can't just leave him alone."
In other words, they agreed that Yun'er would sleep with them tonight.
Zhou Shaojin happily took Yun Ge'er's hand and said, "Mom will help you wash your face, okay?"
Yun'er happily followed Zhou Shaojin to the ear room.
After washing, he lay between Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Chi.
Zhou Shaojin told him the story of Jingwei filling the sea, which he had told him almost fifty times.
Holding his mother in one hand and his father in the other, Yun'er fell asleep to the sweet voice of Zhou Shaojin.
Only then did Zhou Shaojin have time to ask about Cheng Chi and Cheng Jing.
Cheng Chi asked hurriedly: "Does mother know about this?"
"I don't know." Zhou Shaojin said, "We asked mother to come back early."
Cheng Chi felt relieved and said, "It wasn't a big deal originally, but because it involves the Yuan family, I was afraid that mother would feel uncomfortable if she knew about it, so after discussing with my second uncle, we decided to keep it a secret from mother for the time being, and wait for the emperor's punishment to come down before finding a chance to tell her. So we kept it a secret from you as well. I didn't expect that girl Sheng would tell you about it. Now that the emperor's punishment has come down, my eldest brother is fine, and he will come to tell mother about this matter in person in a few days, so we shouldn't pull our hands away."
Zhou Shaojin thought this was a good idea and said with a smile, "Uncle must be upset after something like this happened. Do you want to let him stay at home for a day?"
"It depends on the situation!" Cheng Chi sighed.
Zhou Shaojin was puzzled and asked, "Why is the Yuan family like this? Uncle is the son-in-law of the Yuan family. If this gets out, how will others view the Yuan family?"
Cheng Chi said: "The reason why the Yuan family is unwilling to help my eldest brother is that they want another minister to emerge from among their outstanding children. But they don't think about the fact that if their family has another minister, it will be the third. How can the emperor allow three ministers to emerge from one family? It's not like there is no one to choose from."
There is one more thing he didn't say.
He did not enter the government before. Cheng Xu was young, and it was impossible for Cheng Xu to take over immediately after Cheng Jing retired, so it was necessary to leave a way out for Cheng Xu. However, the children of the Yuan family already had candidates who could strive to enter the cabinet. After Yuan Weichang retired, the Yuan family could fully support Cheng Jing, and when Cheng Jing retired, they could fully help the children of the Yuan family. When the children of the Yuan family were old, Cheng Xu could take over again...
Now this balance is broken.
The Cheng family has Cheng Chi.
If Cheng Chi also wanted to join the cabinet, he could just take over Cheng Jing directly. When Cheng Chi was about to retire, Cheng Xu would have the qualifications.
To the Yuan family, the Cheng family was not only not a helper but also an opponent.
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Hey guys, today's update.
I found that this month's monthly ticket ranked third. The results of the previous months were very average, and I might not be able to finish by the end of the month. But I still feel courageous and will strive for a monthly ticket this month.
Please vote for "Jinling Chun"!
Thanks.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)