After a while, Mrs. Shang looked at Xi Fuwei's leaving figure, thoughtfully.
Ying'er changed a cup of hot tea for her and said, "Madam, this person is not telling the truth. Not long after the Xi family settled in Dongchang Mansion, although Xi Fucui was recognized as a scholar when he was alive, his connections were limited. Otherwise, how could the family be ruined as soon as the person left? Therefore, Xi Fuwei’s claim that she came to our Jining from Dongchang Mansion with the help of Xi Fucui’s old friends during his lifetime may not be credible. "
"Of course it's not credible." Mrs. Shang said, "Wen Xianyun's words just now hinted that Xi Fuwei was probably Jin Yiwei's secret agent. She was able to escape from Dongchang Mansion with her nephew. , it was probably Jin Yiwei who got involved! Her nephew never showed up, so he must be a hostage in the hands of those eagle dogs! Otherwise, is she stupid? Jining is not very far from Dongchang Mansion, my Zou family and Wen family used to Although there is no friendship, after the start of this project, according to the established rules, everyone is from a prominent family in Shandong, and they must sit down to discuss things like rewards... There is no telling whether she will start walking around one day. She can rest assured to be in our home openly Settling down?"
Ying'er was surprised and said: "Jinyiwei?!"
He was just scared, "Such a person... we can't keep her here anymore!"
"Why are you panicking?" Mrs. Shang took a sip of tea and said calmly, "If Jinyiwei is going to be tough on our family, will he be gentle enough to send a girl like this to be a female teacher?"
"But madam, those hawks and dogs are very cruel." Ying'er has been following her. She has been exposed to many secrets that Zou Yiang cannot know at this moment, so she also knows a little about the situation Zou Mansion is currently facing. She bit her lip , "They have only sent Xi Fuwei to infiltrate our house now, but we don't know what they will do later..."
Mrs. Shang sighed and interrupted her: "So? Are we going to drive Xi Fuwei out? But the master has not decided who to rely on until now, so rashly offending Jin Yiwei is a smart move?"
Ying'er was suddenly speechless.
The maid Xing'er, who had previously asked Xi Fuwei why he didn't care about his father and brother's affairs, said, "Madam, I heard from someone below that Song Shangshu has been at Dongchang Mansion recently. Now that Wen Xianyun can persuade her to Miss Xu from the Duke's Mansion and Song Shangshu's beloved daughter came together to support him, and maybe they got Song Shangshu's tacit approval. In this case... Shouldn't our family also have to make careful plans? "
The canal, which began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, has been around for thousands of years. Although it has become so congested in recent years that it is no longer able to carry goods between the north and the south, it does not mean that the entire river is blocked.
It's just that this section including Shandong, where the river is blocked, is particularly severe. Some places have even completely disappeared. Without the guidance of local elders, they don't even know that this place used to be a river bed. This completely eliminates the idea of ships heading north. .
In other words, this time the court wants to dredge the canal, and other rivers really only need to be dredged to connect this section of the river, which is the real big project.
Whether it is Song Li or the imperial court, the focus and attention are also placed here.
The importance of Shandong, or in other words, the impact on the big canal owners of Dongchang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture, can be imagined.
Now the Wen family seems to be having a fierce fight with the Song family, and they don't even know how they got into the Duke Dingguo's mansion, and the Zou family... The Zou family is still brooding.
"..." When this issue was mentioned, Mrs. Shang also frowned. After a while, she said, "I will tell the master about this issue. The most important thing today is the old lady's birthday. We have been out for so long, what should we do?" gone back."
He stood up, thought for a while and told the two maids, "Don't tell anyone about Xi Fuwei for now. From now on, you will still call her Mr. Shen and just pretend that nothing happened!"
Ying'er and Xing'er agreed. Ying'er thought for a moment and then said, "Madam, wasn't the young master naughty just now and tricked Mr. Shen into jumping into the lake? Afterwards, I saw that the young master looked very guilty?"
"It's nothing." Mrs. Shang shook her head and said, "Looking at the matter, although Xi Fuwei entered the Zou Mansion for ulterior motives, she sincerely wanted to save Yiang at the time. This matter was indeed something Yiang did wrong. Wait a minute From now on, whatever punishment you deserve and whatever you deserve thanks will be done according to our family’s traditional rules!"
After exhaling, she took the lead and walked out, "Let's go see how the situation is at the old lady's place. Wen Xianyun is uneasy and kind-hearted, and those two young ladies are of high status. I, the Zou Mansion..."
She paused for a moment before continuing, "We, the Zou Mansion, have no choice so far. We need to consider our attitude towards them now."
Mrs. Shang's face was very solemn when she said this, but Wen Xianyun, who was causing trouble at the moment, didn't look any more relaxed!
In fact, Mrs. Shang told Xi Fuwei that Wen Xianyun openly asked the Zou family for someone to test Xi Fuwei's words.
Wen Xianyun is not a fool. He has no grievances with the Zou Mansion. He was ordered to come over today to take away Xi Fuwei, who is a female teacher in the Zou Mansion. What should he do to disturb Mrs. Zhuang's birthday banquet? Does the Zou Mansion and the people close to the Zou Mansion hate him
Earlier, when Xi Fucui was alive, he had shown impeccable care for the Xi family, not to mention the Zou family, who were on an equal footing with the Wen family
What's more, Xu Jingyuan and Song Jianiang want to deal with Xi Fuwei, in the final analysis, they are jealous.
But their identities cannot be openly related to this kind of thing.
Therefore, when they told Wen Xianyun, they had told him that during the whole process, they could only give Wen Xianyun a limited chance without causing public discussion.
It's impossible to end up in person regardless of everything.
In this case, the Zou Mansion has openly lost face. The Zou Mansion will not give in easily in order to gain a reputation in front of everyone in the Yanzhou Mansion!
Reluctantly, he thought of finishing the birthday wine first and asking the Zou family for help privately later, but the servants of the Zou family reported the matter of him making things difficult for Xi Fuwei to Mrs. Zhuang first!
This is not the point. The point is that Mrs. Zhuang’s sweetheart, Zou Yiang, was there at the time. He felt sorry for Xi Fuwei. When he heard this, he became furious and wanted to trouble Wen Xianyun!
He simply coaxed him into hiding and forced him to stay in front of Mrs. Zhuang.
But not long after, Wen Xianyun came over to wish Mrs. Zhuang her birthday. Mrs. Zhuang said a few polite words with a smile, and her precious grandson rushed out and babbled about the servant's report, asking Wen Xianyun to Give the Zou Mansion an explanation: "I, the female gentleman of the Zou Mansion, the mentor of my sisters, are you the ones you can offend?! Do you think our Zou family is someplace or another family!!!"
When he said this, the faces of the leading figures in Yanzhou Prefecture became ugly. At this time, the concept of locality was very strong. Although Dongchang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture were adjacent and bordering each other, in front of a room of Yanzhou people, Wen Xianyun was a perfect person. outsider.
An outsider comes to our territory and molests a female teacher from a first-class local wealthy family. Isn't this a provocation? !
Almost immediately, everyone thought about the news from the court, the dredging of the canal, the shuffling of cards, and the position of the largest family on the Huitong River!
"Although it is said that gentlemen like fair ladies, they should be more passionate than polite." At that moment, a hot-tempered person said, "The Wen family in Dongchang is not a small family. Mr. Wen, what do you mean? Is that true?"
"This is a misunderstanding." These words seemed restrained, but they hinted at the Wen family's lack of etiquette. Even though Wen Xianyun didn't want to make the matter a big deal, she couldn't watch the Wen family's reputation be damaged at the moment, and she felt slightly depressed. With a look on her face, she cupped her hands towards Mrs. Zhuang and said, "Actually, the female teacher in your mansion is the younger generation's fiancée, Xi! Something happened to the Xi family before, and it was said that Xi's aunt and nephew were buried in the sea of fire, but there was no news at all. The body was found, so this junior has always been suspicious! I didn't expect to see her in your mansion today. I didn't want to disturb the old lady's birthday celebration, so I planned to come back in two days to discuss the matter. I didn't expect it, but I was misunderstood by the prince of your mansion. Got it!"
Mrs. Zhuang frowned and said, "Really? But among the female gentlemen of my girls, there is no one named Xi. Moreover, every female gentleman has a clean background and has credentials and guarantors. There are also people with similar looks in the world. It's not impossible, not to mention that since she is Mr. Wen's fiancée, she obviously hasn't gotten along day and night, so maybe she got it wrong, right?"
What the old lady said was actually not that she wanted to protect Xi Fuwei without asking any questions, but that Zou Yiang had shouted out the matter. Now that she followed Wen Xianyun's words, wouldn't it mean that Zou Yiang's actions were wrong? Zou Yiang's status in the Zou family is not inferior to Wen Xianyun's status in the Wen family, or even worse... The Wen family's descendants are prosperous, unlike the Zou family, which only has a single seedling.
Mrs. Zhuang, who loves her grandson so much, how could she be willing to talk about her grandson for Wen Xianyun
What's more, Xi Fuwei has been a female teacher in the Zou family for a while. If she is famous for running away from marriage, will the young ladies of the Zou family be embarrassed
"The old lady doesn't know that the reason why I got engaged to Mr. Xi is because I have a close fraternity with Mr. Xi's elder brother, Xi Fucui, and we were close friends a few years ago." Wen Xianyun said, "At that time Mr. Xi was still young. , because the younger generation’s mother-in-law went early and personally took care of Xi Fucui’s daily life, so the younger generation often met each other when they went to Xi’s house. Therefore, although they were never married, they were very familiar with each other and would never admit their mistakes. of!"
He said firmly, and Mrs. Zhuang said lightly: "Really? But if it is really your fiancée, Xi, why did you come to Jining to come to our house? After all, the lintel of the Wen family is not under our house, and the young master is the eldest son of the Wen family. , your wife will be the mistress of the Wen family in the future! Who in the world would be so stupid as to leave the role of the mistress of a big family and become a mistress of a similar family, spending all day with a few young children who have not grown up? Is the girl worried?"
Most of the guests present echoed her words, saying that Wen Xianyun must have made a mistake.
Zou Yiang added: "I have never seen your fiancée here, who knows whether what you said is true or false? But Mr. Shen is recognized as having both talent and beauty."
Now there are more people who suspect that Wen Xianyun has become interested. But after Zou Yiang said this, Mrs. Zhuang secretly pinched her. After all, Zou Yiang is still a child in the eyes of the old lady, but he has reached the age where it can be discussed. Dear, you are old.
Now he said that Xi Fuwei was both talented and beautiful. Since most of the people present were from Yanzhou Prefecture, they naturally helped the Zou family speak.
But I may not think too much about it. Even if Zou Yiang speaks for a female gentleman like this, does he still think that this female gentleman is both talented and beautiful
Mrs. Zhuang didn't want her grandson to get involved in any rumors of romantic affairs.
"Let's do this." After pinching her grandson, the old lady smoothed things over, "I don't think Mr. Wen is that kind of rude person. Because he misses his fiancée too much, it's impossible to admit his mistake... It's better to wait until my birthday passes. How about staying for a few days to clarify the matter thoroughly, which will not only clear up Mr. Wen's confusion, but also avoid disturbing the enjoyment of all the guests?"
This was originally Wen Xianyun's plan, but after weighing it for a while, he nodded.
Xu Jingyuan, who didn't want to sit on the sidelines all the time, suddenly said: "Old madam, in fact, this matter can be easily solved. Just call Mr. Shen over and confront him in court! After all, considering his age, he is only a teenage girl. Can the film be leak-proof in front of you all?"
She said this because Mrs. Zhuang had spoken out to defend Xi Fuwei. She was worried that after today was delayed, what if the Zou Mansion would quietly send Xi Fuwei away later
According to Song Li's request, she and Song Jianiang could only stay in Jining for one day and would leave tomorrow.
At that time, although Xi Fuwei could still be remotely controlled to make things difficult, first of all, it would not be satisfying to see this person ruined in person. Secondly, Shen Taolan was not a fuel-efficient person and could not sit back and watch them touch his own people.
So when I saw that everyone was trying to calm down the matter, I couldn't help but speak up in person, "When I figured it out, I saved people from all over the place from making random guesses and ruining the reputation of the Wen family and the Zou family!"
No one in the hall spoke for a while, everyone looked at Mrs. Zhuang.
Mrs. Zhuang's face was very ugly, and she glanced at the seat not far away calmly... That place was originally the seat of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Shang, but it became empty at some point.
The old lady knew that Mrs. Shang must have gone to Xi Fuwei first to ask for clarification. She felt somewhat relieved. She still trusted her daughter-in-law's ability. She thought for a moment, narrowed her eyes, and said lightly: "Miss Xu said so, how can I disappoint you?"
After saying this, the atmosphere in the entire hall became more and more depressing: the Wen family had already hugged the thighs of Duke Dingguo and the Minister of Industry, and it seemed that the hug was so strong that even the private affairs of the eldest son of the Wen family were Working hard to let the legitimate daughter take action personally... No, maybe it's not a private matter, maybe this is the reason why the Wen family goes to war with the Zou family
This section of the Huitong River in Shandong is divided between two large families. How can one family enjoy the freedom of being the only one
... It was in this atmosphere that Xi Fuwei stepped into the lobby.