In the Zhou Mansion Garden, Yu had just sat down when she almost knocked over the water cup beside her. Song was stunned for a moment, "What happened?"
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Yu forced a stiff smile and said, "Ah, I was distracted just now and didn't pay attention."
Song had been with Yu for many years, and she knew that Yu was not telling the truth. However, it had nothing to do with her. If Yu was not her brother's wife, she would not have asked any more questions. "Then you should be careful."
Yu nodded, but was thinking in her heart, she said why did Zhou Xuehan look familiar? Then she remembered that she had snatched the cloth from Zhou Xuehan in the cloth shop. At that time, she used her status to pressure others. She was worried that Zhou Xuehan would complain, but she also thought that Zhou Xuehan might not recognize her.
Yu felt very uncomfortable. She would be a commoner in the future, while Zhou Xuehan would be the Crown Prince's wife. She would have to bow her head and behave herself from then on.
In fact, Xue Han recognized Yu and made a mental note that Yu was not an easy person to get along with, so she would not have much contact with her even if she married into the Ning family in the future.
Song looked at the daughters-in-law of the Zhou family. Except for the county lady, the other three daughters-in-law were of low birth. But she did not look down on them at all. She saw that their sitting posture was perfect. At the same time, she was envious. The Zhou family had no concubines. Although the children of the Ningguo Mansion were all born of legitimate wives, her husband also had one or two concubines.
Yu was lucky because her brother-in-law was in poor health and she was the only one there.
Mingyun brought several young masters of Ningguo Mansion to the main courtyard. The young masters of Ningguo Mansion were all young, the oldest was only eight years old and the youngest was six years old.
The eldest grandson of the Ning family, Ning Zhiqi has two sons. The eldest son, Ning Zhao, is eight years old, and the second son, Ning Yang, is six years old. Ning Zhixiang has only one son, Ning Ming, who is seven years old.
The Ning family’s children are treasures and rarely see outsiders, so they were very happy to see so many boys when they came to the Zhou family.
Mingyun is the oldest. Looking at Ning Zhao, the eldest grandson of the Ning Mansion, his eyes are full of smiles. Ning Zhao also wants to go somewhere else to play with Mingteng and the others, but he still remembers that he is the eldest grandson.
Mingyun understood the temperaments of the young guests with just a few words. Even though Ning Zhao was younger than him, he was also very careful with his words.
Ning Yang is the youngest and more lively, while Ning Ming is proud and always holds his chin high. It is obvious that he grew up being pampered at home.
Mingyun looked at Mingteng and Mingrui. His own family was the most cunning one. They had already gotten a lot of information out of them in such a short time. If Ning Zhao hadn't coughed from time to time, they would have gotten even more information.
As for Yu Shuang and Yu Lu, the two young ladies of the Ning family are both born to the eldest son of the Crown Prince, Ning Zhiqi. The older one is ten years old, Ning Ting, and the younger one is six years old, Ning Jiao, and Ning Yang are twins, a boy and a girl.
Ning Ting heard that Yu Lu was engaged and asked, "Who is Yu Lu engaged to?"
Yu Lu was not naive enough to think that Ning Ting was curious and was trying to get information. She smiled and said, "Wang family."
Ning Ting blinked, "From Beijing?"
Yu Lu nodded, "Yeah."
There was someone with the surname Wang at the banquet that Ning Ting attended. As far as she could remember, there were quite a few with the surname Wang, some of whom were of the highest rank. She wanted to ask more questions, but when she met Yu Lu's eyes, the words got stuck in her throat and she blushed. Her thoughts must have been seen through.
In the main courtyard, Zhou Shuren had already gone to the study with Duke Ningguo and others. The Zhou family's study was not only a place for work and study, but there were also many books in the study.
Duke Ningguo looked at the four or five bookshelves in the study, and thought of the lonely bookshelf in his own study that was not yet full, so he fell silent.
Ning Xu and his companions walked around the bookshelf for a few times. The books on the bookshelf were arranged in different categories. What attracted Ning Xu even more was that there was a special area on the bookshelf, where books marked with age were placed. "Master Zhou, what is this?"
Zhou Shuren explained: "The books are the essays and test questions written by children of different ages. These are the children's growth. When they get married and look back, they will not only have more experience to teach their children, but also gain new insights, so they are compiled into books."
Only then did Ning Xu see the name on the booklet and found Rongchuan's. There were several books for Rongchuan, as well as a booklet for practicing calligraphy. He wrote one character every year and he could clearly see progress.
Duke Ningguo also took it and looked through it, and then passed it to his grandsons Ning Zhiqi and Ning Zhixiang.
Duke Ningguo sighed, "I admire Lord Zhou's devotion to the child."
Ning Xu continued, "No wonder Rongchuan and Changlian are so outstanding at such a young age. Lord Zhou knows how to educate children."
Zhou Shuren thought to himself that he really knew how to educate children. The prince would come to the Ministry of Revenue to ask him questions from time to time. If he was not really busy, the prince would be like attending a class in the Ministry of Revenue. The questions he asked were getting more and more tricky these days, and he always had to think about how to answer so that the prince would not keep asking him.
Unfortunately, even though he wanted to hide it, he couldn't handle the trap set by the prince, and he was exhausted.
Ning Zhixiang read more carefully. There were annotations on each article. The annotations were very sharp. They must have been made by Lord Zhou. Ning Zhixiang thought, how nice it would be if his child could be entrusted to Lord Zhou for guidance. Unfortunately, it was just a thought.
He wouldn't even dream of asking Zhou Shuren to teach his son. Zhou Shuren was highly regarded by the emperor and was also the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. A commoner like him didn't have such a high status, and his grandfather wouldn't ask Lord Zhou for Ning Ming's help.
Ning Zhiqi was thinking of sending his son to academy so that he could have more contact with the Zhou family's grandchildren and learn some learning methods.
Zhulan knew that all the prefectures in the capital would inquire about the matter, so she asked Mrs. Song to tell the doorman that there was no need to hide it if someone inquired. The Zhou family did not stop them from inquiring, and all the prefectures in the capital knew the reason.
At the Yaohou Mansion, Yao Wenqi heard the news and asked again, "So that's how it is. He is actually Ning Xu's son."
The butler continued, "According to what I have learned, Zhang Rongchuan looks very similar to the deceased Young Master Ning."
Yao Wenqi had also met Zhang Rongchuan, but unfortunately he had never met the eldest son of the Ning family. The Yao family was the one the emperor sought refuge with when he was defeated in the capital. The eldest son of the Ning family had already died at that time.
Yao Wenqi would not think that the Ning Mansion had recognized the wrong person. The more top-level the family is, the more they value bloodline. However, he still had to wait for the person who investigated the news to come back.
The Third Prince, Zhang Jingshi waved his hand and asked them to leave. He did not care about Zhang Rongchuan's background. He only cared about whether Lord Zhou would favor the Crown Prince and stand behind him because of this relationship.
This time, his father rewarded Zhou Shuren with Zhuangzi. He realized that Zhou Shuren's position in his father's heart was more important than he thought. If he really stood behind the prince, he would be a considerable force.
The other princes' palaces received the news and sent people out of the capital on horseback.
When Lord Wang got the news, he pulled his beard several times. Zhou Shuren's shortcomings were made up, and the Wang family was no longer the most important among Zhou's relatives. Lord Wang sighed. He couldn't help but sigh that Zhou Shuren was really lucky.
Lord Wang took out a piece of paper and wrote a letter to his eldest son.
The prince was also a little absent-minded in the Ministry of Revenue. In the future, I will call my uncle "father". He took out the box, which contained the deed of the house, and called the guard, "Go and deliver it to the Ninghou Mansion."
"yes."