Mingyun waited for the carriage to leave, then quickly took Liufeng to the carriage, somewhat absent-mindedly. Liufeng did not ask, as he could not yet touch it.
At Zhou's house, Mingyun came back but hadn't eaten yet. He first gave the gifts to his grandparents and then went back to the main room to change clothes.
Zhou Shuren held the hairpin in his hand and said, "The gift from my eldest grandson is not cheap."
Zhulan looked at Zhou Shuren's cheerful face and said, "Look how happy you are."
"Of course I'm happy. It's a gift from my eldest grandson."
Zhulan was also happy. Most of the gifts she received were from granddaughters. Grandchildren only gave her gifts on their birthdays. "My hairpin is not cheap, but it's mainly out of filial piety."
Zhou Shuren said: "I will wear a hairpin tomorrow."
"good."
In the first house, Mrs. Li and Lord Zhou were so happy to see their son really exchanged for a jade pendant. Ming Teng looked at his parents' happy faces and couldn't help but touch his purse.
Ming Teng calculated in his mind that although his monthly salary was not small, his expenses were also not small. He had many brothers and sisters, and many elders. Every year there were birthdays, and gifts were the biggest expense. He could not save much money in a year. He could not compare with his eldest brother, but he could still save some money to buy gifts for his parents.
Li and the eldest Zhou were very proud of Mingyun's gift, and then the second Zhou and Zhao were envious. Changlian and Changzhi didn't feel much because their children were still young and didn't understand these things.
Before going to bed at night, Zhou Shuren talked about what was happening in the court and the emperor's condition.
Zhu Lan raised her eyebrows, "You have always shown that you want to retire, but others have pushed you to do so. This character setting has been established. Even if Lord Xiao gives you more power, the emperor will not be so afraid of you."
Although Zhou Shuren really wanted to be lazy, he was a man who always looked ten steps ahead and had taken precautions long ago.
Zhou Shuren smiled and said, "I can't help it. The closer it gets to the time of the transfer of power, the more nervous the emperor becomes. At this time, I am already valued by the emperor. If I continue to show my appreciation for power, I will be courting death. Only imperfect people can be trusted."
Zhu Lan nodded. Zhou Shuren was very capable. If he wanted to do well, he could do it. But he couldn't. "It's fine now."
Zhou Shuren held his wife's hand and said, "Don't worry, I have always had a sense of propriety in my heart."
All these years of studying the emperor were not in vain, and he has been adjusting the scale.
Zhulan leaned on her husband's shoulder. In the eyes of the emperor, the Zhou family has always been transparent. For so many years, she and Zhou Shuren have been numbing the emperor's nerves. In the emperor's heart, the Zhou family is still trustworthy.
Time passed quickly, and the topic of conferring titles of kingship on the princes in the capital was mentioned again. The reason was that several princes had reached adulthood for many years and had made great achievements. Especially for the Fourth Prince, there were many memorials requesting his title every day.
Zhou Shuren acted as a pusher without letting anyone know, and by the way, he tricked Lord Liu. This Lord Liu was not the Lord Liu from the Dali Temple, but Mingyun's classmate Liu Jia.
At the Zhou family, Zhulan was arranging Jinyan's marriage. The house was bought before Shenxing left the capital and has been redecorated. Mrs. Song even went to check it carefully.
Jinyan will get married first, and Shenxing's marriage will be arranged after Shenxing comes back. There is another happy event in the Zhou family. Jinyan recognizes Mrs. Song as his godmother, and will take Mrs. Song away to take care of him in his old age in the future.
It was the first time Zhulan saw Mrs. Song cry, and her eyes were still swollen the next day.
Now that the elders had arrived and got married, Mrs. Song took over and was very busy every day.
Time passed little by little, and the princes had not yet been crowned kings, but Jinyan had already gotten married.
On the second day after the wedding, Zhulan came to the Zhou family to pay a visit. She met Jinyan's wife. This time it was formal and she gave the prepared gifts to the bride.
The bride paid her respects to Mrs. Song again. Mrs. Song had accumulated a lot of things over the years and was very generous.
Jinyan no longer lived in the mansion after getting married, so the house chosen by the two boys was close to West City and not far from Xuemei's house.
Zhulan began to wonder when Xuemei would arrive in the capital.
On the way, Xuemei pulled the car curtain open and said, "It's snowing a bit heavily. I remember the county town is not far away. We are not in a hurry to travel today."
Shen Xing outside the car window replied, "Yes."
Xuemei lowered the car curtain. They walked quickly and were almost halfway through the journey. "I was worried that Lei'er wouldn't be able to adapt, but I didn't expect that he would be the most energetic."
Jiang Sheng looked at his little son who had fallen asleep. "This kid has always been very naughty."
Xuemei tapped her youngest son's nose and said, "Have a good rest tonight. We will be in Beijing soon."
Jiang Sheng hummed, "I thought about it. When we get to the capital, we will use the money we have to buy a small courtyard first, and then use the remaining money to buy land."
Xuemei blinked her eyes. "I think mother has already bought a house. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have used my dowry money to return it to mother. When we have saved more money at home, we can buy a house. Then this house bought with my dowry money will be given to Mu'er as a dowry."
Jiang Sheng finally understood, "I was wondering why you never mentioned buying a house, but kept talking about buying more land in Beijing."
Xuemei patted her youngest son who was about to wake up, and whispered, "Only by buying more land can we save more money. We can use our savings to buy a house, which will be the foundation of the Jiang family in the future."
Jiang Sheng felt upset. His wife had thought so much about him and he wanted to promise her, but he felt that no matter how nice her words sounded, they were all empty words. He could only hold his wife's hand tightly.
In the capital, at the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Yang had been absent-minded for several days. He was anxious and had not secretly troubled Zhang Jinghong for some time. Zhang Yang held an abacus. After all, he still had no money. If he had enough money, he could also win over more officials, instead of only winning over some small officials now. What was the use of small officials? They didn't even have the chance to speak for him.
He wanted to be crowned king, but everyone in the court spoke for his second brothers and no one spoke for him.
Zhang Yang was counting those who could attend the court in his mind, and who else had not spoken out? The people from the Ministry of Revenue did not speak out, as did the Shangshu and the two vice ministers. Zhang Yang was discouraged. When Lord Qiu saw him, he would hide if possible. He had stopped him several times, but Lord Qiu dared to take sick leave.
As for Lord Zhou, no one knew him. The second elder brother and his brothers had contacted him, but he kept his mouth shut. Finally, the brothers tacitly agreed that no one would look for Lord Zhou.
Just as I was thinking about it, I saw Zhang Jinghong come in, "What's the matter?"
Zhang Jinghong really didn't want to see Zhang Yang, "This is what Lord Zhou asked me to give to Your Highness."
Zhang Jinghong blushed when he took it. There were comments on it, indicating that the calculation was wrong. When he looked up, Zhang Jinghong had actually gone out.
The next day, Zhou Shuren stayed in the palace after attending court. Standing in the government hall, he looked up and saw that there were really a lot of officials who stayed today.
Yes, the Minister also attended the court today.
The emperor pointed to the memorials on the table and said, "There are memorials submitted every day. The table is already piled up."
Zhou Shuren lowered his head. The emperor's tone was calm, but that didn't mean he was at peace in his heart.