When Xiaocao and his companions arrived at the imperial city, it was already late October. It was hot when they went out, but now it has turned cold.
There will be a celebration banquet in the palace tomorrow. Emperor Xuanren allows Xiaocao to go home and rest first, and it won't be too late to enter the palace tomorrow. As a lady, you can enjoy this treatment, but others can't, including Fan Wuguo. Hurry up and go to the palace to report to the emperor.
As for those officials who came back from Dongqing, they should go to the Ministry of Personnel to register first, and the rest will have to wait. They should thank the emperor for his grace if he didn't throw them directly into prison.
On the Wenren family side, it was Wenren Taibo who came personally to pick them up.
Everyone else who should have dispersed dispersed, but several hundred Black Armored Guards remained where they were, which made Xiaocao a little embarrassed.
At this time, another group of people who were more conspicuous but had been in the background from the beginning came forward. The leader was a man and a woman, middle-aged people, dressed and behaved in a decent manner. They stood still and bowed, "Your Highness."
Xiaocao hurriedly asked them to stop politely, not knowing who they were. She glanced at Wenren Taibo. Wenren Taibo hesitated for a moment, then looked a little helpless and gave Xiaocao a look that said "just wait and see".
The other party has already introduced themselves, saying that they are from the "Princess Anguo Mansion". The man is the chief historian of the Princess Anguo Mansion, and the woman is the head aunt of the inner house of the Princess Anguo Mansion. They came here today, on the one hand to formally pay a visit to the master, and on the other hand, of course, to "solve troubles" for the master. I heard that it is impossible for that family to arrange hundreds of guards, but the Princess Anguo Mansion can do it, for sure.
At the beginning, Wenren Taibo rejected the princess's mansion on Xiaocao's behalf. This time, Emperor Xuanren started making preparations without asking for anyone's opinion. Moreover, considering the Wenren family, the Princess Anguo Manor was relatively close to the Wenren family's residence, but it was quite far away from the original places where princess's mansions and royal palaces were concentrated.
Regardless of whether it can be refused, it is indeed the most appropriate place to place the Black Armor Guards. As for the rest, I will discuss it after I meet the emperor tomorrow.
A few guards were left behind to go back to the Wenren family with Xiaocao, while the others went to the princess's mansion.
The Wen family is also quite lively today. In addition to the whole family being there, the married people have also returned with their husbands and children, even including Wenren Xiang and Zhang Junliang. Xiaocao's return with great achievements is an honor for the entire Wen family. No matter what the relationship between Wenren Xiang and her natal family is, as long as she still has the Wenren family's surname, she has a close relationship with the Wenren family. Xiaocao's current status and position are becoming more and more extraordinary. With Wenren Taibo acting as the Minister of Rites, even with the Empress Dowager's Zhang Chengen Mansion, she dare not neglect him at all. On the contrary, although she may have been extremely displeased with Wenren Xiang in the past, she is now somewhat fortunate.
Although the Zhang Chengen Mansion is now glorious, the Queen Mother is now old. How long can she live? After her death, there will be no next Duke Zhang Chengen Mansion. Now the real power in the Zhang family is the Dali Temple Minister. If they don't want to be transferred to the local area, there is probably no room for promotion. If they can get in touch with the Wen family, it will naturally be beneficial to the future.
Therefore, the couple returned to Wenren's house today and brought generous gifts.
When Wenren Xiangchu got married, she suffered a lot. Her mother-in-law bullied her, and Zhang Junliang even fought with her. Everyone in the Zhang family mocked and ridiculed her, and the servants didn't take her seriously. At one point, she really couldn't live anymore, but she didn't have the courage to die, especially when she knew that the Zhang family actually wanted her to die soon to make room for them. The more this happened, the more she gritted her teeth and persevered, until Xiaocao became a princess and took the Wenren family soaring into the sky.
Compared with her initial situation, a lot has changed. At least those humiliating, ugly and angry things are gone. Until this period, her mother-in-law has been very kind to her, and the older generation has condescended to acknowledge her as their granddaughter-in-law. The aunts from other rooms have become kinder, and the others are willing to get close to her, and even have a tendency to curry favor with her.
Wenren Xiang truly realized how important a powerful mother's family is to a married woman, and there is no need to describe the regrets in her heart.
Today, the Zhang family prepared a generous gift. Before she left, her mother-in-law used both soft and hard tactics to make her repair her relationship with her family. Wen Renxiang has never been a tough person who would stick to one path until death. However, in just over a year, reality has taught her too many things. After repeated "beatings", she has long learned her lesson.
In the past, if I had gained power, I might have taken advantage of Qiao. But not now, because I know what is best for me.
However, she was also very clear that her relationship with her natal family was too bad. No matter what she did now, she was afraid that it would not please people. If she did too much, it might even cause even deeper disgust. Therefore, it was best to be quieter, more obedient, know when to stop, not be anxious, and take it slow, because there was still a lot of time in the future.
I also told Zhang Junliang on the way here that he could do a little more. After all, he is just the son-in-law of the Wen family, and I have no enmity with the Wen family. I have to give him some face and restrain myself. I shouldn't think too much about the temper of a young master.
Zhang Junliang was a dandy who loved to eat, drink and have fun, but he was not ignorant. "Mind your own business. How dare a woman who can mess up the relationship with her entire family teach others what to do?"
As a matter of fact, Zhang Junliang's relationship with everyone in the Wen family is indeed better than Wenren Xiang's. After Xiaocao became a princess, they would basically come over whenever there was something going on in the Wen family. Zhang Junliang is indeed doing better than her. Except for Wenren Yang, the brothers and brothers-in-law of the Wen family are not very close, but they are all good people. Not only will they be busy, but they will definitely help with small matters if you ask. It's just that Wenren Xiang didn't care much before, but now she is afraid that Zhang Junliang will mess it up.
They entered the house in a lively manner. Xiao Cao went back to wash up first, then came out and held Wen Renhui's son. The little guy was well taken care of. It can be said that when Lu Deyuan's body had not yet fully recovered, Wen Renhui was preparing for pregnancy according to the contents of the gynecological manual. After she became pregnant, she also followed it meticulously. It can be said that she treated the book as an imperial edict. The child was indeed well taken care of in the womb, and the parenting manual was taken out immediately after birth.
So this little guy was raised to be chubby and would laugh when teased, making him very likable.
Now, Xiaocao also says that the child is being raised very well, and Wenren Hui is so happy.
In addition, Wen Renyang's little daughter has been born and is still in confinement. Because Han already has two grandsons, and her daughter is so outstanding now, she naturally doesn't think there is anything wrong with girls, so she likes her little granddaughter very much.
Originally, Meng Xinlan felt a little unhappy because she couldn't give birth to a son. However, when she saw that her mother-in-law liked her son and her husband thought a daughter was better, she lost all her thoughts and became very happy. She is now being well taken care of.
Then there is Wenren Xi, who is only two or three months older than Wenren Ying. Now that the child is about to be born, Xiaocao thinks it is a little early. However, Wenren Xi is still in good condition.
However, seeing that she is now in her due date and may give birth at any time, I really don't agree with her coming back.
Wenrenxi smiled and held Xiaocao's arm, "I haven't seen Fourth Sister for a few months. I miss you."
Wen Renying acted like a spoiled child to her, and she had no choice. Wen Renxi's same trick also worked, so she told her to be careful. Mrs. Du beside her smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Xuan, I'm watching her."
The whole family was happy and harmonious, so naturally there was nothing to worry about.
However, Xiaocao inadvertently noticed that Fifth Aunt Yan seemed to have something on her mind, so she took her arm intentionally or unintentionally and secretly took her pulse. As expected, she realized that she was feeling depressed, but she didn't know if it was appropriate for her to ask about it, so she held it back for the time being.
Later, everyone left, and it was not until the evening that Xiaocao found time to ask Han.
Han sighed, "Your fifth uncle, that unreliable guy, arranged a marriage for Ninth Girl at a banquet without telling our family. We exchanged the tokens, and we found out a few days ago when he came to our house to formally propose marriage. If it was a good woman, it would be fine, but he was one of your fifth uncle's cronies, so we naturally wouldn't agree. For the sake of our reputation, we were prepared to get married privately. However, considering our family's current status, now that we have caught this man, how can we let him go so easily
Although the ninth girl was born out of wedlock, your fifth aunt had a bad relationship with your fifth uncle after she married into the family. She didn't have a child until many years later, and she was devoted to the ninth girl, treating her as her own. She never treated her badly when her own children were born. She raised her by herself, and yet your fifth uncle so casually promised her to someone else, and he was so stubborn in agreeing to this marriage. How could she not be angry
The matter was brought to your grandmother, but your fifth uncle directly said "parents' orders and matchmaker's words". Why can't he, as a father, decide his daughter's marriage? Have you heard about your fifth uncle and your fifth aunt? The girl your fifth uncle liked at the beginning was separated by your grandfather. He married your fifth aunt "by parents' orders". That's why it became like that. So your grandmother couldn't do anything about it.
The rest of us are even less able to say anything.
Your Fifth Aunt is a good-natured person to begin with. She knew your Fifth Uncle didn't like her, so she never made a fuss and just lived her own life. But this time she made a fuss so fiercely that it only stopped today because you came back."
The ninth girl from the fifth room was only thirteen years old. Given the clear rule that girls can only get married at the age of sixteen, it was indeed too early to propose marriage at this time. Moreover, since they were only at the dinner table, it was inevitable that Teng would suspect that the other party had deliberately set her up.
Xiaocao had naturally heard something about the grudge between Uncle Five and Aunt Five from Wen Renying. They were a couple forced together. Fortunately, Aunt Five could see it more clearly, otherwise, who knows what the outcome would be.
However, now that things have come to this, the main thing is to find a way to solve the problem. There is not much point in just quarreling at home.
"Mom, I think that even if Fifth Uncle is not a good person, he is still good to the two children. Is there any misunderstanding here? Or, have you learned more about the person that Ninth Sister is engaged to? Maybe he is actually a good person? Can some people completely deny it just because of their family?"
Han nodded thoughtfully, "Xuan'er, you are right."
"If the person he is engaged to is good, then there is no need to argue with Uncle Wu. After all, considering Sister Nine's age, if they get engaged now, they will have to wait three years to get married. In three years, our family can raise our son-in-law according to our own standards, highlight his good qualities and smooth out his bad qualities. It is possible. I'm sure the man's family will have no reason to object."
Han looked at Xiaocao with a look of disbelief in her eyes...
"Mom, what's wrong? Can't I?"
"Yes, of course, there is nothing wrong with it." That's right, there is nothing wrong with it. Now I even feel a little regretful. Wei Tingyu has already determined the quality of the product. There is not much room for polishing. Otherwise...
Xiao Cao didn't notice anything wrong at all. "If this person is not a good person, then we don't have to be polite. Reputation is important, but it depends on the situation. Even if we regret the engagement, the impact won't be that big. Don't worry about me. I don't rely on reputation to gain a foothold now."
"Girl, just because you don't care doesn't mean our family doesn't care. But don't worry, I'll find your fifth aunt tomorrow, and we'll try to resolve this matter perfectly."