Yun Qingman heard this and said subconsciously: "But Feng Huang still has..."
"Miss Tang is here too?" The maid, as if she had just seen Yun Fenghuang, pursed her lips and smiled, inviting her, "Madam just talked about you to the prince's wife, why don't we come together?"
Yun Fenghuang shook his head and refused, and said to Yun Qingman, "Qingman, just go over there and I won't disturb you."
She was only asked to keep Miao Cai, who had been brought into the palace with her, and when the maid left with Yun Qingman, Miao Cai was asked to find a servant and inform Yun Qike next door: "I just said that the girl at home wants to catch up with him."
Miaocai came to report a long time after leaving, saying that the young chamberlain had passed on the message and made an appointment to meet at Meiwu Pavilion near Taiye Pond.
Yun Fenghuang asked Xile to reward her with a pair of silver bracelets, and said, "Your master is talking lively over there. If you go back to her now, it will disturb her. Why don't you just follow me first."
Miaocai hesitated for a moment, but Yun Fenghuang had already turned around to talk to Wei Hengyan, "Let's go over there. Don't keep your cousin waiting because you think someone is joking with him."
After saying that, she stood up, and Wei Hengyan stood up after him. The two of them were talking about some unimportant gossip while walking. Miaocai didn't find a chance to interrupt. At this time, Xile quietly came over to hold her arm and whispered. : "Good sister, Yun Ronghua has always been like our master's biological sister. If you go back later and say it was our master's wish, she will definitely not blame you."
"...Hmm." Miao Cai always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say anything, so she muddleheadedly acquiesced to Yun Fenghuang's arrangement.
This was a time specially reserved for young men and women to see each other privately. However, the young concubines also took the opportunity to see their families, especially their fathers and brothers who had hardly been able to see each other since entering the palace.
Yun Fenghuang and Wei Hengyan were not noticeable among them. Surrounded by several palace maids, they walked about a stick of incense and finally arrived at Meiwu Pavilion - this pavilion is located on the edge of Xiaoyingzhou. Below is the water of Taiye Pool.
The terrain near the island is gentle, with many wild reeds planted, many gulls and herons hiding there, and water birds flying from time to time. Standing in front of the pavilion and looking to the side, an island in the mist looks like a charming distant mountain eyebrow. This is probably how the pavilion got its name.
After all, Yun Qike was a man with fast feet, and it was he who proposed this place. He was there first, but did not go in. Instead, he stood by the stone steps of the pavilion with his sleeves rolled up, waiting quietly.
In Yun Fenghuang's impression, Duke Yi and his wife were both very disciplined people. The husband and wife treated each other with respect, and their relationship was not bad, but it was not close. I don't know if it was because of this, but they only had one son and one daughter.
As the only legitimate son, Yun Qike was granted the title of heir apparent even though he was not the eldest son.
He calculated that he was five years older than Yun Fenghuang and Yun Qingman. He married his first cousin a few years ago. The marriage was probably short-lived and he still has no heirs. Because of his status in Duke Yi's palace and his relationship with Yun Qingman, Yun Fenghuang even sent some gifts with Xie's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to show their affection.
The newly crowned prince is not similar in appearance to his sisters, but he is more like his father. He is tall and burly, with a majestic appearance, and his eyes are bright when he looks around. Just by looking at his appearance, he is a promising young man.
Seeing Yun Fenghuang and Wei Hengyan coming over, they were slightly startled, then lowered their eyes and saluted, saying that they had met Yun Bin.
"This is Wei Jieyu. When I was in the palace, I relied on Wei Jieyu to take care of me, so we always went in and out together. Originally Qingman was also with us, but just before we set off, Madam stopped her because of something." Yun Fenghuang introduced him and gave him a family salute, "How are you, cousin?"
Yun Qike said slowly: "Thank you for your concern, Concubine Lao Yun. Everything is fine."
He looked back at the pavilion, where there were tea sets and pastries placed on the stone table and benches. It seemed that they had just been delivered, but Yun Qike didn't mean to invite the two of them in. Instead, he kept a respectful and distant tone. He asked about the current situation of Concubine Yun Shu, Yun Qingman and Yun Fenghuang.
Wei Hengyan knew that at first he thought that the people who came here were all his sisters. Even though Yun Fenghuang, his cheap cousin, was not related to him, they were actually a family, so he was ready to sit down in the pavilion to talk. But now he With Wei Jieyu here, Yun Qike wanted to avoid suspicion, but it was hard to do so.
She then pinched Yun Fenghuang's arm quietly and said with a smile: "Since you brothers and sisters have bumped into each other, let me go and see my family."
Yun Qike breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed to see off Empress Jieyu.
After Wei Hengyan's master and servant left, he invited Yun Fenghuang to come into the pavilion to speak.
… Actually, there’s not much to say.
Although Yun Fenghuang met Yun Qingman under the introduction of his aunt when he first came to the Imperial Capital, and quickly gained the favor of the fourth Miss Yun, and from then on he had frequent contacts with the two neighboring families, but with other members of the Yiguo Palace, People, but not very familiar with them.
This is because Mr. and Mrs. Yi Guogong, with their status, will definitely not pay too much attention to the niece who has defected to the cousin-in-law's natal family, especially since the cousin's family is still quite dependent on their own power and status to live their lives.
As for Yun Qingman's brothers and sisters, the older sisters such as Concubine Shu are either in the palace or have already left the court, so they are rarely seen once. As for the girls who have not yet left the court, they are either too old. Xiao Jian couldn't play with her, or she just looked down on Yun Fenghuang's background and didn't bother to hang out with her.
In fact, Yun Qingman himself didn't care much about Yun Fenghuang's peers at first, but he reluctantly introduced Yun Fenghuang into his small circle just to give face to his aunt Xie.
Yun Fenghuang spent a lot of effort to become a good friend with her, at least a good friend in the eyes of outsiders. Xie told her niece in private that Yun Qingman was the most outstanding among the concubines because of her appearance, and her biological mother was honest and obedient. She had been raised by her biological mother since she was born and had high hopes for her bright future.
Yun Fenghuang, who came to the Imperial Capital from afar, was in great need of such a handkerchief.
Frankly speaking, the purpose and process of her friendship with Yun Qingman were not simple.
Therefore, it has taken a lot of effort to win over the fourth Miss Yun. Yun Fenghuang is really not in the mood to greet another Miss Yun. His relationship with the other concubines of Duke Yi is only casual, and there is no grievance or enmity. How intimate.
She had always avoided the male heirs of Duke Yi's palace, especially the eldest son Yun Qike, and kept them at a respectful distance.
This is not only for the public to see, but also to let them know that they just want to associate with Yun Qingman and have absolutely no intention of taking advantage of the situation. It was also because of Xie Fenghuan's incident that Yun Fenghuang almost instinctively kept a distance from foreign men.
Just as she said to Qi Jiulu on Peacock Slope, neither the Xie family nor the Jiang family can give birth to another daughter with flaws in her reputation.
… At that time, she had not thought that she would suddenly enter this palace.
She still has some hopes for the future, which is to say goodbye to the gloom and pain in her hometown, find a well-matched and honest man in the Imperial Capital, spend the rest of her life together, and heal the wounds of the first twelve years of her life.
Therefore, be extra cautious in your words and deeds.
Several times when she and Yun Qingman were playing in the garden and met Yun Qike, she would hide at the back of the crowd without saying a word, lowering her head, trying to minimize her presence.
Yun Fenghuang never even saw the prince's face clearly.
Of course, she had nothing to say to Yun Qike at the moment, but after exchanging a few words, she asked Miao Cai and Xijing Xile to go outside the pavilion where they could clearly see the situation in the pavilion but not hear the conversation, and then asked straight to the point: " My cousin is always by Your Majesty’s side, so I guess you are familiar with Cui Shangshu’s nephew, Young Master Deng?”
"You want to inquire about Deng Yueting?" Yun Qike responded quickly and said clearly, "Are you helping Wei Jieyu? There is a female family member in her family who wants to marry the Cui family?"
Yun Fenghuang said: "Exactly, but Wei Jieyu and I haven't known each other for long. I just promised to help her understand some of Mr. Deng's character."
Don't feel pressured by the implication, just say something casually so that I can communicate with Wei Hengyan.
"Deng Yueting..." Yun Qike pondered for a moment, then said, "He is a top choice in terms of talent, learning and appearance, and his actions are fairly upright. It's just... a bit gloomy."
Yun Fenghuang suddenly remembered that Gong Xiangxiao had said before that Deng Chengzhai was gloomy and not very lovable.
She thought for a moment and said, "Gloomy? Why is this? Ordinarily, with his background, he shouldn't develop a gloomy nature, even if he is always happy."
Yun Qike said: "My sister is always in the boudoir. No one has told you about the foreign husband, so you don't know. The Deng family from Deng Chengzhai was originally from a distinguished family in Shilin, and he is the eldest son of his first wife. , he should be established as the eldest son. However, his life was unlucky. His mother contracted an illness and died before he was only a few months old, and his grandparents also fell ill. It took less than a year for both of them to pass away... "
As soon as these three funerals were completed, some people began to suspect that Deng Chengzhai had ordered Rick to marry him, otherwise his mother would have said that she was weak after childbirth and that the illness was an accident. However, his grandparents were both getting stronger with age, and they often held him in their arms out of pity for their eldest grandson. The two old men who were looking after him in the room, and who turned out to be fine, were so distressed that their grandson died not long after... It doesn't make sense to say that it wasn't Deng Chengzhaike's fault, right
At that time, Deng's father was still immersed in the longing for his deceased wife. He was furious when he heard the news. He scolded the person who said such things and insisted on taking his son with him. However, three years passed in the blink of an eye after carrying the coffin back to his hometown. When the period of filial piety was over, the elders of the clan announced his marriage.
Deng Chengzhai was still young when the new couple came in. His stepmother felt that he could still be raised well, but she treated him well. Unfortunately, he later gave birth to his own flesh and blood. This was not because his stepmother was not good to him. The key was that the children born by his stepmother were born every three days. She was sick, and even though she called in countless doctors, she couldn't explain the cause. She could only let the wet nurse take care of her baby and worry about it.
At this time, rumors about Deng Chengzhai's kinship arose again. His biological father and stepmother did not believe it at first. As the subsequent children fell ill again and again, and it seemed that they could no longer raise them, they panicked and decided whether to believe it or not. , and sent Deng Chengzhai out.
At that time, Deng Chengzhai was only six or seven years old. He lived alone in a remote village for more than half a year before his mother-in-law, Cui, who heard the news over and over again, sent someone to fetch him to the imperial capital.
"It is said that the steward of Zhuangzi treated Mr. Deng very badly because he knew that he was not favored by his parents. Even after Deng Yueting entered the Cui Mansion, he had to recover from his injuries for several months before he could show his face." Yun Qike said, " The Cui Mansion should treat him well, and every treatment is better than that of his own direct heir. But they are already very kind in raising their nephew, and after all, they cannot be as considerate as their own children... I remember that when the emperor entered school, he chose Deng Yueting as his companion. It’s so gloomy.”
Yunfeng Huangxin said that the Cui Mansion's help in raising his nephew was probably not entirely kind. After all, when Emperor Chunjia ascended the throne, everyone knew that he was a puppet.
The emperor's six companions, Ji Minggan Gong Xiangxiao, were arranged by the family, presumably to keep a close eye on him, so that he could use his qualifications as a "classmate of the emperor" to gain extra points when conferring officials in the future; Yuan Kezi was responsible for maintaining the interests of the emperor. The responsibility for the close relationship between the Ningbo Mansion and the emperor was of course also to help the emperor at critical moments, such as when he exposed Qi Jiulu last time; while Zheng Fengfen fulfilled the first three purposes.
As a eunuch, Zheng Ju's power and position came from the royal family.
Perhaps he hadn't figured out who to support yet, so he placed an adopted son by the emperor's side to serve him. When the emperor saw that he couldn't do anything, Zheng Fengfeng turned against him at the critical moment. The emperor gained the upper hand, and Zheng Fengfeng was the vanguard of Zheng Ju's surrender.
As for Yun Qike, of course it was Duke Yi's pledge of loyalty.
The only legitimate daughter entered the harem to serve the emperor, and the only legitimate son and prince accompanied the emperor in the previous court... If nothing else, this old man was a role model for the royalists.
As for Deng Chengzhai, his role is actually similar to Zheng Fengfen.
Cui Wan was afraid that he would not be sure of the future of Emperor Chunjia and the degree of blessings of the Ji family, so he brought a descendant who was not named Cui but was raised by the Cui family to the emperor. With the Cui family's kindness to Deng Chengzhai, if Deng Chengzhai would succeed in following the emperor. If he succeeds, public opinion will pressure him to repay his favor with Cui Mansion.
If Deng Chengzhai fell into trouble with the emperor... Anyway, his surname is not Deng, and the Cui Mansion has room to tell the truth.
Yun Fenghuang thought to himself, how did you say that
None of these old guys are fuel-efficient!
She thought for a while and felt that she could pass on this information to Wei Hengyan. She was about to say thank you to Yun Qike and then say goodbye, but she saw Yun Qike accidentally put a half-used wallet between them. On the table between them, he chuckled and said: "If you see Qingman later, tell her a few words for me. She has the nerve to say that this bag was made carefully with stitches and stitches. Look at this Doesn’t the lace get broken even if you don’t use it very much?”
Yun Fenghuang glanced at it and saw that the purse looked familiar. It was made of azurite jacquard with curly grass pattern, and was embroidered with a clump of orchid grass in different shades of ink silk thread.
Both the workmanship and the embroidery skills are better than hers, but to be fair, they are still average.
Yun Qingman's embroidery skills seemed to be a little better than this one... Yun Fenghuang remembered that the handkerchief friend he had deliberately made friends with was a patient person who studied female red needlework, and his skills in this area were more agile than some embroidery girls.
However, this purse doesn't look very new. Maybe it was given to Yun Qingman's brother when he was relatively young
This was not a big deal, so Yun Fenghuang agreed casually, said a few words of thanks, and stood up to leave.
After walking for a while, Miao Cai suddenly whispered from behind: "Yun Bin."
"Huh?" Yun Fenghuang was thinking about things and subconsciously responded when he heard the words.
"Don't you remember that purse?" Miaocai asked suspiciously, "You clearly embroidered that purse for my family Rong Hua, but when the prince saw it, he thought it was embroidered by Rong Hua and took it away by force."
Seeing Yun Fenghuang suddenly stop and look back in surprise, Miaocai pursed her lips and continued to remind, "You embroidered that purse all night... In order to catch up with Rong Hua's birthday, when I gave the purse to Rong Hua, although I tried my best to hide it, but there are still many blood spots on my fingers from accidental pricks!"
Hearing this, Xile just returned the favor. After all, when Yun Fenghuang went to Surong Palace, he sent her to Yijia Palace to deliver something, and he was taking Xijing with him at that time.
Xijing's face looks a little weird right now...