The second lady was also invited by Madam Liu. She came in and saw Jiafu standing in the room, but Madam Xin was not seen. She thought that Madam Xin had summoned her and herself, and said with a smile, "What is your mother-in-law doing? Call me too, will the tribunal fail?"
Jiafu greeted her: "Auntie don't blame me, it was my niece who invited my aunt to come here."
The second lady was slightly startled and glanced at her. At this time, Mrs. Xin also came in. Seeing Mrs. Meng, she glanced at her, then looked at Jiafu, and said lightly, "Girl said you were looking for me? What's the matter?"
Jiafu asked the two of them to send out the accompanying girls and servants first. The second lady responded immediately and sent the person out with a smile. Mrs. Xin's face was slightly unhappy, and she finally sent the person away. Jiafu thanked both of her, and then went to Mrs. Xin's face. .
Mrs. Xin stayed for a while.
Such a big gift, the last time it was the morning of the wedding day, I did it when I met Weng Gu. It's just a regular ritual.
"What do you mean by that?"
Mrs. Xin seemed to finally be aware of Jiafu's abnormality and frowned slightly.
Jiafu raised her head and said, "There are no idlers here, my aunt is my own family, so my daughter-in-law speaks directly when she has something to say. The daughter-in-law came here for nothing but to ask her mother-in-law. When my husband was sixteen years old, he was accused of filial piety. How does your mother-in-law feel about disrespecting the elder brother?"
Mrs. Xin's face froze, and she stopped on the spot. The second lady also slowly withdrew the smile on her face and stared at Jiafu without saying a word.
Jiafu continued: "The daughter-in-law knows that there was a lot of movement back then, and since the riot broke out and everyone knows it, now it's not a taboo that can't be said. It's not that the daughter-in-law protects the shortcoming, but the daughter-in-law has always been unbelieving. How could she have done such a shameless thing back then. The daughter-in-law was puzzled, the so-called knowing son is more like a mother, so the daughter-in-law couldn't help it.
After Jiafu finished speaking, she raised her eyes and looked at Mrs. Xin in front of her.
Mrs. Xin looked down at her at first, and looked at her for a moment. Seeing that she did not retreat at all, her eyes gradually flickered, and she wandered to the left and right, and said unpleasantly: "It's been so long, why do you bring this up again?"
"For outsiders, the past has passed, but for a daughter-in-law, it is a shared weal and woe. The honor of the husband is the honor of the daughter-in-law, and the fault of the husband is the fault of the daughter-in-law. Not only the daughter-in-law, but also the mother-in-law and even the daughter-in-law. This is the case in the entire government. Therefore, the daughter-in-law asks the mother-in-law to know what she said."
Mrs. Xin said vaguely: "I naturally don't believe that You Anhui is such a person..."
She coughed slightly and stopped.
"If the mother-in-law said something like this, the daughter-in-law will be relieved!"
Jaffe kowtowed to her again.
"Why did that aunt hang in front of her husband's residence back then, so that her husband was stigmatized, I didn't ask today, what I asked was my mother-in-law's words. I beg my mother-in-law to find out and dare to discuss privately today. Those who deal with this matter shall be dealt with by family law."
Madam Xin reluctantly said, "What do you mean by that?"
Jiafu's eyes were slightly red: "It's only been a few days since the husband left, and recently there have been rumors in the family that there was crying in the middle of the night in the house where my aunt lived, and why did anyone see her husband outside the house when he was a teenager? The ghost of the hanged girl can't go. The mother-in-law has experienced the old things in the past, and she should hate the rumors more than the daughter-in-law. The husband was appointed to take care of the deacon for Long Live this time. At this juncture, if the family is slack and let the next people spread the word randomly, if it is like in the past In the same way, if you spread it out again, it will be a small matter for your husband's reputation to be tarnished again, and if you reuse your husband's long live, I am afraid that it will not be easy to explain!"
Mrs. Xin paused.
"How unreasonable! There is such a thing? You have to find out!" With an angry tone, he walked over to Jiafu again, comforting: "Your grandmother is not in good health, I am busy serving these days, plus other things I stumbled, and I didn’t know that my head was so lawless. Don’t worry, now that I know, I will chase down and find out the person who spread the rumor!” He shouted loudly, and ordered the steward to take all the girls in the house. The servants, along with the big and small managers, were all summoned at once.
Jiafu turned to Meng's: "I just invited my aunt to join me because I wanted to ask my aunt. It's best if no one spreads rumors on your side. If there are rumors, I ask my aunt to make the decision together to prevent problems."
The second lady said awe-inspiringly: "Afu, why didn't you say it earlier? It's my fault, but I didn't notice it for a while. Don't worry, I'll call all the people and ask them one by one! The grasshoppers on the rope are all one by one. You can't run away with your legs tied!" As he spoke, he ordered people to call all the servants.
Jiafu wiped away her tears and thanked Mrs. Xin and Mrs. Er again: "Whether we can find out the person or not, when the husband returns home, I will tell the story as it is, and then I will thank my mother-in-law and aunt together with my husband. "
Mrs. Xin showed a slightly embarrassed look on her face: "You An is my son, how can I tolerate the servant being so presumptuous. Get up."
Only then did Jia Fu get up from the ground.
Pei's housemaid, big and small, and more than a hundred people, one after another, were all summoned to Mrs. Xin's courtyard, rubbing shoulders, squeezing each other, and standing in a large courtyard. At first, everyone didn't know what happened, and they whispered there. When Mrs. Xin said it again with a cold face, she ordered to find out the originator of the rumor, and the yard became silent.
You pass it on to me, and I pass it on to you. Whoever is willing to admit himself, who is called, identifies with each other, and someone who wants to show his face and make meritorious deeds, point out someone, and even those who are usually discordant. Named like a duck, those who have been pointed out, how can they be willing to admit it, they will naturally plead their grievances, and then bring up other people. For a time, the yard cried and cried, and screamed aggrieved. Mrs. Xin ordered her to slap her mouth again, and the trial continued until midnight. In the end, there were about ten people left. Mrs. Xin and the second lady were exhausted. The results.
Jiafu had already left before Madam Xin and Madam Er. After a night, the next morning, I got the news and said that it was finally found out. The one who spread the rumors first was actually Xiangmei, the girl in Zhou Jiao'e's house.
It is said that Xiangmei was called quietly that night, and Zhou Jiao'e didn't know it at the time. When Xiangmei learned that she had been accused, she defended herself in every possible way, but the woman in charge was like a wolf. When Mrs. Xin heard the news, she got up overnight and called Zhou Jiao'e to confront her. Zhou Jiao'e naturally refused to admit it. Mrs. Xin didn't say anything at the time, just comforted her a few words. The next morning, she called all the servants together again. board. There are two charges, one is spreading rumors and disturbing people's hearts, and the other is falsely accusing the master.
The maid and servant, some of them have suffered a lot last night, and their mouths are still swollen this morning. Zhou Jiao'e was also shameless and hid, saying that killing her was best.
When she heard the news, Madam Liu was filled with righteous indignation and wished she could go up and play the Xiangmei board in person, but Jiafu just smiled.
She broke into Mrs. Xin yesterday and called the second lady along with her, forcing her to ask questions, but she never thought to find out the originator of the rumor.
Who did this rumor originate from? It looks confusing, but it's actually either one or the other. There are only so many people in the Pei family, and it's just a bad debt that outsiders don't know, but the party's heart is clear.
What she wants is to stop this wave in time, cut off hidden dangers before more gossip and rumors are drawn, and at the same time, it is also to show her attitude as a member of the hospital, so that the other party knows that what happened back then was not ignorant, but that Pei Youan recognized it back then. , I will no longer pursue it now, but I will never tolerate anyone who wants to make trouble secretly while Pei Youan is away.
Her goal was achieved.
Just yesterday, the haunted rumors were vividly said in the people's mouths, but after a night, no one dared to say a word again, and the entire imperial mansion completely stopped.
The next day, when Mrs. Xin was sick, she told Mrs. Pei what she had dealt with. The old lady was silent for a moment, nodded and said: "You did a good job, the family should deal with it this way, and prevent problems early. It is said that three people become tigers, and everyone speaks loudly. Come on, there can't be such a mess at home."
Mrs. Xin said yes.
Mrs. Pei never mentioned this matter again, and Jiafu still served her with all her heart as before, and stayed by the bed all day long.
The weather is getting colder and colder, the late autumn has passed in a blink of an eye, and this year's winter has entered. Apart from that incident, there was no trouble in the Guogong Mansion, but the atmosphere in each room became more and more depressing.
The old lady's spirit is getting worse and worse, and sometimes she is lethargic all day long. The day before yesterday, the imperial doctor came to see him, and listening to his tone, it seemed that the oil lamp was exhausted and he was unable to return to the sky. It should be the matter of this winter. Pei Quan took a leave of absence and waited in front of the bed.
Jiafu moved the bedding to the old lady's place, served in the morning and evening, and was undressed. At night, she asked Yuzhu, who had been with Yuzhu last night, to go to sleep, and tonight she will accompany her.
Yuzhu went, and Jiafu told the rest of the girls to go to rest, and sat by the old lady's couch by herself.
The interior is silent. After a while, the old lady slowly opened her eyes. Seeing this, Jiafu hurriedly got up, brought a cup of warm water, and gave her a few sips.
The old lady had been groggy for the past few days, but at this moment, her spirit seemed to be getting better. She ordered Jiafu to sit up, leaning on the pillow, patted her hand lightly, and sighed, "You An is gone. It's only been so many days, and your face has lost a lot of weight in order to take care of me. When he comes back, I'm afraid I'll feel distressed when I see it."
Jiafu looked at the skinny hand that was holding her, and held back her sadness, she said, "As long as my grandmother is healthy, my granddaughter-in-law will not be tired."
The old lady smiled slightly: "How is You An recently, any news?"
Four or five months have passed since Pei Youan left Beijing. When he got there, he first subdued the troubled refugee leaders, and then went deep into the field. After investigating the local population and current situation, Shangshu suggested that the court stop forcibly moving out the refugees who had settled down, and set up a county on the spot according to the situation, and integrate the refugees into the The Yellow Book, acknowledging the land that has been reclaimed, asking them to pay taxes, and giving them the status of formal good citizens, has stabilized. Xiao Lie allowed him to sparse, and now he should be busy with the aftermath.
Gave recounted the situation.
The old lady nodded: "I knew that You'an would deal with it..."
She stopped and stared at Jiafu, as if thinking about something, and stopped talking.
Jiafu gradually became a little uneasy when Mrs. Pei looked at her, and said softly, "Does grandma have something to say?"
The old lady seemed to have regained her senses and said slowly, "Grandma knows what you forced your mother-in-law to do last time, and you did a good job. Grandmother remembers that when you were celebrating your birthday, you met outside You'an's residence. When the two wives broke their mouths, you were annoyed and spoke for You An. Grandmother was a little puzzled. You and You An should not have had much contact at that time. How could you believe that You An was innocent and spoke for him? "
Jiafu said: "Afu met her eldest cousin when she was a child, and although she didn't have any contacts after that, she just believed that her eldest cousin was an upright gentleman and was definitely not someone who would do that kind of thing. Now that Afu is fortunate to be his wife, No matter how incompetent he is, when he encounters such a thing, he will not allow others to slander him again."
The old lady stared at her, stopped talking, held her five fingers, and gradually tightened.
"Old Madam, Long Live, along with the imperial doctor, came to visit in person, the holy car is already outside the door."
There was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside, and Yuzhu's voice came in.
Jiafu was stunned for a moment, and was about to get up, when she felt her hands tighten again, and Madam Pei held onto her tightly.
Jiafu was puzzled and looked at the old lady. She saw that her eyes moved slightly, as if she was making a decision. After a while, she said, "You don't have to avoid it. Go to the gauze cabinet behind my bed and don't show your face."
Kafu was taken aback.
"Go." The old lady's expression has turned calm.
"Remember, no matter what you hear, take it to heart, it's your grandmother's order."
Madam Pei looked at her, word for word.