==003==

After sending Aunt Nan away, Ji Yao received the straw boat into a small brocade box, where there were two or three small stubborn things that were also made of wheat straw, as well as a few of her mother's old things: a pair of earrings, a used golden hairpin......

Closing the lid, her hand rubbed on the lock for a long time, and finally made up her mind to buckle the plum blossom lock, and put the box into the hidden compartment on the inside of the bed.

The eldest girl, Ah Xiu, came into the house and saw this scene with a gloomy expression, turned her head to look out the window, and waited until she turned around before she got down to business, "Girl, someone from Mrs. Tai's courtyard has a message, let you go to her room for dinner." ”

Ji Yao was a little stunned, Mrs. Tai hated seeing her the most, not to mention having dinner together, even if they met occasionally in the garden, they also ignored it, she usually had to recite Amitabha Buddha when she didn't look for trouble, and today it was blowing that wind.

Doubts are doubts, Ji Yao asked the girl to help her change into brightly colored clothes, combed her hair again, and carefully checked that there were no omissions, and then she took her two henchmen and the big girl Ah Xiu out of the door.

There are less than ten servants left in and out of her courtyard, and she has already sent out the high branches and mental activities, and the people left behind are all loyal and reliable, compared to the second lady who makes more than 30 servant women and maidservants, it is really shabby.

Xiao Liang's several times proposed to make up for Zhuxinyuan, but Ji Yao made excuses and refused, if the people who came were all cheating and tricksters, one was not easy to teach, and the other was that she didn't want to be distracted by a few minions.

Fewer people have their own benefits, and they will always be quiet.

Mrs. Tai is still not enough, she said with a gun and a stick that people with the blood of criminal ministers should sleep in the firewood room, she hates Ji Yao so much, Ji Yao understands a little, but she doesn't understand.

When Ji Yao entered Anshoutang, Mrs. Liang was laughing with a teenage girl, and the laughter in the room stopped abruptly the moment she stepped into the door, and the people in the house looked at Ji Yao at the door, and the scene was extremely embarrassing.

"Sister is late again, and you are the last one to arrive. The girl sitting next to Mrs. Tai wearing a pearl red skirt pouted and complained, she was the second lady of the Ji family, Ji Yao's cousin, the eldest daughter of Zhen Guogong and Xiao Liang, who was only one month younger than Ji Yao in terms of age.

Ji Yao also wanted to come to see the elders earlier, but the servants who sent the message were always the last to inform her that Zhuxinyuan was some distance from the main hall, and it was not as close as the sisters who lived to reach it.

Hearing the accusation of the second lady, she smiled, did not make any unnecessary explanations, and respectfully asked Mrs. Tai for peace.

The lady at the top pinched the girl who was squatting in front of her with the corner of her eye, and snorted her nose to see it. A granddaughter who has no blood connection with her still occupies the title of the eldest granddaughter of the Guogong Mansion, and Mrs. Tai is not the only one who is dissatisfied with Ji Yao.

Ji Yao's half-sister Ji Yue, the third lady, slowly stood up, her eyebrows were slightly raised, and she bit her lip and looked at her sister, her eyes full of worry. She is only twelve years old this year, except for a pair of apricot eyes that look like Ji Yao, the rest of her appearance follows her biological mother Qiu Niang, and she already shows some charming demeanor at a young age.

There is also a fourth lady of the Ji family in the house, Ji Wen, a six-year-old second-room maid, from the time Ji Yao entered the door to the time she sat down after saluting Mrs. Tai, the fourth lady kept her little head down, only revealing the top of her black head. Occasionally raising her head to look at her sisters, she withdrew her dark eyes like a frightened little mouse, and hung her neck to listen to everyone.

The Ji family has several generations of thin heirs, the grandchildren, the two grandchildren, the two concubines, the four ladies are all present, and the grandchildren are only the second room of the son-in-law, San Lang, Ji Lang is healthy and healthy until he is nine years old, and he is not in the backyard when he is idle.

In fact, since Ji Yao entered the house, it has been cold, it is not a secret that Mrs. Tai does not like the eldest lady, when the abolished prince and the Song family were in their heyday, she did not hide her preferences, but at that time, relying on the care of the East Palace and the Song family, it was indeed not to be underestimated, and no one in the house dared to treat the eldest lady lightly.

Now it's not as usual, Ji Yao picked up the tea bowl, there was a layer of broken tea foam floating on the lukewarm tea water, the black brown color, and the tip of the nose couldn't smell a trace of tea fragrance, who knows which year of old tea, she just took a sip and put the tea bowl on a few cases.

"Isn't Sister's tea fragrant?" The second lady said something with a happy mouth, she grew up holding it in the palm of her grandmother and parents, and she never thought that there was a slave in the world who bullied the master, just that Ji Yao had drunk the best tea in her room, and came to dislike the tea here from her grandmother - the people around her grandmother said so, and the second lady was convinced.

Ji Yao shook her head with a smile that had not changed for thousands of years: "No, someone came to the room in the afternoon, and I drank a few more glasses with me, so I won't be thirsty at this time." ”

The second lady sighed, and her face clearly said that she didn't believe it.

"Yu Niang is about to choose the crown princess, why is she still a child, all her thoughts are written on her face, and you will see how you fight with people when you enter the palace in the future. Mrs. Wang's granddaughter's tone was full of pride, and she took Ji Yao from the corner of her eyes, and her pride overflowed.

It turned out that the second lady got the qualification to be elected as the new prince, and called her to show off.

Ji Yao thought about one thing in her heart, and the smile on her face did not change: "Congratulations to the second sister, may you get your wish as soon as possible." ”

The second lady stomped her feet, her fair cheeks flushed, and the grandmother said that she had leaked her mouth, and fell into the arms of Mrs. Tai and coquettishly, "I am not uncommon to be selected as Liangdi or the crown princess, I am looking forward to going through the motions, and I still come back to accompany my grandmother." ”

Mrs. Tai is more than half a hundred years old, because she is well maintained on weekdays, her appearance is much younger than her actual age, and her sideburns are sporadically covered with a few gray hairs. ”

The second lady still hummed and chirped and pestered Mrs. Tai, saying that she didn't want to enter the palace.

The two ancestors and grandsons are intimate, from Ji Yao to Sanniang and Siniang are all wall flowers, Zhenguo Gong and Xiao Liang happened to come in, seeing this, Xiao Liang opened his mouth to reprimand his daughter for not knowing the rules.

Mrs. Tai paused with a smile, and hugged the second lady tightly and said that she liked her granddaughter to be unrestrained.

Zhen Guogong didn't say anything, walked through the house and touched the hair bun of the fourth lady, and sat in the circle chair at the top and played with the wrench.

Xiao Liang's family also sat down, and took it into the palace to be elected as a reason to say things, "Mother also knows that Yu Niang is about to be a candidate for the queen concubine of the East Palace, don't say whether the prince can look down on her, let's just think that she can be selected, whether she is a princess or a good woman, I am afraid that I will not be able to live a worry-free life in the future." Yu Niang is already naïve, and you spoil her so much, how will she gain a foothold in the palace in the future. ”

Mrs. Tai's face was gloomy, she let go of the second lady and sneered a few times, and swept her eyes until Ji Yao slashed a few times before she did it.

The second lady is still making trouble there, "It's so difficult in the palace, I don't want to go." ”

"Nonsense!" Zhen Guogong couldn't help but open his mouth, but with little effect, the second lady was obviously not afraid of her father, not only did she not scare her, she even flared the curtain and entered the inner bedroom.

"Today, at the court meeting, several scholars proposed to cut the knights, and the first one pointed to our family. Your father has not been able to receive important errands in the court, and he has been idle for nearly ten years, and it is this time that the rebellion is quelled, and everyone in the capital can get fat, and your uncle has been able to sponsor him in front of the saint, but he still has not been able to win an official position for him. ”

Xiao Liang sighed after speaking, she also understood that her daughter was simple-minded and casual, and she was not the material to enter the palace as a concubine, but the matter was forced to the head, and the only one in the family who could handle it was the identity of the second lady Ji's daughter-in-law, so she could only grit her teeth and rush up with her hair.

She shouted to the figure behind the beaded curtain, "Come out, there are not many days in the family that can tolerate you to be willful, and you sisters will have to contribute to the family after they get married, you are a concubine, and the burden on your shoulders is heavier than others." ”

The second lady walked out slowly, her forehead hair covering her eyes, and she reluctantly sat on the seat under Ji Yao with a bitter face.

Xiao Liang's words aroused the anger in Mrs. Tai's heart, she stared at Ji Yao with her eyes, gritted her teeth and said: "There is a rebel thief in the family, no wonder I want to arouse the disgust of the heavenly family, let my Zhai Niang rush to the front to endure hardships and suffer from the days of killing on the tip of the knife, others sit back and enjoy their success, it is really unfair." ”

"Mother", Zhen Guogong protested weakly, and it was even more ineffective, he may also have the idea of suffering for others in his heart, but he didn't express it.

Ji Yao calmly looked at Mrs. Shangtai's eyes that could poke out three holes and six holes on her body, neither angry nor timid.

The fall of the Zhenguo Mansion is really because of her, because of the implication of the deposed prince and the Song family?

Uncle is the one who sits and enjoys his success, since he received the position of duke, he has not done a serious thing, he cannot carry a gun in his hand, he does not know how to use soldiers, let alone lead troops to fight. Ji Mansion now has no power and influence in the army except for hundreds of pieces and domestic slaves, and if it continues like this, even ten princesses will not be able to save the Zhenguo Mansion.

The air in the room froze, the fourth lady's head was buried lower, the third lady looked at her sister and almost cried, the second lady glanced at her grandmother and father, mother and sister, quietly stuck out her tongue, grabbed the tea bowl on the table to drink.

"Poof...... The tea in the second lady's mouth squirted out again, wiped the corners of her mouth and asked loudly: "The tea made by that cheap maid is bitter and astringent, and it really doesn't drink it." It turned out that she had just sat down, the little girl didn't have time to serve tea, the atmosphere was tense just now, and she forgot about it for a while, picked up Ji Yao's bowl, and tasted wrong when she put it in her mouth.

The maids and servants of Anshoutang stood with their hands down and pretended to be dead, and none of them came forward to admit that they had made the tea.