Seeing that the happy events in the capital have not stopped in the past six months, Lin Qingyun saw the busy egrets around him, and suddenly remembered: "It's almost over, but it's better to pick a time to do your big things seriously." I had prepared a dowry list for the four of you earlier, and if you want to go out, everything is ready-made, and I will definitely not wronged you. ”

The egret blushed and said, "Princess, don't make fun of me, I'm just not here in a hurry." The princess is now in need of someone to serve properly, where can I be lazy to go out, but it is not too late to wait for the birth of the little prince. ”

"How do you know it's Xiao Shizi? What if it's a small county lord? Besides, you're not in a hurry, but don't you know that the little son-in-law outside is not in a hurry? Lin Qingjun deliberately teased her, causing the maids in the house to laugh.

"He's in a hurry!" The egret was flushed but pretended to be calm, but in the end he couldn't hold it anymore and turned his head to hide.

Lin Qingyun now has a body, and the oil paintings can't be touched, that is, the sketches are limited by the time of the vain, and the most pastime on weekdays is to read books and listen to the gossip of the girls.

Since the two of them have been in the full house in February, there are more girls on both sides of the room. Tu Yan took the initiative to arrange the girls around him to watch the house in Zhuyunju, and only brought Red Aya Luluo over, and Le Gonggong only took care of Tu Yan's words and other things, and the affairs of the Tengluo Courtyard were not touched, and the people in the original courtyard were still the same. Such a clear errand is easy to manage.

Since Lu Luo arrived, Lin Qingyun knew how much this girl loves to talk, she hasn't stopped talking all day long, she is well-informed, most of the people in the house are familiar, the princes and princes have good little sisters, and there are handkerchiefs in the palace, and the news in the capital can be inquired about six or seven stops. Bai Ling is also a person who likes to talk, these two people get together together, it is like opening a book, and it is not possible if the courtyard is not lively. It's also a shame, and now Lin Qingyun is using this to relieve her boredom and listen to the news of the inner house.

At the end, he listened to Bai Ling's emotion: "Those ladies can really toss, but in the end they are not as quiet as our palace." ”

Lin Qingyun smiled: "Do you think it is quiet? I thought you liked it that way. ”

Bai Ling grinned and said: "It's enough to watch the excitement, if you really want me to go, I can't stand it." It's better for our prince, only the princess is guarded, and the house is quiet and quiet, and it is not so moth. ”

"You girl, it's a joke, how did you talk about the master." Hong Aya scolded with a smile, and was about to put away the book that Lin Qingyun had read earlier, but she seemed to hear footsteps, looked out the window, and said with a smile: "The prince is back." ”

As she spoke, the little girl outside had already opened the bamboo curtain, and Tu Yan came in in a silk robe, sweating a little on her forehead.

"I came back so late today, I thought that the queen mother felt sorry for you again, and I was afraid that you would be sunburned, so I left you to eat in the palace." Lin Qingyun asked the maid to fetch water and serve tea, and at the same time went up and touched his face.

Today he went to the court, although he sat in a sedan chair all the way into the house, just walked from the Yimen to the inner house, his face was hot, and it can be seen how strong the sun is outside. She is now double-body, she is already easy to heat, and she doesn't dare to use more ice, so she only puts two Xiaoice basins in the corner far away, and two more basins of water, and when it is very hot, she lets the maid fan, which is better. It's just that he was sweating hot, and he was afraid that he couldn't stand it when he came in suddenly.

Tu Yan directly asked Hong Aya to bring the iced sour plum soup, and said in his mouth: "There is something delayed today, I'll talk about it later." I was thirsty and hot, so I was served soup to quench my thirst, and I was much better now, not as sick and weak as I used to be, and I could stand the cold air. ”

Hong Aya didn't move, only looked at Lin Qingyun and the others.

Lin Qingyun was distressed and funny when she saw him hot, so she instructed Hong Aya: "Take the sour plum soup, put it on hold first." He pushed Tu Yan to sit down in a chair on the side, and brought him warm tea: "It's better to drink some hot food first." Even if you are in good health, you can't be hot and cold at the same time, and if you are sick on such a hot day, you can bear it. ”

Tu Yan had to drink two sips of hot tea, and then washed his hands and wiped his face with the water brought by the little girl, and then sighed with a smile: "In the end, the princess feels sorry for me." Then he waved his hand to order Hongya and the others to withdraw, and there was no one in the house, so he said to her: "There was a big incident in the court today, the prince of Nan'an lost the battle along the West Sea and was captured alive by the feudal soldiers. ”

"What?" Lin Qingyun was shocked and hurriedly asked, "How come?" I've never heard of a war over there, so it's ......."

Tu Yan sighed: "It's just to fool the unsuspecting people." Of course, the prince of Nan'an was not defeated and captured, and the reason for this has something to do with our original trip south to Guangzhou. At the beginning, we robbed the prince of Nan'an from 50 guns, and they did not trade 50 guns, and it was only in June this year that the Western ship came with things. This time, the prince of Nan'an went to pick up the goods in person, and did not wait for the merchant ships to dock, but received the goods at sea a day or two away. ”

"That shot ......"

"I'm afraid it will also fall into the hands of the feudal soldiers."

"It's a problem now." Although the small countries along the West Sea are calm on the surface and pay tribute every year, they have long been restless, and they always disturb the border every now and then, which is also the meaning of testing the imperial court. For the sake of the peace of the West Sea, the imperial court sent the prince of Nan'an to lead the troops to sit in the town, who knew that the prince of Nan'an gave himself to those feudal soldiers for his own selfishness.

Tu Yan sneered: "It's not troublesome to say trouble." Those small countries along the West Sea have always been unanimous, but now although they have captured the prince of Nan'an, they have not taken advantage of the situation to continue the war, but have sent envoys to negotiate peace with the imperial court. ”

Peace?

Lin Qingyun's eyebrows jumped, and she remembered the matter of Tanchun marrying and marrying in the original book. However, now things have changed, Tanchun has been designated as the concubine of the prince of Nan'an's palace, and it is impossible for the old concubine of Nan'an to be recognized as a righteous daughter, let alone replace the county lord and relatives.

Thinking about it, she hurriedly asked, "How do they want to negotiate peace?" ”

"Heqin, they expressed their willingness to put back the king of Nan'an County, but their eldest prince admired the Central Plains culture and hoped to marry a Central Plains woman as a prince concubine. In addition, he cried poor and asked the imperial court to reduce tariffs and increase citations. ”

"How much are they going to drop?"

"Originally, it was two out of ten, but they asked for one out of ten and 20 more citations."

"What a lion's mouth!" Lin Qingyun was annoyed when she heard this, and she felt extremely aggrieved. "So, the emperor wants the Nan'an Wangfu to go out of the county lord to make peace with the prince and exchange it for the prince of Nan'an?"

After all, speaking from the outside, the prince of Nan'an was defeated and captured, no matter how embarrassing he was, for the sake of the face of the court and the dignity of the royal family, people had to be redeemed. The emperor had long wanted to seize the military power of the prince of Nan'an, but he had no chance, but now he has a chance, but this opportunity was given by the foreign domain, which made the emperor very passive and extremely annoyed.

It has always been humiliating to be defeated and married, not to mention that the truth still comes from the fact that the prince of Nan'an has a suspicious intention to buy weapons privately, that is, it is really the lord of the Nan'an Wangfu to make peace, but the dowry has to be paid by the court, which is still a lot of money.

Lin Qingyun has seen the county lord of Nan'an Wangfu and is named Jingyi.

The lord of Jingyi County is thirteen years old, and she was born well, but she is the daughter of Princess Nan'an, and she is very liked by the old lady. In February and March, there were also rumors that the old lady was picking a county horse for the lord of Jingyi County, but it has not been decided so far, and something happened at this time, and the old lady was afraid of regretting it.

"Does the emperor really want to redeem the king of Nan'an?" After thinking about it again, Lin Qingyun was not sure, after all, now that the Emperor Taishang is gone, the emperor has no constraints, and there are many places to show it.

"My father felt that the foreign domain might not have really captured the prince of Nan'an, but the prince was already dead during the battle at sea, and his body fell into the sea, how to find it? Besides, if you really capture the prince, you should be a big fight, how can you be willing to spend a lot of effort and finally just ask for peace and give up? ”

"Didn't you mean ......" Lin Qingyun was thinking that he suddenly changed his tone strangely, and was about to ask, but suddenly reacted and widened his eyes.

Tu Yan nodded slowly: "The emperor does have this meaning, he has asked me to discuss, and I recommended Jia Lian to be the deputy envoy of peace." Jia Lian does have some talent, and this time it involves tariffs and trade along the West Sea, which is related to Honglu Temple, so it is appropriate for him to go. ”

"Who's the messenger?" Lin Qingyun asked casually.

"Uncle Zhongshun."

“…… You are really good at picking people, don't you know that the Zhongshun Royal Mansion and the Jia family are not dealing with each other? If Lin Qingyun didn't know that he really wanted to use Jia Lian, he would have thought that he had deliberately designed Jia Lian to suffer. There is a gap between the two mansions, and the prince is loyal to the prince, and Jia Lian is humble and does not dare to offend, so it is not hard to escort him all the way.

"I didn't pick the prince of loyalty, that's what the emperor meant. After all, it was the king of Nan'an County who was captured, in order to show the attention of the royal family and the imperial court, there was also a person with status in the clan, and he had to be able to deal with this kind of scene, only the prince was suitable. Don't worry, he knows both of them. Tu Yan said with a smile.

Somehow, Lin Qingyun had a flash of inspiration in his mind, grabbed his hand and said, "You'an, you help me with something." ”

"What?" Tu Yan saw that her expression was unusual, and he also became solemn.

Lin Qingyun said: "I think that the unmarried county lord of Nan'an Wangfu is only Jingyi, but the old lady must be reluctant to marry her far away, and the foreign domain did not specify who she wanted to marry, but the emperor asked the old lady to choose from her own mansion and relatives." If the old lady is really reluctant to be the county lord of Jingyi, she is afraid that she will pick a daughter in another family to recognize her relatives, and the Nan'an Mansion and the Rongguo Mansion are old friends, and it is very likely that they will be selected from the Jia family. The third spring of the Jia family, the second girl married, the third girl was given to the son, and only the fourth girl remained......"

Before she finished speaking, Tu Yan already understood.

"Do you want Xichun to take the opportunity of peace and kiss to break away from Ning Guofu?" After all, even if the old lady recognized her godgranddaughter, the emperor would not agree at that time, and there would be reasons to reject it, so he still let the county lord of Jingyi go to make peace. However, if he asks the emperor for a favor in private, it is not difficult to set Xichun, as long as it is decided, the emperor will give Xichun a title for the sake of decency, with such honors and the merits of his relatives, in the future, when the Ningguo Mansion incident happens, Xichun will be able to escape.

"Hmm." Anyway, it's just nominally friendly, and it can't be done, but I'm not afraid that Xichun won't return.

Tu Yan thought that although the prince of Nan'an was captured, there were still many old departments in the army, and he had a good family, and the emperor couldn't force the Nan'an palace too much for the sake of fame. In addition, except for the prince Huo Yan in Nafu, they are all female dependents.

Tu Yan nodded in response, and said: "There is such a thing in the Nan'an Palace, and the three girls of the Jia family don't have to go in, you can rest assured." ”

Lin Qingyun smiled and said, "This is also the will of heaven. ”

Half a month ago, Jia Zhengbian was reinstated, and he was still working as a foreigner in the Ministry of Industry, so he was naturally the force of the envoy of the Nan'an Palace. It's strange to say that Jia Zheng is a small outsider, and he doesn't have the ability to reinstate himself as an official, but he has the ability to protect the capital of people like Jia Yucun. Now Jia Yucun has made a big Sima, the spring breeze is proud, Jia Yucun's wife she has also seen once, it is said that the name of the boudoir is Jiao Xing, and she is really a concubine as his wife. Most people outside don't know, they just think it's the filling of the house that their original partner married after his death, and some people who know the inside story will not speak out and attract hatred.

After two days, the news of the defeat and capture of the prince of Nan'an spread.

Mrs. Wang is busy taking care of Tanchun's dowry these days, and her head is dizzy, in the end, she is an elderly person, she has handed over the daily affairs in the second room to Li Kun to take care of, and invited Baochai to help, as for Tanchun, she is preparing a wedding dress in the room. Tanchun wants to cry every time she sees the wedding dress in front of her, no matter which family other sisters marry into, they all wear red wedding dresses when they get married, but she can't use red, she can only use pink.

When the waiter saw that her tears came out again, he hurriedly stepped forward to admonish, but he cried before he could say anything.

Tanchun saw it and comforted her: "Good girl, follow me, but it hurts you." ”

The waiter hurriedly wiped his tears and said with a smile: "What kind of naughty words does the girl say, it is my blessing to be able to serve the girl." As he was talking, he heard that there was a commotion outside, and the waiter frowned, feeling that the people below were too unruly, and it didn't take much effort to wait for them to go out, but he ran in with a shocked face: "Girl, there are rumors outside, saying that the prince of Nan'an lost the battle along the West Sea and was captured by the feudal soldiers!" ”

Tanchun was stunned, and looked down at the pink wedding dress in his hand for a long time, and his eyes were quiet and waveless.

At this time, the old lady of Nan'an had just come back from the palace, and the princess of Nan'an led the county lord and the princess to meet her, seeing that the old lady was tired, she had to endure her doubts, and dispatched the maids to serve and freshen up, and changed her crown clothes, so she lightly held a cup of tea and handed it over, and asked in a low voice: "Mother, what does the palace say?" When will the prince come back? ”

The old lady rubbed her sideburns, waved her hand and ordered everyone to go out, and then sighed: "The palace is angry, after all, it is still a good saying to lose the battle." The old lady slammed the tea bowl on the table, and the tea spilled out. The foreign vassal asked for a kiss and wanted to marry our family Jingyi. ”

The county lord of Jingyi, who had been terrified, turned pale: "Old grandmother ......"

The old lady has always loved her, and she has been raised by her side since she was a child, so she comforted her and said, "Jingyi, don't be afraid, it doesn't have to be you." As long as the Central Plains woman is close to the foreign domain, he didn't say who it was, but now if we want to redeem the prince, we can only send people from our own family. I thought that Jingyi was reluctant to let her go, but she could recognize a righteous daughter. This person has to be selected well, and he will be selected from our family history, know the roots, have good character and appearance, and will not insult the foreign domain. I'll do more everywhere, and we'll pay most of the dowry ourselves, as long as the palace nods and let the prince redeem it safely. ”

The princess was sure when she heard this, and while quickly calculating the girls in her heart, she asked the old lady: "Who does the mother want to choose from?" In the end, once you get married, I am afraid that I will not have a chance to see each other again in this life, and I am afraid that parents will not give up. ”

"According to my meaning, it is suitable for the girl in the Rongguo Mansion, but unfortunately it has been determined to be our son, so it is not good to choose again. Let's just choose the girl who came out, the family should not be too low, first go to Qi Guogong and Zhiguo Gong, I remember that both of them have girls who have not been out of the cabinet. "The old lady has her own calculations in her heart, these mansions are not close to her own mansions, and more importantly, they have all declined, only an empty shell is left, and the titles have been reduced ruthlessly. As long as the palace gives a benefit, I am afraid that they will be happy to exchange their daughters.

The old lady first sent someone to inquire about the news, and learned that the concubine of the Duke of Qi was already talking about marriage, although she was not decided, but they were interested in each other, but they were just waiting for the day, so it was not good to mention it again. The concubine of the ruling family is smaller, only twelve, but she didn't say that she was pro, and her partial appearance was worse, and she didn't have much brilliance, so it was really not good. Although it is said that a righteous girl is going to make peace on behalf of the county lord, after nodding in the palace, she has to satisfy the foreign domain, and you can't see at a glance that it is not the county lord, and cause trouble for this.

For this reason, the foreign feudal lord sent a special envoy over, and they all said that the candidate for the prince and concubine would be sent to teach the foreign feudal etiquette. This is tantamount to looking at each other in advance to prevent the court from prevaricating with people.

The old lady was helpless, so she looked at several other houses. There are suitable ones, but they all say that they are decided, and they don't say that they are pro, either they are too young, or they are poor in appearance and bearing, and there is always no suitable one.

On this day, the princess suddenly said: "Did the old lady forget that there is still a girl in Rongguo Mansion." ”

The old lady thought for a while, frowned, and said, "The fourth girl? I vaguely remember that she was still very young, and she was the concubine of Ning Guofu, how could she be chosen. ”

The princess smiled and said, "The old lady is too bad. The four girls are now twelve years old, and I have seen them at the beginning of the year, they are delicate and lovely, and they have the style of the daughters of the Guogong Mansion. Moreover, although the four girls are concubines, they have been raised in Rongguo Mansion, how can they see how much Ning Guofu values them? They are in Nafu...... It will be difficult to get close to each other in the future, I don't think the four girls may not know it, let's look at the family and relatives is sad, maybe the four girls are willing, she wants to be willing, where will Ning Guofu stop it. ”

"If they want to, they're a good candidate." The old lady thought about it, and went to Rongguo Mansion the next day.

Jia's mother took it out.

Regarding the recent actions of the Nan'an Palace, even Jia's mother, who doesn't care about foreign affairs, has heard of it, and when she suddenly saw the old lady coming to the door, she had a guess in her heart. It's just that the three girls have been set to give them the house, is it possible that the four girls want to go to the outer domain and kiss? Mother Jia was naturally unhappy, but she knew that if the old lady had a long mouth, they would not have the confidence to refuse.

The old lady first reminisced with Mother Jia, and then said with a smile: "I knew that the old lady would raise a girl, all three girls in your family are good, and the second girl has only been married to the Liguo Mansion for a long time, and she is really happy, which is really blessed." It's rare for me to come today, but I can call the remaining two girls out and I'll take a look, I heard that Xiangyun is still at your house, and I haven't seen you for a while. ”

"The old lady has an overreputation, they are ashamed, where can they compare to the county lord of Jingyi." Mother Jia ordered someone to bring the girls out to meet the guests, and said that she called out with Miss Bao.

When I was young, five girls came out in one word, Tanchun, Xichun, Xiangyun, Baochai, and Sister Qiao played with her aunts, and they also came out. These girls have their own goodness, which is simply dazzling, even the old lady is also bright. To say that the most outstanding is Xue Baochai, but unfortunately Xue Baochai's family background is too low, the old lady focused on Xichun, and sure enough, she was longer than two or three years ago, her eyebrows were cold and pretty, and she had an indescribable bearing.

The old lady was satisfied, so she praised the girls one by one and gave them a gift, but she held Xichun's hand and smiled: "Old lady, don't laugh at my shallowness, I just fancy the four girls in your family." Such a good girl, how about I recognize it as a granddaughter? ”

The local girls and girls were all shocked.

In addition to Jia's mother, who has already speculated, it is Xichun who knows about it. Lin Qingyun had told her about this earlier, so she was prepared, just to not let people see it, so she lowered her head to hide her expression.

Mother Jia knew the old lady's intentions, but there was no reason for the opening sentence, she only said that she recognized her granddaughter, how could she talk back? smiled and said: "My little granddaughter is still childish and willful, and she won't regret it in the future." Besides, she is from Dongfu in the end, and she has to tell her brother and sister-in-law, my wife doesn't dare to call the shots. ”

The old lady seemed to have made up her mind, and immediately sent someone to Ningguo Mansion to invite You Shi and inform Jia Zhen of the matter. Although Jia Zhen is a bastard on weekdays, she still knows about the prince of Nan'an, and she also guesses what the old concubine's intention is to recognize Xichun as her granddaughter. If Jia Zhen loves her sister, it is a joke, and now she knows that Xichun has someone to control her life, and she can also have a relationship with the Nan'an Palace, and then she is the brother-in-law of the prince of the foreign domain, and she feels that this deal is good, so she told You Shi.

When You Shi came over and saw the ceremony, he heard that the old lady said again that she wanted to recognize her granddaughter, so she smiled and said: "Thanks to the old lady who looks up to the four girls in our family, his brother said that it is her creation to be liked by the old lady, and we are only happy for her as brothers and sisters-in-law." ”

The old lady was very happy to hear this, and looked at Xichun again: "Are you willing to be my granddaughter?" ”

You Shi didn't want to wade into troubled waters, she felt that it was not a good thing to be close to her, and even if she was not close to Xichun on weekdays, she grew up watching her grow up since she was a child, where was she so hard-hearted that she couldn't go back to her hometown when she went to the outer domain. It's just that You Shi was afraid of Jia Zhen and didn't dare to refute Jia Zhen's intentions, so he had to come. Xichun's temper is very lonely, just like that time into the painting, she went to intercede and was choreographed, at this time I am really afraid that Xichun will offend the old lady, and the family will not be good.

Xichun just was quiet for a while, nodded lightly, and agreed.

Outsiders couldn't see the expression on her face clearly, and they only thought that she was forced to agree by the power of the Nan'an Palace.

The old lady liked it very much, the maid took the mat, Xichun knelt on the ground and kowtowed, gave the old lady tea, and called "grandmother", the voice was light and light, and I couldn't hear anything abnormal. The old lady immediately brought up the confession ceremony that had been prepared a long time ago, put a pair of fine silk inlaid gold bracelets on her wrist, and said that she would be taken to live in the house in a few days.

After Concubine Nan'an left, Mother Jia cried as soon as she took Xichun: "My poor four girls." ”

The sisters also guessed the inside story, and everyone else was sad, but Shi Xiangyun was full of indignation: "The concubine recognized the fourth sister, but did she want the fourth sister to go and kiss?" ”

"Cloud girl, stop talking nonsense." Xue Baochai hurriedly stopped her disrespectful words behind her, after all, those words below came out, and there were many people talking about it, and if it reached the ears of the Nan'an Palace, it would not be good for Xiangyun.

Everyone cried, but Xichun calmed down and persuaded them: "Don't be sad for me, this may be my way out." ”