==Chapter 123==

The June sun is very poisonous.

There was not a single cloud in the sky, only a huge cloud of the sun hanging in the sky, emitting bursts of heat. The weather was so hot and humid that it seemed that the air was stagnant, and as soon as they walked out of the house, a heat wave rushed towards them, which made the already unhappy mood of the Cui and Zheng families even worse.

Cui and Zheng left the main room and walked out of the courtyard almost without pause. The two of them walked along the shaded path, sheltering from the sun through the shade of the trees, followed not far by a number of maidservants of various ranges.

"Sister-in-law, what do you say this is called. Do we owe five rooms, or what's wrong? ”

In other words, the Zheng family would not be so ignorant of the general situation, but there was the lord of Chaoxia County who came to respond to the people, and then there was Xiao Jiuniang, who harmed everyone's interests to make up for the fifth room. If there was no previous incident, the Zheng family would at most be a little uncomfortable in her heart, and the two things together made her extremely angry, and even Jiuniang suffered from the pond fish at this time, and was jealous.

Cui's heart is also extremely uncomfortable, she takes care of the house every day, the Xiao family is a big business, but she can't stand the big expenses, and there is no better understanding of how many families there are in the family.

The Xiao family is now separated, and all the properties under their names are in one place, the Anguo Mansion is at the helm of Chang'an City and is responsible for the general direction, while the Lanling old mansion is responsible for the family's business and other chores. At the end of each year, Lanling will send a sum of silver to Chang'an for the daily expenses of the Anguo Mansion.

On the surface, the Anguo Mansion has a high status in the Xiao family, and it is good to accept support, but the Cui family is not unpopular, so many businesses and granges are profitable, but they send such a little silver every year, and the two branches in Lanling are not without heirs, and I don't know how much silver they are greedy from.

Duchess An Guo also understands this truth, but this is an internal matter of the Xiao family, and as a woman, she can't question it more. Not to mention Lanling, the Anguo Mansion also secretly has a family business, everyone tacitly agrees.

It's just that everyone hasn't forgotten that the Xiao family's most promising industry, Lanling wine, is held in the clan. This is also the bulk of all the sources of money in the entire Xiao family, and there are many people who covet it.

Cui's is the mother of the big house, and the entire Anguo Mansion will definitely be handed over to the big house in the future, and the Duchess of Anguo is now planning to use the silver in the duke to supplement Xiao Jiuniang, which is undoubtedly snatching food in Cui's mouth, even if she is a stable person, it is impossible to feel comfortable in her heart. You must know that when the eldest mother got married, she didn't have so much dowry, not to mention that she also had Xiao Wuniang under her name who regarded her as her own.

"But the Ah family has already made a decision, what can we say as daughters-in-law, after all, it is also for the family." Cui Shi said in a low voice.

Zheng pursed his lips almost uncheckably, "I'll just say that, after all, it's the sister-in-law who is in charge of the family's feed, and I'm just not worth it for the sister-in-law." ”

Cui Shi sighed and did not speak.

Zheng wanted to see something from Cui's face, but he couldn't see anything. Seeing the fork in the road back to the second room, she said goodbye to Cui's and hurriedly walked to the second room.

After Zheng left, a well-dressed middle-aged servant woman came to Cui's side.

"Madam, the slave maid sees that the second lady is trying to instigate you to come forward and stop this."

Cui Shi laughed meaninglessly, "She is uncomfortable, it is conceivable that she will have such thoughts, but Mrs. Ben is not stupid, and she is not clearly against the 'general trend' of the house in this kind of thing." And she is probably confused by the fifth room, you must know that now she is taking the money from the family to do good deeds to the second room. After a while, when she figured it out, she would probably regret Fang Cai's words. ”

But isn't it, adding makeup to Xiao Jiuniang is to envelop the king of Chu, if you can envelop the king of Chu, it is King Cheng who will gain power, and King Cheng is the son-in-law of the Zheng family, but he is not doing good things for the second room.

To put it bluntly, even if the king wins a great career in the future, the Cui family is just an aunt, the aunt of the future queen. And the Zheng family is not only the uncle of the future emperor, but also his mother-in-law, if the queen can give birth to a son-in-law, it is a sure prince. Whoever gains during this period has an account in everyone's heart, which is also the fundamental reason why Cui's heart will feel uncomfortable.

If you want to complain, you can only complain that your belly is not angry, so she gave birth to a daughter of Aunt Xiao, and the age of Aunt Xiao is too different from that of King Cheng, otherwise it would not be Xiao Sanniang's turn.

Cui's face was calm, the hands under his sleeves were clenched into fists, and after a moment of silence, she ordered: "Reveal this matter, not only to let the third and fourth rooms know, but also to let the Cuiyun Pavilion know." ”

Doing good deeds without leaving a name, that is a stupid thing to do, since she has lost her interests, she must let the other party understand in her heart that she has accepted her love. And whenever something happens to the Zheng family on weekdays, it is the attitude of pushing four, five or six, and this time she has to make her bleed, and she can't always suffer a loss and complain about her in front, others always follow behind to pick up benefits.

Cui, who has always been fair and extremely knowledgeable, is rarely able to maintain his calmness.

"Yes."

*

Just as Cui Shi thought, after Zheng went back, he sat down and calmed down for a while, and then realized that he had just said something he shouldn't have said.

It stands to reason that she took advantage of this matter, but she went to instigate Cui's to come forward to stop it.

Zheng's regret was indescribable, and he spared several laps in the house, secretly scolding himself for being stupid.

But she also thought about it, the sister-in-law has always been shrewd, she wants to provoke her to do something on weekdays, but she has never succeeded, and she probably won't succeed this time.

She never expected that after just one night, the sky in the house would change.

The lord of Chaoxia left Aneiyuan, probably out of anger, and after he went back, he lost his temper, so the story of the dispute between the lord of Chaoxia and the old lady over the dowry for the sixth lady spread. Therefore, because the dowry of the sixth lady was too rich, the lord of Chaoxia and the second lady had a quarrel. After that, the matter that the old lady wanted to add makeup to the nine ladies so as not to lose face in the house was naturally brought out.

For a while, there was a lot of discussion everywhere in the house.

When Zheng learned about this, he was anxious.

Of course, she wouldn't think that this matter was done by the county lord of Chaoxia, and it must have been her sister-in-law Cui's action. She complained to Cui's in her heart, why did she never pay attention to her instigation, but this time she was so uncalm?

The next evolution of things, Zheng can calculate without pinching his fingers, the three rooms and the four rooms and several engaged ladies will definitely make a fuss.

Sure enough, Mrs. Ma went to the old lady to cry the next day. Crying that Sanlang Jun Xiaomian has no ability, his own mother's family is also useless, and now Siniang is about to get married, but Sanfang can't even make up a few dowries, if it's just those dowries from the public, it's really a bit embarrassing for the family.

said a thousand ways and ten thousand, but he saw that Gongzhong had repeatedly added makeup to Jiuniang, and now he was changing his way to ask for a dowry.

What the old lady had feared finally happened.

It's nothing to add some more to Xiao Siniang, but it can be added to the three rooms and four mothers, and the five mothers and seven mothers of the big room will give it or not? There is also Liuniang in the fifth room, who has just had a dispute with the lord of Chaoxia because of the dowry, no matter how much the old lady does not treat the mother and daughter of the lord of Chaoxia County, but they are always the wives and daughters of Wulangjun Xiaohang, and it is unreasonable to favor one over the other.

And with the temperament of the county lord of Chaoxia who does not suffer losses, even if she has a lot of money in her hand, she will not be left behind.

The old lady finally found an excuse to block the Ma family back for the time being, and followed by the county lord of Chaoxia.

The county lord of Chaoxia said very reasonably, Liuniang is the daughter of the fifth room, the granddaughter of the old lady's relatives, there is no reason for a cheap maid to make the old lady treat her extra favorably, and this granddaughter has to retreat.

The county lord of Chaoxia was really arrogant, and the old lady was very angry, but she couldn't say that the county lord of Chaoxia was wrong. Because this matter is indeed an injustice she did, and the county lord of Chaoxia is not wrong.

Duchess An Guo was helpless, so she could only say that it was spread by the people, but she had no such plans. But no matter what, there are so many bright-eyed people in the house, and everyone's eyes are fixed on Aneiyuan.

Duchess Anguo is difficult to ride a tiger.

At the same time, it was roasted on the fire, and Jiuniang.

Speaking of which, this incident was caused by Xiao Liuniang's dowry, but in fact, everyone is fighting for unfair treatment now.

The so-called not suffering from the few, but suffering from unevenness, is this truth.

As for the so-called 'righteousness', it doesn't make sense to say these things to these women in the back house, they can only see that they are also daughters, why do you have it, but I don't. Especially if you want to use Jiuniang to envelop the King of Chu, it is not appropriate to talk about it on the surface.

When the matter reached Cuiyun Pavilion, everyone in Cuiyun Pavilion was restless. No matter how transcendent Cuiyun Pavilion is, it can't offend the anger of the public.

Jiu Niang also looked worried, she knew that this matter would make waves, but she never expected that this fire would burn on herself.

For the dowry, in fact, Jiuniang doesn't care, but it's good not to lose face, and it's more than enough to be less than the bottom. But when this incident came out, no matter what An Rongyuan did, her face was gone.

Silver, Jiuniang is not lacking.

Not to mention the 100,000 yuan sent by the King of Chu, just the sub-cases issued by the public in the past few years and the surplus produced by her food and euphemism are enough for her to get a good dowry for herself.

The rich and noble families in Chang'an City marry their daughters, and the dowry can be twenty or thirty thousand, which is already not bad, and Xiao Liuniang's so-called one hundred and sixty dowry will not add up to more than 100,000.

This money Jiuniang can take out, but the silver money in her hand is not suitable for seeing the light. Not to mention the source of the money, if such a thing happens, even if the dowry is taken out by themselves, they will not think so in the hearts of others, they will only think that it is secretly subsidized by the Duchess of Anguo.

It's okay if you don't take it out, but when you take it out, it's the target of everyone, and it's not or.

*

At the same time, Cui's side didn't expect things to turn out like this.

Her original plan was to sell Xiao Jiuniang a favor and let her admit her love. On the other hand, there is also the intention of pit the Zheng family, once the matter comes out, the Zheng family will inevitably be in a hurry, even if it is not to spoil the matter of the son-in-law becoming the king, the Zheng family must have something to say. Zheng said that the public school would be able to produce less silver, so why not do it.

But I never thought that this fire would burn like this, and it is conceivable that there must be someone secretly trying to fish in troubled waters. People who want to fish in troubled waters don't have to think about it, it's either a three-room or four-room person.

It's also Cui's a little conceited, the usual three-bedroom and four-bedroom are hindered by their own concubines, and when facing the big house, two bedrooms and five bedrooms, they never fight or grab. But as long as he is a person, he will always have **, he can take the opportunity to get some benefits, and he can also take advantage of this to let out a bad breath that he has been holding for a long time, so that a fool can't go up.

Cui's fire not only burned out of control, but also complained to the Duchess of Anguo, which can be said to be more than worth the loss.

But Cui Shi is not a fool, when the incident happened, she went to Anrong Yuan to clarify. Things have developed to the current situation, and the benefits of the big house are not getting a cent, but they are dirty, so needless to say, it must be those who are profitable who are the culprits.

Duchess An Guo didn't blame the Cui family on the surface, nor did she say that she thought that the Cui family was a demon from it, as for what she thought in her heart, no one knew.

On the other hand, Zheng does have his own plans to come forward to extinguish the fire, but he can't stand that she is stingy.

gritted her teeth and added makeup to Xiao Jiuniang, she could still bear it, but the matter was so big, if she added Jiuniang in front, when the Ma family and the county lord of Chaoxia came forward to let her, who was the second aunt, add makeup to Siniang and Liuniang, what should she do?

After all, you can't favor one over the other, can you?

This is not a matter of a few hundred taels of silver, coming forward to add makeup to Xiao Jiuniang has already made the roots of Zheng's teeth almost broken, and if you add it to others, it is better to let her die.

So, Zheng's cat got up and made up his mind not to come out of this.

She didn't believe that An Rongyuan would have no action, anyway, if she became a king after becoming a king, the people who benefited would be surnamed Xiao.

*

The sun was scorching for many days, and the weather was so hot that it made people feel irritable.

In the summer, there is always a heavy rain every three or five days, but this year, I don't know what happened, and there was no sign of rain in June.

There are drought information in Hebei Province, Jiangnan Province and Huainan Province, and the Yellow River has burst its embankment on the other side of Henan Province. The imperial court sent people to relieve the disaster and did not mention it, the prices in Chang'an City are getting more expensive day by day, and even the ice price has more than doubled this year.

However, this qiē has nothing to do with the rich and noble, the life should be lived or lived, what they care about is not whether they can eat enough today, but how much they have gained, or how much they have lost.

In Cuiyun Pavilion, the weather is hot like this, and Aunt Yu and Lianzhi do not prevent Jiuniang from using ice.

In a corner of the room, there are two gilded beast head ice cauldrons, which contain large pieces of snow-white ice, and the slightest cold air comes out of it, adding a bit of coolness to the whole room.

Jiu Niang sat on the soft couch by the window, covered with a thin silk quilt on her legs, and was reading a book by leaning on a soft pillow.

The two of them sat on the small pestle, holding a needle and thread in their hands.

Jiuniang is not good at female popularity, so things like embroidering dowries can only be handed over to the next person, and the government has also dialed two embroidery girls to Cuiyun Pavilion to come over to help. Some of the large pieces were handed over to the two embroiderers, and as for some of the materials used by Jiu Niang, they were made by Lianfang.

The lotus branch was doing needlework, and there was some absent-mindedness on his face.

In fact, it's not just her, it's been the same in Cuiyun Pavilion these days, although Jiuniang asked Aunt Yu to detain her subordinates and let everyone go out and walk around less. But some news from outside still came to Cuiyun Pavilion in an endless stream.

Now Jiuniang has become the target of public criticism in the Anguo Mansion, not to mention all kinds of gossip in private, the subordinates of Cuiyun Pavilion will inevitably fall into some eyes when they go out, which makes everyone a little impetuous.

"That Seven Ladies is really, they know how to instigate everywhere, so that their maidservants go around and say bad things about their maids, and no one can take care of them." Lian Fang whispered to Jiu Niang.

The day before yesterday, a rough little maid in Cuiyun Pavilion heard someone say bad things about Jiuniang outside, so she had an argument with the other party, and the two accidentally tore up. When the matter came to Cui's place, the maid gritted her teeth and refused to admit it, and finally Xiao Qiniang came in person, and she didn't defend her maidservant, but only said with red eyes that Jiuniang was bullying.

In fact, everyone knows what the real situation is, but it is just a raft through things. Cui's was not easy to deal with, and in the end he had to stop it.

"It would be nice if the lady had an uncle, and we could also use a pretext to settle things." Lian Fang sighed.

Jiu Niang has a lot of family background, others don't know, but as a personal maidservant, Lianzhi knows that they now have silver and can't use it, so they are angry with the cautious eyes of the child. If Jiu Niangzi has an uncle's family, she can use the silver under the guise of being open-minded, and sometimes she has face, and people can't pick out anything.

"Stop, what are you talking about!" Lianzhi reprimanded sharply, and at the same time looked at Jiu Niang's face.

Jiuniang put down the book in her hand and looked over.

"Lady, don't blame Lianfang, she didn't hold back for a while." Lianzhi turned his head and twisted Lianfang again, "You too, you are getting bolder and bolder, relying on your lady to indulge you, you dare to say anything!" ”

Jiu Niangzi's own mother, Yueji, is not only a lonely person, but also a slave, everyone knows about this matter, how can there be an uncle. In this way, it is not Ming Huanghuang to remind Jiu Niangzi of his life experience, who wants his disgraceful life experience to be mentioned.

Lianfang also realized that she had said the wrong thing, and covered her mouth with a panicked face, looking at Jiu Niang pitifully. She also had such a whim.

Jiu Niang blinked: "Okay, I didn't mean to blame Lianfang, she reminded me when she said this." She groaned, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this method was feasible, and she couldn't help but smile: "Lianfang, you go and call Xiaocui." ”

Seeing that Jiu Niang did not punish her, Lian Fang immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly went out to call Xiaocui.

Lianzhi looked thoughtful: "Lady, do you want to-"

Jiu Niang nodded and said with a smile: "Don't you think what Lian Fang said is a good way?" No, let's just make one, but just deal with this incident. ”

*

Since Jiuniang plans to create an uncle out of nothing, she inevitably has to find a more stable person. Because it is not difficult to create an 'uncle', the difficult thing is how to round out what happened next.

She didn't have anyone in her hands, so she couldn't help but ask for help from the king of Chu.

Because the wedding date is approaching, it is not as convenient for Jiuniang to go out as in the past recently, so she ordered Xiaocui to pass the word on.

After a while, Xiaocui returned.

Jiuniang asked her if the word had arrived, and Xiaocui only said that the king of Chu already knew about it. Jiu Niang didn't think much about it, this kind of thing is difficult for others, but it is not difficult for King Chu.

Then she just needs to sit at home and wait for the so-called 'uncle' to come to the door, and then all the qi qi will be solved.

But who knows, she didn't wait for her 'uncle', but waited for a huge surprise.

Early in the morning, there was a knock on the door of the Anguo Mansion.

Led by Chang Shun, with a group of subordinates from the Chu Palace, he carried more than a dozen huge boxes and stepped into the gate of the Anguo Mansion.

This is the first time that the people of the Chu Wangfu have come to the door with such fanfare, and this move not only alarmed the Duchess of An Guo, but also the Duke of An Guo and the Xiao family's eldest Langjun and Erlangjun.

welcomed people in, Chang Shun didn't say anything else, but he was neither humble nor arrogant and took out a gift list in front of people, saying that His Royal Highness had sent something to the future princess.

The boxes were lifted one by one, almost blinding the eyes of the crowd.

Not to mention the chests containing all kinds of luxurious fabrics, the first few chests are piled up with countless gold, silver, jewelry, and rare calligraphy and painting ornaments.

The pearls that are as big as a dragon's eye have several boxes, as well as the various colored gems that are extremely bright, which are also calculated based on boxes, not to mention the countless exquisite gold and silver jewelry......

Even with the vision of the Duchess of Anguo, she was a little surprised.

How many things did this King of Chu send?

Not to mention the Cui family, the Zheng family, and the Ma family, the Liu family, as well as Xiao Siniang, Xiao Qiniang and others, they were red eyes, amazed and amazed.

The king of Chu is now going to the door to send things to Xiao Jiuniang with great fanfare, so needless to say, he must have changed the way to give Xiao Jiuniang a dowry.

This King of Chu is really considerate and generous!

Duchess An Guo felt a little flattered, and even a little honored. It's good that the king of Chu attaches importance to Jiuniang, so that he will have a greater grasp of him.

Duchess An Guo smiled and ordered her subordinates to serve tea to Chang Shun.

Chang Shun refused, saying that he had other things to do, and he was going to leave when he handed over the things to Jiu Niangzi.

It stands to reason that Chang Shun's words are a bit overstepping, since the things have been sent over, and there is a gift list here, even if the Duchess of Anguo is bold, it is impossible to ignore Jiuniang's things. But since the king of Chu said that the things should be given to great fanfare, and they should be handed over to Jiuniang in person, Chang Shun naturally had to do it.

This is not trusting the Xiao family!

Duchess An Guo felt a little uncomfortable in her heart, and she didn't show anything on her face, so she led Chang Shun to carry things to Cuiyun Pavilion.

So, the boxes that were wide open and contained all kinds of rare treasures that were enough to blind everyone's eyes were carried all the way to Cuiyun Pavilion with great fanfare.

There were many onlookers along the way, and all the gossip suddenly broke itself.

What Nine Niangzi pleases the old lady and makes it difficult for the old lady to do it for her, what Nine Niangzi relies on her marriage to bully the sisters and engage in unfair treatment, what Nine Niangzi does not have a mother's subsidy, but wants to let the house slap her swollen face and become fat......

All of them vanished.

Jiu Niangzi does not have a rich mother, nor does she have a strong maternal family, but she has a future husband who loves her, and this husband has a noble status, and he is the prince of Daqi.

I have seen a lot of dowry gifts, I have seen those who love their wives, but I have not seen a future daughter-in-law who has not passed the door, so she has a long face.

As a woman, it's worth it to be able to stand up to such a husband!

Jiuniang stood on the steps, watching the boxes being lifted into the courtyard in an endless stream, resting in the huge courtyard, the sun shone brightly, and suddenly a golden light was shining, dazzling people's eyes.

"Did you already know something?"

Looking at Xiao Cui, who didn't show any surprise on the side, Jiu Niang asked.

"The slave doesn't know." Xiaocui replied honestly.

She really didn't know, but when she went to do something that day, the master's demeanor was a little strange. She didn't take it to heart at the time, but she didn't expect that strangeness to be confirmed here.

Jiuniang was a little unbelieving, but there was no time for her to disbelieve it at this time.

Looking at Chang Shun who came over, she stepped down the steps and nodded with a smile: "Chang Nei Waiter." ”

"Nine Ladies Da'an." Chang Shun made a salute, "The slave maid is ordered by His Highness to send something to the lady, this is a gift list." ”

"I'm in trouble."

Lianzhi stepped forward to take the gift list, and at the same time stuffed Chang Shun with a purse.

On the human side, the form that should be taken is still to go.

This is the first time Jiu Niang has rewarded Chang Shun, looking at Chang Shun's weird face, Jiu Niang is extremely happy.

"Your Highness has something to bring?"

"Naturally, there is, Your Highness said, in fact, you don't have to be so troublesome, just solve it like this." Chang Shun means something.

Jiuniang was stunned, not knowing what to say.