==Chapter 125==

The night was already very quiet, but the lotus branch couldn't sleep.

She lived in the same room with Lianfang, and tonight Lianfang kept vigil by Jiu Niang's side, and she was the only one left in the house.

Thinking about what the lady said in the afternoon, the lotus branch tossed and turned.

She is different from Lianfang, her family has been a slave and maid in the Anguo Mansion for several generations, and the family has also become a beautiful scenery before, and there have been stewards and stewards and servants, but when it comes to her father's generation, because her father is wooden, it is no longer as glamorous as before.

Lianzhi's father is a gardener in the house, and her mother is the mother-in-law who washes the pulp, and she has an older brother, the elder brother works as an errand in the stable, and the sister-in-law works in the big kitchen, and the family relies on the Anguo Mansion to eat. Lianzhi's brother followed her father's temperament, and he was also a person who would not be left and right, and the family was honest, so he gave birth to a lotus branch and stood out a little.

When she saw that Jiu Niangzi was not a simple one, she would definitely be a promising one in the future, so she attached herself to it, and made up her mind to serve Jiu Niangzi well, and to have a good future for herself and the whole family.

She thought about it a lot, but she never thought that the extremely inconspicuous girl back then would grow to this point. With her status and status, the position of county lord that others can't ask for is also there, and Jiu Niangzi's status in the Anguo Mansion is getting higher and higher, and she is also very faceless in the mansion.

From a little maid who can't wait for the stream, to the housekeeper and the maidservant next to the lady in the house, it stands to reason that Lianzhi has reached her limit as a maid. But who would have thought that the lady's future would be more than that, and she would soon become a princess and marry into the royal family.

Lianzhi's heart inevitably began to float.

In fact, it's not just her, but now in this Cuiyun Pavilion, in addition to Xiaocui Xiaocan Lianfang, she is not the only one whose mind is floating.

If the lady wants to get married, she will inevitably have to bring her own team to marry in the past, and the old lady thinks of the problem, in fact, someone thinks earlier than she thinks. As Jiu Niang's wedding date is approaching, the eyes of many maids of all sizes in this Cuiyun Pavilion are not staring at Jiu Niangzi, but if there is a trace of possibility, there will be no fewer people who have succeeded them.

I'm afraid the lady can see it, otherwise she wouldn't have said such things today.

The lotus branch turned over again on the bunk and sighed quietly.

The old lady arranged the people not to mention, with Lianzhi's understanding of Jiu Niang, even if Jiu Niangzi can use people, she will not use what the house gave her. So today, Jiuniang brought those beautiful maids back, and Lianfang Xiaocui and the others were very angry, but Lianzhi himself had a little joy.

Jiu Niangzi will not let the old lady get her wish, so as the person next to her, maybe there will be a glimmer of opportunity. It's just that this kind of thing must not be said, she can only think about it, Jiu Niangzi has seven tricks and exquisite hearts, and she should understand this truth.

But before the joy in Lianzhi's heart faded away, Jiu Niang's words knocked all her thoughts into the bottomless abyss.

Lianzhi is afraid of Jiu Niang, she has been waiting for Jiu Niang for many years, and she knows Jiu Niang's methods and scheming very well. Jiu Niangzi is used to not speaking, but the words she says are never discounted. She said those words today, which was a warning to them, and also told them that if they transgressed, they would bear the consequences.

Lotus Zhi felt as if she had been thoroughly watered from beginning to end by a basin of cold water, which also made her, who had been a little impetuous recently, suddenly sober up.

Now there are only two paths in front of the lotus branch.

If she marries, Jiu Niangzi will definitely not treat her badly; Continue to serve the lady, the door of the Chu Wangfu is higher than the Anguo Mansion, and in the future, the lady will be the main mother of the Chu Wangfu, and the lotus branch will have a wider choice of marriage, and it will not be like now, at most, it can only be equipped with a small and small steward.

Needless to say, Lianzhi is smart, and she decides to choose the second path.

This time it was sincere, and it was no longer mixed with any careful thoughts.

Her careful thinking should also be put away, the lady is so smart, it is estimated that she has already seen the careful thinking in her heart, otherwise she would not have said anything to beat her. If she continues like this, maybe she won't even be able to maintain her current status......

After making up her mind, Lianzhi slowly fell asleep.

Today she can probably sleep peacefully, instead of the days before, always cranky and unable to sleep all night.

*

Chang'an City in August is extremely lively.

First, there was the wedding of King Qi, and then there was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and then the Xiao family was going to marry a daughter, which pushed the lively atmosphere of Chang'an City to the highest climax.

At first, the Xiao family did not pay much attention to the marriage of the Xiao family, after all, they all knew that the Xiao family had just married a daughter in May, who was married to the king, and another daughter, Jiuniang, was married to the king of Chu in October. This is probably an inconspicuous daughter of the Xiao family who is married in the middle, it is estimated that she is not waiting for anyone, and she is in front of Xiao Jiuniang, who is at the bottom of the list.

Until someone revealed that she was about to marry the granddaughter of Princess Changping, the daughter of the county lord of Chaoxia, and the sixth lady of the Xiao family. The ladies of the various mansions suddenly discovered that they seemed to have received a wedding card from the Wang family not long ago, because the object was just a concubine of the Wang family, and everyone spurned that the Wang family was becoming more and more unreliable at the same time, they also left this matter behind.

Looking at it now, it turns out that the daughter of the Xiao family is the Xiao Liuniang, which has long been sealed in the dust, and a scandal that occurred last year has once again spread in the upper circles of Chang'an City.

The people of the Xiao family and the Wang family are really not ashamed, which family and household do not have any ugly things, they all do things in a secret, and after the matter is completed, no one will be uninteresting to poke it again. Now that such a big fanfare is being held, isn't it waiting for people to see jokes?!

It doesn't matter if it's a joke or whatever. Even if you don't look at the face of the Wang family, Princess Changping's face is how much to give, and the ladies of each family hurriedly asked their subordinates to rummage through the wedding cards that they don't know where to press, and prepare to come to the door to congratulate them on the same day.

said that it was a door-to-door congratulation, but in fact, there were many jokes.

Putting aside what outsiders think for the time being, the Anguo Mansion is in full swing to prepare.

On the first day of the main day, it is the time to go to the man's side to make a dowry.

Early in the morning, the county lord of Chaoxia began to gather people with people, not only to draw out all the people who could be transferred from the Anguo Mansion, but also to send a lot of guards and family members on the side of Princess Changping.

Nowadays, the wedding of Daqi, in addition to the wedding on the right day, is the dowry on the day before the day. Daqi, from the dignitaries, nobles, ladies and nobles, to the common people, all like to watch this kind of lively scene, especially those big families pay dowries, so that they can not only talk about tea and dinner, but also take a peek at the rich and noble days of the nobles, how rich and noble they are.

For the nobles, the amount of a woman's dowry also represents whether they are satisfied with the marriage and whether they are favored at home. When the county lord of Chaoxia got married, the red makeup of ten miles is still fresh in people's memories, and I don't know how the only daughter of the county lord of Chaoxia is grand.

On the way from Anguo Mansion to Wang's house, the slightly larger restaurants were full of guests, all of whom were covered by the nobles.

There are people who want to see the excitement, there are people who want to see jokes, all in all, today's Chang'an City is particularly restless.

As soon as the time arrived, a group of people dressed in red wide-brimmed black silk and wearing red scarves and heads beat gongs and drums in front of the Anguo Mansion. Just after a while, there were a lot of people gathered in front of the Anguo Mansion to watch the excitement.

After a short time, a dowry was lifted out of the side door of the Anguo Mansion, and the dowry was carried by two people, all of whom were strong and mighty, wearing brand-new red wide-brimmed black silk suits that were the same as those of the people who beat gongs and drums, and walked out with their heads held high.

Then there is the second lift, the third lift......

This group of people walked out of the Anguo Mansion and out of the Anguo Mansion again, and the gongs and drums sounded along the way, and the winding makeup procession behind them could not see the end at all.

There were countless people around, and all kinds of exclamations, screams and greetings, like hot oil boiling in a pot, suddenly blew up the atmosphere of the whole scene to the highest point. At the same time, this fryer-like atmosphere is still transmitting, all the way to distant places that many people can't see.

"Cut!"

Cheng Wenjing pursed her lips and let out a disdainful sound.

"These people are really boring, aren't they just some dowry, it's worth being so excited."

Jiuniang picked up the tea, glanced at the winding dowry queue downstairs, and said with a smile: "This is not some, but a lot, once today's day passes, I'm afraid everyone will forget about that incident, and only remember how Xiao Liuniang made her dowry on the day." ”

Cheng Wenjing came to Jiuniang and sat down, pulled her and said: "I see that you are not in a hurry at all, you are both daughters of the Xiao family and the same mother, and the marriage date is only one month away, she didn't mean to steal the limelight from you!" ”

It seems that Cheng Wenjing is not stupid, and she also sees the wit inside.

It stands to reason that Jiuniang can't go out at this time, after all, there are not many days before she gets married. But Cheng Wenjing hadn't seen Jiuniang for many days, and it happened to be the day when Xiao Liuniang issued her dowry, so the two made an appointment to come out to see the excitement.

Duchess Anguo and Cui's others, when they heard that they were going out with the Cheng family's lady, did not stop them, but only told Jiuniang not to show her face in front of others and come back early.

"It's okay to steal the limelight, or not to steal the limelight, someone else has a rich mother, and we can't say anything." Jiuniang said indifferently.

"But—"

Cheng Wenjing paused, in the end, she didn't say anything below, no matter how much she didn't cover her mouth, she didn't want to sprinkle salt on Jiuniang's wound. Regarding Jiu Niang's situation in the Xiao family, she is more or less clear, and she has no hope that Jiu Niang's dowry can surpass Xiao Liuniang.

"The dowry has a lot of fart, and the person she married is, I know, a prodigal. You are different from her, you are married to the prince, and you will be the royal daughter-in-law in the future, and she is not even worthy of lifting your shoes. ”

Cheng Wenjing seemed to be in a hurry to comfort Jiu Niang, and even the foul language came out.

Soon she remembered that although the king of Chu was a prince, he was not good at doing it. Recently, she has heard a lot of words secretly ridiculing Jiu Niang in private, but she doesn't dare to take them out and tell Jiu Niang.

Thinking of this, Cheng Wenjing's eyes became complicated, and there was a hint of vague pity in her eyes: "Jiu Niang, you have been wronged." ”

She can only say this, no matter how much, she can't say it, and she doesn't dare to say it. In her mind, Jiu Niang deserves to be matched with a better person, and when the holy decree was made that day, she also privately humbled for Jiu Niang in front of her mother, but was scolded by her mother.

No matter how crippled it is, it is also a prince, and it is not something they can talk about.

Seeing the pity in Cheng Wenjing's eyes, Jiu Niang's heart was delicate, and she hurriedly diverted the topic: "Okay, okay, don't worry about me, Your Highness is actually quite good." By the way, what do your mother have to say, don't tell me that she still wants to marry the Wang family. ”

Hearing this, Cheng Wenjing's face was complicated, and her tone also lowered.

"My grandmother has been persuading my mother, and so has my aunt, but my mother has not refused for the sake of face, but she has not agreed. It's just that you also know that he and Na Xiao Ru have always been unclear, how can I marry him. A few days ago, a rumor reached my mother's ears, and my mother went back to her mother's house, and then he was reprimanded by his uncle and aunt. Although I haven't heard any movement in the past few days, Zuo is still like that, anyway, no matter what my mother says, I won't marry him, and I don't want to have any contact with him. ”

Now things seem to have entered a strange circle, there has been no clarity between Wang Shilang and Xiao Ru, and the Wang family still has not given up the plan to marry the Cheng family, but Wang Shilang has never cooperated. And Mrs. Cheng has not yet torn her face with the Wang family because of her face, but even if the Cheng family favors Cheng Wenjing so much, it is impossible to marry her to the Wang family.

"Jiuniang, you're really right, that Xiao Ruzhen is not a simple person, he always pretends to be innocent and weak in front of him, and he likes to blame me. Do you know? Now I'm completely dead to him, I grew up with his childhood sweetheart, and he actually believes that others don't believe me. You don't know that I'm about to be disgusted for a while, the day before yesterday, Xiao Ru actually came to me and said that let me fulfill her, since my family has no plans to marry the Wang family, I said it directly, why drag it out. ”

Cheng Wenjing's face could not hide her gloom, and there was a trace of anger that could not be concealed.

In fact, Cheng Wenjing said that she wanted to open it before, how could she put it down so easily, she still had a trace of expectation for Wang Shilang in her heart. It's just that the only trace of emotion left has been consumed again and again this time, and now only boredom and even disgusting remain.

Jiuniang looked at Cheng Wenjing's gloomy and irritable expression, and felt a little unbearable in her heart. But she also knows that this is just a labor pain, a long pain is better than a short pain, and after taking this step, it will be better to wait for Wenjing in the future.

"What qualifications do you say she has to say such things, I simply sigh at her thick-skinned Cheng Dù. I said that I would not marry Wang Shilang, but she didn't believe it and asked me to do it for her, do you think it's ridiculous? Cheng Wenjing said again.

In fact, Xiao Ru is also anxious now, seeing that the sisters in the family are engaged and married one by one, but she has not moved at all. It is impossible to expect Duchess An Guo to plan a marriage for her, and several aunts of the Cui family and the Zheng family never pay attention to her, let alone the concubine of the county lord of Chaoxia. Wang Shilang is her only life-saving straw rope, she can only hold on to it and not lose it.

It is estimated that she went to find Cheng Wenjing because she wanted to anger the Cheng family and completely abandon the idea of marrying the Wang family. And he kept coming to show favor to Jiuniang, because he wanted to take advantage of the situation.

It's a pity that Jiuniang has never wanted to deal with her since that time. Xiao Ru was not doing well during this time.

Jiuniang pondered: "I think you can tell Aunt Cheng about this qiē you encountered, you can't always hide it from her for fear that she will worry." After all, the Wang family is your mother's maiden family, and if you don't give her some reason, she won't be able to make up her mind. ”

And there is one more thing, Jiu Niang did not say, that is, for today's social form, it is normal for men to have three wives and four concubines, and there is something romantic before marriage, as long as it does not make a big fuss, in the eyes of ordinary people, it does not seem to be a big deal.

And the Wang family must have played the emotional card to Mrs. Cheng, saying that Wang Shilang was still young and ignorant, and promised that Wang Shilang and Xiao Ru would definitely break off. As for Mrs. Cheng, Wang Shilang is the nephew she grew up with, except for this incident, her character is not bad, and it is expected that she will hesitate.

So just as Jiuniang said, Mrs. Cheng needs a little external force, and this external force is best Cheng Wenjing.

"Jiu Niang, you are very right, I will take the time to tell my mother in the past two days, they can do whatever they want, I can't afford to accompany them." Cheng Wenjing gritted her teeth and said, it seemed that she was also annoyed. "I'm not going to go over there, Ling'er and you are married, and it's not interesting for me to study alone, I can't afford to provoke them, I can afford to hide."

Jiu Niang patted her hand and comforted: "It's good that you can think like this." ”

……

On the other side, the Wang family's mansion.

The people in the fourth room of the Wang family, who were in charge of receiving the dowry, almost didn't smile crookedly.

Watching this dowry move into the four-room courtyard, it felt like it was all in his own purse.

The new house has already been prepared, because the identity of the person he married is not ordinary, and the fourth room of the Wang family specially allocated a two-entry courtyard for Wang Zuyao.

The people who came to carry the dowry from the Xiao family's side carried the dowry from the gate in an orderly manner and carried it to the courtyard where the new house was located.

Nowadays, there is a rule that the woman's dowry should not be sealed immediately, but placed in the courtyard for the female relatives of the man's family to see. It has the meaning of showing off, and it is also a sue to the man's family that the dowry of our daughter is very rich, and the dowry alone is enough to eat and drink without worry.

As Xiao Liuniang's dowry was carried in, everyone soon discovered a problem, that is, this seemingly small two-entry courtyard was almost unplaced. I had no choice but to arrange for someone to remove the dowry that had been seen and put it into the treasury that had been prepared for a long time. It's just that soon, it can't be put in the storeroom, so it can only be carried into the house, or put into a room where no one is around.

Fortunately, the Xiao family's side has sufficient manpower, otherwise it would really not be able to perform.

But the empty house was also filled, and the dowry bearer was blocked out of the courtyard.

At this time, Mrs. Wang Si squeezed over from the crowd watching the excitement, and said with a smile: "Otherwise, carry it to the courtyard next to it, this courtyard is a four-room courtyard, where to put it." ”

Today, the nurse Li also came, and she was specially sent by the county lord of Chaoxia to handle the dowry of the shop.

Hearing this, she pulled a smile that was not salty or light: "Mrs. in-law, the dowry of women is to be placed in the new house, but I haven't heard of the truth that it was carried elsewhere in the past." You can rest assured, our side is not well arranged, and the slave and maid will order people to put things in place, and they can always put them down. ”

After finishing speaking, Li hurriedly ordered someone to go to the place. The dowry is a matter for the woman, but it is not appropriate for the man to interfere.

Being blocked like this, Mrs. Wang's smile froze on her face.

The ladies of the Wang family who were watching the excitement on the side all had their eyes flashing, this person really thought that others were stupid, and pointed at others and didn't know what she was thinking. Once this thing is carried away, with the character of four rooms and two people who only enter and can't leave, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the new daughter-in-law to come back in the future.

Looking at the posture of this servant in charge, you will know that this new daughter-in-law is also not easy to mess with, and there will be fun to see here in the fourth room in the future.

This kind of disgraceful thing happened on the day of the dowry, although it didn't make a fuss, and the Li family still gave the lord of Chaoxia after he went back.

The county lord of Chaoxia scolded and didn't mention it, the wedding will be tomorrow, and it will be too late to regret it at this time. She went to Xiao Liuniang to ask for her life, and gave Xiao Liuniang a few more people around her, for fear that her daughter would suffer a loss if she got married.

Of course, that's another story.

*

Outside, the dowry procession that had been winding for miles finally came to an end, and the sound of various gongs and drums gradually moved away from here, leaving only countless exclamations and discussions.

All the onlookers smacked their tongues, lamenting the wealth of the Xiao family, and even lamenting the generosity of the lord of Chaoxia County to marry his daughter.

And what more people think is that now it is just marrying a concubine of the Wang family, it is such a big scene, so the Xiao family will marry another daughter after more than a month, and the man is still the prince, what kind of grand occasion is it.

Countless people have great expectations for the wedding after the month, and they are all discussing that they must come to watch it again when the time comes.

pressed these and didn't mention them, and after the excitement passed, Jiuniang and Cheng Wenjing broke up and left.

Cheng Wenjing is still worried about the affairs with the Wang family, and Jiuniang should not go out for too long, and tomorrow is Xiao Liuniang's big day, and it is not good for her to run around.

Jiu Niang took Xiaocui out of the back door of the restaurant, and the carriage she was sitting in stopped in this back alley.

When I arrived at the back alley of the restaurant, in addition to the carriage that Jiuniang was sitting in on weekdays, there was also a carriage parked.

Jiu Niang didn't pay too much attention to it, but it wasn't until Xiao Cui deliberately glanced over there that she realized that the person standing outside the car was Chang Shun, who she hadn't seen for a long time.

Chang Shun is here, so will the King of Chu be far away?

Jiu Niang's heart jumped, and she went there.

Chang Shun smiled respectfully at her, put down the stool, and pushed open the car door.

Sitting inside was the King of Chu, whom he hadn't seen for many days.

The king of Chu was dressed in a well-tailored cardigan made of ice blue silk fabric, with a darker royal blue brocade sandwiched with indigo auspicious cloud patterns at the placket and narrow cuffs, and a white jade belt around his waist. A black hair is tied on the top of the head, buckled with a three-finger-wide white jade crown, and there is a longevity prefix with a white jade hairpin interspersed from it, which makes its face like a crown of jade, handsome and beautiful, and the eyes are gloomy.

Jiuniang was crowned in March this year, and the king of Chu was also crowned before the end of the month.

Once a man is crowned, he will be an adult man, and the king of Chu does look the same every year, and he usually doesn't think that he hasn't seen him for more than a month, and Jiuniang found that the figure of the king of Chu seems to be stronger again. It seems that since beating him and curing the poison, his body has been getting better day by day, and he used to have a trace of weakness and paleness, but now he is not at all.

Of course, it can also be understood as growing up.

King Chu's slender, fair-skinned and bony big palm was separated from the desk, and a sapphire ring on his thumb exuded a faint light, lining his equally dark narrow eyes, which was a little more charming.

Jiu Niang suddenly felt that her face was slightly hot, and she didn't dare to look at the person again, so she climbed into the carriage and turned around and closed the door.

"Your Highness."

The dark pupils of the King of Chu stared closely at the other party's soft and fair little face, pointed chin, and soft lips, because he was half-hanging his head, he couldn't see her big watery eyes, only her slightly trembling and curly eyelashes.

It seems that after the end of the day, she has also grown up, faded away from her youthfulness, and added a touch of coquettishness that a woman should have. Delicate and delicate, delicate and timid, like a yellowed apricot, a bite of the juice is rich, slightly sour but with infinite sweetness.

King Chu seemed to mumble something, pulled Jiu Niang closer, and reached out to touch a white jade hairpin inserted in her head.

This white jade open-carved longevity hairpin is the first day of Jiuniang and the ceremony, the king of Chu specially ordered someone to send it, and the praiser inserted it for Jiuniang on the ceremony, and since then it has been brought on her head every day.

Jiuniang felt the movements of the King of Chu, her face became even hotter, and her eyes involuntarily placed on the top of the King of Chu's hair.

Jiuniang originally did not have such a high consciousness, but before the crowning ceremony of the king of Chu, Xiaocui repeatedly hinted that Jiuniang would come to her senses and specially ask someone to carve this hairpin and give it to the king of Chu.

Thinking that the two of them wore the same hairpin, and this kind of implication, Jiu Niang felt that her heart was hot.

Even between her and Wang Shilang in her previous life, she had never been so intimate, and it felt like the two had the same secret. Because of this secret, it seems to be very close.

"It's a little over a month."

Jiu Niang's chaotic brain was not in a hurry to understand the meaning of this, and the whole person was surrounded by a ball of heat.

The August day is still a little hot, and there is a hot texture under the thin clothes, because they are too close, so you can clearly feel the hardness hidden under the elastic texture of the other party.

A thought quickly flashed through Jiu Niang's mind-

The king of Chu seems to be a little stronger again.

This sturdiness does not refer to the strength of the appearance, but the strength of the muscles and the firm texture. is so strong and powerful, Jiu Niang is surrounded by it, adding a feeling that she is very weak and soft.

It is the collision of force and softness.

Jiu Niang felt like she had turned into a puddle of water......