Severe winter.

This year's winter in Shengjing, as in previous years, was full of snow and silver.

At dusk, the snow has been falling for a day, the sky is dark, the moon is high in the clear night sky, and the stars are twinkling, reflecting the lights on the ground.

Shengjing on a winter night was silent.

It was freezing cold, and there were no figures on the streets, except for the orange light from the houses on both sides of the street, reflecting a warm yellow glow on the snow through the wooden lattice window lattice.

At night, a horse-drawn carriage came in the snow, and the sound of horses' hooves broke the silence from far to near, and galloped through the street and disappeared into the end of the street.

"Phew—"

With a long roar, the galloping carriage stopped in front of a high-gate compound, and the young servant in Tsing Yi who was driving the carriage tightened the reins, turned back to the car and said, "Auntie, the Hou Mansion has arrived." ”

There was a low voice behind the curtain, and a woman poked her head out of the curtain.

The woman was about twenty-six or seventeen years old, with a delicate appearance, phoenix eyes and pointed face, and a trace of heroism between her eyebrows, looking capable and shrewd, she looked up at the plaque on the high door, and saw the gilded "Wenxin Marquis Mansion" four big characters shining in the lamplight, shining in the eyes of people.

"It's finally here." The woman's red lips opened slightly, and there was a dark light flowing in her slightly raised phoenix eyes.

The southeast corner of the Hou Mansion, the east wing of Xinyue Garden is warm

An Ruolan leaned on the kang table, concentrating on painting flowers, next to him, Meng Shi was holding a volume of poetry and anthology, and he was reading it with relish, the two of them were silent, and the room was warm and quiet.

Suddenly, a maid in Tsing Yi hurriedly opened the curtain and came in, and said, "Madam, Sixth Miss, the Xue family and the young master outside have entered the mansion." ”

There was resentment and disdain in his tone.

Meng Shi took the book's hand for a moment, and An Ruolan also raised his head.

After a while, Meng Shifang said lightly: "If you come, you will come, why make all the fuss?" Isn't the arranged yard still not taken care of? ”

As he spoke, he flipped through a page of the book.

An Ruolan turned around her without a trace, seeing that her fingertips unconsciously pinched the pages trembled slightly, a touch of helplessness slipped in her eyes, and she sighed secretly and lowered her head to continue to draw flowers.

The maid Xu didn't expect Meng Shi to ask such a question, and she was speechless for a while, and after a while, she regained her mind and lowered her head and said: "The yard is taken care of, and the slave maid listened to the grandmother who took care of it, and the Xue family was very grateful for Madame's mercy, saying that after the young master and young lady who had just entered the mansion kowtowed to the old marquis and old lady, they would come to see Madame." ”

Meng Shi was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at An Ruolan.

I thought I would see my daughter's cold and angry look, but what I didn't want to see was a smiling and immature face.

While feeling relieved, he was inexplicably depressed.

Looking down at the book in his hand, Meng Shi seemed to not care at all, and said softly: "It's cold, their mother and son have just returned home, and they are already very tired when they think about it, so they don't stick to these false courtesies, you go and tell them, so they don't have to come." Her face was still gentle, but her eyes drooped slightly, making it difficult to see the love.

An Ruolan smiled and said: "Mother, this should not be abolished, besides, if you don't see them, I'm afraid that my father will mistakenly think that you don't like it in your heart." ”

She didn't have to ask the Meng family to see Xue's mother and son.

She just didn't want to leave any excuse for others to be branded as stingy and jealous.

In the previous life, when Xue's mother and son first returned home, they also came to visit their mother, but at that time she didn't like it in her heart, so she asked her mother not to see them, and her mother couldn't resist her, so she agreed, but as Xue's mother and son knelt under the porch, the mother broke her promise and welcomed people into the room in person.

Because her mother has always been known for her generosity and kindness in the house, and I don't know who spread the news that she begged her mother not to see Xue's mother and son, so that all the fault fell on her, so that she not only lost a bad reputation, but also made her father disliked, making her father increasingly alienated from herself.

With such a lesson, she naturally will not make the same mistake again.

Hearing this, Meng's delicate body trembled slightly, pondered for a moment, and still shook his head: "Your father won't." ”

He instructed the maid again: "Hongju, you go and tell the Xue family, the weather is cold, and it is easy to get cold when tossing back and forth, you let her rest with the two young masters and young ladies for a good time, and it is the same to come back tomorrow morning to ask for peace." After that, he glanced at An Ruolan.

An Ruolan pursed her lips and smiled, although she had seen it, she couldn't help but feel lost in her heart.

It turned out that even if it wasn't for her, her mother wouldn't see Xue's mother and son. In her previous life, she thought that her mother loved her, and she was reluctant to be sad, so she didn't see Xue's mother and son, it seems that she was so amorous.

Hongju responded happily, with joy, and respectfully withdrew, and before leaving, she glanced at An Ruolan with incomprehension in her eyes, as if she wondered why she wanted Meng to see Xue.

An Ruolan noticed Hongju's gaze, smiled, and was silent.

Meng Shi sighed, as if he was in no mood to read, put the scroll lightly on the kang table, sent all the maids out, and talked to An Ruolan about himself.

"Lan'er, mother doesn't know how to face her......" Meng's voice was like crying, and his autumn eyes were rippling, looking at An Ruolan faintly.

An Ruolan avoided the important and trivialized: "Sooner or later, I will see it." ”

"Mother knows, it's just ......" said again, and sighed faintly, but then the conversation changed sharply, and said with relief: "Lan'er has grown up, and she is no longer as reckless and impulsive as before, so you didn't lose your temper, mother is so happy." ”

An Ruolan smiled faintly and said: "People always have to grow up, and it is normal for a daughter to have an epiphany after being closed by the ghost gate." ”

The three words "Ghost Gate" made Meng Shi's face white, she covered her mouth, tears quickly appeared in her eyes, and she sobbed lowly: "Is Lan'er blaming her mother?" Blame your mother for taking advantage of your coma to promise your father? You should blame me, you didn't hesitate to throw yourself into the lake for your mother, and your mother obviously promised you, but she ......"

"Mother thinks too much." An Ruolan's tone was not hurried or slow, interrupting Meng's words.

"But you've not been as close to your mother these days as you used to......" Meng Shi looked at her sadly.

"The mother just said that her daughter has grown up." An Ruolan still smiled lightly.

Meng's face showed a little anxious, and he was about to speak, when her personal maid Xia He came in and said, "Madam, the Xue family is coming here with the young master and young lady who has just returned to the house, and it is estimated that it will be there in a while." ”

Meng Shi got up in surprise, "Didn't you let Hongju go and spread the word so that they didn't have to come over?" ”

"Hongju passed the word, but the Xue family insisted on coming over, saying that he couldn't lose his manners." Xia He also frowned slightly.

Meng Shi smiled bitterly: "The Xue family is polite, it's just that." He sighed and said, "When the people arrive, you can bring them in quickly." ”

Xia He replied.

Meng Shi turned around and held An Ruolan's hand, as if grasping a life-saving driftwood, with pleading in his eyes, "Lan'er will accompany her mother to see them." ”

An Ruolan responded with a smile, even if her mother asked her to leave, she also wanted to stay to meet Xue's mother and son, otherwise how would she show her awakening and gentleness?

At this time, the maid outside the door reported: "The young master and the Xue family who have just entered the mansion are here." ”