The small bridge and flowing water, the smoke and willows are misty and hazy along the water, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and the birds are singing on the green smoke embankment, which is the infinite scenery of the south of the Yangtze River in spring.

Yangzhou Ningjia today ushered in the 100th birthday of Ning Chang'an, the second lady of the Ning family.

The Ning family has been rich for more than three generations, and it is a real century-old family, especially in this generation, which has reached its peak.

On the day of Ning Maosheng and Jin Yilan's great wedding eleven years ago, Emperor Longzhi of the capital issued a special decree to grant the Ning family the privilege of purchasing silk from the palace. In the second year, when Ning Changxian, the eldest son and eldest grandson of the Ning family, was born, he handed over 50% of the authority of Xiling's mining court supervision to the Ning family, which means that the Ning family holds all the mining rights of Xiling, so Emperor Hao shocked the entire Xiling. There was an uproar inside and outside the government and the opposition, and since then, the Ning family has been completely linked to the royal family in Xiling.

Only the Ning family understands that the Ning family was able to get half of the mining rights that had been withheld by the court for 60 years because of the Jin family, that is, Jin Yilan's maiden family, Jin Yilan's father was the crown prince of the dynasty, and Jin Yilan was his only daughter.

Back then, out of respect for the Jin family, Ning Maosheng made a promise not to accept a concubine in his life before marrying the only daughter of the Jin family.

After Jin Yilan's marriage, she gave birth to Ning Changxian the next year, and in the next eight years, because Ning Maosheng has been busy expanding the business of the Ning family, most of the husband and wife are separated, and after the business of the Ning family is finally on track, Ning Maosheng will take his wife and son from the ancestral house of the Ning family to Yangzhou.

Two years later, Ning Maosheng's second daughter was born.

The birth of this daughter made even Ning Maosheng feel a little incredible. Because of her appearance alone, Jin Yilan is not very outstanding, and Ning Maosheng's appearance can only be regarded as handsome, but half a month after the birth of this girl, after fading the red and wrinkled skin of all the children when she was born, she is as beautiful as a high-grade mutton fat carved out of jade, especially the pair of glass eyes are so bright and exquisite, that people are reluctant to take their eyes off after looking at them.

Rao is Ning Maosheng has been a father for the second time, but when he saw such a daughter, he couldn't help but get up five or six times at night, secretly picked up his daughter from his wife's arms, kissed her, and looked at her dozens of times.

And her brother Ning Changxian, who was ten years old, saw that since his sister was born, his parents had focused almost all of their energy on his sister, and he was the eldest son and grandson of him. He was not unhappy at all, but took this qiē for granted, because Ning Changan was so beautiful. He even liked this sister more than anyone else, in addition to going to his master's every day to study, the first thing he did when he got out of the school was to carefully hug his sister after bathing.

After the full moon, Ning Maosheng's parents came to see Ning Chang'an from the ancestral house, and they were shocked at first sight, Mrs. Ning thought straight to the head, if it wasn't for the fact that the ancestors of the Ning family had glass eyes, they almost thought that this child fell from the sky, even if they took the advantages of their parents, they would not be able to give birth to such a little beauty.

Ning's father likes the gossip of the five elements, although he is not proficient, but if he counts Ning Chang'an's birthday eight characters, he knows that although the Ning family is rich, this girl is really a noble word!

It's just that fate seems to be a little bumpy, but unfortunately he is also a half-hanger, and the specific can't be calculated too accurately, after thinking about it for ten days and a half months, he set the child's maiden name, called Chang An!

Although Mrs. Ning didn't understand these gods and gods, when she saw such a beautiful crystal doll, she proposed that the child be brought back to the ancestral house in Jiangnan, saying that the child must be brought by her personally, insisting that the young couple was inexperienced and worried that the child would be raised badly.

Ning Maosheng was reluctant to say anything and refused to let his parents take away his baby bump, and retorted that when Ning Changxian was born, the eldest son and eldest grandson didn't look at you so hot.

In the end, the old lady of the Ning family and Ning's father were helpless, and they were really reluctant, but they lived in Yangzhou.

It is conceivable how lively Ning Chang'an's 100-day birthday will be, and the Ning family can't wait to declare to the entire Xiling people that the Ning family has a little immortal!

On this day, the house was full of guests, and Ning Chang'an, as today's little host, was only taken out by Mrs. Ning for everyone to see.

When he was brought out, Ning Changan was wearing a beautiful skirt embroidered with red Jiangnan colored silk, and a small red bean rouge was ordered between his eyebrows by Mrs. Ning, which was so exquisite that the guests were amazed, but unfortunately they could only take a look, and the old lady was afraid that there would be many people in the hall and the child would be frightened, so she hurriedly hugged her back to the backyard.

It wasn't until the evening when the guests dispersed that Ning's father brought a master into the Ning family's study.

"The master is here, the Ning family is really brilliant!" After a few polite words, Father Ning immediately stepped into the topic, "Three months ago, the Ning family had a granddaughter, and the old man slightly criticized his life, feeling that this child's eight characters were extremely unpredictable, so I asked the master to come to Ning's house for a trip thousands of miles away, hoping that the master would forgive his sins!" ”

"Mr. Ning's words are serious!" After Huineng looked at the birth date that Father Ning handed him, he frowned slightly, and said after a while, "It's better to let the poor monk take a look at this child!" ”

Ning Changan was quickly taken out, under the palace lamp, Huineng took a closer look, although this child is only 100 days, it is different from ordinary babies, usually such a small baby has baby fat on his face, even if he is beautiful, he is mainly cute and aura.

But the contours of the child's face are already very distinct, the goose-egg-like little face is equipped with a pointed little chin, the white marble-like skin that condenses water is pink and tender, the eyebrows are not dazzling and black, and the bright eyes are like a pair of fine beads, shining a soft crystal light under the palace lamp. The lips are red, the color is as new as picking the strawberries with dewdrops, and when I saw Huineng, I actually smiled, and there was a pair of obvious pear sockets at the corners of my lips.

Huineng was shocked and sighed, "It's really rare to see in a hundred years!" ”

Mr. Ning was overjoyed and agreed again and again, "Master, after seeing this child that day, the old man only had one sentence in his mind at that time: This woman was born for the emperor!" I don't know what the master thinks! "In fact, this is also what Ning's father is worried about, Ning Chang'an is too beautiful, I am afraid that not ordinary people can keep it, and sooner or later he will enter the emperor's house, but this may not be a blessing for women. Therefore, Father Ning invited Huineng to see the good luck.

Huineng carefully hugged Mrs. Ning's hand, and after taking a closer look, she gently touched her little hand, shook her head and sighed, "It's not just for the emperor, it should be, the emperor was born for her!" ”

Mr. Ning and Mrs. Ning were shocked, and they couldn't hear its true meaning for a while, but they only knew that with the meaning of their words, this child was afraid that it was extraordinary. Father Ning stood up, and when he was about to ask in detail, Huineng sighed lightly, "As long as she can avoid a hurdle when she was fourteen years old, this life is so precious that no one can match!" ”

"Try to keep her in the boudoir, and don't let her see the living before the age of fourteen!" Huineng didn't want to say much, lest he would leak too much and make the girl suffer from it, so he insisted on leaving after drinking a cup of tea.

Since then, the Ning family has treated this child as a dew drop in the palm of their hands, lest they disappear if they are not careful.

Ning Changan enjoys the love of his parents, brothers, and grandparents, as well as the wholehearted care of the nurse Qiushui, and lives a more noble life than the princess in the imperial city.

And Ning Chang'an's appearance does not have the eighteen changes, only as she grows up day by day, her appearance becomes more and more amazing.

Since Ning Chang'an was born, Ning's father no longer runs around in business all day long, and he has been in the house for longer and longer, and the family of six has all revolved around Ning Chang'an.

It's no wonder that Ning's father cultivates himself, the Ning family's business is basically on track, and most of the weekdays he accompanies his daughter to study in the house, makes a pot of good tea with the Jin family, and doesn't want to go to the Red Mansion with a few friends as before, and listen to small songs. There is this fairy in the family, and the horizon is hung high, and the flowers and plants outside are compared with the daughter of the family, which is simply a phoenix and a chicken!

To say that the only time she was punished by her grandfather was when she was eleven years old, she secretly went to the embroidery workshop of the Jiangnan Caibo of the Ning family with her brother to peek at the whole process, and later Ning's father knew about it, so he punished her to kneel in the ancestral hall of the Ning family, and ordered that from now on, she must not leave the gate of the Ning Mansion without permission!

Xiao Xiaoning was very aggrieved, her little face seemed to be wilted, in her heart, she had always been the pearl of her grandparents' palms, it turned out that her grandfather's pain to herself was to the flesh, not to the bones.

She knew that the ancestral training of the Ning family, the secret recipe of Jiangnan Caibo was passed on to men and not to women, she was just curious to see, and she didn't want to fight with her brother for anything, why did her grandfather get so angry, he couldn't even say a word out loud to her since he was a child, and today he asked her to kneel in the ancestral hall all night.

Fortunately, it was her brother, and she didn't accompany her sister-in-law, afraid that she would be frightened, so she held the lamp and told her a story outside the ancestral hall for a night.

In fact, Ning Changan really wronged her grandfather.

Ning Changan didn't know what the consequences would be after she left Ning Mansion privately that day and secretly went to the embroidery workshop.

Her beauty spread throughout Yangzhou in just one day, and from that day on, the flower thieves who climbed the wall of the Ning family at night and those who mixed into the Ning Mansion during the day all wanted to come and see the beauty.

Mr. Ning and Ning Maosheng had no choice but to build a layer of broken glazed tiles on the walls of Ning Mansion, but they still couldn't stop these people's desire to hunt for beauty.

In Yangzhou, a real portrait of Qiu Ning Chang'an has been sold for 1,000 taels of silver. After Ning's father heard about it, he hurriedly ordered someone to buy one, and at first glance, the person on the portrait was extremely beautiful, but it was only five points of Ning Chang'an's real person, but the unexpressive facial features were indeed the true face of his precious granddaughter. He couldn't figure it out, the Ning family had taken precautions so far, why this portrait was still rumored in the streets.

The Ning family first paid money to buy all the portraits, and finally found the head of the painter, and asked, it turned out that a well-known famous painter in Yangzhou actually wanted to see the truth of Ning Chang'an, and did not hesitate to mix into the Ning family with small workers, and helped Ning Chang'an fold the boudoir in the backyard of the Ning family and set up a reinforced door to prevent the flower thieves from passing through the glazed broken tile wall.

It's just that when Ning Changan opened the window, he was shocked by him, and it was engraved in his heart on the spot.

The Ning family was furious and invited the prefect of Yangzhou to come forward for this matter, and finally decided, the painter compensated the Ning family for the loss of purchasing the scroll, and the painter could not paint a painting of Ning Chang'an for the rest of his life, otherwise he would cut off his right hand.

When Ning Chang'an was eleven years old, the two old men of the Ning family were getting older, and they finally felt that it was not as convenient as their old house in the Yang family, and Ning Maosheng refused to let his daughter out of his sight in anything, so the two old men of the Ning family reluctantly said goodbye to the granddaughter and returned to the old house in Jiangnan.

Ning Chang'an's carefree happiness was not until he was twelve years old, when his mother Jin Yilan fell ill.

Speaking of this disease, the Ning family felt very depressed, it turned out to be a happy event, Jin Yilan was pregnant again at the age of thirty-eight, the doctor was still a twin son when he diagnosed the pulse, and Ning Maosheng was surprised and delighted, he is the sister-in-law of the Ning family, it is really hard for such a big industry of the Ning family to fall on Ning Changxian alone, if there is a younger brother to help some, it is indeed the icing on the cake, and the other girl Although he feels that it is impossible to regenerate Ning Chang'an's appearance, he can also give his baby daughter Ning Chang'an as a companion.

It's a pity that when Jin Yilan was four months pregnant, the fetus unfortunately fell, Jin Yilan was depressed for this, often cried alone, and Xiao Yuezi did not pay attention to raising, and often ran to the octagonal pavilion in the garden in the middle of the night to cry in her eyes, and her body was constantly red.

Then the body quickly lost weight, Ning Changan accompanied her mother every day, read some romances to the sick Jin Yilan, and watched her mother take medicine day by day, but she became thinner and thinner, she hated that she didn't know how to use medicine, and she was uncomfortable to lose weight with her.

Ning Maosheng is still gentle and good to his wife, but after all, he has to take care of so many businesses alone, and it is impossible to be by Jin Yilan's side all the time, six months later, Jin Yilan finally passed away, and before he died, he kept telling Ning Changxian to take good care of his sister.

Tonight, Ning Chang'an gave his mother's wake again, and when he was angry, Ning Changxian was afraid that his sister was too tired, so he insisted that the nurse and Yahuan Lianxiang help Ning Chang'an go back to rest first. Ning Chang'an couldn't resist his brother, and thought that his mother would be buried tomorrow, so he had to get up early, so he left the mourning hall dejectedly.

She was really bored in her heart, thinking that she would not be able to sleep when she went back at this time, and looked at the moonlight, and thought to herself, her mother often liked to go to the octagonal pavilion in the garden alone at night to watch the moon, so she sent the nurse and the maid to sit there alone.

Because all the maids and daughters are busy in the inner hall tonight, the garden is very quiet, and Ning Changan does not hold the lamp, but walks alone on the path by the moonlight.

The night is boundless and shining, the stars and moon on the horizon are like hooks, shining in the back garden, under the hazy moonlight, everything is full of vitality, and the bamboo contains the morning light and the water is affectionate. Ning Changan sighed silently, she didn't understand why her mother liked the night, and even when she was sick, she often didn't want to stay in the bedroom and wandered around the garden alone.

Isn't it better during the day? The sky is blue and the flowers are bright.

Suddenly, there was a woman's crying voice in her ears, in such a quiet night, plus the funeral was going on in the house, I only felt that the original beauty under the moon became a tree shadow in an instant, Ning Changan only felt that there was an emptiness and coldness in his heart, and his legs trembled and he couldn't take a step for a while.

She felt the cry bitter, and the cry grew clearer and clearer, and with the convulsions, she felt like the voice of a young woman.

If you come to mourn in the house, you should also go to the mourning hall to cry, how can you be in this back garden?

Since her grandfather ordered her not to leave the house without permission, she was extremely lonely in the boudoir, and in addition to reading some poetry and books, she usually liked to read the strange anecdotes of that place in the folk. Especially when I like to see those flowers and animals absorb the aura and become essence, when they come to the world, they always like to use crying to lure people to explore, and then suck off the essence of people!

Thinking about it like this, Ning Chang'an was even more distracted, lest he make a little noise, and hurriedly hid in the flowers next to him, but fortunately, the white filial piety clothes on his body complemented the white camellia sitting low, and it was indistinguishable under the moonlight.

She closed her eyes and didn't dare to look at what was slowly approaching her in front of her, covering her mouth for fear that her rapid breathing would reveal her tracks.

"Ameng...... Don't cry anymore......" a man said helplessly.

First of all, she was happy and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, it was her father Ning Maosheng.

Immediately after that, my heart was cold and sank, like a stone sinking to the bottom of a valley.

She was not yet thirteen years old, but she didn't know why, but at that moment, she suddenly felt that there must be something unusual between a man and a crying woman this night.

Originally, because of fear, she wanted to throw herself into her father's arms, but she endured it alive.

By the moonlight, she finally saw a pair of men and women coming in, the two of them had been leaning for a long time, the woman was almost holding the man's arm, leaning her head on Ning Maosheng's shoulder, she had never even seen her father and mother so close.

The man was indeed her father, Ning Maosheng, and the woman's figure grabbed her internal organs, and there was some pain from the Nine Gu piercing her intestines...... It turned out to be her distant cousin, Lin Yumeng!

At the end of Lin Yumeng's family, when she was sixteen years old, her mother was worried that she would not find a good husband by then, so she brought her daughter to Yangzhou to visit Jin Yilan, a cousin, hoping that Jin Yilan could find a good family for Lin Yumeng.

Jin Yilan is a kind-hearted woman, so she left their mother and daughter to live, and asked Lin Maosheng to pay more attention to some young sons with good character.

Lin Yumeng is sixteen years old, and his appearance is not bad, and before the family is Luo, he also read some four books and five classics, and wrote a good hand, so his natural vision and heart are high.

It's a pity that the Lin family is at the end, and the son of the Shi family naturally looks at Lin Yumeng, but some ordinary merchants Lin Yumeng himself is unwilling, and this delay is two years.

Two years later, Jin Yilan's cousin implicitly told Jin Yilan that it was inconvenient for them to live here, so they hurriedly returned to the Lin family.

In the past two years, Lin Yumeng has often come from Luozhou to visit her aunt, and everyone in the house says that this young lady is like a lady's daughter-in-law, and every time she comes back to Ningfu, she always sticks to Jin Yilan to eat and sleep with her!

Now that the truth has been revealed, Ning Chang'an's heart is crying for her mother, it turns out that the so-called family affection is so dirty!

This time, Lin Yumeng is here to mourn! Thinking of Lin Yumeng, who fainted from crying that day, Ning Changan felt a burst of vomiting in his throat.

Lin Yumeng gently pulled Ning Maosheng's sleeve, tender as water, his eyebrows and eyes were full of reluctance, "Maosheng, I don't want to leave, this time, you let me stay, anyway, the reason is reasonable, after all, Chang An also needs someone to take care of her, I will stay and take care of Chang An, I will treat her as my own daughter." ”

Ning Maosheng's eyebrows and eyes were gloomy, as if he had lost his strength again, and his voice was tired and ethereal, "Yumeng, I'm sorry, Ning'er is too young, and she has deep feelings for Yilan, she definitely can't accept you." When there is a funeral tomorrow, you still go back to Luozhou, I will go to see your mother and daughter after this while! ”

"Don't be so unfair...... Lin Yumeng's heart rose with an indescribable mania, because he had been restless for many years by repeating a sentence, squeezing his heart, and feeling uncomfortable, "In your eyes, in addition to Ning Chang'an is your daughter, Chang Xiao is not your biological daughter, she is four years old, and she can't enter the genealogy of the Ning family now, it's too unfair to the child, not to mention, now...... And the ...... in my womb."

"Don't talk nonsense here......" Ning Mao violently intercepted Lin Yumeng's words, looked around, and said with a somewhat stiff expression, "Don't say it, you said that the fetus is unstable for a while, in order to accompany you, I didn't even see Yilan for the last time, what else are you going to do." Now, I have to accompany her on one last journey, no matter what I say. Ning Maosheng pulled his sleeves, but Lin Yumeng grabbed it tightly, not only did a trace of impatience flash on his face, but he said dryly, "I'll go to the mourning hall to have a look, this is enough to upset me!" Lin Maosheng shook off her hand and turned to leave.

"Ouch......" Lin Yumeng staggered back, suddenly bent down, and held down his stomach, the wide robe was pressed by her restrainedly, showing a slightly round belly.

Ning Maosheng was taken aback, hurriedly turned around, and as soon as he supported her, Lin Yumeng leaned into his arms with the momentum, and his voice became weak and sad, "Maosheng, don't be so cruel to our mother and son, now that my cousin is gone, you can let our mother and son have a support, the doctor said, he is a boy, haven't you been looking forward to a boy?" ”

Ning Maosheng saw her pot-bellied appearance, his heart softened, "Yu Meng, you stay in Luozhou obediently, I won't treat our children badly......" Before the words were finished, there was a miserable scream in his ears, Ning Maosheng woke up from his fascination, this is the voice of his baby daughter Chang An, he turned around and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see that in the white tea tree, a girl in white was holding her head and screaming hoarsely......

She understood a lot of things in an instant, why her mother would entrust her to her brother to take care of her before she died.

Why did the mother suddenly become depressed after she was pregnant with her twins, and then she had a miscarriage.

Why did the husband say that the death of his mother was due to insomnia, dream theft, and hair loss caused by perennial depression!

Ning Chang'an was shivering with cold, four years old, it turned out that Lin Yumeng had secretly replaced his mother four years ago!

And the flesh and blood in the womb, it should be after the mother was pregnant with twin sons, Lin Yumeng also had it, is it because the mother and son were aborted, is it because they know the truth?

Ning Changan let go of the hands holding his head and slammed it into his heart, where it seemed to be a barbed cone slowly blunted in......

But her mother never told her father the slightest right or wrong in front of her, even when she was dying, she explained to her father that her father was busy with the Ning family's industry.

In the past four years, she has never seen her mother make any accusations against her father, every time her father returns to Ningfu, her mother always makes tea and talks with her father with a pleasant face, and she has never seen her parents blush.

How does it feel when you understand it?

Does it just hurt? Apparently not! She even had a premonition that the real pain had not yet begun, it was the fear of being torn apart for a moment, and the pain had not yet reached the nerve endings!

------Off topic------

Whew, the month is about to start a journey through the code word in the dark~