The door of the Zhao family's two-bedroom small mansion was wide open, and two horse-drawn carts came out, pushed by several powerful male and female servants, and the old aconitum sat cross-legged on the wheel of the car in front, and the black woman sat on the side of the car behind.

Behind the two cars, there were a bag of rice, a bag of noodles, a large basket of melons, fruits and vegetables, half a pig, a leg of mutton, a pair of sun-dried yellow croaker, a jar of oil, and a few small jars of salt, sugar, sauce and vinegar. In addition, there are four thick bedding with fine cloth surface, two large loads of dry firewood, and two small baskets of black charcoal, which are all necessary for ordinary people's winter life. The stuff was so loud that it was exposed, there was no carriage to cover it, and it was not covered with tarpaulin, and the aroma of food and ingredients quickly drifted away as the cart moved, and passers-by could smell it clearly. Today's weather is just right, the warm sun is shining, two board cars, a large group of people, unhurriedly, swaggering through the city when the crowd is the most dense, starting from the Drum Tower Diagonal Street, diagonally through most of the Beijing City, arriving at the Yongji Temple Hutong outside the Xuanwu Gate, but an hour of effort, there are half of the people in the capital know.

Passers-by talked about it in private. The "good deeds" arranged by Zhao Wei in advance stepped forward with a smile and asked the person escorting the car what he was doing. These servants of the Jiannan Hou Mansion have already been taught by Zhao Wei and Zhao Xiu, and they know how to answer, so they said generously: "We are the people of the Jiannan Hou Mansion, and in the past, we were expelled from the family because of disobedience and filial piety, and then committed rebellion, the son died, and the grandson ran away, leaving an old woman with her granddaughter to live. Our old lady was very angry, but she had nothing to worry about with a child, so she told us to send some things over, and told her not to go out to fight with people again, and that she was not poor, and that her grandmother was still sick, and that she was not far from anyone. ”

The "passer-by" suddenly realized, and then quickly popularized the gossip they knew to the onlookers, and some real passers-by who had heard the rumors quickly linked this matter with Zhao Xiang's failure to fight the autumn wind and crying in front of people's houses, and asked the servant: "I have also heard about this, didn't you say that your house is unwilling to take care of their affairs?" ”

The other mother-in-law beside the servant snorted: "Where is the old lady and the little marquis who refuse to take care of it, they have taken care of it earlier." The old woman's son committed an accident, and when the grandparents and grandchildren were locked up in prison, our little marquis sent someone to redeem it. It's just that the old woman has never disrespected her mother-in-law, and she is used to being disobedient, and she has two older grandchildren, and she wants to stand on her own, so our old lady can let her go. Because she was afraid that they would not be able to make a living, she also let her two grandsons go to the shop under the name of the Hou Mansion to do things, the work is leisurely, and the salary is high, which is really kind. But her two grandsons, one thought that three taels of silver a month was too little, and refused to do it, and the other was honest, but because he refused to listen to the old woman's words, he stole the money back from the shop, and was seriously injured by her, and he couldn't do the errand, and I heard that she was kicked out a few days ago. You say, is this the fault of our old lady and the little marquis? The medicine money for her eldest grandson's injury is still from our Hou Mansion, and the old woman is still talking nonsense outside, saying that our old lady and the little marquis don't care about them, they are ruthless and unjust, and ask those old masters of the imperial history to go to our little marquis. Our old lady and little marquis were also afraid, so they said that they didn't care about them. But when I heard that they had nothing to live on, they sent us to deliver something. No way, our old lady, knocking on the scriptures and chanting the Buddha for decades, is the most kind-hearted, and every New Year's Day has to apply rice and medicine. This is still true for irrelevant outsiders, let alone the younger generations who live in the previous house? ”

When the real passerby heard this, he remembered that the old lady of Jiannanhou Mansion had indeed had a few deeds of Shi Mi Shi porridge, and he believed it. There are also people who claim to have been to the study shop to patronize, and said to the people around them that they had indeed seen Zhao Yan have been there for a while, and then he stopped doing it, Zhao Ze has been working for a long time, and then he heard that he was injured and changed the shopkeeper, and his old servants also complained in private, and when they contacted the mother-in-law's statement, they could deal with the scene. When the true and false passers-by heard this, they all started to talk about it, especially the young man who said that the mother-in-law thought that the salary of three taels of silver per month was too little, and he was also very angry at the behavior of the Niu family for treating the eldest grandson, and he was even more sympathetic to the Jiannan Hou Mansion for being a good person and being scolded.

The team marched to another area, and another gossipy "passer-by" came to ask: "If the Jiannan Hou Mansion wants to send things to the unfilial descendants who were expelled from the house in the early years, there is no need for such fanfare, right?" Do you want to take the opportunity to make a good name? ”

This time, it was Wu Pozi's turn to smack the man: "What if you preach it?!" This is my wife's idea. The old lady and the little marquis both said that it was okay to send something over, and they didn't make me make such a big fuss, but I couldn't swallow this breath! Our old lady and the little marquis are the most kind-hearted, and they don't like to worry about those bastards. But this time I sent something to the past, and I will definitely continue to help in the future. With the temperament of Niu's mother-in-law, she ate the things of our Hou Mansion, relieved herself, and went around to say bad things about the old lady and the little Hou Ye again! She sent her grandson to ask our old lady for money that time, and she asked for a hundred taels or a thousand taels when she opened her mouth, where could this little thing get into her eyes? It's not that our old lady and the little marquis are stingy, but if you are a good person, you still have to be scolded, how can there be such a truth in the world? My wife is going to make a big fanfare, so that everyone in the capital knows that our old lady and the little marquis are not ruthless and unjust, and they dare to talk nonsense with white teeth, beware of thunder and thunder! ”

The "passer-by" was taken aback by her attitude, and said with a smile: "Don't be angry, old man, I'll just ask casually." Look at your style, you must be very decent in the Hou Mansion, right? ”

Wu Pozi snorted coldly and said loudly: "The one sitting in the car in front is my old man, and I won't tell you the truth, our old man was waiting in front of Emperor Taizu before the county grandfather followed him." When the county lord went to the battlefield, our old man also killed more than a dozen enemy soldiers, and the Manhou Mansion could not find a second one with more seniority than him. None of the affairs of the Hou Mansion can be hidden from us. When the old county prince was alive, he still called me the old man big brother and called me sister-in-law! ”

Passers-by were in an uproar, and the person who accosted her was also in awe, and specially ran to the old aconite and gave a thumbs up: "It's really rude, the little eyes are clumsy, I didn't recognize it, it turns out that you are also a founding hero!" ”

The old aconitum bowed his head slightly very magnanimously: "You are polite." The little old man is just following my grandfather as a follower, and there is nothing to mention about the past. The voice is old and hoarse, but it gives people the feeling of going through vicissitudes, which lightly confirms the old wife's statement, but it is modest enough to be more convincing.

The old aconitum couple swaggered all the way, there were real and false passers-by gags along the road, and during the dialogue, they gave the passers-by more than ten times to popularize science, repeating and repeating, Zhao Wei's pre-arranged "passers-by" and then gave the surrounding onlookers some gossip rumors about the Zhao family's past years, nine points are true, one point is false, true and false are mixed, but all of them are saying that the small long room is not good, and the small second room is kind. Some people who know the truth refute the mistakes and omissions in it, or make some supplementary explanations, and some people listen to the lies spread by Zhao Jue and Niu's and argue with others. The more things are debated, the bigger the trouble, and the more disputes there are, the more people will know. I don't realize it yet, but people come and go frequently with relatives and friends during the New Year, what topics are there to talk about? In a month or two, the news will spread throughout the capital. At that time, even if the Niu family and Zhao Xiang's ancestors and grandchildren noticed something different and turned off the fire everywhere, it would be too late. There are only two of them, how can they compete with the gossip army in the capital?

Let's not mention the future, let's look back at the old aconite couple first. They took people and drove the car, and finally came to the alley of Yongji Temple, followed by a lot of idlers who came to see the excitement, and a few of them were arranged by Zhao Wei in advance. Arrived at the door of the courtyard where the ancestors of the Niu family lived temporarily, there was a servant who went to knock on the door, a female voice came from inside, asked who it was, the servant who knocked on the door heard it, and knew that it was Zhao Xiang's girl Pei'er, and turned around to the old aconitum and the black woman to make a look, the old aconite sat in the car and did not move, the black woman jumped off the ground, and walked forward uprightly, although he did not see much respect, but he was not humble or arrogant, and reported to the door: "We were sent by the old lady and the little marquis of Jiannan Hou Mansion to send things to Mrs. Jiong and Sister Xiang." ”

There was the sound of hurried footsteps in the courtyard, the sound of the door opening, and then the faint sound of a woman talking. Wu Pozi was not in a hurry, and took the time to direct the servants to unload the cart and remove the things pulled from the cart.

After a few moments, the door creaked open. Zhao Xiang was wearing a royal blue plain silk cotton jacket, covered with an ice blue satin cross-collared wool vest, a light purple satin horse face skirt on the lower body, a golden hairpin on his head, and a jasper bracelet on his hand. ”

Where does Pell know? She also opened the door to see the crowd of onlookers, and she didn't know how to answer. Wu Pozi said unhurriedly: "Come on, Sister Xiang, you are also used to being a person who shows your face outside, crying on the street, scolding the male servant in the concierge, you have never been shy, what is this shame?!" ”

Many of the onlookers were snickering, and some people were spitting at strangers around them as if unintentionally: "I said this sister...... It seems that he is still keeping filial piety, right? Didn't she say that her son had just been beheaded for rebellion? This glamorous body doesn't look like he is so poor that he wants to beg for food? The others naturally picked up: "If she hadn't said it so badly, the Hou Mansion wouldn't have sent things to the door today, and the teenage girl was shrewd enough." As for keeping filial piety, I don't want to be cheeky, so why do you pay attention to filial piety or not? ”

Zhao Xiang listened to the discussions around him, his face was red and white for a while, and he threw off his sleeves hatefully, and was about to close the door, but the manservant of the Hou Mansion stepped forward to block it. She was so frightened that she hid to the side: "What are you going to do?!" ”

Wu Pozi turned her back to the crowd, only letting Zhao Xiang see the disdain on her face: "Sister didn't hear clearly?" We were ordered by the old lady and the little marquis to deliver things to you and your grandmother. Don't you say that you are so poor that you can't afford to see a doctor or eat? It turns out that the rumors are wrong? Sister is really, since it hasn't been so difficult that much, what kind of pain do you leave your sick grandmother at home to run out and complain to others? In one day, three or four family members exchanged words with our old lady, telling the old lady not to be angry with the ignorant juniors, how can it be the blood of the county grandfather, and he should be helped. That's why the old lady asked us to send something. I didn't expect it......" She looked Zhao Xiang's clothes up and down: "Sister, isn't this dress just new this year?" The material is good, and the workmanship is also good. ”

Zhao Xiang's clothes were made when he was in Wang's house, so they were naturally good materials and good workmanship. She knew that this strange old woman was intent on losing her face in front of everyone, so naturally she didn't have a good face, and said angrily: "It turns out that my great-grandmother and little uncle still remember me and my grandmother?" I just thought they had forgotten about us! What's going on today? Don't take some worthless objects and call them Hanako! ”

Wu Pozi ignored her: "Mrs. Jiongda is here?" ”

"My grandmother is sick, so just tell me something." Zhao Xiang looked arrogant. These days, although her life is "difficult", it is the first time that she has tasted the taste of being the master. At this moment, in the face of the old servants, she also unconsciously raised the shelf of Miss Qianjin.

Wu Pozi is still not humble or arrogant: "Then please ask my sister to accept it." She took the gift list from the other mother-in-law's hands and read out aloud all the firewood, rice, oil and salt listed on it. The gift list was written by Zhao Xiu, and in order to show that there were many things, she specially listed each item clearly, and the quantity was also listed. Wu Pozi read quickly, and others didn't have time to think about it, but they only felt that although the things sent by Jiannanhou Mansion were all daily necessities, they were in a wide variety of quantities, and there was no sense of harshness.

Zhao Xiang listened carefully, and found that the Hou Mansion sent ordinary things, and there was no silver or two, only in the end, Wu Pozi sent a blue cloth bag, which was heavy, saying that it was "the old lady of the Hou Mansion in Jiannan gave Sister Xiang a New Year's envelope". Zhao Xiang took it and touched it, and his face changed. It was full of brand-new copper coins, two hangings—two thousand.

Zhao Xiang was so angry that he threw the cloth bag to the ground: "Is this a dispatch called Huazi?" "Two taels of silver, that's two taels of silver, what is this money enough for? She used to spend two taels of silver for the previous month.

A mother-in-law immediately rushed forward and picked up the cloth bag, but deliberately loosened the mouth of the bag, revealing a little golden color, and the onlookers were far away, and they thought it was a bag of gold, and their eyes widened. The mother-in-law quickly put the bag back and didn't let anyone see it at all, which made many passers-by secretly cry out for pity.

Wu Pozi said to Zhao Xiang unhurriedly: "It's not good for my sister to be like this, given by the elders, you are too young and refuse to accept it, where is this etiquette that a well-educated girl should keep?" Then he lowered his voice again, and only let Zhao Xiang hear it alone: "Mrs. Jiongda has always behaved badly, and if you follow her, you will naturally not learn anything good, but you still have to keep the etiquette." You are already the daughter of a criminal minister, and your future is unknown, if you don't even have education, how will you marry in the future? I'm afraid that even the peddlers and pawns won't look down on you! ”

Zhao Xiang was so angry that his face turned red, and he raised his hand to hit someone: "Where are you from a cheap woman, you dare to say this about me?!" ”

Several servant women rushed up to protect Wu Pozi, and counted Zhao Xiang in a gossipy: "How can my sister beat people?" "Mother Wu and Old Man Wu are the people who have waited for the county grandfather, you should have called grandma when you met, how could you be so rude?" "It's really a bad bamboo can't produce good bamboo shoots, and the daughter of the thief has no education at all!"

Although they scolded hard, because Wu Pozi's words were not loud before, the onlookers only heard her first half, and only thought that she was kind enough to discipline Zhao Xiang, but she was insulted by Zhao Xiang. Although there is a difference between master and servant, firstly, Zhao Xiang has been expelled from the house and is no longer the master of Wu Pozi, and secondly, among the passers-by who followed the Wu family and his wife, they already know that they are the old family members of Jiannan County Prince, even if Zhao Xiang is still the daughter of the Hou Mansion, as the great-granddaughter of the county grandfather, he treats the people around his great-grandfather so rudely, and it is not a cultured act. Someone mentioned that she was dressed up rich and noble during the period of heavy filial piety, but she was obviously rich but cried everywhere and begged for silver, which immediately aroused the disgust in the hearts of the onlookers. After a while, even the people who originally lived in the alley came out to see the excitement, and after listening to what others said, they all blamed Zhao Xianglai.

Zhao Xiang became the target of everyone, and he was so angry that he cried, and called Pei'er repeatedly: "Close the door quickly!" Get them all out of here! ”