In the capital in midsummer, due to the national mourning, there is less hustle and bustle and more solemnity. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

On this day, in the Shangshu Mansion, the upper and lower slaves and maids walked carefully, and their faces were worried and hurried, not for the sake of loyalty and patriotism, but because the third master was sick.

After all, the third master is congenitally deficient, even after years of conditioning, he looks no different from ordinary people, but his foundation is much weaker, and he usually does not show it, and after a national mourning, he can't stand it. Brother Lu is still young, and everyone who comes forward to ask for medicine has to rely on Shen Rui. Shen Rui couldn't think about how the little emperor and the "Eight Tigers" would be rampant, so he could only take care of the Shen family.

In front of the third master, the third wife was not visible, but in front of her sister-in-law, she couldn't help crying: "Sister-in-law, I regret it...... I really shouldn't be greedy, I shouldn't have expected the old man to be a good man......"

Xu held the Buddha beads in his hand and sighed. The third master is named as an uncle, but he was raised by the Xu family, even she never thought of letting the third master go out of office, compared with fame and fortune, naturally the body life is more expensive, but the second master can't afford it, the second room is politely estranged from the clan, and it is not close to be relied on, and the younger generation is small, so when the third master wanted to go out, the two of them as brothers and sisters-in-law did not dissuade them. Now that a national mourning has come down, hidden dangers have been exposed.

Looking at the haggard third wife, Xu said softly: "Maybe it's all my fault, you have such a character, you go to someone else's house, and you can only live a prosperous life......"

The third lady was startled and raised her head.

Xu's face was full of guilt, but what he said was sincere. When her in-laws died early, she took care of her brother-in-law, and she also took care of her relatives. Although the Tian family is not a big family, it is an old family in the capital, sitting on the Nancheng Academy, a scholarly heirloom, and the concubines in the family are not worried about marrying, even if there is no Shen family to marry, there are also gentry families waiting for the right family. But marrying the Shen family, although the Tian family is considered a high climb, the hard work of the third wife in the past ten years is also in the eyes of the Xu family. As an ordinary woman, her husband is weak, childless, dependent on her brother and sister-in-law and cannot be the master of the house, life is difficult, and only a tutor like the third wife and such a quiet and indisputable temperament can survive year after year. Xu felt sorry for his brother-in-law in his early years, even if he felt that the third wife was hard, he just treated the third wife more preferentially, and he didn't feel much guilty; Now that he is widowed, thinking of the body of the third master, it is obviously not the appearance of a long life, and he can't help but feel guilty about the third wife.

The third lady hurriedly stood up, with trepidation: "What did the sister-in-law say?" I was just worried about the master, so I just rammed a couple of sentences, and I didn't mean anything else? ”

Xu pulled the third wife to sit down: "I didn't pay much attention, I just thought about your hard work for more than ten years, it was not easy." ”

The third wife breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Look at what my sister-in-law said, if I have a hard life like this, how can I count my ordinary daughter-in-law's life?" You don't have to serve your in-laws, you don't have to worry about trivial things for your livelihood, your life is more comfortable than in the boudoir, and no matter how much you are not satisfied, God can't look at it...... Although our lord's body is weaker, but there is a sister-in-law with gold and silver, and there are slaves and maids who are dedicated, all I can do is to accompany the lord to talk and relieve boredom, if this is the case, I dare to say hard work, even if everyone is looking forward to hard work......"

Xu's face is still ashamed, the two have been concubines for more than ten years, the third wife is not a stupid person, looking at Xu's green clothes, a little frost between the temples, thinking of Shen Cang's death, the third wife knows where this guilt is born, thinking of that possibility, I only feel a pang in my heart, I can't breathe, but I still smile, and whispered: "Sister-in-law, I'm content, no matter what happens in the future, I can only be grateful to my sister-in-law." is a husband within one zhang, an ordinary man has three wives and four concubines, how many years can a real husband and wife be together? But for more than ten years, how has our lord treated me? I was panicked in my early years, not because I was resentful that our master was not in good health, nor because my lord was not able to go out of office, but because I felt guilty for not being able to open up branches and leaves for the Shen family and inherit the bloodline, I felt sorry for the grace of my uncle and sister-in-law, and sorry for the love of our master. Even if I didn't have Brother Lu, I would have been content a long time ago, not to mention that now with Brother Lu'er......"

In the main courtyard, Shen Rui looked at the pale third master, frowned, and said: "The doctor said that the third uncle will not be able to support it because of his fatigue and heavy thoughts, although it is the duty of a gentleman to be loyal to the monarch and patriotism, but the third uncle is too sincere, even if it is a national funeral, it will not be ......like this" Speaking of this, he paused, with doubt: "Or is there something wrong with the yamen?" ”

The third old man hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Where do you think you go?" We're just an idle yamen, so what's wrong with that? ”

Shen Rui was a little unconvinced: "Is that just for the national funeral?" ”

The third master frowned and said, "I'm not the only one who is worried now?" Although there are three elders in the court, there is no need for the queen mother to hang the curtain, but the son of heaven is young...... When the emperor was there, the Zhang family was arrogant, and now I am afraid that the momentum will be even greater...... "Speaking of this, he was already worried.

When Shen Rui saw it, he became more and more suspicious.

The Zhang brothers lived a wanton life throughout the Hongzhi Dynasty, and now because the new emperor ascended the throne, they have changed from the brother-in-law of the Son of Heaven to the uncle of the Son of Heaven, of course, it is a step further. According to later historical records, the scenery of the two brothers lasted throughout the Zhengde Dynasty and lasted until the end of the Jiajing Dynasty, but even so, what does it have to do with the Shen family? According to Shen Rui's knowledge, the Shen family has no contact with the Zhang family, even if Shen Zhu bumped into the Marquis of Jianchang a few years ago, Shen Cang, a Shangshu, came forward in person to apologize, and the matter was already closed with enough face.

The third master looked at Shen Rui and stopped talking.

Shen Rui's heart sank: "Third uncle, could it be that the Zhang family and the Shen family have other suspicions?" ”

The third master looked at Shen Rui fixedly for a while, and frowned: "Maybe I'm worried about it, but you will be the head of the family in the future, and I don't want to hide it from you...... I suspect that Brother Luo'er's death has something to do with the Zhang family......"

Shen Rui was surprised: "How is it possible?" Didn't you say it was an accident? ”

Although in the powerful capital, Shen Luo, the son of a Hanlin official, is nothing, but the eldest lord was already a squire back then, and the three brothers in the second room of the Shen family only had Shen Luo, the only seedling, so Shen Luo's accident was not a trivial matter. With the ability of the eldest master, if there is really something boring, he will not be unaware.

Thinking of Shen Luo, his nephew, the third master couldn't help but look at Shen Rui. Shen Luo is five years older than Shen Rui, if he hadn't fallen from his horse and died, he would have reached the crown, and there were two spring festivals in the middle, so he couldn't say that a young jinshi would have arrived. In addition, Shen Luo was there before, even if there was friction between the long room and the second room, there was still room for reconciliation, and now it cannot be said that they have turned against each other, but there is no previous harmony.

Shen Rui saw that the third old man looked inexplicable, a little uncomfortable, and looked away, with a little self-deprecation on his face. Inheritance is succession, the bloodline is already far away, and naturally it is not as good as the nephew. It's just that he didn't come to the second room on his own initiative, and he didn't have any thoughts like "doves occupying magpies' nests".

The third master had already woken up, coughed twice and said: "Although the eldest brother carefully investigated the matter of Brother Luo back then, and indeed concluded that it was an accident, it was not a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster. ”

During the Double Ninth Festival that year, Shen Luo and a few classmates from the academy went to Xishan to climb high and look far away. After descending the mountain, someone proposed to go to Zhuangzi to run horses, and Shen Luo and several cousins of the Qiao family followed. The Shen family is a scholarly family, but Shen Luo has been polishing his body since he was a child, and he can't say that he is both civil and military, but he is also skilled in riding and shooting, and he doesn't want it to be a small competition, so he fell off his horse and died. Shen Cang was already a squire of the six departments at that time, and he had to investigate his nephew's death to the end, and found out clues, pointing to one of the sons of the gentlemen who had a conflict when climbing the mountain, Zhou Mao, the concubine of the eldest princess of Chongqing. Zhou Mao also confessed that in order to retaliate against Shen Luo and others for fighting for prostitutes in Xishan Restaurant, he did something in the forage. The eldest princess Hongzhi was in the twelfth year, and the concubine Zhou Jing died of illness as early as the eighth year of Hongzhi, and the head of the Zhou family was Zhou Xian, the son of the princess of Chongqing. Zhou Xian is the cousin of Emperor Hongzhi, known as a virtuous name, learned of this, personally came up to apologize, and expelled his cousin Zhou Mao in the name of "unfilial piety". Zhou Mao then fell into the water drunk and died, whether it was a real accident or an "accident", it was already a life for a life, and the Shen family had no position to pursue it again, and the matter was over. Because it involved the emperor's relatives and relatives, and it involved a dispute over prostitutes, it was not glorious, so the elders of the Shen family hid the matter, and said to the outside world that Shen Luo fell from a horse and died. However, the Shen and Zhou families, in the end, are separated by two lives, even if they are not clearly enmity, but the two families are also wary of each other.

In the past few days of national funeral, in addition to crying, Beijing officials can't help but pay attention to the Shouning Marquis Mansion and the Jianchang Marquis Mansion in private, gossiping about who the new queen will be.

The new emperor is fifteen years old this year, and it seems that it is the age to choose a concubine, and the Zhang brothers were born in Gyeonggi, and they have already taken several girls from their in-laws into Beijing to teach. One person has ascended to heaven, and he is talking about the Zhang family, not only the two brothers of the Empress Dowager Zhang, but also the in-laws and neighbors. As early as when the emperor was still there, there were rumors that the brothers of the Zhang family had been instructed by the queen to privately start to see the concubine for the East Palace, so they took many girls from their in-laws into Beijing; Now that the emperor has ascended to heaven, the crown prince has ascended the throne, and his biological mother is the queen mother, the Zhang brothers have to make their wishes come true.

For this reason, everyone also paid more attention to the in-laws of the Zhang family, guessing which one would become the family of Tianzi Yue. The third master is not a gossip person, but when he heard Zhou Xian's name, he couldn't help but pay more attention, and then he knew that Zhang Yanling's nephew married Zhou Xian's sister-in-law three years ago.

Zhang Yanling's nephew is just the son of a squire in Cangzhou Mansion, and even if Zhou Xian's sister is a princess's concubine, Liang Chengneng can not cling to it, and the Zhang family and the Zhou family have never heard of any close contact before.

When everyone talks about this, they have to ridicule Zhou Xian in private, his status is precious, but in order to tie up with the Zhang brothers, marrying his sister to a country boy is too ugly.

The third master remembered one thing, the so-called "prostitution" in Xishan Restaurant back then, it was Zhou Mao and others who came forward to argue with Shen Luo and others, but it was none other than Zhang Yanling who could set up a banquet to entertain them. Even Shen Cang suspected Zhang Yanling back then. However, thinking that Zhang Yanling was raised by Emperor Hongzhi and had an arrogant temperament, he really might not put a squire's nephew in his eyes, if he really looked at Shen Luo and others unpleasantly, he would only attack on the spot, and he would not bother to conspire, Shen Cangcai dispelled his suspicions and determined that Zhou Mao was the real murderer......