Whether to take a concubine to pass on the incense, or to give birth to a child herself, Qingchen struggled for a long time in her heart, but in the end she still did not overcome her selfishness, because she failed to give up, and felt that there was still a chance, and there was still some time.

However, just when her heart was wavering between whether to take a concubine or not, the news that Yang Tongju was preparing to take a concubine had quietly spread among the nobles and relatives of Putian County.

There is nothing to say about the concubine, but the person with the long tongue quickly made up the rumor that Yang Tong was sentenced to divorce his wife and marry another according to the concubine, which is easier to spread than the concubine, because it involves the divorce of the official family, and this wife is also quite famous among the officials and gentry and daughters, and she is strong in martial arts, known as a chivalrous woman.

And Qingchen, who accepts concubines or does not accept concubines, can't face a few good sisters who are dedicated to her sake, so she directly closes the door and doesn't see them, so she naturally has no way of knowing the rumors outside.

Mengfu, in the small hall of the inner courtyard, a woman is painting in the hall, a few brushes, flowers, birds, fish and insects, jumping on the paper, like a living thing, very expressive.

"The painting is getting better and better, in my opinion, there is no better painter than Yun Niang in the whole Xinghua."

The maid standing in the hall watched the woman paint and praised it.

The woman who painted was attentive, not moved by the maid's words, and kept writing, painting one stroke at a time, relaxed and casual, in one go.

After a short time, the woman put down the brush.

"Qing'er, how does today's painting compare with the one a few days ago?"

The woman picked up the ink and looked at it carefully, and from her expression, she didn't seem to be very satisfied.

"I can't see it, it's supposed to be the same as the other day, right?"

The maid stared at the painting for a long time, and shook her head helplessly.

The woman looked at it carefully, and suddenly she tore the whole painting in half with both hands and threw it on the table.

"It's so beautiful, why did you tear it up again?"

The maid said this, but there was no pity or regret on her face, as if the woman had become accustomed to tearing paintings in her eyes.

"Anything interesting lately?"

The woman picked up the teacup and took a sip slowly, not in a hurry or impatient.

"Xinghua is such a small place, how interesting."

The maid put away the painting torn in half, and put away the pen and ink.

"By the way, I remembered a thing, I don't know if it's interesting, anyway, it's spreading everywhere now, saying that Mrs. Tongju is about to be divorced, and Lord Tongju is going to remarry his wife."

The maid suddenly remembered something and said it casually.

"Madame Judge? Is it the rough country man who was touted as a heroine by some boring people before? ”

"Yes, it's her, the sentence is just a lady, not who else can divorce her. It's not good-looking, she can't do anything about piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and she can't have children, so she has to stay at home for five or six years, and she has long been divorced if she is an ordinary person. In my opinion, the general judge has endured her for so many years, most of them are afraid of her revenge after divorce, I heard that she is strong in martial arts, and she has killed thieves with her own hands! ”

"Hearing you say that, this sentence is really good."

"Who said it wasn't, I heard from the Li Fu sisters that this Yang Tongju is in the front office from morning to night every day, and he doesn't go back at all except for going back to the backyard at night, because he doesn't want to face his old and decrepit wife who can't give birth to children."

"You've said too much, didn't you hear that the general judge is only twenty-three or four, why is she old and decrepit. Is that how you orchestrate other people in private? ”

"I don't, I heard from the people of the Li Mansion, not me."

"You just said that the surname of the general judge is Yang? How old are you? ”

"I heard them say that the general judge is surnamed Yang, in his thirties, and he was transferred from Lin'an to Xinghua the year before last."

"Since the general judge is not a local, how can he divorce his wife in office, and if he wants to divorce his wife, he will wait until he returns to his hometown, and he can only divorce after asking his father and mother, he is an official, how can he divorce his wife be so casual, and now it is still rumored for you to know, how is it possible. There must be some long-tongued women again, who are extremely bored and chew on the root of their tongues. ”

As soon as the woman said this, the maid stopped answering.

"Have they been spreading rumors about me lately?"

"I haven't heard of it, I've been talking about Mrs. Tongju, you spend all day at home reading calligraphy and paintings, who is so boring to make up your nonsense."

"Well, it's good if I don't, how can I live, what does it matter to them whether I marry or not, and I haven't eaten their meals and lived in their houses."

The woman said this, deep down she was still a little lost, she used to be talked about, she felt annoying, and now other people's limelight overshadowed her, and she felt a little uncomfortable, after all, when she first returned to Xinghua, she was also a talented female celebrity.

"Yun Niang is right, instead of marrying out and being bullied, it is better to be at home, and it is impossible for the master to force you."

"Speaking of my father, I haven't seen him in the past two days, the court doesn't need him anymore, and he can't be idle."

"I've seen the old man before, and I don't seem to be very happy, my face is so long."

"Really? Who messed with him again? ”

"How do I know, it's not me anyway."

"You pack up, I'll go see my father."

After Yun Niang finished speaking, she got up and walked out of the small pavilion and walked towards the front yard.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Father Meng's face full of sadness, and his brows were tightly locked.

"Dad, what do you want, your eyebrows are going to be knotted."

Yun Niang walked briskly towards her father's side, staring at the gloomy cloud on her father's face, and her heart suddenly had a question, she hadn't seen her father for a long time, and something big must have happened.

"Don't inquire about Dad's business, just draw your picture at home if it's okay." Father Meng waved his hand, looking very irritable.

"Dad, others provoked you, but I didn't provoke you."

Yun Niang sat down on the side, no longer paying attention to her father, looking very aggrieved.

"Dad has some troubles, it's useless to tell you, don't bother me."

Father Meng took a sip of tea, quietly glanced at his daughter, and saw that she was fine, so he didn't say anything more and thought about his own affairs.

"Dad, my daughter hasn't seen you like this for a long time, I used to be an official and had a lot of chores, and my daughter also understands that now my father is idle and not an official, what else can I worry about, talk to my daughter, even if I can't give my father ideas, it's better to talk about it."

Yun Niang looked at his father like this, and knew that he was indeed in trouble, now there is a huge Meng Mansion, but she is the only one who can really accompany her father to say a few words, the two sisters have been married for many years, and their hearts are long gone, and they are far away, and they will not return to their parents' house once in a few years, except for her, who can enlighten her father?

"Tell you what to do, Dad will take care of it."

Father Meng's tone softened a lot, after all, the only one left with his relatives was this little daughter, and maybe one day she suddenly opened her mind to see which young man she fell in love with, and she would soon marry a child, and then he would be a real loner.

"Dad, just tell your daughter, isn't it idle to be idle anyway."

Yun Niang grabbed Father Meng's arm and shook it gently while saying coquettishly.

"Okay, okay, my father will tell you, these bad things shouldn't have been known to your daughter's family, so don't talk about it outside."

Meng's father is old, and after all, he can't resist his daughter's coquettishness.

"Surely it won't be nonsense." Yun Niang raised her hand to promise.

"Here's the thing, before my father retired, an acquaintance pulled me into the gang to do some business, and he didn't need me to contribute, and he didn't want me to contribute, so he gave me 30% of the shares, and just come out and say a word when they need help. In the past two years, their business has been doing well, and it has been going well, and my father didn't make much effort, so he took a lot of money. But just a few days ago, they came to them and said that there was a problem with the business, and a batch of medicinal materials worth 30,000 or 40,000 yuan was seized by the inspection department in the south of the city, and asked me to come forward to make peace. Your father and I have been many governors before, so how can I go to the Inspection Department for this matter. ”

Yun Niang didn't understand, so she asked, "Why did the Inspection Department detain their medicinal materials?" ”

"I shouldn't have paid taxes, I didn't get the pass certificate, and I just happened to be bumped into by the Inspection Division. According to the law of the Great Song Dynasty, no matter what kind of business you do, there is no evidence to guide you, once it is seized, all the goods will be confiscated, and the offender will have to go to prison. They didn't pay taxes in Youxi County, and they didn't get vouchers, so they wanted to take advantage of a loophole to transport this batch of medicinal materials from Xinghua to the sea for delivery, but they didn't want to be arrested. ”

Father Meng sighed, they are too greedy, selling three or forty thousand guan of medicinal materials to foreign businessmen can make at least fifty percent of the profit, but three or four thousand guan of taxes do not want to pay, now this trouble has fallen on him, he has already taken their money, how to shirk it is not appropriate, it is really a headache.

Yun Niang's head turned, as if she understood her father's difficulties, but she was not as worried as her father.

"Dad, you have also been an official for many years, and there are so many acquaintances in the officialdom, where is this kind of trivial matter to come forward in person, and it is not easy to find someone to come forward and say a word for you?"

Father Meng perked up when he heard this, and sat up straight, but then he collapsed again.

"Dad has retired, he is old, and he has no chance to be used by the imperial court again, once he leaves the officialdom and has no real power, what he says will not be counted. What's more, my father has been an official in other places all his life, but Xinghua doesn't have many acquaintances, don't look at those squires and officials who give face to their fathers on the surface, they really have something to find them, and one is cleaner than the other. The Meng family has no queen, it may soon decline, and I can't give them benefits, where will they still look down on me. ”

Father Meng's words were very lonely, the officialdom was warm and cold, the world was hot and cold, he had seen a lot, it was really his turn, and he was still very uncomfortable.

"They are all villains and laymen who tend to be inflammatory, don't be like them. Xinghua really has no one who can say a word for his father? ”

"If it's something else, it's okay to say, the key is that this involves medicinal materials worth thirty or forty thousand yuan, and if you don't give people some benefits, how can you find someone to talk to? Also, you have to find the right person, and it's best to get things done right the first time. ”