Since the death of Zeng Guofan, the old Zeng family, which was once in Hunan for a while, has rapidly declined, and the whole family is like hitting an evil spirit, all kinds of bad luck continue, and it is completely collapsed. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

First of all, Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu had an accident, because he couldn't stand the blow of Zeng Guofan's death and Zeng Guohua's serious injury and disability, Zeng Linshu, who was already sick, died of serious illness before a month passed after hearing the bad news. At the time of the funeral, the Xiangxiang County Ling, who had visited the door twice in three days in the past, didn't even take a look, and sent a master to send a sacrifice to complete the formalities, which made the Zeng family, who loved face very much, very embarrassed.

The second is that the Manchu court and the Xianfeng Emperor were also very mean to Zeng Guofan, as a traditional feudal landlord family, the Zeng family of course very much hoped that Zeng Guofan could get the highest nickname coveted by feudal literati after his death - Wenzheng, but the Xianfeng Emperor was reluctant to give Zeng Guofan the word "Wen", and casually sent a "martyr" nickname even if he bought Zeng Guofan's life, which made the Zeng family very cold. Of course, then again, Zeng Guofan's performance at this historical level is indeed not qualified to climb the word Wenzheng.

Then there was endless humiliation and entanglement, from Xiangtan in Hunan all the way to the gray mountain on the shore of Poyang Lake, dozens of battles of all sizes, tens of thousands of Hunan soldiers were buried on the battlefield, and countless people disappeared and surrendered to the enemy. Among the soldiers who died, the families of the soldiers who found the bodies received some bereavement benefits, and the few lucky ones also welcomed back the remains or ashes of their relatives, but those who could not even find the bodies were classified as missing, and the families not only did not receive a penny of compensation, but also had to face the interrogation and interrogation of the local government to determine whether their relatives had surrendered to the enemy or fled, and continued to pour salt into their wounds.

Those grief-stricken relatives naturally have to find a place to complain, to the government, to the Hunan army, and to the Zeng family, who had dragged their son, brother, husband, and father to the battlefield. So in three days, there were always a few bitter owners who ran to the door of Zeng's house and cried and demanded their lives, forcing the Zeng family to return their relatives and give them pensions, and a widow and a sad mother hanged themselves in front of Zeng's house.

Even more blow to the great-wife Ouyang is still behind, although the unexpected return of Zeng Guofan's body made the middle-aged widowed Ouyang overjoyed, but what Ouyang never expected was that the eldest daughter Zeng Jijing paid the price of almost losing her virginity, even if the rumors have not leaked for the time being, and the Zeng family has not been disgraced for the time being, but Zeng Jijing, who has been strong and stubborn since childhood, is unwilling to marry, and is unwilling to harm other people's families with heart scars and hidden dangers.

Of course, the Ouyang family does not want to let the eldest daughter be lonely for life, but the Ouyang family will never allow the eldest daughter to marry another man to do a partial house, even if this man is the most proud disciple of Zeng Guofan, the most powerful young general in the Central Plains today, and the Hubei governor of the second grade of the official residence, Wu Chaoyue. The Ouyang clan can't afford to lose this person, and the Zongsheng Zeng family can't afford to lose this person!

In the miserable clouds, Xianfeng's eight years passed unknowingly, on Chinese New Year's Eve, the Zeng family in the once rich Jiaxiang Township did not even have a few meat dishes on the dinner table, and most of the family members did not participate in the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, three of the five concubines forced their children to return to their mother's house for the New Year, leaving Zeng Guohua's wife to guard her husband who had changed beyond recognition, and the eldest sister-in-law Ouyang forced a smile to greet the family to eat and drink, but after returning to the cold room, she cried bitterly all night, not understanding why God was so cruel and let the Zeng family fall into such a situation?

Even if nearly two years have passed, even on the first day of the first month of the ninth year of Xianfeng, there are still family members of the Hunan army who have lost their relatives to make trouble, Zeng Guoquan, who went home in anger, was furious when he heard the report, and personally rushed out of the door, yelling at the troublemakers kneeling in the snow in front of the door, "Are you finished?" Your son was killed by Longhair, and you have the ability to seek revenge on Longhair? What are you looking for from us? ”

"We're going to look for you! You were the ones who took our son away! ”

The gray-haired elderly parents cried and shouted, and puffed up their chests to meet Zeng Guoquan's Xueliang steel knife, while their widow and daughter-in-law wiped their tears and said: "General, the people's daughter doesn't dare to ask you to pay for your life, the people's daughter just wants to ask, is my man dead or alive?" Why don't you see anyone alive or dead? Also, why is it that the 30 taels of silver you promised have been almost two years, and you can't even see a penny now? ”

"Who are your men? There are so many soldiers in the Hunan army, how can I remember them all one by one? Zeng Guoquan roared.

"My man's name is Chang Dong, and when he came back with a letter for the last time, he said that he was a personal soldier for you nine marshals."

The widow's timid answer made Zeng Guoquan like a lightning strike, and after standing for a long time, Zeng Guoquan turned his head, couldn't bear to look at the orphans and widows in front of him, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your man died in the gray mountain, and we lost that battle, so there is no way to bring your man's body back." ”

Finally confirmed the bad news from Zeng Guoquan's mouth, Chang Dong's parents, wife and children immediately hugged their heads and cried, Zeng Guoquan's heart was like a knife, and he returned home with heavy steps, first went to his room and took out fifty taels of silver, and then he was going out to hand it over to the family of the fallen soldier. But Zeng Guohua's wife grabbed him and said, "Ninth brother, you can't give it, this precedent has been set, and our family will have more trouble in the future!" ”

"The man in his family is my personal soldier." Zeng Guoquan's voice became more and more hoarse, and he said: "When I was in the gray mountain, before my brother lied to me to get on the boat, his man had already died in battle, and he died in front of me. ”

"This can't be given either!" Zeng Guohua's wife insisted: "You gave them silver today, and the person who asks for silver tomorrow will be able to break down our door, how can you parry it then?!" ”

When Zeng Guoquan hesitated, Chang Dong's mother outside the door suddenly screamed and scolded, "Zeng Guoquan, you who have been cut down with a thousand knives and cut your neck, it turns out that my son is your own soldier, and you killed him in Gray Mountain, you still don't admit it, don't say it, you return my son!" Give back my son! ”

Zeng Guoquan was a little surprised why Chang Dong's family suddenly knew his identity, but when he saw that Chang Dong's family was surrounded by people from the same village, Zeng Guoquan came to his senses again and knew that there must be some immoral neighbor who deliberately leaked his identity and was a good-looking joke. Knowing this, Zeng Guoquan almost gritted his teeth, and couldn't help but say in his heart, "It's really a tiger falling into Pingyang and being bullied by dogs." ”

The shouting and scolding outside the door became more and more poignant, and there were more and more people watching the excitement, and the local security guards of Baiyangping were also crowded in the crowd to watch the show, but they had no intention of stopping it. What's even more troublesome is that the parents, wives and children of a local missing soldier in Xiangxiang came to the door of Zeng's house to make trouble, crying and shouting that they just forced the Zeng family to return their son and husband, and directly smashed the gate of Zeng's house.

"Hanged! Someone hanged himself! ”

When Zeng Guoquan hurriedly looked out from the crack in the door, he saw that Chang Dong's wife hung a rope on the tree outside his door, preparing to hang himself, although some people in the same village also stopped him, Chang Dong's wife cried and shouted, "Let me die!" Let me die! My man is gone, what else have I ever lived? What's the use of me being alive? ”

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! The county lord is here! The county lord is here! Get lost! ”

In the uproar, the arrogant and domineering shouts suddenly came, the crowd separated, and a team of arrogant servants suddenly rushed in, followed by the sedan chair of Li Xuechao of Xiangxiang County stepped forward and settled in front of Zeng's house, but when Zeng Guoquan wondered why Li Xuechao did not put any county honor guard, Li Xuechao's sedan chair was quickly carried away, and Li Xuechao, who got off the sedan chair, also quickly ran to the back of a sedan chair, and opened the sedan curtain with a flattering face, and invited out a middle-aged lady with luxurious clothes.

In addition, there were three sedan chairs, and when the sedan curtains were lifted, three beautiful women who were also richly dressed stepped out of the sedan chair one after another, each with a young daughter, and a team of heavily armed soldiers to protect them alone. Li Xuechao ordered the crowd of officials while nodding at the middle-aged woman and the three beauties, and his flattery was far better than when he was flattering the Zeng family before.

"Who are these?"

When Zeng Guoquan was wondering in his heart, the middle-aged lady walked straight to the door of Zeng's house and knocked on the door in person, and asked very generously, "Is anyone at home?" If a guest is visiting, please open the door. ”

At this time, Ouyang's, Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guobao and others also came to Zeng Guoquan's side, and after a few words of discussion in a low voice, Zeng Guoquan still opened the door with his own hands, and asked his eldest sister-in-law Ouyang to come forward to receive the middle-aged noblewoman, and after greeting each other, the middle-aged noblewoman asked very directly: "May I ask Madam, are you the wife of Zeng Guofan's Zeng Duke?" ”

"I am." Ouyang nodded, and asked suspiciously, "Dare to ask you ......?" ”

"My husband's surname is Nie, if Mrs. Zeng doesn't mind, she can call me Nie's sister-in-law directly."

The middle-aged lady didn't put up any shelf, and took the initiative to ask Ouyang to treat her by folk names. However, of course, the well-educated Ouyang clan would not use such a vulgar title, and saluted and said: "It turned out to be Mrs. Nie, dare to ask Mrs. Nie, we have never known each other, I don't know why you suddenly came?" ”

"Mrs. Zeng, we don't know each other, but we have a relationship." The middle-aged lady smiled and said, "Wu Chaoyue, the proud disciple of the Duke of Zeng Guo, is my son-in-law. ”

"Your son-in-law is Wu Chaoyue?" Ouyang's face changed suddenly.

"Not bad." Nie Shicheng's fierce old lady nodded and said, "My goddaughter Yang Yuru is Wu Chaoyue Wu Futai's main wife, Yuru, come over and give a gift to Aunt Zeng." ”

Yang Yuru, who was holding the young second daughter, stepped forward and bowed to Ouyang's Yingying, politely calling her aunt, and then Fu Shanxiang and Feng Wanzhen also stepped forward to salute Ouyang's family, Nie's mother introduced them one by one, and also introduced Wu Chaoyue's three daughters by the way - fortunately, the three daughters were lucky not to inherit Wu Chaoyue's ugly appearance, and they all looked quite cute.

"Why are Wu Chaoyue's mother-in-law and one wife and two concubines here? What do they want to do? Ouyang was puzzled in his heart, and hurriedly asked, "Then Mrs. Nie, what do you want to do?" ”

"Mrs. Zeng, it's inconvenient to talk here." Nie's mother smiled and said, "It's cold, the child is small, can you go in and sit down and talk?" ”

Ouyang hesitated, but still opened his mouth to invite Nie Mu and Yang Yuru and others to enter the door, but when Nie Mu was about to enter the door, Zeng Guoquan suddenly stopped in front of the door, and said with a blue face: "Slow! Our Zeng family and Wu Chaoyue have already been cut in two, and people from the Wu family are not welcome to come in! ”

"This general, you and Wu Chaoyue are cut in two, what does it have to do with me?" Nie's mother asked rhetorically: "Besides, the eldest brother is like a father, the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, your eldest sister-in-law has already invited me to enter the door, and you still want to stop it, is this the family style of Zeng Sheng's descendants?" ”

Zeng Guoquan was speechless, and subconsciously remembered a joke in the Hubei army, saying that Wu Chaoyue's brother-in-law Nie Shicheng was as brave as a tiger on the battlefield, but when he returned home, he was a sick cat in front of his mother.

At this time, the Ouyang family had already persuaded Zeng Guoquan with good words, Zeng Guoquan was helpless, so he got out of the way, and let the eldest sister-in-law invite Nie's mother and her party to the house to sit down, and all the entourage brought by Nie's mother stayed outside the door to wait, Xiangxiang County Ling Li Xuechao also obediently stood in the ice and snow and waited, and kept nodding at Nie's mother and others, and the smile was so flattering that Zeng Guoquan wanted to punch him in the nose - snobbery to this point is really rare.

After taking their seats in the dark and cold hall of the Zeng family, Nie's mother, who was a guest, spoke first and said to the Ouyang family: "Mrs. Zeng, I am not afraid of your jokes, the purpose of my coming here is to ask your daughter Miss Zeng for my son-in-law, please fulfill my son-in-law and your daughter." ”

"...... you, propose marriage for your son-in-law?" Ouyang almost thought that he had heard it wrong, and the brothers of the Zeng family also looked at each other, all of them suspected that they had heard it wrong, and they couldn't believe that there could be such a strange thing in the world - the mother-in-law asked other women for her son-in-law?

"That's true." Mother Nie nodded calmly and said, "Mrs. Zeng, you must think it's ridiculous, there is a mother-in-law in this world who asks other women for her son-in-law?" But I'm going to be ridiculous today, please Yucheng transcend and your daughter's good deeds, don't miss your daughter's life. ”

"Auntie, I was on the scene that day beyond my brother and great-sister." Feng Wanzhen also opened her mouth and said: "Brother Chaoyue was drinking with Hua Zhitai, he was drunk by Hua Zhitai, and he returned home in a daze, and Sister Zeng happened to live in my room at that time, and Brother Chaoyue misunderstood and took Sister Zeng as me." ”

After detailing that what happened at that time was a misunderstanding, Feng Wanzhen put down Wu Chaoyue's eldest daughter, left her seat and knelt down to Ouyang's family, and said: "Auntie, I am also responsible for this matter, if I hadn't dragged Sister Zeng to live in my room that night, Brother Chaoyue would not have misunderstood, and he would not have harmed Sister Zeng to this point." I'm at fault, you can scold me and beat me, but please don't blame Brother Chaoyue, he is a good person, a rare good person, he didn't mean it. ”

Ouyang's mouth was stammered, he never expected that Wu Chaoyue's little wife would be so reasonable, hearty and open-minded. As a result, what Ouyang didn't expect was that Wu Chaoyue's wife Yang Yuru and Fu Shanxiang, the second room, also knelt down to her and said together: "Auntie, we can testify that Lang Jun was an unintentional move, and he was full of regret afterwards, often saying that he hurt your daughter for a lifetime." I also hope that Aunt You will read Lang Jun's repentance and sincerity, and also read your daughter's lifelong happiness, and fulfill Lang Jun and Miss Zeng. ”

"You ......." Ouyang opened his mouth for a long time before he said: "Your father-in-law marries a young man, don't you object?" Still courting for him? ”

The three daughters nodded together, and Nie's mother next to her said: "Mrs. Zeng, you don't know how sensible my three daughters are, because of all kinds of mistakes, the people in the transcendent family have always regarded Wanzhen as his wife, but after I took Yuru to Shanghai, Wanzhen immediately forced Chaoyue to marry Yuru as the main room, and she volunteered to be a partial house." Her father is the current Hunan Governor Feng Sanbao Feng General. ”

After carefully talking about the things between Feng Wanzhen, Yang Yuru and Wu Chaoyue, Nie's mother said: "I only learned about him and Miss Zeng from Chaoyue a few days ago, and I was also angry at that time and slapped him, but Chaoyue not only didn't fight back, but also knelt and begged me to propose marriage for him, kneeling all night, until I nodded and he didn't get up." Mrs. Zeng, transcendence is a good boy, he is truly repentant, I hope you must forgive him and fulfill him and your daughter. ”

"Then why didn't he come and kneel in front of me?" Ouyang asked with a dark face.

"That's what I asked him." Nie's mother replied: "He told me that Hua Zhitai is too sick now, if he leaves Hubei, there will be no one in Hubei to control the situation, and the long-haired twist bandits are likely to take advantage of the situation, and when the war is raging, thousands of people in Hubei will suffer from the disaster of war again." So he has no choice but to beg me to come forward, apologize to you for him, and ask you for a kiss on his behalf. ”

Saying that, Nie's mother stood up and said, "Mrs. Zeng, after I know that your Zeng family is a sect saint, it is impossible for you to agree to marry your daughter to someone else as a partial house, not to mention that Miss Zeng is still the eldest daughter of Changmen?" But it has come to this, if my son-in-law does not marry your daughter again, your daughter's life will be over, you can't help but think about your own daughter, right? ”

After saying that, Mother Nie also knelt down on Ouyang's knees, and said with a solemn expression: "Mrs. Zeng, beyond kneeling me, I will kneel for you!" I hope you will forgive him, give him a chance to repent and make amends, and save your own daughter! ”

Looking at Wu Chaoyue's family members kneeling in front of him, Ouyang's tears were like rain, crying to death, and the brothers of the Zeng family also bowed their heads one by one, and said secretly: "This time, it seems that Weiting has sincerely repented, and he has also made a lot of money, otherwise, can he ask his mother-in-law to marry him to a partial house?" (To be continued.) )