In the side hall of the Chu Palace, Yang Yuanqing saw this woman who was blocking the road and complaining, about twenty years old, with good eyebrows, wearing only a thin white dress, bruised from the cold, holding a swaddling baby in her arms, she knelt on the ground, and sobbed in a low voice.

At this time, the princess Pei Minqiu also came in, and when she saw that the woman was pitifully frozen, she instructed the maid, "Go and get my gray squirrel skin jacket, and then let the kitchen make a bowl of rice milk." ”

The young woman was grateful, and turned to kneel down to Pei Minqiu, "Thank you, madam!" ”

Pei Minqiu hurriedly helped her up, "Don't kneel, it's cold on the ground, stand up and talk." ”

Pei Minqiu glanced back at her husband and found that he was smiling at herself without saying a word, and then she realized that she was a little noisy, and she was a little embarrassed to smile at Yuan Qing and said, "You have something to ask!" I'll go out first. ”

"Madame, sit down and listen!"

This matter is estimated to be related to the Wang family, Yang Yuanqing also hopes that his wife can also listen to it, Pei Minqiu is a little strange in his heart, when it comes to official business, he will not let himself be aside, what is going on today, does this woman have anything to do with him?

Pei Minqiu was puzzled, so she sat down next to her husband, and Yang Yuanqing asked the woman, "Say it!" What happened? ”

The woman wiped away her tears and whispered: "The little woman is a pipa girl in Chang'an Music Fang, named Luo Ji, performing arts and pleasing people for a living, at the beginning of the year I knew a good guest, suave and suave, literary talent, this person is named Wang Ling, he has repeatedly shown favor to me, willing to redeem me as a concubine, I was touched by his sincerity, so committed to him, fetal beads secretly knotted, two months ago gave birth to a son, when I was pregnant, he was obedient to me, accommodating in every way, but I gave birth to a son, but he drove our mother and son out of the house, saying that this son has nothing to do with him, I looked for him several times, he just refused to see us, Also moved. I was angry, so I came to Taiyuan to ask the Wang family for an explanation, but the Wang family said that I was a crazy woman and wanted to cling to the Wang family. said that the Wang family is a famous family, how could it be possible to have a child with Le Ji, knock me out of the house, and the luggage was also thrown into the well by them, the poor little woman was penniless, unrelated, and wanted to die. But I can't let go of my child, and I beg the prince and princess to make decisions for me......."

Speaking of this, the woman burst into tears, holding the child and crying bitterly, Pei Minqiu was so angry that she trembled, that Wang Ling She knew who it was, it was Wang Xu's second son, who did such a thing that was inferior to a beast. Just because this woman was born in the dust, she didn't admit the sins she had created, and the Wang family's self-proclaimed innocence. ruthless and unjust, which makes her extremely disgusted.

Pei Minqiu glanced at Yang Yuanqing, and seeing that his face was extremely gloomy, she suddenly remembered her husband's life experience, and this matter probably poked Yang Yuanqing in the sore spot.

"What is this Wang Ling doing in Chang'an?" Yang Yuanqing asked quietly.

"When I knew him, he was just a scholar in the official school, and in August, he went through the door to the East Palace to make a literary gallery next to the prince, and once I remember a eunuch came to him. said that the prince summoned him, and he left in a hurry, and his companion also said that he was a popular person around the prince, and since he entered the East Palace, his attitude towards me has gradually changed. ”

Yang Yuanqing was secretly angry in his heart. He was so kind to the Wang family, and let Wang Xu be the prime minister, but he was the first to be at both ends, and secretly asked the second son to work for Li Yuan, obviously wanting to stand at both ends, he restrained the anger in his heart and asked: "How do you know that he is the Taiyuan Wang family?" ”

The woman wept and said: "He told me that he is the son of the head of the Taiyuan Wang family, and asked me not to go out and talk nonsense, it will cause trouble, I didn't want to come to his family, but I'm really.... Cornered. ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, now is the juncture to prepare to attack Hebei, and it can't be messed up for the time being, this matter must be pressed for the time being, and then go back to clean up the Wang family after defeating Hebei.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing said to his wife Pei Minqiu: "This woman is very pitiful, you can temporarily keep her in the mansion, and the Wang family's affairs will be talked about later." ”

Pei Minqiu guessed his intentions from her husband's questioning, he didn't want to turn his face with the Wang family now, she nodded, and said to the maid: "Lead her to the East Courtyard, let Aunt Li clean up a room for her, take care of her food and lodging, don't be lazy." ”

The woman was moved in her heart, knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you to the prince for taking me in, thank you to the princess for her great kindness, and the little woman will repay her in the next life!" ”

Yang Yuanqing couldn't help but laugh when he thought of the next life when he saw her so young, so he said to her softly: "Since you have redressed your grievances to me, I will naturally give you justice, but not for the time being, you can live in peace now, take care of the children, and don't go to the Wang family, when the time comes, I will naturally let the Wang family give you justice." ”

"Thank you for your grace!"

The woman kowtowed again and stood up and followed the maid down, Pei Minqiu looked at her and walked away, let out a long sigh, and said hatefully: "I didn't expect the Wang family to be such a person, ruthless!" ”

Yang Yuanqing said lightly: "All famous families have this problem, they regard their reputation as more important than anything else, and they will strictly restrain the children of the family, and they are not allowed to find the dust woman, but when they can't restrain it, they will deal with it by not admitting it at all, the Wang family is like this, the Yang family is the same, in fact, your Pei family is the same, but you don't know." ”

Pei Minqiu was silent, in fact, she knew that one of her brothers was kicked out of the house because he married a woman in the dust, and there has been no news since, but the Pei family is more just than the Wang family, unlike the Wang family, who only hurt unfortunate women and shielded their own children.

"Husband, if you have something to do, go get busy! I'm going to see the kids. ”

Pei Minqiu turned around to leave, but Yang Yuanqing turned around and grabbed her, and said with a smile: "You sit down first, I have something to tell you!" ”

Pei Minqiu sat down, Yang Yuanqing glanced at her, and saw that she didn't have a smile on her face, as if she was a little unhappy, so she smiled slightly and asked, "Just said that your Pei family is unhappy?" ”

"What do you say?" Pei Minqiu gave him a blank look.

"You're not really mad at me!"

Yang Yuanqing took her hand, "When I first met you, I remembered that you were a tolerant little lady. ”

'Whew! With a sound, Pei Minqiu couldn't help laughing, slapped the back of his hand heavily, and said coquettishly: "What a tolerant little lady, nonsense!" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled, but remembered the first time she saw her, she broke the vase, wasn't she a panicked and nervous little lady?

Pei Minqiu glanced at him, and when she saw his expression, she understood that his mind didn't know where to go, she pursed her lips and smiled: "Okay, I'm not angry, I'm just teasing you." Go ahead! What does His Royal Highness the King of Chu have to tell the little girl? ”

Yang Yuanqing really had something to do, he smiled and pondered for a while: "That's the case, when I was in Shanggu County not long ago. Many generals have reported to me that there has been a wind of luxury in Taiyuan City recently, and many officials and their families live in luxury, and they compare themselves with each other. I don't know how this wind is set off, but it must be stopped, I hope you can help me, persuade these family members to restrain luxury, advocate diligence and thrift, now the hungry people in the Central Plains and Hebei can't even afford to eat, but we are here to extravagant luxury, if this unhealthy wind spreads. We have no hope of taking over the world. ”

Pei Minqiu nodded, in fact, she knew how this trend of competing luxury came about, about a month ago. When Mrs. Su Weixin celebrated her birthday, she ridiculed Du Ruhui's wife for her shabby clothes, Du Ruhui's wife was angry, and she also wore a wide skirt the next day, but everyone followed suit, and the wind became more and more intense, which was indeed a bit excessive.

"I remember this matter, and I will persuade them to give up luxury competition and return to simplicity as soon as possible!"

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Yang Yuanqing still had some official business to deal with, so he went back to the study first. Pei Minqiu took a few maids to the outer house, which covers an area of about forty acres, divided into the left courtyard and the right courtyard, the left courtyard is the residence of the guards, and the right courtyard is the place where the servants and wives live, and the domestic servants, maids, mothers-in-law and so on of the Chu Wangfu. There are more than 100 people.

Many people have followed them for a long time, when Pei Minqiu escaped from the capital with his sisters and children, the family members have been dismissed, but almost half of the descendants have traveled thousands of miles to Fengzhou to join them, and now they have come to Taiyuan with them.

After a long time, most of the people have a small family, basically a family lives in a small courtyard, there is a monthly money, Pei Minqiu treats the next person generously, and the money of the servants and maids in the house is fifty percent more than that of other people's families, if there are many children in the family, or if you want to support the elderly, there is also another subsidy.

Although the treatment is generous, Pei Minqiu's rules are very strict, he is not allowed to bully the good outside under the banner of the Chu Palace, he is not allowed to make friends with bandits, he is not allowed to discuss the master, he is not allowed to gamble, he is not allowed to lead outsiders into the palace without authorization, and so on dozens of government rules, if he violates any of them, he will be driven out of the palace immediately, and he will not tolerate it, so far five or six people have been driven away, even if she is driven away, she will do her best to be benevolent, give a severance pay, and arrange their lives.

Pei Minqiu's leniency and severity have won the love of her subordinates, and even the people she drove away would not say a bad word about her, on the contrary, they also went around preaching her kindness and kindness.

A maid took Pei Minqiu to a small courtyard, the maid was called Chunyu, Pei Minqiu's personal maid, her father had died, so she took her mother to live with her.

"Mother, open the door!" Chunyu patted the courtyard door vigorously.

After a while, the door opened, and there was a middle-aged woman standing in the courtyard, she saw the housemother behind her daughter, she was startled, and hurriedly wanted to kneel, Pei Minqiu hurriedly supported her, and said with a smile: "Your daughter doesn't kneel to me, do you still kneel to me?" ”

"Mother, you don't have to kneel, just give a blessing." The maid Chunyu said with a smile on the side.

"You girl, there are no rules."

The middle-aged woman's surname is Jin, everyone calls her Aunt Jin, and she goes to the kitchen every day to help, but she is not from the palace, she scolded her daughter, and hurriedly invited Pei Minqiu into the courtyard, she really didn't know what the princess was doing in her house, so she asked tremblingly: "Is there anything wrong with the princess coming to the courtyard?" ”

Pei Minqiu smiled slightly, "I heard Chunyu say that you usually weave and make clothes by yourself, right?" ”

Aunt Jin glared at her daughter fiercely, hating her for talking too much, since the princess asked, she had to say, so she had to laugh and say: "Actually, you don't need to weave cloth here, you can go to buy cloth to make clothes, but you are used to it in your hometown, and you can't be idle, so you spin and weave, in fact, it is to pass the time." ”

"Let me see, okay?"

"Of course, princess, please come with me!"

Aunt Jin took Pei Minqiu into a room, where there was a spinning wheel and a pedal bias loom, and there were a lot of fine linen piled up in the dustpan next to it.

"It's these two machines, if you are skilled, you can weave a piece of cloth in five days."

Pei Minqiu sat down and gently shook the spinning wheel, she looked up and smiled at Aunt Jin and said, "You can move into the inner mansion tonight!" Early tomorrow morning, a few of our sisters would like to learn how to spin and weave with you. ”