In the east courtyard of Zengfu, in the side pavilion, Zeng Ti, the eldest son of Zeng Bu, the prime minister of the dynasty, who had just passed the age of confusion this year, stared at the people under the seat with a blue face.

Grandma Rong and the two little maids lay on the ground.

Zeng Ke, the son born to Zeng Ti's concubine Yun Niang, was supported by Zeng Ti's younger brother Zeng Wei and leaned on the kang table of the Luohan bed.

Among the two little maids, Zeng Ti recognized one of them, it was his son Zeng Ke's personal maid Xiuju, and the other was born. He just wanted to ask the maid's name, but his eyes swept and saw Zeng Ke leaning softly on the shoulder of his little uncle Zeng Wei like a puppet with a broken thread.

Zeng Ti felt that suddenly there was a strange evil fire rushing up from the bottom of his heart, which was even more intense than the anger when he heard that his son and the eldest lady of the Yao family had almost had an accident just now.

So is a son closer to his uncle than to his own father?

The conscience of heaven and earth, Zeng Ti thinks that he has achieved the ultimate of a son, a husband, and a father. Father, wife, Wang, concubine, Yunniang, children, he owes no one.

has a father like Zeng Bu, Zeng Ti as the eldest son, since he was young, his every move was watched by the civil and official circles, and after he gradually entered the officialdom, he was often compared with the sons and nephews of Wang Anshi, Zhang Dan, and Cai Jing.

Such a son does not have the right to choose his own wife.

When Zeng Ti got married, his father Zeng Bu was the master and married a golden boudoir in the Wang Anshi clan. Zeng Ti and his wife's lackluster marriage lasted for three years before they accepted a concubine named Yun Niang, and the only concubine.

Yun Niang's appearance may not be much better than Mrs. Yan from the Wang family, but she allows Zeng Ti to be able to finish her official duties for a long time, and she will not get bored at the thought of returning to Zeng's mansion.

Yun Niang is the daughter of an old scribe in the Taiwan Academy, and one day she came to give her father an umbrella in heavy rain, and bumped into Zeng Ti at the gate of the Taiwan Academy, which locked her life's marriage.

Yun Niang is quiet and gentle, and she will say everything when she asks her, so that she can't make a mistake in whatever she calls. When she arrived at the Spring Festival in the tent, she was like a different person, pretty and spicy, which made Zeng Ti not know how to hurt her.

Because of his father's face, Zeng Ti would not completely neglect the concubine, but when Yun Niang gave birth to a son for him first, his joy was beyond words. Unlike his father Zeng Bu, Zeng Ti secretly studied the science of Zhang Zai and Ercheng (Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao). In private, he even whispered to Yun Niang, a first-time mother, that the eldest son Zeng Ke was born to Yun Niang, and in Zeng Ti's view, it is the real "reason" of male and female love.

Looking back now, Zeng Ti feels that he was too presumptuous to celebrate a moment of joy in depression, too arrogant to define a lucky time in the hard journey, so God decided to punish him and beat him, so that Ke'er grew into an unacceptable appearance for him and Yun Niang.

Ke'er likes men.

It was Zeng Ti's wife, Wang, who found out and told Zeng Ti and Yun Niang.

This Longyang is good, by no means learning from other sons and daughters in the capital to linger in the "bee hole" (a place where male sex workers in the Song Dynasty gathered), nor is it a scene with a handsome little girl, but a serious and a son of the same age named Yi Xin, such as a talented and beautiful woman who is happy with each other, found a separate house to rent, and often had trysts.

Zeng Ti and Yun Niang were angry and afraid, angry at why there was such a rebellious son, and afraid that their father Zeng Bu would soon know.

However, his wife Wang came up with an idea, and Yi Xin was originally a servant of the miscellaneous drama class, with no roots and no foundation, so he found an incident to count him into the army, and set a lady with a decent background and outstanding appearance but no support from his mother's family, and marry him quickly, maybe Ke'er will return to the right path of men and women.

Mrs. Zeng Wang also proposed to go to Zeng Bu, the head of the family, to accuse him first, on the one hand, to prevent others from chewing his tongue, and on the other hand, he could also ask Zeng Bu to give a show to the outside world, why the eldest grandson married the daughter of a small family.

Zeng Ti originally thought that the most difficult thing to get through was the old father Zeng Bu's pass. Unexpectedly, Zeng Bu heard about it, but after a moment of shock, he groaned solemnly and made two points clear to his son, one is to lock Zeng Ke at home for several months, and the other is to release the news to the outside world, saying that Zeng Ke is weak and cannot even participate in this spring's scientific expedition.

However, nothing that happened next did not make Zeng Ti depressed.

First of all, the servant Yi Xin, although he was in the prison of Kaifeng Mansion and stabbed to the west, but it is said that he fell into the water and drowned in the middle of the road, and I don't know which person in the house has no door on his mouth, and Zeng Ke who is under house arrest knows that Zeng Ke went crazy and made trouble in the East Courtyard, howling in the middle of the night. Then it was the day to welcome the daughter of the Yao family, and the bride was looking for a short time on the street, and was also mixed in by Zhang Jie, a close confidant of her father's political enemy Zhang Dian.

Finally, although Yao Huan's aunt is a powerful character, not only did she not resist the reconciliation plan thrown by the Zeng family, but also asked the Zeng family to do personal favors, this turmoil ended calmly with a family drama, but I didn't expect that Zeng Ke almost killed Yao Huan today - it was really better for her to die by the Bianhe River that day.

But the most awkward thing about Zeng Ti is that when his son who has caused such a catastrophe, when he saw his anxious old father, there was no fear, guilt, disgust or pride in his eyes, but a complete indifference. Only when the little uncle Zeng Wei talks to him will he respond, telling him to go wherever he goes.

Under Zeng Ti, there are four younger siblings, the eldest sister has married the official eunuch in Beijing, the second brother and the third brother are both officials in Fangzhou Road, and there is only a little brother Zeng Wei, because his father Zeng Bu was born when he returned to Beijing to reunite with his mother Wei after being an official abroad for many years, he is only in his early twenties this year, only two or three years older than his nephew Zeng Ke, so they have been studying together since childhood. After Yun Niang gave birth to Zeng Ke, she even gave birth to two children and died, but Mrs. Zeng still had children, but she was just a sister. So, although Zeng Wei and Zeng Ke are uncles and nephews, they are like brothers.

Zeng Ti even suspected that Zeng Wei might have known about Ke'er's dirty affairs earlier than the Wang family.

"Did Yun Niang say when she would come back?"

Zeng Ti finally opened his mouth, and the first sentence was to ask Zeng Ke's personal maid Xiuju.

"Brother Ke vomited for several days, and it was better to eat the fourth decoction yesterday. Today, Yun Niangzi went to Tianqing Temple early in the morning to offer incense and pray for her brother. Xiuju replied tremblingly.

Zeng Ti snorted coldly: "As soon as Yun Niang leaves, something will happen." ”

His son has been sick for the past few days, Zeng Ti originally knew, since he was good after taking medicine, he didn't worry too much, after all, Shen Fuzhi and Yao Huan came to the door, Zeng Ke and Yun Niang even if they sat in the house alive, it was impossible to come out to meet, Zeng and his wife and Shen Yao Niang went through the motions, and a gentleman's friend was set on the table.

As soon as Xiuju heard the man's words, she panicked and explained: "Brother had a soup at noon, and Yun Niangzi told the slave to go to the kitchen to watch and boil. Wanglan followed Yun Niangzi to Tianqing Temple again, so there was indeed someone in the brother's room. At that time, the slave saw that his brother was sleeping soundly, so he went to boil medicine, but he never thought that his brother would run out......"

Zeng Ti sighed, brewed for a while, tried his best to show a calm appearance, and said to his son Zeng Ke: "Ke'er, you slept well, how did you get up?" ”

Zeng Ke didn't hear it at all, his eyes were glazed, and then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Zeng Ti was angry again in an instant, and just about to have a seizure, Zeng Wei made a gesture, carefully supported Zeng Ke on the kang table, got up and came to the eldest brother, and said softly: "Da Lang don't be angry, after I stopped Ke'er, I asked him, he said that Yi Xin came, and told him that if it wasn't for the woman from the Yao family who wanted to enter the door, Yi Xin would not have died." Today, the Yao family woman marries in, Ke'er goes to kill her, and Yi Xin can come back. ”

"What nonsense!" Zeng Ti said in a low voice.

Grandma Rong on the ground also raised her head at this moment and said, "I also heard what Shiro said." I also wanted to ask a few words, but Aunt Shen was like a red-eyed rabbit, grabbing me, and insisting that I wanted to kill her niece. I, I just saw her and her for the first time today. No matter how long I have been in the East Courtyard, I am just a subordinate who works for Da Lang and the eldest lady, how can I be ruthless and unreasonable, and ask for the life of the Yao family, who has already nodded and recognized the righteous daughter......

"Why did this servant who followed you to welcome the guest lock the door from the inside when something happened?" Zeng Wei interrupted Grandma Rong and asked.

is not a real big boss, Grandma Rong is three points less humble to Zeng Wei, and she candidly does not avoid Zeng Wei's eyes: "This little girl, she said that she thought it was really a ghost, and she was so frightened that she locked the door." ”

Zeng Wei said sharply: "Faint, she can't even recognize Brother Ke?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the little maid on the ground began to cry: "The slave is from the old lady's courtyard, and he only came to the house at the end of Huaiyue, the slave is really, I have never seen Brother Ke'er." ”

"Mother's house?"

Zeng Ti and Zeng Wei were both stunned.