Chapter 125

When Shanniang and Yuan Changqing returned to Yuan's mansion, the guests in the mansion had not dispersed. In the old lady's courtyard, the fourth lady and Yuan Yongmei were being the hosts, entertaining some guests that Shanniang knew or didn't know. The old lady sat with the two aunts in the clan, and an old Fengjun of the same age as her, wiping cards and gossiping.

Seeing them come in, the old woman glanced at Yuan Changqing, and then stared at Shanniang up and down for a while.

This old woman was born with a three-point resemblance to Yuan Changqing, especially the pair of eagle eyes with drooping eyelids, and when she stared at people, she actually gave people the illusion of burning skin.

Shanniang was secretly surprised in her heart. The old lady said early in the morning that she would only entertain some relatives and juniors in the family today, and if this eagle-eyed old woman was a relative, Shanniang did not remember seeing her when she was in the meeting. Even compared to the memories of her previous life, she couldn't remember who this person was for a while.

It wasn't until Yuan Changqing took her forward to salute and called the old woman "aunt and grandmother" that Shanniang remembered that this was the only living sister of Yuan Changqing's grandfather, whose husband's surname was Shi. The Meng family has always been a good person, but Yuan Changqing is not good at words, so this old lady has a good relationship with the Meng family, and the relationship with Yuan Changqing is light, so in her previous life, Shanniang and her never had any deep interactions. But Shanniang knew that Shi Yuanshan, the son of this old lady, was a figure, and now he was the secretary of the military department, and after the prince ascended the throne, he was still reused by the new emperor.

As for the relationship between Shi Yuanshan and Yuan Changqing, Shanniang didn't know.

But from the moment the old lady Yuan saw them come in, a trace of gloom suddenly flashed in her eyes, and Shanniang guessed that the old lady deliberately didn't tell them that there was such an elder in the family who was coming over today, obviously because she was afraid that Yuan Changqing would meet Shi Yuanshan.

The old lady looked at Shanniang coldly, and glanced back at the maid behind her, and the maid came over with a tray and squatted beside Shanniang. The old lady said coldly: "I can't listen to you call me 'aunt and grandmother' in vain, take it, a little meeting gift, don't think I'm treating you lightly." He added, "I thought that I couldn't come on the day you two got married, and I thought that I would be able to see you two today, but you actually went to see your aunt, and I almost threw myself into nothing." ”

- said that she didn't think she treated her poorly, but Shanniang could hear that the old lady was complaining that she was being "treated poorly".

At this time, the old lady Yuan had already removed the haze in her eyes, but she didn't understand the bones in the old lady's words, and asked Shanniang with a smile: "I thought your aunt was going to keep you for a few more hours, why did you come back so soon?" ”

As soon as she finished speaking, a steward from the outer courtyard came in outside, saying that Shi Yuanshan and the others outside heard that Yuan Changqing was back and wanted to invite him out to talk. Suddenly, the haze that had just been pressed down in the old lady's eyes rose again.

Yuan Changqing nodded to the steward, then turned around and told him the news of his grandmother's return.

Old Madam Yuan couldn't help but be stunned. She couldn't have imagined that the old lady of the Fang family would rather have a reunion year than rush back to see her grandson and granddaughter-in-law.

Before she could speak here, Yuan Changqing's aunt Shi Yuan had already rushed to open her mouth, looked at Yuan Changqing and said, "Your grandmother actually came back at this time?" Why didn't you say it earlier?! I still think that I want to talk about you every time I see you, you are deliberately taking your daughter-in-law to avoid me! We haven't seen our old sisters for many years, but is your grandmother okay? I didn't know that she would come back, but now that I know, I want to go to pay a New Year's visit. ”

Yuan Changqing hurriedly bowed to the old lady and declined: "Don't dare to alarm my aunt and grandmother." It's just that my grandmother has just returned, and she is tired of carriage and horses, and it is inconvenient to see customers for a while. After a while, my aunt should invite you to come over for a New Year's drink. ”

When the old lady heard this, she smiled and said, "Then I have to hand over a post to the door of the Fang family, so as to save your uncle and mother a lot of trouble, and then forget to call me." As soon as he said this, everyone laughed playfully, and they all agreed to order someone to take the prayer post to Fang's house.

Old Mrs. Yuan only smiled and watched everyone coax, but she had already nested a fire in her heart. After Yuan Changqing was taken away by the housekeeper of the outer courtyard, she turned her head and asked Shanniang, "When did your grandmother arrive?" How long did you walk on the road? Can you go? Who else came back with him? ”

She looked at Shanniang in her heart that she was the new daughter-in-law, and she was the one who married Yuan Changqing, with the temperament of the old lady of the Fang family, she would definitely not give Shanniang a good look, when she asked Shanniang like this, Shanniang would definitely not be able to answer most of the questions. Even if she can answer, it may make Shanniang think of the grievances she suffered in the Fang family, that is, if she doesn't say it, she is afraid that she will be estranged from the Fang family in her heart...... It's just that she calculated thoroughly, but she didn't calculate that this is the second time Shanniang has been a bride, and she has long lost that shyness.

Shanniang replied to the old lady's words generously, and she answered in detail when the old lady asked in detail, but there was nothing jerky - at least, she left the impression that the old lady of the Fang family was quite satisfied with her, otherwise she would not have asked her to inquire about the details of so many people on the road.

Of course, it is impossible for these people to know, most of these contents were actually heard by her when she eavesdropped on the conversation between Yuan Changqing and Mrs. Fang, and a small part was made up by her imagination.

Old Lady Yuan looked at Shanniang and couldn't help but be secretly surprised. The reason why she chose Shanniang at the beginning was because the news she got said that Shanniang didn't want to see Yuan Changqing, but Yuan Changqing took a fancy to her; Second, she also saw that Shanniang was not favored in the eyes of Mrs. Hou, so she only said that this was not an outstanding one, so she was relieved to settle her. But she couldn't imagine that Shanniang was not the kind of person she imagined.

The old lady was wary of Shanniang here, but the old lady looked at this nephew and daughter-in-law and found her more and more interesting—at least more pleasing to her than her mouthless nephew Yuan Changqing.

Mrs. Shi was the youngest in the family when she was a girl at home, but she was very favored, and it was smooth sailing after she got married. Now, although her husband died early, her children and grandchildren are all promising. Her smooth life has developed the problem that she only likes to listen to good words, and she is black and white to people, she trusts unconditionally what she likes, and looks unpleasant everywhere she doesn't like. The Meng family has a soft personality and loves to say good things, but Yuan Changqing is not a man of many words, so the old lady's impression of Yuan Changqing is actually mostly obtained by the old lady Yuan. Although Mrs. Yuan never directly said that Yuan Changqing was not, the embarrassed expression in front of Mrs. Gu from time to time could make this old lady who was a little too enthusiastic make up the helplessness of being a stepgrandmother in her mind. Therefore, the old lady never saw the Yuan family's secret suppression of Yuan Changqing, but only saw Yuan Changqing's "ignorance". Every time she saw Yuan Changqing, she wanted to teach him a lesson nine times out of ten, but Yuan Changqing never listened silently, and still did what she should do afterwards, which couldn't help but make the old lady feel that this child was just pretending to be obedient on the surface, and he was unruly and difficult to discipline in his bones.

As for Shanniang, she is just a new daughter-in-law, and the old lady has not yet formed any impression. The reason why he pressed Shanniang with words before was actually more for Yuan Changqing. The old lady is a Lishuang person, and naturally likes Lishuang's temperament, and now seeing that Shanniang speaks in a clear manner, unlike the average bride, she has a three-point liking in her heart, and beckons to Shanniang and smiles: "Come here, let me see what good things your grandmother gave you." ”

Shan Niang stretched out her wrist, showed the old lady the purple gold bracelet given by Mrs. Fang, and smiled at the old lady: "Da Lang Yuan also told me that he was going to ask his aunt and grandmother to say goodbye after the moon, but I really didn't know that my aunt and grandmother were coming today, it was rude for us." ”

The old lady couldn't help but glance Shanniang up and down again, and said with a smile: "You are generous." Now those new daughters-in-law don't know what's wrong, but they're just married, and they are all pouring gold and jade, and they all refuse to speak, and they are tired of looking at it, or you are so cool. And he said, "I didn't see you when I came, and I was afraid that I would say that he would hide away again, so you didn't know that I was coming?" She turned her head to look at Old Madam Yuan, "Sister-in-law didn't tell them that I was coming?" ”

The smile on Old Lady Yuan's face stiffened slightly.

When Yuan Yongmei saw it, she hurriedly brought the teapot over and smiled at the two old ladies: "The two ancestors are just talking, let's have a sip of tea and some snacks." ”

Mrs. Yuan was busy responding, and took the opportunity to take the pastry to divert the topic.

How could the old lady not see that Yuan Yongmei was relieving her grandmother, so she glanced at Yuan Yongmei and said to Mrs. Yuan: "However, it shows that my sister-in-law is interested in Da Lang's marriage. As he spoke, he turned his head and joked to Yuan Yongmei: "You are also sixteen now, right?" Your grandmother has such a good eye, she will definitely be able to find a good son-in-law for you! ”

Yuan Yongmei was not married in the end, so she immediately blushed, stomped her feet and called "Auntie Grandma", and in a blink of an eye, she grabbed Shanniang and shouted, "I won't tell you", and then dragged Shanniang away together.

Shanniang felt that she was not so close to Yuan Yongmei, but Yuan Yongmei wanted to pretend to be close to her, and she was not opposed to cooperating, anyway, she was a little annoyed by that aunt and grandmother, so she smiled and let her drag her away.

To the side, Yuan Yongmei pouted and whispered: "My aunt and grandmother are the most annoying, I always think that everyone in the world should flatter her!" He turned his head and looked at Shanniang with a concerned face and said, "Sister-in-law really met the old lady in the Fang family?" As he spoke, he shuddered and said, "The grandmother of the Fang family is such a stern person, it is quite scary to look at, and the sister-in-law is not frightened?" ”

Shanniang smiled, didn't pick up her stubble, and only said, "Grandmother is very kind." This little trick was also used by her back then. As long as she dares to say a little bad things about Mrs. Fang here, Yuan Yongmei will be able to sue people in a blink of an eye, and maybe in the end she will have to pretend to be sympathetic and say something to people, "My sister-in-law is so pitiful, she was scared enough by the grandmother of the Fang family" and something like that.

Seeing that Shanniang refused to speak ill of Old Lady Fang, Yuan Yongmei rolled her eyes and said, "You just said that the eldest sister of the Fang family also came back with you?" Is she still that loud? ”

- As long as Shanniang dares to admit it, she can sue sù people in the blink of an eye, saying that her sister-in-law thinks that the eldest girl of the Fang family has a really loud voice, like a man.

Shanniang smiled slightly, and said to him: "Big sister is very warm to people, they just arrived home when we arrived, and they came out to pick us up before they even had time to change their clothes." ”

Seeing that Shanniang avoided the two pits in a row, Yuan Yongmei was a little deflated, and pulled Shanniang in front of the second girl Yuan Yongju and the third girl Yuan Yongzhu, and said with a smile: "I brought my sister-in-law over." ”

Unlike Yuan Yongmei, who always likes to take the initiative to provoke, Yuan Yongju and Yuan Yongzhu are older and more calm, and now they have no personal conflict of interest with Shanniang, they will not be happy to find Shanniang, so a few people are a greeting of hello, hello, hello, everyone.

Because the old lady over there asked about Yuan Yongmei's marriage just now, the sisters all talked about the marriage of several families in Beijing. A few of the concubines who came to pay New Year's greetings heard that they were talking lively, so they all came over.

While this side was talking lively, the old lady over there asked, "What are you talking about, talking so lively?" ”

Yuan Yongzhu said with a smile: "Let's talk about this year's Spring Festival." I'm afraid that after the spring season, there will be another group of people in Beijing who are going to rob the groom. He looked at Shanniang again and smiled, "My eldest man is finally safe." Everyone laughed.

The old lady Gu started a discussion there again, "Why are the girls nowadays so eager to get married? I think when we were young, even the princesses got married in their early twenties, but now one gets married earlier than the other. In the early years, only the unfavored girls in the family would marry early, and the more favored they were, the more reluctant the family was to marry lightly. ”

Yuan Yongmei immediately teased Shanniang and said, "Grandmother said this, my sister-in-law is going to be sad." My sister-in-law is the same age as me. ”

Yuan Yongzhu glanced at Yuan Yongmei and said, "It's not that Da Lang is eager to marry?" I heard Uncle Hua say that when Da Lang went to discuss the marriage date, he almost asked his in-laws to beat him with a stick. ”

Xu is talking about Shanniang, and the ninth aunt on the side thought of Shanniang's dowry again, so she asked Shanniang, "Your screen with a cat fun picture, I heard that it is 'jade embroidery'?" Where? That's a big one, it has to be worth a lot of money, right? ”

Before Shanniang could answer, an aunt said, "Speaking of 'jade embroidery', do you know? I heard that the heir of the 'jade embroidery' found by the five princes was targeted by a powerful family, and because of that bit of craftsmanship, he was almost wiped out! Ouch, it's really innocent, and it's guilty! ”

Shanniang: "......" Why didn't she know that their family was almost wiped out?!

Another aunt waved her hand and said, "Oh, don't talk about it, it's a big New Year!" ”

The old lady continued, "Don't worry, good and evil will be rewarded in the end, didn't Jiangnan be arrested a few years ago?" There are those who do evil. He turned his head and looked at Shanniang curiously: "There is jade embroidery in your dowry?" Sure enough, your Hou family is rich. By the way, your home is also in Jiangyin Mansion, so it was from the heir of the 'Jade Embroidery'. Do you know that man? ”

Shanniang blinked. She thought that the whole world already knew about her wife's jade embroidery, and she didn't expect that few people in the capital knew that this "jade embroidery" was the work of the fifth wife.

When she was not sure whether to expose Mrs. Fifth for a while, the old lady had already taken the first step to answer for her. The old lady smiled: "How can she know that those dowries were prepared for her by her father and mother, so she still has to ask her to pick them herself?" It's just that people bring the embroidery to her and let her choose, where will she recognize what embroidery. ”

So Shanniang's eyes flashed, then she closed her mouth and said with a smile: "What the old lady said is true." Now that the situation is unclear, she thinks it's better to be safe, and it's better not to show her wealth for the time being, anyway, her family doesn't seem to be short of money.

Speaking of which, she actually learned when the master prepared a dowry for her that the master's painting was not cheaper than his wife's jade embroidery. In addition, the old man also has a very good set of paintings, and her dowry is just that the master casually sold a small painting in his collection and prepared it (not to mention that the master is also good at making fake paintings), in short, her family is really not worried about money.

She was thinking about it here, so she didn't notice what others were talking about, until she heard Yuan Yongmei start calling "sister-in-law" in a tired voice.

As soon as she looked up, she found that Yuan Yongmei didn't know when she ran over and got tired of Mrs. Yuan's body, and looked at Mrs. Yuan while shaking her and smiled: "My aunt and grandmother don't know, since my sister-in-law's house came, I have almost no one in this house, and my grandmother hurts my sister-in-law more than I hurt." Does my aunt remember my grandmother's favorite plum blossom stove? My brothers and sisters and I were greedy for a long time, but my grandmother didn't give anyone but my sister-in-law. ”

Shanniang sneered in her heart, and her face pretended to be sincerely frightened, she stood up and pinched her sleeves and said uneasily: "That is actually grandmother's heart? I was presumptuous, I knew I shouldn't have taken it. As he spoke, he made a gesture to ask Sanhe to bring the hand stove.

Yuan Yongmei didn't expect Shanniang's reaction like this, and immediately stayed there. She just followed the old lady's intention to show the old lady how the old lady valued Shanniang, but she never thought that Shanniang would give her such a hand, but she suddenly seemed to be very small......

The old lady didn't know that Shanniang was so un"on the road", so she was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly smiled at her: "You listen to the four girls talking nonsense!" What I gave you, how can I take it back. And it's not a valuable thing, it's just a hand stove. He slapped Yuan Yongmei with a pretending reproach, and said with a smile: "What a person, you deliberately provoke thorns to compete with your sister-in-law for favor, look at what scares your sister-in-law!" ”

"Giggle......"

Suddenly, a low muffled laugh came from behind Shanniang. Shanniang turned her head to look, but it turned out to be the little granddaughter of Aunt Jiu's family, whose nickname was Yu'er. The last time Aunt Jiu went to see her dowry, when Shanniang deliberately demolished Yuan Yongmei in front of someone, the one who looked back at her and smiled was this girl.

*·*·*

When Yuan Changqing saw off the guests in the outer courtyard and returned to the inner courtyard, he heard that Shanniang had already returned to the courtyard first, so he also rushed back.

When he came in, he saw Shanniang lazily leaning on the kang under the window, holding a mass of pitch-black white paws in her arms, and both the person and the cat were squinting, looking like they would fall asleep at any time. He couldn't help but smile, walked over and sat down beside her, and hugged White Paw.

Shanniang looked up, and saw that his face was red, and knew that he had drunk, she frowned slightly, snatched the white paw again, and said, "Everyone has been sent away?" ”

"Hmm." Yuan Changqing answered succinctly, glanced back at the low-hanging door curtain, turned sideways, propped one hand on her other side, and leaned towards her.

How could Shan Niang not understand that he was trying to steal incense and jade, and suddenly picked up the white claws and covered them in front of his face. Suddenly, Yuan Changqing and White Claw stared at each other with wide eyes. Shanniang bent her eyebrows and smiled: "Except for one 'um', can't you say a few more words?" Today, my aunt and grandmother also said that I am not a shy person, otherwise we would not have heard a single movement in this house all day. ”

Yuan Changqing's eyes flashed, and he suddenly pressed Bai Claw's head, leaned into her ear and said something, so that Shanniang immediately blushed and reached out to slap him. Yuan Changqing took advantage of the situation to go over and hug Shanniang, the two were getting tired, but Yuan Changqing suddenly gasped and flashed to the side, it turned out that he was pressing the white claw, and the white claw scratched him unceremoniously. White Paw jumped down from the kang at once, glanced back at the little couple with disgust, and walked away with his tail upright.

Looking at the cat's arrogant state, and then looking at the three red marks on Yuan Changqing's hands, Shanniang couldn't help but laugh again. Yuan Changqing turned to one side, lay on her lap, and asked Shanniang, "What did you say to them in the back?" ”

So Shanniang told the gossip she had heard, and said, "Does no one in Beijing know that jade embroidery is the wife's craft?" ”

Yuan Changqing said: "My mother-in-law doesn't rely on this for a living, what do you want to do with that reputation?" On the contrary, it is easily affected. ”

"That Yao family ......"

Before Shanniang finished speaking, Yuan Changqing took her hand and put it on his forehead, and said, "Don't worry, it's already settled over there, forgive them for not daring to say it." And he said, "I have a headache, help me rub it." ”

"What's wrong?" Shanniang knew Yuan Changqing's amount of alcohol, and he was obviously not drunk and had a headache, so she asked while really helping him massage up.

And in fact, she just asked so casually, she knew that he would never tell her about business, but she didn't want Yuan Changqing to sigh and said, "My grandmother's son, that is, my cousin, is the secretary of the military department." The fourth uncle wanted to go up further, so he hoped to use his cousin's strength, but his cousin was not optimistic about him. ”

"He wants you to join the army too?" Shanniang asked.

Yuan Changqing shook his head, "Tell you a secret." The deaths of my grandfather and father are the result of today's missteps. I studied the letters left by my grandfather, who did not agree with the war plan at that time, but he had no choice but to fight to the death. As a result, it was not only him who died, but the entire Yuan family army was almost wiped out. He grabbed Shanniang's hand, sighed and said, "Last time I said, the Queen Mother has a life-saving grace in my family. At that time, someone had deliberately planted this black cauldron on my grandfather's body, but the Queen Mother resolutely refused, but she couldn't let that person bear this charge, and then the military department received the crime, and dismissed a military secretary and a secondary assistant, as for the truth...... he sneered, and gradually squeezed Shanniang's hand, "For the military, it is just a sharp weapon of the imperial court." If the court points to the east, it cannot go west. And if the people above are blindly commanding, I don't even have the slightest room for resistance, so I won't join the army, I'm going to ......" His eyes were confused for a moment, as if he didn't know what he should do for a while.

Shanniang stroked his forehead and said, "I know what I think you do best?" You are good at thinking and careful, in fact, instead of asking you to go to the front to lead the troops to fight, I think you are more suitable to give advice behind the scenes. ”

Yuan Changqing was stunned for a moment, and suddenly looked up at her.

"How?" Shanniang was inexplicably looked at by him for a while.

"You are exactly what the prince said. He said the same. ”

This is something that Shanniang doesn't know. She was surprised for a moment, then nodded and said, "No wonder it was said that it was a Ming Jun." ”

Yuan Changqing's long eyebrows moved, "You can't say that." He hasn't sat in that seat yet. As he spoke, he turned over, propped his forehead and asked Shanniang, "What about you?" What else did you do with the old lady? ”

Shanniang pouted for a while, "What can I do?" It's nothing more than talking about some parents' short gossip and gossip, and then digging a pit to frame the quarrel and calculate. He frowned again and said, "Really, that family guards us like thieves, for fear of being taken advantage of by us, and they are not tired of panicking!" When no one is scarce about their little things! ”

"Ah," Yuan Changqing said with a smile, "I don't know if you have heard a story about Zhuangzi. Said that a crow found a rat that was about to rot, and at this time a phoenix flew through the sky, and the crow thought that the phoenix was going to rob it of the rotten mouse, so he 'croaked' at the phoenix. ”

Shanniang looked at him, suddenly tugged at his earlobe, and said with a smile: "I should ask my aunt and grandmother to come and see you at this time, seeing that she still thinks you are a non-talkative person!" ”