After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 413 The Secret of the Comb

To be honest, what Madam Ma did was very offensive.

The Queen Mother wants to show kindness to her family members, and the whole family happily accepts the Queen Mother's kindness. She is the only one who throws cold water on them, and has failed to live up to the Queen Mother's grace. She is somewhat ungrateful.

But she used the banner of caring about her stepson's reputation in the imperial examination, and the old man of the third room had no intention of stopping her. Even if there were various gossips in the clan, they were quickly suppressed.

Under Mrs. Ma's deliberate guidance, the third house gradually became alienated from the eldest house. There was no estrangement between the old man and other tribesmen who served in the army, but the relationship between Mrs. Ma and the female relatives of the powerful clan heads such as the eldest brother was much weaker, and their interactions were not close.

Over time, even if Empress Dowager Zhou gave gifts to her natal relatives, she would usually send them to the Marquis of Cheng'en in the capital, who would then send people back to Chang'an, instead of directly sending palace envoys all the way to Chang'an, and often He would ignore the female relatives of the third bedroom and only give gifts to the old man and his son of the third bedroom. Everyone in Sanfang also believed that Mrs. Ma didn't like products produced by the palace or the inner government, and she only liked to use clothes produced by her own shop or time-honored brands in Chang'an City for daily wear.

But now, in the dressing box of Mrs. Ma, who is known to not accept rewards from the palace, there are two combs that are suspected to be made by the imperial family?
Zhou Ma said hesitantly: "It's strange... the things that the Queen Mother rewarded in the early years should be a set of red gold inlaid with lapis lazuli headdress, and some silk and satin. At that time, the wives of the heads of each house , I received the same kind of hair and face, only the style is slightly different. Not to mention the silk and satin, Ajia's hair and face are only worn when worshiping ancestors on New Year's Eve every year, and are never worn on the forehead on weekdays. But I haven’t heard of any other ebony combs..."

After she entered the family, she endured for several years and gave birth to her son Zhou Jinlin. Just in time, the Queen Mother Zhou once again rewarded her family members. This time she also received a set of red gold headdress inlaid with coral, as well as several bolts of silk and silk. The clothing material has been used for a long time, but the head and face are still there, and there are also the imperial seals on them.

Zhou Ma immediately ordered Caijuan to take out the set of masks and open them to show to her sister and several children. The box containing the headpiece and the inconspicuous place on the back of each piece of jewelry are indeed stamped with the imprint of the inner palace. It's slightly different from the mark Haitang drew, but the similarities can be seen.

Hai Jiao guessed: "It's probably because the year is different, so the mark of the inner palace will also change, right? There is a box of gold cast by the inner palace at Jin Jiashu. It was given by the emperor to the virtuous concubine's family members when his aunt was conferred the title of concubine. The mark on it is It’s similar to this, but different.”

Haitang said: "I have also seen the inner palace mark on Jin Jiashu's box of gold ingots, and I think it is newer than this one. The pair of ebony combs look very old, and the marks on them are probably from many years ago, and they are older than this one. It will take a long time for the Queen Mother to reward you."

She raised her head and looked at everyone: "How does Madam Ma have such a thing? Household products are generally not available outside, right?"

"I can't buy it." Zhou Ma said with a frown, "Although it may be a private gift, it must be quiet and not publicized. After all, this kind of thing is against the rules..." But the stepmother-in-law has this thing, she Why don't you know? When she was young, she set the rules in her step-mother-in-law's house, and she also helped her step-mother-in-law dress up, but she never saw this thing in the latter's dressing box. At that time, Mrs. Ma had shown off to her her jewelry, gold and jade combs, as well as ebony jewelry boxes and white jade powder boxes, but she had never seen any ebony combs.

To be more precise, Mrs. Ma would only let her personal maid comb her hair. When she asked her daughter-in-law to come forward to wait on her, she had already put away her usual comb and asked Mrs. Zhou to use a grate to comb her hair.

But is this necessary? Even if it’s an in-house comb, there’s nothing surprising about it, right? Mr. Zhou Ma himself has homemade jewelry, but he just doesn't know how to wear it. Is it necessary for my step-mother-in-law to hide these two internally made combs? Zhou Ma curled his lips disapprovingly.

Hai Jiao looked at her aunt's expression and thoughtfully put away the drawings drawn by her sister: "I'll ask my cousin later to see if he has seen such a mark, and maybe he can also find out the origin of the pair of combs. . We can also talk to Tu Tongzhi and see if he can find the records of this pair of combs from the inner palace. I think if these pair of combs really fell into the hands of Mrs. Ma fifty or sixty years ago, maybe they could. We can follow the clues and find out her life experience! "

When Zhou Ma heard this, he suddenly became energetic: "Then check it out quickly! If there is no problem with her origin, maybe she really was related to this kind of thing just at the request of Mrs. Wang. Then the three of us The house will be saved!”

Haijiao responded with a smile. Zhou Yijun thought for a while, then asked him for the drawings. She copied one of the drawings, put it away carefully, and planned to go back to the eldest room to ask Mrs. Zhen Guogong about the inner palace mark.

Zhou Ma has finished dressing up and can go to the fourteenth room. As for her grandson and grandson's reason for going out, Mrs. Ma naturally could only take her two grandsons to leave.

However, before leaving the house and getting into the car, Mrs. Ma did not forget to tell Mrs. Zhou: "Sister, if you have news, remember to send a message to me as soon as possible. Don't delay! I'll come see you tomorrow."

Zhou Ma is also in great need of someone with whom he can discuss matters seriously, so naturally he will not refuse his sister's help: "Don't worry. Even if I want to stop you, I will try my best to send you a message!" After saying that, he smiled bitterly, "Besides you, I can't find anyone else who can discuss this matter. I'm afraid my sister-in-law won't even enter our house."

Ma shook her eldest sister's hand with a heavy heart, turned around and got into the car. Haitang was a step behind and reminded Zhou Ma and Zhou Yijun: "Auntie, sister Yijun, there is something you must be careful about. I don't know whether the letter is true or false, but Mrs. Ma must know what the letter is about. . If it was really useful, why did she wait until now to take it out? But if it didn't work, why did she take it out now? Maybe she wanted to bring out something specious to trick others into investigating? , and then take advantage of this opportunity to do something? Although her confidants have been taken away now, there are still people around her, and she has no shortage of money. It will not be difficult for you to bribe new people. Keep an eye on her, don't let her take advantage of the opportunity to escape. "

Zhou Ma was suddenly stern: "Yes, we can't let her escape! If she escapes, our master will not be able to explain!"

Zhou Yijun pursed her lips: "At this point, let alone her escape, even if she is dead, our family can't explain it. We must let her stay at home well!"

Haitang saw that her grandparents and grandchildren were aware of the situation, so she got on the car with confidence. Hai Jiao gave Aunt Ma a few instructions, then turned around and mounted the horse. Aunt Ma was temporarily kept in the third room of the Zhou family by the Ma family. Once Zhou Ma had any new news, she could go back to the Hai family at any time to run errands and send messages without worrying that Zhou Shigong would stop her.

The Hai family's carriages and horses left the Zhou family's three-bedroom mansion. Zhou Yijun held Ma's arm and stood in front of the door for a long time, as if watching her relatives go away. But when they turned around, they walked directly to the fourteenth room next to them and did not return home. The concierge noticed something was wrong and rushed out to see what was going on, but it was too late to stop him. Mrs. Zhou Ma said a few words to the porter in the fourteenth room at the door, and the latter welcomed their grandparents and grandchildren in.

(End of this chapter)