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

Chapter 415 The ending of an old friend
Originally, Lu Bainian should not be so clear about what happened more than fifty years ago. He was still a primary school student who had just started school at the time.

But he has lived in the capital since he was a child, worked as a supervisor in the Ministry of Industry, and experienced the overtime hell of having to work day and night to make new sacrificial vessels when the newly made sacrificial vessels were left idle during the Yongchang period. Naturally, he had the motivation to inquire about the taboo stories of longevity flowers. . He learned from the familiar craftsmen in the inner palace why the batch of sacrificial vessels were left idle. Naturally, he also heard about how the longevity pattern was rejected by the nobles.

The female family member of the clan who misbehaved at the New Year Palace banquet and offended Empress Zhang of Yongchang Dynasty and Empress Dowager Zhang of Longding Dynasty was originally the wife of a clan official. She was originally very respectable in the clan circle, and was also a popular figure in front of Empress Zhang. She often came in and out of the palace, so she should be aware of Empress Zhang's taboos, and she did not know why she made a big mistake and angered Empress Zhang at the palace banquet.

She has only two daughters. The eldest daughter married into a powerful family and became the eldest daughter-in-law. She had already given birth to the eldest son and her status was stable. However, because her mother was reprimanded by the queen and she did some unseemly things, she was quickly dismissed. Her husband's family rejected him, and after two years of "recuperation", he died silently in the backyard, and even the funeral was hastily arranged. The son she left behind was first raised by her grandmother, and then fell into the hands of her stepmother. He died before he was eight years old. Because at that time, the royal family had completely lost power and was almost extinct, leaving only a very young concubine living a hard life under the protection of old servants. Naturally, no one would care about the child.

The dismal end of this family seems to fit in with what Queen Zhang said when she scolded the royal family's wife: "If you wear such an ugly longevity flower on your body, no matter how great the blessing is, it will be gone."

As for the second daughter of the royal family’s wife, she was originally engaged to the eldest son of a powerful noble family, but the engagement was canceled for unknown reasons. It is said that the woman was seriously ill and was sent to the countryside to recuperate, and has never been seen again since. Appeared in Beijing. There are rumors that this noble lady actually had an affair with someone and eloped with him. Her family felt embarrassed and angrily reported her death to the family. After she lost power, no one cared about her whereabouts.

Haitang's mood was very complicated.

Two lives later, she finally knew the fate of the family in the clan. Although his daughter's secrets of stealing military planes and collaborating with the enemy were not exposed, and the family was never implicated and sentenced to death, the outcome did not seem to be much better. The duchess's wife was scolded for her misconduct at the palace banquet, and the "unseemly thing" that happened to her eldest daughter at her husband's house. Could it be Song Yuzhu's revenge? Compared with the barbarian prince who was just disfigured and injured, and then walked thousands of arduous miles to return to his homeland to become the king of Khan, she was more cruel to her closest relatives and family members than to her heartless lover!

Several thoughts flashed through Haitang's mind, and then she heard Lu Bainian continue: "It's a coincidence that the second daughter of the clan, the person she was originally betrothed to was the grandfather of Marquis Yingchuan. However, at that time, his family's title was still Pingxi Marquis. His family was not in trouble if he lost this engagement. It is said that he later married a noble daughter of the clan and had close contacts with the palace. The father of Marquis Yingchuan met Jinshang when he was a young man and married her. The friendship between the emperor and his ministers later became a legend."

If the marriage had not changed, and the grandfather of Yingchuan Marquis married the daughter of a clan princess whom Empress Zhang disliked, and would no longer be a frequent visitor to Empress Dowager Zhang's palace, then would the son she gave birth to be the same as the emperor before he became rich? When it comes to friendship, it's hard to say.

Lu Bainian treated this matter as a source of small talk, mentioned it casually, and put it away. His attention was still on Mrs. Ma's life experience: "In those years, she was probably the only noblewoman who could use the inner palace's creations, was born in a noble family, and was exiled by her family. In the early years of Yongchang, she lost power. Rich and powerful families may not be able to match the imperial products made when longevity flowers were popular. And the late emperor was an only son, so the succession process was very smooth. Although there is a saying that there is an emperor and a minister, the powerful ministers in the Yongchang Dynasty had not committed a big taboo. , almost all of them have a happy ending, and no family has their families ransacked, and even their daughters have to flee to other places and hide their names. From now on, the time will not be right. "

It had been fifty years since Mrs. Ma married into the third wife of the Zhou family, just around the time Emperor Long Ding succeeded to the throne. At that time, there were no rumors of the sudden defeat of a powerful family. Although Emperor Longding was often criticized for his actions, he was still very young when he first came to the throne, and Empress Dowager Zhang had the final say in everything. How could Empress Dowager Zhang allow her loyal ministers from the Yongchang Emperor period to be wronged? Emperor Longding wanted to liquidate someone after the death of Empress Dowager Zhang.

Xie Wenzai frowned when he heard this: "Mrs. Ma... could she be this noble daughter of the clan? But if she eloped away, it would be a loss of reputation. If the old aunt of the Ma family knew her details, how could she dare to recommend her? To be the wife of the general of the Zhou family?" He and Lu Bainian looked at each other, but there was one thing they did not mention in front of the children: Mrs. Ma must still be the daughter of a yellow flower when she married the third wife of the Zhou family. Even if she did have an affair with someone, she should have never lost her virginity, otherwise she would not be able to hide it from her husband, let alone have decades of love and virtuous reputation.

Hai Jiao didn't know what the elder was thinking, but he was born in two generations after all, so he also thought about this: "It sounds right, but I still feel a little unbelievable... She may have hidden it from the old aunt of the Ma family. She had lost her identity. But she dared to marry someone to fill a house, so why didn't she go back? Her family just offended the queen and lost power for a while, but she didn't really run away and marry into Zhou Dynasty. Being the wife of a general is very respectable. The clan and the government were in such a state of decline, both parents died, and the eldest sister was living a miserable life. Why didn’t she go back to see her little brother? "

Haitang glanced at him, then lowered her head and said, "Maybe it was because she was very unhappy with her family when she left? It could also be that she had done something shady and was afraid of being exposed when she returned. It's not that Zhou Shuyi married In the nearly twenty years since she went to the capital, she has only been to Chang'an for two kisses, but Mrs. Ma never went to the capital to visit her beloved daughter? And the Queen Mother sent envoys to Chang'an to reward her mother-in-law, but she never showed up. Are you afraid that someone in the capital or palace will recognize her? "

Everyone else showed expressions of realization.

Hai Jiao clasped his hands together and said: "That's right! No wonder she behaves so strangely. The Empress Dowager Zhou clearly sent an envoy to Chang'an to reward her people because of her kindness, but she didn't even show her face. She was very rude. Some people praised her for her virtue... I also I don’t know how she got her virtuous reputation, but she was willing to take the risk of offending the Queen Mother and doing such a rude thing, probably because she was afraid that the people in the palace would recognize her, right?" He couldn't help but sneered, "I really think too much! Who still remembers someone who ran away fifty or sixty years ago? If Grandpa Lu hadn't been thinking about the batch of sacrificial utensils engraved with longevity patterns, he wouldn't have inquired about her family affairs!"

Xie Wenzai thought for a while: "This is just our guess. There is no basis for it, and we cannot conclude that she is indeed the noble daughter of the clan. Besides, there is nothing to hide with such an identity. Even if she had eloped when she was young Rumor has it that now that she is old and has a lot of descendants, what else should she be afraid of? She is too cruel to refuse to return to Beijing to recognize her relatives for decades! "

"What's the use of going back?" Lu Bainian sighed, "Her parents and sisters are dead, her nephew also died in infancy, and her younger brother is not from the same mother, but was born after she left. There is no brotherhood at all. Going back It’s not interesting either.”

Haitang smiled at the side and suddenly said: "Who knows what shady things she did back then? She has been hiding for so many years, and now she is about to die, and she still refuses to tell her. It must be a big deal... Will she be with Ying Is it related to Chuanhou Mansion? "

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise: "Where do you start talking about this?!"

(End of this chapter)