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

Chapter 500 Apology
Zhou Ma was very unhappy that her stepson Zhou Jinpu was praised by her husband Zhou Shigong. During lunch, he kept complaining about Zhou Jinpu's mistakes in the past, which proved that he was not the smart person Zhou Shigong said. Her biological son Zhou Jinlin is very talented.

There was nothing she could do about it. When she was at home on weekdays, except with her granddaughter Zhou Yijun and her two confidants, how could she gossip about her stepson so freely? If you can't say it in front of your husband, you might be scolded if you say it; if you say it in front of other servants, they might leak it to your husband; not to mention in front of your stepson's family. She had mentioned it in front of her brother and sister-in-law in the past, but her brother-in-law and sister-in-law would always be more concerned about their own affairs. At most, they would just echo her words and change the topic to the future of her father and son.

Only in front of his younger sister, Madam Zhou, could she speak so freely. Even when Ma occasionally refuted her and picked on her, there was constant communication, which was much better than others. Before Mrs. Ma was convicted, she had not seen her little sister for a long time, and she had no time to stay for dinner yesterday. Today, she stayed with her, so of course she wanted to chat for a while.

Ma, Haitang, and Zhou Yijun all knew her difficulties, so they followed her temper and allowed her to talk happily. Ma sometimes couldn't stand her saying stupid things and would dismiss them, but most of the time, he was just praising her. The two sisters went back and forth, Zhou Ma said happily. After lunch, although she couldn't remember what she had eaten, she felt refreshed.

She simply didn't even take a nap, asked the girls to bring the generous gifts they had just prepared before lunch, and then headed to the Duke's Mansion in Changfang Town. She knew that Mrs. Zhen Guo had to take a rest after lunch and eat before going to take a nap. She was just in time to talk and avoid others.

Zhou Ma was about to go out, and Ma had no reason to stay, so he simply walked with her for a while. Zhou Yijun was ordered to stay at home and continue to pay attention to the news, so she sent them to the front yard. Not long after the group exited the second gate, they saw General Saturday walking in from outside the gate. He brought a few accompanying soldiers with him. When he saw Zhou Ma and his wife, he paid tribute to them.

Zhou Ma asked with a somewhat uncomfortable expression: "Why did the sixth nephew come here? But... he came to ask your fifth uncle about what happened to Jinpu last night?"

General Saturday replied respectfully: "Yes, my nephew has heard about it. He just brought people out of the city to pick up the slaves. Now those escaped slaves have been brought to justice and are being held in the Dusi Yamen prison. My nephew is thinking about Uncle Wutang. I don’t know the news yet, so I must be worried about it, so I’m going to give you the good news first.”

Zhou Ma's expression became even more uncomfortable: "Oh... I see, that is indeed... good news. I was about to go talk to your mother. Although Jin Pu meant well, he thought that he was deceived by the A family in the past. , I have done a lot of stupid things, hoping to make a contribution and make up for my guilt, but after all, I used people from your house without saying hello. I feel sorry for you, although your parents have always been generous and will not be of the same generation as him. I don’t care, but our family can’t pretend that nothing is wrong, so I just want to go to your house and make amends to your parents. I just don’t know if your mother will be free at this time..."

General Zhou Zhou also saw the large and small boxes held in the hands of the girl who was accompanying Zhou Ma. He couldn't help but smile and said: "Fifth aunt is so polite. This is all a trivial matter. Cousin Jinpu is willing to help, and my parents are willing to help." How can you blame me? You don't have to prepare any gifts, let alone apologize. If you have time, you can just go to our house and talk about the family affairs. If you don't want to walk, you can send someone to call your nephew and daughter-in-law to come over and join in the fun. Why be a heretic?"

Zhou Ma waved his hand: "This is between me and your mother, so don't worry about it. Your daughter-in-law has a serious mother-in-law to serve, why should you ask her to do anything if she has nothing to do? There is no need to disturb her business. You have to go find her." Isn’t that right, sir? He must be still in the study at the moment, so go quickly.”

After General Zhou heard this, he stopped talking, saluted again, and saluted Ma. He also nodded to Zhou Yijun and Haitang who were saluting him, and then turned towards the study with his entourage.

After he left, Zhou Ma secretly breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to Ma in a low voice: "He just spoke with a closeness, which shows that his words were pleasing to his ears. There will definitely be nothing wrong with meeting the Duke's wife like this." "Mr. Ma thought to herself that Mrs. Zhou Ma and Mrs. Zhen Guo have been sisters-in-law for decades. With Mrs. Zhen Guo's wisdom, she may have figured out her eldest sister's temperament long ago. As long as the eldest sister shows respect to the elder, no matter what stupid words she says, the Duke of Zhenguo's wife won't care.

After Master Ma wanted to understand this, he didn't say much and only echoed Zhou Ma's words. The sisters walked out of the gate and went their separate ways. Mrs. Zhou Ma took her maid and mother-in-law into the car and went to the Zhenguo Palace; Mrs. Ma took her granddaughter Haitang into her carriage and returned to her house; Zhou Yijun sent away the elders and returned to the main courtyard without mentioning anything.

After arriving home, Haitang helped her grandmother Ma change her clothes, watched her go to bed on the kang, then left the upper room and went back to the backyard to rest.

Towards evening, she finished her calligraphy homework and practiced archery for a while. She heard the voice of a young man in the front yard. She guessed that her brother Hai Jiao had finished school. She hurriedly went back to the house, wiped her sweat, changed her clothes, and went forward. Head to find him.

However, Haijiao is not there. After he came back from school, he put down his things and went to Jin's house without even changing his clothes.

Haitang expected that he would have a long talk with Jin Jiashu, and was afraid that he would not be able to come back until dinner, so she had to give up for the time being.

It's a pity that Haijiao didn't even go home for dinner that day. Jin Jiashu sent Lu Gawa over to convey a message, saying that he was staying in Haijiao to dine at home, so Ma naturally had no reason to do so. Haitang had to eat alone with her grandparents. During this period, Ma expressed her dissatisfaction with her brother-in-law Zhou Shigong to her husband Hai Xiya based on the recent news about the third room of the Zhou family.

Hai Xiya also vaguely heard some rumors in the yamen: "So this is the origin of the group of people who were arrested and imprisoned today. No wonder there are men and women, old and young. I heard that Tu Tongzhi also issued an order. I went to check the resumes of several small banners and general banners. The people in the yamen didn't know what trouble these people had gotten into. They were all from the Xiaoqianhu Office and Baihu Office. Although they were all officers, they were no more than high-ranking officers. It's just the general banner, what kind of trouble can it cause? Unexpectedly, it was someone installed by Mrs. Ma... These people were all installed after the death of the third wife of the Zhou family, so there are not many people who can get on the stage. She has no outstanding talents and no achievements. If she wants to rise, she can only wait for time. Mrs. Ma is also very old. How many years can she wait for these people to come forward? , what’s the picture!”

Haitang said: "She is probably still thinking about preparing a way out for herself outside the Zhou family. Although these people have low-level positions, as long as they have sufficient qualifications and have not made any mistakes, it is still possible to be placed in important positions. Even if they are in important positions. Just arrange a few people in those remote border towns, so that when she needs to escape in the future, she will not have to worry about having no way to escape. "

Hai Xiya sneered: "How can things be so easy? I think Mrs. Ma has lived her whole life in a prosperous big city and has no idea about the hardships in the border towns. Does she think she can escape if she wants to? She regards our northwest frontier army as What happened? In the past, it was only the third wife of the Zhou family who pampered her and protected her so that she could do everything she wanted. Now no one is protecting her, and her crimes are not tolerated by the court and the Zhou family, and there is no way the world can repay her. There is a place for her! If she stays at home and commits suicide, she can die more decently, and there will be people to take care of her affairs after her death. If she really dares to escape, the Duke of Guo will fight for her. The reputation of the clan elders has been damaged, and her crimes will be exposed to the world. Then she will be worse off than dead!"

(End of this chapter)