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

Chapter 613 Jade Rose
Hai Xiya did not tell his wife Ma how his grandson Haijiao could arrange a future for his second uncle Hai Changan.

Ma had no choice but to ask her grandson, but Haijiao didn't tell her the answer either.

Recently, Haijiao always leaves early and comes back late, and he comes home late not because he has to go to the military training ground to practice horse riding and archery, but because he is busy with other things. Ma once heard from a young man in the neighbor's house that he saw Haijiao near the Dusi Yamen, and he was traveling with a soldier from the imperial guards from the capital. Ma asked Haijiao about this, but Haijiao was vague and only said that they happened to be going the same way. He refused to tell the truth, and Ma had no choice but to complain to her granddaughter Haitang in private.

Haitang said, "Brother should be making friends with his own people, right? Why does grandma need to ask so much? Grandpa is working in the Dusi Yamen now. General Tu Rong from the capital is his immediate superior. If our family gets along well with the people under General Tu Rong, it will also be good for grandpa. Besides, isn't the guard Lin who is now living in the Jin family someone from the capital? Those imperial guards used to be his subordinates, but now he has resigned from his official position. Brother hangs out with Brother Jin all the time, and he sees Guard Lin almost every day. Grandma didn't think there was anything wrong with this, but instead made a fuss about brother's contact with Guard Lin's former subordinates. Don't you think it's strange?"

Ma thought about it and it was true. After Guard Lin moved into the Jin family, he acted too low-key. Apart from following Jin Jiashu out every day, he hardly interacted with the neighbors. She even forgot that he was originally a guard in front of the emperor, not Jin Jiashu's permanent bodyguard.

She smiled a little embarrassedly: "Well, this is strange, why does your brother associate with people from the capital for no reason? It would be bad if the young masters of the Duke's Mansion misunderstood."

Haitang blinked her eyes. "What could the young masters of the Zhenguo Mansion misunderstand? The Zhou family has nothing against the court, but only against the Sun family. Although the Sun family is a powerful official, they can't represent the court or the emperor, right? My brother said that the Zhenguo Duke is getting along well with General Tu Rong, and he asked his grandchildren to ask General Tu for advice. Since the young masters of the Zhenguo Mansion have to deal with General Tu, it's not taboo for my brother to have contact with his subordinates, right?"

She leaned close to her grandmother and whispered, "Our family won't stay in Chang'an forever. We will eventually return to our hometown in Zhili. When my brother is old enough, he will join the army. If there is a powerful general in the capital who values ​​him, his future will be smoother, right?"

Ma understood immediately: "Ah! So the master and your brother are planning this! That's true... General Tu is the emperor's confidant, and he will return to the capital to be an official sooner or later. If we go back to our hometown, we will be closer to him. On the contrary, the Duke's Mansion cannot control the Zhili army and cannot help your brother..."

Although the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion still has Marquis Cheng'en and General Zhou Si in the capital, Haijiao has not severed his ties with the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. By currying favor with Tu Rong, he will have one more way out. What's wrong with that?

Ma thought she had guessed what her husband and grandson were planning, and since this matter did not violate the taboos of the Zhenguo Mansion, she felt relieved. Tu Rong's family did not seem to have come to Chang'an with him, and he himself did not usually interact with the nobles in Chang'an other than the Zhenguo Mansion. Even if Ma wanted to help her grandson, she had no idea where to start, so she had to shut up, take care of the household, and make sure her husband and grandson had good food, drink, and sleep, and did not hold them back.

Of course, she would continue to interact with Ma Shangyi these days. She would meet with him almost every one or two days, chat, send gifts to each other, etc. Although Ma Shangyi and Lin Shiwei were both from the capital and were familiar with Tu Rong, Ma never dared to mention her husband's grandson's plan in front of the former. She only talked about some trivial matters with Ma Shangyi, and then described her memories of Madam Mei more clearly, trying to provide clues for the other party so that the other party could find all traces of Madam Mei in Shanhaiguan.

Ma reminded Ma Shangyi more than once that Madam Mei was not like her old sister in Kunning Palace in many ways, but for some reason, Ma Shangyi felt that Madam Mei was the person she was looking for.

She didn't know what she said to her family. A few days later, the Ma family sent a painter to paint the image of Madam Mei more than 30 years ago on paper bit by bit according to Ma's description. Ma Shangyi looked at the portrait and insisted: "This is Yumei! Ma Yumei!"

Ma was shocked. Could it be that Madam Mei was actually an old friend of Ma Shangyi? !
When she got home, she immediately told her granddaughter the shocking news. Haitang was also stunned: "How could it be such a coincidence?"

Did a blind cat catch a dead mouse?
Ma touched her chest, still unable to believe that this was true: "No wonder Madam Ma always felt that Lady Mei was her old sister, it turns out that she really is... I can't remember Lady Mei's appearance very clearly, luckily you asked her a few days ago, and I remembered it bit by bit. Only when Madam Ma asked about Lady Mei's appearance, I could answer."

As she spoke, Ma couldn't help but feel sad: "Her surname is also Ma. Although she is not from the same family as our Ma family, we should have had dealings with them. She was originally a servant of the Duke of Zhenguo. She served the Empress Dowager since she was a child. Both her parents are gone. She has a brother who was a personal soldier of the Duke of Guo when he was young. Later, he was disabled on the battlefield. After retiring, he married and had children. He died more than ten years ago. I heard that when he died, he was still thinking about his missing sister! Madam Mei was wronged when she was driven out of the palace, and she offended Concubine Chang Gui. She probably changed her name and fled to Shanhaiguan because she was afraid that the Chang family would find her. It's a pity that she fell ill when the Empress Dowager became the Empress Dowager, otherwise she should have returned to the capital to seek refuge with her old master. If she had sent a letter to her family in Chang'an, she would not have died in a foreign land. Before she died, there was only an adopted little girl by her side..."

Ma sighed and hated herself for not finding out earlier that Mei Niangzi was from the same hometown. Among the three or four students, Mei Niangzi was the closest to her. Maybe it was because they were both from Chang'an and had the same surname, Ma? What a pity, why didn't Mei Niangzi tell her the truth? Even if she didn't tell her about her life experience, just said that she was also from Chang'an, and asked the Ma family to send a letter to her family! Their Ma family had nothing to do with those treacherous concubines and treacherous ministers in the capital, they were the people of the Northwest Frontier Army!
Ma was still sighing. Haitang was silent for a while before asking her, "Since Ma has found out Madam Mei's identity, should we go to Zhili to find her grave next? Did grandma tell her everything you know?"

"Of course I told you everything!" Ma said hurriedly, "Not only that, I also told Mammy Ma that I would discuss with the master in the evening and send someone back to my hometown to help find out the news about the little girl that Madam Mei used to support. Before you and your wife left Yongping, Madam Mei no longer stayed in Shanhaiguan to teach students, but moved to Yongping Prefecture with the little girl and rented a small courtyard to live in. Every time she came to talk to me, she was asking about the wealthy, upright and kind families nearby, as if she was looking for a marriage for the little girl. When I heard the news of her death, I was so sad. In addition, there were many things going on in Chang'an, and your father was sick, so I didn't pay attention to it and didn't find out whether the little girl was married. But if nothing went wrong, she should have married nearby. As long as we can find her, we can find where Madam Mei is buried!"

Although she couldn't call Ma Shangyi "Auntie", Mei Niang had taught her a lot and was a teacher she respected. She couldn't do anything for Mei Niang, but if she could let her return to her family after her death and be buried with them, it would be considered that she, an incompetent student, had done her part for her former teacher.

(End of this chapter)