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

Chapter 921 Deception
Haijiao went out.

After Ma knew about this, she couldn't help but complain to her granddaughter: "After so many days of hard work, he finally came home to rest. Why did he run out instead of staying in the house to sleep?! It was so windy outside that most people would want to stay in the house, but he ran out by himself. Isn't this asking for trouble?"

Haitang smiled and said, "Brother finally got out of the palace, so he must hurry up to see his friends, otherwise we don't know when we will meet again. Anyway, he promised to come back before lunch, so please forgive him for once."

Ma was not really angry with her grandson, she just felt sorry for him, and she stopped talking after a few words. She began to wonder who the friend was that Haijiao would rather not rest to see? Could it be Zhou Yijun?

She gossiped to her granddaughter in a low voice: "Well, I heard that General Zhou Si's young master made a great contribution this time. Isn't he very close to your brother? Did your brother go to see him?"

How could Haitang know? She could only evade the question: "General Zhou Si and his family should not be free right now, right? I don't know. When brother comes back, you can ask him."

As expected, Hai Jiao came back before lunch, and brought a bag of two small jars of pickles: "These are pickles made by a small shop that my second uncle and I discovered by chance. They taste very good. The shop is not in the Zhengyangmen Street area, so I guess you don't know about it. Today I passed by his house, so I just brought back two jars. Would you like to try them?"

Ma ordered someone to take the pickles away and put them on plates, then told the kitchen staff to quickly bring the food.

The lunch was quite sumptuous and delicious. Although they were all vegetarian dishes, Haijiao ate them with great relish. He praised the food while eating, saying that he missed this taste the most when he was in the palace and thought about it in his dreams.

Ma knew that he was just trying to cheer her up, and the truth might not be so, but she still couldn't help but smile: "Okay, stop talking, and eat your fill quickly!"

After lunch, Aunt Cui had people clear the table from the kang and serve hot tea, while Ma chatted with her grandchildren to help them digest the food.

She lowered her voice and asked, "Have you heard any news in the palace these days? How is Xiao Jin? Have you seen him? And how is Xiao Jin's aunt, Imperial Concubine Xu?"

Haijiao smiled and said, "He's fine. I've seen Xiao Jin from afar a few times, but I was guarding the Dong'an Gate and he didn't leave the palace, so I didn't have a chance to talk to him. But now that Madam Xu's son is about to ascend the throne to become the emperor, how could Madam Xu not be fine? It's just that she seems to be sick recently and doesn't appear in public often."

Ma was surprised: "Why is she sick? Is she sad because the emperor is gone? Is she seriously ill?" Don't let anything happen, otherwise Jin Jiashu, an orphan without a father or mother, will have a hard time without his aunt to take care of him. And whether this aunt is alive or dead, the difference is too big!
Hai Jiao couldn't tell his grandmother in detail about the situation in the palace. There were actually many reasons for Consort Xu's "illness". He only said vaguely: "It's a national mourning, and there are many things to do. Consort Xu will soon be the empress dowager, and there will be more things to worry about. She was not in good health to begin with, so it's inevitable that she will get sick from exhaustion. But don't worry, her status is different now, and the imperial doctors will cure her."

Ma nodded and sighed, "It's good as long as he can be cured. Xiao Jin has only this one elder who is closest to him in the world, and the others are unreliable. I hope Madam Xu can live a hundred years and always take care of Xiao Jin."

Because Consort Xu was Jin Jiashu's "aunt", Ma was the first to ask about her health. After asking, she was still more concerned about another person: "Is the Empress Dowager okay? Empress Xu is so young, but she has been sick from exhaustion. I'm afraid the Empress Dowager has more things to worry about. She is old, so she must take care of herself." Haijiao laughed dryly. There were too many things he couldn't say about the Empress Dowager. He could only tell his grandmother: "The Empress Dowager is in good health. I haven't heard that she is in any bad condition."

Haitang changed the subject: "Grandma, please don't worry about it. Although the Queen Mother has to take care of many things, with her status as an old lady, who would dare to let her waste her energy? Naturally, there are many people to help her. Whenever she is a little tired, people around her will advise her to take care of herself."

Ma thought about it and said with a smile, "I know I am worrying about nothing. The Zhou family has been taking care of our family for so many years, and I hope they can become more and more prosperous, right?"

Haitang glanced at her brother and said, "Brother always said that he was living a good life in the palace. I don't know what he ate or where he slept. Is he really living a good life or just pretending?"

The topic shifted to Haijiao, who also cooperated very well and said, "Of course I didn't lie!" Then he talked in detail about his food and accommodation when he was on duty at the palace gate, and also introduced his close superiors and colleagues, and cited various examples to prove that he was indeed living a good life. Ma was successfully fooled by her grandchildren and soon put aside the news in the palace and focused on Haijiao's duty life.

When Haijiao started to look tired and couldn't help yawning, Haitang immediately said, "Brother, are you sleepy? Go back to your room and sleep. I've asked someone to heat the kang, it's warm now." Ma also urged him, "Go back quickly!" Haijiao took advantage of the situation and got rid of his grandmother's questioning.

After Haijiao left, Ma was also sleepy. Haitang helped her grandmother to sleep and went back to the courtyard without saying anything.

Haijiao only took a nap for half an hour and then woke up. When he left the room, the main room was still very quiet, and it was obvious that Ma had not woken up yet. He did not see his sister, so he went directly to the front yard to look for his cousin Xie Wenzai.

Xie Wenzai and Lu Bainian have been going out to meet friends recently. The former just came back from outside, apparently having lunch with someone. He had just changed his clothes and was about to take a rest when he saw Haijiao coming.

He was quite happy: "When I came back, I heard from the gatekeeper that you were taking a break and going home? I heard that you Jinyiwei have a lot of responsibilities now, and you are guarding several palace gates. The Jinyiwei Yamen is almost empty. I thought you couldn't go home for a while."

Haijiao smiled and said, "I originally thought I had no chance. But last night when I was on duty, I was lucky enough to meet Xinjun. He offered me and a few other guys on duty a favor and allowed us to go home and rest for a day. So I left immediately after my shift changed in the morning, and I didn't even have time to eat breakfast."

Xie Wenzai nodded: "I have heard many people say that although the new emperor is young, he is kind and honest, and he is the most tolerant and compassionate." This is also the reason why many old students of Wumen have higher expectations for the new emperor. With the new emperor's temperament, as long as he does not go astray, he will be better than his father in the future. Being an official under his rule, everyone's life will be much better.

Hai Jiao was not here to praise the character of the new emperor. After a brief chat, he got straight to the point: "Before lunch, I went out to meet a few friends and heard a piece of news that someone was planning to secretly rescue the trapped Sun family. Although it was rumored that the person only wanted to rescue the Sun family, the Sun family lives together, and no one can guarantee that more Sun family members will not take the opportunity to escape. At present, the court has not decided how to deal with the Sun family, so it is better to be more cautious about this matter. I am afraid that if something goes wrong, the new emperor and the cabinet will lose face. Would you like to remind Tao Gelao?"

Xie Wenzai was stunned. If it came to the siege of the Sun family, Haijiao was worried that someone from the Sun family had escaped, shouldn't he have mentioned it directly to the Zhou family? At the very least, he could have contacted General Tu Rong, so why did he have to find Tao Yue who had nothing to do with it?
Could it be that... there was something wrong with the person who wanted to save people? Was he from Tao Yue's side?