20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 595: Groups of Wives and Concubines
After a while, Shu Ning arranged for the servants to prepare food, and then returned to the inner room.

I walked slowly to the edge of the kang and saw Jiang Chengzhi playing with the wooden sailboat, turning it over and over, and taking a few bites from time to time. He was always so innocent. I found it very interesting, so I couldn't help but sit down and play with the child for a while.

Zhuang Shuning is already in his thirties.

The reason she had her first child at this age was because she became addicted to smoking when she was young.

I thought everyone would be childless in this life, but unexpectedly, Jiang Lianheng reclaimed the saline-alkali land where no grass or trees could grow, planted seeds, and produced fruits.

Shu Ning quit smoking during her pregnancy and has gained a little weight now. Although she looks more energetic, her body has been ruined over the years and she often feels weak.

Giving birth to a child at an advanced age, she went through a near-death experience. After waking up, she naturally treated her son with great love.

However, whether she has quit smoking or not, perhaps only she herself knows best.

Jiang Lianheng had no intention of investigating further. As long as his youngest son was healthy, he would not blame him. This was exactly what Shu Ning thought.

After joking for a while, Shu Ning suddenly asked, "Did you come back the day before yesterday?"

"Yesterday." Jiang Lianheng continued to tease his youngest son and replied without raising his head.

"Then why didn't you go to the Marshal's Mansion today?"

"Yes, but Lao Zhang is too busy today, so the guard asked me to go back tomorrow."

Jiang Lianheng finally raised his eyes and asked, "Have you been there to play mahjong recently?"

Shu Ning shook her head and said, "No, but they came to see me a few days ago."

"Come to see you?" Jiang Lianheng was a little surprised, then smiled and said, "Oh, great, Marshal Zhang's concubine came to see you, you are doing better than me!"

"The child is almost one year old, and they have nothing to do every day. So they came over to sit for a while that day. As usual, they wanted to go play cards with me."

"Besides playing mahjong, didn't you talk about anything else?"

Zhuang Shuning certainly understood what Jiang Lianheng meant. He raised his head and thought for a moment before saying, "It seems he didn't say anything. He just said Marshal Zhang has been very busy lately and many people have lined up to see him. It was mainly because the Fifth Madam didn't come. She is the most favored and knows the most, but she rarely talks about the Marshal's affairs."

Jiang Lianheng nodded and asked, "So the Fifth Madam is in charge now?"

"Yes, after all he has studied! I heard from the Second Madam that in Old Zhang's family, the Marshal is only willing to chat with the Fifth Madam and the eldest daughter-in-law, and no one else is a good choice."

"Then you have to get along well with these two people!"

"I know. I have a good relationship with them, but they don't like to talk about it. I can't always ask them. It's not good to ask too much."

"That's true."

Jiang Lianheng muttered as he turned to look at the head of the kang. He saw his youngest son waving a wooden sailboat back and forth, and a smile gradually appeared in his pupils.

Zhuang Shuning turned his head slightly and suddenly noticed Jiang Lianheng's right ear. After hesitating for a moment, he finally asked, "How is this trip to Shiliyangchang?"

If it were in the past, she might not have asked too much, but now things are different. She has the Jiang family's child, and the fate of both mother and child is naturally tied to Jiang Lianheng; therefore, this concern is not false flattery, but comes from the heart and is sincere.

Jiang Lianheng was a little impatient and waved his hand, saying, "Don't worry about it. Just raise my son well. You don't need to worry about other things."

Zhuang Shuning immediately fell silent.

Although a mother's status is enhanced by her son, her position in the family is still not as high as that of the eldest sister-in-law of the Jiang family.

The atmosphere was slightly awkward.

Zhuang Shuning hesitated for a while, then suddenly asked, "Do you still remember Liu Qinghe?"

Jiang Lianheng frowned, looking a little confused, then nodded and said, "I know. How could I forget such a big living person?"

Liu Qinghe's name is not unfamiliar.

Although this person has nothing to do with the Jiang family, they are acquainted with each other. If we have to be serious about the relationship, the two families can probably be considered half-colleagues.

Like Jiang Lianheng, Liu Qinghe is also one of the many spies under Marshal Zhang, but his methods are not as wild as those of the Jiang family. His external identity is a medicinal material wholesaler.

A few years ago, when checking workers returning from the north, the two worked together briefly. They had a good impression of each other, but they were just casual acquaintances and could not be considered close.

"Why are you suddenly mentioning someone who has nothing to do with you?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

"he died."

"died?"

Zhuang Shuning said something shocking, nodded and said, "I heard from the concubines of Old Zhang's family that it seemed to have happened just two days ago."

"How did he die?" Jiang Lianheng looked stunned, but he seemed to have the answer in his mind. "I haven't heard that his family has held a funeral recently!"

"I guess his family doesn't know yet!" Zhuang Shuning said, "Besides, they haven't even found the body. Even if they knew, they might still be hoping for the best."

Jiang Lianheng hurriedly asked the reason, but unfortunately Shu Ning only had a vague understanding and could not explain the hidden truth.

"Anyway, I heard that not long ago, Marshal Zhang sent a lot of spies out. Some went to Beijing, some went to Tianjin, some went to Baoding, and some went to Guangdong Province. Anyway, he sent a lot of people to many places, around the time you went to Shanghai, almost all during those few days, but some came back and some didn't."

"Then Liu Qingcong him..."

"I heard that he went to Baoding, Zhili, and brought a few people with him. When he came back, they said he was missing. But who doesn't understand what this means? Isn't it actually..."

Zhuang Shuning stopped talking.

Jiang Lianheng, however, had already understood this.

As for the so-called missing person, he must have been searched for for several days. If they couldn't find a living person of that age, considering Liu Qinghe's identity, he must have been in great danger.

"No wonder... Baoding, he has gone to the home of the direct clique, wandering around under their noses, how could nothing go wrong!"

Jiang Lianheng sighed inwardly, surprised, and suddenly came to his senses and asked, "How did you know this?"

"Just listen to what those concubines are saying!"

"Did Lao Zhang tell them about this?"

"No matter how hard you try, she is still your wife. We live in the same house, so you can always hear some news. Besides, it's not a big secret that she is gone. Besides, after those people came back, they would bring some local products from time to time. Business trips are business trips, and personal affairs are personal affairs. Didn't you bring anything for those concubines?"

"Of course I brought it. Everyone knows that I went to Shanghai and gave me some funding. I can't go there empty-handed!"

Jiang Lianheng would naturally not forget this etiquette.

Over the years, he has become so familiar with the so-called ways of the world that it has almost become an instinct.

Although "bullying the inferiors and fawning on the superiors" is not a good word, there may be people who dare to say that they have never "bullied the inferiors" in their lifetime, but who can say with a clear conscience that they have never "fawned on the superiors"?
However, Zhuang Shuning's words made Jiang Lianheng recall the night of the Zhabei assassination.

He touched his right ear and it was just a little bit off, just a little bit off. He was afraid that he would die on the spot and everything would be in vain.

Life and death are decided by a hair's breadth. Thinking back to the previous assassination by the Zongshe Party, this is not the first time.

Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but wonder, how lucky can he be to be able to return to the human world before the gates of hell?

It seems that there has to be a limit to flattering one's superiors, otherwise one will lose one's entire fortune and life.

Zhuang Shuning certainly had a hidden agenda when she mentioned this, but she didn't dare to say it out loud, much less to persuade him. After she finished speaking, she only added, "The child is still young!"

Jiang Lianheng pondered for a long time, and then waved his hands impatiently, saying, "Don't worry about it. He is him and I am me. Don't worry about it!"

As we were talking, it was time for dinner.

Zhuang Shuning asked: "Are you going to stay here tonight or go back?"

Jiang Lianheng smiled and said, "Since you're here, stay for one night."

"So are you in my room or hers?"

"Uh... I'm mainly afraid of disturbing the child's sleep!"

Jiang Lianheng played dumb and made up an excuse to get away with it. The child was too young and was always restless in the middle of the night, so he naturally didn't have the patience to accompany him.

…………

After dinner, it was already dark.

Jiang Lianheng played with his son for a while. When the child was about to fall asleep, he couldn't help humming. Jiang Lianheng went downstairs to change his shoes as if escaping and hurried to the fourth room.

Tonya's room is different. Although it still looks like an old house from the outside, the decoration inside has been changed a long time ago.

The earthen kang was removed and replaced with a spring bed; the walls were covered with putty and hung with several of her own oil paintings; there was a spotless piano in the corner; there was a bookshelf next to the table, which was filled to the brim with thick brick-like volumes and hardcover books in foreign languages ​​with gold-stamped covers.

Tonya had her black hair tied up in a bun and was leaning against the head of the bed reading a book.

Seeing Jiang Lianheng come in, she still felt a little uncomfortable, but not as resistant as she was at the beginning.

She lived a life of plenty in Fengtian, and her life was even better than in the north. Apart from the fact that she felt a little lonely being alone in a foreign country, there was nothing to complain about.

However, since she started teaching Jiang Ya and Jiang Chengye foreign languages, piano and painting, she gradually found the fulcrum of her life and regarded it as her job, just like a Western tutor.

Dongnia knew very well how many of her fellow women lived worse off than she did, so she had naturally given up resistance long ago. Although she was not overly grateful, she understood that there was no free lunch in the world, and the gift before her had already been secretly priced.

Seeing Jiang Lianheng getting closer, she simply closed the book and undressed herself, as if she was welcoming a guest.

"Hey, stop delaying!"

Jiang Lianheng hurried forward to stop them, and said with a laugh: "Can we be a little more romantic? Put it on quickly, don't button it up, it's best to leave it half-covered!"

Dong Niya didn't quite understand what he said. She was stunned for a moment and asked in surprise, "Put it on?"

"I'm not asking you to put it on, it's half-covered, ready to come out, the more you cover it up, the more obvious it is, like holding a lute and half-covering your face, do you understand?"

"Put it on? Put it off?"

Dongnia spoke stiff Chinese and was completely unable to understand the other party's intentions.

Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but smacking his lips, thinking to himself: It was better when I first brought her home. The girl wasn't very cooperative then, which was quite interesting.

"Forget it, you should put it on first!"

Jiang Lianheng walked slowly to the head of the bed and picked up the heavy hardcover book beside the pillow as he spoke. He quickly flipped through two pages. It was all in Russian and there were no illustrations. He found it boring and put the book back.

"What book is this?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

"Tolstoy," Tonya explained reluctantly, "storybook, War and Peace."

"What? You Russians still have peace? Aren't you fighting every day?" Jiang Lianheng said sarcastically.

Dong Niya was a little flustered. After thinking for a while, she quickly explained: "This book is not expensive. It's very cheap."

"Well, who asked you how much money you have? If you want to buy it, just buy it. I'm not stopping you. If you don't have enough money, just go and tell the housekeeper."

Dong Niya seemed to understand, so she nodded quickly, forced a smile, and said, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. It's boring to keep saying thank you." Jiang Lianheng sat down on the bed and suddenly said with a smile, "Hey, how is my son? Jiang Chengye!"

When Dong Niya heard the name, her eyes immediately lit up, but unfortunately her vocabulary was limited, so she couldn't help but say, "Ya, Chengye, cute!"

"I'm asking you how they are doing, studying!"

Dong Niya nodded and said, "Ya, Chengye, teach me; I teach them, and we learn together."

"I'm asking you how they are doing! Are you happy?"

"Uh... Ya, smart, active, and smiling... Chengye, also smart, quiet, and loves to read!"

As she spoke, Dong Niya suddenly sat up from the bed, ran to the bookshelf, pulled out two thin booklets, handed them to Jiang Lianheng, and said with a smile: "Chengye, I like reading these two books."

Jiang Lianheng took it and flipped through it curiously. It was probably some kind of children's picture book.

Seeing that there was no Chinese on the pages, but only Russian, he was a little surprised and asked hurriedly, "He is so young, can he understand it?"

Dong Niya nodded heavily, and then repeatedly emphasized: "Smart, this is not difficult, Chengye, smart!"

Jiang Lianheng was delighted when he heard this, so he suddenly became serious and asked, "Can you speak other foreign languages? Like... English, French, etc?"

He didn't understand the cultural customs of the North, so he just asked casually without holding out much hope.

Unexpectedly, Tonya asked, "France? I know a little bit, not very well, just a little bit."

Jiang Lianheng was slightly surprised and said hurriedly: "Then you should teach them in the future. Teach them more. Once they are done, I will buy you a piano. Not only a piano, but also a house!"

Dongnia was naturally delighted when she heard this, but due to her limited ability to express herself, she could only repeat the same few words over and over again.

After hearing so much, Jiang Lianheng inevitably felt a little annoyed. He waved his hand and said, "Forget it. It's too much effort to talk. Let's just change the way we communicate!"

There is no need to elaborate on the night of love and rain in Wushan.

Jiang Lianheng returned from Shanghai with his wife and three concubines, all of whom he had seen.

He is very busy on weekdays and naturally has no time to discipline his children. The three children of the Jiang family will ultimately have to be raised by these women.

Children are the future.

Jiang Lianheng may not have realized that the influence of these four wives and concubines on the future of the Jiang family has already begun quietly...

(End of this chapter)