Taohuaxi

Chapter 13 The old lady’s treatment
When the eldest young lady saw me, she clenched the veil tightly and drew her body back.The words that were about to be spoken were swallowed in a roundabout way, and a half-sweet and half-salty smile appeared on his face.

The old lady took a sip of tea and said, "Sang Yu is back?"

I said goodbye, sat down, and said, "I should have come back long ago, but something happened on the road and I was delayed."

"Oh? What's the matter? Let's talk about it." The old lady put down the tea cup and tucked the silk handkerchief on her lapel.

The eldest mistress stood up and said: "Mother, you and the Zhu family girls are talking. Today there are fish sent from Taixing. I will go and make braised silver carp heads for mother."

The old lady said calmly: "Yuzhen, just sit down and listen to Sang Yu."

The eldest mistress forced herself to sit down calmly and looked at me with her eyes.

I took out the donation paper written by the eldest young master from my sleeve, and presented it to the old lady with both hands: "Please mother to decide."

The old lady took it, and her face became heavier and darker as she looked at it.

The tea cup fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

The old lady raised her head and looked at the eldest mistress, her deep eyes full of anger.

The eldest mistress didn't know what was going on, so she cried: "Don't let anyone instigate you, mother. It has been more than ten years since my daughter-in-law was married to Chengcheng Mansion, and the sun and the sun never set. She serves her parents-in-law and trains her servants. She treats her brother-in-law and sister-in-law like half-mothers." .Why did my daughter-in-law do something wrong when she came?"

The old lady coughed, and I quickly stepped forward to caress her chest.She took a breath and said tremblingly: "Yuzhen, you are the eldest daughter-in-law of the Cheng family. Everyone in the house has always respected you, and I treat you very well... How could you be so cruel! "

The eldest young lady knelt down quickly: "My daughter-in-law has been wronged..."

The old lady pointed at her and said: "Unjustly accused? The boss has already recruited everything. Who did you hire, which clerk at the counter did you bribe, and when and where did you start?"

She shed two lines of tears: "I have told you time and time again that a family must work together. I thought you were just jealous and acting petty, but I didn't expect you actually wanted the lives of Huai'er and his wife. Since ancient times, that Are there not enough dramas about it? A centipede insect will not freeze until death, and there will be many people to support it. A big family, when encountering a foreign enemy, cannot be killed for a while. Killing each other is the foundation left by the ancestors from generation to generation. It was an immediate defeat.”

The eldest mistress argued: "Mother, you know Cang Shi. He is so timid, how dare he kill people? It must be... someone must be scaring him and forcing him to write those nonsense. Mother... Mother, you know it clearly. ah……"

"He doesn't dare, you dare." The old lady stared at her.

What else did the eldest young lady want to say? The old lady said: "If Sang Yu hadn't been sensible, how could you think you could still argue here? The newly appointed prefect, Mr. Geng, is trying to handle a few cases to establish his authority in Yangzhou. Think about it. After entering the Yamen, what kind of field is it?"

The eldest mistress collapsed on the ground and started crying.

Crying about the misfortune of losing an official position.

Crying about the useless young master.

Crying mother-in-law is partial.

Crying has nowhere to go.

The old lady slapped the table, and she fell silent in aggrieved tone.

The old lady thought for a while and ordered the maid: "Go and call the young master over."

After a while, Cheng Cangshi came. He first poked his head outside the door and saw that there was no sound in the house. Then he stepped in and said with a smile on his face: "Mother, what are your orders for your son?"

The eldest young lady stared at her husband.

The old lady said: "Last year, three businesses were opened in Jizhou. It turned out that distant relatives in the family helped to manage them. Last month, when I came to pay the accounts, the business was very busy and there was a shortage of people. Now, Cang'er has resigned from his post. , then take your family to Jizhou. Make a good living and be a good person."

The eldest mistress remained silent.

But the eldest young master quickly responded: "Everything is up to mother's arrangements."

The old lady waved her hand: "Go, go."

The eldest young mistress was still unwilling to leave. The eldest young master held her hand and the couple pulled her out of the door.

I took advantage of the situation and stuffed the paper supply on the table into my sleeve and put it away.

After they had gone far, the old lady took a sip of tea from the tea cup and said to me: "Sang Yu, are you satisfied with how mother handled it?"

I had already expected that the old lady would not punish them severely.

As the head of the family, what she wants to take care of most is the family's face.

What's more, a tiger's poison cannot eat its seeds. Cheng Cangshi was her biological son after all, so she couldn't bear to be cruel.

The first reason for letting Dafang move to Jicheng was to calm the situation; the second reason was to show it to me and make me feel at ease; the third reason was that she knew what had happened, and it was impossible for the two families to have any bad feelings. They were separated by thousands of miles. You can always avoid some disaster.Fourthly, I think there is indeed no one to take care of the business in Jizhou, so it would be a good thing for the Yu family to give Cheng Cangshi a chance to start a business.

I leaned over and said, "My mother is wise, how can my daughter-in-law be dissatisfied?"

The old lady's voice softened: "Sang Yu, you are a good boy."

She paused and then said: "You are so kind to comfort Huai'er. He is the most sincere in treating others. Knowing that his brother and sister-in-law want to harm him, I don't know how to feel sad."

"Yes."

She sighed deeply, and the maid helped her burn incense in front of the master's memorial tablet.

I turned around and went back to the west courtyard.

Cheng Huaishi was lying at the table reading.

The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the window lattice and swayed on his face, flickering brightly and dimly.

I walked up to him and said, "Everything is settled. My mother ordered my brother and sister-in-law to move to Jizhou." He held my hand for a while and said, "My wife is here."

I said softly: "You and I, as husband and wife, should share the household chores."

He took me in his arms.

Because of this incident, I seemed to be closer to him.

There is quite a sense of sharing weal and woe.

Just as he was talking, He Ming, a confidant beside him, walked in and said, "Second Master, there is a letter from Kyoto."

Cheng Huaishi took the letter, opened it, and read it, with a mixture of joy and sorrow on his face.

He handed the letter to me and said: "The matter of helping Mr. Xun to overturn the case was known to Mr. Zhang in the capital. Mr. Zhang and Mr. Xun were classmates and old friends. Now he wrote a letter saying that he recommended me to Qionglin Academy. .”

In this world of the Ming Dynasty, who doesn’t know Master Zhang’s illustrious name?He was originally the emperor's advisor and the chief minister of the cabinet. He is highly regarded by the current Queen Mother and His Majesty.Everyone said: With Mr. Zhang Ge in the court, the world will be peaceful and the world will be filled with treasures.

Mr. Zhang's reputation was too high to come forward to reverse the case. Seeing Cheng Huaishi's integrity and uprightness, he was favored.

If you go to Qionglin Academy this time and pay homage to a great scholar, and have the great scholar come up with questions for examination and guidance, the scientific examination will be almost half completed.

What's more, with Mr. Zhang's letter of recommendation, if he becomes an official in the future, he will be regarded as Mr. Zhang's disciple.

When Cheng Huaishi helped others, he never expected to gain something like this.

I said: "Second Master, this is a good thing, you should go."

He said: "I know this is a rare opportunity, but if I go, I'm afraid I'll have to say goodbye to my mother and wife for a long time. As a son, I can't be filial in front of the court. As a husband, I can't protect my wife. It's really..."

I thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry about family matters, I'm here for you."

Mrs. Qia sent someone to call her. It was time to go to the Qin family's dinner. The carriage and horses were ready.

I remembered that there was such a thing.

Distracted by today's twists and turns, I forgot about it.

In this room, Busy and Cheng Huaishi left the courtyard together.

Cheng Huaishi replied to the old lady what Master Zhang had written in his letter.

After hearing this, the old lady showed unprecedented joy on her face.

She naturally urged Cheng Huaishi to travel far.

Cheng Huaishi looked at the old lady and then at me before making up his mind.

The whole house is happy.

In this way, the Qin family's dinner became Cheng Huaishi's farewell banquet.

The Qin family was the head of the Jianghuai merchants, and the Qin mansion was built in a very grand manner.The houses in the large courtyard are scattered, with mountains and rocks dotted together, beautiful trees, exotic flowers, and winding verandahs.There is a touch of elegance in the wealth.

Qin Mingxu's mother, the head mistress of the Qin Mansion, had an extremely beautiful face, like a crescent moon.Looking from a distance, there seemed to be about twenty people.Her hospitality was gentle and attentive.

During the dinner, I learned that Cheng Huai was going to Qionglin Academy and congratulated him again and again.

This night, Qin Mingxu said very few words.

He no longer teases me like he used to.

Across the dining table and the crowd, he seemed not to recognize me. He was dressed in a white robe, as calm and polite as the mist on the river.

Qingshi chatted with him warmly, and he sat quietly.

When we were leaving, Cheng Huaishi and I stood together. Qin Mingxu cupped his hands and said, "I don't have a close relationship with the second master, but I know his sincerity. We won't be able to meet each other in the future because of the high mountains and the road. I only hope that you will cherish me and have no pain." , the feet will be free of disease, you will get what you want, and you will be safe for the rest of your life.”

Cheng Huaishi nodded in return.

However, the sentence "no pain in the body, no disease in the feet" is as ethereal as the wind, traveling from west to east.I don’t know if it’s about Cheng Huaishi or me.

The group of people separated under the moonlight.

After returning home, Cheng Huaishi took me back to the west courtyard.

After washing up, I got on the bed.

Cheng Huaishi didn't undress me like last time.

He will travel far tomorrow.

He whispered to me softly: "The days ahead are long."

The red candle was faint.

He held me to sleep.

(End of this chapter)