Do you know: I am Xu Jiazi

Chapter 359: You still want to be okay after offending Xu Wu? [Thank you for your support! Goodbye! ]

Chenshizhengshi (after 8:00 a.m.)
Clear blue sky
Southeast of the Imperial Palace
There are green trees near the corner tower.

A few rays of sunlight were sprinkled between two willow trees by the roadside.

Next to a sleek, beautifully decorated dark carriage, Mother Fan was looking into the distance.

After noticing two carriages coming this way, Mother Fan took two steps forward holding her handkerchief, and these steps allowed her to stand in the morning sunshine.

Mother Fan quickly raised her hands to block the dazzling sunlight.

After seeing the approaching carriage clearly, Mother Fan returned to the carriage and said, "Miss, Miss Zheng Zheng is here."

The fifth wife of the Duke of England Zhang opened her mouth, yawned, and lifted the curtain of the carriage.

After seeing the look in Mother Fan’s eyes, Wu Niang quickly covered her mouth with her hands to save her demeanor.

After a while

The Chai family's carriage came to the willow tree, and the maid following behind was holding a basket of flowers in her hands. At first glance, there were traces of dew on the branches and leaves.

Chai Zhengzheng lifted the car curtain and waved to Wu Niang in the other car, saying, "Wu Niang, why are you here so early?"

Zhang Jia Wu Niang's eyes turned and she said, "I got up early!"

Chai Zhengzheng smiled and said, "Okay, follow me!"

At this time, Mother Fan came to Chai Zhengzheng's car and whispered:
"Miss Chai, Wu Niang practiced sword for a while this morning, and when she heard the Duke's wife ask her to practice needlework for a while, she ran out on the pretext of having an appointment with you, and she hasn't even had breakfast yet!"

"I wanted to buy some food, but my girl always said she wasn't hungry."

Hearing this, Chai Zhengzheng smiled, nodded, and whispered, "Don't worry, Madam Fan, just leave it to me."

Mother Fan bowed and said, "Thank you for your help, young lady."

"You're welcome, mom."

After she finished speaking, Wu Niang suddenly lifted the curtain of the Zhang family carriage and said, "By the way, Zheng Zheng, I'm not hungry!"

Chai Zhengzheng replied: "I'm not hungry either! Let's go!"

Then, several carriages continued to move forward.
The second carriage following Chai Zhengzheng stopped and waited until the Zhang family carriage reached the middle before following.

On the way to the Chai family's shop, Chai family maids would occasionally approach the carriage where Chai Zhengzheng was, and then leave after receiving instructions.

After walking for less than quarter of an hour, the group arrived at the shop selling stationery under Zheng Zheng's name.

The Chai family's maids, Fuyi and Ziteng, got off the carriage first and entered the store.

Today, because we need to receive female guests, the store manager was replaced by a female manager.

"Meet Miss Fuyi and Miss Ziteng."

After the two maids returned a slight salute, they went straight up to the second floor accompanied by Mother Ding.

Fu Yi saw that the windows on the second floor facing the street were all hung with gauze. She nodded and walked forward to carefully check and smell, then wiped all the window frames and railings with a handkerchief.

Zi Teng moved closer to the tables and chairs, and carefully touched the hard-to-wipe corners of the table with a handkerchief. After looking at the handkerchief on her fingertips, Zi Teng moved closer to the tables and chairs and sniffed them.

Then, the two looked at each other and nodded: They wiped it very carefully and cleanly.

"Mother Ding put a lot of effort into it."

"Thank you both ladies for the compliments."

The two maids went downstairs and after reporting, Chai Zhengzheng and Wu Niang got off the carriage.

When getting off the car, Wu Niang curiously glanced at the woman with a veil and holding a pipa who got off the car behind.

Everyone entered the door.
Strong women from the Chai and Zhang families, who were skilled in martial arts, stood at the door.

Not long after Chai Zhengzheng and Wu Niang went upstairs, the maid of the Chai family who had left on the way also returned here.

The maids, most of them carrying bamboo baskets, walked through the shop hall and entered the backyard.

A nanny who had been with Mrs. Chai for many years walked out of the very clean and tidy kitchen. Looking at the neat backyard, the nanny nodded with approval.

"I didn't ask to use the kitchen, but it was cleaned so well. That's great!"

Then the maid stretched out her arms, and the maid beside her began to help her straighten her wide sleeves and tie her arm loops.

A plain-looking maid from the Zhang family came over:

"Old sister, Madam Fan just told me that Wu Niang likes anything with meat filling."

Nanny Chai said, "Then please come and lend a hand, sister!"

After Nanny Zhang nodded, the kitchen began to get busy.

In the shop,
Chai Zhengzheng and Wu Niang were walking around on the first floor.

Wu Niang would pick up the paper, pen and inkstone and look at them from time to time.

Suddenly, Wu Niang's eyes lit up, and she took two steps forward, picked up a piece of bamboo that was more than a foot long, with a sharp tip at the front and a red string tied at the back, as thick as a little finger, and said:

"Zheng Zheng, what is this?"

Chai Zhengzheng walked over, picked up another thin bamboo, looked at it and said:
"Wu Niang, this is a hard pen that came from the northwest. It is said that someone in Baigao country used this thing to dip in ink and write. It was named "bamboo pen". The handwriting is unique."

"It is rare in our Great Zhou. The purchasing manager in the northwest saw this thing as a novelty and bought a hundred of them."

Wu Niang nodded, not quite understanding what was said.

Chai Zhengzheng held the bamboo pen and continued, "Look, this sharpened tip is actually the joint of the bamboo, and there's a crack in the middle."

Wu Niang blinked and said, "Is it because the bamboo joints are harder?"

Chai Zhengzheng laughed and said, "Wu Niang is really amazing!"

"Yes, I want ten. When I have time, I'll have someone take them to Brother Zheng Xiao to have a look."

Chai Zhengzheng glanced at the female manager of the shop.

Mother Ding nodded to indicate that she had received it.

Afterwards, the two ladies went up to the second floor together.

Looking at the veiled Wei Fangzhi behind the screen on the second floor, Wu Niang whispered to Chai Zhengzheng: "Zhengzheng, what does that woman do?"

"The musician I hired is an expert at playing the pipa."

As she spoke, Wu Niang looked around. Upstairs were the incense burners, gauze, porcelain vases and bamboo baskets filled with fresh flowers that she usually saw, as well as various dolls placed on the armchair.

Looking at the pillows of various styles and lovely shapes, Wu Niang's eyes widened.

"Wow! Zheng Zheng, where is this made from?"

Before she finished speaking, Zhang Jia Wu Niang was already playing with a silk doll of the same style as "Little Peach Tiger".

Chai Zhengzheng smiled and said, "I saw it when I went to play in Sister Tingyi's yard before. I also collected a few other patterns and made these."

"In a few days, when the house next to this store is repaired, we will sell these things. For those who want to do it themselves, we will also provide some cut cloth and weighed cotton wool."

Wu Niang nodded and said, "Well, I'll buy some and ask my maid to make a few."

After spending some time on the road and wandering around the store for a while, Wu Niang felt hungry.

Wu Niang pursed her lips, thinking about what she had said to Zheng Zheng before. She sat down on the chair weakly and annoyed, and grabbed a handful of dried fruits from the fruit plate on the table and began to chew them carefully.

Seeing this scene, Mother Fan, who was standing by, raised the corner of her mouth.

Wu Niang looked at the maids in the room again, all of whom were close to the two of them, and whispered, "By the way, Zheng Zheng, I heard that your brother..."

Chai Zhengzheng nodded and said, "This is the person behind the screen. Mother decided to take his birth and citizenship deeds."

Wu Niang: "Ah? I know the indenture, but what is the indenture?"

While Chai Zhengzheng was explaining, maids came up the stairs carrying trays.

Wu Niang sniffed it, leaned over and said, "Zhengzheng, it smells so good!"

Chai Zhengzheng looked at Wu Niang's greedy look and smiled.

As the lid of the jade-like porcelain bowl was opened, the large, round-bellied wontons in the snow-white bowl moved slightly, and there were a few drops of golden sesame oil on the soup.

Next to the tray were several small porcelain plates filled with small shrimps, coriander, kimchi, pickled radish, and tofu mixed with green onions.

On the second floor, the smell of steamed buns and sesame oil wafted in the air.

Wu Niang swallowed hard and forced herself to look away.

Chai Zhengzheng suppressed his laughter and said, "Wu Niang, I feel a little hungry on the way. I saw that the cook made too much steamed buns. How about you help me eat some?"

Wu Niang glanced at the bowl and said, "Okay, I'll eat a little bit for you, Zheng Zheng!"

After a few breaths, Wu Niang's voice came:

"Hoohoo. Lamb stuffing?! I like it!"

When Wu Niang burped, she watched the maid take away all the porcelain bowls.

It is already 2:45 in the morning (after 9:30 in the morning)
quickly,

Gu Tingyi took the maid to the second floor. After seeing Wu Niang, he scolded her angrily, blaming Wu Niang, who also lived in Xingguofang, for not waiting for her and coming here first.

As for puppets, he was not as interested in them as Wu Niang was. After all, Gu Tingyi had seen a lot of them from his eldest sister-in-law Ping Mei.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the six girls from the Lu family, Duke Lian, and Rong Feiyan went up to the second floor together. Both families were located on the north side of the east side of the imperial city.

Looking at the puppet on the chair on the second floor, Rong Feiyan blinked and looked at the maid beside her. The maid nodded and indicated that she could do it. The last person to come was the fifth wife of the Li family, the short-sighted Li family from the Li family of the Minister of Personnel.

After everyone had arrived, they listened to the gentle and relaxing sound of the pipa.

Everyone was chattering on the second floor.
Sometimes they would talk about how good the corn that the Xu family of the Yongyi Marquis's mansion was, and what other crops it could be planted with;

Sometimes they would exchange how much their own or their own farms had produced and how much they were worth;
Most of these are what they learned from their mothers.

Of course, there are also the indispensable topics of burning incense, arranging flowers, making tea and hanging paintings.

After these conversations,
At lunch,
The maids from several families were arranging the dishes brought from Pan Lou on the table.

The girls sat down, and there was no rule of not talking while eating at the party.

Wu Niang from the Li family recommended several novel scripts of southern opera troupes to everyone.

The six girls from the Lu family brought several jars of new sweet wine given by their relatives and tasted them.

The maids poured the sweet wine into the glasses, and after everyone took a sip, their eyes lit up.

Zhang's fifth wife said:
"Ms. Lu, this wine tastes really good! Which relative made it? I'll ask my family to buy a few jars!"

The six girls of the Lu family laughed together, and the oldest girl said, "It's my Zong Ge'er's maternal grandfather, the Li family!"

When everyone was talking about the fabric of a doll on the chair, a loud noise suddenly came from outside the building through a wall of gauze.

A commotion attracted everyone to look outside.

"Mother Fan, send someone to ask what happened!"

"Yes, girl!"

While the maids cleared the table and the ladies were drinking tea to help them digest their food, Mother Fan went upstairs.

"Mother Fan, have you found out what happened?"

Zhang Jiawu Niang asked.

Mother Fan bowed to the girls and said:

"My dear, I inquired and it seems that the Anguogong Tan family in Chunmingfang in the south sent servants to the north to find a doctor. From what they said, it seems that there is an elderly person in the mansion who is not feeling well."

Hearing this, the girls looked at each other in surprise.

Li Jia Wu Niang narrowed her eyes and asked in confusion: "Why doesn't the Duke's Mansion find an imperial physician?"

Rong Feiyan's eyes were full of thought, and she said hesitantly:
"I think the Tan family should have gone along the north-south Zhao Shiwan Street to the north of the inner city near the Old Fengqiu Gate to invite the golden and purple medical officer serving in the palace."

“That’s why I passed by nearby.”

Hearing Rong Feiyan's words, everyone nodded in agreement.

Chai Zhengzheng leaned over and whispered, "Sister Tingyi, how old is Lord Anguo?"

Gu Tingyi said: "He is nearly 70 years old."

End of the day (3:00 p.m.)

The ladies from various families were preparing to leave.

After watching Gu Tingyi and the two Wuniangs leave, Chai Zhengzheng, Rong Feiyan, and the girls from the Lu family got on the carriage and drove north.

On the carriage,
The maid Yunmu said softly, "Miss, the great sword that Qiao Jiulang had pawned in the pawnshop has been redeemed by the Qiao family."

"Not Qiao Jiulang?"

"No, it's the master of the Qiao family."

Chai Zhengzheng nodded.

evening,

The Xu Zaijing brothers returned home from school and waited for dinner in their mother's yard.

"After your sister learned about the Tan family from Tingyi, she sent someone to tell me."

Listening to Madam Sun's words, Xu Zaijing asked, "Mother, do you know which member of the Tan family is feeling unwell?"

Mrs. Sun shook her head.

At this time,

Mother Dan walked in from outside, looked at everyone in the hall and said, "Madam, the Lu family of Duke Lian has sent a nanny over."

"Please!"

Madam Sun waved her hand again, and everyone in the hall who was not a personal maid left the room.

After a while, a respectable nanny came in with a handkerchief in her hand.

After bowing to Madam Sun, she smiled at Xu Zaijing. She was the personal nanny of the eldest grandson of the Lu family and Xu Zaijing's brother.

"Madam, my old lady asked me to deliver a message."

"Madam, please take a seat."

Looking at Cuichan beside Hualan, she was about to move an embroidered cushion over.

Nanny Lu waved her hand and said, "Madam, I will leave after I finish speaking. I won't sit down anymore."

As she spoke, Cui Chan had already placed the embroidered cushion next to the nanny.

Madam Sun held out her hand: "Madam, please sit down and talk."

Nanny Lu smiled bitterly and said yes, then continued:
"Madam, we have received news from our family that the old lady of the Duke of Anguo is not feeling well."

Madam Sun nodded and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Nanny Lu didn't say anything.

"Okay, I understand. Please thank the Duke and the old lady for me."

Nanny Lu smiled, stood up and nodded: "Madam, I will take my leave now."

Everyone stood up, and Madam Sun said, "Madam, please go slowly. Brother Jing, please see me off."

"Yes, mother. Mammy, this way."

Out of the hall,

Xu Zaijing walked with his brother's personal nanny.

"Mammy, how is Zong Ge'er doing recently?"

"Very well, I've been arguing with the lady about wanting to ride a horse."

Xu Zaijing smiled and said, "Mammy, go back and tell the old lady and the eldest lady that Zong Ge'er can come to our house to ride horses when he is free."

"Yes, I will definitely pass on the message."

Huihefang

Duke Lian's Mansion
Nanny Lu got off the carriage from the second gate.

When they arrived at the courtyard where the old Duke and his wife lived, the maid at the door made a announcement.

After entering the house, Nanny Lu discovered that the third son-in-law and the princess of the Lu family were both there, and there were very few maids serving in the room.

The nanny bowed to everyone present, relayed Xu Zaijing's words, and then left the room on the pretext of going to see Lu Zezong.

Seeing that there was no one else in the room,
The third son of the Lu family, who married the princess, looked at the princess and continued, "Father, mother, the chief eunuch in the palace just told my son to let my husband and I get closer to the fifth son of the Xu family."

The princess at the side asked, "Do you want our eldest daughter to discuss marriage with Jing'er?"

Lu Zezong's mother, Mrs. Li, nodded in approval.

Duke Lian stroked his graying beard, looked at the old lady beside him, and shook his head:
"If that is the case, Your Majesty should just grant the marriage directly. Why bother sending the eunuch to pass on the message?"

Suddenly, Duke Lian was stunned and a helpless smile appeared on his face.

The princess at the side looked at the old duke's expression and asked hurriedly, "Eunuch, have you thought of anything?"

Old Duke Lian also strongly supported the current emperor in the past. When the princess got married, the emperor also reminded her to address her elders as such at home.

Duke Lian nodded and said, "It was the old man from Xiangyang Hou, when we were drinking a few days ago."

"After he said that, the old man almost knelt down and begged me not to tell anyone. I thought he was just drunk."

"Since His Majesty has sent an eunuch, you two should prepare and give it a try."

The couple bowed in response.

Then the princess said, "Eunuch, the old lady of the Anguo family."

Duke Lian's eyes turned cold, he shook his head and whispered, "Humph, who knew that she would be so scared after the Imperial City Bureau lied."

"It looks like he might die of illness in a few days."

Hearing this, the Lu family members in the room were all surprised.

The old lady of Duke Lian said hesitantly, "Is it related to the first baby boy that the Queen aborted more than ten years ago?"

Duke Lian nodded.

(End of this chapter)