Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 167 A family with different agendas

Other people's sacrificial texts are for "transcendence", but Zhao Mu's sacrificial texts are specifically for "ridicule".

Although others did not understand the profound meaning of this memorial ceremony, Mrs. Liu, who was sitting with her children at the vigil, lowered her head.

However, she was not "moved" by Zhao Mu's memorial, but she discovered the deep meaning in Zhao Mu's memorial.

Mrs. Liu was also one of the few talented women in the capital. She memorized the memorial inscription that Zhao Mu had just recited. She felt a little awkward at first, but after thinking about it carefully, she realized that Zhao Mu was really bad.

However, she couldn't laugh directly in this situation, so she could only lower her head and cover her mouth and snicker pretending to cry.

Although Liu Ying had been banned before, today was the day of Chai Qing's funeral. Rumors had been spreading in the capital. Although the Shang Prince and his wife believed Zhao Mu's lies, for the sake of the face of the Shang Prince's Palace, they still let him Liu Ying appeared in front of others to avoid slander. Besides, Chai Qing died unexpectedly before he was married, so he had to have an heir to pay his respects.

The two princes only had a three-year-old girl as their heir, so Liu Ying took care of her daughter and kept vigil for her second uncle.

After Zhao Mu paid homage, the ignorant little girl kowtowed to Zhao Mu under the arrangement of her mother. Then Zhao Mu and the others were brought into the main room by the servants.

"The Marquis has arrived!" Hearing this sound, everyone in the hall looked at the three people in front of the door.

After all, they haven't seen each other for several years, and everyone wants to see what Zhao Mu looks like now.

Although the three of them entered, no one stood up to greet them or said anything. Everyone was looking at Zhao Mu.

Seeing this delicate atmosphere, A'Zhu couldn't help but sigh in his heart. She couldn't help but sigh that "the house of emperors has been ruthless since ancient times", and it was indeed the same wherever they went.

The first person to break the silence was Zhao Mu.

Zhao Mu looked at Princess Shoukang and King Shang who were sitting on the Grand Master's chair and said, "Zhao Mu pays homage to Her Royal Highness the Princess and His Royal Highness King Shang."

Faced with Zhao Mu's neither humble nor arrogant appearance, Princess Zhongxiao was quite satisfied with him.

Princess Shoukang was in a bad mood at this time. She looked at Zhao Mu and said calmly: "No, the Marquis has come to express condolences for the child. I accept the kindness of the Marquis. I heard that the Marquis has been in poor health recently. Is he feeling better now? "

Zhao Mu still replied respectfully: "Thank you for your condolences, Your Highness. Zhao Mu has not been back to the capital for a long time. He is not accustomed to the soil and water. He just feels a little sick."

Princess Shoukang nodded, looked at Zhao Mu's family, and then said: "Master Hou has not returned to the capital for a long time, and I think he has a lot to say to his family. Today is the funeral of the child, and the front hall is very noisy. The Marquis can go to the side hall to talk to his family."

Everyone also understood what Princess Shoukang meant. After all, the reunion of family members after a long absence is a happy event. But today is her son's funeral, and no matter how happy others are, they cannot show it on this occasion. In order to avoid everyone being embarrassed here, it would be better to send their family to the side hall.

Then Zhao Mu's family came to the side hall. Although Zhao Yong was reluctant, seeing the look in his mother's eyes, he had no choice but to follow with his wife. Zhao Jing, the third sister, had always disliked Zhao Mu, but she couldn't resist her mother's eyes and her husband's pull, so she had no choice but to follow him into the side hall.

"My son, Zhao Mu, pays homage to the concubine." As soon as everyone entered the side hall, Zhao Mu immediately knelt down and saluted Concubine Chai. Zhao Mu was right. Although Concubine Chai was not Zhao Mu's biological mother, according to the rules of this era, all the children in the family were under the lap of the main wife, and the concubines were just tools for reproduction. Although Zhao Mu's biological mother is Zhao Ji, his nominal "real mother" like his other siblings is Concubine Chai. After entering the side hall door, Concubine Chai's solemn face also showed a smile, and then she quickly helped Zhao Mu up and said: "My son is exempt from the courtesy. Long time no see, my son has grown up. It looks like your father when he was young. Very heroic."

Hearing his mother's praise of Zhao Mu, King Dongping was very disdainful.

After saluting his "mother", Zhao Mu took Mu Wanqing to greet his brother, sister-in-law, sister, and brother-in-law in turn.

Zhao Mu paid attention to everyone's attitude towards him. Chai Taifei was still the same as before. Although she didn't like herself very much, she didn't dislike her too much. She has quite the demeanor of a housewife.

As for his eldest brother, he has never liked him. Although there was a smile on his face, Zhao Mu could see that facing him, he was as disgusted as eating a fly. However, Zhao Mu was not angry, but very happy. The eldest brother hates him so much because he is just jealous of himself.

After all, as my eldest brother, except for the fact that his eldest son has a better background than me, he is not as good as me in everything. When his father came back to the world, he often compared the three brothers. Zhao Mu was talented, could play music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and song, and was loved by his father the most. As the eldest son, the eldest brother has always been looked down upon by his father because of his mediocre ability. Even the Prince of Dongping County once said during his lifetime that if Zhao Mu had not been born from a concubine, the position of heir apparent would definitely belong to him.

Because of his father's joke about hating iron but not steel, Zhao Yong has been jealous of Zhao Mu until now. However, Zhao Mu also enjoys this feeling of "you don't like me, but you can't kill me".

Zhao Mu's third sister also hated him as always, but her dislike of Zhao Mu was really due to her father's favoritism back then. Back then, she fell in love with a pair of jade bracelets. She begged her mother for a long time before Mrs. Chai bought them for her. But before she could put on the bracelets, her father cut off her hair. In order to make his concubine happy, Prince Dongping changed hands and gave the pair of bracelets to Zhao Ji. This incident made Zhao Jing jealous of Zhao Mu and her son to this day.

The person who is most polite to Zhao Mu right now is his eldest sister Zhao Lan. But this is not about her deep feelings for her little brother. It's just that she wanted to find someone to rely on from her mother's family.

Although a woman obeys her husband when she marries, her status in her husband's family still depends more on the status of her natal family.

For example, Princess Shoukang, although she is a princess, her words are more effective than King Shang.

Although Zhao Lan is the eldest concubine of the Zhongxiao Palace, her husband is just like his father, Prince Dongping, who "dotes on concubines and destroys wives."

And Zhao Lan has not given birth to a child for so many years. However, her husband's concubines gave birth to three sons in succession. Now that the parents-in-law are still alive, the couple has never really broken up with each other. But if her parents-in-law are gone one day, it will be difficult for her to face her husband's "cold violence".

But now Zhao Lan has no one to rely on.

Because of the distribution of his father's inheritance, he had a falling out with his eldest brother Zhao Yong, his second brother Zhao Hui, and his third sister Zhao Jing. Now there is no hope for the Dongping County Prince's Palace.

As for her mother clan, it has already fallen into decline. Just a year after Zhao Mu and his son left the capital, Zhao Lan's grandfather was impeached by the conservatives headed by Sima Guang because he was a member of the "Wang Anshi New Party", and was dismissed from office and his house was confiscated and exiled. Zhao Lan's biological mother was also killed because of this turmoil. He became ill after the blow and eventually died of illness.

And all she could think of was her younger brother Zhao Mu, who had not yet completely broken up with him. That's why she was so enthusiastic about being a matchmaker for her younger brother to marry the princess of Prince Zhongxiao's palace. The purpose is to find a mother clan to rely on in the future.

(End of this chapter)