Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 464 Neighbors
"Hearing what you said, it seems really good." Minglan said.

"When I go to see Zhong Huai later, I'll ask Shi Tou to see if he's willing. If not, I'll arrange for them to meet." Li An said.

"Well, thank you for your concern, sir." Minglan said.

The marriage of the servants in the house was something that she, as the mistress of the house, should worry about, but it was Li An who had to worry about it as well.

"If you really want to thank me, do it tonight..." Li An leaned close to Minglan's ear and whispered a few words.

After hearing this, Minglan rolled her eyes at him in reproach and turned her head away, with a blush on her neck and ears.

……

The next morning, Li An woke up refreshed. After washing up, he practiced martial arts, had breakfast, and then went out to the palace to take up his duty.

When he left, Minglan was still sleeping soundly.

Last night she half-heartedly cooperated with Ang Lee in using some embarrassing positions and was tortured quite a bit.

After Li An got up, she told the servants not to disturb her, so Mother Cui didn't call her.

As soon as Li An left, Mother Cui brought the maid with hot water and utensils for washing, came to the door, pushed it open and went in.

"Mother Cui, the master has instructed that the mistress should sleep a little longer." Xiao Tao quickly stopped Mother Cui.

Mother Cui said unhappily, "The master is worried about the lady, but the lady still has a lot of things to do. How can she sleep like this every day?"

After saying that, he pushed the door open and walked in.

After entering the inner room, Madam Cui smelled a strange smell. As someone who had experienced it before, she naturally knew what it was. She quickly told the maid to open the window for ventilation, and then she came to the bed and shouted, "Madam, it's time to get up."

"Well…"

Minglan turned over and muttered, "Mother Cui, let me sleep a little longer."

"Madam, didn't you say yesterday that you would find someone to calculate the date for moving? Besides, many things in the new house have not been arranged yet, and we are waiting for your decision."

Mother Cui said as she lifted the curtain and hung it up, then helped Minglan up.

"Mother Cui, please let me talk for a while. I'm too tired."

Minglan was helped up, her head still nodding, very cute.

"No, madam. The master and the old lady will be back soon. It's not okay for you to sleep until noon every day. If the old lady knew... Madam, what's wrong with you?"

Minglan was not wearing any clothes. Mother Cui helped her up. The quilt slipped down a little, revealing her shoulders.

As Mother Cui was speaking, she saw a bruise on Minglan's shoulder. She screamed, lifted the quilt and almost fainted.

There were many marks left on Minglan's body. How did these marks come about? How could Mother Cui not understand?

I felt happy but also sad.

What’s gratifying is that even after being married for so long, Li An is still so obsessed with Minglan.

What makes me feel sorry is that Minglan has been tortured so badly, no wonder she looks so listless.

Danju and Xiaotao were attracted by Mother Cui's exclamation, and when they saw the bruises on Minglan's body, they exclaimed again.

"Don't you have any manners if you're shouting and yelling?" Mother Cui quickly covered Minglan and glared at the two of them.

Minglan lost her sleepiness due to the continuous exclamations. She yawned and said, "Help me get up."

Upon hearing this, Danju quickly took a large red cloth to wrap Minglan up and helped her to the bathroom.

When Minglan came out again, she was already wearing her undergarments.

Sitting down in front of the dressing table, Danju did her makeup.

"Madam, if it really doesn't work, you should take a concubine for your master. Your master is a scholar, how can he be so rude as those warriors? Your madam is weak and delicate, how can she bear it?" Mother Cui said.

Minglan blushed when she heard this and said, "Mother Cui, I'm fine. My skin is just a little tender. It looks a little serious, but it's actually nothing."

Mother Cui wanted to say something, but Minglan saw it through the bronze mirror and said quickly, "Mother Cui, go ask the kitchen to send breakfast quickly. I have a lot of things to do later. Oh, remember to ask someone to tell the driver to prepare the car."

"The lady is getting anxious now. Just now, she couldn't be woken up no matter how hard we called her."

Although she said this, Mother Cui could see that Minglan didn't want her to say more, so she didn't say anything else.

After Minglan finished dressing and having breakfast, she went out.

He first asked someone to calculate the moving date, and then took a car to the house awarded as a reward on Gonghou Street in the inner city.

After the carriage stopped, Minglan got off, but saw a carriage parked in front of the door of the neighboring house a few dozen steps away. A girl got off the carriage, and the girl waiting at the door went to meet her, and the two were talking.

The family next door was originally a duke, but was implicated in Prince Yan's affairs, and their titles were taken away, their property was confiscated, and their clan was exterminated.

The house was awarded to the emperor's uncle Shen Congxing.

Although the two families were neighbors, their houses were very large and their gates were dozens of steps apart.

Minglan couldn't see the other person's appearance clearly, but she didn't care and went straight into the house.

At the gate of Weibei Marquis' Mansion, Xiao Shen called Xiao Zou to come in, but she didn't respond and looked in one direction. She followed her gaze and saw Minglan entering the house.

Of course, because of the distance, she couldn't see Minglan's appearance clearly, but she could guess.

"Sister Zou." Xiao Shen retracted her gaze and called out again.

"Hmm?" Little Zou came back to her senses and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I say let's go in, it's a bit hot outside." said Xiao Shen.

As the saying goes, an elder brother is like a father, and an elder sister-in-law is like a mother. Shen Congxing's parents had passed away, and little Shen had not yet married, so naturally she followed her brother.

It can be said that Xiao Shen was raised by Zou. She has a very good relationship with Zou and also has a good relationship with little Zou.

"Oh." Little Zou nodded and said, "I remember that the house next door was awarded to Li Hanlin by the government, right?"

"That's right, but the house is a bit old. It was being renovated and hasn't been moved in yet. The person who just entered should be Li Hanlin's wife." Xiao Shen said.

Little Zou's eyes turned and she smiled, "I heard that Prince Huan and my brother-in-law have a good relationship with Li Hanlin. Now that we have met, we should go and pay them a visit."

"They haven't come yet. Why don't we go visit them?" said Mrs. Shen.

There are etiquettes for visiting. Now the Li family hasn’t come over, so there may not even be any tea or snacks to entertain the guests.

If they visit at this time and the host doesn't offer much hospitality, it would seem disrespectful and they would become bad guests.

"This is not a formal visit, just a chat. If it doesn't work, ask the eldest lady of the Li family to come over here. My brother-in-law is familiar with Li Hanlin. It would be rude if he didn't meet him, but it would be disrespectful if he didn't go to chat with him after meeting him." said Mrs. Zou.

Now that Zhang Guifen hasn't entered the house yet, she, as a concubine, naturally can't enter either.

However, Xiao Zou did not have the awareness of a girl, and often went to Weibei Marquis's Mansion under the pretext of talking to Xiao Shen.

After Shen Congxing came back, she ran even harder.

He would come in the morning every time and stay until Shen Congxing came back in the evening before leaving.

She seemed to think of herself as the mistress of Weibei Marquis' Mansion.

She proposed to visit Minglan with the purpose of making friends with her.

When she gets married in the future, some officials' wives will often come to visit her as a concubine, and Zhang Guifen will definitely be very excited.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shen hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "That's fine." She didn't think too much about it, she just simply wanted to make friends with Minglan.

Although she is the queen's sister, she has a low self-esteem because of her background.

Following her sister, she also met many noble ladies in Bianjing, and always felt that those people looked down on her.

Although Li An was not a minister in the palace, he had an old relationship with her brother and nephew. He even sent a blood edict to her brother-in-law and made great contributions in the process of suppressing the rebellion.

In her opinion, Li An is also half Yuzhou person.

There were not many people she could talk to in Bianjing, and she felt a little lonely.

The two families are neighbors now. If I can get along well with Minglan, they can visit each other more often in the future.

"Then let's go now." Xiao Zou said with a smile.

……

After the new house was renovated, Minglan started buying things for it.

This time I came to see if there was anything I missed.

Minglan entered the house and hadn't been walking around for long when a maid came running over.

"Madam, the sister of Marquis Weibei is here to visit." The maid bowed.

Minglan was stunned when she heard this. They hadn't even moved in yet, so how could she come to visit at this time?

But since everyone is here, she can't turn them away.

"Hurry up and prepare some tea, and have someone bring the snacks from the carriage." After giving the order, Minglan hurried out.

When I left, the servants prepared tea and snacks in the car.

She didn't plan to stay here for long, so she didn't have anyone take it down. Now she can only use it to entertain guests.

When I arrived at the door, I saw two women dressed as girls and several maids waiting at the door.

Minglan had never seen Little Shen and Little Zou, so she couldn't tell who was who. She could only smile and say, "No wonder the magpies kept calling at me when I went out today. It turns out that there is a distinguished guest coming to visit."

"My third young lady and I just saw Madam Li coming over. Thinking that our two families will be neighbors in the future, we thought of coming over to visit." Little Mrs. Zou said with a smile.

As soon as Xiao Zou opened her mouth, Minglan figured out their identities and frowned slightly.

Although Xiao Zou was smiling, Minglan felt very uncomfortable.

And as far as she knew, little Zou had not yet entered the Shen family. Little Shen hadn't said anything yet, but she spoke first, as if she was the mistress of the Shen family.

Even if she entered the house, she would just be a concubine. There was no reason for a concubine to visit the house.

Little Shen didn't think too much about it, and smiled and said, "Don't bother me, right?"

"Don't bother, please come in."

Minglan smiled and invited the two of them in.

"Madam Li, I see the house has been renovated. When do you plan to move in?" Little Shen looked around and asked.

"I just asked someone to calculate the date today. Half a month from now will be a good day. We will move in then." Minglan said with a smile.

"Then I will come with my brother to ask for a glass of wedding wine." said Xiao Shen.

"My husband doesn't hold a high position and doesn't have many close friends, so we don't plan to do it when we move," Minglan said.

"How can this be possible? This is a housewarming celebration, it must be lively. Your husband, King Huan and my brother-in-law are all good friends. When the time comes, invite all the families from Yuzhou. Are you afraid that no one will come?" said little Zou.

"Haha, this is what my husband said. I will talk to him about it later." Minglan said with an unchanged smile.

Arriving at the main hall, Minglan asked the two to sit down and then had someone serve tea and snacks.

"Because we haven't moved in yet and haven't made any preparations, please forgive me for any negligence." Minglan said.

"Madam Li, there's no need to be so polite. We who came from Yuzhou are all military families, and we don't have so many rules." Little Shen said carelessly.

Minglan smiled slightly when she heard this, and she had some favorable impression of this little Shen, who had a similar personality to Ruolan.

"Mrs. Li, when you move here, our two families should visit each other more often." Mrs. Zou said with a smile.

Minglan felt unhappy when she heard this. As the principal wife, what was the point of having such interaction with a concubine?

It’s not that Minglan looks down on concubines, after all, her mother is also a concubine.

However, she saw through little Zou's little thoughts at a glance, and since she had a good relationship with Zhang Guifen, she naturally sided with Zhang Guifen.

"Does the Zou family live here too?" Minglan pretended to be surprised.

Little Zou was a little embarrassed when she heard this, and said, "The Zou family lives in the outer city, not here. But I usually go to Weibei Marquis Mansion every day when I have nothing to do, and chat with the third young lady to prevent her from being bored alone."

Upon hearing this, Minglan became even more worried about Zhang Guifen. A noble concubine like Xiao Zou, who could lower herself to a lower level, was the most troublesome.

How could Xiao Zou, a girl, go to Weibei Marquis' Mansion every day if she couldn't humble herself?

Coupled with Shen Congxing's guilt towards Zou, Zhang Guifen's life will probably be difficult in the future.

It’s not that Xiao Zou’s level is very high. Although they have only known each other for a short time and have only chatted a few sentences, Minglan can see that Xiao Zou has a lot on her mind, but her vision is short-sighted and she will not accomplish anything great.

However, partiality is a disease, especially the kind of partiality that comes with a sense of guilt.

Just like Gu Tingye's father, he didn't like Xiao Qinshi and was roughly aware of some of the things she had done, but he had been tolerating her because of his debt to Da Qinshi.

"By the way, it won't be long before Li Hanlin will marry Lady Anyang. I have met Lady Anyang several times. She has a good personality and I think she will get along well with Madam Li." Little Zou said with a smile.

Although she was not sure whether Minglan's words just now were intentional, she felt very unhappy.

She was unhappy and wanted to make things difficult for Minglan, so she deliberately omitted the word "ping" in "equal wife".

In her opinion, any normal woman would not feel comfortable about her husband taking a concubine.

However, how could Minglan not see through her little thoughts? She remained calm.

However, when Xiao Shen heard what Xiao Zou said, she reached out and pulled her.

This made Minglan like her even more.

"I also heard that Princess Anyang has a good temper." Minglan said with a smile.

"That's right. The Queen even praised Princess Anyang for being as brave as any man."

Seeing that Minglan was not affected at all, Xiao Zou thought that Minglan was pretending and continued to praise Princess Anyang.

The Princess of Anyang was praised like a flower.

Xiao Shen secretly pulled her several times, but she ignored her, which made Xiao Shen very embarrassed. She found an excuse to say goodbye and took the reluctant Xiao Zou away.

Minglan personally saw them off to the door and watched them leave before returning home.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" said Mrs. Zou dissatisfiedly.

"Sister Zou, why do you always mention Princess Anyang in front of Madam Li?" said Little Shen.

(End of this chapter)