Daughter of aristocratic family

Chapter 17 Winter Solstice
  After a while, the girls' class ended, and Zhao Jiahua and Zhao Shuqing came to find her.

Zhao Shuqing came in and thanked her first: "Sister Shu, the plum blossom cake tastes good, thank you very much."

"A gift from the county chief." Zhao Wangshu said with a smile.

Zhao Jiahua asked with concern: "Is it okay to go to the eldest princess's mansion today?"

After all, although Zhao Wangshu was a member of Empress Zhao's clan, neither her father nor her brother were in official positions. She was just a commoner's daughter, so it was normal for her to be looked down upon by others.

Zhao Wangshu said with a smile: "It's good. I met several noble ladies and had a great chat with them. We enjoyed flowers together and wrote poems."

"Sister Shu has written a poem. I wonder if I can read Sister Shu's masterpiece?" Zhao Shuqing asked with a smile.

"I wrote a poem for the occasion, but it's not a masterpiece, so just let me hide my clumsiness." Zhao Wangshu declined with a smile.

After chatting for a few words about Xuemei's poetry, Zhao Shuqing suddenly said: "Tomorrow is the winter solstice. I wonder if the mansion will let us go home for the festival?"

Zhao Jiahua snorted coldly and said, "It's the holidays, why don't you let us go home? We didn't come to the mansion to go to jail."

"Your home is here. If you want to go back, just tell the eldest lady. Our home is on Zhuangzi. I'm afraid we won't be allowed to go back." Zhao Wangshu analyzed calmly.

Zhao Shuqing said with a tearful voice: "I want to go home, I miss my parents."

"If you really want to go back, tell the old lady when you have dinner later." Zhao Wangshu suggested to her.

"The old lady won't agree." Zhao Shuqing had tears in her eyes.

Zhao Wangshu frowned slightly and was about to speak, but Zhao Jiahua said before him: "If you tell me, the old lady may agree. If you don't tell me, you won't be able to go back."

"I" Zhao Shuqing twisted the handkerchief in his hand, "I'm not familiar with the old lady, and I can't speak. What if I don't listen to what I say and the old lady gets angry?"

As she spoke, she looked at Zhao Jiahua with tears in her eyes, looking pitiful.

Zhao Wangshu narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Zhao Shuqing with a trace of scrutiny.

After being together for so long, she found that Zhao Shuqing liked to escape when things happened, and always liked to encourage others to come forward.

"Let me tell you this. I don't believe it since the winter solstice coincides with the Chinese New Year, and the old lady won't agree." Zhao Jiahua took over the matter.

"Sister Hua, I'll leave everything to you." Zhao Shuqing's tone was full of dependence on Zhao Jiahua.

"Don't worry, I will take care of everything." Zhao Jiahua said with a sense of loyalty.

Zhao Wangshu drooped his eyelids and remained speechless.

After nightfall, it started to snow again, and it was extremely cold.

The frail Zhao Shuqing was wearing a thick cotton robe and a velvet cloak, shivering in the north wind. There was no trace of blood on her palm-sized face, and her lips were a faint purple.

"It's such a cold day, it's snowing, and the roads are slippery. Why don't you let us stay in the yard for dinner?" Zhao Yuxiu complained in a low voice.

"Yuxiu, stop talking. It's a rule to stay calm at dawn and dusk. It's filial piety for us to have dinner with the old lady." Fang Baoxiu gently pulled off the corner of her clothes.

Zhao Yuxiu snorted lightly and said no more, but it was obvious that she was not very happy to be so filial to the old lady. She had her own grandmother to be filial to.

Entering the courtyard of the upper room, I found that there were many more maids, but it turned out that the five young men from the two rooms of the mansion had returned.

Dafang's legitimate son was named Zhao He, and his concubine was named Zhao Wen.

The legitimate son of the second wife was named Zhao Chang, and the two concubines were named Zhao Mao and Zhao Sheng.

Zhao He is the eldest, nineteen years old, and Zhao Wen is the youngest, just thirteen years old.

There is such a big age difference between the legitimate son and the concubine, which shows Mrs. Zhao's methods.

Among the second roommates, Zhao Mao is more than one year older than Zhao Chang, who is sixteen years old, while Zhao Sheng is half a year younger than Zhao Chang.

Mrs. Zhao's second wife's family background was not prominent and her status was not high, so the concubines of the second wife were more important than the direct children.

After meeting with the five young masters of the Zhao family, the five of them withdrew.

After dinner, Zhao Jiahua, with Zhao Shuqing's expectant eyes, proposed to Old Mrs. Zhao, "Tomorrow is the winter solstice. We want to go home to celebrate the festival with our family, and we ask the old lady to agree." Passing the other girls, "Do you want to go home?"

This question is really uncomfortable. Who wouldn’t want to go home during the holidays?

Zhao Wangshu frowned when he saw that not only Zhao Yuzhen had no intention of speaking, but also Zhao Shuqing lowered her head, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.

If she didn't want to go home, she would really not want to say more, "Old lady, as the saying goes, the winter solstice coincides with the Chinese New Year. It has been some time since we have been in the city. We are thinking about our families, and our families are also thinking about us. Please ask the old lady We are allowed to go home for the holidays and be with our families."

Zhao Shuhui, who also missed her widowed mother, took the opportunity to say: "Old lady, we didn't go back during the Lantern Festival. We asked the old lady to allow us to go home during the Winter Solstice."

The ending sound has a crying tone, which shows that she is homesick.

In the previous dynasty, the winter solstice was to celebrate the winter, worship heaven, worship ancestors, and welcome gods. Since Taizu of this dynasty was born on the first day of the first lunar month, the first lunar month was changed to the first lunar month, and ancestor worship was accordingly changed to New Year's Eve.

Although there is no ancestor worship on this day, family reunion is still important on the Winter Solstice Festival.

Mrs. Zhao chuckled lightly, "If I didn't let you go back and reunite, wouldn't I be a sinner who caused separation of flesh and blood?"

"Old lady, Shuangzhi is not going back. Shuangzhi will stay in the mansion with the old lady." Zhao Shuangzhi said and walked to sit down next to Old Madam Zhao, holding her arms and trying to please her.

Old Mrs. Zhao smiled cheerfully, "That means you don't think the old woman is boring."

"The old lady is not a boring person. The old lady is kind and amiable." Zhao Shuangzhi said softly.

"You girl, you are sweet-tongued and know how to coax people." Old Mrs. Zhao patted her face.

"I don't know how to coax people. I am telling the truth. The old lady is just very nice." Zhao Shuangzhi continued to say flattering words.

After the two paid filial piety to their ancestors, Mrs. Zhao said: "If you want to go home for the festival tomorrow, you can go home. If you want to stay, you can stay. During the Winter Solstice Festival, this city is more lively than Zhuangzi." , I’m afraid the empress in the palace will also send word that she wants to see you.”

The words were full of temptation, Zhao Wangshu remained unmoved, but someone was attracted.

The only ones who returned to Zhuangzi the next day were Zhao Wangshu, Zhao Yujia, Zhao Shuhui, Zhao Shuqing and Zhao Yuxiu.

Zhao Jiahua doesn't need to go out, her home is in the city, and everyone else stays in the mansion to celebrate the winter solstice.

Not far from the mansion in the carriage, Zhao Shuqing said worriedly: "We insist on going home for the festival, but we are afraid of offending the old lady. I am really worried about the future."

The expressions of the women in the car were all different. Zhao Wangshu chuckled and said, "It's not far from the mansion. Sister Qing still has time to return."

Zhao Shuqing's expression froze and he lowered his head.

They walked out of the city in silence all the way. When they were about fifteen miles away from the city, they passed a village with mixed surnames and the carriage slowly stopped.

Zhao Yujia opened the curtains and asked, "Why did you stop the car?"

"It's noisy in front, something happened, and the road is blocked." The servant escorting them replied.

"A lot of people are gathered around there, let's go down and have a look." Zhao Yuxiu stuck his head out.

She is young and loves to watch the excitement. She has been trapped in the mansion for so long, and it is rare for her to go home today to get some fresh air.

"It's better not to leave. There are so many people here. What if someone has evil intentions?" Zhao Shuqing asked in horror.

"Then don't go down there." Zhao Yuxiu pouted unhappily.

"Sitting in the car, it will be very dangerous if there is a commotion and the horse is frightened." Zhao Wangshu analyzed.

"That's right, Sister Shu, let's go down together." Zhao Yuxiu took Zhao Wangshu's arm.

Zhao Yujia also said: "It's better to get off the carriage. Let's just stand far away and watch."

"It's better to get off the carriage." Zhao Shuhui also said the same.

Zhao Shuqing bit her lip and lowered her head.

(End of this chapter)