Phoenix Fight: The First Concubine

Chapter 14 Gifts
Murong Wei narrowed her eyes, with a look of uneasiness: "Elder sister, how dare younger sister want such a valuable thing?"

The eldest lady at the side said lightly: "Since your eldest sister gave it to you, take it."

She had already spoken, so Murong Wei reluctantly accepted it.

It's just that they are very vigilant in their hearts, and the eyes of Lu'er and Xiangtao who are waiting on the side are even more staring, they are very surprised, what happened in the garden just now?The eldest lady suddenly became nice to the third girl, as if they were a pair of sisters.

Murong Lan smiled and told her to pay attention to her body, as if there had never been any unhappiness between them.

Murong Wei just smiled, and when she returned to Mo Garden, she saw Aunt Yue talking to a little maid again in the yard.

Seeing her coming back, Yuegu rushed up to meet her, "Miss is back, but are you tired?"

"Yuegu, how is brother Shuisheng?"

Mentioning her son, Aunt Yue's eyes were a little moist, "Thanks to the girl, the doctor said that it's enough to rest for a while."

"That's good. I think Brother Shuisheng is also a smart person. I want to talk to my aunt about asking Brother Shuisheng to help in the dowry shop. It would be good to learn how to do business."

The mother's dowry Zhuangzi was given by my uncle after he got rich. There are more than a dozen lands and a few shops, and the income is not bad.

Yuegu was immediately pleasantly surprised, what's the future of staying in the mansion as a servant, it's better to study business, it's serious, and Shuisheng is smart, in the future...

"Thank you, Miss Shuisheng, he will do a good job." Yue Gu was about to kowtow to her happily, but was supported by Murong Wei: "You are my nanny, brother Shuisheng is also my half brother, how can you not help me?" What about him?"

Aunt Yue smiled shyly, and the maids around her had different thoughts.

Murong Wei just sat down and drank a cup of tea, and took the incense she got from Aunt Zhou yesterday.

There is no problem.

Murong Wei sneered in her heart, the incense was distributed, and it was the same everywhere, but, there must be Da Furen's people in every yard, adding spices to the incense.After all, she is the mistress, and no one in this family will end well if they don't listen to her.

The behavior of the eldest lady and eldest sister just now is really strange.

Murong Wei thought about it carefully, and the eldest lady over there was also discussing things with her daughter.

"What did you think just now?" The eldest lady looked at her daughter: "I heard what the Princess said, as if I wanted to marry our family."

Murong Lan smiled: "My Murong family is also one of the four great Qin families, so it's not surprising that the princess wants to marry my family."

The eldest lady shook her head: "Neither the second son nor the third son is married, but how can a concubine marry a concubine as a legitimate son?"

Murong Lan played with the jade-carved glass bracelet, and said calmly: "It's not that mother doesn't know about that Xiao Jinglan."

Speaking of this, the eldest lady remembered the old things.

The Great Qin Dynasty had been established for more than 100 years, but there were riots and heroes everywhere. At that time, Langya King Xiaoxiu, who was a royal family, recruited troops and fought everywhere to restore the Great Qin.Prince Jing Xiaocheng joined the army at that time.Although Xiao Cheng is also from the Xiao family, it is a distant branch of the clan. His parents died early and he was raised by his uncle.

Xiao Cheng, a young hero, made many military exploits after joining the army. A few years later, Xiao Xiu regained the country and ascended the throne as Emperor Guangwu.And Xiao Cheng also had to be named Prince Jing.The first emperor wanted to marry his daughter, Princess Anle, to Xiao Cheng, but Xiao Cheng wrote a letter saying that a poor wife would not go to court, and would not divorce her and remarry, which won the praise of the court.

Liu gave birth to a son Xiao Jinghua, but unexpectedly died of dystocia when giving birth to his second son Xiao Jinglan.

Xiao Cheng was greatly grieved, and later the late Emperor issued a decree to marry Princess Anle, who is now Princess Jing, who gave birth to a daughter, Qingli, and a son, Xiao Jingyu.

After the death of the first emperor, Xiao Cheng ascended the throne today, and Xiao Cheng is even more powerful, controlling the military power in the world.

"Xiao Jinglan is neither the eldest son as the eldest son nor the younger brother who is the concubine's own son. He has neither a title nor a military name. Even if he is beautiful, what can he do? Just look at the scenery."

After what my daughter said, the eldest lady wanted to understand the matter. The affairs in the palace were unfathomable. Then Xiao Jinglan had not been in the capital for so many years, so I am afraid that there is some inside story.

"Why, do you want your third sister to marry?" The eldest lady doesn't like Murong Wei, and she doesn't want her to be proud. This marriage seems to be very good on the surface, so why let her marry so well?
Murong Lan sneered, remembering how special Feng Yu was to her younger sister today, and snorted: "The second and fourth younger sisters are all old, so there's nothing wrong with it. Isn't it a legitimate daughter under the mother's name?"

The eldest lady seemed to understand what she meant, seeing her enthusiasm for Murong Wei just now, she thought...

"The higher you hold, the harder you fall, hmph, let her dare to covet Feng Yu, and don't look at what she is." Murong Lan raised her eyebrows, and there was a hint of sternness in her eyes. When that silly woman was proud, she Let her taste what it's like to fall from the clouds to the bottom of the valley.

Playing with the fate of little people, making them obey their own arrangements, always makes people feel comfortable and happy, especially that little hoof, the man who dared to snatch her because of his three-point appearance, is even more damned.

The eldest lady glanced at her daughter, "I don't have time to take care of these things. Your eldest brother is getting married, and I am so busy that I am dizzy. You also help me with housekeeping. I will always need it in the future. Besides your business, now the wind Yu is preparing for the exam, and will take part in next year's Chunwei, the Feng family will have to get married after the palace or courtyard exam, so that's fine, after finishing your elder brother's marriage, it's time to prepare for you."

Murong Lan said with a smile: "The daughter should share the worries of the mother. It will be the mother's birthday in a few days, and the daughter is going to embroider a birthday screen for the mother."

Sure enough, Murong Lan sent someone to send two solitary copies of the previous dynasty, which were packed in red lacquer and gold bookcases, and they were very well preserved.

Murong Wei admired the little maid who delivered the books, and gave Xiangtao a wink, Xiangtao then stepped forward to send the maid away affectionately, while inquiring about what the eldest lady likes recently, and the girl is willing to return the gift.

When Xiangtao came back, Murong Wei was holding the two lonely books and looking at them, one was Gu Kaizhi's Chunshan Anthology, and the other was actually a map of the mountains and seas of the Great Qin Dynasty.

I don’t know who wrote the map of mountains and seas. It describes the geography of Daqin in great detail. Murong Lan has this kind of lonely copy that has long been out of print. As expected of a family that has been passed down for thousands of years, it always has a rich collection of books.You must know that books are different from others, and it is difficult for non-family families to collect these unique copies handed down from generation to generation. Some books have been destroyed by unscrupulous descendants, but there are also a lot of them.

"Miss, I just inquired about it. It turns out that the young lady is preparing to make a birthday screen for the lady's birthday recently, and she wants to embroider it by herself. The frame of the base has been selected, and the pattern in the middle has been drawn. It's just that when choosing embroidery thread, it is always difficult to embroider it. Nothing suits you."

Murong Wei raised her eyebrows: "What kind of embroidery thread can't be found?"

"It is said that I want to find some rare embroidery threads, mainly for novelty."

Lu'er listened aside, and said with a smile: "Miss, have you forgotten? Yuegu was also an embroidery lady back then, but after she got married, her husband disappeared, and she fled to the capital. Her craftsmanship is not ordinary. Your daughter Red was taught by her."

Murong Wei only remembered this incident at this time, and quickly called Yuegu to ask.

Yuegu nodded when she heard this: "It's not that there are no new embroidery threads. When I was in the south of the Yangtze River, the owner of the workshop used the peacock tail feathers from Fanbang to weave velvet flowers with silk thread, and also used horsetail mane to wrap the velvet thread. Yes, the embroidery made out of it is extraordinarily golden and emerald."

Murong Wei frowned: "Peacock tail feathers are hard to find, aren't they?"

"Actually, it's not hard to find. There are many shops in the capital that buy and sell foreign things. If I find them, I can make the silk thread." Aunt Yue seemed to have a plan in mind.

It's not that Murong Wei wants to curry favor with Eldest Sister, but just ask, let the mother-in-law go out to buy, it's the best, so I don't say any more.

Reciprocity, living in this family, the father and the eldest lady who can decide her fate cannot be offended.Besides, such a good thing, I can use it myself in the future.On the eldest lady's birthday, the sisters must give birthday gifts.

It was only at this moment that Murong Wei thought of her female celebrity. The former Third Miss female celebrity was still good, and she still had some memories of this in her mind.As soon as she thought of this, Xiang Tao took the embroidery frame and tried to embroider something.

It's just that she's not the old third lady after all, and she feels very unfamiliar when she embroiders with a needle. Although she has a way to move the needle in her mind, she doesn't know how to use it.

Whether it was in her previous life or now, she was not very good at female celebrities. She saw others doing cross-stitch in the past, but she couldn't do it herself. Moreover, she didn't have the leisure time and time.Just studying medicine and going to school has taken her too much time.

Murong Wei put down her embroidery and went to Aunt Zhou's place with a pretentious mind.

"Wei'er, I heard that you went to Prince Jing's mansion?" Aunt Zhou was talking to Mama Du in the Xinuang Pavilion, and asked quickly when she saw her daughter.

Murong Wei smiled and said: "It's nothing, just eating. Auntie, it's my uncle's birthday, I want to go and pay my respects to my uncle."

Aunt Zhou was taken aback, thinking of this, she quickly said to Mama Du: "Go and bring the gift I prepared."

"Auntie, are you ready?"

"I prepared it early in the morning. Your uncle likes all kinds of seals. I have a Shoushan stone seed material from a master here. It is very delicate. You can take it to your uncle. Didn't you prepare a cloak for him before? It’s almost enough to add some gifts. Don’t forget the ones for your cousins.”

Speaking of elder brother, Aunt Zhou smiled, "It's not convenient for me to go out, so go, your uncle always loves you the most."

It's not easy for women in the house like them to go out, and they have to report it, which is very troublesome, but taking advantage of uncle's birthday is a good reason.

Mother Du took a black lacquered box of eight treasures inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Murong Wei opened it and saw that it was indeed a very delicate Shoushan Stone. The texture looked like a painting formed naturally, which was very rare.

Murong Wei mentioned to Aunt Zhou that she wanted to send Aunt Yue's son to be an apprentice in a shop. Aunt Zhou thought about it and said, "That's fine, Shuisheng is a good boy, Mama Du, you can arrange it."

Mama Du took a deep look at Murong Wei, feeling in her heart, the girl is really different now, although working in the house is very good, but the housekeeper is the eldest lady, they can't get in the way, the best choice is to be in the house. Going out to do business.

The girl is so smart, and my aunt will be able to rely on her in the future.

Xiao Jinglan returned to his own Lanyuan, went to the study to see, senior brother Liu Qingchen was still sitting in the study and meditating quietly, as if ignoring the bustle outside.

Xiao Jinglan raised his eyebrows and glanced at him, "Brother, don't meditate all day long, do you really want to become a fairy?"

Liu Qingchen opened his eyes with helplessness in his eyes: "Junior brother, this is the method of calming the mind. You have not been able to improve your martial arts these years because your mind is restless. It is strange that Master is worried about you and asked me to come to the capital with you." .”

Xiao Jinglan sat down and drank tea lazily, "Guess who I saw today?"

Liu Qingchen didn't answer.

Xiao Jinglan glared at him angrily, and his eyes lit up: "It's the lady I met when I came back from Xiangguo Temple that day."

Liu Qingchen frowned, with a hint of vigilance in his eyes, this little senior brother has always been the most favored by the master, and the master has nothing to do with him, it was fine in Wudang Mountain before, if you go down the mountain, you don't know how many women will be favored, and there will be nothing along the way. stopped.

"What does the younger brother want?"

Xiao Jinglan said with a smile: "I told my mother that I wanted to marry her, but my mother disagreed."

Liu Qingchen was stunned for a moment, looking at the beautiful young man in front of him in surprise, seeing the smile on the corners of his eyes, he was not sure what he meant: "Are you serious? But you came back this time..."

Xiao Jinglan raised his eyebrows: "Why not? I'm not young anymore, and this is what my mother meant. Since we are going to get married, why don't you find someone you like?"

Liu Qingchen was taken aback, and was about to speak, when he suddenly saw a fifteen or sixteen-year-old maid coming outside with kumquats on a sweet white porcelain plate, and put them down carefully, not even daring to look at Xiao Jinglan more.

Liu Qingchen was feeling weird, but Xiao Jinglan smiled and said to the maid who was wearing the green Lu silk gourd-patterned gourd gown, "Fang Xi, I haven't seen you for so many years, but you are still the same."

The servant girl's appearance was just normal, and she was trembling all over at this moment, with fear in her eyes, her voice was trembling: "Yes, Second Young Master, I asked you to taste the Jinhua kumquats sent by my son."

Xiao Jinglan picked up an orange and peeled it, tasted it: "It's still the same old taste, big brother really has a heart."

"Servant, servant, go down first." After saying that, the servant girl ran away in a hurry, and retreated in a hurry.

Liu Qingchen was surprised, that maid seemed to be very afraid of Xiao Jinglan?

Xiao Jinglan looked at Fangxi who was going away with a smile, and said helplessly: "This girl is really timid. You said I don't look hateful, why are you acting like this?" He looked through the oranges carelessly, and suddenly picked up One of them was peeled off, and there was a note in the center.

Liu Qingchen was dumbfounded, seeing Xiao Jinglan finished reading the note, he rubbed his hands, the note turned into fine dust and was thrown into the wastebasket.

"Here we come." Xiao Jinglan lost the cynicism just now on his face, and his eyes became sharper, "Brother, Feiying has sent a message, and everything remains the same."

Liu Qingchen nodded as he remembered the mission of this trip, and then said: "In that case, let's do it according to the previous decision."

Murong Wei got up early in the morning, cleaned up in the clean room, and ate breakfast. Lu'er combed her hair, neatly tied her hair, put on a red gold hairpin, and pinned a rose red palace flower in silk gauze. , thinly powdered, light pink engraved silk tunic, lotus-colored lotus-colored patterned makeup and flower skirt, and moon-white thread-stitched skirt, showing a bit of beauty in elegance.

"Look, our girl is beautiful." Lu'er praised.

Murong Wei smiled and said, "Are things ready? Don't make fun of me. It will be too late to go to uncle's house later."

Qiu Fang came in again with a medicine bowl, Murong Wei frowned, "Do you still want to take this medicine?"

"The doctor said it was because you were afraid of catching the cold, and asked you to take medicine for a while. There are only a few left."

Murong Wei shook her head, but there was no problem thinking about it, so she drank the medicine anyway.

Qiufang helped her to rinse her mouth, then she and Lu'er took the gift box and other things together, and went to the car in front of the Chuihua Gate.

The carriage stopped in front of the second gate, accompanied by the wife and guards, and the group of people took the carriage out of the Chuhuamen, and turned to the street after a while.

Turn eastward, exit Yankangfang along Shizi Street, and walk along Wumen Street to Xipingfang where the Zhou family is located. It took about a quarter of an hour to arrive.

Today, the central gate of the Zhou family opened wide to welcome guests, decorated with lights and festoons, the car stopped in front of the Chuihua Gate, Lu'er and Qiu Fang got out of the car, the woman who greeted the guests had sharp eyes, and hurriedly reported inside: "Miss Biao of Murong's family coming."

As soon as Murong Wei got out of the car, she saw a beautiful woman in her thirties coming out. She was wearing a plum red shirt with sleeves, light green silk-cut passionflower makeup patterned trousers, and water-red silver silk lanthanum border. She wore a full skirt, was dressed in a gorgeous bun, with tourmaline in her hair, and three red gold hairpins on her left side. With a smile, she stepped forward and held Murong Wei's hand: "The third girl is here, your uncle just now Still miss you."

"Auntie, how dare you come to welcome me, I'm busy today." Murong Wei hurriedly saluted.

Zhou Zhang welcomed her into the inner courtyard with a smile, saw the things the servant girl was holding, and said angrily: "Look at you, you came here as soon as you came, why did you bring a gift?"

"It's nothing, I brought some things for my cousins, as well as seed material for my uncle, and a cloak for my aunt."

The smile in Zhou Zhang's eyes deepened, and after he said a few words, his cousin Yu Ting just came, and Zhou Zhang was busy entertaining guests again, and asked Yu Ting to greet her cousin.

Yu Ting was only eight years old, cute and cute, she pestered Murong Wei to talk, and when Murong Wei gave her the gift, she was busy playing.

"Cousin!" A voice with a slight change of voice came, and when Murong Wei saw it, it was a young man running in with a smile, followed by several cousins.

The one in front of her was her uncle's second cousin, Zhou Chang, who was two years older than her, with a round face, thick eyebrows and big eyes. "Cousin, I just heard from my mother that you are coming, so I hurried over here, but I haven't seen you for a long time!"

"That's right, cousin, where did you say you embroidered the purse for me last time?" A ten-year-old girl was speaking, wearing a rose red summer shirt, with beautiful eyebrows and eyes filled with dissatisfaction, "Did cousin forget?"

This girl is Zhou Yumei, the cousin of the second uncle's family, and there is another girl beside her, 12 years old, wearing a light red makeup and flower beanie, with purple and gold butterflies in her hair, Danfeng's eyes are raised, and she is already charming at a young age, with a mocking smile Said: "Cousin is a noble person, so she forgets things, Yumei, you haven't heard that cousin is busy following Mr. Feng..."

"Yuwan, what nonsense are you talking about?" Zhou Chang reprimanded, his face turning pale with anger, "Why are you talking to my sister?"

Murong Wei looked at this scene indifferently, Zhou Yuwan was the eldest daughter of the third uncle's family, she had always been at odds with her, and she didn't think much of herself.The eldest uncle and the second uncle are both officials, and the third uncle failed the imperial examination and has been taking care of the family business.The third uncle loves him very much, but the third aunt is a bit snobbish and mean, the daughter he taught will inevitably be like this, and there is no need for him to be angry with a child.

"I brought some gifts for you, and you are here, choose them all. Where are the big cousin and how many cousins?" Murong Wei didn't care, and asked Lu'er to give a gift box, and Yumei smiled and chose a month. Yuwan glanced at the exquisite purse embroidered by Guxiu, but Zhou Chang gave her a hard look, and said with a smile: "I said I wanted a sword case last time, this one is just right, because my cousin is so ingenious. Brother and the others They are all helping entertain guests in the front yard."

"Is Uncle here? I want to visit Uncle." The purpose of coming today must be achieved no matter what.

"Father is in the front yard. If you want to see dad, shall I take you to the study?"

Murong Wei thought for a while: "Don't worry, I'll talk about it later when uncle is free."

A few cousins ​​played for a while, and when it was time for the banquet, Zhou Chang went to the front yard. The second aunt, Zhou Wang, came over with a smile, and saw Murong Wei hurriedly stepped forward to hold her hand: "Just now I was busy with my sister-in-law. Greeting the guests, I was very happy when I heard that Sister Wei was here, look, after a while, the third girl became an adult."

Zhou Wang's appearance is elegant, her eyes are shrewd, and she treats people kindly and politely. Murong Wei is also talking to her with a smile.

After a while, the inner courtyard also held a banquet, and all the guests were relatives and friends of the Zhou family. After the accident in the Zhou family, just as the uncle fell seriously ill, the house was confiscated and all the fields were sealed off. At that time, the grandmother borrowed money from others, but the No one is willing to help, if not, how can I let my sister marry someone else as a concubine.Later, the Zhou family got better, and they were separated from their relatives back then.

The third aunt, Mrs. Zhou Li, heard that she was ill, so she didn't come over at home, and Murong Wei didn't say much. After the banquet, Zhou Chang rushed over excitedly: "Cousin, father is in the study, shall I take you there?"

Murong Wei obeyed naturally, arrived at the Chuihua Gate, and walked around a small garden, which was the study in the outer courtyard.

There was a clever young man waiting outside the study, when he saw the female guest, he immediately bowed his head, "Second young master, master, second master and third master are here."

Zhou Chang hummed and led Murong Wei into the study.

Sure enough, there are people in the house.

Murong Wei saw the three uncles at a glance, they were very similar in appearance, they were all fair and clean, with beautiful beards, but the three had different temperaments, the first uncle was elegant, the second uncle was serious, and the third uncle was shrewd.

However, when they saw themselves, the three of them smiled unanimously: "Sister Wei is here!"

Murong Wei greeted the three uncles with a smile.

Zhou Chang smiled and said, "Father, my cousin said she has something to ask for you."

Murong Wei hesitated to speak, Zhou Fengyan's expression darkened when he saw his niece's expression, and he sent Zhou Chang away: "But what is your mother embarrassing?"

Murong Wei sighed, but he was sure.But with the identity of his own mother, the Zhou family can't be regarded as relatives of the Murong family, not to mention the water splashed by the married daughter, the uncle's family can't do anything about it.

Second uncle Zhou Fengliang frowned, thinking of the recent rumors about his niece, he was worried that his sister would do something irrational.But I couldn't use any strength, so I could only worry secretly.

"I didn't want to say it at first, but Wei'er can only ask uncle for help." Since all three uncles are there, she can only ask them for help.

Murong Wei told about the discovery that Aunt Zhou had been drugged, and sure enough, the three uncles all looked shocked.

I'm afraid they didn't expect such dirty things in the inner courtyard.

The third uncle Zhou Fengting is the most clever, and now he is frowning: "How do you know this?"

Murong Wei sighed: "Third Uncle, don't ask me how I knew it. I still knew it when I was in Xiangguo Temple. Now I just think, even if there are many ways to prescribe medicine, it is best, it is best to ask a doctor to go to the mansion to reapply. Check it out once. Fortunately, my mother can still be cured because she has been taking medicine all the time."

The third uncle's eyes flickered: "Brother, let me handle this matter, I can find it without a trace."

Murong Wei was taken aback, and her expression relaxed. The third uncle knew everything about it. If he wanted to tell his father about it, the doctor would not be able to stay in the capital. Anyway, the doctor would not want such a secret matter. Offend the family.

Murong Wei discussed some matters with several uncles, and then the uncle sent her out of the study with a firm face: "Don't worry, uncle will definitely take care of things for you."

Murong Wei thanked her, and went back to the inner courtyard, where she saw a gentle boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a light blue straight suit, talking to a few playful siblings, but it was his eldest cousin Zhou Che, Seeing her, he immediately saluted with a smile: "Cousin."

"Big cousin, I heard that you are going to participate in Chunwei?"

"I just want to give it a try. I heard that my cousin is sick, but now she looks much better." Although Zhou Che's eyes were gentle, they were somewhat sharp: "I knew that my cousin would get better sooner or later. Cousin needn't bother."

Murong Wei was slightly taken aback, but this cousin was a smart person, and said with a smile: "I can count on my brother to earn the number one scholar."

Several cousins ​​also came to see the ceremony, a group of people were arguing, Yumei and Yuwan were walking over, Yumei pulled her affectionately to talk, Yuwan gave Murong Wei a cold look.

"Cousin, did you go to see your uncle just now?"

"I met a few uncles and sat down for a while, and I have to go later."

After a while, the first aunt and the second aunt both came. Murong Wei thought it was getting late, and said she wanted to go back. After a few pushes, the first aunt asked someone to set up a car to take her back, and also gave her a lot of things. Several cousins ​​escorted her to the door.

(End of this chapter)