Prince Consort

Chapter 18
Erniang gave birth to Baishu in the first year of entering the White Mansion, but Baiyuan had the principle of "the son is in charge of his wife", disregarding Erniang's begging, he handed Baishu to Liu's care, and this area lasted for five years.During these five years, Erniang's status gradually stabilized, she was favored by Bai Yuan, and then took charge of the financial power of the Bai Mansion, and finally even returned her son's custody rights, which can be described as prosperous.It's just that the child is not close enough to her, this is her only regret.

Bai Shu is the only breakthrough point for Bai Yuan and Er Niang.

Bai Zhi could only use Bai Shu as a bargaining chip to force Bai Yuan to submit and take her and her mother to Beijing!
After receiving the letter from home, Bai Shu came back in only five days.The happiest person is not Bai Yuan and Er Niang, but Liu Shi.Early in the morning, Mrs. Liu ordered the girl to dress her up, and ordered the cook to make Bai Zhu's favorite bean milk rice cake today.

Liu Shi, who has always been pure and ascetic, rarely has such fluctuations in mood. As Liu Shi's biological daughter, Bai Zhi is so jealous, she joked Liu Shi: "Mother, do you remember that I am your biological daughter?"

Liushi pretended to be angry: "Nonsense. Shu'er is your father's only child, how can the whole family see outsiders?"

It's Bai Yuan again!Bai Zhi suddenly lost interest.Sometimes she doesn't understand her mother very well, Bai Yuan treats her mother like this, but her mother still thinks of him and cares about him all the time, she doesn't think this is virtuous, but stupid.

Stupid women will only make men look down on them and not be cherished.

Today is a surprisingly good day, the sun is shining brightly and the wind is beautiful.Bai Zhi received a letter from Bai Shu and thought he would return home today.The whole family was looking forward to it, but from the sun rising to the west setting, Bai Shao was not seen.

Liu Shi is the most lost.The sky was getting dark, and the hope was also gone. After all, Liu Shi, who had been supporting her all the time, couldn't hold on anymore. Her face became paler and she couldn't bear it, and she almost fainted.Fortunately, Bai Zhi had sharp eyes and quick hands, and helped her in time.

The Erniang at the side said sarcastically: "Eldest sister, if your body is not good, don't force yourself, Shu'er is my son, I will take your wishes."

Liu Shi smiled, noncommittal.Bai Zhi felt extremely upset, and retorted: "Er Niang is out of touch now, Shu'er is the son of our Bai family, the only lifeblood, my mother doesn't love Shu'er, who does she love? Plus Shu'er is closer to your mother than you... ..." Bai Zhi smiled, stopped continuing, and saw that Erniang's face turned pale and her breathing was unsteady.

Bai Yuan on the side frowned impatiently: "Okay, it's all gone, just do what you need to do. Xin'er (Liu Shi) come with me, I have something to tell you."

Liu Shi nodded angrily.

Bai Zhi couldn't help frowning, a bad premonition welled up in her heart.She was really afraid that Liu Shi and Bai Yuan would talk alone.Liu Shi would never refuse Bai Yuan, if Bai Yuan told her to go west, she would not go east.She loves Bai Yuan numbly and pursues "virtuous and virtuous virtues". Even if she suffers from injustice, she will only cry secretly.Mrs. Liu worshiped Buddha these years, not because she was devout to Buddha, but because she felt that she could not help Bai Yuan with anything. Er Niang replaced her, and she became a real "idle wife", so she could only pray to Buddha devoutly. God blesses the Bai Mansion to be safe and sound, and Bai Yuan has everything he wants.

Baizhi thinks this is "foolish love".She wished that the Liu family would go on the right path, but Bai Yuan's poison in the Liu family was too deep.Bai Zhi had no choice but to protect her as much as possible.Before Liu Shi entered Bai Yuan's study, Bai Zhi pulled Liu Shi and said, "Mother."

"What's the matter?"

Bai Zhi conceived and said: "There are some things, don't blindly bear with them, Dad these years, you understand. Although Zhi'er understands that mother loves Shu'er, but Shu'er is your only bargaining chip, don't let go." Knowing what Bai Yuan was planning, he appointed those sweet words to coax the Liu family around, and then let the Liu family back down step by step to seek more benefits for Er Niang.

Bai Yuan has no feelings for Liu Shi for a long time.If it wasn't for Liu's obedience and refraining from causing trouble, and the fact that Bai Yuan, who was a poor scholar back then, had gained the power of Liu's natal family to step up to the seat of Sucheng magistrate, Bai Yuan would have helped his second mother and abandoned Liu's long ago.

Erniang recognized Liu's "soft heart", and made progress in everything, Bai Yuan also turned a blind eye.

Liu's is easy to bully. Although she, Bai Zhi, is not smart and doesn't know how to fight back, she will try her best to protect herself wisely and prevent herself from being dumb.

Liu's lips moved, trying to say something, but in the end she just sighed, stroked Bai Zhi's arm lightly, and said earnestly: "Zhi'er, mother has her own discretion, don't worry."

Bai Zhi was even more worried.

Bai Zhi went back to her other courtyard apprehensively, and saw Qing He squatting on the bluestone steps retching, looking very uncomfortable.Bai Zhi stepped forward and asked, "Qing He, what's wrong with you?"

Qing He stood up in a panic, shaking her head like a rattle: "It's nothing, maybe I ate some dirty things, and my stomach feels a little nauseous."

"I have some candied fruit in my room, you can take it to the tooth-beating ceremony." Bai Zhi didn't take this matter to heart, said it casually, and went back to her boudoir with a heavy heart.Qing He, who was following her, looked at her uncertainly, and asked with concern: "Miss, I heard that the master asked Madam to stay in this house and take Er Niang to the capital."

"Do you think this is good or bad?" Bai Zhi asked back.

Qing He frowned and said earnestly: "I think it's good for madam, but it's very bad for young lady. Miss is all over the country, how can ordinary people like Su Cheng match up? Only the superior princes of the capital can get into the eyes of young lady."

Bai Zhi pondered deeply: "But I already have Ah Jiu..."

"..." Qing He was tongue-tied.

Bai Zhi covered her mouth and snickered, but her face was pretending to be calm: "The concubine is like a pussy reed as tough as silk, and I just wait for you to be a rock. Qinghe, don't think about these things in the future."

Qing He nodded, muttering in her mouth: "Young Master Pei is so stupid, he can't see Miss's intentions."

Bai Zhi nodded in agreement: "This is the so-called rotten wood that cannot be carved!" As soon as she said the words, Bai Zhi froze by herself, and Pei Jiu's words of scolding her were circling in her mind.Did he mean that when he called her Deadwood?
Immediately, she laughed to herself.Her stubborn disease of cranky thinking has not been cured yet, it is time to reflect.

Bai Zhi was waiting for Mrs. Liu to come, but the lamp oil was burned out, and Mrs. Liu never came.Bai Zhi was worried, so she ordered Qing He to take a look, but before Qing He stepped out of the door, Bai Yuan's entourage rushed over: "Miss, Master Shu'er is back?"

"Ah?" It's almost midnight and you don't return until midnight?This is the first time, presumably something happened on the way.

Bai Zhi immediately put down the female celebrity she was playing with in her hand, and followed her entourage to the hall to meet Bai Shu.

In the dream, the relationship between Baizhi and Baizhu was neither salty nor cold, and there was very little overlap. Since Liu's death from the plague, the number of times they talked could be counted.Later, the whole family of Bai Mansion was ransacked and beheaded, and Mu Tusu only spared two people, one was her, and the other was Bai Shu.

The reason for this, she still does not know.She only knew that when he called the little princess of Nanzhao "Sister", his face was filled with happiness.He had never had any enthusiasm for her, but at the last moment when all the family members were killed, he begged Mu Tusu to let her live.

How abominable, the little princess of Nanzhao has taken over her true love and her close relatives.

What is even more hateful is herself, she blindly pursues love, so that she misses the affection of her family.

In this life, she will definitely protect her mother, and Bai Shu, whom her mother loves with her life.

When Bai Zhi rushed to the lobby, Bai Shu stood in front of Liu Shi and smirked, while Liu Shi blamed him for a while, and wiped the mud on his hands with a handkerchief in distress.Erniang sat beside her with raised eyebrows and raised eyebrows, she was so angry that she seemed to be smoldering.

Seeing Bai Zhi coming, Bai Yuan put on a patriarchal attitude and said, "Shu'er encountered bandits on the way back. Fortunately, the carriage ran fast and escaped unharmed. Who would have thought that there would be such a danger, and he would almost die when he met the Nanzhao enemy army again?" .”

Bai Shu answered passionately with a childish tone: "Fortunately, a brother in armor drew a sword to help me, and I survived."

"Where did you survive? Look, the palm of your hand is bleeding, and the gash is still so deep." Liu carefully opened the veil tied to Baizhu's wound to stop the bleeding.Bai Zhi immediately noticed the handkerchief. Although there were mud and blood stains on the white silk, she recognized the red peony flower made by herself at a glance.This veil appeared in someone's hand not long ago.

The brother in armor who rescued Bai Shu must be Mu Tusu.His back is healed?

"Mother, this injury is nothing. Shu'er has grown up, and Shu'er is a man." Even though Bai Shu grinned in pain, she still kept smiling, so as not to worry Liu Shi, Liu Shi nodded in satisfaction.

The second mother on the side must have spit out a few mouthfuls of blood, her biological son won't kiss her...

The whole family sat in the lobby, listening to Bai Shu talking about the thrilling things on the road.Due to the imminent war between the Guanghui Dynasty and Nanzhao, the border areas were in chaos. Among them, the peasants turned into bandits was the most serious. There have been many cases of merchants being robbed on their way.Bai Shu said that he was lucky, he happened to be rescued when an army went to the front line to meet up with the front army.He also said that he would join the army in the future and be a real man.

Chatting until late at night, Erniang wanted to sleep with Baizhu, but Baishu couldn't let go, so she insisted on pestering Liu Shi, Erniang was taken away by Bai Yuan in frustration.Mrs. Liu ordered the servant girl to boil water for Bai Shu to take a bath. Before leaving, Bai Shu suddenly turned back to get the dirty handkerchief thrown on the table.

Liu said: "This handkerchief is dirty and blood-stained, throw it away."

Bai Shu shook his head resolutely: "No, I promise Brother Armor, I have to wash it and return it to Brother Armor. This is a gift from Brother Armor's sweetheart."

She didn't remember giving him a handkerchief, it was obviously a handkerchief she had lost and discarded.Bai Zhi couldn't help muttering behind her back: "Little baby, my sweetheart doesn't know anything."

When Bai Shu heard this, she turned her head to look at her very seriously, like a schoolteacher, and said with eloquence: "The person you love is the person you want to spend your whole life with."

"..." Bai Zhi was stunned.

Liu couldn't laugh or cry: "Who told this?"

"Brother Armor told me."

Bai Zhi twitched the corners of her mouth, feeling that this matter was unreliable.

After Bai Shu came back, Mrs. Liu smiled more, Erniang's face was stinky, and Bai Yuan rarely showed his face due to the handover of duties, so naturally the number of times he stood up for Erniang was also less.Liu's happiness is Bai Zhi's happiness, Bai Zhi went to Liu's place to play with Bai Shu all day long, dealing with children is very simple, but within a few days, she became familiar with Bai Shu.

Bai Shu can draw well, is extremely talented, and seems to have the ability of photographic memory, but naturally, it is only limited to the description of the picture.He was able to describe the things that he glanced at in detail, so lifelike and lifelike, Bai Zhi was not without admiration.

On a certain rainy day, Bai Shu drew a picture, it was a picture of a young girl decocting medicine. The young girl looked nervous, her eyebrows and eyes were uncertain, and she seemed to be sneaking.Bai Zhi felt that this girl looked very familiar, so after looking at it several times, she realized that she was actually Qing He!
"Shu'er, is the girl in this painting Qing He?"

Atractylodes chick pecked at the rice and nodded.Bai Zhi frowned, this painting was definitely not imagined by Bai Shu, but he carefully drew it based on a certain picture in his mind.Recently, she has been in good health and has not taken any medicine.Who is this medicine for?Why does Qing He want to act like this?
Bai Zhi asked Bai Shu: "Shu'er, when did you see this picture?"

"Yesterday. I saw a sister hiding in a corner decocting medicine, so I looked at it a few more times. Who would have thought that this sister is very interesting. After decocting the medicine, she poured it out and decocted it again. She put the medicine by her mouth several times and looked at the soup. In a daze, it seems that this sister is very afraid of suffering."

"Maybe." Bai Zhi felt a shadow in her heart.

What is that medicine?Who is it for?
Regarding Qinghe's furtive decoction, before Bai Zhi had time to investigate, something happened that made Bai Zhi feel extremely gloomy.

Qiu Chan heard that Bai Zhi had come back from Tongcheng, and said that she wanted to bring her some herbal medicines for nourishing Qi and beautifying her face.That day, Bai Zhi got up early on purpose, dressed up and waited for Qiu Chan, whom she hadn't seen for many days.Qiu Chan can be regarded as Bai Zhi's only friend, but marrying another woman is not as unscrupulous as before.Every time Qiu Chan went down the mountain to sell medicinal materials, she would always come to Baifu to bring some tonics for Bai Zhi's health.Because of her bad reputation, Bai Zhi seldom went out after being divorced by Mu Tusu.

Unexpectedly, it was not until noon that Qiu Cicada came rushing over, and the person was also very godlike. When he saw Bai Zhi, he took Bai Zhi to a place where there was no one, put his head against her ear, and asked in a low voice: "who?"

"Huh?" Bai Zhi didn't quite understand.

Qiu Chan touched Bai Zhi's belly, stretched out two fingers, and looked at Bai Zhi questioningly.

Bai Zhi still didn't understand: "What exactly do you want to say?"

Qiu Chan found it difficult to say this, and asked as tactfully as possible: "Who did you sleep in the same bed with in Tongcheng?"

Bai Zhi was stunned, her memory flashed, thinking of those scenes with Mu Tusu on the bed that made people blush, her face blushed once again.Seeing Bai Zhi blushing and wanting to talk, Qiu Chan secretly screamed that it was terrible.Qiu Chan took a deep breath and firmly held Bai Zhi's hand, as if to encourage her: "Zhi'er, who is it?"

Bai Zhi felt a little uncomfortable: "Mutusu..." After realizing it, she seemed to have never talked about this with anyone, so she quickly asked, "How do you know about this?"

"Today I went down the mountain to sell medicine. I negotiated the price with the pharmacy owner in the back room and came out. I met Qing He who had just bought the medicine. The boss said that she was buying anti-fetal medicine..."

Bai Zhi was astonished.The medicine that Qing He had boiled for the past few days turned out to be an anti-fetal medicine?
Seeing that Bai Zhi's face turned pale, Qiu Chan was obviously frightened.Qiu Chan sighed: "You also know your reputation in Sioux City. Although I stuffed some money to gag the owner of the pharmacy, but the paper can't cover the flames. If this story spreads in Sioux City, you can't help it." You are notorious, and the consequences are even more serious. I think you should discuss it with the child's father now and let him marry you in as soon as possible."

Bai Zhi only felt a pain in her head, how could such openness happen to the people around her?Qinghe's anti-fetal medicine, is it for her own use or for someone else to buy it?All she wants to know now is this.

Seeing Bai Zhi's panic-stricken appearance, Qiu Chan felt pity, and angrily scolded: "Mu Tusu wants to finish eating, wipe his mouth and leave? It's unreasonable, I have to kill him!"

If it was before, Bai Zhi appointed to joke with Qiu Chan, trying to make the misunderstanding as joke as possible.But now, Bai Zhi has no thoughts, only eager to know whether the anti-fetal medicine Qing He bought is for herself or for others.

Bai Zhi had no choice but to dismiss Qiu Chan perfunctorily: "I am not pregnant, there is a misunderstanding about this matter, but I can't go into details now. Qiu Chan, I can't entertain you today, I will visit you at another day."

Qiu Chan didn't believe in Bai Zhi: "You know that I am impatient, if you don't tell me, I will panic."

Bai Zhi ignored Qiu Chan's screaming, and drove her away abruptly.After Qiu Chan had no choice but to leave, Bai Zhi went to look for Qing He, and the first place she was looking for was the place in Bai Shu's painting.

Qing He really boiled medicine there.It's just that at this time, she is no longer the anxious and anxious expression in the painting, but inadvertently reveals the gentleness that makes Baizhi feel familiar, and this gentleness is only when Liu Shi sees her and Baishu.

Motherly love.

Bai Zhi was shocked, how could she be so calm!Immediately, her head became hot, and she strode towards Qinghe, pushed down the medicine that was boiling, and asked her angrily: "I think you must give me an explanation."

Qing He knelt on the ground trembling all over, bowed her head and admitted her mistake: "Miss, I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't apologize to me, but to yourself! How can you be so irresponsible to yourself?!" Bai Zhi held back her temper and said word by word.

Qing He still knelt motionless.

"What? Want to stay silent?"

Qing He shook her head, raised her head, and looked at Bai Zhi with tears in her eyes: "I did it voluntarily, and I don't regret it."

Bai Zhi slapped her across the face and said angrily, "Say it again!"

Qing He raised her red and swollen face, and said firmly: "Qing He loved him, gave herself to him, and never regretted it. What Qing He regretted was that she wanted to have an abortion, but fortunately she turned around in time." The firmness in her eyes made Bai Zhi I was in a trance for a while.Bai Zhi's pair of despairing yet determined eyes seemed familiar.

In the dream, she married Mu Tusu for the first time, and Mu Tusu only picked out Xipa, and he didn't even look at her too much, so he left.On the night of festivities and candles in the bridal chamber, she stayed alone in the vacant room.She was doing her makeup in front of the mirror, and with those desperate and firm eyes, she swore to herself: she must make Mu Tusu fall in love with her!

Is it not admitting defeat or persistence in love and persistence in love?Bai Zhi didn't know it until now, she pursed her lips, looked at Qing He seriously, she was completely out of anger, and instead asked weakly: "What are you doing?"

(End of this chapter)