Mistress

Chapter 9

Seeing Mrs. Wang chasing after her, Aunt Zhang asked, "What's the matter, Mammy?"

Mrs. Wang showed anxiety, "Auntie, the medicines that Mrs. Tai must drink every day are all gone, I don't know..."

After being reminded by Mrs. Wang, Aunt Zhang remembered that Mrs. Tai had to drink three meals of medicine a day. She lied casually, "I have ordered someone to buy Mrs. Tai's medicine. You should wait first. Be back soon."

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang was relieved, and turned around and entered the house.

Aunt Zhang went to the steward's room and urged people to quickly take out 500 taels from the only [-] taels in the mansion, and first buy Mrs. Tai's symptomatic medicine and tonic for this month.

A few people in the office asked if they wanted to buy Madam's medicine, and Aunt Zhang said with a sullen face: "Are you all blind? Madam's illness is already cured, so what medicine do you need to drink? Are you really madam?" What I bought is a medicine jar, do you eat the medicine as a meal?"

"Then... what about the tonic?" A straightforward boy asked.

Aunt Zhang immediately put on a gentle face again, "It's really rare that you care about Madam so much. What the mansion needs is a slave like you who always thinks of the master. It's just... the bankers in the mansion are so nervous, there is really no extra Money to buy tonic, you know those blood swallows and donkey-hide gelatin can cost 400 taels of silver a catty, if you really can’t afford it, let’s stop for now.”

After Aunt Zhang finished speaking, she left the management room without looking back. The boy was pulled aside by the others and muttered in a low voice, mocking him for not being able to read people's faces, and Aunt Zhang would send him out of the house sooner or later.

Xu Ze was going back to the old Duke's mansion, but happened to meet Xue'er who was going to get the silver frost charcoal from the steward's office on the way, so he inquired about his wife's current situation.Hearing Xue'er said that Madam's health has suddenly improved a lot, and she started to use the kang again. Then he thought about his brother, and felt that he should go to the Jinxiu Courtyard to visit his sister-in-law. The sister-in-law is his brother's first wife, and he shouldn't hide it from her, let alone The elder brother's funeral has to be prepared in advance, and the elder sister-in-law has to take care of it.

When he turned to go to Jinxiu Courtyard, he ran into Aunt Zhang.

"Second brother!" Aunt Zhang followed quickly, "Are you going to Jinxiu Academy?"

Xu Ze kept silent.

"Second brother, you haven't called me sister-in-law all these years. Have you forgotten that I often took you out of the house to play when you were a child? Oh, it's in vain. I loved you so much back then, but you only think about your wife." Madam is good-looking, generous and kind, and I usually respect her very much, but I am your cousin after all, you should get closer to me, right?"

Xu Ze bowed his head and lowered his eyes, made a call to Aunt Zhang, and called his cousin.

Aunt Zhang knew what Xu Ze was thinking, and she was willing to call her cousin instead of sister-in-law. Didn't she just think that she couldn't bear the title "sister-in-law" as a concubine?

She knew that offending this little uncle and cousin would do her no good, so she didn't bother to argue with him, and still put on a look of love for her cousin, and said softly: "Hearing you call me cousin like that, It's as if we're back in childhood. You don't know how naughty your child is. Every time I go out to play, I'm exhausted. By the way, what's the matter with your wife? Also, you came back so early today , Did you learn about your brother's recent situation from the Ministry of War?"

As soon as Xu Ze asked about his brother, the tears that had been suppressed in his eyes just now could no longer be held back, gushing out like a torrent.

In Aunt Zhang’s memory, Xu Ze only shed tears twice. One was when he was playing crazy and couldn’t find a home when he was a child, and the other was when his father Xu Guogong was shot by a poisoned arrow when he was suppressing the remaining thieves. Died of poison.

Yes, Xu Ze only cried twice in her memory, and now he cried for the third time, still with a painful expression on his face.Does Aunt Zhang need to ask again?She understood that Xu Cheng might not survive these two days.

Although Xu Cheng usually treats her as indifferently as water, but she really loves him deeply, not to mention Xu Cheng treats everyone indifferently, even for the delicate and charming Ji Yanqiu and Ming Mei's wife Li Nianyun.In this way, Xu Cheng did not treat her poorly.

Although in the past two months, everyone knew that Xu Cheng would not be able to come back in all likelihood, but when she really learned that Xu Cheng was about to die, Aunt Zhang still couldn't bear it, and then she thought that she had a son and a daughter and wanted another It was almost impossible to marry a man, so he burst into tears.

Suddenly, she thought of Li Nianyun, so she cried and urged Xu Ze, "Don't hide your brother's affairs from Madam, you can go to Jinxiu Courtyard."

Xu Ze walked forward with his head down and heavy steps.

Looking at Xu Ze's lonely and desolate figure, Aunt Zhang thought to herself, if your sister-in-law didn't die suddenly in grief when she heard the sad news, how could she be worthy of her deep affection for the master?

Xu Ze came to Jinxiu Courtyard, sat in front of Li Yan, choked up and told about his brother Xu Cheng's current situation.

The Northeast Ramon Camp, the Southwest Juyao Camp, and the Southeast Yawu Camp all colluded with by King Zhaoxin rushed over, less than a hundred miles away from Jiaoyang City.In the past, King Zhaoxin had only casual acquaintances with these generals of the camp, but he was a little closer than ordinary people, and the emperor was always on guard against ministers forming parties with the generals of the military camp, so on the surface, King Zhaoxin maintained official business with them. Due to the distance between the office and the office, I dare not make friends with each other.Of course, no one knows how their private friendship is, and no one usually impeaches them.

Unexpectedly, in the past two months, they were all provoked by King Zhaoxin, and each of them secretly marched towards Jiaoyang City with 10,000+ troops. Until yesterday, these troops suddenly made great fanfare, waving the banner of King Zhaoxin, shouting for King Zhaoxin.Although some armies are marching towards Jiaoyang City, they may suddenly turn their spears and attack the capital.

Li Yan heard this, she knew that she should cry bitterly, her husband will be captured alive or beheaded by the rebels in two days, it seems impossible for her as a wife not to cry.

Although everyone knew that Xu Cheng would die sooner or later, it would not last long, but once he knew that it would only take a few days, it was still unbearable.

Li Yan did cry, she had no friendship with Xu Cheng, let alone feelings, so she had to cry for herself.Seeing that the imperial court can no longer be kept, is this the rhythm of her becoming a subjugated slave?At first, I just thought that Xu Cheng could not survive, but now it seems that the court is in danger, can I still have three meals a day in the future, can I live a comfortable life?
These people in the mansion are still fighting for the family property and the position of the eldest son. If the second master Xu Ze told everyone this, they should be thinking about running away, not these external things, right?

Li Yan cried heroically and miserably enough, her heart was broken and the sky was dark.Even she herself was touched, because she was crying regretfully, weeping ghosts and gods, God, since you wanted me to come to ancient times, why didn't you choose a peaceful age for me, let me experience the rich and peaceful life What about the day?

Xu Ze couldn't care about his sadness, so he came with Nanny Cui to comfort Li Yan.

Li Yan seemed to be about to die from crying, but suddenly, she stopped crying, and asked with a sob: "Second brother, from what you say, the army colluding with the rebels may be coming to the capital. The emperor hasn't made any movement yet, and he hasn't issued any orders to dispatch troops? His eyebrows are impatient, and the tiger is chasing him. How can the emperor still sit still? Also, those groups of troops have already arrived within a hundred miles of Jiaoyang City and Waving the flag and shouting, did the court know the news? Isn’t it true that once they leave or make a move, spies will come to report it?”

This is also something Xu Ze couldn't understand, "Sister-in-law, the emperor..."

He waved away the mothers and maids around Li Yan, and said in a low voice: "It's not that the emperor didn't make any movement, but also issued a decree, that is, let the Ministry of War and the Baxia barracks work hard to build cannons, and also transferred the central Langxia Army But with dozens of cannons and an army of [-], how could they stop the hundreds of thousands of troops that King Zhaoxin colluded with? Theoretically, the emperor must have secretly arranged spies in the camps of those several groups of troops, but who knows until The news came only yesterday, and I don't know if it was because the spies were not doing well, or because the emperor was negligent."

Li Yan really wanted to complain, could it be that the emperor is a fool or a mediocre person, otherwise he wouldn't have done things like this?Perhaps he has long been tired of being the emperor, and he is eager to wait for the rebels to seize his throne and take his head?I am really impatient!
Xu Ze is extremely loyal to the emperor, and he argued: "The emperor is always cautious and considerate, this time he may be really careless. I heard from the ministers that the emperor was still in the court to appease the ministers a few days ago , to reassure them not to worry, and just manage the government as usual. He also said that King Zhaoxin's military power would not be able to reach the capital at all, and that losing the little Jiaoyang City is nothing to fear. Sooner or later, they will fight among themselves and kill themselves .”

Li Yan really has nothing to say to this emperor, is it nothing to be afraid of losing the little Jiaoyang City?Didn't he know that there were Prime Minister Xu Cheng and prefect Wei Ji in Jiaoyang City? Didn't he know that there were ten thousand soldiers and thirty thousand ordinary people?He could disregard the lives of these people, didn't he know the details of King Zhaoxin, so that hundreds of thousands of troops came to the gate, and then waited for the country to be destroyed?
She doesn't believe it!The emperor must have another conspiracy!

The reason why Xu Ze lost all hope was because the Ministry of War has always been well-informed. In the past, whenever there was a war, almost all reliable news would be known before other departments. If the emperor really took action, he felt that he should know.It's just that he forgot that he was just a small secretary, and it was impossible for him to know some top secret matters.

"Sister-in-law, you should prepare for the elder brother's affairs as soon as possible. You are the wife of the wife, so don't let Aunt Zhang handle this matter. I don't want to interfere with the rest of the matter. It should not be my uncle who is in charge of the house, but The... funeral... is related to my elder brother's prestige, I am worried that Aunt Zhang will..." He felt that his elder brother's affairs should not be handled by a concubine, but he couldn't say it directly.

Li Yan understood his intentions, and said while crying: "Second brother, don't worry, I won't take over other matters in the mansion for the time being, but I will take care of the master's affairs by myself no matter what. Besides, the emperor will definitely send someone Come to assist... No, the emperor may not care about these things. Once the rebels come, I guess the whole capital will have to flee for their lives. Are our Xu Mansion and Guogong Mansion..."

In fact, Li Yan wanted to ask Xu Ze, did they also have to run for their lives?Although she firmly believes that the emperor has other plans, no one can guarantee the odds of winning. She wants to survive!
Xu Ze understood Li Yan's meaning, his eyes were firm, and his expression looked deathly, "Sister-in-law, there are some things you should know as well as I do. My grandfather fought with Emperor Yeshi for most of his life, and my father followed the late emperor to encircle and suppress rebels. After fighting for more than ten years, my father died because of this. Now my eldest brother and I serve the emperor and the Ye Dynasty, how can we worry about our own life and death? We two brothers cannot humiliate our ancestors, and we will defend Ye to the death North Korea, defend the emperor!"

Li Yan was taken aback by Xu Ze's words. Although she was in tears, she was anxious. According to Xu Ze, he meant to put life and death aside, and live and die with the Ye Dynasty?Does she have to think of a way immediately and run for her life first?

Xu Ze suddenly said again: "When the eldest brother is buried, I will find a way to arrange for the female relatives of the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Duke's Mansion to escape. As for the male family members, none of them are allowed to leave the mansion." After he finished speaking, he walked away with his hands behind his back.

Li Yan was shocked, but it was okay, Xu Ze was worthy of being a big man, he knew how to protect the female relatives and children.

(End of this chapter)