A Thousand Hills

Chapter 124

The two confessed about the concubine's heir, and their relationship became more harmonious.

After the fiery hot June, July entered autumn, and the weather was still sweltering. Xie Moru's birthday is in August, and this year is Xie Moru's 20th birthday.The fifth prince felt that he had to celebrate his daughter-in-law's good life, so he invited the prince and princess along with friends and relatives, and the mansion was full of excitement for three days.Not only the fifth prince's own friends, but also Xie Moru's friends, such as hand-chopping monsters, also came.

At the second prince's place, because his second brother's status is different now, the fifth prince still personally sent the post, and the fifth prince smiled, "Second brother will move to the palace soon, and I will go to the palace to ask second brother to settle down It's easy, the second elder brother wants to go out of the palace and come to the younger brother's house, but it's cumbersome. While I'm still free, the second brother comes to have a glass of wine at the brother's house. If it's really busy, the etiquette needs to be thickened."

Although the second prince was troubled by the relationship between Xie Moru and Duke Cheng'en's mansion, Xie Moru was only a female relative after all, and the fifth prince was his caring younger brother. He was able to enter the East Palace so early, this younger brother should be the first.It was funny for the second prince to hear the words of the fifth prince. What is meant by "while you are comfortable now", even if you are uncomfortable moving to the East Palace, the second prince has been looking forward to it for a long time, and only the fifth prince can say this.The second prince smiled, "I don't care about etiquette, you just have to prepare good wine, I have to go, although our brothers live close, we haven't been together for some days." Then asked the fifth prince if he invited the eldest prince A few, I heard the fifth prince say, "The second brother who came first is here, the eldest brother lives next door to the second brother, I will go right away."

Seeing that the fifth prince came to his mansion first, the second prince was very pleased, and said, "For the matter of sending posts, why do you need a prince to run errands yourself, and just send a manager. What else can we do, this year is also the fifth Siblings and sisters live together."

The fifth prince smiled, "Yes, so I thought, I have to do something for her."

The second prince joked about the harmony between the fifth prince and his wife.

The second prince came in person, and the rest of the princes, even if the eldest prince thought that the fifth prince would always flatter the second prince, he wanted to say that he was sick, but Cui Shi persuaded him once, and the eldest prince held back The nose is gone.Among the other princesses, Princess Changtai and Concubine Li Xuan arrived with congratulatory gifts from Wenkang Princess' Mansion. In addition, Yongfu Princess' Mansion and Ning Rong Dachang Princess' Mansion, even if no one came, the ceremony also arrived.

This is a member of the imperial family, and the other members of the imperial family are nothing more than Princess Jingjiang and Mu Qilang, who are also close.

Among the relatives, most of them are members of Xie Moru's mother clan.Xie's family is also a big family in the imperial capital city, the people in Xie's mansion don't say much, Mrs. Xie also brought some things from Xining Prefecture brought back by Xie Bo, it was a birthday gift for Xie Moru alone.The post from the Fifth Prince's Mansion also went to Qi Guogong's mansion, and Xie Moyou came in order. In addition, Mrs. Xie in the imperial capital brought her daughter Yu Yao, Su Shi brought Xie Jing, and they all came to congratulate Xie Moru birthday.

This is Xie Moru's natal family, and there is also Mrs. Xie's natal family, Zhu's family. This is considered to be the uncle's house, and Mrs. Zhu is also here.

In addition, Mrs. Wang, the Duke of Pingguo, and her eldest grandson, Xiao Wang, came in person.The rest, Su Buyu and his wife, Li Qiao, etc., are Xie Moru's personal friends.

In short, Xie Moru's birthday can be regarded as a lively event before the establishment of the crown prince.

The most coincident thing is that Mrs. An, the grandmother of the fourth concubine, originally said last year that the emperor would pay her respects to Emperor Mu Yuan, but she couldn't do it because of something. This year is the year when the crown prince will be established. He came earlier, just in time for Xie Moru's birthday, this lady has an old relationship with Princess Fusheng, so Mrs. An came to join in the fun.When she saw Xie Moru, she was taken aback for a moment, and said, "My concubine looks familiar." After thinking about it for a while, a flash of inspiration flashed in her mind, and she said, "It's so much like Cheng Niangniang, the mother of Princess Fusheng. The former emperor is still there. , I was summoned to the imperial capital to have an audience. Madam Cheng celebrated her [-]th birthday. Although I haven’t seen Madam Cheng’s demeanor when she was young, now that I see Madam Wang, I think Madam Cheng looked like a concubine when she was young.” The old lady is gone.

Everyone now understands why Empress Dowager Hu always dislikes Xie Moru. It seems that it is not just a historical reason. If Xie Moru is really as Mrs. An said, she looks like Queen Mother Cheng. Stress it.Isn't this the resurrection of the mother-in-law? Thinking about it this way, I feel a little narrow-minded and sympathize with the Queen Mother Hu.

Xie Moru smiled lightly, "Madam, please sit down. The Empress Shizu is my great-grandmother, and it's normal to have some resemblance. In the past, some people said that I look like Princess Fusheng."

Mrs. An shook her head, "No, the princess is not like Princess Fusheng at all."

Xie Moru asked her how the journey was, but she felt tired.Mrs. An is nearly sixty years old, her gray hair is simply tied into a bun, and a golden sword-shaped hairpin is inserted into the bun. The rest of her clothes are only for comfort, not luxury.Her skin is brown, with clear wrinkles on her face, and her facial features are obviously exotic. Her eyes are bright, her voice is bright, and she looks straight when she sits casually. She said with a smile, "I'm not tired. The weather gets cooler the further you go north." , if it weren't for the many things in Nan'an Prefecture, I really want to live in the imperial capital for a few more days."

Xie Moru laughed, "It's rare for Madam to come to the imperial capital once, just stay in the imperial capital for a while. In recent years, the imperial capital has undergone many changes. In addition to the East Palace Grand Ceremony is approaching, building a library is also a great achievement. When the disciples come over, you might as well tell them to go to Zhushulou to take a look, among other things, it’s true to broaden their horizons.”

Mrs. An smiled, "What Your Majesty said is true, I also have the same intention."

Because there were many people coming, Xie Moru and Mrs. An just exchanged pleasantries.

Xie Moru's birthday banquet was very lively, since she is a birthday star, she has to chat and socialize with people who celebrate her birthday every day, and the concubine's birthday banquet, needless to say, the arrangements of many guests inside and outside, and the arrangements of the maids in the mansion are also very important. A big project.Officials and guests are hosted by outsiders, and as long as men have wine, food and shows, it is much easier than women.The guest should be arranged by Nanny Zhou who has been helping Xie Mo manage the inner house, but the two are old and the affairs of the guest are cumbersome, the two nuns have enough qualifications, Xie Moru is afraid that they will be tired, Even in the mansion, a maid named Ling Xiao who often attends her studies was chosen to preside over the trivial affairs of the guest, but she was well organized and thoughtful.

After Xie Moru's birthday banquet was over, Nanny Zhang said, "On weekdays, I only think that Ling Xiao has studied well for my mother. It is the first time for her to do such a big event, but she is meticulous and thoughtful in every way. My mother good taste."

Xie Moru smiled, she also has a few good maids around her, but none of them have presided over such an important event, and if they leave it to them, they may not know what to do, but Ling Xiao, who came out of the palace, usually acts extremely It is safe.When Xie Moru asked her, she pondered for a moment, then took it and cleaned up all the affairs.

The master and the servant were talking, when the fifth prince came in, Mammy Zhang withdrew, and the fifth prince asked casually, "What are you talking about, as soon as I came, Mammy left."

"Nurse just chatted with me a few words." Xie Moru said, "Say Ling Xiao is capable."

"Ling Xiao." The fifth prince sat beside Xie Moru, and Xie Moru handed him a cup of hangover soup made from plums. It was boiled with plums and sugarcane pulp, so sweet and sour, the fifth prince ate one and said, "She has another interesting thing, you definitely don't know about it."

"Just tell me, and tell me to ask you if you can't do it."

The fifth prince had a laugh, put down Yuzhan, and started talking about Ling Xiao's story, "Palace servants can leave the palace at the age of 30, and when the palace servants of the mother and concubine reach their age, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will send a few new ones. Among the gaps left by those palace servants, Ling Xiao is among them. These days, those who are willing to enter the palace to be palace servants are generally illiterate, but she can, and she is proficient in pen and ink. To make tea, once the father went to the mother's palace and praised the tea in the mother's palace. When the mother talked about Ling Xiao's craftsmanship, the father wanted her to serve tea in front of the imperial court. Guess what she said, she Said, "It has been heard since ancient times that loyal ministers do not serve two masters. Although slaves and servants are palace servants, they only want to serve in Shuren Palace after entering Shuren Palace." The concubine thought she was loyal, so she ordered her to come to our mansion. Her name was not Ling Xiao originally, it was changed for her by the concubine mother."

The name of mother-in-law was very interesting. Xie Moru thought of a poem and read, "There is a tree named Lingxiao, and it is not an isolated sign. I leaned on a tree by chance, so I took a hundred-foot stick. The root is attached to the tree, and the flowers send flowers to the tree. Treetops. They claim to have their own momentum, and there is no reason to shake them. Once the tree is destroyed, it will be alone for a while. The wind blows from the east, and it will not end the dynasty. In the morning, it is a flower that blows the clouds, and in the evening, it is a woodcutter. , don’t learn from weak and weak seedlings.”

The fifth prince said, "Could it be that the concubine mother changed her name because of this poem?"

"Anyway, this is a capable girl. I think she has a good mind and considerate things. She is not bad."

The fifth prince nodded, "That's right, if an ordinary court lady had Gao Zhi'er in front of her eyes, she would have flown away long ago. It's rare that she can still serve the concubine wholeheartedly in front of the concubine."

Talking briefly about Ling Xiao, the Fifth Prince said to Xie Moru, "Have you seen Mrs. An?"

"See you, a very cool old lady, I heard about it from my sister-in-law before."

The fifth prince said to his wife with a mysterious face, "I heard that Mrs. An skinned people alive when she was young."

"Who did you listen to, and other things?"

"You don't know, it is said that Mrs. An is a hard worker. When she was young, she got married and married a man, but she was unlucky. The man was actually a liar. He had a wife at home. When he went to Nan'an for a study tour, he saw Mrs. An was pretty, so he lied to Mrs. An Said that he was a single boy, and the two got married in Nan'an Prefecture. Later, when he brought Mrs. An back to her hometown, Mrs. An knew that he had a family. The man who gave birth to this man was still a tigress, as if he had bullied Mrs. An. Mrs. An In a fit of rage, beat the main room to death, cut off the man's tongue, skinned the man alive, and made a human skin drum out of this skin." The fifth prince said with lingering fear, patting his small chest and saying , "You don't know, the fourth brother used to have several concubines. Later, when he heard that Mrs. An was coming to the imperial capital, he was so frightened that he dismissed all the concubines. Oh, I really can't tell, a soft person like the fourth sister-in-law , There is such a terrible grandmother. Weird people say that the Marquis of Nan'an is very courageous, if he has no courage, he would not dare to marry Mrs. An's daughter."

Although Mrs. An's behavior is a bit tricky, but Xie Moru is just a little out of line, Xie Moru said, "Thinking about how Mrs. An trusted that man back then, she followed him back to her hometown for thousands of miles, and she planned to live a good life for the rest of her life. I don't know. How could he be forced to hate him so much that he was skinned alive. His Highness only saw the fierceness of Mrs. An, but did not see the suffering of Mrs. An."

The fifth prince touched his face, and said to Xie Moru, "That's true too." His face was hot when he forcefully told his wife.

"This is just a random word," Xie Moru said, "If you don't break it, you can't stand it. If you break it, you can stand it. If you don't live, you will die. If you don't die, you will live. If you don't go through this calamity, how can you know that there is Mrs. An today."

The fifth prince said, "So, Mrs. An still needs to thank her first husband?"

Xie Moru smiled, "Naturally I have to thank you. Without the grit of these people and these things, she would not be able to shine like gold."

The fifth prince felt that no matter what happened, her daughter-in-law could say something.Moreover, this principle is definitely different from ordinary people.It is this unique insight that the fifth prince loves to chat with Xie Moru.

The fifth prince said, "Mrs. An is thoughtful. She came here this time and brought a lot of children from the clan. In my opinion, they are all well-behaved people. I heard that they are all selected outstanding children of the Yi tribe. Mrs. An I want them to stay in the imperial capital to study, and return to Nan'an Prefecture after they finish their studies to benefit the barbarians."

Xie Moru praised, "Madam An really has a long-term vision."

On this point, the fifth prince also admired Mrs. An, and he said, "Guess who gave Mrs. An this idea?"

"If you ask me to guess, it must be someone I know." Xie Moru thought for a while, "Since this idea was given to Madam An by someone else, it must be someone Madam An trusts. Someone I know Madam An together..." Xie Moru really couldn't figure it out, said, "It's the first time I've seen Mrs. An, how can I guess."

"The surname is Zhu, and the name is Zhu Yan. Do you recognize him? He used to be an acquaintance of the magistrate in Nan'an Prefecture. This time, the emperor announced him to return to the imperial capital. His future is bright."

As soon as Zhu Yan was mentioned, Xie Moru remembered it, and said, "I forgot for a while, Zhu's family is my grandmother's natal family, and Zhu Yan and I are cousins. Zhu's grandfather, Zhu Shilang, was originally the left servant of the Ministry of Rites. Nian is not healthy and healthy, and he is not too young, so he resigned from the official position and raised his children at home."

The fifth prince was a little regretful as he spoke, and said, "Lord Zhu is good at everything, that's all. What's a pity is that he was born in Juren."

Xie Moru obviously knew Zhu Yan better than the fifth prince, so he roughly told the fifth prince, "He won the Juren at the age of 15, and he was also a young man at that time. If he wants to continue the imperial examination, he may not be able to win the Jinshi."

The five princes were all surprised, and said, "Then why didn't you participate in Chunwei, the Zhu family's officials and eunuchs, there is no reason why such children are not easy to be born and cultivated."

Xie Moru told the story of Zhu Jie himself being promoted to the magistrate of Ping'an County in Fujian, and said, "The officials have always been hard-pressed to see who is not pleasing to those places. People go and never return. I'm afraid it's the first time I've seen someone rushing up by themselves. The officials in the official department were too happy and issued the appointment order without any delay. Cousin Zhu's errand has been completed, and his family is gone. There is no other way but to let him take office."

"This can be regarded as the courage of a skilled man." The fifth prince smiled and said, "Although it is a bit strange, but to be able to make a name for yourself in such an uneasy county, and to comfort the people, you can see that you have real skills of."

Xie Moru also nodded and said, "True gold is not afraid of fire. At the beginning, cousin Zhu didn't go to Chunwei to seek such a job, many people said he was dizzy, but now they praise him more for being young and promising."

The fifth prince laughed, "There are so many people, I'm afraid that you and I will not be spared."

Xie Moru smiled, "That's true."

This is an era when talents are born in large numbers. The fifth prince talked about the marriage of Xu Ning, who was the second in the list last year, and said, "He and the second brother have a good relationship. The official was selected as a servant in the East Palace, and this time he is marrying the daughter of the Ningji Restaurant, so he is quite proud of it."

Xie Moru didn't know this Xu Bangyan, but she had a good memory, and she said Xu Bangyan's name once, and said, "Xu Ning, I remember seeing a tribute named Xu Ning in the list of ex-official Chunwei tributes. However, his rank of tribute is not high, and I haven't seen him in the Chunwei list..." After thinking about it, Xie Moru asked, "Is this the same person?"

The fifth prince really convinced his daughter-in-law, and said, "I was just about to tell you, but I was alone. When I first mentioned Mr. Zhu, I wanted to say that Xu was the second in the list. After Mr. Zhu was promoted in autumn, he went to be an official. At first, I thought it was because of his family’s difficulties, but I didn’t think he had made his own decisions. Xu Bangyan’s background was mediocre, and he was ranked 280th in the list of Gongshi in the first year of Chunwei. He was afraid that he would fall into the same Jinshi, so he didn’t Participated in the palace examination, just failed the result, but did not return to his hometown, studied hard in the imperial capital for three years, and was named on the gold list last year."

Xie Moru said indifferently, "It really is Ning Jijiu's vision."

The Fifth Prince said, "Do you think that Xu Bang's focus is on fame? In fact, I think there is a little bit of it, but there is nothing wrong with it. The same Jinshi and the Jinshi of the first and second rankings are said to be the same Jinshi, but in fact they are worlds apart. .”

Xie Moru put one hand on the polished armrest of the soft couch and said, "It's not a bad thing to gain fame. If you don't gain fame, I'm afraid you won't come to the imperial capital for the imperial examination at all. This Xu Bangyan, in my opinion, is quite scheming Heavy. Maybe he purposely went to the porridge shed of the second prince's mansion to find opportunities."

"Look at what you said, he can't pinch and count. Could it be that he expected something to happen to the second brother's porridge shed?"

"Then why is he going to the porridge shed of the second prince? Why not go to the porridge shed of the eldest prince's house? Why not go to the porridge shed of the third prince's house, why not go to the porridge shed of the fourth prince's house?"

"Second brother's porridge shed uses polished rice." If it weren't for the large number of people who went there, such a thing would not have happened the year before last.

"Don't laugh at me to death. If he is a recruiter, he has fame even if he has no money. Will he starve to death in the imperial capital? If he can't do anything else, it's enough to hire a teacher from a young boy. Even if he really only focuses on studying, His Highness also went to the porridge shed to see with his own eyes how those poor people lined up to get porridge? Since he is so absorbed in his studies that he can’t even take care of his housework, is it possible that he wants to queue up to get a bowl of porridge? I don’t know anything else. I know that even if a scholar living in a temple is penniless, as long as he is willing to copy some scriptures for the temple, the temple will provide him with two meals a day. Even though he is a vegetarian, he will not be hungry. It can save him some pen, ink and paper expenses. Taking another ten thousand steps back, he is really hungry and cold, and he is really going to get porridge to satisfy his hunger. If I were to change me, a big man, a dignified scholar and a family background, Instead of being ashamed, you can’t eat even if you have polished rice porridge, and you can just get a bowl of brown rice porridge. After all, you are a person who is ambitious, so you have to pick the porridge to get the porridge? Pick the best porridge Go to get it? He has spent his whole life doing the business of getting porridge and eating it." Xie Moru disdainfully said, "What kind of chance, go and find out where he lived in the first place? The porridge shed in the Second Prince's Mansion is serving porridge in the north of the city Yes, where does he live? If he lives in the north of the city, that’s all. It’s just a trick for those who wish, who will be deceived.”

The fifth prince grinned, looked at his wife's eyes and said, "Let me see, these are not eyes, but the demon mirror in Su Buyu's book."

Xie Moru laughed, and the fifth prince grabbed a peach from the fruit plate and took a bite, "The wisher has already taken the bait, and now Xu Bangyan is the No. [-], and the second brother will be the prince soon. We know it in our hearts and let it go." , the second brother may not be able to see it, but Xu Bangyan is talented after all, the hero does not care about his background, this relationship has become an anecdote."

"This kind of scheming villain, no matter how good the article is, the character means are not top-notch." Regarding the second prince's standard of judging people, Xie Moru said, "East Palace employs people, that's all."

The fifth prince hurriedly said, "Just talk at home, don't take it outside." His daughter-in-law is really a straightforward person.

"I know." Xie Moru sighed.

The turbulent era has arrived.

(End of this chapter)