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Zhou Chen suddenly raised his voice and looked at her coldly: "Auntie is really resentful. I am willing to help, but you said I don't want to help. I told the truth, but you said I was sarcastic and looked down on you. Why, now you can't even tell the truth?"

"Aunt has visited us several times, and my wife has always treated her warmly. Aunt has taken many things from my wife, right? Now, as long as you are not satisfied, you are so sarcastic and throw dirty water on my mansion. You are the elder, but it does not mean you can talk nonsense."

"I would like to train my cousin well, but since my aunt is so resentful, I won't help her. My aunt said she dare not visit her again, so I won't force her. I just hope that she will keep her promise. Please, aunt."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Kang pointed at Zhou Chen in anger and said, "You, you dare to chase me away? Do you still have respect for the inferior? I am your elder, and you dare to chase me away, I..."

"boom!"

Zhou Chen slammed the table so hard that everyone in the room was startled. Wang Ruofu, who had wanted to persuade them to make peace, trembled and looked at her son-in-law in fear.

"Yuancai."

Yuancai, who was outside the yard, immediately ran in quickly.

"Master Hou!"

"Send my aunt out safely."

"Yes, Lord Marquis."

Yuancai agreed, then looked at Aunt Kang calmly and bowed slightly: "Mrs. Kang, please."

"you you……"

Aunt Kang was shaking with anger, her whole face wrinkled.

In fact, Aunt Kang is not bad looking and she is good at dressing up. With her coquettish appearance, if she were in modern times, she would be a mature and charming woman that many people would like.

But at this moment, she was really furious. There was no trace of her charm left. Especially, she was so angry that she couldn't say anything, which was even more funny.

"Sister, sister."

Wang Ruofu hurriedly stood up to appease him, and then looked at Zhou Chen with dissatisfaction: "My Lord, my sister is the elder, you shouldn't talk like this."

Zhou Chen replied casually: "Mother-in-law, I told the truth, and she left on her own accord. She also said that she dared not come to your house again. What does it have to do with me?"

"you……"

Wang Ruofu didn’t know what to say to Zhou Chen, so she had no choice but to comfort her sister.

But Aunt Kang did not appreciate her kindness and instead pushed her away.

"Sister, I understand now. I am your biological sister. Look at how your daughter and son-in-law treat me. The family is noble and I cannot marry into it. I will never dare to come again."

Having said that, she no longer had the face to stay and left angrily.

"Sister, sister."

Wang Ruofu hurried to chase after her, but Aunt Kang ignored her and came back after a while with a unhappy look on her face.

"My Lord, Hua'er, my sister did go a little too far, but you can't treat her like this."

Hua Lan said in a dissatisfied tone: "Mother, you were right beside her just now, didn't you hear what she said? The official said that he would arrange a ninth-rank job for my cousin and would find a way to take care of him in the future, but my aunt still despises him. Originally, my cousin Jin was incomparable to Gu Erlang. This is not just excessive or not, it's simply embarrassing people."

"Mom, think about it carefully. Changbai studied hard for so many years and finally passed the imperial examination to become a Jinshi, but he only started from the eighth rank. Daddy was also a Jinshi, didn't he also start from the ninth rank? My cousin Jin is a good person, but he is not good at studying and martial arts. It is really a special consideration to give him a ninth rank position. Are you not satisfied?"

Wang Ruofu was speechless for a moment, because everything her daughter said made sense.

"Oh, that's true. I didn't expect her to make such an excessive request. But it's really not easy for my sister."

Zhou Chen suddenly said, "Mother-in-law, I know my aunt has had a hard time, but it's not easy for me either. You only see that I have been promoted, but you don't see the danger I am facing. Now there are so many people in the court who are watching me openly or secretly, trying to find my faults and attack me."

"If I rashly give that cousin a high position and get caught by the censors, I won't be able to explain myself. I'm not really afraid, but I'm afraid of implicating my father-in-law and Changbai. They are both upright civil servants. If they are implicated because of me, the Sheng and Hou mansions will be the only ones that will be hurt in the end."

"So, my dear mother-in-law, would you like to see that in order to help Aunt Kang's family, both our families will end up with a bad result?"

Wang Ruofu looked horrified and stammered, "No, it's not that serious, right?"

"How can it not be serious? Think about it carefully. If people can be assigned official positions at will, the court will be in chaos. Which of the officials in the court dares to assign their younger relatives to high positions? What's more, my cousin Jin is just a juren, and he is not qualified to be an official at all. If I force him to be promoted, it will only hurt everyone."

Zhou Chen described the situation as extremely dangerous. Wang Ruofu was so frightened that she turned pale after hearing it.

"Is that really the case? If so, my sister insisted that the Marquis do this. Didn't she consider us?"

Zhou Chen shook his head and said, "I don't know about that. Maybe my aunt knows, or maybe she doesn't."

Being spoken so ambiguously, Wang Ruofu's expression became even uglier.

Update!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 1145: Lantern Festival, Rong Feiyan was kidnapped

Wang Ruofu didn't stay long after dinner and went back directly.

Zhou Chen said to Hua Lan, "Next time Aunt Kang comes, just don't let her in."

Hua Lan was shocked: "It's already like this today, sir, do you think she will come again?"

Zhou Chen said: "Some people are thicker-skinned than you think. As long as I don't fall, your Aunt Kang will come back sooner or later."

Hualan didn't quite believe it. She put herself in their shoes and thought, if it were her today and she was treated like that, she would never come again. Although Aunt Kang could often save face, today's situation was more than just humiliation.

"Okay, I understand. If she comes again in the future, I will have someone tell her that I am not in the mansion."

She was a kind person and didn't really want to have such a bad relationship with her relatives, but this aunt was really unkind and kept making excessive demands.

She doesn't mind helping her parents' family and relatives, but the premise is that it will not harm her own interests. If it causes trouble for her husband in order to help her, she will definitely not agree.

Wang Ruofu returned home and told Sheng Hong, who had just returned from court, about this matter. When Sheng Hong heard it, he jumped up instantly.

"Are you stupid? Your sister is just using you as a tool, and you are still happily going with her to the Marquis' Mansion. How can she be so arrogant? I have already arranged a ninth-rank job for you, but you are still not satisfied. If you have the guts, go and ask the emperor for help."

"Listen to me carefully. Don't have any contact with your sister in the future. If she asks you to go to the Marquis' Mansion to look for Hua'er and Shuyuan again, you must never go again. Do you hear me?"

Wang Ruofu muttered, "Today has already become so tense. My sister is also a person who cares about her reputation. How could she possibly drag me to the Marquis' Mansion again?"

Sheng Hong sneered disdainfully: "She has shame? Haha."

Time flies and it is the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival is an annual grand event. The city of Bianjing will be extremely lively that night. Even those girls who usually never go out of the house will choose to come out to see Aoshan.

The so-called Aoshan is not a real mountain, and no mountain can be seen in the city of Bianjing.

Aoshan actually refers to a small hill made of colorful lights, which looks like a giant turtle, hence the name Aoshan.

Zhou Chen had already told Hualan that he would accompany her to see Aoshan today. Originally, he just wanted to spend some time alone with Hualan, but Hualan was reluctant to leave the children and insisted on taking Zhou Fu and Zhou Ji with her. He had no choice but to agree.

As for the youngest Zhou Xu, he was only two years old. There were too many people on the street at that time, so it was not suitable to take him with him, so he was left at home.

In fact, Zhou Chen and Hua Lan's two sons were often raised by their grandmother Zhou Xu, especially the younger Zhou Xu, who slept in Zhou Xu's yard most of the time at night. Therefore, Zhou Xu's feelings for his grandmother were deeper than for his parents Zhou Chen and Hua Lan.

Mrs. Zhou Xu, who had always lived a dull life, has made her life colorful because of her two eldest grandsons. The courtyard, which was always quiet, is now bustling with joy every day. Zhou Fu and Zhou Ji also like to run there.

It was already dark, and Zhou Fu and Zhou Ji were extremely excited. They couldn't sit still for even a quarter of an hour and couldn't wait to go out and see the lights.

Hua Lan asked Zhou Chen, "Is it really okay for you not to go tonight? While the inner city will be bustling tonight, it will also be chaotic, and the city defense will be very busy. Is it really okay for you?"

Zhou Chen said: "It's okay, as long as Lao Chen and Zhong Huai are here, that's enough."

Speaking of Gu Tingye, Hua Lan asked curiously, "I heard that Gu Erlang will soon marry the eldest daughter of the Yu family."

"Well, Zhong Huai has already told me that it will be next month. I have to prepare a generous gift by then."

Zhou Chen replied casually, and then said: "It's almost time, we should go."

"Let's go, let's go."

Zhou Ji cheered loudly and ran out pulling his sister Zhou Fu.

Sitting in the carriage, Zhou Ji asked, "Dad, Mom, are we going to go with the fifth aunt and the sixth aunt?"

Hua Lan patted her son's head and said, "There are a lot of people here tonight, so you may not be able to meet them. Don't run around with your sister, just follow us closely, okay?"

"Got it, aunt." Zhou Fu responded very obediently, and Zhou Ji also nodded.

Zhou Chen was thinking about one thing. He remembered that tonight, Prince Yong would take advantage of the chaos of the Lantern Festival and send people to kidnap Rong Feiyan, which would lead to a series of major events afterwards.

The reason why Prince Yan rebelled was that he saw that the emperor was preparing to make Prince Yong the crown prince and there was no hope for him to be the heir to the throne. He had been fighting with Prince Yong for so many years and knew very well that if Prince Yong ascended the throne, he would have no way to survive, so he had to give it a try.

The reason why he was so confident, besides the military power in his hands, was that he had an insider in the palace, that is, Concubine Rong who was eager for revenge.

Concubine Rong was the concubine second only to Empress Cao in the harem, and she was very capable in the palace. It was because of her that she was able to use her power to invite many wealthy and powerful women who held military power into the harem. With these women in hand, even if those wealthy and powerful people knew about it, they would definitely not dare to do anything wrong.

The cooperation between Prince Yan and Concubine Rong was very tacit. If Prince Yan had not gone to the trouble of assassinating Zhao Zongquan, and with the halo of the protagonist in the plot, it would have been possible for Prince Yan to force the emperor to abdicate successfully.

Judging from what is shown in the plot, Concubine Rong was indeed domineering. On the day of forcing the emperor to abdicate, Prince Yan seemed to have become a supporting role.

To be honest, Zhou Chen did not want Prince Yong to succeed to the throne and become the new emperor, because Prince Yong's family used too despicable means to achieve their goals. For the sake of a young Master Qi, they even kidnapped a young girl. They really had no shame.

Moreover, Prince Yong himself had great ambitions but little talent, and acted too arrogantly and domineeringly.

If Prince Yong's family were to take power, it would definitely not be a good thing, especially since Zhou Chen had rejected Prince Yong's attempts to recruit him many times.

As for Prince Yan, he was actually not much better than Prince Yong. Although he was talented, he was too cruel and arrogant, and did not seem like a wise ruler.

If he really had to choose, as a minister, he would of course choose the current emperor, because he is weak and easy to bully.

As a subject, no one wants the emperor above to be unscrupulous and ruthless.

A weak emperor might be sidelined by civil servants, but he could greatly ensure the safety of his subjects.

So Zhou Chen's idea was that if he really came across the scene of Rong Feiyan being kidnapped when he came out to see Aoshan today, he wouldn't mind helping her, but if he didn't come across it, he wouldn't go to the trouble of rescuing her.

After all, you are a marquis, and if you go there specifically to inquire about the news about Miss Zai Ge, it is bound to cause some misunderstanding if it gets out.

"There are so many people."

When they arrived at the busy place, the carriage could hardly move. Zhou Chen could only take Hua Lan and the others off the carriage, and the guards he brought with him protected them around.

Looking at the crowded scene, Zhou Chen frowned slightly. In this situation, it was indeed very easy for some people to disappear. No wonder in the plot, Rong Feiyan was kidnapped with a dozen servants without anyone noticing.

Zhou Chen had watched the Lantern Festival several times before, but today’s festival was different from the past. There were indeed more people and more lights than before, and it was extremely lively.

"Wow, wow..."

Zhou Fu and Zhou Ji cheered excitedly, but they were too short, so they jumped up and down trying to stand taller.

Seeing their funny looks, Zhou Chen smiled slightly, then picked up Zhou Fu, one in each hand, and put Zhou Ji on his shoulders.

Although Zhou Fu was already ten years old, she was just a little girl and didn't weigh much. As for stepbrother, he was only five years old and it was just right for him to sit on Zhou Chen's shoulders.

With Zhou Chen's help, they saw more and were more excited.

"Sister, look over there, that one is so beautiful."

"Wow, brother, that lantern over there is so big, like a small house."

"........."

The brother and sister cheered and discussed excitedly. It was their first time to watch the Lantern Festival together, so they were particularly happy.

Hualan also had a happy look on her face. Although she was married and had children, it didn't mean that she didn't like the hustle and bustle, especially this kind of lively scene, which she also liked to watch very much.

There were many vendors selling things on the roadside, as well as stalls for guessing riddles, but each stall was crowded with people. Zhou Chen and his friends did not squeeze in, but just walked along with the flow of people.

"As expected, the Lantern Festival in Bianjing City is the most lively."

Hua Lan expressed her sincere emotion. She had traveled to many places with her parents since she was a child. She even lived in Yangzhou for several years and had also watched the Yangzhou Lantern Festival.

However, there is still a big gap between the Lantern Festival in Yangzhou and that in Bianjing City. This is the charm of Kyoto.

Zhou Chen was very calm. Although Bianjing City was the capital of the Song Dynasty, it was still far behind a city with millions of people in later generations. He had seen many more lively scenes than the Lantern Festival in front of him.

After walking for more than half an hour, Zhou Chen did not feel tired at all. Instead, Zhou Fu and Zhou Ji, who had been shouting all the time, were a little tired. They were eating cakes and candied haws bought on the roadside with relish.

Just as they continued to move forward, there was a sudden commotion ahead of them. The guards who had been protecting them immediately surrounded them at an extremely fast speed, pushed away the crowd that was rushing over, and firmly protected Zhou Chen and the others.

Zhou Chen handed Zhou Ji to Hua Lan and said in a deep voice, "Something must have happened up ahead. Madam, take the children home immediately. Yuan Cai, take Madam and the others back home."

Hua Lan asked nervously, "What about you?"

Zhou Chen said: "I'll go to the front to see what's going on. If something serious really happens, I might also be responsible, so I'll go and take a look first."

Hua Lan didn't say anything else, but slowly left the crowd under the protection of Yuan Cai and others.

Hualan and her group were watched by many guards, but Zhou Chen was not worried about them. He squeezed forward in the crowd and soon saw a group of people looking for something in the crowd. The chaos was also caused by them.

Zhou Chen rushed over without saying anything, grabbed a servant dressed in a servant's clothes and asked, "What happened?"

The servant who was caught was startled and shouted in dissatisfaction: "Who are you? Let me go quickly, I am from Rong Mansion."

When Zhou Chen heard about Rong Mansion, he immediately felt something was wrong and shouted, "I am from the government. Tell me, what happened?"