Netizen uploaded episode 63

  In early spring, February, the accumulated snow of winter gradually melted away. On the ground, a large silver-gilt double-ear furnace was still burning with fine charcoal, warming up the room. On the bedside table made of lotus flower pear wood, three or four bowls of medicinal soup were placed, all in beautiful floating-patterned porcelain from Qing Palace kiln. Next to the bed was a taishi chair covered with black leopard fur, on which sat a middle-aged man dressed in brocade, looking gentle and with a short beard under his chin.

  "...Heng'er has been gone for a whole day and night, I wonder how his exam went?" A woman's voice came from inside the bed.

  Mr. Qi said, "Heng'er has worked hard this time, he has been studying day and night for several months, and he will surely bring back a good reputation. You don't have to worry about your son anymore, taking care of your body is the most important thing now; This winter you haven't stopped taking medicine because of your illness, and you haven't had a good year in years."

  Ping Ning Jun Mu leaned on a golden silk embroidered peony thick brocade pillow, her face was pale yellow, her cheekbones were sharp, and her whole face looked haggard. She didn't see the usual spirit and vitality, but weakly said: "Heng Er is blaming me."

  "Don't worry, there's no overnight grudge between mother and son." Qi Da Ren comforted: "In the chaos of last year, many departments suffered heavy casualties. The Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat were almost emptied because they were close to the palace. His Majesty opened an imperial examination this year, and Heng'er has been studying hard day and night, hoping to pass with honors."

  "Stop deceiving me! Among the second-rank officials in the capital, Heng'er's talent and looks are unmatched. Wherever he goes, people admire him. Now, not only has he become a widower, but also a laughing stock for others to mock at. It's all my fault!"

  Mr. Qi remained silent, thinking to himself that his wife wasn't entirely wrong either, her guess was correct, but she was just extremely unlucky.

  Ping Ning's eyes turned red, and she choked: "When Rong's daughter had an accident, I already felt that something was wrong, but at that time... it was hard to get off the tiger's back. After County Master got married, I didn't like her either, being boisterous and reckless, trampling on people's lives, not a blessing for our family. But I still forced Heng'er to get close to her! However... even so, I never thought she would die such a miserable death!"

  As she spoke, Princess Pingning burst into tears. Lord Qi could only gently pat his wife's hand. The princess covered her face with a handkerchief and whispered: "These past few months, I've often dreamed of the day when Rong Xuan broke into the palace. Those rioting soldiers had killing intent all over their faces, their swords still dripping with blood. The palace maids were crying and screaming as they pushed their way inside. Sixth Princess and County Mistress were dragged away right in front of me..." Princess Pingning's eyes betrayed her terror, and she exclaimed: "Only now do I realize that this great marriage has several lives on its conscience!"

  She bowed down beside her husband, unable to hold back tears.

  "Lord Qi and the county lord's wife were a young couple, although they had their disagreements on ordinary days, but now seeing his wife and children so helpless, he couldn't help but soften his heart. He gently persuaded: 'If the Sixth King's consort and daughter dare to be so reckless, it can be imagined how evil the Sixth King was in his fiefdom. The Emperor was angry and took away his title of Duke, leaving him as a mere idle member of the imperial clan. If not for the pity of the Third King's consort being lonely and childless, even that son would have been stripped of his title. Xiao Rongfei and Shufei both died by their own hands, and after the Fourth King was given a death sentence, his children were all demoted to commoners... Alas, ten years of struggle, all for nothing in an instant. Many royal families in the capital were implicated, fortunately, the Emperor is wise and has shown great kindness to my father-in-law and our household. We should also let go..."

  "I'm not sad about this." Princess Pingning wiped away her tears and shook her head, "I grew up in the palace, I know its ways. Although His Majesty still treats us kindly, his body is weakening by the day. Regardless of right or wrong, we're already involved. Once the emperor changes, so do his ministers... I'm afraid our current imperial favor won't last."

  Saying this, Lord Qi couldn't help but sigh: "Indeed, human calculations are inferior to heavenly ones! Who would have thought that in the end it would be the Eighth Prince!"

  "Is he really dead?" Ping Ning Jun Zhu hesitated, she no longer dared to be certain.

  Marquis Zhen pressed his wife onto the pillow, bitterly smiling: "The Emperor has already appointed Li Shu-yi as Empress and De Fei as Imperial Noble Consort. The appointment of De Fei was to comfort her for the pain of losing a child, but that Li Shu-yi, she came from the laundry department, only gave birth to one son and got a title, the Emperor has never favored her, directly sent her to the Cold Palace to grow old. The Emperor's actions are clear to anyone with eyes, let alone now that the Eighth Prince has been summoned to enter the capital."

  The Princess of Pingning remained silent for a long time, then let out a deep sigh: "His Majesty has never seen that mother and son before, but now... Alas, how can one go against the will of Heaven? The country relies on Crown Prince Long, the remaining princes are still young, only he is left. I remember that the 8th prince's fiefdom is far away in Shu, when can he arrive at the capital?"

  "The Shu Road is treacherous, it'll take at least a few more months." said Qi Da Ren, then leaned in closer to his wife and said warmly, "So you must take good care of yourself, if Heng'er passes the exam this time, you'll have to make arrangements for him too."

  The Marquis of Pingning thought of her son's future and suddenly gained strength, propping herself up from the pillow, her eyes flashing, but then she sighed: "I don't know who Heng'er has taken after, he's so stubborn!"

  "What's wrong with your son again?" said Mr. Qi with a smile.

  Pingning Junzhu looked at the carved wooden bed with a pattern of pomegranates and sighed: "Last year, the emperor opened an imperial examination, I remembered that Heng'er was on good terms with Shengjia's eldest son Changbai, so I asked him to go to their house to talk about the exam essays. Who knew that Heng'er would rather wait outside the Hanlin Academy on a cold day than go to the Sheng Mansion!"

  Ants hand in hand, the first time chapter hand in hand "Huh? Why is that?" Qi Da Ren did not understand.

  The lady of Pingning glared at her husband: "Think about the maid who was beaten to death by the county master, what did her eyes look like?"

  Marquis Zhi thought for a moment, lightly exclaimed "ah", and said with a wave of his hand: "I said that the county master arranged for Heng'er's maidservants to be both stupid and vulgar. How did Heng'er take a liking to that flattering one? Could it be that Heng'er still has thoughts about Sheng brother's daughter?"

  The county master's inescapable nod, reluctantly said: "Fortunately, Minglan that child is extremely rare to come out in front of people, otherwise if the county master saw it, I'm afraid it would raise suspicions...... What's wrong with you? What are you thinking?" She went to pull her husband's hem.

  Mr. Qi was looking down, staring at the purple copper furnace on the ground, and was startled awake by being pulled by his clothes corner, and said: "Just now I thought that Brother Sheng is indeed lucky, Lu Lao Shangshu usually looks deaf and confused, asks three unknowns, but unexpectedly in a critical moment, he is clever, not only did he bring his subordinates safely through the disaster, but also the various documents and secret maps of the Ministry of Works were not damaged at all. After the chaos, the Emperor praised the officials of the Ministry of Works for being 'unperturbed in the face of danger', and Lao Shangshu himself entered the cabinet, not to mention that Brother Sheng was promoted to the position of Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the fourth rank."

  The lady of Pingning Manor smiled and said, "It's not just that. The Wang family's sister has recently been in high spirits with good news all around. Her eldest son was appointed as a official, her nephew was appointed as a general, and her daughter-in-law was reappointed as the deputy commander... Ah, those are the celebratory eggs she sent over the other day - two boxes of them! Last month, her eldest daughter gave birth to a plump little boy, and this month, her daughter-in-law also gave birth, another little boy!" Her tone couldn't hide the hint of sourness.

  On the round table inlaid with rosewood and marble, a plate of bright red eggs was placed. Director Qi looked at it and felt touched. He turned to his wife and said, "Next month is the one-year anniversary of Old Master Ningyuan's death. Are you going?"

  The ants were the first to form a team, and the chapter was written in Ping Ning County. The master looked at the bowl of eggs and said, "I won't go, I've already sent five sets of relatives' gifts, it's just a matter of sending a gift for the sacrifice." He sighed heavily and said, "Alas, my old uncle was careful all his life, but he didn't expect his descendants to be involved in this chaos. Tingyu's body is not good, and he has been implicated in this big chaos. Now the whole family is worried and cannot rest, fearing that someone will file a complaint and immediately take away their title and confiscate their property."

  Mr. Qi listened with a bad taste, and looking at Xi Dan again, he came up with several different ideas: "...since Heng'er still misses Sheng brother's daughter, why don't you go talk about it? I think it's also a good match. What do you think?"

  "It's too late, I've already made arrangements."

  "Have you asked already?" Mr. Qi exclaimed in surprise. The Qi family was already unlucky enough with their own son, and if they were to add the humiliation of being rejected as a suitor, it would be adding insult to injury.

  "How could I be so reckless!" Ping Ning County Master knew her husband's meaning and hurriedly comforted him, "Wang family sister is a straightforward person, three words two sentences called me to take it out; her legitimate daughter, estimated to be with her maternal uncle's nephew close relatives, but not yet decided, and looking at it; Ming Lan that girl was already planned by the old lady early on, is a younger brother of the white stone pond He family side branch."

  Lord Qi couldn't hide his disappointment. He thought of his son's dejected and silent appearance, and hesitated: "In that case... only one girl is left, what about her?"

  "Pfft." The elegant and refined county mistress let out a soft snort, furrowing her brow at her husband. "Even if Heng'er is not capable, he wouldn't stoop to marrying a concubine's daughter! If it weren't for the fact that Minglan is being raised by his mother, with a similar temperament and appearance, I wouldn't be willing. It's all because I owe our son an apology, so I'm trying to fulfill his wish."

  Mr. Qi remained silent for a long time before saying: "This time, if someone comes to propose marriage, you should take a good look and ask about Heng's thoughts as well; after all, it must be something that makes him happy."

  The county master saw her husband's heart aching for his son and couldn't help but say, "I heard that the Sheng family has not yet made amends with the He family; moreover, now that the Sheng family is in high spirits, there might be some unexpected changes."

  Actually, the Sheng family, who were on cloud nine, also had some bad news.

  "Mother, think again, you're also getting old, it's not good to keep traveling back and forth." Sheng Hong hadn't even changed out of his official robes when he arrived at the Shou'an Hall, where Wang Shi and a group of children were already seated.

  The old lady shook her head stubbornly, her fingers moving back and forth over a string of agarwood prayer beads: "We've been sisters-in-law for decades, now that she's not well, how can I just ignore her?"

  Sheng Hong furrowed his brow and looked at Taisheng who was sitting restlessly beside him: "How is Aunt's body?"

  It's been years since we last met, and Tai has grown much taller. The originally short and chubby boy now gradually takes on the appearance of a young man. He looks embarrassed, stands up, and bows to Sheng Hui, saying in a low voice: "Uncle, please forgive me. Since I came of age, my grandmother's condition has not been good. Our family invited Dr. Bai, who had resigned from his official position, to come and take a look. He also said that it might be just a few more months; after the news got out, the third branch of the family kept coming to our door every day, sometimes saying that my grandfather still had some property left with my grandmother and now wanted to divide up the silver money, and other times saying that they wanted to take over the management of the household for my aunt and uncle. My grandfather is also getting old, and he often sits at home and refuses to go out. Everyone is afraid that something might happen to him, so they don't dare to move him... It's really a mess."

  Sheng Hong listened and let out a long sigh, then turned to Old Lady Sheng and said: "If something were to happen to you, Mother, how could your son ever be at peace?"

  The tall and slender Chang Wu, who was sitting beside him, immediately knelt down in front of Sheng Hong, looked up with sincerity and said: "I am unfilial, my grandmother is ill, but as her grandson, I cannot serve by her side, instead, I have to trouble the second old lady; this time...this time let Tai Sheng's younger cousin escort the old lady over, once we arrive, my mother will take good care of her, please don't worry, uncle!"

  Wang's face was full of reluctance, and he grumbled: "Easy for you to say."

  Sheng Hong was about to say something, but Old Lady Sheng put down her rosary and gently waved her hand, sighing: "No need to say anything, my mind is made up. We'll set off tomorrow." She paused for a moment, looking at Sheng Hong's worried face, then softened her tone: "I know you're all filial, but things have their own urgency. This old body can still move, so I might as well take this trip. Alas... speaking of which, this time the capital is in chaos, and our family is safe and sound, not to mention that you and Bo Ge and Wu Ge were promoted - that's due to your usual caution, but also thanks to the protection of the gods and ancestors. So we should be even more kind to others and accumulate good deeds, especially since this time it's for a family member."

  Sheng Hong and Wang exchanged a glance, and it was not good to speak again. After saying a few more words, Chang Bai sent Chang Wu and Tai Sheng away. Ming Lan looked at the situation and stood up, patted Sheng Hong's back, and said: "Father, rest assured, I'm here. Along the way, I will take good care of Old Lady."

  But Old Lady Sheng shook her head and said, "No, you're not going this time."

  Minglan was shocked, as she had been inseparable from the old lady for years. How could they bear to part with each other? But before she could speak, the old lady turned her head and instructed Wangshi, "Ming'er is growing up, it's not good for her to stay outside for long, nor can she run around. I'll go to Rao Yang first, if my old friend... when the time comes, I'll call the child over."

  Wang got up and responded respectfully. The old lady continued, "Now that Bai's daughter-in-law is sitting in confinement, you'll have to take care of things at home." Then she looked at Minglan with a bitter face and couldn't help but say, "Liu'er has never left my side since childhood, she's a careless child, I'm worried about her, you should keep an eye on her more often, don't let her get into trouble."

  The Wang family's matriarch smiled and said, "Look at what Old Lady Sheng said. I think Ming Yatou is very good, more sensible than her two sisters." Old Lady Sheng nodded: "You're too kind."

  Mo Lan saw the old lady like this, her heart felt sour, and she smiled tenderly: "Grandmother's biased heart, only Sixth Sister is worrying about you? Fifth Sister and I are already no one to care for."

  Like Orchid, she was unhappy in her heart, but didn't want to be used by Mo Lan as a gun, so she said: "Sixth sister is the youngest, grandmother can't help but worry; however... Grandmother indeed loves sixth sister the most." As she spoke, she pouted.

  The old lady smiled and didn't speak, while Sheng Hong furrowed his brow and scolded: "Who taught you this rule? The old lady is leaving tomorrow, but you're not thinking about the old lady's body, only thinking about yourselves!"

  The two of them immediately looked down and stopped talking.

  At night, Minglan stayed in Shou'antang, crying and begging Old Lady Shen. She repeated the same words over and over again, a tactic that usually worked, but this time the old lady was resolute. Minglan muttered to herself: "My daughter is no longer dizzy from horseback riding, she's also used to taking boats, and on the road, she can still talk to you to pass the time... What's Big Brother's house considered an outsider? They're all family..."

  The old lady was both angry and amused, slapping her granddaughter on the head with a loud crack. With a straight face, she said: "You should learn from your sister-in-law, see how she speaks and acts under her mother-in-law's guidance, so steady and flawless; what about you? You're always clinging to me, what will happen when you get married?" The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became, causing the teacup and lid in her hand to clink loudly.

  Minglan pouted and said in a sulky tone: "Why don't you just marry into their family with me?"

  Old Mrs. Sheng nearly choked, and was about to spit out a mouthful of tea, put down the teacup and pinched Minglan's face, scolding: "If I had been stricter, I should have beaten you a few more times when you were young!"

  Miss Lin saw that it was hopeless to persuade her, so she changed the subject and began to remind Old Madame to take care of herself, not to drink too much water at night, as getting up frequently would make her catch cold easily, and not to rush out in the morning until the sun had risen before going for a walk. She went on and on with a string of reminders until Housekeeper Wang and Cui Ping came in and heard her, bursting into laughter: "How things have changed! The young lady has grown up and now knows how to take care of Old Madame's health. In the past, it was always Old Madame who nagged her, but now the tables are turned!"

  The old lady's ears were numb from being nagged, and she couldn't escape, so she helplessly sighed: "Didn't Tai Sheng bring you Pinlan's letter? Every time you receive a letter from Pin'er, you're happy for half a day, why don't you hurry up and open it?"

  Minglan twisted her fingers, playing tricks like a little squirrel climbing on the old lady's body, rubbing her small head against her grandmother's neck, making the old lady laugh with itchiness. The two of them started to frolic and play, twisting and pulling each other. Fang Mama and Cuiping watched with interest but didn't dare to laugh, quietly retreating out. It wasn't until a while later that the pair finally calmed down their energy.

  The old lady's hair was disheveled, but she also had some of the liveliness of an old child. She gently patted Minglan's small hand and scolded, "Don't be naughty anymore, listen to me talk properly!"

  Ming Lan finally sat up straight, and the old lady looked at her with a heavy heart, saying: "Ah... I thought this life would be without descendants, but unexpectedly, the heavens gave me this little demon star, adding so much trouble to my life."

  Minglan didn't say a word, only burying her head and hugging Grandma's arm affectionately. Grandma's heart felt warm, her eyes filled with loving kindness as she hugged her granddaughter and gently said: "I was stubborn since I was young, spoiled by my parents, and never knew when to stop even when I got hurt. Now that I think about it, it would have been better if I had experienced some setbacks back then. Grandma can only protect you for so long? When you get married in the future, whether it's your husband's family or your own, you'll still have to deal with your mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Grandma can't always keep you under her wing, and not experiencing any hardships is also not good. This time, you should try to get along well with them. Did you hear me?"

  Minglan nodded her small head, but her eyes were slightly wet, with a few tears hanging from her long eyelashes. Her porcelain skin was almost translucent, and the old lady's heart ached at the sight of Minglan's pitiful appearance. "Without me around, they won't be able to restrain themselves," she said lovingly. "The mistress may not be good at other things, but she's excellent at managing the household and accounts. Your aunt is also clever and resourceful... Ah, in a year or two, you'll be getting married too."

  Minglan choked: "I don't want to leave Grandma."

  The old lady patted the girl and just sighed.

  For ancient officials, filial piety was a compulsory course. They sincerely hoped that their parents could live longer because mourning for parents was a headache for officials of any rank.

  Hello everyone, a new volume has started, everything is as usual, five updates a week (unless something unexpected happens).