Chapter 62

◎Two chapters in one◎

After getting Jiang Bibo's approval, Li Cheng wrote to Guo Zhao, who also agreed.

In Guo Zhao's opinion, although Jiang Bibo was just a merchant's daughter, she was not an ordinary merchant. She was the head of a large salt merchant. She was young and beautiful, and she had the prince as a matchmaker. She was also the princess's sister. He readily agreed.

Although Huiyin had never arranged a wedding for someone else, she had been married before, and she was even planning to set a high standard for this wedding, so she advised Jiang Bibo: "This is your first wedding, and the day you become a bride is the most eye-catching moment in a person's life. And you are my stepsister, so it doesn't matter if the wedding is a little more glamorous."

Jiang Bibo smiled and said, "Everything depends on the princess."

Huiyin had someone send her a few boxes of cosmetics. Jiang Bibo saw that the boxes were all painted with dragons and phoenixes with gold powder, and she knew that the things inside must be very expensive. She knelt down to thank him again, feeling extremely grateful.

After leaving the Huaiyin Palace, Nanny Lin said to Jiang Bibo, "The princess is really quick and decisive in her work. She has found such a good marriage for you. When you marry in Yuzhou, you will be the wife of the governor. The elders in the family are very active these days."

"I moved my family business to Xuzhou. Originally, I wanted to rely on Prince Huaiyin, but I always felt that relying on others was unreliable. You see, after Prince Wei left, Sister Cao was rejected. Now, the princess also told me that Guo Zhao is a capable man. I can have someone to rely on for the rest of my life. No one will dare to make things difficult for me when I manage the business in the future." Jiang Bibo was very satisfied.

Nanny Lin smiled and said, "Now you are in a good situation. Since the princess said that she wants a grand ceremony, let's ask the butler to invite everyone."

Jiang Bibo ordered, "Forget about the others, but Sister Cao must invite her. She was cheated by the Xie family, so it would be nice if we could invite her to come and relax."

"Well... I'm afraid she won't want to come?" Nanny Lin thought that Cao might not come after suffering such a great humiliation.

She thought that the young lady was not the kind of person who wanted to slap others in the face, so why was she like this today?

Jiang Bibo didn't explain, but just smiled and said, "If she doesn't want to come, then send the invitation to his house. His family and my family have business dealings. If I don't send an invitation, others will think I look down on her."

Nanny Lin thought about it and realized that this was the case.

Originally, they were both old maids. Jiang Bibo wanted to be Li Cheng's concubine but failed. Later, she was adopted as a sister by the princess. She was about to become the wife of the governor. This could also vent her anger. It is said that when Cao entered General Xie's house, she specially sent a letter to Jiang Bibo.

When the Jiang family's wedding invitations were delivered to the Cao family, Mrs. Cao was taking her daughter Cao to relax in the garden. Although Cao was born into a merchant family, she was also trained by her family and was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Now that she saw the fallen flowers, she felt a sense of sympathy.

Mrs. Cao saw the wedding invitation again, opened it and immediately said to the maid: "Take it down."

"Mother, what is this?" Cao asked.

Mrs. Cao didn't want her daughter to know, so she lied, "No, nothing, just an ordinary post."

Cao was very smart and guessed it immediately: "I don't know how many wedding invitations mother has hidden these days. I don't know who it is today. The more you ask, the more worried I seem to be."

In fact, Cao already knew that Xie Jiuyi had used benefits to shut up her father and brother, so what was the point of sacrificing her? Yin was not as good-looking or talented as her, but General Xie loved her, and she could not change that no matter what she did.

Seeing her daughter like this, Mrs. Cao had no choice but to tell the truth: "This is Miss Jiang's wedding invitation."

"She? Is she going to get married too? Didn't she say last time that she had an adopted son?" Cao's reaction was huge.

She and Jiang Bibo were both businesswomen with great ambitions. She was relieved to learn that Jiang Bibo was no longer wanted by Li Cheng. She didn't expect that she is now married.

"Who is it? You won't ask for bribes, will you?"

Madam Cao shook her head and said, "It's the newly appointed Yuzhou Governor, Jianwei Zhonglang Jiang Guo Zhao." After she finished speaking, she saw her daughter's expression was gloomy and confused, so she hurriedly said, "It's a concubine, a mother to someone else."

It seems that this can effectively prove that Jiang Bibo married badly.

However, Cao's hand holding the handkerchief turned pale.

**

"Do you want pure fruit?" Huiyin cut the fresh fruit into small pieces and handed them to Zhan'er, but he shook his head unexpectedly.

Zhan'er's nurse said, "Second Master came here after eating some fruit."

So that's the case. Huiyin smiled and said, "Then I'll play with him for a while. I've been worrying about other things these days and neglected my little baby."

This is what it's like to be married. You always have to consider your family, your husband, and your children, but you have less time for yourself. In fact, she already had it much easier than the average person. Li Cheng only had her as his wife, and he didn't have any concubines. She also gave birth to two sons successfully. Her parents-in-law passed away, and she also had to avoid her grandmother-in-law's attention. But after all, she never had a leisurely time at home.

But I also thought that when I was at home, I couldn't make decisions on many things. Now I can make decisions on everything and don't have to worry as much as in my previous life.

Playing with a child means nothing more than playing with toys, telling stories, or taking him out to play. As long as you accompany the child, the child will feel safe.

"Mom, I want to play with a big cricket." Zhan'er handed a big straw cricket to Huiyin.

Huiyin held up the grass, and when he came to grab it, she lifted it up, and Zhan'er jumped up to grab it. He especially loved playing this game, and Huiyin played with him until Li Cheng came back.

Because after Li Cheng comes back, he will lift his son up, which is what the children like most.

Zhan'er was now cheering and calling him "Father" all the time.

He couldn't hear Huiyin talking to him.

Fortunately, after playing like this for a while, the child was tired and wanted to go out again. Huiyin asked the wet nurse to take him out to play, and she got up, rolled out the handkerchief and handed it to Li Cheng.

Li Cheng took the handkerchief, wiped the sweat off his head, sat down and said, "The weather is getting hotter. This day is a little unusual this year. I was scolding you that day. Even I was sweating when I went out by myself."

"Who said it wasn't? The weather is always stuffy and my body is always sticky. Now the plum rain season is coming again. I'm ready to rest for a month." Huiyin thinks it's best to sleep on rainy days.

When Li Cheng heard about the plum rains, he was moved: "Don't you think it's easy to have dreams during the plum rains? I feel like everything is unreal, just like a dream."

In fact, both of them were somewhat childish and naive, and they would not discuss government affairs together every day. Sometimes Li Cheng said something very childish, and only Huiyin would discuss it with him.

However, what he said made Huiyin feel emotional: "I wonder if it was Zhuang Zhou Mengdie or something else? Husband, do you think people can have another kind of life? What if the person you married was not me?"

"If I don't marry you, who should I marry? Even I can't imagine that we are not husband and wife." Li Cheng always felt that this was a strange thing to say, and he shouldn't have said such things.

Seeing her husband like this, Huiyin thought that she was not his wife in her whole life, but she could not say this. She touched his cheek with her hand and said, "If there is a war in the future, don't act rashly or take it lightly. Your survival is our hope."

Li Cheng rarely saw Huiyin like this. His wife was a very open-minded person. She could always be optimistic even in the most difficult and hard times. But somehow, at this moment, these lively eyes were filled with sadness, and his heart ached. He held his wife's face and asked, "What's wrong?"

In an instant, he understood love. Love entangled the couple, and they thought about each other more than themselves.

Huiyin leaned in his arms. Li Cheng's shoulders were very broad and she felt very safe leaning on them.

But when she came to her senses, she felt it was too tedious. Just then, someone outside said that Madam Miao was coming. Huiyin straightened her clothes before going outside. Madam Miao must have something to do when she came at this time, otherwise she would have sent a visiting card in advance.

"Princess, I have come to ask you for a favor." Mrs. Miao said while crying.

Huiyin looked at her and said, "Tell me slowly. You have always been respectful to me over the years. If you have any difficulties, just tell me."

Mrs. Miao stopped crying and said, "It's not my fault, it's Miss Dongshun beside you."

Dongshun? Ever since she came back from the temple, Dongshun has been restless. Huiyin saw that she was not young anymore. Madam Miao happened to be there at that time. She heard that the maid next to her was going to get married, so she helped introduce a marriage. The man was a cousin of her daughter's husband's family. marry a maid from a rich family than a girl from a poor family. Dongshun was beautiful and in her prime. Huiyin prepared a good dowry for her.

But later on, she was busy with the affairs of the Jiang and Guo families and had no time to care about it.

After hearing what Mrs. Miao said, Huiyin's heart tightened: "How is she? Is she dead?"

"No, no, I was pregnant, and then I was bitten by a dog, so I had a miscarriage." Madam Miao had heard that Huiyin was especially kind to the maids around her. Dongshun was just a maid and of course it was nothing, but it would be bad if the princess had a grudge against her.

Huiyin also breathed a sigh of relief. In this world, everything except life and death is trivial. She asked again what the reason was. Although Mrs. Miao was hesitant, she also said that it was between the sisters-in-law. The dog raised by the sister-in-law accidentally bit Dongshun.

"If the home is not peaceful, chaos is likely to occur. Fugui, ask Doctor Huang to take a look and prescribe the right medicine. Also, see if Dongshun has any problems and help her." This was all Huiyin could do.

…

Fugui was gone for a while, then came back to see Huiyin. It was already late at night, and Huiyin looked at her and said, "I'm sorry for the trouble. You can take a rest tomorrow and don't have to come to work."

"You don't have to worry about me. Today, Dong Shun learned that his master cares about him and he burst into tears. He is very grateful." Fu Gui sat on the footstool and spoke for Dong Shun.

"You're exaggerating. There's nothing to be grateful for." Huiyin didn't think there was anything wrong.

Fu Gui smiled and said, "She's already married, and you still let someone treat her illness. You're supporting her in such a big way. It's not the same as saying something you shouldn't say. Her family is no better than this." At the end, Fu Gui seemed unwilling to talk about Dong Shun's family, and only said, "Dong Shun regretted it and kept saying that he wanted to come back to serve the master."

"Let her be stronger. This place is not a safe haven. Now that she's married, she should manage her own life well. By the way, she wasn't bitten by a mad dog, was she?" People always beautify the road they have never walked. Dong Shun had complained before that working in the palace was too tiring and she might not be happy even if she stayed in the palace. It is better for her to walk the road she is walking now well.

Fugui shook his head: "No, it's just an ordinary dog. You know Dongshun loves to eat ham. She is pregnant again, and the big braised pork ribs cooked with ham are so delicious. Didn't they attract the dog? But I think this is definitely not a coincidence."

"Every failure makes you wiser. She should take good care of her health, live a good life in the future, and learn to be smarter." Huiyin helped her to criticize her in-laws and support her this time, but she couldn't support her every time. Even if her own daughter got married in the future, she wouldn't be able to be so meticulous, let alone Dongshun?

Fu Gui said, "Yes, that's what I advised her too."

Li Cheng also knew about Dong Shun's affairs. He said to Hui Yin, "At that time I told you to marry someone from my family, but you followed her wishes. Now you want to come back and serve her. How can that be possible?"

"She has to be paired with someone to serve in the mansion, and she may not be happy. There is no such thing as a paradise in this world." Huiyin said.

At this moment, Li Cheng was reminded that his wife also came from far away and she must have had a hard time back then.

Fugui was usually on duty and couldn't visit Dongshun, but Leyun went there once. She brought some supplements with her. When she saw Dongshun lying on the bed, she said, "I heard from my wife that the dog was not crazy. You had a miscarriage this time, but it didn't hurt you at all. It's better to take good care of you."

Even with Le Yun's comfort, Dong Shun was not happy. Her husband was a scholar, but he loved his reputation and pretended to be noble. He was not a bad person, but she could feel the subtle feeling that he was trying to get close to the royal family but despised her as a slave, even if he didn't say it in words.

She told Leyun that she wanted to go back. After she was frightened by the ghost, she always felt that the palace was full of troubles. As a slave, she could not cry freely even if she was frightened. From that day on, she wanted to be free. The princess agreed quickly, without any difficulty at all, and even gave her a dowry, marrying a scholar. But after she got married, she felt that it was far worse than the palace.

This family was a branch of a wealthy family. They only had two meals a day, one egg every ten days, and meat once a month, not to mention her sister-in-law, who was the daughter of a scholar. Her clothes had three or four patches, and she was always stingy when she spoke or did things. Only then did she understand why Fugui and Qiufeng refused to come out.

She told Le Yun about all these sorrows, and Le Yun could only advise her to live a good life. The princess gave her twelve loads of dowry, one hundred taels of silver to keep at the bottom of the box, and she also had her own savings in the past. The dowry between her sisters also amounted to several loads. The dowry that Le Yun gave to Dong Shun included two pieces of satin, two gold hairpins, two gold combs, and a box of tonic medicine, not to mention Fu Gui, Qiu Feng and the others. Dong Shun would definitely live a good life with this money, but now she only wanted to go back to serve him.

However, compared to Dongshun's regret for marrying out of the palace, Yunzhi was determined to get close to the prince. When Li Heng came to Deyin's place, she specially pinned a flower on her hair.

But she still held the plate in her mouth and said, "Liang Di, I just asked Pan'er to come over to serve, but she didn't even know how to serve tea and knocked over the teacup. Fortunately, I saw it in advance."

Seeing that the prince had already entered the inner room, Deyin could not help but signal her to be quiet: "Bring the tea over."

In Deyin's mind, she had never thought of sending Yunzhi to Li Heng as a concubine. Firstly, Yunzhi was her confidante and was very helpful. Secondly, Yunzhi was of average appearance and was not suitable to be a concubine at all.

But she didn't expect that after Li Heng had sex with her, he would still flirt with Yunzhi. Yunzhi was even happier to see that Li Heng was interested in her. She often eavesdropped on the room, mostly to see when the water was delivered, but because of this, she knew some of Li Heng's sexual habits. She was just a slave, so she was relaxed.

Li Heng was just playing around, wanting to use the people around Deyin for his own purposes and at the same time to seduce and stabilize the Zheng family. But after a few times, he found that this girl had some good points, and the feeling of secret affair was quite exciting.

Yunzhi of course hoped that Deyin would discover this, at least she would have a legitimate reason. But the difficult thing was that Deyin didn't even find out. Instead, it was only when she became pregnant that she begged Li Heng.

"Prince, I am so lucky to serve you. Now that I am pregnant, I know that I am of low status and I dare not have a child of the Dragon. Please escort me out of the palace. If Concubine Liang knows about this, I will not be able to see her again."

This move of retreating in order to advance made Li Heng say on the spot: "Since you are pregnant with my child, do you still want to go out? In this case, I will just tell your master."

For Li Heng, it was too difficult to unify the world now, but he was too scared to even employ a servant. Moreover, the children born by these lowly maids did not pose much of a threat.

Yunzhi finally became the prince's woman as she wished. Although she was only given the title of Chenghui and lived with another Baolin, she did not mind.

This incident was a huge blow to Deyin. Although Yunzhi did not want to see Deyin because she was pregnant, she felt a little reluctant to see her old master, but she still told the truth: "Liang Di, this is not considered betrayal. Isn't it the same for me and Pan'er to be pregnant?"

"If you really wanted to, why didn't you tell me earlier? And you teamed up to lie to me." Deyin really felt hit hard.

"But Concubine Liang, you are a noble lady. No matter what you do wrong, the prince will not do anything to you. But he beats and scolds us servants whenever he wants. When Lianzhi died, even you were powerless. I just died for my own life. We servants are not born to be servants. Although we are worthless, we also want to live well."

These were harsh to Deyin's ears. They were just longing for glory and wealth, so they betrayed their masters and became concubines, waiting for the day when they would give birth to a child and become the master. She didn't understand. She was also very sad about Lianzhi's matter, so why did Yunzhi become estranged from her because of this matter?

Yunzhi saw Deyin was stunned, she couldn't help but said: "Liang Di, don't worry, when I give birth to the child, I will bring it to you in the future."

"I don't need it." Deyin walked out with her back straight. She didn't need a maid to pity her.

…

Huiyin didn't take other people's affairs to heart. In previous years, the gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year were very important. This year, the gifts from the Zheng family were not many, and they were not as fresh as in previous years.

It was probably because of the severe drought in Jizhou last year, Huiyin thought.

However, the most important thing now is Jiang Bibo's marriage. See if it can stimulate the Cao family. Guo Zhao needs to remarry soon. Jiang Bibo is not young anymore. Both sides have simplified the wedding procedures, but the betrothal gifts and dowry are all sufficient.

Jiang Bibo's parents had both passed away, so Huiyin specially took her into the palace the day before her wedding, preparing for her to get married from the palace, and even specially set up an exquisite courtyard for her.

"Get ready to put on your makeup tomorrow morning. I have already told the prince that I will send a team of soldiers to escort you to Yuzhou. This is our territory now, and the bandits have almost been wiped out by the little prince. You can rest assured." Huiyin said, holding her hand.

Jiang Bibo saw the new wedding dress hanging on the rack. The hem of the dress was woven entirely with gold thread to create a phoenix pattern. It was just like her life, which was reborn from the ashes every time. She looked away and thanked the person in front of her: "Princess, you took me in as your sister and cared so much for me. I don't know how to repay you in the future."

Huiyin waved her hands: "I'm just afraid that you will have a hard time in the future and blame me for arranging a marriage for you. You are a smart person and you know how to live a good life. Just treat all the things that happened in the past as the past and live your own life well."

She doesn't like to say too many empty words, especially to people in trouble. She will help if she can. If you don't want to help, just stand by and watch. If you always want others to repay you, it's better not to help.

Jiang Bibo pulled out two things that looked like contracts from his sleeves and handed them to Huiyin: "My family has a total of eleven salt farms and eight large grain farms. I gave a few shops and houses to my adopted brother. The rest are in my hands. I won't say much. These two salt farms and one grain farm are all yours as private property."

"I can't accept this." Huiyin quickly refused.

Jiang Bibo smiled and said, "If you don't want it, then you really don't treat me as your sister. If it weren't for your help, I would not only be forced to be a concubine by the Huo family, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep the family's money. We are both women, I know you don't need this money, but I don't have anything else, so just accept it and give it to the two little princes in the future. We businessmen often say that money is a dumb wife, and people with money are not worried."

Seeing that she was so sincere, Huiyin accepted it, and Jiang Bibo was obviously very happy. Huiyin told her about Guo Zhao's situation in detail, and told her to develop Yuzhou's agriculture and mulberry business after she went to Yuzhou. Finally, she handed her a beautiful fire avoidance map and fled out of the new house.

Unexpectedly, Li Cheng was standing outside waiting for her. Huiyin ran over quickly and asked, "Didn't you say you had guests?"

Li Cheng smiled and said, "I do have guests, they are from the Cao family. This time they are much more sincere and even told me where Xie Jiuyi hid his food."

"Really? That's great." Huiyin didn't expect the Cao family to turn against them so quickly.