Chapter 067 Chapter 67

"Linfeng, would you come over and help me choose a bracelet? A bell bracelet or a jade bracelet?"

The sudden anger interrupted Shen Linfeng's thoughts. He took a deep look at Yao Niang in front of him. He originally thought that the painting was done by Yan Ningxin, but now he found that it might be done by Miss Yan San, and was used as a gift by the Prince of Qi. It is even possible that he took advantage of the little girl's love and took advantage of it.

He thought that no matter whether Yao Niang liked the Prince of Qi in the past, he was the most handsome in the painting, which proved that Yao Niang had good taste in the past. He must make her fall in love with him in the future. I think the painting was also two or three years ago. The Prince of Qi, huh, Yan Ningxin ran away with Wei Wuji because she was afraid that something would happen to the Prince of Qi.

He walked quickly to Yao Niang, looked at the two bracelets carefully, and shook his head: "You are wearing red today, and red with gold jewelry looks more luxurious and gorgeous."

Yao Niang smiled and said, "That makes sense. The bell bracelets are no longer suitable for me, and the jade bracelets are too cold. Let's choose a pair of gold bracelets."

Shen Linfeng quickly helped her put it on. Yao Niang turned her wrist and was quite happy.

The two of them stayed together, and it was getting dark without them noticing. It was not until their mother Gu reminded them that it was time to eat that they realized it was getting late. Shen Linfeng put away his painting and said, "Let's eat first."

"Yes." Yao Niang also took off her hairpin and washed her hands.

When the two of them were having dinner, Mother Zhou specially brought two dishes, saying that they were sent by Mrs. Shen. She also told Yao Niang that she didn't need to go to pay her respects tomorrow, which was also a thoughtful gesture.

Yao Niang said quickly, "It's so late, and I have to make an extra trip. I really trouble you." Then she stuffed a handful of money into her pocket and said, "I hope you can tell me more about the affairs of the mansion in the future. I don't understand anything."

Mother Zhou smiled and said, "Thank you for your visit, Grandma. I have to go back and report. Although you have just come in, we can see that you are a kind and respectable person. If you were not a newlywed, would want to come and pay their respects. It is only because of my wife's help that I can come here specially."

…

Shen Linfeng watched Yao Niang and Zhou's mother talking, and seeing that she handled it skillfully, he couldn't help but nod.

After Mother Zhou left, Yao Niang said, "I met so many relatives today that I can't remember them all now. Lin Feng, among these relatives, are there any who are particularly kind to you?"

"Aunt Gan treats me almost like her own son. She always asks people to send me baskets of whatever I like to eat." Shen Linfeng said without hesitation.

Yao Niang thought that Aunt Gan was the one who found fault with her the most, but she loved Shen Linfeng the most. Although she and Shen Linfeng had a good relationship now, they were still distant and close, so she stopped talking and asked, "Is there anyone else who is nice to you?"

Shen Linfeng thought for a moment and said, "They all seem to be very nice to me."

"That's right." Not to mention the Shen family, even Ying Niang had always liked Shen Linfeng. Everyone loved him unconditionally.

Then Shen Linfeng looked up and said, "It doesn't matter. I like you the most."

Yao Niang was a little panicked. In fact, she had never been firmly chosen by others. Her mother's identity had always been unclear, and she just lived on a little favor from her father. Even her brother loved her later. No one said that I firmly chose her.

After Shen Linfeng finished speaking, fearing that he might scare the girl, he smiled and said, "Come, I'll serve you this bamboo shoot stewed chicken. This dish is very fresh, and winter bamboo shoots are delicious."

"Thank you." Yao Niang lowered her head and drank the soup carefully.

At night, the two of them did the same thing as before, she slept inside and Shen Linfeng slept outside. But before they fell asleep, they heard a maid come over and say, "Master, Master Lu is here and he wants to see you for something urgent."

Shen Linfeng was just about to get up. He had a wide circle of friends and was on good terms with Lu Long. He also admired Lu Long (Lu Long pronounced three times). Lu Long was always very sensible. Now that he was newly married and was looking for him, there might be something going on.

But thinking of Yao Niang, he glanced at her, and Yao Niang smiled and said, "Go ahead, and come back soon."

"Okay." Shen Linfeng knew that although Yao Niang was young, she was a reasonable person, so he stood up.

But before he left, he heard Yao Niang calling him, "Come here for a moment. I have something to tell you in private."

Shen Linfeng didn't understand what was going on, but he saw Yao Niang crawling out from under the quilt in her pajamas, standing on the bed and smoothing out the wrinkles on his body: "Come back soon."

"Don't worry." Shen Linfeng followed her movements and his eyes followed her.

After seeing him leave, Yao Niang wanted to sleep, but she couldn't. Her great-uncle was already very ill, and he was just enduring for them. To endure was to suffer. Her father said that he wouldn't be able to see the whole New Year at the latest, and she didn't know when he would die. How could any friend come to him on someone else's wedding day?

Although only one day had passed, Yao Niang found that she had become accustomed to obeying Shen Linfeng, and now she would be unhappy when he went to see other friends.

She had heard her brother mention before that Shen Linfeng pursued family interests above all else and was willing to postpone everything, not even matters between men and women. It was said that after he entered the Hanlin Academy, he became more popular than her brother and was also good at building good relationships with his superiors.

But Shen Mo and Madam Shen had dinner together. The mother and daughter ate the meal quietly and talked about the second wife. Shen Mo smiled and said, "I think even if she is the daughter of the Marquis, her dowry will definitely not be as good as my sister-in-law's."

"The number of servants brought as dowry is less than the previous one. The eldest daughter of the Yan family brought 500 people as dowry last time, and this time the third daughter of the Yan family has a total of 200 people." Mrs. Shen always had to pick out something.

Shen Mo lowered his head and took a bite of the food, then heard Madam Shen say, "You should keep the pair of bracelets your sister-in-law gave you. There are so many people in the family and it would be bad if someone touched them."

"Mother, I know. I met Mother Zhu when I came here just now. Although she didn't say it explicitly, her implication was that the eldest sister-in-law didn't give enough reward." Shen Mo was not gossiping. Her mother's health was not very good. Sometimes, although the second aunt helped with some things at home, she also helped to take care of them.

Mrs. Shen couldn't help but ask, "What did Brother Feng give as a reward?"

Shen Mo said: "I heard it was two rolls of colorful silk and a box of rose cakes."

"You are still too young. Since ancient times, it has been easy to meet Prince Yan but difficult to deal with the little devil. What does your brother say?" Mrs. Shen said.

Shen Mo said shyly: "How could a daughter know what happened in brother's room?"

Mrs. Shen called Mother Zhou to ask, and Mother Zhou said, "I heard that my brother is not angry and said it's all right."

"Everything is easy to talk about now in a newlywed relationship. What couples fear most is bringing up the past." Mrs. Shen shook her head. She was no longer worried about her daughter-in-law's ability. She just looked pretty and could seduce men for a while, but she still had a long life ahead of her.

Shen Mo just said, "Mother, speaking of that Miss Yan, it is said that she is still imprisoned in the family temple, but why do I feel that you seem to be more tolerant of her? When she wanted to marry here, you didn't say a word to her."

Just as she finished speaking, she saw Mother Zhou saying, "The people at the second gate said that our eldest son went out to meet Master Lu. This Master Lu is really something. He chose to come when our eldest master got married."

Shen Mo smiled and said, "Brother is still like this. Last time we went to play polo with Sister Yan, he also went there on the surface, but he was more for socializing. I heard that this Rulong is a genius in Qimen Bagua. Brother has always had a good relationship with him and has given him the greatest financial support."

After hearing what she said, Madam Shen said, "Yes, when your brother was talking to Miss Yan, although he said that she was very suitable to be the mistress of our Shen family, you and I both know that this was because Miss Yan was of noble status and worthy of him. Your brother is a person who wears a jade pendant on his body. He is unwilling to go out with someone who is not suitable. He only wants someone who is worthy of him, and that person happens to be good-looking. But Miss Yan did such a thing, and your brother wanted to accumulate strength to take revenge on the Yan family, but later he knelt down and asked me to agree to this marriage. At that time, there were many people who wanted to marry your brother who were of higher status than the Yan family. Do you think he was sincere?"

One of them is not sincere and the other is sincere, how can Mrs. Shen not be afraid?

Shen Mo got Yao Niang's bracelet today, and she didn't want to talk about Yao Niang all the time. She changed the subject and talked a lot. She helped Mrs. Shen to the bed, and then she came out. Unexpectedly, she met Shen Linfeng.

"Brother." She calculated the time and found that it was less than half an hour before her brother came back.

Shen Linfeng saw that it was Shen Mo and stopped: "Sister, where are you from?"

"I came out after waiting for mother to rest. Is my brother out now?" Shen Mo asked.

Shen Linfeng nodded: "I went to see Lu Long. Originally, they wanted to come out to celebrate for me, but I had a headache and wanted to go back and rest early."

"I think brother is worried about sister-in-law, so he came back early." Shen Mo covered his mouth and laughed.

Shen Linfeng scratched his head and agreed.

Shen Mo joked, "Now that my brother has married my sister-in-law, I am also very happy. Don't worry, I will be there to help my mother."

Shen Linfeng was deeply moved when he heard this: "Thank you very much, sister."

He didn't expect Shen Mo to say this, but he was still very happy no matter what.

When Shen Linfeng came back, he thought Yao Niang was asleep, but she was leaning on the bed reading a book. When she saw him, she was delighted and very excited. Shen Linfeng couldn't help hugging her: "I'm back."

"I've been looking at the door, wondering when you will come back. Even though we've only been married for one day, it seems like I can't live without you. But don't tell this to anyone else, otherwise they will laugh at me and say that I've become so childish." Yao Niang leaned in his arms, feeling at ease.

Shen Linfeng rubbed her hair: "No, no one will laugh at you."

Yao Niang was about to say something when she heard Shen Linfeng say, "It's already 12:00 p.m., let's go to bed first."

"Okay." Yao Niang returned to her bed and was about to say something when she heard the steady breathing of the person next to her. She fell asleep facing Shen Linfeng, thinking that she would never have dark circles under her eyes again, because the person next to her must go to sleep at 9 o'clock in the evening.

She looked at the dark ceiling of the bed and wanted to treat this place as her home, but she knew very well that after getting married, she would be a guest at her parents' home. No matter how much her parents loved her, it could no longer be her home. She was also an outsider at her husband's house, and her future honor and disgrace would all depend on Shen Linfeng.

This time she didn't sleep very well, not because the Shen family was bad, but because she really realized that she couldn't go back. She woke up in the morning, but she had a headache, so she said to Qingdai, "You wrap the hot towel and I'll put it on my eyes."

Whenever my temples hurt, just apply some compress on my eyes and it will be fine.

Qing Dai whispered, "Did you not sleep well yesterday, young lady?"

"A little bit." It's easy to stay awake if you think too much.

In fact, Shen Linfeng, who was sleeping in bed, happened to hear it. He didn't expect Yao Niang didn't sleep well. What was the reason? He always thought that he took good care of her. Could it be that she was still dissatisfied with many things?

Because she had a very insignificant wound on her head, people who often combed her hair would avoid that place. Yao Niang was also very worried and said, "I don't know when this wound on my head will heal. The medicines I used can't heal it."

"Let me see, maybe I know how to help you."

Shen Linfeng's voice came. He always paid attention to his appearance, but now he stood up in his pajamas, walked to her, and dismissed the servants. Yao Niang turned to look at him: "Don't bother yourself. It might have healed in a year or so. I couldn't help but want to cut off this scar before, but I didn't expect it to bleed non-stop."

Shen Linfeng smiled and said, "I'll check for you and definitely not touch it, okay?"

"Well, actually it doesn't hurt or itch." Yao Niang was a little resistant. She always felt that if she did something well at the beginning, it would be fine. If she didn't do it well, she would desperately do some useless operations, which would hurt herself more.

Shen Linfeng held her down and said, "What are you afraid of? I really know the art of medicine. Where is it?"

She felt that he was becoming strong for some reason. Among all the men Yao Niang had met, her brother had the worst temper. But she was the younger sister, so she was naturally spoiled. Whenever he approached her, she always felt numb and unable to move.

Yao Niang pointed to the wound on her head. Shen Linfeng took her hand away, pulled apart her hair, and saw a very small dark brown scab.

"It's such a small scab? It's connected to the blood vessels here. If it was somewhere else, it would heal very quickly. But don't worry, I will clean it with realgar wine for you every morning and evening, and then apply Yu Lu ointment. It will definitely heal if you persist every day." Shen Linfeng felt very distressed.

Yao Niang turned her head and looked at him: "Really?"

Shen Linfeng nodded: "Of course, it's not a big problem, just keep applying the medicine."

"But last time when they were helping me apply the medicine, they were so strong that they pierced me here." Yao Niang couldn't help but act coquettishly towards Shen Linfeng. If she treated him as her brother, it would not be impossible.

Shen Linfeng felt very distressed: "Then I will be gentle, okay?"

His tone was so compassionate that Yao Niang inexplicably felt a sense of tenderness.

It was only after Gu Mama reminded her that it was time for breakfast that Shen Linfeng began to wash up. There was no need to pay respects today, so she was going to take inventory of her dowry and the allocation of servants.

Yao Niang's dowry was over 200 taels, which was extremely rich. The public gave 10,000 taels of silver as dowry, and Xie gave 50,000 taels privately. The money was naturally stored in the bank, and the warehouse was filled with various screens, bedside cabinets, and there were several sets, not to mention rare treasures. Shen Linfeng was amazed when he saw them.

"I'll take a look at the books today and record any that are damaged or lost." Yao Niang said.

She had checked her dowry several times before, so she knew exactly what was in it. There were twelve beds in total, eight folding screens, two coral pots, two jade pots, a ruyi vase, etc. Xie was very thoughtful, fearing that Yao Niang would miss the food at home, and asked the servants to bring some of her favorite dried vegetables with crab sauce.

"My mother is so busy, but she still cares about me." Yao Niang couldn't help wiping her tears with a handkerchief.

When Shen Linfeng saw her crying, his first reaction was not to comfort her, but to think that she was really like "peonies shrouded in smoke and pear blossoms in rain." He didn't know what was wrong with him, but his bones and muscles were weak, his ears were hot and his eyes were twitching, as if he had been poisoned.

Yao Niang turned around and looked at him. Seeing that he was standing still, she pulled his hand and said, "What are you doing standing there like an idiot?"

Seeing Shen Linfeng following her obediently, Yao Niang thought that he could be domineering at one moment and extremely obedient at another. The depression she felt last night also dissipated a lot.

On the third day, when she returned to her parents' home, Mrs. Shen had already prepared a variety of gifts, filling up three carts. Yao Niang said, "Madam, this is too much. If my mother knew, she would say I was not worthy of it."

When it comes to saving face, the Yan family has a great ceremony when marrying off their daughter, and the Shen family will not let their son lose face when he returns home. Madam Shen smiled and said, "Good boy, this is between me and your parents. If they want to talk, just come to me. It has nothing to do with you."

So Yao Niang did not refuse and went out with Shen Linfeng.

It was so cold that riding a horse was inconvenient, so the two of them rode in the same carriage. Yao Niang's clothes today were picked by Shen Linfeng, all purple, she wore a light purple skirt with a white fox fur, while Shen Linfeng wore a dark purple to look noble and also to convey the meaning of red and purple.

"My father and brother are both kind-hearted people and are easy to get along with. Of course, if you have any questions, just call me over." Yao Niang was going back to her parents' home and was very happy.

Shen Linfeng smiled and said, "Don't worry."

Shen Linfeng was not afraid of dealing with people, as he could easily get along with others, but it was still difficult to really open up to them. But when he saw Yao Niang for the first time, he felt his eyes light up, as if she were an old friend.

The Yan family was waiting outside to welcome them. As soon as Yao Niang saw Xie, she ignored Shen Linfeng and ran up to hug Xie: "Mother."

After sending her daughter away that day, Xie felt lost and always felt empty inside. She often couldn't help but go to her daughter's room, but seeing that the room was empty, she couldn't eat or sleep, and she needed someone to relieve her. Now her daughter hugged her, Xie couldn't help but say, "You child, you are still like a child, you are not afraid of being laughed at."

"Why should I be afraid of being laughed at? I really miss my mother very much." If possible, she really wants to stay with her mother for the rest of her life.

Shen Linfeng followed Yao Niang. He always knew that Yao Niang was filial, otherwise he would not have fought for the imperial edict for her mother. But seeing her acting so unreservedly, he felt jealous in his heart. It would be great if she could hug him like this one day.

The two held hands for a short while. Shen Linfeng naturally wanted to get closer to Yao Niang, but she became very uncomfortable when he acted coquettishly and said he liked her. He must respect her and make her feel comfortable.

Therefore, he stepped forward and greeted Xie respectfully: "Mother-in-law."

Xie saw that her daughter and son-in-law wore clothes of the same color and that her son-in-law looked energetic at all times, so she was quite fond of him. Young people nowadays are generally physically weak, especially scholars, who cannot carry anything with their shoulders or hands. People like Shen Linfeng are rare.

"My daughter has caused trouble for you, my son-in-law."

"No, Yao Niang is praised highly in our family. She is worthy of being the daughter of the Yan family. My mother even asked me to bring some supplements to my mother-in-law, saying thank you for raising such an outstanding daughter like Yao Niang." Shen Linfeng praised Yao Niang endlessly.

Xie was also very happy to hear that. Yao Niang glanced at Shen Linfeng. She knew that his mother was definitely not very satisfied with her, but she had to accept the fact that he could say it so politely.

Originally Yao Niang wanted to talk to Jie about her troubles, but then she thought that her parents would have to go home to worry about her. If she was not living well and they were always worried about her, her mother would have been worried a lot and she was not around, so she decided not to let her mother worry about her.

Therefore, Shen Linfeng was pulled away by her brother, and she talked with the women of the Yan family.

Xie was busy again, so Li said, "Mother, let your daughter-in-law go and make the arrangements. You can talk to your sister more."

"Okay, you go and be my daughter-in-law, eldest brother." Xie also felt that she was too nervous. Her daughter was too young, and no matter how smart she was, she was still immature. How could she not worry that she would be bullied?

In fact, Zhen had no such thoughts. Yingniang was arrogant and domineering, not even as smart as Yaoniang. She would be married in two years. Even if she could teach her daughter, she was afraid that her daughter's character had already been formed and it would be difficult to change.

Moreover, Zhen learned from her relatives who went to the capital that her father-in-law might be seriously ill and difficult to cure, which happened in the past few days. No wonder Xie married her beloved daughter early. They thought it was very smart, but they didn't know that the Yan family had several servants. Yan Jingzhao was indeed capable, but he was arrogant and unruly. When he was a Shujishi, he dared to write a letter to the emperor to collude and attack the government. If it weren't for Yan Yingqi's intervention, he would have been demoted long ago.

When the Yan family leaves, what good can the third girl do in the Shen family? Officials are very popular and lose their temper very quickly. Even if the third uncle is there, he has been away for several years and distant water cannot save the nearby fire. Zhen often deals with the Shen family and is not unaware of their little tricks. The third girl's life will probably be very difficult.

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter whether you live a good life or not, as long as you know that other people’s lives are difficult, that’s great.

"Third girl, I see that Aunt Shen treats you very well. You and your wife are a perfect match. We all hope that you can grow old together." Zhen said with a smile.

Yao Niang said, "Then I will accept your good words."

She still admired Zhen very much. No matter what, this person had never lost face. Whether she was happy in her heart or not was another matter.