Extra seven
While everyone in the court was arguing about the next maritime merchant, the flower-viewing banquet in the harem was a harmonious scene.
Emperor Showa did not have many concubines in his harem. During his decades on the throne, he only held two beauty pageants. Because he had a close relationship with the empress, only seven or eight people were added to the harem in the past ten years. Especially in recent years, as Emperor Showa gained more control over the court, he burned all the memorials requesting him to hold another beauty pageant. It was said that no new people had entered the palace in the past three years.
Because the emperor cared for and respected the empress, and with him setting an example, the other concubines did not dare to be disrespectful. For private banquets organized by the empress, they would come early to show their support, and always stay around the empress at the banquet, following her lead.
When Jiang Wanning brought Lu Nian'an over, there were already many noble ladies in the imperial garden.
She had been back for quite a while, but had never attended any banquets, so naturally she had little interaction with others.
Many people didn't recognize her yet. When they saw her coming, they just looked at her curiously and asked in a low voice which family this lady was from.
It was not until the Queen discovered Jiang Wanning that she called her over. She first asked her how she had been doing these days, then called Lu Nian'an to her knees and asked someone to bring the longevity lock on the spot.
The queen held An An's little hand and asked a few questions, but found that the little girl was clever and quirky and really likable, so she couldn't help but coax her to stay in the palace for a few days.
Jiang Wanning sat aside, but didn't know how to respond when she heard it.
Fortunately, An An held the Queen's hand and said seriously, "An An promised Grandmother and Great-Grandmother that she would be back before dark! Grandmother and Great-Grandmother love An An very much. They are sad when they can't see An An for a day. They are so good to An An, and An An can't make them sad."
"I'm sorry, Queen, An An can't accompany you."
"Oh my, the little darling is such a filial child..." The queen suddenly felt regretful, but she did not mention keeping her again.
After a while, several younger children in the palace came running over. They first greeted their mother, the Queen Mother, and their mother, and then came over in twos and threes, obviously very interested in this beautiful child.
Jiang Wanning was originally worried that these princes and princesses might not be able to grasp the severity of the situation and accidentally hurt An An.
Unexpectedly, the queen cared more about the little An An than she did. She always kept little An An by her side and even picked her up from behind. She allowed the other children to come over and talk, but she refused to let them hold hands or touch her.
Seeing this, Jiang Wanning's heart was completely relieved.
While she was talking to the queen, her subordinates also found out her background.
After hearing that this person was the daughter of Grand Secretary Jiang, everyone's reaction was indifferent. Although there was some surprise, it was still normal.
But when they heard that her husband was Lord Lu Shang, who was highly regarded by the emperor, everyone reacted greatly. They asked around, hoping to make some friends with him so that they could give them a ride on the next time the merchants went out to sea.
Since the return of the Wavebreaker, Emperor Showa has introduced new policies, and maritime merchants have become the most popular industry in the entire world.
As the questions were being asked, someone asked Mrs. Xie.
Mrs. Xie came with her daughter today. To those with whom she had an average relationship, she only said that she had no connection with Mrs. Lu and probably didn't know much more than them.
But when she found her friend, she quickly pulled him aside, away from everyone's eyes and ears, and said excitedly, "So Madam Lu has some influence in front of the Empress! Qianqian, let me tell you, this Madam Lu is an extraordinary person!"
Madam Yang, who was replaced by Qianqian, showed curiosity and asked, "What do you mean?"
Mrs. Xie lowered her voice again, almost whispering in her ear, "Do you remember how a few months ago I worried about my good-for-nothing nephew from my mother's family and searched everywhere for a teacher?"
Madam Yang suddenly remembered and subconsciously glanced towards Jiang Wanning: "Could the female teacher you heard about earlier be this Madam Lu?"
Madam Xie couldn't suppress the smile on her face at all, and she said to her carefully, "You don't have any nephews or nieces to worry about at home, so you may not have paid much attention to it. The teacher I originally wanted to find was actually Madam Lu."
"Later, by some strange coincidence, Madam Lu reopened a school in the capital, but she only accepted children from commoners. I asked my sister-in-law to disguise herself as a peasant woman and barely managed to get my worthless nephew in. It's only been over a month now, and guess what happened?"
Madam Yang knew from her expression that the effect would definitely be good.
As expected, Madam Xie said, "Three days ago, my nephew finally passed the Imperial College quarterly exam! Not only that, he even achieved a mid-level ranking, which shocked the teachers. It's only been a month, and he's only been studying with Madam Lu for a month... She's worthy of being able to teach so many successful candidates. It really was right for me to go to Madam Lu back then!"
Madam Yang was amazed when she heard this: "Is it really that powerful?"
"Of course not!" Madam Xie praised. "Just wait a few months for my nephew to learn from Madam Lu. You'll know if there's any effect."
"Well... I'm just telling you this, don't spread it around. Let's talk about that Lord Lu in the court. He was born into a farming family and later switched to a business. How could he have become the number one scholar chosen by His Majesty?"
"You mean—"
Madam Xie smiled and said, "Since Madam Lu is able to teach the children of other families, she must be even more attentive to her own family. Sir Lu's position as the top scholar may not be entirely due to Madam Lu's contribution, but she certainly played a role in it."
"In short, whether it's to get access to Lord Lu or to have some connections with the Jiang family, Madam Lu must make friends. Regardless of how close the relationship is, at least she can have a few words with him if she encounters any problems."
Madam Yang agreed with this and followed Madam Xie. She finally found an opportunity to talk to Jiang Wanning.
Jiang Wanning had already guessed about Madam Xie's nephew's enrollment, but as long as he didn't reveal his identity and behaved well in school, she could turn a blind eye and just consider it as a favor to Madam Xie.
While she was talking to the ladies around her, she was also paying attention to An An's movements.
Someone mentioned, "I heard that Madam Lu opened a school?"
Jiang Wanning was startled for a moment, then smiled and dealt with it in a few words.
Just as she was wondering when she could go home, she noticed a pair of gazes fixed on her. When she followed the gaze, she saw two familiar-looking women staring at her across the crowd.
Jiang Wanning: “…”
The images buried deep in her memory gradually emerged, and she vaguely remembered who those two people were.
When they first moved to the capital, Jiang Wanning took Lu Shang to several places she had frequented ten years ago. She couldn't help but recall her childhood friends. However, those friends were exiled with the Jiang family, and she no longer had any contact with them.
Even after returning to the capital, Jiang Wanning had never thought of looking for them. She never expected to meet old friends in such an occasion.
In fact, she could no longer remember the names of the two people, nor did she know which families they were from, let alone their situations over the years or which families they married into.
But what is certain is that she still clearly remembers the past when she enjoyed the flowers and sights with them.
Jiang Wanning raised her foot slightly, wanting to go over and reminisce about the past, but before she could take a step, she stopped.
After all, so many years have passed and we haven't seen each other for a long time, so we are already speechless.
She is gone, is there really anything left to talk about?
In the end, Jiang Wanning did not go over to reminisce with them, and the two people did not take the initiative to come over. Both sides just nodded from a distance as a greeting.
In the evening, the flower-viewing banquet ended, and the ladies of each family walked out of the gate of the Central Palace. Led by the palace servants, they walked to the gate of the Main Palace one after another, where their carriages and horses were already waiting.
When Jiang Wanning came, she had already asked the family's coachman to wait outside. Now, holding An An's hand, she was looking for the Jiang family's carriage.
But just as she turned her head, someone suddenly touched her shoulder. When she looked back, she saw Lu Shang's smiling face.
Jiang Wanning's eyes flashed with surprise: "Why is my husband here?"
Lu Shang bent down and picked up Lu Nian'an, saying with a smile, "I just came out from His Majesty's place. I heard that the flower viewing banquet was almost over, so I simply waited at the palace gate, and sure enough, I caught up."
In public, the two men did not ask about the emperor and the empress's affairs, but just chatted about family matters. Then, under the attention of everyone, they got on the carriage together and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.
After the flower-viewing banquet, as expected, Jiang Wanning was talked about a lot in the backyards of various families for a while.
She was said to be of a distinguished family and was well-read. If she had not suffered the pain of exile, she would certainly have been said to be from a family of equal status.
It was also said that she had her own ideas and was not influenced by worldly prejudices. She opened several schools in succession and achieved great success in all of them.
Even her husband seemed to be a decent man. Not only was he highly regarded by the emperor, he also doted on his wife and daughter. For example, at the flower-viewing banquet that day, he actually waited at the palace gate for about an hour just to wait for his wife and daughter to come home together.
A successful career, a loving couple, and what everyone envies are nothing more than this.
Of course, there are also those who can't stand seeing others doing well and say sourly: "In my opinion, the daughter of the Jiang family has regained her wealth and status thanks to Lord Lu. Otherwise, who knows what her fate would be!"
The others turned around and saw that it was the famous gossip in Beijing, so they quickly turned their heads back and did not take the words to heart.
Jiang Wanning and Lu Shang had no idea what outsiders were saying.
After the flower viewing banquet, the two of them fell into a new round of busyness.
Lu Shang's busyness has become the norm. After all, whenever he returns from the Breaking Waves, no matter whether it is the placement of the goods brought back or the next time the merchants go out to sea, anything involving the state-owned trading company must be decided by him.
In addition, he also took care of the mundane affairs of the cabinet. Although Emperor Showa ordered to reduce his work, he was embarrassed to do nothing, and it was common for him to bring official business home.
Jiang Wanning felt sorry for Lu Shang's hard work at first, but one day, a large group of people suddenly came to her school. They said they were from a village outside Beijing, but judging by their words and deeds, they must have mixed into wealthy families.
Later, many businessmen joined in, making the situation a mess, which gave her a headache for a while.
Her school did not check family circumstances at the beginning, and it was not convenient to add more students now, so she had to register the students first, teach them a few classes, and then decide whether to keep them or not.
The increase in the number of students undoubtedly made the teachers in the school busy for a long time.
Originally, the two of them were thinking of moving to a new house, but after being so busy, they found it more convenient to stay at the Jiang family's house, so they simply gave up the idea of moving and just continued to live at the Jiang family until they had some free time next year.
Everything went on in an orderly manner, and the end of the year came in the blink of an eye.
This year, the Jiang family prepared decorations and food for the New Year early, and Jiang's mother went to the street to buy New Year's goods whenever she had time.
Logically speaking, the Jiang family has so many servants that it is not the mother's turn to do the hard work herself.
However, this year's Chinese New Year is very different from previous years. Not only my daughter and son-in-law are here, but even my son and daughter-in-law who are far away in the northwest are coming back!
Jiang's mother couldn't remember how many years it had been since the family was reunited. Ever since she received the news that Jiang Zhiyu was coming back, she would go to the city gate to check on him almost every three to five days. If it wasn't really inconvenient, she would even want to go to the official road to greet him.
Jiang Wanning was naturally happy about the return of her brother and sister-in-law.
Due to the increase in the number of students in the school, she unconsciously thought of recruiting more teachers. However, a letter came from Songxi County saying that Xiang Min and Zhang Jiaqi were coming.
Zhang Jiaqi was also a student of Wuming Private School and the first person to invest in Xiang Min Embroidery Workshop.
As early as when Jiang Wanning moved to the capital, Xiang Min's embroidery workshop had opened seven or eight branches throughout the major counties of Songxi County. There was also a cheap and affordable letter stall in front of each store, and it had become one of the landmark shops among the local embroidery workshops in Songxi County.
Zhang Jiaqi didn't initially think about how much money the embroidery workshop could make. Faced with the growth and development of the embroidery workshop, she didn't think much about it except that she would have more pocket money.
However, something unexpected happened in her family and her fiancé broke off the engagement.
In order to make ends meet, the Zhang family intended to marry her off to a wealthy man who was more than 30 years older than her as a concubine. She was extremely reluctant and after several confrontations, she was almost forced into the bridal sedan.
This time when the two of them went to Beijing, Xiang Min came more to accompany Zhang Jiaqi.
According to what they both said, Zhang Jiaqi wanted to stay in the capital. It would be best if she could get help from Jiang Wanning. However, it was inconvenient to arrange for her. She still had dividends from the embroidery workshop, and she could use that money to try to open an embroidery workshop near the capital.
After closing the letter, Jiang Wanning easily connected Zhang Jiaqi with the new school.
Because of the other party's arrival, she postponed the matter of recruiting new teachers. As the school was on New Year's holiday, she just focused on accompanying Jiang's mother to buy New Year's goods and welcome her brother and sister-in-law home.
The house the Jiang family lives in now is the same one they lived in decades ago. In addition to the main courtyard, there is also a side courtyard for their children.
Jiang Wanning and Lu Shang lived in the courtyard where she grew up. The courtyard belonging to Jiang Zhiyu had always been carefully maintained and was ready to welcome its owner home at any time.
But the same thing is that now that the Jiang family's two children are married, they always have to take into account the ideas of their son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Lu Shang is not so picky and is fine with anything going on.
But Jiang Zhiyu's wife only stayed at home for two days, and then hurried back to the northwest with him.
Since the two of them rarely come back this time, Jiang's mother thought of renovating their yard in advance, especially to suit her daughter-in-law's preferences, so as not to make her feel neglected.
She couldn't make up her mind, so she called Jiang Wanning to join her.
The two of them wandered around for several days, and although they had chosen the flowers and plants for the yard, they were still undecided about the furnishings inside.
Jiang Wanning felt that her sister-in-law was a neat and cheerful person, and must prefer simple and elegant furnishings, so she always chose some calm and restrained ones. But Jiang's mother felt that no matter how capable her daughter-in-law was, she was still a girl after all, and which woman didn't like luxury? It would never go wrong to find some luxurious and noble ones.
Jiang Wanning retorted, "I don't like shiny jewelry like that."
Mother Jiang glared at her: "Then don't ask Mr. Lu Shang to write Western gadgets for you!"
"..." Jiang Wanning was speechless and suddenly lost the courage to refute.
But after arguing for so long, the two still couldn't decide how to redecorate the furnishings in the house. They were destined to find it difficult to reach a consensus, so they had to find a third person for advice.
At the dinner table, everyone burst into laughter after hearing their predicament.
However, after Jiang's father and Lu Shang exchanged a glance, they said in unison, "Don't worry about it. Didn't Zhiyu say that he'll be staying for two or three months this time? You might as well give them the money and let them make their own arrangements."
"Then I was thinking that it's a rare occasion for Shu'er to come back, and she has no family, so we should at least show our appreciation." Mother Jiang muttered softly, and seeing that Father Jiang and Lu Shang both disapproved of her interference, she had to give up with little interest.
After dinner, Jiang Wanning and others accompanied An An to play in the garden, while the servants quickly cleared the table.
Father Jiang and Lu Shang changed places and chatted casually about the affairs of the court.
Father Jiang held the teacup in his hand and suddenly asked, "Have you met Zhiyu's wife?"
Lu Shang nodded: "I have met him once."
Father Jiang asked again, "Is there anything you want to say?"
If Lu Shang had only a guess or two before, now after hearing Jiang's father's question, he was basically certain.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and said in a deep voice, "Since this is a matter between my brother and sister-in-law, I believe they have their own plans. As their brother-in-law, I can't interfere too much. But if they need me one day, I will definitely do my best to help them."
After hearing what he said, Jiang's father could hardly hide his surprise.
But on second thought, he, the son-in-law, didn't mind his wife opening a school, being a female teacher and recruiting female students. Even he himself set up an unheard-of position for female workers.
Then it wouldn’t be strange to suddenly know that there was a female general, right?
Father Jiang smiled and said, "You're right. Since this is a matter between Zhiyu and his wife, it's best for us to stay out of it."
On the 29th day of the lunar year, Jiang Zhiyu and Bai Shu returned to the Jiang family.
As the year was drawing to a close, Jiang's mother couldn't wait for them to come back. She thought something might have happened to them on the way and was extremely worried. She urged Jiang's father several times to send someone to meet them and check on them.
Fortunately, in the end, my son and daughter-in-law finally came back.
Jiang Zhiyu did not sit in a wheelchair this time, but instead used a pair of crutches with supports. With Bai Shu's support, there was nothing unusual about his walking.
He and Bai Shu came back on horseback, with the crutch hanging behind the horse. He didn't have the crutch when he got off the horse. Then he greeted his parents, sister and brother-in-law. When he turned around, Bai Shu handed him the crutch.
Jiang Zhiyu laughed and said tentatively, "I can walk without a cane, so why not just not use one today..."
"No." Before he could finish, Bai Shu interrupted him coldly.
As she spoke, she turned and smiled at Jiang's father and mother, then turned back and forcefully placed the crutch in Jiang Zhiyu's hand.
Jiang's father and mother were stunned for a moment, but when they came to their senses, they actually stood on Bai Shu's side and advised her, "Shu'er, this is for your own good. Zhiyu should just listen and use it."
"How about I ask someone to quickly get a wheelchair so you can sit in it?"
The whole family knew that Jiang Zhiyu had been able to walk without external assistance for a long time.
But since Bai Shu, who lived with him day and night, cared so much and would not easily allow him to walk upright, others would not refute anything. They just followed her words and tried to dissuade Jiang Zhiyu from throwing away his crutches.
Jiang Zhiyu waved his hands pleadingly: "Forget it, forget it. I'll just use the cane. Xiaobai, don't be angry. I'll listen to you."
Bai Shu's brows relaxed when she heard this: "I'm not angry."
The family had been standing at the door for a long time. Seeing the couple start talking, Jiang's mother said, "Everyone, come in quickly. You must have had a hard journey. I asked the servants to prepare hot water and the floor heating has been turned on. Would you like to go back to your rooms and warm up first?"
After asking Bai Shu's opinion, Jiang Zhiyu decided to go back to his room to wash up and change his clothes.
Everyone sent them to the gate of the courtyard and then returned to the front hall to wait.
While waiting, they couldn't help but tease Jiang Zhiyu and Bai Shu.
Jiang's mother smiled so hard that her eyes crinkled. The more she spoke of Bai Shu, the more satisfied she became. She sighed repeatedly, "Shu'er is such a good girl. She doesn't mind Zhiyu's disability or the hardships of the Northwest. She's stayed with Zhiyu in the Northwest for so many years."
"I used to be afraid that Zhiyu would end up alone, and I was worried about finding him a wife. But I never thought he would find his true love, and she's willing to endure hardships with him."
"Shu'er seems to have a cold and hard personality, but it's good that way. With Shu'er taking care of Zhiyu, I feel relieved even if he's not with me. If it were someone so delicate, how would they survive in a place like the Northland..."
At some point in the conversation, Jiang Wanning suddenly asked, "Are you planning to stay in the northwest with me forever? Or is it that you plan to be transferred back, so you can bring me back to the capital?"
When these words were spoken, the others were all stunned.
After a moment, Jiang's mother hesitated and said, "I don't think Zhiyu mentioned coming back. Now that you mention it, it seems that... Zhiyu doesn't mind the hardships of the north, but it's not good to let Shu'er stay there forever."
"Then wait until they come out and I'll ask them again."
As Jiang's mother and Jiang Wanning were talking, they turned around to ask what Jiang's father thought.
But when they turned around, they found that Father Jiang and Lu Shang had gone to the door at some point. The two of them were huddled together, and no one knew what they were talking about. Only Grandma Lu was left in the room, hugging Lu Nian'an and chatting and laughing.
An hour later, the servants of the mansion brought dinner.
Not long after, Jiang Zhiyu and Bai Shu also came over. They walked side by side, greeted their parents, and then sat on either side of Jiang's mother.
Mother Jiang said contentedly, "Okay, okay, since everyone is here, let's have dinner."
There's another chapter tonight
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