Chapter 55: Su Guanqing, a servant, is in charge of the master's household...
Just as Fan Yanyu turned to lock the door, Su Guanqing rushed to the door and blocked it. "I'm here today, don't even think about opening it."
"Get out of my way!"
Su Guanqing was not willing to give in. He stood there, holding the bamboo stick across his body, with an air of one man standing against ten thousand.
"You blind man who doesn't know what's good for him!" Fan Yanyu was furious and raised his fist to hit Su Guanqing's eyes.
Su Guanqing felt the wind coming, but it was too late to dodge. Just when he was about to withstand the blow, the fist did not fall.
Su Guanqing heard Fan Yanyu's curses: "Who are you? How dare you attack me? Let go!"
Feng Fuliu's voice answered him, "I am following the orders of the eldest lady to protect Master Su. No matter who you are, you are not allowed to harm Master Su!"
Su Guanqing was overjoyed to see help coming, and hurriedly said, "Fu Liu, stop him. Don't let him into the study. I'll go find the Madam."
After saying this, he lit his bamboo stick and ran away without waiting for Feng Fuliu's response.
He ran to the door of the main house in one breath. Strangely, there were no servants serving at the door and the door was tightly closed.
Su Guanqing knocked on the door: "Madam!"
Zhong Wanci in the room didn't say anything.
"Madam!" Su Guanqing called out several times.
He called her Madam, not Auntie.
Zhong Wanci has always paid attention to these details, and she immediately understood that Su Guanqing was deliberately distancing himself from her. She knew that recent events had hurt the child, and she couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
As a result, she didn't want to face Su Guanqing even more.
However, Su Guanqing, who was always very sensible, was very tactless at this time. He knew that Zhong Wanci did not want to open the door, but he kept knocking on the door outside.
"Madam, this matter concerns Tongtong. Please open the door and discuss it with me."
"Madam! Tongtong has always valued the study. If you let Young Master remove the study, Tongtong will definitely be sad when she returns."
“…………”
The door creaked open gently. Zhong Wanci looked at Su Guanqing helplessly, and her voice was a little lacking in confidence when she spoke: "Guanqing, I've wronged you these past few days."
"Madam, I don't mind any injustice, but the study is Tongtong's most precious place, and we can't let others mess around!"
"Others? What do you mean by others?" A sharp female voice suddenly appeared from the side. "Who those others are is still unknown. My son is Tongtong's cousin! When did it become the turn of outsiders to sow discord between us?"
Seeing that her sister was silent, Zhong Yange grabbed her arm and said, "What do you think, sister?"
As the older sister, she was given the power to discipline her younger sister by her parents since she was young, and she has always done so in this way.
Zhong Wanci was originally a weak and indecisive person. When she was pulled like this, the shadow of her childhood was instantly awakened. Her subconscious reaction was to obey. She said timidly: "Guan Qing, this is my family's family affair after all. Don't get involved."
In fact, Zhong Wanci's silence during this period had already made Su Guanqing understand her attitude, but when she said this to his face, for a moment, Su Guanqing felt as if he had been hit on the head with a club, and he didn't know what to say.
"Yes, a servant is meddling in the master's household!" Zhong Yan Ge said sarcastically.
Su Guanqing calmed himself down and said seriously, "Yes, I am a servant, but as a servant, I must be loyal to my master. I cannot let anyone destroy the eldest lady's study."
Zhong Yange said dissatisfiedly, "Oh! That's right! Needlework is the most important thing for a woman. Having an embroidery room is just enough, but why would she have a study? Are they trying to take the imperial examination?"
She glanced at Zhong Wanci and said, "You too, you said you were in charge of this family, but the servants were so arrogant and arrogant, and you even let this girl be so willful. I'll have to spend a lot of time teaching her when she marries me!"
Zhong Wanci was just timid: "But Tongtong likes it, and she makes a lot of money from painting. Our house is all earned from her painting."
"What?" Zhong Yange raised her voice, "Can you earn so much by painting?"
Zhong Wanci nodded. "Yes, this house only cost her the money to repair a painting. Before, my dowry was pawned by Jiang Tong, and it was Tong Tong who redeemed it for me with the money from repairing the painting."
"Then how much can she earn from repairing paintings at Prince Xiang's Mansion this time?" Zhong Yan Ge's eyes were almost glowing green.
Zhong Wanci shook her head: "Tongtong didn't tell me this."
Su Guanqing, who was standing by, said, "Tongtong will charge 10% of the market value of the painting as a restoration fee. This time, she is restoring Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, and it will be sold for two thousand taels without any problem."
"You mean to say that Tongtong can earn two hundred taels in the past half month?!"
Su Guanqing nodded: "Not bad."
"Oh my, this is incredible!" Zhong Yange sighed in surprise and joy, and suddenly clapped her hands, "This study cannot be touched!"
As she spoke, she ignored her usually plump figure, and kept muttering "Two hundred taels, two hundred taels" and ran towards the study room like a happy penguin.
However, the two hundred taels of reward that Zhong Yan Ge had been longing for was bluntly rejected by Jiang Tong.
"Your Majesty, I don't want any money."
Zhu Zhanji was looking down at the album that had just been framed - Jiang Tong had used a folding method for this frame, making it very convenient to flip through.
Hearing this, he was stunned and looked up and asked, "What do you want? Gold? Or jewelry?"
You must know that he had already made preparations, and he would have to wait two or three years before he could see the Tao Te Ching. However, who would have thought that it would be completely restored in just half a month.
Even Mr. Hu, the old man whom he invited back from Jiangnan at a high price, was trying his best to find faults when he saw the album restored by Jiang Tong. However, as he turned it over and over, his indignant old face gradually changed, and in the end he shamelessly asked Jiang Tong if he could accept him as a disciple.
Zhu Zhanji also guessed that he would no longer have to worry about insects, rats, or climate changes in his room full of calligraphy and paintings. With Jiang Tong around, everything could be transformed from decay into something magical.
So now he looked at Jiang Tong as if he were a treasure.
Zhu Zhanji said in a gentle voice, "Tell me, what do you want? As long as you ask, I can give it to you."
"I only have one request for your Highness to fulfill."
"you say."
"Your Majesty, please withdraw your guards."
Zhu Zhanji gave a look and the servants around him walked out, and Zhao Quesheng followed them out in a daze.
Jiang Tong knelt down solemnly and paid homage to Zhu Zhanji: "I beg Your Highness to make the decision and allow the orphan of King Qing to return to his ancestral home." After Jiang Tong finished speaking, he kowtowed and fell to the ground, unable to get up.
——Prince Ying was Emperor Jingtai.
After the Coup of 1894-1895, Emperor Jingtai was stripped of his title as emperor and became the King of Ying again. After his death, he was posthumously named "King of Yingli".
Therefore, no one dared to call him the late emperor in public.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhanji's warm smile instantly faded. "Do you know what you're talking about? Regarding matters concerning the royal bloodline, how can a little girl like you be allowed to speak nonsense?"
"I'm not talking nonsense. What I say today comes from a sincere and loyal heart."
"What nonsense! Everyone knows that the King of Qing has no heirs, so where did this orphan come from? Confusing the royal bloodline is a capital crime. How dare you, the Jiang family, get involved in this?" Zhu Zhanji's face darkened completely. After all, he was a prince who held the power of life and death, and this dark expression was truly terrifying.
Jiang Tong was not afraid at all. She stood up straight and said sternly:
"I dare not speak nonsense. My great uncle, the late former Prime Minister Su Baichuan, died protecting the imperial heir. My father is also currently being held in a cell by the Imperial Guards for hiding the imperial heir."
Jiang Tong's eyes reddened as he spoke, tears streaming down his face, "For the sake of the orphan of King Qing, the Su family has already sacrificed their lives, and my entire Jiang family will also sacrifice their lives."
Zhu Zhanji stopped reading the Tao Te Ching. His expression kept changing and he stared at Jiang Tong intently, as if trying to figure out whether what she said was true or false.
He wanted to see, so Jiang Tong knelt straight and let him see.
The old man and the young boy in the room sat and knelt, facing each other silently.
After a long moment, Zhu Zhanji slowly spoke, "Why are you looking for me?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Tong knew that the other party was willing to take on this matter. She breathed a sigh of relief and replied:
"Your Highness is of noble status, highly respected, and is also the elder of King Qing. After King Qing's death, no one dared to mention his past in the past two years. His orphan has been living among the people, and no one dared to care for him. Everyone wanted to sever all ties with King Qing. Even Wu An, King Qing's uncle, did not want his orphan to survive. King Qing only has this little bloodline left..."
Jiang Tong choked up deliberately when she said this: "The only one I can count on is the prince."
"You are loyal to King Qing."
Jiang Tong could tell that Zhu Zhanji's words had a hidden meaning. She stood up for the orphan of King Qing, which made her seem like a member of King Qing's party.
If this is the case, the nature of the situation will change. It will no longer be a simple matter of recognizing one's ancestors, but someone will want to threaten the throne of Emperor Zhengtong. In this case, Zhu Zhanji would not dare to touch this hot potato.
She had to dispel Zhu Zhanji's doubts.
"I'm not loyal to Prince Qing, but it was Prince Qing who braved the danger and saved the Ming Dynasty from destruction at the hands of Yesen. Although I'm still young, I remember the battle in the capital vividly. If it weren't for Prince Qing, my entire family would have perished at the hands of the foreigners. Although Prince Qing made mistakes, he has served the country well, and I cannot bear to see him die without a heir."
Jiang Tong's words were sincere and heartfelt, especially when she thought of the crisis when Yesen's troops arrived at the capital that day, she actually shed a few tears.
Zhu Zhanji was over fifty years old after all, and age made him easily soft-hearted. Moreover, he and Emperor Jingtai had a good uncle-nephew relationship. So he couldn't help but soften his tone and sighed, "You little girl, are you really not afraid of death?"
Jiang Tong raised his head and smiled, a smile that carried a hint of determination: "Uncle Su is not afraid of death, my father is not afraid of death, and I am not afraid of death either."
"Excellent! As expected of a daughter of a general and a descendant of a loyal and righteous man!" Zhu Zhanji gestured for Jiang Tong to stand up. "Words alone are not enough to prove this. I must verify her identity."
"That's natural." Jiang Tong said.
"When the time comes, bring the child here quietly and don't make any noise." Zhu Zhanji said.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty."
…
When Jiang Tong returned home today, it was still completely dark. She held the heavy box of remuneration that the palace steward had forced upon her, and walked towards her room with tired steps.
During this period, she came back late and was always too tired to talk, so she didn't go to find Su Guanqing. However, when she turned around the corridor, she found Su Guanqing waiting at the door of the study.
He stood against the door with his eyes closed, but he seemed to have fallen asleep and did not even hear Jiang Tong's footsteps.
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