Eleventh Lady touched her son's smooth hair, gently put down the picture album in her hand, tucked in the corner of the quilt for him, winked at Ajin, indicating that she should take good care of Jing'er, and then tiptoed out of the warm room.

A north wind was blowing outside, hitting the windows and making them rattle.

Eleventh Lady went to bed.

It's warm under the quilt.

She looked at the scent bag on the top of the tent and suddenly remembered the time when she first got married... It seemed like she was getting further and further away...

I turned over and heard light footsteps outside.

"Why haven't you slept yet?" Xu Lingyi, feeling cold, sat down on the bed. "It's winter and we need to take care of ourselves. The weather has changed today, so we should go to bed early!"

Eleventh Lady looked up and carefully examined the person in front of her.

His eyes were still as bright, his voice was still as mellow, but there was no longer the solemn look between his brows as when they first met. Instead, there was the gentleness that she was familiar with.

It seems like everyone has changed.

"What's wrong?" Xu Lingyi asked her with a smile.

"It's okay!" Eleventh Lady smiled and sat up. "What does Aunt Wen want to see you about?"

Xu Lingyi got up and went to change his clothes: "Something happened in the Wen family, and she asked me to discuss what to do?" His tone seemed a bit understated.

Hadn't he already stopped caring about the Wen family's affairs? Why was he staying with Madam Wen to discuss things with her?

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but ask: "What happened to the Wen family?"

After all, it involves what happened when the emperor was in his palace.

"I once helped the Wen family a little, and the Wen family sent me some money to thank me." Xu Lingyi thought about it and carefully told Shiyi Niang what happened at the beginning. "I didn't want it, but the Wen family insisted on not taking it back, so they put it in Wen's hands. A few years ago, the Wen family wanted to do business with the Ministry of Internal Affairs through Yang, and they spent a lot of money, but the profit was not great. Later, when the Yang family got into trouble, they took out a lot of money to manage it. The Wen family's business is not the business of any one person. In the past few years, the third master of the Wen family has been in charge, and not only has the business been bad, but he also lost his job as a weaver in Jiangnan. , and the momentum was not as good as before. The elders in the family had some objections, and some even suggested that Wen's brother should take care of the family business. In a hurry, Mr. Wen started maritime trade. He made some money and barely saved the situation. As a result, after the Wang family got into trouble, some people who had followed Wang Jiubao started maritime business again. The Wen family's ship was robbed twice in a row, and they lost a lot of money, which seriously damaged their vitality. Wen's brother sent someone to see Wen, saying that he wanted to take this opportunity to get the support of the elders in the family to manage the family affairs. In this way, everyone's life will be better. "

Eleventh Lady thought that the Wen family had sent someone to give some silk to Mrs. Wen some time ago, and Mrs. Wen also gave her a few pieces of tribute. It should be at that time that the news was given to Mrs. Wen.

"Back then, Wen's brother was too cautious. After Wen's father passed away, the elders of the family chose Master Wen to manage the Wen family's business. Now Wen's brother is taking advantage of Master Wen's weakness to regain the right to manage the family business. Wen couldn't make up her mind, so she came to me to talk about this." Xu Lingyi said, "I think the money originally belonged to the Wen family. Since Wen wants to return it to the Wen family to help her brother, then she should return it to the Wen family. It can also be regarded as an explanation for what happened back then!"

In this way, wouldn't the relationship between the two families become more distant?

Eleventh Lady was very surprised and couldn't help asking, "What did Madam Wen say?"

"He said some words of gratitude." Xu Lingyi said, "Then he agreed on a date for the Wen family to come and collect the money!"

With this money, Madam Wen's brother will definitely win the support of the clan elders.

No wonder he had to talk to Xu Lingyi in private.

By doing this, Madam Wen is interfering in and affecting the internal affairs of the Wen family!

But on the day when the Wen family came, Aunt Wen's behavior was beyond the expectations of Eleventh Lady and Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi asked Shiyi Niang to ask Madam Wen if she wanted to see her brother. Madam Wen shook her head gently: "In public, Master Wen is the guest of the Marquis, and I am a female member of the inner court; privately, Master Wen is my brother, and I am the Marquis' concubine. Regardless of public or private, I have no right to see Master Wen. In this case, it's better not to see him." There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Indeed. Publicly, men and women should not touch each other, and the women in the inner courtyard could not meet male guests; privately, the brothers and sisters of concubines were not considered relatives. Publicly and privately, she was indeed not qualified to meet the visitors from the Wen family.

Is this a protest against the Wen family sending her to Beijing?

It's just that the protest came a little late... This change seems to have started after Aunt Qin died... At that time, she knew the origin of the huge sum of money in her hand...

Eleventh Lady remained silent.

The Wen family seemed to have misunderstood Madam Wen's actions and sent their eloquent mother to ask for an audience with Shiyi Niang, hoping to see Madam Wen.

Eleventh Lady did not stop her, but Madam Wen turned the visitor away.

Donghong couldn't help but worry: "Aunt, the Marquis has also closed our shop, and you don't want to see Master Wen... We only make money but don't spend it, and we will soon run out of money!"

Madam Wen said "Pooh" to her, "What nonsense are you talking about? Even a rotten boat has three pounds of nails. I will never let you go without food and clothing, let alone your dowry!"

Donghong's face suddenly turned red.

Qiuhong helped her find a marriage partner, and she will be getting married after the New Year.

The little maid Xia Hong covered her mouth and laughed.

Donghong hit her in pretended anger: "Why don't you help Auntie sort out the threads? You are just standing here like a fool!"

Xia Hong dodged with a smile, said crisply "Auntie, I'm going to embroider", and ran away.

Madam Wen just laughed.

Donghong said flatteringly: "Auntie, this loquat is embroidered really well!"

Madam Wen looked at the handkerchief she had been embroidering for almost half a year and frowned, "I saw that the Madam seemed to have an easy time with it, why is it so difficult for me?" Then she muttered, "Now that the eldest daughter is married, the business is gone, and the money has been returned to the Wen family, I have no worries anymore. I am a clean person again, and can live a leisurely life of embroidering flowers and raising birds..." As she spoke, her eyes couldn't help but fall on the sachet hanging on the corner of the bed.

Hidden inside was the thirty thousand taels of silver that her mother had given her when she went north.

She has been eating and wearing everything in the Xu Mansion these years, and with the interest compounded, she should have 33,000 taels of silver, right?

I have to find a way to cash out the interest in a few days. Otherwise, if the bank treats it as a bad debt, it will be troublesome. If I have to write a guarantee letter from the government, won't it be exposed? With Xu Lingyi's character, he will definitely suspect that she secretly kept 30,000 taels of silver.

She didn't want her mother's concern to be misinterpreted like this!

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a headache.

After much thought, Madam Wen sent Xia Hong to find out when Xu Siqin would give his son a full-month gift: "... the whole family will go to Sanjing Hutong for the wedding banquet. When the time comes, just say that the silver is gone and you need to go and redeem it..."

Madam Wen was thinking in her mind.

Eleventh Lady looked at the housekeeper who was standing trembling in front of her with some surprise.

"So, starting from next month, we won't have to send incense money to Dajue Temple anymore?"

The housekeeper nodded in fear, secretly observing Shiyi Niang's expression from the corner of her eyes: "Speaking of Master Jingkong, no, Aunt Yang has officially become the last disciple of the abbot of Dajue Temple. From now on, she will be a member of Dajue Temple. There is no need for our family to support her!"

Yang family, it turns out that they can survive tenaciously no matter what the circumstances!

Eleventh Lady nodded, and asked Zhu Xiang to take the cards to the old woman, and go to the office to collect Yang's incense money. She also told Xu Lingyi about this matter.

Xu Lingyi just nodded and talked about the full moon ceremony in Sanjing Hutong: "There will be many people around, it will be different from being at home. Don't let Jing'er out of your sight. It's always better to be careful in everything."

This was the first time that Jing'er went out to attend a wedding.

"Don't worry, Lord Marquis," Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I will take good care of Brother Jin."

On the day of the wedding banquet in Sanjing Hutong, Shiyi Niang never let Jing'er out of her sight. Instead, Xu Sizun and Xu Sijie were inseparable. Sometimes they ran to the front to see the people eating at the banquet, and sometimes they ran to the flower hall in the inner courtyard to play cards.

Fortunately, their mother and maidservants were always with them, which made Eleventh Lady feel a lot more at ease.

In the afternoon, people from the German music class came to sing in the church.

Xu Sizhun dragged Xu Sijie to watch the play: "...We will go backstage later. There are swords and spears there!"

Xu Sijie looked at Xu Sizhun with admiration: "How did Fourth Brother know that there were swords and spears backstage?"

Xu Sizhun explained to Xu Sijie very carefully: "Last time I went to the Douge family's wedding with my father, Han Jian told me. He said that when they had a party, he would often go backstage to play. He could even show off his sword!"

"Who is Han Jian?" Xu Sijie asked curiously.

"His father was a minister in the Ministry of Works." The two of them talked as they headed to the main hall of the singing hall. "He got along well with Dou Jing. Wang Yun also knew him." At this point, he said "Oh" and said, "Do you remember Wang Yun?"

Xu Sijie nodded: "Lord Wang Li's son."

"Fifth brother has a very good memory!" Xu Sizhun said with a smile, "No wonder when the teacher taught me how to play the flute, I was only at the surface, but Fifth Brother could already play a tune!"

Xu Sijie lowered his head embarrassedly.

The unique clanging sound of the Goyang dialect became louder and louder as it reached my ears.

The two little guys became excited, and they took a seat next to the beauty in front of the east wing, listening to the opera with great interest.

* * * * * *

Fang brought Shiyi Niang to her warm room and said, "Fourth Aunt, please take a rest for a while."

The house in Sanjing Hutong was too small, so they set up a stage in the main courtyard for singing. When the gongs and drums started, the whole house could hear them. Jing'er was used to taking a nap, so he was very annoyed when he heard them. He didn't take a good nap, so he was a little noisy in the afternoon. Fang found a relatively quiet place for Shiyi Niang.

Eleventh Lady put her son on the kang.

Jing'er opened his eyes immediately.

"Mom!" He stretched out his hands for Eleventh Lady to hug him.

It is now very difficult for Eleventh Lady to hold him.

She thought about it, took off her shoes, got on the kang, and half-hugged Jing'er.

Jing'er fell asleep again in his mother's arms.

Fang felt relieved when she saw this.

"There are so many guests and you're only one month old. Go and have a rest!" Eleventh Lady said softly.

Fang smiled and said, "It's okay, the baby has a nurse to help take care of it, and I don't have anything to worry about!"

As the two were talking, there was a noise outside.

Fang hurriedly got up to check, and soon brought in Xu Sizun's personal servant Wang Shu.

"Madam," Wang Shu's face turned pale, and he was shaking like a sieve, "The fourth and fifth young masters are gone!"

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I'll post a draft first and correct the typos tomorrow!

O(∩_∩)O~