After the 15th day of the eighth month, people who were friends with the Xu family began to send their congratulations. The usually deserted front of the Xu residence began to become lively.

The old lady had stopped managing the family two years ago. Although Xu Sizhun's wedding date was just around the corner, the old lady was relieved that Eleventh Lady was in charge of the household chores. She did not ask about the wedding. She was still the same as before, paying respects to Buddha, chatting with Mother Du and the Second Lady, playing with her grandchildren, and evaluating the clothes that the Xu family made for Jiang and the gift list that the Jiang family sent as a dowry. Her life was leisurely and festive. Eleventh Lady was either entertaining this or that today. Although she had the Fifth Lady to help her, she rarely had any free time, not to mention Xu Lingyi. Eleventh Lady smiled privately with Amber, "Fortunately, Zhun'er is the prince. Matters concerning his marriage must be carried out according to the rites set by the Ministry of Rites. The matters concerning the wedding and banquet will be taken care of by Chief Steward Bai and Steward Zhao. Otherwise, we would be even busier."

Amber smiled and offered Eleventh Lady a cup of hot tea, saying, "If the Fourth Young Master wasn't the Crown Prince, he would have to follow the same etiquette as the Second Young Master's wedding. There wouldn't be so many guests at home, and there wouldn't have to be so many tables at the banquet, so I wouldn't have to be so busy."

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "It's me who hasn't figured it out."

Qiuyu and the others covered their mouths and laughed.

"Mom, when I got married, I asked my wife to take care of everything," Jing'er, who was practicing calligraphy at the side, suddenly looked up and said, "You can be like the lady, and just look around every day. This way you can sleep in every day." These days, when he came to pay his respects to his parents, his mother sometimes had not yet gotten up.

Eleventh Lady took into consideration that as Xu Sizhun's wedding date approached, distinguished guests would come to congratulate him from time to time. If the small study room was needed, where Jin'er practiced calligraphy, Xu Lingyi would inevitably ask him to meet the guests, which would be detrimental to Jin'er's studies. So she let Jin'er practice calligraphy in her own inner room, while she only met the guests in the flower hall.

Everyone was stunned and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Jinger was very dissatisfied and shouted with a red face: "I'm telling the truth!"

Eleventh Lady hurriedly comforted the little guy: "Okay, okay, okay. I'm waiting for Brother Jin to get married."

Everyone laughed again.

Jing'er's cheeks are puffy like a frog.

Xu Siyu and his wife rushed back from Le'an.

"Mother!" While paying his respects to Eleventh Lady, Xu Siyu helped Xiang who had stood up.

Eleventh Lady's heart moved. She looked Xiang up and down, then looked at Xu Siyu and smiled: "Do you have anything else to say to me?"

Xu Siyu and Xiang's faces flushed. Xu Siyu, who was always calm and composed, felt uncomfortable as if he was sitting on pins and needles. He murmured, "Roune, she's pregnant."

"Why didn't you inform the family?" Eleventh Lady hurriedly asked Qiuyu to bring an armchair to Xiang. "If that's the case, why are you in such a hurry to come back?" She ordered Amber to invite Doctor Liu to feel Xiang's pulse, and sent someone to tell Xu Lingyi. She also asked about Xiang's condition, whether she had been safe on the road, and whether she was pregnant.

"It's been four months." Xiang was a little shy, but more of a happy one. She whispered to Eleventh Lady, "My husband was afraid that I would have a bumpy journey, so he set off three months later and arrived home just now. I'm in good health and have been safe all the way. I'm pregnant, so you don't have to worry, mother-in-law."

Seeing that her face was ruddy and that she didn't look like anything was wrong, Shiyi Niang asked Fangxi to take some ginseng, bird's nest, Gastrodia elata and other medicinal herbs to Xiang's place. She asked Wan San's wife and two experienced maids to serve Xiang's place: "...If you have any questions, just ask Wan San's wife. Cheng'er grew up under her care. She has experience. Don't be afraid!" She arranged for someone to report to the Xiang family, and told Xiang to go back to her room and have a good rest. She accompanied Xu Siyu to pay respects to the lady.

While they were talking, Jinger stared at Xiang with his eyes rolling. Seeing that they were going to the lady's place, he wanted to follow them. On the way, he quietly asked Xu Siyu: "Second brother, am I going to be an uncle?"

Xu Siyu smiled and touched his head.

Jing'er ran away in a flash. No matter how hard they called him, he would not stop. When Shiyi Niang and Xu Siyu arrived at the old lady's place, she had already known about it and was whispering to Jing'er with a smile on her face.

"How could you be so ignorant!" the lady scolded, "Since you are pregnant, you should take good care of the baby. You didn't even tell the elders and just ran back like this. Fortunately, your wife is in good health and can withstand the ordeal. If anything happens, I will not forgive you." She added, "Since you are back, your wife should not go back to Le'an. Take good care of herself at home!"

Xu Siyu smiled awkwardly.

The lady went to Xu Siyu's room to see Xiang.

The second wife, who had heard the news, rushed over and gave Xiang a piece of Hetian jade pendant that she had worn all year round: "This was given to me by the abbot of Mount Wutai when I went there that year. He said it was blessed. Wear it to protect you and your child."

Xiang accepted it shyly.

The fifth lady brought some supplements such as abalone and sea cucumber to visit Xiang.

Amber wrote back: "The Marquis said he knows. Let the Second Young Madam take good care of him."

Everyone was in high spirits, and the whole family happily had dinner at the lady's house.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Xiang came over.

Now that her daughter was pregnant, Mrs. Xiang felt relieved. The mother and daughter were reunited, and naturally there was a new feeling of sympathy.

At this time, the person who went to Cangzhou to deliver the wedding invitation came back and said, "Eldest Aunt is very happy to know that Fourth Young Master has set a date for his wedding. Eldest Uncle said that he and Eldest Aunt will bring two young cousins ​​to Yanjing in a few days to congratulate Fourth Young Master."

They hadn't seen each other since Zhen Jie'er got married five years ago. This was double happiness.

"Let their mothers live in the inner courtyard." The lady was very happy and instructed Eleventh Lady.

"Let me clean up Lijingxuan." Shiyi Niang said with a smile, "Let her live in her old place!"

The lady nodded, then frowned: "Why are both of them so worrying? The child is still so young, how can he bear the fatigue of traveling?"

After giving birth to her eldest son Shao Anjing, Zhen Jie'er gave birth to her second son Shao Anxu at the end of last year. One is four years old and the other is only ten months old.

After complaining, the lady said to Eleventh Lady, "I haven't even seen my two great-grandchildren. The eldest brother-in-law is so good-looking, and our Zhen sister is also beautiful. The two children should be as pretty as jade, right?" There was a hint of longing in her words.

Everybody laughed.

The lady took Shiyi Niang to Lijingxuan to see if there was anything else that needed to be purchased.

Xu Lingyi had just seen off Lord Liang outside when the third prince, Prince Yong, arrived. He congratulated Xu Sizhun and came in to pay his respects to the lady dowager.

The lady-in-waiting and the others hurried back, put on their make-up according to their rank, and met Prince Yong.

The Shandong general who came to congratulate Xu Sizhun had to wait in the outer academy accompanied by Manager Zhao, and happened to run into Dou Ge Lao...

The Xu family's neighborhood is now bustling with activity.

When Wu Niang brought Xin Ge'er and Dian Jie'er from Wendeng, Zhen Jie'er had just returned home. Shiyi Niang only had time to say a few words to her. Grandma Luo hosted a banquet to entertain Wu Niang and the children. She didn't have time to go there, so she asked Amber to deliver the eight-color gift box to Gongxian Hutong.

Both of Zhen Jie'er's children look like Shao Zhongran, handsome. Not to mention the Madam, even Xu Lingyi likes them very much. Xu Siyu, Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie like to play with the lively and cute Xu Ge'er, while Jing Ge'er and Shen Ge'er take Jing Ge'er everywhere, which scares Shiyi Niang so much that she repeatedly tells the servants around them: "Watch them closely. You can't go to places with water, and you can't go to Lingqiong Villa to pick fruits... If Jing Ge'er gets bumped, I will lose my temper."

"With so many people watching, and in our backyard, nothing will happen." Zhen Jie'er held Shiyi Niang's arm and laughed, asking about Jin Ge'er's martial arts. "...Every time my husband asks Master Pang, Master Pang just says that he has learned well. How is it?"

"I have already started teaching you some simple boxing and kicking skills." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "Although I don't understand these, your father seems to be very satisfied with the progress."

"Then I feel relieved." Zhen Jie'er smiled, "I also thought at the time that my father must have already chosen a candidate. But my husband said that we should also do our best. After thinking about it, I recommended Master Pang..."

During the days when she was back at her mother's house, Shao Zhongran was dragged by Xu Lingyi to entertain guests, and the two children were taken care of by the lady and several brothers, so she couldn't help at all and had nothing to do. After visiting Madam Wen several times, she followed Shiyi Niang, either helping her entertain guests or chatting with her.

Eleventh Lady was always worried about her children, and would ask her maid to check on them from time to time to see what they were doing.

"My mother is still the same as before, always worrying about this and that." Zhen Jie'er couldn't help but sigh. Suddenly, she thought of her childhood. Her eyes turned red and tears fell without warning.

Only when you become a mother can you better understand the difficulties that motherhood goes through.

Zhen Jie'er felt so upset. She also thought that this was her fourth brother's big day, and if she did this, wouldn't it make her mother sad too? She quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes. She thought about how good her mother was to her, and thought about her life in Cangzhou over the years. She felt that she had a thousand words to say to her mother.

“Mother, can I sleep with you tonight?” She hugged Eleventh Lady’s arm tightly, tears welling up in her eyes again. “I still remember when I was a kid, I went to your room to take a nap… You made me a pearl bracelet… You gave me a red gold hairpin flower… You took me to visit Hui Jie’er’s house… We and Fang Jie’er, no, the Crown Princess, secretly wore your little jacket…” As soon as she started talking, she was shocked to realize that so many things had happened in the past, and each one of them made her life a little further away from the original track and a little closer to her current life…

Zhen Jie'er had lost her immaturity and became a woman with firm eyes and eyebrows and a bit of gentleness. She was still acting like a little girl in front of her, and Shiyi Niang's eyes were also tearful.

"Okay!" This time I'm back, but I don't know when we'll meet next time. She didn't want to make the atmosphere so sad, so she joked with a smile, "As long as you're willing to leave your eldest brother-in-law and Jing'er and Xu'er behind."

"It's just one night." Zhen Jie'er said, with a slight smile on her face, and a look of confidence that only a happy woman could have. "Besides, the children still have a wet nurse to take care of them!"

Eleventh Lady pursed her lips and smiled.

Sister Zhen was a little embarrassed and said unwillingly: "I am back to my mother's home now, so I naturally have to be my mother's daughter."

"Okay!" There aren't many opportunities to act coquettishly in front of her mother, so she asked someone to make the bed for Zhen Jie'er.

Xu Lingyi's eyes widened: "Then where do I sleep?"

Eleventh Lady blushed, and fearing that Zhen Jie'er would hear, she pushed him out: "You can sleep anywhere you want!"

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Post a draft first!

O(∩_∩)O~

PS: Make up for the extra update on August 26th.