"The Xu family sent cherries?" The eldest wife's eyes flashed with confusion, "Please ask those two mothers to come in!"

Mother Xu smiled and said, "It was said that it was a gift from the Empress Dowager, and the Madam sent it here specially for me to taste."

The eldest wife nodded, and Mother Xu smiled and invited the two mothers from the Xu family in.

The two mothers bowed to the eldest wife and explained their purpose. The eldest wife thanked them, said a few polite words, and gave them a reward, which was still sent out by Mother Xu.

She opened the small basket made of fine Xiang bamboo. On the green leaves lay a handful of cherries that looked like red agate, very beautiful.

The eldest wife called Luo Qiao over and said, "Leave half to the eldest master, and send the other half to the eldest mistress."

Luo Qiao left immediately.

When he arrived at the grandmother's house, he ran into the fourth master Luo Zhensheng.

His face flushed red. When he saw Luo Qiao come in, he quickly said hello and left.

Luo Qiao felt secretly strange.

Normally, the Fourth Master would chat and joke with them when he saw them, so why did he look like he was running away today?

The grandmother seemed unwilling to talk about this matter and asked her hurriedly, "But what is the order from mother?"

Luo Qiao put the matter behind her and said with a smile: "The Queen Mother gave the Xu family some cherries, and the Xu family sent some over. The eldest wife asked me to bring them to the eldest grandmother to taste."

"It's so beautiful!" The grandmother liked it very much and called Xinglin: "Send half to the master and the other half to Brother Xiu!"

Xinglin left in response and rewarded Luoqiao with a white handkerchief.

Luo Qiao thanked the grandmother and turned to go out, but saw Luo Zhensheng talking to Xiao Liuzi, who was driving the cart. While talking, he took out a few taels of silver from his sleeve and stuffed them into Xiao Liuzi's pocket. Xiao Liuzi just stretched out his hand to take it, but when he looked up and saw Luo Qiao, he quickly pushed the silver away and ran away.

Luo Zhensheng couldn't help but look over and saw Luo Qiao.

He walked over somewhat awkwardly: "I wanted him to help buy some food, but he turned out to be such a snob!"

Luo Qiao smiled slightly: "It's a pity that Brother Xincai is not here, otherwise, if he were to do it, he would definitely be able to do it well."

But I was thinking, this is a comprador job, who would turn down such a good thing? It's just that I was caught by myself, so I feel embarrassed. I'd better leave early, maybe that little six will come to buy things for the fourth master!

Then he exchanged a few words with Luo Zhensheng and turned back to the house.

When the master came back in the evening, the first wife hurried forward to help him change his clothes: "Have you eaten?"

The eldest master allowed the eldest wife to help him take off his clothes while nodding: "I have eaten, at the third master's house."

The eldest wife asked Luo Qiao to bring out the cherries: "… sent by the Madam Tai, saying it was a gift from the Empress. Although it's not much, it's a token of her appreciation."

The eldest master said "hmm", washed his face, sat down on the kang, and said, "The third son's job has been settled. He has been released as the Sichuan education commissioner."

"Really!" the eldest wife said happily, "This is a good thing!"

The eldest master nodded and said, "It was the Marquis who helped to greet him."

The first wife's smile faltered, and she said hesitantly, "Then your job..."

"I'm afraid it won't work!" The master let out a long sigh.

The eldest wife's heart skipped a beat and she sat over and asked, "What happened?" She lowered her voice.

"I talked to the third brother for a long time today. Since the emperor has appointed Chen Zixiang as the prime minister, he is determined to implement the new policy. I am Liu Ge Lao's man, and as long as Chen Zixiang is in power, I will never have a chance to come forward." The eldest master smiled bitterly, "I don't know the true face of Mount Lu, because I am in it. Today, the third brother told me frankly, and I woke up from my dream and knew the reason." As he said, he shook his head.

The first wife hesitated and asked, "Is there no other way?"

"Yes." The master said self-deprecatingly, "The New Deal failed."

The eldest wife stopped talking.

"I'm afraid of standing in the wrong place in the court," the eldest master sighed, "I'm even more afraid of changing Zhang Yixian. When Elder Liu was talking about the tea tax, he specifically asked me to write a letter to oppose it. The second and third brothers didn't participate at the time, so it's okay, but I can't support the new policy under such circumstances."

The eldest wife also lived in the government office with her father in her early years, so she certainly understood what the eldest master meant. As the eldest master said, if he persisted to the end and refused to admit his mistakes, his integrity would remain. If he changed his ways, no one in power would use him.

"Then, shouldn't we go back to Yuhang..." The eldest wife couldn't hide her disappointment.

"Don't we still have Brother Xing?" Although he said this, there was a hint of disappointment in his expression.

The couple sat opposite each other in silence for a while.

I don't know who walked past the window frame, letting out a low, happy laugh.

The first wife was furious when she heard this. She stood up and was about to yell at him, but when she looked up and saw her dejected husband sitting opposite her, she was afraid that he would think she was making a big deal out of nothing and taking the opportunity to vent his anger, which would make her lose her reputation as a virtuous woman. So the words on her lips turned into: "Where's Luoqiao? Why does it take so long for her to bring cherries?"

Du Wei, who was serving at the side, heard the conversation between the two clearly. Knowing that the eldest wife was angry, she hurriedly said, "Madam, I'll go and take a look." As she said that, she hurried to the ear room nearby.

The lights in the wing room were bright, and Luoqiao, Coral, Tortoise, Jade... several of them were there, looking around the room like headless flies.

"What's going on?" Du Wei asked anxiously, "The eldest lady is urging us, why haven't the cherries been served yet?"

Luo Qiao raised her head, her face as pale as paper.

Feicui, who was standing by, asked anxiously, "What should we do? What should we do?" Then she said, "Who was guarding here just now? Call them one by one to ask. I don't believe it. Can the cherry still fly up to the sky?"

Du Wei then understood that everyone was looking for cherries.

“No.” Daimao’s face turned pale. “If this matter gets out of hand, I’m afraid there will be no way to end it!”

"What's the point of talking about whether it's over or not at this time?" Shanhu's face was even paler than Luoqiao's. "We have to tell the first wife as soon as possible. Otherwise, the longer we delay, the more uncomfortable the first wife will feel... It's better to talk it over properly. Once the first wife is happy, maybe everything will be fine."

When the time came, Luo Qiao calmed down and said, "I'll go report to the first wife."

She walked out with her back straight.

"Sister Luoqiao," Du Wei hurriedly called Luoqiao to stop her and briefly told her what the eldest wife and the eldest master had just said, "...I'm afraid it's not the right time."

Luo Qiao looked as pale as death.

After a long while, he forced a smile and said, "Even so, we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Then he strode out.

Shanhu was so angry that she clenched her fists. "Find her today. Find the one who stole the cherries. I don't believe that she can eat the cherries and the sweet white porcelain plate as well."

Daimao hesitated after hearing this and said, "Should we report this to Grandma... After all, Grandma is in charge of the affairs of this room. Maybe she can even plead for Luoqiao."

Feicui ran out immediately after hearing this: "I'll go and ask Grandma for help."

Shanhu called out "Hey!" and she ran away. Shanhu couldn't help stamping her feet: "This fierce Zhang Fei, he didn't think about it. If he goes to tell the grandmother at this time, the grandmother will think we are talking about her faults."

After hearing this,玳瑁 wanted to chase after him.

Shanhu sighed: "Forget it, it's too late to chase him now." Then he said, "Why don't we go and take a look, and if we can talk to him, we can help him."

Hawksbill thought it made sense and went under the eaves with Coral.

As we got closer, we heard the master say, "…It's just a plate of cherries. If they're gone, they're gone. Just send someone to Dongdaemun to buy some tomorrow!"

"What the master said is right." The eldest wife's voice was full of sarcasm. "It's just a plate of cherries, but you are secretly thinking about it. If it was a piece of gold, wouldn't you be so stubborn as to not even blink an eye? Am I living in my own house or in a den of thieves?"

As I was listening, I saw Feicui coming with my grandmother.

Shanhu and Daimao hurried over to greet her: "Grandma..."

The grandmother looked unhappy. She nodded at them and went into the house.

The three of them pricked up their ears to listen.

At first, they couldn't hear clearly, they only knew that the eldest wife's tone was very urgent, and the eldest grandmother didn't say a word. Later, the eldest wife's voice suddenly rose a few notes, and they could hear clearly: "...You are still flying in the sky. Close the door and search it for me!"

The grandmother replied "yes" and told Dujuan to call Mother Hang and Mother Jiang to search the main courtyard and the backyard separately.

Mother Jiang knew that there were several young ladies living in the backyard, so she brought the maids to knock on the corner door, and then stood there motionless.

A woman asked, "What's wrong with you, Mom? Grandma is waiting for our reply."

Mother Jiang smiled and said, "The things lost in the main courtyard are probably in the main courtyard. Let's wait until the main courtyard is searched before we do anything! Otherwise, we might offend the young ladies for nothing."

The old women were silent - there were three young ladies living in the backyard, one was going to be the wife of a noble, one was the wife of a successful candidate in the imperial examination... Mother Jiang was still smart.

Everyone followed Mother Jiang and listened attentively to the movements in the main courtyard.

After a while, they heard a maid who followed Mother Hang to search the house report: "Mother Hang, we didn't find the plate, but we found a few cherries."

Mother Jiang was overjoyed. She winked at the maids and walked over leisurely: "Grandma, we didn't find anything here."

The grandmother waved to Mother Jiang and the others, and all her attention was focused on Mother Hang.

"show me!"

The old woman hurriedly handed over the cherries on a blue and white porcelain plate.

There was a maidservant who whispered in defense: "Grandma, I didn't eat secretly... I really didn't eat secretly..."

Mother Jiang looked over and saw that it was the floor tapestry in the Fourth Master's room.

The eldest grandmother didn't even look at her and went to the eldest wife.

Di Jin's face was full of tears, but she turned around and looked towards the east wing from time to time: "I really didn't cheat..."

Several maids poked their heads out from behind the open door of the east wing, but no one stood up to say a word.

After a while, the eldest lady came out, looked at Dijin coldly, and said, "Lock him up in the woodshed first. We'll talk about it tomorrow!" She looked at everyone again and said, "Let's all go!" Then the old woman took Dijin and locked him up in the woodshed.

Di Jin struggled: "Fourth Master, Fourth Master, I really didn't cheat..."

The door of the east wing stood there quietly, with only a dim light shining through, stretching out to shine on the white stone steps. Although the light was soft, it seemed very lonely!

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Change it to the correct chapter number...⊙﹏⊙bSweat!