Xu Sijin looked at his father on the left, then at his mother on the right, and forgot to chew the rice in his mouth.

How strange!

My father and mother sat upright and ate their meal as usual, without any intimate behavior, but for some reason, there was a natural intimacy between their every move, completely different from the coldness and alienation of yesterday.

It only takes one night.

What exactly happened?

"What's wrong?" Noticing something was wrong with her son, Eleventh Lady asked him with a smile.

Xu Lingyi also put down his chopsticks, his eyes showing concern.

"It's okay, it's okay." Xu Sijin lowered his head to eat his rice as if to cover up, but he forgot that he still had rice in his mouth and started coughing.

"This kid!" Eleventh Lady hurriedly scooped a bowl of soup for her son, "Why are you so flustered?"

Leng Xiang had already quickly handed over some tea for rinsing the mouth.

Xu Sijin took the soup from Shiyi Niang and drank two sips. He felt better. Afraid that his father would discover his little thoughts, he hurriedly said, "Dad, you haven't told me about what happened when you went to Chen Ge Lao's house yesterday?"

"Let's eat first!" Xu Lingyi said calmly, "After dinner, let's go to your mother's study in the east room to talk!"

Xu Sijin said "Oh", finished his meal in two or three gulps, and looked at Xu Lingyi eagerly.

Xu Lingyi smiled slightly, ate half of the bun in his hand, and stood up: "Let's go!" and went to the east room.

Xu Sijin hurriedly followed.

Eleventh Lady smiled and asked Leng Xiang to clean up the dishes. She sat on the big kang by the window in the west room, set up a flower stand and started embroidering flowers.

After about half an incense stick of time, Xu Lingyi and Xu Sijin walked out from the east room one after the other.

Xu Lingyi's expression was very calm, but Xu Sijin seemed very excited.

"I'm going to go to old Marquis Sun's place," Xu Lingyi said to Shiyi Niang, "and I'll be back at noon." He then said to Xu Sijin, "You just stay at home with your mother, got it?"

"Don't worry!" Xu Sijin said hurriedly, "I know the severity of this matter, and I promise I won't run around."

Eleventh Lady got off the kang and sent Xu Lingyi out.

Seeing his father leaving, Xu Sijin put his arm around his mother's shoulders and said, "Mom, these big guys are really evil! No wonder Lord Gong repeatedly reminded me when I came here, saying that the water in Yanjing is deep, and asked me to discuss anything with father, and never act on my own." Then he told Shiyi Niang that Lord Chen and Minister Lu both wanted to take advantage of Ding Zhi's transfer back to Yanjing to place their own people there.

Xu Lingyi had analyzed it last night. At that time, Eleventh Lady was preoccupied with her own thoughts and did not listen very carefully. Now she listened carefully to Xu Sijin's explanation and said with a smile, "This is how things are in the court. Don't think that you are great just because you are the Earl of Wujin. You still have a lot to learn!"

This time Xu Sijin did not talk back, but said honestly: "That's why there is a saying that 'a full bottle makes no sound, but a half-full bottle makes a loud noise'!"

Eleventh Lady looked her son up and down with a smile.

"What's wrong?" Xu Sijin felt a little embarrassed by her gaze, and explained with a smile, "I heard this from the people in our Qianzong's room. It was the Qianzong of Pingyiwei..."

"I am happy!" Eleventh Lady was quite emotional, "Our Jing'er has grown up, knows how to reflect on himself, and knows how to evaluate himself correctly."

He was embarrassed by his mother's praise. He looked around and said, "I, I already know how to reflect on myself. You just haven't noticed it yet."

Eleventh Lady pursed her lips and smiled.

Xu Sijin was afraid that his mother would continue to praise him, so he quickly changed the subject: "Mom, I still want to go to my grandmother's place secretly to see her!"

Xu Lingyi once said that for some things, it is better to conceal one's true intentions than to act recklessly. Lord Gong had not even handed over his seal of command, but Xu Sijin had quietly returned to the capital, which was seen by those who were interested. Even if everyone pretended not to know about it this time because of the emperor's interest, they would probably make a big fuss about it if there was a conflict of interest in the future. "

Seeing that his mother didn't say anything, Xu Sijin knew that this matter would not work. He fell on the kang with his head resting on his arms: "Among us brothers, grandma is the best to me..." He looked very disappointed.

Eleventh Lady smiled bitterly: "Just wait patiently for two days!"

Xu Sijin had no choice but to nod.

Eleventh Lady found some travel notes from Xu Lingyi's study to entertain him.

The mother and son talked, read, and did some needlework, and in the blink of an eye, the day reached the twenty-ninth.

"Gong Dongning is camping at Wangjiawan, fifteen miles from Xishan. There will be a caravan from the Shunfeng Escort Agency in Yanjing leaving the city this afternoon," Xu Lingyi suddenly said during lunch. "You will follow the people from the Shunfeng Escort Agency out of the city to meet Lord Gong. You must not go home until the captive offering ceremony is completed!"

Xu Sijin replied "yes" seriously, his expression showing a calmness and composure that was inconsistent with his age.

Xu Lingyi nodded with relief.

Eleventh Lady reluctantly helped him change the servant's clothes.

"Mother, according to the rules, there will be a few days of rest after the prisoner presentation ceremony," Xu Sijin comforted his mother, "Then I will come back to see you openly and pay my respects to the Madame Dowager, Second Aunt, Fifth Aunt and others... and build a cenotaph for Huang Xiaomao and Liu Erwu." As he spoke, his eyes dimmed and his mood became a little depressed.

"I'll be waiting for you to come back!" Eleventh Lady hugged her son and watched him leave the main house.

On the day of the surrender at the Meridian Gate, Xu Lingkuan, Xu Sizhun, Xu Sijie, Xu Sichen, Xu Sicheng, and even Ting'er and Zhuang'er all went to watch the excitement, while the women of the family gathered in the dowager's room to wait. The servants from the Huishi Office came to report the news that "the Sixth Young Master has entered the city", "the Sixth Young Master is parading in the streets", and "the Sixth Young Master has arrived at the Meridian Gate". The dowager was delighted to hear this and rewarded the servants with ten taels of silver at a time, causing the servants from the Huishi Office to rush to report the news, and the atmosphere seemed very lively. The Fifth Lady watched and joined in the fun: "Mother, do we who are waiting here also want to be rewarded?"

The Madam Tai was really happy. She didn't care that the Fifth Madam was joking. She smiled and told Zhihong: "Reward your Fifth Madam with twenty taels of silver!"

Burst into laughter.

A servant came in, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Madam, Madam, great joy, great joy! Our Sixth Young Master has been appointed the General of Guizhou!"

How did Jinger become the general of Guizhou? He is only sixteen years old!

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

The lady sat up straight with an "ah" and asked the boy solemnly, "Did you hear it clearly? If you are talking nonsense, you will be beaten with a stick!"

"Madam, I dare not say anything nonsense!" The servant said hurriedly, "The Fifth Master sent someone to tell you that the imperial edict has been read out and the official documents have been posted. He told us to let you know so that you can be happy." As he said that, he looked at Eleventh Lady, "Fourth Madam, the Fifth Master also said that after the court is over, there will definitely be many guests at home to congratulate you, so he told us to let you know so that the kitchen can prepare wine and food early."

"Since it was said by Fifth Master, then it can't be wrong!" Fifth Madam hurriedly supported Xu Lingkuan and said to Eleventh Lady, "Do you want my help, Fourth Sister-in-law?"

"If it's true, we'll naturally have to ask Fifth Brother's wife for help!" Eleventh Lady responded with a smile, but her mind was in a mess.

Why was the Guizhou general replaced by Xu Sijin? Then who was the Sichuan general?

I finally found an excuse to go to the study.

"My Lord, do you know that Brother Jing has become the general of Guizhou?"

"I just found out about this, too." Xu Lingyi said, "The Sichuan General is someone of Elder Chen... I heard from Wang Li that it was the Emperor's idea to let Jing'er be the Guizhou General." He then analyzed, "Elder Chen wants to arrange his own man to be the Sichuan General, and he also needs the Emperor's support. He certainly won't have any objection to the Emperor's words. And the Cabinet saw that Elder Chen didn't say anything, so naturally they wouldn't spoil the fun at this time. By some strange coincidence, the position of General fell on Jing'er's head." At this point, he showed a helpless expression, "Lord Gong will definitely be disappointed when he hears about it. I've already written a letter to explain to Gong Dongning - the steward who delivered the letter just left!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a servant ran in: "My Lord, My Lord, Master Zhou is here."

"Most likely they're here to ask for wine!" Xu Lingyi said to Shiyi Niang thoughtfully, "Go and tell the kitchen to prepare some wine and food. I'm afraid someone will come later!"

Eleventh Lady agreed and returned to the inner courtyard.

The outer courtyard was noisy all night, and the next day, more female relatives came to congratulate them. Eleventh Lady was busy all over, but Mrs. Tang Fourth brought up the old matter again and asked her to talk about the marriage between the eldest daughter of the Tang family and Jin Ge'er. She finally got away with the excuse that "there are too many guests today, and it's not the time to talk about this", but was grabbed by Mrs. Gan again and talked about her niece.

Grandma Lin pulled her aside and said, "You'd better not agree to any of these families - Jin'er is a general now, and according to the rules, his female relatives must stay in Yanjing." She said meaningfully.

Eleventh Lady suddenly realized.

No wonder Madam Zhou and Mrs. Mu remained silent.

|“Thank you for reminding me!” She hurriedly thanked Grandma Lin, “I will discuss this matter with the Marquis.”

Xu Lingyi didn't take it seriously, "There are exceptions to everything. When the time comes, we can ask for an imperial decree to allow Jing'er to take his wife with him to take up his post. You just need to pick a suitable one for him now. He is already an important official, but he hasn't started a family yet. Others may think he is not stable enough, which will be bad for his future promotion."

"Does the Marquis have any suitable families?" Xu Lingyi has more say in which families will be more beneficial to Jin'er's career, and it is up to Eleventh Lady to decide who to choose as his wife from these families.

"No hurry." Xu Lingyi smiled and said, "It won't be too late to ask for the special decree first. Otherwise, who would dare to marry their daughter to our family? Wouldn't that make her a widow? And we will definitely have to find a concubine for Jin Ge'er in the future. The eldest son of a concubine is older than the eldest son of the wife, which is another troublesome matter!"

When Eleventh Lady heard this, she immediately said, "Then let's wait until the emperor's special decree comes down." Her attitude was very firm.

Xu Lingyi nodded slightly.

Leng Xiang smiled and walked in briskly: "My Lord, Madam, the Sixth Young Master is back!"

Eleventh Lady was overjoyed and walked out while asking, "Where is the person?"

"We've been surrounded by the Fourth Young Master, the Fifth Young Master, the Seventh Young Master, and the Eighth Young Master." Leng Xiang hurried forward to support Shiyi Niang, "They're talking about catching Duoyan! The maids, old women, stewards, and servants in the house are listening attentively!"

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Post a draft first!

PS: I went to Wuhan for a parent-teacher meeting today, and ended up being late. I couldn’t make it back to Xiantao. I’m afraid tomorrow’s update will have to be at this time. I apologize for the inconvenience!

O(∩_∩)O~