Chapter 122 It’s hard to say
"Anyway, I still want to thank Madam Wu. I wonder if Madam Wu and her family are visiting relatives or friends in Jiangzhong this time?"
Before Zhou Yunshu could say anything, Zhang interrupted, "Mrs. Wu is from Tongcheng. She came to Haizhou to settle down here!"
The eldest lady looked at Zhou Yunshu in surprise when she heard this. "Tongcheng is not far from the capital. Why did your family want to leave Tongcheng and come to a small place like Haizhou?"
Ancient times can be different from modern times.
Even in modern times when people have a relatively high degree of freedom, if you want to leave your hometown and start a new life somewhere else, you have to consider a series of factors such as the geographical location, climate environment, and working atmosphere.
In ancient times, ordinary people would probably never leave their registered place of residence in their entire lives unless they were getting married, escorting a caravan, taking an exam, taking up a post, or fleeing famine. Some of them would even live on that land for generations and had no idea what the outside world was like.
Therefore, when Zhou Yunshu said that they came to Haizhou from Tongcheng, she immediately attracted the attention of all the female relatives in the hall.
Zhou Yunshu didn't rush to answer the eldest lady's question. Instead, after sitting down, she looked at the eldest lady in the main seat and said leisurely, "Madam, you may not know that the drought in Luzhou and Qingzhou has also affected Tongcheng. In addition, the war in the north has caused countless refugees to migrate south, and our family's business has plummeted. That's why we discussed moving to Haizhou."
Sitting across from Zhou Yunshu, a round-faced lady wearing a lotus-colored Hangzhou silk jacket asked curiously, "Haizhou is considered remote. It's really strange that your whole family moved here."
Even though most of the people present were from Haizhou, they had to admit that although Haizhou was quite large in area in the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was a lower state, only slightly better than the Nanman.
It is really puzzling that they would come from a big city like Tongcheng to such a remote place.
"Yes, it's obviously closer to the capital."
Zhou Yunshu smiled and said, "This is really because our family's situation is rather special."
"The elders in my family are in poor health and would prefer to recuperate in a place with a relatively warm and humid climate. We moved to Haizhou with this in mind. Secondly, our family business is more profitable in Haizhou."
When everyone heard that it was for the purpose of filial piety and business, they showed a little understanding on their faces.
"I wonder what business Mrs. Wu's family is doing?" someone asked curiously.
It must be a profitable business that can make people travel thousands of miles from Tongcheng to Haizhou. Maybe they can get a piece of the pie.
"It's hard to say."
Zhou Yunshu's directness stunned the person asking the question.
I used to think Zhou Yunshu was easy to talk to because she answered whatever I asked her. But I didn’t expect that she would be difficult to talk to when it was my turn.
Zhang came to the rescue of the questioner and said, "Why is it difficult to say?"
She now thinks that she has established some friendship with Zhou Yunshu.
"I think since the people of Wu Niangzi's family were able to kill the pirates on the passenger ship and save our Zizhen and the new daughter-in-law, they must be doing big business. Maybe we know it."
Every time Zhang spoke, she would talk about how Zhou Yunshu and her group had saved He Zizhen and the others' lives.
"It's not a big deal." Zhou Yunshu changed the subject and said, "We were able to save your young master and his new wife on the passenger ship because of the alertness of your guards."
Zhou Yunshu pretended to be casual and said, "My family felt sorry for me being frightened during Princess Yuyang's birthday celebration, so after leaving Luzhou, I have been very cautious and vigilant, fearing that I would be frightened by someone so blind as to not have long eyes again."
A seemingly ordinary sentence shocked all the women in the hall.
You have to know that those who can attend Princess Yuyang’s birthday party are not ordinary people. At least none of the female relatives sitting in the hall are qualified to attend Princess Yuyang’s birthday party, not even the eldest lady of the He family.
After hearing what Zhou Yunshu said, the eldest lady's smile became more genuine. "I didn't expect that Madam Wu and Princess Yuyang had such a connection."
"It's not really a connection, just some interactions." Zhou Yunshu said with a hint of sadness on her face. She sighed and said, "Although it's a birthday, the princess is also heartbroken this time."
"Lord Yang passed away unexpectedly, and family members died suddenly. Ah." Zhou Yunshu covered her mouth and said apologetically, "I spoke too much."
The women in the hall's eyes lit up when they heard what Zhou Yunshu said, but then they shut up and stopped talking.
"Who would have thought something like this could happen at Princess Yuyang's birthday party? Who died so suddenly?"
No matter who asked Zhou Yunshu, she acted very secretive. Later, thinking about Princess Yuyang's character, it was understandable that Zhou Yunshu kept silent.
Besides, the women in the hall were now somewhat unsure of Zhou Yunshu’s background and did not dare to force her, so they had to change the topic to other matters.
It’s true, there’s always a lot of gossip where there are women.
They seemed to be talking about matters within the house, but many of them could be correlated with major events happening within their families and outside.
For example, the Cen family that Uncle He mentioned before.
The eldest daughter of the Cen family was broken off her engagement by the illegitimate son of the Jiang family, and now she has been driven out of the Cen family mansion by her uncles and aunts. She brought her two younger brothers and sisters to live with her aunt in Jiangzhong.
After the illegitimate son of the Jiang family broke off his engagement with the eldest daughter of the Cen family, he turned around and got engaged to the legitimate daughter of a retainer of King Huainan, becoming even more closely bound to King Huainan.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yunshu vaguely felt as if she was about to understand something, but before she could understand, there was still a layer of veil waiting for her to pierce through.
Could this incident be related to He Nian Zhang’s cover-up of what happened on the passenger ship?
After listening for half an hour, Zhou Yunshu had a basic understanding of the various families and local tyrants in Haizhou, and also had a clearer understanding of what had happened in Haizhou in recent times.
The fact that the illegitimate son of the Jiang family and the eldest daughter of the Cen family broke off their engagement and married the legitimate daughter of a servant of the King of Huainan seemed to be just the most insignificant little thing, but Zhou Yunshu vaguely felt that this might be the side effect of the big event she was looking for.
Male and female guests were still separated at the luncheon. Zhou Yunshu was not in the habit of leaving her children in the care of others, He Zizhen did not want to be separated from Xixi and the other three, and the eldest lady did not want to be separated from her grandson, so in the end Zhou Yunshu and the eldest lady sat together with the five little ones.
When she was about to sit down, Zhang looked around and suddenly smiled at Madam He, "Sister-in-law, why don't you see the young lady from the Jiang family?"
If Zhang was smart enough, she would be able to tell from the fact that Madam He never mentioned Miss Jiang that she did not like Miss Jiang, who was about to become her daughter-in-law.
But Zhang was not smart enough. She even kept hitting on Madam He's sore spots. There was a reason why the women in the hall disliked her at the beginning.
Because Zhang was not smart but liked to pretend to be smart, she always put herself in the position of the hostess and poked at the pain points of other female relatives without any measure. The more something should not be mentioned, the more she mentioned it, as if to show her closeness to the other party. In fact, the person opposite was about to roll her eyes at her.
Zhang asked the question so blatantly that Madam He couldn't pretend not to hear it. After all, all the female relatives present were looking at her, and they were obviously curious as well. However, they were more tactful and didn't ask proactively to bring bad luck.
Madam He smiled and said, "The young lady of the Jiang family caught a cold on the boat and is now in her room..."
Before Madam He finished her words, a gentle voice came from the door.
"I'm so sorry, Ruth, for keeping the ladies waiting."
A beautiful young lady in a white skirt and pink blouse came to the banquet at some point and shyly bowed to the women at the banquet.
Her voice was gentle, but her words were like a slap in the face of Madam He.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com