The next day, the temperature dropped suddenly, the wind was cold and the snow was flying. Overnight, the roof, trees and ground were covered with a thick layer of snow. The little girl swept the snow in the yard to the side and made two snowmen while giggling.
Chen Ahfu, who was standing by the window, was in a very heavy mood. If the snow continued to fall, not to mention until the end of January or February, even if it snowed for eight or ten days, it would be a disaster. As for the Chu family members who knew the inside story, they did not want the prophecy of Master Wuzhi to come true. In that case, not only would the Chu family face an unknown catastrophe, but also who knows how many ordinary people would freeze to death or starve to death in the snowstorm.
On the afternoon of the 25th, the snow was still falling. Chen Ahfu sat on the kang and did needlework. She could only calm herself down by doing needlework when she heard the howling wind outside the window. She looked at the small clothes in her hands from time to time, and at the sleeping little brothers from time to time. The little brothers had grown up a lot, and now they looked more like the Chu family. To be more precise, they looked very much like Lord Chu. Chu Lingxuan looked a lot like Abbot Lechen, and little girl Chu Hanyan also took after Chu Lingxuan and looked very much like Lechen.
Lord Chu has not seen the two little brothers yet. If he sees that they look so much like him, he will definitely like them to the core, right? According to Chu Lingxuan, Lord Chu has complicated feelings towards Miss Chu. He pities her, but he is unwilling to get close to her because she has Ma's bloodline. Therefore, he hopes Chen Afu will give birth to a child.
Thinking of the pitiful little girl, Chen Ahfu missed her and Dabao again. She rubbed her chest and thought about them blankly for a while, then heard the servants come to report that the eunuchs from Princess Rongzhao's mansion were on their way to see the grandmother. The concierge had been notified in advance that if anyone from the princess's mansion wanted to see Chen Ahfu, they had to report as quickly as possible.
After hearing this, Chen Afu quickly put down her needle and thread, asked the little maid to run to Anrong Hall to report to the Third Madam, and she herself lay down on the bed.
After a while, the eunuch came. He looked inside the door and said, "I am here on the orders of Her Royal Highness the Princess to ask Madam Chu to bring her two brothers to pay respects to Her Royal Highness the Princess and Her Royal Highness the Prince Consort."
The word "please" was emphasized with particular emphasis.
Li Ma Ma said quickly, "Eunuch, you have seen that my grandmother was exhausted from the journey and fell ill the next day after returning home. How about we carry her to the princess's mansion?"
The eunuch guessed that this young lady Chu must be pretending to be sick. After thinking for a while, he said, "Her Royal Highness is kind and will definitely not let a sick daughter-in-law set the rules. But," he pointed at the two little brothers on the kang and said, "these two young men must go to pay respects to their grandmother and grandfather. This is filial piety."
Chen Ahfu certainly didn't dare to let the two children go to the princess's mansion alone, and said weakly, "These two children can't leave me alone. I will get up and take the children to see Her Royal Highness the Princess."
The eunuch said sarcastically, "So Madam Chu can get up, then why is she still lying in bed pretending to be sick? Hurry up, hurry up, the princess is waiting to see her grandson, but she has been waiting for many days."
After hearing this, Li Mama, Hong Fei, and Xia Yue all went in with red eyes to help Chen Ahfu dress. Chen Ahfu couldn't even stand steadily, and needed two people to hold her up, and one person to help her dress. Xu Saozi and the two mothers found the clothes of the two little brothers and dressed them. The two little brothers were sleeping soundly, but they were woken up by someone's tossing and turning. They were pinched on their little buttocks and cried at the top of their lungs.
As soon as Chen Afu was dragged to the door of the east house, Madam Chu San and Old Marquis Chu arrived one after another.
Mrs. Chu was furious when she saw this. She pointed at the eunuch and shouted, "Go and slap him in the face! How dare this eunuch frame Princess Rong Zhao in an unjust position? He brought his stepson's wife to the princess's mansion. Who knows how people will accuse the princess of being unkind and abusing her stepson's wife?"
A maidservant beside her heard this and stepped forward to slap the eunuch twice, cursing, "How dare you ruin the reputation of Her Royal Highness the Princess."
After hearing this, Old Master Chu cursed, "It's not this eunuch who ruined Princess Rong Zhao's reputation. Princess Rong Zhao was not kind to begin with. She has already killed one of Xuan Er's wives, and now she's trying to kill this one, and she wants to make my two great-grandchildren stupid. No, I'm going to the palace now, I want to file a complaint with the emperor, even if she's a member of the royal family, she shouldn't be bullied like this."
The eunuch was terrified when he heard this, and he quickly knelt down and kowtowed to the Third Madam, saying, "Princess, please spare me, please spare me. It's not the Princess' fault. It was my fault that I misjudged Madam Chu and thought she was fine. I will go back and report the truth to Her Royal Highness."
Madam Chu San scolded, "Did you see wrongly? I think you have no eyes! If you dare to do this again next time, I will poke your dog eyes out."
The eunuch kowtowed several times before running away.
As soon as the eunuch left, Mr. Chu happily teased his great-grandson, whom he hadn't seen for several days.
Chen Afu invited the old man and the third wife to have dinner at Zhuxuan, and asked Hua Mama to make hot pot. Afterwards, he brought the brothers Chu Lingzhi and Chu Lingwei over, and the third master came here directly after leaving the government office.
There weren't many people, only six, and they shared one pot.
The hot pot smelled strong and was placed in the west room. Outside, the snow was howling, but inside the room was warm as spring, with constant laughter.
The old man ate happily for a while, then sighed, "If the second son's wife had been more sensible, our family wouldn't have been unable to have a reunion dinner."
The Third Madam laughed and said, "Father, there is no hope for Li. Although the Second Uncle has a gloomy temperament, he is a good person, and his children are not bad either. If we kick out that spoiled rat shit, our family will be at peace, and we can eat together every day."
Although the Third Master felt that it was not nice for his wife to say such things about his brother and sister-in-law, he did not stop her and even laughed twice. Chen Ahfu thought so too, but as a junior, it was even harder for her to say it out loud, so she also laughed foolishly a few times.
The old man said, "It turned out that they wanted to let people see how much chaos Rong Zhao had caused in our mansion. It was a strategy of pitiful soldiers, so they tolerated many of Li's excessive behaviors. After some things were resolved, if Li made another mistake, she really couldn't be kept."
The snow continued to fall until the twenty-eighth day of the lunar year. The surrounding areas of the capital and the areas to the north of the capital were all hit by the snowstorm, which crushed many houses, froze many pigs and sheep, and killed many people.
The old monk's words really came true. If it was really as he said, "Snow comes heavily at the end of the year and the weather clears up at the end of the month," and it had to wait until the end of January or the end of February for the weather to clear up, who knows how many people would have frozen to death.
The emperor was so anxious that he convened the cabinet every day to discuss disaster relief. The emperor also issued an order to cancel the ritual of visiting the palace on the first day of the New Year to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor and the empress dowager, and the disaster-stricken areas would open the seal on the third day of the New Year.
On this day, another censor began to impeach Princess Rongzhao, saying that she had done too many "immoral" things and angered heaven, which first led to her being attacked by a flock of birds and now a snow disaster.
The emperor was angry and afraid, but because it was related to the royal family's reputation, he kept it secret. However, the empress dowager still issued an imperial decree, requiring Rong Zhao to copy scriptures in the palace and not go anywhere. In fact, it was a disguised confinement.
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