The next day, the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, was also Xiao Yuer's first birthday. Now that the emperor was seriously ill, the Chu family did not dare to hold a big celebration, and only invited a few in-laws, namely the Xie family, the Jiang family, the Yang family, and the very close Princess Rui.
Today the men went to the yamen, and the ones who came were women and children. There were not many people, so they entertained the guests in the bamboo pavilion.
Chen Ahfu dressed up Xiao Yu'er early in the morning. The little girl wore a bright red gold brocade jacket with a front opening and a long skirt, with a large golden double swallow button, and two small buns on her hair. She was as pretty as a doll in a New Year picture.
As soon as she dressed her up, Chu Hanyan put a red dragonfly bracelet she had woven on Xiao Yu'er. This was her birthday gift to Xiao Yu'er. She said, "Wait until you learn how to embroider, and then you can embroider a more beautiful handkerchief for me."
The little girl's fingers are not very flexible, and she has not started learning needlework yet. Chen Afu plans to let her learn after she is ten years old.
The two brothers also gave gifts, which were identical little white jade rabbit pendants.
When talking about this, everyone was amazed. Yesterday, their mother reminded them that their sister was going to have a birthday and they had to give her a gift. The two brothers each had their own private box, so they looked in the box and found the same jade rabbit.
The little girl liked the bracelet and the little white rabbit very much. She smiled with curved eyebrows and said thank you, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Then, Lord Chu, the old Lord, and the second Lord also sent people to deliver gifts.
Although the second master was a bit of a jerk, he was still quite understanding of human relationships. He knew that Chen Afu would not invite Li, and Li would not send gifts. He also knew that his family could not do without the care of the Marquis's Mansion, so he sent someone to deliver the gifts. The gifts were not about the value of the gifts, as long as he had the intention.
Yesterday, the two concubines, Chu Lin and Chu Bi, went to Mingheyuan to look for the Third Madam and secretly took two sets of small clothes they made for Xiao Yuer and asked the Third Madam to pass them on. They were afraid that Li would not dare to come, so Chen Afu accepted their favor.
Later, Mrs. Chu San and Shen came. Not only did they bring gifts, they also stayed here to entertain guests. Although Shen was Li's biological daughter-in-law, Chu Lingqi asked Shen to come, and Li did not refuse.
Grandma Jiang and her eldest daughter Jiang Xiqiu came to the Jiang family. Madam Jiang went to the He family to visit Chen Yuhui early in the morning. If Mr. Jiang's complaint went smoothly today, Madam Jiang would directly take Chen Yuhui to Chen Shiying's house in the capital to recuperate.
Princess Rui smiled as she arrived, "Xuan'er knew that today was Xiaoyu'er's birthday, and he refused to go to school and wanted to attend Xiaoyu'er's birthday banquet. It was only after his father kicked him twice that he came crying into the palace." As she spoke, she took out a ten-centimeter-long agate deer ornament and added, "This was given to him by the Queen Mother when he was born. He usually treasures it very much, but today she insisted that I give it to the little birthday boy."
This little deer is exquisite, smooth and delicate, and it is obviously an extraordinary piece at first glance.
Chen Ahfu quickly refused, "Such a good thing, and it was given by the Queen Mother, so let Xuan'er keep it to bring him good fortune and longevity. My little Yu'er doesn't deserve it."
Princess Rui stuffed the little deer into Chen Afu's hands and said with a smile, "Why not? Without you, he wouldn't have the good life he has today."
Then, Chu Hua came with his two children, and Chen Aman came with Yang Qian.
They are all relatives and familiar with each other, and there is singing and laughter in the bamboo pavilion.
At the beginning of the morning hour, Xiao Shiyi sent Nanny Luo to deliver Xiao Yuer's birthday gift, which was a set of small head ornaments inlaid with cat's eyes made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a food box of longevity peaches.
Just after lunch, Chen Ahfu received a message from Madam Jiang. When the Crown Prince heard about the suffering of Master Chen's daughter in the He family, he was furious and accused He Linsheng of being unworthy of being a human being. He directly granted the two of them a divorce. Madam Jiang had already taken Chen Yuhui to the Chen residence, and the dowry would be taken back later.
Chen Ahfu snorted secretly. Chen Yuhui was a bad person, but she was lucky to have a father like Chen Shiying. However, although she was out of the sea of suffering, her life in the second half of her life was definitely not as good as she had imagined. This was also God's punishment for her.
Fortunately, the divorce was granted directly by the crown prince, and the official statement was that the fault lay entirely with the man, so it should not affect Chen Yuqing's marriage.
Chen Afu explained to Chu Hua the reason why Chen Yuhui and his wife divorced. Of course, he did not dare to mention that Chen Yuhui had beaten the girl. Instead, he said that He Linsheng had raped the girl, causing her to hang herself.
She didn't feel sorry for He Linsheng at all when she lied, because he deserved to die. Instead, she felt sorry for the dead Huang Ju, who was innocent and pitiful. But for the reputation of the Chen sisters, she had to tell this lie. She thought that when the Chen family moved to Beijing, she would give some compensation to Huang Ju's family, which would forgive Chen Yuhui's sin and make herself feel at ease.
After hearing about He Linsheng's behavior, all the women scolded him as "worse than a beast" and said that Chen Yuhui was "pitiable".
Chu Hua whispered to Chen Afu, "My in-laws' elders have already discussed it. When the Chen family comes to Beijing to celebrate the New Year, we will ask a matchmaker to go to the Chen family to propose marriage."
In the afternoon, just after seeing off the guests, he received birthday gifts sent by Chu Lingqi, including those from Chen, Chen Ming, Wang Cheng, Chen Shi and others.
Before dinner, she actually received a gift and letter from Chu Lingxuan. Not only did he give Xiao Yuer a large jade ornament, he also wrote her a letter expressing his longing for his daughter.
Chen Afu read it to Xiao Yuer with tears in his eyes and told her that these were the words her father had said to her.
Xiao Yu'er had no impression of Daddy. Although her mother and sister often taught her to call him that, she just didn't know what Daddy was. She opened her blank eyes and called out a few times, "Dad--Dad, Dad--Dad, Dad--Dad?"
From the letters from the Third Master and Chu Lingxuan, it can be seen that victory is now one-sided, and even all the barbarians in Nanzhong Province are on the side of the court. If nothing unexpected happens, the war will end early next year.
Upon hearing the good news, the Third Lady and Chen Afu were excited again. The old Marquis and the Marquis Chu were also happy and came to the Bamboo Pavilion to drink.
This good news made the Chu family excited for many days.
The next day, Chen Afu went to Chen's house to visit Chen Yuhui with some tonic medicine.
She was lying on the bed with a pale face and dull eyes. She was so thin that her face looked even longer. When she saw Chen Ahfu coming in, tears started to flow. She said, "Are you happy? If you hadn't taken everything from me, I wouldn't have married that scumbag and ended up like this..."
Chen Ahfu looked down at her and said, "I have nothing to be happy about, because whether you are good or not, it can't affect my mood. I came to see you because of my father's request, and to let outsiders see our deep sisterly love and consider my sister's future." He shook his head and sighed, "I took everything from you? What a joke..."
She was afraid of making Chen Yuhui angry, so she swallowed what she wanted to say. She ignored Chen Yuhui and only gave a few instructions to the maidservant who served Chen Yuhui, and then left.
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