Chapter 177
Ji Qing took the Empress Dowager's edict from Mei Mei, and the Emperor said, "Destroy it immediately to prevent further trouble."
Meimei watched Ji Qing leave, her eyes slowly turned red. The emperor coughed lightly and said, "Junying knew that you were from a humble family, but he still insisted on marrying you. If you say that he also despised your humble background, I don't believe it. But things are unpredictable, sometimes you are influenced by others and change your mind... You must remember one thing: Junying has been to the border since he was a teenager, fighting on the battlefield to defend his country. He is a meritorious official of the country, and his wife, even if the marriage is not granted by the imperial edict, unless he says no in person, you have no reason to leave him. I don't think you are being unreasonable, and I don't know what's going on between you two, but I can promise you: if Junying really has lost his feelings for you, I will ask him for you. If he is willing to let his wife go, I will personally ask him to write a letter of divorce. If he is unwilling to let you go, I will order him to treat you well and maintain your status as his wife - this is all I can do."
Meimei lowered her head, unable to hold back her tears, and bowed deeply in a concealed manner. The emperor looked at the string of pearly tears dripping onto the hem of her pink skirt, soaking the water-red cherry blossoms. He stood there for a moment, and finally sighed secretly, turned around and walked away quickly.
Not to mention that Meimei went out early and came back late every day, and was ordered to enter the palace to accompany the queen in confinement. As Zhuang Yulan's temporary natal home, Xu Mansion was also decorated with lights and gongs and drums on the day she was married by imperial decree. Needless to say, the red and green scene was the work of the second wife. Bai Jingyu was sick, Ning Rulan had severe morning sickness, and Xu Junya did not allow anyone to disturb her. The old lady pointed to the second wife to hold this wedding, and the second wife was also unambiguous. She took away half of the money for the wedding. The old lady asked Kilometer to pay for the dowry. She discussed it with the second master and did some tricks. The few valuable items given by the old lady changed their appearance when they were in Zhuang Yulan's dowry. Zhuang Yulan was just crying, how could she know these? She was helped into the sedan chair by the bridesmaid. In the sedan chair, she secretly gritted her teeth and scolded the queen mother thousands of times, but she still couldn't get rid of her hatred. She also thought about how sad she must be when her cousin Ying returned home and didn't see her, and she cried and almost fainted.
Bai Jingyu was cautious. Seeing that his men could not persuade the eldest grandmother to come back, he discussed it with Rulan and, regardless of the fact that Junlang was not at home, went to Tsinghua Court with his brothers overnight to complete the tasks assigned by the eldest grandmother. Rulan was unable to do so, so Bai Jingyu seized the keys to all the account books and, with the eldest grandmother's handwritten note, temporarily took charge of the household affairs of the Hou Mansion. The old lady had nothing to say. The second master and the second mistress thought that their eldest daughter-in-law was the head of the family and could do whatever they wanted, so they were secretly happy. However, Bai Jingyu was no longer the Bai Jingyu of the past and would not let them control him.
Bai Jingyu followed the instructions of his eldest grandmother and took time out to visit Qiuhua Courtyard every day. The eldest wife was sometimes conscious and sometimes confused. Bai Jingyu strictly ordered the people in Qiuhua Courtyard to keep their mouths shut and not to say that the eldest grandmother had taken Heng'er away from the house. They only said that the wife was asleep when the eldest grandmother brought Heng'er, and woke up after she left, so she could not see him.
The men and women in the Hou Mansion suddenly became busy. If the men said they had something to do, it was something to do. Who could track it down? The girls studied embroidery seriously and practiced the music, chess, calligraphy and painting that they usually disliked. They came to the old lady's room early to greet her. The old lady had not woken up yet, so the mothers and maids had to tell her and then go back to their rooms to do things. If they went to pay their respects at night, they would go after dinner, bow, sit for a while and leave, and they didn't like to talk anymore. After the old lady married Zhuang Yulan away, she became more lonely. The huge Jinhua Hall lost its former joy and liveliness.
Three days later, Zhuang Yulan returned home, and the old lady was even more shocked. Bai Jingyu went to Jinhua Hall to see the situation, and then gave orders to let the girls stay in their rooms to embroider and not come out. The cousin's aunt had something to do at home, so she wouldn't be able to stay for long and would have to go back.
The old lady knew that Bai Jingyu was actually worried that the girl would lose interest in getting married after seeing Zhuang Yulan's appearance. She couldn't say anything at the moment, so she could only purse her lips and clasp her hands together. Like Zhuang Yulan, she secretly hated the old lady for coming.
Zhuang Yulan cried until her eyes were as big as peach pits. In just three days, she became visibly haggard. On the surface, she could only say that she had married an unsatisfactory husband who was good enough to be a father, and cried about her bad luck. But only she knew the pain she felt in secret, and she had to swallow it down.
After all, it was an imperial decree to grant the marriage, so who dared to neglect the relatives of the Empress Dowager? Shi Songmao, who lost his wife in middle age, was overjoyed to marry Zhuang Yulan. He had countless concubines at home, but none of them were as delicate and fair as this tender and fair little bride. Although she was over 40 years old, a little bloated and coughing, she was still very strong. He could toss and turn three or four times on the wedding night, making Zhuang Yulan unable to get out of bed the next day. Fortunately, there were no parents-in-law at home, so there was no need to follow the rules to serve tea. Shi Songmao was also considerate and suppressed the family from disturbing the new wife. On the second night, regardless of Zhuang Yulan's pleas, he still made love as usual, tossed and turned for a long time, and fell asleep with the bride in his arms. Zhuang Yulan was in tears and was confused for a while at dawn. Jinsuo came to wake her up, and she had to get up reluctantly, because it was the day of returning home, and she couldn't stay in bed.
After the dressing was stopped and she walked out of the bridal chamber, Shi Songmao asked the whole family to come and greet the new wife first. When the family finally met, she was almost so angry that she fainted. Shi Songmao had five concubines and ten children. The deceased wife had five legitimate sons and daughters. The eldest legitimate daughter was married and had two grandchildren. The eldest legitimate son was sixteen years old, and the youngest illegitimate son was only three months old.
What made her angry was that the five concubines were all arrogant. They did not kneel or kowtow to her, the principal wife who was married by imperial decree, but just bowed their heads and saluted. When Shi Songmao saw her satisfaction, he just glared and blew his beard, and did not really get angry. It was obvious that he was intentionally protecting those concubines.
The concubines' sons and daughters did the same. They bowed respectfully on the surface, but then stepped back and looked at her coldly from the sidelines. The legitimate sons and daughters were even more outrageous. They bowed hastily at their father's command and then slipped away.
On the way back, Zhuang Yulan cried and cried in the car, and her eyes were sore from crying that it was no wonder that Bai Jingyu was scared and even the girls didn't let her meet him.
Old Mrs. Xu originally wanted to keep Zhuang Yulan in the Xu mansion for one night. After Shi Songmao had a few drinks with the second master Xu Xiping and the second master Xu Junlang and his son in the front hall, he went in to pay his respects to the old lady. His smooth talk made the old lady change from being angry to being happy. In addition, the return gift prepared by Shi Songmao was very valuable. He also thoughtfully prepared another set of door-to-door gift and sent it to the Jiangnan Zhuang family. The list was shown to the old lady, who could not help but be satisfied. The more she looked at this nephew-in-law who was in his forties, the more she liked him. She comforted Zhuang Yulan with a few words, and said many words to wish them a harmonious and happy life. Then she let Shi Songmao take Zhuang Yulan back to the Shi mansion.
Qin Meimei stayed at the Cen residence and locked Baoju Baizhan and the servants outside the door for three nights. On the fourth night, it rained heavily and she finally couldn't bear it anymore and opened the door to let them into the front yard. Cuilian and Cuisi arranged a place for them to stay. From then on, Baoju and Baizhan felt more at ease: if the grandma was willing to take them in, it meant that she acknowledged that she was the future wife of the Xu residence.
But the Empress Dowager's edict still bothered them. Ji Qing didn't know whether he had forgotten or not, and he didn't even tell them that he had taken back the edict and destroyed it long ago.
Seven or eight days after Meimei entered the palace, she finally found an opportunity to talk to the empress about Lin Runan in front of the emperor. The emperor said calmly:
"Lin Changqing's case has been closed. He was implicated and has been punished. Miss Lin is an ordinary girl. If you want to meet her, you can go to the palace as Meimei's attendant. I asked her a while ago. Because her family planted many precious flowers and plants in a private house, Prince Yu occupied it as a foreign residence. Let Ji Qing go and ask him to return it to Miss Lin."
So two days later, Meimei brought Lin Runan to the palace, and the good friends finally met. Fearing that the Queen would be sad during her confinement, Lin Runan just smiled. The three of them talked and laughed for a long time, and were very happy. The Queen only kept them for a midnight snack before letting the guards send them out of the palace.
Two days later, the Lin family's private residence was returned. The old man of the Lin family was overjoyed and couldn't wait to move back to his own home. However, Meimei was reluctant to let Runan go. As an unmarried girl, Lin's father and mother didn't want to let her live outside privately. In desperation, Lin Runan moved back with her parents and promised to visit often in the future. Meimei saw Lin Runan and his family off with regret. She felt that the Cen residence was empty, and her heart was uneasy.
There had been no news from the Qin family. She had been away from the Xu residence for ten days. She had asked Cuixi to return to the Qin residence and tell Wang Mama not to return to the Xu residence. She also informed Madam Qin that her daughter had been released and was living in the Cen residence in the East City. Every day when she came back from the palace, she would first ask Cuilian who was staying at home: Is there anyone from the Qin residence? Cuilian just shook her head. Meimei felt colder and colder in her heart. She had never suffered from insomnia, but she woke up in the middle of the night for several nights in a row and couldn't fall asleep. She had thought about the consequences of being abandoned by her friends and relatives, but she didn't expect it to be so sad.
Cui Xi persuaded Meimei to go back to the Qin residence, but Meimei considered it over and over again and decided not to go. No matter how difficult it was, she would just grit her teeth and get through it. If the Qin family only recognized her aunt who had become Madam Hou and did not recognize their daughter who was living outside, that was fine. She specifically asked Cui Lian to pay attention to the day when the results of the spring examination would be posted. Cui Lian asked Bao Ju to go and see that the eldest master of the Qin family had won the imperial examination. She had finally done her best and would not disturb their peaceful and beautiful life from then on.
There were originally more than 20 servants and old women in the Cen residence. Ten little maids were taken away by the Lin family, and more than ten were left. Meimei went to the palace every day, and Cui Lian took care of the household, assisted by the housekeeper. Cui Xi still focused on the affairs of Xiankelai. Li Qiuge did not follow the King of Qi into the King of Qi's Mansion, but took Su Yunu's siblings, and dozens of singing and dancing girls who were willing to follow them, and opened another music house. Meimei asked Lu Xiangfeng to give him capital, and Li Qiuge still followed the old rules and split the income 50-50, and the money was handed over to Cui Xi to enter the account.
Prince Qi came to look for Meimei, but didn't see her. He didn't dare to enter the palace. He had just angered the emperor, and if he went against the wind, he was not afraid, but he was worried that the queen mother would be angry and sick. Meimei often saw Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi. In Kunning Palace, in front of the queen, Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi didn't talk much with her. They just smiled or exchanged glances as a greeting. They couldn't talk as much as they did during the two days when the queen gave birth.
It is made by】.
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