Hearing what her grandfather said, Zhou Qiongyue could only shake her head gently and throw away those rebellious thoughts in her mind.
In fact, what Zhou Qiongyue wanted to say was... Never mind what she wanted to say. It didn't matter. Her parents' family affairs were not something she could decide.
When Zhou Wenfu heard his father say this, he habitually looked at his elder brother who was not far away.
Zhou Wencan didn't say anything, just raised his fist at him.
Zhou Wenfu immediately understood what his elder brother meant. He imagined the scene of his parents passing away, leaving him as a poor little boy, unloved by his brothers and sisters. The tears came instantly, and there were only so many of them.
The old marquis turned around and saw his youngest son with tears on his face. He hugged Zhou Wenfu's head distressedly and said, "Fu'er, you miss your mother too, don't you?"
Zhou Wenfu was almost suffocated by the old marquis' hug, but the second brother who was kneeling beside him couldn't bear it and silently helped his third brother adjust his posture.
After Zhou Wenfu recovered, he immediately burst into tears. He couldn't bear this pain in vain. "Dad, Mom is gone, and you are the only one left to love me. If something happens to you, how can I live like this?"
Zhou Wenfu howled as he thought of that scene, and his tears flowed even faster.
Not only did Zhou Qiongyue glance at the male guest opposite her while adding paper to the basin, but even Zhao and Jin, who had just agreed to take a rest, sat down again, which shows the charm of this scene.
As for Third Aunt Sun, she had been gone for a while. There was no one to take care of their house, and Third Aunt had to go back to arrange a lot of things in the house.
The old marquis saw that his youngest son was crying so sadly, and then looked at his two sons who were silently adding paper to the basin.
The old marquis suddenly felt that the third son was indeed quite pitiful. Although he had two promising older brothers, neither of them could be relied upon.
He still had to take good care of his old bones, at least to see the next generation under the third son grow up, so that the youngest son's family would have someone to take over the family line.
This way, when he passes away, he can have a good talk with his wife. His wife loves Fuer the most. By then, he will have made good arrangements for Fuer, and maybe his wife will not be angry with him anymore.
Thinking of this, the old marquis gave up the idea of enduring the hardship and said, "Come on, I'll go down with you to rest. Let your two brothers stay here!"
Zhou Wencan didn't even raise his eyebrows when he heard this. He knew what kind of person his father was.
Zhou Wenjun kept his head down and rolled his eyes from an angle where the old marquis couldn't see him. "It's another day when I want my eldest brother to beat up the third brother."
Were he and his elder brother picked up?
Just after the old marquis left, Yuan Bohua and Zhou Zhiquan arrived and sat next to Marquis Cheng'en.
Yuan Bohua took the initiative to speak, "Father and Second Uncle should also go and rest for a while. This prince and Fifth Brother will stay here to guard."
Zhou Wencan wasn't the type of old-fashioned person who cared too much about face. He immediately agreed upon hearing this. "Then I'll trouble you, Your Highness. Your uncle and I will go take a nap over there first."
Zhou Wenjun always did what his elder brother said. When his elder brother told him to leave, he bowed to Yuan Bohua and said, "Sorry to bother you, Your Highness."
Zhou Wenjun followed his elder brother. He was really tired.
Although he was very sad about his mother's death, this sadness did not conflict with his tiredness at all.
Before leaving, Zhou Wenjun looked back and saw Prince Fu'an sitting obediently with Quan Ge'er. He couldn't help but sigh that his elder brother and sister-in-law had such a good eye for their son-in-law.
It’s a pity that he and his wife don’t have a daughter, otherwise he would ask his eldest brother and sister-in-law to help find a good one.
After seeing the two of them leave, Yuan Bohua stopped talking and focused on burning paper in the basin, occasionally glancing across at Zhou Qiongyue.
Zhou Zhiquan used to live in the palace frequently and often went there to look after Yuan Chaochang and Yuan Chaokang. Therefore, Zhou Zhiquan was quite familiar with the prince's brother-in-law.
So Zhou Zhiquan said, "How about you just go sit over there with your sister?"
When Yuan Bohua heard his fifth brother say this, he didn't think twice and blurted out, "Is it okay?"
Zhou Zhiquan didn't expect that the prince's brother-in-law really wanted to go, so he could only quickly add: "No, I was just talking nonsense."
Zhou Zhiquan's reaction was very obvious. He was afraid that the prince would really pass away.
Seeing how nervous his fifth brother was, Yuan Bohua kindly promised, "Don't worry, I'll just take a look at my princess. I won't go over."
Zhou Zhiquan was finally relieved about this.
Logically speaking, Zhou Zhiyi, as the eldest grandson, should come back for such a matter. As soon as Zhou Zhiyi learned the news, he sent his application for mourning back to Yuan'an through special channels.
But the emperor approved his marriage immediately. What a joke. There is so much grain in Quanzhou. No one can go there without his cousin to reassure him.
The emperor also wrote a letter to comfort his cousin, the meaning of which was that when the emperor went to pay homage, he could also light a stick of incense for him.
After receiving the emperor's reply, Zhou Zhiyi could only work while observing mourning in Quanzhou.
Not to mention that Zhou Zhiyi's memorial of mourning was rejected by the emperor, even the memorials of mourning from Zhou Wencan, Zhou Wenjun and Zhou Zhiyu were rejected.
Only Zhou Zhiquan's memorial of mourning was approved. Fortunately, Zhou Zhiquan was just a grandson and only needed to observe mourning for one year. Moreover, he was originally just a small Hanlin.
After a year, you can just go back to the Hanlin Academy and continue working. There is no possibility that your position will be replaced by someone else and you will not be able to go back.
Afterwards, during the seven days that the body of Lady Liu, the wife of Marquis Cheng'en, lay in state, the empress dowager would come every day to light a stick of incense and stay with the old lady's coffin for a while.
The emperor also came with the empress dowager every day, but he would go straight back to the palace after burning incense and did not stay in the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion for the next few days.
However, the Empress Dowager would stroll around the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion every day until lunch and then return to the palace in the afternoon.
The retired emperor stayed in the palace for only one day before returning to the imperial residence with his people. He was now the retired emperor, and no one could stop him from leaving (the "others" referring to the emperor).
During these seven days, Zhou Qiongyue and her family did not return to the palace, but stayed directly at the Cheng'en Marquis's residence. Yuan Chaochang also did not go to the palace to study, and Yuan Bohua asked for leave from the palace on Yuan Chaochang's behalf.
The one who was really sad about the old lady's death was probably Zhou Wenfu, who felt that he had lost a supporter. Although the others were also sad, their sadness was limited.
When Liu was buried, the emperor made an exception and issued an imperial edict praising her. There was no practical benefit, just to improve her reputation after death.
Of course, the original explanation from Cheng'en Mansion was that the death was accidental, and there was no such thing as a bad reputation. It can only be said that with this imperial decree, if someone wants to bring it up in the future, it will be unacceptable.
Isn't that a slap in the emperor's face?
After Liu was buried, Yuan Bohua did not even return to the palace, but went straight back to the military camp.
Zhou Qiongyue always had a feeling that a storm was about to come, and as the time of the great war in the book approached, this feeling became more obvious. She didn't know what else she could do.
They could only find various ways to exchange the silver in the account books for food in neighboring countries.
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