97 Chapter 97

◎The true and false are just a coincidence◎

"Can you cut clothes?" Wang Guihua looked at the young woman in front of her with joy.

Huiyin smiled and said, "Of course, thank you for taking us in. It's still light outside, why don't I make some clothes for you. To be honest, if I had time, I could have embroidered."

Wang Guihua is obviously a rare person in the village who is over 30 years old and has no mother-in-law, but can be the head of the family. She also seems to have a hot temper. People like her have money in their hands and have a say.

Even though they were just a small country family, not everyone could afford cloth.

"Sister, I think you are fair and pretty, and your two children are also well-born. You must have been born in a good family." Wang Guihua always felt that the woman in front of her was too beautiful, like a fairy in the mountains.

Huiyin sighed, "Yes, my husband's family originally ran a silk and satin farm. My husband was the eldest son in the family. Although life was not very good, he had no worries about food and clothing. Although my mother-in-law was a stepmother-in-law at that time, my father-in-law was still alive, and the fox tail was not exposed. Everyone lived in peace with each other. Unfortunately, my father-in-law passed away last year, and my stepmother-in-law said that my family should not share the money. She also went to the government to sue us for being unfilial and tortured me cruelly. My husband took me and the children and ran away. Who knew that making a living outside was difficult? We didn't have a field to farm, and we had problems with food and clothing. Unlike your family, at least we still have a mouth to eat. I also heard that the court is now distributing the hidden fields of the landlords to the people. In the future, you will be rich."

Li Cheng, who had been pretending to be sitting nearby, heard Huiyin's last sentence and thought that his wife was really smart.

But Wang Guihua sneered, "Sister, you all have different backgrounds, so you don't know how difficult it is for us. How many people in our village have their own land? We are all tenants. My husband is honest and doesn't use connections. If I didn't have an uncle working for the landlord Hu, we wouldn't even be able to rent land."

Li Cheng was really angry. He coughed, thinking Huiyin would scold those landlords.

Unexpectedly, Huiyin first praised Wang Guihua, saying, "Sister, your family has such connections. No wonder a group of people surrounded us just now. Your family looked the most respectable."

Generally speaking, if you can talk about your relationship, no matter what the details are, don't say anything about whether it will succeed or not, just start praising it.

As expected, Wang Guihua was somewhat pleased with herself: "Sister, you are exaggerating."

Huiyin smiled and said, "I am telling the truth. How can you say I am exaggerating? However, my family plans to go to my uncle after selling these pieces of cloth, and then ask him to help us buy some land. Sister Wang, is it easy to buy the land?"

Wang Guihua saw Huiyin standing up and cutting on the table while she was talking, and said in a somewhat showy way: "Let me tell you, the court said that the hidden land should be distributed to the people, right? The servants, relatives of the rich families, and the relatives of the servants have all taken it, and the common people are still destined to be tenants? In fact, it would be better not to issue the order. In the past, when the land was cultivated by the rich families, they were more charitable and exempted the rent in years of famine. Now, the servants under them are more cruel than each other."

…

They rested that night at Wang Guihua's house. The conditions at her house were pretty good, but the ground was still bumpy. They ate mixed grains for dinner, pickled vegetables for the vegetables, and also cooked two kinds of green vegetables.

Li Cheng had a hard time swallowing, but Huiyin ate voraciously. The two sons couldn't eat at all. Zhan'er had a choke on the food and after much difficulty he swallowed a mouthful of water, but he tasted the water and vomited it all out.

Huiyin silently handed him the water bag she was carrying, and then said to Wang Guihua apologetically: "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, my two children have been spoiled by me."

Wang Guihua grumbled to herself that the food was wasted.

At night, the family slept on a kang. Huiyin yawned several times, and Jinger whispered, "Mom, there is a bad smell in here."

"It should be the smell of chicken shit. Their home conditions are actually quite good. They even have a pig." Huiyin buried her head in Li Cheng's body and prepared to sleep.

Li Cheng didn't think about the real drawbacks. It was useless to solve the problem on the surface, and he felt a little discouraged.

"Huiyin, am I really useless..."

Huiyin said: "You can personally visit incognito, which is much better than those who sit in the Golden Palace and issue orders. I believe you will definitely govern well in the future."

All urgent matters, in retrospect, seem not to be rushed, but should be taken step by step.

In fact, Huiyin did not understand the national policy. Although she sometimes went to Duanming Palace, she could not attend the government, nor could she really discuss it. That was too sensitive. In fact, she was not a person with a very good health. This was completely opposite to Li Cheng. Li Cheng slept for an hour every day and was energetic. The doctor said that his pulse was like a cow. Huiyin was a weak person. When she lived in the palace before, her menstrual period was irregular. After getting married, she was always sick, so she often had to take a nap every day to relax.

But people with strong bodies tend to over-exert themselves, and Li Cheng is one of them. She said, "Let's go back tomorrow and have a good meal. I'm hungry."

"Are you hungry?" Li Cheng sat up immediately, wishing he could go somewhere to get something to eat.

Huiyin suppressed him: "Go back to eat tomorrow morning. Don't waste their food. Their family is not easy. This sister-in-law of the Wang family is actually one year younger than me. It looks like we are two generations apart. Her son is also thinner than our Jing'er. His waist is almost collapsed carrying such a bundle of firewood."

…

The next day, Wang Guihua woke up and prepared to go to the room to see if the family had woken up, but she found the room empty and there were two hundred dollars on the table. She was stunned.

Huiyin and her group have already had breakfast in the teahouse. Jing'er and Zhan'er looked like they had just been caged for starvation. She had never seen her sons so hungry before.

Li Cheng, however, felt bored. He came out to play with his wife and children, but the actual situation of his inspection was not ideal. He wanted to return to Beijing as soon as possible, but he felt sorry for them.

"Why don't you eat?" Huiyin helped him put a meat bun on the plate and said, "Don't you think it's not as delicious as the ones in the palace? When we get back, I'll mix the stuffing and cook it for you myself."

Li Cheng said in embarrassment: "I didn't expect that what was originally a good thing would be carried out like this by the people below. I want to go back and scold those people severely."

Huiyin glanced at him and said, "I don't particularly understand your affairs, but I always feel that you can't do it yourself. If you want others to do it well, you must find a competent official, and you can balance them all. Once you do it, wouldn't it be exposed, and everyone in the world will know that you are anxious. You see, sometimes I know that my eldest sister-in-law and my younger sister-in-law are not getting along, but I don't explain it to them. Instead, they have to look at my eyes."

Every time she advised him, she wasn't really telling him what to do, she was just drawing a picture from the small.

Li Cheng recalled that his wife seemed to say very little about her sister-in-law and brother's wife, yet both of them wanted to please her.

What he was thinking about was that this was the kingdom he had built since he was a child, so how could these people dare to say no? Although there were strategies to balance the situation, he always felt that he should not calculate people's hearts and make them discouraged.

It can be imagined that Huiyin did not treat her relatives badly, and she fully understood their intentions. Instead, she made the Zheng and Pei families loyal to the emperor, which was not a bad thing.

When people grow up, they think that treating others with sincerity is the best, but they don't realize that no one is happy.

When marching and fighting, it is a good thing to trust the other party unconditionally. However, if it is not a march or a war, people will give rise to many selfish desires in the process of exercising power.

It would be fine if these selfish desires were for the sake of loyalty to the emperor, but it would be bad if they were bought by others.

"Huiyin, I'm sorry, I want to go back first." Li Cheng said.

Huiyin understood and did not argue. She just said to her two sons, "Eat quickly, and then we'll go back."

Everyone was happy when they came, but they were worried when they left.

Jing'er never thought that people who ate salted vegetables were considered well-off, because salt was expensive. Even those who could afford to live in thatched houses had only a little furniture. He thought that farmers were like those in Tao Yuanming's poem "Don't laugh at the farmers' rotten wine, in a good year there are enough chickens and pigs to entertain guests", with enough chickens, ducks, fish and meat, but their food and clothing were not as good as those of the rich families.

They had even been to the manor before, and he felt sorry for the people there, but he never expected that those people on the manor had become very wealthy.

Only Tong'er didn't know all this, and was still angry because Huiyin didn't come back all night.

Huiyin held her in her arms, her arms a little sore, but she felt guilty for what she had done to her daughter yesterday, so she had to continue holding her. However, the child was so young, but she felt sorry for her mother. When she saw Huiyin yawning, she quickly said, "Mother, go to sleep, your daughter will come down."

"My dear, you now feel sorry for your mother. It's worth it that she loves you so much." Huiyin said with a smile.

The child clings to his mother's arms and acts coquettishly.

It was very fast to get from the capital to the capital, and no one expected the emperor to come back so soon. Jian Tan thought that the emperor hurried back because he knew about the Wanminshu incident. After all, their emperor was impatient.

Unexpectedly, after the emperor came back, he first summoned the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Works to inquire about the river repair matters. Jian Qin also breathed a sigh of relief.

Huiyin couldn't take care of the government affairs and people's livelihood outside, but Jing'er and Zhan'er had matured a lot after their trip.

But this time, she saw Yin Lifang coming into the palace, saying that Prince Yuzhang had arranged a marriage.

"Oh, I wonder which family's daughter you've chosen? How come I haven't heard about it before, and now it's been decided so quickly?" Huiyin put down the teacup and asked curiously.

Yin Lifang smiled and said, "She is the daughter of the Zhang family, the governor of Jiangnan. Madam Zhang is also the daughter of the emperor's uncle. We met at Madam Jian's birthday party and we both thought she was a good match. Jing'er is not young anymore, so it will take another year or two for him to get married, so we decided on her."

Huiyin said, "It's really a coincidence. Yin Lifang and Madam Zhang are both real and fake daughters, but now they are in-laws."

I don’t know if the truth will come out in the future?

Therefore, she was very supportive: "If you two have agreed, let the chief historian submit the report. The emperor has no objection."

Yin Lifang said happily, "Thank you, Your Majesty and Your Majesty."

"Jing'er is not an outsider. I have watched him grow up since he was a child. But now that he has grown up and is in charge of a mansion, it is not convenient for him to enter the palace again. Since it is such a happy event, I have to give him some rewards so that he can come to the palace more often in the future to pay his respects to the emperor." After Huiyin finished speaking, she ordered people to watch over him.

The gifts included twenty-six new books, eighty-eight pairs of gold and silver ingots, two pots of coral, jade trees, and colorful silk.

Yin Lifang was overjoyed and even praised Huiyin: "The Empress Dowager has given me such a generous reward. It seems that our marriage is truly a success."

In the past, they all felt that they were not much worse than Huiyin, and even looked down on others because of the relationship with King Wei. But now they can accept the reality. Even Yin Liyi feels that her sister has changed a lot.

However, she smiled and said, "Sis, you like Miss Zhang so much. Invite her to meet you tomorrow. I wonder who can make you praise her so much."

"When I first saw the girl, I felt that she was dignified and generous, and had the air of a mistress. Mrs. Huo even wanted to say that she knew her, but unfortunately I couldn't fulfill her wish. I will choose the best for my sons, so why would I need her to pretend to be kind?" Yin Lifang felt depressed when she remembered that when Jianjia got married, the Princess of Wei wanted to plunder the palace thoroughly, and she felt depressed.

The Prince of Yuzhang's Mansion was originally her son's residence. Relying on her previous status, the Princess of Wei actually interfered in her own mansion. If she hadn't done it deliberately for the emperor and empress to see, she would never have been spared.

Yin Liyi also thought: "Now that her daughter is married, she has no chance to make trouble. When Jing'er's wife gets married in the future, she will have no place to stand."

The Yin sisters have been through a lot, and they no longer have the strong will they once had. Yin Lifang is determined to wait for her daughter-in-law to come home.

When the Cui family learned of Madam Zhang's words, they actually disagreed. Madam Cui said, "Prince Yuzhang is the orphan of the former Prince Wei, and the emperor doesn't favor their family very much. Why are you doing this?"

Mrs. Zhang, however, had a different view: "Madam, you are right, I am ignorant. I only met the Concubine Yin once. My daughter has been with my husband and me on missions abroad for many years. Her father just returned to Beijing this year, and she doesn't know anyone. She married a prince just to be rich and idle, and she doesn't expect anything else."

No matter how bad he was, he was still a legitimate vassal prince. His daughter would be the princess of a county after she married him. The emperor always kept Prince Yuzhang by his side, which showed that he still loved him.

Just like her, she married into a wealthy family, but her husband still had to take the imperial examination. Nowadays, the number of people who can enter the officialdom has decreased a lot. Her husband finally passed the last imperial examination and was promoted to the position of Yushi. This was all because of her father's connections.

Otherwise, the top three Jinshi would have been exiled to counties and prefectures, and no one knows when they will come back.

The emperor doesn't take much care of his uncle's family, let alone relatives like them.

Mrs. Cui saw that her concubine was very assertive, so she didn't know what to say. She just said, "You and your aunt can stay in our house first. I won't be in charge of things now. Your eldest sister-in-law will be in charge of the household. When you are settled, you can go to your sister's house."

The younger sister Cui Yuehuan married the empress's younger brother. When they fled to Xuzhou, they also looked for the younger sister and recommended the Princess Huaiyin, who was not the empress at that time.

If her daughter could marry a better man, she would marry a better man. It would be better than marrying a scholar and waiting for a long time to have a promising future. As for whether Prince Yuzhang had power, she didn't care that much. She said it was difficult for an official who had so many things to do every day to get promoted, let alone her daughter.

Even if you find a family with scholars, you never know when he will be able to publish a book. The whole family depends on that monthly salary to make a living. Some families even eat the women's dowries after the family splits up. The women are miserable.

Since Mrs. Zhang had made up her mind, she told Cui Yuehuan about the marriage after she went to Zheng's house. Cui Yuehuan now has two sons and a daughter. She and Zheng Wuheng have always had a good relationship. Today, she just came back from the palace and congratulated Mrs. Zhang when she saw her.

"How come you heard about it so quickly?" Mrs. Zhang was surprised.

Cui Yuehuan said, "It was the Queen who told me that your sister's family is getting married to the Prince of Yuzhang, which is very good. A few days ago, the Queen gave Concubine Yin a lot of gifts, which shows that she is happy to see it happen."

When Mrs. Zhang heard that the Empress agreed, she was immediately delighted. With her current status, it would be extremely difficult to see the Empress, but her daughter would be the Princess of a County after marriage, and it would be easy for her to see the Empress.

Nanny Rong, who was standing behind Cui Yuehuan, almost shouted out, what a coincidence.

Madam Zhang and Yin Lifang didn't know any of this. Even Cui Yuehuan wasn't very clear about it. She sighed after seeing Madam Zhang off.

"Why are you sighing when everything is fine?" Nanny Rong was puzzled.

Cui Yuehuan said: "Even my niece is getting married, but our eldest aunt's marriage is still uncertain. I don't mind her raising her, as she can help take care of the old lady, but the old lady can't help it."

Just as she was worrying, she saw Zheng Wuheng come in and asked for his advice: "You know a lot of people outside, help look for him."

Zheng Wuheng had just taken off his clothes when he said impatiently, "I have my own business to attend to. Prime Minister Jian said that someone had written a letter to the people, but the emperor was not angry, but became even more cruel. He said that the people below were in collusion, and that the distribution to the common people was no more than a big landlord distributing to a small landlord. He sent several cruel officials to Wu County specifically, and it was obvious that they wanted to punish people. I am afraid that it will arouse public anger again..."

"Wu County is the emperor's old lair. In the past, if something like this was reported to the people, the emperor would have issued an edict of remorse." Cui Yuehuan understood all this.

Zheng Wuheng sighed, "Now there are people from the Imperial City Department everywhere, so you should be careful. The emperor is more determined this time. Some people agree and some disagree. Those who disagree will be demoted. Even I went to see my sister today. My sister said that if there are any hidden fields in the family, let me personally urge the nearby villagers not to cheat."

Cui Yuehuan didn't want to say much about what was happening outside. Thinking of this, Zheng Wuheng got up and went out to do some work.

Now the Zheng family's old man and his wife no longer care about things, and the old lady is even less concerned. Not only does she not care, she also makes things more chaotic. Zheng Wuheng is in charge of the outside world, and Cui Yuehuan is in charge of the inside. However, Cui Yuehuan never says or asks much about what's happening outside.

"It's getting dark. You can't get anything done if you go out now." Cui Yuehuan saw him going out, looked at the sky and said hurriedly.

Zheng Wuheng put down the whip in his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it. I'd better rest for a night and go out tomorrow morning while I'm on vacation."

He was not worried about giving up a few acres of land, but was worried that the emperor's brother-in-law would really cause public anger and the government's orders would be reversed, and those who were really willing to contribute would become timid.