Chapter 18 Return

Sheng Hong and his wife entered the city in such a tense atmosphere.

Sheng Hong and Changbai sat in the first carriage. Sheng Hong casually asked Changbai some questions along the way, and the father and son did not feel bored on the way.

When approaching Yangzhou City, Sheng Hong put down his book and said to Changbai, "We are almost in Yangzhou, so take a rest. You don't need to read any more books on this journey." Changbai

also put down his book obediently. Both father and son were very happy. Sheng Hong frequently opened the curtain of the carriage to look at the scenery outside the window. Finally, when they arrived at Yangzhou City, Sheng Hong opened the curtain, pointed to the endless stream of pedestrians and said to Changbai, "You can get a glimpse of the prosperity of our Song Dynasty from Yangzhou. When you arrive in Bianjing in the future, you will see it. "You can feel the prosperity of our Song Dynasty even more. You are my eldest son. You should work hard and make progress, and lead the Sheng family to stand higher and go further in the future!"

Changbai listened carefully. The carriage drove slowly towards the city. Sheng Hong sat by the window of the carriage and seemed to hear the words "Sheng Mansion" and "Tongpan" in the crowd. He thought that some well-informed people knew that he was going to be promoted to Bianjing and were praising him for his outstanding political achievements. But he found that it was not the case after listening carefully.

At this time, Changbai seemed to have heard it too. He looked at his father. Sheng Hong couldn't help but stick his head out to listen. Who knew that as soon as he stuck his head out, he met the eyes of the eldest lady who stuck her head out of the carriage behind him. The eldest lady was full of anger, as if she was going to rush down to fight with those people. Hualan grabbed her mother desperately on the horse and persuaded her to calm down, saying that she would go back to the mansion to see the situation first.

The carriage accelerated forward. Originally, they wanted to send someone back to the mansion to report the news. Hearing the rumors on the street, they didn't care about returning to the mansion to report the news. Sheng Hong asked Dong Rong to check what was going on. The rest of the group sat in the carriage and drove directly to Sheng Mansion.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Sheng Hong got off with a gloomy face. The servant guarding the door immediately came forward with a start, and another hurried to the mansion to get the news. The clever servant wanted to repeat the trick to tell Sheng Hong the good news and get more reward money. Seeing Sheng Hong's gloomy face, he dared not say anything more.

The eldest lady also got off the carriage in a hurry, told Hualan to arrange for someone to move the luggage down and pack it up, and then followed Sheng Hong's steps to the old lady's courtyard. Hualan, Rulan and Changbai were left behind. Hualan was the eldest sister. She received the eldest lady's order to watch people organize the luggage, so she asked Changbai to take Rulan back to the eldest lady's courtyard to wait. Changbai looked deeply at the backs of his parents leaving, lowered his head, took Rulan's hand and sent her back.

As for Sheng Hong and the eldest lady, they both had long faces along the way. The eldest lady wanted to say something but was unable to hold back because there were too many people in the mansion. The servants in the mansion politely saluted when they saw the master and the eldest lady returning home. Seeing the dark clouds on their faces, they knew that there might be some bad news, so they all kept silent after the salute.

As soon as Sheng Hong and the others walked to the gate of the old lady's courtyard, they heard laughter and joy inside. It was so lively. The two looked at each other in confusion. Could it be that the people outside were not talking about their mansion? Why was the old lady so calm and happy?

The servant came to report that the master and the mistress had arrived, and the old lady's voice was heard among the babbling, "Please come in!" As soon

as Sheng Hong and the mistress entered the room, they saw the old lady holding a baby in her arms. They were both stunned for a moment. The old lady smiled and said to them, "This child was born on the first day of Wei's month. It's a boy. When the child was born, I went to the mountain to visit the immortal. I came back with a baby in my arms. " I thought you would be on your way back at that time, and I was afraid that the person who sent you the letter would miss you, so I didn't inform you the first time."

After saying that, seeing that the two were still in a daze and couldn't react, she called Sheng Hong, "Master, do you want to come and take a look? This child is very healthy."

Sheng Hong came back to his senses a little. This is the son born to him by Wei. He walked forward to look at the baby. The baby stared at him curiously with its two black eyes. It was so cute that Sheng Hong couldn't help but reach out to hug him, but the old lady stopped him with her hand, "You just came in from outside, and you are cold. Don't give the child to him. Go to the brazier and warm him up. Come back and hug him when you are warm."

Sheng Hong did as he was told. Only then did the old lady speak in surprise, "Is this the child born to Wei Shuyi? Born on the first day of the month? Early Produced?"

After asking a series of questions, she slapped her thigh and shouted at Sheng Hong, "Sir! What people say outside is true! That witch is really talking about our house! She must be talking about that little bitch Lin Qinshuang..."

The lady met Sheng Hong's warning eyes. She didn't say the word "bitch" completely, but what she said made Sheng Hong frown. The current situation was really consistent with the rumors.

The old lady couldn't understand the exchange of glances between the two, but she also sensed that the atmosphere was not right. She asked the nanny to take Zhenzhen back, "Tell me, what happened?"

The old lady took the initiative to ask. Sheng Hong wanted to speak but didn't know where to start. The eldest lady couldn't wait to speak, "The old lady didn't know?" The old lady

frowned at what the eldest lady said, and Fang Madam intervened, "Madam, if you know anything, please tell me quickly. Since I came down from the mountain, I have been taking care of the young master and have never asked about other things." The eldest lady

understood that the old lady really didn't know, and continued, "But something big has happened. My God, the people in Yangzhou City say that there is a witch in our Sheng Mansion!"

The old lady couldn't believe it, "What witch?"

"Mother, listen to me. When my husband, Hualan and I arrived in Yangzhou City, we heard people talking about our mansion. I listened carefully and heard that there was a concubine in our mansion who was a witch." After saying this, she glanced at Sheng Hong, rolled her eyes again, and continued, "Everyone said that this witch liked to suck the blood of young girls, and that the bodies of young girls in their prime were often carried out of our mansion. This is definitely not true. I don’t know where this rumor came from. It is also said that the witch not only likes the blood of young girls, but also the flesh and blood of newborn babies. It is said that in order to get the fresh flesh and blood of babies, she melted water into ice, causing another concubine in our house to give birth prematurely. We thought that the person would not survive, but unexpectedly, she survived and was not eaten. We thought it was ridiculous and came straight to you to ask about the situation. Then we saw a baby.

" As he spoke, he slapped his thigh again, "That’s right, isn’t this witch talking about Lin Qinshuang?"

As he spoke, he rolled his eyes at Sheng Hong again. The old lady couldn’t help but be shocked when she heard this. Who spread this story? The story was half true and half false and was related to a monster. I'm afraid the rumor has spread all over Yangzhou City. She has been focusing on Xihan Zhenzhen these days and she really hasn't paid attention to what's happening outside.

The old lady sighed several times and kept saying "What a sin! What a sin!"

The eldest lady didn't understand, "Mother, why do you say that?" As soon as the old lady

said this, Sheng Hong knew that something bad must have happened in the family and someone was making a fuss about it. The eldest lady was anxious, "Mother, please tell me, what happened?"

The old lady didn't intend to hide it for Lin Qinshuang, "Aren't you curious why Wei's son is here with me?"

"Didn't you bring him here to see me, mother, because you wanted to have fun with your grandson?" The eldest lady was simple-minded and didn't think of the worst. Sheng Hong frowned and made some bad guesses, "Wei? Gone?"

The eldest lady turned around suddenly, "What nonsense are you talking about, sir? There is no white cloth hung at home."

The old lady was speechless, but Sheng Hong was relieved. "Wei is still here, but she is indeed not doing well. She gave birth to this child prematurely after falling down. She was very weak after giving birth and had no energy to take care of the child. She asked me to help take care of the child. This baby and I got along well, so I agreed, and the child came to me."

"Did she really fall? Did she slip on the ice?" The old lady was incredulous and asked for confirmation carefully. The old lady nodded with her eyelids drooping. The

old lady couldn't bear it for a moment. As a woman who had given birth before, she understood the difficulties of childbirth best. A fall after being pregnant for eight or nine months could really be fatal. "This Wei... I'll ask someone to send her more supplements later."

The old lady wanted to ask, is Wei still healthy? Thinking it was unlucky, she stopped talking about it. The old lady knew that her daughter-in-law had a thousand faults, but she had one good thing, which was her kindness. "Thanks to you, one of the two maids you gave to Wei was named Zhu Li. When Wei fell to the ground, she cushioned her body and saved the lives of both mother and child."

The lady felt sympathetic. Fortunately, her life was saved. I was worried about Sheng Hong, but fortunately, mother and child were safe, and the maid should be rewarded.

At this time, both of them were distracted by Wei's matter. The old lady observed their expressions and felt that they were still thoughtful. Wei should not suffer in vain. She was her real mother, and the old lady still hoped to see her well. But Lin Qinshuang was really a heinous crime. "Wei saved her life, but someone else lost his life." The old lady suddenly threw out another thunder, shocking the two people from their chairs.

"Mother, don't scare me!" "Mother, what do you mean by that?"

The two said in unison, and walked to the old lady and stared at her mouth, fearing that she would say something bad.

"There were two people named Zhu Lou and Lu Lu who were by Wei's side. They were carried away from Lin Qinshuang's yard a few days after Wei gave birth! They were said to have caught a cold, had a high fever, and died." Then her eyes fell on Sheng Hong, "What I said today was not biased towards anyone. The girl you spoiled so much actually dared to kill people at will. She looked smart, but she did things dirty. Now that the rumor of a witch has spread, how can the matter be resolved?"

The old lady felt upset when Lin Qinshuang was mentioned. This was a disaster, and she had brought this disaster upon herself. "That bitch actually did such a thing? She was the one who placed those two girls in Wei's place, right? Why would she kill them when they were working for her..."

The lady suddenly seemed to understand something. She covered her mouth in horror and stared at Sheng Hong.

Sheng Hong also looked at the lady, "This is impossible!"

As soon as Sheng Hong said this, the lady's blood boiled up, "Master said it's impossible, it's impossible that Wei Shuyi fell, the newcomers are still not as good as the old ones, the person almost lost his life, and the master is still protecting him? Are you waiting for us to be killed by that bastard, then the master will be happy, and I will just give her a position!"

Sheng Hong was furious, "What are you talking about? The matter has not been investigated clearly, how can you convict someone based on rumors? We in the Song Dynasty also abide by the law!"

The lady rolled her eyes in anger and muttered softly, "Protect him if you want to, he will be harmed by that bastard sooner or later..."