Chapter 244: Yuanping Rebellion 1
The northwest wind was howling and hitting the windows. Su Ruojin was woken up by the cold in the middle of the night. Chunxiao quickly brought out a thick quilt to cover her and even poured her some hot water to keep her warm.
She waved her hand, "No, you go to sleep too."
Chunxiao didn't listen to her, but took the kettle from the stove, filled it with hot water, and stuffed it under her feet. A wave of heat slowly seeped from the soles of her feet to her whole body, and Su Ruojin felt better. She took a deep breath, adjusted her mood, and relaxed herself, but she tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.
For a moment, she had a lot of random thoughts. When she heard the night watchman's gong sound again in the silent night, she realized that it was almost dawn. She forced herself to go to sleep and slowly fell asleep in a daze.
The next morning, just as she had thought the night before, the weather was extremely cold. She changed directly from her thin jacket to a thick jacket, and then put on a thick cloak.
Mao Ya asked, "Second Madam, are you going out?"
She nodded, "I'm going to Yang Si Niang's house."
Chun Xiao reminded: "Madam Jin, the young prince asked you not to go out casually."
"Tell Uncle Hua and the others to follow me."
Chunxiao and Maoya looked at each other and stopped trying to persuade her. They made arrangements and prepared breakfast.
Su Ruojin ate a bowl of millet porridge hastily, then took a carriage to the Yang family and said to Mangzhong, "Don't go through the front door, go around to the back door."
Mangzhong was puzzled, but he still listened to her and went out the back door.
The Yang family had a heavy guard. At the main entrance, Lord Yang walked out wearing a fox fur cloak, with more than a dozen guards in front and on both sides of him. He saw a car entering the alley and glanced at the guards.
The guard immediately went over to investigate.
At the back door, Mangzhong took out a note and said, "Looking for Madam Yang Si, please let her know."
The guard was impatient and didn't want to inform, but fortunately there was an old servant who saw the second wife of the Su family and hurried into the inner house to find the lady.
The guard came over and reported: "Your Excellency, we are looking for the fourth lady."
Only then did Yang Jingzi get on the car and go to the palace to take up his post.
Madam Yang thought that Madam Su had returned to Weizhou County, but she didn't expect her to come so early in the morning. She thought, didn't she hear Arong say that she was coming? She quickly asked her capable housekeeper Aunt Zhang to personally welcome her in.
"Auntie, I'm sorry to bother you."
Madam Yang smiled and said, "Ajin, are you going back to Weizhou?" Are you here to say goodbye?
Su Ruojin looked around and didn't see the eldest daughter-in-law of the Yang family. "Aunt, has Sister Yu returned to her hometown?"
Madam Yang was stunned: "Arong told you?"
She nodded and asked, "Have you set off yet?"
It was only two days after Yang Si Niang's engagement party, how could it be so fast? Moreover, I didn't expect that there was a northwest wind last night, and it was freezing cold. Madam Yang was hesitating whether to let her eldest son return to his ancestral home, and was worried.
Seeing Madam Yang's hesitation, Su Ruojin said, "Aunt, I heard that the Yang family has returned to their ancestral home. It would be a good idea to let Brother Mingyu take Sister-in-law and Arong back to celebrate the New Year."
"Arong is going too?"
Su Ruojin smiled and nodded.
"But she's going to marry Aze in two years, so this is going to happen..."
"Isn't it two years?"
The two looked at each other.
There is a sense of seeing through but not saying it in the eyes of the old and the young, but whether the meaning of this "seeing through" is the same is unclear.
Madam Yang: ...
When Yang Si Niang heard that her best friend had come, she was very happy and ran out of the yard immediately.
"Mom, Ah Jin..."
The young lady's joyful cry broke the silence between the two.
Su Ruojin turned around and said with a smile, "Arong, I heard from Madam that you are going to return to your ancestral home with your brother and sister-in-law, right?"
Yang Si Niang: ...looked at mother with a confused face.
Madam Yang understood that Su Erniang was forcing her to make a decision. Looking at her current life, it seemed like a flourishing life, but in reality it was like a raging fire. If she made a mistake, everything could be shattered into pieces.
Grit your teeth and make up your mind.
"Well, Rong, I was just about to tell you that tomorrow, you and your brother will go back to your hometown."
"Mom?" Yang Si Niang's face turned pale with shock. It was a very cold day, and the northwest wind was blowing so hard that it hurt her when she walked from the yard here.
Once the decision was made, Mrs. Yang was a decisive person and no longer hesitated. She not only asked Yang Si Niang to go back to the yard to pack her luggage, but also asked her eldest son and his wife to pack up quickly and set off early the next morning.
Yang Mingyu asked, "What about Sanlang..."
Mrs. Yang gave birth to four children in total. The eldest daughter was married and lived in the capital. She was considered someone else's and she didn't need to worry about her for the time being.
Looking at the third son who was the same age as Su Dalang, "Ah Xian, are you going back with your brother?"
Yang Mingxian looked puzzled, "We are all going back, who will accompany Dad and Mom?"
Madam Yang wanted to say, "I don't want you to accompany me," but when she thought about how her husband usually loved his third son, she swallowed the words that were about to come out of her throat and forced a smile, "Grandpa and grandma are going back to their ancestral home this year, and you should go with them to worship the ancestors.
Su Ruojin looked down at the ground when she heard the words about ancestor worship. If her guess was confirmed by Zhao Lan, then Madam Yang's children had nothing to do with the Yang family. They were actually...
I dare not think about it any further.
But no matter who the father is, to the children of the Yang family, they are all innocent and should be allowed to avoid this disaster.
Su Ruojin accompanied Yang Siniang for a day, helping her pack her luggage. Yang Siniang cried and said she didn't want to leave her parents and the capital. Su Ruojin coaxed her, "Come back soon when the spring comes. I'll wait for you in the capital."
"But..." Although Yang Si Niang was trapped in love and wanted to escape, she had never thought of leaving the capital. She was still hesitating.
Su Ruojin quickly lied to her, "Maybe leaving the capital will help your cousin see his true feelings and decide that the person he likes is you?"
Yang Si Niang: ...
“Distance creates beauty.”
(⊙o⊙).
What distance? What beauty? Yang Si Niang pondered for a long time, and seemed to understand, "Really?"
Su Ruojin gave him an encouraging look, "How do you know if you don't try?"
Yang Si Niang nodded in agreement in a daze.
In the evening, Su Ruojin was afraid of bumping into Lord Yang who had just returned, so she said goodbye in advance, but she ended up bumping into him at the second gate anyway.
"Ajin, meet the master."
Yang Jingzi stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the young lady in front of him with a serious face. Every time he had sex with her, it was as if she was blessed by God and she always avoided his butcher knife. The Taoists and monks in the Central Plains all said that they were protected by gods.
What would happen if he drew his knife at this moment?
Su Ruojin felt the murderous intent and her spine went numb.
The northwest wind whistled through the door and hit the wall, but she still felt as if the air was frozen and she was suffocating and unable to breathe.
Oh my God, she won't die here.
Suddenly someone shouted.
"Ajin..."
When Yang Si Niang saw her father, she was so scared that she pressed herself against the wall and shouted, "Dad..."
Yang Jingzi turned his gaze to his daughter.
Su Ruojin took a deep breath and pretended to be calm, "Arong, what do you want from me?"
"I'm worried about getting sick from the local climate. Do you have any hawthorn slices?"
"Yes, I'll go back and ask Sister Maoya to bring it to you."
"good."
After saying this, Su Ruojin bowed to the man surnamed Yang again and left with the maid.
Yang Si Niang has always been afraid of his father, but she couldn't help but envy the way A Jin got along with his father, so every time she saw his father, she would bite the bullet and be a soft little cotton jacket, "Dad, you're back!"
Yang Jingzi glanced coldly at his pretty daughter and walked into the inner courtyard.
Yang Si Niang slapped her chest in fear, bit her lip, and turned back to her own yard.
Yang Jingzi went to the inner bedroom and found a bundle on the table. His eyes tightened, "Are you still determined to let Yu'er go back?"
Mrs. Yang spoke very aggressively, like a shrew, "If you don't go back, will he become a target for your political enemies?"
"What happened to Arong?"
Madam Yang instantly changed from a shrew to a rational person. "Aze didn't want to marry Arong, I forced her to marry him. She was unhappy, so I asked her to go back with her brother to relax."
Yang Jingzi was very clear about every move at home. He squinted his eyes, and a faint light shone through them, which was icy cold to the bone.
My heart is dead and I am not afraid of anything.
Madam Yang sat opposite him fearlessly, allowing him to look at her. If it weren't for her children, she would have divorced him long ago. How could she live with such a cruel man?
But women, what else can you do in this life except slowly getting through it?
She lowered her head and sat there with a pale face.
Yang Jingzi narrowed his eyes again and again, finally stood up and went to the study.
She didn't look up until the footsteps faded away.
After returning home, Su Ruojin always felt like she was being stared at by that snake-like gaze, and her whole body felt cold.
"Uncle Mang, I want to see the young prince."
Mangzhong was a little embarrassed, "I'm afraid the master is not free tonight."
Su Ruojin thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll write a letter and you can pass it to him for me."
"good."
Ever since she ran into Yang Jingzi, Su Ruojin had been having trouble eating and sleeping. The next morning, she asked Uncle Hua Ping to find out whether the Yang brothers and sisters had left.
Hua Ping didn't come back until the evening to tell her, "We've set off and are out of the city."
Su Ruojin clasped her hands together and said, "Amitabha, I hope they have a safe journey and arrive safely at Yang's hometown."
Ye Huaizhen seemed to be thinking about something. "Second Madam, are you afraid that the man surnamed Yang will kill you?"
Su Ruojin stopped muttering.
"But...if the one with the surname Yang was swapped before the marriage, then these children are his biological children, he..." Can he do that?
In order to consolidate her position as queen or emperor, a certain queen of the previous dynasty even killed her own daughter, son, and sister. If the man with the surname Yang is really a Liaoxia nationality, it is not impossible that he did this for the benefit of Liaoxia.
Ye Huaizhen shuddered, "If there is an afterlife, I only wish to be born in an ordinary family."
Since the Yang brothers and sisters left, Su Ruojin invited a Buddha statue back and prayed every day, praying that the Yang brothers and sisters would be safe and sound.
Just as Su Ruojin was nervous and worried, the King of Wei who fled to the land of Nanyue survived the famine, prepared food and grass in the autumn harvest, and fought his way over from the south. Wherever he passed, he destroyed cities and towns, seized food and increased his troops, increasing his army from 50,000 to 100,000.
The unfilial Banyue actually killed his way to Pengcheng.
After passing Pengcheng and heading north, you will be not far from Bianjing.
Emperor Yuanping, the new emperor who had been in office for less than half a year, sent troops to suppress the rebellion. Zhao Lan, who had served as the deputy commander of the Imperial City Division, was appointed General Yunhui and promoted from the fourth rank to the third rank.
"This is not a promotion at all, this is simply sending my son to his death!" Princess Jin beat her chest and cried loudly.
King Jin sat aside, silent.
Seeing his father and mother so sad, the Crown Prince could not help but comfort them, "Mother, the commander-in-chief is the great general guarding the country, and I am his assistant. Father should talk to the great general and let me sit in the formation to handle paperwork. It should be..." His life will not be in danger.
The King of Jin glanced at his eldest son, and said to his wife who was crying with her hands covering her face, "Ah Xuan is right. I will go find the great general Ning Hua right now."
Princess Jin's crying stopped abruptly, and she chased after him, "Will this work?"
King Jin said in a deep voice, "It's better than you crying at home."
Princess Jin: … She was choked by the man’s words and paused for a long time before she remembered something, “Where is Lan’er?”
The eldest son and the second son looked at each other. Ever since the younger brother took on the task a few years ago, they brothers seldom saw each other a few times a month. But they heard that the younger brother always liked to go to his teacher's house, and seemed to like chasing after his junior sister.
A man always likes to stick to young ladies, what do you think of this...
Seeing that her eldest and second sons remained silent, Princess Jin immediately understood and slammed the table in anger, "It's already this time, and you're still..." Thinking that her man had tacitly agreed that her son could marry whoever he wanted, Princess Jin stopped her ugly scolding in time.
The entire capital was shrouded in a tense atmosphere. People with a little money were hoarding food, and the poor left the capital and returned to their hometowns. The wealthy families did not take any action, but secretly hoarded food. For a while, there was no food to sell on the market.
On a dark night, Su Yanzu brought two carts of food to the Su family and asked Su Ruojin to hide in the cellar quickly.
She had never felt such a strong blood relationship with Su Yanzu as she did at this moment.
"Thank you, uncle."
Su Yanzu smiled lightly, "Don't thank me, just protect yourself."
"It's fought twice a year." The change of imperial power always brings suffering and pain to the people. "Uncle, you should be careful too."
"I live in the princess's mansion, which is better than you living here alone." Su Yanzu said, "How about you come with me to the princess's mansion."
Su Ruojin shook her head and said, "Thank you, uncle." He was only the princess's chief historian and had no right to lead people.
From the first time they met, Su Yanzu knew that his little niece was independent-minded, so he didn't try to persuade her.
"Then I'll go back first. If you need any help, send someone to the princess's mansion to find me."
Su Ruojin nodded, put on his clothes and saw his uncle out.
The cold wind howled and the night was dark.
At the second gate, Su Yanzu asked his niece not to see him off. He walked a few steps, and as if he remembered something, he turned around and asked, "Young Prince Zhao has been appointed General Yunhui, and he will lead the army south with General Ning. They will set off tomorrow. Did you know that?"
Su Ruojin really didn't know: "When did it happen?"
"today."
Recently, Su Ruojin hasn't seen Zhao Lan much.
"Why let him, a young man who has not even reached the age of 20, stay here?"
Zhao Lan is only nineteen years old this year.
"He captured Liaoxia spies and was in Nanyue for a year and a half. Your Majesty and Lord Yang both thought he was suitable."
Lord Yang? Su Ruojin's heart skipped a beat. "But the King of Wei's troops are in Pengcheng now."
Su Yanzu shook his head, "Then it's not a matter between you and me."
Whoever the emperor asks to go must go, even if he is a member of the royal family.
After Su Yanzu left, Su Ruojin stood at the second door for a long time without moving. She didn't even notice that her little face was frozen.
"Ajin?"
In the darkness of night and in the cold wind, Shuangrui held a lantern and trotted after his master.
Zhao Lan took long steps and ran over to see Su Ruojin standing at the door to greet him, "Ajin!"
"Brother Jin!" Hearing the voice, Su Ruojin quickly patted her frozen face with both hands and walked over.
(End of this chapter)
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