"The banquet for the guests attending the Fengtong Festival hosted by the Princess of Ji'an County includes eighteen main dishes, six cold dishes, and four bowls of soup!"
"The Princess of Ji'an County has awarded Fengtong's guest 32 rolls of cloth and has allowed the tailor of the Princess's Mansion to come and cut the clothes!"
"The Princess of Ji'an County will give each guest who comes to see the phoenix tung tree a portion of fruit and snacks!"
"The Princess of Ji'an will give each of Fengtong's guests a hundred taels of pocket money!"
The dinner at Feng Mansion was carried out amidst the singing. A large number of servants from Tongshengxuan filed into the flower hall where they were having dinner. Each of them wore very strange clothes and shoes. It was unknown what the clothes were made of. They were transparent and attached to a hat. The clothes and pants were separated. They were the same for both men and women, and the normal clothes were separated inside. The shoes on their feet looked like high boots, and the material was also unknown. But no matter the clothes or boots, they were all very waterproof. They walked in the rain like this, without an umbrella, but they did not look embarrassed at all.
The food was brought here by Qingyu. When each dish was served, she bowed to the old lady and her second and third uncles, and then said, "When the county lady heard that guests were coming, she asked the cook in the mansion to prepare the food and send it here. The recent heavy rain has separated the households that send food into the city, and there has been no fresh food delivered from the capital for several days. The county lady thought that there must be a shortage here in Feng Mansion, and fortunately there are reserves in the cellar of the county lady's mansion, so she asked someone to prepare it and send it over." As she spoke, she looked at the table. Before the dishes she brought were served, there were even pickles on the table. It was really shabby.
The old lady and Feng Jinyuan's faces turned dark, but they had to admit that the Feng family did not have much reserves. There was a lot of food, and they could store it, but vegetables and meat were not something that could be stored for a long time. If the whole family wanted to eat, they would have run out of food. They had originally thought that if they still couldn't buy vegetables in the next two days, they might have to eat pickles every day.
Everyone from the hometown knew that Feng Yuheng was the county lady. Feng Jinyuan had said before that the county lady had a special mansion, so it was raining so hard that she would not be invited to come and have dinner together. Unexpectedly, the girl was so thoughtful that she actually asked someone to send dishes. The second uncle and the third uncle quickly stood up and were about to kneel down to thank them, but Qingyu supported them and said, "Two elders, please don't be so polite. The county lady said that there is a big funeral in the Feng family today, and I am afraid that Feng Daxueshi is not in the mood to entertain you. She has to do her best and can't let everyone suffer." While speaking, she pointed to the cloth and said, "There is a ready-made tailor in the county lady's mansion. I have brought it here. After dinner, let her take measurements and make clothes for everyone. All expenses will be borne by the county lady's mansion. In addition-" She took the silver notes in her hand and handed them directly to the second uncle: "One silver note is one hundred silver, one for each person, you keep it. There are also some small silver here, which is prepared for everyone's daily use."
Second Uncle's eyes were wet. "Ah Heng... No, the county lady, the county lady is so thoughtful. The Feng family is already a great favor to take us in. I didn't expect that she could be so hospitable. She is worthy of being the legitimate daughter of the Feng family. Good! Good!"
The second uncle praised Feng Yuheng with tears in his eyes, but the third uncle heard something different and asked anxiously: "What did you just say? A great funeral in the Feng family?" He looked around in confusion and did not see any sadness. Since entering the mansion, no one had mentioned any great funeral to them. What did they mean?
Qingyu was stunned for a moment, then looked at the old lady, and then slapped her forehead: "It seems that I have said too much, Third Uncle, just pretend that I never said that, and don't ask any more questions!" After that, she stuffed all the banknotes and silver in her hand over, and then said: "If there is anything else you need, send someone to the county lady's mansion next door to tell her. I'll take my leave first."
After Qingyu finished speaking, he left in a hurry with a group of servants. Still wearing that strange clothes and those strange shoes, he rushed into the rain and walked freely.
For a moment, people were stunned.
The third uncle was still thinking about what happened before, and asked again: "What's the big funeral about?"
Seeing that she couldn't hide it anymore, the old lady sighed helplessly, and then looked at Cheng Junman. Cheng Junman understood what she meant, so she took the initiative to speak and told her about the fish. She was very smart and spoke evasively, without mentioning the specific reason, only saying that she had angered the emperor, was beheaded, and then Feng Jinyuan was demoted to the fifth rank.
People in my hometown never expected such a sudden change to happen, and for a moment they didn’t know what to do.
At this time, in the County Lord's Mansion, Xuan Tianming and Feng Yuheng were fighting desperately with a big elbow. After fighting a few times, he found that he really couldn't beat his wife. He had no choice but to give up and simply talked about business: "The mountain flood in Fengtong County gave me an idea."
Feng Yuheng asked him while peeling the skin of the elbow: "What's the idea?"
He said, "I'm afraid we can't keep the Qianzhou incident secret any longer, and we need to buy time for steelmaking, so it's irrational to send troops immediately. So I thought, take advantage of the heavy rain and arrange for those thieves to return to Qianzhou, and then we can use the plot of them dying in a flash flood on the way."
Feng Yuheng's eyes lit up, and he stared at Xuan Tianming with wide eyes - "Great! You can even think of such a mean trick!"
"That's right!" Xuan Tianming sat up straight, "What do you think of this idea?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, "That's great! But the people who go to see them off have to be reliable. We can't sacrifice the lives of our Dashun people just to send them off. It's not worth it."
Xuan Tianming thought for a moment and said, "Let's ask the secret guards to go!" Then he raised his hand and said, "Ban Zou, come out."
Ban Zou stood in front of the two of them in a flash, "Your Highness, Master."
Xuan Tianming ordered him: "Take six people with you and follow me into the palace tomorrow."
Ban Zou nodded, "As you command."
Xuan Tianming waved his hand again, "Then go down!" Ban Zou's figure shook again and left silently.
In this meal, Feng Yuheng ate a large pork elbow, four pieces of ribs, half a fish, six shrimps, two lion heads, and a pigeon. Xuan Tianming was helpless, "Can't you eat some vegetables?"
Someone answered as if it was a matter of course: "I'm not a rabbit." Then he asked Huang Quan: "What about Xiangrong?"
Huang Quan told her: "The Third Miss said she would not disturb you and His Highness, and she went to have dinner with the Madam."
Feng Yuheng thought that this was a good idea. It would be boring for Yao to eat alone. With Xiangrong accompanying her, she could be considered as fulfilling her filial duty as a daughter. She sighed in her heart. Sometimes, she really couldn't do anything about Yao.
The county lady's mansion had a sumptuous dinner, but no one in the Feng family had the heart to eat. Chenyu's death shocked the people from her hometown. Everyone knew that she was the most beautiful daughter of the Feng family. They had discussed that this daughter of the Feng family would have a great future. But they didn't expect that she would die in her prime years. It was really sad.
Feng Jinyuan took this opportunity to express his feelings again. He pointed at the table of delicious food and said, "Feng Yuheng sent you some food, some ingredients, and some money, and you were grateful for her kindness. Little did you know that if she hadn't secretly done something to harm her elder sister, how could Chenyu suffer this disaster, how could I be demoted to the fifth rank, and how could the Feng family even lose this house!" He became more and more angry as he spoke, and finally slammed the table and shouted, "It's all because of that little beast. Sooner or later, she will destroy the Feng family!"
The voice of this sentence was really a bit loud, so loud that the person who had not yet entered the flower hall could hear it from a long distance. Suddenly, a sharp voice was heard, and someone said, "Who is the Grand Scholar Feng scolding?"
The Feng family members were shocked and turned their heads together, only to see a group of people walking towards the flower hall outside. They were here for the eunuch Zhang Yuan, but he was so arrogant that he was just a eunuch and he actually had four people working together to set up a big tent for him, trapping him tightly inside so that he wouldn't get wet at all.
Feng Jinyuan squinted his eyes and looked at it for a while, and soon recognized that the rain tent belonged to Emperor Tianwu, who would take it out and use it whenever it rained too heavily. He didn't expect that something that belonged to the emperor would be lent to a eunuch, which showed how good Emperor Tianwu was to Zhang Yuan.
He quickly stood up, and the old lady followed suit. At the same time, she winked at the second uncle and others and whispered, "The personal eunuch beside the emperor."
When everyone heard this, they quickly stood up. Although he was a eunuch, he came from the palace and was the emperor's personal eunuch, so his status was naturally extraordinary.
Just as everyone stood up, Zhang Yuan had already walked to the front of the flower hall. He glanced inside and said casually, "Wow! There are quite a lot of people." Then he stepped over the threshold and entered the hall. He stood in front of Feng Jinyuan and said without any nonsense, "Master Feng, our family is here to exchange land deeds with you."
Feng Jinyuan said with embarrassment: "Eunuch Zhang has seen it too. How can we move in such weather outside? Can we wait a little longer, at least until the rain stops? Otherwise, this old lady..." He turned around and pointed, especially at the people from his hometown, and said: "Look, these are the people who fled from Fengtong County. The entire county was destroyed by mountain torrents. They finally fled to the capital, old and young. Moving in the rain really makes me... makes me feel sorry for it!"
Zhang Yuan nodded, "The emperor has already known about this matter, and has sent people to suppress the disaster. There will naturally be some appeasement measures for Fengtong County, and Lord Feng does not need to worry about it. In addition, the emperor also said that it is really impossible to move in such a heavy rain, so there is no rush, just wait a few days, and I will not collect rent from the Grand Secretary Feng. But the land deed must be replaced today, so that I don’t have to run out of the palace all the time. You also know that there are a lot of things to do in the palace, and I can’t serve the emperor, so how can I have the time to go out of the palace again and again!"
Feng Jinyuan said anxiously: "Don't bother the eunuch to come out, I will take you to the palace."
"Oh!" Zhang Yuan laughed, "Master Feng, you are joking. You are currently a fifth-rank official, so you are not eligible to enter the palace at any time."
"This..." Feng Jinyuan was anxious, sweat started to form on his forehead, and he kept rubbing his hands.
An asked, "Are you cold, Master?"
He glared at An and then stamped his feet: "Okay! Wait a minute, eunuch. The deed is in the study. I will go get it myself!"
(By the way, Lao Qi likes Heng Heng)
...
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