Chapter 1813 Changes

Zhulan talked to Mingteng and his wife for a while, and then the couple went to the main room to pick up the child and took him back to the Rong'an Marquis Mansion.

After a while, Li came over. The eldest wife now had two grandsons and one granddaughter. Mingyun took the two children away when he took office. Now only Mingteng's son was left with Li. The child went back to the Rong'an Marquis' Mansion. Li felt bored and came to the main courtyard.

Zhulan waited for the honey water to come up and signaled the maids to go down, "I see you have a lot to say."

Li took a sip of honey water and felt much more relieved. "My daughter-in-law is just a little emotional."

"Feelings for the Ran family?"

Mrs. Li nodded. "In the past two years, the old lady of the Ran family has completely stopped taking care of things. The Ran family is managed by the eldest wife and the eldest grandson's wife. Although they restrain each other, it is not as good as before."

Zhu Lan also sighed, "Qi is getting older and has been reluctant to go out this year. I've been busy here and haven't seen her for a long time."

Seeing that her mother-in-law's cup was empty, Li poured another one for her before saying, "Ran Wan is not at home. I rarely go to the Ran Mansion except for the New Year to give gifts. I haven't paid much attention to this place. After listening to what Mingteng and his wife said today, I realized that it is no longer the Ran Mansion in my memory."

Zhu Lan took a sip of honey water. "After all, the Ran family was inherited by the eldest wife. Ran Da is not bad, but his wife is not so good. Fortunately, Ran Wan is the legitimate daughter of the second wife of the Ran family. You can decide how to interact with her."

Li smiled and said, "The second branch of the Ran family is good."

Ran Wan's parents get along well with each other, and they have been comfortable with each other over the years.

Zhu Lan said, "Mr. Ran has not been in good health recently. Once he moves to the first and second wives' house, the property will be divided."

Li's eyes brightened a little, "It's better to separate."

Zhu Lan's emotions about the Ran family quickly faded away, and she said, "We just need to know about Ran Xun's illegitimate son. The Ran family doesn't want their shame to be exposed, and we are not the kind of people who like to talk too much."

Li understood in her heart and said with emotion: "That's why it is said that one should marry a virtuous woman."

Zhulan said: "That's one thing, but the man also needs to have good character and not blame the woman when something goes wrong."

The wife is really bad, isn't it? Can't you teach her behind her back? However, in this era, most men marry and leave their wives alone, and when something goes wrong, they blame their wives.

Li added in her heart that the mother-in-law at home should be sensible. It is really annoying to have a mother-in-law who always wants to control her daughter-in-law.

Zhulan drank two cups of honey water and stopped drinking. She called Qingxue and asked her to get two more basins of water as the room was still too dry.

While Qingxue was busy with the little girl, Li said, "Mother, when Miss Jiang comes to the mansion again, ask her to bring Miss Shao with her!"

Zhulan laughed, "Want to take a closer look?"

"That's not the case. There's no way a girl you like would be bad. I've prepared some gifts for Miss Shao."

It was her mother-in-law who gave it to her, so she had to say that it was not given to her by her mother-in-law, so as to avoid letting the Shao family think that she did not like Miss Shao.

Zhulan: "Okay."

Li smiled happily. Ever since Mingyun and the two children left, she felt a missing piece in her heart. The two children would not come back for several years. She wished to have more children around her. Forget about Mingteng and his wife. Liu Jia was injured and needed to recuperate for several more years. She could only hope that Minghui would get married soon.

Zhulan thought of Mingjing, "This child has been at the farm for a few days. He should be back after taking a few days off."

As for Mingjing, whether it was her and Shuren, or the eldest couple, they had no expectations for this child, so Mingjing's hobbies were allowed, and Mingjing was also allowed to take leave from time to time as long as she could keep up with her studies.

Mrs. Li felt a headache when she thought of her youngest son. "His father will go and catch him tomorrow."

Zhulan felt happy when she thought about the fat boy running around because of his father.

Two days later, Yudie invited a young lady with whom she had a good relationship to come to her house. Coincidentally, snowflakes were floating in the sky, and the scenery in the garden was even better.

Yudie also wanted to invite Shao Ting, but finally gave up the idea. All the guests coming today were young ladies from official families, and she was afraid that Shao Ting would get upset.

Wei Xinyi and He Sishi, who were engaged to the Zhou family, arrived, and Miss Li, the former Minister of War, also arrived.

There were more than a dozen girls in total, and Shangguan Li was the most eye-catching one, because she was the Crown Princess's sister. The only surprise was that there was also a Miss Jiao.

Originally Yudie hadn't thought of Miss Jiao, but Yuwen mentioned it, and Yudie remembered to invite her. Outsiders didn't know that they knew the plan of the higher-ups, and the fact that grandma liked Concubine Chen was known to the whole capital, so Yudie didn't feel abrupt by inviting Miss Jiao. Zhulan's life became more refined after she had money, and the richer the family, the more refined the life. Each branch of the Marquis's Mansion had its own industry, so the Marquis's Mansion was not short of rare fruits and other things from outside.

Seeing the table full of fruits, Wei Xinyi sighed at the wealth of the Marquisate and picked up her favorite orange to eat. "Oh, it's cold and refreshing."

Yudie smiled and said, "I know you like to eat, so I prepared some more."

Wei Xinyi, "The oranges from the Marquis' Mansion are still sweeter."

The oranges she bought herself were a bit sour, so she counted the oranges her fiancé sent her while eating them.

Yudie, "I'll give you some orange trees next year."

Yuyi joked, "Need you tell me? Uncle must have approved it."

Wei Xinyi blushed, "Okay, you guys just know how to tease me."

Yu Wen smiled and said, "We can only tease you now. After you get married, you will be our elder and we won't be able to tease you even if we want to."

Wei Xinyi's cheeks became even hotter. "I can't say anything better than you sisters."

Shangguan Li and Yu Jiao whispered to each other, "Where did you find this variety of oranges?"

Yujiao thought about it and realized it wasn't a secret. "It was grafted. The Royal Manor was the first to start. My uncle started thinking about it after he found out about it. It was only this year that we got results."

Shangguan Li sighed, "The Zhouhou Mansion is deeply favored by the emperor."

Yu Jiao thought to herself that it was because of my grandfather's ability. When the retired emperor was alive, he would often take my grandfather to the imperial estate. Only when the retired emperor went there did my grandfather not go. Grafting had been studied when the retired emperor was alive, but the focus was on food and no experiment had been done on fruit trees.

Yujiao smiled. The results of her uncle's experiment had been handed over to the emperor. Although the grafting method was obtained from the imperial estate, her uncle could also get some credit.

Miss Jiao is not familiar with the group, but because the scripts she wrote are very popular, people around her also talk about her.

First there was Concubine Chen, then Miss Jiao wrote storybooks, and gradually more storybooks written by daughters of official families were published in newspapers. Of course, they were not about love, as they had to consider their own and their family's reputation. The only one who really had no scruples was still Concubine Chen, because Concubine Chen's status was enough for her to write books that taught women the correct values.

Miss Li is familiar with Yuwen. "I have heard a lot about you."

Yu Wen was speechless, "Didn't you write to ask me?"

“I’m still surprised.”

Yu Wen raised her eyebrows. "Your request is different from mine. There's nothing to be surprised about."

Miss Li thought about it and it was true. She needed a marriage and she also wanted a good marriage.

In the palace, Zhou Shuren came out after discussing government affairs with a group of officials. He saw Changzhi waiting with an umbrella, so he gestured to the other officials and said to his son, "You must have waited a long time."

Chang Zhi did wait for a while. He was summoned to the palace today. The emperor summoned his father and other adults to discuss matters, and he followed the prince. After the prince finished his work, he was not in a hurry to leave.

Zhou Shuren added: "Put away the umbrella."

Changzhi obediently put away the umbrella and reached out to help his father walk, "Dad, please be careful."

(End of this chapter)