Chapter 984 Birthday
Zhou Shuren was satisfied, "Eat, this is the noodles I cooked."
Zhulan handed the flowers in her hand to Mrs. Song and asked her to put them in a vase to prevent them from wilting.
In the past two years, her longevity noodles have been cooked by Zhou Shuren himself. The noodles are just one piece and the portion is not very big. She eats it for its meaning.
They had breakfast alone. Zhou Shuren did not take leave to celebrate her birthday with her. There were too many people during the day, so they celebrated the morning by themselves.
After Zhou Shuren left, the other families came. There was nothing special about the gifts from each family. They were prepared according to the gifts from previous years. This year, Xuemei was added, making it the most reunion birthday in recent years.
Then there were the gifts for the children. This year, the gifts for the children were prepared together, and it was quite mysterious.
When Zhulan opened the box, she saw an embroidered picture of the word "longevity".
Changzhong could not wait to speak: "Mother, we wrote the words on it, and then my nieces Yushuang and Yulu embroidered it."
Zhulan touched the picture and said, "You guys are so thoughtful."
This long picture takes a lot of time. Looking at the words on it, Zhulan smiled. She could tell who wrote each word.
After the family members celebrated the birthday, guests came one after another. The first to arrive were a few people who were close to the Zhou family.
Tao was the first to arrive. He held the box and handed it to Zhulan personally. "I know you like painting. I have been waiting for a year to give it to you today. Open it and see if you like it."
Zhulan took the box and said, "I like everything from you."
When Zhulan took out the painting from the box, she liked it immediately. It was a picture of a mountain scene. "So you bought this painting."
She went there for this painting last time, and it was sold by the painting gallery, and now it is in her hands again.
Tao blinked, "I know you like it, so I took the lead and helped me choose your birthday gift. It can also help you save money. It's a two-pronged approach."
Zhulan said carefully, "Next time I will tell you in advance which painting I like."
Tao smiled and said, "I won't buy anything that's too expensive."
Zhulan also smiled. After waiting for a while, Gao came, and then Song from the Ningguo Mansion. Song came with a bulging belly.
Song was a little embarrassed. Originally, it should have been her mother-in-law who came. She said she had a headache due to a cold yesterday, so she, the eldest daughter-in-law, had to come with her belly bulging. "I wish my auntie a long life, good health and safety."
Xue Han reached out to support Song, and Zhu Lan said, "Hurry up and sit down. Stop being so polite."
Song's pregnancy was not good. She was tortured when she was pregnant and was not raised well. She had heard many girls talk about the conflicts between Song and Du.
Because Song was pregnant, Du was punished by the Duke's wife. Du had always been angry about this and had never liked her eldest daughter-in-law in the first place, so she had caused Song a lot of trouble in the mansion.
Song didn't hold on either. She sat down carefully, but she was thinking about her mother-in-law in her heart. If her grandmother hadn't intervened when she was pregnant, her mother-in-law would have wanted to force someone else into her husband's arms. She was so angry that she took pregnancy-preserving pills for several days.
Today, not only did her mother-in-law dislike the Zhou family, she also wanted to make trouble for her because she had carefully prepared a birthday gift for Aunt Zhou.
People arrived one after another. Gao lowered her voice and said, "There are not as many people coming to your birthday party this year as there were last year."
Zhulan didn't care. She wished there were fewer people around. "You know the reason."
Gao knew that the Chu princess's family had targeted the Yang family several times, every time they met at a banquet, they would target them several times. Later, the Liang princess's family was also affected. Together with the Feng family, there were many people who changed their minds according to the situation. Those who tried to curry favor with them last year no longer dared to come.
Tao curled her lips and said, "Once this period is over, I will come back again."
Zhu Lan smiled and said, "Well, today is my birthday and I'm not happy about it. Let's go. It's getting late. Let's have a feast and drink."
At the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Shuren was in a good mood. Seeing Zhang Jinghong also looking happy, he asked, "Are you picking up money?"
Zhang Jinghong grinned, "Sir, I am going to be a father."
Zhou Shuren was stunned for a moment, "That's really a great event, congratulations, congratulations."
He thought Zhang Jinghong wouldn't have a child so early, he really didn't expect it.
Zhang Jinghong was also surprised. He had been avoiding it and never expected the child to come like this. Now that it was here, what could he do? Of course he should keep it. In fact, he had known that his wife was pregnant for a few days, but he had not shown it because he was waiting, waiting for the emperor's reaction. He didn't believe that no one was watching him.
After a few days, the emperor had no reaction, and the child was still well in his daughter-in-law's belly, so he felt at ease.
Zhou Shuren thought for a moment and reminded, "It's better to keep a low profile."
Zhang Jinghong didn't react for a while, until he saw Lord Zhou extend a slap, then he reacted. He was only thinking about the emperor's reaction and forgot about Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang was poisoned and it was difficult for him to have offspring. He thought it was not easy to say that the poison had been cured. Now Zhang Yang was the one who wanted to have a child the most.
In the past few months, Zhang Yang had been so busy that he had ignored him. He should really keep a low profile so as not to irritate Zhang Yang. "Thank you, sir."
Zhou Shuren waved his hand, signaling Zhang Jinghong that he could leave. It wasn't easy for Zhang Jinghong either. Now in the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Jinghong was very down-to-earth and would complete any task assigned to him with all his heart no matter how tedious it was. He quite admired the present Zhang Jinghong.
At the Ningguo Mansion, the Duke's wife heard from the maid that Song had returned, "You go and see Song."
The old woman said, "Yes."
The Duke's wife waited for a while, and the maid came back soon, "They are just a little tired, both the adults and the children are fine."
The Duke's wife motioned for the maids to leave, slapped her thigh angrily, and said to her husband, "Mrs. Du is really becoming more and more shameless. She used to pretend that she didn't like Mrs. Song, but now she doesn't even pretend. She is so shallow."
The Duke was also unhappy, "It's really outrageous."
The Duke's wife was worried, "If we die, she will still be the boss of the harem. No one can interfere in the conflict between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law."
The Duke looked at his old wife and said, "Even though the second son has no credit, he has worked hard these years."
The Duke's wife sighed, "I just know that, that's why I'm so angry. I've been having dreams these past few days. Our Ning Hui is in poor health. If she doesn't survive Du, who can control her? The older people get, the worse their tempers become. Don't look at me. I know my temper is worse than before and I can't control it."
The Duke thought that his wife knew that he had a bad temper, so she pretended to be ignorant to irritate him. "We will give the title of Duke to our eldest grandson instead of the second son. Mrs. Du is also the eldest grandson's biological mother. Filial piety comes first. Even if we die, there will still be no one to suppress Mrs. Du."
The Duke's wife said with great regret: "This is a lesson. Even if you marry a woman from a low-class family, you should look at her parents' three generations. I shouldn't have followed Ning Hui's wishes in the first place."
"It's too late to say anything now."
The Duchess's wife was so angry that she hit her husband with grapes and ignored him.
The Duke was chewing on the grape skin, thinking about something.
Ning Zhixiang's wife, Mrs. Yu, was sulking. "It's just a pregnancy. Everyone has been pregnant before. Is it such a treasure? When I go out, my grandmother has to send her personal maid to check on me."
(End of this chapter)