Jia Jie'er? Yun Ge'er?
Mrs. Huo really didn't think much about it. As long as the Liu family cared about them, her little granddaughter was the real thing.
"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Huo said. She felt unhappy. The two children were fine and did not need their attention at all.
"They are also your grandchildren." Uncle Huo reminded his wife not to just focus on the eldest daughter.
"That's right," Mrs. Huo said, "Didn't someone send something over before?"
"Did they really send it?" Uncle Huo was unconvinced. "They must have sent it to your daughter."
Yes, Mrs. Huo did not ask anyone to send the things to the northwest, but asked someone to transport the things out of the city, and then asked someone to transport them back. She gave all the things to the eldest Mrs. Huo.
Mrs. Huo simply believed that her eldest daughter had a hard time, so she treated those gifts as if they were gifts from her grandchildren. The Liu family had been restored to nobility, so those people wouldn't let the child starve.
"Just wait until they return to Beijing and then send them off," said Mrs. Huo.
“…” Uncle Huo felt that his wife was unreasonable.
Uncle Huo believed his wife was stupid, the daughters she raised were no good, and the eldest daughter was simply spoiled. He had been busy with other things before, and he also thought that the eldest daughter was just a girl, so it didn't matter if his wife spoiled her a little more.
Later, when Uncle Huo discovered that Mrs. Huo was a bit spoiled, he still thought that it was okay for their daughter to be a bit spoiled. As a result, Mrs. Huo became spoiled like this.
"It's just a small matter, why are you saying so much?" Mrs. Huo said impatiently.
Mrs. Huo just didn't want to send anything to her granddaughter and grandson of the Marquis of Jingning's mansion. None of them sent a single letter. Even if the two children didn't know how to write letters, what about Liu Yanjing?
Maybe Liu Yanjing just doesn't want to be involved with the Huo family anymore, and if they insist on getting close to him, it won't be a good thing.
Mrs. Huo hoped that the eldest Huo family would be better, as her eldest son-in-law was still a little bit inferior. It would be great if her eldest son-in-law could get promoted.
"It's not a big deal?" Uncle Huo was so angry that he laughed when he heard his wife say this.
Uncle Huo didn't know who to blame. Was it because Liu Yanjing had been so kind to Madam Huo and the Huo family in the past that these people thought the Jingning Marquisate was nothing? He hadn't thought about this before, and just thought that Liu Yanjing knew how to care for the Huo family, and that was enough.
But now, Master Huo didn't dare to think that way. Liu Yanjing had been so kind to Mrs. Huo before, because he was giving face to the Master's Mansion and he wanted to live a good life with Mrs. Huo. But now it was different. Liu Yanjing and Mrs. Huo had divorced, and Liu Yanjing had married Princess Zhaoyang.
"You'd better go to Marquis Jingning's Mansion less often in the future." said Uncle Huo.
"If you don't want to go, then don't go. Who wants to go?" Mrs. Huo said, "It's about those two children. Don't let those people bring them up badly. After all, they are our daughter's children. If they..."
"Stop talking." Uncle Huo couldn't stand it any longer.
The fact that Mrs. Huo divorced the Liu family when they were in crisis was nothing in itself, as many families would have done the same. The key point was that Mrs. Huo didn't take the two children with her, didn't think about sparing them any suffering, and married off so quickly. What did the Liu family think?
Uncle Huo thought that if it were him, he would never let the two children have more contact with the Huo family. That would not be a good thing. Uncle Huo frowned, but he just couldn't change his wife's mind and couldn't make her pay more attention to the two children.
The people from the Jingning Marquis' Mansion were already on their way back to Beijing, so the Huo family couldn't send anyone to deliver anything.
Uncle Huo felt helpless when he thought about it. He should have kept an eye on it himself.
In the northwest town, Aunt Chai returned from the capital. She thought the second house's business was still good. She had lived in the capital for two days and found that the food made by Su Qiuya tasted good. People were always attracted by Su Qiuya's cooking skills and there were many repeat customers.
When Aunt Chai saw her son and daughter-in-law, she wondered why her family didn't have as many repeat customers as the second wife's. You know, when the second wife's family was in the county town, their shop was doing well and had many repeat customers.
"It's the same dish, but yours isn't as good as the second son's wife's." Aunt Chai looked at Feng Guanjing, "You should learn more."
Aunt Chai sometimes wondered why Su Qiuya was not her daughter-in-law. If Su Qiuya was her daughter-in-law, she would not have to work so hard.
The family shop didn't hire anyone, so Aunt Chai couldn't always play outside. She had to come home and work.
Aunt Chai wished her family could move to the provincial capital, but her son and daughter-in-law's cooking skills were average. They couldn't make so many delicious dishes, and thus couldn't attract so many customers. If there were too few customers, the shop would go bankrupt.
There were restaurants closing down in the town, and Aunt Chai didn't want her own shop to fail. Her own shop should be well run and last a long time.
"It takes other people a long time to learn cooking, but we...we have only been learning for such a short time." Feng Guanjing believes that she cannot be blamed for this. She has worked very hard to study cooking and learn it.
If Feng Guanjing hadn't studied very hard, their shop wouldn't have so many customers.
The food cooked by Feng Guanjing is not as delicious as that cooked by Su Qiuya, but Feng Guanjing's cooking skills are enough to make a living in the town. The food cooked by Feng Guanjing is not bad, and the price of the three-room house is not expensive, so many people come here.
"Mom, being an apprentice requires many years of study." Feng Guanjing said that it was impossible for them to wait for so many days.
Feng Guanjing didn't want to work for the second wife forever. She had been a little jealous of how much money she made. But it was a pity that they had agreed to work for the second wife, not to open a store with her.
"Okay, okay, I only said a few words, and you've already said so much." Aunt Chai said, "Just do more. If you do better in the future, maybe you can attract some customers. If the shop is not open, will you starve to death?"
"..." Feng Guanjing had already prepared the things long ago and did not give them up casually.
"Don't you want to knead the dough? Then go ahead," Aunt Chai said. "Don't wait until the guests arrive before you've prepared everything."
"Okay." Feng Guanjing did not continue to say those words to Aunt Chai. If she continued, either she would make Aunt Chai unhappy, or the shop would not be ready to welcome the guests when they came.
The people from the third house were not from the second house, and Feng Guanjing's family... Feng Guanjing didn't want to think about it too much. Anyway, she didn't get any benefits, no one sent her big or small packages of things, and no one gave her money.
And Su Qiuya from the second house still had people sending money to her, Feng Guanjing envied Su Qiuya. Like Su Qiuya, Su Qiuya's cooking skills were good, and her family still cared about her. Liu Yanbo was also good to Su Qiuya.
Feng Guanjing thought about herself. Her husband wasn't really that good to her. He wasn't going to force her into anything, so she could only work hard to open the shop and try to earn more money for the family.
Farming was tough, so neither Feng Guanjing nor Liu Yanyuan planned to work there much. They decided to make some delicious food, which would make it easier to earn money. They had a shop, so they didn't have to work in the fields.
The people from the fourth house went to farm, but Feng Guanjing thought she couldn't do it. Liu Yanqing from the fourth house just didn't want to go to the fields, but he was forced to do so by Lin Xiaowan.
Lin Xiaowan was strong and could force Liu Yanqing to work. But Feng Guanjing was not that strong and Liu Yanyuan did not love her to death, so she could not get him to work in the fields.
Feng Guanjing only then thought about running the shop well. If others didn't want to work in the fields, she didn't want to work in the fields either.
"Be careful, don't prepare too much. Just enough is enough." Aunt Chai said, "There are only a few of us, not even as many as the people in the capital."
When Aunt Chai saw so many people coming into Su Qiuya's shop, she wanted to know how much money Su Qiuya made. She was really envious. If her family could have so many customers, then they should be able to make some money too.
"You two are useless. The first wife has given all the houses in the village to the fourth wife, and you don't even know to ask for something from the first wife." Aunt Chai said, "You wait all day for me, your concubine, to go and ask for things from them. How can you possibly get those things?"
Concubine Chai hadn't gotten anything from the eldest wife, so she hoped her son and daughter-in-law could get something. However, the eldest wife had returned to the capital from the northwest, and the people in the eldest wife's house still didn't give them anything.
It was a shame to leave that house in town. Aunt Chai knew it wasn't small. The Liu family's main branch didn't have many people, but they had many servants, so the main branch needed a house with more rooms.
That house was given to the Marquis of Jingning's Mansion by Prince Su, and Aunt Chai knew it all.
The owner of the big house simply sold that nice house without even thinking about letting the people in the other houses live there.
"..." When Feng Guanjing heard this, she understood that the concubine was going to complain about the people in the first house again.
Feng Guanjing didn't want to complain, mainly because complaining was useless. The people from the eldest house could still go to the capital, but the people from the other houses just didn't live as well.
On the way to the capital, the people from the eldest branch of the Liu family sometimes lived in the town and sometimes lived in the wilderness.
There were many trees in ancient times, and not so many people cut them down.
Liu Yulian looked at the surrounding scenery more. When they were in exile, they had no mood to look at the scenery. They were just thinking about what would happen when they arrived in the northwest.
This time, Liu Yulian can take a good look at the surrounding environment and the weather.
"The weather is pretty good today." He Xiyuan got off the horse.
Some of their group had already started cooking. Fortunately, there was a river nearby, which made it easier for them to cook.
There are still some fish in the stream, but they are very small, not even big enough to fill a person's teeth.
He Xiyuan and others did not think about going to the river to catch fish. They just sat aside waiting for food.
"Come, get off and take a walk." He Xiyuan helped Liu Yulian get off the carriage.
"I'm not going." Liu Yulian shook her head. She was out in a place she wasn't familiar with, so she shouldn't wander around. If she ran into danger, it would be hard to find someone to help her.
Liu Yulian would at most peek in other directions from the resting area. There were still quite a few trees here. There were really few trees in the place where they were exiled. The further west they went, the fewer trees there were. They were now heading east, towards the capital.
"Okay." He Xiyuan nodded. He didn't say that they had to go for a walk far away.
The area around He Xiyuan might not be safe after that. They had not yet returned to the capital, and they had been stopping and starting for more than a month and a half, so they could not go back at all.
There were children among the group, so Father Liu didn't tell them to walk faster, but slower. There were other families following behind, and those families also had children. If they walked too fast, the others wouldn't be able to keep up, which would be bad.
There were many of them, but they had less luggage to leave behind. If they had more luggage, they would have walked even slower.
In the palace, the emperor already knew that people from the Jingning Marquis' Mansion were on the road.
The emperor hadn't seen Concubine Cen for a long time, and she was quite quiet. It wouldn't be good for Concubine Cen to be quiet either, as she was most used to solving problems with her quietness.
In the past, when the emperor showed some favor to the concubines of lower rank, some concubines who entered the palace earlier would be dissatisfied and make some sarcastic remarks. But Concubine Cen would not say much, but would smile and say that they had also been favored in the past.
Concubine Cen always behaved so gently and considerately, she didn't seem like a concubine at all.
Although the concubines of the royal family are different from those of ordinary families, Concubine Cen is indeed very good at showing off.
"Go to the imperial concubine." The emperor still remembered Concubine Cen. How could he not remember her? The Cen family had not completely collapsed.
When Concubine Cen learned that the Emperor had gone to the Imperial Concubine's place again, she nearly smashed the teacup in her hand. The Emperor hadn't come to her place for several months. Before the New Year, the Emperor had demoted her rank, and now it was already June and July.
Concubine Cen thought about how she hadn't had a good time in the past six months. She had been demoted, and people were mocking her. She was a concubine who had fallen out of favor, and she couldn't complain to anyone even if she wanted to.
Concubine Cen wanted to rush to the emperor several times and tell him about her grievances. But she couldn't do that. She could only stay in her palace and wait quietly for the emperor to come.
The emperor appointed Prince Su as the crown prince, but did not promote the position of noble concubine, nor did he make her the imperial noble concubine, let alone the queen.
The imperial concubine was not unhappy. It was enough for her son to be the crown prince. She did not need to think too much. After the crown prince ascended the throne, she would become the queen mother.
"The people from the Jingning Marquisate are about to return to the capital," the emperor said. "Rongning rarely came to the palace before, and didn't have much contact with the others. If you can take care of her, please do so."
"I will definitely take care of it." The imperial concubine smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you have never said such a thing before. Now that you have said so, how can I not do it?"
The emperor had never been so kind to the daughter of a minister. The imperial concubine knew that this was all because Liu Yulian had her own abilities. The imperial concubine did not think much about anything else. The emperor said this to her because he valued her.
"She is still your nephew's fiancée," said the emperor.
"Yes, that's right." The imperial concubine nodded. "I should have taken better care of her. She has suffered a lot of grievances these days. I heard people say that Rong Ning is unruly and that Rong Ning is not a good person."
"Oh?" The emperor knew what was happening in the northwest and what the Cen family girl had done.
"Your Majesty, you know everything," the Imperial Concubine said. "The Cen family's daughters are truly meddlesome. It's one thing for them to burn Rongning's books, but they also accused her of being unruly. When the Jingning Marquis's mansion was raided, the news spread like wildfire, with everyone criticizing Rongning. Rongning went to the northwest and met a girl from the Cen family. Rongning must be under the spell of the Cen family."
The imperial concubine did not say such words on purpose in order to get the emperor to deal with the Cen family, but the Cen family really did those things, so the Cen family should not blame others for saying these things.
"Those books are so good! Even if they want to confiscate the house, can't we just put them somewhere else?" The imperial concubine sighed. "They say scholars love books. Does that mean the Four Books and Five Classics are books, and other books are not books?"
“…”The emperor didn’t speak.
"But this may really be true in the eyes of the Cen family. The girls in their family like Women's Rules and Regulations. For the girls in their family, Women's Rules and Regulations are all good, and other books are not good." The imperial concubine said this bluntly in front of the emperor, without pretending that she didn't know these things.
"Maybe so." The emperor had no idea what the Cen family thought of those books. What he was sure of was that the Cen family really looked down on girls from other families.
The Cen family believes that their daughter is the best girl in the world, and no other girl can compare to the Cen family's daughter.
This is a huge joke.
The daughter of the Cen family is not that good at all, it’s just that she likes to say those things and act like she is.
In the Cen family, Old Master Cen had been feigning illness for days, but the emperor didn't send a physician, nor did he express any concern for him. The emperor's attitude was simply that: let Old Master Cen be sick if he wanted to.
"Let me help you go for a walk." Old Madam Cen looked at Old Man Cen lying on the bed. Old Man Cen had been lying in bed for many days, but the emperor didn't show any reaction.
"No need." Old Master Cen refused. He didn't want to move.
Old Master Cen was waiting for the emperor to send someone. Even if the emperor suspected him, he would send someone, but the emperor did not send any imperial physicians. This made Old Master Cen even more panicked. He had no idea what the emperor was planning.
"It's not the right thing to lie like this all the time," said Mrs. Cen.
"Let's take this opportunity to rest." Old Master Cen said, "I'm tired after all these years."
In fact, Mr. Cen didn't want to retire so soon. He wanted to plan a future for his children and grandchildren. However, with things turning out like this, the Cen family was afraid that there was no future.
"Have a sip of ginseng tea." Old Madam Cen simply sat beside her. "Those people at home... they are still waiting for you."
"What are you waiting for me to do?" Old Master Cen said, "None of you know how to find something to do. If there is nothing to do, then just be quiet."
"Now that Prince Su has become the crown prince, what else can he do?" said Old Lady Cen. They couldn't send someone to assassinate the crown prince again, that would simply not work.
The reason why the Cen family is like this this time is mainly because they arranged people to assassinate Prince Su.
The emperor discovered their actions, but fortunately, the Cen family destroyed the evidence early on. Even if the emperor suspected them, even if the emperor had a little evidence, as long as the evidence was not sufficient, the Cen family could still struggle.
But Master Cen also understood that if the emperor wanted to punish them, he would be able to produce evidence, regardless of whether he had evidence or not. False evidence would always be presented to the emperor.
Old Master Cen was wondering who would take the lead, because someone would always fall.
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