Chapter 096 Chapter 96

In early spring of March, Lu Shaner received a letter from Shen Xunfu, and she took her servants to Henan. After all, she and Shen Xunfu had just been married for a short time. Now Sanlang was married, Silang and Wulang had hired famous teachers to study at home, and Liulang had also started to learn. It was appropriate to entrust the family to the eldest daughter-in-law, Qingda Nainai.

After Grandma Qing became the head of the household, she became pregnant, which was a double blessing, so she was extremely careful.

Yao Niang heard that she was very careful, so she did not send the food and supplements she was supposed to send, but instead sent a silver-gilt Guanyin statue of fertility, and also gave her a hand-copied "The Great Dharani Sutra of the Seven Hundred Million Buddha Mothers Cundi". It is said that if one recites the "The Great Dharani Sutra of the Seven Hundred Million Buddha Mothers Cundi", all sins and obstacles will be eliminated, and one's life span will be extended, merits and wisdom will be increased, and one will be protected by the Buddhas and stay away from all evil destinies in every life.

"Thank you very much." When Grandma Qing saw that the scripture was copied in beautiful and neat handwriting, she thought it was a gift from Madam Wei and was pleased to see it.

"This is nothing. Sister Qing is pregnant, which is a big deal for our Shen family. This is what we should do." Yao Niang said.

Grandma Qing thought that the Yan family was very polite and there was nothing wrong with them. Now that she was in charge of the household and pregnant, this was the greatest joy in life. Therefore, she liked everyone and was very sincere to Yao Niang: "Daughter-in-law Dalang, you are still young, you should take good care of yourself."

"I will, don't worry." Yao Niang said.

Shao came in again. She had someone send a lot of food over. She said to Grandma Qing with gratitude, "My little boy thanks my sister-in-law for helping me get Doctor Sheng. The doctor said that we saw him in time last night, otherwise the child would have suffered a lot."

Grandma Qingda once had the intention to harm others, and now that she is pregnant, she is afraid that retribution will befall her, so she is very good to Shao's son. Fortunately, she made up for it yesterday.

Seeing that the sisters-in-law wanted to speak, Yao Niang took her leave first.

When she left, Shao was furious and asked, "What did she send?"

"It's nothing, just a statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Childbirth, and a Buddhist scripture." Grandma Qing knew that although Shao and Yan seemed to be reconciled on the surface, they were not on good terms in their hearts, so she didn't want to say anything good about Yan.

In fact, to a certain extent, although Yan is not as talented as her sister, she is also a master of writing. Her painting skills have won the best award in the capital this year. At the same time, she is not idle, but manages the family business very well.

This is his ability.

The two daughters-in-law of the third wife were both pregnant. Second Madam Shen was worried: "Wang got married at the age of seventeen. It's been a year, and there's still no sign of pregnancy."

Mother Qian said with a smile, "Isn't Master Feng's wife also pregnant? They are all the same. Even Grandma Qing and Grandma Jiang took three years to get married before they had any news. Don't be too anxious."

"They are all lucky, unlike us, where the mother-in-law would send people away whenever she had the chance. I remember that old lady had seen that Miss Chu several times. Fortunately, I was pregnant with Bangxing at that time, and the child was very considerate of me. It was not as difficult as when I was pregnant with Bangyan. My family background is not as good as my eldest sister-in-law's, and I am not favored by my mother-in-law like my eldest sister-in-law. My mother-in-law was not satisfied with me. If it weren't for Bangxing, I would not have been able to gain a firm foothold. It's a pity that when the child was sick, I was powerless..." Mrs. Shen burst into tears again when she thought of her eldest son.

As usual, Madam Qian had to persuade them. Madam Shen was now concerned about the Xinning Marquis's residence and would not allow a concubine to enter the family. After all, the Shen family had rules. If they wanted to bring a concubine, they would bring a concubine of a decent and clean family background, so that the descendants of the Shen family would also have a clean family background. Those maids must not be allowed to ruin the reputation of the Shen family, unless the Shen family really had no descendants.

The Cold Food Festival is next month, and Shen Linfeng wants to ask Yao Niang for something. "I want you to paint a portrait of my brother. He died young and had no children. I want to keep his incense burning and offer his portrait as a sacrifice."

"For your brother? Okay. This is a big deal. You have to describe to me in detail what he looks like." Yao Niang immediately prepared to write.

Shen Linfeng said, "I'll tell you in detail when I have time. He looks about 50% similar to Bangyan. I have to be busy right now. I just learned what a capable minister is when I was on duty in the inner cabinet."

Yao Niang said, "Do you want me to make some tea and bring it to you?"

"No need for that. I can't sleep well at night after drinking tea. If I can't sleep well, I'll want to take a day off." Shen Linfeng felt a splitting headache and waved his hands when he remembered to get up early.

Having said this, he hurried away again.

Yao Niang started asking the kitchen to make some vegetarian dumplings. She said that she had eaten too many fried potatoes during the Chinese New Year and always wanted to eat some vegetarian dishes so that she could lose some weight. She never expected that her grandfather would come over.

The descendants of the Yan family are not in the capital now. Wen Qilang is good to Yan Mai, but he is not as capable of being the head of the family as Yao Niang. Shen Linfeng is now an official, so Yan Mai and he have more topics to talk about.

Yao Niang personally welcomed Grandfather in and said with a smile, "Just now I was saying that I ate too much fried meat a few days ago, and I wanted the kitchen to make some vegetarian dumplings. Unfortunately, Grandfather is here. What does Grandfather want to eat? I asked them to make it."

"I'll just eat the same thing as you guys, don't make anything special for me." Yan Mai said.

Yao Niang nodded, and asked someone to invite Shen Linfeng over to talk. She said, "He said he was very busy these days because he was on duty in the inner cabinet. Grandfather, is he really that busy?"

"Busy, of course I'm busy. Any mistake would be terrible. Even at my age, I have to work hard. You are still young like him and I have a lot to learn. I heard that you helped here, but I don't know about that." Yan Mai looked at his granddaughter.

Yao Niang then told Er Qiao about her situation: "Originally, I wanted to satirize those who show off their children in front of me every day. Naturally, I knew in advance that Zhao Ci Fu's grandson's wife might be pregnant, but I never thought about this..."

After listening to her, Yan Mai looked at her and couldn't help laughing: "No wonder there is a golden house in the storybook. You are doing very well. I usually see that you are a little arrogant and don't like to talk to others, but I thought your father and I and your brother would support you, so I didn't say anything. Now it seems that you are doing very well. You are also very lucky."

"Grandfather, I don't like to give in to others, nor do I like to please others, so I must have a skill to stand out." Yao Niang also has her own opinion, but she still said: "In fact, no matter when, people with real ability will come to the fore. Whether it is the court or a family, there must be people to do things. If there are only boastful people, then the family and dynasty will not last long. People with talents like grandfather will have their own place wherever they go."

Yan Mai could tell that he found his granddaughter's words quite useful. At the same time, he felt that his granddaughter was actually very good at responding to conversations and was very considerate. However, she was born similar to her father in that she was not the type to be humble or flatter others.

But Yan Mai still said: "Girls should not talk like this. Officials should learn to play the right game. The same sentence has different meanings when said by different people. Since ancient times, it is very important to be cautious. You, Er Qiao, did a good job in this matter, but you must remember the kindness of your grandfather. Don't tell anyone, not even your bedmate, your father or me. No one in the world will betray you except yourself."

Yao Niang suddenly realized.

For dinner, I had three kinds of vegetarian dumplings, celery, shepherd's purse and wild vegetable dumplings, with king mushrooms fried in lard, ham and bamboo shoot soup, sweet and sour lotus root cubes, crispy tofu, bean sprouts fried with pure lean meat, cabbage and chicken rolls...

They were all refreshing dishes, and they also cooked rice soup. Yan Mai ate dumplings and drank rice soup, and he even ate two plates of dumplings in a row. Yao Niang looked very happy and said, "Grandfather, come again tomorrow. I want them to make turtle soup tomorrow."

"It's not good for grandpa to come every day. Just remember what grandpa said." Yan Mai buried his head in his meal, thinking that having a granddaughter is caring. Although granddaughters-in-law are good, they always feel a layer of distance, and some things are not so comfortable to say. The granddaughter always sends him spring clothes and winter jackets, almost all of which she sewed herself, not to mention the shoes and socks she usually gives him. She often invites Shen Linfeng to come to play chess with him. This is the joy of family.

Because of her grandfather's words, Yao Niang understood more and more why some people could go a long way. It is easy to talk, but it is difficult to hold back, so she must learn to be cautious in her future actions.

However, it is said that before the Cold Food Festival, Shen Linfeng specifically mentioned Shen Linyi's appearance to Yao Niang. In fact, what Shen Linfeng could remember was the thirteen-year-old Shen Linyi, and said that he was born with a smart look.

Yao Niang said, "What kind of clothes does he like to wear? Don't you have a lot of clothes? You can also draw. Draw one for me."

Shen Linfeng was very knowledgeable when talking about clothes: "Do you know the waist belt? It's the light yellow with a hint of green, but you have to remember, it's not light green. There's a piece of jade in the middle. It's like this. Wait, I'll find it for you."

Good guy, Shen Linfeng is very busy. He stood up and took out a piece of jade to show her.

Yao Niang is a person who is always well prepared for anything she does. She is also very familiar with Shen Bangyan. According to Shen Linfeng's description and reference to Shen Bangyan, she already has an idea in her mind.

What does a teenager look like? A teenager should be full of vigor and vitality. She remembered what her brother looked like when he was thirteen years old. Thinking of this, she planned to draw another picture of Shen Linyi's imagination when he grows up.

She stayed at home and didn't go anywhere. She just kept drawing. When Shen Linfeng talked to her, she was annoyed and said, "Don't talk to me."

Shen Linfeng had no choice but to walk away embarrassedly.

Finally, on the day before the Cold Food Festival, Yao Niang remounted the painting and invited many people from the Shen family who had met Shen Linyi to come and see how she painted it. Shen Linfeng also agreed.

The second master Shen and his wife, Han Ruohua, and the two women from the third wife all came over. Yao Niang covered them with a cloth first, and said to them, "Gong Ding told me that when he went to Jiangxi to be the chief examiner, he heard that other people's children who died young often couldn't eat the offerings in the underworld because they were too young to recognize people. My brother died young and had no children, so his incense should be offered by my husband and me. I'm afraid that I am not talented enough to draw my brother's heroic figure, so I would like to ask for your advice."

After that, she personally unveiled a piece of black cloth, and a handsome, smart and proud young boy suddenly appeared in front of everyone. It was the first time for Shen Linfeng to see him, and he was very surprised, because this painting was completely based on his brother's height. He looked at Yao Niang and said, "Thank you, my lady."

Elder Shen Er was more interested in Yao Niang's painting skills: "My nephew and daughter-in-law, this painting is of Brother Yi, exactly like him. How can you paint based on your imagination?"

Yao Niang did not think that this was a good time to discuss painting skills. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Han Ruohua with red eyes walking up to her, looking as if she was not satisfied. Also, Mrs. Shen II burst into tears.

"I also drew a picture of what Brother Yi would look like if he were alive today, based on Linfeng's height." After she said this, she tore off another piece of black cloth.

When people looked, they saw a young man riding a white horse, wearing a red robe and a palace flower in his hat. It was clearly the number one scholar parading through the streets. Compared with the picture, his appearance had lost the plainness and baby fat, and he looked like a young and handsome number one scholar who was "riding a galloping horse in the spring breeze and seeing all the flowers in Chang'an in one day".

Han Ruohua was in a trance for a moment and could not control her emotions. She actually wanted to take the painting as her own. Everyone present was stunned.