Chapter 114 Chapter 114

August is the time to eat crabs, and it is also the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although Yao Niang and Shen Linfeng were born in wealthy families, they are not the kind of people who are particular about food.

Shen Linfeng finally got some rest, so he naturally went to sleep at home. Although he was good at livening up the atmosphere in a group of people, he would lie down at home and would never sit. Yao Niang knew that he had used up all his strength outside, so she didn't pull him up, but just took an embroidered stool and sat beside the couch to talk about household chores.

"My sister-in-law finally found a marriage, and we have no way to go back. Do you think we should prepare the makeup first and give it to her when we meet her in the future?"

Yes, Shen Mo finally got married. She had high standards and had been choosing for several years. Yao Niang didn't think it was a big deal. Shen Mo's family background allowed her to choose. Marriage is a big event in life, so she must be very selective.

Shen Linfeng turned over and said, "Of course. There's no need to send it over so soon. My mother has been preparing my sister's dowry for many years."

"Well, your sister is now engaged to the young master of the Pang family. Young master Pang's father was the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. I never thought that his family would have betrothed your sister so far away in the capital." Yao Niang found it very funny.

Shen Linfeng smiled and said, "Isn't marriage decided by parents and matchmakers? Pang Sheng is also a scholar, not to mention his literary talent. His father is a successful official, and his family is also a big family in Wuxing. What's wrong with a good match?"

Isn’t this how countless men and women arrange their marriages?

Yao Niang thought of her own marriage, looked at him and said, "When I was considering who to marry, you wouldn't think I was shocking, would you?"

Shen Linfeng quickly shook his head: "Of course not, we are in love with each other."

"Not necessarily." Yao Niang laughed a few times.

Shen Linfeng glanced at his wife in a reproachful manner: "You should go and rest first. You are so busy even though you are pregnant. Eat less crabs, too much crab is not good for your stomach."

Yao Niang touched her belly, held his hand and said, "You said that if my husband and I sleep in the house every day, will others think we are too lazy?"

"It's better to be lazy than to be too diligent." Shen Linfeng said.

Yao Niang had no choice but to listen to Shen Linfeng's instructions on sleeping, but she slept too much during the day and couldn't fall asleep at night. She scolded Shen Linfeng for giving bad advice, but Shen Linfeng fell asleep immediately and had no time to listen to Yao Niang's complaints.

This time Yao Niang got pregnant again, and the one who suffered was Shen Bangyan, because Wang also wanted to get pregnant quickly. She couldn't get pregnant alone, so of course she had to drag Shen Bangyan along.

Shen Bangyan was a little scared of her. For dinner, Wang personally prepared some good nourishing foods such as fried loach with leeks, oysters with garlic sauce, and turtle soup.

"I specially asked someone to pick these fresh leeks and remove the bitter gall of the loach. I fried them for a long time. You must eat more." Wang said.

Shen Bangyan said with a bitter face: "Put it there and I will hold it myself."

"If I put it here, you will definitely not eat it. You have been busy studying outside these days, and it is not easy for us to eat together." Wang seldom revealed her true feelings before, but now she began to speak softly.

That night, Wang was of course very passionate. Shen Bangyan did enough foreplay at the beginning, but later he felt a little bored, so Wang held him down and took the lead several times.

The next day, Shen Linfeng saw Shen Bangyan standing at the door of his house, hesitating, and asked in surprise: "What's wrong with you?"

Shen Bangyan said: "Brother, I have something I would like you to help me with."

"Oh, what's the matter?" Shen Linfeng used to suspect that Shen Bangyan had ruined his wedding, but he remembered that if he hadn't had evil intentions, he would have accidentally married Yao Niang and would not be living the good life he has today.

Therefore, his hatred towards Shen Bangyan decreased a little.

Shen Bangyan said, "Brother, I remember you have a friend who is a judge in Lujiang. I want to go to Lujiang Prefecture to make some friends. Can you give me your name card?"

"It's not difficult. It's just a piece of cake." Shen Linfeng didn't say anything. He just thought it was a small matter and asked Rong An to give it.

But he didn't expect that when Yao Niang mentioned it to him when he came back at night, she was speechless: "You didn't even think about the fact that my sister-in-law wanted a child, and you gave the name card to Bang Yan. When he ran away, my sister-in-law thought we instigated him."

Shen Linfeng really hadn't thought of this: "Did Bang Yan run away so quickly?"

Yao Niang nodded: "Yes, he really ran fast. Second Aunt didn't know what to do, so she covered for her son."

"Then I can't do anything about it. He told me, and I can't refuse." Shen Linfeng spread his hands.

Yao Niang poked him lightly with her hand and said, "I think you did it on purpose."

Shen Linfeng walked quickly up to her and asked how Yao Niang was feeling. Yao Niang acted coquettishly and wanted him to love her more, so the two of them naturally became very affectionate with each other.

But Wang was unwilling to see her husband run away, but fortunately Chunluo came over with a large bag of silver: "Second Madam, this is three hundred taels of interest."

Wang was delighted to see the money: "It's good that he's not here, so we don't have to be sneaky. You put it away."

There are so many favors in this family. It's not like in the family where you just need to give a few needles and threads. This year, her father's birthday is coming up, and she has to choose something exquisite and grand when preparing birthday gifts. She just spent 600 taels. This is before Shen Bangyan became an official. There are so many favors in the family. Every year, he has to add money for incense offerings from the sisters-in-law in each room. He can't spend more than 50 taels.

Lending money at interest is a good idea. She also said to Chunluo, "I heard that Sister-in-law Qing has a lot of salt in her hands. She is also a capable person."

Chunluo nodded: "Yes, I heard that only the eldest grandmother of the first house relies on the farm to support the family, while the others have other reasons to make money."

"Of course my sister-in-law is not in a hurry. She and her husband have invested in the shipping company and can earn interest every year. I used to think that she was not capable of these things, but later I found out that my eldest brother was taking care of it." Wang only blamed Shen Bangyan for not living up to his expectations.

Chunluo was two years older than Qingdai, but Wang was unwilling to let her trusted confidant go, so she kept her by her side. Naturally, Chunluo was not very willing to be Shen Bangyan's concubine, but they were not so mean as to become someone's concubine. If Wang did not give birth to a son, all the concubines would not be able to get pregnant.

Not wanting to be used by Wang to trap others, Chunluo changed the subject to the third room: "Mrs. Chu from the first room is already six months pregnant. If she really gives birth to a son, how should we give her a gift?"

"If it's a son, you should give more gifts, after all he is Brother Qing's eldest son. If it's a girl, you should give normal gifts. Let me say, Aunt Chu is very resourceful. Her mother and brother have already come to the capital. The last time she made such a fuss, it made it difficult for others to do anything to her." Wang muttered.

Even Wang felt that Aunt Chu was difficult to deal with, let alone Madam Qing. Although she was the principal wife, Shen Linqing and her had long been at odds with each other, and Shen Linqing placed all his personal interests with Aunt Chu.

This is how the harem is, especially since Grandma Qingda's family has been defeated and is already in a weak position. Now there are still many people who are not convinced by the housekeeper. Han, the third brother's wife, is better at dealing with people than her and is more willing to give small favors. The housekeeper has been abandoned by cats and dogs for three years, and there is a group of people who want to step on you to get to the top, which makes people even more angry.

To make matters worse, her uncle's son committed a serious crime in Shandong. He got into a fight with someone over a prostitute and beat the man to death.

Her uncle's family had no other choice but to come to her for help.

"Shandong? Then who should I look for?" Grandma Qing asked Grandpa Qing to come over.

However, Master Qing was a very prudent person who was very cautious about protecting himself. Normally, he would not even go over to his aunt's place to ask for an explanation, let alone something that involved murder.

"If father were still in Henan, it would be better if the two provinces were close. But now father has gone to Nanjing to serve as the Minister of War, and he is powerless to manage it even if he wants to." said Mr. Qing.

Grandma Qing said, "Our Shen family is a powerful family. Even our in-laws are prime ministers or dukes. Such a small matter is just a matter of moving their fingers."

Nowadays, it is advocated that relatives should protect each other. If you don't help your in-laws, others will gossip about you.

Before, Grandma Qing had once used her father-in-law's letter to help someone settle a matter for a thousand taels. But killing someone was different. All prefectures and cities had to report to the Ministry of Justice for any beheading or death.

This kind of thing is not a big deal, but the person who competes with his cousin for the lead is not an ordinary person. I heard that there is a relative in his family who is a provincial governor. This is the reason why the family came to Qingda Niangniang for help.

Master Qing asked, "What do you think?"

"I want to prepare a generous gift tomorrow and go ask my second uncle for help. He is the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and has many students all over the world. If he can deliver a letter for us, it will be better than anything else." said Grandma Qing.

The next day, Master Qing brought his grandmother to the second room and told Mrs. Shen about the incident. Mrs. Shen thought for a moment and said, "I'll tell your uncle when he comes back."

Mrs. Shen Er didn't think it was a big deal. Grandma Qingda might give her three to five thousand taels, which was more than the rent for ten years. Who would think the money was too much now? She waited for Mr. Shen Er to come back and tell him, but Mr. Shen Er said no.

"I'm afraid Zhou Lingguang is waiting to find something to hold against me. Although he is only an editor in the Hanlin Academy now, he is also an official appointed by the court. It is better not to agree to such a thing, otherwise you will be impeached and your reputation will be ruined." Master Shen naturally felt that his official position was the most important.

If it was a member of the Shen family, he could still help, but since it was Grandma Qing's cousin from her uncle's family, there was really no need to take the risk since he had gone through a lot of twists and turns.

Although Mrs. Shen felt a little regretful, she was not stupid. She thought money was not as important as official position. With the position of Chief Academician of the Imperial College, she had nothing to fear.

Therefore, she said, "Your second uncle wants to help, but he doesn't recognize the governor and the governor of Shandong. He also said that the governor and the provincial governor of that prefecture had some conflicts with him."

Mrs. Qing did not suspect her, because Mr. Shen had been willing to help before.

The second wife can't help here, so she can only write a letter to her father-in-law. But her father-in-law can't do it either. He sent Aunt Chu here in the first place because he was dissatisfied with her. If she comes to him again about her mother's family affairs, she will probably not be able to hold her head up in the future.

Mrs. Qian, who was beside Mrs. Shen, had already understood what was going on. When she was sending Grandma Qing out, she couldn't help but remind her, "You really don't want to pray to the real Buddha at home, but come to our small temple in the second house. The father of the Grandma in the first house is the prime minister, and the in-laws of the Yan family are the ministers of the Ministry of Justice. It's better to go to them than to go to anyone else."