my grandmother

The late emperor had been seriously ill for more than a year before his departure, and the emperor succeeded to the throne as an only son. This change of imperial power did not cause much turmoil. After the new emperor's coronation ceremony, for the subjects of the empire, this change only left some ceremonial mourning.

Just after the first lunar month, Li Xiaonan received her first flower-viewing invitation after marrying into Prince Rui's palace. It was sent from the Wang Xiang's palace.

Of course the invitation was delivered to Princess Wei. Princess Wei held the invitation and glanced sideways at Li Xiaonan.

Wang Xiang came from a poor family in the south of the Yangtze River and had always been aloof. There were very few guests at their house. They only invited people to enjoy flowers or something, or invited some great Confucian scholars to have a chat or some female relatives from the south of the Yangtze River to comfort the king. Mrs. Xiang's homesickness.

They, Prince Rui's Mansion, couldn't get along with Cai, let alone Jiangnan. In the past few years, she had gone to the Prime Minister's Mansion to celebrate her birthday, but she had never enjoyed flowers at their home.

This invitation is for her, a cheap daughter-in-law, a talented girl, Jiangnan.

But her daughter-in-law...

Ugh!

Let Brother Yan explain the wife he chose, she will be upset just looking at her.

As soon as Princess Wei sent away Li Xiaonan, Aunt Gu arrived.

Aunt Gu came in, walked up to Princess Wei first, and looked at Princess Wei's face carefully.

"What are you looking at? I'm fine!" Princess Wei was annoyed.

"What's going on? Who messed with you again? Your son or your daughter-in-law?" Aunt Gu sat down next to Princess Wei, stretched her head and saw the invitation on the couch, and said with a smile: "I was just thinking, The invitations from the Wang family will definitely not go past our house in the future."

"What good thing is this?" Princess Wei stopped Aunt Gu.

"Our family also received one. My aunt asked me to come and talk to you. I heard that Mr. Zhang is going to retire?" Aunt Gu lowered her voice.

"I don't know about this either. Your father never talks about matters in the court. We can't talk to Wang Xiang's family, and your aunt can't talk to them either. Don't worry about this." Princess Wei said.

"I think so too, so let's settle this matter. Auntie, we can't talk to the female family members of Prime Minister Wang's house, but now, there may be someone in our family who can talk to each other. Madam Wang Prime Minister is so smart. How about your daughter-in-law?" Aunt Gu asked with concern.

"Alas!" Princess Wei sighed. "I don't even know what to say about her. You say she is stupid. She is a famously talented woman, and her eyes are so bright that she doesn't look stupid. But you say she is not stupid. She follows me every day. Even when she is watching, she is looking at it absent-mindedly. When I look at her, she just keeps herself out of the way and doesn’t care about anything else!"

"Then tell me, you send an envoy to her. You can teach someone as stupid as the second sister. At least this one has brighter eyes than the second sister." Aunt Gu suggested.

"Is this the time when these two can send out missions? I'm too busy to be busy, so how can I have time to teach her? You brother! If this is the Shi family sister, she can get started immediately. At this time, she can take it from me. If I take over at least half of the things, I won't be so tired, your brother..."

"Auntie, that's your precious son." Aunt Gu whispered.

Princess Wei glanced at Aunt Gu and said, "Let Brother Yan explain his wife. I'm almost sick from exhaustion. I don't have the energy."

"Auntie, when the time comes, Mrs. Wang Xiang really wants to hold your daughter-in-law's hand. The two of them are babbling about Wu language. We don't know what they said. You have to arrange for us to come over from the village. Follow me." Auntie Gu reminded.

Princess Wei frowned.

If he said something wrong, it would be too late to find out when he got back, but it would be outrageous to have a servant girl by his side to keep telling him the news.

"Your aunt said she can understand Jiangnan dialect. When the time comes..."

"Auntie," Grandma Gu interrupted Princess Wei, "You don't know about my aunt yet. Years ago, Dongwazi's new Pingtan singer sang a new play to her, and she held up a list of lyrics. Just click your fingers line by line and listen!"

"I'll ask your brother when he comes back, alas!" Princess Wei sighed again.

What a shame!

........................

Gu Yan came back very late as usual, and when he entered the room, he saw Li Xiaonan sitting on the kang, with her elbows on the kang table, her chin in her hand, and dozing off in front of a book.

"I'm so sleepy that I can't sleep. What's going on?" Gu Yan reached out and tapped Li Xiaonan on the head.

In their small courtyard, although Li Xiaonan has no dignity at all, Gu Yan's dignity was cultivated since he could not walk. In this palace, Gu Yan's words are much more effective than Prince Rui and Princess Wei.

The rules after Li Xiaonan moved in were formulated by Li Xiaonan and announced by Gu Yan. The rules in this small courtyard now have basically no rules. For example, Gu Yan did not pass the news when he came back. For example, Li Xiaonan never waited for Gu Yan to come back before sleeping.

"I received an invitation today." Li Xiaonan suddenly woke up.

"I know, it's the one in the Wang Xiang's house, right? Don't come closer. You are wearing single clothes. I am very cold. I will change my clothes and then we can talk." Gu Yan took a step back and went to the clean room.

Gu Yan went in and out quickly. Li Xiaonan took the comb from the girl's hand, motioned for Gu Yan to sit over, knelt behind him and combed his hair.

"Tell me what's wrong first? Don't you want to go to tomorrow's banquet?" Gu Yan was shocked by Li Xiaonan's attentiveness.

"Why don't you go? I see you working hard and doing your best to be a wife." Li Xiaonan held up Gu Yan's hair and smelled it.

People like them even have rules for washing their hair. For example, Gu Yan only washes his hair every three days.

Gu Yan twisted his head slightly and looked at Li Xiaonan smelling her hair. "What do you smell?"

"I want to use yours to wash my hair. This one smells better than mine." Li Xiaonan put down her hair and then combed it.

"Don't change it, I think the one you used smells better." Gu Yan leaned back on the pillow and motioned for Li Xiaonan to sit next to him. "You just have to behave like a wife. Sit here and tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"My mother was very surprised when the invitation from Wang Xiang's family came in." Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan.

Gu Yan didn't know what he was thinking of. He smiled and nodded, "Wang Xiangqing is aloof and aloof, and doesn't pay much attention to people like us."

"Later, mother looked at the invitation, like this." Li Xiaonan imitated Princess Wei's frown.

"Later, my mother just looked at me sideways. I thought she wanted to say something, but she still didn't say anything. After a while, my mother asked me to go to Wang Xiang's house with her tomorrow to enjoy the flowers, and then she sent me back. , a full hour earlier than usual."

Li Xiaonan lay on Gu Yan's chest and looked at him.

"No more?" Gu Yan asked when he saw that Li Xiaonan stopped talking.

"It's your turn." Li Xiaonan patted Gu Yan.

"Aniang is just worried that if you talk to Mrs. Wang Xiang in Jiangnan dialect, she won't understand. If you say something you shouldn't say, she won't know. That's it."

"What should we do? Don't speak Pingjiang dialect?" Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan.

"Is it appropriate?" Gu Yan was speechless. "Why did Wang Xiang invite me to admire some flowers?" Li Xiaonan asked.

"Ms. Zhang has handed in a note to retire." Gu Yan hesitated for a moment, then said it directly.

Grandma can understand and understand everything around him.

"The day before yesterday was the enthronement ceremony, is Mr. Zhang doing this before or after?" Li Xiaonan asked.

"After that." Gu Yan smiled.

"Are you too impatient? Is your Prime Minister this magnanimous?" Li Xiaonan curled her lips.

"What do you mean by Prime Minister!" Gu Yan tapped Li Xiaonan's forehead with his fingers.

"Then his flower viewing is just for this prime minister? Do you want him to be the prime minister?" Li Xiaonan slapped Gu Yan's hand away.

"Here." Gu Yan turned sideways and pointed to his arms.

Li Xiaonan walked over.

Gu Yan's voice dropped.

"You all know the accounts of the Customs and Excise Department. 40% of the money coming out of the silk shop is used to support the Jiangnan scholars, and 40% is used to bribe officials, especially officials. I haven't dared to touch this part yet."

Gu Yan paused, he died like this last time.

Gu Yan leaned close to Li Xiaonan's ear and whispered: "The emperor wants Wang Xiang to do this."

"He is willing?"

"You have to find a way to convince him." Gu Yan smiled bitterly.

"Does Mr. Wang know about the accounts of the silk shop?" Li Xiaonan asked.

"He will definitely stay away from such things, but although he is aloof, he is not ignorant of the world. He can definitely think of everything that should be thought of.

"Our grandfather rectified the Jiangnan silk industry, which greatly damaged the vitality of the Jiangnan silk industry. He wrote many articles about this matter, calling my grandfather a one-man thief."

"The King's prime minister's age happened to be when he was in his teens." Li Xiaonan did not continue. The Prime Minister Wang's family may have also suffered greatly from that rectification. The Prime Minister Wang must have witnessed many things that resulted in the bankruptcy of the family and even the destruction of the family.

"Well, he strongly opposed my rectification of Jiangnan Silk Shop."

"He is worried that you will be like your grandfather." Li Xiaonan continued.

"Well. The Prime Minister Wang specifically asked me about the fine cloth in your dowry. If Mrs. Wang Prime Minister asks about it, please talk to her carefully." Gu Yan explained.

"it is good."

"Nothing else. You have been with my mother for a while. Is she not giving you a hard time?" Gu Yan changed the subject.

"No."

"Didn't you ask A Niang for any errand?" Gu Yan asked again.

"Why do you need to order some errands?" Li Xiaonan asked back.

"Learn to preside over the royal palace. You will eventually take over the palace from my mother-in-law."

"My mother is only in her early fifties. She looks like she is forty at most. How young is she? It's early. Let's talk about it in ten years."

Li Xiaonan's words almost choked Gu Yan.

"Then what do you think about when you are with my mother-in-law every day?" Gu Yan couldn't help but ask. His mother-in-law said that she was absent-minded.

"I miss my book! I thought about it in the morning, went back to write it down at noon, thought about it in the afternoon, and wrote it down in the evening. By the way, you said you would take me to talk to those Gezhihanlin people. When will I go? I want to You know how much those Hanlin scholars know, so they know how to write so that they can understand it." Speaking of her book, Li Xiaonan became more energetic.

Gu Yan trailed off the word "um" and suddenly said with a smile: "Why don't you tell Mrs. Wang Xiang that you want to meet those Hanlins and see if Mrs. Wang Xiang can help you."

"What's your idea?" Li Xiaonan raised her upper body.

"If he is willing to help you, you can make a special trip to thank Mrs. Wang Xiang. For such a big thing, it is definitely not enough to thank you once. Once you come and go, you can come and go frequently. I think you can be of great help. You are my lucky star. .”

Gu Yan hugged Li Xiaonan and laughed.

"This is what you promised me. If I ask someone else for help, then you owe me something!"

"Okay! One more piece for free, I owe you two!" Gu Yan was very happy.

"Does mother know what you told me?" Li Xiaonan was about to throw Gu Yan down when she suddenly remembered another important matter, which related to how she would cooperate with Princess Wei.

"It seems that my father never talks about the court affairs with my mother-in-law." Gu Yan thought for a while and said.

"Ah? Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you say that your mother-in-law is very knowledgeable and good at writing policies? Didn't you say that your father and mother-in-law have a good relationship?" Li Xiaonan was surprised.

"How do I know this?" Gu Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

How his father and mother-in-law get along as a couple is not something he should worry about.

"You didn't ask? Didn't you inquire?"

"Why am I asking about this!" Gu Yan was speechless.

"I'm curious, you don't want to know?" Li Xiaonan was surprised.

"Sleep, sleep, I have to go to court early tomorrow." Gu Yan retreated. (End of chapter)