After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1104: Letter from Chang'an
Haitang was not sure whether Zhou Wenjun's sudden return to Beijing was related to Zhou Xuejun being taken to the Cining Palace for education. However, Beijing had been peaceful recently, and the Zhou family was doing well. If there was no special reason, why would Zhou Wenjun travel dozens of miles back to Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion?

However, Haitang certainly would not directly ask Zhou Wenjun about her purpose in the letter. Instead, she first mentioned the incident in which the Yingchuan Marquis Mansion was involved in the Sun family fire case a few days ago, and expressed her concern for Peng Yuqi.

The Hai family had never had any dealings with the Yingchuan Marquis's Mansion, and her brother Hai Jiao had no relationship with the Yingchuan Marquis and his son. It was inconvenient for Hai Tang to write a letter to Peng Yuqi to comfort her, so she had to use Zhou Wenjun to pass it on. Since the latter had already returned to the capital, it must be very convenient for her to contact and visit her bestie.

In addition, she also mentioned in the letter that she knew Zhang Yingfeng. Since they met at the flower-viewing banquet in Shoukang Palace before the Lantern Festival, and she gave Zhang Yingfeng a ride when she left the palace, she seemed to want to make friends with her. When she sent spring dishes at the beginning of spring, she also sent a portion to the Hai family. Haitang could feel Zhang Yingfeng's kindness towards her, but she was not sure about the Zhang family's attitude, so she wanted to talk to Zhou Wenjun to see if the Zhou family was afraid of this. If the Zhou family did not care about their old subordinates making friends with the Zhang family, she would be able to feel at ease to interact with Zhang Yingfeng in the future.

Haitang first drafted the letter, thought about it for a while, made a few revisions, rewrote it, prepared a generous gift, and sent it to the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion.

In less than half a day, Zhou Wenjun wrote back to her.

Zhou Wenjun said that helping Li's mother and her son was just a matter of convenience for her, and she did not deserve such a generous reward. She also talked about her recent situation and said that everything was fine. She had heard about the gossip in Yingchuan Marquis's Mansion a long time ago, and was worried about her best friend, but she was in the military camp far outside the city and could not reach her. Now that she had arrived in the capital, she would definitely send a letter to Peng Yuqi. When she visited her friend and confirmed that she was safe, she would send a letter to Haitang to report her safety.

As for the reason for returning to Beijing, Zhou Wenjun did not explain in detail. She only said that the Cheng'en Marquisate had received a letter from Chang'an, and she was thinking about her relatives at home, so she hurried over to ask about her family's recent situation.

Haitang looked at Zhou Wenjun's handwriting in the reply and felt that her handwriting was a little sloppy, as if she had written it in a hurry. It seemed that she had been quite busy after arriving at Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion today, but she didn't want to disappoint her little sister, so she squeezed out time to write a reply in person. This friendship touched Haitang very much, but she still had doubts in her heart...

There was a letter from Chang'an to the Cheng'en Marquis Mansion. If the news reached Zhou Wenjun, it must be that the Cheng'en Marquis Mansion sent someone to deliver the message. But couldn't the messenger tell Zhou Wenjun about the recent situation of the people in the Zhenguo Mansion mentioned in the letter? Why did she rush back to the Cheng'en Marquis Mansion to ask for details? Could it be that the letter mentioned some bad news that made Zhou Wenjun worried and she had to go back to Beijing to ask for details?

Did something happen to Zhou Wenjun's father, General Zhou? Or... did something happen to the health of the Duke and his wife?
Haitang recalled the "previous life" mentioned by her brother Haijiao. At this time, the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo was still alive, but the Zhou family had already lost its military power. The wife of the Duke of Zhenguo returned to Beijing with her children and grandchildren to settle down and closed the door to visitors. General Zhou's future was ruined, but he was still fine. The situation of these two in this life is a hundred times better than in the previous life. It is expected that there will be no major problems. If nothing unexpected happens, at most there will be some minor illnesses and pains, right?

But the Duke of Zhenguo in his previous life had been seriously ill and died for several years. The Duke of Zhenguo was seriously ill and could not get up, which had a lot to do with the eldest son who was highly expected to be framed and lost his job. Without this incident in this life, the Zhou family and the Yingchuan Marquisate did not have a deep hatred. The Zhou family also regained the favor of the late emperor. After the new monarch ascended the throne, they took the position of the new monarch's first wife into their arms, and the family's future was bright. There was no reason for the Duke of Zhenguo to be hit or stimulated again, which would make his condition worse. However, he was old, and he had been through many battles when he was young, and he had many old illnesses. Now that they have recurred, they cannot be easily cured.

When the Hai family left Chang'an, the health of the Duke of Zhenguo was not very good. He had given up his military power several years ago and handed over the responsibility to his eldest son, General Zhou, while he himself was recuperating in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Now that half a year has passed, has the Duke of Zhenguo, who has just experienced a cold winter, improved in his condition?
Haitang couldn't help but feel worried. She suddenly thought, if something happened to the Duke of Zhenguo, would Zhou Xuejun, who had just been brought into the palace to be raised, be affected?
In the evening, Haijiao finished a busy day at work and returned home to rest. Haitang went to the front yard in person, avoiding others, and asked him this question, under the pretext of delivering a soup to his brother.

Hai Jiao couldn't help showing a look of astonishment, then frowned and said: "It's hard to say. At this time in the previous life, the old man Zhenguogong had already passed away. Although everything is going well for the Zhou family in this life, and they haven't encountered so many disasters and setbacks, the Zhenguogong is so old that he may not be able to hold on at any time. Once he dies, even if the Zhou family has a few major generals to support the family and does not lose the military power, it will not be as prominent as when the Zhenguogong was alive. The Zhenguogong's qualifications and prestige in the Great Chu Army are not comparable to a few major generals."

But on the other hand, without a guardian of the country, the Zhou family's prestige in the army was greatly reduced, and the royal family would be less wary of the Zhou family.

Although the new emperor who is in power now has always had a good relationship with the Zhou family and is not as petty and suspicious as the previous emperor, there are many things in the world that are unpredictable. The Empress Dowager has been very kind to the new emperor and Empress Dowager Xu. When she is around, the Zhou family is naturally fine. But if the Empress Dowager is gone, and the Zhou family still controls the military power in the northwest, and is not restricted by the court in terms of manpower and financial resources, who knows what the new emperor will think?

Even though Hai Jiao was closer to the Zhou family, he had to admit that the Northwest Frontier Army had many grievances against the imperial court. As the commander of the Northwest Frontier Army, the Zhou family always put the stability of the border first. It was somewhat taboo to be dissatisfied with the actions of the previous emperor and some civil servants in the court. It was fine when the emperor trusted the Zhou family, but once the emperor did not trust the Zhou family, he would find a handle and the Zhou family would definitely suffer.

The granddaughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, Zhou Xuejun, has now been chosen as the new emperor's empress. It will take a few more years before she can marry the new emperor and officially enter the palace. If she can successfully take the throne of empress and give birth to a prince for the new emperor, and the prince can be successfully canonized as the crown prince of the Eastern Palace in the future and ascend the throne after the new emperor passes away, then the Zhou family will have hope of continuing to be stable.

But if anything happens to the Duke of Zhenguo and it affects the stability of Zhou Xuejun's position as queen, then everything will be difficult to say.

Haijiao pondered for a moment, then said to his younger sister Haitang, "Recently, I have been busy investigating the Minister's residence, and have not paid attention to any new news in or outside the palace. Now that the case has come to an end, all the evidence that needs to be investigated has been obtained, and the next step is the joint trial of the three courts. I just happen to have some free time, so I'll find a chance to visit my two old friends Zhou Yijun and Wu Ke, and ask for some news..."