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

Chapter 391 Recovery
There are many conjectures about Haitang and Haijiao.

And these conjectures seem to be consistent with some of Mrs. Gui's remarks.

They felt that their conjecture was by no means groundless.

In order to further confirm their speculations, they continued to pay attention to the movements of Mrs. Gui and her daughter. Hai Jiao tried to start with Zhou Yijun to find out more about the Empress Dowager Zhou and the Marquis Chengen's Mansion in the capital. At the same time, he tried his best to recall the major and minor affairs of the court that he had experienced in his previous life, as well as all the gossip he had heard; while Haitang continued to interact with Wu Qiong. Correspondence led her to inquire about more past events from Mrs. Gui and her cousin Wu Ke.

After another three days, Haijiao did not gain much, but Haitang learned a lot of information about the Wu family's stay in Cining Palace.

Wu Qiong recalled more scenes of life in the Catalpa Tree Courtyard when he was a child. Most of them were trivial things in life, but now that he thinks about it, he still feels warm and nostalgic.

She once tried to ask her cousin Wu Ke if he still remembered what it was like when he was a child. But Wu Ke kept his mouth shut. Even though he was no longer in the capital but in Chang'an, the home base of the Zhou family, surrounded by trusted Zhou family members, he still refused to reveal any secrets.

He could discuss with his little cousin the food he had eaten in the palace, the scriptures he had memorized when worshiping the Buddha, and the clothes he wore, but he refused to talk about anything about Gongren Xu, Liuhua, or his classmate in the palace. At most, he mentioned that the person who taught him how to read in the palace was a Ding Nu Shi in her seventies. It is said that she grew up in the palace since she was a child. She once served in the library and was not only familiar with poetry. He also has a wealth of historical allusions and books, and has won the trust of Empress Dowager Zhou. Now he is living with Empress Dowager Zhou in her old age.

When Haitang saw the "Ding Nu Shi" mentioned in Wu Qiong's letter, she couldn't help but think of herself in her previous life. At that time, her surname was also Ding, and she was also a female official in charge of the library in the palace, but she was not a female historian.

At that time, there was indeed a little girl with the same surname as Ding among the palace servants in the Library Pavilion. She seemed to be the granddaughter of a prisoner and was taken into the inner court as a slave. When the new emperor Yongchang came to the throne, he granted a general amnesty to the whole world. Her status as a concubine was gone, but she had no family outside the palace, so she continued to live in the palace. Haitang saw that she was very smart but had no one to rely on, and she was from the same family, so he took more care of her. However, he was transferred out of the library soon and went to work as a secretary in Shanggong Bureau, so he didn't do much. I’ve seen this little girl.

Will the "History of Ding Nu" who teaches Wu Ke be the little girl in the library back then?

The age is right, and he also grew up in the palace. I wonder how she survived all these years, why has she never left the palace? As Empress Dowager Zhou takes care of her old age, she is safe and worry-free now, but Empress Dowager Zhou is about to die. After her death, what will happen to the palace people around her?

Haitang tried to ask her brother Hai Jiao how the palace attendants in Cining Palace were doing in their previous lives.

Hai Jiao made it clear: "At that time, it was rumored that the Queen Mother died suddenly... Anyway, several palace members of Cining Palace died, and the rest probably went to guard the mausoleum. Most of Cining Palace was empty, and the remaining Several concubines and concubines complained that the palace was too deserted, and there were rumors of being haunted. Concubine Sun was clamoring to select new maids among the people to supplement the manpower, and she almost persuaded the emperor. Concubine Xu Xian spent a lot of effort. He persuaded the emperor to give up the idea. Later, the story of Concubine Xu Xian's second marriage was leaked. Some courtiers defended her and cited her virtues. They used this matter as an example, which made Concubine Sun very angry... Empress Dowager Xu came to Cining. When the king is in the palace, he releases the old servants out of the palace to pray for the new king, which is also a good deed highly praised by the people."

In other words, if the Ding Nu Shi had not died of natural old age in the palace in the past few years, or she had been martyred by the Empress Dowager Zhou, or she had gone to guard the mausoleum, it was also possible that when Concubine Xu Xian became the Empress Dowager and the empress came out of the palace, Returned to the public? She has been in the palace since she was a child and has lived in the palace for seventy or eighty years. However, she may not be able to adapt to life outside the palace. It would be a blessing if she could die in the palace before Empress Dowager Zhou passed away.

Haitang sighed secretly and put the matter down.

Wu Qiong was recently aroused by Haitang to recall her childhood. However, she was too young when she lived in Cining Palace, and Mrs. Gui and Wu Ke were unwilling to cooperate with her in recalling more details. Within a few days, she began to recall My experience after moving into Chengenhou Mansion.

In this regard, she can win a wider audience. Zhou Xuejun was very interested in the life in Chengenhou Mansion. When she comes to Beijing to reunite with her parents, she will probably live like that, right? Inquiring about the customs of the capital in advance seems to be more helpful for her to adapt to the new life after moving to Beijing. With Zhou Xuejun as her chat partner, Wu Qiong no longer only talks to Haitang Bi. The two of them chatted quite happily. Haitang received fewer letters from Zhou Xuejun and Wu Qiong than before. Letters no longer came every day, but every three or two days, someone would always write to her. It won't make her feel lonely.

Haitang didn't care either. She found more clues from Wu Qiong's letter and was already very satisfied.

Mrs. Gui had been pretending to be ill for so many days, and it was time to end. Probably because she found that no one in the Zhenguo Palace had any intention of arguing with her, she observed the situation outside, then calmed down and began to "recover".

Mrs. Tuesday and Mrs. Wednesday packed their bags one after another and took their sons with them to return to the border town to reunite with their husbands. The entire Zhenguo Duke's mansion was almost half empty. Even the Zhenguo Duke's wife became quiet. She seemed to be suffering from spring sleepiness. He was also so depressed that he didn't even care to care about the affairs of the clan.

The Tang family was also busy bidding farewell to their children. Mrs. Tang took her two daughters to nearby Buddhist temples to worship Buddha and relax, and no one talked about the marriage proposal. The previous city-wide siege to hunt down the Sun family's minions has ended, and the city has begun to discuss the results of this year's children's examination. Because Jin Shan was injured and absent, some people mentioned him at first, but now his limelight has been overshadowed by the new talents. past.

Mrs. Gui thought that the outside world was calm and she could return to the world with peace of mind. However, the New Year was over, and she violated a taboo again, which aroused public anger. Although the wealthy families in the city did not ridicule her for the sake of Mrs. Zhou, they no longer welcomed her as a guest. No matter whose family held happy events or birthdays, they no longer posted messages to her. The daughters of various families also did not invite Wu Qiong to play. On Wu Ke's side, from time to time, literati would invite him to come over to attend some literary or poetry gatherings. He didn't dare to make the decision himself, so he asked Xie Wenzai to come forward and lead him, and attended several relatively reliable gatherings.

Mrs. Gui noticed the neglect from the outside world and felt very uncomfortable.

If you were a normal person, you should reflect on yourself at this time, then live a low-key life, and wait for the news to pass before planning your funeral.

But is Mrs. Gui a normal person?
She didn't feel that she was at fault. She only blamed the Sun family's minions for tying her up and making her look embarrassed. She also blamed the chickens in Chang'an and the Zhenguo government for refusing to help her.

She gritted her teeth at her daughter in private: "When the new king takes over, our Wu family will make a comeback. I will repay the humiliation suffered today a hundred times!" She also complained about Concubine Xu Xian, why she wanted to give birth to the eighth prince, "It's too much trouble! Since she is loyal, You should be loyal to the end! If she hadn’t caused trouble for no reason and given birth to such a troublesome thing, our Wu family would have been turned upside down a long time ago. How could I have been subjected to such idleness?!"

After hearing her words, Wu Qiong felt baffled and secretly afraid. She did not dare to tell anyone else. She only dared to say to Haitang, who had heard her complain before: "My mother is getting more and more crazy. I really want to ask a doctor to come and take a look at her, but I am afraid that Mrs. Zhen Guo will think too much... …”

Haitang felt relieved.

She guessed right. Madam Gui really knew that Empress Wu had left behind a young prince, so she felt that the eighth prince was in the way and prevented the young prince from establishing himself as the crown prince.

Mrs. Kegui has so much confidence in the legitimate prince, why can't she see the situation clearly?

At present, it is clear that the eighth prince's succession is the general trend, and the holy will is clear. Only the Sun family and Prince Ji are struggling to death. Who cares about the legitimate prince?

(End of this chapter)