Do you know: I am Xu Jiazi

Chapter 555: Huaizhu [Thank you! Goodbye! 39K more to go]

Late afternoon (around 5 p.m.)
The sun is about to set.

As the sunlight decreased, the temperature dropped.

Inner city Xingguofang,
The Duke's Mansion of Qi State,

Backyard Hall,

Princess Pingning sat on the Arhat chair, holding the teacup with great grace, blew it gently and took a sip.

"My lady, I won't bring it here."

"Ah."

Princess Pingning placed the teacup on the table and took a deep breath.

After a while,
The brocade cotton curtain at the door was lifted by a maid, and Buwei walked in with his head lowered.

"I have met the Majesty."

Not for bowing and saluting.

"Yes. Heng'er went to Sheng's house today. Did anything happen during that time?"

The Pingning County Lord asked with a stern face.

Buwei lowered his head and bowed, "Your Majesty, nothing happened to the young master in the Sheng family."

"Then why was he so happy when he left, but has such a stern face since he came back, without even a smile?"

Buwei shook his head: "My lady, I don't know."

"I don't know?" Princess Pingning asked in a deep voice. "Then tell me, what did Heng'er do after he came to the Sheng family?"

Buwei bowed: "Yes, Madam. When the young master arrived at the Sheng family, he first visited Zhuang Xuejiu, and then he and Jing'er went to pay New Year's greetings to the old lady of the Sheng family. After dinner, I stayed by the young master's side."

Listening to Buwei's narration, Princess Pingning's expression gradually calmed down, and there was even a slight smile on the corner of her mouth. She said, "Is this really how Elder Yu evaluated Heng'er?"

"Yes, madam. I heard it clearly."

Princess Pingning took a deep breath and said, "Alright, let's go down."

Instead of bowing in response, he took two steps back and left the hall.

The housekeeper standing beside Princess Pingning said, "Madam, don't listen to what this boy said. There is nothing wrong with the young master today."

"Hmph!" Princess Pingning snorted coldly: "I didn't expect that Heng'er would be praised so much by Old Master Yu. But, is there really nothing wrong with it?"

Hearing Princess Pingning's question, the housekeeper's eyes turned and her face turned a little unsightly.

The housekeeper bowed slightly and said, "Your Highness is right. The young master was praised by Old Master Yu, but he was still in a bad mood after returning. There must be some hidden reason."

Princess Pingning took a sip of tea and asked, "When was the last time we saw Miss Sheng?"

"My Lady, it should be the time before last when Duke Cheng's Mansion sent out invitations to invite everyone to the banquet."

"And further ahead?"

As if she was recalling what she had seen and heard that day, Princess Pingning asked again with her eyes closed.

"Hiss, Madam, if we go further ahead, we will reach the chrysanthemum appreciation meeting in the west of the city during the Double Ninth Festival last year."

Princess Pingning shook her head and said, "Not all the girls from the Sheng family went that day."

The housekeeper nodded with a look of reminiscence in her eyes and said, "Your Majesty has a really good memory! Thinking about it carefully, it was after Qingming Festival that I met the girls from the Sheng family at the polo field in the west of the city!"

"It seems that the eldest branch of the Sheng family also went there that day."

Princess Pingning thought about it for a moment and said, "That's right."

Seeing Princess Pingning's expression, the housekeeper glanced at the maid in the hall and whispered, "Madam, are you saying that the young master is unhappy because of Miss Sheng?"

The Pingning County Lord frowned and said nothing.

"Then find a chance to talk to the Sheng family and ask them to let the three girls leave the school first?" the housekeeper asked tentatively.

Princess Pingning waved her hand and said, "No! Heng'er went to the Sheng family as a student on loan. Madam Wang said that the three girls were able to enter the school because of the old lady of the Sheng family. It's unreasonable for us to say that other girls should not study in our own school."

"If we tell them and they don't care about their reputation and say they don't want to see our daughter and want her to go to another school, then our Qi family will lose all their face."

"Master Zhuang is a rare and good teacher!"

The housekeeper nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Highness is right. Although the Sheng family is not well-known in Bianjing, their relatives include Elder Wang who is enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and they also have the Yongyi Marquis Mansion, which is in proper use. They are not a small family."

"Now the six brothers who are studying in Sheng's academy have all become juren."

Listening to the housekeeper's words, Princess Pingning hummed, took a sip of tea, and her eyes were full of thought.

After thinking for a while, Princess Pingning said, "Although the Sheng family does not have any noble titles, being able to be a brother-in-law with Zai Zhang of the Xu family is a good match for an ordinary wealthy family."

"Your Majesty is right! Didn't the young master often say when he came home that the second son of the Sheng family was very knowledgeable? If he could pass the imperial examination, the Sheng family would be even more prestigious."

Princess Pingning nodded: "Well, a family with three or four Jinshi is worthy of praise. What a pity."

As she spoke, Princess Pingning chuckled.

Unfortunately, given Princess Pingning's identities as the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Xiangyang, the adopted daughter of the emperor and empress, and the nominal sister of the future emperor, as well as her title of the Qi family, she still looked down upon the Sheng family.

Putting down the teacup in her hand, Princess Pingning stood up from her chair. She chuckled as if thinking of something and said, "It would be nice if Brother Jing of the Xu family had a younger sister."

Of course, Princess Pingning meant that the Xu family could have a girl who was about the same age as Qi Heng.

Quyuan Street,
Yong Yi Hou Mansion,

backyard,

Xu Zaijing, along with his three maids who were holding things, entered the mistress's courtyard.

"The Fifth Young Master is here."

The little maid standing at the door shouted with a smile.

"Mother! I'm back!"

Xu Zaijing smiled, lowered his head, walked over the opened cotton curtain, and entered the house.

"Well?"

Looking at the people in the room, Xu Zaijing asked in confusion: "Sister, why didn't you go back? Erlang thought that you, elder sister, were going back to the Marquis' Mansion, so he went back by himself."

Pingmei nodded, and Anmei smiled, but there was a slight embarrassment on her face.

Xu Zaijing glanced at his mother Sun who was sitting on the Arhat chair, and looking at her expression, he said, "Mother, what's wrong with you? Could it be..."

The faces of several ladies in the hall became more and more embarrassed, and Sun even lowered her head slightly.

Xu Zaijing glared: "Could it be that my marriage has been arranged?"

Upon hearing this,
Xie, who had returned from the small paper mill in the afternoon, looked at Xu Zaijing and said with a smile, "Go away! No!"

"Oh." Xu Zaijing breathed a sigh of relief, looked around at everyone's expressions, and said, "Sister-in-law, sister, why are you like this? What's wrong?"

An Mei suppressed her laughter, glanced at Sun, and said, "Xiao Wu, we are going to have another brother or sister!"

Xu Zaijing: “(O_o)??”

Looking at An Mei, Xu Zaijing said, "Sister, aren't you afraid of being beaten by mother if you say that?"

Looking up at his mother, Mrs. Sun, Xu Zaijing stopped talking and the hall instantly became quiet.

At the entrance of the hall, Qingcao and Yun Xianghua, who were holding the elephant flower, looked at each other in disbelief.

"Oh, by the way, mother, I saw some beautifully crafted elephant flowers on the road, and my sisters are here."

As he spoke, Xu Zaijing waved to Qingcao and the others.

Afterwards, Xu Zaijing sat on a chair, looked at his sister and sister-in-law who had changed the subject, and whispered to An Mei, "How did you know this?"

An Mei held a flower in her hand and said, "This afternoon, Doctor Ren came to visit us. My mother said she had no appetite recently. Doctor Ren took her pulse and found out."

"How old is our mother?" Xu Zaijing whispered.

An Mei scratched her temples helplessly.

"Where is father?" Xu Zaijing asked.

"General Cao took me out for a drink at noon," An Mei said.

"Oh how many months?"

An Mei pursed her lips and raised three fingers.

Xu Zaijing touched his forehead helplessly.

In the evening, before dinner, Pingmei and Anmei had already returned to their respective in-laws' homes.

Xu Zaijing also used the excuse that he had eaten too much at Sheng's house and returned to his own yard.

Lord Mother’s Courtyard,

In the bedroom,
Xu Minghua, Marquis of Yongyi, who had just returned home, walked in drunkenly.

Looking at Sun, who was sitting at the table with one hand on the table and clenched into a fist, Xu Minghua said, "My wife, my family hurriedly asked me to come back, saying that there was a happy event. What happened?"

As soon as she approached the table, Sun glared at Xu Minghua fiercely.

"Hmm? Why is Madam Happy looking at me like that?"

Before Xu Minghua could finish his words, Sun stood up, walked over, and punched Xu Minghua in the chest with her fist.

"You old bastard, you are so shameless, I have no face to live anymore!!"

Sun's actions left Xu Minghua confused.

"Ma'am, what's wrong with me???"

While asking the question, Xu Minghua looked to the side and saw Zhu Mama, who had served Sun for many years.

Mother Zhu glanced at Sun, bowed and said with a smile: "My Lord, the Madam..."

Mother Bamboo finished speaking.
Xu Minghua looked at Sun's expression with astonishment on his face and said, "This, I, Madam..."

"Snapped!"

Sun punched Xu Minghua hard again.

Xingguofang,
Ningyuan Hou Mansion,

Bai and Gu Tingyi poked their heads out, staring at Pingmei who was speaking with wide eyes.

Then, Bai said in disbelief, "Ping'er, how can Sister Sun get pregnant at this age?"

Ping Mei pursed her lips and nodded, "Doctor Ren took my pulse herself."

After Gu Tingye woke up from his shock, he said, "The one in Madam Sun's belly is of a very senior generation."

Pingmei smiled, sighed, and touched her son Gu Shixing's head.

Gu Yankai, who was sitting on the other side of Bai, was stunned for a moment. Then he smiled and shook his head, with a look of admiration in his eyes.

Chun Ming Fang,
At the Huyan family compound, Madam Pan also looked at An Mei in surprise and said, "An'er, this is not something to joke about."

"Mother, how could I be joking!"

Madam Pan nodded, a smile appeared on her face, and she said, "My mother-in-law is in very good health."

An Mei said: "Mother is right, my grandmother gave birth to ten children."

Madam Pan smiled and said, "I hope that you, An'er, can be as healthy as your mother and help our Huyan family to have more children."

Stars shift,

a new day,
On the third day of the first lunar month, officials from the Ministry of Rites and the sons of nobles in the capital would accompany the Northern Liao envoys to shoot arrows in the Nanyu Garden.

In the Queen's Palace in the Great Zhou Palace,
The emperor, who was on rest for seven days, was having breakfast with Prince Zhao Fang, the queen and the princess.

When Zhao Fang was using the public chopsticks to put his favorite food into the little princess's bowl, the eunuch Huaibao walked in with a whisk in his hand, smiling.

Seeing his adopted son, the eunuch beside the emperor asked, "What's wrong?"

Huaibao walked closer and bowed to the emperor's family. Looking at the emperor who was drinking porridge, Huaibao pondered for a moment.

"Hmm? Speak!" the eunuch said, raising his voice slightly.

Huaibao pursed his lips and said, "Your Majesty, the wife of the Marquis of Yongyi is..."

After hearing Huaibao's report, the emperor and the empress both frowned slightly.

"The wife of Marquis Yongyi is pregnant? Did you hear it wrongly?" The queen looked at her two children and shook her head.

"Your Highness, I have confirmed this repeatedly."

Zhao Fang, who was beside the queen, looked at the emperor with a happy face and said, "Father, the Marquis of Yongyi is really still strong despite his old age!"

The emperor put down his bowl of porridge, nodded, looked at Zhao Fang, and then looked at the queen.

Zhao Fang looked at the emperor's eyes, and after a moment's glance, he continued, "But, father is still the best."

The emperor raised his eyebrows without comment.

Jiying Lane,
Sheng family,

Wei Ruixuan,
Wang Ruofu sat at the table hugging her grandson Xu Xingzhong.

"Zhong'er, tell grandma what you want to eat and she'll give it to you!"

"Mother, you're spoiling him too much! Just let him do it himself!"

Wang Ruofu glanced at Hua Lan who was speaking and said, "When you were this old, your father and I didn't have the heart to let you pick up food by yourself."

After saying that, without looking at Hualan, Wang Ruofu continued to coax her grandson, while Sheng Hong raised the soup bowl, drank the soup while looking at his grandson with a smile on his face.

Rulan curled her lips as she looked at her nephew being favored in her mother's arms.

At this time, a maid came in from outside, bowed to everyone, and said: "Master, Madam, someone from the Marquis' Mansion is here to say..."

Wang Ruofu held her grandson in her arms and frowned, about to speak, but after listening to the maid's report, the words got stuck in her throat and she couldn't utter them.

Sheng Hong had a mouthful of soup in his mouth and it took a lot of willpower to keep from spitting it out.

Half an hour later,

Shouantang,
Sheng Hong looked at the old woman who was eating, bowed and said, "Mother."

After listening to Sheng Hong's words, the old lady frowned and glanced at Fang Mama and Cui Mama who were also in disbelief, and said, "Ah? Hong'er, what did you say?"

Sheng Hong repeated it again.

The old lady shook her head with a smile on her face and said, "This is really a happy event."

In the blink of an eye, another day has passed and it is already the fourth day of the first lunar month.

On this day, the capital had been open for three days, and envoys from various countries who had come to pay New Year's greetings left the capital one after another.

South Lecture Hall Lane,

The Rong family returned to Xueyuan,
The maid Ningxiang hurriedly passed through the moon gate and entered the yard.

He quickly lifted the cotton curtain and entered the house. He glanced around the outer room and saw that his daughter was not there, so Ningxiang quickly walked into the inner room.

"Ningxiang, you're back! Hey, where are the snacks you bought?"

Entering the inner room, Ningxiang looked at Rong Feiyan who was quietly making incense. She didn't care about the careful steps beside her and hurried over to ask: "Miss, just now I went to buy snacks and heard, I heard..."

Rong Feiyan stopped making incense, looked up at Ningxiang and smiled, "What did you hear?"

After Ningxiang finished speaking with a heavy breath, Rong Feiyan's smile froze on her face. She put down the tools for making incense and said, "Who spread this? Madam Sun knows it all."

Xibu on the side nodded repeatedly.

"Girl, it's true! The Tuoxi Marquis, Ningyuan Marquis and other marquisates are spreading the news!"

Seeing Ningxiang's confident look, Rong Feiyan slowly held her cheeks with both hands, looked at Xibu in surprise, and said, "God."

Not far from Rong's house,

East side of the palace,

Chai family, Qiushengyuan.

Chai Zhengzheng looked at his mother, Madam Chai, and said, "Mother, you said you heard it from the wife of the Duke of England?"

Madam Chai nodded repeatedly: "Yes! The old lady of Duke Lian went to the Zhang family to ask! When the Lady of the Duke Ying gave birth to Wu Niang, she was not young anymore, so she must have some experience in this area, right?"

"After learning the news, the old lady of the Lu family went to the Zhang family to ask for advice, and that's how the Lady of the Duke of England found out!"

Chai Zhengzheng nodded blankly and said, "Madam Sun, you are in great health!"

After saying that, Chai Zhengzheng smiled again.

"Zheng Zheng, what are you laughing at?" Mrs. Chai asked puzzledly.

Chai Zhengzheng: "Mother, it's nothing. I just want to know what Xu Jia Wulang felt when he heard the news."

(End of this chapter)