Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 295: In some places, children never grow up
Suzhou Lakeside.

Wei Yuan stood alone in the snow, looking at the frozen lake in front of him, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard from time to time.

The people of the entire Jiangnan area are immersed in the New Year atmosphere.

Some brothels in Suzhou and Hangzhou have been crowded these days.

After a busy year and saving a year's money, the people in the south of the Yangtze River would more or less have some spare money to spend on their leisure.

They would either drink and have fun, or hug some beautiful women and listen to their songs to whitewash the situation.

No one cares about the life and death of the people in the north.

At this time, Wei Yuan was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which recorded the latest news of the Qizhou battle.

Xu Changzhi witnessed with his own eyes that tens of thousands of civilians, all the men had been castrated and the women were naked, all kneeling outside the city of Qizhou until they froze to death.

There were also relatively peaceful periods when people from the north came to escape the war and wanted to enter Qizhou City. However, Xu Changzhi was worried that there were enemy spies mixed in.

Xu Changzhi never opened the city gates until the people were brutally massacred by foreigners.

In the Qizhou area, there are already voices of the country's demise, although, judging from the current situation, it is far from that point.

But Wei Yuan believed that if this war continued, sooner or later the country would be shattered and the land of China would sink.

Not long after, Wei Yuan, who was standing alone in the snow, suddenly saw several children in large flowered jackets chasing and playing.

About ten steps away from Wei Yuan, there were several Tiger Guards. They wanted to drive the children away, but when they saw Wei Yuan shaking his head, they just let the children go.

Then, Wei Yuan was seen waving at the children.

The children did not dare to step forward rashly.

Wei Yuan waved to Xie Yuying who was standing not far away, motioning her to come over.

After Xie Yuying arrived, Wei Yuan asked, "Do you have any candy?"

sugar?
Xie Yuying shook her head.

Wei Yuan saw a jade pendant hanging around her waist, so he took it off and said to the children:
"Uncle will ask you a few questions. Whoever answers well will get this jade pendant. How about that?"

Xie Yuying turned her head to look at a few children not far away and smiled at them.

However, the children still did not dare to step forward.

Wei Yuan frowned, "When I was a kid, if anyone dared to give me a jade pendant like this, I would go forward even if he was a pawnbroker."

Yahang, commonly known as human traffickers.

Xie Yuying smiled and said, "My Lord, do you like children very much?"

Wei Yuan said nothing.

Xie Yuying smiled sweetly and walked towards the children. Then, she touched the head of one of the children affectionately and said with a smile in Jiangnan dialect:

"That big brother wants to play with you for a while. Can I buy you some candy later?"

Several children burst into laughter instantly.

"it is good!"

Then, he jumped up to Wei Yuan.

"Big brother, what are you going to play with us?"

"Brother, you look a bit inferior."

"."

In fact, it is not difficult to understand Jiangnan dialect as long as you listen carefully.

Wei Yuan spoke the official language popular in the Bian Jing area, and the children in front of him could understand it.

He held a child in his arms and asked with a smile, "It's New Year's Day, what did your parents buy for you?"

The children responded one after another:
"My father bought me new toys, and my mother made me new clothes."

"My father bought a pig, which will feed us for a long time."

"My father prepared a lot of meat."

"."

They talked a lot.

The people in the south of the Yangtze River were indeed wealthy. They not only prepared new clothes, but also various meats, toys, firecrackers, fine wines, and so on.

Just plan to have a good time together as a family on New Year's Day.

Wei Yuan put the child down from his arms.

At this time, Xie Yuying came to a group of children and watched the scene in front of her.

Wei Yuan sat on a rock and asked the children,

"Are your friends like you?"

Several children gathered around him and nodded.

Wei Yuan asked again: "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

They answered one after another:
"When I grow up, I want to study and take the imperial examination to become an official. My father said that being an official would ensure that I would have no worries about food and clothing."

"I want to be a carpenter. My mother said that a carpenter will never die of starvation in a famine."

"I want to be a doctor and save lives!"

"When I grow up"

"."

Wei Yuan stroked the back of a child's head and said earnestly:
"Okay, what you said is all very good, but do you know? At this moment, in some places, on this land, there are many children like you who will never grow up."

Several children were puzzled and looked confused.

“Why don’t they grow up?”

"My mother said that as long as the New Year is over, I will be one year older, but they can't grow up, so don't they celebrate the New Year?"

"."

Wei Yuan smiled without saying anything. He just handed the jade pendant to a tiger guard and asked him to pawn it for some money to buy some candies, which he then shared among the children.

Then, the children followed the plainclothes tiger guards and jumped away.

Wei Yuan looked at their backs for a long time without saying anything.

After an unknown amount of time, a maid brought a cloak and handed it to Xie Yuying.

She put the cloak on Wei Yuan and said softly, "My Lord, it's cold outside, let's go back?"

Wei Yuan looked at the paper that he had clenched into a ball in his hand. He had no idea what he was thinking. He felt quite confused and said with a sense of loss:
"If Bianjing is lost in the future and China sinks, those children and women like you will not have a good ending."

Even if the Great Zhou was destroyed by the Liao, people like Wei Yuan would be treated well by the Liao as long as they wanted to live well.

The only difference is whether he wants to live with the infamy.

But the only thing that is certain is that from now on, the children and women who grew up on this land will no longer live like human beings.

Xie Yuying squatted in front of Wei Yuan, held his hand, and said with a smile: "With the Marquis here, that day will never come."

Wei Yuan looked at Xie Yuying deeply and asked, "Two days ago, a maidservant beside you secretly went to a doctor to take your pulse. When do you plan to tell me the details?"

The latter was struck by lightning, and his face turned extremely pale in an instant, "My Lord. I..."

At this point, she knelt down suddenly and kowtowed, saying: "I am guilty. I know that my status is not worthy of you, my Lord. I dare not tell you that I am pregnant."

Wei Yuan said in a deep voice: "So, you want to secretly abort my Wei family's seed?"

Xie Yuying had been with him for half a year. Recently, she noticed signs of morning sickness, so she secretly went to see a doctor for a pulse check. The result was as expected. Upon hearing this, she was in a panic and kept bowing to Wei Yuan.
"Please understand, my Lord, I don't have the guts to do that."

"I am worried. I ask the Marquis to punish me!"

After speaking hesitantly for a long time, he still failed to tell the truth.

Wei Yuan could probably guess it.

It was simply that Xie Yuying was afraid of the mistress of the mansion whom she had never met, and was worried that the fetus in her belly would not be able to land safely.

So, she wanted to delay it, preferably until the day when her belly started to grow bigger and she could no longer hide it, and the baby was born.

By that time, the matter was done. As long as the Wei family's child could be born safely, she would have no regrets even if she died.

For her, being able to give birth to a son and a daughter for a hero like Wei Yuan was a blessing that could only be earned after three lifetimes, and it was a blessing from God.

Therefore, she wanted to give birth to the baby in her belly at all costs.

Wei Yuan helped her up, looked at her slightly bulging belly, and subconsciously stroked it, muttering:
"We cannot let this child be born into a world that is torn apart and displaced."

Having said that, he slowly stood up, his eyes full of determination.
-
At this time, in the Duke of England’s mansion.

Ever since Zhang Fu was assassinated, Zhang Guifen moved here with Zhuang Ge'er and Jing Jie'er.

One was that he wanted to be able to accompany his father to heal his wounds, and the other was that the outside world was not peaceful.

Zhao Xi added many guards to the Duke of England's mansion. Even if Zhang Guifen didn't consider herself, she should consider the safety of her two children.

After all, everyone knows that Wei Yuan is a thorn in the eyes of Liao and Xia countries, and his children are naturally included in the strategies of Liao and Xia countries.

For both moral and logical reasons, Zhang Guifen did not dare to live alone in the mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.

At this time, Minglan was chatting with Zhang Guifen.
"Aunt, I heard from many people that many people have died in the North these days. The world is not peaceful anymore."

The latter nodded slightly, "How can there be no death in war?"

As he spoke, he was looking at a letter from home sent by Wei Yuan.

Minglan was not curious about the contents of the letter.
"My father told me that many officials from other places are thinking about escaping."

"Even in our capital, some people are feeling uneasy."

The reason why Minglan said this was because this war was too unusual.

Everyone is talking about it all the time.

She was very worried that something bad would happen.

"Aunt, tell me, why didn't the court send my uncle to fight against Liaoxia?"

"Now the people in the capital all say that only my uncle can repel Liao and Xia."

"Even the common people know it, but they don't know what the court means."

Minglan, who had always been afraid of causing trouble, only dared to say things like this in front of Zhang Guifen.

As she read the letter from Wei Yuan, she echoed with a look of disappointment:
"Yes, if even ordinary people understand this, how can the court not understand it?"

With the outbreak of the war, many nobles and officials in Bianliang were directly affected.

For example, at this time of year in previous years, officials from the Ministry of Revenue had already begun preparing for the New Year's banquet.

Moreover, envoys from various countries have arrived in the capital one after another.

Everywhere in the streets of Bianjing, one could see scenes of singing and dancing.

There are merchants from the Western Regions who are fiddling with things that are relatively new to the people of the Great Zhou, and there are also some talented people who are showing off their abilities.

But this year, not only did the Ministry of Revenue not organize an annual banquet, but even merchants from various countries came very rarely.

This year is definitely the quietest year since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the establishment of Bianliang as the capital.

Of course, only Bian Jing was relatively deserted. Areas like Jiangnan were not affected by the war at all.

After a while, Minglan saw Zhang Guifen still looking at the letter and asked curiously:

"What did my uncle say to my aunt that made her look at me for so long?"

Zhang Guifen said shockingly: "It's nothing, it's just that your uncle found a concubine outside."

Concubine?

Is my uncle looking for a woman in Jiangnan?

Minglan was stunned, her heart beating rapidly, fearing that Zhang Guifen would suddenly get angry.

"That's unreasonable!"

"Who is my uncle? How could he be misled by a woman? It must be those seductive women in Jiangnan who seduced my uncle. Who is the identity of the woman my uncle is looking for?"

Zhang Guifen said nonchalantly, "She's a geisha."

geisha?

My uncle found a geisha as a concubine?

Minglan was immediately swollen like a meat bun.
"That vixen is really abominable. She is just a geisha, and she wants to enter my uncle's house? Why doesn't she look in the mirror?"

“Don’t worry, aunt. My mother would never allow a geisha to enter the Wei family as a concubine.”

One of Sheng Hong's concubines, Lin Qinshuang, was a geisha.

Wei Shuyi was extremely annoyed with women like geishas.

In her opinion, children born to geishas will not develop in a good direction.

For example, Lin Qinshuang’s daughter Sheng Molan.

Zhang Guifen held the letter in one hand and clenched her other hand into a fist, supporting her slightly tilted head.

For a moment, there was a sudden feeling of enchantment, which made Minglan involuntarily infatuated.

"Your uncle also said in the letter that the woman is pregnant."

what? !

Do you have children?
Minglan was dumbfounded and for a moment, she was at a loss.

She squatted in front of Zhang Guifen and gently pinched her legs.
"It must be that vixen who seduced my uncle. Others don't understand my uncle, but you don't understand him?"

"Aunt, please don't get so angry about this that you get sick. Besides, even though she is a geisha, she is pregnant with my uncle's child after all. It is the Wei family's seed, and the child is innocent after all."

"Aunt, don't worry. When uncle returns to the capital, I, as his niece, will definitely help you get revenge."

"I want to see what kind of vixen is so bold as to enter my uncle's family!"

Hear the sound.

Zhang Guifen looked at the angry Minglan and suddenly laughed out loud. She pinched Minglan's nose with her fingers and said with a smile:
"What are you talking about? I'm not angry."

Not angry?
Minglan frowned and said, "Aunt, if you feel unhappy, just say it."

Zhang Guifen shook her head. "I was just thinking, since that girl is destined to marry into the Wei family, and she's pregnant, should I, as the mistress, show some appreciation?"

"As for what to give, it's really a headache."

Minglan's eyes widened in disbelief, "Aunt, are you really not angry?"

Zhang Guifen asked back: "What's there to be angry about?"

After a pause, she helped Minglan up, stroked Minglan's increasingly beautiful face, and said with a smile:
"I, your aunt, am not a jealous woman."

"Besides, who is your uncle? It's no exaggeration to say that he is a rare talent. How could he have only had one woman in his life, your aunt?"

(End of this chapter)