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

Chapter 340: Ningyuan Hou? Beat him up!
Gu Tingye came to the Sheng family today, specifically choosing the time when Sheng Changbai was having a day off.

Sheng Hong is still on duty.

Therefore, the person responsible for receiving Gu Tingye became Sheng Changbai.

In the main hall.

Sheng Changbai saw Gu Tingye directing some servants to bring in several large boxes, and immediately frowned and said dissatisfiedly:

"Lord Gu, you brought so many gifts and specifically asked to see my sixth sister. What are you thinking?"

Gu Tingye smiled and said, "Changbai, you and I are brothers. Don't you know my feelings?"

Sheng Changbai was a little angry. "Even if you like my sixth sister, you shouldn't be so high-profile. If you and my sixth sister fail, what will the people of Bianjing say about my sixth sister?"

To be honest, Sheng Changbai is definitely qualified as an elder brother.

He is very protective of his three younger sisters.

If someone outside said that he was not, he would probably just laugh it off.

But if someone outside says something bad about his sister, he will most likely argue with them, even if he cannot win.

Because it concerns his sister's reputation.

Therefore, Minglan, Rulan, and Molan all respect their elder brother Sheng Changbai very much.

Gu Tingye said: "Changbai is too serious. I just want to see Minglan and say a few words to her. Apart from that, I have no other intentions."

Sheng Changbai snorted.

Hai Chaoyun, who was standing nearby, said quickly, "I've sent someone to invite Minglan. Uncle Gu, how about you sit down for a while?"

Gu Tingye said, "Since we are here, we must go visit Minglan's mother. Can you send someone to lead the way?"

Sheng Changbai was furious. "Gu Tingye, you have ulterior motives. It's ok for you to set your sights on my sixth sister, but you actually want to go to my inner house. What do you think my Sheng family is?"

Gu Tingye said: "Brother Changbai, this is wrong!"

"Madam Wei is Marquis Wei's biological sister, and Marquis Wei has given me a second life. It is reasonable for me, a junior, to visit my elders, right?"

Sheng Changbai couldn't argue with him, so he suddenly flicked his sleeves, turned his head away, and no longer looked at Gu Tingye.

Seeing this, Hai Chaoyun shook his head helplessly and said, "Since Ningyuan Hou is so interested, sir, you should take Ningyuan Hou to visit my little girl."

Sheng Changbai sighed, "My sixth sister is such a good woman, why would she be willing to associate with a scoundrel like you?"

Gu Tingye chuckled, "Brother Changbai, I actually have many advantages as well."

Sheng Changbai rolled his eyes at him and said, "You and my uncle from the Wei family both come from the military, but my uncle from the Wei family is not like you."

Gu Tingye said: "How dare I compare myself with Lord Wei!"

Having said that, Sheng Changbai took him to Mu Cang Zhai.

At this time, Lin Qinshuang had not left yet. Not only that, she even secretly asked the servants to call Molan and Changfeng as well.

She thought that with the status of Ningyuan Hou, if he married Minglan in the future, he would be considered as her daughter's brother-in-law.

If today, we could take advantage of Minglan and her mother to ask the dignified Ningyuan Marquis to help arrange a few marriages or a future for Changfeng, wouldn't that be a good thing?
If any other man came to the Sheng family today, he would not be able to see Molan and Minglan, let alone the inner house.

But why could Gu Tingye see it?
Because Gu Tingye and several brothers and sisters of the Sheng family are classmates.

Relying on this friendship, as long as the elders are present, they can meet each other even if there is a difference in gender.

Soon, Gu Tingye arrived at Mu Cang Zhai.

Sheng Changbai bowed to Wei Shuyi and said, "My dear, Marquis Ningyuan wanted to come and see you, so I brought him here."

To other people in the capital, the real face of the Sheng family might be Sheng Changbai.

After all, no matter who Minglan's uncle is, she is still a woman and will get married in the future.

Even Sheng Hong felt that the future of the Sheng family still depended on Sheng Changbai.

But only Sheng Changbai knew that the strength of the Sheng family, for now, lies with Wei Shuyi.

As long as Wei Shuyi still has the status of an imperial concubine, is still Wei Yuan's biological sister, and is still in the Sheng family, the Sheng family will not fall.

On the contrary, if one day, Wei Shuyi divorced Sheng Hong due to various problems and left the Sheng family.

Then, Sheng Changbai fully believed that the next day, the Sheng family would be executed or exiled by the imperial court for any reason.

This is not alarmist.

But for a family like the Sheng family, who can ensure that it is truly clean?

As long as one has done something dirty, Wei Yuan can always find a reason to punish him.

In other words, the imperial court can do without one or more Sheng families, but it cannot do without Wei Yuan.

Even Wang Anshi thought so.

If he wanted the reform to be successful, he needed a pillar to stabilize the country and ensure that the state system remained in order.

And the pillar of the country can only be Wei Yuan.

As long as Wei Yuan is alive, the Great Zhou will not be in chaos.

Even if they encountered a difficult situation, such as the time when the Liao people moved south, wasn't it still solved by Wei Yuan?
As soon as Sheng Changbai finished speaking, Gu Tingye bowed deeply and said:

"Junior greets Madam Wei."

Hearing this, Wei Shuyi smiled and said, "Sit down."

Gu Tingye was very polite, "Thank you, Madam."

At this time, Minglan was standing behind Wei Shuyi.

Lin Qinshuang and the others sat aside.

Lin Qinshuang said, "Marquis Ningyuan is truly a man of extraordinary bravery. I wonder which girl will be lucky enough to marry you in the future."

Hearing this, Gu Tingye frowned slightly, and when he looked at Minglan standing behind Wei Shuyi, his brows suddenly relaxed and he said:
"Ms. Minglan, I haven't seen you for nearly a year. How are you doing?"

Molan suddenly took over the conversation, stood with Minglan, held Minglan's delicate hand, pretended to be a sister with deep affection, and said:

"Sixth sister often plays polo and has always been in good health."

Gu Tingye said "Oh" and then said, "It just so happens that I have nothing to do these few days, why don't we call a few people and go play polo together?"

Anyone who can be called by Ningyuan Hou must be either rich or noble in this capital. Molan's eyes lit up and she said:

"Second Uncle Gu, I wonder if I can go then?"

Gu Tingye's face darkened. How come Sheng Molan hasn't made any progress after so many years?
Minglan smiled and said, "We'll talk about it later."

Gu Tingye nodded quickly, "Okay, I may stay in the capital from now on. As long as Sixth Sister is free, we can go anytime."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sheng Changbai immediately noticed him and asked curiously, "Stay in the capital? The West Camp has just been established, Duke Kang has returned to the capital, and Yanbian is in need of people. Why did you come back?"

When they heard that it was a matter of the imperial court, all the female members of the family tactfully started talking about other things.

Gu Tingye hesitated again and again, but still said: "It was Lord Wei who asked me to come back. I guess the court has other plans for me."

Sheng Changbai was relieved, "It was I who said too much."

Gu Tingye smiled and said, "It's not a secret at all."

Wei Shuyi knew very well that Gu Tingye came here for Minglan and not for anyone else.

So, after chatting for a while, she found an excuse to leave, "I'm a little tired, Minglan, please entertain Lord Gu well."

As Minglan nodded, Sheng Changbai also said, "Changfeng, how are you doing with your studies recently? Let me test you."

After these words were spoken, how could Lin Qinshuang and others not know what they meant?
If they continued to stay, it would only backfire, so they left with Molan. When only Gu Tingye and Minglan were left.

The former said: "Minglan, how about you and I go for a walk?"

Minglan nodded, "Then let's go."

The two went to the place where they once studied together.

After walking all the way, Gu Tingye didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, I saw that the old study hall was still there, so I asked curiously:

"I haven't seen Master Zhuang for many years. I wonder how he is doing now?"

Minglan lowered her head and said, "I don't know either, but I heard from my second brother that Master Zhuang opened a college in Yangzhou, and many scholars from Jiangnan went there to study."

Gu Tingye didn't know what to say, so he could only continue talking about this topic.
"Master Zhuang is a great scholar. If he teaches a class, how can the scholars in Jiangnan not go?"

Minglan said: "Yes."

The two were speechless again.

Gu Tingye really wanted to find a topic to chat with Minglan.

But when the words come to my lips, I don’t know what to say.

It was getting late, and Gu Tingye was about to leave, and Minglan was seeing him off.

Gu Tingye suddenly pulled Minglan to a deserted place.

Minglan was frightened by his actions and said, "This is my home, what do you want to do, Lord?"

Gu Tingye said depressedly: "It's fine if others call me Marquis, but why do you call me that too?"

Minglan was confused, "Then how should I call you? Uncle Gu?"

Gu Tingye was stunned. After a moment, he said helplessly: "From your uncle's perspective, you do have to call me Second Uncle, but I regard your second brother as a close friend, so can't you also call me Brother?"

Minglan frowned slightly.

Seeing this, Gu Tingye panicked, "That's not what I meant. I meant..."

Before she finished speaking, Minglan said bluntly: "Second Uncle Gu, don't say any more. I know what you mean, but do you understand what I mean?"

Gu Tingye was a little confused, "What do you mean? Don't you like me? Or are you still thinking about the young master of the Duke of Qi's Mansion?"

Hearing this, Minglan immediately became furious, "I have nothing to say to you. The young master and I are innocent. If you hadn't spread the rumors, how could anyone in the capital spread those rumors?"

"My young master is already married, Uncle Gu, if you really like me, don't say these things anymore!"

After saying that, Minglan turned and left.

Gu Tingye wanted to catch up.

But Minglan scolded him harshly, "Master Gu, please respect yourself. Today, we have crossed the line. You said you really liked me, so you wouldn't make it difficult for me. You came to my Sheng family today to give me gifts and specifically asked to see me. How do you think the people in the capital will see you?"

After saying that, she left without looking back.

Only Gu Tingye was left standing there in a daze, wondering to himself, what went wrong?

Originally, Sheng Changbai wanted to keep Gu Tingye for a drink.

But considering that Minglan was already angry, Gu Tingye felt embarrassed to stay any longer and simply left.

As soon as he left, Minglan became angrier and angrier. After all, it was a matter concerning her reputation, and it was spoken out loud and in person. Which woman would not feel wronged?
She got on the carriage and went directly to the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.

It happened that Wei Yuan did not attend court for the past two days and had been staying at home with Zhang Guifen.

As soon as Minglan entered the Marquis' Mansion, she started crying.

Zhang Guifen saw it and immediately went to meet him, feeling distressed.
"Good Minglan, who provoked you?"

Even Zhuang Ge'er and Jing Jie'er who were following Zhang Guifen felt distressed and said one after another:
"Sister, please don't cry. If you cry, I will cry too."

"Who bullied Sister Minglan? I'm going to beat him up!"

"."

Zhang Guifen glared at Zhuang Ge'er, "You are so young, who did you learn this from? You want to beat this and that? With your body, who can you beat?"

Zhuang Ge'er said, "I will beat up anyone who bullies Sister Minglan!"

Zhang Guifen ignored him and asked Minglan to sit on a chair. She said, "Minglan, tell me quickly, who bullied you?"

Minglan choked up and said, "Gu Tingye! He said that I had an affair with the young master of the Duke of Qi's family, and that I still miss him in my heart!"

Zhang Guifen was furious, "Did he really say that?"

Minglan nodded.

Zhang Guifen was also angry. "A girl's reputation is as important as her life. How can Gu Tingye speak nonsense like that? Just wait, I will help you vent your anger. Let's just not have anything to do with Gu Tingye!"

Minglan said, "That's fine. I never care about those rumors. But he came to my Sheng family today and asked to see me. He also brought several large boxes of gifts. Outsiders saw him and thought he was coming to my house to propose marriage!"

"Ah?" Zhang Guifen instantly realized the seriousness of the matter.
"This Gu Tingye, how could he be so tactless in his actions?"

"You two haven't even been together yet, and something like this has happened. If you really marry into the Gu family, how can you be good?"

At this time, Wei Yuan had already come to the two of them, and took Sister Jing in his arms, saying:
"Gu Tingye is a warrior. Although he is thoughtful, he is more focused on leading troops. It is really difficult for him to talk about love."

Zhang Guifen said dissatisfiedly: "Ming girl has been wronged, why are you speaking for outsiders?"

Wei Yuan was speechless.

Zhang Guifen saw his helpless expression and immediately frowned:

"What do you mean? It would be fine if you didn't speak up for Ming girl, but why are you making that expression?"

Wei Yuan said: "I said at the beginning, let's wait and see, don't rush to finalize Ming girl's marriage, what kind of person is Gu Tingye, do you know?"

Zhang Guifen stood up suddenly, "So, you are blaming me for trying to bring Ming girl and Gu Tingye together?"

"I" Wei Yuan wanted to say something else, but he saw tears welling up in Zhang Guifen's eyes. He felt distressed and said:

"Ming girl cried because she felt that Gu Tingye said something wrong. Why are you crying?"

Zhang Guifen sat on a stone bench, turned her head away, and said sullenly, "I can cry if I want to. I feel bad when I see Ming crying. Is it not okay for me to cry if I want to?"

Wei Yuan: “.”

What's going on today?

It’s all Gu Tingye’s fault!

"Okay, okay, I'll help you vent your anger and beat up Gu Tingye, how about that?" Wei Yuan coaxed the two.

Zhang Guifen's eyes lit up, "It's time to teach him a lesson."

"When he came to our house before, you gave him a lesson. I also thought that if he married Minglan in the future, they would be a family, and you also gave him the golden wound medicine."

"Now that he has offended Minglan like this, it would not be too much to beat him to death!"

Wei Yuan was ashamed, that was Marquis Ningyuan!

Minglan stopped crying and said quickly: "You don't have to beat him to death."

Zhang Guifen chuckled, "Then I'll beat him up and let you vent your anger, okay?"

Minglan then realized that it was Zhang Guifen who was teasing her.

"Auntie!"

(End of this chapter)