good season

Chapter 94: Zhong Family (Two chapters in one)

It was Xiao Zhen who suggested that they pretend to be brother and sister.

Zhao Shiqing retorted: "Why lie upon lie? We can pretend to be uncle and nephew, right, uncle?"

Xiao Zhen: "I don't want others to focus on our relationship."

After all, the uncle and niece are close in age, which is bound to make people think about it.

This uncle must be the son of a second wife. An old man and a young wife, the situation is very different. If the old man of the Zhen family has a seizure, can this young master Zhen compete with his brothers?
Or, this uncle is most likely a bastard's son, and he dares to bring his niece to visit. This shows how morals are going downhill.

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes beautifully. Actually, she really wanted to be Xiao Zhen's niece, so that she could eat and drink his food and drinks with a legitimate reason, and she wouldn't have to pay for her stay in the inn. She could even get extra New Year's money. How great.

However, Zhao Shiqing has never been a person who likes to go against others. Since Xiao Zhen suggested pretending to be brother and sister, then they should be brother and sister. Zhao Shiqing is such a considerate and kind person.

On the way to the Zhong family, Xiao Zhen told Zhao Shiqing that Queen Zhong's father had served as the president of the Hanlin Academy. Queen Zhong grew up in the capital since childhood. When she was waiting to be married, she was a famous talented woman in the capital. When the retired emperor was still in his palace, she was his principal wife. Later, when the retired emperor sat on the throne, she became the master of the harem.

Unfortunately, not long after she married into the royal family, Dean Zhong passed away.

After the retired emperor ascended the throne, he bestowed favors on the empress's family and conferred the title of Earl of Cheng'en on Empress Zhong's eldest brother, Master Zhong.

The title of Earl Cheng'en was only for one generation and was not hereditary. Therefore, after Earl Cheng'en passed away, the title of the Zhong family was taken back.

Currently, there are four people in the Zhong family who hold official positions. The highest-ranking one is only a fifth-rank Tongzhi, and the other three are of even lower ranks. Moreover, among these four, the youngest is already forty-five years old.

The career of this generation has come to an end, but no one in the younger generation has excelled.

This is the current situation of the Zhong family.

Although the Zhong family was large and well-known in the local area, it had actually been declining.

"Zhong Ziyang's father, Master Zhong San, is the current head of the Zhong family. Master Zhong San is the cousin of Queen Zhong, and his father is Queen Zhong's great uncle.

Since the death of Empress Zhong, the Zhong family rarely came to Beijing.

The last time Zhong Ziyang came to the capital was when my mother got married. He came to celebrate as a representative of the Zhong family. Since then, Zhong Ziyang has never been to the capital again. In other words, I have never met him until now.

However, I have met his son Zhong Zhanbo, who is eight years older than me and has the title of juren.

That year he went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and came to the princess's mansion to meet my mother. When I met him, I suddenly discovered that he was 60% similar to the cousin I saw in my dream.

Therefore, I decided to come to Baifeng City to see my cousin in person. Unfortunately, I came at an inopportune time. Uncle Zhong took his family to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday, and I didn't wait for him to come back. I was forcibly taken back to the capital by the people from the mansion."

Zhao Shiqing nodded repeatedly, and was extremely envious of the dream that Xiao Zhen described.

She had to use all her might to barely remember things from her childhood, and that was only limited to before and after the accident. But Xiao Zhen could predict the future while lying down to sleep. Yes, he could dream that his cousin brought people to beat him up. If this wasn't premonition, what was?
As for rebirth, as a girl born and raised in the feudal dynasty of Dayong, Zhao Shiqing had never thought about it.

Rebirth? It must be those who stayed up late to write storybooks, and thought of it when they were half asleep and half awake. Who would think in this way? Ha!
Of course, Xiao Zhen would not tell the truth in this regard. He was convinced that if he said that he was reborn and was an old monster who was several dozen years older than his two lives combined, Zhao Shiqing would definitely curse at him and then call a bunch of birds and beasts to study him.

He is not stupid, so why should he look for trouble and cause himself trouble?

Therefore, in the matter of my cousin, he said to keep half and half, and even if he was found to be able to predict the future, he could just attribute it to dreaming. If dreaming was not enough, he would add an old immortal with a white beard, and anything that he could not dream about was what the old immortal told him.

In this life, before he was eighteen years old, he only knew from dreams that Zhong Ziyang would bring people to kill him.

After escaping death at the age of eighteen in Shiji Mountain, he remembered his past life completely. In his past life, those Jinyiwei were indeed brought by Zhong Ziyang, and in his past life, it was Xiao Yue who blocked the knife for him.

These two were people he trusted, one betrayed him, and the other died for him.

This time, even if Zhen Wuduo did not drag him to Wu to find his daughter, Xiao Zhen would still come to Wu after the matters in the capital were settled.

At that time, he came to Wu with only one purpose, which was to kill Zhong Ziyang.

Now he is here, but he came a little early, and there are some things he has not yet figured out. But it doesn’t matter, sooner or later, Zhong Ziyang will die.

Xiao Zhen did not tell Zhao Shiqing that he was going to kill Zhong Ziyang.

But who is Zhao Shiqing? Although she is young, she has already walked on the edge of a knife once. Even if Xiao Zhen did not admit it, Zhao Shiqing knew that this trip to Baifeng City would most likely result in bloodshed.

At this time, the two "brother and sister" were already sitting in the gatehouse of the Zhong Mansion which was used to temporarily receive guests.

After a while, a steward came out and invited them in.

The Zhen brothers and sisters came from the capital. They had business dealings with the Princess's Mansion. Of course, those who knew knew that these two brothers and sisters or their family were there to make money for the Princess.

The so-called not competing with the people for profit is only on the surface. Those powerful families have merchants who make money for them. Some of these merchants are wealthy businessmen, while others are house-born sons who are entrusted with important tasks. They are rich masters outside, but they are still submissive servants when they return home.

The reason why the Zhen brothers and sisters came to the Zhong Mansion was that they were entrusted by Princess Jiayi to pay their respects to the elders of the Zhong family while they were doing business in Wu.

This kind of thing had happened before. The princes and princesses wanted to keep their in-laws under control, but they didn't want to lower their status to them. Therefore, during festivals, they would send some respectable stewards to greet them on their behalf and give them some small gifts, which they might receive in return as a generous gift.

The last time Princess Jiayi sent people to Baifeng City was during the Chinese New Year. The Zhong family sent people to the capital to deliver New Year gifts, and the people from the Princess's Mansion went back with them, one to deliver gifts, and the other to wish the elders a happy new year.

It's not the New Year's Day now, but it's understandable that the Zhen brothers and sisters came along.

Although the Zhen brothers and sisters brought twenty-four colors of generous gifts, these were definitely purchased in Baifeng City, not brought from the capital. Although they were not presented with much care, they were respectful enough.

Given the current situation of the Zhong family, they can still receive such respect from the eldest princess, and the elders of the Zhong family are still very comfortable.

After all, the only connection between the Zhong family and the royal family now is Princess Jiayi.

Although the two princesses left by Emperor Xiaokang are also related to the Zhong family by blood, they are separated by a generation, and they are helpless and have nothing but the title of princess. They may need financial support from the Zhong family in the future, so the elders of the Zhong family automatically ignored them.

But Princess Jiayi was different. She had her own fiefdom and was a top noblewoman in the aristocratic circle of the capital. She was not only the younger sister of the current emperor, but also the eldest daughter-in-law of the Qingquan Xiao family. Although the Qingquan Xiao family was a military family, it had a profound heritage and many old disciples. The Xiao family had a very high reputation throughout the Great Yong Dynasty, which was far beyond the reach of the Zhong family.

Even without the royal relationship, the Xiao family is still a good relative for the Zhong family now.

Therefore, although the Zhen siblings were just two unknown teenagers, the current head of the Zhong family, Master Zhong San, still brought his son Zhong Ziyang and eldest grandson Zhong Zhanbo to meet them.

The maid spread out a brocade mat, and the Zhen siblings knelt down and kowtowed respectfully to Master Zhong San. They were kowtow- ing on behalf of Princess Jiayi.

Of course, even if Princess Jiayi was present at this moment, she would not kowtow personally.

However, Master Zhong San was already very satisfied. Empress Zhong and Emperor Xiaokang had been dead for many years, and it was very rare that Princess Jiayi still remembered that she had relatives from the Zhong family.

After a few pleasantries, Master Zhong San started talking about the deceased Xiao Zhen. Although he was far away in Baifeng City, Master Zhong San had also heard about Xiao Zhen's story, and it was inevitable that he felt sad when he talked about it at this time.

Master Zhen, Zhen Gui, said words of comfort, but his attention was on Zhong Ziyang.

In this life, Xiao Zhen met Zhong Ziyang three years earlier than in the previous life. At this time, Zhong Ziyang was much younger than in the dream. He was ten years older than Princess Jiayi. He was well maintained and looked only about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. He was elegant, handsome, gentle and polite.

Xiao Zhen knew that this was only the side that Zhong Ziyang wanted people to see, he had another side.

Zhong Ziyang knows martial arts, but not many people know this.

When Zhong Ziyang was young, he suffered a serious illness and his injuries never fully recovered. So Master Zhong San found a martial arts master for him and sent him to the martial arts school run by the master to learn martial arts. It was not until eight years later, when Zhong Ziyang was thirteen years old, that he returned home.

The Zhong family was a scholarly family and they did not want anyone to know about this, so they announced to the public that Zhong Ziyang had gone to recuperate. Therefore, even the other branches of the Zhong family did not know that Zhong Ziyang knew martial arts.

Seeing that the Zhong family was almost sad enough, Zhen Gui started talking about the happy event in the Princess's Mansion: Princess Jiayi was pregnant!
Good news never spreads as fast as bad news. Although everyone in the capital knows that Princess Jiayi gave birth to a pearl, the Zhong family is still unaware of it.

Sure enough, when the news came out, Master Zhong San was overjoyed.

Little girl Zhen Bao kept silent and just observed silently. At this moment, she saw that the three generations of the Zhong family, grandparents and grandchildren, all had smiles in their eyes. It was obvious that this was not pretended, they were really happy.

Zhen Bao took advantage of everyone's happiness and proposed to pay his respects to the lady and tell her about this matter.

Zhong Ziyang quickly called a housekeeper and asked her to take Zhen Bao to the back house.

After leaving the reception area, the housekeeper couldn't help but secretly look at Zhen Bao. She was a young lady, but she didn't even have a maid by her side. When she went out, she only wore two pearl hairpins and a pearl flower on her head. But if she was a servant, she behaved calmly and gracefully, with a grace and generosity that was not seen in the young ladies of the Zhong family.

The housekeeper's eyesight is far sharper than that of Master Zhong San and Zhong Ziyang. There's nothing she can do about it. After staying in the backyard for a long time, she has gradually developed a good eye.

There are now two people with the highest seniority in the Zhong family. One is the third old lady, who is Zhong Ziyang’s mother, and she is the one who is in charge of the back house now.

The other is the Second Lady who holds an imperial decree. Among the four descendants of the Zhong family who hold official positions, two are her sons.

However, the Second Lady was a widow, and she usually ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures, and did not care about worldly affairs. But she still wanted to meet the person sent by the Eldest Princess.

After Miss Zhen Bao followed the housekeeper in, she repeated the previous process.

She kowtowed first, then watched the old lady and the ladies cry for Xiao Zhen. Then she reported the good news. The old lady, the ladies and the ladies were surprised and happy.

What was different from the previous process was that the women cried with joy.

Miss Zhen Bao accompanied them, crying and laughing at times, and when she left, she received a red envelope containing a ten-liang silver note.

It was the housekeeper who took Miss Zhen Bao back to the front.

As I was walking, I heard a voice behind me: "Ms. Zhen, please stay (Advertisement: I also wrote this book, if you haven't read it, please move on)."

Zhen Bao turned around and saw a young girl with a maid. This girl was also there just now, but they were only introduced to each other by the elders. The younger generation was not introduced, so Zhen Bao didn't know who this was.

It was the housekeeper who introduced, "Miss Zhen, this is the fifth lady from the second house."

Zhen Bao bowed: "Hello, Madam Zhong Wu."

Madam Zhong Wu returned the greeting and smiled before she spoke: "Madam Zhen, do you have time to come over to my place?"

The original purpose of coming here today was to find out the truth, and now that someone has invited him, Zhen Bao is of course willing.

The embroidery building of Lady Wu Zhong is not far from here. The housekeeper told Zhen Bao that there are eight young ladies in this generation of the Zhong family. Now the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth are still in their boudoirs. Among them, Lady Seven is only six years old, and Lady Eight is still in her infancy.

Now the only people living in this embroidery building are the Fifth Lady and the Sixth Lady.

However, Zhen Bao did not see Liu Niangzi.

Madam Zhong Wu asked the maid to serve tea and snacks. Zhen Bao did not refuse. They were able to chat for a while while sipping tea and eating snacks.

Madam Zhong Wu quickly got to the point. She said to Zhen Bao, "Madam Zhen is from the capital. I wonder if you have met the two princesses Huixin and Huiming?"

Zhao Shiqing only learned about the existence of these two people during his last trip to the capital.

They were the daughters of Emperor Xiaokang, also known as Crown Prince Xian, and not the biological daughters of Crown Princess Meng. Their biological mother was Sun Xianshi.

The current emperor posthumously honored Crown Prince Xian as Emperor Xiaokang and Crown Princess Meng as Empress Xiaokang, and conferred titles of princess on Huiming and Huixin, but did not posthumously honor anyone else in the Eastern Palace. In other words, the biological mother of these two princesses was still only a selected concubine.

Moreover, for some unknown reason, Princess Jiayi was not close to her two nieces. Instead, she preferred the fourth princess born to the current emperor and the queen.

As a result, the situation of the two princesses Huiming and Huixin became even more embarrassing.

Zhen Bao didn't expect that Lady Zhong Wu caught up with her because of these two princesses.