good season

Chapter 95: The Zhong Family (Part )

Princess Huiming and Princess Huixin?
Zhao Shiqing had never seen it and didn't understand it. Not only her, but also Zhao Tinghan and Zhao Yunnuan were the same. To the Zhao royal family, they were invisible people.

But, of course Zhao Shiqing couldn't say that.

Facing Lady Wu Zhong, Miss Zhen Bao showed a knowing smile: "Lady Wu is thoughtful. If the two princesses knew that there is a cousin who is thinking about you from afar, they would definitely be very happy."

Madam Zhong Wu was stunned. What did I say wrong that caused Miss Zhen Bao to misunderstand me?

But could she say that Miss Zhen Bao had misunderstood?

Of course not.

Madam Zhong Wu: "Alas, the two princesses are far away in the capital, and all their relatives are not around. They must be very lonely. Every time I think of them, I can't sleep at night."

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes in her heart. How did the Zhong family teach their daughter? They are a family of scholars, but they dare to say such things? No wonder there are no successful descendants.

Although the two princesses are invisible people, they are of royal blood, and the Zhao royal family are all their relatives. You said that the relatives are not around, then who lives in the palace?
Zhao Shiqing originally didn't know why Madam Zhong Wu chased her, but after a little probing, she knew it was probably not something that could be made public.

As expected, Miss Zhen Bao threw a stick, and Madam Zhong Wu quickly grabbed it, saying with a sad face, "Originally, cousin Huiming and cousin Huixin were in the capital, and were taken care of by aunt, but aunt is pregnant. She is old, and this pregnancy is difficult, but my eldest cousin passed away at this time. Aunt is heartbroken to see her son die. I am afraid she can't take care of my cousins. What should we do?"

As he said this, he began to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief. I don’t know if there was ginger water on the handkerchief. When he looked up again, his eyes were red and tearful, which made me feel pity for him.

Zhao Shiqing felt really sorry for Xiao Zhen. Your cousin is such a good actress. Isn’t it a pity that you didn’t get to see it with your own eyes?
Miss Zhen Bao was obviously moved by Lady Zhong Wu. She held Lady Zhong Wu's hand and vowed: "Lady Zhong Wu, rest assured. When I return to the capital to see the eldest princess, I will definitely convey Lady Zhong Wu's feelings to the eldest princess and the two princesses.

Alas, the eldest princess really doesn't have the energy to take care of the two princesses now. It would be great if she had a considerate daughter. If she doesn't have a daughter, a niece or nephew would be fine, like the Fifth Lady, who can be with the eldest princess and often go to the palace to accompany the two princesses. Alas, it's a pity that the eldest princess has everything except a child. If the Fifth Lady is the eldest princess's daughter, I don't know how happy she would be."

Madam Zhong Wu's eyes lit up. This Miss Zhen was truly a close friend.

"As far as I can remember, my grandmother and mother have hired a maid from the palace to teach me etiquette and rules. They also said that among so many sisters, I was the only one who took after the queen."

At this point, she seemed to suddenly realize that she had let something slip, and hurriedly covered her mouth, smiling shyly at Miss Zhen Bao: "Sister, please don't laugh at me."

So she becomes my sister?
Miss Zhen Bao hurriedly said, "Sister, what are you talking about? I was wondering why you looked so familiar. It turns out you look like the eldest princess. To be honest, I have never seen the Empress, only the eldest princess."

Mrs. Zhong Wu was surprised and delighted: "I really look like the eldest princess. No, I really look like my cousin aunt?"

The women of the Zhong family had only entered the palace when Empress Zhong was alive. At that time, Princess Jiayi was still a child. As for what the princess would look like when she grew up, they had no idea.

Miss Zhen Bao said without thinking, "Yes, their eyebrows, eyes, noses, mouths, oh my, even their faces are similar."

When Miss Zhen Bao left, there was a hairpin inlaid with red and blue sapphires in her arms, which was given to her by Madam Zhong Wu.

It was getting late, so the Zhen siblings could only stay in the Zhong Mansion for one night. They were arranged to stay in the guest room, and they were entertained that night by Zhong Zhanbo from the third room and his sister Zhong Liuniang.

Madam Zhong Liu was only thirteen years old. Her appearance was a little inferior to that of Madam Zhong Wu, but she was more steady than her age, and she was graceful and generous, and her words were meaningful.

Zhao Shiqing found it interesting. It was the second branch that had an official position, and the second old lady had an imperial decree, but no one knew how she educated her children. Madam Zhong Wu didn't look like someone from a scholarly family at all.

Young Master Zhen Gui was not able to hold his liquor, so the banquet ended early. While sending her brother home, Miss Zhen Bao told her about Madam Zhong Wu's visit.

Xiao Zhen: "I think the elders of the Zhong family had long wanted to send someone to my mother, and Madam Zhong Wu heard about it. Now that she heard that she was pregnant, Madam Zhong Wu wanted to mention her name to my mother through you before the sisters did."

Zhao Shiqing agreed when she thought about it. Over the years, Princess Jiayi had only given birth to Xiao Zhen. Although there was also Xiao Yue in the mansion, the Zhong family had obviously ignored Xiao Yue a long time ago. After all, he was not the princess's biological son.

Of course, the Zhong family could not send a boy to the Princess's Mansion as that would cause criticism, but sending a young lady there was understandable.

This young lady is not only the eldest princess's cousin, but also the bond between the eldest princess and the Zhong family. As for the other two princesses, the Zhong family does not care about them.

As for the future of this cousin's daughter, there are three options.

One is to marry Xiao Zhen and transform from a niece to a daughter-in-law;
The second is to marry a powerful person in the capital and become the daughter-in-law of the head of the family. A young lady who is personally raised by the eldest princess can be the eldest daughter-in-law, not to mention the eldest daughter-in-law, even the crown prince's consort;
The third, and worst, way out is to marry a prince who is held hostage in Beijing and become his consort, the future princess.

As for the Crown Princess or the Imperial Prince's Consort, the Zhong family certainly did not consider it. Firstly, both the Crown Prince and the favored Third Prince already had a principal wife, and the Zhong family could not afford to let the niece of Queen Zhong become a concubine.
Secondly, if she marries an honest prince and lives a life of wealth and idleness all her life, this chess piece will be useless; but if she marries a smart and capable one, if she chooses the wrong side, the Zhong family will not be able to bear the risk. So after much thought, it is the safest choice to become the Crown Prince's Consort first and then the Princess, like the Princess of Wu.

After Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing analyzed it together, they understood everything.

As for Madam Zhong Wu, it is clear from the look of her anxiety that the person the Zhong family is planning to send into the palace is definitely not her.

The more you can't get it, the more you want it. Now that you know the eldest princess is pregnant, it seems that sending someone over has to go ahead. But what can a young lady in seclusion do? The arrival of Miss Zhen Bao is the straw that she can grasp.

Miss Zhen Bao refused to admit that it was Madam Zhong Wu who came to her out of sheer hunger. She must be too cute and kind, and Madam Zhong Wu thought she was someone she could trust, so she came to her. Yes, that must be the case!

After Zhao Shiqing left, Xiao Zhen lay on the bed, looking at Chengchen above his head.

In his previous life, he didn't know that the Zhong family had these ideas.

At this time in his previous life, his parents were no longer alive, the Princess's Mansion no longer existed, and everyone believed that the Princess and her husband had killed Prince Liang. Prince Liang's Mansion and the Xiao family's troops went to war, the imperial court sent troops, the Xiao family became rebels, and he, as a descendant of the Xiao family, was captured by Hai Chou.

At that time, the Zhong family had already drawn a clear line with the eldest princess.

Xiao Zhen suddenly remembered something. It was around this time that Zhong Zishun, the second branch of the Zhong family who was the co-magistrate of Wenyang Prefecture, gave his legitimate daughter to Feng Ke as a concubine!
This incident was not made public at that time. People only knew that the Zhong family, as Princess Jiayi's maternal family, was not implicated in the disaster. Not only that, Zhong Zishun was promoted to a higher rank, from the fifth rank to the fifth rank.

It was not until several years later when Xiao Zhen rescued Zhong Ziyang that he learned about what had happened.

Feng Ke was a shrewd man, how could he save the dispensable Zhong family for a woman? That was because Zhong Zishun had set up a trap to plot against Feng Ke!
However, Zhong Zishun only served as the prefect for three years before retiring due to illness. It is unknown what happened to the daughter of the Zhong family who was Feng Ke's mistress.

With Feng Ke's shrewdness and foresight, he could endure his anger for a while. Once the danger was resolved, he would not spare the woman's life.

After Zhong Zishun retired, he became just like the Second Lady, eating vegetarian food, chanting Buddhist scriptures, and ignoring worldly affairs. At that time, the Third Lady Zhong had already passed away. Zhong Ziyang was not good at business, and he had offended several old shopkeepers. The income from the land and shops was greatly reduced, and the mansion gradually became unable to make ends meet.

All the grandchildren of the Zhong family have never been involved in worldly affairs. They all consider themselves to be scholars, but none of them passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi. As for household affairs, they disdain them and do not understand them.

Zhong Ziyang is alone and has limited abilities, so he can only make ends meet with his family.

Although the Zhong family was saved, it had completely fallen into decline, and even the officials of Baifeng City wanted to step on it.

That year, the Baifeng River was going to be expanded, and the officials of Baifeng City came to the Zhong Mansion and imposed a mandatory levy of 20,000 taels of silver.

However, the Zhong family could no longer come up with the 20,000 taels, but the officials were still pressing them.

Zhong Ziyang had no choice but to sell a batch of calligraphy and painting collections, and barely raised 20,000 taels of silver. Before the money was delivered to the government office, it was targeted by thieves.

The thieves directly kidnapped Zhong Zhanbo and demanded that the Zhong family pay 20,000 taels to ransom him.

When this happened, not only did no one in the Zhong family come to comfort them, but instead they added insult to injury and asked Zhong Ziyang to divide the family property as soon as possible. As for the 20,000 taels that they had managed to collect with great difficulty, of course they could not use it to redeem people, but had to be divided.

That day, Zhong Ziyang hid it from anyone and secretly went outside the city with the silver to redeem the person. However, no one was there and the horse pulling the silver was startled. Zhong Ziyang was thrown off the carriage and fainted. The carriage, the silver, and the coachman who was driving the carriage were nowhere to be found.

Xiao Zhen and Xiao Yue happened to pass by here, and when they saw Zhong Ziyang fainted, they rescued him.

After waking up, Zhong Ziyang knew that he had been tricked by a thief. Thinking of Zhong Zhanbo, whose life or death was uncertain, he burst into tears.

Later, Xiao Zhen found out that a legal advisor in the yamen was in collusion with the thieves. He instigated officials to ask the Zhong family to collect money, and at the same time kidnapped Zhong Zhanbo and forced the Zhong family to use money to redeem him.

Xiao Zhen showed no mercy and killed all the thieves and rescued Zhong Zhanbo, but the 20,000 taels of silver were not found.

Zhong Zhanbo also lost one hand. Although he had achieved the title of juren, he could not go any further.

After this incident, Zhong Ziyang knew that he could not lead the entire Zhong family by himself, so he divided the family after returning. As for the lost 20,000 taels, it could only be counted on the third branch.

After the family split up, the third branch of the Zhong family moved out of the mansion. He settled his family in the farm and went to live with Xiao Zhen.

Although he had mediocre talent, he provided rich emotional value to Xiao Zhen and Xiao Yue, who had lost both their parents and had no relatives to rely on, allowing them to gain a touch of family affection in their displacement.

However, Xiao Zhen did not treat Zhong Ziyang unfairly. After the establishment of Fengyu Pavilion, he always used Zhong Ziyang.

Zhong Ziyang also gained a lot of benefits. Xiao Zhen even suspected that the missing 200,000 yuan might have finally returned to Zhong Ziyang.

But Xiao Zhen did not investigate further. In his previous life, the people he trusted most, besides Da Zhuang and others, were only two relatives, one was Xiao Yue and the other was Zhong Ziyang.

Xiao Zhen treated these two remaining relatives sincerely. He gave them the greatest trust and the most tolerant attitude. However, the person who betrayed him in the end was Zhong Ziyang.

Xiao Zhen sat up. Now it seemed that the person who was used to set a trap for Feng Ke was this Madam Zhong Wu.

Xiao Zhen didn't want to miss the chance to stay at the Zhong family for one night.

However, he was a step too late, because he saw a big bird flying past the window, followed by a cat.

Xiao Zhen was stunned. Did Zhao Shiqing bring a cat with her? No way, how come he remembered that Zhao Shiqing didn't bring a cat with her when she left the inn?

In the dead of night, he heard a slight rustling sound, which was the sound of fingernails scratching the window paper.

He walked to the window and opened it, and Zhao Shiqing jumped in with the cat named Xiaoyao in his arms.

"Haha, guess what my little demon heard? The people in the backyard were not sleeping late at night and were beating the children!" Zhao Shiqing said with a smile.

"Beat the child?" Xiao Zhen became interested, "Tell me in detail."

He stretched out his hand, wanting to hug Xiao Yao, but Xiao Yao didn't give him face and buried her head in Zhao Shiqing's arms. Don't underestimate the cat. Not everyone can hug a cat.

Zhao Shiqing said, "I saw Madam Zhong Wu being beaten during the day. The Second Madam and the Third Madam were all there. They asked the maid to beat her with a cane. Oh my god, a family of scholars actually beat their daughter. I thought at most they would punish her by kneeling or making her copy scriptures."

Xiao Zhen was also stunned. He was an outsider and had no sisters of his own. He didn't know what it was like in other mansions. Beating sons was a common thing, but he seemed to have never heard of beating daughters. However, things in the backyard would not be spread out.

"The Zhong family was not like this before. My mother said that after the death of Queen Zhong and the former Crown Prince, the Zhong family became cautious in their words and deeds, and even seldom came to the capital."

For some reason, he just didn't want to leave a bad impression on Zhao Shiqing, even if it was the Zhong family that he had already excluded from his family.

Zhao Shiqing didn't understand Xiao Zhen's painstaking efforts. She said, "Does that mean they have no chance to go to the capital? After all, the only ones in the royal family who have blood ties with the Zhong family are the eldest princess and the two princesses left by Emperor Xiaokang. If we ignore the two princesses, does the eldest princess not have a close relationship with the Zhong family?"

Xiao Zhen nodded. It was true. Although the Zhong family was the eldest princess's in-laws, the eldest princess only had love affairs in her mind. She would only think of her in-laws during festivals and when the Zhong family sent people to deliver New Year gifts. Once the people left, she would forget about it.

How could the Zhong family be as attractive as Prince Consort Xiao?
"Oh, Xiao Yao couldn't explain it clearly, so I went to take a look myself. In addition to the person I met during the day, there was another unfamiliar face. That person looked like a nanny from some family, but she was sitting next to the Second Madam. Yes, she was sitting, not standing!"

Actually, Xiao Yao’s inability to explain clearly was only one of the reasons. The more important reason was that Zhao Shiqing wanted to watch the excitement, and the excitement had to be seen with his own eyes.