swear not to be concubine

Chapter 122

Zheng Guogong asked the boy to invite Xu Zhongxuan to talk in a quiet study next to him.

After the two met, the host and guest sat down separately.Immediately thereafter, a servant served tea on a small gold-painted tray.

Zheng Guogong greeted Xu Zhongxuan to drink tea, and the two chatted some other gossips first, then Zheng Guogong felt that it was almost done, so he put the teacup in his hand on the table next to him, smiled and said to Xu Zhongxuan: "Just now When my wife met Lingmei and Lingcousin, she felt that she was very close to each other, and she was very happy."

Xu Zhongxuan's heart moved, knowing that Zheng Guogong was here to talk to him.So he pretended not to know, but with a slight smile on his face, he replied calmly: "It's the blessing of my sister and cousin to be favored by the Duke's wife."

Zheng Guogong reached out his hand to touch the mustache on his mouth, and then asked casually, "Your cousin, Miss Jane, what kind of background is she like?"

Xu Zhongxuan came out with a look of surprise on his face, got up quickly from his chair, and asked: "But cousin She bumped into the Duke's wife? If that's the case, please don't blame her. She After all, I am young and it is my first time to visit the Duke's mansion, so I may say something wrong or do something wrong."

Seeing him like this, Zheng Guogong hurriedly stretched out his hand to signal him to sit down, and then said: "There is no such thing. In fact, my wife saw that my cousin was very similar to her, and liked her gentle and peaceful temperament, so I thought too much about it." I just know something about my cousin Ling. I’m just asking casually, Zhongxuan, don’t worry.”

Xu Zhongxuan made such a relieved expression, and then said: "Since the Duke sees and asks, the lower official will naturally say what he knows. It's just that the lower official is usually busy with official duties, and only occasionally takes a rest I will only go back to Tongzhou at that time, and I actually don’t know much about my cousin.”

Yin said again: "I heard that my cousin was originally from Longxing Prefecture. Her family has been in business for generations. She has parents and an elder brother. Her mother and my fifth aunt are sisters. It was about the Dragon Boat Festival the year before last. At that time, my cousin’s father died, and her mother wanted to donate a supervisor to her son, so at the beginning of last year, she brought a pair of children to Tongzhou to join my fifth aunt, and she has been living in my fifth aunt’s yard. Li. My cousin has a soft temperament and gets along very well with my younger sister, so Xiaguan sometimes bumps into this cousin when Xiumu goes back to visit her sister. Because it was the Lantern Festival two days ago, my younger sister I wanted to come to the capital to watch the lanterns, so I asked her to go with me. This morning, my sister heard that I was going to attend your banquet at the Duke's Mansion, and that the scenery in the back garden of your mansion is beautiful, so she pestered me to come. The same goes for the next official. There is no way, thinking that there are also many ladies of the adults who are going to visit your mansion today, so I brought my sister here, and let her talk with the ladies of the adults, and it will also increase her knowledge, so I brought it with me. She came. But before leaving, she said that she was afraid and insisted on bringing my cousin along, and the officer agreed. If my sister and my cousin collide with the Duke and his wife, I still hope that the Duke Since the two of them are young and haven't seen much of the world, Mrs. and Madam should not argue with them."

After finishing speaking, he got up and saluted Zheng Guogong again.

What he said made it look like he was not familiar with Jian Yan at all.

Zheng Guogong didn't doubt him either.She only comforted him, saying that her wife loved Lingmei and Lingcousin very much, and told him not to worry too much.Immediately, the two chatted some gossip again, and Zheng Guogong shirked the matter, and asked the boy to send Xu Zhongxuan to the adults in the front yard.

But Xu Zhongxuan secretly ordered Qi Sang to go to the gate of the Duke's Mansion to see if Mrs. Jane would come over later.

Qi Sang agreed, found an excuse, quietly found a secluded place in front of the Duke's mansion, and carefully checked the carriages and horses passing by the gate of the Duke's mansion.

After about three sticks of incense, Qi Sang came back and quietly gestured to Xu Zhongxuan.

So Xu Zhongxuan knew that Mrs. Jane was here.

Mrs. Jane anxiously walked forward behind the maid in front.

At first she was sitting comfortably in the room, when suddenly a servant girl came in to report that someone was asking to see her.

She only thought that Zhou Yuanzheng sent someone to tell her about Jian Yan, and when she hurriedly invited her in, when she asked, it was not the person Zhou Yuanzheng sent, but someone from Zheng Guogong's mansion.He also said that it was Zheng Guogong and Mrs. Zheng Guogong who asked her to go over and ask something.

She was immediately dumbfounded.Zheng Guogong and Mrs. Zheng Guogong?She has only heard of such a noble person, she has never seen it before, why do they want to see her now?What is it for?She doesn't know them.

Inevitably, she began to feel uneasy.Asking Pearl to stuff money into the maid and the two maids in front of her, she only said that she wanted to find out what Zheng Guogong and Mrs. Zheng Guogong asked her to ask her in the past.But helplessly, the maid and the servant girl not only refused to take her money, but also kept urging her to leave quickly, otherwise the Duke and his wife would be in a hurry.

So she didn't have time to change clothes, so she was urged by those three people, hurriedly brought Shen's mother and Pearl, and followed them out of the yard.

This incident caused a sensation in the entire Xu residence. Many maids and servants watched quietly by the side of the road and whispered to each other. They only said how could a person like Mrs. Jian get to know Zheng Guogong and Mrs. Zheng Guogong?Did they send someone over to pick her up?There were several guards from the Duke's Mansion at the gate of Xu's house.

In fact, how does Mrs. Jane know the reason for this?And when she got into the carriage at the gate of Xu's house, she saw the cold-eyed guards standing beside the carriage, and her calves were shaking all the time.Until she got into the carriage and arrived at Zheng Guogong's mansion, and now she was following the servant girl, her calves were still shaking.

The back garden of Zheng Guogong's mansion is huge.Mrs. Jian followed the servant woman all the way, and she didn't know how many detours she had made, and passed several corridors, but she hadn't arrived at the residence of the Duke's wife.She didn't dare to ask the servant woman in front of her, and she didn't dare to look at the surrounding scenery, so she just held her breath and walked behind the servant woman with her head half down.

After a while, he finally arrived outside a yard.

The maid raised her hand and knocked on the door, and a little maid came over, and the servant whispered about Mrs. Jane's identity, and then the little maid's eyes slipped on Mrs. Jane and the others, and then said softly: " You wait outside first, and I will report to the Duke and Madam."

After all, he turned and left with very light steps.

Mrs. Jian only dared to slightly raise her head when she got this gap, and looked around.

Two rows of ginkgo trees were planted in front of the courtyard.Although the branches and leaves on the trees are bare now, but when the ginkgo leaves grow out in spring, this place will be a quiet and dark green avenue.And in autumn, when the golden ginkgo leaves fall and spread on the road, what kind of thrilling beauty should that be?
Mrs. Jane was thinking about this, and then she wanted to turn her head to look at the side scenery, but at this time the little maid went back and waved to Mrs. Jane and the others, and said softly: "Follow me here .”

The servant girl who had led the way before now stepped aside obediently.

She is not qualified to enter Madam's yard.

Seeing such a grand gesture, Mrs. Jian felt even more astonished for a moment, and her calves began to tremble even more.

After she followed the little maid into the yard, she no longer dared to peek at the surrounding scenery, but followed in without daring to show her atmosphere.

The little maid drew up a green quilted door curtain embroidered with broken flowers in front of it.Mrs. Jian walked in shortly, and immediately a faint scent of medicine and flowers and plants rushed to her face.

On the Luohan bed in the front of the Ming room, Zheng Guogong and his wife sat on both sides of the kang table, one left and one right.

Mrs. Jian didn't dare to look up, she just knelt down and said respectfully: "The women have met the Duke and Mrs. Guo."

Mother Shen and Pearl who followed behind her also knelt down quickly.

Zheng Guogong already knew about Mrs. Jane's background, so he naturally looked down on her as a merchant's wife, so he just said lightly: "Get up."

Pearl stepped forward and helped Mrs. Jane stand up.

Although Nie Qingniang is kind, but thinking about what Nanny Wei said earlier, Mrs. Jian seems to be very strict with Jian Yan these years, so she didn't ask Mrs. Jian to sit down.And Zheng Guogong naturally did not intend to let Mrs. Jane sit.

——He is the son of a family, and Mrs. Jane's identity naturally cannot catch his eyes.And he was still thinking in his heart, if Jian Yan was really his daughter with Nie Qingniang, she would have grown up beside a lowly person like Mrs. Jian all these years...

Zheng Guogong frowned.Then he opened his mouth with some displeasure, and asked in a deep voice: "You have a daughter named Jian Yan?"

Mrs. Jian didn't know why Zheng Guogong came up to ask about Jian Yan, she felt a little nervous, but she still replied respectfully: "Yes."

"Is she your own?" Zheng Guogong didn't want to dawdle with Mrs. Jane, and went straight to the point.

But such a sentence made Mrs. Jian feel as if she was struck by lightning. She only raised her head in shock and looked at Zheng Guogong who was sitting on the Arhat bed.

Zheng Guogong looked solemn.People who practice martial arts have been on the battlefield and have been soaked in blood. Even if they just sit there quietly, their mighty and strong aura is still very compelling.

But this is not the most important thing.Although Mrs. Jian was afraid of Zheng Guogong in her heart, when she saw Nie Qingniang sitting on the other side, she suddenly felt dizzy.

This is Mrs. Zheng Guogong?What she gave birth to was actually so similar to Jian Yan.

In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Jane suddenly thought of a possibility in her not-so-spirited mind.

Jian Yan was not her own, but now there is another person who looks like Jian Yan. Could it be that Jian Yan is the daughter of Zheng Guogong and Mrs. Zheng Guogong?
After thinking of this possibility, with a swipe, all the blood on Mrs. Jane's face faded away in an instant.

She pinched her sleeves tightly, and she was only thinking wildly, what should I do, what should I do?Do you want to tell the truth that Jian Yan is not actually her own?But if it is said that she treated Jian Yan like that before and thought of giving her to an old man like Zhou Yuanzheng as a concubine, it would be no wonder that Zheng Guogong and his wife would forgive her if they knew about it.But if you don't say anything, looking at the posture of Zheng Guogong and his wife, they seem to know something inside...

But she changed her mind and thought again, no, no, only she, Mama Shen, Mama Zhao, and Mrs. Jingyuan knew what happened back then, Mama Zhao was dead, and only the three of them knew about the rest .Master Jingyuan is too far away in Longxing Mansion, and Mother Shen is her confidant, and she will never betray her.How did Zheng Guogong and his wife know about this?It should be that they met Jian Yan by accident, and then saw that Jian Yan and Mrs. Zheng Guogong had such a similar life, and it happened that they had lost a child at the beginning, so they had such a guess.But if she killed her and only said that Jian Yan was her own, what would Zheng Guogong and his wife do to her?

It is absolutely impossible to say that Jian Yan is not her own.Although Mrs. Jian's hands were trembling, she bit her lower lip tightly, thinking in her heart that Jian Yan was going to be Zhou Yuanzheng's concubine, and Zhou Yuanzheng had already promised to give Jian Qing a good official position. .If she now said that Jian Yan was not her own, then it would be impossible for Jian Yan to be Zhou Yuanzheng's concubine. Wouldn't Jian Qing also lose the official position that she had at her fingertips?Even because she had easily promised Jian Yan to be a concubine, Zheng Guogong and his wife would not forgive her.

So no matter how you think about it, you can't say that Jian Yan is not her own.

At this time, Nie Qingniang saw that after Zheng Guogong finished asking that sentence, Mrs. Jian just lowered her head and didn't hear the answer for a long time. She was anxious, so she couldn't help but asked immediately: "Is Jian Yan your own?" daughter?"

As soon as the words fell, Mrs. Jian raised her head.

Although her complexion was pale, she still said calmly: "The women don't understand what the Duke and Madam mean when they ask this question. Jian Yan is naturally my own daughter, the daughter who was born in October. At that time All the maids and servants in my house know about it, and the midwife Zhao Ma also knows about it. If the Duke and Madam don’t believe it, just ask these people to ask.”

Nie Qingniang's face turned pale instantly, her heart sank straight in her chest, and her voice trembled a little: "Jian Yan, she, is she really your own daughter? You didn't lie to me?"

"The women don't know why the Duke and Madam asked this question, but is it possible that I, a mother, can make a mistake if Jian Yan is my own daughter?"

Nie Qingniang trembled her lips, and then took out the silver lock that had been tightly held in her palm and showed it to Mrs. Jian: "What about this silver lock? How could this silver lock be on Jian Yan's body?"

Although Mrs. Jingyuan gave Jian Yan this silver lock that day, Mrs. Jian just glanced at it casually and didn't care, so now she didn't recognize it at all.But when Nie Qingniang asked her like this, she thought for a while, and then said: "Of course, this longevity lock was specially made by the woman who ordered the silversmith to give it to my daughter. I also hope that she will live a long life." the meaning of."

"You're lying!" Although Nie Qingniang's temper was gentle, but now she heard Mrs. Jian blatantly opened her eyes and said nonsense, she couldn't help reaching out her hand to pat the red sandalwood corset table next to her hand, While trembling, he questioned, "My father ordered a silversmith to make this silver lock for me. I have worn it since I was a child, and then I hung it around my newborn daughter's neck with my own hands. How could it be you?" Made by someone?"

Mrs. Jane was choked by her words and did not speak for a moment.But then she still stuck her neck, and said with a very strong tone: "There are only a few styles of silver locks in the world, maybe it's the silver lock of the madam and the silver lock that I asked to make." They are exactly the same, Madam saw it for a while, so there are some mistakes."

Nie Qingniang was spoiled and pampered since she was a child, and she has never seen someone who can argue so much like Mrs. Jian. She raised her hand angrily and pointed at Mrs. Jian with trembling fingers. She was about to scold, but she didn't know how to start scolding.Besides, you are not in good health, how can you bear being blocked by Mrs. Jian's words like this?His face was flushed from coughing, and he couldn't even stretch his waist.

Seeing this, Wei Mama rushed up to caress her back, and gave her the teacup on the kang table, and asked her to drink the tea and press it down.Seeing that Nie Qingniang finally stopped coughing, she took two steps back, bowed her knees to Duke Zheng, and then raised her head, saying neither humble nor overbearing: "This old slave is bold, but the Duke, can you allow this old slave to ask this?" A word from Mrs. Jane?"

Zheng Guogong waved his hand and motioned for her to ask.

Nanny Wei turned around and asked Mrs. Jane.

"Since you said that the silver lock in Madam's hand was made by you for Miss Jane, then the old slave would like to ask, what kind of silver lock did you order the silversmith to make? The front and back were engraved What kind of patterns are there? How many small bells are hanging from it? Which small bell is engraved with words? What are the chiseled words?"

"..." Mrs. Jane couldn't answer at all.

Mammy Wei immediately asked again: "Besides, you said Miss Jian was born to you, so the old slave will ask you, what kind of birthmark does Miss Jian have on her body? Where is the birthmark? What kind of shape is it?" ?”

"..." Mrs. Jane was naturally even more unable to answer.

How did she care about Jian Yan in those years?At first, she just wanted to let Jian Yan block her son's evil spirit, and later, she wanted her to pave the way for her son's future career, so he didn't care about the birthmark on Jian Yan's body.

Seeing Mrs. Jane's ignorant question, Mother Wei sneered: "You said that Miss Jane is your own daughter. Is there any mother who doesn't know that her own daughter has a birthmark? It's the silver one. Lock, if you really had someone make a silver lock for your daughter, would you know what kind of silver lock it is and what pattern is engraved on it? It can be seen that you are lying to your face."

After finishing speaking, she turned around and bowed to Duke Zheng, bowed her knees, and said, "Master Guo, I've finished asking the old slave."

Zheng Guogong nodded and waved for her to step aside.

At this time, Mrs. Jane looked flustered, and her back was covered with cold sweat, soaking her stone-blue undershirt.

Suddenly there was another crackling sound like thunder, Zheng Guogong stretched out his hand and slapped the Kang table fiercely, and there was a loud clanging and clanging noise from the tea cups and other objects on the Kang table.Immediately, his voice as thick as a bronze bell rang out suddenly: "Tell me, is Jian Yan your biological daughter?"

Mrs. Jane was shocked, her knees softened, and she knelt down subconsciously.Pearl and Shen's mother behind her also knelt down.

But although Mrs. Jian was shocked and her face was pale without a trace of blood, she still clenched her teeth tightly and refused to reveal a word.

But Pearl, who was kneeling behind her, suddenly said with a trembling voice: "Guo, Duke, Husband, Madam, servant girl, tell me honestly, our girl, our girl is indeed not my wife's own."

Zheng Guogong's eyes narrowed slightly, his cold gaze swept to Pearl, and he asked in a deep voice: "How do you say?"

Pearl was almost frightened when he stared at her like this.And speaking of what happened back then, she was indeed not there, and she couldn't explain it clearly if she insisted on it.

So she turned her head and tugged at Shen's mother's sleeve, and said with a blank face: "Shen's mother, what do you have to hide now? You were present at that time. If you don't say it now , carefully, the Duke and Madam are furious, and then we will not be able to get any good fruit to eat."

Shen's mother pursed her lips, her eyes flickered, and she didn't speak.

Nie Qingniang was on the verge of crying at this moment, so she asked eagerly: "Mother Shen, what happened back then? Please tell me, please."

Zheng Guogong did not have the patience of Nie Qingniang.He directly slapped the kang table again, then stood up, and said angrily, "Should I say it or not? If not, I immediately called the guards to come in, and dragged it down to beat thirty big boards." Say it again."

Pearl began to tug on Shen's mother's sleeve again, and only begged: "Mother Shen, you're telling the truth. After thirty boards are beaten, the two of us will still be alive? There's no need to marry us for such a thing." life."

Under the double attack, Shen's mother finally collapsed and fell down.

With a pale face, she murmured: "I said, I said."

So then she explained in detail how the child that Mrs. Jian gave birth to died back then, and how Mrs. Jingyuan hugged Jian Yan and came over to persuade Mrs. Jian to adopt Jian Yan. How to treat Jian Yan, what's more, she has betrothed Jian Yan to Zhou Yuanzheng as a concubine in order to find an official position for her son. In short, all the things in these years are all bamboo tubes He said it like pouring beans.

A few times in the middle, Mrs. Jian yelled at Shen's mother sharply, trying to make her shut up, and even wanted to rush up and beat her, but Mother Wei called two servants to come up and hold her down.

And when Shen's mother finished saying these words, Nie Qingniang cried.

"My miserable child, she has suffered all these years." Pointing at Mrs. Jane with trembling fingers, she said angrily, "There is such a poisonous person like you in the world? First let my daughter give you It’s all for your son to block the evil spirit, but then you even raised my daughter as a skinny horse, and promised her to someone as old as a concubine, just for your son’s official career. It’s a waste of my daughter’s years of service with you You are so obedient and filial in front of me, even a stone should be hot, but you don't care about mother-daughter affection at all, why doesn't Bodhisattva accept you for a person like you?"

Zheng Guogong's heart is not very good.

Turning around, seeing Nie Qingniang's pale face flushed red from crying, his rare tone softened a bit, comforting: "Don't cry."

Nie Qingniang wiped away the tears on her face with a handkerchief, and then asked with some concern: "Master, this woman has given Yan'er to Zhou Yuanzheng as a concubine, what should I do? After all, Zhou Yuanzheng is the current imperial concubine. Shoufu, the one with the most power, although we have the title of duke, but..."

But he has no real power in his hands.It's just that she didn't say anything after that.

Zheng Guogong snorted coldly when he heard the words, and said arrogantly: "Even if Zhou Yuanzheng is the chief assistant of the court again, so what if the power is in the court? If Jian Yan is really my daughter, then she is the only daughter of the Duke of our country. Is it possible that a girl from our country’s government will give him Zhou Yuanzheng as his concubine? It’s a big joke.”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Mrs. Jian who was kneeling on the ground with disgust, and said impatiently: "Besides, what Zhou Yuanzheng said was that she wanted her daughter to be a concubine. If Jianyan is not her daughter, it is me Li Yi's daughter, Zhou Yuanzheng can still come to me to ask for someone? If he is also looking for her, what does it matter to me?"

Mrs. Jane collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud. There were only three words in her mind, and it was all over.

After so many years of deliberation, all of them are now empty.

Everything that followed went very smoothly.

The next day, Zheng Guogong sent four bodyguards to Longxing Mansion in a hurry, and specially invited Mrs. Jingyuan to come over for questioning.After Mrs. Jingyuan arrived, she not only truthfully told the situation when she saw Jian Yan and the maid beside her, but also described in detail the clothes and appearance of the servant, and took the information that was placed on the servant back then. The ebony waist card he found came out, and he brought a package with him.When I opened it to look, inside was a set of summer clothes made of moon-white gauze and summer cloth, a big red belly and pockets embroidered with lotus leaves and koi pictures, a pair of tooth-colored cloth socks, and a sky-blue silk gauze blanket, all of which were from Jian Yan back then. The clothes you wear.

These clothes were all prepared by Nie Qingniang herself back then, how could she not recognize them?So she pretended to let Nanny Wei call Jian Yan over, wept and talked, and explained to Jian Yan one by one what happened back then, and told her that she was not Mrs. Jian's daughter, but the daughter of herself and Zheng Guogong. daughter.So the mother and daughter hugged each other and cried, Zheng Guogong, who was only crying, also had red eyes, and all the maids and servants in the room also covered their faces and cried.

And such a thing spread out without knowing how.After all, Zheng Guogong originally only had two daughters from the concubine, but now he suddenly has a daughter from the concubine, so everyone lamented the misfortune of Zheng Guogong, the daughter of the concubine who was lost in the early years.Later even such words reached the ears of the emperor.The emperor thought that it was because Zheng Guogong chased and suppressed King Duan back then, so his only daughter from the direct line was lost, and at the same time he was deeply moved, he made a special decree of kindness, making an exception and canonizing Jian Yan as the township lord , titled Le'an.

(End of this chapter)