The Book of Raising Children by Houmen

Chapter 176 The prince waited for the wrong person (4)
Mother Zhang at the side heard this and said with a smile: "I don't believe this old slave anymore. How can the old lady change this habit? I'm afraid she will be nagging again in two days."

Zhao Jing lowered her eyebrows and smiled when she heard this, and was about to use her serving chopsticks to pick up the little cucumber again, but the old lady stopped her with her chopsticks and said, "Hey, hey, I didn't say that I am today If you don’t eat, there’s no need to be so anxious, right?”

The maids and women on the side couldn't help laughing when they saw it, so Zhao Jing had no choice but to put the little milkmelon into the old lady's bowl again.

After breakfast, Zhao Jing came out of Songhe Hall. She walked along the Chaoshou veranda of the Hou Mansion. The plants in the flower gardens on both sides had begun to sprout, and the branches and leaves were dotted with fresh and tender colors.There is a flower wall outside the veranda, and after passing the moon cave gate on the flower wall, the outer courtyard of the Hou Mansion is outside.

Zhao Jing wanted to ask the housekeeper Zhou outside, before Xu Si'an left, did he have any other arrangements besides leaving the housekeeping power to herself.She walked along the flower wall to the side of the Moon Cave Gate, and heard someone talking outside: "Hurry up and find someone to go to Xinglong Village, and tell the eldest girl and Mother Han to come back quickly, the weather has changed in the Hou Mansion!" The voice listened It sounds a little familiar, but it looks like Ji Xiang, the big maid next to the old lady.

The people outside quickly replied to her: "Why didn't I think of a way to talk about it, but Mother Han is not at home, and the carriage in the house must be arranged by Mother Zhang, otherwise it will be arranged by the housekeeper outside. The 34-mile road , I can’t let people walk, this morning, it happened that the person from the village next door came to deliver fresh melons and fruits, and I have asked him to bring a message back, I’m afraid they will already know about it by then.”

"What's going on in your outer court that you can't find anyone? You didn't report this matter until today!" The servant girl frowned and said, scolding the old woman.

"Girl, it's not like you don't know that the outer courtyard is all left by the old Hou Ye. Later, when the Hou Ye took over, Mama Sun secretly changed a few times. She either drank, gambled, committed crimes, or was arrested by the Hou Ye and served as a soldier. I went to the barracks and never came back again, and no one dared to come here again and again!" The woman said a few words in embarrassment, then sighed: "At any rate, the news has been handed out, girl, don't worry, you are still in the old age." Ma'am, please stand by and see what the old lady is thinking."

"What else can the old lady have in mind, but she's just being happy. One after another comes, but there's nothing to catch this one."

Zhao Jing frowned and listened for a while, and when she saw the figure dodge to this side, she hurriedly hid in the bushes behind the flower wall, and only waited for the figure to go away before dodging out from behind the tree.

Fortunately, Xu Si'an is smart, the inner courtyard let them mess around, but the outer courtyard was guarded like an iron bucket.It's just... Now that the news has been delivered, Mother Han and Sun Yu'e will probably be back soon.

Zhao Jing went to the outer courtyard to look for Butler Zhou, and the servant outside said that Butler Zhou had gone out. Although Xu Si'an was not at the house, there was an endless stream of visits every day, or visits by relatives and friends. Zhao Jing knew this before. The housekeeper Zhou was very capable. When she was in charge of Madam Hou's funeral in the Hou Mansion, she never delayed the internal affairs because of the affairs of the outer courtyard.

Zhao Jing returned to the inner courtyard from the conference hall, and happened to pass by Jinhui Pavilion. Her female gentleman did not come to class today, but the other two young masters of the Hou Mansion were still studying inside.

"The way of university, in Ming Mingde..."

With a new teacher, the subject of the school has also changed from the original "Book of Songs" to the current "University", but the sound of reading is as weak as before.She saw the young servant next to the two young masters playing spinning tops in the corner. After the men of the Hou Mansion were enlightened at the age of seven, there were only young servants and old mothers by their side, not even a servant girl. According to the rules, it is said that they are afraid that women will change people's temperament, otherwise, at Xu Si'an's current age, he definitely wouldn't have never even touched a woman.

Zhao Jing stood at the door for a while, and then went back to her Ziwei Garden. She asked the little maid to make a pot of hot tea for her, and leaned on the soft couch to think about things.

Memories from ten years ago kept churning in her mind, relying on those remaining fragments, she saw an irrational and emotional self.She tossed and tossed on the soft couch, opened her eyes and said to herself: "The Zhao Jing ten years ago is dead, and now I am a different person!"

The maids guarded the door and did not come in. The room was quiet, only the sunlight shone through the cracks in the window lattices, and cast dappled and dazzling spots of light.

The carriage was galloping along the official road leading to the capital, and a few pieces of gravel were run over by the wheels and fell into the grass beside it.The car shook violently twice, and the person inside yelled and cursed a few times, and the voice gradually became smaller.

"Grandmother, what should I do? Master Hou gave the housekeeper to Zhao, will she drive me out of the house?" Sun Yu'e leaned in Mother Sun's arms with a panicked expression.

"This must not be true. The person who sent the message must have made a mistake. How could Master Hou do this? The old lady is still there. If he did this, where did he leave the old lady?" Sun Mama stared at her triangular eyes in a daze. , the people she sent out clearly said that the matter had been done, and they also vividly talked about how angry the Zhao family was, and how eager they were to drive them away with a broom. At this point in the matter, how could there be such a reversal?
She raised her head and asked Mother Han, "Mother Han, do you think Master Hou would really do this?"

"I don't know about this, but I heard something, and I don't know if it's true." Mother Han frowned and thought for a while, then continued: "The guy from my family went to the other courtyard to clean up this thing a while ago." One winter's charcoal fire silver, I heard from the gatekeeper of the other courtyard. On the third night of the Lunar New Year, Lord Hou brought a woman back to the other courtyard. At that time, my family thought that Lord Hou was about to reach the age and wanted to eat meat, so he agreed with a smile. A few words, but the gatekeeper said that when the woman left the next day, he took a quick look, and it turned out to be the maid who attended the funeral for Mrs. Hou that day."

When Mother Han said this, she glanced at Sun Yu'e, with a slightly embarrassed expression on her face: "I heard that when I walked, my steps were all empty, and Aunt Shou helped me out all the way. I thought about it carefully. What happened that day, Master Hou returned to the Hou Mansion on the morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, when the old lady just got up when she entered the door, she greeted her out before she could wash her happy face..."

(End of this chapter)