in spring

Chapter 286 Angel arrives

When the imperial decree arrived, everyone in Dongfu was very surprised.I hadn't heard of the wind at all beforehand, why did there suddenly come an imperial decree?Besides, it's already night, so what can't be said during the day?Usually, more than half of the decrees issued overnight are bad news.Both the second old lady and the second wife barely concealed the panic on their faces, hurriedly called someone to set up the incense table, picked up the angel, and then quickly changed into their gowns to greet them.

Because the decree was issued at night, the second old lady and the second wife were worried that it was a bad thing, and they didn't care about putting on heavy makeup. They just asked the maids to wait and put on decent clothes, and hurried to the front hall with their granddaughter.

Just as Chunying finished the second old lady's dressing project, she casually adjusted her hair and hairpins, and she and Qiuyan supported the second old lady to walk.When she arrived at the hall, there was a line of soldiers standing outside the door with knives on their waists. Seeing this, she trembled in her heart, thinking that she would not be so unlucky, would she?Just told the family members that the redemption plan will start, and something happened to the master's house at night? !She twitched a few times, took a deep breath to comfort herself: don't scare yourself, the imperial decree, it's normal for the eunuch delivering the decree to have a few armed soldiers as attendants.The East Mansion is not the Marquis Mansion, the whole family is trembling and honest, and has nothing to do with the faction in the court. What reason does the Emperor have to deal with them?

In the hall, the envoy from the palace had been sitting for a while, drinking tea unhurriedly.He is a man (eunuch?) who looks to be in his thirties, with a fair complexion, no beard, wearing a green robe, judging by his appearance, his facial features are still correct, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, and he looks a little kind.Sitting opposite him was an official, whose clothes were of the seventh rank, thin and thin, with gray hair, and he just sat silently.Sitting next to him was the restless Fourth Young Master Li Dun, and Li Shi was standing behind Li Shi bent over to serve Mr. Xu. When the second wife came, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly got up to greet her.

The second wife greeted the envoy with a smile on her face, and the envoy said with a smile, "Thank you Madam for your concern, but today our family is ordered to issue an edict, why don't we do the business first, and then talk about other things." Is it not too late?"

As soon as the second old lady heard this, she knew that this man was a tight-lipped man, and she might not be easy to deal with, so she hurriedly ordered her daughter-in-law to bring everyone in the family to kneel down to accept the order, while she stood at the front and bowed down.Chunying supported her to bow down, and then quickly retreated to the back.When there is an imperial decree, the whole mansion will kneel to welcome her, and she is no exception as a big girl. According to Aunt Xu's instructions, she and Qiuyan are ranked behind the master, the third row of servants, and the people kneeling in front are all in the mansion. The housekeeper, because they have to help the second old lady in a while, they were assigned to the side where they can walk around easily.

The imperial decree was written in parallel, four couplets and six, citing scriptures and classics. Chunying was dizzy at the bottom, and only roughly guessed the meaning. It said that someone had reported on Li Yan, the male master of the East Mansion, that when he was an official in the south of the Yangtze River, there was something wrong with him. Corruption, in order to clarify the official punishment, he was temporarily suspended, and ordered Dali Temple to send people to Li's house to check the account books and warehouses to see if he was really corrupt.

Chunying was shocked. In her memory, few people who were officials in places like Jiangnan were clean. It would be nice to be able to do things well. What's more, how to prove such a thing?If it is a poor and scholarly family, seeing that there is no money in the family, it will naturally prove his innocence. However, although the Dong Mansion has no title, he is also a child of the Marquis Mansion. The family already has a lot of property and money. Yes, that can't be solved in a month or two, not to mention that the person from the Dali Temple must be the official who came with him, right?There is only one person, and he is not too young. When will he find out? !
She also thought that the second master is currently working at the border and is still negotiating with the Qing Dynasty after the war. If he suddenly suspends his post, will it affect the war situation in the north?She couldn't help but secretly scolded the emperor, why was she so stupid at a time like this? !Not to mention that the second master may not have really broken the law, even if he did, he should stabilize now. When the negotiations in the north are over and the situation stabilizes, he will be called back to Beijing, and he can do whatever he wants!But at this juncture, demon moths appear, what kind of wind is it? !Could it be that……

But Dong Mansion has never heard of offending anyone?The family who has been away for many years has only returned to the capital for a few months. The family is old and young, and most of them are female relatives. What conflicts can there be with other families?In terms of the most likely to retaliate, it is Ke Wangfu.King Ke's Mansion sent out invitations to Fourth Miss Yajun twice in succession, but Dong Mansion rejected them several times. Could it be because of this that they held grudges?Chunying couldn't help frowning, thinking that if the emperor wronged the minister because of King Ke's eccentric words, in order to clear himself up and show that he is a wise king, he would lose his heart sooner or later!
Chunying was thinking wildly there. On the other side, the imperial decree had been read out. The messenger smiled and said to the sweating old lady, "Madam, Mr. Li is not here. You are the head of the family. Please accept the decree?"

The second old lady only felt that her eyes were dark, and kowtowed her head reluctantly: "I accept the decree on behalf of my son, thank you for a long time." Then she took the roll of yellow silk, stood up shaking with the support of her daughter-in-law, and felt that the imperial decree in her hand was like iron. The weight is the same.

Zhuo stared at the imperial decree, and the circles of his eyes immediately turned red.Fourth Miss Yajun was young, but she already knew what was good and what was wrong, she bit her lower lip, trying her best not to cry.The fourth young master Li Dun stared blankly at the imperial decree, a little uncomfortable, but with a flattering expression, he saluted the envoy and said: "Eunuch, my father is an official outside, and he has always been cautious and behaved. Dare to bear the Holy Grace, I don’t know where this rumor comes from? It really makes me wait... sad..."

The father-in-law smiled and said: "Our family can't understand it either. Since the holy decree has been issued, the young master can just wait for the result with peace of mind. Don't worry, the holy man will never wrong a good person. As long as it is found out that Mr. Li is innocent, there will be no harm." It's over."

Li Dun heaved a sigh of relief, but Zhuo's face turned pale, obviously thinking about the problem, and hurriedly looked at her mother-in-law, but the second old lady's face was pale, and she was on the verge of falling, she hurriedly supported her.Chunying got up with the servants at the back, and it didn't look good, so she also ran up to help.

The father-in-law raised his eyebrows: "Is the old lady feeling unwell? Could it be that our family said something wrong?"

This is not easy to answer. If you are not careful, you will become a guilty conscience.Zhuo smiled compensatingly and was thinking of a reason. Chunying was afraid that Dongfu would really be accused of corruption and hurt herself, so she rolled her eyes and whispered to the second old lady: "The old lady's legs are numb? Later Can I rub it for you, please?" Zhuo's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "That's right, your old man's blood is not going well recently, I think it's because you've been kneeling for a long time, and when you get up suddenly, your legs feel numb."

The second old lady nodded slowly, and apologized to the father-in-law again: "I'm laughing at you, I'm old and useless, I just knelt for a short while, and I can't take it anymore."

The father-in-law said with a smile: "The old lady is in good health, she is a very blessed person, a little ailment is nothing serious." But his eyes turned to Chunying.

Chunying noticed something strange, and couldn't help shivering, regretting that she was in the limelight again, but noticed that the father-in-law's gaze stayed on her wrist for several seconds, as if he was very interested in the bracelet she was wearing.It was the bracelet that Hu Fei gave her before leaving, and he told her not to let her leave her body. Except that she would take it off temporarily when she washed her face, took a shower and went to sleep, she would usually wear it on her wrist except that she would wrap it in a handkerchief and stuff it under the pillow.Is there anything special about this bracelet?Why is this father-in-law staring at it?

Before Chun Ying could figure it out, the father-in-law had already withdrawn his gaze, and after the imperial decree was issued, he planned to return to the palace to return to his command.The official who came with him dryly proposed to check the account books and the warehouse, but the father-in-law took two steps and turned back with a smile: "It's late at night, it's hard for Mr. Zhang to make this trip, but what kind of family is this?" , how can the account books and warehouses be checked in one night? It’s not good to suffer, why don’t you ask someone to seal the warehouse and the accounting room, and come back tomorrow morning?”

The official was not happy about having to work overtime, but he was overjoyed when he heard the news, thanked him quickly, and ordered the soldiers to seal up the account room and warehouse.

The second old lady regained her breath a little bit, and saw the panic on the faces of the family members, so she had to hold on, and said to the lord Zhang: "Elder-in-law and lord Zhang issued the decree overnight. Official, I never dared to violate the laws of the country, and I hope that the adults will find out the truth as soon as possible, and return the child's innocence."

Mr. Zhang still answered dryly: "Your official should not disgrace the king's life. As long as Mr. Li is innocent, no one can wrong him."

The second old lady sighed, and called Li Dun: "My father-in-law wants to return to the palace, so you go and see him off." Then she apologized to the father-in-law: "I am old, please don't take offense at me."

"It's easy to say, old lady, you don't have to be polite." The father-in-law seemed to be smiling more cordially, and even patted Li Dun on the shoulder, "Young master, at a young age, is a good-looking talent, with extraordinary bearing, eloquence, and good knowledge. It's very elegant. Looking at it from our family, it is more stable than Mr. Li when he was young, and it really is 'the voice of the young phoenix is ​​clearer than the voice of the old phoenix'!"

He suddenly said such a compliment, which surprised everyone, but he didn't say anything, and walked out the door accompanied by Li Dun.Mrs. Zhuo ordered Mr. Xu to take Mr. Zhang to seal the accountant’s storeroom. He helped his mother-in-law himself, and went back to the Songyi Courtyard to sit down. He could no longer hold back the tears of grievance: "What is this for?! Okay, Why..."

The second old lady couldn't figure it out either, so she just said indifferently: "It's okay, recently, Yajun learned from the housekeeper, and has already settled the accounts. It is clear and there is nothing shameful. .Your master is an official in the northern border town. It is an important time. The emperor will not rush him. In the future, the lord may also seize the property in the inner courtyard. I have some silver, clothing materials, jewelry and other odds and ends here. Ying, go pick them out and put them away, and prepare for the expenses of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. With the warehouse closed, there will not be many things that our family can use.”

Chunying hurriedly responded, and didn't dare to put away all the things. She only looked for ordinary, thick and valuable jewelry, packed them in a small box, and suddenly thought, if the officials came to seal things, what would happen to her personal belongings? manage?It would be a great loss if they were searched and taken away at the same time!Even if it is found out that the East Mansion is innocent in the future, and the Yamen returns the property, it may not include the belongings of a little girl like myself.She was trying to find a way to go back to her room to tidy up, but Qiuyan came over: "Chunying, I took out a dozen pieces of clothing materials that I usually give away, do you know if it is enough?"

Chun Ying hurriedly suppressed her thoughts: "Take enough [-] horses, this thing is too big, let's find some other small and valuable things." Qiu Yan responded and turned to leave the room. Glancing at the busy girls and women outside the door, he sighed: It's better to keep a low profile at this time, anyway, I don't lack that little money...

When they returned to the main room to return to the command, the faces of the second old lady and the second wife were no longer so panicked. They all stared at Li Dun who had returned from seeing off the guests, for fear that he had just misheard what he said: "What you said is true! ? That father-in-law really said that?!"

Li Dun nodded hurriedly: "It's true! He said, this is just for others to see, as long as the mouths of Prince Ke's Mansion and Liang Taishi's faction are blocked, otherwise Dali Temple will not send a small master to finish the job. Dali Temple seldom investigates cases these days, just looking through the case files. The good news from the north has arrived. After two days, when the order of the reward is announced, it will be reported here as a purely false accusation. Father will be fine. But we need You have to wait in peace, don't let someone take the handle!"

The second old lady made a decisive decision: "Chunying, put back all the things you just picked out, we don't need them!"

When Chunying heard the good news, she was also happy, she hurriedly answered "yes" and turned to go out.

It turned out that it was just a false alarm, and she knew that the emperor was not a fool, how could he make such a mistake?Although the eunuch was a little weird, but he was willing to kindly point it out, so he wasn't a bad person.

(End of this chapter)