Chapter 832: Death of Jindan Du Yan Li's Family
"My lady."
Zou Qingyun bowed and when he looked up again, he saw that the Crown Princess looked dazed and didn't notice him at all. He could only raise his voice and call out, "Your Majesty!"
The Crown Princess finally came to her senses and quickly straightened herself up and asked, "Has Lord Sun left?"
"His Highness personally escorted him out of the palace."
Zou Qingyun said as he stepped forward to refill the tea bowl beside the Crown Princess. He looked around suspiciously and wondered, "Where are those two little hooves? How come they are not waiting by the side?"
"I sent them to invite Concubine Liu and Concubine Wang."
The Crown Princess replied indifferently, but Zou Qingyun immediately frowned, and wanted to say something several times, but in the end he just sighed.
This morning, when the Crown Princess looked down at the courtyard from her high vantage point, she had already guessed that Her Majesty was definitely going to repay evil with kindness again.
At this point, no matter how much I try to persuade him, it will be of no avail.
Fortunately, with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince now around, there is no room for those two slaves to act recklessly, so there is no need to worry about them becoming as spoiled as before.
"My queen!"
At this moment, two palace maids came in from outside. After greeting each other, they looked at each other, hoping that the other would speak first.
Seeing this, Zou Qingyun's suppressed unhappiness immediately surged up from the bottom of his heart, and he shouted in front of the Crown Princess, "What are you two doing with your eyes? Tell me! Is it those two little..."
She almost blurted out the word "bitch" in a moment of haste. After she came to her senses, she quickly changed her words and said, "Weren't you ordered to invite Concubine Liu and Concubine Wang? Why are there no traces of them?"
"this……"
The two palace maids looked at each other again, but they still hesitated and their faces gradually turned red.
Seeing this, Zou Qingyun thought he had hit the nail on the head, so he turned around and complained in a low voice, "Although the queen is always kind and generous, you have to distinguish between human and devil first! Just when things have turned around, they don't take your orders seriously. Who knows how they will stir up trouble in the future!"
The Crown Princess just smiled and said nothing in response to these words.
The greatest ability of Liu Zhaoyi and Wang Cairen is just pillow talk.
Not to mention that Sun Shaozong didn't have the courage to bring the two concubines with titles back home. Even if he did, what would they say in Sun Shaozong's ears? Would it be difficult for them to influence him?
Thinking of this, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She didn't know what she remembered, but her face suddenly felt hot for some reason.
In order to hide her embarrassment, the Crown Princess hurriedly asked, "What exactly is going on? You two might as well tell us the truth!"
The two palace maids heard the queen's question and said one after another: "Your Majesty, please allow me to report. When we arrived at the courtyard, Liu Zhaoyi and Wang Cairen were not up yet."
"They all said that he was just having a physical disability. We didn't believe it at first and thought he was deliberately making fun of me."
"Later, it turned out that he had indeed suffered some injuries and was limping when he walked."
"They are afraid that they may not be able to get here in a short time, so we will come back to report first, so as to avoid the queen worrying."
After he finished speaking, one could hear a pin drop in the main room.
The Crown Princess's face was flushed and could no longer be concealed. Fortunately, Zou Qingyun next to her was also very embarrassed, so it didn't seem too noticeable.
Just like that, the master and his servants looked at each other, all of them seemed a little absent-minded, not knowing what they were thinking about.
…
However, after Sun Shaozong left the Prince's Mansion, he was in a trance as he kept reciting the Prince's promise all the way.
When the carriage stopped, he realized that he had arrived at his own house, not the Dali Temple.
Yes~
I'm late again today.
If this continues, I'm afraid I'll really be labeled as a lazy bum.
But since he was already late, he was too lazy to rush to the government office. He simply went back to the backyard, where Xiangling and Qingwen helped him take a bath and change his clothes.
After tidying up everything, they were about to set out again for the government office when they heard a report from the front saying that the government office had received two obituaries in succession, one for Aunt You and her daughter, and one for the eldest wife, Jia Yingchun. The contents of both were the same:
The old master Jia Jing of Ningguo Mansion died.
This Jia Jing is the biological father of Jia Zhen, the eldest master of Ningguo Mansion. In terms of seniority, he is a cousin of Jia She and Jia Zheng, but he is a dozen years .
Jia Jing had passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. Later, he became obsessed with practicing Taoism and becoming an immortal. He was fed up with the troubles of the secular world, so he simply moved to the Xuanzhen Temple outside the city and became a Taoist priest.
Of course, this is just the surface statement.
When Sun Shaozong was guarding the river bank, he had met Jia Jing at Xuanzhen Temple. At that time, the old gentleman did not seem like a quiet and inactive person.
In fact, according to the original novel of Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Jing should have lived for another half a year before dying in the summer of next year.
But in the past two years, as Emperor Guangde has increasingly trusted alchemists, all those supernatural things have popped up one after another like dog urine moss.
And there are more than a dozen recipes for making elixirs, and each one is more mysterious than the last. Ordinary people cannot tell the real from the fake, so they may not dare to try them easily.
But Jia Jing was an obsessed man. He accepted everything that was offered to him. He swallowed countless amounts of lead and mercury every day. It was a great blessing that he could still survive until now.
Stop talking nonsense.
But when Sun Shaozong learned the truth, he hurried to You Erjie's room and changed into plain casual clothes.
After all, whether we start from You Erjie or from the eldest sister-in-law Jia Yingchun, the two families can be considered relatives.
Now that his elder brother is not in the capital, it is reasonable for him to accompany Jia Yingchun and You Erjie to visit Ningguo Mansion.
Of course, when Sun Shaozong went to Ningguo Mansion this time, in addition to paying tribute to Jia Jing, he also had other things in mind - he had been back for more than a month, and due to several coincidences, he still hadn't seen the son born to Youshi.
This time I went to the funeral and took the opportunity to see what my adopted son looked like, which was a win-win for both public and private interests.
It was just as expected.
He had just changed into plain clothes when Jia Yingchun sent Yuanyang over to ask him if he was free today.
Sun Shaozong immediately called Zhao Zhongji and asked him to make preparations as usual.
So the mansion placed ingot-shaped candles, elegiac couplets, paper money, three kinds of sacrificial animals, and ninety-nine and eighty-one strings of firecrackers with a ten-thousand-bang bang. Eight horsemen and strong slaves responded in the front, and six horse-drawn carriages and three carts were in the middle. There were also strong servants carrying burdens with white flowers in their hair, and they hurried all the way to Ningguo Mansion in a mighty procession.
No conversation on the way.
When they arrived outside the Ningguo Mansion, they saw countless carriages and horses forming a long queue. It was probably even more lively than when Concubine De came to visit her relatives.
Sun Shaozong began to feel suspicious. The Ningguo Mansion had long been in decline and almost entirely relied on the support of the Rongguo Mansion. But why was it that every funeral was always held in such a hasty manner?
It was rumored that the funeral of Qin Keqing caused such a stir because the Niu family wanted to take the opportunity to integrate the power of the nobles.
So what does it mean now?
Is it because of Jia Yuanchun that everyone loves her so much?
But this detour is a bit too far, isn't it?
As he was lifting the curtains and looking out, Caixia suddenly came from behind and said through the window, "Second Master, Auntie wants to invite you over to talk. Is it convenient?"
In addition to You Erjie, there was also her money-hungry mother in the car, so Sun Shaozong did not travel with her.
He suddenly came to invite me at this time, and I don’t know why.
Looking at the situation left and right
Even if Ningguo Mansion received the report and sent people to find a way to make the arrangements, it would still take some time.
So Sun Shaozong got off the carriage and strode to the third carriage.
Originally, I wanted to talk in the carriage, but Caixia was standing next to the carriage, blocking the way to get on.
Sun Shaozong was wondering when he suddenly saw the girl jump up, revealing a charming face, and said in a sweet voice: "Little sister greets brother-in-law."
It turned out that Third Sister You was also in this car.
Sun Shaozong couldn't help but ask, "When did you arrive? Why didn't you see Brother Liu?"
"I've been waiting here for about two quarters of an hour."
Third Sister You said helplessly, "My husband couldn't wait any longer, so he went to Rongguo Mansion to visit the uncle. I just heard that my mother and sister had arrived, so I came here alone."
After Sun Shaozong heard this, he suddenly understood, but he couldn't help but frowned and said unhappily: "Why are they so negligent? They made you wait here for two quarters of an hour, and they didn't send anyone to lead you and serve you?"
Even though there were many people coming to pay their respects, relatives still had to take extra care of them, especially since Liu Xianglian was nominally closer to the Ningguo Mansion than himself - after all, he married You Erjie as a concubine, while You Sanjie was married to him in a formal ceremony.
Third Sister You was obviously not very happy either, but now that she was a married woman, she was no longer as unbridled as her younger sister was when she was alone, so she smiled and covered for Ningguo Mansion, saying, "Maybe they are too busy and can't take care of it for the time being."
As he was speaking, he heard the neighing of horses and people ahead, followed by two servants from the Ningguo Mansion, who, under the guidance of Liu Xianglian's only household servant, squeezed forward as if cutting through thorns and brambles.
When they got closer, the three of them hurriedly leaned forward and greeted Sun Shaozong in a flattering manner.
Sun Shaozong was too lazy to exchange pleasantries with them and asked directly, "Why did you come out to greet us only now?"
"Lord Sun, calm down!"
The servants of Ningguo Mansion hurriedly said, "Just now our mistress saw that she couldn't handle it, so she went to the West Mansion to ask for reinforcements. When she returned to the mansion just now, she heard that the Third Young Lady and her husband were outside, so she hurriedly asked us to come and ask for them."
I see.
Sun Shaozong was relieved, but he changed his mind and became confused again: "Your wife was not here just now, could it be that Brother Zhen and Brother Rong are not at home either?"
"Oh, don't mention it!"
The servant said with a sad face, "It's almost the end of the year. Our master was in a good mood this year, so he took the two masters to the south to buy New Year's goods. Who would have thought that after only six or seven days, such a big thing happened at home!"
At this point, he raised his hand and pointed to the Rongguo Mansion next door, saying, "According to our madam's opinion, in the current chaotic situation, it would be impolite for others to be disrespectful. Our own relatives might as well take a detour through the Grand View Garden."
According to current customs, relatives who come to pay their respects to a deceased person should enter through the main gate with their given names.
But looking at the chaotic situation right now, if we really have to wait at the gate, we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong discussed it with Jia Yingchun and decided to take a detour through the Grand View Garden and enter the Ningguo Mansion through the back door.
