A Complete Explanation of the Negative Textbooks of the Imperial Examination - Chapter 98

    On the day of the housewarming, Chengxihou Mansion was very lively.

      .

    Not to mention the people who married the Xiao family, it turned out that the classmates of the Guozijian, the colleagues of the Ministry of War, and the comrades who went on the expedition all came to congratulate them. .

    It turned out that they thought that Xiao Jingduo’s resignation to the eldest regent was really inappropriate. The military exploits praised by the dynasties and dynasties, and then split the soil and seal the lords, separated from the family, and opened their own doors. Many people are really envious and bitter. One side feels that Xiao Jingduo’s rise is so fierce, and he will not last long in the future, and the other side quietly asks his family. , Properly prepare Xiao Jingduo’s housewarming gift.

    In front of Jing’an Square, the carriages are one after another.

    As guests, the old lady and others got off the car at the inner door of the mansion. When they got out of the car, they saw clusters of bright chrysanthemums, and a team of maids saw them and smiled. He came up to him: “But Mrs. Xiao? Come with me, Mrs. Xiao.”

    “What Mrs. Xiao, I am his grandmother!” Mrs. Xiao was inexplicably displeased when she heard this title.

    The maid just smiled gently: “Yes, old lady.”

    In the beginning, Xiao Jingduo’s wife should preside over such a big event as a housewarming, but Xiao Jingduo didn’t marry, so the old lady took over the job in her heart, and entertained Xiao Jingduo’s daughters. .

    However, when the old lady arrived at the place, she found that several maids in yellow clothes were flying around, arranging everything properly, and there was almost no place for Mrs. Xiao and the second and third rooms to interject. . Mrs. Xiao was very unhappy and asked, “Who are these, and how can they be the masters of the Duoer Mansion?”

    “The old lady, I don’t dare to be the master. The slave just follows the Lord’s instructions and does the work of the slave.” When a maid heard the old lady’s words, she walked up and said with a smile.

    Second Mrs. Xiao supported the old lady and shot the face up and down: “Who are you? How can it be your turn to speak?”

    “Red Sparrow, don’t be rude.” A faint shout came from behind, Qinghan walked slowly from behind, and said with a fixed expression, “I neglected the distinguished guest, but I still don’t care. down?”

    After repelling the Cardinals, Qinghan said: “Nu Qinghan, I have seen Mrs. Xiao. The welcome and delivery was supposed to be hosted by Mrs. Hou. We came forward and asked Mrs. Xiao not to take offense.”

    The old lady knew this man. She came to the Dingyonghou mansion with twenty slaves that day, and now she moved to Chengxihou mansion with Xiao Jingduo. Mrs. Xiao is the most bullying and fearing the hard. She dares to yell at a raw girl, but she doesn’t dare to show her face when she encounters this kind of palace maid from Ye Ting with a background, even Qinghan is a “guest” , “Mrs. Xiao”, etc. did not dare to pursue it.

    Old Mrs. Xiao felt a little drum in her heart, this person named Qinghan is not a good stubble, she has a kind of temperament that comes out of the palace, I heard that she has been serving in the East Palace for a while.

    The old lady was a little afraid of Qinghan’s aura. As soon as Qinghan appeared, the old lady retreated. She embarrassed: “Well, since Duoer said this, he obviously has his reasons. If you go to work, our family doesn’t have to entertain.”

    After Qinghan left, the old lady secretly said to her daughter-in-law and granddaughters: “How can this be, Duoer’s own mansion, how can we not bring our own servants, but reuse some outside who came?”

      Did not bring! Hearing that Haitang was not reconciled, a beautiful woman knelt at the door of his study and cried for an hour, and he didn’t even open the door.

    Wu Junru is inconvenient to attend on this occasion, but Xiao Yuya and the girls are fine, so today several girls from Xiao’s house are coming to the eldest brother’s house with the old lady to watch the ceremony. Hearing the old lady’s words, Xiao Yuying said, “Perhaps these are the people who were given by the palace. It’s inconvenient for the eldest brother to refuse.”

    “Huh.” Xiao Yuya snorted coldly, “I don’t know the bottom line, maybe some people will be brought in.”

    “Liu Niang!” The old lady glared at her, and Xiao Yuya reluctantly shut up. However, although Xiao Yuya’s words were inappropriate, the reasoning was clear. These hundred people were all gifted from the palace. Who knows what the princesses and saints in the palace thought, and how many of these people may have dark eyes. The old lady shook her head in her heart, giving a hundred slaves as a reward. In fact, I am afraid that Xiao Jingduo would receive it.

    Thinking about this, everyone in the Xiao family felt a lot better, and even the shocks they suffered along the way were acceptable.

    Although this housewarming banquet was fired unknowingly, Xiao Jingduo himself was very insistent and was not willing to do it. Many people also avoided the filial piety of the late emperor. The people or juniors came to Xiao’s house to give gifts, they hurriedly exchanged a few words and left without making a big splash. In this case, it was not easy for the female relatives of the various prefectures to be present. They all sent maids to say hello. Qinghan came forward to receive, greet, and receive the gift list.

    Old Mrs. Xiao sat for a while and found that most of the people present were relatives, and many of the other ladies refused to come out in order to avoid national filial piety. Although it was boring, it was also convenient for talking. Mrs. Xiao wanted to take a look at Xiao Jingduo’s house, so she went out to the garden with a large group of followers of the younger generation.

    I didn’t realize it when I entered the mansion, but now I walked around the back garden, and the old lady and others discovered that it was also the Hou’s mansion. Why is Xiao Jingduo’s mansion so big?

    “I heard that the eldest brother has 500 real seals and can live in such a big house by himself. It’s great.” Xiao Yumang was quite envious. She also married into the Hou residence, but The Marquis of Runan’s mansion is not as spacious as Marquis Chengxi’s mansion, and there are many descendants in the next generation. It is her granddaughter-in-law’s turn to live in a pitiful place. She and her husband-in-law could only be squeezed into the courtyard, and the slaves and servants would live with them. The most terrible thing was that the concubine was also there. In the back room of her main wife, Xiao Yumang was really angry.

    The old lady was a little sad: “Duoer moved away, and his salary will not belong to the public in the future. But can he support such a big house with his own salary?”

      Five hundred households are the tax of five hundred families! When we were in the countryside, how much tax we had to pay a year, but now the tax of five hundred families belongs to the eldest brother. The eldest brother has no female dependents. Do you think it is enough? “

    “Whoops.” I don’t know, but I don’t think so, now I hear Xiao Yumang’s explanation, the old lady’s flesh hurts too much, “The monthly salary of 40,000 yuan does not return to us, and now it is connected to five The fiefs of the hundred households are gone! It would be great if Duoer hadn’t split up the family… No, if he didn’t split up the family, there would be no tax for the five hundred households…” At the end, the old lady didn’t know what she was Think how.

    But no matter how you think about it now, Xiao Jingduo has nothing to do with the Dingyonghou mansion. His salary, his residence, his title, and even the slaves he uses have nothing to do with the Dingyonghou mansion. Branded.

      What should we do? The married daughters Xiao Yuli and Xiao Yumang envied Xiao Jingduo’s spaciousness.

    “In such a big house, the eldest brother is not old yet, how comfortable it is to live in! And the concubines can be far away, so that they have to walk for half a day every day , not to mention using tricks to seduce men! I really envy my sister-in-law in the future, there is no mother-in-law on the top, no step-sons and concubines on the bottom, such a big mansion is entirely up to you, it is a blessing to live!”

    “The new daughter-in-law will not be able to teach her without the guidance and care of her mother-in-law!” The old lady was particularly stubborn, “The daughter-in-law for many years has become a mother-in-law, and there is no mother-in-law above her, so many things can’t be done at all. When you go out, you will be given pointers! Besides, in such a big house, it is not good to live in such a big house by yourself. It is not good.

    Xiao Yuli and Xiao Yumang both rolled their eyes secretly, but they would rather be told, who knows who is suffering from mother-in-law.

    They were walking when they suddenly found that the maids on the other side of the water were running.

    “What’s wrong?” Everyone in the Xiao family was very surprised.

    A passing maid hurriedly bowed and said, “I’m rude, I can’t accompany the ladies to the garden, Princess Ganning is here!”

    Princess Qianning is here?

    The old lady and her daughters-in-law looked at each other, and it was reasonable to say that when the princess came, it should be entertained by the inner house, and even the princess took the initiative to come to see the elder, the old lady. But Gan Ning is not an ordinary princess. She is the eldest princess regent, and all treatment is the same as that of the prince regent. How can there be a reason for the prince regent to greet the women in the house?

    The old lady’s patriarchal ideology is deeply rooted, she stubbornly feels that women should not interfere in external affairs, so she has always had a bad feeling for this princess, but now Princess Ganning is really here, old man People found themselves a little frightened.

    “Mother, what should we do? Are we going to see her or pretend we don’t know?”

    “Pretend not to know, after all, this is an outside matter… Wait, does Princess Ganning care about the affairs of the court?”

      Let’s go talk to her and let her transfer Hu’er to another place!”

    Xiao Yumang felt inappropriate, but could not persuade the old lady to eat the scales, let alone the second lady Xiao next to her. Mrs. Xiao has always been enthusiastic about her son’s affairs. Now that the old lady wants to stand up for Xiao Jinghu, she should not stop her!

    Old Mrs. Xiao did what she said, and immediately walked to the front hall with a group of female relatives. They walked mightily through the corridor, and as soon as they turned out of the partition, they saw Xiao Jingduo standing and talking to a woman under the blue-black eaves. From the perspective of the old lady and the others, only Xiao Jingduo’s face can be seen, and there seems to be a smile in his eyes, while on the other side of him is a woman wearing a deep white dress, the woman is half a head shorter than Xiao Jingduo. , with beautiful eyebrows, but unfortunately Xiao Jingduo blocked half of it and couldn’t see the whole picture.

    Xiao Yumang was a little stunned, she rarely saw the smile in Xiao Jingduo’s eyes. The woman didn’t know what to say. Xiao Jingduo lowered his head slightly and was listening carefully. After listening, the two looked at each other and smiled. At that moment, it seemed that no one could insert themselves into their world. Xiao Yumang didn’t know how to describe this feeling. She just suddenly felt sour. Although she and her husband were always praised for their talent and good looks, Chen Liulang had never smiled at her like this.

    It was Xiao Jingduo who heard the sound first and turned around in response. It was only at this time that Xiao Yumang saw the full face of the woman. She was slightly surprised. Everyone knew that Princess Ganning was so young and beautiful?

    Seeing who came, Xiao Jingduo was very surprised: “Grandma? Why are you here?”

    Rong Ke gathered up his sleeves and nodded with a smile. “Mrs. Xiao.”

    “Don’t dare to be so!” Mrs. Xiao smiled and took the initiative to greet Rong Ke, “You are Princess Ganning? I didn’t expect people to be so handsome, no wonder Duoer is always in Hou The government mentioned…”

    “Grandmother!” Xiao Jingduo hurriedly stopped, this sentence was full of inappropriateness, Xiao Jingduo didn’t know what to scold, and finally he could only warn, “This is Your Highness the eldest princess, you must not rude.”

    Rong Ke smiled unchanged: “No problem.”

    At this time, the old lady felt that something was wrong. She was used to saying these words. You would rather be a man and don’t feel anything. If it is a female boss… strange. And what is “to be so handsome”, really, the old lady herself felt that what she said was outrageous.

    Rong Ke has been hiding in the Princess Mansion these few days, and it is not easy to return to the palace. I heard that Xiao Jingduo was relocated today, so I stopped by to join in the fun. When Xiao Jingduo learned that Rong Ke was driving, he naturally ran out to greet him. As soon as Rong Ke met, he laughed and said that he was leaving the palace to hide in peace. Xiao Jingduo couldn’t help laughing when he thought of what Rong Ke had done a few days ago. The two of them were joking and standing at the door and didn’t go in. Now that the old lady came with someone, they definitely couldn’t keep sticking at the door.

      How does the eldest princess remember that we are in the house today?”

    This doesn’t seem to be their mansion… But Rong Ke will not care about an old grandmother, and still politely replied: “I’ve been living outside the palace these few days, I heard that today Xiao Jingduo Relocate, just stop by and have a look.”

    Rong Ke is the regent princess, not the same as the emperor. The emperor could not leave the palace at will, but she had no restrictions, and she was treated the same as the regent.

    “By the way?” The old lady was puzzled.

    The female officer behind Rong Ke explained, “Princess Qianning’s mansion is just opposite the mansion of the Marquis of Chengxi.”

    “Ah, there is such a thing.” The old lady’s eyes were opened. She didn’t know what to think, and suddenly shouted in surprise, “This is just right!”

    “Grandma!” Xiao Jingduo hurriedly stopped, “What did you say.”

      , She didn’t say it, just thought about it, Xiao Jingduo actually saw it?

    The old lady tut tut tut tut sigh, the person who is an official is incredible, and even the minds of others can be guessed clearly.

    “As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as near neighbors.” The old lady said, “It is rare for the princess and Duo to live so close together, we just need to move around.”

    The granddaughters of the Xiao family hurriedly went to pull the old lady’s sleeve, the old lady was pulled a few times, but she didn’t know what was wrong: “These words are used very closely in the countryside, who are the eight villages in ten miles and eight villages? I don’t know why. What’s wrong…”

    Xiao Yuying grew up in the Hou Mansion since she was a child, and her agility is far better than that of the old lady who was a half-way monk. She was anxious and lowered her voice and whispered: “Grandma, they are princesses…”

    The old lady suddenly realized that the person sitting opposite was not a neighbor from the countryside, but a princess of the dynasty, and her distant relatives were also royal relatives. In front of Gan Ning, the old lady said that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors… Buddha, what is she talking about!

    “Princess, that’s not what my old man meant… I definitely didn’t disrespect the princes and princesses…”

    “I understand.” Rong Ke nodded with a smile, “The old lady is right.”

    The old lady sneered and could only try to remedy: “Princess, Duoer is the most stable child I have seen since I was a child, but it is not easy for you to live outside by yourself as a girl. Yes, I will take good care of you.”

    The other female relatives of the Xiao family were embarrassed and didn’t dare to look up, but Rong Ke burst out laughing: “I see.”

    Xiao Jingduo could hardly sit still, her grandmother was talking to Rong Ke!

    Old Mrs. Xiao had heard the name of Princess Ganning for a long time. She thought she was a majestic figure like a bodhisattva, but now she seems to be kind and tight. Growing up, La Chang said to Rong Ke, “Princess, why do you want to live outside the palace? Wouldn’t it be better to live in the palace?”

    Rong Ke’s smile did not change: “I do some things for my grandmother. For convenience, I live outside.”

    When the old lady heard this, she sincerely praised: “The princess is really filial.”

    “Yes.” Rong Ke even replied.

    Xiao Jingduo lifted his eyes from the tea cup, silently looked at Rongke, and robbed the house that Empress Dowager Cui had prepared for her son for many years. She was really filial. Rong Ke noticed Xiao Jingduo’s gaze, the smile on his face did not change, but his eyes glared at him sideways.

    Xiao Jingduo looked back, but smiled. And the old lady praised Rong Ke unknowingly: “Princess is really beautiful and kind-hearted, such a big house is given to Duoer, we just went around the back, it is so big that it can be a palace. “

    Xiao Jingduo said in his heart, this is indeed a palace. Rong Ke himself was relieved, and he may have to be angered by Empress Dowager Cui in the future.

    They were sitting here talking, Qinghan led a team of maids outside the house, lightly served tea to everyone, changed fresh melons and fruit plates, then lowered their heads and hands, quietly Silently stepped aside.

    When Qing Han walked up to Rong Ke, she took the initiative to salute and said with a smile, “Your Highness.”

    Rong Ke also smiled and nodded: “Since you have come to Chengxihou Mansion, you will serve with all your heart.”

    “Yes.” Qing Han lowered her head and walked five steps backwards, then turned around and walked quickly to the corner of the room.

    Seeing this, the old lady thought about it in their hearts. Seeing Qinghan like this, where she only served in the East Palace, I am afraid she used to be a powerful person by the princess. Gan Ning gave Xiao Jingduo to the people around her, which is worth thinking about. What did she mean by this?

    The daughters of the Xiao family have their own thoughts, but Xiao Yuya is secretly enjoying herself. Although she is not yet ten years old, she has lived in the Hou Mansion since she was a child, and with Wu Junru’s help, she can’t understand all the circles in the house. She used to worry that Xiao Jingduo’s rising momentum was too good, and it would be detrimental to their brothers and sisters in the future. Now it seems that although Gan Ning looks very generous on the surface, he has given houses and people, but several big girls in the house are Gan Ning’s People, this is clearly a domination. In the future, Xiao Jingduo’s wife will get started. Seeing this situation, she may be troubled.

    It seems that Xiao Jingduo is not as reused as it seems.

    The old lady also felt uncomfortable. Most of Xiao Jingduo’s mansion was from Princess Qianning. It’s hard to say whether it was eyeliner or grace. She had planned to come to Xiao Jingduo’s mansion for two days, but now It seems that I’m afraid…

    The old lady retreated in her heart. She saw that there was a cold scene, and she was about to say something to go out and turn around, when she heard a person walking quickly from the courtyard, standing at the door and reporting: “Hou Lord, someone has come from the Marquis of Pingyang mansion.”

    This…Xiao Jingduo looked at Rong Ke, and was about to push back when he heard Rong Ke say, “Don’t say I’m in your house. I’m so annoying these days. Now, if the news leaks from you…you can figure it out for yourself.”

    Seeing this, the old lady quickly said, “Yes, go out to entertain the guests, the princess is here with us.”

    The smile on Xiao Jingduo’s face subsided, he looked at Rong Ke, then at the old lady, and suddenly asked, “Grandma, what are you trying to say, even I can’t hear it?”