When Wei Changfeng and Wei Changying were directing their servants in a heavy and complicated mood to pack up their things and prepare to return to the mansion from Little Bamboo Hill, Gu Yiran and his followers had already entered Fengzhou.
Although they were all Standby Guards of the emperor, they came with a secret imperial edict. Although this secret imperial edict was absurd, and the request was only to hide it from Lady Zhong before her birthday. It was in Fengzhou, which was far away from the capital, and it was nothing to reveal it to Wei Changfeng. But it would damage the reputation of the emperor if it was said publicly. So they couldn't spread out the news along the way that the emperor sent Standby Guards to Qingzhou. They all dressed in simple clothes, slowed the horse the city and chose a remote and quiet tavern to stay after entering the city.
At that time, it was still early. The tavern just opened, and there were no guests in it.
Duanmu Wuyou's response was expected by Gu Yiran. He smiled, "It was not Wei Changfeng. It was Wei Changfeng's sister.""A lady of the Wei Family?" This time, even Liu Xixun was surprised, leaning forward slightly and getting interested, "Shen Cangfeng's fiancée? Wei Changfeng said that there were womenfolk on Little Bamboo Hill. Is that her? How about her?" He asked, "How is she like?" But his expression said, "It will be better if Miss Wei is ugly and Shen Cangfeng has to marry an ugly shrew. And it will be the best, if this lady not only has an ugly appearance, but also has a bad temper that she could get jealous and quarrelsome easily."Duanmu Wuyou doubted, "When strangers went up the mountain, didn't the lady want to avoid? Was the lady you saw really Miss Wei?"Although he didn't like Wei Changfeng, the Wei Family in Fengzhou, the Duanmu Family in Jinxiu, and the Liu Family in Eastern Hu were gentlefolk, so he believed the moral standard
The imperial edict, which aimed to order Empress Qian to suicide, had accused her of murdering an imperial concubine. The victim was a young and beautiful royal mistress who had just entered the palace less than half a year ago.The victim was just a royal mistress, but the Empress had murdered her at the cost of her life. What's more, the royal mistress was born in an ordinary family, so even the ministers thought that the Emperor shouldn't order the Empress to suicide for such a common woman. But perhaps His Majesty doted on the royal mistress very much, so he insisted on ordering the Empress to suicide.What's more, the Crown Prince was implicated. The Emperor regarded him as "the son of a bitch" and "an extremely unfilial son". Like his lineal eldest brother, his title of the Crown Prince was deposed, and he was shut down in a desolate courtyard.This Crown Prince didn't commit suicide, but he died because of melancholy some years later. He
After Wei Changying and Song Zaishui sat into the carriage and put down the gauze curtains, Wei Changfeng said to the guard, "Ask that person to talk to me."Since that person wanted to climb the hill and appreciate the stele, he wouldn't refuse Wei Changfeng's invitation.Having seen the person in white coming towards them with the guard, both Wei Changying and Song Zaishui were surprised and said, "What? He's a commoner?" White clothes were not dyed, so they were usually cheap. Therefore, commoners were always in white.The girls knew that the society in this dynasty was so rigidly stratified that people respected the gentry and suppressed the commoners. Although some commoners had become officials in the Royal Court, those positions with most power and status would never belong to them.Also, even if the commoners had their property, they couldn't compare to the gentries. Without a distinguished family background and wealth, how
Even if Wei Huan did not remind them, Old Madam Song and Madam Song would also suspect that Song Zaishui was faking it up. But such a suspicion could neither be supported with any evidence nor be asked directly. This Miss had even done the thing such as self-destructing her appearance. If they actually pushed her too hard, God knows what was going to happen.They held back from taking action for fear of making things worse so that things got stagnated.Madam Song, as Song Zaishui's lineal Granny, was indeed afraid that something bad really happened to her niece. While she was also suspecting that Song Zaishui was just pretending to be sick, she still discussed with Old Madam Song, "If Zaishui is not faking it up, Shall we just let her go back to the capital as soon as possible? So as not to miss the best timing of treatment? It is true that we do not have famous doctors here who are good at treating traumatism."Hearing "miss the best timing of
Seeing that Song Zaishui was so anxious that her face turned pale, Wei Changying didn't know what to do and hurriedly asked the guard outside the curtain, "Since Mr. Deng has sent a message for the second cousin, does the second cousin have any good way to solve this problem?"When Song Zaishui heard that, she also stopped crying and listened eagerly.The guard said respectfully, "Mr. Deng said that under this circumstance, Miss must not marry into the royal family. Otherwise, there will be no good results!"Wei Changying said hurriedly, "This is needless to say! Just tell me if the second cousin has any solutions!""Mr. Deng said one solution, but..." the guard said with hesitation.Song Zaishui suddenly lost her temper and heavily slapped the table. She said angrily, "Why are you still so wordy at this moment? Since my second brother has a plan to ask Mr. Deng to bring it to me, why do you hesitate to tell? Even if t
Although Madam Song told her daughter to keep it from Old Madam Song, within a few days, Deng Zongqi's unknown background still came from the capital. Looking at the letter saying that Deng Zongqi was protected a lot by the Honored Consort, Old Madam Song frowned tightly. She raised her head and told Madam Song, "Since Deng Zongqi has ulterior motives, it's necessary to add more staff in his yard."Madam Song nodded, "I will tell the manager in the outer courtyard.""He saved Changying, and it was our family who sent Changfeng to invite him to come home to recuperate. Though we have found that he has ulterior motives, it's not good for Changying’s reputation if we drive him out like this." Old Madam Song thought for a moment and said, "Keep an eye on him. Don't fall into his trap carelessly."Old Madam Song added when Madam Song was about to continue to promise, "Well, keep an eye on Zaishui."Madam Song was nervous and said with a
After seeing Deng Zongqi personally, Madam Song called Song Zaishui and Wei Changying the next day and spoke to them frankly, "This marriage must be stopped. Although the reply from Jiangnan has not arrived yet, I expect that they would feel the same about this. According to Honored Consort Deng, on the birthday of Lady Zhong there would be a bad omen in the palace—Since the Honored Consort's Zhaohua Palace is situated in the south of the Imperial Palace, the Empress and Lady Zhong would have their men do some tricks over it when the time comes."After a pause, Madam Song continued, "The First Prince was impeached because he was exposed by the abolished Empress Qian for using witchcraft to curse His Majesty! Therefore, if His Majesty were to consider the Honored Consort as a bad omen, even if he wouldn’t abrogate her as the Honored Consort, the Deng Family's status would suffer greatly from now on, especially for the life of the only Prince of the Deng Family who could
"So is my eldest cousin here too?" Wei Changying knew that Song Zaitian was coming, but she was going to see Shen Zhou today. She was so nervous that she forgot Song Zaitian. At that moment, she was reminded by Old Madam Song. She rolled her eyes and saluted respectfully. "I often heard my mother talking about my uncle and two cousins. But I was too young and forgot. I thought I would see you in the future. Unexpectedly, I have the chance to see you now."Compared with her meeting with Shen Zhou, Wei Changying was closer to Song Zaitian, but she didn't offend Shen Zhou. After all, Wei Changying hadn't got married yet. Even if she was already a member of the Shen Family in name and Shen Zhou just said this, however, a daughter of an eminent family needed to have a reserved manner before getting married, which showed her dignity as the lineal daughter of the Wei Family.What's more, Shen Zhou was an elder, and it was the first time that they had met. With the