It wasn't until the end of the day that the female relatives left one after another. Minglan climbed onto the soft couch, rubbing her cheeks that were about to cramp with laughter. She fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she slept. When she was in a daze, her abdomen and
A very familiar feeling of pressure appears in my chest. ~
Minglan opened her eyes very calmly, and saw the sun setting outside the window. The man's heavy body was lying beside her, his thigh resting on Minglan's belly, his arms across his chest, and a head next to his neck, which was rushing towards her.
Breathing moist heat.
Minglan exhaled with difficulty, first twisted her waist, and then stretched out her two arms from under the thin blanket, lifting the man's arms two or three inches like a barbell, and then rolled off the soft couch while twisting and crawling.
, this whole series of movements is very smooth and skillful.
Smelling the smell on her clothes, Minglan hurried into the clean room. Danju helped her spread her hair and loosen her clothes. Xiaotao was busy fetching hot water and putting on the handkerchief. The two of them saw Minglan's angry face and looked at each other. Danju
She couldn't help but said: "Xia Zhu and Xia He made the bed for the master as you asked, but who knew..." Xiao Taoxin said bluntly: "But who knew that the master would ask 'where is the madam' as soon as he entered the room, and then he would get drunk?"
Went to the east wing." His tone was rather angry.
Minglan sighed slightly: "You don't need to tell me, I don't know yet."
After washing up, Minglan put on clean inner clothes and a thin cotton-padded jacket embroidered with plum blossoms in goose yellow. She put her makeup on in the mirror and said to Xiao Tao: "Call Xiao Quan and Xiao Shun and tell them about what happened in the outer courtyard today.
situation."
Xiaotao left in response, and after a while, two boys came.
Gu Quan was articulate and Gu Shun was steady and thoughtful. The younger one was in fifth grade and the older one was in the first year of junior high school. Minglan grabbed a handful of fruits and gave them to them and asked questions gently. Gu Quan grinned two happy little tiger teeth, one by one.
Speaking of which, although he is young, he has a good memory. Which adults were carried back when they were drunk, and which adults were out of shape when they were exposed to alcohol. Of course, there are also some who drink very well, and the little boy can remember clearly.
Chu.
There were so many Duan brothers, and half of the people who were carried out were made drunk by them, including Mr. Gan, who claimed to be old and strong and refused to become an official. It is said that he was dragging Gu Tingye to talk at the time, and he was yelled at violently.
I was persuaded, so I soaked it in a wine jar.
General Bo stroked his beard and said with a smile: As you get older, you should pay attention to drinking appropriately.
"How old is Mr. Gan?" Minglan asked curiously. In ancient times, there was no standard retirement age.
"I think he is fifty or sixty." Gu Quan was not sure, and Gu Shun on the side gently added, "I heard that Mr. Gan celebrated his sixtieth birthday the year before last."
Minglan nodded with satisfaction: Mrs. Gan was only around forty, so unless she was Gong Xuehua's classmate, she should be the successor.
The banquet was basically a success. Not only were the food and drinks plentiful, but all the tableware such as arrow pots, lottery tubes, wine tokens, etc. were also prepared. They even prepared hangover tea and hangover pills. What Minglan didn’t expect was her own.
Father and brother, I originally thought that most of the people at the banquet would be generals with military backgrounds or dandies from noble families, and Sheng Hong's father would be very boring. Who knows that the situation is exactly the opposite.
Not long after the banquet started, Chang Bai, who had a serious expression, met Mr. Fu Qinran, the Prime Minister of the Yousi Temple of Honglu Temple, who had an even more serious expression. Then he met Qiu Shu, who was still working in the Imperial Prison. The three of them sat together and talked solemnly.
When they started talking, people who didn't know it saw them and thought they were holding a memorial service.
Sheng Hong and the fifth old man fell in love at first sight. The two talked about the hard study in their youth, the difficulties of the imperial examination, and the difficulty of being an official. The more they talked, the more they became more and more speculative. In his life, the fifth old man admired and admired those knowledgeable people the most. Everyone, but most of the civil servants who came from the imperial examination looked down on Quan Jue's brother, but Sheng Hong was the kind of person who knew how to communicate, with elegant conversation and good temperament. No matter how he viewed the other party in his heart, he could always show a very impressive attitude. A comfortable attitude. ~
The fifth old man said that he was stupid and had grown more than ten years old, but he failed in the imperial examinations many times. He was really ashamed. But Mr. Sheng immediately expressed his sincere objection. It is said that if there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts, how can we judge heroes by success or failure? Maybe it happened to be the examiner Maybe he doesn't like your writing style, so he immediately gave examples of many famous writers throughout the ages who failed in the imperial examinations.
The fifth old man's eyes became hot for a moment, and he immediately introduced Mr. Sheng as his confidant.
After Minglan heard this, she couldn't help but cursed: Nonsense! How could someone with two skills have gone smoothly in the officialdom to where they are today? How many old-timers in the officialdom have been ignored by Father Sheng.
Then the topic between them turned to the issue of education. When it comes to ancestors, Sheng Hong is inferior to the fifth old man. When it comes to children and grandchildren, the fifth old man cannot catch up with Sheng Hong even if he drives a Lamborghini. As they talk, the fifth old man Gradually, I began to feel inferior; just like a parent-teacher meeting in school, most of the parents of the students at the bottom cannot hold their heads high in front of the parents with excellent grades.
Minglan was very happy to hear it, and couldn't help shaking her shoulders while holding the tea bowl.
Until Gu Tingye woke up, Minglan was still not happy. She was setting out the meal and talking about it with a smile. In fact, it was already the end of the unitary hour, and both of them had spleen and stomach discomfort due to the heavy drinking at noon. Minglan asked the kitchen to make mung bean and almond porridge, then soy sauce beef with sesame pancakes, a few light and refreshing vegetarian dishes, and the pickled side dishes that Ge’s mother is good at, mixed with sesame oil, or two drops of balsamic vinegar, which is very delicious. It's for dinner.
In fact, Gu Tingye didn't eat anything to fill him up at noon. He was still a little tired at first, but after a few bites, he developed an appetite. He slurped down three large bowls of porridge and ate five soft and tender beef clips. The sesame seed cakes made me feel much better. Minglan's words were interesting and she couldn't help but laugh.
"My cousins are going to suffer this time!" Gu Tingye's deep eyes flashed with gloating, and then his tone changed again, and he said coldly, "But don't worry, my fifth aunt is willing to help herself out of trouble. .”
Minglan could hear the sarcasm in his words. These days, she also asked a lot of news about the Ningyuan House from several mothers. Among them, the few masters in the fifth room were the most incompetent, especially the eldest master Gu Tingyang. The girl in charge of the house had given birth to a son and a daughter, and she was still outsourcing her fans to fight over each other. She did all kinds of ridiculous things, but every time the fifth old man got angry, the fifth old lady always saved her.
Alas! A mother's child is like a treasure; Minglan secretly raised her eyes and glanced at Gu Tingye.
"Uh..." Minglan changed the subject, "I'm going to pay my respects to the Madam early tomorrow morning and bring Sister Rong and the others back. What do you think?"
Gu Tingye frowned and put down his bowl and chopsticks: "So fast?"
"It's the same in the morning and in the evening, so why ask people to talk more." Minglan asked someone to bring a basin and tea, and said with a smile, "Also, starting from tomorrow, I plan to go to the Hou Mansion every five or six days to pay homage to the Queen Mother. Madam, please greet me." That is once a week, four times a month.
Gu Tingye frowned even more, and even knitted his brows. He looked unhappy and said: "Why bother? It will cause a lot of trouble, so it's not far or close."
Minglan knew something was wrong, so she could only persuade him with gentle words: "When others make mistakes, you will make mistakes too. It's like throwing away pearls and jade and initialing them, which will make you have nothing to say about others."
"Who said this?" Gu Tingye chewed the words twice and asked with interest, "But your old lady?"
Minglan smiled and said: "No, it's my dad." She secretly complained, how do you know it was not her own words. ~
Gu Tingye was taken aback and chuckled: "My father-in-law is quite insightful." Sheng Hong's way of persuading people was very practical. He didn't say anything about etiquette and integrity, but only analyzed the consequences.
Xia Zhu and Xiao Tao came in with tea trays and copper basins of hot water. Minglan asked them to put down their things and go down by themselves. Then she handed over the handkerchief with a smile and said: "When I was a child, once everyone gathered to listen to Mr. Zhuang. Speaking of wild things, the fourth sister deliberately stained my new clothes with ink. When I was angry, I stole two pieces of fat lard from the kitchen while I was changing my clothes, and smeared it thickly on the chair cushion of the fourth sister's seat. Down……"
Before he finished speaking, Gu Tingye buried his face in the hot parlor and laughed. Seeing Minglan staring at him with big black and white eyes, he quickly raised his thumbs and praised loudly: "Well done. OK!" Then he pulled Minglan over, sat on his lap, scratched her nose, and said with a smile, "What happened next?"
Minglan blushed, but was a little proud, and said vaguely: "Fourth sister was not prepared. As soon as she sat on it, she slipped from the chair and fell to the ground, falling backwards."
——The point is, Qi Heng was also present! Mo Lan, who had always been known for his elegance, fell into the shape of a toad. Qi Gong's mouth was wide open in surprise. Mo Lan wished he could crawl under the ground, and he would be shameless for a long time. Appear in front of Qi Heng!
Gu Tingye laughed. Seeing Minglan holding back her complacency, he couldn't help but bite her round and small earlobe. He smiled and gritted his teeth and said: "You black-hearted little villain!" Then he reached out to rub her ears, "Later What? Are you being punished?"
Minglan nodded honestly: "Fortunately, the fifth sister testified, and the fourth sister and I were each punished to copy the book three hundred times. That sentence was what dad lectured me at that time."
She concealed some facts. In fact, how could Sheng Hong believe everything Ru Lan said? Ming Lan originally planned to ask Chang Bai to testify, but Qi Heng quickly went to find Sheng Hong after class and explained the situation clearly but euphemistically. , it was made clear that Mo Lan had deliberately bullied her sister, and Sheng Hong punished them both fairly. Thinking of this, her heart ached slightly.
Minglan saw early on that Qi Heng had actually seen through Mo Lan's actions a long time ago (Princess Pingning's education was very effective), but his upbringing since childhood made him hide it with an elegant and warm smile. The residence is ridiculed and disliked.
The most ridiculous thing is that Mo Lan never knew it and kept pretending in front of the Qi family.
There was an inexplicable pity in Minglan's smile. She circled Gu Tingye's neck and whispered softly: "We live so close to the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, but we don't go to say hello. Isn't it our fault? So, I have to go. "
Gu Tingye still had a sullen face and nodded reluctantly; Minglan smiled and said: "Don't worry, in fact, I have also made a calculation. Like the Lu family, after Mr. Lu moved into Yuci's mansion, Mr. and Mrs. Lu still stayed. They were looking after the house in the old house. Because of the long distance, they went to greet their parents every five days. There was also the Han family. Although their parents were still alive, they had divided the house into two and a half. The two daughters-in-law were half I’m going to ask for you once a month... I thought about it, we live in separate houses, but we are so close, but we are not biologically related, so I might as well learn the rules of the Lu family."
Gu Tingye couldn't help but laugh when he saw the look on her face that was good at settling accounts, and whispered: "I didn't want to ask you to go to the muddy water. I didn't think so much when I was given the mansion..." There was a hint of light in his tone. of apology.
"Don't bother me! I'm not made of brittle porcelain." Minglan teased, as if she understood the truth, "As the saying goes, wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes. Rivers and lakes, how can there be no muddy water."
Gu Tingye felt warm in his heart, caressed Minglan's cheek, and said softly: "Don't tell me this sentence is said by Mr. Taishan again?... Do you admire your father-in-law very much?" But he heard that Minglan was not Sheng Hong's favorite. Beloved daughter.
Minglan couldn't deny it, so she thought about it and said calmly: "My grandmother always felt that my father was partial, but I think he is a good father. When I was a child, my sisters took away the jade pendant that I gave me, so at least my father would give it to me. A big golden lock was given as compensation; no matter how busy he is, he will definitely come to inquire every month..."
Especially when Minglan later moved into Mucangzhai, Sheng Hong would always ask her how she was doing, whether her clothes and items were missing, whether she was attentive to her service, and so on - in front of Mrs. Wang, as a sign of humiliation. .
Sheng Hong was born as a commoner, and he knew very well how slaves deceived their masters and deceived their superiors. He would never listen to Mrs. Wang's saying that "the children are all very good" and ignore everything. But whenever the children said which maid mother had Anyone who neglects will be replaced. Long before Yao Yiyi came through, Wang and Aunt Lin had been fighting openly and secretly for several rounds. For this reason, Aunt Lin was able to place Wang next to Chang Feng and Mo Lan. Clear out all the people and replace them with your own people.
Of course, only Aunt Lin has the courage, Aunt Xiang doesn't dare.
Under the restraint of Sheng Hong, the children of the Sheng family can grow up safely and healthily, and receive relatively good treatment. Although he is often biased, compared with many foolish and selfish men who only care about children and not raising children, he is already Much stronger.
In this era, he is really not a bad father.
Gu Tingye looked at Minglan's nostalgic look, with a smile on his face. He hesitated for a moment, but still spoke: "My father...he, he treated me very harshly; I was naughty since I was a child, and I ate a lot from him. Family law."
Minglan was surprised. It was the first time she heard him mention the deceased Mr. Gu. She whispered: "How did your father-in-law treat you?"
"...Okay? I can't explain that." Gu Tingye paused for a long time, then said calmly, "My master loves to toss and punish me. If there are nine cold days, my eldest brother and my third brother can stay warm in the house, and I will have a good day." I get up early every morning to practice Kung Fu; but...among the brothers, I am the only one who was taught Kung Fu by him personally. He taught me every move step by step, but if I made any mistakes, I would be beaten severely and would not listen to anyone's advice."
"What about the eldest brother and third brother?" Minglan asked lightly.
"The eldest brother is weak. Needless to say, the third brother is called the guardian of the outer courtyard."
Minglan felt that she couldn't ignore her conscience, so she whispered: "My father-in-law is doing this for your own good, um... is the madam good to you?" In fact, Gu Tingye understood very well, but he just couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.
"Excellent." Gu Tingye replied very quickly, with a touch of sarcasm on his lips, "Every time my third brother and I argue about something, she will always ask me how much money I want to spend. She never hesitates. Not only do the maids in our courtyard The biggest and most beautiful thing is that she would be the first to come out to protect me when I did something wrong. Everyone in the Hou family praises her for her gentleness, kindness and tolerance towards others."
Minglan thought to herself: It's an old trick! Nothing new.
Gu Tingye chuckled sarcastically: "This is nothing new. Most people have thought that as I grew older, I realized something was wrong. But at that time, the master no longer wanted to believe me. My father couldn't say a few words.
There was a quarrel. Later, Grandma Chang came to see me and told me about my biological mother..." His breath suddenly became short, and there was a faint look of resentment on his face, "That's when I really started to hate him! After so many years, Master
We all knew it, but we didn’t say anything, so that the naughty slave was laughing behind my back that my birth mother was of low origin! That’s why my fourth and fifth uncles always made trouble with my mother’s family when they scolded me!”
"...There is a reason why you are angry." Minglan sighed.
As soon as the words came out, it became easier to say them later. Gu Tingye laughed at himself: "I was fooling around outside, and the master found out and later reprimanded him, so I sneered at him and said, 'Without my mother's money, your title is still uncertain.
Where I live, this whole government relies on my mother to prosper so far, so what's the point of making a fuss? The master was so angry that the whole family scolded me for being unfilial; however, this is not the only time I'm angry with the master."
Minglan rubbed his thick, thick hair and said nothing.
"I didn't even see him for the last time." Gu Tingye stated quietly. He leaned his head on Minglan's chest, feeling warm and soft, "I didn't dare to close my eyes for three days and three nights. I exhausted six horses.
Still haven’t caught up yet.”
His tone was very calm, but Minglan felt a faint pain.
Human emotion may be the most troublesome thing in the world. Because it is illogical, it is difficult to measure it with any sophisticated instrument. Mr. Gu may not love Bai, but he feels guilty for this incident.
, but because of the affection of the Da Qin family in the past and the honorable reputation of the family in the future, he could not make any explicit compensation.
Minglan was not a psychology major, so she didn't know what to say. She could only explain softly: "My father-in-law has passed away these years, and I haven't had the chance to serve him a bowl of tea. Why don't you tell me something about him?"
Gu Tingye's eyes were blank for a moment, and after a while, he said: "...It was a snowy morning, I must be seven or eight years old, and I was shivering from the cold. I really wanted to go back to bed to warm myself, but the master refused to let me go.
I waved the pewter gun barrel, cursing my mother in my heart. The snow was heavy, and it fell softly, accumulating on the master’s head, eyebrows, and shoulders. Half of his body was white, but he was still staring at my moves motionlessly. He said
, you are different from your brothers, you have to rely on yourself."
Under the dim candlelight, a strange sense of sadness appeared on his handsome face.
Minglan could only sigh. The two sat for a while. Minglan felt a little sleepy. When she was considering whether to leave him alone, Gu Tingye suddenly laughed softly. In the silence of the room, this laughter was quite penetrating.
A stern look appeared on his face, and his chuckle turned into a sneer: "Humph, why?!"
He turned towards Minglan, and his tone was full of ridicule and coldness: "Why should I have to lick blood with the tip of a knife to earn a living? They are richer than me, so they can comfortably nestle in the noble title and wait for their ancestors? There are many Gu families in the family.
People have relied on the money from the Bai family to be able to live up to this point. Why should I have to live with my tail between my legs? I am living outside like a lost dog!"
Gu Tingye stood up abruptly, his thick and messy black hair scattered on the snow-green silk and satin robe, reflecting a shocking bleak luster. His handsome face was hidden in the shadow of the candlelight, and he stood upright in the middle, full of energy.
There was a dangerous aura of gnashing teeth and hatred, like a ferocious beast that wanted to devour people.
He couldn't help but sneer, his voice was like gold and iron, and he said sternly: "Every injustice has its owner, and every debt has its owner! If I had done what they wanted, I would have been silent for the rest of my life, and the debt would have been settled. But now I am called
I took the lead, and God is asking me to settle this account!"
Minglan shrank her body in the Taishi's chair, her whole body covered in the shadow of his tall body, feeling anxious and scared. She wanted to say, "Maybe God has other intentions, you have misunderstood," but she did not dare to speak.
She knew that in fact, he was not greedy for the title and money, but he was arrogant and stubborn by nature. She couldn't swallow this breath. But, how many people can face such mistreatment calmly?
At this time, Minglan suddenly had an idea in her mind, raised her head suddenly, and asked tentatively: "What are you going to do?"
Gu Tingye turned his head, his eyes were clear and calm. He brushed the front of his robe gracefully and leaned on the soft couch to sit down. He looked noble and calm. He even smiled softly: "Mom, don't be afraid.
, I won’t do anything.”
Minglan sat blankly, looking at the man in confusion, and suddenly felt relieved - people are complicated, and she didn't understand him very well, just as he didn't understand himself very well either.