Chapter 275: Great Joy and Great Sorrow

Although it was thought that the prince's Qianqiu Festival might be exempted from congratulatory gifts, the Baoding Marquis Mansion still began to dot as early as May and was ready to be sent to Nanjing in the season. Mrs. Lu has always cared about tedious housework, so these are all Zhang Qing's worries. So, on this day, there was such news in the palace, and Mrs. Lu had to sigh to Zhang Qing in the upper room.

"That's it this year, the year before last was the prince's 40th birthday, and the emperor also issued a decree to exempt the crown prince from the Qianqiu Festival gift. According to common sense, the Qianqiu Festival should be given to the Ministry of Mansion, Chunfang, Kedao, the close service Jinyi Wei and the world's official banquet in the Wenhua Palace, and now even this is saved. ”

Almost all of the older generation of the heroes are gone, and now the rest are the second generation, and some things are more difficult than people can imagine to keep the title and favor. It's like the forty-two silver longevity peaches prepared this time, if you can't send them out, you can still return to the furnace and recast, but if you don't prepare, what will happen when the time comes, you will have to be pulled by someone.

As the eldest daughter-in-law of the Marquis of Baoding, Zhang Qing also visited the crown princess with the public when she was in Nanjing, and she was inevitably a little frightened at this time. It's just that what matters now is not the Crown Prince Thousand Autumn Festival, but another matter. After thinking for a while, she said: "This congratulatory gift is just that, everyone originally thought that there might be such a thing." I only think that the emperor may take advantage of the crown prince's Qianqiu Festival to release the uncle, after all, the letter of the county lord Chen Liu's has been coming for several days, and there has been no movement so far. ”

Mrs. Lu smiled at this time. Although she has children and daughters under her knees, she has always loved Zhang Qing, a shrewd, capable and good-tempered daughter-in-law, so she immediately took her hand and sat down beside her, and said earnestly: "The emperor has always done things according to his will, whether he kills or releases people, he will not think about whether the crown prince's Qianqiu Festival is approaching, otherwise he would not send Brother Yue to Qingzhou to prison at this time." Since Lord Chen Liujun has brought all the words, we might as well wait patiently, it is useless to count on the master, he can't do anything about this matter. ”

Seeing Zhang Qing nodding, she suddenly remembered what Meng Jun mentioned when he came back: "I heard that your second uncle came back this time and brought a woman who was impeached by the imperial history two days ago?" He is not young anymore, how can he be so amorous as a young man! I remember that your second aunt is not a good temper, if this family is not peaceful, even if he is prosperous in his career, he will not be interesting. ”

Although I occasionally heard some rumors when I returned to the door, Zhang Qing didn't comment much on the elders' affairs, but she just smiled and said that she didn't know. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were discussing what to do with the birthday gift that had been prepared, when the bamboo curtain of the hall was suddenly knocked open, but it was Zhang Qing's big girl who hugged Xia.

"Madame, grandma, grandma...... The big man has been released! ”

"How can it be so fast!" Mrs. Lu blurted out a sentence only before she realized that she had committed a speech problem, and hurriedly changed her words, "Neither the master nor Jun'er have ever mentioned a word, and there is no news about such a big matter in advance...... Ahem, don't talk about this, is the person out of the Jinyi Prison, or has he already arrived at home, but what is the injury or inappropriate? ”

"The slave and maid don't know, it's the eldest master's family who sent someone to report the news, and the slave and maid happened to pass by the Hanging Flower Gate, and when they heard it, they hurried to report to Mrs. first!" Bao Xia hurriedly explained, and then curtsying, "At this time, I'm afraid that the daughter-in-law in the inner courtyard has already brought people in, and the lady and grandmother will be able to get the letter after a while." ”

Although Baoding Hou Meng Ying and Meng Xian said that they were different, the relationship between the brothers in the past was quite harmonious, so at this time, Mrs. Lu was impatient to sit and wait in the upper room, greeted Zhang Qing and lifted the curtain and went out. Before he could get down the steps, a housekeeper's daughter-in-law led an elderly mother in. Just by taking this picture, Mrs. Lu and Zhang Qing both recognized that this was the Xia family who was serving Mrs. Wu closely.

Seeing that Mrs. Lu and Zhang Qing were standing at the door, Xia Shi hurriedly stepped forward and curtsied and said, "Mrs. Baoding Hou, grandmother, my lord just arrived home an hour ago, and he is fine, but his spirit is quite poor. Because I didn't get the news before, the old man actually came back on horseback by himself, and when they arrived at the door, everyone knew that several young masters and young ladies were overjoyed. ”

"It's good to come out, it's good to come out, Amitabha, sister-in-law is finally looking forward to it!"

Mrs. Lu was originally a believer in Buddhism, and at this moment she couldn't help but fold her palms together and move the beads in her hands to mumble a scripture. Zhang Qing on the side thought that Meng Min was alone in charge of housework, managing her younger siblings, and taking care of Mrs. Wu, who was seriously ill, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief for her, thinking that she was looking forward to the stars and the moon, and finally looked forward to Meng Xian.

Back in the room, Mrs. Lu sat down at the west end of the kang, and invited the Xia family to interrogate carefully, and when she learned that Meng Xian had not suffered any real hardships in the Jinyi Guard, she was relieved, so she left the Xia family to talk about family life, and asked about Mrs. Wu's condition and Meng Min's marriage. This nagging was more than half an hour, and she was about to send Xia Shi back, when a housekeeper's daughter-in-law stumbled in again, her face was blue and white, and her voice was full of panic.

"Madame, grandma, no! On the other side of Fengsheng Hutong, the Meng Mansion sent someone to report the news, saying that it was the eldest lady...... The big lady is dead! ”

As soon as these words came out, not only Mrs. Lu, who was reciting the scriptures, was shocked, but even Zhang Qing, who had just been relieved, was stunned. Xia, who was still full of joy just now, heard the thunderbolt-like news on a sunny day, his body was crooked, and he fainted all of a sudden. The daughter-in-law who was full of girls in the room was also shocked when they heard the news - although they knew that Mrs. Wu's illness was just a day, but who would have thought that Meng Xian had just been released, and Mrs. Wu had sent someone to report the good news, but at this time she said that it was gone?

"Come on...... Come on, prepare the car, go to Fengsheng Hutong Mengfu! ”

Recovering from the shock in an instant, Mrs. Lu immediately raised her voice and ordered, seeing that Zhang Qing was still there, she hurriedly reminded: "This is not the time to be flustered and sad, go back to the room and change a set of clothes, let's go over there and have a look." Although the four girls are smart and sensible, they have no sense of proportion when they encounter such a big event. Also, remember to bring all the safe people who have had a funeral at the head of the family, so that the account room can be ready at any time! ”

Zhang Qing woke up in shock, and hurriedly took Xia Yingchun out of the courtyard, but did not go straight back to the room, but went to the small meeting hall and rang the cloud board, gathered all the housekeepers' daughters-in-law, and explained the affairs, and then hurriedly went to change clothes. Because she was a young daughter-in-law, there were few plain and light-colored clothes in the cage, so it was easy to find a white silk skirt and a white gauze shirt. Hug Xia and Yingchun changed for her, and then both went to the house to change their heads.

By the time the three of them finished finishing and arrived at the Hanging Flower Gate to meet Mrs. Lu, it had already passed half an hour. Mrs. Lu also changed into plain clothes, and her eyes were slightly red. She already knew about Zhang Qing's assignment just now, but she didn't blame her eldest daughter-in-law for coming slowly. At that moment, a group of people went out to get into the car, because they didn't know what the situation was in the Mengfu side of Fengsheng Hutong, so Mrs. Lu brought almost all the helpers she could bring, even the white cloth and raw and cooked linen cloth were also prepared, and even the people brought things to fill seven cars. When they got off the bus at the gate of Mengfu, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law saw the white lantern hanging at the door, and although they had been mentally prepared, they still couldn't help but lose their minds.

Because the pioneer dismissed a group of subordinates in Qingzhou, and after returning to Beijing, another group was dismissed, and now although the house in Mengfu is still large, the manpower in it is more than half less than before. There was only one door on the door at this time, and when he saw a long carriage parked outside, he looked at it for a moment and ran inside, but he forgot to come out to greet him. Seeing this scene, Mrs. Lu knew that there must be a mess in the house, so she hurriedly took Zhang Qing inside, and left two safe manservants on the door.

Entering the outer courtyard from the screen door, there was no figure in sight, and when he was almost about to walk to the Hanging Flower Gate along the road, Zhang Qing saw a housekeeper trotting over, and immediately frowned.

"Second lady, grandmother, it's really slack, there is such a big thing, and there is a mess up and down......"

"The more accidents happen, the more you can't mess up, how can you arrange two people on the door, one person goes in to report the news, the door is empty, there is almost no one to see from the gate here, what if there is a bad guy breaking in?" Mrs. Lu scolded her fiercely, and when she saw that the housekeeper agreed, she pointed to the people behind her and said, "At this time, the eldest master and the young master and young lady of your family are afraid that they will not be able to come back to their senses, I have brought all the people here, and you can assign them all to take care of things first." ”

The housekeeper was worried that it would be difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and when he heard Mrs. Lu's words, he was immediately grateful, and took two steps back and knocked his head three times in a row: "Thank you for your compassion to the second lady!" The little daring, please ask the second lady and the eldest grandmother to hurry in and take a look, the fourth lady cried and fainted, the old man was wooden, and several young masters and young ladies were also panicked. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Qing hurriedly helped Mrs. Lu, and entered the inner courtyard through the Hanging Flower Gate, but there were people everywhere, only one by one like headless flies scurrying around, and it seemed that there was no order at all. If he saw such a situation in the past, Zhang Qing would have scolded him without saying a word, but he couldn't care about so much at this time, so he could only hurry inside. When they saw the small courtyard of Meng Min in the far north, everyone heard a burst of heart-rending cries, mixed with a dry howl.

"Qing girl, do you listen to the voice of the old man?"

"About ...... About, yes. ”

When she said this, Zhang Qing didn't know what to feel in her heart. After all, his father had also been in the Jinyiwei prison once, and now he is still in the middle of the hand, and it will take almost a few months to get a letter. Now although Meng Xian said that it was easy to get out of prison, when he came back, he faced the death of his wife, and that kind of grief was not unimaginable for me.

Her ears were filled with that kind of sad and desperate cry, Mrs. Lu really couldn't move, and she sighed deeply for a long time: "Sister-in-law has been waiting for so long, after all, she waited for the eldest brother to be released, and this is a peace of mind." But for the four girls, her sky has fallen......"