Lu Guogong's Mansion, in the garden to the east of the house. []

Although Cheng Yanjin is a military general, he is actually from a family, and he has been influenced by poetry and etiquette since he was a child, and his literary accomplishment is not low, and there is a lady from the Qinghe Cui family next to him, so the garden in the house is quite elegant. Flowers and trees are scattered, dotted with rockery pavilions, plus a small river passes through the garden, and there are several small bridges and promenades on the river, which adds a bit of scenery to the water color of the south of the Yangtze River.

It's a pity that it is already early winter, most of the flowers and trees in the garden have withered, although there are often people to clean, but on the crooked stone path, it is inevitable that there are a few fallen leaves, the original lush lotus leaves and lotus flowers in the river have been ruined, only a dry stem stretches out on the water surface, revealing the pale green river water below, it looks so desolate, only the small fish that occasionally swim from the water surface add a little vitality to the garden in this winter.

"Tick~Tick~" A line of crystal water droplets dripped from the promenade above the river, breaking the calm of the water surface and making the shadows in the water blur for a while.

Cui Mengxue was wearing a plain white home dress, leaning against the pillar with her hands and knees on the side of the corridor, looking at her reflection in the water, the tears on her face gathered on her pointed chin along her white cheeks, and then fell drop by drop in the clear river water.

Since the Confucian newspaper reported the matter of Mengxue and Li Su, Mrs. Cheng has strictly forbidden her to go out for medical treatment again, and it has been almost half a month now. Regarding the outside matter, although Mrs. Cheng strictly forbade the people in the house to discuss it in front of Meng Xue. But this kind of thing can't be hidden from her after all, so Mengxue already knows that Li Su wants to force the Lu family to withdraw from the marriage. And I also knew that my aunt and eldest brother were looking for Li Su before, and I knew that they wanted to use themselves as bargaining chips. in exchange for the support of the other party, so as to achieve the goal of re-seizing the patriarch of the Cui clan.

It's obviously her own marriage, but everyone treats her as an outsider, even her aunt and brother who love her the most, and she just wants to exchange her for greater benefits, but she didn't even ask her if she agrees? Come to think of it. Mengxue couldn't help but feel sad, and her tears couldn't be stopped.

In fact, Meng Xue also understands that as a woman from a family, her marriage cannot escape the political purpose of marriage. For example, her marriage with Lu Hong is actually a political marriage, because the Qinghe Cui family and the Fanyang Lu family were originally the objects of marriage, in order to increase the connection between the two clans, every year there are Cui family daughters who marry or Lu family daughters who marry, and she is just one of them.

Regarding her marriage with Lu Hong, in fact, Mengxue did not have much resistance, because she understood since she was a child that her future husband must come from the Lu family or the Zhaojun Li family, who have been married to the Qinghe Cui family for generations. This is a good proof of this, without exception, all of them are married to these two big families, and because of this, when she knew that her marriage partner was Lu Hong of Fanyang Lu's family, her heart was very calm, she was not happy or sad, and even marriage was just a change of place for her, if the only thing she was worried about. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to save people in the field anymore.

But what Mengxue didn't expect was that when she was ready to marry the Lu family, she was broken by Li Su, the king of Qi who was killed halfway, and what is even more sad is that if the other party really likes herself, it will be fine, but it is actually just a misunderstanding between the two, only because his eyes are very imaginary with the woman he misses, which led to a series of things that followed. Thinking of this, Meng Xue hurt herself at the same time, but she felt a little crying and laughing.

"Alas~!" At this moment, Meng Xue suddenly heard a soft sigh behind her, and then a very familiar voice said, and then a rich lady in palace clothes appeared in the reflection in the river. …,

"Mengxue meets my aunt!" Seeing the noble lady reflected in the water, Cui Mengxue hurriedly stood up and wiped the tears on her face, and then she bowed.

The person who came was Mrs. Cheng, but she saw that the tears on Mengxue's face had not dried, and her eyes were a little red and swollen, plus Mengxue didn't think about tea and rice these days, she looked even more haggard, which made her feel uncomfortable looking at it. For Mengxue's niece, Mrs. Cheng is particularly fond of her, not only because she was wronged when she was young, but also because she likes Mengxue's temperament, after all, a little woman has overcome all difficulties to achieve a body of medical skills, and has saved countless people over the years, which makes Mrs. Cheng, who is also a woman, feel very admired, so as Mengxue's closest elder, she naturally likes Mengxue from the bottom of her heart.

"Silly girl, why do you know how to take care of your body so much? You're a doctor, you know better than me, if you continue like this, you're going to get sick! Mrs. Cheng said, took out her handkerchief, and wanted to wipe the tears on Mengxue's face, but she gently avoided it.

Seeing Meng Xue's somewhat repulsive reaction to herself, Mrs. Cheng smiled slightly, pulled Meng Xue indifferently, and asked her to sit down next to her, and then said with a smile: "What, you are still petty with your aunt?" ”

Although Mengxue sat down obediently, she bowed her head and remained silent when she asked Mrs. Cheng. previously proposed to use herself as a condition in exchange for Li Su's support for her eldest brother Cui Yu to compete for the patriarch, it is her aunt, and it is normal for Mengxue to have a grudge against her.

Looking at her niece's appearance, Mrs. Cheng pulled Mengxue's hand over and put it on her lap, held it with both hands and said seriously: "Mengxue, I know you blame your aunt in your heart, but as the daughter of the Qinghe Cui family, you have to be prepared for this, no matter whether the other party is good or bad, as long as it is for the benefit of the family, you have to marry without hesitation!" ”

When she said this, Mrs. Cheng also showed a trace of sadness on her face, thinking that back then, how could she not be a victim of the family marriage? It's just that her life is good, although Cheng Yanjin is a military general, he is always from a family, and he has laid a piece of his own career in the troubled times, and now he is in the position of the national prince.

But I want to marry a few sisters at the same time as myself, they are all the same as themselves, married to the people of the time at the time, but after a troubled era, countless people have fallen, and there are only one or two people who can guard their husbands and sons like they are now, and there are even many sisters who died directly in the troubled times. Thinking of this, the sadness on Mrs. Cheng's face was even stronger.

Mengxue heard the sadness in her aunt's words, looked up and saw the other party's sad expression, she couldn't help but feel a pain in her heart, and grabbed Mrs. Cheng's hands tightly and said: "Auntie, Mengxue doesn't blame you, only blame me for being born in the Cui family, not only killed my father since I was a child, but also caused so many innocent people to die, and marrying King Qi this time can be regarded as forgiving my sins." ”

"Silly girl, how can you believe those rumors, your father is seriously ill and died, and those people died of the plague, which has nothing to do with you, don't take everything on yourself!" Mrs. Cheng said with some annoyance, she was naturally not angry with Mengxue, but angry at those who made up rumors back then, after all, blaming a natural disaster like the plague on a little baby is really unconscionable.

"Auntie, don't talk about this, since Mengxue is the daughter of the Cui family, she has to think about the interests of the Cui family, and the eldest brother can't stand the lack of anger over the years, and even the mother has worked hard for this, if Mengxue can help some, it can be regarded as sharing worries for her mother!" Meng Xue sighed and said with a gloomy face. Although her mother doesn't like her, as a daughter, Mengxue is still very filial to her mother, and she also knows that her mother is old, and if she bothers about these things, she may hurt her body.

"You girl!" Mrs. Cheng looked at Mengxue's well-behaved appearance, she felt pity and acceptance in her heart, and at the same time she was a little dissatisfied with her sister-in-law, such a filial and sensible daughter, she didn't like it, it made people angry to think about it. …,

Although Meng Xue agreed to marry Li Su, looking at her gloomy appearance, she was obviously still worried about her fate. When Mrs. Cheng saw her eyes, she couldn't help but smile and explained: "Mengxue, in fact, you don't need to say it from your aunt, you must be able to see that Li Su is much stronger than that Lu Hong, whether it is character, appearance or personality, the two of them are not a little bit worse, let alone identity, although a person has indeed wronged you, but King Qi has no heirs now, and the pregnant person does not know whether it is a man or a woman, if you can give birth to a son for Liulang first, then with the strength of our Cui family, plus your uncle's help, Your status in the Qi Palace's Mansion may not be worse than that concubine of the Lanling Xiao family! ”

Hearing her aunt say it so bluntly, Cui Mengxue also blushed, because she thought of what happened yesterday, and what that person said to herself was exactly the same as what her aunt said, and it was even more embarrassing.

Mrs. Cheng saw that after her niece listened to her words, although her face was a little shy, she still looked preoccupied, and couldn't help but speak again: "Mengxue, I also heard your cousin say about you and King Qi, although it was a misunderstanding caused by Li Su's admission of the wrong person, but our Mengxue is so beautiful and cute, I don't believe that Li Su's bastard boy is not moved!" ”

"Auntie, King Qi is not the kind of lustful person, don't think too badly of others!" Hearing Mrs. Cheng's speculation about Li Su's personality, Cui Mengxue couldn't help but open her mouth to defend the other party, although she and Li Su didn't get along for a long time, and her impression of him was very bad at first, but later she saw that Li Su actually gave artificial respiration to an ugly girl in order to save people, which made Mengxue's impression of him change a lot.

Hearing her niece defend Li Su, Mrs. Cheng was overjoyed, it is estimated that even Mengxue did not notice that her mentality towards Li Su had changed, although she had not fully accepted Li Su from her heart, but a gap had been opened.

"Mengxue, I almost forgot an important thing, I heard that Concubine Yang summoned you into the palace yesterday, and you stayed all afternoon, what are you talking about?" Mrs. Cheng suddenly remembered the main purpose of coming today, so she asked.