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CHAPTER 8 FORMING AN ALLIANCE. PART 3
Because of the fuss of crying and exchanging boxes in the yard, they were late when they reached the main hall to pay their respects. Shen Wen dragged Su Wanniang in at a trot and bowed to Yang Shi and the old Furen.
Although Su Wanniang had covered her forehead with bangs, she was born with a beautiful face and when she raised her head after saluting, everyone in the room was stunned. The old lady and Yang looked at each other and both saw in each other's eyes the meaning of "so that's how it is": no wonder the Wanhua House wanted to steal this girl.
Shen Wen seemed to be afraid that everyone would not notice Su Wanniang's beauty, and he pulled her to Yang Shi and said, "Mother, she looks so beautiful! I like her so much, I want her to be my personal maid!"
Yang Shi was startled. Looking at Xia Hong behind Shen Wen for a moment, Xia Hong bowed and said, "The young lady has given Xia Wan the silver box." This is to tell the Yang Shi that Su Wanniang has obtained the financial rights in Shen Wen's yard.
Without waiting for Yang Shi to say anything, Shen Wen said, "Yes, I told her to take as much money as she wanted. Her mother is sick, and she is being filial by treating her mother. Didn't Mother say she should be filial to the elderly?" After saying this, she looked at Yang Shi and the old Furen proudly, with an expression of "praise me now" on her face.
Yang Shi was speechless and looked at the old Furen, and the old Furen smiled and let Shen Wen come to her side, and took Shen Wen to her knees and said, "Wen Er is a kind-hearted child." As she spoke, she looked sharply at Su Wanniang.
Su Wanniang gave a deep salute and said clearly, "Miss has treated me so well, I, Su Wanniang, will be loyal to Miss and will not hesitate to die!"
Yang Shi looked at Su Wanniang, who had a determined expression, and at Xia Hong, who was expressionless, and sighed, saying: "As long as you are sincere in protecting Miss, my Hou Fu will never treat you badly." If you are not sincere, then naturally you will be "treated badly".
Su Wanniang thanked her. Yang Shi said a few more words and let the children go out.
Shen Wen excitedly showed off to her older siblings all the way, "Do you see how good my sister Wanniang looks?"
Shen Yi thought of the trouble this girl might bring to the Hou Mansion and sighed in his heart, while Shen Jian thought of how to find out the cause of her father's crime, both of them were only perfunctory.
Shen Zhuo was full of Zhang Yunjin's dignified appearance and couldn't help but say, "Isn't it the same as others? It's all two eyes and a nose."
Shen Xiang pulled Su Wanniang and said, "You are so good-looking, this is not good!"
Su Wanniang was startled and her eyes widened as she thought, ‘Is this an attempt to disfigure me?’
Shen Xiang said seriously, "I catched you yesterday and felt that you had no strength at all and were all soft and limp. My sister is already a soft mess, you're so pretty and you have no martial arts skills, won't you both only be able to cause trouble but not avoid it in the future? You need to practise martial arts!"
Su Wanniang bowed and said: "Please teach me martial arts, Eldest Miss. "
Seeing that Su Wanniang had correctly understood her meaning, Shen Xiang was satisfied and said, "Alright, you will come to the martial arts training ground tomorrow at four o'clock in morning. We have to train Three-nine in winter, three-forth in summer*. You are so thin, you can't learn hard kung fu, you can only learn concealed weapons and light kung fu, you are so old, you can't do it without hard work!”A tone of instruction.
Note:"Three-nine in winter, three-forth in summer" comes from "The Swordsman of the King of Yan", which is a proverb describing hard-working people who still exercise during the coldest and hottest times of the year. Many people who like sports regard it as a standard.
Shen Wen pleaded, "But she has to take care of me. ......"
But Su Wanniang said excitedly, "I will be there on time! Thank you so much, Miss!" Turning her face to Shen Wen, she said, "You can sleep a little longer, and you can get up after I finish practising."
Shen Xiang and Su Wanniang both began the preparation for the martial arts workshop, what clothes, what style, what colour, and what shoes ...... Su Wanniang did not and Shen Xiang said to go to her place and wear hers first. They said goodbye to several boys and went to Shen Xiang's courtyard in high spirits.
In the hall, Yang Shi and the old Furen had a rare tacit understanding, and they both sat still.
Yang Shi frowned and said softly, "Mother, what do you think?" The
The old lady pondered for a long time and said: “That child is a strong child, such a person is not prone to harm unless he is provoked. Wen Er is too soft. If this child is truly grateful to Wen Er, she will be willing to protect her master in the future. That Xia Hong is old and in a hurry to get married, and I don't think she's been that devoted over the years.”
Yang Shi nodded: "I'll have one of my close Mama go over and sit down to see how she takes over the yard. This child was also originally from an official family and seems to be a well brought up one."
Speaking of Su Wanniang's background, both of them did not speak for a long time. Finally, the old Furen said: "Yi Er's marriage has begun to be arranged, though ......" She sighed.
Yang Shi nodded and said, "I understand what Mother means, Liu Shi is a bit weak, but Yi Er seems to like her. I wrote to Hou ye and told him about several families, but Hou ye finally chose this one. He said that a high marriage and a low marriage. Our Marquis's family is already in the limelight, so we can't marry a powerful family again."
The old Furen nodded: "Do what you think is right, and also take advantage of this marriage and seek to give your second child a show. The two brothers are close in age, so don't let them be too far apart."
Yang Shi said sadly, "The children are growing up one by one."
The old Furen laughed, "Yes, that's right! I can't wait for them to get married so I can have a great grandson."
Yang Shi was not very happy to think that she was only in her thirties and would become a grandmother.
Meanwhile, in the inner study of the First Prince's newly opened residence, several people were taking turns to report to the First Prince on the events of the previous day. From the arrangements for political affairs to the Emperor's new edict, the list of events was well organised.
The First Prince is now seventeen years old, with a long square face, deep-tailed eyebrows and sunken eyes that look imposing, but also somewhat gloomy. He has a lightly grown short upper lip moustache and appears more mature than his actual age.
A person said, "Yesterday in the back garden, the Emperor said to Gui Fei that the third prince looked exactly like him when he was young. Guifei hid her lips and smiled without saying anything."
The First Prince sneered as another man saw the situation and said, "She is just a concubine who only gained favour by pleasing the Emperor, how can she compare to the Empress?"
One person said: "Oh, yesterday, when the children of the Zhenbei Hou Fu were on their way back, Su Wanniang, the daughter of Su Changting, who had escaped from the Wanhua House, crashed through, crying that the Wanhua House had forced her to sell, that her mother was seriously ill and that her younger brother was young. That young daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei was soft-hearted and said on the spot that she would let her work for herself as a maid. Shen Yi, the eldest son of the Marquis of Zhenbei, took Su Wanniang away and sent the guards of the Hou Mansion to Wanhua House to get the deed of sale, and also brought Su Wanniang's mother and brother into the Hou Mansion ."
The First Prince frowned, "Su Changting? The Director of the Ministry of Treasure, the one who was replaced by us in the spring and died in prison?"
Someone replied, "Exactly, he is not greedy for gold or silver, nor is he willing to submit. He may also have evidence against us. He didn't say anything even though we tossed him around. Later, when we raided his house, we didn't find anything."
The First Prince clenched his fist, "After the Marquis of Zhenbei ...... Lao Third(Third Prince) went to their flower party, he always said that he became close friends with Shen Yi. Did you guys check it out properly? They didn't intentionally buy Su Wanniang, did they?"
Someone hurriedly said: "Checked, that Su Wanniang had already escaped from the Wanhua House a few times, trying to go and take care of her mother and brother, but was caught back again. This time she was able to find an abandoned back door with a rusty lock that broke when she broke it, with no other marks. It should have been her luck that she had stumbled upon the carriage of the Marquis of Zhenbei. That day the caravan from the Marquis of Zhenbei's residence had originally gone to visit the Marquis of Pingyuan’s residence and had not intended to go through there at all when returning to the residence; it was because that the young daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei wanted to eat dim sum and when leaving the Marquis of Pingyuan's residence, it was temporarily diverted to a different route and crossed the part where that Su Wanniang was hiding."
The First Prince frowned: "Such a coincidence? The young daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei? How old is she?"
The staff said at once: "Oh, that young girl, she just turned seven years old this year and always absent-minded. The Etiquee Grandma who once teached her always said that she was born stupid and couldn't even memorize her books. Our people in the Marquis Mansion also said that she cried everyday since she was young, she was weak and ignorant, and was looked down upon by her siblings. That day, she went out of the Marquis Mansion for the first time. When she heard Su Wanniang's cries, she also cried in front of everyone as usual.But on the street, seeing her crying, Shen Yi couldn't lose face for the Marquis Mansion and had to buy Su Wanniang out."
The First prince still didn't speak, and it seemed that his doubts had not disappeared.
The advisor went on to explain: "When Su Wanniang was brought into the Mansion, Yang Shi heard that she was the daughter of a criminal official, so she said she didn't want her and that she could return the deed of sale to Su Wanniang. Su Wanniang tried to kill herself by hitting a pillar on the spot. She was saved by the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei. The youngest daughter was so frightened that she cried out that she was going to die too. The old Furen couldn't stand it and intervened to keep Su Wanniang there."
The First Prince finally nodded his head and the man next to him concluded:"This really is a coincidence. If Yang Shi or the Marquis of Zhenbei's eldest daughter had stepped in and bought Su Wanniang, it could have been arranged. But this young daughter is really a mess that can't hold up the wall. She is not pretty herself, but when she sees that Su Wanniang is pretty, she likes her so much that she pulls her into bed with her to sleep. Su Wanniang was also happy to have a place to stay and was grateful to the young girl, saying that she could just get her mother treated and didn't want to pursue her father's case."
The First Prince said indifferently, "If she doesn't want to pursue the matter, she won't? Get someone to arrange it so that if Su Wanniang wants to know about the case of her father one day, let her find out that Su Changting's death is related to Hou Fu. I don't believe she doesn't care about revenge for killing her father.”
One of the advisors clapped his hands and said, "Brilliant, this is another nail in the Hou Fu, or they took it in themselves."
First Prince's mouth turned up at the corners, but there was no smile: "Does Fu Huang know about the marriage the Marquis of Zhenbei has chosen for his eldest son?"
Someone replied, "I know, Eunuch Sun said that the His Majesty said 'the Marquis of Zhenbei is still so ignorant'."
The First Prince grunted, "Fu Huang(Royal Father) is just so indulgent, obviously doesn't like the fact that they have chosen the Liu family who have spoken ill of Fu Huang in the past, but he still doesn't do anything about it."
No one in the room to speak up, on the one hand it is not good to say anything bad about the emperor, on the other hand, the Marquis of Zhenbei guards the northern border, what can the emperor do?
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Many thanks
ReplyDeleteSo much scheming