Chapter 17

Three days later, it happened to be Yuan Jin's 14th birthday. Just because it was not as long as she was in the hairpin or the whole year, Cui asked the kitchen to make her a bowl of longevity noodles, and a poached egg laying inside, which was considered to be her birthday.

Xue Qingshan said: "...There is only this girl in the family. Not to mention the grand celebration, she has to buy a decent birthday gift for her."

Cui looked at the three children having breakfast and said, "Xue Wenyu is now invited to a meal. If you buy this or that, the family will spend a lot of money. You are afraid that you can't afford him a year's salary. If it weren't for the help of your third sister-in-law, we should have gone to drink the northwest wind. How much money can you get from your mother? Besides, Yuan Jin will be in the hairpin tomorrow, and the hairpin gift will be even more expensive. Now you are not at ease. What should you do in the future?"

When it comes to salary, Xue Qingshan has nothing to say. He was the Minister of Yuanmasi Temple, and only had a salary of six taels a month. In addition, the yamen subsidized some oil and rice, it was already more than seven taels. His family still had 500 acres of land, and he could get a harvest of forty or fifty taels a year. Such income was very difficult in front of several legitimate housemen.

Yuan Jin ate the noodles and said, "It's okay, I can't pass my birthday."

The last time she was in the palace, the palace was doing a lot of work, and there were countless rare treasures from the families of the powerful and powerful. Her hair-combed lady was the married Princess Ningde. The banquet did not last for three days, and the queen mother gave her four sets of gems and jade. But so what? She was betrayed and killed. Now she is sitting here to eat noodles, and she has to worry about a few taels of silver.

None of these is interesting, just passing by.

After breakfast, Xue Jinyu went to the study room to study, and Yuan Jin and Wen Yu went to the Dingguo Duke's Mansion.

Today, I am not learning embroidery, but learning the various rules of walking and speaking in aristocratic families. Several wives all came from official families, and the rules of official families are still worse than those of aristocratic families.

The one who taught them was the old lady's close-fitting girl Fuyun. She stood among the ladies, demonstrated the rules first, and then asked the ladies to come out and follow them one by one.

This can be said to be Yuan Jinzhi's strengths. When she was in the palace, three nannies surrounded her and stared at her behavior at all times. After this year, she walked and sat upright, and this temperament was not something that could be learned by learning, but was engraved in her bones for a long time. Therefore, even if she didn't learn, she could do it at will.

So the ladies discovered that the fourth lady, who was clumsy in embroidery, had learned these rules naturally and had almost no need to teach them. They even made Fu Yun smile and praised her, "The fourth lady has a good understanding."

Wei Xianlan snorted: "I can't even learn needlework, what's the use of knowing these!"

When Fu Yun heard Wei Xianlan say this, his smile continued to diminish, but he slowly said, "Miss Wei's words are different from your official family. If we are in the capital now and with the identity of the Duke of Ding, we will definitely go to the palace to pay tribute to the banquet every year. The palace is the most important place to pay mercy. If you don't learn these well and lose the face of the Duke of Ding in front of the nobles, wouldn't it be a bad thing? Real skills are important, but in the aristocratic families, your rules are more important."

Xue Yuanzhu also helped: "What's more, your own female red girl is good! I laugh at you for fifty steps, my fourth sister didn't mess with you!"

Xue Yuanshan frowned and said to Yuanzhu: "Sixth sister, Aunt Fuyun is talking. You are not allowed to interrupt like this!"

Xue Yuanzhu stopped doing it and said, "Sister Yuanshan, Miss Wei just interrupted, why didn't you talk about her? Why did you just talk about me?"

Yuanzhu couldn't stand the two of the second wife because of his younger brother Yunxi. What's more, among the sisters, no one can compare to Yuanzhu's.

"You!" Xue Yuanshan stumbled on her neck and said, "I'm helping her or not!"

Yuanzhu even smiled: "So, Sister Yuanshan thinks Miss Wei is right. But Aunt Fuyun's is not?"

Xue Yuanshan was completely defeated, and none of them dared to be disrespectful to Fu Yun.

Although Fu Yun is just a girl, her identity is different. She is the most powerful girl around the old lady. She will tell the old lady one by one if you show any of your performance. This is the old lady's mouthpiece. Can you offend it?

Fu Yun looked at them arguing and finally said, "These wives are all officials and the fragrance of books has been passed down from generation to generation. There is really no need to argue like this, just sit down."

But I didn't really blame the ladies.

After class, she told the old lady what happened today.

The old lady of Dingguo Duke drank tea and said slowly: "Who do you think is better for these ladies?"

Fu Yun thought for a while and said, "There are too many people in the Xue family, fighting each other, and the sisters are incompatible. Miss Wei is the only daughter in the family, with an older brother and a younger brother. She is too favored and insists on complicating with the wife of the common house and cannot see her own advantages."

The old lady smiled and said, "You don't like Xianlan?"

Fu Yun peeled the grapes for the old lady and handed them over: "She accused the Fourth Lady Xue of Miss. She could tell you secretly in private, but she didn't do this, because she wanted the Fourth Lady to make a fool of herself. Besides, if she really wanted the Fourth Lady to make a fool of herself, she could clearly instruct the girl to say it, but she insisted on making a move herself and asked the Fourth Lady to grab the handle of the conversation and fight back. I can't say anything else, old lady, you know it in your heart."

The old lady ate the grapes and continued to ask, "What do you think of the ladies of the Xue family?"

Fu Yun thought for a while and said, "It's hard to say about this. Yuanshan and Miss Yuanyu, you are no longer happy. Miss Yuanzhu helped the fourth wife stand out today, and she is not too casual and cute. She is still young. Miss Yuanzhen is gentle and kind, and she acts without any mistakes. As for the fourth wife... I don't know, do you mind the incident that day."

The old lady sighed: "She is like a jewel, smart and generous, I really like it."

Baozhu was the lady of the original Duke's Mansion. The old lady was born in old age and raised her with a spoiled woman. She was very close to her. Unfortunately, she died of illness at the age of thirteen and had always been a heart disease of the old lady.

I really liked it, that means I still care about the matter of that day.

Fu Yun knelt down and beat the old lady's legs: "You always look at people accurately, and I am not worried. Just as you look at the Wei family and the Xue family, Wei Heng seems to be better, but in fact he has a very good background and will not be able to integrate into our mansion in the end. It is better to have a small family, relying wholeheartedly on the Duke Dingguo Mansion and treat the Duke's Mansion as his own home."

The old lady smiled and said, "It's precisely this reason. The Duke thought I was too confused because he didn't understand the secret of the Xue Mansion chosen by his cousin." The old lady stared at the sunlight outside the window and thought for a moment, and then said, "Let's see, it won't be too long after just a few months."

Fu Yun was thinking, and a girl came outside and reported: "Old lady, Mrs. Gu came to Taiyuan to pay homage to your ancestors, and I came to pay special attention to you. I am now in the flower hall!"

The old lady was surprised when she heard this.

She and Mrs. Gu are fellow villagers. Although Mrs. Gu is a few years apart, she is very close to each other. Later, Mrs. Gu married to the Wei Yonghou Mansion in the capital, and she always saw Shaoliu. How could she be unhappy when she heard her return to her hometown to worship her ancestors? She immediately stood up and said, "Come in!"

The girl washed her, and the old lady thought for a moment and said, "Call those ladies to the main hall."

When several ladies heard that Mrs. Gu came from the capital, they immediately became nervous. Wei Xianlan obviously knew about the incident of Marquis Wei Yong, because she was excited for a moment and knocked over the teacup.

Yuanzhu was surprised and whispered to Yuan Jin: "As for it, you may not choose one of them..."

Yuan Jin's mood was a little complicated, because he thought of the scene when Mrs. Gu entered the palace three times and told her not to blame Gu Heng, and Gu Heng would always marry her.

"People and things are unpredictable." She summed up her feelings, and saw that Yuanzhu was blinking her eyes and looked at her, so she touched her bun, "Let's go, everyone is gone."

Several ladies were taken to the main hall and paid utmost care to Mrs. Gu one by one.

Unlike what Yuan Jin saw before, Mrs. Gu's face was rosy and chatting and laughing calmly. Although she was half old, she could still see the beauty of her youth. She was not as pale as if she was seriously ill at that time. She just glanced at Yuan Jin, then looked away without interest, and talked with Wei Xianlan and Yuan Zhen intimately.

This greatly changed Yuan Jin's impression of her. In her memory, she was a poor old lady who was sick and pitiful and dared not say a word for a long time.

The old lady and Mrs. Gu mentioned the story at that time: "...I really hurt you at the beginning, so the Xiao family can afford to offend you! You are really willful. Fortunately, Empress Xiao fell, and the Marquis's status was even more serious because of his success as a dragon. But now, the Marquis has not yet married, so why don't you hurry?"

Mrs. Gu put down the teacup and sighed: "What's the use of being anxious? No one can disobey his wishes. The girl he liked when he was young has never been found. He can only take one step and see."

The old lady was surprised: "How can I not find it?"

Mrs. Gu shook her head: "Xu Ben is his excuse. Forget it, I won't mention this."

Mrs. Gu asked Yuanzhen about the girl's daughter and other things carefully. Yuanzhen was both surprised and shy. The rest could only stare at her. Fortunately, the old lady quickly asked them to come out to play by themselves without having to sit there and drink cold tea.

Yuan Jin happened to take this opportunity to find Mr. Chen. As for Gu Heng, she was not interested at all. Her only interest had been exhausted in her previous life.

No matter Gu Heng likes smelly or ugly, it has nothing to do with her now.

While she was walking out along the corridor of the other courtyard, she suddenly heard someone calling her behind her.

"Miss Xue Si."

Yuan Jin frowned slightly, the voice sounded a little familiar. She turned around and saw Wei Heng standing under a willow tree, wearing a moon-white muslin cloth, with a handsome young man.

She pursed her lips slightly and said lightly: "Is there anything wrong with Master Wei San?"

Wei Heng paused, as if thinking about how to speak, "That day... I heard about my sister, I didn't know she would say that to you."

Yuan Jin seemed to find it funny when she heard this. She slowly approached and looked up at Wei Heng.

"Compared to your sister, I don't like your uncle's words even more." Yuan Jin said, "San Master Wei called me today, I might as well explain it to you. I don't like you now. If you have time, can you tell them these words?"

"You..." Wei Heng stared at her and said, "You didn't say it before..."

Didn't she like him before?

"It doesn't matter what you said before. From today on, I have nothing to do with Mr. Wei San, so you don't have to worry about it." After Yuan Jin finished speaking, he glanced at the bamboo forest of Xiangfei next to him. He didn't want to say much to him, so he left.

Wei Heng stood there for a while. In fact, Yuan Jin had never done anything to bother him. She was even more indifferent to him these days. Although she was in the other courtyard, she didn't even show up in front of him. So when he heard Wei Xianlan talk about her, he was ashamed and anxious. He clearly wanted her not to misunderstand, but when she saw her today, she didn't know what to say.

He stood there until a voice came from beside him: "The third brother is waiting for her!"

Wei Heng turned around and saw a young man in blue robe walking out of the bamboo bushes of Xiangfei. He gave birth to slender phoenix eyes, fair skin and lazy smile.

Wei Heng saw that it was him and asked, "You have been following me just now?"

"You are restless when you learn to shoot archery, so I want to know what you are doing." Wei Xiang said with a smile, "It's not that I said your third brother, I don't like you when I chase you, so why bother to care if I don't chase you!"

Wei Heng frowned, not defending the issue, and told him, "Don't tell me what happened just now." After that, he left.

Only Wei Xiang was left standing in place, looking at the direction where Yuan Jin left.

The girl clearly noticed him just now, but she didn't say that. This person is a bit powerful.

*

Zhu Qie sat behind the long desk and wrote, and the room was silent.

He had no expression on his face, which made the people who were serving him dare not breathe.

His Highness Jing is the kind of person who seems easy to talk to on weekdays, but he really angers him. He is really a person who doesn’t know how to die.

The door opened, and Duke Ding walked in. He hesitated for a moment before he walked up and bowed, "What's your Highness asking for me?"

Zhu Qi raised his head slightly, put down his pen and wiped his hands from the servant's tray. Then he asked, "I'm asking you if you are here to ask, do you really think there is no problem with the map of the Aoerdusi Department?"

"This..." Duke Ding hesitated, "It's natural that there should be no problem after surveying for so long."

Zhu Qi sneered, picked up the booklet from the desk, and threw it to Duke Dingguo: "Show it to me before you can speak!"

Duke Ding rarely saw him so angry. When he picked up the book, his heart beat faster and his palms were sweating. This was a secret security sent by Yulin Guard. They were sneak attacked in the Oaerdusi Oasis. Fortunately, they were prepared for it, so there were no casualties. However, the plan to attack the Oaerdusi headquarters was still failed.

"Your Highness, this..." Duke Ding knew that he could not say anything else to defend himself, and he was stalemate for a moment and didn't know what to say.

"If I hadn't responded long ago, you should have returned to the capital and apologized to the emperor!" Zhu Qian said coldly.

The more I read the description in that book, the more I realized the seriousness of the matter. His face turned pale: "It was my fault, and I didn't find that there was a major mistake in the map! Fortunately, with Your Highness there, otherwise I would be unable to cleanse my guilt even if I was demoted!"

Seeing that he had not spoken for a long time, he was very sincere in admitting his mistakes. Zhu Qian also achieved his goal. He naturally had to give him a sweet date for a blow.

He took a sip of tea and calmed down his tone: "Okay, since there are no casualties in the army, I won't pursue it anymore. You should get the punishment of 3,000 taels of silver by yourself. The terrain of Aoerdusi is extremely difficult to detect, so you can't blame you all. I'll ask Pei Ziqing to give you forty Jinyiwei. You can take someone to survey again."

Duke Ding was very grateful and thanked him for his gratitude and took the order to retreat.
To be continued...