Chapter 77

Shortly after the verification of Mingyi hall, the Jiang family soon received the banquet post of the Palace Banquet.

Hong Xiaodi loved simplicity and luxury since childhood, but now the Empress Dowager loves excitement. Although Hong Xiaodi and the Empress Dowager are not mother and son, they get along well. Xia Guifei, the biological mother of Hong Xiaodi, died early, and the Empress Dowager has no children. The former Emperor put Hong Xiaodi under the Empress Dowager's lap to grow up. After so many years of friendship, it is also considered mother's kindness and filial piety.

This time, in addition to entertaining the ministers, everyone knew that emperor Hong Xiao would also present the leader of the verification at the Palace Banquet, which was a great honor for both the students themselves and the family. Therefore, even if old lady Jiang didn't like Jiang Li very much, she also told people around her to try their best to prepare clothes and jewelry for Jiang Li for the Palace Banquet, and don't make any mistakes.

Jiang Li's life is more nourishing than before. At least after the verification, when the servants in the Jiang family talk about her, they will not make a big fuss like before, but talk behind their backs. Although a little sad, the status of Jiang Li is a little higher than before, which is an indisputable fact.

At the Palace Banquet, many officials in Yan Dynasty and Yan capital would go, but Meng Youde, the envoy of the mission, could not go this time.

Compared with the lively scene in the past, the Meng family has been in a terrible depression in recent days. The flowers and plants in the garden seem to be neglected, and they have failed a lot. The withered and yellow leaves fell outside the flower bed, and I felt a little desolate in the hot summer.

At night, the lights in the room were dim, and someone spoke faintly in the next room. It seemed to be a quarrel. After a while, with a "snap", something was broken and someone slammed the door out.

It is Meng Youde.

In just a few days, Meng Youde was also haggard and had a lot of vicissitudes, and he no longer looked like a proud man in the past. Someone chased out behind him. It was Meng Youde's wife, Mrs. Meng.

"Master, master -" Mrs. Meng ran and begged.

"Needless to say, send her back to Chuang Tzu tomorrow to recuperate. If she goes on like this, something big will happen sooner or later!" Meng Youde didn't look back.

"That's your daughter. How can you be so cruel!" Mrs Meng screamed.

"I'm cruel?" Meng Youde stopped, suddenly turned around, and pointed to the tightly closed door in the distance, "Look at her now, can you just stay in the house? Now I have offended Princess Yongning, and you Xiang doesn't pay attention to me anymore. My career will be over here! All these are the disasters caused by your good daughter! If she didn't know what kind of gambling agreement she made with Jiang Li at the beginning, if she didn't shoot Princess Yongning on the horse farm, why would I Meng Youde be here?"

"But..." What else does Mrs. Meng want to say.

"She's crazy now! My own daughter, I don't care? But she's crazy! Staying in the Meng family may not be a good thing. If you let others know that she's crazy and spread it out, who dares to marry her in the future? If you stay in Chuang Tzu for a while and come back after getting better, no one knows the fact that she's crazy, it's not good?"

Mrs. Meng gradually calmed down after hearing the speech. She looked at Meng Youde and asked sadly, "what happened to Hongjin in Princess Yongning? Can't we really revenge her?"

"Revenge?" Meng Youde sneered. He didn't know whether the anger was to Princess Yongning or to himself. He said, "behind Princess Yongning is king Cheng. King Cheng's power now even his majesty should be afraid, in the future..." He sighed, "the people will not fight with the officials, and the officials will not fight with the king!"

The helplessness and indignation in her tone made Mrs. Meng instantly silent.

In the room, in the corner of the bed, Meng Hongjin tightly grasped the quilt and shrank in the corner. She looked at the visitor with vigilant eyes and said, "go away... Go away!"

The ground was a broken medicine bowl, and the medicine juice was scattered all over the ground. One servant girl was bending down to clean up the mess on the ground, and the other servant girl was gently comforting Meng Hongjin: "Miss, it's all right, the servant girl won't hurt you."

"Go away!" Meng Hongjin screamed and said, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it!"

Meng Hongjin has been like this since she was sent back by Princess Yongning three days ago.

Meng Youde and Mrs. Meng were afraid that Princess Yongning would torture Meng Hongjin. The first thing they came back was to have someone check Meng Hongjin's body for scars. After checking, there were no scars. But Meng Hongjin woke up like this. He hid when he saw people, as if he was greatly frightened, didn't recognize the people around him, as if he had forgotten himself.

No one knows what happened to Meng Hongjin in Princess Yongning. Only crazy Meng Hongjin and Princess Yongning can know all this. No one dares to question Princess Yongning, even Meng Youde. As long as he still wants a future, Meng Hongjin is doomed to make unnecessary sacrifices.

……

The princess's house is brightly lit, which is quite different from Meng's house.

The young dancers in the hall wore thin gauze clothes and danced lightly. The white gauze covered half of their faces, revealing a pair of scissors and pupils. All of them were tender and threw at the person in the center of the hall.

The man in the center has a high nose, deep eyes, thin lips, thick eyebrows, and handsome facial features, but his face is narrow and shows a kind of unfriendly indifference.

This is Cheng Wang.

"Brother, take it from me if you think it's good." Princess Yongning said faintly.

Cheng Wang glanced at her and said, "how listless?"

"Nothing interesting, of course, listless." Princess Yongning propped her head and her eyes were soft. She didn't know what she thought and became a little irritable.

Cheng Wang said, "I didn't get the young lady of Chengxuan's house back a few days ago. Why is it still boring?"

Hearing this, Princess Yongning was a little surprised and said, "it's difficult for you to pay attention to this kind of thing." She picked her nails and said, "don't mention it. Meng Hongjin looks powerful, but she's actually a strong man in the middle. I just took her to the prison of the princess's house for a walk. Without touching her, she was so scared that she peed in her pants." Princess Yongning showed disgust. "Look at her like that, I didn't even have the pleasure of torture, so I sent people back."

"The man may not be able to stand the tragedy in your prison," Cheng Wang laughed. "No wonder she will be scared crazy if you show her this."

In the prison of princess's mansion, there are people who make Princess Yongning unhappy. Princess Yongning hates them very much and doesn't want to let people die immediately. Just stay here and think of some torture methods, such as peeling off half of the skin, or digging out the knees, and imitating cooking. In short, it's not too much to say that it's human purgatory. Although Meng Hongjin is arrogant and domineering on weekdays, he has at most seen the killing of servant girls in Meng's house. Such a living tragedy was enough to scare her out of courage and become a permanent nightmare in her heart.

"Boring." Princess Yongning sneered, "of course, torture people should stay under their noses. It's interesting to torture slowly. It's best to resist death and struggle. When she looks at her efforts to survive and there is a glimmer of hope soon," she "breathed" and blew out the flames in a small lamp in front of her, as if she felt very funny, "giggle" and laughed, Caidao: "just like this, it's interesting to blow out her last hope and make her despair. The best prey is the one who knows how to resist and struggle..."

Cheng Wang smiled faintly, "you said Xue Fangfei."

Princess Yongning curled her lips and was about to answer. Someone outside came and said, "Lord Shen, the Chinese scholar, is coming."

Hearing the words, Princess Yongning's eyes lit up, and the tiredness in her eyes immediately cleared away. She was very happy to say, "let him in!"

Cheng Wang quietly touched the teacup in front of him and tasted it. He didn't say anything.

After a while, Shen Yurong was led in. He first saluted King Cheng. Then he looked at Princess Yongning and said, "Your Highness Royal Highness Princess."

Princess Yongning was overjoyed when she saw him, and her expression was even more approachable than before. She said to King Cheng, "Lord Shen was invited by me, brother, didn't you say that Wenchang Pavilion was short of people a few days ago..."

Cheng Wang frowned slightly, as if he was dissatisfied with Princess Yongning's eagerness. Fortunately, only princess Yongning was forgetful. Shen Yurong was still standing in the hall, serious and upright, and did not squint. Cheng Wang was more satisfied with him.

Princess Yongning and King Cheng have an excellent relationship. Naturally, it can be seen that King Cheng is satisfied with Shen Yurong. He is very happy and proud of Shen Yurong. Since the day she was shot by Meng Hongjin's arrow on the horse farm, many people came to the princess's house to care about her body, but there was no shenyurong.

Shen Yurong is now a Chinese scholar and a person valued by Emperor Hong Xiao. His wife died not long ago. It's not a good thing to be seen too close to her Princess. Princess Yongning didn't understand this truth, but she couldn't help thinking of him. Shenyurong is not flattering to her, and is not as flattering as other men. But the more he treats Princess Yongning coldly, the more Princess Yongning loves his appearance.

Princess Yongning thought that Shen Yurong was born to defeat her. She abandoned the princess' self-esteem for Shen Yurong, put down her face, even killed his wife, and showed a smile that she never showed to others in front of him. All this is just to let Shen Yurong return her same love.

She loves Shen Yurong very much.

King Cheng began to ask Shen Yurong about some things. Shen Yurong stood straight, with a modest attitude, but he was quite capable. King Cheng's satisfaction with Shen Yurong became stronger and stronger. Although Shen Yurong and Princess Yongning had heads and tails, King Cheng thought it was not a big mistake.

Those who achieve great things are informal, let alone just a useless woman?

People in the world are either stepping stones or stumbling blocks. Stepping on stepping stones and throwing stumbling blocks.

Shen Yurong just lost a stumbling block, but his future road will be wider and wider, a smooth road.

……

"When shenyurong arrived at Princess Yongning's house, King Cheng was also there." The bodyguard in black has reported.

In the study of the government, Ji Heng put the books back from the wooden shelf.

The bodyguard disappeared quietly again.

"It seems that Shen Yurong and Cheng Wang are on the line." Lu Ji took a sip of tea and looked at Ji Heng with a smile.

"Sooner or later." Ji Heng put back the books and didn't leave. Instead, he stood in front of the Huangli wooden frame, as if looking for other books.

"Congratulations, your excellency, it's going well again." Lu Ji said, "when Shen Yurong catches up with Cheng Wang, Cheng Wang will add a senior general to the new rich, and his power will rise a lot."

Ji Heng casually replied, "Shen Yurong has ambition, Cheng Wang has ambition, and the taste of ambitious people is the same. Just like wolves don't associate with dogs, Shen Yurong won't choose an emperor in the court, but a king. Only Cheng Wang can satisfy his ambition."

"Adults still see people accurately." Lu Ji sighed and suddenly remembered something and said, "it's just a pity for Meng Youde, the envoy of Chengxuan. Meng Youde used to be the person of Youxiang. Now if he offended Princess Yongning, he would offend King Cheng. Youxiang is the person of King Cheng. Naturally, he would not use Meng Youde again. Meng Youde is actually very capable -"

The Meng family used to work for Youxiang and was also under King Cheng. Now because of the horse farm accident between Meng Hongjin and Princess Yongning, the Meng family is doomed to be abandoned by King Cheng. In fact, it's not that King Cheng is angry, but that Meng Youde's daughter was killed like this. Even if Meng Youde doesn't care about it, and still works for King Cheng, there will inevitably be complaints in his heart.

If you complain, you may bite back one day. Cheng Wang is cautious and suspicious. He will never use Meng Youde again. In fact, Meng Youde may not be a good help to grow up in the future according to his ability. Even from the standpoint of outsiders, we should all feel sorry for Cheng Wang.

Unfortunately, it's so far, it can't be redeemed.

"This time, it's also because of Miss Jiang er." Lu Ji said with a smile, "YeShiJie in the past changed his plan because Miss Jiang Er cleared the siege. Now Meng Hongjin is also because Miss Jiang Er separated the Meng family from becoming king. Both times, Miss Jiang Er blocked the adult's plan, and Miss Jiang Er really had a bad relationship with the adult."

"You want to say, Miss Jiang Er didn't mean it?" Ji Tao.

"Don't adults think so?" Lu Ji replied with a smile, "otherwise, Wen Ji will not be asked to investigate. Who is behind Ye Shijie?"

Ji Heng finally found the book he was looking for on the wooden shelf, took out the scroll, turned around, and a golden butterfly was embroidered on the corner of her bright red robe, flying past behind her.

He said, "it's Miss Jiang er."

Lu Ji stopped laughing and looked at Ji Xuan: "Jiang family..."

"Not the Jiang family." Ji Xuan slowly raised the corner of her lips, revealing an ambiguous smile: "it's Miss Jiang er."

"Isn't it interesting?" Ji Xuan leaned back and said lazily, "I suspect that this second Miss Jiang is coming to beat me."

……

The summer is long, and it looks like autumn is coming, but it seems that there is still no cool autumn to come. The Sun continues warmly, and the flowers in the garden are wilted by the sun.

So the late rain is always particularly popular.

It rained at night and didn't stop when I got up in the morning. It just changed from pouring rain to intermittent light rain. The rain dripped down the eaves into a fine bead curtain, and dripped on the bluestone bricks in the yard. The bluestone bricks were washed extraordinarily clean, like ancient emerald stones, which seemed to smell the fragrance of soil.

Tong'er came in with breakfast and saw that Jiang Li hadn't woke up yet. It was a little unexpected. In the past, Jiang Li woke up very early. Jiang Li didn't have the habit of being lazy. Every time tong'er brought breakfast, Jiang Li finished grooming herself.

"Girl." Tong'er called softly.

On the collapse, Jiang Li suddenly opened her eyes from her sleep and saw that it was tong'er. She hesitated for a moment before she realized what time it was now. She sat up and pressed her forehead. Tong'er saw that Jiang Li's forehead was full of cold sweat. She was stunned. She hurried to find a handkerchief to dry Jiang Li carefully and said, "is this a nightmare, girl? I'm sweating a lot."

Snow White was also coming in from the outside. Hearing the words, she went to the window and pushed several windows open. The cool wind outside suddenly blew in. The house was not as stuffy as before, and Jiang Li seemed to wake up a lot.

She said, "I had a dream."

"It was a nightmare," Snow White said, "never mind, we have a saying in the countryside. If you have a nightmare and feel uncomfortable, you can go to the sun and dry it. If you feel afraid, let's go to the sun -"

"What nonsense are you talking about," tong'er interrupted before Bai Xue finished, "it's raining outside right now, where's the sun?"

Bai Xue then recovered and said, "Oh, wait a few more days."

Tong'er asked Jiang Li, "what did the girl dream of, so afraid?"

Although Jiang Li tried to hide it, the fear and panic in her eyes still leaked a little. She always does things with a smile on weekdays, as if nothing can annoy her, so once she loses her temper, it becomes particularly obvious.

"Nothing," said Jiang Li, frowning. "I just dreamed of an old friend."

Last night, she dreamed of Xue Zhao again.

Different from Xue Zhao, whom she dreamed of last time, Jiang Li saw that Xue Zhao was locked up in a place like a prison, which was guarded by many people, and everyone was evil. Xue Zhao was covered in blood and hung upside down in a cell. Jiang Li wanted to get close to him, but he was separated by an iron fence. And she called Xue Zhao's name, but Xue Zhao didn't move, and she didn't know whether she was alive or dead.

Then, people from nowhere began to torture Xue Zhao. They scalded Xue Zhao with a red hot iron and watered him with salt water mixed with pepper. Xue Zhao began to shout. Jiang Li was in great pain, but she couldn't touch Xue Zhao.

Until tong'er woke her up, Jiang Li didn't know that she had a dream.

She couldn't help feeling a little anxious. Why did she dream of Xue Zhao. It is said that dead relatives will dream about their families at night, but why should Xue Zhao let himself see that in his dream? What place is that? Is it hell? But a teenager like Xue Zhao, who has never done anything bad, is sincere and enthusiastic, honest and brave, and should not go to hell anyway?

And looking at Xue Zhao's feeling of powerlessness is really more painful than killing her.

Although it was just a dream, Jiang Li was hard to let go. In addition, the weather was rainy today, and I didn't know whether it was affected. Jiang Li didn't want to say anything, and was very silent.

Jiang Li's silence was seen by the servant girls of fangfeiyuan. Tong'er and Bai Xue didn't know why, but seeing Jiang Li didn't want to be disturbed, everyone worked silently.

In the afternoon, the emerald beside Mrs. Jiang came to Fangfei garden and told Jiang Li to go to Wanfeng hall. Mrs. Jiang has something important to say.

After Jiang Li Ying passed, she returned to the house to change her clothes. Taking advantage of this gap, Bai Xue asked, "I don't know what the old lady is doing with the girl."

"It's not necessary to ask," tong'er put on Jiang Li's coat, One side said, "of course, it's for the Palace Banquet. Tomorrow is the Palace Banquet. Our girl not only has to go, but also has to accept the gift of her majesty. Such a great honor, the old lady will certainly tell the girl carefully to avoid any mistakes. However," tong'er hummed in a low voice: "since I returned to Beijing with the girl, I haven't seen anything wrong with the girl. It's better to worry about the third Miss themselves..."

Tong'er's temperament is also not inferior. He may have been raised in the mountains for a long time. This fell into Jiang Li's ears, which made Jiang Li couldn't help laughing, and the haze at the beginning of the morning also dissipated.

Seeing Jiang Li finally smiled, tong'er and Bai Xue also breathed a sigh of relief. They just heard Jiang Li say, "yes, the old lady told me to go there because of the Palace Banquet. Let's go now."

At the moment, in the evening Phoenix hall, except for Jiang Li, the female dependents of the big room, the second room and the third room are all here.

Jiang Yuanbai was the first assistant of the current Dynasty, and Jiang Yuanping was the third grade general politician. Although Jiang Yuanxing was only a schoolteacher, he could also go to the Palace Banquet to get a good reputation because of such two brothers. The Palace Banquet is a big event, which represents the face of the yuan family. Old lady Jiang naturally wants to tell some things.

These matters are about the same, year after year. Because Jiang Li will go with him this year, he will especially ask Jiang Li again.

In the interval of waiting for Jiang Li to come, Lu Shi Xu felt bored and asked Ji shuran, "sister-in-law, I heard that the marriage time between Youyao and Zhou Shizi has been set?"

As soon as this word came out, several people in the room looked different.

Old Mrs. Jiang didn't have emotional fluctuations, but the three room people were surprised, which was obviously the first time they heard of it.

Ji shuran smiled softly: "the news of my sister-in-law is very clever. It's good. I discussed with Mrs. Hou of Ningyuan a few days ago. Mrs. Hou thought that Youyao had reached her hairpin and could get married earlier. Next winter would be the best."

Next winter, Jiang Youyao will be almost sixteen.

Jiang Youyao heard the words, and immediately two purples flew up on her face. Just because everyone knows her marriage with Zhou Yanbang, there is no need to avoid anything. She just bowed her head in shame and didn't speak.

Jiang yu'e was shocked. She knew for a long time that the marriage between Jiang Youyao and Zhou Yanbang would be completed sooner or later, but she didn't expect it to be so fast. Zhou Yanbang is the son of Ningyuan marquis. Ningyuan Marquis has only such a son, and the whole Ningyuan Marquis house will be his in the future. Jiang Youyao can be a housekeeper and a Hou lady when she gets married. Moreover, Zhou Yanbang, the prince of marquis Ningyuan, is a famous beautiful man in Yanjing city. He is erudite and has a mild temperament. Jiang Youyao will have a good life after her marriage.

Jiang Youyao married a good man, and Jiang yu'e couldn't help thinking of herself. Her father was just a schoolboy, not to mention how humble he was in terms of official rank. He is also a concubine in the Jiang family and is not very close to his uncle and uncle. Although he tries to please Ji shuran, Ji shuran will certainly not be too dedicated to his marriage. Few people can help themselves. In any case, she can't marry such a happy husband like Jiang Youyao.

Seeing him thinking about himself, Jiang Youyao thought of her future fate, and couldn't help sighing in her heart, both sad and unwilling.

Lu Shi said with a smile, "you Yao is really lucky. That Zhou Shizi is a family everyone wants to marry in Yanjing. But sister-in-law," she asked with great concern, "don't forget that Li'er is also a member of our Jiang family. Li'er is still a sister. Li'er's marriage has not been decided yet, so you Yao's marriage has been decided first, which is a bit of gossip."

This is a little subtle. Everyone knows that Jiang Youyao's marriage originally belongs to Jiang Li. Jiang Youyao not only occupies the magpie's nest, but also takes advantage of others.

Old lady Jiang slightly closed her eyes and turned a deaf ear to the overt and covert fighting between her two daughters-in-law. The scene in front of her was already very familiar. Ji shuran's appearance is gentle but her wrist is tough. Lu is vain and competitive. The two people get together and stumble. In the end, it's just a harmless little fight, as long as it doesn't affect the overall situation.

"Thank you for your concern." Ji shuran didn't seem to hear the irony in Lu's words, The return of heheqi: "Li'er's marriage master is also asking me to pay attention, and I'm also worried about it. Li'er should be at the age of marriage, but now no one has come to propose marriage, and I don't see a better one. I'm not willing to marry Li'er in a hurry. If my younger brothers and sisters have a good choice, please tell me. I let the master take a look, palm eyes, after all, Li'er's life-long events, I don't dare to make decisions easily, but I have to see my mother and master It's the past. "

Ji shuran skilfully avoided Jiang Youyao's marriage, and casually demoted Jiang Li. They all said that there were hundreds of women in the family, but Jiang Li returned to Yanjing city for so long, but no one came to propose marriage to Jiang Li. People didn't look down on Jiang Li, and the Jiang family couldn't take the initiative to send her daughter there. Later, he pushed the marriage of Jiang Li to old lady Jiang and Yuan Bai Jiang, and picked them all by himself.

Unfortunately, Jiang Li just walked to the door of Wanfeng hall and heard Ji shuran's words. She couldn't help laughing.

Tong'er's angry head was smoking, and she was a little puzzled when she saw Jiang Li laughing. Ji shuran said so. Jiang Li was not angry, but also laughing. What's funny about this?

Jiang Li stepped into the Wanfeng hall and said, "old lady."

Old lady Jiang's eyes darkened. Jiang Li now calls her "old lady", not "grandmother". She seems to be deliberately separating her relationship with herself, or with the yuan family. Of course, Mrs. Jiang can see that she can't treat Jiang Li and Miss Jiang ER as one person. Jiang Li has changed a lot, but she doesn't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Lu's gloating don't open her eyes, thinking that Jiang Li heard Ji shuran's words just now, and must reply a few words, which made Ji shuran unhappy. She was always happy to see her success.

But Jiang Li didn't seem to hear Ji shuran's slander just now. After calling the old lady, she saluted them one by one, without mentioning Ji shuran's wrong.

Jiang yu'e looked at Jiang Li's new floral pleated skirt, the reward given to Jiang Li by old lady Jiang after verification, and her jealous eyes were red.

Jiang Youyao is staring at Jiang Li. Thinking of what she heard from the servant girl before, Zhou Yanbang wants to dissolve his engagement to find Jiang Li, and she can't help but resent in her eyes.

Jiang Li stood calmly, turning a blind eye to their eyes.

She doesn't care at all.