Chapter 247

The Meng family had been in high spirits lately.0

They would stop and chat with anyone they met, whether familiar or not.0

Meng Qingshe, who usually disliked attending court, was now lurking around to do so.0

His large, square black face was always smiling at people.0

Madam Meng made sure to attend every banquet.0

No matter what the topic of conversation, she would always steer it towards her children.0

When an official said, "It's gotten cold these past couple days."0

Meng Qingshe replied, "Yes, it has gotten cold. When my two grandsons return, we must make sure they wear plenty of warm clothes."0

When an official mentioned, "The Emperor wants to build another Buddhist temple."0

Meng Qingshe said, "A Buddhist temple, ah! I should go pray there too. It's truly Buddha's blessing that our family suddenly has two grandsons..."0

Everyone in the Capital City, including the dogs, probably knew by now that the Meng family had broken their single-child curse, with two grandsons in this generation.0

Most people were fine with this.0

Immortal Liu felt a bit awkward.0

With Meng Qingshe constantly chattering about it, even the Emperor, who only attended court once every ten days, knew that the Meng family now had two grandsons.0

He felt a strange sense of envy.0

He should have many grandchildren, but none of them seemed particularly close to him.0

The Emperor had no real reason to blame anyone.0

He felt that his children weren't as close to him as his nephew, young Han.0

But whenever any of his sons tried to get close to him, he would suspect them of having ulterior motives. "Your elder brother, the Crown Prince, isn't even dead yet, and you're already trying to take his place," or "Your elder brother, the Crown Prince, has just died, and you're already trying to take his place. Rebellious son!"0

The imperial heart was difficult to fathom.0

The Meng family didn't bother to try and figure it out.0

They were happily waiting to hold their grandsons.0

The nursery and the rooms for their son and daughter-in-law were all prepared.0

Many sets of clothes for all four seasons had been ordered for their daughter-in-law.0

The Meng family was wealthy, after all. The old master had fought in many battles, and even if the Emperor's rewards were just for show, they were still substantial.0

Additionally, sometimes during battles, they would kill one or two noble princes from other countries, and confiscating some money was reasonable.0

Old Meng himself didn't have the time or place to spend it, so naturally, he could only send it back home.0

Their whole family wasn't particularly fond of luxury, appearing quite low-key.0

But now there was a new generation.0

If not now, when would they spend it?0

The old Meng family was ostentatiously spending money, ordering clothes and jewelry for their daughter-in-law, filling up the schedules of all the shops in the Capital City.0

It even provoked some officials to submit memorials criticizing the Meng family for their extravagance.0

"You've made things for all of them, but my mother and daughter-in-law weren't included. If I don't criticize you at home, who else should I criticize?"0

Meng Shaoxia felt both excited and sad.0

He silently reflected, feeling that he was truly an unfilial son who forgot his parents after getting a wife. His parents must have missed him terribly, missing him to the point of becoming haggard.0

"Father!" Meng Shaoxia shouted.0

Meng Qingshe's horse even took a step back. He almost didn't want to acknowledge his son, who looked stupidly fat.0

After a round of recognition, the family headed towards the Meng Mansion in a grand procession.0

There was a row of taverns and inns near the city gate.0

Many people were sitting in the private rooms.0

The imperial grandson Chu Xi had rented one of these private rooms.0

Back then, he had sent people to ambush the Jiang family, but he never expected that they would be completely wiped out, failing in a way that defied reason.0

Originally, he thought that even a lion uses its full strength when catching a rabbit.0

But the lion ended up being killed by the rabbit?0

This caused the Seventh Prince's movements in the capital to slow down a bit.0

Of course, the Seventh Prince still had the most advantages. He was like a venomous snake that had been lurking for many years, having laid out his plans in the court long ago.0

At the same time, he had also set his sights on Zi Lu's forces.0

After Zi Lu's death, more than half of his people had joined him.0

The Capital City was now like a great whirlpool, precarious and ready to explode at any moment.0

Watching the slowly disappearing procession, Chu Xi sighed. In fact, deep down, he sometimes even felt grateful to Jiang Er, because his father was very fond of his second brother. The second brother was sincere and brave, and his father often praised him.0

The third brother had a pampered personality, and his father also doted on him a lot.0

As the eldest son, he could only be well-behaved. Perhaps because he was too much like his father, his father looked at him as if looking in a mirror. In daily life, his father didn't seem to like him very much.0

Even when praising him, it was a kind of distant praise, never intimate, more like a relationship between superior and subordinate.0

Chu Xi was secretly observing his enemies.0

How was Jiang Er able to kill their people?0

He noticed that Jiang Er's horses were very good, each one a fine steed, difficult to obtain even for a thousand gold pieces.0

This person was very ruthless.0

He hadn't received any news because Jiang Er had truly killed everyone, leaving no survivors. According to the reports from his spies, Jiang Er had set fire to the mountain.0

He might have burned everyone to death, but fire alone couldn't have prevented even a single person from escaping. Chu Xi suspected that Jiang Er had also used poison.0

This was a madman who didn't care about consequences, killing, setting fires, and using poison - stopping at nothing, with no bottom line.4

Damn it, the enemy was much worse than he had imagined.0

This person would be a formidable opponent, but fortunately, Chu Xi had confidence in his subordinates. Jiang Er definitely didn't know that he was the one who sent those people.0

The enemy was in the light, while he was in the shadows.0

As the sun set, the long procession disappeared at the end of the long street.0

Jiang Mianmian, whose bottom had become sore from sitting in the carriage all day, leaned out to catch some fresh air for a while.0

As the carriage started moving again, she sat back down.0

Jiang Mianmian said to her mother, "Mother, just now someone was watching us from the tavern upstairs. It looked like Jiang Wan's cousin, the eldest son of the Seventh Prince."0