Zhong Niangzi Wanfu

Chapter 64 Banquet at the Prime Minister’s Mansion
一
The Wen family's business in Dongchang needed Wen Shu to go back and make decisions. She had fully planned to stay with Zhong Lan for a month in the royal capital, but she could no longer delay it. Seeing that Zhong Lan also smiled and reassured her, she had to go to Dongchang first.

Yang stayed with Zhong Lan in the royal capital for a long time. When Zhong Lan was firmly in the womb and the servants in the palace were in good order, she felt relieved and returned to Taiming.

The mother-in-law left behind by the Yang family always gave orders, and Zhong Yan went out of the mansion much less often. He was bored in the mansion, so he could only visit Pan's from time to time to play chess and enjoy the flowers.

That day, Mrs. Pan took Zhong Lan and said, "The Prime Minister's family got a new daughter-in-law a few days ago, and there will be a full moon banquet on the second day of May. With your family's official position, Mr. Shen, it is unreasonable for you not to show your face at the Prime Minister's Mansion."

"But Mrs. Zaifu is not of high birth. She is the first wife of Zaifu's poor wife when he was young. She is a generous and kind person in the royal capital. She is over forty and has a daughter. You can talk to her if you go."

Zhong Yan was pregnant, and all the banquets were postponed, and if it was difficult to pass, Pan would also block it for Zhong Yan.

But as Pan said, the Prime Minister's daughter's full-moon banquet has been invited all over the capital. Zhong Lan's month is not particularly big yet, and she is not in a position to refuse. If she refuses again, it will inevitably make people think that she is pampered, and I don't know if she will still come back. What kind of gossip is being spread.

"You don't have to be afraid. If anything happens, I will protect you and make sure you don't make any mistakes." Pan said with a smile.

"Then thank you madam." Zhong Lan smiled and nodded in agreement.

On the second day of May, Xiangfu Full Moon Banquet
Zhong Lan, wearing a crimson Ruyi cloud-like long skirt, a warm white gauze shirt with large sleeves, and a peach branch fan in her hand, arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion with Pan.

The servant of the concierge of the Prime Minister's Mansion invited Zhong Lan and Pan in. The two of them entered the main hall first to see Mrs. Zaifu.

Mrs. Wei, the wife of the Prime Minister, was wearing a plain silver-gray brocade dress and was sitting in the middle hall. She was in her late forties, with a kind face and a radiant look. Although she had received a daughter in her old age, she did not look tired at all.

The wet nurse was standing aside with her infant child in her arms, and three or two women were looking around.

Pan and Zhong Lan entered the door and saluted: "Mrs. Zaifu Yi'an."

Pan's status was respected in the royal capital. When several women saw Pan entering the door, they all greeted each other.

"Sister Pan is here, hurry up and excuse yourself."

Mrs. Wei put down the tea cup in her hand with a smile, but looked at Zhong Lan with surprise: "Is this Mrs. Zhong from the Shen family of the new Zhongshu Province Zhongshushe?"

Zhong Lan smiled and stepped forward, bowing his head: "I have met Madam."

"She is pregnant. She had been raising the fetus at home because of unstable fetal inflation, but now she is able to sit still. She specially came to see Madam." Mrs. Pan said with a smile.

Zhong Lan nodded slightly: "I heard that Madam is from Daizhou, so I asked someone to bring some specialties from Daizhou to Madam. I hope Madam won't dislike it."

The people who came to congratulate them this time were all noble ladies from the royal capital, so the gifts they sent were naturally rare treasures. However, the Wei family was not from a high background and could not resist the nostalgia for her hometown in Daizhou. Let’s not say whether the specialties Zhong Lan sent her were good or not. His mind is most appropriate.

Mrs. Wei said with a smile on her face: "Looking at Mrs. Zhong, it reminds me of the time when I was pregnant with my girl. It was really hard for a woman to have a child. Mrs. Zhong, please sit down."

Zhong Lan followed Pan's rules and sat down, and the female envoys each served tea.

Seeing that Zhong Lan was well-behaved, Mrs. Wei smiled and said, "I heard that Madam Zhong and I have different backgrounds, so I will definitely suffer some injustice when I enter the capital."

Zhong Lan smiled gently: "All the ladies from high families take good care of me. I am very grateful."

"You kid." Mrs. Wei shook her head, feeling even more compassionate in her heart, "I've heard about the direct remonstrances of your family. Now that Master Shen has gone to Danzhou, you are alone in the capital. If you are subjected to If you feel wronged, tell me."

"Thank you ma'am." Zhong Yan nodded his head in thanks.

two

The banquet was about to start, and Zhong Lan was inconvenient, so Wei made an exception and moved Zhong Lan's seat forward and sat with Pan.

Before he took two mouthfuls, Zhong Lan heard the sarcastic words of the woman on the mat behind him.

"Why is Mrs. Zhong here? You are not afraid that your bad luck will ruin the banquet at Zaifu's family."

"It's also the Shen family who has gained the Tao and offended Tian Yan. He was dismissed from office and will never be reused, but he can be reinstated by His Majesty."

"These are the mean words from those hypocritical little women. You just think they are farting." Mrs. Pan glanced at those people.

Zhong Lan smiled when he heard this: "I understand, Madam, don't worry."

Seeing that Zhong Lanrao didn't care, the Marquis of Lin'an who was not far away covered her nose with a handkerchief and said with a smile: "After hearing that Mr. Shen was dismissed from office, Mrs. Zhong went to farm for several months, and now she has returned to the royal capital. , I came to the table where the daughter of Zaifu's family is, has it been cleaned? Don't let the stench from the mud still smoke the girl of Zaifu."

Mrs. Pan put down her chopsticks, but interrupted the Lin'an Marquis Mansion and laughed: "When we met just now, even Mrs. Zhong liked Madam Zhong very much, so she told her after she was wronged. Why do you think Hou is so happy now? Madam, you picked up the thorn? And no one said anything about the smell after we arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion, so why does Madam have such a sharp nose?"

"Instead of eating here, why not use such a clever nose to go to the Yamen and help them work as a detective in handling cases, and you can also accumulate some personal virtue."

The women sitting next to me all covered their faces and smiled.

Mrs. Yao was ashamed and stared: "If I ask Mr. Zhong, why did Madam Pan stand up for her?"

Mrs. Pan sneered: "I brought Mrs. Zhong here. She is inconvenient. If you have anything to say, please tell me."

Yao glared at the two of them, stood up and left the table.

"Mrs. Pan, why did you offend Mrs. Lin'an Marquis for me?" Zhong Lan frowned and said worriedly.

"She was originally the concubine of the Marquis of Lin'an. She came to the position thanks to her Yin De who made the main wife mad. Everyone in the capital looked down on her. It was because of the Marquis of Lin'an's mansion that they gave her a small amount of face. Unexpectedly, she got slapped on the nose. That’s it.” Mrs. Pan picked up the chopsticks and said nonchalantly, “You can eat yours without worry.”

Zhong Yan was full of gratitude and thanked Mrs. Pan.

After finally finishing the meal, Mrs. Pan pulled Zhong Lai over and said, "I'm going to go to the house to say goodbye to the wife of the Prime Minister. I think there are a lot of people in the house at this time, so you shouldn't join in the fun and wait here until I come back."

Zhong Lan nodded in response.

After Pan left, Zhong Lan went to a pavilion to rest.

"Ms. Zhong." A female voice sounded from behind.Zhong Lan knew it was You Wei without even thinking about it. He became wary and turned around with a smile: "It turns out to be You Xiaoniang from the Duke of Qi's family."

The smile on Yuwei's face turned cold instantly.

"I wonder what Miss You is doing?" Zhong Lan straightened his skirt and asked.

Youwei gouged out Zhong Yan and said, "When I came here just now, I met a person who said he was an old friend of Madam Zhong, so I brought him here for Madam Zhong to take a look."

"Old friend?" Zhong Lan stared, and before he finished speaking, he saw an unkempt and disheveled woman being brought in.

As soon as the woman came up, she knelt in front of Zhong Lan and said, "Mistress, please spare my life! I beg my mistress to spare my life!"

Zhong Yan vaguely recognized the woman from the slightly hoarse voice: "Miss Rong?"

Rong Niang's voice was loud, attracting an endless stream of people to come forward to take a look.

Seeing more and more people gathered around her, Rong Niang cried out: "Even if the mistress doesn't like me, she can't sell me into a secret kiln. I am also a daughter of a good family who wants to be respected."

"You're talking nonsense!" Chang Huan retorted angrily, "Obviously your mistress treated you kindly, but after the master demoted you, you were greedy for wealth and secretly absconded with the royal furnishings! It was my mistress who settled the trap for you and let you go. I've beaten you, and you're not satisfied enough to bite me back?"

The ladies of the Shen Mansion had also heard Pan tell her about the incident of Miss Shen's wife absconding with the royal gift, and they all pointed at Rong Niang.

Rong Niang said hurriedly: "That's not the case! After I entered the Shen Mansion, the Shen Mansion treated me harshly. After the master was in trouble, he even sold me and his servants in exchange for money. The royal furnishings that were lost in the Shen Mansion were exactly what the master and the master wanted. The mother was framed on my concubine after being sold privately."

After speaking, Rong Niang lifted up the hem of her clothes, revealing new and old wounds that were too horrible to look at.

Everyone was stunned, and looked up at Zhong Yuan.

Zhong Yan sneered: "Miss Rong, let me ask you, which dark kiln did my lord and I sell you to?"

Rong Niang was stunned and said hurriedly: "Jinshui Lane in the west of the city."

"How much silver did it sell for?"

"Twenty taels of silver." Rong Niang replied timidly.

"When we moved out of Shen's residence, we had less than five taels of silver on us, and the financial affairs of the mansion were recorded by the commander of the Royal Forest Army." Zhong Lan said unhurriedly.

"Then, what if the Lord, Queen and Queen take care of her!"

"If you can't explain clearly, report it to the official and ask for the records of the Royal Forest Army." Zhong Lan stared at him, "I'm not afraid of spending time with you."

Rong Niang lowered her head and glanced at Youwei from time to time.

"Then report it to the officials!" Youwei said hurriedly, "For such a big grievance, let them try it. If Mrs. Zhong is not afraid of damaging Lord Shen's official reputation, will the commander of the Royal Forest Army hand over the register at will?"

Zhong Lan heard Youwei's threat and chuckled: "Now that all the officials and ladies have seen it, I'm not afraid of any scandal. A few days ago, shopkeeper Wen of Wenjia Company sent me a letter, saying The lost imperial gift from Shen Mansion was discovered in the border market, and people have been sent to investigate. I am just waiting for the news to see who is hiding the imperial gift and framing it on my family. "

Yuwei's eyes also became erratic.

Zhong Lan smiled and walked up to Youwei: "Mrs. Rong was sent by the Marquis of Lin'an. She must have something to do with you, right? Instead of causing trouble for me here, why not think about what those royal gifts should be?" How to dispose of it.”

"Cough." A slight cough came from the crowd. You Wei and Rong Niang looked and saw that it was Mrs. Lin'an Hou.

Mrs. Lin'an Marquis stepped forward to smooth things over, pointed at Rong Niang and cursed: "It must be a misunderstanding, this crazy woman is talking nonsense."

Rong Niang's eyes were full of shock when she saw this, and she simply said: "The thing given by the emperor has nothing to do with me! Now I have no way to survive. If the mistress does not recognize me, I can only pretend to be dead in this Prime Minister's Mansion. middle!"

Zhong Lan was stunned. In the end, it was the Prime Minister's wife who was in charge of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Today was the full moon banquet for the Prime Minister's wife. She absolutely could not let the murder happen in the Prime Minister's Mansion, so she hurriedly asked Chang Huan to pull her away.

"Ms. Zhong, let her hit her," the voice of Mrs. Zaifu came, "I will skin her if she dares to cause bloodshed at my daughter's birthday party."

When everyone saw that it was Mrs. Zaifu, they all got out of the way.

Mrs. Zaifu stepped forward and stood in front of Zhong Lan.

Rong Niang was frightened for a moment and looked at Youwei.

Youwei dodged a little, turned her face away.

Rong Niang looked at Mrs. Lin'an Hou again.

Madam Lin'an Hou hurriedly said: "Drag this crazy woman down quickly."

When Zhong Lan accompanied Pan back, Pan was still in the car angrily: "I asked why Yao came to talk to me when I was leaving. It turned out that a stage was set up outside and waiting for you."

"It was a near miss, so I asked you to hide. If you do anything bad, how do you want me to explain to Mr. Shen?"

Zhong Lan smiled: "Madam, calm down."

"But did Wen Shu really find those objects?" Pan couldn't help but ask.

"I framed them." Zhong Lan shook his head, "It's just that I feel that this matter has something to do with Mrs. Lin'an Marquis and You Wei, but I guessed it right."

"Mrs. Qi Guogong didn't like Yao, so she allowed You Xiaoniang to take advantage of her, and the two of them were in a nest of snakes and rats." Mrs. Pan spat.

"Fortunately, you are blessed."

(End of this chapter)