There is a large, remote house in the capital, with dense trees and rockery surrounding it. It looks like an elegant garden in the mountains.
However, for such a residence, there is only one main courtyard standing in the middle. There is a school ground and study room on each side of the other two sides. The backyard is a teahouse and there are no other courtyards.
At this time, the lights were on in the main courtyard. Gu Yan, who came back in the middle of the night, had no time to change clothes and hurried over.
In the bright room, a man sitting in a wheelchair is repairing a cracked bracelet. He is the seventh master of the Zhou family and the current head of the Zhou family, Zhou Ling.
I saw that he was wearing an ink-colored gown, with a handsome face and a dull expression. His deep eyes were slightly raised, and his eyes were clear.
"Is everything done?"
Gu Yan nodded and did not step forward. He just looked at the silver-gray metal mask on the table, his eyes slightly lost in thought.
But soon, Gu Yan withdrew his gaze and replied respectfully: "Master Qi predicted it well. Shi Tong was only beaten twenty times and stopped. Later, he dragged the sick body out and gave his subordinate a letter.
King An wrote the letter of divorce, and his subordinates also gave him the remaining five thousand taels of silver notes."
Zhou Ling smiled lightly and asked, "Where is the Lu family? It's still peaceful?"
Gu Yan said: "It is said that the envoy of the Sun Academy has paid a visit, but the lights in the main courtyard were turned off early. Lu Yunhong probably did not leave the mansion."
Zhou Ling's eyes moved slightly and he said: "I really underestimate Lu Yunhong, but it doesn't matter. He is deliberately planning to get Prince An to Jinling, and he will definitely make another move."
"Just pay close attention."
After Zhou Ling finished speaking, he lowered his head and continued his work.
He was repairing a bracelet, and Gu Yan could tell at a glance that it was the one that Wang Xiu had pointed out to be defective in Zhou's shop.
It depends on the master's intention, it is to touch gold to make repairs. This is a common repair method on the market.
Gu Yan did not continue reading. Normally when Zhou Ling had nothing to say, he would have quit.
…
On the twenty-fourth day of the winter lunar month, King An left the capital quietly.
But what surprised Lu Yunhong was that King An actually returned Zheng Sihan to the Zheng family and wrote a letter of divorce.
Zheng Sihan is a concubine. Logically speaking, she doesn't want to be kicked out of the palace. But King An's move clearly gave the Zhongyong uncle the face of the palace. In this way, if Zheng Sihan remarries, outsiders can't say much.
On the 27th of the winter lunar month, Lu Yunhong took a letter from Wuxi home and hesitated whether to tell Wang Xiu.
At this time, Wang Xiuzheng was immersed in the joy that his eldest brother was about to return to Beijing, and he took Rongrong to pick out gifts in the warehouse.
When Lu Yunhong went there, he saw Qian Liangcai coming with a valuable jewelry box, accompanied by a nun from the Dingguo Palace.
After asking, I found out that it was Grandma Gu who took care of Jiang Hua. She met Wang Xiu last time in the Zhou family's shop.
Lu Yunhong nodded slightly and didn't pay too much attention.
Soon, Wang Xiu came out of the warehouse and met Grandma Gu.
Grandma Gu was blessed and said: "Last time, our wife has been apologizing for what happened to Zhou's shop, and was thinking about asking Mrs. Lu to go shopping again. However, it has been cold recently, and our wife is afraid of the cold.
It would not be good to make Mrs. Lu wait for too long. It happened that Uncle Zhongyong came to the house today with the Zhou family to apologize. He was very sincere. Thinking that Mrs. Lu had suffered a lot of grievances that day, our lady asked me to bring the Zhou family's apology and please return it.
Mrs. Lu must choose one."
"Our wife also said that if Mrs. Lu doesn't want to choose, it's okay. This is a matter between her and the Zhou family. Mrs. Lu doesn't have to be embarrassed. Our two families still have contacts and are harmonious."
Wang Xiu understood as soon as she heard that Mrs. Jiang had forgiven the Zheng family and the Zhou family, but she remembered that she was also present at the time, so she asked Aunt Gu to come over, just to avoid her not knowing and making a joke.
Zheng Sihan has already returned to Zheng's house. If Mrs. Jiang doesn't come out to make trouble, she has already understood.
In addition, Uncle Zhongyong is now uncharacteristically running around for his daughter. Wang Xiu wants to know what kind of investment the Zhou family has made?
So she said to Grandma Gu: "It's not a big deal at all. Since your wife won't pursue it anymore, I'll just pretend that it never happened."
After hearing this, Grandma Gu smiled from ear to ear and quickly opened the jewelry box.
In an instant, what came into view were more than a dozen beautiful, icy and translucent bracelets.
Ice purple, ice blue, floating flowers, yellow jade, spring color, full green... Even though Wang Xiu had seen all kinds of high-end jade in modern times, he was still shocked.
She suspected that the Zhou family had emptied their fortune. Could it be that they were afraid of becoming enemies of Duke Dingguo?
Wang Xiu looked at Lu Yunhong and saw Lu Yunhong raised his eyebrows slightly, which seemed very surprising.
This is strange. It seems that Lu Yunhong is not sure what the Zhou family means.
Wang Xiu looked at the bracelets casually, and suddenly found that one looked particularly familiar, because that was the one that the Zhou family's head shopkeeper showed her before, and she concluded that it was defective.
Now, its light green is set off by gold-painted lotus flowers, which is icy and gorgeous, and it is like a golden fish shadow reflected in the lake under the snow-capped mountains in early spring, slowly ripples, and the clear green bottom of the lake has become its habitat.
The beauty of the land is both virtual and real, real and fake. It has to be said that this repair master should be regarded as an excellent craftsman.
What he wanted to express was as real as false, as real as lotus, and as illusory as goldfish. What he wanted to say was that the Zhou family sincerely wanted peace, and if that didn't work, he hoped she would stop arguing with the Zhou family about money.
As the saying goes, "turning war into jade and silk" is moistened with warmth, and flaws are not covered up.
The Zhou family has put a lot of effort into this.
Wang Xiu picked it out and said to Grandma Gu: "This is the one."
Although Grandma Gu was surprised, she still nodded and said: "Okay, then I will go back and resume my life. Thank you, Mrs. Lu."
Wang Xiu asked Qian Liangcai to take Grandma Gu out of the house, while he handed the bracelet to Rongrong and asked her to take it back to the warehouse and put it away.
Lu Yunhong said: "What the Zhou family did is too outrageous. Don't wear that bracelet."
Wang Xiu smiled and said: "The Zhou family can find other high-priced bracelets, why would they mix one with a flaw in it? When we buy beautiful jade, the common saying is that we are destined to form a bond."
"This fate is the fate of the eyes, which is moistened by warmth and compared with jade. I hope to use jade to find a gentleman so as to form a good relationship. I know that the Zhou family wants to make peace, so I agree."
Anyway, she and the Zhou family have no intention of getting along with each other, so why bother to cause more trouble?
As the saying goes, a thief can only be a thief in a thousand days, but there is no one who can guard against a thief in a thousand days. As long as the Zhou family keeps to itself and doesn't plot against her, she doesn't have that much free time. She will definitely argue with the Zhou family. After all, she might as well sleep at that time.
Lu Yunhong heard her thoughts and smiled helplessly.
But then, as if he had made up his mind, he handed the letter in his arms to Wang Xiu.
Wang Xiu thought it was just an ordinary letter from home at first, but after reading it, he was shocked.
"Mom is sick?"
Lu Yunhong nodded: "I have already seen the doctor and he said that I need to rest for a few months. I decided to go back."
Wang Xiudao: "If it's not serious, dad won't mention it in the letter, so we'd better clean up and I'll go back with you."
Lu Yunhong quickly pressed Wang Xiu's hand and said with a serious face: "Don't worry, dad's character is not ambiguous. Since it's not serious, I'm afraid we'll find out from elsewhere and scare ourselves."
"It's cold now. If you want to leave, how can I leave Chengxi? How can I bear to take you away together and sleep in the open?"
"If I were alone, I would be there in half a month if I traveled day and night and took the waterway."
"If things go well by then, maybe we can come back in time to celebrate the New Year."
Wang Xiu was not so optimistic. She said: "Anyway, you have been dismissed from your post, so we will go back together. Chengxi will also take him with us. We will make plans after the New Year."
Lu Yunhong shook his head and continued: "I'm afraid not. I left because I was worried about my parents. If you leave with me, in the eyes of outsiders, you are despising the emperor's favor. Maybe they will think that we are deliberately going against the emperor?"
"Now that the prince has not succeeded to the throne, should we endure it? As long as you and Chengxi have a good life, it doesn't matter if I work harder, I don't care."
After Wang Xiu heard this, he began to hesitate in his heart.
Lu Yunhong squeezed her hand again, expressed his determination with a little force, and then said: "At least early spring, I will be back then."
"Trust me, nothing will happen."
Wang Xiu looked at him helplessly. Seeing that he had made up his mind, he sighed and said, "Okay then!"
Seeing this, Lu Yunhong pursed his lips, seemingly smiling, but in fact the smile did not reach his eyes.
Somehow... he was not happy at all when he saw Wang Xiu compromising for him.
Instead, he felt heavy in his heart, as if something was slowly slipping out of his control.