NCCnovel Chapter 505: The Prime Minister's Mansion Posted
Chapter 505: The Prime Minister's Mansion Posted
The man came close to her, and his hot breath sprayed on her neck, making her shiver involuntarily. Then, when she heard the words the man whispered in her ear, she nodded shyly.
"It's over." She turned to look at him, "You have to go to court tomorrow, don't you want to go to bed early?"
The man had a gentle smile on his face.
"No problem."
As he finished speaking, he had already skillfully untied her belt.
……
After Nian'er came, the house became more lively.
The little girl, who was about to turn sixteen, had grown into a graceful young lady. Song Yuntang looked at her with a smile.
"Nian'er will be sixteen soon, and will soon be at the age of marriage. Do you have a man you like? We can arrange the wedding next year, or we can get married two years later."
Speaking of this, Nian'er lowered her head.
"To be honest with you, Nian'er has no plans to get married."
After hearing this, Song Yuntang held her hand.
"Is it because of the previous incident in Shili Village?"
Ever since the incident with Master Lu, this girl has become much more reserved. I think it must have had a significant impact on her, but I didn't expect that she would even think about not getting married.
Although everyone has their own way of living.
But she didn't want her son to be affected by this incident and isolate himself.
Nian'er nodded.
"And my parents. After my father got together with the village widow, my mother had a very miserable year. I don't want to be another one of her."
Xu Cui went to the county town to complain to her several times.
Thinking about what they had done to her before, she didn't feel any softness towards them.
Song Yuntang was not in a hurry to persuade her.
"After all, you are still young. Since you don't want to, let's put this matter aside for now."
Then he said, "But Nian'er, everyone only has one life. Some things are in the past. You can't deprive yourself of the right to pursue another way of life because of these bad things."
"Trial and error is not terrible. For example, your mother may have had feelings for your father at the beginning, but later, even though she knew your father was not a good person and had the support of her family, she was still willing to suffer injustice in the Cheng family. This is stupid. Her misfortune was caused by her own hands."
You must have the courage to embrace happiness and the determination to withdraw at any time.
In her opinion, love or marriage is not scary. What is scary is getting lost in it and eventually losing yourself.
Nian'er felt something in his heart.
"I will think carefully about what my sister-in-law said to me today."
Song Yuntang nodded with relief, took off the beauty bracelet he had taken back from Zhao Xiaolan, and put it on Nian'er.
Unexpectedly, the bracelet fits her hand perfectly.
"The bracelet is small. It won't hinder you from doing things, but it won't look too conspicuous either. It suits you very well."
Nian'er looked at her wrist.
"Cousin, this is too expensive."
According to the current value of this kind of jade bracelet, it would cost at least forty or fifty taels of silver, which was beyond her ability to afford.
Song Yuntang looked at her with a smile.
"Wear it. You've been by my side for the past two years and helped me a lot. I've told you before that as long as you don't betray me, I won't treat you unfairly."
Nian'er sniffed.
"Sister-in-law has been very good to Nian'er in the past two years. She is a thousand times better than Nian'er's parents."
Song Yuntang walked up and touched her head.
"Alright, alright, stop crying, little girl. If your grandparents see you, they'll think I'm bullying you."
Nian'er burst out laughing.
"Grandpa and grandma don't believe that my sister-in-law would bully me."
Song Yuntang breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have you finished preparing the New Year gifts for the Song family that I asked you to do?"
Nian'er nodded. "I explained everything before I came. The New Year's gift will be sent to the Song family along with my sister-in-law's letter. I also asked my eldest brother Jinsheng, and he said that when the weather gets warmer next year, he will bring my aunt and uncle to the capital to reunite with my sister-in-law."
"Okay." Song Yuntang said, "Then I'll wait for them in the capital."
As the two were talking, Jinshu ran in from outside the yard.
"Madam, the Prime Minister's Mansion has sent an invitation to our residence."
"Xiangfu?"
Song Yuntang took the post from her with a look of suspicion on his face, and when he unfolded it, his confusion grew even more.
Seeing this, Jinshu looked in the direction of Song Yuntang.
"Ma'am, what does the post say?"
Song Yuntang looked at the invitation in his hand and said, "It said that before the New Year, they invited all the ladies to come to their house for a chat, and asked me to bring Hao Ting with me."
She has been in the capital for almost half a year. Before that, she was like a invisible person. Whenever there was any small event at the home of an important official above the third rank, she was never included.
Now that Xu Qingye had just been promoted to the Imperial Academy Lecturer, the Zhuang family sent her a letter.
The purpose is self-evident.
Maybe he saw Xu Qingye's potential.
Either he wanted to win her over, or he wanted to take this opportunity to ask her to give up her position to Miss Zhuang.
After all, Xu Qingye had previously rejected the Zhuang family's marriage proposal in front of the emperor.
Since they couldn't get Xu Qingye to start with, they set their sights on her. Could it be that Miss Zhuang couldn't get married, so she had to take advantage of Xu Qingye, a married man?
Although she didn't want to get involved in such matters, the Zhuang family was now in a high position of power and influence, and it was related to Xu Qingye. Even though she knew it was a dangerous place, she had to go through it.
But I can’t take Hao Ting with me.
If she was really a country woman with no background, she might have been intimidated by the prime minister's residence, but in addition to her rural origin, she was also a county lady appointed by the emperor himself.
In terms of status alone, even if Mrs. Zhuang was a first-rank lady, she still had to perform proper etiquette in front of the county lady.
Jinshu's face was filled with worry.
"The young master is still so young, and it's freezing cold. What if he catches a cold?
Song Yuntang shook his head. "Madam Zhuang invited me to the Prime Minister's Residence, but I don't know what her purpose is. If that's the case, I naturally can't bring Hao Ting with me."
She looked at Jinshu.
"In previous years, for this kind of small pre-holiday event, did guests need to bring gifts?"
Jinshu bowed towards Song Yuntang.
"If you want to bring someone, you can put some thought into it if you have a good relationship with them, but if you have an average relationship with them, just don't worry about it."
"I'm not close to the Prime Minister's wife," Song Yuntang instructed her. "Send a reply and tell her I'll be going to the Prime Minister's residence tomorrow."
As for the gift, just bring a box of rouge from Yujun Pavilion.
At present, Yujun Pavilion has no branch in the capital. Although she has not been out of the house in the past six months, she has heard Jiang Surao complain about it.
They say the rouge here is not as good as the one from Yujun Pavilion.
If she hadn't used up the rouge she brought with her, she would never have wanted to buy it here.
"Yes."
Jin Shufu bowed and went out.
……
At night, Xu Qingye learned that Song Yuntang was going to the Prime Minister's Mansion the next day, and his face was filled with worry.
"If Tang'er doesn't want to go, she doesn't have to go."
"They've already invited me, and they haven't explicitly said they'll make things difficult for me. If I don't go, I'll be publicly offending the Prime Minister's wife. The Prime Minister's wife is a high-ranking official in the capital, and they'll definitely have many supporters. Then our family will be ostracized in the capital, and life won't be easy." She looked at Xu Qingye, "Don't worry, I'll take care of myself."
After a moment of silence, Xu Qingye spoke.
"Tomorrow is the last time I will attend court before the New Year. I will try to leave early and then go directly to the Prime Minister's residence to take you home."
Song Yuntang nodded.
"it is good."
……