I'm reborn, so it's not too much to kill the one who traveled through the book, right?

The people in the East Palace did not deliberately inquire about the situation in the West Palace, but because the two families were so close, everyone could know what was going on next door as long as they didn't cover their ears.

The people in the West Palace were already demoralized, and now without their backbone and officials, the entire West Palace was like a pile of loose sand, with everyone acting in their own way and striving for interests for their own families.

The old man's funeral was hastily and simply held, with only a few guests coming to pay their respects.

Gong Shaojia was dismissed from office by the emperor himself, and less than a day later he was thrown into prison for murdering his nephew from the next-door neighbor. For a family like this, even those with connections would have no time to hide away, so who would dare to visit and pay their respects?

Even among the in-laws of the old master's daughters-in-law, only a few sent servants to go through the formalities.

No one from the East Palace went to help, but there were elders in the clan who were close to that side who went to help. But on the East Palace side, Li only asked the housekeeper to send a set of condolence gifts, nothing else.

After the Gong family members knew what Xifu had done, they didn't say anything.

When the officials came to the east and west governments and reported Gong Shaojia's evil deeds to everyone, the relationship between them had already been torn apart.

"That old guy died at a timely moment." Li said in a deep voice as she listened to the wailing coming from next door.

Li didn't believe that those things had nothing to do with Old Master Gong, and even thought that the person behind the scenes must be Old Master Gong who was giving advice.

Now that Gong Shaojia has been arrested, there is a great chance that he will give up the old man. Unfortunately, it would be useless even if he were to be interrogated now because the man is already dead.

Moreover, now that the person is dead, it will also be good for Gong Shaojia.

Gong Shaojia pushed the blame of everything onto his father, and managed to escape the death penalty, but was still sentenced to thirty years of exile.

Shen Rong thought, who says it's not true! He committed so many evil things, but died so easily.

Li looked at Shen Rong and the two children beside her. "This time, it was all thanks to the second son of the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion who came forward. When do you think we can send a letter to express our gratitude?"

Speaking of coming to thank someone, Li looked a little embarrassed, "What a pity..."

It was a pity that Madam Li did not say it clearly, but Nanny Hua knew what her master meant.

Life in the Marquis' Mansion can only be said to be passable, but compared with those powerful families in the capital, it is far worse. They can only say that they have enough food and drink, but it would be difficult to have more. It is also difficult for the Marquis' Mansion to come up with a gift that will be appreciated by others.

Aunt Hua comforted her, "Madam, as long as we express our gratitude sincerely, the Duke's Mansion won't mind. Besides, didn't Old Madam Cen say that the young mistress and the young master saved Mr. Zhou Er's life?"

Li disagreed with what Aunt Hua said, "Mr. Zhou Er also saved Brother Ping, so we are even.

Now that they have helped us to avenge what happened twenty years ago, how can we ever repay them with just some ordinary gifts of thanks?

If Changsheng was not in trouble, you two should thank Mr. Zhou Er in person.

From now on, we should not neglect the etiquette during any festival, funeral, or wedding. If the Duke's Mansion has any mission, our Gong family will definitely do our best. The two families have a good relationship, and in the future when we inherit the title, there will be someone who can speak a word or two for us in the court."

After she said this, Shen Rong understood a little.

This is to take advantage of the life-saving grace of these two families and establish contacts with the Duke's Mansion.

Shen Rong had grown up in the straightforward Taohua Village and was not familiar with this roundabout way of speaking.

If it weren't for the fact that Old Madam Li spoke so many words to her in one breath for the first time, she might not have understood it for a while.

If you think about it carefully, there seems to be nothing wrong with doing this.

When she first arrived at the Marquis' Mansion, she thought it was a place of wealth and luxury, but the longer she stayed there, the more she realized how difficult the mansion was.

Because of the tragic war more than 30 years ago, the late emperor ordered that the title of Pingyang Marquis be passed down for three more generations, and Changsheng's generation is the second generation.

Although the title has been passed down for three generations, the two generations of the mansion are all elderly, weak, women and children. Now there is no one in the mansion who is engaged in officialdom, and it is useless to have a title. They don't even know what the emperor's plan is for the title.

The Pingyang Marquisate is now in imminent danger of inheriting the title, but there has been no movement from the emperor's side. Isn't it because the Pingyang Marquisate has no one in the court?

Looking further into the future, it will take more than ten or twenty years for the two children to grow up. Before that, she can't just do nothing and leave the children to earn their own future, right?

After thinking it through, Shen Rong nodded to the old lady: "The old lady is right."

As a parent, Shen Rong is willing to do everything she can to pave the way for her children.

The Zhou family was willing, so everyone started to move around. Regardless of whether it was sincere or not, at least in the circle of the rich and powerful in the capital, the Gong family also had their own social circle.

Seeing that she understood what he meant, he continued, "Although our Gong family has no power or influence, we are also a family that knows etiquette.

You bring the child to my house in person, as for the thank-you gift…” The old lady paused and glanced at Aunt Hua, “Aunt Hua, go to my storehouse and find something presentable.”

Aunt Hua looked at the old lady with embarrassment, "Old lady, I'm afraid there is nothing suitable in the warehouse..."

The old lady's wealth would be good if it were placed in an ordinary family, but if you wanted to pick out something outstanding from it, it would not be good enough.

The last time she went to the Duke's Mansion to pick up Ping'er, she picked and picked in the storeroom and barely found some presentable things. If she tried again, Nanny Hua really couldn't think of any gift that the Duke's Mansion would appreciate.

Shen Rong saw that Aunt Hua was in a dilemma, thought for a moment, and suggested, "Madam, I have another old ginseng that is not worse than the one I gave you last time. Why don't we give this one to you?"

The old lady was surprised, "You still have that old ginseng?"

Shen Rong nodded gently: "Well, I'll bring it back to you later to let you approve it. If it's okay, you and Aunt Hua don't have to worry about what gift to give."

When Aunt Hua heard about the existence of such ginseng, her mouth opened into an O shape.

Aunt Hua had seen many good things before when she followed her master, but this was the first time that the master had ever seen ginseng of such quality, not to mention her.

If you send ginseng of that quality to the Duke's Mansion, it would be extremely impressive.

Madam Li naturally felt that it was a good idea, but she thought of Changsheng who was still unconscious, and shook her head, "I don't know when Changsheng will wake up, so let's keep the ginseng for him..."

Shen Rong didn't expect that Changsheng, the grandson who was not raised by her, was so important in the old lady's heart.

Shen Rong was a little surprised.

You know, ginseng that is hundreds of years old is hard to come by.

The Duke's Mansion received such a valuable gift, and as long as their request was not excessive, no one would refuse it.

The same is true for helping the Gong family inherit the title.

However, Shen Rong did not expect that the old lady would put immortality before the title. At this moment, she could not help but feel grateful and moved.

At this time, Shen Rong did not know that Zhou Minglang was a big shot in front of the current emperor, and the matter of the Gong family inheriting the title was just a matter of words for him.

That ginseng was pure profit for the Duke's Mansion.

Shen Rong shook her head. "I know that the old lady cares about my husband, but my husband already has the ginseng of that age that you gave him. Eating more will only harm his health."

When the old lady heard this, she felt that what Shen Rong said made sense, "If that's the case, sending ginseng is appropriate..." At this point, the sadness on the old lady's face faded a little. She paused and suddenly changed the subject. The old lady looked at Shen Rong in amazement, "You kid, you're quite lucky. There are not even two ginsengs like this in the whole capital. I didn't expect you to give two at once..."

Hearing the old lady's words, Shen Rong was not in a hurry, "I think the old lady must have heard from the Shen family's grandparents that after I married my husband, I often followed him to the mountains to collect herbs. I was lucky. I found what others couldn't find."

Aunt Hua couldn't help but exclaimed when she heard Shen Rong's calm words, "Wow! She actually found it while picking herbs? This is incredible luck, it shows that the young lady is blessed."

Shen Rong didn't respond.

At this time, a burst of crackling firecrackers came from the West Mansion next door, interrupting the conversation of several people.

The old man from Xifu is on the road.

Shen Rong hugged the two children tightly.

No one spoke in the room for a while, and everyone listened quietly to the mournful suona sounds outside gradually fading away.

The day after the funeral next door, the servants of the mansion delivered a visiting card to the door, saying that the second son of the Zhou family and his wife would come to visit Changsheng tomorrow.

Madam Li immediately arranged for all the servants in the mansion to clean up the yard.

Li took Shen Rong aside to introduce the situation of the Duke's Mansion to her.

"The young master of the Zhou family came to visit us personally. This is a good start. The two families will have to deal with each other in the future. I will tell you what I know about the general situation in the Dingguo Mansion."

The Duke's Mansion, like the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion, was descended from military generals.

However, the Zhou family is still in its heyday, while the Pingyang Marquis Mansion has declined.

The current Duke has three sons and one daughter.

My daughter is really the current empress dowager, the emperor’s biological mother.

This is also the reason why the old lady is so keen on interacting with the Zhou family.

Of the three sons of Duke Dingguo, except for the eldest son who followed the Duke to guard the south, Cen and the second and third sons stayed in the capital.

Mr. Zhou Er was appointed as the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple and married Yang, the daughter of a civil servant. Yang's father was now the Chief Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and had a say in the court.

Mr. Zhou San is an uneducated playboy who has not yet married. He studies in the Imperial Academy and does not make any major mistakes.

Seeing that Shen Rong was listening attentively, the old lady told her a lot of things that happened in the capital recently. It was mainly about some things in the backyards of each family. As for the things in the court, the old lady didn't talk much, perhaps because there was no one in the court!

The old lady seemed to be chatting casually with Shen Rong, and occasionally Nanny Hua would add a word or two, but everything that needed to be said was said, and before Shen Rong knew it, she had roughly figured out the current situation in the capital.

At noon, Shen Rong took the children to have lunch in the old lady's yard.

The old lady has been a vegetarian all year round, and the two children are not used to the food, but they don't refuse to eat it.

After lunch, the place next door became completely quiet.