An old lady's life

Except for the last time Princess Jingrong came to thank her personally, Ai Cao only met her once, and it was at a banquet at someone else's house. The eldest princess also joked about Ai Cao. She has been very busy recently, and you can hear about her everywhere .

Ai Cao can't help it, the banquets she attended are not too many, but the personnel overlap, there is really an illusion that she is everywhere.

At night, Ai Cao thought about it, and came up with a detailed plan in her mind, planning to find a few people to cooperate with, among them Princess Jingrong and Concubine Pingyang were the main force, Concubine Nan'an, Mrs. Zhongyonghou and the Chen family of the cabinet scholar's office The eldest lady is the assistant.

The next day, Ai Cao began to actively work on this matter. Princess Jingrong and Concubine Pingyang supported it, and the draft was only a marriage gift for the royal family. If the emperor had no extra use in the minister's family, he would not bother to care about the marriage. things.

Jia Min sighed that her mother-in-law was really energetic, as if she couldn't stay at home every day.

After a few days of liaison and overall planning, Ai Cao was finally ready with one mind.Concubine Pingyang dedicated a Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi has a large area and is facing the Qingyang River. It is definitely a good place for outings. The location has been prepared, so everything is ready and only the east wind is owed!

And the draft in the palace has also reached the middle stage. A few days ago, the show girls were waiting and watching, and maybe they didn't want to be the rafters, so they were safe and sound, but these days, the show girls started to take risks. All kinds of small conflicts... These things are seen by the superiors.

The harem is full of flowers every day, surrounded by beauties of all colors. The concubines frequently summon all the beautiful women, and the ladies have different purposes.Some people are looking for side concubines and concubines for their sons.He Zhaoyi was looking for a concubine for the eighth prince, and Emperor Changping also told her after the draft that the concubine would only be selected from four candidates, and asked her to carefully observe the four show girls, so the four fathers and brothers with the highest status in this show Xiu Nu was frequently summoned by He Zhaoyi.There are also empresses who want to find a young concubine to win over their palace because they are old.

Today Emperor Changping was in Concubine Liu Guifei's palace. Concubine Liu Gui summoned several beautiful girls. The parents and brothers of these beautiful girls were not of high status and belonged to the middle class. She was very smart and knew that her son already had a main concubine and two concubines. It was only possible to add a concubine. Emperor Changping glanced at the beautiful ladies, and after hearing what Concubine Liu Gui said, he agreed without hesitation.

Concubine Liu Gui breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the emperor would not agree, but she didn't expect the emperor to agree only after pondering for a moment, it seems that their mother and son have a certain status in the emperor's heart.

In the next few days, Emperor Changping listened to the requests of Concubine Zhou De and Concubine Chen Xian in turn. Naturally, they all added concubines to the two princes, because King Xiangjun married a side concubine, so this time he would not add another concubine. It's concubine concubine.What Concubine Zhou De wanted for her son was a side concubine and a concubine, so Emperor Changping still had nothing to do.

The Seventh Prince secretly watched these changes in the harem. He saw the empresses begging his brothers for so many women to go back. No wonder the four brothers often heard news of miscarriages in the backyard. Before, he thought it was the bodies of those women. Not good, now, ghosts know that there are a lot of tricks in it.

The crown prince and the seventh prince also have no mother and concubine. The seventh prince recalled the situation in the prince's backyard. The crown prince and concubine Wang was chosen by the emperor himself. This is nothing to say, but the four side concubines in the prince's backyard were also gifted by the father?The father is so idle all day, staring at his son's backyard?The seventh prince asked the eunuchs around him to inquire quietly, and learned that except for the concubine, the other four side concubines and concubines were all begged by the prince himself. .

Emperor Changping saw this little move of the seventh prince. It is normal for his son to pay attention to his own marriage, and it would be abnormal if he didn't.

It's just that Lao Qi asked about the side concubine in the prince's backyard. What is this for?Emperor Changping was puzzled!

The day before the draft ended, Emperor Changping summoned the Seventh Prince and asked him if there was any change to the marriage, otherwise his concubine would be a girl from the Yao family, and there was still time to change it.

The Seventh Prince immediately shook his head: "Thank you, Father, for your concern. My son thinks that the girl from the Yao family is pretty good. She survived the draft, which proves that she is not without plans."

Emperor Changping had a smile in his eyes and a smile in his tone, "Don't worry, since you are optimistic, the father will not change people, just like a person who knows how warm and cold the water is, and live a good life with his wife in the future."

When he was young, in order to compete for the throne, Emperor Changping exchanged the position of the side concubine in the backyard for the support of many officials, but at his current age and status, he does not support his son's exchange of status with a woman. After all, it is his own incompetence a symbol of.And after going through a lot of wind and waves, I realized what is the most precious, and I can't get it. If my son can get it, he will be very pleased.

The Seventh Prince nodded heavily, feeling a little moved in his heart, his father had done no less for him than his brothers, the corners of his lips twitched, but he couldn't say what he wanted to say.

Moreover, the emperor father used the word wife, which has a different meaning from the concubine and wife.

The Seventh Prince was somewhat similar to Concubine Shen Shu. Emperor Changping seemed to see that intelligent and gentle woman in front of his eyes. She was a rare and truly intelligent woman in the harem, but unfortunately she died of illness early due to poor health.

"A few days ago, you sent someone to inquire about the prince's side concubine. What did you want to do? Do you also want to ask the side concubine to go?"

The Seventh Prince's heart is chilling, is there anything in this palace that can be hidden from his father?Of course he didn't panic, it wasn't a secret anyway.

After pondering for a while, the Seventh Prince said honestly: "I saw some empresses choose side concubines and concubines for elder brother, third elder brother, and fifth elder brother, and found that the concubines and concubines in elder brother's backyard were all begged by these empresses. Now that he's gone, I wanted to know where the second brother's side concubine came from, only to find out that it wasn't given by the emperor, but the second brother asked for it himself."

Emperor Changping's eyes were full of surprise: "And then?" He still didn't understand what the seventh son was going to do.

The Seventh Prince lowered his eyes and said after a while, "Father will not give his son a woman at will, so the son is relieved."

Emperor Changping couldn't help but twitched his mouth, "It's normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines, you don't want so many women?"

The Seventh Prince shook his head and nodded again: "No, am I scared by the situation in the backyard of the eldest brother and the second brother? It's scary to have a miscarriage every now and then. I want to have a few sons and daughters with the concubine first." Tell me, girl."

Emperor Changping didn't know what to say. When he was the seventh son, he didn't realize the problem in the backyard. At that time, his mother and concubine were still there, and they never taught him about the backyard. They only told him that he was Men do big things, so they shouldn't focus on the woman in the backyard. She has everything in the backyard.He didn't understand until he got older and experienced more, otherwise he would have only this number of children.

The Seventh Prince glanced at Emperor Changping secretly, and Emperor Changping laughed and said, "Don't worry, Emperor Father is not so free."

Swinging away the Seventh Prince, Emperor Changping summoned the Eighth Prince again, and also asked him about marrying a wife. The Eighth Prince discussed with He Zhaoyi for a long time. The girls from the families of the four Ministers of Civil and Military Affairs were all very nice, and not only were their family backgrounds similar, but the four girls also looked the same. They are all first-class, so the Eighth Prince really has no extra ideas, he can use any one, in fact, he is quite regretful, if all four of them are given to him, he will be most satisfied.

And Emperor Changping had already asked He Zhaoyi, and He Zhaoyi preferred girls from civil servants' families. After all, during the peaceful years of the world, governing the country relied more on the wisdom of civil servants.Of course, He Zhaoyi wouldn't be so obvious when she said that, she just said that she thought both the Wen family girl and the Fang family girl were good, and it was really difficult to choose.

Emperor Changping nodded: "If that's the case, let's go to the girl from the Wen family." The Fang family is always a little unhappy, and it's better for him to let his son have less trouble.

The eighth prince was full of joy. He had met the girl from the Wen family, and then he left respectfully. Then he turned around and went to the harem to meet He Zhaoyi, and told her the news that the candidate had been confirmed.

Of course, He Zhaoyi also chose a side concubine candidate, and Emperor Changping also agreed, and the imperial edict will be issued together at that time.

"Wang Wei, how do you think Lao Qi understands these things?" Emperor Changping said quietly, he was sure that if no one taught him, Lao Qi didn't notice the problem in the backyard.

Wang Wei gave a jolt, and said with a smile: "How can this old slave know about things that the emperor doesn't even know? The old slave thinks it's because the Seventh Prince is smart and knows how to observe."

"Really?" The corners of Emperor Changping's mouth rose slightly, and Wang Wei lowered his head even lower. He really didn't know this question!

After caring about his two sons, Emperor Changping summoned several clan princes in turn, and reached a consensus on giving marriages to the clan children. For example, among the four girls from the families of important ministers he selected, two were married to his sons, and the other two were married to his sons. You must also find a descendant of the clan of similar status or a young and promising son of the important minister's family to marry, otherwise it will cause the dissatisfaction of the other two ministers' families.

It happened that Feng Yu didn't have a concubine yet, and Emperor Changping also knew that this nephew was jumping up and down in front of his father to get married, which caused King Qi a headache. He was rejected in the last draft, and this time he couldn't escape no matter what.

In this way, the show girls have a place to go, just wait for the draft to end.

# # #

The selection of the imperial palace was in full swing. In the Rong Mansion, several elders were feeling anxious. Mrs. Zhang was still a few days away from confinement, and of course she still couldn't make it to the exam in April.

The exam in March was suspended, and the exam in April was inevitable.

Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng have taken the exam twice, and they are good with experience, but Jia Zhen is not. In the past 20 days, Jia Zhen has been busy all day, running up and down with the two uncles during the day , I have to work overtime when I get home at night, and I am busy reading books, especially the laws of Dafeng. This uncle really wants to take the exam.

However, Uncle She is still so tenacious despite getting low scores in consecutive exams. Jia Zhen thinks that his mental quality is not bad, and he has gained a lot of experience from the two uncles.

Oh, in fact, there are three small tables in the front hall of the Rong Mansion, which serve as the examination room. It is very simple, so don't mind it so much.

Apart from going to Zhuangzi a few times recently, Jia She stayed at the mansion peacefully, either with his wife and children, or reading books. Jia She still felt a little low when he got [-] points in the exam. He also wanted to save face, especially In front of his son, he must maintain his mighty and tall father image!

The exams were still going on as usual, and everyone in Rongfu waited calmly. Even Yu Qiu was not too curious about it. After all, he was taking the imperial examination. If he didn't work in the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali Temple, it would be useless to be familiar with the laws of Dafeng .

An hour later, the three handed in the paper.

Jia Amnesty breathed a sigh of relief, the questions this time seemed to be relatively simple, he could answer them all, but few of them couldn't.Jia Zheng is also convinced that the scope of the mother's questions is still the first third of the entire Dafeng Law. The questions were not answered very well.

Jia Zheng looked at his examination paper and frowned. Now that he could clearly understand his shortcomings, he couldn't help feeling a little discouraged.

After the exam, Jia Zhen put her head on the table and didn't dare to look up. He also laughed at Uncle She, only to find out by himself when he took the exam that he could score [-] points in the exam.

Hongye corrected the papers very quickly. In the first two times, she even preached to her two sons. Now she just handed the corrected papers to her sons. They knew what to do.

Staring at the big red letter on Jia Zhen’s test paper—five points, the red leaves are also completely speechless. This guy is out of luck. He didn’t get any of the multiple-choice questions right. Give a five-point sympathy point in a friendly manner.

"Zhen'er, try harder next month!" Hongye put the test paper on Jia Zhen's desk and patted his head, "Although my uncle and grandma know that you are not lazy and read the book seriously, but this score, my uncle still thinks Unbelievable."

Jia Zhen blushed. Although he had always been a dandy and couldn't study well in the past, he still felt ashamed if his elders blatantly pointed it out.

Jia Amnesty laughed unceremoniously and said: "Haha, Zhen'er, five points, lower than my first ten points, I am so relieved!" Someone got lower than him in the exam, so he just wanted to gloat!

This time, Jia Amnesty scored 32 points in the test and Jia Zheng scored 78 points in the test. The two brothers had different reactions to this.Jia She thought, this is the result of my hard work, and he is very satisfied.Jia Zheng just stared at the last sub-question of each of the four major questions in the essay. His scores were not high every time. Although he understood the reason, he wanted to make up for this shortcoming.

After the exam, I had a rare half-day off.Jia She went back to accompany his wife and youngest son. After more than 20 days of nurturing, Jia Lian had completely turned into a white, fat, and rosy red appearance. He was really lovable, but the only thing was that this kid was very domineering and separated from his mother. If he was too far away, he would cry loudly, as long as he was with his mother, he could stay in peace without crying or making trouble.

Jia Zheng returned to the west courtyard with his test papers, and went into the study. Even lunch was brought in and brought to him by Mrs. Wang. She did not understand the reason for Jia Zheng's mood change and looked at him very worriedly.Jia Zheng couldn't do anything about it, and she couldn't do anything about it with Mrs. Wang. Jia Zheng was quite annoyed, and after lunch break, he left the mansion and wandered around the street.

The baby Jia Zhen was hit, and she returned to Ning Mansion in a daze, and was immediately invited by her grandfather.Seeing his grandson's slumped head, Jia Daihua knew that today's exam results were not very good.

"Zhen'er, don't be dejected. Like your Uncle Xie did not do well in the exam at the beginning, just work harder in the next month and try to do well in the next month's exam."

Jia Zhen raised her eyelids, glanced at her grandfather, and then nodded obediently: "Yes, grandfather, grandson knows." But it doesn't matter how many points he got in the test.

Jia Daihua waited for his grandson to leave before he called the servant to inquire. Knowing that his grandson scored five points in the test, Jia Daihua stroked his beard in disbelief. After all, he knew the structure of the test paper and thought it was easy to pass.

Jia Zhen left Cong Lvtang and went back to her own yard, ignoring Tong Fang who was posing in the yard, and asked someone to fetch water to wash it, and went to bed before going to bed. He felt that he was too tired during this time, and he should sleep a few times Shichen, I want to wait until I wake up, everything will be fine.

Jia Zheng ran to an open garden in central Beijing. The most famous garden in the garden was a lotus pond. The area was large enough and the water quality was clear. The lotus leaves in the lotus pond would be green and waiting to bloom.

How to correct the problem of rigidity, Jia Zheng sat on a stone by the side of the lotus pond, unable to think of a solution.

It wasn't until around dusk that Jia Zheng returned to the Rongfu with a bit of gloom. Hongye saw his appearance in her spiritual sense, and immediately recruited him, intending to play the role of a confidant mother again.

Some things in Jia Zheng's personality are difficult to correct, but no one is perfect, so we can make use of our strengths and avoid our weaknesses.Hongye doesn't care about Jia Zheng's rigidity, she will teach him to avoid this shortcoming slowly and find the path that suits him best.

# # #

On the second day after the draft, the marriage decree came down, and this high-profile draft really came to an end.

The seventh prince's concubine is a girl from the Yao family, a military general. The Yao family has always been a soldier. Miss Yao's grandfather is still alive, but he is not in good health. His father, General Yao, was a general in the army. However, the world has been peaceful these years, and the standing army in Beijing is rarely used. General Yao has not made much contribution.

The eighth prince and concubine is the eldest granddaughter of a scholar of Wen University, a scholarly family of the Wen family, and Miss Wen is highly appreciated in the social circle in Beijing.The Wen family was quite satisfied with this marriage, and even the side concubine who gave the marriage together didn't care too much. After all, there can't be only one woman in the prince's backyard, and the girl of the Wen family only needs to be the concubine.

All the marriage decrees came down within a day, and Ai Cao also knew all the results of the draft near noon.

Ai Cao knew a little about what the Yao family was like, and of course thanks to Xiao Qi who asked about it, Ai Cao soon knew everything about the Yao family.

The Yao family has not been well-known in recent years, but it is well known how many generals the ancestors have produced and how many contributions they have made to Dafeng's peace.

"Maybe Xiaoqi can find out about Miss Yao's family?" The person who can be selected by the emperor must have a first-class family background, but Ai Cao is interested in Miss Yao herself.

Unfortunately, she didn't know anything about the Yao family girl.

Xiaoqi shook her head: "It's not very detailed. People outside only say that Miss Yao has a legacy from her ancestors, has a bright and generous personality, and is a first-class expert in horseback riding and archery. Of course, other knitting girls have dabbled in it, but they are not proficient. The only people Xiaoqi came into contact with were neighbors in the neighborhood of Yao's house, and she only saw it when Miss Yao went in and out, and she didn't know anything else.

Ai Cao nodded, and stopped exploring, anyway, Emperor Changping would never harm his son.She thought about the concubines of the four princes in front of her, and found that all of them were highly praised in the capital, and they could be called a man's good wife. Miss Yao also chose according to this standard, after all, the emperor has a pervasive news network.

Knowing that Feng Yu was also given a marriage, Ai Cao thought to herself that this child is over twenty years old and still messing around, hoping to grow up after getting married.

Ai Cao planned to wait for her son to come back and ask him about the situation of the Yao family, but she didn't want Hao Ding to come back with him.

"Old lady, are you surprised to see me?" Hao Ding still had that cute look, almost galloping to the side of Ai Cao.

Ai Cao happily said: "Surprise surprise, I haven't seen Hao Ding for many days, will you rest tomorrow?"

Hao Ding sat down next to the old lady, nodded and said: "Take a break, the elder brothers will also rest tomorrow, and I will be one step ahead of them!" Thinking of this, Hao Ding smiled very proudly.

Ai Cao rubbed his head, this kid is really not afraid of being beaten by his brother.

The old and the young chatted happily, talking about the imperial decree today, Ai Cao casually asked: "How much do you know about the Yao family? How is Miss Yao? Is she compatible with the Seventh Prince?"

Hao Ding immediately began to tell happily, almost dancing. During the draft period, all their guards were on guard and watched a lot of happy stories.

"Hey, old lady, the Seventh Prince has spied on the Yao family girl many times. In fact, I think the Seventh Prince must have already discussed with the Emperor about the candidate."

"The Seventh Prince is like a hooligan, did Hao Ding forget the last time he climbed a tree?"

"Oh, who is the old lady talking about, why can't I remember?"

"This will cause selective amnesia. The old lady is not worried about someone marrying a wife."

When Lin Hai and Jia Min arrived, they saw the two people who were selfless. Lin Hai sighed deeply again, thinking silently in his heart, Hao Huwei and others are more likely to please his mother than him, what should he do? Get back your status?