Chapter 506: Lady Shi’s Two Banquets at the Grand View Garden (Part 2)
The Zhenguo Mansion refers to the Niu family, the foreign relatives, and the old feudal lord of the Zhenguo Mansion refers to Wu, the biological mother of Niu Jizong, the Earl of Yongyi, and also the sister-in-law of Empress Dowager Niu.
Mrs. Wu did not die early or late, but died at the time when the Zhenguo Mansion was being thoroughly investigated. It is estimated that all the officials in charge of the investigation will be implicated.
After all, according to the rules for legitimate and illegitimate children, Emperor Guangde had to call Niu Wu his aunt. Now that the empress dowager was still alive and he hadn't gotten any evidence of the Niu family's crimes, he had to pretend to do so even if he was unwilling, so as not to bear the stigma of forcing his aunt to death.
But that’s all for later.
But when Jia Baoyu heard that the old Lord of Zhenguo Mansion had died, he was immediately startled and called the servant to go in and report.
Sun Shaozong quickly stopped him with his arm and whispered, "Don't rush to shout about this matter. Discuss a rule with your uncle, mother, brother and sister-in-law first, and then let the old lady know."
Jia Baoyu nodded, and hurried forward a few steps, then suddenly turned back and asked hesitantly, "Second Brother Sun, do you think the Niu family was wrongly accused, or is it true?"
It's already this late, and you're still worrying about this?!
Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes speechlessly and said unhappily, "Look at the whole court, everyone is vying to distance themselves from the Niu family. Is there anyone who cares whether the Niu family has been wronged?"
What this meant, of course, was that no matter whether the Niu family was wronged or not, it would never be wrong to distance themselves from the matter first - after all, it wasn't just one or two families that did this, and even if the Niu family could really make a comeback in the future, they wouldn't dare to hold so many people responsible.
However, Jia Baoyu scratched his head, looking confused, and obviously did not understand the true meaning.
Sun Shaozong didn't want to explain it too thoroughly, so he pushed him on the shoulder and urged him, "Okay, it's not your turn to make a decision on this matter anyway, just go over and report it."
Only then did Jia Baoyu strode into Hengwu Garden.
Since there was only one mountain road leading to Hengwu Garden, there was no need to worry about thieves sneaking in. Sun Shaozong was too lazy to follow them in, so he just found a small pavilion near the pier to rest.
After a while, a man came hurriedly, asked a few questions on the pier, and then walked towards the pavilion. However, when he got close, he stopped timidly.
When Sun Shaozong saw this scene, he sighed inwardly, "As expected", then stood up and called the person into the pavilion.
The visitor said with a disappointed look on his face: "She...she asked me to come and ask for the banknotes from you, sir."
The person she was referring to was naturally Wang Xifeng, and the person who came was, needless to say, Ping'er, who was ordered by Wang Xifeng to be confined at home, but was hurriedly called over to ask for money.
As the saying goes, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
Originally, she had been sneaking around for more than a year, but now that she finally had a chance to escape, she was stopped by Wang Xifeng. Ping'er couldn't help feeling frustrated.
Seeing this, Sun Shaozong reached out his hand to lift up her drooping head and said with a smile: "Young lady, since you want my money, why don't you even smile at me?"
"grown ups!"
Seeing that he was still making fun of himself at this time, Ping'er couldn't help but call out in grievance.
"Just smile."
Sun Shaozong moved his fingers slightly upwards, caressing her smooth face, and said softly: "Although she is unwilling to let us go now, we are still one step closer than before."
Then he added: "Next time you come to this house, I will give you the pocket watch."
When he mentioned the pocket watch with the sketch engraved on it, the stiffness on Ping'er's face instantly melted away. She nodded like a cat, but then shrank back shyly, and whispered, "Don't let anyone see this in broad daylight."
"What are you afraid of? Jia Lian doesn't care!"
Having said that, Sun Shaozong still took his hand back, took out two silver bills from his sleeve pocket, and said angrily: "I wanted to use this as an excuse to redeem you, but she saw through my trick and used you as a bargaining chip."
Ping Er sighed helplessly and said with a wry smile: "Of course I don't want to be a bargaining chip, but my indenture is in her hands."
Having said that, he was about to take the two silver bills.
Unexpectedly, Sun Shaozong changed his mind again, and stuffed one into Ping'er's hand, kicked the remaining one back, and laughed as Ping'er looked at him in confusion, "I have to stay in the garden for another night, so you can come back to ask for the remaining one in the evening."
Hearing the meaning of his words, Ping'er's face suddenly flushed with red clouds, and then she couldn't help but asked sourly: "Should we call Xiaohong ?"
"No thanks!"
Sun Shaozong shook his head like a rattle, and said in fear: "This little bitch is simply a demon who sucks the marrow out of my bones. If I hadn't been strong enough, I would have almost lost face yesterday. This time is enough. I won't dare to provoke her again."
Ping'er burst out laughing when she heard this, and quickly covered her mouth, giving her a foxy look and saying in a coquettish voice, "I was originally thinking of learning her methods, but now it seems I don't have to bother."
Sun Shaozong was stunned for a moment, and quickly changed his words: "Actually, my body is still good enough..."
Before he could finish, Ping'er giggled, stood up, bowed, and said that she would go to complete half of the task first, and then left with Fu Feng Sui Liu.
Sun Shaozong watched her enter Hengwu Garden from afar. Just as he was about to look away, he saw another person rushing towards him from afar. It was Jia Lian, whom he had just mentioned several times.
Sun Shaozong hurriedly stood up and went out to greet him. Just as he was about to greet him, he saw that Jia Lian had a large bruise on his forehead. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Second Brother Lian, what happened? Could it be that someone dares to fight you?"
Jia Lian cursed with a gloomy face: "Don't mention it, that Shi Daizi is really as his name suggests. At first I tried my best to persuade him, and finally I saw the dozen fans in his house. Since they are indeed rare treasures, I thought of asking for the price for my father first."
"Who knew that as soon as I opened my mouth, that idiot got angry and pushed me out without caring about anything..."
"Was this caused by the beating of that stone idiot?"
Sun Shaozong was surprised and said, "You are just a poor man. If you don't want to sell it, then don't sell it. How dare you hit someone? You are really too bold, aren't you?"
" no!"
Jia Lian hurriedly shook his head and said, "That Shi Daizi just pushed me, but didn't dare to hit me. The injury was actually caused by my father..."
It turned out that when he went home and told Jia She about it, he was scolded severely, and was blamed for not being able to scare even a poor man. Jia Lian had just said a few words when Jia She hit him on the forehead with a cricket gourd.
"I can't control this matter anyway."
Jia Lian rubbed the bruise on his head with his ring finger and said with a grin, "That Shi Daizi said that he wouldn't sell it even for 1,000 taels of silver. Can this old man still offer 2,000 taels?"
Seeing the effeminate nature that he unintentionally revealed, Sun Shaozong just felt uncomfortable all over.
Fortunately, Jia Lian soon returned to his normal state and said with a smile, "I heard that Erlang will spend the night in the garden. Why don't we ask the opera troupe in the mansion to perform a show to liven up the atmosphere? Let's sing the play 'Sun Gong's Case' written by Jiang Yuhan!"
Sun Shaozong had already made an appointment with Ping'er, so how could he have the time to listen to a bird show? Especially since it was about his own story!
Just as he was about to decline, he heard someone shouting not far away, "Sir Sun, the old lady is going to host a banquet at Ou Xiang Xie, please come over and have a couple of drinks."
Tsk~
I don’t know whether Lady Jia has received the news of the death of the old Lord of Zhenguo Mansion. If she has already known about it, she would be very relieved.
Sun Shaozong had been entrusted with the task of accompanying Lady Jia to protect her, so he would not refuse the invitation. He and Jia Lian hurried to the outside of Hengwu Garden, where they joined Jia Baoyu and followed the team to Hengwu Garden.
At the banquet, Granny Liu's witty remarks made everyone laugh as expected.
It was around Shenshi (3 p.m.) that Lady Jia began to feel sleepy because she had not taken a nap. She yawned twice in succession at the table. Wang Xifeng, who was standing nearby, saw this and hurried over to persuade her to go back and rest so as not to hurt herself.
So the second banquet was finally over and everyone was drunk.
However, Wang Xifeng ordered people to send the old lady to the front yard in a sedan chair to rest. She stayed behind to discuss with Mrs. Wang. They decided that Li Wan and others would only stay in the front yard with their personal maid, and the rest of the maids and servants would all return to their homes.
As the "stabilizing force", Sun Shaozong was placed in the Zhuijin Tower on Zilingzhou Island, which was surrounded by water and accessible only by an arch bridge.
Don't mention what others do.
But in the evening, after another round of drinking and chatting, Sun Shaozong finally persuaded Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu to go back.
I just went back upstairs, put a hot towel on my face and drank a cup of ginseng tea to relieve my drunkenness a little, when I heard a crisp sound on the window frame. It turned out that a small stone was thrown up.
Sun Shaozong quickly stuck his head out to look, but saw only two shadowy figures standing in the dim night.
Why did you bring Lin Hongyu along?
Sun Shaozong felt somewhat unhappy - although the little witch was a good teaser, in front of her, Sun Shaozong had to be on guard against exposing his true colors all the time, and it was really difficult for him to devote himself fully.
But now that I'm here, there's no point in thinking about these things.
That's all.
It is better to go down first and see if we can coax Lin Hongyu back and leave Ping'er alone to serve her.
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong hurried downstairs, removed the bolt, and was about to open the door, but the two people outside could not wait any longer, and suddenly pushed the door open, and squeezed their mature bodies into Sun Shaozong's arms, panting and murmuring, "My dear, I have been thinking about you day and night, and finally this day has come again."
After hearing the tender murmur, Sun Shaozong froze on the spot, because the people who rushed in were not Ping'er and Lin Hongyu, but Li Wan and her servant!
Oops!
If Ping'er ran into this...
Just as I was thinking about it, I saw Su Yun squeeze in, hurriedly locked the door, and said in a low voice: "It seems that someone is coming over the bridge with a lantern!"
