Wishing You Eternal Happiness

Mrs. Xin has been very busy these days.

In the first few years, the old lady never passed her birthday. On this day, she just ate longevity noodles at will. This year, she nodded at the request of her children and grandchildren. The preparations for the birthday are naturally Madam Xin's top priority. Besides, she has been waiting for news from the staff. A few days ago, she finally hoped to release the text, and Pei Xiuzhi was short of Lieutenant Fenwei from the sixth rank.

Although it's just a lack of shirts, the position is not obvious, and it is not the same as Wei Guogong when he was alive, but the situation today is different from the previous one. The founding heroes, the Hachigong princes, have been three or four generations so far. After all, there are not many descendants who can earn fame by their ability. The rest are all looking at the shirts of their ancestors. There are too many monks and little porridge. With the current situation of the Weiguo government, it is not easy for Pei Xiuzhi to get this vacancy.

It is a good thing to say that it can increase decentness on the birthday day. It is the right time to celebrate, but Erfang is a little unhappy. After all, it is also caused by money. Pei's family hasn't separated yet. Pei Xiuzhi was short. Although the Song family had also worked hard, half of the money needed to move around was indispensable. For this, he spent a total of two thousand taels. Probably because Pei’s family had a system earlier, any branch that involves the promotion of children in the clan or entering school will be accounted for. I went to two thousand taels here. The second room naturally hurts. Because the old lady is still there, I dare not dare to face it. Revealing is too much, it is inevitable to complain in private, and the words reach Madam Xin's ears, and there is another rush of idleness. Furthermore, the Zhen family has entered Beijing, and marriage negotiations are imminent, so careful calculations must be made everywhere. Mrs. Xin can be described as exhausted and busy. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, it was not good for Grandson Quan's brother two days ago.

When I woke up this morning, Mrs. Xin’s teeth were swollen, but thinking that today is the top priority of the Guogong Mansion, she is in charge of the long house, except for the second house, the clan also looked at them, and they couldn’t make any mistakes. Energetic and busy like a spinning top, after noon, I heard that Mrs. Meng was coming, and she went out quickly to meet her and brought people in affectionately.

Although Mrs. Meng came to the capital for only three or four days, she walked a few times and felt that the two rooms were at odds, which was worse than a few years earlier. She and her second wife are also considered as sisters on a blind date, and they exchanged family affairs. Since the embarrassment about the children's affairs, this time when they entered Beijing, the situation and taste are always worse than before. Moreover, she is an outsider, pretending to be ignorant, and the face is the same. At this moment When he arrived, he only tried his best to help with chores, and when he got busy, Jiafu was led to the second room. After learning that his uncle Pei Quan's concubine Rongfang had not gone to the front, he looked for it.

Rong Fang was originally the girl of the Meng family. She served Jiafu’s mother for a few years. Then she came to her aunt. She married her and became a dowry girl. She was loyal and capable. Later, her aunt asked her to do Pei Quan’s house. Now As she got older, her servants called her Aunt Fang. Jiafu met her when she came to the Palace of Weiguo when she was young, and Rongfang was very kind to Jiafu because of Mrs. Meng. On a occasion like today, she originally wanted to help with things, but unfortunately, a few days ago, she slipped and twisted her ankle and had trouble walking. She could only keep it in the house and was doing needlework. See Jiafu came, very happy, so she hurriedly asked the little girl to bring cloud cake and mochi, picked up a piece, knocked off the powdered sugar on her head, handed it to her mouth, and said with a smile: "I remember you most Love this."

Jiafu smiled and said: "Auntie, your legs are not good, don't move. I'm not a kid anymore, so I want you to feed me."

Rong Fang also laughed: "Yes. The little lady is about to get married, so naturally she is not a child."

Jiafu smiled and didn't say a word. Rong Fang thought she was shy, so she stopped joking. The two of them were doing needlework, gossiping, talking and laughing. Time passed quickly, and the girl next to Mrs. Meng came and called. Gaffer went to the front, said a regular customer came, and asked her to come over and see her. Rong Fang hurriedly urged her, Jia Fu put down her needle and thread, and went with the sandalwood, accompanied by Mrs. Meng. After seeing the guest, she came back again. When she passed through the Suihua Gate, she saw Pei Xiuzhi standing on the side of the road where she had just come from a distance. There was no one by his side, so I kept looking over here, remembering that he had been to Zhen's house yesterday, and he avoided seeing him, suspicious that he was waiting for him there, not wanting to meet him alone, so he turned around immediately.

On the way back, Pei Xiuzhi was waiting, not knowing how long he would stand there, Jiafu turned around and turned back to the back garden.

Because of the busy schedule ahead today, there are not many people in the garden, so I walked for a while and saw the stone bridge in front of me, and I went down to a bamboo forest.

She was naturally familiar with the road here. She remembered that there was a road through the bamboo forest. Although she had to make a bend, she could avoid Pei Xiuzhi and go back, so she turned around and got off the bridge.

It seems that there are not many people walking around here, the bamboo poles are green and yellow, the stone roads under the feet are crawling on both sides of the green moss, and the fallen leaves on the ground are bleak. Before walking through the courtyard next to the bamboo forest, I saw the two women sweeping the path with their bamboo brooms. While they were sweeping, they were talking vaguely. They stopped when they heard that they seemed to be mentioned.

"...The Zhen family is about to get married and marry the girl to the eldest son," a woman tweeted twice, "it's also a step up to the sky."

"You've only been here for a few years, what do you know?" another woman-in-law answered, "The girl used to be a young girl, and I would know when they came to visit. Those who came in just thought that his family was thinking about the third master, but now he has climbed into the world, which is unexpected..."

A gust of wind passed, and the blowing bamboo branches rustled, covering the voice of the mother-in-law.

Sandalwood was not angry, and when she was about to show up, Jia Fu shook her head and motioned to go from the fork in the bamboo forest, but heard the voice of the two women coming back.

"Look, this yard is very cool during the day, and I'm afraid ghosts will run out at night. If it weren't for a lot of things before today, I would not take the job..."

"Madam is not easy, I must have been worrying about it. I have been here for a few years, every year when this day comes, my wife will definitely ask someone to clean it, I think it is to prepare the uncle to come back to celebrate the old lady's birthday. Where can I see someone? Lao Zhao, I listen Say, the uncle was ousted from the position of the eldest son and kicked out?"

The old Zhao hushed, lowered his voice, and the sound followed the wind, vaguely and intermittently.

"...The filial piety of the grandpa hasn't passed yet... It's really ugly... It's hard to see in the usual... That aunt refused to live, so she hanged herself on the branch you were leaning against in the middle of the night. I ran to see, my face was purple, my tongue was spit out under my neck, and I didn't close my eyes for several nights..."

"My mother, you didn't say it earlier! No wonder it's chilly!"

The other woman jumped up and jumped three feet high, hurriedly avoiding it, then turned around and bowed to the tree, muttering something.

Gaffer knew that this courtyard was the residence of Pei Youan, the eldest son of the long house. Passing here, I didn't intend to listen to these two women chewing their tongues. If she only talked about her gossip, she didn't bother to care about it. My grandmother did have this plan, and she couldn't complain about being discussed behind her back.

But then, the two women discussed the right and wrong about Pei Youan. This reminded Gaffer of the past. At that time, the army was in a state of chaos, and he was trapped alone, in despair and fear, and unexpectedly got the help of a person who hadn't hoped. I still remember the feeling of stretching out an arm as if I was on a cliff, and I still have a deep impression. Although in the end he was sent to Xiao Yintang's hands again. But that's something to say, two different things.

The man made an excellent impression on her. Not only because he helped her when she was most helpless, but also because of his manners and demeanor that impressed her.

Later, when the Gaffer was in the deep palace, he also heard something about him.

In the game of the three royal brothers, the king of the cloud became the final winner. After he became the king, he used Pei Youan’s merits in the Zhaotian Incident and the new emperor’s respect for him. It’s not a problem, he could have been extremely powerful. He was a minister, but not long after, the first grandmother, Mrs. Pei, passed away. Soon after the funeral, when the Turks once again attacked the border, he asked himself to leave Beijing to guard the outside world.

Ordinarily, although the Turkic Rebellion was raging at the time, considering his physical condition, the weather outside the pass was not suitable for him to live for a long time. He was not the only person available in front of the new emperor. He could have sent another person, but in the end, it was still He left the prosperous capital city, went to the border city, and finally served as an official, calmed the border and comforted the people, enjoyed the reputation of the people, and became famous until he died of illness.

To be honest, Gaffer was a little bit unbelieving that such a man would have done such a despised thing when he was a teenager. Now I hear the discussion, which is quite ear-piercing.

She had already turned and left, and couldn't help but stop again.

"...I heard that the old lady was angered at that time and she was beaten out. Even so, today the old lady's birthday, even the relatives who are eight generations away have come, and I haven't seen him return. After so many years, the news has been We didn’t come here, so we still bear resentment. We shouldn’t have been talking too much. We did that when we were young, and now I am ashamed to come back to see people, which is excusable, but we can also see how filial piety is..."

The old Zhao was leaning against the old. When he was talking about him, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, turned his head, and saw Jiafu walking by with a girl. For a moment, he hurriedly put down the broom and came up with a smile and said, "Ahead of today. It's lively, how can the little lady come here?"

Jiafu smiled, and said: "Mother Zhao, I shouldn't have talked too much. It's just that since I'm passing by, I'll be offended, and I'm also going to say something. Today, the old lady has a birthday, you are sent to clean up the yard and prepare for the uncle's return. Live, don’t do things well, what are you talking about indiscriminately? You are looking at your lady’s busyness, not having time to pay attention to you, not counting your laziness, and chewing on the tongue of the head of the house? What are you talking about? Chasing the wind to catch the shadows and spread the truth. I am. If you don’t believe that there are no rules in the Guogong Mansion, you will be allowed to disrespect the Patriarch like this!"

The complexions of Old Zhao and the woman changed slightly.

If in the past, it was natural not to be afraid of the Zhen family's daughter, but the aunt and relatives of the second room, but now it is different, everyone knows that when the old lady's birthday is over, it will be the turn of the marriage immediately. Regardless of what is going on behind the scenes, this little lady from the Zhen family will soon marry into Pei’s family. No matter how bad she is, she is a serious lady of the Guogongfu. Hearing what she said was so serious, she didn’t know how much she had been heard, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty. , Hurriedly lowered his head to recognize the mistake: "Yes, yes, what the little lady said is that we are the only ones who are cheap! Don't dare anymore!"

Since he could not help standing up, he was not afraid of offending others. What's more, after retiring, I won't be involved with this family in the future. All the suppressed nature in the previous life seems to have slowly emerged in this life.

Gaffer glanced at the half-opened door, and saw that although the courtyard had just been swept, it was just a few strokes to show it, and the fallen leaves on the ground were not clean, let alone sprinkling water to remove dust, and simply said: "Today, the old lady's 60th birthday, the uncle must be coming back. He has the idle time of cheating, so why not clean the inside and out of the house?"

Mrs. Zhao is an old woman, and she suddenly took such a rude lesson from the young girl. Although she was slandering the daughter of the Zhen family before she passed the house, she was eager to show her prestige, but she didn't dare to show it, saying, "Now go," Go now—", dragged the broom on the ground, turned around and went in with a bulging mouth. Seeing this, the other woman hurriedly followed.

Seeing the two mothers clattering, Jiafu swept the ground again, knowing that when he was gone, even if he chewed his tongue again, he would only say that he was not good, so he turned around and continued to walk forward.

"Just now when we came out, it was really great to look at the faces of those two women. I was afraid of complaining, saying that little lady, your hand is long."

Sandalwood felt relieved again, and was a little uneasy, and said to the side.

Jiafu said: "You complain, I don't care. I really can't listen to it. Big cousin doesn't care whatsoever, it's impossible for people to chew their tongues."

"Little lady, you said the uncle is going back today, really?"

Tanxiang thought of her firm tone just now, a little curious.

"I will definitely return."

"How does the little lady know?"

"I, I dreamt that my big cousin came back to give the old lady his birthday last night, do you believe it or not?"

She joked, turning the corner, and came to a halt.

At the corner of the bamboo forest, just a few steps away from the opposite side, an old Huafa woman with a cane in her hand, supported by a big girl beside her, stood on the road, motionless, and seemed to have been standing for a while.

This old woman is Mrs. Pei, today's birthday star, Jiafu is naturally no stranger to her, but she does not know that she actually turned here, the front guests have come a lot, but she still wears a new and old one. Ordinary clothes, it doesn't look like you want to live long, and you are unprepared for a while and startled.

When Jiafu came to the Guogong Mansion when she was young, Mrs. Pei treated her as a normal relative. There was no disgust and nothing special. Whenever she came, she would kowtow to her with her mother and worship the individual when she went, that's all. After marrying Pei Xiuzhi, she didn't expect Jiafu, the granddaughter-in-law, to serve in front of her. She stayed alone in the Buddhist hall for a long time. After a short time, after the war, Jiafu left Pei's house and never saw each other again. The impression of her can be said to be pale and alienated. At this moment, she unexpectedly met like this, and saw the old woman standing there, looking at herself silently, her expression unclear of joy and anger, and hurriedly stepped back and brought her sandalwood to salute her.

The old lady was silent.

Jiafu thought of her own tone and regretted it, so she lowered her eyes and listened to the rustle of the wind through the bamboo forest. After a while, she finally heard her speak and asked, "Are you the girl from the Zhen family?"

Jia Fu whispered: "Yes. A few days ago, my mother and I came over. The old lady was in the Buddhist hall for repairs, so I didn't go to see you."

The old woman was silent for a while, and slowly said, "It has been unoccupied for many years, and it's a little deserted. Go back soon." After she turned around, she walked slowly with the help of the big girl.

Jiafu looked up, watching the slightly rickety back of the old woman fade away, and finally disappeared at the end of the bamboo forest, letting out a sigh of relief.