Chapter 254 Huangzhou Hometown
Jiying Lane.

Sheng family.

After Changbai returned home from Yang Wenyuan, he brought the letter back with him and presented it to Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu.

Wei Ruixuan.

Sheng Hong was looking at the letter while Wang Ruofu was listening to Changbai's general narration.

After the couple understood the situation, Wang Ruofu couldn't help but said with concern:
"Oh my God! We actually encountered pirates along the way."

"Fortunately, Hualan went with me." As Wang Ruofu said this, the corners of her mouth unconsciously rose.

Sheng Hong also frowned as he looked at the letter in his hand:

"I heard in the court earlier that there was a riot in the south, but we haven't even reached Hualan yet, and there are already pirates causing trouble."

Changbai nodded and said:
"Father, when I was attending the Privy Council's lectures at the Hongwen Academy, I also heard the adults mention that there seemed to be a rebellion in the south..."

"Rebellion?"

Sheng Hong's eyes suddenly widened, and he said in surprise:

"There is a rebellion in the south? Why was it not mentioned in the court?"

I think I have never missed any court meetings, big or small!

"I think it was suppressed secretly by the government."

Changbai whispered:
"The emperor doesn't want to appoint an heir in the first place. If the officials knew about the unrest in the south, it would definitely cause an uproar, and the fight for the crown prince would only intensify."

"Yes, I think it should be so." Sheng Hong couldn't help but nodded in approval.

Now, whenever there is any disturbance in the territory of the Great Zhou, the court officials will take the opportunity to bring up the topic of the crown prince, bringing up the issue all the time.

Now, for the government, the good news is that nothing happens.

"But we can't just keep going like this."

Sheng Hong sighed and said:

"If the seeds of rebellion are not extinguished in time, and the state government below does not deal with it in time, I am afraid that the trouble will get bigger and bigger in the future."

Especially in the south.

The court was divided into civil and military officials, and the Great Zhou was also divided into the north and the south.

Just as the national policy of the Great Zhou Dynasty was to promote culture and suppress military power, the literati of the Great Zhou Dynasty also had a distinction between valuing the north and neglecting the south.

It's possible that someone was behind this.

"But there is nothing we can do about it now. Who can blame the government for still being so reluctant..."

As he spoke, Sheng Hong shook his head and said nothing, while Chang Bai also sighed with regret.

If the emperor is the white jade pillar that supports the Great Zhou, then the crown prince is the frame that supports it, ready to take his place at any time so that this magnificent hall will not be at risk of collapse.

As a result, Bai Yuzhu is now in a precarious position and has been reluctant to confirm his successor, causing the two ambitious princes below to both want to take the throne, resulting in a fierce competition.

It seems to have evolved into a three-way confrontation.

One strong and two weak.

The emperor sat high on Diaoyutai, with two princes performing below.

If the country was peaceful and the people were safe, it would be fine. It would just be a big show for everyone to watch. But now Lingzhou is fighting with Xixia, and there is a rebellion in the south...

Fortunately, Northern Liao seemed to be overwhelmed and did not deploy troops south, otherwise it would have been really troublesome.

"Most likely the bandit leader saw that the imperial court was fighting a war with Xixia in Lingzhou, so he took the opportunity to start a rebellion."

After the father and son analyzed the situation, they could only stare blankly. A fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Works and a scholar in the Hanlin Academy, neither of them could even leave the city of Bianliang.

I was speechless and choked.

Wang Ruofu did not interrupt Sheng Hong and Chang Bai when they were talking about official affairs. She just sat quietly beside them and picked up the lantern. Now that she saw that the father and son seemed to have finished their discussion, she quickly leaned over and asked:
"You two have said so much, but have you figured out whether Hua'er and Rulan are safe on this trip?"

Sheng Hong looked helpless.

However, it was good enough that Wang Ruofu sat quietly beside her and did not startledly ask whether her daughter was safe at the beginning.

She has some of the demeanor of a lady from an official family.

"Of course there is no need to worry about this."

Sheng Hong explained in a calm tone:

"Hua'er is accompanied by the personal guards raised by the Yang family since childhood. He is safe. Didn't you see...didn't you hear what Changbai said? The pirates on that boat were all caught without even seeing Hua'er."

"Instead of worrying about Hua'er's safety, you should worry about yourself."

"Me? What's wrong with me?" Wang Ruofu immediately argued.

Sheng Hong glanced at Wang Ruofu unhappily:
"I heard that you went to visit Commander Yangdu this morning? And you even fell down on purpose before leaving?"

Wang Ruofu felt his old face turn red immediately.

"How can I be considered as doing this on purpose? I am obviously too happy!"

Now she and Mrs. Chen are getting along very well, and they have become a pair of middle-aged best friends.

She was already very satisfied with Yang Rujin, and now with the added bonus of having Mrs. Chen as her "best friend", she felt that Yang Rujin had to be her daughter-in-law.

Thinking of this, Wang Ruofu turned her head and glanced at Changbai.

When Changbai heard Yang Yuqing's name, he also looked up at his mother.

After their eyes met, he realized that his mother must be thinking about his marriage at this moment.

Sure enough, the next sentence Wang Ruofu asked:
"Bai Er, you have met the girl from the Yang family many times, but are you interested in her?"

Changbai immediately bowed his head and clasped his hands, making it impossible to see the expression on his face:
"My child's marriage will be decided by my grandmother, father, and mother!"

From Madam Chen's enthusiasm over the past few days, Sheng Hong has already realized that the Yang family intends to marry Yang Ruijin to their own family member Changbai. However, because of the presence of Hai Chaoyun from the Hai family, Sheng Hong is always in a dilemma and hesitates to wait and see.

To put it bluntly, it means being caught in two sides of the fence.

"It would be great if I could marry both of them, one good at literature and one good at martial arts, they would complement each other!" Sheng Hong would fantasize about this from time to time.

But the cruel reality made him realize that he could only choose one from them.

And it’s not necessarily the case.

It seemed that because Yang Rujin was the candidate, her mother, Old Lady Sheng, was not so fond of Hai Chaoyun from the Hai family.

Although this candidate was mentioned when Changbai was first looking for a marriage partner, Sheng Hong has never seen his mother take any action until now, such as contacting the Hai family or asking through old sisters.

It's like just saying something and forgetting about it the moment you turn around.

Old Madam Sheng refused to approach the Hai family, and Sheng Hong himself could not even reach the threshold of the Hai family.

But Sheng Hong couldn't get close to the master of the Shanghai family.

He was a third-rank official in the provincial government, while he was merely a doctor in one of the six ministries, including the Ministry of Works.

It has the lowest status among doctors of the same level, and the current emperor has no energy to revamp gardens and palaces, making it seem like a poor government office.

You can't just walk up to someone and say you want to ask for a marriage for your son, right?
There’s no need to choose, just choose Yang Ruijin.

Sheng Hong pondered for a while, but he couldn't let it go, so he said tactfully: "Bai'er is right. We should discuss this marriage after mother comes back."

Wang Ruofu immediately showed surprise:
"You say it's easy, waiting for mother to come back to discuss it, but there will be at least a month between now and then! During this time, those women from small families who come to cling to you, how about you chase them away?"

Wang Ruofu now understands what it means to be in pain and happy at the same time.

Her son Changbai was a successful man and became a hot commodity in the Bianjing marriage market, which also made her the object of flattery by the women around him.

She was quite happy at first.

But after a long time, Wang Ruofu became a little impatient.

She was not a patient person to begin with, let alone the same old polite words, she was already tired of them.

But they are all officials' wives, so they have to be nice to them. While politely refusing, they also have to smile and say a few words to please them.

Others would leave after saying it, but she wants to keep serving customers!

If I don't calm down, I'm going to be tortured to death!

Sheng Hong also understood that this assignment was indeed difficult for Wang Ruofu. If it were other wives of officials, they would probably be eager for this and flock to it and enjoy the flattery of others, but his wife had a conflicting personality and didn't want to serve after having had her fill.

So Sheng Hong quickly assured:
"When mother comes back, I will definitely discuss a set of rules with her!"

"Bai'er, what do you think about your marriage?" Sheng Hong still wanted Chang Bai to support him.

"It's just up to my father and mother to arrange it."

After saying this, Changbai bowed and went back to his room.

"Look, I'll just say Bai'er agrees! But you have to stop me from mentioning it in front of him!"

After Changbai left, Wang Ruofu leaned forward, stared outside for a few times with wide eyes, and after making sure that Changbai had left, she sat down again, patted Sheng Hong lightly with a silk towel, and said excitedly:
"Wenyuan had already told him about this. He also met with Rujin many times during dinner at the Marquis' Mansion. This shows how much Bai'er loves him."

Sheng Hong rubbed his brows helplessly:
"I think you have been drugged by Madam Chen and you must have her daughter."

"I'm not that stupid."

Wang Ruofu leaned back and said proudly:
"If I hadn't seen that Changbai also had feelings for Yang Rujin, but was just too shy to bring it up, how could I have taken the initiative to fall into Madam Chen's trap?"

"How did you know that?" Sheng Hong said in disbelief.

Wang Ruofu was smug and told Sheng Hong everything:

"I saw something at the polo match. What kind of person is Bai Er? She rarely plays polo and doesn't even want to go out, let alone play on the polo field in front of so many people."

"Isn't it a coincidence that they are a match?" Sheng Hong retorted. He didn't know much about this matter, but he was just curious about why Changbai went to play polo, so he asked casually.

"It can be explained once, but we had three games that afternoon. How can this be explained?" When Sheng Hong questioned her words, Wang Ruofu glared at him.

"And..."

Wang Ruofu seemed to be getting more and more excited as he talked about gossip.

Don’t worry about whether he is your son or not, just tell me whether it is gossip or not!

"Bai'er and Rujin have met so many times, have you ever heard him say anything bad about her?"

Wang Ruofu blushed slightly and said in an excited tone:
"And every time Wenyuan dragged him home to drink, Rujin was always there to see clearly, and Bai'er never missed a single one!"

After Wang Ruofu's analysis, Sheng Hong couldn't help but nodded:
"There is some truth to that."

Seeing that Sheng Hong agreed with her words, Wang Ruofu smiled contentedly:
"I think Rujin also favors my eldest son Bai. That's right. After all, Bai'er and Hua'er were both well-educated by me. Anyone can understand the benefits of this."

Sheng Hong disagreed with this.

"What do you mean by yours? It's obviously my education that's good!"

Huangzhou.

By the Xi River.

The waterway does not lead directly to the Xihe River, so after docking at the pier, it still takes half a day to reach Yangjia Town.

As they thought Hualan would not be able to spare the time these days, they did not want to go with her and cause trouble. So when Hualan was away, Mrs. Sheng, Minglan and Rulan stayed in the county town closest to the pier to experience the local customs and practices.

Yangjia Town.

The news of Hualan's coming here had already been notified.

As soon as Hualan's carriage arrived, a group of elders from the Yang family came out to greet them at the town gate.

Because Hualan's trip was not only to pay a visit to the old ancestral hall to recognize the ancestors, but also to arrange a ceremony, so the Yang family had already invited the most famous monk in Huangzhou to preside over it.

As for the person to receive the guests, there was no need to look for one, so Yang Sixi, who was chosen by Yang Wenyuan last time, was used.

After paying homage to the ancestors of the Yang family, Yang Sixi was also brought to Hualan by Changqing.

"I heard that the official specially reserved a job for you here, why don't you let someone come and see it?"

Hua Lan, who was already familiar with the accounts of the Marquis' Mansion, was no stranger to the name of the middle-aged man in front of her.

After all, there has always been a large expenditure on the books, which is very eye-catching.

It appears on the books once a month.

Yang Sixi knew clearly where his current wealth came from, so he quickly explained:

"Madam, this is all arranged by the Marquis. I am just following his orders."

As for this errand in her hometown, the account book of the Marquis' Mansion given by Yang Wenyuan listed fireworks and firecrackers, so Hua Lan was naturally curious about it.

Because she knew that her husband had no desire for anything except the bed curtains, but he was extremely concerned about this matter.

So I also asked Yang Wenyuan.

In response to this, Yang Wenyuan replied:

"I came across some new and interesting things."

Yang Wenyuan said so, and Hualan believed it, thinking that her husband's "wasteful money" was used in a strange way.

She had forgotten about it in Bian Jing, but now that she was close to it, Hualan felt a little itchy.

"What new and wonderful thing is there that makes my husband so obsessed with it?"

If you want to do it, just do it. Hualan showed her curiosity on her face without hiding it:
"Where is that place? Take me there."

"Yes!"

Yang Sixi did not hesitate at all. He immediately asked someone to bring the carriage that had been prepared in advance and asked Hua Lan to get in and sit down.

The Marquis's words at the time were: "No outsiders are allowed to approach."

Is the wife of Marquis Pingyang considered an outsider?
If madam is the one who is doing this, then I might as well just slit my throat.

Besides, the Marquis must know that the Madam is here. Since the Marquis didn't tell her to pay attention to anything, there must be no taboos!
"There's nothing to see anyway," Yang Sixi muttered to himself.

In fact, he was not considered a core member of that place. There were some personal guards and servants in charge of the place. He was only responsible for supplying meals and transporting materials. At most, he could only hear the sound of firecrackers going off.

It's just a little louder.

"What's so good about firecrackers? And they mostly happen during the day..."

(End of this chapter)