Prime Minister

Chapter 997 The Zhang Family and the Wu Family (2 updates combined into 1)

Chapter 997 The Zhang family and the Wu family (two updates in one)

After Zhang Yue returned home.

Dozens of officials were waiting at the house.

Although the ceremony had already been held in the early morning, there were still many officials asking for an audience.

In addition to confidants such as Cai Jing and Chen Mu, there are also in-laws such as Shen Kuo, Wu Anzhi, Wen Jifu and others.As for the Seventeenth Mother, she is even busier.

Women's politics are different from men's politics.

This is divided into circles. For example, Queen Mother Gao and Queen Mother Cao each have a group of noble ladies surrounding them.

In Dream of Red Mansions, a group of women surrounded the old lady Shi Taijun, and then these women separated into groups and waited for them to come out.

Those with high status can provide some emotional value, no matter how bad they are, like Grandma Liu.Of course, in the circle of ladies in Bianjing, it is impossible for someone like Grandma Liu to appear, but there are many people who are similar to her.

These people all pointed to Empress Dowager Gao and Empress Dowager Cao, whose husbands and descendants would benefit greatly if they gave a little charity.

However, Wang Anshi restricted the benefits of relatives of the clan, which annoyed the two of them.

The Seventeenth Mother herself has a rather noble temperament, and Zhang Yue is an official and a clean person. Apart from handing handkerchiefs to her own relatives, she can also push back such social interactions to avoid causing unnecessary trouble to her husband.

However, Seventeenth Mother could not avoid being in the circle of her aunt Li Taijun.

Wu Chong now goes to Daming Mansion to take office.

But Li Taijun was old and liked the prosperity of Bianjing, so he refused to leave.Wu Chong came all the way from the three envoys, governors, and prime ministers, and a group of noble ladies gathered around Li Taijun.

Empress Dowager Cao or Empress Dowager Gao's circle consisted of relatives of the emperor or descendants of military commanders, while Taijun Li's circle consisted of in-laws and ladies of scholar-bureaucrats.

When Zhang Yue was appointed Deputy Privy Envoy, many women from general families wanted to marry Taijun Li and Seventeen Niangs, but when Zhang Yue was appointed as Xuanfu Envoy, there were fewer of them.

Now that Zhang Yue has been appointed as the Councilor for Political Affairs, it is so good that many ladies begged Li Taijun to see the Seventeenth Mother.

Now that Wu Chong is not in the capital, but the good son-in-law is appointed as the prime minister, she also has a bright face.As Li Taijun got older, he liked the excitement. He liked it even more when others were begging for him, so he asked Seventeen Niang to meet her at her house in the name of a winter banquet.

The Seventeenth Mother couldn't help but make this trip, but it was okay. Except for Li Taijun, the other officials' wives were not as good as him.

As for Mrs. Wang Anshi, Mrs. Feng Jing, Mrs. Wang Gui, and Mrs. Yuan Jiang, they are all on an equal footing with Li Taijun. They also have their own circles of ladies on weekdays. Apart from visiting the palace to meet Empress Dowager Gao, Empress Dowager Cao will not come to join in this. field.

So Qi Niang didn't have much worry, she just thought it would be good not to go too far.

The Seventeenth Mother arrived at the Wu Mansion in a small sedan chair and went in to see Li Taijun.

However, the various colored lamps in the Wu Mansion were brightly lit, making the entire Wu Mansion as bright as day. The incense given by the emperor was burned in the courtyard as worthlessly as firewood. The rich fragrance filled the courtyard everywhere as far as the eye could see. Flower pots are placed to add color.

Seeing this scene, Seventeenth Mother couldn't help but know that although her mother liked luxury in the past, she was not like this.

When his father Wu Chong became prime minister, he did not see such a celebration in the Wu Mansion.

When the seventeenth mother arrived in the courtyard, the fifteenth mother was waiting for her.

The fifteenth mother smiled and said: "Sister, there is no need to rush out to meet people, let's wait, the noble one will come later!"

The Seventeenth Mother said: "How many people have my mother invited here? If it's for Zhang Lang, it doesn't have to be like this."

The fifteenth mother smiled and said: "Since ancient times, we have always respected Luo Yi first and then others. This is all for outsiders to see. No matter how much money you have, you have to spend it. Otherwise, people will say that the Zhang family has suddenly become rich, and the family will appear to have no confidence. "

The Seventeenth Mother couldn't help laughing when she heard this. After all these years, the circle of ladies in Bianjing still looked at Zhang Mansion like this.

The Seventeenth Mother said: "I never care about these things, and so does Zhang Lang. A poor family is good, and the prime minister should be a scholar, as Emperor Taizu said."

The fifteenth mother smiled and said: "Yes, those women are ignorant and do not have the vision to recognize the prime minister's son-in-law from thousands of poor students, so they have no choice but to use these words to tease us. Otherwise, how can you let them sleep at night?" Stay."

Said the two sisters laughed in unison.

"I like to hear what my sister said. If that's the case, let them say it for the rest of my life." Seventeenth Mother said with a smile.

What woman is not vain? Whenever she hears people talking about this, she can't help but feel happy in her heart.

The Seventeenth Mother is a woman who hopes her husband will become a dragon wholeheartedly.

His husband can be hopeless, but he cannot be without ambition.When Zhang Yue borrowed books from the Wu family library, her gentle and elegant demeanor, as well as her perseverance and dedication to study, left a deep impression on her.

Such men will be in trouble for a while, but when the opportunity comes in the future, a flying dragon will appear in the sky.

With this in mind, the banquet began.

……

During the banquet, Li Taijun was undoubtedly still the star in the spotlight.Li Taijun was born in the Longxi Li family of the Li Tang royal family. He had seen various scenes before and should not have been so public.

But as she got older, and as her husband and son-in-law successively held positions as prime minister, she became more and more fond of lively scenes.No one is exempt from vulgarity, so Li Taijun invited the Wu family's in-laws and the official wives who usually hang out with him to come and see the Wu family's wealth today, so as to avoid the regret of traveling at night in brocade clothes.

The Seventeenth Mother was the last to arrive and took a quick look, and found that it was almost at its peak.

Some of them were not present. Naturally, there were some who were jealous of others' wealth, and there were also those whose family fortunes suddenly fell into decline or who later had a rift.

The Seventeenth Mother had bowed to everyone. She remembered that she was a junior, so when Taijun Li wanted her to sit on the side, he pushed her three times, but in the end she sat down respectfully.

After sitting down, the banquet began.

Everyone coaxed Li Taijun to laugh and joke, and the Seventeenth Niang was also the target of the ladies.Seventeen Niang knew that she must not steal Taijun Li's limelight at this banquet, so she repeatedly declined.

However, the ladies were also vying to make a promise to Qi Niang that they would bring their nephews to visit on a certain date.

It was just until the banquet, and the Seventeenth Mother was really tired.

At this time, they started watching a show and eating wine. Seventeen Niang went to the back compartment and saw Yang sitting alone.

Yang is not only Zhang Yue's aunt, but also his second brother's aunt.

Yang was stunned when she saw the Seventeenth Mother, and then said: "It's the Seventeenth, no, she is the husband's wife now."

The two of them had not seen each other for some time, and the Seventeenth Mother bowed and said, "My aunt is in good health recently."

Yang nodded and said, "It's okay. It's just that Brother Dun went to Huzhou and was very lonely."

When the Seventeenth Mother saw Mrs. Yang like this, she asked, "Is my aunt waiting for me here specifically?"

Yang nodded.

Seventeenth Mother smiled and said: "It just so happens that I haven't talked to my aunt for a long time, so let's go into the room and talk."

The Seventeenth Mother Yang entered a wing of the Wu Mansion. There was originally a female envoy from the Wu Mansion serving in the wing, but when she saw that the Seventeenth Mother wanted to use the room, she agreed without saying a word and left the wing together.

Seventeen Niang's maid was guarding the door.

Seventeenth Mother said: "Auntie, there is no one around here. If you have any questions, just give me any instructions."

Yang said: "I don't dare to accept the order. My brother Dun was demoted to Huzhou before. It was a good thing, but unexpectedly the court suddenly transferred him to Jingnan to quell the rebellion. I don't know which Xianggong meant it. Please help me ask Xianggong Zhang." ask."

"Which Xianggong does it mean? You also know that Mr. Zhang is now an official and involved in politics. I think it's not easy to come and disturb him on weekdays. When I see you, I don't know what to say, so you can ask him for me and just say to invite him. Just ask me for my humbleness."

Seventeen Niang knew a little about this. Zhang Dun failed to follow Lu Huiqing and was impeached by Deng Wan. He was demoted to the magistrate of Huzhou.As a result, within a few months, he was suddenly transferred to Jingnan to quell the rebellion.

Jingnan is a smog-stricken land, and the local wilderness has not obeyed the rule of the Song Dynasty for a long time.

Yang was very worried after hearing this, thinking that one of the ministers in the court wanted to kill Zhang Dun.

Seventeenth Mother said: "Aunt, I'll just ask for you."

Yang said: "I wanted to give Brother Dun a good background, but I didn't expect so many things to happen in the end. It was your Wu family that had the foresight to choose today's husband from a poor family at that time."

After hearing this, Seventeenth Mother smiled and said: "Aunt, don't talk about a poor family. Do you really need a bamboo door to a bamboo door or a wooden door to a wooden door to be a good match? Besides, a concubine with a poor family is not a bad match."

……

The Seventeenth Mother went to the inner room and planned to go back to the house after meeting her two sisters-in-law.

When I met my sister-in-law, Mrs. Lu, Wu Anshi was by her side.

After Mrs. Lu just married into the Wu family, Wu Anshi lived in peace for a while and rarely went out to look for flowers or willows.However, after Lu Jie's death, Wu Anshi's old style emerged and he continued to wander.Since the death of Fan, Shiqi Niang has had some opinions about her brother.Opposing the second sister-in-law, Wang took great care of her.Although Mrs. Wang has never been welcomed by Mrs. Li, Seventeenth Mother made her feel the warmth in the Wu family.Wang also helped to ease the relationship between Zhang Yue and Wang Anshi a lot.

Wu Anshi was speechless when she saw her sister like this, but who could ask her to ask for help from her brother-in-law.

I also appreciated Zhang Yue and Wu Anshi from the beginning, but later became dissatisfied.

In fact, Wu Anshi didn't look down on Zhang Yue at first. She even felt that she didn't mind Zhang Yue marrying her sister because she didn't have any family background. This was really due to her brother-in-law's talent for cherishing Zhang Yue.

But there is another reason. Wu Anshi believes that Zhang Yue comes from a poor family and has no parents in the house, so he can be treated as a half-term son-in-law from now on.

However, Zhang Yue became very dissatisfied when he tried to shirk the Wu family's marriage.

Zhang Yue came from a poor family no matter what, and the Wu family showed kindness to him, but he dared not be grateful.

Wu Anshi didn't understand that after getting married, although Zhang Yue often kept a low profile in front of the Seventeenth Mother, he would not do it if he really wanted him to be a half-time son-in-law.

This is not a question of whether Zhang Yue is willing or not. The issue of class will always be there and cannot be changed.

After becoming a scholar in No. [-] Middle School, he was still disliked by the Yue family, not to mention himself.I am not a talent like Cao Dahua who is a soft-boiled person.

For such a son-in-law, one must have extremely high emotional intelligence and the other must be extremely tolerant.Often, a son-in-law who comes to visit his wife will treat his wife as if he were a different person when his parents-in-law pass away. This is a way of venting all the grievances he has held for many years.Zhang Yue felt that he did not have the ability, so he stopped cultivating his father-in-law's land.

After Zhang Yue won the first prize, he had the confidence to face the Wu family with ease and neither arrogance nor arrogance.

Except for those who are blindly arrogant, this kind of confidence cannot be faked.

Wu Anshi never had the same considerations as Zhang Yue, and even he still didn't understand why Zhang Yue dared to refuse the Wu family's marriage in the first place.

However, such misunderstandings are common.He looked at Zhang Yue like a leopard through a tube, and he could see everything in Zhang Yue's eyes.In other words, Wu Anshi's interpretation of Zhang Yue is not enough to summarize his situation, but it clearly exposes what he is.

Not only did Zhang Yue see through this uncle, but Seventeenth Mother had also had issues with him for many years.

But at the Wu family, Wu Anshi put on her elder brother's airs and said, "Seventeen, dad is in Daming Mansion now. You should come back to see mom more often."

The Seventeenth Mother knew her brother's nature very clearly and said, "Brother, don't you have something to entrust to Saburo again?"

Wu Anshi said seductively: "What are you talking about? Why should I trust Sanlang? Aren't you the daughter of our Wu family? Why don't you recognize me as your brother when you leave the house?"

The Seventeenth Mother didn't say anything, but Wu Anshi said: "I want you to come over and bring your eldest son, Erlang, to have more contact with us Wu family children. Without closeness, it will be easy to get separated. How can we support each other in the future?"

Seventeenth mother shook her head and said: "Brother, you think far ahead."

Wu Anshi said: "It's not far or far away. This time you were really hasty in getting married to the Huang family. What kind of family status does our Zhang and Wu family have now? It was the home of the prime minister. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was the family of the five surnames and seven hopes. We My mother is from the Li family in Longxi."

"And who is the origin of the Huang family? Have you considered it carefully? If I had known about this, I would not have allowed you to make this marriage."

Seventeen Niang thought to herself that if Huang Lu hadn't helped, she would have been Princess Shang.

The Seventeenth Mother said: "When will you take the decision regarding my brother's Zhang family's marriage?"

Wu Anshi said: "I am your brother, so I should keep an eye on you."

Lu couldn't stand it anymore and came to Qi Niang's side and said, "Sister, your brother has no other intentions."

"Brother-in-law is now the husband-in-law, so he is very busy. You and your two children should also go to our house."

"There are twenty or thirty brothers in our Wu family, and there are always some who are successful. You can ask your brother-in-law to take care of him and cultivate him. From now on, the two families will support each other."

Seventeenth Niang said: "Sister-in-law is right."

Wu An's poem said: Huang Lu was born in a poor family and was an upright official. He was also a person who didn't know how to adapt.It would be better to talk about this marriage in another way. "

Seventeen Niangzhi knew that her brother's vision was always wrong, so what if he was born in a poor family?Heroes don’t ask where they come from.Our Zhang and Wu family used to be from a poor family.

The Seventeenth Mother left without saying a word.

Wu Anshi glanced at Ms. Lu on the side and said with displeasure: "You are a woman. You are easy to talk to Shi Qi, so you didn't know to help me talk more. If you had been as smart as my fifteen sister, you wouldn't be like this."

In these years, Zhang Yue took great care of Wen Jifu, but was indifferent to Wu An's poems.Wu Anshi felt that it was because his wife and sister did not help him.

Lu said: "How do I know this? Besides, since the marriage has been decided on the [-]th, why do you have to say anything."

Wu Anshi said: "How could she have such foresight to settle the marriage so easily? Did the Huang family use any means to sell the girl to the Zhang family?"

Lu said angrily: "In terms of vision, I don't know how much better than an official."

"Besides, the Zhang and Huang families are family friends. My brother-in-law and Huang Lu are brothers, so there's nothing wrong with them."

"It's just that you have received no benefits from others, so you can talk about the Seventeenth Marriage."

Wu Anshi wanted to refute when he heard this, but for a moment he lost his confidence.He was indeed entrusted by someone and wanted to take advantage of Zhang Yue's return to Beijing to marry his eldest son.This matter was of great benefit to him, Wu Anshi, but Huang Lu took the lead.

Lu continued: "You didn't like your brother-in-law back then, and you still expect him to like you today?"

"And Qi Qi clearly doesn't want the son of the Zhang family to play with us, lest he gets into the habit of a dandy."

"In my opinion, Shi Qi's knowledge and vision are not comparable to those of ordinary women. Now she is the wife of the prime minister. It is important that we ask her to discuss more matters about our family in the future."

When Wu Anshi heard this, he was furious and said: "There is such a great wealth that I don't know how to enjoy. Let you go, I don't care."

After Wu Anshi finished speaking, she slammed the door and left, and then stayed in the outer room where she was raised outside the house for three full days before returning home.

...

Zhang Yue had no idea that Seventeenth Mother's trip back to her parents' home would cause such a headache to his uncle.

But at this moment, he was also at his wits end.

Zhang Yue wondered if he was going to be like Wang Anshi, who even spent time in the pit to meet officials.

After finishing his work, he returned to the back room and saw the Seventeenth Lady sitting beside the couch. Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue knew that the Lady was a little unhappy and asked, "How about going back to your mother's house today?"

"Not so good?" Seventeenth Mother turned her head to see Zhang Yue and leaned her head in his arms, "She's not in a good mood."

"Oh, didn't those ladies support you?"

Seventeenth Mother raised her head and said with a smile: "Do you think I am such a pleasant woman?"

Zhang Yue thought for a while and said cautiously: "It's hard to say."

"Okay!" Seventeenth Mother was unwilling.

Zhang Yue said quickly: "Madam, tell me if you have anything to do."

"Then listen to me, it's Zhang Zihou's business."

Mentioning this person, the smile on Zhang Yue's face disappeared.After listening to the Seventeenth Mother's story about the future, Zhang Yue grabbed the melon seeds on the case and cracked them while saying: "Zhang Zihou's trip to Jingnan was not proposed by any of the ministers, but was decided by the officials. At that time, Jingnan During the rebellion, His Majesty wanted to use an unscrupulous general, so Shen Cunzhong recommended him in front of the emperor."

"Shen Cunzhong's words have no selfish motives, they are all about knowing people and doing their jobs well."

The Seventeenth Mother heard the words and said with relief: "This way I can have something to say, and it also reassures my aunt. Now that she has been implicated in Lu Jifu's career due to her kindness, she is also involved in party strife, and has become a frightened bird."

After Zhang Yue peeled off the melon seeds, he took the kernel and handed it to Qi Niang, and then said: "It's not necessary to worry about it. After all, this is a rebellion, a crisis and an opportunity. It depends on how Zhang Zihou grasps it. If it is done well, Therefore, there is no guarantee that he will regain the emperor’s appreciation.”

"Then based on your understanding of Zhang Zihou, will he miss it?"

Zhang Yue said: "He will try his best to catch him! If not, he wouldn't be Zhang Zihou. Let's not talk about him, but tell us what bothers you."

"It's not that I'm bored. Sir, our Zhang family is now married to the Huang family, and Huang Lu is your childhood friend. You should also support me so that our eldest brother's face will look bright in the future."

Zhang Yue burst out laughing when he heard this and said, "Madam, you rarely said this in the past."

Seventeenth Mother said: "I just can't swallow this breath in my heart."

Zhang Yue smiled when he saw this, and without going into detail he said: "Don't worry, madam, I have already intended to do this!"

(End of this chapter)