Chapter Fifty-Seven Humiliation

  “…Lord Cao is a veteran of three dynasties and the leader of the cabinet, we can't compare to him.” Zheng Yiniang lowered her voice, “...I heard from people in General Shen's household that General Shen was planning to divorce his wife to promote this Chu lady, Second Madam didn't know about it when she entered the household, but at the beginning when General Shen's household promoted this Chu lady, they had already gone through the six rites and had planned to make her the first wife. Seeing Second Madam still hesitating, she advised again, “To be honest, our household's first madam was once a close friend of that Zhen family, it should have been given to this Chu lady without hesitation, haven't they been showing respect all these years?”

  The second grandma's family was in Xin'an, and she had only passed the door four years ago. She really didn't know about this matter that had shocked the entire upper capital city. After hearing it, she coldly laughed and said, "I did hear that General Shen divorced his wife to marry the tenth young lady of the Anqing Marquis's manor." If that was true, then treating Chu Xinyi as a honored guest would be offending the Anqing Marquis's manor.

  Anqing Hou is a powerful and prestigious national father-in-law, who can make the capital city tremble with just a stomp of his foot, and is a marquis who even the emperor has to show respect to.

  Indeed, there were rumors outside that Chu Xinyi's favor was no match for the power of the Empress Dowager's family in promoting Shen Zhongge's future. The fact that they were willing to marry their eldest daughter into the Shen family as a concubine was already a concession, and whoever heard this would not refuse. Upon hearing these words, Zheng Yini began to hesitate.

  "Zhong Tang and General Shen are close friends, if we slack off, I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain to Zhong Tang..." Jin Xi reminded.

  The second grandma frowned seriously.

  After a while, she raised her head and instructed Zheng Nian: "Take the young lady to the main hall to receive her, just say I'm not in the mansion."

  The eldest daughter of Xiao Yong, let her come forward, neither losing face nor losing the identity of the Zhongtang government, this is a good idea!

  Zheng's wife smiled and nodded, "......it was still the second madam's idea, I'll go invite the young ladies immediately."

  ……

  Xiao Lao Furen had the nasal packing removed, and Zhen Shi Nang thought of leaving. However, Xiao Yun insisted that she wait until the wound healed before departing. As a powerful and influential matriarch, even if she missed her son dearly, she couldn't just leave immediately, so she ended up staying.

  Early in the morning, I changed the medicine for Old Lady Xiao. With nothing to do, Zhen Shiniang found a book on geography of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Xiao Yu's study.

  It's been five years since she came here, and this is her first time seeing the map of Da Zhou.

  The Great Zhou is located in Jiangnan, facing the sea to the east, with Yanqi to the north and Yiyue to the south.

  No wonder Shen Zhongge was so valued by Emperor Wansui, who personally welcomed him out of the Wu Gate after his victory. It turned out that he was a great hero who expanded the territory... In just five years, not only did he pacify the harassment of the eastern Japanese pirates, but also incorporated the Nanyi State and Nan Yue State in the southwest and southeast of the Great Zhou into the territory of the Great Zhou, making them vassals to the south of the Great Zhou.

  I'm actually living in an era where various countries are vying for dominance!

  For five years, she had thought that this space was a prosperous era like the Tang Dynasty or Kangxi and Qianlong. Putting down her book, Zhen Shi Niang came to the window and used her fingers to scrape off the white frost on the window in circles, revealing a small piece of transparent glass.

  “…General Shen had just conquered the country of Nanyue, and morale in the army was high. The mighty power of the Great Zhou dynasty was awe-inspiring and inviolable. Yet rumors were circulating outside that the Emperor wanted to use his own sixth princess as a marriage alliance with the second prince of Qi... Was it true? Why?” At this thought, Zhen Shi's heart skipped a beat.

  "...the palace reward, hurry up and come to taste it." Just as he was thinking wildly, Hong'er walked in with a plate of Baiguo Song Gao, her face flushed.

  The reward in the palace, even the young masters and misses of the concubine's quarters didn't get a share, but the old lady made an exception and gave it to Jian Dafu, showing how noble and respected this master is. Thinking about these days, all the maids from each house and courtyard were competing to give gifts to themselves, Hong'er looked at Zhen Shiniang with eyes full of admiration.

  "Mmm, delicious." After cleaning her hands, she picked up a rice cake and put it in her mouth. It was soft, fragrant, sweet, and glutinous but not sticky. Zhen Shiniang's eyes narrowed immediately, "Indeed, it's made by the imperial court, and it's different from those made by common people. You try some too..."

  "How dare I?" Hong'er swallowed hard and gazed at the rice cake in the plate with shining eyes.

  Zhen Shiniang suspected that if she stared any longer, Hong'er's eyeballs would fall into the rice cake, so she pushed the plate in front of her. Just as she was about to speak, there was a commotion outside and Xiaoyu hurriedly walked in, saying, "Madam Chu from the General's mansion has come to ask you to diagnose an illness."

  Chu Xinyi is here?

  Zhen Shining's action of biting into a rice cake was frozen in that moment, what a coincidence.

  ……

  "Miss is well, Chu Niang is well," Hong'er had just welcomed them to the door, Zheng Niang and Miss had already brought Chu Xinyi into the courtyard, Hong'er hurriedly bowed to everyone, "...Jian Dafu is not in the house."

  “……not in the house?” Zheng Niangniang smiled and ushered Chu Xinyi into the house, “Which courtyard has invited you to see a patient again?” They had just visited Old Lady, Xi Chun said that Jian Dafu was back.

  Hong'er lowered her head in embarrassment, "......I don't know."

  Zheng's heart skipped a beat as she turned her head towards Chu Xinyi, "What bad luck, you see, I was just about to..."

  "Baiguo Song Gao!" Before she could finish speaking, the usually silent eldest sister suddenly let out a sharp cry, "Was this bestowed upon Grandmother by the palace?" Her tone carried a hint of obvious discontent.

  The reward in the palace, these dignified masters didn't even have a share, but the grandmother actually gave it to a humble official, what virtue did he have?

  Her eyes fell on the crystal plate, and Chuxinyi's face changed instantly.

  Following Chu Xinyi's gaze to the fruit sponge cake in the plate that had been bitten, Zheng Yiniang also changed her face and didn't come back to her senses for a while before scolding Hong'er, "Don't you know to go find someone? Haven't you seen that our noble guest has arrived?" Remembering Zhen Shiniang's cold and unfeeling nature, Zheng Yiniang's voice softened again, "Tell Jian Dafu that Chu Niangniang is being held in high esteem by General Shen. If he can cure her illness, with just one word from him, giving her a single military procurement order will be enough for her to spend lavishly for several lifetimes."

  This is not an exaggeration, she had personally heard Er Ye Xiao Yong say that Jian Dafu's secret recipe similar to Ma Zhuo San was a priceless treasure, which General Shen had offered a reward of 10,000 gold coins but could not get.

  "Slave will go find..." Hong Er responded with a sound and turned around to leave immediately.

  "It's nothing." Chu Xinyi had calmed down, "I just heard that his medical skills are exceptional and wanted to see it for myself."

  "What about your illness..." Zheng's voice trailed off in hesitation.

  "It's just a minor illness, any doctor can cure it!" Chu Xinyi's tone was slightly cold and arrogant as she supported Chun Hong and walked out, "Let's go." Infertility was an embarrassing problem that couldn't be seen by others, so Chu Xinyi only told Zheng Nian that she often had headaches.

  "Walk slowly, Aunt Chu," said Big Sister, and then sat down beside the Baogu rice cake.

  Mother often says that aunts are only slightly more valuable than slaves, after all they are still servants, so she doesn't have to send them off with courtesy.

  Seeing the big sister didn't see them off, with an air of arrogance, even Chunhong's face changed color, and her feet quickened their pace.

  Zheng's nanny followed with a sullen face, secretly sighing that the young lady was indeed spoiled by the second madam, and didn't know what was proper. If she had known it would be like this, it would have been better not to invite her out.

  Once Chu Yiniang lodges a complaint with Shen Zhongjie, the grudge between the General's Manor and the Prime Minister's Manor will be greatly intensified.

  Seeing Chu Xinyi's gloomy face and her refusal to speak, Zheng Nian's fear grew. She turned her eyes around and suddenly quickened her pace to catch up, "I heard that General Shen is going to marry the tenth daughter of Anqing Hou, is it true?"

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