RPAGF Chapter 293 The drunkard doesn’t care about drinking
Chapter 293 The drunkard doesn’t care about drinking
In the courtyard filled with lush flowers and trees, a jade incense burner with auspicious beasts slowly emitted misty white smoke, a thin wisp that gradually disappeared into the air before it could even take shape.
Old Madam Wang had white hair mixed with some yellowish strands. Her hair was piled up high in a round bun. She wore two gold hairpins with simple patterns, and a dark green brocade jacket with pine and plum blossom patterns, with a cross-collared cloud-patterned lining underneath.
His eyes were gentle, and full of kindness when he looked at Zhao Fangyu, as if he was looking at his own junior.
Zhao Fangyu looked at Old Madam Wang and keenly discovered that Old Madam Wang seemed to have a good impression of her. It was not that she was narcissistic, but she always felt that the way Old Madam Wang looked at her was somewhat like that of the First Madam.
Madam Wang stood up, and Zhao Fangyu hurried over to help her. The old lady waved her hand and said with a smile, "No need to help me, I'm not that old yet."
"It's a pity that your eyesight is not as good as when you were young, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to leave our yard for three days."
Hua Luan watched from the side, not feeling the slightest bit sorry that her priceless cloud brocade was stained with the cat slave's hair.
"If you like her, just go and play with her. She's alone at home now and she's eager to get out and about."
Old Lady Wang reached out and flicked the cat's pink little paws. The cat in the eldest princess's arms meowed softly at Old Lady Wang. The old lady couldn't help but hold the cat's little paws and squeezed them.
After everyone sat down, a maid came up with warm water to wash Old Madam Wang's hands. Zhao Fangyu sat below Old Madam Wang, looking like a junior.
"I am so favored by the old lady. If my mother knew about it, she would have to praise me a lot."
Zhao Fangyu is gentle and kind, always with a decent and gentle smile on her face. She is pretty, well-educated and well-mannered. At first glance, she is the kind of good girl that the elders like most.
Madam Wang smiled and lowered her head, putting the teacup aside: "Of course you deserve the praise. You are a good child. You have surpassed countless people by being able to take care of your sisters."
Among the big families, everything is based on family interests.
Zhao Fangyu had brought his own sister to court for the sake of Zhao Fangyun, and this fact was known to everyone in the capital.
From the perspective of the head of the family, this move is somewhat inappropriate, but if it were the mistress, she would think it was appropriate.
The children who went out well in their families were abused by others. They had to swallow their anger and not let their own people suffer.
Therefore, the mistresses in the capital now use the Zhao sisters as role models to educate their children.
She is outstanding, has a deep sisterly love, can help others to achieve their goals, and is very happy at home. With a daughter like this, the family can't be too bad.
Even if Zhao Fangyun had divorced and returned home, just for the sake of the couple of Zhao Fangyu and Zhao Fangjin, there would probably be countless sons of minor officials who would be willing to marry Zhao Fangyun.
Zhao Fangyu lowered his eyes, and his dark eyes moved around the old lady's cane. When he raised his eyes again, his eyes sparkled: "My mother taught me since I was young, otherwise how could I be where I am today?"
"Old Madam Wang likes me now. When I return home, I don't know how to feel sorry for my young lady."
Zhao Fangyu subtly shifted the topic to the Wang family's backyard. Old Madam Wang smiled but said nothing and did not respond.
Hua Luan laughed twice and changed the topic to avoid a dull silence: "Speaking of which, has your little sister got engaged? Someone has come to me to inquire about it."
Zhao Fangyu's eyebrows were smiling, and her long eyelashes were slowly lifted. There was no embroidery on the smooth sleeves, and the light fell on the glittering fabric, just like melting gold and refining jade, cutting clouds and drawing silk.
There were only three of them in the room, so Zhao Fangyu spoke without avoiding others, with a look of distress on her face: "My sister is young, so there is no rush for her to get married. Besides, our family just had the incident with our fifth sister... Mother is a little worried that if a good girl marries someone else, she will be secretly bullied."
"The girls in our family were all raised in pampered conditions. Our mother was kind and had hired teachers to teach us since we were young. She also took advantage of the lessons that the old aunt at my aunt's house specially set up for my cousin."
"It's a pity that I met a fool who didn't know the value of gold and jade, and he killed my sister."
Song Yuan is now in the hands of the Dali Temple. Mei Zhanhui has given the order and Song Yuan will undoubtedly die.
But even so, it still can't relieve the hatred.
"As for Seventh Sister, let alone mother, even we would not want her to get married so early."
Zhao Fangyu looked at Hua Luan with admiration in her eyes. "Don't be afraid of your aunt laughing at you. I only say this in front of you. I won't acknowledge you outside this family."
Hua Luan and Old Madam Wang looked at each other, and one of them couldn't help but smile and said, "Tell me now."
The other smiled and waved his hands: "I don't want to hear your family's private matters."
But although Old Lady Wang said she was leaving, she sat steadily and even looked at Zhao Fangyu with a smile, which showed that she was obviously being polite.
Zhao Fangyu smiled like a kitten that had stolen some meat, and said, "When I was at home, I was naturally happy everywhere. I can't find such a relaxed life after I got married."
"People always have to move on, but for this little sister, we always want to let her relax for two more years. It's true that her mother wants to keep her for two more years, and we are reluctant to let her go."
"Since she can remember, she has spent the most time with her fifth sister. It's inevitable that she will feel sentimental, so mother and we really don't want to force her."
"Engagement is not something that can be done overnight. If the relationship fails after one visit, then the person will be changed. She is very scared now. She reads books day after day, wishing she could finish all the books and take the imperial examination."
The Wang family is a family of scholars. All the men, women, and children in the family can read and write. Even the servants can occasionally recite a few lines of ancient poetry.
The Wang family is a family that values literature, so they naturally look up to those who are willing to study hard.
This inevitably made him have some thoughts about Zhao Fangyu's sister, but when he heard Zhao Fangyu say that his family would keep his sister for two years, he could not help but think: "A daughter of a family is sought after by hundreds of families. If she is a good girl, her husband will naturally be carefully selected."
Zhao Fangyu nodded in agreement: "That's true, but mother is in charge of everything, and we are just helping to take a look. Who knows, one day we may have to ask aunt and old lady Wang for help to find out if there are any dirty things hidden in other people's homes."
If it was anything else, Old Lady Wang would definitely not agree, but this one she agreed to readily.
"The greatest regret in the world is to leave a pearl in the dark."
Zhao Fangyu's methods were somewhat indecisive, but his intentions were righteous. Both Zhao Fangyu and Zhou Qinghe disliked such private and sneaky behavior. This was why, although the officials in the court were fed up with Zhou Qinghe's misbehavior, they never took him seriously. Even if they did make a report, they only reported some minor issues.
Watch the chess moves and understand people’s hearts.
Zhao Fangyu's chess style is correct, but it is normal for him to be a little hesitant.
Speaking of marriage, Old Lady Wang couldn't help but think of her own child, who was of the right age. She didn't know how many years the Zhao family wanted to keep Zhao Fangmo.
Zhao Fangyu and Hua Luan started talking again, but this time they were not talking about Zhao Fangmo, but Hua Luan's child.
"Is the teacher who taught your brother and sister still here? I would like to invite him to be a teacher for my son."
"It's unfortunate that you asked too late, Auntie. The master is now in charge."
Hua Luan sighed regretfully: "My children are all debts. I just hope that this little bastard can learn to behave like a human being, learn to read and understand reason."
In the royal family, stupid children cannot survive. If they are not smart enough and cannot see through the traps set by others, they will become the ladder for others to climb up and gain fame.
Zhao Fangyu's eyes flashed, thinking that he finally got to the point.
"What's there to be afraid of? Auntie left him such a huge fortune. Are you afraid that he will squander it all for you?"
Hua Luan grabbed the fan and shook it unhappily: "I worked so hard to earn this huge fortune, and he can't keep it. I will make him come back to life even if I die!"
As Hua Luan was speaking, Old Lady Wang was listening on the side. Her eyes showed a moment of loneliness, and then returned to normal. Zhao Fangyu had been staring at Old Lady Wang out of the corner of his eye, and after seeing that strange moment, he felt much more at ease.
Then he said, "What are you saying? In order to have a successful child, you don't care about his safety and health?"
"My health condition started when I fell into the water when I was a child. I never paid much attention to it until I was in my teens. It turned out that I went to bed later than other people every day, which led to my poor health at a young age."
"Aunt, please look at me and think about whether you are willing to give up your own child."
"I have never been able to take good care of my body. I suffer from spring fever, autumn cough, summer pain and winter fever. Even the imperial physicians in the palace have seen me. If it weren't for my husband's shamelessness in inviting the Cui family's uncle to take care of me, I'm afraid my condition would be even worse now."
The princess only knew that Zhou Qinghe had a good relationship with the Fourth Prince, and that the Fourth Prince had a very close relationship with the Cui family. She didn't know that the person who treated Zhao Fangyu was actually the Cui family's well-hidden uncle.
At this point, Old Lady Wang finally became interested: "It turned out to be the one from the Cui family? His Royal Highness the Crane King is really lucky."
This uncle of the Cui family is young and of high seniority. Like Zhao Fangmo of the Zhao family, he was spoiled by his family since he was a child. Later, he did not enter the official career, but traveled all over the mountains and fields seeking medical advice, and achieved unparalleled medical skills.
But even this unique medical skill is rarely used by the powerful and wealthy.
Someone once offered him ten thousand taels of gold and asked him for medical treatment, but he turned a deaf ear and squatted on the roadside to treat beggars.
Zhou Qinghe must have put in a lot of effort to get the young uncle of the Cui family to take action.
Zhao Fangyu lowered his eyebrows and smiled lightly, his words full of memories of his beloved's tenderness: "I didn't know at first, it was only after he invited people to his house that I found out."
In fact, to invite Cui's uncle, you don't have to impress Cui's uncle. It will also be fine to impress Cui Zimin.
Cui Zimin will take action on his own as for the rest.
"He is lucky to have the eyes of Uncle Cui. Uncle Cui's medical skills are really excellent. My body is really hard to take care of. Later, I took the medicine prescribed by Uncle Cui. Now, after another year of recuperation, I should be almost healed."
Old Mrs. Wang naturally wanted to know more about the preferences of this mysterious uncle of the Cui family.
She also has a patient in her family who needs medical treatment.
The Wang family had few descendants, and became increasingly impoverished due to natural disasters and man-made calamities.
The most promising child was paralyzed in bed because of saving someone and has not been able to get up since then.
He is Old Lady Wang’s eldest grandson. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be the next head of the Wang family.
What’s strange is that the Wang family seemed to have suffered some kind of curse. Not only the branch in the capital had few descendants, but even in their hometown of Taiyuan, there were very few descendants with any prospects.
Aristocratic families are prosperous only when their descendants are numerous. However, if their descendants are numerous but not promising, they are just like a bag of food, which is nothing but a burden. They constantly absorb nutrients from the big tree of the family to grow stronger.
The Wang family is a thousand-year-old family and it is not to the point that they cannot afford to raise these children, but as elders, they all have the same concerns.
What good outcome can come from a young son carrying gold through a busy street?
Today, with them looking after them, these children can behave well, but what if the day comes when they are no longer around?
When the day comes that they are gone, how much of the family wealth will the children be able to keep?
How many peaceful days can we have?
The most promising and dazzling grandson was murdered by a villain because he saved someone. He drowned in the pond, and the river rocks hit his head and made it bleed...
That bitch clearly knew that her grandson had a kind heart. Her grandson clearly went to save people, but in the end, his kindness was betrayed, and all her years of hard work were wasted overnight...
Old Mrs. Wang and the Wang family were unwilling to give up. They sought medical treatment everywhere, but the disease was never cured.
The more treatment he received, the more resistant Old Lady Wang's grandson became, and gradually, there was no news about the bright and handsome Young Master Wang among people.
Old Lady Wang came back to her senses, with tears in her eyes. She raised her eyes and saw that Zhao Fangyu and the eldest princess were already talking about the perfumed dew business.
"Speaking of which, how are you going to run your shop? I see all the clan members flocking to your shop."
Zhao Fangyu and Hua Luan gathered together, sat on the seat where they had played chess with the old lady of the Wang family, and set up a new game.
"In business, how can you get whatever you want?"
"Since this is a good business that can make money, I naturally have to find people with good reputation and deep background to be my allies."
"Besides, doing business with the aunts from the Zongzheng Temple and the Censorate..."
The rest of the words were not spoken, but as members of the royal family, they naturally understood the pain.
Old Madam Wang was watching from the side. Li Nu was rubbing against her body softly, and his round and plump head was rubbing against the back of her hand again and again, as if he wanted to put his head into her palm.
The next moment, Zhao Fangyu continued, "The first time is new, the second time is familiar. We still have to do this business. If the aunts really want to do it, they can do it. But you have to accompany me and listen to the censor's nagging."
Now that Zhou Qinghe is not in the capital, if the censor wants to report someone, he can only report Zhao Fangyu.
It's a bit far-fetched to say that she had ulterior motives.
She has been doing this business for many years, and it’s not something she just started this year.
People say she is extravagant... She has earned so much money over the years, and every winter she still gives out porridge at the city gate to help the poor people.
There is nothing more to say about her.
Zhou Qinghe's absence from the capital is a disadvantage for Zhao Fangyu, but conversely, it can also be an advantage.
The old lady of the Wang family looked at the chessboard and shook her head silently. It was because of her that the eldest princess was just too bad at chess.
The eldest princess also happened to be unable to go down, so she quickly invited Old Lady Wang to replace her, and sat behind Old Lady Wang to give her advice.
However, before the move was made, the chubby cat in his arms suddenly stretched out its furry paw and messed up a chess piece, and the deadlock was reversed in an instant.