Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

What makes Old Lady Sheng even more worried about Minglan is that Minglan has not yet been able to obtain the housekeeper power of the Duke of Qi's Mansion.

Old Madam Sheng touched the pearl hairpin on Minglan's head and said worriedly, "Ming'er, what Molan and Rulan did is something that many women out there can't do. It's good that you want to contribute to the court, but you shouldn't put the cart before the horse. The internal affairs and future of the Duke of Qi's Mansion are what you should worry about most."

Minglan looked at her grandmother, whose face was full of love and concern for her, and the grievances and fears in her heart suddenly burst out with tears.

Minglan rarely cried, and Mrs. Sheng felt very distressed when she saw her crying on her knees and trembling all over. However, she could not say that Molan and Rulan were wrong to try to serve the country and make profits for their families, even though she did not like Molan and Rulan's behavior of seeking attention from the bottom of her heart.

Therefore, Old Lady Sheng could only comfort Minglan and said, "You and your grandson-in-law have known each other since you were young, and you have experienced many twists and turns before you became husband and wife. As long as you can keep calm, the Pingning County Princess will not be able to sow discord between you. Besides, Qi Heng is a civil servant, and the noble families, including the Duke of Qi's Mansion, can provide him with little help, so the future will mostly depend on your two brothers."

At this point, Old Lady Sheng regretted very much that she had suggested that Minglan learn to be a housekeeper. That had offended her two grandsons' wives. Even though they were polite and considerate to Minglan now, they were not close to her after all.

Thinking of this, Mrs. Sheng had to admit that she seemed to have too deep a prejudice against Molan and Rulan. If she had mentioned Rulan when she asked Minglan to learn to be a housekeeper, things would not have ended up in such an embarrassing situation today.

It's a pity that at that time she was only thinking about Molan and Rulan, who had already learned from Wang Ruofu. When she talked about Minglan, she didn't think of Rulan at all.

When Minglan heard Mrs. Sheng mention the relationship between her and Qi Heng, she felt even more miserable.

When he had only developed feelings for Qi Heng in the past, Qi Heng experienced another time when he could not get what he wanted. Of course, he loved her very much, but no matter how much he loved her, he could not handle the fact that he had a strong mother-in-law like Princess Pingning above him.

But Qi Heng is different from Yuan Wenshao. Qi Heng is the only son in the family and has been spoiled by his parents since childhood. He does not need much maternal love, but he also understands that his mother does everything for the sake of him and the Duke of Qi's Mansion, so she will not completely favor either side.

Princess Pingning has her own method in doing things, and she would not make things difficult for Minglan just because she had a grudge against her daughter-in-law. However, it is this seemingly selfless behavior that makes Minglan feel that she cannot fit in at all.

Princess Pingning wants Minglan to help Qi Heng win over Shi Ying, Changbai, Changfeng, Zhang Zhe and other civil servants. She wants Minglan to help Qi Heng maintain the relationships with his peers and colleagues like Molan and Rulan did. She wants Minglan to expand the Qiguo Mansion as soon as possible and she wants Qi Heng not to take Minglan so seriously.

Let’s first talk about the relationship between Minglan and her brothers and sisters. Originally, Hualan favored her, but after Hualan saw how Old Lady Sheng treated her sisters differently, she no longer favored Minglan.

When Minglan was a child, she was indeed favored by Changbai. After all, Minglan was well-behaved and sensible at that time, while Ruolan was a little arrogant because of her sharp tongue. So even if Qi Heng secretly gave Minglan a pair of jade pens, Changbai only thought that it would be good if Minglan could be with Qi Heng.

But later, Minglan and Old Lady Sheng kept stepping on Molan and Rulan's faces. Changbai had a better relationship with Molan and Rulan, so he could not accept such things. Moreover, when the Sheng family was fighting for the throne, Minglan ignored the safety of the Sheng family and insisted on associating with Qi Heng, which almost caused the Sheng family to be targeted by the Qiguo Mansion and the Yongwang Mansion. Changbai completely saw through Minglan's true face, and the brother-sister relationship became just a face-saving one.

Therefore, Minglan really cannot contact Changbai, Changfeng and Shiying and Zhang Zhe, the two brothers-in-law, on behalf of Qi Heng.

As for Qi Heng's other peers and colleagues, there was some estrangement between them because of Qi Heng's noble birth. Although Minglan was born in a civil servant family, it was not her who made the decisions in the inner house of Duke Qi's Mansion, but Princess Pingning. Princess Pingning was reluctant to give up power, so the three or five receptions seemed inappropriate, making it difficult for people to feel at ease with Qi Heng.

As for having a baby, that's not something Minglan can do alone.

After all, Princess Pingning, as the mother-in-law, still disliked Minglan because she appeared docile on the outside but was actually somewhat rebellious inside, especially because she had caused Qi Heng to rebel against his family time and time again. So even though she had no choice but to marry her, she still didn't like her from the bottom of her heart.

Especially Princess Pingning felt that Molan and Rulan's marriages were not as good as Qi Heng's. They were able to assist their husband's families, but Minglan had not made any progress and her relationship with her brothers and sisters was not close. She just regretted marrying Minglan too hastily.

Whenever Minglan went back to her parents' home or to Duke Qi's Mansion, she would always go to see Princess Pingning first. Although she tried her best to exaggerate the harmony between herself and her brothers and sisters, Princess Pingning still heard that the other people in the Sheng family were somewhat distant from her. She felt more and more that Minglan was just the person Qi Heng had been seeking for many years but had been unable to obtain, and that she could not bring Qi Heng any benefit.

In order to flatter herself, Minglan brought up the milk powder business. "My daughter-in-law came back home, and the sisters said that everyone can do the milk powder business. I thought that although the mansion is not short of money, this is also a good opportunity."

What a good opportunity! Minglan let Princess Pingning figure it out on her own, and Princess Pingning really looked at her with new eyes. Although Princess Pingning still felt that such business affairs had no more benefits except adding some wealth to the family, since the Sheng family was willing to remind Minglan of this, it meant that they had not forgotten this married girl, and this was the most important thing for Princess Pingning.

With the banner of milk powder, Minglan's life with Princess Pingning became much better, and even the conflicts became less frequent. Qi Heng felt more relaxed when he returned home every day, and the relationship between the young couple also warmed up a lot. The child came soon, and Princess Pingning took Minglan's belly into consideration, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were finally able to live in harmony.

As the news of Minglan's pregnancy came, someone under Molan finally came up with a better way to knit wool.

The soldiers who returned triumphantly from Western Xia not only brought back gold, silver and jewelry, but also brought back a lot of captives. Molan used Shi Ying's name to buy a lot of skilled people from them. The method of weaving wool was inspired by the Western Xia captives who knew how to weave felt.

With this good start, and thanks to Molan's generous reward, someone soon came up with the idea of ​​using long wooden needles of different thicknesses to weave circles of wool into clothes and pants that did not need buttons. This way, wool yarn could finally be made into winter clothing, and the people of the country now had another way to keep warm.

Molan only offered a huge reward and did not make any further contribution, so he entrusted Shi Ying to hide his name and report to the new emperor the people who actually came up with the idea of ​​using wool yarn, and request credit for them.