The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

These two short sentences determined the date of Xie's father's death.

The mother and daughter acted as if nothing had happened. Mother Xie hugged Lu Weiyuan and said, "Your Highness has grown up a lot."

Lu Weiyuan had a good memory. Mother Xie had often come to the palace in the past six months. She still remembered her grandmother and called out sweetly as soon as she opened her little mouth: "Grandma! Kiss!"

He took the initiative to lean over and kissed Xie's mother on the face, then raised his chubby little finger to point at his own face: "Yuanjun, kiss me."

"Oh, oh, grandma's sweetheart." Mother Xie's heart softened. She kissed Yuanjun on the cheek again and again. Even when they sat down, she was reluctant to let go of her only granddaughter.

Behind the two of them, Xu's mother looked at the harmonious scene of the grandparents and grandchildren, feeling a little envious, but more of a heartache for her daughter.

Concubine Xu saw what her mother was thinking, so she asked a palace maid to ask for leave from Xie Yuzhen on her behalf, and then asked the servants of the Marquis's Mansion to find a quiet place for her and her daughter to talk.

"......My son, you have suffered." Mother Xu wiped her tears. She was not a woman with a strong personality, but she was naturally gentle with a bit of resilience.

In order to raise her daughter, she suffered for many years. After being sent to Shuiyue Temple by Mrs. Hong, she tried to commit suicide once in order to avoid humiliation and to prevent her daughter from being controlled by them. However, she failed and was persuaded by a woman in the same situation as her, and she managed to survive and be rescued.

In addition to gratitude, Xu's mother was somewhat in awe of Xie Yuzhen. She had not read much and knew nothing about the affairs between these court marquises. But based on her life experience, she could more or less sense that in addition to the sisterly friendship, there was also a mutually beneficial relationship between her daughter and Xie Yuzhen.

Xu's mother was helpless in the capital and was staying at Xie's house. Although Xie's mother treated her like a family member, after experiencing the most malicious malice in the world, Xu's mother was always a little uneasy about her current peaceful life. She was very afraid that her inappropriate words and deeds would make it difficult for her equally helpless daughter to live in the palace.

Although more than a year has passed, Xu's mother still feels heartbroken whenever she thinks of how her daughter suffered so much from the miscarriage.

Xu Jieyu could naturally see the hidden worries of her mother. She had invited her mother to the palace to comfort her several times before. Today, it was a rare occasion for mother and daughter to meet outside the palace, and she aroused her mother's worries again: "Mother, am I not fine now?"

"Mother knows that you are living a good life now. You have a high position and are favored. You are also helping the queen in some bureau. You are very glorious." Mother Xu showed a tearful smile, "Mother just can't help but..."

She knows how painful it is to give birth to a child.

Although my daughter failed to give birth to the child, giving birth is a "laboration" and abortion is a "miscarriage", which must have been extremely painful.

The mother and daughter tacitly avoided this topic. Mother Xu couldn't help but ask Concubine Xu if she had ever thought about having another child?

Concubine Xu shook her head: "Mother knows my temper. I'm afraid... I don't have the patience to raise a child, and I can't raise a good child. Rather than worrying about the child when I'm old, I might as well take advantage of my sister. When I'm old, I can shamelessly ask Yuanjun to take care of me as well."

She deliberately made a witty remark, which made Xu's mother laugh, and at the same time, her mother raised her hand and tapped her forehead: "You."

"Don't worry, mother. No matter what, my sister will never ignore me." Concubine Xu has great confidence in Xie Yuzhen.

On the other side, Xie Ruizhen and others chatted casually about family matters.

Mother Xie held a purse in her hand, teasing Yuanjun while asking Xie Yuzhen for his opinion: "Last year, after your elder brother was appointed as an official, your mother's family sent a letter saying that next year that family would send a younger generation to Beijing to prepare for the spring examination the year after. They didn't say that they wanted our family to help them, but only said that they would have to come to visit when the time comes."

Xie's father's first wife was also surnamed Lin. Her hometown was in the southwest, hundreds of miles away from the capital of Dasheng, and it was very inconvenient to travel back and forth.

When Xie's father was young, he went there to study. Because he had a good appearance and his knowledge was not the best, in the countryside, the status of a scholar was already a great achievement. Lin's father was a wealthy small landlord in that village. When he saw that Xie's father, who came to study, was a native of the capital and had the status of a scholar, he decided to recruit him as his son-in-law.

Although Xie's father was born in the capital at that time, his family was not well off. He was able to study abroad only because he was relatively young when he passed the imperial examination and received financial support from his teachers and classmates. At that time, no one would have thought that a young scholar with great literary talent would still be just a scholar in his old age.

The Lin family's maternal grandfather, who had no idea of ​​the true family situation of Xie's father and could not foresee the future of Xie's father's wasted life, easily got a young scholar son-in-law who was good-looking and well-educated.

Lin was satisfied with her husband at first, until she left home and went to Beijing with her husband, and then she slowly realized what a big pit she had fallen into in the second half of her life.

After Lin's death.

The Xie family and the Lin family almost cut off contact.

"The letter from the Lin family said that since my sister passed away, the old man in their family has also become ill. One of my sister's two brothers got drunk and fell into the river and drowned. The other went up the mountain to hunt with others and encountered a blind bear. He was still alive when he came back, but he died within a few days." Xie's mother said with great melancholy.

"The only one left in the Lin family is my sister's younger brother. He works as a coroner in the local county government. No girl from a good family is willing to marry him, so he married his elder brother's widow. Soon after they got married, they had a child. But the child's mother didn't survive the birth and died..."

"My sister's second brother didn't marry, and the eldest brother didn't have any children either. Now there are only the two of them left in the family. Fortunately, the boy is a hard-working man. Although he is young - only eighteen this year - he passed the imperial examination last year and is planning to take the exam next year."

"Eighteen years old?!" Xie Yuzhen's eyes widened in surprise. "Eighteen-year-old scholar, this kid is really promising!"

Xie's mother didn't know much about these things, but after seeing her daughter's reaction, she understood: "So it's really that serious?"

After a moment of shock, he said, "No wonder the letter didn't say he was coming to our house, but only said he would come over to visit."

"Mother, since he is your nephew, he is naturally my brother. We must not let this big fish go. When I return to the palace, I will send someone to check on your mother's family. When he comes to the capital, I will arrange for someone to find out his character. He is an 18-year-old scholar, and scholars can directly become officials. Even if we can't make friends with him, we can't ignore him!"

An eighteen-year-old scholar... Xie Yuzhen once again expressed her sincere gratitude to Lin. She poked at the dream-making system that was begging to stay in her consciousness - it was no longer a system now, but a working member of the world consciousness.

[In the future you know, is there anyone with such a promising future in my mother's family? ]

Zaomeng shook his body and immediately replied: [Yes, yes, yes! Lin Qiao! Lin Guanying! Lord Lin! ]

[She is the first female minister and female scholar in the Great Sheng Dynasty! ]