Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!

Chapter 1314: Chapter 1314: Good Fortune

The next day in the capital, Zhulan had breakfast alone, as Lady Dong returned yesterday and Yu Yi and Yu Jiao went to stay in another house.

Zhulan’s breakfast was simple, not at all extravagant or wasteful. She would let Qing Xue know in advance what she wanted for breakfast each day, sometimes it could be buns and porridge with pickles, or small wonton noodles.

Today’s breakfast consisted of vegetable porridge with small pickles and a boiled egg, a very simple meal.

Families in the Zhou household followed suit, never spreading out a large table for breakfast but serving just enough.

After eating breakfast, Zhulan asked Qing Xue, ”Did Ming Ling rest well yesterday?”

Qing Xue expected her mistress to ask and had inquired early in the morning, ”Young Master Ming Ling was tired from playing yesterday, he slept deeply and hasn’t woken up yet.”

Zhulan smiled, ”Children need a lot of sleep; he will wake up after a little while longer.”

Now she had two grandsons, Ming Ling was a bit older than Ming Feng, but Ming Ling wasn’t as big as Ming Feng; being premature had a big impact, which made her feel Ming Ling was the youngest.

Zhulan wandered around the garden and cut some flowers from the glass greenhouse to arrange them; the arrival of glass vases made her particularly fond of flower arranging.

When Lady Dong arrived, Zhulan had already finished arranging the flowers and smiled beckoning Ming Ling, ”Ming Ling, come to Grandma.”

Today, the little fellow was much less shy, actively coming forward and calling out in a babyish voice, ”Grandma.”

Zhulan picked up her grandson, giving him a kiss and asked, ”Did you eat breakfast?”

The little fellow nodded, ”I ate a big bun and drank some rice porridge.”

Zhulan smiled lovingly as the little fellow gestured how big the bun was, surprised she said: ”That big? You really ate a lot.”

The little fellow touched his belly, ”Full.”

Zhulan felt this close to her heart, as if Chang Lian had returned to his childhood.

Lady Dong’s eyes brightened with ease; she had been worried in Xuzhou Province, concerned about Ming Ling not growing up in the capital and whether her mother-in-law would be distant with Ming Ling. Now she felt she had worried needlessly; her mother-in-law liked the child.

In Zhou Family Village, today Ran Wan and her husband were going to Li Family Village to meet her grandparents. Ran Wan was confident, she wanted to show her best side to prove she was worthy of the position as the wife of the eldest grandson of the Zhou family.

Mingyun saw his wife dressed up, gentleness in his eyes, ”Shall we set off?”

Ran Wan smiled, extending her hand, ”Yes.”

The couple rode in a carriage to Li Family Village; they stayed there for the day and would return early the next morning. They wouldn’t stay long in Zhou Family Village; after resting for two days, they had to rush to Pingzhou City.

At Li Family Village, as Ran Wan got off the carriage, she was momentarily stunned by the large number of the Li family members gathered; however, her gaze quickly fell on the two elders standing at the forefront.

But the two elders were nervous and didn’t speak up.

Ran Wan tried to soften her approach, letting go of her husband’s hand and stepped forward proactively, ”Ran Wan greets Grandfather and Grandmother.”

Lady Li, knowing her granddaughter-in-law was also visiting, was worried. Even though her daughter told her the granddaughter-in-law was nice, she was still an official’s daughter and the Li family were mindful of their humble status; she feared the granddaughter-in-law might look down on them.

Now it seemed her worries, just as written in her daughter’s letter, were unnecessary.

Lady Li, feeling the genuine or insincere intentions, saw the delicate hands supporting her, her smiling lips unable to hide her joy, ”Good, good, let’s go inside to talk.”

Ran Wan continued, ”I heard from Mother that you and Grandfather personally went into the mountains to pick mushrooms, I’ve been worried. Grandma you should take more care in the future; the mountain roads are slippery and both mother and we are very concerned.”

Lady Li, seasoned with age, could sense the sincerity. This granddaughter-in-law really didn’t disdain her and was genuinely concerned, ”Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

Mingyun was not far from his wife, and since his grandmother had a loud voice, it was hard for him not to listen.

Old man Li gave his grandson a thumbs up, whispering, ”You are a lucky fellow.”

Mingyun smiled and nodded, ”Mm.”

In the imperial palace in the capital, the Emperor summoned the Crown Prince, ”Your recent work has been commendable.”

The Crown Prince did not believe the Emperor summoned him just to praise his academic work, ”I must learn from you, father. I still have much to improve.”

The Emperor was pleased with the Crown Prince’s attitude, beckoned him to sit closer, and pushed the nuts in front of him towards the Crown Prince, ”Many positions have opened up in the south now. Who do you think I will send there?”

The Crown Prince knew this was another test. As he cracked the nuts, he said, ”I believe that to appease the noble clans, many of the new southern positions will be filled by officials from noble families.”

The Emperor nodded, ”Go on.”

The Crown Prince glanced around, ”The remaining spots will naturally be for the officials whom you, father, want to nurture.”

As the south was being purged, placing too many people there was risky as it affected the interests of the local nobles. Only officials who could genuinely take root in the south were who the Emperor truly needed.

The Emperor was satisfied internally, ”Well said. Do you have anyone in mind to recommend?”

Without a second thought, the Crown Prince said, ”The third son of Grand Master of Writing Zhou.”

He wouldn’t mention him, but this person was indeed someone the Emperor was planning to send to the south. Well, a clever move.

The Emperor stared at his son and snatched the pine nut kernels that his son had peeled, seeing his son’s eyes widen, he snorted, ”You’re still too naive.”

In Zhou family village, Jiang Sheng and Xue Mei did not head directly to the Jiang family, but instead sought out a renowned matchmaker in the county, and also visited the elders of the Zhou family to pick a good date before visiting the Jiang family.

Although he hadn’t formally visited, Jiang Sheng still met Jiang Ming at the clan school.

Jiang Ming had just finished teaching a class, ”I was just about to look for you.”

Jiang Sheng, ”It seems we had the same idea. I read one of your articles and wanted to ask you about it in person.”

Jiang Ming waved his hand, ”I submitted many articles, but only a short piece was selected. However, it was your articles and paintings that were enlightening to me.”

Jiang Sheng pointed at a stone table, ”Shall we sit over there?”

Jiang Ming nodded, ”Sure.”

As they walked, Jiang Sheng said, ”This visit back, the clan school has changed a lot. I see you’ve fixed up the pavilion and added a small garden. It must have cost quite a few Silver Coin.”

Jiang Ming replied, ”It didn’t cost Silver. It was all donated. As you know, the Zhou family’s clan school has a rich collection of books. We have to thank the Grand Master of Writing for this, so many came to study here and donated quite a few things.”

Jiang Sheng had also grown a beard, though not as long as his father-in-law’s, touched his short beard, ”But moderation is also important.”

Jiang Ming, ”Ming Qing is aware and has good control of the situation.”

He had also been an official for many years, and if anything excessive occurred, he would have spoken up. So far, it seemed Ming Qing was doing well.

In the capital, Zhulan had not had the chance to discuss Yu Yi with Lady Dong the day before, so she brought it up today, ”A year ago, Princess Qi tried to arrange a match between the Yun family’s children and Yu Yi or Yu Wen. We checked and felt it was not suitable, so the matter was dropped.”

After pausing, she continued, ”You just returned to the capital and may not know about your daughter’s rising fame. Let me explain what happened that day in detail.”

Saying this, Zhulan recounted the details of the flower banquet.