Chapter 71: Cherry Blossoms (Part 1) (Pink Tickets 390)

  "Has Xu's family sent over the cherries?" Madame's eyes flashed with confusion. "Please invite those two mothers in!"

  Mrs. Xu smiled and said: "It's said that the Empress Dowager gave it as a reward, and Madame Tai specially sent someone to bring some fresh ones for you to try."

  The lady nodded and Mrs. Xu smiled and invited the two mothers from the Xu family in.

  The two mothers made a bow to the lady, explained their intention, and the lady thanked them, said a few polite words, gave them some money as a reward, and then had them sent out by Mrs. Xu again.

  She opened a small basket woven from fine bamboo. On the green leaves lay a handful of cherry-like red agate, very beautiful.

  The lady then called for Luo Qiao: "Leave half for the old master and send the other half to the old madam."

  The fallen petals drifted away with the wind.

  Arrived at Da Nai's place, but bumped into Fourth Master Luo Zhensheng.

  His face was flushed bright red, and when he saw Luo Qiao enter, he hastily bid farewell.

  Luo Qiao felt something was off.

  Normally, Fourth Master would chat and laugh with them, so why is he fleeing in such a flustered manner today?

  The old lady seemed unwilling to talk about it anymore and hastily asked her: "But is there any errand from your mother's side?"

  Luo Qiao put the matter behind her mind and smiled: "The empress rewarded the Xu family with some cherries, the Xu family sent some over, and Eldest Madam asked me to bring them for Eldest Young Master to taste."

  "It's really beautiful!" Da Nai looked at it and liked it very much, and called Xing Lin: "Send half to Dà Yé's place, send half to Xiǎo Gē's place!"

  Apricot forest responded and left, and also rewarded Lu Qiao with a white handkerchief.

  Luo Qiao thanked Da Nai and turned to leave, but saw Luo Zhen Sheng talking to Xiao Liu Zi who was driving the carriage. While speaking, he also took out a few pieces of silver from his sleeve and handed them to Xiao Liu Zi. Just as Xiao Liu Zi was about to take it, he raised his eyes and saw Luo Qiao, hastily pushed the silver away and turned to run.

  Luo Zhensheng couldn't help but look over and saw Luo Qi.

  He walked over with a somewhat unnatural gait: "I wanted him to help me buy some food, but it turned out he was a snob!"

  Luo Qiao smiled faintly: "It's a pity that Brother Xincai is not here, otherwise, let him handle it, he will definitely do a good job."

  But in his heart, he thought: "This errand outside is like a wild goose plucking feathers, who would push such a beautiful thing? It's just that I was caught by myself and felt embarrassed. I'd better leave early, maybe that little six will come to the door himself to buy things for Master Four!"

  He then briefly responded to Luo Zhensheng and turned back into the house.

  When the old master came back in the evening, the mistress hurried forward to help him change his clothes: "Have you eaten yet?"

  The old master took off his clothes with the help of Madame Bao, nodding: "I've eaten, at Old Three's house."

  The lady of the house then had Luo Qiao bring out the cherries: “...Madam sent them over, saying they were a gift from Her Majesty the Empress. Although there aren't many, it's the thought that counts.”

  The old master grunted, washed his face, sat down on the kang, and said: "Lao San's errand has been settled, and Sichuan Xue Zheng has been released."

  "Really!" said Mrs. Tan enthusiastically, "This is a good thing indeed!"

  The old man nodded: "It's said that Lord Hou helped with the arrangements."

  The lady's smile on her face was slightly stagnant, and she hesitated: "Then your errand..."

  "It's all over for me!" The old master let out a long sigh.

  The old lady's heart skipped a beat, and she sat down beside him: "What happened?" Her voice also lowered.

  "Today, I spoke with Old Three for half a day. Since the Emperor has appointed Chen Zixiang as the First Assistant, that means he is determined to implement new policies. I am a person of Liu Ge's, and as long as Chen Zixiang is in power for one more day, I will not have a chance to rise. The old master sighed bitterly, "Not knowing the true face of Lushan Mountain, only because one is in this mountain. Today, my third brother told me frankly, and I also woke up from my dream, understanding the reason." He shook his head as he spoke.

  The lady hesitated and said: "Is there really no other way?"

  "Alas," said the old master with a sigh, "the new policy has failed."

  The lady didn't say anything anymore.

  "In the imperial court, I'm afraid of standing in the wrong place," said the old master with a sigh. "I'm even more afraid of changing my tune. At first, Old Liu specially instructed me to write a memorial opposing the tea tax. Since Old Two and Old Three didn't participate at that time, it's easier to say, but I absolutely cannot support the new policy under these circumstances."

  The madam also lived with her father in the government office when she was young, so she naturally understood what the old master meant. As the old master said, insisting on not admitting mistakes and maintaining one's integrity, if one were to change their ways, they would likely never be used by anyone in power again.

  "Then, shouldn't we go back to Yuhang..." The old lady couldn't hide her disappointment.

  "Isn't there still Xing Ge?" Although these words came out of his mouth, his expression was tinged with a faint sense of melancholy.

  The husband and wife sat facing each other, silent for a long time.

  Someone walked past under the window frame, making a low and cheerful laugh.

  The lady was getting angry, stood up and was about to scold loudly, but when she saw her husband sitting opposite her with his head hung low in dejection, she was afraid that he would think she was making a big fuss over nothing and losing her temper, so the words on her lips changed to: "Where's Lu Qiao? Tell her to bring some cherries, why is it taking so long?"

  Duvie, who was serving beside them, heard the conversation between the two clearly and knew that the mistress's temper had risen. She hastily said: "Mistress, I'll go take a look." With that, she hurried off to the side room.

  The lamp in the ear room is bright, with lychee, coral, tortoiseshell and jade... all present. Each one is like a headless fly searching randomly in the house.

  "What's going on?" Du Wei hastily said, "The mistress is urging, why hasn't the cherry dish been served yet?"

  She raised her head, her face as white as paper.

  "What to do? What to do?" The emerald said hastily, "Just now who was guarding here, one by one called to ask, I don't believe it, that cherry blossom will fly into the sky won't it?"

  Du Wei suddenly understood - it turned out that everyone was looking for cherries just now.

  "It can't be done." Jade's face turned pale, "If this matter gets out of hand, I'm afraid it will be difficult to control the consequences!"

  "What's the point of talking about saving face or not at this time?" Coral's face was even paler than Lu Qiang's, "We have to hurry and tell Madame right away. If we drag it out any longer, Madame will be even more uncomfortable... It's better to just talk it through properly, if Madame is in a good mood, maybe nothing will happen."

  When it came to the crunch, Lu Qiao unexpectedly calmed down: "I'll go and answer Old Madam."

  She walked out with her back straight.

  "Lo Qiang," Du Wei hastily called out to Lo Qiang, briefly telling her what the old lady and master had just said, "......only it's probably not the right time."

  Her face turned ashen in an instant.

  After a while, he finally forced out a smile: "Even so, can't just stay here and not move, right?" He said, taking big strides to walk out.

  "Find it for me! Today, I must find out who stole the cherries! I don't believe it, she can eat the cherries into her stomach, and also eat the sweet white ceramic plate into her belly?"

  "Should we go and inform Big Sister... after all, she's the one in charge of things around here. Maybe she can even help persuade on behalf of Lu Qiao."

  Jade immediately ran out: "I'll go ask Big Brother."

  Coral shouted, and she had already run out of sight. Coral stomped her foot: "This Zhang Fei is so reckless, doesn't he think that at this time going to tell Big Nai, Big Nai would think we're talking about her?"

  Jade Huan heard and wanted to go after him.

  "Never mind, it's too late to chase now," said Coral. "Let's go and take a look, if we can communicate with them, let's help out."

  Daiyu listened and thought it made sense, so she went with Xiangyun under the eaves.

  As they drew closer, they heard the old master say: "It's just a plate of cherries, if it's gone, it's gone. Tomorrow, have someone go to the East Gate to buy some more!"

  "The old master is right." The old lady's voice was cold, "But it's just a plate of cherries, and you're secretly thinking about it. If it were a piece of gold, wouldn't you even dare to blink? Am I living in my own house or in a den of thieves?"

  Just listening, I saw Feicui accompanying Da Nai coming over.

  Coral and Jade hurriedly welcomed him: "Big Brother..."

  The old lady's face didn't look too good, she nodded at them and went into the house.

  Three people pricked up their ears to listen.

  At first, it was not very clear what they were saying, only that the mistress's tone was urgent, and Big Nai didn't say a word. Later on, the mistress's voice suddenly rose several pitches, and everyone could hear clearly: "...and even flew to heaven. Close the door and search for me!"

  Dai Nai responded with a "yes" and instructed Du Juan to call for Hang Mama and Jiang Mama, dividing them up to search the front yard and back yard.

  Jiang's mother found out that there were several young ladies living in the backyard, and she took the servant women to knock on the corner gate, then stood still.

  An old woman said: "Mom, what's going on? The big milk is still waiting for us to go back and talk."

  "Let's wait until the search is done on that side, just in case we offend some of the young ladies for nothing," said Jiang's mother with a smile.

  The women all fell silent. In the backyard lived three young ladies, one was going to be a government official's wife, another was a jinshi's daughter... and Jiang Mama was still clever.

  Everyone leaned in close to Jiang Mama and listened carefully to the movements of the main house.

  Before long, they heard a woman who had gone to search the house with Mother Zhang say: "Mother Zhang, we didn't find any plates, but we found some cherries."

  Jiang's mother was overjoyed and gave a few of the women a signal with her eyes, then walked over calmly: "Dà Nǎi, we didn't find anything on our side."

  Dai waved his hand at Jiang's mother and others, and his attention was all focused on Hang's mother.

  "Let me see!"

  The old woman hastily handed over the cherries in a Qinghua porcelain plate.

  There was a maid there who argued in a low voice: "Big sister, I didn't eat it secretly...I really didn't eat it secretly..."

  Jiang's mother looked over and it was actually the floor mat from Fourth Master's house.

  The big milk didn't even glance at her and went to the big wife's place.

  Di Jin's face was covered in tears, but she kept turning her head to look towards the east wing: "I really didn't eat it secretly..."

  Behind the open door of the east wing, several small maidservants' heads popped out, but no one came out to say a word.

  Before long, the big nun came out and gazed coldly at Di Jin. "Lock her in the woodshed first," she said. "We'll talk about it tomorrow!" Then, looking around at everyone else, "You can all disperse now!" The old woman then dragged Di Jin away to the woodshed.

  "Fourth Master, Fourth Master, I really didn't eat it..."

  The door of the east wing stood quietly, with only a faint yellow light shining through, stretching out onto the white stone steps, and although the light was soft, it seemed very lonely.

  Change it to the correct chapter number...... ⊙﹏⊙ sweat!