Chapter 73

Zhen Tingyun went in through the gate, left behind the doorman, and went straight to the main room. Before reaching the gate of the courtyard, he already heard the voices inside.

First, Father Zhen comforted him in a low voice: "This is the end of the matter, so just follow what the steward of the palace said, the two families sit down and settle your marriage, so it can be considered to cover up the matter, and both sides look good. …”

Before Zhen's father could finish speaking, he heard Zhen Yiyun's shrill cry: "There is only one death left. If father wants his daughter to die with the whole family's voice, just say one sentence, why do you have to persecute her so hard..."

Zhen Yiyun cried like this, and then he could hear Pei Shi's suppressed cries, calling out "My poor son", like weeping and complaining.

Zhen Tingyun didn't even have to go in to guess what kind of chaos it was inside. He had a splitting headache for a while, and really wanted to turn his head and leave immediately, but the two girls who were guarding the door had already seen Zhen Ting. Yun's figure, one went in to report, the other came up to greet Zhen Tingyun and said, "Second girl is back, the old man and his wife are waiting for you."

Because the girl in front had already gone in to report, when Zhen Tingyun opened the curtain and walked in, the voices in the room also became quieter, and only low sobbing could be heard. Stop and go straight to the house.

I saw that Mrs. Pei was holding Zhen Yiyun sitting by the couch by the window. Zhen Yiyun had already changed into a honey-colored dress, but her bun was still scattered. At this time, she was burying her head in Mrs. Pei's arms. His shoulders trembled slightly, as if weeping in a low voice. Pei shi hugged the daughter in her arms with a distressed face, while stroking her back and wiping her tears, her eyes were flushed.

It was Father Zhen, who stood on the edge like a stake, with a look of haggard and embarrassment on his face.

Seeing Zhen Tingyun coming in, except for Zhen Tingyun, who was still crying bitterly in Pei's arms, both Zhen's father and Pei looked over.

Father Zhen seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and said quickly, "Sister Stop, you are finally back."

After a pause, he called Zhen Tingyun to sit down at the table again, and asked softly, "Your sister is in the palace... Do you know about that?"

Zhen Tingyun remembered what Fu Nianjia had said to her before - "As for Zhen Yiyun's matter, leave it to the people below to deal with it, and I will have someone send her back to Zhen's house in advance. You don't need to know about this matter. Don't care".

Thinking that Fu Nianjia should arrange things properly, Zhen Tingyun also pretended that he didn't know anything. With a confused face, he asked in surprise, "Sister, what happened to her? I heard from people in the palace that she is my sister. She accidentally got her clothes wet when picking lotus, and there was no clothes suitable for her to change in the palace, so she had to leave early and go home..."

As if realizing something, Zhen Tingyun suddenly stopped, raised his hand to cover his lips, and said hesitantly, "Isn't that the case?"

Seeing that Zhen Tingyun's face was blank and innocent, Zhen's father and Pei's family couldn't say anything. Although Zhen Yiyun just went into the water to save people, a boudoir daughter had a skin-to-skin blind date with a man in broad daylight, and was seen by people in the palace. It's still a bit embarrassing to say this.

Seeing this, Mrs. Pei couldn't help but feel sad about the luck of her beloved daughter. The eldest daughter was obviously favored by the princess to pick lotus flowers, so why did she suffer such a disaster; on the contrary, she was the youngest daughter who didn't know anything, didn't know anything. , on the contrary, finished the lotus feast safely and steadily...

Why is God so blind? !

Thinking of this, Mrs. Pei couldn't help hugging her eldest daughter tighter, and lowered her eyes, tears rustling down her cheeks.

Even Father Zhen felt a choking in his throat, and various emotions of sadness and helplessness flooded into his heart for a while. With great difficulty, he regained his senses, and briefly said a few words to Zhen Tingyun: "When your sister was picking lotus by the Wangfu Lake with Lu Lan, she happened to encounter someone falling into the water, and she couldn't bear it so she jumped into the water to save the person. It turns out that your sister is also kind, and she has the intention to save people, so you just cover up the matter quietly. That girl Pian Lulan is not worried, and she called a lot of people to come, which made the matter bigger..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhen Yiyun's cries were getting louder and he was trembling all over.

Father Zhen listened to the cry of his beloved daughter, and his heart felt like a knife for a while, he couldn't help but stop and turned his head.

Pei hugged her daughter, and the mother and daughter cried together.

For a while, Zhen Tingyun was the only one in the room who could maintain his composure, and then he asked, "If that's the case, what are your parents' plans now?" After a pause, Zhen Tingyun added, "That man can both If you enter the backyard of the palace, you must not be an unknown person, right?"

Father Zhen hesitated for a moment, then said: "The steward from the palace said that it was a distant cousin of the princess, named Zou Chao, who came to Beijing for the imperial examination next year, and happened to be in the palace on that day to meet him... Although the family is a little weaker, it can be regarded as some relatives with Princess Yan, and he is a young man, and the family has not yet married, so it is not impossible."

Hearing this, Zhen Tingyun couldn't help but sigh: Fu Nianjia is really good at picking people, as if he picked them out against the bottom line of the Zhen family, no wonder Father Zhen hesitated. It's just that, with the spirit of Pei Shi and Zhen Yiyun, they definitely don't look down on such a person.

Thinking of this, Zhen Tingyun nodded and said, "According to what Daddy said, this Young Master Zou is not too bad. Speaking of which, if this Young Master Zou and elder sister can meet at the palace, they may really be with elder sister. What is the fate? In my opinion: it is better to set a marriage first and hide this matter. When Zou Gongzi is admitted to the Jinshi in the next year, and his sister graduates from school, the two families will have a marriage, and then there will be someone who will praise them as a golden boy and a jade girl. , God-given good luck."

Having said that, Zhen Tingyun went on to comfort his father Zhen and Mrs. Pei: "As the saying goes, 'Blessings come to rely on, and fortunes come to disasters', but now this is a disaster, and we, as family members, will sigh that this is a disaster in the future. Sister's fate and luck."

I have to say that what Zhen Tingyun said also makes sense.

Even when Father Zhen heard this, his face was a little shaken, and he couldn't help but say, "What you said is also reasonable."

Seeing that Zhen Tingyun and Zhen's father were about to settle their marriage after a few words, Zhen Yiyun could no longer listen or cry. She got up from Pei's arms and raised her hand to twist her messy bun. , turned his head to stare at Zhen Tingyun, a pair of crystal beads-like eyes seemed to be red.

Her eyes were split, and her words were incoherent for a while: "I'm so poor, I won't marry even if I die! If you want to marry, you can get married!"

Zhen Tingyun lowered his head, avoiding her fierce gaze, and asked aggrievedly: "Why did my sister say this? This matter has nothing to do with me, I just thought about it for my sister, so I dared to say a few words. Besides, why should my sister open her mouth and shut her mouth? My father was also born in a poor family, and he didn't even have a distant relative of a princess. The situation at that time was only more difficult than that of Mr. Zou. But my grandfather still valued my father and was willing to love my daughter. , even my mother never disliked the shallowness of the Zhen family, and always accompanied my father."

Zhen Tingyun's words were slow and orderly, and they were based on Zhen's father.

Zhen's father nodded again and again, and looked at Zhen Yiyun's eyes with a bit of displeasure - he really looked down on Zou Chao's conditions, and was not willing to marry the eldest daughter who he had worked so hard to raise, but Zhen Yiyun was like this Disgusting Zou Chao, he kept saying "poor and sour scholar", but he felt that his daughter was too snobby, and he didn't like it.

Zhen Yiyun noticed Father Zhen's changing gaze, and then he felt sloppy and was at a loss for words.

Pei hurriedly interjected, and said to Zhen Tingyun, "Your sister is in a bad mood, and she doesn't choose what to say, so don't bother with her."

Zhen Yiyun's thoughts turned over and he had already reacted. He hurriedly leaned on Pei's shoulder, sobbing and defending: "I'm not that kind of person who dislikes the poor and loves the rich. It's just that I really despise the person surnamed Zou! He Even though he was going to swim, he deliberately lied to me in the lake. Today, I was confused for a while, and was tricked into the water by him. Now I regret it. …”

Speaking of which, Zhen Yiyun seemed to be unable to hold it any longer, and burst into tears, almost hissing, and his chest heaving violently.

Her slender and white hands tightly grasped the placket of Pei's clothes, as if a drowning man was holding the last straw, crying and begging, "Mother, mother, don't marry me to that person."

Pei Shi was so heart-broken by her crying, how could he be willing to talk about her, choked up and nodded, and hurriedly said, "Okay, we won't marry!"

Zhen Yiyun turned his head to look at Zhen's father again, his face was half raised, his face was haggard, and a series of tears rolled down like crystal beads: "I know Dad is in trouble, but I really can't do anything about it. Hold me on your knees, read and write, and teach me earnestly. Over the years, I have been studying every day, working hard every day... Could it be that Daddy is really willing to teach me to marry such a person? Daddy, my daughter is not reconciled! I also beg my father to love my daughter again and give her a way to live, right?"

Saying that, struggling to go down to the ground to kowtow to Father Zhen.

Where is Pei willing to, he hurriedly hugged her, and said repeatedly: "Your father loved you the most in the past, how can you be willing to marry you like this."

Zhen's father was still softened by Zhen Yiyun's tears.

However, he was still in a dilemma. He walked back and forth in the house several times by himself, and then heaved a long sigh: "But, since this happened, and so many eyes have seen it, it can't be hidden from anyone. The Zou family agrees that it’s okay, if they can’t agree, as long as some rumors leak out… Yiyun, I’m afraid your reputation will be ruined by then.” If Zhen Yiyun really ruined his reputation, I’m afraid Even someone like Zou Chao can’t marry—whose son would marry a wife who once had a skin-to-skin relationship with someone else?

Zhen Yiyun opened her wet eyes wide and said with tears in her eyes, "There must be a way..."

As she said that, her eyes wandered in the room for a while, and for some reason, it suddenly landed on Zhen Tingyun on one side.

Zhen Yiyun seemed to remember something, his eyes lit up, and the tear-stained face also lit up.

Zhen Tingyun had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, Zhen Yiyun bit his lip and said, "Second sister, I have asked someone. I heard that you left your seat halfway through the banquet, and didn't go back until I had an accident - what happened in the middle? No one knows if anyone has been saved..."

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room was stunned, no one spoke, and the quiet needle falling in the room could be heard.

Everyone's complexion also changed slightly, with different expressions.

Zhen Tingyun heard the words, looked up at Zhen Yiyun, and wanted to sneer.

Zhen Yiyun seemed to have found hope, and the whole person became more energetic. She looked at Zhen Tingyun fixedly, with tears in her eyes, wet eyelashes, and her appearance was particularly pitiful.

She lowered her head, choked a few times, and begged in a low voice, "Second sister, since you just said that Zou Chao is in good condition. If not, then you can..." Marry me?

Zhen Yiyun didn't finish these words, but her tearful eyes seemed to be able to speak, and she looked at Zhen Tingyun like that, her eyes full of eyes, as if she was begging silently.

Father Zhen and Mrs. Pei, the parents, didn't speak either. Maybe they didn't react for a while, or they were thinking about the feasibility of Zhen Yiyun's words and analyzing the benefits.

Zhen Tingyun looked at them back and forth, even though she had long given up hope in her heart, there was still disappointment welling up in her heart, and she felt a deep exhaustion. She took a deep breath and was about to speak when she heard a sudden sound from outside the door, footsteps and the sound of pushing the door.

Immediately, the happy voice of the steward came from afar—

"Master, ma'am, there is another person from Yan Wang's mansion."

"Princess Yan, Princess Yan, she sent someone to deliver something to our two girls."