My Stepmother is Soft and Charming

Chapter 6 Old Current Affairs

Cherry knew that today was the first time that his wife and the general went to meet everyone in the Duke's mansion, so it was like serving tea on the second day after a wedding, so they needed more attention.

After thinking about Shang Ji's outfit just now, he picked up a set of willow-dyed horse-faced long skirt, paired with a brocade-patterned double-breasted jacket, which made the whole person look gentle and elegant.

Du Jingyi looked at it, and then nodded in agreement.

After doing the upper body, she really looks good.

Especially because this dress matches the skin color very well. Du Jingyi is already white, delicate and soft, and it is even more so now.

“Young madam, I’ll give you a bun with a cloud-shaped bun. How about picking out some good jade-colored hairpins?”

 The one who spoke was Li Zhu. She was very skillful with her hands, so she knew many fashionable hairstyles.

Du Jingyi is already a beauty, so after dressing up this time, she looks even better than before.

 When everything was ready, Du Jingyi ordered.

 “Go and call the general.”

"yes."

Before going out, Du Jingyi thought for a while, then went back to the jewelry box, opened it and picked out four or five gold bracelets of good quality.

Although it is made of hollow and silk-cut craftsmanship, it is also very weighty and feels heavy in the hand.

Li Zhu was surprised when he saw this, and immediately asked.

“Young madam, what are you doing with so many gold bracelets?”

 “Have you forgotten those three-bedroom and five-bedroom people who love to play in the autumn wind?”

Li Zhu suddenly realized that it was because their lives were so comfortable that they had forgotten that the Duke's Palace was actually a big family.

 There are people who are loyal and courageous in serving the country, but naturally there are also parasites who are not stingy.

 The previous emperor was violent and cruel, which made the people miserable, so decades ago, uprisings broke out everywhere.

The current emperor is only the second emperor of the Daxing Dynasty, and it has only been a few decades since he took over this land of thousands of miles from the previous dynasty.

 Therefore, among the powerful lords in Sui'an City, there are many old men with mud-legged backgrounds.

 The old man who passed away in the Shang Kingdom was one of them.

He was a young man from the same village as Emperor Kai Zong. He raised the banner with Emperor Kai Zong and pulled the cloth to start an uprising.

 Originally, I was thinking of getting a few mouthfuls of food for myself, but unexpectedly I turned on the right stove!

Not only did he become a minister who made great contributions to the new emperor's overthrow of the old government, he was also given the title and residence of the Duke.

 The elder brother has become a famous person, and naturally his younger brothers and sisters will also benefit from it.

Shang was originally a rich family with three sons and two daughters. Except for Shang Erniang who got married and stayed in Changzhou, the other brothers and sisters took their families and went to their elder brother Shang Guogong.

 Shang Siniang is better than her brother.

Many years ago, under the initiative of my brother, I married a descendant of the Xu family from the same village. Now I brought my husband and children to Sui'an City. Although I wanted to get some protection, in the final analysis, I still wanted to Be self-reliant.

So with the help of Shang Guogong, I and my husband bought a hundred acres of farmland on the outskirts of the city.

 Then the husband and wife are also hard-working, and the children are mostly stable and honest, so life has been prosperous in these years.

On the other hand, the younger brother of the second wife, who was useless in whatever he did, became a burden that Duke Shang could not get rid of. Naturally, he had no choice but to let him take root in this house and settle down.

This stay lasted for several decades.

Even though Shang Guogong had been dead for many years and distributed some property to them before his death, the people in the third and fifth houses still pretended not to know anything and just wanted to cling to the big house.

Reluctant to leave the Duke's Mansion.

 Therefore, two-room people live in the two courtyards of Beiyuan. Now they even have great-grandchildren, but they are still reluctant to move out and live alone.

 After all, the two brothers who live in the third and fifth houses are still alive, so it’s a good thing if they can get a little advantage.

If the third and fifth old masters of Shang are gone, then it will be unfair for their descendants to stay in the Duke's Mansion.

As Du Jingyi stood up, he thought of a family dinner last year.

That person with three or five bedrooms "borrowed" a lot of good jewelry from her, and she still has no intention of returning it. So, if Du Jingyi still can't learn to be smart, it's because she is stupid.

 Youdao is like jade, which is priceless, and gold, which is priceless.

This kind of gold bracelet is perfect for sending them away.

"In that case, let me find some brocade boxes to put them in."

"Um."

 The brocade box is huge and has some weight of its own.

 It's heavy in the hand.

It would be most suitable to use it to deceive people with three or five bedrooms.

 After preparing everything, Du Jingyi took Yingtao and Lizhu and waited in front of the Xitang Courtyard.

 After a while, Shang Ji, who was followed by Luo Yuan, also came out of the study.

In front of the Xitang Courtyard, there are two podocarpus trees, also known as money pines, that Du Jingyi bought at a high price. They are her "treasure tools" for attracting wealth, so she naturally takes good care of them.

Shang Ji didn’t know much about this thing, but he just thought the tree looked interesting.

 Soon I saw Du Jingyi.

 The way she dressed up with care today, in Shang Ji's eyes, was certainly more stunning than yesterday and when they first met this morning.

 It's just that he has been marching all year round. He is used to hiding his thoughts, so he doesn't reveal anything.

 “I have met the general.”

 “Well, let’s go.”

"yes."

The couple walked side by side along the stone path towards Yunjin Courtyard.

 The scenery that Du Jingyi felt so familiar in the past seemed a little different today.

The palace of this country is large, but not elegant enough.

There are no pavilions or pavilions like those in the south of the Yangtze River, nor are there the cornices or balustrades of carved beams or painted buildings. The rough background of the generals can be seen.

It cannot be compared with the Xitang Courtyard that Du Jingyi carefully built.

Shang Ji and Du Jingyi were walking in the Duke's Mansion for the first time, so there were more than one maid and servants who stopped to peek.

 Feeling the probing eyes behind him, Shang Ji frowned slightly.

On the other hand, it was Du Jingyi, with his back straight, and he was not looked down upon at all!

　　It is really strange to say that this government office is really strange.

It is obviously such a big house, with hundreds of servants serving it, but the rules are not very good. The servants are looking around in the master's house, how can they have any good rules.

It is said that when Mrs. Gu, the first wife of the Duke of Guo and the direct mother of Shang Ji, was still alive, she had very strict rules.

On the contrary, after Mrs. Wei, the step-mother who was promoted from a concubine, came to power, things became a lot looser.

Just look at the royal style of Butler He and Aunt Dou of Xitang Courtyard, and you can see that it is different from that of the entire Duke's Mansion.

 Du Jingyi is deeply touched by this point.

After passing through a garden, the two came to the center of the backyard of the Duke's Mansion. The three words "Yunjin Courtyard" were written vigorously and powerfully.

Shang Ji raised his head and looked at the plaque, with a complex expression in his eyes showing a hint of disgust, as if he was unwilling to step into this place.

Du Jingyi saw what he meant, so he stood still and said nothing.

 It wasn’t until a moment later that his face returned to its previous indifference that he spoke eloquently.

"go in."

"good."

 (End of this chapter)