In the third month of spring, the orioles were long. In Jiangning, it was a good time to be in the mood of spring.
The Qingming Festival had passed, and the Grain Rain had not yet arrived. The coldness of the winter had completely dissipated. In the season of blooming flowers, the water of the Qinhuai River had also warmed up. It was a good time to go for a walk outside the city. In the area around the head of Egret Island, there were many families who went out for a spring outing and a gathering. There were frequent gatherings of migrants, poets, and literati. This was the best time to gather and travel after the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival. Even if the Heavens didn't favor them, people could always find some gardens with beautiful scenery, recite poems, and make friends in the spring rain. They could watch the clear spring rain fall on the green and red fields, creating a poetic and picturesque scene. They could perform well in front of the girl they liked, and inadvertently, there would be stories about their relationship.
During this period of time, it was also the most lively time for many of Jiangning's brothels. After the harsh winter, everything would recover. This was also the best time to boost the reputation of the place. With the prosperity of the Confucius Temple and Wuyi Lane at the forefront, the brothels were also the center of all kinds of activities in Jiangning at this time. Scholars gathered, merchants held banquets, and officials welcomed and sent off. It was inseparable from the soft red of the secular world, and it also set off the scenery of Jiangning at this time.
After Tong Guan in the south took back Hangzhou, the economy of Jiangnan, which had originally been affected by Fang La's rebellion, once again recovered. Before, Jiangning had been affected relatively inconspicuously. At this time, with the recovery of Hangzhou, although there were not many changes in the upper echelons of the economic system of Hangzhou and Jiangnan, some aristocratic families and big businessmen, after all, suffered a great impact in this chaos. There were many things waiting to be done, and it gave more opportunities for people to stand out. The replacement of the old and the new injected more vitality into the original economic system. At least in the Jiangning area, there were more merchants and pedestrians coming and going from the north and the south because of this.
Ning Yi, on the other hand, did not participate in these matters.
After the family returned from Jiangning, the most important thing was actually Su Tan'er's pregnancy. After the incident in Hangzhou, the family was in a mess. At this time, it seemed like the disturbance of a clown. When Ning Yi and Su Tan'er returned, the first branch was already recovering their lost territory. Of course, there were still people in the second and third branches who thought, "We are a family. What can you do to me?" Once these people fell into the hands of Su Yu, they would probably not have a good time.
Regarding these matters, in the few days after returning home, Su Boyong had already begun to take action. Then, Old Grandfather Su Yu went to talk to a group of elders in the family. The situation of the entire Su family had changed from a turbulent undercurrent to a chaotic one. It had already begun to form the environmental foundation of the later generation's court battles. However, Su Tan'er did not participate in it. She was already nine months pregnant. Even if she wanted to meddle in the last month's pregnancy, Ning Yi would not allow it.
As for Ning Yi, at this time, he naturally would not participate in such trivial matters. Many people who wanted to visit Su Tan'er were directly stopped and sent away by him. He had done a lot of things in Hangzhou this year. With the exaggeration of Su Wending and Su Wenfang, as well as the many relationships he brought after returning home this time, in the eyes of many people, he had become a person whose weight was difficult to estimate.
Most people had known about his reputation of calculating every ten steps since more than a year ago. The Wu Family had been defeated by him and lost half of their family property. In the eyes of others, it seemed that the Wu Family had provoked Su Tan'er, which forced him to show up and conveniently broke the two legs of the Wu Family. At this time, he said that he had confronted Fang La and the others in Hangzhou. Even Fang Qifo's stone treasure had suffered a great loss in front of him … Not many people had seen these things with their own eyes. But now, no one doubted it blindly.
At this time, in the eyes of others, the young man was only 22 years old. At this time, he had a kind of imposing manner without being angry. The fact that he did not care about anything and his reputation matched the saying that those who were good at attacking moved above the Ninth Heaven, and those who were good at defending hid under the Ninth Earth. Perhaps even Su Boyong and Su Yu did not necessarily have this kind of feeling. At present, no one in the Su family wanted to find out the truth about him. Everyone knew that no one could bear the consequences.
Of course, no matter what impression Ning Yi gave people, as long as it was possible and he had spare energy, Su Boyong would not let him come out to clean up the mess. After all, he had married into the Su family. Although his position in the Su family was subtle and complicated, since he did not say anything, it was better to keep his identity as a member of the Su family. In fact, in the era of the family, although everyone thought he was very powerful, in fact, in his own family, it was impossible to be really afraid of him.
In history, many high-ranking officials could be cruel and merciless to their political enemies, but they were often tortured by their own ruffians. For example, when you became an official, and your relatives came to ask for help, you had to support them, feed them, and give them a way out. When someone from your family came to ask for money, you had to give it. If you gave less, you couldn't be an official anymore. When everyone went back and announced it, you would be despised by thousands of people, and you could not be an official anymore.
There were also many people who wanted to be honest and clean officials, but they could not take care of their hometown. People in his hometown only thought that he was stingy and forgot his ancestors. He was attacked by his political enemies, and then he was betrayed by his family. He lived a hard life … Confucianism developed, and the family developed for thousands of years. In short, it was like this, with all kinds of connections. People who became high-ranking officials could not be free. Although Ning Yi was powerful, no one believed that he would dare to hurt his family. At most, people would not push him too hard. In any case, a son-in-law was still a son-in-law.
On the other hand, after Ning Yi and his wife came back, many merchants attached to the Su family were given a shot in the arm. The Xue family and the Wu Family finally stopped. They had already taken advantage of the situation. At this time, they wanted to find out the real situation of Ning Yi and the others. Whether it was Xue Jin, Wu Qilong, or others who had a little connection, they had already sent many invitations to the Su family, inviting Ning Yi to attend banquets, poetry meetings, and various other things. Puyang Yi and the others also used Qi Lan's name to invite him several times, but Ning Yi also rejected all of them.
His attitude of not giving face to anyone made Su Boyong feel that it was a pity. He said no to Su Tan'er, but he still had to accept the invitations from Puyang Yi and the others. In his opinion, he might not care about the Xue family and the Wu Family, but he still had to give face to the Puyang Family. But Su Tan'er did not want to pay attention to it. She just said, "Daddy, I'm having a baby. If I say these words to Husband, he will be angry."
"But …" She was clearly a domineering daughter who had married into her family, but now, she became a little afraid of her husband. This made Su Boyong feel a little helpless.
On the second day after they returned home, Ning Yi and Su Tan'er announced that Xiaochan had officially married into the Su family, which was an official announcement of Xiaochan's status in the Su family. As a son-in-law, it was a little strange that Ning Yi took Xiaochan as a concubine, but basically no one raised any objection. In the courtyard of the first branch, Xiaochan was also quite low-key. She still had a good relationship with the two sisters, and she did not change much in her daily life. Anyway, they used to be servant girls in charge. At this time, at most, their monthly salary was increased, and they could use their connections to intimidate others. However, Xiaochan did not manage outside, because she did not want to cause trouble for Ning Yi.
On the other hand, on Ning Yi's side, he deliberately did not want this system of wives and concubines to reflect too much in his courtyard. Of course, Su Tan'er and Xiaochan had rules in their hearts, and he could not break them. But at least in this period of time, he often treated Xiaochan more like a sister than a concubine. This kind of situation was a little subtle. Su Tan'er would feel strange and secretly try to figure out her husband's thoughts, and Xiaochan would also feel that the situation was complicated. This was a period of adjustment between the three of them, and it was naturally difficult to say what would happen in the end.
Most of the time, Ning Yi was still at home with Su Tan'er. He chatted, walked, sometimes peeled some fruit for her, or played a game or two of Gomoku with her. She was about to give birth, and it was not good for her mental and physical strength to expend too much. Ning Yi would sometimes tell her some stories, or lie in bed and read a novel to her. Sometimes, he would even softly hum a song or two.
He was a person with modern thoughts and did not feel that there was anything wrong with this kind of thing. But in the Wu dynasty, how many men would accompany their pregnant wives like this? Singing for their wives was something that only extremely unrestrained men who liked drama would do. And even under such circumstances, there was a fundamental difference between believing that men were superior to women and not having such thoughts at all. Once, when Ning Yi went out to get something, when he came in, he saw the always strong Su Tan'er wiping away her tears and smiling at him. Ning Yi pursed his lips.
"What is this …"
"I'm thinking … How many men would do this for their wives …"
"I'm too lazy to go out, and you don't want to socialize. It's all small things … You shouldn't let your mood fluctuate like this …" He took a towel and wiped Su Tan'er's face. Su Tan'er took his hand and placed it on her heart. "It's warm and hot. It's always been like this. There are no ups and downs."
He went out more regularly every day in the early hours of the morning. He would run to the small building by the Qinhuai River and chat with Yunzhu and Jin'er. He had not had such a leisurely day for a long time, and this feeling felt like it had been a long time. At this time, the two already knew the news of Su Tan'er's pregnancy, but Yunzhu did not say anything, and Jin'er only occasionally criticized it. They did not use it as a breakthrough point to quarrel with Ning Yi, which was very strange.
Of course, the essence of training had not changed. Before Lu Hongti left, she gave him a lot of advice and reference to improve his martial arts skills. Ning Yi also practiced seriously. Of course, there was no obvious effect in the first few days, but if he persevered, it was not impossible for him to become a hero of the generation or something. As for Lu Hongti, Ning Yi still had confidence in her. He even made a copy of these things for Yuan Jin'er, who often said that she wanted to be a heroine.
In her spare time, Su Tan'er had already begun to think about the name of her future child. One of her more enthusiastic ideas was more direct. She decided to give birth to a boy in the future, and he could be named Su Ning. To this, Su Tan'er had already begun to think about the name of her future child. One of her more enthusiastic ideas was more direct. She decided to give birth to a boy in the future, and he could be named Su Ning.
He did not want the two surnames to be put together, which made Su Tan'er feel very hurt. She could not help but let her imagination run wild. "Is it possible that Husband is not willing … to use the word 'Ning' … uh …"
She felt that Ning Yi was not willing to put Ning after Su. Perhaps he felt that the name Su Ning confirmed the identity of Ning Yi marrying into the family, and even emphasized it. Ning Yi had to explain, saying that it had nothing to do with this, and that he had his own reasons. Then he said that he could choose a better name. Anyway, he had already thought of it: Su Shi, Su Zhe, Su Xun, Su Song, Su Xiaoxiao, Su Dongpo, etc., all of them sounded better than Su Ning …
As for the name, in fact, Ning Yi felt that it was not bad no matter what. The reason why he was opposed to being called Su Ning was because he felt that the name was too funny, and he wanted to laugh. Of course, these days, he had been seriously thinking about better names, but in any case, there was still a long time before the child could be officially named, so there was no need to be too anxious now.
At this time, he was just leisurely thinking about the name, but it seemed that Su Tan'er was only thinking about it a little more seriously. At noon on the sixth day of the third month, Xiaochan accompanied Su Tan'er out for a walk. Ning Yi read for a while, then went out to search. He walked half a circle around the Su family, and when he was near the courtyard where Su Boyong lived, he vaguely heard his wife's voice, and then Su Boyong's voice saying, "Outrageous, how can this be!"
At this time, Ning Yi already had a foundation in his internal energy, so his hearing was a little further. Because of this, he could only faintly hear Su Boyong's voice because it was raised. Ning Yi knew that the relationship between his wife and his father-in-law was actually not very warm, and at this time, there was probably a disagreement because of something.
However, ever since Su Tan'er proved her ability, her right to speak about the family business was actually above his father-in-law in all aspects, so why would Su Boyong suddenly have an opinion about his daughter? Ning Yi was curious, so he reached out and flipped over the wall, leaning on the side, and then he heard Su Tan'er's words clearly.
"… The first boy's surname is Ning, so what? Father, he is going to inherit Husband's legacy, but he also grew up in the Su family, so he always remembers the Su family … Husband actually doesn't care about these things. He has already told me that even if his surname is Su, so what? He will still teach his child everything that should be taught to him. Father, you all know how Husband treats his daughter. I have thought about this for a few days, so I asked mother to tell you the day before yesterday … "
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