EBE Chapter 303 The Lu Family Returns to Beijing
Chapter 303 The Lu Family Returns to Beijing
Inside the flower hall of Lu Garden in Beijing.
The family was enjoying a happy time together.
Jiang Miaomiao was led into the flower hall by her mother.
The first thing I noticed was the old woman sitting in the very center.
The old woman's hair was half white. Although she looked somewhat thin and her face showed signs of aging, she was still in good spirits.
It's likely because he comes from a military family, which explains his solid physical foundation.
Otherwise, a single day of hardship in such a place of exile would cost you half your life.
The old woman's eyebrows and eyes look very much like her mother's.
Jiang Miaomiao recognized her at a glance as her mother's mother, and her and her brothers' maternal grandmother, Old Madam Lu.
I imagine that Mother and Second Brother had already embraced and wept bitterly when they met, having already shed all their tears of sorrow.
Right now, everyone is watching her.
She was meeting everyone in the hall for the first time.
Because of her mother and brothers, these people became her relatives without blood ties.
It's really amazing.
"Miaomiao, come here, come here and let your grandma see you." Old Madam Lu beckoned to her and called out.
"Grandmother, how are you?" Jiang Miaomiao called out sweetly, and then obediently sat down next to her grandmother.
She let her grandmother stroke her hair and face.
The hand that touched him was rough, covered in calluses, showing that he had done a lot of hard labor in exile and suffered greatly.
Jiang Miaomiao's nose suddenly felt sore.
Looking again at my maternal grandmother and mother, I saw that both of their eyes were red.
Everyone present had tears in their eyes, and some were even sobbing.
Looking at her daughter, grandson, and this beautiful little granddaughter, Madam Lu felt like she was dreaming.
She never imagined that she would one day be able to return to the capital and see her daughter and grandson again.
She thought she would grow old and die in that place of exile.
In fact, the whole family was able to survive thanks to their daughter, who was like a savior sent by God.
Her dowry was donated to save them.
Over the years, we have also sent them a steady stream of food, cloth, and medicine, which has enabled them to survive safely in that place.
But the daughter, bearing the title of the daughter of a disgraced official, was raising three children all by herself.
She doesn't even dare to think about how she survived and how she got to where she is today.
Looking at her little granddaughter in front of her.
She can't really be considered a real granddaughter, since she's not her daughter's biological child.
But she was her daughter's darling.
Perhaps during the time she lost her biological daughter, this child became her pillar of support.
Her daughter told her that for a long time, whenever she saw this child, she would think it was her daughter returning.
Calling Miaomiao is like calling out to one's own daughter.
Perhaps it's just too much of a coincidence.
One had just left, and another appeared before her in that same way.
Anyone would be confused in that situation.
Although such supernatural and bizarre claims were truly unbelievable, she still held a sliver of hope in her heart.
But now, looking at the little girl in front of him...
She doesn't resemble a daughter at all, nor does she resemble Jiang Yunze.
She's really beautiful; her two daughters combined aren't as pretty as her.
As she looked at it, she laughed. She realized she was getting senile; how could she have actually believed it?
Looking at my daughter, I believe she has long since accepted reality.
Life goes on, so it's better to accept it sooner rather than later.
But who are this child's parents? The child is so good-looking, so the parents must be even better looking.
I just hope they never appear in the world again.
After all, no loving adoptive mother wants someone to take her child away from her.
Lu Qingyao saw her mother looking at Miaomiao with a loving expression, clearly showing that she also liked Miaomiao.
So she felt relieved.
She only told her mother, besides her two sons, that Miao Miao wasn't her biological child.
The child's appearance couldn't be hidden from us sooner or later.
And recently she discovered something astonishing that kept her up all night.
She met Princess Yuqing that day.
They discovered that the princess actually looked somewhat like Miaomiao.
Others couldn't discover it because they rarely saw Princess Yuqing and didn't know about Miaomiao's background.
I would never even think about it that way.
And she, upon seeing that face, then returned to see her daughter.
You can't help but think more about it.
She couldn't describe the feeling in her heart; she was both happy for Miaomiao and afraid.
I'm glad she has such a powerful, influential, and incredibly noble mother.
If that's true, she can walk sideways from now on.
But she was also afraid that the child would leave her and return to Princess Yuqing's side, or be taken away by Princess Yuqing.
After all, she is a noble princess who wants to take her daughter away.
She couldn't stop him at all.
Lu Qingyao hesitated for a long time, wondering whether she should tell her mother about her suspicions.
After thinking about it, I decided to hold off for now and wait and see.
Jiang Miaomiao always felt that her maternal grandmother and mother looked at her strangely.
But I didn’t think much about it.
Jiang Ziyan could tell from the way her maternal grandmother looked at her younger sister that her mother must have told her about her background.
My maternal grandmother was a very straightforward person; she never held grudges.
He would usually reveal his true feelings, and even if someone tried to hide them, he could still tell.
But my maternal grandmother was also a cheerful and open-minded person, and she would extend her affection to everything my mother liked.
It's clear that she likes her younger sister quite a bit.
After all, my younger sister is so clever and cute, who wouldn't like her?
Jiang Miaomiao's eyes darted around as she looked at these family members she had never met before.
The first thing I saw was an old woman sitting next to my maternal grandmother. Her hair was gray, and she looked even more weathered than my maternal grandmother.
Her mother told her to call her Aunt Wu.
My maternal great-uncle was in poor health and did not survive the exile; he died young.
My aunt was left alone.
They also had an only daughter named Lu Wan, who married into the Zhou family, which was considered a good match at the time.
Logically, Lu Wan should be the happiest person to have her aunt returned, and she should be the one by her side.
But her mother never mentioned her, nor did she ever see her.
Aunt held Miaomiao's little hand, her eyes filled with loneliness.
Seeing her sister-in-law's family reunited in harmony, while she herself, at her advanced age, was still all alone, Wu felt extremely bitter.
Old Madam Lu held her sister-in-law's hand and comforted her, "Sister-in-law, my child is your child. You have more than just Wanwan as a daughter. You also have them. They will all be as filial to you as they are to me."
“Yes, Auntie, you’re not alone. You still have us.” Lu Qingyao took her hand.
Tears streamed down Wu's face as she looked at the children before her, and the knot in her heart began to unravel a little.
These children are all filial, and it is thanks to them that we were able to make it to the capital alive.
Madam Lu instructed her daughter, "Yaoyao, move all my things to your aunt's yard. We two old folks prefer quiet, so it's more suitable for us to live together."
Lu Qingyao nodded, "Alright, it was my oversight. I'll have someone move it right away."
After Jiang Miaomiao met her two grandmothers, her mother introduced her to her aunt, cousins, and other relatives.
"Miaomiao, this is your maternal aunt, this is your cousin Mingxi, and this is your cousin Zhizhi."
No sooner had she finished speaking than her cousin, Zhizhi, came up to her and reached out to touch her little face.
With a look of envy, she said, "Little Miaomiao is so pretty. Her skin is as smooth as a peeled egg."
Jiang Miaomiao suddenly blurted out, "Cousin Zhizhi is pretty too."
That made everyone laugh.
Lu Zhizhi, in particular, was the happiest, her teeth showing as she laughed. No one had ever praised her like that before.
Jiang Miaomiao felt that what she said was not funny at all.
Although my cousin Zhizhi isn't considered exceptionally beautiful, she has lovely features and a wheat-colored complexion.
Perhaps people at this time also prefer fair-skinned, young, and thin figures.
Jiang Miaomiao looked at her aunt's family.
My maternal aunt, née Lan, was born into a military family. Like my maternal grandmother, although she looked haggard, she still seemed to have a lot of energy.
She and her maternal uncle had two sons and a daughter; one son was a scholar and the other a warrior.
My eldest cousin, Lu Mingshan, went to the frontier with his maternal grandfather and uncles to join the army.
Second cousin Lu Mingxi is the same age as eldest cousin Jiang Zifeng.
He looked like a scholar.
Because his maternal uncle wanted him to study and take the imperial examination to enter officialdom.
However, he cannot participate in the imperial examination for the time being. Although he is thin, he is still handsome and dashing.
My third cousin, Lu Zhizhi, is a lively girl in her early teens. As soon as she entered the room, she looked around curiously. Right now, she was pulling Jiang Miaomiao along, touching her here and there.
Jiang Miaomiao asked Xi'er to bring her the gift she had prepared in advance, which was a silver necklace.
Lu Zhizhi loved it so much she couldn't put it down.
She was not even six years old when she was exiled with her family, and she never saw these beautiful pieces of jewelry again.
When she returned to the capital, her aunt saw her off, then her cousin saw her off at a banquet, and now her cousin is seeing her off again. She feels that there will definitely be more and more of these opportunities in the future.
She wanted to save it all up as her dowry.
After seeing off her cousin Zhizhi, Jiang Miaomiao gave her cousin Zhiyun a jade hairpin, but seeing that her cousin seemed uninterested, she only said a faint thank you.
He didn't even hug her.
His expression was also somewhat indifferent and aloof.
It was only after her second aunt said a few words of thanks and praise that things didn't get too awkward.
Jiang Miaomiao looked at her second aunt, Madam Lin, who came from a scholarly family and looked even more weathered than her eldest aunt.
Her face was a little pale, and she looked frail and delicate, as if she were ill.
However, given her condition, it's already quite remarkable that she managed to come back alive.
Sitting next to her was her cousin Lu Zhiyun, the only daughter of her second uncle and aunt. She was very beautiful, but her skin was a little dark.
I guess it's because of the wind and sun, or maybe it's because I've been applying something to it for years and it's gotten dark over time.
It looks like it has a good foundation; it should whiten with some care.
Her mother said she was eighteen years old and had a marriage prospect that would be the envy of many in the capital.
Unexpectedly, the Lu family suffered a disaster, and her fiancé broke off the engagement without saying a word.
He severed ties with her as quickly as possible.
Lu Zhiyun is now quite old and is the descendant of a disgraced official, making it difficult for her to even find a marriage partner, let alone a good one.
Eighteen!
In modern times, she would be in her prime, but here she's considered an old maid who can't get married.
No wonder she didn't show any joy on her face when she came back.
Jiang Miaomiao felt that, apart from her maternal grandmother and her aunt's family, the rest of the family members were not in good condition.
They all seemed preoccupied.
After meeting her mother's relatives, Jiang Miaomiao returned to her own courtyard with her.
My second brother always stayed with my maternal grandmother, even reading books right in front of her.
Yan Cheng'an was taken to the house next door by Aunt Jiang Yue, and Jiang Miaomiao didn't know if he had been beaten by his mother.
Although they didn't see the person, they still begged their mother to plead with Aunt Jiang Yue on behalf of Yan Cheng'an.
So she followed her mother around like a shadow.
I had just returned to the courtyard and taken a sip of water when a guest arrived.
The visitors were my second aunt and my cousin Zhiyun.
Both of them looked rather serious. They knelt down in front of their mother as soon as they arrived, which startled both Jiang Miaomiao and her mother.
The mother quickly helped them up, saying, "Second sister-in-law, Zhiyun, what are you doing? Get up and talk it out slowly. Your kneeling like this is too much for me."
"No, I won't get up unless you promise me one thing. Otherwise, my daughter and I will kneel until we die rather than get up." Lin Shi practically clung to Lu Qingyao's legs, pleading with tears in her eyes.
"Second sister-in-law, get up and talk." It took Lu Qingyao a lot of effort to pull the mother and daughter up from the ground.
Looking at Lin's current appearance, Lu Qingyao couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat.
Born into a distinguished family of scholars, Lady Lin was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and was a typical lady of a prominent family.
He used to be such a cold and aloof person.
I've always felt that my sister-in-law is impolite and her behavior is rude.
He even used his second brother's name to teach her.
Before she got married, the relationship between her sister-in-law and her husband's sister was just so-so.
What Lu Qingyao admired was that after the Lu family suffered misfortune, her second brother, fearing that he would implicate his wife, wanted to divorce her.
She insisted on refusing, preferring to share hardships with her second brother.
She is a woman who values loyalty and affection.
So now, Lu Qingyao is filled with gratitude towards her, grateful that she didn't abandon her second brother and grateful that she is filial to her parents.
Jiang Miaomiao sat obediently beside her mother, quietly observing the two of them, her gaze falling on her cousin Zhiyun.
She was somewhat introverted, with tears in her eyes and a listless gaze.
Even now, one can still vaguely see the radiant beauty she once possessed.
Based on the timeline, she should have been fourteen years old before being exiled.
She was just reaching the age of marriage.
She should be filled with joy as she awaits her coming-of-age ceremony, waiting for her fiancé to come and marry her.
However, overnight, it all turned into bubbles.
The coming-of-age ceremony was canceled, and her fiancé broke off the engagement.
They were to be exiled.
It's unimaginable how that girl got through that time.
Jiang Miaomiao felt that her second aunt's visit to her mother was mostly about her cousin Zhiyun's marriage.
Lu Qingyao had naturally thought of this as well, so she didn't dare to agree immediately.
Holding Lin's hand, he said, "Second sister-in-law, if you have any difficulties, just tell me. As long as it's within my power, I will do my best to help."
"Third sister, as you know, I only have this one daughter. Although she has returned, she is past the prime of her life for marriage. Even though she has been freed from slavery, she is still the daughter of a disgraced official. Finding her a good family is harder than climbing to heaven. But as her mother, I can't just watch my child waste her life year after year like this. Although I know it's difficult, I still want to ask you to help her find a husband."
After Lin finished speaking, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Lu Qingyao pursed her lips, pondered for a long time, and remained silent.
This is a difficult task.
Even though she herself was a divorced woman, how could she be confident that she could find a good marriage for her niece?
But we can't just stand by and watch her all alone.
Judging from my second sister-in-law's health, she is severely depleted. I guess she is afraid that if she passes away, her daughter will be left with no one to rely on.
eighteen.
If he waits for his father to return in triumph, he will be in his twenties, and even with all the glory, it won't be easy.
But it's even more difficult now.
worry!
So sad.
……