♂?，，

  Chu Nan was still visibly agitated, but he himself was also at fault and didn't dare to look straight at Chu Ke Hui. It wasn't until now that he glanced at her with some embarrassment and asked: "Mother... is everything all right over there?"

  Chu Ke nodded: "Very good." He knew that his father wanted to know more than this, he thought there must be a lot, but now they were already at this place, and it was not necessary for him to say too much about his mother's affairs, the more he said, the more worries he would have.

  When it comes to Liu Luosu, the old man is not so self-righteous, and the old lady has disciplined Liu Luosu several times. He also knows about it, but at that time, the old man thought it was normal to discipline his daughter-in-law.

  Chu Ke didn't blame them either.

  "Ying Huan... isn't... what's lacking on Chu Tao's side? Ah, right! Let's bring some things when we go! I'll hurry and have someone prepare them! New Year's goods!" said Chu Nan.

  Zhu Yichan hastily stood up and bowed: "Father-in-law, don't bother preparing these things. My side will naturally have everything ready. Besides, if we make a big show of bringing a whole cart back from Beijing, isn't that telling the Duke's mansion that we're up to something? It's better not to..."

  Chu Ke also hastily said: "Yes, Father, pulling from this side back is not as good as our side being prepared. Why bother seeking afar and neglecting what's nearby."

  Chu Nan reluctantly nodded, he wanted to prepare some thoughtful things for his son, but what Zhu Yutong and the others said was also right.

  Master Chu stood in the house, pacing back and forth, stroking his beard as he thought of a name. By now, he had calmed down, and names began to emerge one by one: "Jiabao... Baoteng... How about Baoteng?!" He looked at everyone with great excitement.

  Chu Ke's face turned red with embarrassment, and he almost touched his nose, knowing that you, sir, dote on my brother like a treasure... But after all, he is a grown adult now, Treasure Bamboo... This is too much... You, sir, are also the Taizi Shao Shi of three generations. Can't you give him a more elegant and refined name?

  Who knows Chu Nan immediately nodded in agreement: "Good! Father's name is well-deserved!"

  Chu Ke's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Zhu Yi Chen, who also had a strange expression on his face...

  Although the name is not very good, it's indeed what Old Master has in mind, and neither of them dare to object. Zhu Yuxuan even praised a couple of sentences, saying that Old Master had chosen a great name!

  Chu Nan was overjoyed and put away the sad expression, smiling as he said: "Dad, this New Year's, let's bring out the family tree and add Bao Tong to it!"

  The old man nodded: "Of course!" He clapped his hands, like a child: "Right! There's also an important thing! Brother is not young anymore, we must hurry to talk about marriage, I have a suitable one here..."

  "Grandfather, grandfather..." Chu Kei hastily interrupted him: "Brother... it's already been decided."

  "Settled?! Who?!" Old Master and Chunan asked in unison.

  Chu Xue was a bit embarrassed, and Zhu Ye Chen hastily laughed and said: "You two don't get angry... cough. It's the ninth daughter of the Lan family..."

  The old man and Chu Nancai were both a little bewildered, asking: "Which Blue family?"

  "It's...the Seventh Young Lady of their family went to the Duke's Manor to propose a marriage to Big Brother...that Lan Family!" Zhu Yi also felt a bit embarrassed.

  The old man was so shocked that he pulled out one of his whiskers: "What?! That little girl had him...!"

  Chu Nancai was also very excited and hastily called out in a low voice: "The Blue family has lost the Ninth Miss, it turns out to be...!"

  "This...this isn't..." The old man plucked out another whisker. It hurt so much that he sucked in a breath of cool air.

  Chu Keqiang hastily explained for his brother: "It was Ninth Miss who agreed to it, not a kidnapping... At that time, something unexpected happened, and Brother came out from the place where he was burned. If Ninth Miss hadn't seen him and rescued him, he would have frozen to death. Ninth Miss had some connection with Brother before, so she sent him back to his place. Cough cough cough... I don't know what happened, but they missed the time to return, and stayed overnight..."

  Zhu Yichan hastily patted her back with a smile, signaling her not to rush, and when she closed her mouth looking at him, he smiled and turned his head. He calmly and in great detail told the story of Jiuniang and Chu Tao, also mentioning that Jiuniang had changed her name to Liu Di.

  The old man and Chu Nan calmed down after hearing this. The old man stroked his beard and said, "So that's how it was... I mean, back then, the seventh daughter of the Lan family refused to accept anyone, but actually..."

  Chu Nancai said: "No wonder the Lanz family doesn't seem anxious either."

  Chu Ke asked strangely: "Isn't the Lan family anxious?"

  Old Master said, "Blue Master indeed sent some people to look for her, but it was also secretly. The girl is gone... This is not a good thing to hear. After searching for several days without any news, they also gave up and told outsiders that she had contracted an acute illness. I know this because I was matchmaker for their family's Seventh Young Lady and happened to run into them." Old Master shook his head, probably thinking of the time when Fourth Young Lady from his own family went missing too.

  "What else can they investigate?"

  Chu Nan shook his head: "It seems that there is no investigation anymore. During the few days of the wedding, I checked around the city and now I don't hear any rumors at all."

  The old man hastily asked: "Is this settled? When will they get married?"

  Chu Nan just took a glance at the old man and said: "When it comes to getting married, shouldn't we be the ones who decide? We're the elders!"

  Chu Ke smiled and said: "Jiuniang is still young, only twelve years old, we'll have to wait a few more years, and when the time comes, I'll ask Grandfather to choose a good day."

  Mr. Chu nodded with a smile: "Alright!"

  Chu Nan nodded in satisfaction.

  It suddenly occurred to him and he hastily asked: "You haven't eaten yet, have you? The road is slippery with snow, isn't it hard to walk?"

  Zhu Yicheng nodded and said, "Yes, it's a bit slow."

  "Come on, let's eat! Hurry up and eat! Look at us... we've kept the kids hungry."

  Zhu Yichan and Chu Keqi hastily stood up: "Let's go pay our respects to Grandmother and Mother first before eating."

  The old man nodded: "Should be, go."

  Two of them came out, and Chu Nancai also followed, leading them to the back house. The old lady and Chu Gaoshi were waiting! The old lady was already furious, knowing they had entered for a long time, yet didn't hurry over! She suppressed her anger for half a day, only to see Chu Nancai following behind.

  Chu Xue and Zhu Yi Zhen gave them a bow, the old lady's anger couldn't be expressed. Coldly asked Chu Nan Cai: "What were you talking about in front for so long?" Turning her head, she coldly said to Chu Xue: "They say their own things, don't they know they should come and pay respects to their grandmother and mother first?!"

  Chu Xue hadn't had time to speak, when Chu Nan smiled and said: "There's something on Father's side that they need to ask them about... Father hasn't eaten lunch yet, he's waiting for them. Mother, I'll take them over first?"

  The old lady said angrily: "Let the son-in-law go! Let the granddaughter stay here!"

  Chu Nancai continued to smile and said without a doubt: "Father asked Keqi to go together!"

  The old lady stared at him with anger and surprise, while Chu Kei smiled and said: "Today is not going back. Tonight, the granddaughter will come over again to receive Grandma's teachings!"

  Chu Gaoshi hastily followed Chu Nanzai's meaning, smiling and persuading the old lady: "Yes, don't let Father wait, Mother. The daughter-in-law will accompany you, and we can call Kui back tonight."

  The old lady was furious but could only let her go.

  Chu Xue came out. Still in the back, giving Zhu Yi Chen a tongue-lashing, Zhu Yi Chen was also very uneasy, and asked in a low voice: "Last night... really passed?"

  "We'll talk again tonight." Chu Ke said with a smile in a low voice.

  Chu Nan was walking in front with a vigorous stride, just like an old man who had just found out he had become a grandfather.

  Back to the old man's side, the flower hall has already set up a meal. Extraordinary richness. Next to the dinner table is a large copper wine warmer, inside is warm water, in the middle is a circle and around is separated, the middle layer is half an inch higher, inside is wine, on the side hangs a long-handled wine ladle.

  Seeing this momentum, Chu Kei first confessed his guilt. The old man was delighted and said: "Today is not restricted! Our four ancestors will sit at one table for dinner!"

  Zhu Yichen and Chu Keqi naturally followed, so the old man sat at the top. Chu Nanchen was on the right, Zhu Yichen was at the end, and Chu Keqi was next to him, a little further back.

  This meal was eaten with great joy, and since it was about Chu Tao's affairs, no maidservant was called to serve. Everyone who wanted to eat something served themselves, until finally, the old master and Chu Nan listened to Zhu Yuxian talk about their childhood while drinking wine, while Chu Keqi had already sat in the first position on the left, higher than Zhu Yuxian's position, serving herself food.

  Zhu Yichan accompanied him to drink a few cups, and the old man still remembered that he was injured, and kept calling him not to drink anymore. Chu Nan held his wine glass and accompanied his father, saying repeatedly: "It would be great if Bao Tong sat at the table sometime!"

  "Very soon, it will be very soon!"

  They had been eating for more than an hour and still hadn't finished, unaware that the old lady's maid and Meng's family members had come several times to ask if they were done, only to be turned away by the maids waiting outside.

  If it weren't for the imperial edict, they would have been able to eat until evening.

  When someone shouted "The imperial edict has been issued" earlier, everyone was caught off guard. The old man thought he had misheard and asked in a daze: "Who's shouting?"

  The maid outside was already anxiously shouting: "Master! Master, an imperial edict has arrived at the front courtyard!"

  The old man and Chu Nancai suddenly woke up from their dream! The two of them hurried back to change their clothes, while on the other side, Chu Keqi and Zhu Yuxuan came out of the flower hall and waited in the adjacent wing room next to the study.

  Everyone in the crowd was suspicious, and at this time of no year or festival, what imperial decree did the emperor have? Chu Ke'er kept thinking about her brother's body, could it be that De Xing County Wang had messed things up to the emperor, asking the emperor to investigate her brother's whereabouts?!

  The place where they received the imperial edict was in the study. The two of them did not show up, and it was Old Master and Chu Nan who received it. However, the one who came to deliver the imperial edict was Duke Lan.

  Chu Xue had not yet finished her wild thoughts when Master Lan had already finished reading the imperial edict.

  The imperial edict was simple: Chu Yun Ting, externally a diligent worker and internally possessing virtuous qualities, is promoted to be a good concubine!

  From talented person to imperial concubine, directly skipping three ranks!

  Chu Ke's heart sank slightly.

  Lan Jue Ye was genuinely happy for the Chu family and praised Chu Yun Ting as 'intelligent and wise', otherwise how could she have risen three ranks!

  The old man hastily inquired about the reason, and Lang Jun said that the queen's move to fill the palace was deeply favored by the emperor. The emperor had been living in the palace for some time, and among the dozen or so noble ladies who entered the palace, those who were initially appointed as Cairen and Jieyu were of relatively low rank, which were appointed by the empress. However, this promotion was an edict issued by the emperor himself, indicating that the newly appointed Liang Pin Niangniang was highly favored by the emperor!

  The old man nodded in approval.

  As for Lord Blue, the old man felt a bit embarrassed because he knew that his own grandson had eloped with someone else's young daughter and didn't know what to do, so he first invited Lord Blue to the study.

  "There's another piece of good news." Duke Lan said with a smile, pulling out a bright red wedding invitation from his pocket and saying: "This matchmaker's wedding invitation, I've brought it personally today!"

  The old man took it and looked at it, feeling a bit surprised. The seventh girl's wedding day was in February next year, the time was also very close, Blue family's ninth girl had just been lost, seemingly... shouldn't be in the mood for a wedding celebration, right?

  He muttered to himself, of course, with a mouthful of congratulations, Lord Blue was delighted, laughing and waving his hand: "This year is not smooth! Fortunately, at the end of the year, Xiao Qi's marriage was settled, this is good news, next year will start with a wedding, a fiery year!"

  The old man was still worried and asked tentatively: "How is the condition of Ninth Young Lady in your mansion?"

  Blue Master heard this and immediately became worried: "I'm afraid... I won't make it through the year..."

  The old man didn't ask much either, and he seemed a bit down in the dumps.

  Zhu Yichen and Chu Keqi were still quite nervous, fearing that the old man was too kind-hearted and would accidentally reveal the matter if he felt uneasy. Fortunately, the old man was very clear about how serious this matter was, although he felt uneasy, he absolutely wouldn't say anything.

  He talked with Master Lan for a while, and soon Master Lan was delighted again. He mentioned the marriage of Seventh Young Miss with great satisfaction, and also thanked Old Master especially.

  "Time is tight, why can't it be done next summer?"

  "Seventh sister is not young anymore! Besides, next year there are still two sons' weddings to attend to, might as well get hers done early and save the trouble!"

  In the carriage, Chu Ke leaned on Zhu Yi Chen's shoulder and whispered with a smile: "What a pity, Blue Big Beauty is going to be someone else's."

  Zhu Yichan reached out and gently pinched her face, whispering in her ear: "Be careful, I'll deal with you tonight..."

  Chu Xue stretched out her hand and pinched his waist fiercely. Her move was not polite at all, much heavier than his pinch.

  Zhu Yicheng smiled softly and cooed in a low voice, "Don't mention others... Blue Master doesn't seem to care about Ninth Miss at all, and he's not anxious either."

  Chu Ke just pouted, nodded and said in a low voice: "With so many sons and daughters, Ninth Sister is also born to a maid, he must not care! Just treat Seventh Sister, who was born to that madam, as a treasure!"

  It seems that Jiuniang is quite pitiful, fortunately she has left his house! If she had stayed at home, who knows what kind of marriage would have been arranged for her, Duke Lan definitely wouldn't have personally taken care of it like he did for Qiniang!

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