Chapter 416, Gap
The fourth prince stayed in Li Fuzhi's room for most of the day, accompanied Li Fuzhi to see the imperial doctor, and had dinner with her.
During dinner, the two concubines in the same courtyard knew that the fourth prince was at Li Fuzhi's place, so they came over dressed up and insisted on staying to serve the fourth prince.
The fourth prince originally wanted to tell Li Fuzhi more about the Li family, but everything was disrupted by these two concubines, which made him very annoyed.
"Okay, I don't need you to serve me here, please step aside!"
Seeing that the fourth prince's face became sullen, the two concubines had no choice but to leave reluctantly.
As soon as they left, the fourth prince said to Li Fuzhi: "You are not in good health. Living with others is too noisy and not conducive to self-cultivation. I will have someone clean up the yard right now. You will live in the same yard by yourself in the future." "
Li Fuzhi didn't expect such an unexpected surprise. She was really tired of living in the same courtyard with others. There were so many things and troubles. Being able to have her own separate courtyard was what she wanted most after entering the fourth prince's house.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Li Fuzhi served the fourth prince gently and gently after finishing the meal. Because his health was not yet well, the fourth prince did not stay overnight. Li Fuzhi personally sent the fourth prince out of the courtyard and stood at the entrance of the courtyard to watch him off until the fourth prince could no longer be seen. When I arrived, I went back to the room.
“Auntie, Your Highness cares about you so much, you have finally come to the end of your hardships.”
Compared with the maid's happiness, Li Fuzhi's expression was a little heavy.
She knew that the reason why the fourth prince thought of her today and cared so much about her was just because he wanted to get a way to deal with Shi Zhenghe and his family from her. If she didn't handle this matter well, her future life in the palace might be ruined. Even sadder than now.
“Pack it up and we’ll go back to Li’s house in two days.”
With the decline of the Zeng family, Li Zhengkun's family has no one to help them. The marriage of four children has almost exhausted Zeng Yuwei's dowry. In addition, Old Li and his family have to be supported, and life is becoming more and more difficult.
Seeing that the family's life was becoming more and more difficult, Li Zhengkun gave up his lofty ideals as a scholar, gritted his teeth, sold the house in the inner city that the Wuchang Bofu had given him, and moved his family to the outer city.
Li Fuzhi took the carriage of the Prince's Mansion and left the inner city. Seeing the increasingly noisy and chaotic scenery as she went outside, the good mood of leaving the mansion disappeared instantly.
Their family originally lived in the spacious and magnificent Earl's Mansion; later they moved out of the Earl's Mansion and lived in an ordinary courtyard in the inner city; but now, they can only find a place to live in the outer city.
How did their family end up like this?
Li Fuzhi's eyes flashed with hatred. It was Shi Zhenghe's family. The appearance of this family was the beginning of their family's nightmare.
Li Fuzhi's heart ached when she thought of the current situation of Shi Zhenghe's family.
Shi Zhenghe is now the commander of the Beichang Army and Horses Division. Although his official position is not big, his power is not small. And the Jin family, who was once not in the limelight, has also changed from a peasant woman to a noble lady.
The most suffocating thing is that Shi Zhenghe's four children all got married surprisingly well.
Shi Zhengxuan married the daughter of the Southern Chief Constable, inherited the connections of the Yue family, and now became the Southern Chief Constable himself.
Shi Fuyin married into the Duke Anguo's mansion, Shi Fuxin married into the Prince Rong's mansion, and Shi Zhenghaoshang married into the princess.
All four brothers and sisters have joined powerful families.
As for them, the eldest brother could only marry the daughter of a small official, and she became the concubine of the fourth prince. The younger brother and sister were even worse. The younger brother married the daughter of a small businessman, while the younger sister could only marry a white man.
Just thinking about the huge difference between their two families makes Li Fuzhi breathless.
Half an hour later, with Li Fuzhi heartbroken and depressed, the carriage drove into a narrow alley and finally stopped in front of a two-door courtyard in the alley.
With the help of the maid, Li Fuzhi got out of the carriage.
Before entering the courtyard, Li Fuzhi heard Mrs. Li's loud roar coming from inside. What was most difficult for her to accept was that her mother used the same loud voice to shout back at Mrs. Li.
Li Fuzhi was a little startled. In just a few years, her once decent and noble mother had become as vulgar as a village woman!
“Sister Zhi?”
"Father!"
Li Fuzhi was also very excited to see her relatives. Li Zhengkun happily walked towards Li Fuzhi, but after taking a few steps, he noticed that Li Fuzhi's eyes fell on the brush in his right hand, and he stopped awkwardly: "As a father, I had nothing to do, so I set up a stall at the entrance of the alley. Write letters to people and stuff like that.”
"I just heard people on the street say that a noble person has come to our alley. When I heard the carriage they described, I guessed it was you. I was so excited that I even forgot to put down my pen."
After hearing this, Li Fuzhi felt extremely sad.
At this time, the quarrel between Mrs. Li and Zeng Yuwei was heard again in the Li family yard, and the voices of other women were also mixed in.
Li Zhengkun felt extremely embarrassed after hearing this and trotted into the yard.
Soon, the scolding between Mrs. Li and Zeng Yuwei disappeared.
“Sister Zhi!”
Zeng Yuwei ran out like a gust of wind. When she saw Li Fuzhi, she rushed forward and hugged her: "My daughter, you finally came back to see your mother."
"Mother!"
Li Fuzhi hugged Zeng Yuwei back, and both mother and daughter had wet eyes.
Li Zhengkun watched silently, feeling very uncomfortable.
Although Sister Zhi has entered the fourth prince's backyard, which sounds quite glamorous, in the end she is just a concubine. If she wants to return to her parents' home, she must first seek the permission of the fourth prince.
But it’s good that Sister Zhi entered the fourth prince’s backyard, otherwise their family’s life would have been even more difficult.
Life in the outer city is not easy. Even if he sets up a stall at the entrance of an alley, he will be bullied by gangsters on the street. There are constant frictions between neighbors. If he hadn't known that a daughter of his family had entered the Fourth Prince's Mansion, Li Life at home will not be so peaceful.
Noticing that other houses in the alley had opened their courtyard doors and secretly peeking in their direction, Li Zhengkun asked the mother and daughter to go home first.
After entering the courtyard, Li Fuzhi felt suffocated again.
Too many people!
In the past few years, the five cousins have all gotten married. After they got married, their children were born one after another. The eldest cousin with the most children has four children, and the youngest has two children.
There are more than 30 people living in a courtyard with two entrances. How can it not be crowded?
Zeng Yuwei knew her daughter best. Seeing Li Fuzhi frowning and knowing that she didn't like the rest of the Li family, she immediately said: "Sister Zhi, let's go to mother's house." After saying that, she pulled Li Fuzhi into the upper room.
Li Zhengkun didn’t say much when he saw them, and followed the mother and daughter.
The chaotic life of the past few years has long worn away the few feelings of admiration he had for his parents and relatives.
“I open my mouth and shut it up every day, but now that I’m back, I don’t even say I want to meet my grandparents first!”
Old Mrs. Li muttered a few words and turned to look for Old Man Li.
Old man Li had long known from his great-grandson that Li Fuzhi was back. When he saw Old Mrs. Li entering the house with a bad look on her face, he said sternly: "Just calm down."
Just as Mrs. Li was about to reply, she heard Old Man Li say again: "We, the second and third oldest children, all rely on the boss's family to make a living. Sister Zhi is the most capable of the boss's family, so don't go looking for her."
"I have heard that if you are a concubine, you cannot return to your parents' home at will, unless the concubine is favored. The fact that Sister Zhi can come back means that she is living a good life in the prince's mansion."
"Prince, he is the emperor's son. The little things that flow out from his fingers are enough for our family to have food and drink. If you coax Sister Zhi, maybe you can find a decent thing for them who are rich and blessed. An easy job."
Mrs. Li sneered and said: "That **** girl is back and she didn't even say hello to me. How can you expect her to help Youcai and the others? What a dream!"
Old Li was about to say something when he heard voices coming from outside.
“Dad, Mom, Sister Zhi is here to see you.”
Hearing this, Old Man Li and Old Mrs. Li looked at each other in surprise, and then saw Li Fuzhi walking into the house accompanied by Li Zhengkun and Zeng Yuwei.
(end of this chapter)