"Yo, who's this honored guest?"
An old man with graying beard, leaning on a walking stick, tottered out.
"This is Jun Huaijian. He's your great-uncle," Mrs. Zhao introduced.
Jun Huaijian glanced at Mrs. Zhao and said, "I was wondering who it was. Isn't this Mrs. Zhao? Why do you have the time to visit your uncle today?"
Mrs. Zhao exchanged a few pleasantries and gave Zhao Luoning a look that said, "This man is hard to deal with."
Zhao Luoning understood. Holding Zhao Yanzhao, she followed Mrs. Zhao and Jun Huaijian into the side room next to the ancestral hall.
The Jun family really lived a simple life.
As she stepped inside, there wasn't a single decent item in sight.
Since her mother could be close friends with the Empress Dowager in their girlhood, the family must have had a certain foundation back then. How did the Jun family end up like this?
Jun Huaijian led them in, and the servant quickly served tea.
Zhao Luoning took a sip out of courtesy.
The bitter taste made her frown immediately.
Jun Huaijian had been paying attention to Zhao Luoning's expression. "My place is shabby. I'm making my granddaughter laugh," he said.
Zhao Luoning had been in the tea business. She had tasted countless good teas and could tell.
The tea wasn't bad in itself, but someone had deliberately let it get moldy.
Judging from its appearance, it must have gone bad recently.
It seemed that this great-uncle was trying to play the "empty fort strategy" like her.
Zhao Luoning put down the teacup. "Great-uncle, what are you saying? We're all family. How could Zhifou ever dislike it?"
Jun Huaijian waved his hand repeatedly. "Oh, you're the famous imperial - bestowed lady. How dare I claim to be family with you, an old man?"
Guisu was most annoyed by this kind of insincere play - acting. Seeing that they had drunk two cups of tea and still hadn't gotten to the point, she couldn't help but interrupt, "Since you know that our madam is an imperial - bestowed lady, why won't you let the young master be included in the family register?"
"Oh, as expected of an imperial - bestowed lady. Even her maid is more imposing than others," Jun Huaijian said sarcastically.
Guisu, with her fiery temper, rolled up her sleeves and was about to charge forward.
She had disliked the Jun family for a long time.
The young master was so cute, yet they had the heart to refuse!
Jingsu quickly grabbed Guisu.
Zhao Luoning took the opportunity to reply, "Great - uncle, you're flattering me. Even the emperor has family. How much more so for us commoners."
"Since you, madam, don't plan to use your power to pressure us, I'll also reason with you. A married daughter is like spilled water. There's no way to take the water back. You're the Zhao family, not the Jun family. I'm sorry, but the Jun family can't accommodate you."
Zhao Luoning had met her match in terms of eloquence for the first time.
This man was impervious to both soft and hard approaches. It was really a headache.
They sat in the Jun family for an afternoon, drinking several cups of moldy tea, but achieved nothing.
Mrs. Zhao had to lead Zhao Luoning out first.
On the carriage back, Guisu held Zhao Yanzhao in her arms. While coaxing the child, she muttered indignantly, "Our little Zhaoyan is so cute. He shouldn't have to endure this."
Guisu really liked children, especially the obedient Zhaoyan. She always fought with Zhao Luoning to hold the child and said that she would raise a child as cute as Zhaoyan in the future and name it Gou Dan.
Zhao Luoning looked at her with gentle eyes.
Since having a child, she had become much more caring towards the younger siblings around her.
Zhao Luoning comforted Guisu a few times before talking to her mother about the Jun family.
"Mother, is there really no way for us regarding the Jun family?"
"Well, there is a way. We can split from the family and establish our own branch."
"Establish our own branch?!"
"Yes. Now that we have Zhaoyan, we're fully qualified to establish our own branch. We don't need the approval of the clan head, but we need the family register of your grandfather's branch and report it to the court. Also, the land deeds of our family back then were all taken over by the clan head. If we split, we can get them back."
"Judging from their attitude, they don't recognize us as part of the Jun family at all. Even if we ask for them, we have no justifiable reason."
"Yes. Actually, your grandfather anticipated this result back then and compiled an account book, which was reviewed by the county magistrate. If we had this account book, we wouldn't have to come to this awful place."
Mrs. Zhao was quite familiar with this process.
After all, her close friend had done something similar back then.
Later, her friend became the Empress Dowager, and the strange relatives of the Ning family could only watch the great wealth with envy.
"Account book?" Zhao Luoning frowned. "Is it in Luojing's hands?"
Mrs. Zhao was stunned. She looked up at Zhao Luoning.
"How do you know?"
Mother was still too naive.
Back then, the first branch of the family was weak, and her elder brother, Luochun, was unmotivated. Not only her father but also the old master, who had always supported the first branch, was a bit disheartened.
Just then, Mrs. Zhao the Second gave birth to Zhao Luoming. Zhao Luoming showed great intelligence, and Lord Zhao kept saying that he wanted to hand over the family business to Zhao Luoming.
At this time, Zhao Luojing, who had been ill in bed for a long time, stood up.
His confidence came from the Jun family's account book.
Having this account book was like holding the Jun family's lifeline.
The old master was a very shrewd man. After seeing the account book, his attitude changed immediately.
Only then did Zhao Luojing gain the power to manage the family.
Of course, Zhao Luojing didn't touch a single cent of the money in the account book, or there wouldn't have been the later event of the Jun family dividing up the property.
But Zhao Luoning didn't know where the account book was now.
Mrs. Zhao sighed. "I only heard my father mention it once back then, saying that he had given it to Luojing. I was very proud at that time. Your grandfather refused to let me marry into the Zhao family no matter what. I was angry with him and didn't care about this. I even blamed Luojing for it. I don't know if Luojing listened to me and returned the account book to the Jun family."
Zhao Luoning shook her head.
"Probably not."
The triplets had very similar tempers, and they were all rebellious. If they were so obedient, they wouldn't be the triplets.
It was just that she didn't know where Zhao Luojing had hidden this account book.
"Luojing spent most of his time in the tea house back then. Could it still be there?" Mrs. Zhao analyzed.
Although Zhao Luoning thought this possibility was not very high.
After all, the tea house was too dangerous. If this account book fell into the hands of the Zhao family, the consequences would be unimaginable.
But there was no better place for the time being.
"Mother, you're familiar with the tea house. You lead people to look for it there. I'll go to the villa and the temple where Luojing recuperated back then."
Mrs. Zhao nodded. The two of them first went back to the Bai Mansion.
After all, it wasn't good to bring a child when going back to Huangcheng.
Ji Shisu was quite jealous of Zhao Luoning's behavior of going out as soon as she entered the door.
"Wife, I resigned from office just to spend more time with you. But you're even busier than me."
Regarding Ji Shisu's childish behavior, Zhao Luoning could only perfunctorily say, "The eldest can't do without you. Be a good boy and take care of the child at home."
Ji Shisu: "..."
If this went on, he would become a jealous husband in the boudoir.
No, he definitely couldn't be left behind by his wife this time!