After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

"You must keep a close eye on the New Year gifts on the car these days, and check them carefully before sealing the car. Also, anyone who sends something out must be followed by one of our people." Meng Wan ordered calmly.

Mother Kong and Chuan'er looked at each other, and Chuan'er asked softly, "What about the ones in the outer courtyard?"

"The Second Master will make the arrangements for the outer courtyard. I think that since Mrs. Hu has made a move on me, she will definitely not tamper with the outer courtyard's annual gift. That would make her too conspicuous, and if she is not careful, it will cause unnecessary trouble. She is not that stupid."

Mother Kong nodded. "Except for the ones in the outer courtyard, there are seven more families that need us to send them to. They are the Huainan Marquis' Mansion, the Lecheng Viscount's Mansion, the Pingxi Marquis' Mansion, the Zhanshi Xie Family of the Zhanshi Mansion, the Bo Baron's Mansion, the Zhongguo Duke's Mansion, and the Duchayuan You Vice-Chief Censor's Mansion. As for the last two families, the princess has instructed us not to prepare them. She will arrange them."

Meng Wan nodded. The Meng family of the Duke Zhong's Mansion was the Meng Zewen family, and they were five generations apart from the Marquis Huainan Mansion. The residence of the Right Deputy Censor of the Censorate was the maiden family of the Concubine Xian. Li He, who had hit the ice hockey with Zhou Yu into the carriage of Prince Rui a while ago, was the nephew of the Concubine Xian, and was born to the third wife of the Concubine Xian's elder brother Li Xian.

Hu specifically told her not to worry about these two families, that is, she is now trying to curry favor with or Zhou Zheng needs to curry favor with. The latter is understandable, after all, Zhou Zheng is now close to Hong Zhe, and Hong Zhe is the brother-in-law of King Jing, so it is understandable that Hu is leaning on the family of Concubine Xian.

Then, why did she think highly of the Duke Zhong's Mansion? Apart from the true royal relatives like Prince Li and Prince Shang, the Duke Zhong's Mansion was important in the capital, but it was not to the level of being courted by the Prince Shen's Mansion. It belonged to the second echelon and ranked in the front.

Unless, Hu has a request to the Duke Zhongguo Mansion, could it be that she is trying to gain the support of the Duke Zhongguo Mansion for Zhou Zheng?

But it was unlikely. Just as Zhou Yu and himself had analyzed, the Duke of Zhongguo's Mansion had the connections, the money, the status, and the trust of the emperor. It was not worth it to side with any side before the situation became clear. And if it remained neutral, any prince who ascended to the throne would have to rely on his support, so the Duke of Zhongguo's Mansion would not do that.

Among the remaining five families, which one is more likely to allow Hu to make moves without affecting the palace?

Her own family wouldn't do that. She wouldn't set up such a scheme just to prove to the Huainan Marquisate what a stupid daughter she had married.

The Pingxi Marquis Mansion wouldn't know either. Meng Wan thought that Hu Shi would know about Zhou Yu's close relationship with Yue Sanye. She never asked Zhou Yu why he could be so open with Yue Zhen. He must have his own explanation, just like Wang's iron shop. Therefore, Hu Shi couldn't have done anything to the Yue family, because even if he found out something, the Yue family would conceal it.

Then the remaining three families are all possibilities. One is Hu’s maiden family, one is Xie’s maiden family, and the other is the Hong family. These families can all help Hu.

After Meng Wan mentioned these families, "Mother Kong is keeping an eye on the Hu family, Chuan'er is keeping an eye on the Xie family, and let Dongmei keep an eye on the Hong family. You guys are like this..."

"Second Grandma, let them load the truck?" asked Mother Kong.

"Yes, remember, when loading the truck, just put the things I just mentioned in the designated places."

The two nodded and stepped back. After a while, Chuaner came back with three paper packages and gently placed them on the kang table.

Meng Wan arranged them neatly, slowly opened them, smelled them, looked at them, nodded and said, "Let Cai'er deliver them to Wu Hen."

Meng Wan stood by the window. It was a sunny day today and there was uncluttered snow on the ground, which reflected the afternoon sunlight onto the glass windows. The room was exceptionally bright, yet also dazzling.

Meng Wan liked snow, the whiteness of it made her feel clean. So she didn't let the servants sweep the snow in the yard, except for the areas where people walked on a daily basis, the rest of the yard was covered with thick snow. Sometimes, she wanted to go out and lie on the snow, especially at night, looking at the ancient sky that was not polluted at all, which must be very comfortable.

------

"I'll take you out to meet someone tomorrow." Zhou Yu walked into the house, rubbing his hands.

Meng Wan stood up and was about to take off his cloak, but Zhou Yu said, "Don't come over, Liang, let them come."

Chuan'er hurried forward, took Zhou Yu's cloak and took it to the cloakroom, and Cai'er pushed the door open and poured a full cup of wolfberry and red date tea for Meng Wan.

"This is good. I wasn't used to it at first, but now I'm used to it. It's better than drinking tea alone."

"This is the best drink in winter. I can't see or control how you drink outside on weekdays. But you have to listen to me when you come back." Meng Wan took the tea and handed it to Zhou Yu with a smile.

"Last time you prepared rose, red dates and longan tea for me, I praised you for your ingenuity. How did you come up with so many different ones? Each one has a different effect, right?"

Zhou Yu sighed comfortably while drinking wolfberry and red date tea. It was such a pleasure to be able to drink a cup of hot tea as soon as he entered the house on such a cold day.

"Yes, this tea is not mixed randomly, it's just like mixing medicine, they have to complement each other and work together. What you are drinking now nourishes the stomach and drives away the cold, in fact, it is better to add ginger, but it is not suitable to eat ginger at night, you can also replace it with wolfberry."

Meng Wan took the drink that Cai Er poured for him, took a sip, and continued, "After I'm done with this, I'll do some research and make something suitable for the New Year."

After a while, Dongmei and Yingpo came in with hot water. Seeing that Meng Wan had no other instructions, Chuan'er and Cai'er retreated after making the kang.

Zhou Yu stood up and walked while unbuttoning his clothes. "Today, I was digging for that jar of wine in the iron shop. Liuzi was like a monkey and almost knocked it over."

"Digging wine? What kind of wine?" Meng Wan took out Zhou Yu's spare clothes and went into the bathroom.

Zhou Yu was already shirtless and was wiping himself with hot water.

"Uncle Qi buried him. It seems he buried him in the second or third year after he arrived in the capital. I forgot."

"What? Is there something important? Uncle Qi doesn't have a daughter to marry." Meng Wan helped Zhou Yu wipe his back. "That's enough. Although the house is warm, it's winter after all, and it's the end of the year."

Zhou Yu turned around, put on new underwear, sat down, took off his socks and put his feet into another wooden basin. Maybe the water was too hot, and he made a "tsk" sound and quickly lifted his feet up again.

"You thought it was daughter's wine? Have you read too many storybooks?" Zhou Yu chuckled, "But when we have a daughter, I will bury ten jars for her from the day she is born."

After saying this, his expression became a little gloomy again, "I don't know when it will be available."

Meng Wan rubbed his hair and said distressedly, "Why are you in such a hurry? If the big thing doesn't work out, you won't be able to take care of the baby even if it's born. Give them another chance. Look at Brother Hong. It's only been a short time, and they've taken advantage of him so many times. They're so cruel."

Zhou Yu nodded and then felt relieved.

"Third Brother Yue and Third Brother will leave on the fourth day of the New Year. Uncle Qi dug wine in the middle of winter just for me to drink with them tomorrow."

"Ah? So fast?" Meng Wan, who was sitting opposite, looked surprised.

"Well, I originally wanted to leave after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, but Master Lin meant that he didn't want Third Brother Yue to be involved in the palace banquet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Since we're leaving anyway, it's better to leave early so that some people won't be caught off guard."

Zhou Yu put his feet on the water and rubbed them together. "A few days ago, after the emperor announced that Third Brother Yue would be the governor of Sichuan, the door of Pingxi Marquis was almost trampled. I heard that the retainers and chief officials of King Jing and King Cheng blocked Third Brother Yue in the Ministry of Revenue, and he almost couldn't get out."

"What? Even King Jing and King Cheng don't know?" Meng Wan couldn't believe it.

"Well, I don't know. Apart from us and Master Lin, no one else knows about Third Brother Yue's matter."

"Who did it? Why was it so secretive?"

"It was the Emperor's idea, but it was proposed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Crown Prince?" Meng Wan thought of the rumored crown prince who coughed three times every time he took a step. Wasn't he said to be disliked by the emperor?

"As for the specific situation, we don't know, but the purpose is what we want anyway."

Meng Wan nodded. If that Mr. Lin was the prince's man, this would make sense.

"I didn't expect Third Brother to leave so hastily. I don't know if Third Sister-in-law will have enough time to prepare for him."

"Don't worry, even if there is something missing, you can go there to buy it. Yue Sansao is a considerate person. Besides, he will leave on the fourth day of the New Year, so when you go back to your parents' home on the third day of the New Year, you can bring some things that he can use."

"By the way, who did you just say you were going to take me to see?" Meng Wan asked, leaning forward. "Besides, tomorrow is the Little New Year. Can we go out?"