Chapter 1268: There is a connection
"Mr. Sun, you just returned to Beijing from Huaixi Prefecture?" Lu Zhaoling asked.
There were actually several baskets of things on the ground, probably those were the things brought back from Sun's business.
"Yes. We brought some things from Huaixi. Miss Lu, take a look and see if there is anything you like. If you want to eat it in the future, you can come to our store."
Lu Zhaoling took a look and found a lot of special foods that she had never eaten before.
Rong Jingjing and Jiang Yongmiao brought tea over together.
"This tea was also brought by Master Sun from Huaixi. Let's try it."
Lu Zhaoling took a cup of tea and could already smell the aroma of tea.
In the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, many people also grind tea leaves to make tea. However, I don't know where it came from, but some people also use whole tea leaves to brew tea.
The tea from Huaixi is also complete. The tea leaves expand when brewed with boiling water. The tea soup is clear and has a refreshing fragrance with a hint of floral scent.
Lu Zhaoling himself prefers this kind of brewed tea.
After tasting it, Yin Changxing and the others also thought it was very good and praised the tea.
"Drinking this tea can make people feel better." Sun Yanyan looked at Rong Jingjing. He also picked up a cup of tea. After taking a sip, he knew that Rong Jingjing brewed it very well.
The quality of tea also depends on the water used to make the tea, the water temperature, and the brewing time.
He mentioned it to Rong Jingjing, but he didn't expect that Rong Jingjing could brew the tea just right the first time.
It has a refreshing fragrance with a slight aftertaste and a mellow taste.
"Miss Rong is really good at making tea." He couldn't help but praise her again.
Tea art?
Rong Jingjing raised her eyebrows. If she didn't know what kind of person Mr. Sun was, she would have thought he was scolding her.
"However, this tea is hard to come by." Sun Yanyan added, "The largest tea grower and tea merchant in Huaixi is the Cui family."
"The Cui family?"
"Yes, it is the surname Cui of Miss Lu's mother." The reason why Sun Yanyan wanted to talk about this matter specifically was because he heard some inside information there.
"Mr. Sun, just be frank. There are no outsiders here." Lu Zhaoling caught Sun Yanyan's gaze and saw that he had something to say.
"Okay." Sun Yanyan said, "And this Cui family is actually a branch of Nanshao. I asked around there and it's said that there aren't many people with the surname Cui in Nanshao, and Cuijia Village is the largest one with the surname Cui. And that Cuijia Village used to be very large, with a lot of people, almost as big as a small town."
"Later, many people left the village, which led to the reduction of the population. But there are many people with the surname Cui in other parts of Nanshao, and most of them are from Cuijia Village."
Lu Zhaoling was stunned.
"There's a member of the Cui family over there who happened to ask me for help, so I told him more about the Cui family."
Sun Yanyan had helped Lu Zhaoling renovate Cui's residence before and knew some things about Cui Liyue, so he also took it to heart to help Lu Zhaoling find out about his biological mother.
He also didn't expect that he would find out something during this trip to Huaixi Prefecture.
Lu Zhaoling drank tea and listened to Master Sun continue talking.
Rong Jingjing brought up another box of cakes, pear blossom tea cakes.
Looking at the pear blossom-shaped, delicate pastries with a hint of green in white, Lu Zhaoling was reminded of the pear blossoms carved on Cui Liyue's jewelry boxes.
The rumors about the King and Queen of Nanshao seem both true and false.
It is actually a bit confusing whether Cui Liyue is the Princess of Nanshao or her daughter.
However, Sun Yanyan got a different explanation from Huaixi Prefecture.
"The Cui family member told me that Huaixi Prefecture was the place that someone had calculated for them and thought would be the most beneficial to their branch. At that time, their branch was ostracized by their clan members and framed by their enemies. They committed a crime and almost couldn't survive."
"With the guidance of an expert, they cut off their arms to survive, gave up everything in Nanshao, and headed to Huaixi empty-handed."
"We have suffered for many years in Huaixi, but strangely, every time we were at a dead end, we were able to turn danger into safety and get a glimmer of hope. Therefore, they regarded the words of the master as an imperial decree and believed them without a doubt. Even when they were about to fall, they gritted their teeth and persevered."
"Later, another member of the Nanshao clan said that he had two daughters and had offended a nobleman, so he wanted to escape to Huaixi. However, he was afraid that he could not escape with his daughter, and that his daughter would suffer on the road. So he found a way to secretly send his daughter to live with someone else."
Lu Zhaoling paused while eating the pastry.
Yin Changxing seemed to be thinking about something while listening to this.
Weng Songzhi also seemed to have thought of something.
"This member of the Cui family village fled to Huaixi, and the Cui family in Huaixi took him in. This man was very smart and courageous, so under his leadership, the Cui family was able to gain a firm foothold in Huaixi."
"This tribesman had a very good eye. Any land he set his eyes on had a very good harvest. He was also good at picking up bargains. Therefore, they saved up land piece by piece, planted tea and fruit trees, and gradually became the largest tea grower and tea merchant there."
"Has he ever thought about going back to Nanshao to pick up his two daughters?"
Lu Zhaoling felt a little surprised.
Could it be that she heard the news about her grandfather so unprepared?
"It was only more than 20 years ago that he established himself in Huaixi and waited until his enemies died and felt there was no danger anymore."
"At that time, he sent people back to Nanshao and brought back his two daughters. Now, the two of them have married and had children in Huaixi, and they live a wealthy life."
Lu Zhaoling was stunned. "You mean, he took his two daughters to Huaixi?"
"Correct."
Sun Yanyan said, "I heard that he felt he owed his daughters, so he treated them very well and picked very good husbands for them. By the way," he paused, "it's really a coincidence that the second wife of the Cui family married into a family that is also quite powerful in Huaixi. She has a sister-in-law who is the sister of the Earl of Pingyang."
"I heard that Master Dai came to Huaiyuan yesterday? The person he is going to marry the day after tomorrow is the second daughter of the Pingyang Marquis's mansion, right? This second daughter grew up in her aunt's home in Huaixi, and she should be familiar with Second Madam Cui."
Upon hearing this, Rong Jingjing looked at Lu Zhaoling.
"How did this get so confusing and even related?"
I don’t know if it’s a bad fate.
"Mr. Sun, have you ever met the two ladies from the Cui family?" Lu Zhaoling asked.
Sun Yanyan shook his head. "I want to meet them, but the two ladies live in seclusion and rarely see outsiders, so I can't really see them. I asked the Cui family member, and he gave me a rough idea of what they look like."
"It is said that when they were brought to Huaixi, their beauty was amazing. So no one doubted that they were the daughters of the old master of the Cui family, because the old master Cui was also very handsome when he was young."
Beauty......
Then they are not Cui Liyue and Cui Meixue? But were there so many twin sisters born in Cuijia Village back then?
"How old are they now?"
"He should be around thirty-four or thirty-five."
At this age, he is clearly a good match for Cui Liyue.
No one said that there were many twin sisters in Cuijia Village at that time.
Lu Zhaoling looked at Zhou Shiyue and said, "Should I go meet the second young lady of the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion?"
Her aunt and the second wife of the Cui family are sisters-in-law, so she should know a lot about the second wife of the Cui family.