Han Jianming looked at the motionless Yuxi and asked, "Why aren't you going back yet?"
Yuxi asked anxiously, "Dage, don't you go ask Grandmother right now?" She hated it if this matter wasn't solved right away. Otherwise, she would not be at ease.
Han Jianming felt that Yuxi was still not composed enough. "You want me to go ask her now? If I tell Grandmother first, in the next moment, she'll know that it's you who has told me about this. How will you explain it then? Say you've planted someone in the Jiang family because of a nightmare?" When that time came, there was no telling how much trouble it would cause.
Yuxi lowered her head and asked, "Dage, how long will it take then?"
Looking at Yuxi's troubled face, Han Jianming walked over and patted her shoulder while saying, "There are plenty of ways to break up a marriage. Even if your father already agreed, it can still be broken just the same. So you don't need to worry at all." There were so many factors to consider in tying a marriage, and it was also more troublesome. However, to break it was as simple as raising a finger.
Yuxi was slightly relieved to hear this assurance. "Okay. Then I'll wait for news from Dage." No one couldn't blame her for not being calm. It was just that the aftermath was too great for her to bear.
Han Jianming advised, "In the future, don't make a fuss over the slightest thing you come across. You have to make sure your face doesn't change colour even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of you."
Fine. Momo Quan had told her so, and so did Dage. Yuxi broke down and muttered, "It's not that easy." If it was not her own business, she could naturally hide it well. But when it comes to her future happiness, no one could be that calm.
Han Jianming said, "You still lack experience." Her theoretical knowledge was sufficient, but she had not gone through so much experience after all. Her mind was unable to be calm; hence, she could not act steadily enough.
Yuxi muttered in her mind. If she was as slick as Dage, wouldn't that be odd?
Han Jianming kept to his composure and did not act for the next ten days or so. Although Yuxi was anxious, she didn't reveal it on her face.
It was nearly half a month later when Han Jianming approached the Old Lady and asked, "Grandmother, did the Jiang family come to our door to talk about marriage?"
Even the Old Lady was surprised that she asked, "How did you know that?"
Han Jianming answered with a smile, "I knew it by accident."
The Old Lady did not suspect much. Han Jianming was not Yuxi as he had his sources of information. So it was not strange that he would know something about this. "Did you get the information from the Jiang family?" Only she and her youngest son knew about it. Thus, it wouldn't have leaked. The only way her eldest grandson could hear about it was through the Jiang family.
Han Jianming nodded and said, "Madam Jiang must not have liked Yuxi. Otherwise, she will not have been busy looking at young misses of the right age recently."
The Old Lady didn't know about this. When she heard this, her complexion turned bad as she asked, "What's going on? Yu Shi is already looking for another girl?"
Han Jianming nodded and said, "Well, that's why I feel that it was a bit strange and have purposely come here to ask Grandmother. Did Grandmother and San Shu turn down the Jiang family's marriage proposal?"
The Old Lady's face was looking a little unpleasant. The Jiangs told them that they were interested in asking for Yuxi's hand in marriage, and somehow, they were also busy looking at girls of the right age. The Jiangs indeed played them like monkeys. "We didn't say agree, nor did we say no either. Yuxi is too young, so we want to keep her for at least two more years."
Han Jianming was not stupid, so how could he not know the meaning of this statement. "Does Grandmother have any plans for Yuxi's marriage? If Jiang Hongjin does well in the provincial exams at the end of the year, will we agree to this marriage?" It was true that the Jiang family was pretty good. Many of the Jiang family members had become officials in the Imperial Court, as they had given birth to talented people from generation to generation. However, the only problem was, Jiang Hongjin was not Jiang Wenrui's eldest son.
The Old Lady hesitated for a while before asking, "Do you have any other candidate?"
Han Jianming had an idea. "With all her qualifications, Yuxi is more than capable of marrying the eldest di son of an appropriate family. For the second di son, we don't even have to consider." The difference between the eldest di son and the second di son was not just a tiny bit.
The Old Lady felt that these words were too absolute. "If the second di sons are good in every way, they can still be considered." As long as the other party could benefit the family, it didn't matter if he was a first son or a second son. [+]
Han Jianming would not argue with the Old Lady about meaningless matters and said, "If it is excellent in all aspects, it is possible to consider it. But forget about the Jiang family. The Jiang family has no sincerity at all in doing things. It would be easy for our Yuxi to find a family better than the Jiang family."
The Old Lady nodded, "Yu Shi has already started looking at another candidate for her son, so naturally, we shouldn't also be in a hurry. By the way, what did Yuxi do the other day when she went to look for you in your study? This girl always goes to you. Will it affect you?"
Han Jianming laughed in spite of himself. "What impact can it have? It's not like I'm going for the Imperial Examinations. Si Mei merely had some things she didn't understand and had purposely come over to ask me."
After listening to what Han Jianming said, the Old Lady stopped dwelling on this topic. "Jianye is going to be a father soon. What about you? What are your plans?" [T/N]
To others, Han Jianming might still be able to make up some excuses. Even when facing his mother, he would not say anything. Of course, Qiu Shi would not ask him about these things. He could only say, "I'm going to wait until the Imperial Decree for the sanctioned marriage is released, then I'll talk about the second room."
The Old Lady was a little surprised and asked, "Why is that?" A sanctioned marriage for Yuchen would influence Yuxi and Yurong's wedding, but it had little to do with Han Jianming.
Han Jianming replied, "I want to find a girl from an official family. If I find a girl from an ordinary family, I'm afraid she won't live long if I marry her."
The Old Lady was shocked and asked, "Why are you saying it this way?" She was getting old and had limited energy. Thus, she initially didn't want to ask too much about many things.
Han Jianming explained to her what happened on that day. "Based on this, Ye Shi should not be able to tolerate a noble concubine who has given birth to a son. And I, for one, don't want the child to be motherless as soon as it is born." The more important point he did not say was that with such a high rate of premature death of children, there was no guarantee that his eldest son would live to inherit the title in peace and security. If he had a few more sons, it would never be a problem.
No one knew that because of Concubine Rong, Han Jianming particularly hated concubines brought up from the children of family servants. Because of this, he had always been indifferent to the two concubine maids given to him by the Old Lady.
The Old Lady had a guilty look on her face. "I'm to blame for this. I made an error in judgement." Who would have known Ye Shi's health would not have been good.
Han Jianming responded with a smile, "Who could have known about this? Grandmother doesn't need to overthink about it. Things have already happened. Now it's time to think about how to solve it."
The Old Lady pondered for a moment and said, "It is too difficult to find someone who is intelligent and responsible." Maybe this second room would do her duty when she came into the residence. But when she had a son, how could she share it? This backyard would not be going to be quiet in the future.
Han Jianming also knew that people's hearts were unpredictable and said, "Let's talk about this in the future!" The fight between women was a minor matter. The key was the heir to the State Residence. As long as his heir was intelligent, nothing else mattered.
きつね: Wow, really, Han Jianming?
Yuxi soon learned that Han Jianming had gone to the Main Courtyard, and the two had talked for nearly half a shichen or so in the main room. Yuxi asked, "When Dage came out, how did he look?"
Bingmei said, "When Master Shizi came out, he looked the same as he was before. There was no difference." Han Jianming had completely refrained his emotions, which was difficult for ordinary people to see him through.
Yuxi muttered to herself, "That's good." Walking out without any expression was the same as saying that Dage had everything under control. It also meant he had lifted the Jiang family’s crisis from her.
Han Jianming did not call Yuxi over but proceeded to have his sidekick, Han Hao, mention a couple of things as he sent fruits over to Yuxi. [+]
When Yuxi heard Han Hao say that the matter was ‘done’, her whole body relaxed. It was good that the issue had come to an end. [T/N]
When she finally calmed down, Yuxi also felt that she had been overly nervous this time. Given the nature of her father and the Old Lady, there was no way she could be promised to Jiang Hongjin at this point. The reason was that Jiang Wenrui was not yet the Minister for the Ministry of Personnel, and Jiang Hongjin was not the youngest zhuangyuan. The current situation was not that she wasn't good enough for Jiang Hongjin, but Jiang Hongjin was not good enough for her.
As Yuxi thought of this, her whole body could finally relax. The knife that had been hanging over her head was finally gone.
When Zisu saw Yuxi, she froze for a moment. She felt that Miss looked different somewhere. But she couldn't tell what was different. So she asked Kufu, "Did you feel any different about Miss?"
Kufu nodded and said, "She does look different. Now Miss looks much more relaxed." Before, their Miss had always looked preoccupied. But now, she was clearly relaxed. As for why there was this change, it was something only Miss, herself, knew.
Two days later, Zhou Shiya came to the Han residence to play. Even though she told others that she came here to play, she actually came to roast someone. Zhou Shiya bitterly said, "Yuxi, my mother has taken a fancy on Jiang Hongjin of Minister Jiang's family. I've told her that Madam Jiang has a kind face but a bitter heart, and Jiang Qi is also full of bad things, but my mother just won't listen, complaining that I don't have an eye for people." Zhou Shiya would think that Madam Jiang was terrible because of something Yuxi had unintentionally said to her before. There was no getting around the fact that Yu Shi has a good image out there and Jiang Qi was good at pretending. Not to mention that Second Lady Zhou didn't see any difference with them or that no one else could see it.
Yuxi exclaimed, "That Yu Shi is a bad one, and Jiang Qi is also small-minded, so it's better to forget about such a family." Second Lady Zhou's search for a son-in-law was too high. She was just aiming for young talents with great potential.
Zhou Shiya nodded her head, "That's right! But my mother's heart is as muddled as lard and won't listen to me. What's even more annoying is that Madam Jiang's attitude is ambiguous." What annoyed Zhou Shiya the most was Madam Jiang's attitude. If she agreed, she should just say yes. If she disagreed, she should have said no. What was the point of being ambiguous? She was not a cabbage for Madam Jiang to just pick and choose.
Yuxi didn't even know how to evaluate the Second Lady Zhou. "It's right for your mother to want to find a good husband for you, but her vision is......has your mother never asked for your opinion?" Although the Zhou family lacked wealth, Second Lady Zhou's maiden's family was strong. Plus, the Second Master Zhou was a third rank official. Although it was a sinecure position, he was still a third rank official. It was just that Yuxi felt that the Second Lady Zhou set her vision too high.
Zhou Shiya said annoyingly, "It's useless to talk about this. I'm sick of it. Enough, let's not talk about that and talk about something happy."
Seeing this situation, Yuxi spoke to Zhou Shiya about some of the more exciting things recently. These were all the outside gossip that Zisu, Bingmei and the others had told her in their spare time.
Zhou Shiya also shared with Yuxi the interesting things she had heard recently.
Noob Translator's Musing
So... Concubine Rong was a child of the Han residence servant? No wonder Old Lady Han hated her so much. Concubine Rong was a mere servant and yet wanted to step on her Master's head. Darn, that was shocking...to me, at least. I don't know about you guys.
Tags:
The Rebirth of Han Yuxi