Han Jingyan knew that the culprit was Qiu Shi, and he was furious. But he was the younger brother-in-law, so he couldn't have a row with his dasao directly. So he went to see Han Jianming.
Han Jianming didn't want his mother to be branded as disobedient and unfilial, that he said. "Sanshu, Mother only argued with Grandmother about removing Si Mei from the family. She wasn't being disobedient and unfilial." It was wrong for his mother to argue with her grandmother. But she was also a loving mother, and she didn't say anything too much at that time. She just disagreed with removing Yuxi from the clan.
Han Jingyan's face was full of anger as he questioned, "Are you not going to take care of this?"
Han Jianming was also angry when he asked, "What does Sanshu mean by this?" Take care? Take care of what? How dare he ask him to take care of his mother?
In response, Han Jingyan stopped talking nonsense and directly stated, "It doesn't matter if you're not going to care about it, I'll move out after a while anyway. Your grandmother has also said that she is willing to live with me."
The blue veins on Han Jianming's forehead started to pop out. "What does Sanshu mean by this?" No one was going to stop Han Jingyan from moving out. Still, if he was bringing his grandmother along, this was akin to forcing the Main House to bear the reputation of being unfilial.
Han Jingyan was going to make Han Jianming pressure Qiu Shi to admit her mistake. "Just literally." After saying that, he no longer paid attention to Han Jianming, turned around and walked away.
Han Jianming was so angry that his face turned blue.
After Qiu Shi knew about this incident, she didn't want her son to be embarrassed. Thus, she took the initiative to admit her mistake to Zhou Shi. Although Zhou Shi was mad at Qiu Shi, she was not ready to move out of the State Residence. She only wanted Qiu Shi to give in and acknowledge her mistake. When she saw that Qiu Shi had really recognised her error, she opened her mouth and told Qiu Shi to reflect on it.
Qiu Shi knew that there was no more possibility of reconciliation between her and her mother-in-law. In order not to make her son's life difficult, she offered to go to Lingshan Temple to fast and pray to Buddha.
When Han Jianming found out about this, he tried to persuade his mother. "Please don't, Mother. How can you bear to be in the mountains at such an old age?"
Qiu Shi said with a smile, "Although you said that Yuxi is fine, so long as there is no news of her, my heart is still unsure. Ming-er, Mother originally planned to go to the mountain to seek peace for Yuxi. It's also the right time to go to the mountains now. The summer is about to start, and it's cool on the Lingshan Temple. So you can think of it as Mother going to the Lingshan Temple to escape the summer heat." She was not saying that she wanted to live in the Lingshan Temple. She intended to be there only for three to five months. If she was going to stay at the mountain for a long time, she couldn't afford it. Her son and grandson were still at home!
Han Jianming suppressed the grievance he had in his heart. However, seeing Qiu Shi's insistence, he had no choice but to nod his head in agreement.
Qiu Shi was unusually straightforward. She packed her clothes that day and took Mama Li and two maids to Lingshan Temple the next day.
When Yuchen heard that Qiu Shi had gone to the temple for a long stay, she sighed and commented, "Grandmother's nature has truly gotten eccentric." She also heard about the removal of Yuxi from the clan. That person had already died. What was the use of removing her from the family? Not only was it useless, but also disgraceful. Yuxi was robbed and sexually harassed till her death. It was not like she ran to the northern barbarians by herself. If her grandmother used this reason to remove Yuxi from the clan, they would become the laughing stock once the outsiders heard about this.
Momo Gui didn't know how to comment on this. The Old Lady couldn't even tolerate Qiu Shi, her generous daughter-in-law. You expected her to get along well with others? You must be daydreaming.
The two of them were talking when Jing Wang came in from outside and informed Yuchen with a smile, "Chen-er, your Si Mei is fine. She arrived safely at Yu City five days ago."
Yuchen looked astonished. "Really? Then, what happened before?" The reason why she believed Yuxi was gone before was because of Jing Wang's confirmation. [+]
Jing Wang smilingly explained, "The one who died was your Si Mei's double. She found someone to pretend to be her, while she, herself, took the smaller road with a few escorts." To say the least, that woman was fortunate to have escaped this great calamity. What with the matter saying she had a piece of bad luck? He would have said that Yuxi was lucky if anyone had ever asked him.
Yuchen let out a long sigh of relief and said, "It's good that she's okay. It's terrific." As long as she thought of Yuxi's miserable death, her heart became unusually sad during this time. Now that she knew that Yuxi was fine, she was thrilled.
Jing Wang knew that Yuchen had been sulking for a long time because of Yuxi's death, so he came to tell her as soon as he received the news. At that moment, he said with a smile, "Well, your Si Mei is fine, so you don't have to be sad anymore."
Yuchen smiled as she nodded. Then she turned her head to have someone pass the news to the Han family. Yuxi was fine, the Han family did not have to be laughed at, and the previous conflict would no longer exist.
When Qiu Shi heard that Yuxi had arrived safely at Yu City, she covered her chest and exclaimed, "I've told you that my Yuxi could head off any disaster."
Mama Li asked, "Master, are we still going to Lingshan Temple?"
Qiu Shi answered, "Of course, why not? Stay until mid-autumn, and then we will return." She was getting impatient with her eccentric mother-in-law. She had to listen to her on everything as if she was a mere puppet. Wen Shi was willing to bear her current behaviour, but she couldn't. If Qiu Shi lived in the mountains for a while, she could also get some peace.
It was good news for the Han family when they found out Yuxi was safe. At least they didn't have to be ridiculed and pointed out by the public.
There were some who were unhappy, such as Heshou Xianzhu who wanted Yuxi to die early. Hearing that Yuxi did not die, she was very disappointed and grumbled, "I can't believe she didn't die." She was happy for nothing!
When Qingyang Gongzhu saw Heshou in this state, she advised her, "You should stop focusing on Han Yuxi. That girl may really be a variable, just as you said, but she has no influence on you, so you should stop doing stupid things." Although she had been staying behind the closed door these few years, she had known all that she should have known. If Han Yuxi was really like her daughter, how could she have suffered from being victimised three to four times? Therefore, Qingyang Gongzhu did not believe what Heshou said about that girl.
By now, even Heshou had also given up the idea that Yuxi was reborn as she was. The reason was also very simple. If Han Yuxi was indeed the same as her, she certainly would not have married Yun Qing, that murderous devil. Only that, Han Yuxi was still a variable in the end. If she was dead, then would Heshou be more at ease.
Qingyang Gongzhu snapped, "You should not put your mind on those messy things in the future. What you should be thinking right now is how to give birth to an heir and create a strong foothold for yourself as soon as you enter the Xuan Wangfu." Her daughter had become the 9th Prince's saviour, but being his saviour was not that all-powerful.
When Heshou heard her mother's words, her heart became bitter. If she wanted to be the 9th Prince's Ce Fei, she wouldn't have to wait until now. She only saved him because she just wanted him to be indebted to her, and later, he could thoroughly protect her, that was all. She had no other ideas. But the Emperor's bestowal of marriage had disrupted all her plans.
Heshou was now somewhat at a loss. When she came back to life, she wanted to live a reckless and happy life but never expected she would end up being someone's concubine. Being a concubine, even if her husband was a prince, her status was still lower than others.
Qingyang Gongzhu looked at the dazed Heshou and sternly reminded her, "Don't be confused anymore. If you're still this muddled after entering the wangfu, you will end up dead."
Hearing the word dead, Heshou's body trembled with fear. She didn't want to die. "Mother, I don't want to die."
Qingyang Gongzhu advised, "If you don't want to die, then listen to your mother. You must be careful when you get into the wangfu since Yu Xiyu is not a person you can easily get along with." The Yu family was too powerful. If not for her daughter's act of saving the 9th Prince's life and he could safeguard her daughter, she would have worried even more.
As Qingyang Gongzhu thought about this, she became annoyed. When Heshou married into Xuan Wangfu, she not only had to face Yuxiyu. There were also many other enemies, such as the 10th Prince consort, Han Yuchen.
The capital's disturbances had nothing to do with Yuxi, who was making clothes inside the house peacefully! Even though Zisu and Shiliu did lend their hand, they only did simple work like preparing thread that she would be using. Other things were done by herself.
Zijin came in from outside and told Yuxi, "Miss, General Yun has sent a sheep over. Let's roast the sheep for dinner tonight, Miss." Since Yuxi had angrily reprimanded Zisu last time because of the betrothal gift, Zijin had changed how she called Yun Qing to General Yun.
Mama Qu disagreed. "That won't do. It will be easy for a person to suffer from excessive internal heat from eating roasted mutton. Miss will be getting married at the end of the month, so it's not a good time to eat something like that." During this period, Yuxi had constantly been having soup and water.
Yuxi smiled and asked, "A whole sheep? I'm sure I'll be able to eat some today." Even in a border town like Yu City, as long as one had money, one could still have brocade garments and jade meals. But Yuxi had never let herself have big hands and big feet, which was why the food here was incomparable to the ones in the capital. Of course, Yuxi would not wrong herself.
Zijin looked at Yuxi and said with a smile, "Then we're going to have someone call the Second Master back?" Ever since Yuxi arrived in Yu City, Han Jianye would come back at night if he had nothing else to do.
Yuxi replied with a smile, "Tell Er Ge that if he isn't busy with military affairs, ask him to come back early." Because Yun Qing had inflicted severe damage to Sukhbaru, there had been follow-up battles in the past few months. However, they were only small-scale fights, and Yu City could still be considered a tranquil environment.
In the evening, when Han Jianye came, Yun Qing also followed along. Yun Qing did not come alone, though, as he also brought several of his bodyguards over.
Han Jianye explained with a smile, "I called Yun Qing over because he was the one who gave this sheep. We must not leave him behind!"
Yuxi was speechless. "I didn't say anything." Since you're already brought them here, it's only a matter of adding a few more pairs of chopsticks to the table. It would make her look petty if she told Han Jianye that.
Han Jianye said with a smile, "I'm just afraid you'll be embarrassed! Yuxi, do you know, several of Yun Qing's subordinates have told me that he is much better tempered lately and is not as harsh as before. Yuxi, this is all because of you!"
Yuxi ignored this weird brother of hers and went busy with her own business.
Their dinner was extraordinarily sumptuous. There was a pot of mutton soup, braised mutton, minced mutton with sauerkraut, sautéed mutton with green onions, four colours stewed mutton and several assorted vegetables. The main course was mutton paomo and a large plate of mutton dumplings with green onions.
Yun Qing's Favourite Dish : (Lamb/Mutton) Dumplings
When the dumplings were served, Mama Bai said, "Second Master, General Yun, the dumplings were specially made by Miss just now."
Yun Qing's expression remained unchanged. But Guo Xun, the bodyguard standing next to him, knew that his General was in a good mood. His General loved dumplings, and now Miss Han had specially prepared some for his General. Therefore, how could his General not be happy?
The days in the sixth lunar month were already sweltering. Han Jianye was sweating profusely, but he still couldn't put down his chopsticks. "Yun Qing, do you know, since my Si Mei came to Yu City, my standard of living has gone up. Two days ago, Meng Hu even laughed at me for gaining weight." Since his food intake went up, so did the meat on his body.
The food smelled good, but Yun Qing ate very modestly, unlike Han Jianye, who gobbled it up. He clipped a piece of mutton dumpling with green onion into his mouth. After swallowing it, he said, "Then you can do a drill for a shichen later on, and the meat will surely go down."
Han Jianye reacted cheerfully, "Keep that to yourself! When Yuxi marries you, don't get fat and become a ball instead." Of course, he was only joking. It wasn't like he didn't know how much physical effort Yun Qing had spent exercising every day. Yun Qing would never get fat even if he wanted to.
On the way back, Yun Qing's guard Jiang Bo said with a smile, "When Miss Han marries over, we won't have to eat Old Yu's cooking anymore." Old Yu was the cook at Yun Qing's residence. He had broken his leg and had nowhere else to go, so Yun Qing left him to cook at his home.
Guo Xun smilingly countered, "Don't let Old Yu know, or else he won't leave you any food for the next few days." Today's meal was delicious, not much worse than the food in the restaurant. And they would all have the luck to eat more delicious food like today in the future.
Tags:
The Rebirth of Han Yuxi