When everyone got up early in the morning, a heavy frost had painted the ground white. A cold wind blew, and the frosty leaves flew in the air. The ground and the roof were all white and dull.
Yuxi was doing exercise inside the house. The so-called exercise was only moving her limbs and joints. Since she couldn't get out this winter, she was unwilling only to eat and sleep, sleep and eat. That life was similar to raising pigs. She didn't know how fat she would be in the future, so Yuxi now spent a quarter of an hour every morning and evening moving her muscles and bones. Mama Qu and Mama Xi originally disagreed with this, but under Yuxi's insistence, in addition to the set of exercises being simple, the two then gave up.
Zijin watched Yuxi finish her exercise and smilingly commented, "Madam, it seems that you don't have any order when doing this. You are just doing it blindly."
Yuxi laughed. "What order should I have? This exercise is just to move my muscles and joints. And if I move them more now, the birth will be much smoother later." Since she had practised wuqinxi for so many years, and although she couldn't do it now, her movement was very smooth when she made some simple motions.
Zijin said with amusement, "No matter what Madam says, it made sense anyway."
Yuxi wasn't at all polite as she accepted Zijin's praise. She smilingly responded, "What I said made sense, didn't it?"
Zijin laughed. After finishing the small talk, she brought up the primary matter. "Madam, I went to the school yesterday to have a look. The men's school spends half a day reading and another half on martial arts practice, which is very good. But in the girls' school, the children read for the whole day. I don't think that's right. Why are the boys allowed to practice martial arts but not the girls?"
Yuxi still had no idea what Zijin was trying to say. "You want these little girls to practice martial arts too?"
Zijin nodded. "Yes. Madam, these little girls are still young. We can cultivate some promising young talents among them. Once these people are well trained, I won't have to worry about your safety in the future, Madam." She could think this way because she also considered her own situation. She did not want all the young girls to become talented in martial arts. As long as they could cultivate three or four of them were already enough.
Yuxi nodded for a moment. "You have a good idea, but we can not enforce this kind of thing without the consent of their elders and themselves." One would undoubtedly injure oneself when training martial arts. The elders wouldn't mind if they taught the boys, and these boys were all from military families. They would definitely go to war later on. If they started practising martial arts right now, it would be good for them. After they learned this skill, they would have more chances to survive and make meritorious military service in the future. But the girls were different. At present, people pay particular attention to people pampering their daughters. If the school forced those girls, this would lead to many complaints. Then, their good intentions would be perceived as them doing evil deeds.
Zijin smiled and nodded. "Yes. We should not cultivate all of them, only five to six girls."
However, Mama Qu was not optimistic about Zijin's proposal. "Madam, this personal female bodyguard is different from ordinary maids and old women servants. Once they have bad intentions, they can threaten Madam's life at any time. So my point is, if we want to train female bodyguards, we should not choose from the girls' school, but buy some maids, then train them well. In the future, these people will be loyal to Madam."
Yuxi nodded her head. "Mama Qu's concern is not unreasonable, but if we want to buy people, we should not do it too blatantly. Just purchase them privately. In addition, Zijin's suggestion is also quite good. As long as these children and their respective parents agree, they can also practice martial arts. As to whether they will be a personal guard, there is no 100% certainty to it, which makes it impossible to transfer them to our side." Yuxi's objective had always been loyalty came first, ability second. Like Zisu, in fact, she had many shortcomings, but Yuxi still employed her as a personal bodyguard because she was loyal enough to her.
As they talked, Zisu came in. Holding the account books in her hand, she reported to Yuxi, "Madam, I've read the account for the restaurant and the farm, and they are all fine." Zisu was not only in charge of the inner courtyard's account but also managed the restaurant and the farm's accounts. The account books would pass to Zisu's hands and then sent to Yuxi's.
Yuxi smiled. "Put it on the table. I'll read it later." These books, Yuxi wouldn't check all the content of these books. She would only scan certain parts. After all, her time and energy were very limited for the time being.
Zisu complied by putting the account books on the table and was just about to open her mouth to speak. At that moment, a young maid came in from outside and informed Yuxi, "Madam, Guard Xu requests to see you."
Yuxi was a little surprised. "Let Guard Xu come in." There must be something wrong this time.
After Xu Wu came in, he reported, "Madam, I just got the news that the old couple who submitted a lawsuit against Fourth Master Xu hanged themselves at the Qin residence's main gate last night."
Yuxi's eyes widened, and she asked, "How could that be?"
When Mama Qu heard this, she was full of questions. "How did they hang themselves at the gate of the General's mansion? Does the Qin family have no guards guarding the main gate?" Like the Yun residence, there were not only guards on duty at night but also two gatekeepers to keep watch. The reason why there were two additional people on night duty was to prevent someone from dozing off. If there were only two people and in case they fell asleep, they wouldn't have known what was going on. If there were two additional people, they could switch to sleep, and nothing would happen. Please read this chapter at xin-shou dot site.
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Xu Wu answered, "It is not clear. On this cold day, I think the doorkeepers and guards that were on duty at night should be asleep, right?" Yun Qing was strict, so the guards in residence wouldn't dare to find time to shirk away from their work. As for the servants who were on duty, they didn't dare to slack off. There were a series of rules set by Yuxi. It would have been minor if one was punished with boards for violating the rules, but it would be a big issue if one lost the job instead. As Xu Wu said, the guard on night duty and the gatekeeper of the Qin residence were indeed asleep. Otherwise, the couple couldn't have died in front of the Qin residence.
Mama Qu asked another question. "Xu Wu said the old couple hung themselves? How did they hang themselves at the main gate?" This place was not a jungle, where one could just find a tree and hang oneself.
Xu Wu said: "The two were hanging on top of the Qin residence's main gate. They used white silk, in addition to the word 'injustice' written on the gate."
Hearing this, not to mention Mama Qu, even Yuxi knew something was wrong with this incident. "The gate is so high. How did they throw the white silk up?" Not to mention that the two deceased were an old couple; even young women did not have this ability.
Xu Wu shook his head. "I'm not sure about that. If Madam wants to know, I'll have someone check it out." This matter was indeed very fishy.
Yuxi shook her head and said, "Just have someone ask around and only to know the progress of this matter. No need to waste human resources to investigate it deeply." Someone was clearly scheming against the Qin family. If they investigated this, the Qin family people would find out and inevitably suspect them in cahoots with the people behind the scenes. But Yuxi did not expect her act of handing a paper of accusation to the yamen, wanting to test the depth of the water, to have caused such a thing.
Xu Wu accepted the instruction and went away.
Zijin frowned. "Madam, who do you think is behind this? How can they use such a method to strike the Qin family?"
Yuxi shook her head. "This matter is still unclear, but the person behind the scene must have a huge grudge with the Qin family. It must have been bitter and deep-seated hatred." No mere enemy would use such cruel means. It was important for everyone to know that if someone hung themselves in front of someone else's house, it would not only bring bad luck to the family but also make them suffer from public criticism. Of course, since the Qin family was very powerful, no one dared to condemn and criticise openly. At most, people would mutter about it in private. However, this incident made Xu Shi feel humiliated for a while.
Nevertheless, Mama Qu said, "One can only say that the inner and outer courtyards of the Qin House were not tight enough, which was why people could exploit them." Such a big thing was not only discovered until early in the morning but also shocked passers-by. One might well imagine how lax the Qin residence's management was. If by any chance, someone harboured malicious intent, it would have been an easy thing for them to penetrate the Qin House to kill someone. This was enough for everyone to see how incompetent Xu Shi, the mistress in charge, was.
Yuxi nodded her head. "This matter should be taken as a warning." If one did not manage a home properly, it would bring disaster to the home at any time.
Inside the Qin residence, Xu Shi was spouting smoke through her seven orifices that she scolded the steward. While the chief guard of the Qin House, who she also reprimanded, did not dare to raise his head. "Are you all dead? Ah, you didn't even notice such a big movement? The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are doing. Ah, you didn't even notice such a big noise?" As for the gatekeeper who fell asleep on night duty last night, her subordinates had dragged him to the woodshed. Meanwhile, the guard who was on night duty last night, Xu Shi unable to replace him since she didn't have the authority over the guards.
The steward just waited for Xu Shi to finish scolding him. After that, Xu Shi's most trusted old woman servant said, "Madam, isn't the most important thing to do now to find out the mastermind?"
Xu Shi had to restrain her anger as she instructed the steward, "Hurry up and check it out. I want to see who is doing this unseemly, devilish trick." To her surprise, that person even dared to go over her head. If she didn't use drastic measures against the one responsible this time, people would think her Qin family was easily bullied.
The steward and the chief guard immediately withdrew. One shouldn't be fooled by her gentle and soft temper while outside. Her genuine character was actually not that good. She would verbally abuse her servants at every turn. And when she got angry, she would directly punish them with a rod, and many of the servants had been penalised this way.
After everyone left, Xu Shi asked Mama Gong, "Ru Niang, do you think Han Shi was the one who did this?" The first person Xu Shi suspected was Yuxi. It was because this incident was initially caused by Yuxi. [+]
Mama Gong was not only Xu Shi's ru niang but also often advised her. After hearing this, Mama Gong shook her head. "As soon as her involvement is brought to light, Yun Qing will have to carry the reputation of being ungrateful and treacherous. Han Shi is not that foolish." Even though Han Shi submitted the written complaint, the one she sued was the Xu family, which had nothing to do with the Qin family.
Xu Shi nodded her head and asked, "Then who is it? Who did this dirty trick?" When she thought of the people's death by hanging at the main gate, Xu Shi felt that she would suffer bad luck. How could she go out in the future?
Mama Gong assured her, "Madam, don't worry. The steward will be able to find out." With the status and power of the Qin family in Yu City, there was no worry about finding out the people behind the scenes.
A stern look appeared in Xu Shi's eyes, and she swore, "If I finally find out who it is, I'll let that person die a horrible death." Ever since she was a child, she had never suffered such a pitfall.
Mama Gong sighed. That day, she had advised Madam not to get involved in the matter of the Fourth Master Xu and just to let the Xu family people deal with it. The Xu family hadn't even handled the issue, yet Madam had already stepped in. Madam refused to listen to her advice and wrote a letter to threaten Assistant Prefect Mu, resulting in the Qin family getting involved. After this incident, the Qin family's reputation would certainly be damaged. Mama Gong didn't know if the General would be angry with his wife over this matter when he returned.
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi