Jian Xubai left neatly while Commandery Princess Qingjiang and Song Yixiao were confused. Hence, they asked the eunuch to stay so that they could learn more about the sudden incidence.
“It should be official business?” The eunuch racked his brains to recall what the errand-man of Marquis Boling said, “It seems to be related to Ministry of War.”
Song Yixiao was relieved to hear that. Because of Zhiqin, she had no relish for Yuan Xuepei, but she still didn’t want to see anything untoward happen to him. After all, without him, Yuan Xue’e would have nobody to rely on.
Now that the Yuan Family was okay, she shifted her focus onto bonding with Commandery Princess Qingjiang.
However, after a while, another servant came to report, saying that Zhuo Ping’an was crying in the yard and that no one could stop him. Commandery Princess Qingjiang replied, “Never mind.” Yet, she was sitting on pins and needles. Song Yixiao realized that she couldn’
Song Yixiao felt headache to hear the suggestion, “Jian Xubai has no problem with that? Absolutely not!”He just told her to stay away from Su Shaoge the other day. He even ordered to give the malus spectabilis hairpin that Su Shaoge compensated her to a maid. If he learnt that she had a meal with Su Shaoge, how could he have no problem with it?However, the Su sisters didn’t know her difficulty. Both of them believed that it was a good solution.At the moment, Su Shaoling nodded her head, “If Madam Song can do me the favor to agree, we can ask our brother to pay for the meal!”“The best way to show respect is to obey!” Song Yixiao had owed Su Shaoge one before. Now that Su Shaoge’s legitimate sister even talked of “do me the favor”, she was too embarrassed to decline. Hence, she could only make up her mind and say with a smile, “But please allow me to pay for the meal. I haven’t thanked Mr. Su for his favor regarding Yiluo’s matte
Song Yixiao didn’t realize that the faked loving gestures between her and Jian Xubai had been revealed. After returning to Duke of Yan’s mansion, she learnt that Jian Xubai had come back. So, she handed over the newly purchased jewelries to Jinxun, “The necklaces and chrysanthemum hairpins are the gifts I am about to send out; as to the plum-blossom pearl hair ornaments, I will wear them myself. For the rest, you can share them.”Then she had some desserts prepared and brought them to the study to ask for information.“How can you come to apologize with a few plates of desserts that are even not made by you?” Jian Xubai was writing. Upon hearing the knock on the door, he said, “Come in.” Then he saw the tray on his wife’s hand, raising his eyebrows and sneering, “Do I look so easy to handle?”Song Yixiao put down the desserts and said casually, “I only had a meal that I couldn’t decline. It’s no big deal. Why do I have to apologize for that?”
This marriage was totally out of Song Yixiao’s expectation. She repeated subconsciously as she asked, “What did you just say?”“Miss Wei Chan will marry Third Young Master Lu.” Liyu reminded her as she continued, “Did you forget what had happened when we had been living in Hanxia Villa? Her Ladyship had been there for a short period.”It was not until Song Yixiao heard Liyu’s words that she made sure she had not misheard anything. However, she was not happy at all. Instead, feeling dubious, she contemplated for a while as she said, “Call Qiaoqin over here. I have some questions for her!”Qiaoqin was sent by her to help Ms. Zhao some days ago. After the case of Youhong was closed, she helped Ms. Zhao for two days. Only yesterday afternoon did she return to the mansion, so Song Yixiao gave her a two-day break.Qiaoqin was taking a nap in her room at that moment. After she was informed about Song Yixiao’s order, she got changed in a h
Wei Chan sobbed as she said, “If only I knew what I had done to irritate him. He sent somebody over here a few nights ago, directly informing me that I was not qualified to be a daughter-in-law of the Lu Family. If I was sensible and considerate, I should ask my elders to stand out and find an excuse to break off the marital engagement between us. Otherwise, he would strike out by himself, which probably would embarrass the whole Wei Family!”As Song Yixiao heard her words, she was astounded and said, “How come did that happen? How come did he request to break off a public marital engagement without any valid reasons? You’d better think about it discreetly!”Wei Chan, who was genuinely anxious, replied, “Based on how the current situation goes, if I insisted on playing dumb, I would certainly bring destruction upon myself.” After that, she simply stood up and left her seat. “Bang!” Kneeling down in front of Song Yixiao directly, she clutched at her knees an
Jian Xubai was so angry that he burst into laughter instead as he said, “Divorce letter?”Turning around all of a sudden, he pushed Song Yixiao, who had just stood up, staggeringly back to the couch. He bent over and stroked her cheek with one hand as he supported himself beside her with the other hand.His finger pulps, which were thinly horned, lingered on Song Yixiao’s smooth and tender skin for a while and stopped themselves at the corner of her eyes in the end. It was not until Jian Xubai stirred her curly eyelashes with his finger pulps that he said smilingly, “You seemed not to take what I had said to your heart, right? How come you dared to ask for a divorce letter from me?”As Song Yixiao thought of his words of “sudden death” last time, the look on her face changed dramatically. She stared at him indifferently and didn’t say anything at all.“You aren’t convinced by me, right?” Jian Xubai lowered his head and pressed his
In the backyard, Song Yixiao wore a homely red short jacket and white skirt, with a light yellow shawl half-drooping. She leaned lazily on the head of the bed. Her hair was loosely tied up in a side bun and the jade hairpin bought from the store near Taoli Restaurant was oblique in the bun.The hairpin head made of silver wires reflected bright light in a sunset cast through the west window, which was so shining that Jinxun couldn’t open her eyes wide. Therefore, she had to lower her head more and said, “Ji Su cannot stop His Highness. Madam, don’t you really go to persuade him?”“He’s angry now.” Song Yixiao snorted and said, “Ji Su has been serving him from his childhood. If he can’t persuade him well, what’s the use of my going there? I have just married into this family for a few days. He will vent his anger to me for no reason, so why should I bother?”“Ji Su is just a servant. How can he compare with you?” Jinxun knew that she was making
Song Yixiao knew that her father-in-law and her husband didn’t get along well, and the decision not to give the manpower to Jian Yiyou was made by Jian Xubai himself. But being the daughter-in-law was different from being the son. There would always be room for mediation no matter how troublesome it was as long as the blood and family existed. The daughter-in-law didn’t have such good treatment. If she was entitled as unfilial, it would be taken for granted for her to be forced to divorce and go back her parents’ home.Therefore, she didn’t dare to neglect the requirement. “Father, after having promised mother, I went home and invited the managers to discuss, but the list given by Chief House Steward was large, and I just married into this family. I thought that this had already been at the end of the year. If all the people were transferred, in case there was something wrong...”Who knew that she hadn’t finished speaking, Jian Likuang interrupted her with
Song Yixiao led her maids, including Qiaoqin, to the drawing-room. It was not until she confirmed nothing was wrong with the sealing tapes that she let them open the boxes.Among the three boxes, two ones were filled with title deeds and antique treasures respectively. While dazzling collections of ornaments made of pearl and jade filled up the remaining one.The ancestors of the Pei Family came from an aristocratic and distinguished clan, which was well-known in the historical record for its glory and prevalence throughout several dynasties in a row. It was not until the imperial examination started to gain popularity in the previous dynasty that the Pei Family started to be on the decline gradually. Even so, as a legitimately collateral branch, the Pei Family, having no notorious wastrels, still got a profound foundation.Of course, such three boxes certainly couldn’t accommodate all the accumulations the Pei Family had got all over these yea