Chapter 12

What did you say to Shan'er?

Xiao Chuan thought that Xiao Shan would cry and make a fuss after being taken away from Mi Yao while he was talking to her alone. However, after Mi Yao hugged Xiao Shan and said a few words, Xiao Shan quietly left with the maid. But when he stepped out the door, he turned back and looked at Mi Yao reluctantly.

Of course, I was only looking at Mi Yao.

From the moment he entered until she left, Xiao Shan didn't glance in his direction once.

It was as if he were the stranger who had just arrived at the Xiao residence and hadn't met her many times.

"I told her to go and play with her brothers for a while, and I'll pick her up for dinner later."

"that's all?"

A hint of doubt flashed in Xiao Chuan's brown eyes, and his gaze toward Mi Yao became even sharper.

"What else can we do?"

Mi Yao met Xiao Chuan's scrutinizing gaze, blinked, and said coquettishly, "Young Master Xiao doesn't think I scared Little Lady Xiao, which is why she's behaving so obediently, does he?"

Looking at her graceful and delicate figure, Xiao Chuan thought that if scaring people was effective, his threats would be more effective. This morning, he had even threatened Xiao Shan to feed her to the tiger.

But it was of no use at all.

All of this made him suspect that Xiao Shan had become even more foolish in the past few months and couldn't understand the threats he was making.

"We will be married in three days. As for any arrangements you have for the wedding, just go to the accountant to get the money."

Xiao Shan's reliance on Mi Yao was something he couldn't figure out the reason for.

But he didn't want to ask Mi Yao for an answer. There couldn't be any magic in this world that could make a child rely on a stranger. Knowing that there were people around when the two met several times seemed absurd, but the truth was that Mi Yao had caught Xiao Shan's eye.

Even though Mi Yao met Xiao Shan several times, she wasn't particularly affectionate towards him. She only kept him around because she was afraid that he would cry and things would get out of hand. But Xiao Shan seemed oblivious and kept holding onto Mi Yao again and again.

Unable to find the internal cause, Xiao Chuan could only attribute the problem to Mi Yao's face.

Xiao Shan was a maid, and most maids loved beauty and charm. Yu Nu's face was even more beautiful than summer flowers, so it's not surprising that she would be liked by young girls.

As long as Mi Yao is mindful of her feelings and can conceal her aversion to Xiao Shan, and shows some patience in satisfying Xiao Shan's affection for her, he will consider it a merit and give her more power, at least making her more comfortable than she was in Jiangnan.

"Xiao Lang, stay."

Seeing that Xiao Chuan had finished speaking and was about to leave, Mi Yao quickly called him back.

"Is there anything else?"

After a night's rest, the bloodshot in Xiao Chuan's eyes had faded considerably, but the cold indifference in his eyes, sharp as a blade, remained.

His gaze fell lightly on Mi Yao, moving from top to bottom, not as if he were admiring a beauty, but as if he were looking at some insignificant furnishings.

Despite Xiao Chuan's coldness, Mi Yao remained relatively at ease. She could sense that Xiao Chuan's intimacy with her in Jingzhou was a test.

Now that he knows her better and no longer needs to test her, he reverts to his true nature.

She greatly admired his aversion to women and hoped he would continue to do so.

As for stopping him, it was because he said he could ask the accountant for money at will.

It's fine to be able to withdraw money at will, but it's not good to withdraw money to decorate a wedding.

"Young Master Xiao is joking with me. How can the matter of marriage be handled by an unmarried woman?"

"Isn't it better if you make the arrangements?"

Xiao Chuan frowned slightly, not understanding what Yu Nu meant. He had given her authority, but she didn't seem to be deliberately pretending to be afraid and refuse. Rather, she genuinely felt that this matter should not be managed by her.

"Of course not."

Xiao Chuan was Zhao Tianhe's adopted son. He held the official rank of fourth-grade military commander and was a powerful military officer with 10,000 soldiers under his command.

Just thinking about organizing his wedding makes me realize how incredibly troublesome it will be.

Even if everything is kept simple, deciding what to cook at the wedding banquet can still be a headache.

Fearing that Xiao Chuan might misunderstand her because of her rudeness towards the Ma family mother and daughter, Mi Yao felt that some things needed to be clarified first.

“Young Master Xiao should find a capable steward to manage the household. Apart from the wedding, Young Master Xiao is always busy outside, and my children and I need someone to take care of us. If there is no backbone to lead the household, Young Master will be too tired when he is leading troops to fight outside and has to comfort us when he returns home.”

After hearing Mi Yao's words, the cold indifference in Xiao Chuan's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep and inquisitive look.

"So you're not the pillar of support?" Xiao Chuan's lips curled up, his voice slightly mocking. "What do you think I married you for?"

"Naturally, it's because I'm beautiful, beautiful enough to make Xiao Lang want to pamper me."

Regardless of Xiao Chuan's expression, Mi Yao responded with charm, her soft, sweet voice and beautiful eyes filled with spring water as she gazed at him intently.

"After marrying my husband, I will devote all my energy to dressing up and looking beautiful. I will become more and more beautiful. If my husband dislikes me for being ugly when I am forty, I will hide in the backyard and live out my life quietly."

Xiao Chuan had never seen such an extraordinary person as Mi Yao.

But because there was no comparison, he didn't know if all beautiful women were like her.

They speak with humility and caution, placing themselves in a lowly position, sounding aggrieved and pitiful, yet their demeanor subtly conveys a sense of superiority and assertiveness.

It's as if he, as the "master," has to carefully serve this delicate flower, otherwise he wouldn't deserve to be a human being.

"You only focus your energy on your face?"

"It's not what Xiao Lang said; money and power are the only supplements for beautiful women."

Mi Yao often used his words to shut him up, and Xiao Chuan suspected several times that she was being sarcastic and mocking him, but she always appeared open and honest, with trust in her eyes.

"But you only want money, not power."

"What right does it take to be a manager?"

Mi Yao covered her mouth and chuckled, her almond-shaped eyes sparkling with beautiful light. "The right a beauty should have is the right to enjoy the fruits of others' labor, not the right to be treated like a slave."

Her tone was frank and earnest, revealing her true thoughts, but Xiao Chui remained indifferent.

He had previously suspected that she wasn't Yu Shaoyang's biological sister and was therefore investigating her.

His first step was to interrogate the driver who was driving for her and Huan Guanbin. Because of the cold weather, the driver was driving outside the car and did not hear the entire conversation between the two.

But the coachman clearly heard the few words Mi Yao said that made Huan Guanbin cry.

When he heard the driver's account, he thought about it more deeply, wondering if Yu knew the road ahead was dangerous and was using this method to force her lover away.

Now he was certain that those words must have come from Yu Nu's true heart.

He thought she was too intelligent and too kind.

Despite her prestigious family background and numerous accolades, she was nothing but a hedonist who only cared about pleasure and was a complete idiot.

*

Since Mi Yao had already said those words, Xiao Chuan naturally wouldn't bring up the matter of the steward again.

The next day, he went to the governor's mansion and asked his adoptive father, Zhao Tianhe, to borrow a steward who could temporarily manage the affairs of the mansion.

Seeing that Xiao Chua had borrowed people from his house, Zhao Tianhe laughed and said, "Your marriage should have been arranged by me, your godfather. I've already prepared people for you. But what do you mean by borrowing people for half a month? Do you think Yu Nu is not good enough? Are you afraid that she will take power and mistreat your children?"

“She was more pragmatic than I thought, unafraid of marrying far away, and never brought up my background.”

Knowing that Yu had a lover, he originally planned to coerce and intimidate her several times before he could teach her to break up with her lover and stay obediently in the Xiao residence.

Mi Yao was quite relieved in this regard. She hadn't asked about Huan Guanbin's life or death since that night, and judging from her personality, she wouldn't ask again in the future.

He married Yu Nu for Yu Shaoyang's sake. Now that he has made contact with Yu Shaoyang and Yu Shaoyang is considering resigning from his official post and going to Shu, Yu Nu has already been put to good use.

Once he understood this, he no longer had any thoughts about Mi Yao's pursuit of pleasure.

She felt that managing the affairs of the manor was like being a slave to him, so he would find a steward to do as she wished, so that she could continue to be a pampered flower who didn't have to worry about anything.

"If she doesn't mind your shortcomings, how do you view her? Does she feel happy or not?"

Zhao Tianhe looked at his adopted son's solemn and cold features and laughed, "You're lucky, kid. The most beautiful woman in Jiangnan was fought over by the military governor of Huainan and the prince of Jiangning for several years, but in the end, you stepped out and snatched her away."

"Yu Nu is indeed beautiful."

Although his reasons for proposing to Mi Yao were all related to Mi Yao's brother, he did not deny that Mi Yao was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

After Xiao Chuan finished speaking, seeing that Zhao Tianhe was waiting for him to continue, Xiao Chuan thought for a moment and asked his question: "I'm quite lucky."

"You rascal, you'd be wasting a beautiful woman on me."

Zhao Tianhe laughed and said that when Xiao Chuan was seventeen or eighteen years old, he had been thinking about finding a wife for him so that she could take care of his children and his mother.

Before he could find a suitable match, Xiao Chuan's mother passed away. After the mourning period, Xiao Chuan got the most beautiful woman, which was quite lucky. But judging from Xiao Chuan's clueless appearance, he probably won't enjoy any marital bliss and will remain lonely in the future.

"You should pay more attention to your future wife. Yu Nu is unwilling to take charge because she is afraid of you because you are too fierce. Be more gentle and patient with her. You are such a good man, how could she not be gentle and considerate to you and live a good life with you?"

"I know."

Xiao Chuan did not feel that Mi Yao was not obedient to him.

She wanted a good life, but only her own, not his.

After finishing his business and returning home, Xiao Chuan had a meal with his two brothers, Xiao Yi.

At the dinner table, Xiao Liang stole glances at Xiao Chuan several times, and finally mustered up his courage to ask in a low voice, "After Father and Mother have their wedding ceremony, will we be able to eat with Shan'er and Mother?"

Seeing the expectation in Xiao Liang's eyes, Xiao Chuan frowned, not understanding why Mi Yao clearly didn't want to get too involved with the children, yet they all seemed oblivious to this, expecting their mother, Mi Yao, to be affectionate with them.

He couldn't discipline Xiao Shan's daughter, who only knew how to cry and make a fuss and wouldn't listen to reason. As for his two sons...

Xiao Chuan disliked their unnecessary expectations of Mi Yao and coldly instructed, "Just because you call her your mother doesn't mean you can treat her like your own mother. Everything is as usual. You have wet nurses and servants. You don't need any more people to take care of you."

After listening to his father's words, Xiao Liang understood that his father meant that he could not live in the same room as Mi Yao like his sister, and Mi Yao would not hug him or say more intimate words to him.

As he stood up from the bench and nodded in agreement, mimicking his brother, he couldn't help but let his eyes well up with tears.

I understand now that only Shan'er has a mother, not that they all have a mother who loves them.