Chapter 78 [VIP]

Yu Chengda, as the family's mascot, made only one contribution: giving birth to a beautiful daughter for the Yu family.

Some people ridiculed him for this, but he took pride in it.

They even considered having many children their greatest responsibility, with a bunch of women in their backyard, and new children still being born at this age.

Mi Yao is his most satisfying work at this stage. Compared to the other children, he has an unusual fondness for her. He finds her even more charming than when she was in Jiangnan. He strokes his beautiful beard, his eyes full of appreciation for the beautiful work he has created. He can't wait to have someone set out the painting tools and paint a picture of Mi Yao.

Let the portrait circulate, so that the world may know how truly worthy of the title of the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan was.

Yu Shaoyang didn't know much about Yu Chengda's character because he hadn't spent much time with him, while Mi Yao, relying on the original owner's memories, had figured out the general idea when she was in the Yu family.

Seeing Yu Chengda's appreciative expression, she turned around in a circle to cooperate: "I was busy with chores today, so I dressed a little plainly. Knowing that I was going to see Father today, I should have dressed more appropriately."

"This is already quite good."

Mi Yao wore a shawl adorned with gold and silver iris flowers, a light green silk robe, and a pomegranate-colored skirt. Her simple attire couldn't hide her noble air. Especially against the backdrop of bright red and green, Mi Yao's face appeared even more beautiful. Even though her hair was only decorated with a few pearl flowers and she didn't wear any hairpins or phoenix hair ornaments, no one would doubt her identity; they would only find her unique.

The more Yu Chengda looked at his daughter, the more satisfied he became. However, when he heard his daughter say that she had to deal with some chores, he spoke with slight dissatisfaction: "Leave those worries to the servants. What are you going to do? Look at your uncle and aunt. They have so many wrinkles on their faces because they have so many worries to deal with every day. They look extremely ugly."

Yu Erniangzi never expected that she would be scolded by Mi Yao for being coquettish, while her parents would be described as extremely ugly by Yu Chengda.

Seeing the father and daughter catching up, Yu Chengda seemed to have completely forgotten that Mi Yao had left them hanging for a day, and the hurtful words she had said to her.

Yu Erniangzi stamped her foot: "Yu Miyao, what do you mean? I came to see you out of kindness, why are you putting on airs? Who's being coquettish!"

"You came to see me?"

Mi Yao glanced at her from beginning to end. "Who are you trying to fool with that? You're a widow who traveled all this way to see your distant cousin, with whom you don't get along but who's doing very well. What are you looking for? To see me doing well so you can cry louder under the covers at night?"

"you!"

I never expected that Mi Yao would be so sharp-tongued after not seeing her for more than half a year. No wonder the old woman who came to Yizhou hated Mi Yao so much, saying that she disrespected her elders and did not care about the Yu family.

Madam Yu trembled with rage: "Second Uncle, are you just going to let your daughter talk to me like that?!"

Hearing his niece's plea for help, Yu Chengda tried to calm her down, but seeing his daughter calm and composed, her skin as smooth as fresh snow, glowing with a misty sheen, while his niece's face was flushed red, her already unremarkable features were smoothed out by anger, her whole face looking like a flattened red fruit.

Stroking his beard, Yu Chengda remained silent as everyone watched him seemingly preparing to speak.

Seeing this, Yu Erniangzi understood everything. The father and daughter were in cahoots, and no one would stand up for her.

"Yu Miyao, remember this: even if you invite me to your Xiao residence in the future, no one from the Yu family's main branch will enter. And don't ever set foot in the Yu family again!"

"If you meant what you said, you wouldn't have traveled all the way to Yizhou, dressed like a peacock, all by yourself like a wedding procession, all bright red and purple, making a racket. You can't enter the Xiao family, but as for the Yu family, you're a married woman, a widow whose husband has died and has no one to rely on. What do you mean by what you say?"

Upon hearing Mi Yao's words, Yu Chengda's eyes lit up. He had been looking at his niece's outfit all day and couldn't think of a suitable description, but Mi Yao had said it.

One person resembled a wedding procession.

Wonderful, wonderful.

"We're all sisters, Fufu..."

Before Yu Chengda could finish trying to smooth things over, Yu Erniangzi burst into tears, covered her face, and ran away.

"Why did you leave? Did you two have a fight and take it so seriously?"

Seeing that Second Madam Yu had left, Mi Yao blinked, her tone much softer than before, as if she was genuinely puzzled as to why Second Madam Yu would get angry over such a small matter.

"Second Aunt's temper..."

Yu Chengda sighed and followed Mi Yao's lead, placing all the blame on the already departed Second Madam Yu.

Seeing that Yu Erniangzi had been angered away by Mi Yao, the remaining few who met Mi Yao's gaze all shrank back.

Especially the legitimate daughter, Yu Yiqing, the fourteenth daughter.

Previously in the Yu family, Second Madam Yu disliked the original owner's arrogance and caused her a lot of trouble. Apart from that, Yu Yiqing was not much better.

Both were born of the legitimate wife, one was famous, the other was unknown, Yu Shen.

The original owner couldn't find anyone to stand up for her, but in the second wife's household, she could ask Yu Chengda to make decisions for her.

Looking at that group of people, including Yu Chengda,

It's unacceptable for someone to refuse to let their own father in front of onlookers after a quarrel.

Even if you really want to turn them away, you have to do some pretense first.

So after Yu Jiayin left, Mi Yao instructed the gatekeeper to open the gates wide and formally welcome Yu Chengda into the mansion.

"You are Xiao Shi..."

Sitting down in the main hall of the Xiao residence, Yu Chengda heard Yu Xiu call him "father" and was puzzled for a moment. He then remembered that when Mi Yao married into Yizhou, a concubine had come with her.

"Father, I am the eighteenth child."

Knowing that Yu Chengda would definitely not remember her name, Yu Xiu did not bother to remind him. She knew from her time in the Yu family that she could only get the protection of her elder sister if she was even more subservient than a maid.

Now, my sister is not the same as before. She has real family now, so she cares even less about Yu Chengda, her biological father who can't even remember her.

"The feng shui of Yizhou is nurturing; you now look somewhat like Hu Hu."

Yu Chengda's impression of Yu Xiu was that she was an average-looking daughter, not even as good-looking as Mi Yao's maid. He didn't expect that after not seeing her for more than half a year, she seemed to have grown up and become someone he could remember.

Yu Yiqing also looked at Yu Xiu and found that she was even more beautiful than before, and couldn't help but admit in her heart that the feng shui of Yizhou was good for people.

She thought Mi Yao had married into a remote place and that the man she married was a peasant, and that Mi Yao's life was over. But it turned out that it wasn't like that at all.

Xiao Chuan was a peasant, but he was capable enough to gain the favor of the childless and infertile Jiedushi of Jiannan.

Moreover, from the entrance to the main hall, every detail of the Xiao residence was exquisitely furnished, and there were many servants serving the guests. Compared to the crowded second branch of the Yu family, she felt that this place was more than twice as good.

Looking at the three children who were paying their respects to Yu Chengda, she felt that it was better than she had imagined.

I originally thought they were three disobedient stepsons and stepdaughters who would cause trouble for Mi Yao everywhere, but they were all outstanding in appearance and seemed to have well-behaved personalities.

The two younger ones, in particular, knew that Yu Chengda was Mi Yao's father and their maternal grandfather. They immediately climbed onto Yu Chengda's lap and sat down, one on each side, which amused Yu Chengda.

"My sister has taught the children so well."

Thinking that Mi Yao must have used vicious methods to make these children listen to her so much, Yu Yiqing still smiled broadly, clearly trying to please Mi Yao.

"Don't call me like Xiu'er. Your flattery and the ugly way you squeeze your face into a chrysanthemum won't make me feel good. It will only make me think you're even dumber than before."

Previously in the Yu family, Yu Yiqing, relying on being a legitimate daughter, would not address the original owner as "elder sister," only calling her "fourth sister" when she had no other choice in front of her elders.

Hearing Mi Yao speak so harshly to Yu Jiayin, Yu Yiqing knew she wouldn't get away with it either. But seeing that she had already tried to please Mi Yao, yet she still spoke ill of her, Yu Yiqing looked at Yu Chengda with a wronged expression: "Father, look at Fourth Sister, no matter what we say, she's not satisfied. Does she not want us to come and see her?"

"Huhu, it's okay to throw a tantrum. Everyone in the house is family, and your sister didn't say anything wrong."

Yu Chengda stepped in to mediate. He could see that Mi Yao was not welcoming to her brothers and sisters. If he hadn't come with a mission, he wouldn't care how Mi Yao treated her sisters, but now that everyone he brought had a purpose, he couldn't indulge Mi Yao's temper.

"Granny Zhou, take the young master and his wives back to the courtyard to rest."

Sensing that Yu Chengda was about to get down to business, Mi Yao waved her hand to reduce the number of people in the room to more than half.

"Huhu, how do you get along with your son-in-law? I've heard that he loves you very much."

The reason the Yu family sent him with several of their own was because they had heard a lot about Mi Yao's rise to power in Yizhou and knew that Xiao Chuan had caused the death of Consort Chang's younger brother in Yizhou because of Mi Yao's anger.

In addition, Yu Shaoyang was given important responsibilities here, unlike when he was squeezed out of the power circle in the capital.

When a family has many offspring, it is natural to arrange marriages in various places.

In order to quell the anger of the military governor of Huainan, who is now the king of Huainan, the Yu family sent more than one young woman to him. But even so, the king of Huainan still harbors hatred towards the Yu family.

Tang Tanyi, on the other hand, refused to accept any other women from the Yu family.

The head of the Yu family sent Mi Yao to marry into Jiannan not only to avoid offending either side, but also because he had high hopes for Zhao Tianhe. Now he was even more certain of his judgment.

The Prince of Huainan has rebelled and is now besieged on both sides. Jiangning is begging Zhao Tianhe to form an alliance with him. Now that Jiannan's power is stable, Jingzhou is also on the verge of being taken over by Zhao Tianhe.

In this situation, the head of the Yu family wanted to increase his stakes, so Yu Chengda brought his niece and daughter to visit Mi Yao.

Mi Yao was not happy about becoming a pimp.

She knew that Yu Chengda's indulgence in her scolding of Yu Jiayin was a gesture of goodwill, making her feel that they were on the same side.

But so what?

She got the benefit, but she just wouldn't do anything for him.

Stopping Yu Chengda and pretending to be nonchalant as he ordered the servants to fetch their luggage from their lodgings, Mi Yao said, "My husband loves me because he needs an obedient wife, not a fool who prioritizes her own family. Father, let alone moving luggage, I can't even keep you here any longer. What husband's family would like a wife with a bunch of younger brothers and sisters? Selling them by weight would pave the way for the Yu family, but it would build up the Xiao family's connections."

Mi Yao's gaze swept over Yu Yiqing and the others, finally landing on Yu Shisi Niang, who looked similar to her. "Don't say I'm disrespecting my family. We all know what the Yu family's intentions are in sending someone who looks so much like me."

They look alike, so who would dare to marry her? To do so would be disrespecting Xiao Chuan and coveting his wife.

Who knows if he was thinking about sleeping with Yu Shisi Niangzi when he was sleeping with her?

Since she couldn't marry someone else, it would naturally benefit Xiao Chuan.

The Yu family sent that person over precisely because she didn't listen to them and they wanted to find someone to take away her power in the Xiao family.

They overestimated Yu Chengda's importance in her heart; even though he was brought by her father, she still wanted to get rid of him.

“Huhu, you’re not pregnant yet, and I see you still have your hair styled like a young lady at eighteen. Your family is doing this for your own good, why are you only thinking the worst?”

Yu Chengda sighed, "I'm your father, how could I not think of you? If I hadn't stood up for you when you got married, do you think you could have left with so many servants' indentures?"

Mi Yao raised an eyebrow: "You need to fight for your own daughter to get the treatment she deserves. Instead of being self-satisfied with how good you are to me, you should think about what you have been doing for the past few decades as a father. Have you been a serious father? How come you have no money or power at this age and your words carry no weight in the family?"

As soon as Mi Yao finished speaking, Qi Niang immediately touched the hilt of the knife at her waist and stood in front of her, fearing that Yu Chengda would get angry and hurt her.