Chapter 80 [VIP]

The tense atmosphere eased somewhat due to the knocking.

Xiao Chuan went straight to open the door and looked at his subordinate, who had arrived both timely and inopportunely: "What is it?"

The door opened, and a tangible cloud of gloom spilled out. Pu Qing felt as if everything before him was a hazy gray. He could barely breathe, let alone see his master emanating from the dark cloud.

Knowing that his timing was bad, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Governor, Madam, the person who came is Madam Yu, and she brought with her some people who are dissatisfied with the ban on marriage between cousins. They said they want to ask Madam for justice."

"Does this matter really require your concern, Madam?"

Xiao Chuan's question was full of hostility as he strode out, and Pu Qing quickly followed with his head down.

"Because the visitor is the lady's cousin, our subordinates cannot easily dismiss her."

As he spoke, Pu Qing glanced back and, seeing that Mi Yao hadn't appeared, assumed she had left the matter to her master. He then continued, "Should I just throw them out?"

If it were anyone else, he would have handled it that way, but since Yu Erniangzi was involved, things were complicated, and he had to consult Mi Yao before making a decision.

This time, it was Xiao Chuan who turned around. Seeing that no one came out of the half-open door to follow, Xiao Chuan couldn't help but wonder about Mi Yao's expression at this moment. He wondered if her almond-shaped eyes were still full of sarcasm, or if they had already been filled with grievance and disappointment.

"The garrison commander?"

Seeing that his master was not leaving, Pu Qing called out.

"Why does the lady forbid marriage between cousins?"

He hadn't been in the city for the past few days, only knowing that Yu Cheng had reached Yizhou. Today, upon returning to the city, he overheard his colleagues teasing him and learned that Mi Yao had had some disputes with the Yu family.

He knew nothing about cousin marriages or other forms of kinship.

"To the governor, the cause was that someone threw a deformed child at the entrance of the Ciji Hospital. After the lady sent people to investigate, she found that marriage between cousins ​​was prone to result in the birth of children with problems. After discussing with Doctor Jiang, she went to find Sima Wen and several other highly respected doctors. After several discussions, the lady and the doctors collected many examples of deformed children born to cousins ​​within the five degrees of kinship. They hoped that the governor could issue a ban on marriage between cousins ​​within the five degrees of kinship."

"Has Father passed away?"

"Not yet, but judging from what Wen Sima said, the ban will be issued, and it is currently still at the stage of discussing criminal law."

Having roughly learned the whole story, Xiao Chuan also walked to the door.

The incessant noise in front of the door was momentarily silenced by the sudden appearance of a shadow.

Yu Jiayin stood in the crowd. She was the first to see Xiao Chuan, and she was startled when she saw him.

Xiao Chua was tall and cold-faced, dressed in a dark red robe that shimmered in the sunlight. Matching his murderous aura was a scarlet, gruesome scar on his neck.

Even with Xiao Chuan's deep and handsome features, such an aura makes people want to stay away.

Realizing that Xiao Chua's identity was extraordinary, Yu Jiayin was wondering who he was and whether he was the reinforcements Mi Yao had summoned when she heard someone call out "Governor".

Upon hearing this title, Yu Jiayin's eyes lit up: "You're Commander Xiao?"

Xiao Chuan glanced at her: "So you're the troublemaker who's been causing trouble for my wife?"

A general who has killed people and a beautiful young woman are two different things. Mi Yao speaks sharply, and others can still open up and confront her, but when Xiao Chuan speaks, it is hard to defend oneself and one cannot muster the courage to refute him.

Yu Jiayin shrank back, her voice becoming much softer: "How could you say that? I am the legitimate daughter of the Yu family..."

"What are you doing causing trouble here? Could you be remnants of Zhao Zhi, trying to harm my wife?"

As soon as Xiao Chua finished speaking, the guards drew their weapons in unison. The sharp sound of the blades being drawn terrified the people, who knelt down and begged for mercy. Although Yu Jiayin did not kneel, she was trembling all over and was no better off.

She knew that Mi Yao had married a lowly peasant. Before Xiao Chuan became Zhao Tianhe's heir, she only felt sorry for Mi Yao, who was so strong-willed but married such a man.

Once Xiao Chuan gained power and became a highly sought-after man, she forgot her previous criticisms of him being unworthy of respectability and only thought that Mi Yao was lucky to have married such an outstanding man so easily.

Her goal in coming to Yizhou was not to marry Xiao Chuan, but such an outstanding man naturally stirred up her thoughts.

For example, if Xiao Chuan fell in love with her at first sight and thought she was a thousand times better than Mi Yao, she could still give herself to him.

Who would have thought that Xiao Chuanfu would appear like this? He didn't look like the young master of Jiannan at all; he was clearly a rude and unreasonable brute.

"Did Yu Si slander me? I haven't done anything wrong. I brought these people here to seek justice..."

Seeing that the people were too scared to say a word, Yu Jiayin was afraid of missing this good opportunity, so she couldn't help but speak up to defend herself.

She clenched her fists, forcing herself to remain calm as she looked at Xiao Chua. She refused to believe that Mi Yao was so capable as to bewitch a dignified general without making any sense of reason.

"Whom do you seek justice for? My wife works for my father, and everything she does is approved by him. I think you are spreading heresies and trying to rebel against Yizhou."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's this woman. She came to my house and said she would give me money so I could cause trouble at the Tzu Chi Hospital!"

She even adopted an orphan named L; she's practically a bodhisattva descended to earth! I even received rice and grain from her during disaster relief efforts. How could I possibly be dissatisfied with her? I was completely deceived!

"She harbors ill intentions and wants to kill us—"

When he got excited, he threw a stone heavily at Yu Jiayin.

Yu Jiayin was hit squarely, and tears streamed down her face from the pain.

This stone acted as a command, and the other dissatisfied people also began to take action against Yu Jiayin.

Xiao Chuan didn't speak to stop them. He had heard enough of these people punching and kicking Yu Jiayin while shouting that the lady was so good and that they should kill the witch to save the lady's reputation.

He then waved for Pu Qing to step forward and take the man to the government office.

Yu Jiayin was dizzy from the beating. When she heard that Xiao Chuan was going to send her to the authorities, she was so frightened that she trembled all over. She finally understood why Mi Yao had changed so much.

How could Mi Yao not change after marrying such an unreasonable madman?

“I am... Hu Hu’s second sister. She’s sending me to see the officials... It’s not good for her either.”

Yu Jiayin's mouth was torn, and she spoke unclearly and haltingly. At this moment, the brightness in her eyes when she looked at Xiao Chua was gone, replaced by fear of wanting to escape.

"Letting you humiliate my wife is the real loss of face for her."

Xiao Chuan's tone was like a blade tempered by ice. After speaking, he didn't give Yu Jiayin a chance to speak and had Pu Qing cover her mouth and carry her away.

With Yu Jiayin gone, the remaining people were easy to deal with. Yan Yun wanted to take advantage of the fact that these people dared not resist and have the doctor tell them how bad it was for cousins ​​to marry, so she advised Xiao Chuan to leave first.

“Commander Xiao has just returned. You should talk to Hu Hu more. Hu Hu has been working very hard lately. It’s so kind of you to come back and protect her at this time.”

These people came to make trouble not only because Yu Jiayin instigated them, but also because powerful families wanted to probe their backgrounds.

Intermarriage between related families has always been one of the means by which powerful clans unite to enhance their strength.

Although Wen Sima's current stance is that a marriage alliance between cousins ​​is not impossible, as long as money is used to atone for the sins, the two sides are still locked in a tug-of-war.

Mi Yao had told them before that there was a high chance that someone would come to the Tzu Chi Hospital to cause trouble and test them.

“Yu Erniangzi is Hu Hu’s cousin. She doesn’t distinguish right from wrong and contradicts Hu Hu. Hu Hu must feel wronged. Commander Xiao, you should comfort Hu Hu properly.”

"I know."

Xiao Chuan nodded, but he hesitated as he walked toward Mi Yao's study, clearly unsure how to continue the conversation.

Upon hearing Mi Yao's contemptuous resentment, his first reaction was to refute her.

He never treated her like a toy.

But after calming down for a moment, he didn't know where to refute her. He only hated that Yu Jiayin was too stupid, only able to delay him for a moment and not allow him to think clearly about how to deal with Mi Yao's questioning.

Even though he walked slowly, Xiao Chuan still walked to the front of the study. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. He waited for a while and then realized something was wrong. He pushed open the door and found that the person was not in the room at all.

"The lady left through the back door; she must have returned to her residence."

Shiya, who has now been transferred to the Tzu Chi Institute as a manager, is not very clear about Mi Yao's whereabouts, and can only speculate, "Should we prepare a horse for the town magistrate?"

"Prepare".

Now that Mi Yao has left, there's no point in Xiao Chuan staying any longer.

However, he did not return to the Xiao residence immediately, but instead went to the Jiedushi's residence first.

After listening to Zhao Tianhe praise him for marrying a good wife and discussing business, Xiao Chuan did not refuse Zhao Tianhe's invitation to stay for dinner.

He was willing to stay, but Zhao Tianhe changed his mind.

"Look at me, I'm used to being all alone, so clueless about romance."

Zhao Tianhe laughed heartily, "You haven't been back to the mansion for several days. You should be reuniting with your wife and children. How can I force you to have dinner with this old man?"

“Father, you are overthinking it. I can eat with them anytime.”

"Go back! Go back!"

Zhao Tianhe waved his hand to shoo him away, "Do you think I don't know you? As soon as the matter was settled, you went to pick someone up with the injury on your neck. You didn't even get the person home before I sent you out of the city. Right now, you must be thinking about your wife all the time."

Xiao Chuan wanted to say no, but his mind was indeed filled with Mi Yao.

Thus, he could only bid farewell to Zhao Tianhe, promising to have dinner with him again next time.

"Go back and comfort your wife. She's done a lot of good things lately. A hundred or two hundred orphans may seem like a small number, but they've solved a lot of problems for us."

The Tzu Chi Hospital adopted orphan L, and the majority of the orphans they took in were the children of soldiers. He had always wanted to do this, but he couldn't afford it, so he could only use the money to pay out pensions.

Whether these compensations ultimately reached the orphans remains unknown.

If Mi Yao's Tzu Chi Hospital becomes successful, he will definitely provide assistance.

Xiao Chuan replied, "Father, don't worry, I know she's had a hard time, I will take good care of her... and comfort her."

Everyone told him to coax Mi Yao, and he knew he had to, but no one told him exactly how.

Standing in front of Mi Yao's door, looking at the swaying shadows inside, he was still wondering whether he had been good to Mi Yao or not.

Is what he thinks is good, just as she said, simply something he's trying his best to make himself happy?

What can I do to make her happy?

Gold and silver jewelry, or help her handle everything so that she can regain her former laziness and ease?