Chapter 96 She asked Xie Guanlan: Am I dirty?

Wen Xingluo found a clean armchair, sat down gracefully, and smoothed the folds of her skirt with her hands.

She laughed and said, "Brother only gave me ten taels of silver. How am I supposed to prepare for the wedding banquet?"

"Ten taels of silver?!" Wen Rufeng lost his voice. "I clearly gave you three hundred taels, how could it be ten taels?!"

Wen Xingluo felt innocent, "Maybe when Big Brother sent someone to deliver the money, someone embezzled it?"

Wen Rufeng suppressed his anger and called the little maid over.

The little maidservant was so frightened that she fell to her knees and confessed everything honestly. At the end, she said, "The Fourth Young Lady only gave me 20 taels of silver. I dare not lie!"

Wen Yueyin was called over soon.

She knew that she could not hide the matter, so she had to confess that she had embezzled eighty taels of silver, and also implicated Wen Ruyun in it.

Wen Ruyun waved her folding fan and said lightly, "It's all in the past. Why are you still pursuing this, brother? In my opinion, Wen Xingluo is still wrong. If the money isn't enough, doesn't she know how to add some herself? Why does she only know how to ask us for money? Brother, you too, instead of wasting your time on things like this, you should study hard with Teacher He and prepare for next year's provincial examination."

Wen Yueyin also wiped away tears. "Father is in prison, and now my eldest brother has become the pillar of the family. If he fails to pass the imperial examination, what will we brothers and sisters do? Money is just external things, why do you have to pursue it?"

Wen Rufeng never expected that the person who ruined his wedding banquet was not Wen Xingluo, but Wen Ruyun and Wen Yueyin.

He looked at the two of them with complicated feelings.

Although I was angry, fortunately the three hundred taels of silver belonged to the Xu family, so let them be greedy!

As for the ruined wedding banquet, he will marry a noble lady after he becomes the third place in the imperial examination. At that time, he will ask his father-in-law to pay for a more grand wedding banquet.

So he sighed helplessly, "You two!"

There was a hint of fondness in his voice, and he had no intention of pursuing the matter.

Wen Rulei folded his arms and leaned quietly against the door.

Ever since he regained his memory, he has become much more gloomy. During this period, he has been concentrating on preparing to join the army and has not even had any interest in Wen Rufeng's wedding.

After watching this farce today, his eyes kept wandering over Wen Yueyin and Wen Xingluo.

For some reason, he used to feel very distressed when Wen Yueyin shed tears.

But now, he just felt annoyed.

Yue Yin keeps saying that she is the one who loves and respects her father and brother, but she doesn't care about her father being in jail, nor does she care about her eldest brother's wedding, so what exactly does she love and respect?

And his future. She was clearly reborn, but she didn't know how to force him to please General Li like Wen Xingluo did, causing him to take an extra detour...

As if by magic, Wen Rulei quietly followed Wen Xingluo after she left the Wen family.

Back at the Zhenbei Palace, Chen Lezhi winked at Wen Xingluo and whispered, "He's been following us."

Wen Xingluo turned around and looked.

Wen Rulei stood not far away, looking at her with a complicated look.

Xie Shian sneered, "I don't know what you're pretending to be!"

Chen Lezhi guessed that Wen Rulei probably had something to say to Wen Xingluo, so he pulled Xie Shian into the mansion first.

Xie Shian couldn't help but look back, raised his fist threateningly at Wen Rulei, and then left with her.

Wen Rulei walked to the steps in front of the mansion gate and looked up at Wen Xingluo.

The light and shadow of early autumn shone in, outlining a light golden arc in the girl's pupils. Her hair was disheveled, her eyebrows were dark and her face was as bright as lotus. The lotus purple waist-length skirt made of heavy lotus silk made her look extremely bright and fresh.

But she saw that his expression was so distant and indifferent, like the dry mountains and rivers in spring.

In his previous life, Wen Xingluo had never looked at him like this.

Wen Rulei felt inexplicably panicked.

He hesitated for a long time before whispering, "Xingluo, I'm going to join the army in a few days. I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will take a long time for me to come back."

Xie Shian suddenly poked his head out from behind the half-open door, "Ningning, I'm about to join the army too. Don't feel sorry for him, feel sorry for me—"

Before he could finish his words, Chen Lezhi pulled him back.

Wen Xingluo looked at the two noisy people, and a touch of tenderness and warmth appeared in the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.

Turning to Wen Rulei, her expression turned cold again. "If you want to go, go ahead. Why bother telling me this?"

Wen Rulei repeatedly rubbed the corner of his clothes, feeling uneasy and hesitant to speak, "You... don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

In his previous life, when he joined the army, Wen Xingluo specially asked for a peace amulet for him from Ciyu Temple.

I also stayed up all night for several days in a row and prepared a lot of dry food for him.

Even his clothes, shoes and socks were kept clean and tidy for him.

He remembered that when he urged his horse to leave, she was very reluctant and shed many tears...

Wen Xingluo interrupted his recollection, "What does Third Brother want to hear from me?"

"I..." Wen Rulei was speechless.

"Third brother has disliked me since we were little. Now that I've left the Wen family, he's finally got what he wanted, so he should be happy. Why did he come looking for me again? If I knew, I'm afraid she'd be upset. My fourth brother is also going to join the army, and I need to talk to him more. Goodbye."

Wen Xingluo nodded politely and turned to go into the mansion.

"Starfall!"

Wen Rulei strode forward and tried to hold the girl back, but the vermilion-lacquered mansion door had already slammed shut in front of him, completely blocking his view.

Wen Rulei slammed his fist on the door of the mansion.

Negative emotions flooded him, and he felt desolate and lost in his heart.

After an unknown amount of time, he slowly raised his scarlet eyes, "Who is Xie Shian? In his previous life, he was just a cripple with paralyzed legs! Wen Xingluo, you look down on me today, but I will climb to a higher position step by step, and let you see clearly who is worthy of being your brother! I want you to regret it, I want you to beg for my love!"

Wen Xingluo didn't care about Wen Rulei's twisted psychology.

She broke into Dongliuyuan alone.

The maid stopped her outside and said cautiously, "The princess is emotionally unstable and shouldn't be seeing guests. Miss, why don't you go back first?"

Wen Xingluo ignored her and walked up the stairs and onto the porch.

Through the latticed fan with the pattern of a Ruyi treasure vase, she said, "Mother, now everyone knows how he bullied you in the past. He has been arrested by the prince and imprisoned, and he will never come out again."

Wei Si stood behind the door.

She didn't comb her hair today. Her long, thick black hair was winding and dragging on the ground. Her little face hidden behind the black hair was pale.

She was barefoot, looking at the vague outline of the girl through the door.

The girl called her mother.

She slowly stretched out her hand and outlined the outline of a girl on the lattice fan.

The white and slender palm slowly placed on the girl's cheek, as if caressing it gently.

As if she had thought of something, her eyes suddenly filled with intense fear and hatred. She withdrew her hand and staggered back a few steps.

She was like a frightened deer, hiding helplessly in the depths of the bed.

Wen Xingluo stood under the eaves for a long time, until his feet became numb.

The sky was covered with leaden clouds, the light was dim, and the scenery in the courtyard seemed faded, as if the first rain of this autumn was about to fall.

The girl's brows darkened, and she spoke again in a hoarse voice, "I want to tell my mother that I am not like him at all. I am your child, only yours."

The drizzle fell densely, and the banana leaves made a rustling sound.

Raindrops splashed under the eaves, wetting Wen Xingluo's skirt.

She didn't get a response for a long time, and finally left with her eyes downcast, feeling dejected.

That night.

When Xie Guanlan was having dinner at Wansongyuan, he didn't see Wen Xingluo coming over.

After he finished his meal, he walked out of Wansong Courtyard and went straight to the garden.

There is a rockery in the garden.

He remembered that on the night of Qiqiao Festival, the little girl had sat there alone.

Xie Guanlan walked across the Taihu rocks with a lantern and an umbrella, and saw Wen Xingluo sitting in the rockery holding a lantern.

He stopped in front of her and looked down at her, "You've become so capable that you don't even eat dinner."

Wen Xingluo raised her red and swollen eyes, "Am I dirty?"

That's why her mother didn't want to see her.