Farewell
The mother and son talked for a long time, until it was almost dusk.
Dou Yanzhou barely ate anything during the meal, only drinking two cups of wine. Seeing this, Madam Bai had the kitchen warm up a plate of shredded sheepskin and a bowl of porridge with abalone, shrimp, and cured meat stewed until tender. After watching Dou Yanzhou eat, she instructed An Chan, who was in charge of his daily life, to send the eldest son back to Lingbo Garden.
After Dou Yanzhou left, Bai Shi changed her clothes with Fu Lian's help, washed up, and drank tea to cleanse her mouth. Fu Lian watched An Chan holding a lantern, following Dou Yanzhou's receding figure in the courtyard, and couldn't help but chuckle softly:
“An Chan, who can say she isn’t cunning? Seeing that you, Madam, are favoring her and want to give her to the Second Master as a concubine, but he refused, she became exceptionally attentive to the First Master a few days later. I think she’s really a clever one.”
Among the maids serving in Bai's room, Fu Lian was the oldest, now over eighteen, and usually treated like a mistress. Fu Zhen was clever and charming, and was seventeen years old. The younger maids were all only fourteen or fifteen years old. Among them, An Chan was the most beautiful and pretty, especially when she smiled, her dimples were very charming.
Upon hearing this, Madam Bai said calmly, "If the eldest son takes a liking to her, that would be her good fortune. At worst, he can just make her a concubine. Madam Feng has only given birth to two children, but her health is not as good as before... In the future, the eldest son will inevitably have trouble finding someone to relieve his pain. It would be better to use one of our own people, who would know the details better."
Fu Lian originally intended to say a few bad things about An Chan in front of Madam Bai, but he never expected that his wife would think this way. He was momentarily stunned.
Bai Shi lay half-reclined on the brocade couch, a soft pillow nestled behind her waist, looking at Fu Lian's lowered face, and sighed softly:
"Speaking of which, you've been with me the longest in the household, but now you're approaching the age to be married off..."
Upon hearing this, Fu Lian's heart pounded like a drum, and he immediately knelt down with a thud, crying earnestly:
"Madam, Fu Lian is willing to remain unmarried for the rest of her life and serve you forever!"
Bai extended her hand, gesturing for Fu Lian to straighten up, her tone very gentle:
“Silly girl, I’ve watched you grow up since you were little. You came in the same batch as Jiao Rui and Jiao Han, but those two girls were unlucky and left us early. You are different. It’s better to marry out than to stay with me. Someone will love you, and the Dou family will never mistreat you.”
Fu Lian was incredibly intelligent, but the thought of Jiao Rui and Jiao Han's death still made her tremble.
Why would the old lady suddenly want to marry her off? And who would she marry? Normally, in the Dou family, even the servants respectfully address her as "Aunt," and she doesn't want to…
Fu Lian raised her head through teary eyes, only to hear Bai Shi slowly say:
"Did you see Lord Qiu Shanhai today? He's nearly fifty, with three sons. He should have a happy and fulfilling life, but unfortunately, his youngest son was born mentally challenged, which delayed things until today. If you marry into his family, you'll naturally have a grand and glorious life..."
Fu Lian listened quietly, feeling as if the sky was about to fall.
The old lady actually wanted to marry her off to Qiu Shanhai's mentally challenged son? That rumored idiot whose intelligence was worse than a three-year-old? She...she absolutely refused to marry him!
She cried uncontrollably, kneeling forward to grab Bai's trouser leg, begging for mercy. But then, someone walked up behind her—it was Fuzhen and Anque, who used to share a room with her.
Madam Bai stopped speaking, but Fuzhen and Anque whispered to her, "Good sister, don't cry anymore. You're about to marry into the family and become a lady. It's a blessing, a happy occasion. It's because our old lady loves you so much..."
Fu Lian refused to let go of Bai Shi's hand, but An Que ruthlessly pried open her ten fingers one by one. She looked at Fu Zhen and An Que with tears in her eyes, but their faces were very calm. She wondered how long they had kept this a secret. Did they already know?
Bai Shi's expression was indifferent; she only looked at the bright moon hanging high outside the window, and sighed deeply.
"However, you are still just a servant girl. I will present you as my cousin to outsiders. After you marry into the family, you will be the third young mistress of the Qiu family, and Qiu Shanhai will be a fifth-rank official in the capital with great power. Your sixty-year-old mother and your gambling brother will also have a good life from now on. Don't cry, Fulian, this is a happy occasion."
Mother... younger brother...
Fu Lian looked up at Madam Bai and finally understood that her weakness was now in the hands of the old lady, and she had no choice but to obey.
But, does that mean I really have to marry that fool and ruin my happiness forever?
She wanted to cry but had no tears, only to hear Madam Bai slowly say:
"Qiu Shanhai's hometown is in Laining. He and his wife are currently in Mujing, while his elderly mother, who is nearly seventy, and his three sons remain in their hometown of Laining. When you marry into the family, you must help them out as much as possible. If anything happens, please send me a message. Otherwise, your mother's illness may become incurable..."
Fu Lian had served Madam Bai for many years, and now she understood... why she was forced to marry that fool—it was to monitor the Second Master, who was about to take up his post in Laining! If she went but didn't send a message back, Madam Bai would definitely not let her family off the hook! What else could she do?
.
Bai was meticulous in her work, leaving no trace of the matter. When Lin Xu finally heard about it, she was sitting in the back garden of the Lin family, drinking tea with Gao Youyi, her aunt Lan Yue, and her sister-in-law Yang, who had come to visit Gao Youyi.
Gao Youyi is now six months pregnant, and the Zhang family physician says she will give birth in about two months. Her body is naturally much rounder than before, but her face is still as fair and full as ever, as bright as the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon.
Gao Youyi stroked her protruding belly, couldn't help but chuckle, and said to Lin Xu:
"Your mother-in-law is far too wicked. Everyone knows that Qiu Laosan was born an idiot. It is said that the concubine was so eager to have a son during her pregnancy that she ate too much fermented rice wine and fermented bean curd. Who would have thought that it was indeed a boy, but unfortunately, he was an idiot. The old lady Qiu was so angry that she beat the concubine to death on the spot... In such a family, she still eagerly married her maid to them. I don't know what she was thinking."
Yang looked at him with disdain. She was a lady raised in a scholarly family and naturally looked down on such scheming.
"What else could it be for? It'll make it easier for her to inform others when Xu'er and the others go to Laining. They're so wary of a concubine's son. They should focus on figuring out how to make her eldest son successful."
Now Gao Yanbang has long been transferred back to Mujing, where he is doing very well at the Dali Temple. Some say that he is a genius at solving cases, but his style is not ruthless. For a time, he almost overshadowed the other two brilliant judges in Mujing—Niu Wenyuan of the Ministry of Justice and Jiang Heng of the Censorate.
By chance, Gao Youyi spent her days playing cards and drinking tea with various ladies from prominent families, and she had met Dou Yanzhou a few times. He was fairly decent-looking, but one of the ladies said that he was the eldest son of the Dou family. When he was in charge of the Water Conservancy Bureau, he had often embezzled money with his superiors.
Although the Dou family is currently enjoying great power, with both father and son entering officialdom, their reputations are not particularly good. As the saying goes, bad bamboo cannot produce good shoots, so Madam Yang couldn't help but worry and earnestly said to Lin Xu:
“Now that Xu’er has gone to Lai Ning, she will be a proper county magistrate’s wife. Even if she spends most of her time in the inner quarters, she must not let her guard down and must pay close attention to her husband. Lai Ning is very close to Mu Jing. Good news never travels far, but bad news spreads like wildfire in less than half a day. Dou Yanxun used to be carefree and irresponsible, but you must keep a close eye on him from now on and not let him go astray.”
The Dou family and the Lin family, the Lin family and the Gao family... a single move can affect the whole situation; they've long been in the same boat.
Lin Xu smiled faintly and nodded in agreement. Although Madam Yang's words were straightforward, they were very reasonable and showed that she genuinely cared about her. Lin Xu understood all of this.
After giving Lin Xu her instructions, Madam Yang thought of the extremely sensational wedding banquet of the Third Prince not long ago. There were so many people there that she didn't have a chance to say a few words to Lin Xu from afar.
"...The wedding banquet that day was extremely lavish. The Third Prince is now married and truly a handsome young man. When Granny Tang recalls the Third Prince, he is still that little baby in swaddling clothes..."
Tang, the wet nurse who served Yang, was the third prince's wet nurse for a period of time. Later, when the third prince turned four, she was released from the palace. Although she did not serve the third prince the longest, she often felt grateful for the emperor's great kindness in the past.
The group chatted quietly, while Lan Yue held Rong Ge'er in her arms, babbling and laughing. The summer night was long, and home was naturally more comfortable than anywhere else.
Lin Xu's trip was rushed. He originally wanted to stay a few more days, but he was worried about leaving for Laining soon. He only managed to stay at the Lin residence for one night. The next morning, he had breakfast with his father and Gao Youyi before heading back.
She handed over the tiger-head hat and other items that she had embroidered earlier to Gao Youyi, who was naturally overjoyed and sent people to fill Lin Xu's carriage to the brim.
After breakfast, Lan Yue stood in the wind to see her off, holding Rong Ge'er in her arms. He had once been just a tiny baby, but now his features were gradually developing, and one could even see a resemblance to his father in his eyes and brows. Rong Ge'er's teeth hadn't fully grown in yet, but he grinned when he saw Lin Xu.
Time flies, and Rongge'er is about to turn one year old. Lin Xu then instructed Zhuling to hand Lanyue a bag full of broken gold, and took off the coral ruby and jade hairpin from her head and placed it in Lanyue's hand.
As the wind picked up, Lan Yue whispered in her ear:
"The Qi family... will probably be here in the next day or two."
The person she once hated to the core, now seems like a distant memory, no longer a source of worry. The Qi family can no longer harm her.
All the words in her heart had already been spoken last time. Qi Shuang'er's health had been poor ever since she gave birth. In the past, she had secretly sent people to keep her alive with ginseng, but now, she had finally reached the end of her life.
Lin Xu said calmly, "You can handle it."
Before leaving, she went to the ancestral hall one last time, kneeling there silently for a long time, offering incense to her mother. Her eyelashes drooped, and a tear fell, which was quickly blown away by the wind. The summer breeze was very gentle, as if her mother's spirit in heaven was gently wiping away her tear.
I don't know when I'll be able to come back from Laining again...
I just hope that until then, everything at home will remain the same and all will be well.
.
The eighth day of the seventh lunar month is auspicious for moving, traveling, weddings, and ancestral worship. However, it was also the day with the most torrential rain since midsummer.
Lin Xu stood in the courtyard, with Dou Yanxun holding a bamboo umbrella beside her. Together they watched as the servants busily moved things onto the carriage in the pouring rain.
The handover schedule was set, and even if the weather was not cooperating, it could not be postponed any longer. Therefore, even though Dou Huaisheng offered a few words of advice, he could only pat Dou Yanxun on the shoulder and sigh with a smile, "My son Yucheng, when you return to the capital, your father will definitely have a good drink with you all night long!"
Dou Yanxun smiled nonchalantly, but Lin Xu clearly saw that his shoulders trembled slightly in the rain.
Dou Huaisheng had never shown him any kindness before.
Dou Zhen was very reluctant to part with Lin Xu, clinging to her and refusing to let go. She had always liked her sister-in-law the most, especially since Lin Xu had helped her solve such a big problem without hesitation in the past. Now, the Fifth Prince and the Huo family had stopped bothering her.
"...Laining is right next to Laishan Mountain, and I've heard that the scenery there is very beautiful. I'll go visit my second brother and sister-in-law when I have some free time."
Dou Zhen was usually quiet and dignified, but when she smiled, shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks, making her even more radiant with girlish charm. Dou Yanxun couldn't do anything about her, and smiled slightly, "Let's talk about it after your coming-of-age ceremony."
Dou Zhen's coming-of-age ceremony is scheduled for the end of September this autumn, which is still almost two months away, but Madam Bai has already begun making preparations within the mansion. Dou Zhen then smiled and said, "Alright, Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law must come to my coming-of-age ceremony."
After saying their goodbyes, Dou Yanzhou stood with his hands behind his back under the eaves, watching Dou Yanxun and Lin Xu get into the carriage. His sword-like eyebrows were lowered, and half of his face was hidden in the torrential rain, his expression very complicated.
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