Chapter 56 "Yuanyuan and Brother Tang."...
As I came out of my sister-in-law's courtyard, I saw Cui Xintang waiting in front of me, with Hongshao standing beside him.
Upon seeing her come out, Cui Xintang stood there, watching her from afar.
Meng Yuanxiao stood there for a moment before walking toward him with her head down.
Her elder brother had just chased her away, and Meng Yuanxiao, concerned about her reputation, would not stubbornly cling to the Meng residence any longer.
When she reached Cui Xintang, she ignored him out of spite and walked straight past him.
Cui Xintang's gaze remained fixed on her, as if he was certain that she would leave with him. He didn't say anything, but simply followed her to the front yard.
Meng Yuanxiao was even angrier. When he arrived at the front yard, he didn't get into Cui Xintang's carriage, but instead silently got into his own.
Cui Xintang didn't say anything, but simply got into her carriage with her.
Before Meng Yuanxiao could urge him on, he had already sat down and pulled her onto his lap, then instructed the driver to drive.
Meng Yuanxiao was already feeling wronged, and now he had witnessed her humiliating departure from the Meng residence. Without thinking, she struggled to push him away, shouting, "Let me go!"
Of course, Cui Xintang wouldn't let go of her. He held Meng Yuanxiao's waist tightly with his large hands, keeping her firmly wrapped around his body.
Meng Yuanxiao tried to push him away, but he didn't care at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "If Yuanyuan is angry, she might as well beat up Brother Tang when she gets back. It's better than being angry herself."
She was upset and angry for two whole days, but he seemed not to care at all, which made Meng Yuanxiao cry.
Helpless, Cui Xintang pulled her over, kissed her, pulled her into his arms, and buried her face in his shoulder.
When Meng Yuanxiao was still about to struggle, Cui Xintang whispered in her ear: "If you still don't feel relieved after being beaten, you can bite her. Isn't Yuanyuan's favorite place to bite Brother Tang? The teeth marks from the last bite are still there."
Meng Yuanxiao: "..."
Although she was angry, her face still couldn't help but turn red.
Knowing that her brother Tang was trying to comfort her, she couldn't help but feel even more wronged.
Although she was angry and annoyed, and even disliked him a little, he was still the Tang-gege she had always liked and trusted. When she was wronged, she couldn't help but want to find him.
After a brief standoff, Meng Yuanxiao, still lacking any backbone, clung to Tang-gege's neck, buried her head in his shoulder, and began to shed tears.
Cui Xintang hugged her and waited until her tears had stopped falling so fiercely before asking, "Did you see Meng Xu?"
Meng Yuanxiao didn't speak, and Cui Xintang waited a moment before saying, "Meng Xu was beaten up by the eldest brother of the Li family."
Meng Yuanxiao: "..."
She paused, wiped her tears on his shoulder, and couldn't help but sit up straight from his embrace, looking at him in surprise.
Cui Xintang said, "The Li family comes from a military background, but they are not entirely unrelated in the capital. While the Li family's father and brothers serve as officials in the military, some members of the Li family also run other businesses, such as escort agencies. The Li family's escort business not only extends to the capital but also all the way to Jiangnan, and they have quite a reputation."
Meng Yuanxiao's almond-shaped eyes widened slightly; she had no idea about any of this.
“Yuanyuan doesn’t know this, but her parents-in-law and Meng Xu do. The Li family only has one daughter. If they didn’t have this confidence, they wouldn’t have agreed to marry Li Shi off to the capital.”
"The Li family is not to be trifled with. They can't touch Meng Xu in official circles, but they are ruthless towards others. Before the eldest brother and sister-in-law of the Li family even arrived in the capital, a considerable business deal of the Su family was intercepted, resulting in a huge loss of money."
"Shortly afterward, the Su family was attacked by bandits while they were trading. It was unknown how long it would take for them to recover, and even if they did, they would likely be crippled. The Su family wanted to file a lawsuit, but Meng Xu suppressed it."
"As for Meng Xu... the Li family only gave him a beating, presumably because the Li family instructed them to do so out of consideration for you, Yuanyuan. Otherwise, the Li family wouldn't be afraid to teach Meng Xu a lesson."
Meng Yuanxiao: "..."
Cui Xintang looked at her and said, "Originally, Meng Xu refused to divorce and kept hiding. He even asked for a job away from the capital and was not in the capital for several days."
"Now that Meng Xu has returned, things have already escalated to this point. Even if Meng Xu is unwilling, there is no turning back. Tomorrow, or at the latest the day after, Li Shi should leave."
Meng Yuanxiao's eyes immediately reddened again. She pursed her lips and didn't say anything, but buried her face in Cui Xintang's shoulder again.
Cui Xintang sighed softly and patted her gently on the back, "Yuanyuan still has Brother Tang."
Meng Yuanxiao couldn't help but shed a few more tears.
The Meng family used to be so lively. Her elder brother and sister-in-law were loving and doted on her. Tang-gege would often come to visit her. She was happy every day in the Meng family. How did it suddenly become like this?
Cui Xintang turned his head and kissed her cheek. "If Yuanyuan can't bear to part with the Li family, your brother Tang will find an opportunity to take you to Fengzhou in the future."
Meng Yuanxiao buried her face in his shoulder, and after a long while, she responded in a muffled voice, "Mmm."
Cui Xintang paused, glanced down at her, and pulled her closer into his arms.
Meng Yuanxiao felt wronged and reluctant to part with Sister Li. After crying for a while, she had a headache. Listening to the creaking of the carriage wheels, she gradually became sleepy.
When she woke up, the carriage had already arrived at the Cui residence.
Meng Yuanxiao snapped out of his daze, lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside, and immediately became somewhat annoyed.
She frowned and glared at Cui Xintang, who seemed to have just realized it and said helplessly, "I forgot to tell the driver."
After saying that, he glanced at the sky outside and said, "It's getting dark. Will you have to stay at the Cui residence tonight, Yuanyuan? If you don't want to stay at the Cui residence tomorrow, your brother Tang will stay at your house with you."
He said, "Brother Tang will tell you everything about the Lin family tonight."
Upon hearing this, Meng Yuanxiao pursed her lips, somewhat hesitant.
Cui Xintang smiled and gently patted her waist. "There are servants waiting outside. Yuanyuan, do you want your brother Tang to carry you downstairs?"
Meng Yuanxiao remained silent. Cui Xintang sighed softly and coaxed, "With Meng Xu and Madam Li having such a falling out, does Yuanyuan want her mother-in-law to worry about you even more?"
Meng Yuanxiao's eyes immediately reddened.
She wasn't unreasonable, so although she was reluctant, she still pried Cui Xintang's hands off and got off the carriage herself.
Cui Xintang followed closely behind. As soon as he came down, a maid came up to him and reported, "Greetings, Young Master and Young Madam. The Young Madam requests that you two come over to speak."
Cui Xintang frowned and subconsciously looked at Meng Yuanxiao.
Meng Yuanxiao remained silent, only staring at him expressionlessly.
Cui Xintang squeezed her hand and casually instructed the maid, "Go and tell the First Madam that I have official business to attend to. If it's not important, we can talk about it another day."
The maid hesitated for a moment, then said, "Young Master, the Madam is unwell today. Steward Lin brought a doctor, but they just left..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cui Xintang tightened his grip on Meng Yuanxiao's hand.
Meng Yuanxiao winced in pain and frowned as she looked at him, "Brother Tang?"
Cui Xintang then loosened his grip a little.
His expression was somewhat unpleasant. He paused and said, "Yuanyuan, go back and rest first. Brother Tang will come back to keep you company later."
Meng Yuanxiao sneered, "Isn't there Steward Lin?"
Upon hearing this, Cui Xintang's expression suddenly turned cold.
But only for a moment, he quickly composed himself, "Yuanyuan, stop fooling around."
Meng Yuanxiao pulled her hand out of his palm and didn't look at him again. "Brother Tang, go ahead, lest your mother-in-law blames me if anything happens."
After saying that, he turned around and left without looking back.
After her figure disappeared down the corridor, Cui Xintang dismissed the maid, stood there for a moment, and then headed towards the main courtyard.
When they arrived at the main courtyard, it was empty except for Madam Wu, who was sitting in the hall waiting.
Cui Xintang entered the hall with a sullen face. Seeing that he was alone, Madam Wu asked coldly, "Where is Yuanyuan?"
Cui Xintang went over and sat down, saying only, "Is Mother unwell?"
Madam Wu called in a maid and instructed, "Go and invite the young mistress."
Cui Xintang frowned, which Wu noticed. She sneered, "Yesterday, Yuanyuan went back to the Meng residence in a huff. As her mother-in-law, I felt bad and invited her over to comfort her. Do you think I'd eat her alive?"
After saying that, she added, "If I, as your mother, hadn't gone to invite you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have seen you today!"
Cui Xintang lowered his eyes, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and sneered, "Isn't Steward Lin here? What can my son do even if he comes?"
"You bastard!" Wu's face suddenly turned ugly, and she picked up the teacup beside her and smashed it hard against him.
In her rage, Wu used too much force, and the teacup slammed heavily onto Cui Xintang's forehead.
Fortunately, the tea in the teacup was only warm, so it wouldn't burn you.
The teacup fell to the ground and shattered. Cui Xintang wiped the tea off her face, and when she looked up, her expression turned cold.
"Does Mother no longer care about her son's reputation at all?"
A bruise appeared on his forehead, with a little blood seeping out, but Wu's face showed no sign of heartache or regret, only bright anger and hatred.
"Do you still remember that I am your mother?" Madam Wu pointed at his nose and said angrily, "If you hadn't heard that Steward Lin was here, would you have come to see your mother?"
"I've been sick, and the Lin family has been searching for doctors and medicine everywhere. How many times have you, my son, come to see me? I'm afraid you just want to kill me sooner so you can get rid of your mother and go out and live a carefree life!"
Wu was furious, but Cui Xintang remained silent, coldly watching her rage.
Seeing this, Wu became even angrier and grabbed another teacup, ready to smash it at him.
But a sliver of reason remained, which he managed to suppress.
"Ha, you've suddenly become so concerned about Erlang. Do you think I really don't know what you're up to? You say I'm mistreating Yuanyuan, but think about it yourself, before Yuanyuan entered the house, did you ever have even the slightest thought of leaving the capital?"
Madam Wu sneered, "You were all pretentious before, but now that you've married and grown up, you start to look down on the Cui family and think I'm a disgrace to you. But don't forget, you have Cui Zhen's blood in your veins, and you're just as disgusting as Cui Zhen!"
Cui Xintang suddenly gripped the teacup in his hand tightly.
The hall fell completely silent. After about half a cup of tea's time, Cui Xintang glanced at the broken teacup at his feet, lowered his eyes, and said, "Since Mother doesn't like her son and Yuanyuan, wouldn't it be just what Mother wants for her to leave with Yuanyuan?"
Having said that, he figured the maid should have brought the person by now, so he stood up and said, "Mother, please rest early. Since you are ill, try not to get agitated. Tomorrow morning, I will ask my superior to go to the palace and help me invite a royal physician to examine you."
"As for Steward Lin, I ask Mother to restrain herself and save face for her son and the Cui family."
He finished speaking and was about to leave when Madam Wu slammed her hand on the small table. "Stop!"
Cui Xintang stopped in his tracks. "Does Mother have any further instructions?"
Wu was so angry that her face turned pale, her chest heaved, and she was speechless for a moment.
Cui Xintang's face was stern. "If Mother dares to do it, why is she afraid of what her son will say?"
"You unfilial son!" Madam Wu was so angry that she clenched her chest and pointed at him, shouting loudly.
Cui Xintang's face remained completely expressionless. "Haven't you gotten tired of using those two words to curse for so many years, Mother?"
He smiled, his tone icy, "I used to hear it so much that I thought I was really the same kind of person as Cui Zhen, as you described. But after living for more than twenty years, I finally realized that what kind of person I am is not something you can decide."
Enraged, Wu grabbed the teacup beside her and smashed it at him again.
"Back then, you kept saying you didn't want to marry a princess and didn't want to get involved in the new policies, so you wanted to marry Yuanyuan instead. Now that you've brought her into the family, it's because she has repeatedly talked back to your mother. Do you even remember your own surname?!"
Just now, Cui Xintang was willing to endure it to keep the peace, but now he would no longer stand there foolishly waiting for the teacup to fall on him.
He dodged to the side, and the teacup grazed past him, crashing straight towards the doorway and shattering on the ground with a thud.
Tea splashed onto him, and Cui Xintang turned to leave, but stopped when he saw the person standing outside the door.
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