Chapter 37 Second Marriage
The fireworks at the princess's mansion lasted for about half an hour before they stopped.
There is a custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve, so the eldest princess suggested playing mahjong in the Lanhe Hall to kill time.
Yun Xiangye had never played the popular card game in Chang'an City. She just watched Gu Yan, his parents and grandmother play.
After watching two or three games, Yun Xiangye had a rough understanding of the rules.
After three consecutive games, Mrs. Gu won every time.
Madam Gu also knew that the three youngsters were trying to cheer her up, so she yawned and said, "It seems that I am getting old. I feel sleepy before midnight. Ah Xiang, come and play with me. I'm going back to the courtyard first."
Yun Xiangye whispered, "I'm afraid I won't fight well."
Xie Zhixuan chuckled and said, "It's okay, just some fun among our family to kill time."
Yun Xiangye sat where Madam Gu stood up, waiting for the maid to deal the cards.
Yun Xiangye took the cards in his hand, looked at the cards in his hand, and smiled gently.
Gu Yan came close to Yun Xiangye to look at the cards, but Yun Xiangye quickly hid the cards: "Don't look at my cards."
Gu Yan whispered, "I'm just teaching you how to play. Look at you, it seems like I can win your money? Aren't our money the same?"
Yun Xiangye thought that the money of the two of them was collectively used before, but it was not the case now.
Xie Zhixuan smiled gently and said to Gu Yan, "Let Xiangye play by herself, and you are not allowed to peek."
Yun Xiangye looked at the cards several times and felt that the cards in her hand were excellent. She was also afraid that it was because she was not very good at playing cards, but after just one round, she actually won three games. She couldn't help but feel happy.
After a few rounds, Yun Xiangye had a pile of silver coins in front of him.
Gu Yan frowned and looked at Yun Xiangye and said, "You really didn't know how to play the leaf trick before?"
Yun Xiangye said: "No."
If Gu Yan had not seen Yun Xiangye play mahjong for the past three years, he would have thought that she was playing dumb and Yun Xiangye won every round.
"Sister-in-law, you won so much?"
Gu Jingyu came over with a piece of paper and said, "This is the family tree of my relatives that I just drew for you. There are also some in-laws between noble families. The nobles in Chang'an are more or less related to each other."
Yun Xiangye took the Gu family relatives drawn by Gu Jingyu, and found them very clear. She smiled and said, "Jingyu, I give you all the silver I just won. Thank you for helping me draw the picture to sort out the relationship between these relatives."
Xie Zhixuan frowned as she looked at Gu Yan standing opposite her and said, "You haven't told Xiangye about the relatives in the family? And you asked your sister to draw a picture to tell us?"
Gu Yan whispered: "I..."
Gu Yan had no choice but to lower his head, not daring to look at Xie Zhixuan's eyes.
Xie Zhixuan sighed softly, "You! Forget it, I won't talk about you during the New Year, and I won't play cards. Go and help Xiangye sort out these relatives at home."
Gu Yan readily responded, "Yes, mother."
Yun Xiangye and Gu Yan returned to Qingfeng Garden, and Nuonuo was already fast asleep.
Yun Xiangye sat on the small couch and looked at the picture drawn by Gu Jingyu.
The Gu family does not have many relatives, except for one aunt, who is the wife of General Yuan.
Gu Yan has quite a few uncles, but his family has already split up and the uncles are considered a side branch. He no longer interacts with these uncles except for major events.
There is also the Duke of Weiguo’s Mansion, which is the maiden family of Gu Yan’s grandmother, so the relationship is not that distant.
The other relatives are those from Gu Yan’s mother’s side, all of whom are royal relatives.
Yun Xiangye was stunned when she saw the relationship on the picture and said, "Gu Yan, your aunt and your uncle are married? How can they get married?"
Gu Yan said, "Didn't I tell you that my aunt was born after my grandmother left the late emperor? Uncle Xiang Wang is my mother's half brother, and my aunt is my mother's half sister. Uncle Xiang Wang and my aunt are not siblings, so it's fine for them to get married."
Yun Xiangye found it a bit confusing, but after thinking it over carefully, she realized that they could indeed get married: "So... are you my aunt or my aunt?"
"Since I was young, my uncle has always called me uncle, and my aunt has always called me aunt."
Yun Xiangye looked at the complicated relationships in this picture. It really takes more than one day to sort it out. "When I went with you to the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors yesterday, I saw that your grandfather's generation seemed to have five brothers in the ancestral hall. How come your fifth grandfather's lineage has no children? I don't see his descendants in this family tree."
If a person has no offspring during his lifetime, the clan should arrange for an adopted son.
At that time, Yun Xiangye's father died early, and the uncles and aunts of the Yun family wanted to let her cousin be adopted by her father.
It was because Yun Xiangye promised in front of her uncles and aunts that she would only marry a son-in-law after she established a daughter-in-law household, that she did not have an extra younger brother.
In Gu Yan's family, it is somewhat strange that his grandfather's fifth brother has no adopted son.
Gu Yan covered Yun Xiangye's mouth and said, "Don't mention Fifth Grandfather at home."
Gu Yan made a silent gesture towards Yun Xiangye, "So you should not mention my fifth grandfather at home."
Yun Xiangye really couldn't imagine that Gu Yan's family had such a secret. "And this is not right. Isn't Princess Ningxiang the daughter of the King of Chu? Why did Jingyu write that Princess Ningxiang is the daughter of Shengkuang, the Minister of Rites?"
Gu Yan said: "The aunt of the King of Chu is also a second marriage. Sister Ningxiang is the daughter of Shengkuang. After Shengkuang divorced his second aunt, he married my second uncle with Sister Ningxiang. The Queen has no daughter, so His Majesty and the Queen recognized Sister Xiangxiang as their adopted daughter, gave her the surname Zhao and the title of Princess."
Yun Xiangye said: "I never thought that Zhao Jing's mother was also married to Prince Chu for the second time?"
Gu Yan didn't want to hear Yun Xiangye mention Zhao Jing, so he said, "If you have finished reading, go to bed early. Tomorrow morning you have to follow me to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the Emperor and Empress."
Yun Xiangye responded: "Okay."
Yun Xiangye put the red seal she got from the eldest princess under her pillow. Curiosity drove her to open the red seal before going to bed.
When Yun Xiangye saw that there were ten silver notes worth one thousand taels in a red envelope, she was amazed. She opened the other two red envelopes, which also contained ten silver notes worth one thousand taels.
Yun Xiangye stretched out her hand and grasped Gu Yan's wrist tightly, and said excitedly: "My mother gave me thirty thousand taels, thirty thousand taels..."
Gu Yan raised his eyes to look at Yun Xiangye and said, "Thirty thousand taels?"
Gu Yan examined it carefully and frowned slightly, saying, "The red envelopes my mother gave me as New Year gifts since I was a child never added up to 10,000 taels, and you actually received 30,000 taels of New Year's money?"
Yun Xiangye said: "This is too much, should I return it to my mother?"
Gu Yan said: "It's given to you, just accept it."
Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan, "If I divorce you in the future, do I have to return this silver to mother?"
Gu Yan took a deep breath and said, "Yun Xiangye, today is New Year's Day, can you please stop saying these unlucky words?"
Yun Xiangye had never seen such a large sum of money before, thirty thousand-liang silver notes. There were probably not many people in this world who could come up with so much silver at once.
Gu Yan looked at Yun Xiangye holding the silver and said, "If you divorce me, you must return this money to mother, so you'd better give up the idea of divorce."
Gu Yan thought that he might not be able to stop Yun Xiangye from seeing Zhao Jing tomorrow, so he held Yun Xiangye's wrist and said:
"Also, don't forget that you still need me to give you the fake death medicine. If you dare to think of reconciliation again, I will definitely not risk deceiving the emperor to help Sister He leave the palace."
Yun Xiangye stuffed the banknotes back under the pillow and said, "I won't do anything and I won't have any other thoughts."
After Yun Xiangye fell asleep, she turned her back to Gu Yan and thought to herself that she really didn't know the benefits of Prince Ning before.
At the very least, her parents' lifetime savings amounted to only 13,000 taels of silver, of which 10,000 taels were the inheritance from her grandfather.
And she could earn thirty thousand taels in one day...
Yun Xiangye felt that since Gu Yan didn't have her in his heart, he wasn't that hateful anymore.
Gu Yan doesn't care about me, as long as my mother-in-law cares about me.
Why would she care whether Gu Yan has her in his heart or not when she is such a generous mother-in-law who gave him 30,000 taels of silver?
Gu Yan said to Yun Xiangye: "If you see Zhao Jing tomorrow, don't talk too much with him."
Yun Xiangye Ben still thought that she had been married to Gu Yan for three years, so why would Gu Yan be afraid of her meeting Zhao Jing? Could she still divorce and marry his cousin?
Now think about it, Gu Yan's grandmother was married for the second time, and Zhao Jing's mother was also married for the second time.
In Gu Yan's mind, it was common for a woman to marry a second time. No wonder he was on guard against meeting Zhao Jing. Gu Yan was probably afraid that if she really divorced and became Zhao Jing's wife, he would have to call her his cousin in the future...
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