Xu Siyu was neither humble nor arrogant, and his answer was gentle but firm. Even if I were in his place, I might not have answered better than him.

Eleventh Lady showed an admiring look and said with a smile: "What about Fang Tanhua?"

Xu Siyu avoided her gaze somewhat embarrassedly.

"Fang Tanhua bowed deeply to me. He said that he was angry at the time, so he said some inappropriate words and did some inappropriate things. Thinking about it now, he feels a little ashamed. But as the eldest sister-in-law's family, he couldn't just sit back and watch his sister being wronged. What's more, the rumors about the so-called husband-killing are all nonsense of the Huo family. They haven't even seen Mr. Huo's birth date."

He relayed Fang Ji's words.

"Mr. Huo died young, and Mrs. Huo was extremely grief-stricken. I don't know which gossips she heard, saying that Mr. Huo's death was all because of the marriage proposal with my sister. Mrs. Huo was angry with my sister, so every time someone came to propose marriage, she would obstruct it, and even spread rumors many times. Later, it was not until my grandmother personally visited the wife of the head of the Huo family that the rumors calmed down. But three people make a tiger, and not only did my sister have such a reputation, but the Huo family is a big family in Huzhou, and half of the people in the city are related to them. Everyone didn't want to have a rift between relatives, and my aunt didn't want to let my sister down, so the marriage was delayed again and again.

"This is also a marriage made in heaven. My sister and her husband have such a fate. When your family went to propose marriage, my uncle was afraid of making a mistake with her husband, so he specially asked his staff to take the horoscopes of the two people and find several Taoist monks and famous yin and yang masters in Shaanxi to look at them. They all said that it was a match made in heaven, so they agreed to this marriage. If you don't believe it, you can ask the third lady. When my sister and her husband were discussing marriage, other families took three days to match the horoscopes, but our family gave the answer after five or six days.

"It's just that it's not easy to talk about these romantic matters in front of the Marquis. If the Madam and the Marquis have any misunderstandings, it's all because I didn't explain it clearly. Please let me apologize on your behalf."

Not only did she find a way out, she also explained in detail the fact that Fang was a murderer.

"I saw that he was sincere in what he said, and my eldest brother didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I said something like, 'You are the eldest sister-in-law's brother, and I am your brother-in-law's younger brother. We should mediate and persuade them to reconcile. Now that there is a misunderstanding, the elders have to come forward to clarify it.' Then I asked him to come the day after tomorrow. He agreed immediately. He also invited me to dinner and personally saw me out."

As long as we haven't come to the point of putting our fingerprints on the divorce agreement and getting the divorce papers from Shuntian Prefecture, we are relatives and we can't fall out with each other.

Xu Siyu's calmness and composure in handling this matter impressed Eleventh Lady.

"Thank you for your hard work!" She smiled, "Brother Yu has grown up."

Xu Siyu's face turned red.

He stood up and said, "Mother, if you have no other instructions, I will take my leave now."

Eleventh Lady was also going to the Lady Dowager's place. She smiled and nodded, asked him about the progress of collecting the papers, and then asked Qiuyu to see him out.

Madam Wen saw Xu Siyu coming out and took the dowry list and went in.

Eleventh Lady held Jing'er in her arms and went to the Lady Dowager with her.

She first reported to the lady-in-waiting about Xu Siyu's visit to the Fang family.

"Brother Yu is becoming more and more sensible." The lady heard this with a sigh. But the sigh was short-lived. The lady looked unwilling to talk more and immediately changed the topic to the meeting between Eleventh Lady and Fang Ji tomorrow. "This Fang Ji can be arrogant or respectful. I'm afraid he is not a simple person. The Fang family can attack or defend. Tomorrow you will meet Fang Ji, I'm afraid you have to be more alert..."

When Eleventh Lady saw Fang Ji coming up and shouting for a divorce, and thinking about how he actually rushed into the lobby of the Ministry of Rites with those scholars, she thought he was a man who only knew the spirit of a scholar and was reckless and willful. But after hearing what Xu Siyu said, she realized that his shouting in front of Xu Lingyi and his sighing in front of Xu Siyu about Fang's being a husband-killer were all means for him to clear the rumor that Fang was a husband-killer. It was clear that he was a person who knew when to advance and when to retreat.

People who are reasonable are afraid of encountering violent people, and violent people are afraid of encountering people who don't care about their lives. Since the Fang family has a purpose and Fang Ji is sensible in his actions, this matter will be easy to handle.

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "If I can't handle it, it won't be too late to ask you to step in. He is a junior anyway. Although I am a clan wife, I still have the Marquis and the Madam above me."

Thinking that she always acted prudently, the lady nodded slightly, smiled and picked up Jing'er who was playing on the kang, and asked the maid to call Wen Niang in. While teasing Jing'er, she listened to Wen Niang's report on Zhen Jie'er's dowry, occasionally looking up to ask in detail, and the morning passed quickly.

Xu Lingyi came over for lunch.

This situation is relatively rare.

The lady was very happy and ordered more dishes. Madam Wen followed Madam Du and placed chopsticks beside her and served the soup.

Jing'er dropped all the food on the table.

The lady kept complaining, "How can he be allowed to eat by himself when he is so young!" Then she called for the jade tablet, "Get some water for the Sixth Young Master to wash his hands and face." She told Madam Du, "Bring me my silver spoon with the ginkgo leaf, I will feed Jing'er." Then she smiled and said to Jing'er, "We will use the beautiful spoons to eat, eat more!"

Xu Lingyi smiled along.

Eleventh Lady felt herself sweating profusely.

Jing'er, however, held a fir wood spoon in his hand and kept nodding to the old lady, making her laugh with joy.

When Mother Du brought a silver spoon and the lady fed him, he snatched the lady's silver spoon and started eating by himself. After taking two bites, perhaps he was not used to it, he threw the silver spoon aside, took his own wooden spoon to eat, and scattered rice grains everywhere.

The lady was surprised and said, "Hey, why did you suddenly change your mind and don't want my things anymore?"

The silver spoon was very beautiful, a round spoon with a long handle and a ginkgo leaf on the top.

Mother Du smiled and said, "Sixth Young Master likes bright things." She meant that the silver spoon was not eye-catching.

"That's wrong." The lady laughed, "A silver spoon is naturally the best for eating." But she still asked Mother Du to get the red gold double-shou spoon. In the end, the meal was not fed because Jing'er held the spoon in his hand and refused to let go.

"Don't be a bully!" The lady laughed so hard that she fell backwards. "In a few months, when your eldest sister gets married, you must remember to ask your eldest brother-in-law for more red envelopes."

"Our eldest brother-in-law is a thoughtful person." Mother Du said with a smile, "You don't have to tell me, I'm afraid the red envelope has been prepared long ago!"

Everyone chatted and laughed, and went to the west room for tea.

Xu Lingyi took advantage of the good mood to talk about the Third Master: "... I said, health is the capital. If his health is bad, no matter how high his position is, he will not be able to hold on, and no matter how much money he makes, he will have nowhere to spend it. It would be better for him to resign and come back. After all, he has been a government official, and he got a 'good' rating in the three-year assessment. This is also an explanation to our ancestors!"

The lady's expression changed from surprise to astonishment, and then from astonishment to calmness.

The old man picked up the teacup and took a few sips. Then he said softly, "I know." He put down the teacup and said, "I'm tired too. Let's all go and have a rest." Then he got up with the help of Mother Du and went to the inner room.

Xu Lingyi thought to himself that it was not good, and went back to tell Shiyi Niang: "When you go over this afternoon, take Jin Ge'er with you!"

Eleventh Lady also felt that there was something behind the words of the Lady Dowager. When she went to discuss Zhen Jie'er's affairs, she took Jing'er with her as she said.

The lady's calm expression at noon, like the calm before a storm, had long gone, and the old lady had returned to her usual optimism and cheerfulness. She was smiling and playing with Jing'er, and did not mention the matter of the Third Master.

* * * * * *

Fang Ji came to see Shiyi Niang, obviously well prepared.

As soon as he opened his mouth, he congratulated the Third Master on his official career: "...Although it is the Emperor's great favor, after three years, the Ministry of Personnel's performance evaluation has been rated 'excellent'. It is the time for him to realize his ambitions, but he actually resigned from office. It really makes us young people admire him!"

It points out that the Fang family contributed to the Third Master's excellent performance in the exam.

Eleventh Lady was not to be outdone, and said with a smile: "Speaking of official career, I heard from our eldest young lady that my father-in-law has always wanted to stay away from the pain of paperwork, but he had to do it reluctantly because of the family burden. He had been looking forward to my uncle passing the imperial examination as soon as possible so that my father-in-law could unload this heavy burden. Who knew that before the exam, I heard that my uncle rushed into the Ministry of Rites. We were all worried at the time. Especially our second young master, the Marquis has always been strict with him and never allowed him to bully others. He actually ran around for my uncle's affairs overnight. Fortunately, my uncle turned the danger into a blessing. Now he is young and has passed the imperial examination. His future is bright, and my father-in-law can also resign and return home to live a leisurely life." She added, "In the future, my uncle will work in the Hanlin Academy, and we will all be in Yanjing together, so there will be more opportunities to visit each other."

Fang Ji couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Although the Xu family did not help in this matter, Xu Siyu was grateful to him for reminding him and running around for him at that time.

Eleventh Lady was reminding herself that she was the only official in the Fang family, and although Xu Lingyi might not be able to help him, he could make things difficult for him in matters concerning the Ministry of Rites.

Talking about this topic further will only make him more passive.

He had no choice but to say, "The second young master of your mansion and I hit it off right away," and then changed the subject: "I wonder what the fourth lady wants me to do?" He wanted to regain the initiative.

Fang Ji didn't mention it, and Shiyi Niang didn't want to force anyone into a corner.

She smiled and said, "I originally heard that my uncle wanted my sister to divorce. I was a little worried because my uncle was young and impatient. Now I have heard what my uncle and our second young master said, and I know that my uncle has good intentions. Just as my uncle said, the matter between husband and wife is mostly about love. At that time, my uncle couldn't say much to the marquis, and I, as his aunt, couldn't say much to my uncle. Now my uncle has promised our second young master to ask the elders of the Fang family to come forward to clarify. I am relieved.

“I just want to say one more thing.

"If the eldest young lady has any grievances, she should think more about her mother-in-law's painstaking efforts, treat others as she would like, and bear more. This is the duty of a daughter-in-law. Why do you call your brothers from your mother's family to discuss things when you are not satisfied?" As he said this, he laughed jokingly, "Fortunately, my uncle is in Yanjing. If he was not in Yanjing, wouldn't we have to send someone back to Huzhou to invite him?"

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PS: Post a draft first!

O(∩_∩)O~

One update today!