The snow that had stopped falling before suddenly began to fall again, covering the ground with a thin layer, which sparkled in the light. The biting wind blew in my face, making me feel cold but also a little refreshing.

She has been in Pei's villa for half a month, and will be back in a few days. I wonder how her parents and brother and sister-in-law are doing? I wonder if Old An's anger will subside a little tomorrow? She has been making silk flowers with the Fifth Miss these days. The quantity is not only enough for the Fifth Miss as a gift, but she can also give some to the maids serving the Pei family. So starting from tomorrow, should she start making some close-fitting clothes for the baby who will be born in the spring of next year?

Yu Tang was thinking randomly, but his thoughts couldn't help but drift to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan is such a proud person. If the Li family really broke off the engagement with him, he must have felt very bad. I wonder how he managed to get through it? And the Li family, Pei Yan is a good-looking and talented person, except that he has a slightly bad temper. This "bad" is not irritable or cruel, but impatience due to being too smart. How could the Li family be willing to give up such a golden son-in-law?

Yu Tang couldn't understand it.

Could it be true, as Mrs. Shen said, that Pei Yan was not very satisfied with Miss Li and dragged his feet to propose marriage, and the Li family had no choice but to ask Pei Yan to marry their daughter, and then they had to find a husband for their daughter again?

Or, was there something about the young lady of the Li family that made Pei Yan dissatisfied?

Otherwise, why would Old An say that Pei Yan’s marriage had to get his own approval!

Yu Tang suddenly felt as if he had discovered something remarkable.

That must be the case.

Because Pei Yan did not agree to the Li family's marriage proposal, although the Li family wanted to recruit Pei Yan as their son-in-law, Pei Yan did not agree, so the matter fell through.

Thinking in this way, I can understand Mrs. Shen's words and Mr. An's anger.

Yu Tang was satisfied, closed the window, and got back into bed, thinking whether he should find a chance to ask Pei Yan tomorrow. Pei Yan must have known about such a big thing. Mrs. Shen's words were indeed a bit presumptuous, but it was more important to appease the anger of Old An. It would be even better if she could know why the Pei and Li families could not become relatives!

She closed her eyes and smiled.

Even when asleep he was still smiling.

Not far from Yu Tang, in Gu Xi's inner room, Gu Xi suddenly sat up.

He Xiang was startled, and hurriedly moved the lamp over, took out a jacket and wrapped it around Gu Xi, and whispered, "Miss, what's wrong with you? Are you having a nightmare?"

Of course, they quietly poured the medicine prescribed by the doctor into the flower garden at the back. However, waking up from sleep in the middle of the night had only happened to Gu Xi when she was young. Later, the eldest son was raped, and Gu Xi never had nightmares again.

Gu Xi shook his head and told He Xiang in a hoarse voice, "I'm a little thirsty."

He Xiang went to pour a cup of tea.

Gu Xi drank a few sips slowly, and then said, "Pei Xiaguang was definitely not willing to have the Li family and the Pei family get married. Moreover, something else must have happened that we don't know about, because of this incident, the Pei family handed over the matter of his marriage to him."

It turns out it was for this matter.

He Xiang didn't think too much about it and said softly, "It's getting late. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? You'd better go to bed early so that you can deal with the people and things tomorrow."

Gu Xi handed the teacup to He Xiang and leaned against the pillow at the head of the bed, but he had no intention of going to sleep. He said, "Tomorrow's matter is easy. I will pretend to be sick from beginning to end and will not go out. No matter what happens to Mrs. Shen, we will not interfere. I am thinking about the matter of the Third Elder... Since he can decide his own marriage, I am also ashamed of Mrs. Shen's doing such a thing. Can I talk to the Third Elder and ask him to send a letter to my brother and then send someone to send me back to Hangzhou City?"

He Xiang immediately understood what Gu Xi meant.

Her eyes lit up, and she whispered, "Old An was so angry, it's only natural that you're afraid of him. Please ask the Third Elder to help you send a letter to the eldest son, asking him to send someone to take you home. No one can say anything."

Gu Xi smiled and said, "It's settled then. After Mrs. Shen leaves, we'll immediately ask the Third Elder to help me take charge of the household."

He Xiang nodded repeatedly.

She believed that with their young lady's appearance and talent, if she took the initiative to show her affection, no man could escape!

Gu Xi fell asleep contentedly.

The next day, I was awakened by the noise in the yard.

She opened her eyes. The room was quiet and empty, and the noise coming from Mrs. Shen's place seemed even more disturbing.

Gu Xi thought about it, put on his slippers, pushed the window open and looked out.

Shen Shanyan, wearing an autumn-colored squirrel-skin cloak and with a sullen face, was standing outside Mrs. Shen's house. Several burly old women were moving things in a vulgar manner.

Mrs. Shen's crying came from the inner room over there.

Shen Shanyan sneered, "How dare you cry! If I were you, I would quickly cover my face and quietly go down the mountain from the back door of Pei's house, rush back to Hangzhou City overnight, and never set foot in Lin'an City again."

Gu Xi was stunned.

She didn't expect that Lao An would drive people away so quickly and notify Shen Shanyan so quickly.

She thought that this matter would have to wait for a few days, until everyone's emotions had calmed down, and Mrs. Shen would take the initiative to resign to maintain superficial decency.

It seemed that Old An was even more impatient than she thought, almost to the point of being unable to tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes.

Now Mrs. Shen has lost all her face.

I don’t know how Shen Shanyan will deal with Mrs. Shen after he returns.

She had heard from her stepmother before that the Shen family once threw the wives and grandmothers who had made mistakes into temples, where they would stay for two or three years.

I wonder if Shen Shanyan would do the same?

Gu Xi sighed.

I feel a chill in my heart.

I really can't stand it anymore.

She turned around and lay back on the bed. Even when He Xiang came in with hot water to help her wash up, she still looked listless. People who didn't know the truth would have thought she was really sick.

When Yu Tang got the news, Mrs. Shen had already left the villa. Shuang Tao whispered to her, "It is said that Mr. Shen went to apologize to Miss Gu and told her to rest assured and recuperate. He will send someone to take Miss Gu back to Hangzhou in a few days."

Inexplicably, Yu Tang felt much more cheerful after hearing these words.

She asked Shuangtao, "Is Mr. An okay?"

"It should be good!" Shuang Tao replied with a somewhat uncertain smile, "Breakfast was served at the usual time. Old An ate half a golden silk roll, drank half a bowl of mushroom soup, and ate a red bean paste bun. Aunt Ji said that this was already a good amount for Old An."

Yu Tang knew that Shuang Tao had gone to Aunt Ji to inquire about the news early in the morning. She was very pleased that Shuang Tao was able to help her so quickly. She asked, "Did Aunt Ji tell me what Old An's plan was for today?"

"No," Shuang Tao said, "but when Mr. Shen came to bid farewell to Old An, Old An said to Mr. Shen, 'Your life has also been delayed by her.'"

Yu Tang was not interested in this. She asked, "Did the three elders come to greet Old An this morning? Did they mention this matter?"

"I didn't dare to ask about that." Shuang Tao was just answering when Liu Xu's voice came from outside: "Miss Yu, Miss Five and Miss Four are here."

These two little girls are early!

Yu Tang quickly stopped talking, smiled and walked out the door, asking the two Miss Peis who entered her yard hand in hand: "Why are you here so early? Have you had breakfast?"

After a night's work, the two little girls had recovered their usual calmness. Upon hearing this, they all called out "Sister Yu" and said, "We have had breakfast and would like to go with Sister Yu to pay our respects to Old An."

To get from the yard where they lived to where she lived, you had to go around half the main yard.

Yu Tang laughed and said, "Why did you come here? Where are the Second Miss and the Third Miss?"

The Fifth Miss said, "They went to my great-aunt's house as soon as they got up today, and my mother went to the flower hall to listen to the maids' report, so we two came to see you."

When she said these words, her black eyes looked at her without blinking, like a little kitten who was afraid of being abandoned by her. She was adorable and pitiful.

Yu Tang quickly put his hand on Miss Wu's shoulder and said, "Are you afraid that Old An is still angry? I'm scared too. But three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Let's go together so that we can give each other courage."

The two young ladies were delighted and kept urging Yu Tang to have breakfast quickly so that they could go and pay their respects to Mr. An.

The fourth young lady also suggested inviting Gu Xi to go together.

Only then did Yu Tang realize that the young ladies of the Pei family lived in the same courtyard with Mr. Pei, and they might not know what had happened to Gu Xi, so he told the two young ladies of the Pei family that Gu Xi was sick and that Mrs. Shen had been taken out of the courtyard by Mr. Shen.

The two Miss Peis were stunned after hearing this, while Miss Five said with concern and sympathy: "Poor Sister Gu, she has suffered such an unexpected disaster. We should go and see her."

Yu Tang suspected that Gu Xi was faking illness.

She was like this in her previous life. Whenever she wanted to avoid something, she liked to pretend to be sick.

But this is also the method used by most women in the inner court, which cannot be said to be good or bad.

She said, "Okay. Let's go see her first, and then go and greet Old An."

The two Miss Pei's said "Okay" in unison, urging her to have breakfast, and said, "My uncle and aunt wake up very early every day. We're afraid that if we don't hurry up, we'll arrive later than them."

Yu Tang had breakfast quickly, and went to visit Gu Xi with the two Miss Peis before going to Old An's place.

They were indeed a little late.

Old Anren Yi and the second and third young ladies had already arrived. The second wife was serving tea to the two old Anren. When she saw them, she glared at the fifth young lady, but her voice was still gentle, "Why are you here so late? I was just about to ask someone to call you!"

Miss Wu said hurriedly: "We went to see Miss Gu, she was sick."

The second wife said nothing.

The fifth lady hurriedly pulled the fourth lady forward to greet Mr. Yi, and Yu Tang followed them and bowed to Mr. Yi.