Chapter 31, Episode 31: "Are you a dog?"
Xiao Rong disliked his youngest son. Deng was very pleased to receive three hundred taels of silver from her youngest son. She took out three hundred-tael silver notes from her private savings, ignored her husband's wide eyes, and went to the front yard to see her youngest son.
“Your success in the imperial examinations has indeed cost the family a lot of money. I will give the three hundred taels to your sister-in-law tomorrow morning to be put into the family coffers. It will make you and your husband look good in public.”
Having explained why she wanted to accept the money, Madam Deng quickly stuffed three silver notes into Xiao Yu's sleeve pocket, then pressed down on her son's hands to prevent him from refusing: "You are my son, and I am willing to bear any trouble you cause outside. But Fu'er is different. She has only been married for half a year and has already suffered such a great fright. You have to comfort her properly and not let her suffer in vain."
Xiao Yu: "Give her that hundred taels of gold. This is what I should give to my mother. How can I let you take any more?"
Madam Deng patted her silly son: "I've been a Marquis's wife for over twenty years, I've saved up more than enough money in my own pocket, what do I need from you?"
Before the eldest son's wife entered the household, Deng was very frugal in managing the household. She kept most of the income for herself, only setting aside a small portion in the accounts for the steward's convenience. Later, when the eldest son was about to marry, Deng first kept a portion of her private funds, and then moved the rest into the Marquis's treasury. Even so, her husband still received some rewards from the Emperor every year, and no matter how small, she always received a portion of them, so Deng's private funds continued to grow, making her quite wealthy.
Xiao Yu was skilled in martial arts and had strength, but he couldn't use that strength to fight with his mother, and in the end he was forced to accept his mother's subsidies.
When he returned to Shensi Hall, he immediately saw the box of gold placed on the table in the main room.
Chao Sheng said with a bitter face, "I took it to Madam, but she refused to accept it."
Actually, he was quite jealous. The young master didn't want it, and neither did the wife, but he wanted it!
Xiao Yu glanced at the sky; it was almost time for dinner. He then asked Chao Sheng to prepare water. He first took a bath and changed into a white, round-necked brocade robe. Then he put three silver notes into a box containing gold ingots, and carried the box to the central courtyard.
Luo Fu sat on the tatami mat in the east side room, with a low rosewood table in front of her, writing a letter home.
She didn't even glance at Xiao Yu when he came in. It wasn't until she caught a glimpse of him placing the familiar box on the couch that Luo Fu said to the letter, "I told you I didn't want it. Don't you find it troublesome to move it around like this?"
Xiao Yu: "I don't mind. This is a reward I earned with my life. I will take it with me wherever I go from now on."
Luo Fu: "..."
Although she knew he was just putting on a brave face and that he had actually moved the clothes to her, Luo Fu was still a little embarrassed and annoyed by her own presumptuousness. She glared at him and continued writing her letter, without lingering on his new robe at all.
Xiao Yu took off his shoes and sat down at the low table. Just as he was about to read it, Luo Fu covered the letter with her sleeve: "This is a letter I wrote to my mother. If you really want to be polite, then don't come over here."
Xiao Yu: "Okay, then I'll close my eyes."
Luo Fu looked up and saw that the person really had his eyes closed. His black hair, tied up with a jade hairpin, was clearly freshly washed and not completely dry. His face had the unique flush of a bath, which was set off by the soft, white silk flowing over his body. He looked just like a male fox spirit or demon from a storybook who specializes in seducing beautiful ladies.
Whether he looked at Luo Fu or not, he couldn't continue writing. He turned the letter over, quietly got up, and prepared to leave.
Just as she was about to pass Xiao Yu, her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and in the blink of an eye, Luo Fu fell into his arms. His familiar, strong arms held her tightly, not allowing her to escape.
Luo Fu really didn't want him to succeed, so she tilted her head and struggled for a while, but she was no match for him in strength. The more she struggled, the more panting she became. Xiao Yu's breathing was heavier than hers, and wave after wave of his breath fell on her cheek and neck. The other part of her body, which was covered by her dress, was also ready to pounce. Luo Fu dared not move anymore and let Xiao Yu's hand press her face against his chest. The two of them were panting together.
Last night, Luo Fu was determined to ignore Xiao Yu for a while, but during the day, his appearance in the streets with flowers in his hair was so charming that Luo Fu saw it and heard other people praising Xiao Yu and expressing their envy towards her. Half of her anger subsided. When she returned home and learned that Xiao Yu had been granted a sixth-rank official position and a reward of one hundred taels of gold, the remaining half of her anger also subsided.
Now that the two are so close, the tender moments of those nights flood back to her, and Luo Fu no longer has the strength to harden her heart.
“Madam has lost weight.” Once her breathing had calmed down, his wife obediently let him hold her, and Xiao Yu lowered his head and held one of her hands tightly.
Luo Fu lowered her eyes and slapped the back of his hand with her other hand: "It's all your fault."
Xiao Yu: "Yes, so I must compensate my wife. The reward I earned with my life should rightfully be given to my wife to enjoy."
As he spoke, Xiao Yu picked up the box with one hand and placed it in his wife's arms before opening the lid.
One hundred taels of gold weighs several kilograms, but because she knew it was gold, Luo Fu didn't feel it was heavy at all. Seeing three silver notes on top of the pile of gold ingots, Luo Fu picked them up and examined them carefully, then exclaimed in surprise, "What is this?"
Xiao Yu whispered his mother's words about providing subsidies.
Luo Fu felt a warm glow in her heart. Before marrying into the family, she had worried that her mother-in-law would dislike her, but she never expected that her mother-in-law would treat her almost like her own daughter.
After putting away the silver notes, Luo Fu said, "We'll keep this gold since it came at a great risk, but we should return the silver notes to Mother."
Xiao Yu: "Mother has plenty of money. It's yours to have. Tomorrow I have a social engagement with my colleagues. The day after tomorrow I'll go with you to buy some jewelry. Women like you have too many social engagements. Wearing the same few pieces all the time will make you look bad."
He will not officially begin his duties at the Censorate until the first day of the fourth lunar month.
Luo Fu hummed in agreement, then moved the box aside and said, "Get up, I'm hungry."
Xiao Yu was reluctant to let go, but his wife had lost weight, and he couldn't delay her dinner any longer.
Dinner consisted of four dishes and a soup. Luo Fu glanced at Xiao Yu's face, which was much thinner than hers, and finally felt like asking about his situation in the prison.
When his mother inquired about these matters, Xiao Yu brushed them off with a few words. But when his wife asked, Xiao Yu immediately launched into a tirade, complaining about how cold and watery the porridge in the prison was, sometimes even mixed with sand, and how hard and gritty the cornbread in the prison was...
He spoke with heartfelt sincerity, but his wife across from him laughed more and more as she listened, as if the two were enemies, and the more miserable he was, the more gloating she became.
Xiao Yu pursed her lips and refused to say anything more.
Luo Fu laughed and concluded, "Serves you right. You brought this on yourself. From now on, don't expect me to feel sorry for you if you suffer any hardship of your own making."
These were all the truths, and Xiao Yu had no choice but to accept them.
After the meal, Xiao Yu, who had already taken a bath, rinsed his mouth and washed his face. He then took a book and sat on the other end of the long couch, away from his wife, to read. After Luo Fu finished writing her letter home and went to the west room to take a bath, Xiao Yu continued to lean against the couch and read.
It was quiet both inside and outside the house, so quiet that you could faintly hear the sound of water coming from the west room.
Xiao Yu turned the pages of the book more and more slowly until familiar footsteps reached the curtain outside the east side room. Only then did Xiao Yu look at the last two paragraphs on the right side of the book, and then turn the pages after his wife came in.
In Luo Fu's eyes, the top scholar was dressed in a pure white brocade robe, with a refined and scholarly appearance, as if he were so engrossed in his book that he had forgotten everything.
Luo Fu walked past him without looking to the side, and as one can imagine, before she even stepped into the canopy bed, she heard the sound of the curtain being lifted behind her.
Luo Fu smiled, sat down at the dressing table, picked up a comb, and slowly began to comb her hair.
“I’ll help you, madam.” The man in the mirror stopped behind her and snatched the tortoiseshell comb from her hand without giving her a chance to refuse. His thumb, which was longer than hers, brushed against her palm with a slightly heavy touch.
He wanted to serve her, so Luo Fu closed her eyes, leaned back in her chair, and let him do as he pleased.
Xiao Yu combed his wife's hair for a very long time, so long that the smooth, long hair in his hands was completely dry, so long that his wife, who was becoming more and more relaxed in the chair, tilted her head and fell into a light sleep. Only then did Xiao Yu put down the comb, support his wife's back with one hand, and lift her legs with the other.
Seemingly unaware of his wife's sudden tension, Xiao Yu placed his still-sleeping wife on the bed and then gently covered her with his body.
Before long, Luo Fu couldn't keep up the act anymore and half-jokingly pushed the person away.
Xiao Yu dared not exert his strength on his mother, who was stuffing silver notes into his sleeves, but he dared to hold the wrists of his wife, whose cheeks were flushed as if she were drunk, one in each hand. He then lowered his head, used his teeth to bite open the buttons on his wife's inner garment, and used his nose to pry open the loose collar of his wife's garment.
Not a single candle in the room was extinguished, allowing Xiao Yu to see everything about his wife, and also allowing Luo Fu to see his every move.
She twisted her bound wrists as she cursed at him, "Are you a dog?"
Xiao Yu wasn't born in the Year of the Dog, but in front of such a lady...
The next instant, Luo Fu was flipped over by her strong, top-scoring husband; the man, who wasn't a dog, had turned into a wolf.
.
The brothers-in-law, who had both achieved the highest rank in the imperial examinations (one the top scholar and the other the third), each had their own social obligations. Luo Fu and Luo Lan also had their own celebratory banquets to prepare. It wasn't until the first day of the fourth lunar month, when Xiao Yu and Pei Xingshu were both on duty, that Luo Fu finally had some free time to bring Ping An to the small courtyard rented by her sister and brother-in-law.
Roland came out to pick up his sister. When he saw his sister peeking out of the carriage, her face was fair and rosy, and she looked happy even without smiling. Roland immediately knew what was going on and teased his sister in a low voice, "Have you made up with your husband?"
At the mention of this, Luo Fu's legs went weak, and she took out her own handwritten letter to change the subject: "Has your letter been written, sister? Let's put ours together and send them back."
Roland spared her sister and had a maid bring two letters from her own family, which she and her sister delivered to the messenger at the same time. One letter was for her family, and the other was for Pei Xingshu's father-in-law.
Luo Fu: "When Pei Bo finds out that my brother-in-law has become a third-place scholar in the imperial examination and is going to study under the Left Prime Minister at the Jixian Academy, will he be so happy that he immediately changes the small house he promised to him to a large house?"
Roland laughed and said, "Even if my father-in-law gives us enough money to buy a big house, we only plan to buy a small house like this one. Otherwise, it will be too conspicuous and easily attract hatred."
It's not a problem if my husband lives better than other graduates of the same cohort; the real problem is if my husband, a low-ranking official of the ninth rank, lives better than some sixth or seventh-rank officials from humble backgrounds in the capital, which would make him an enemy in the officialdom for no reason.
Luo Fu nodded: "Indeed, anyway, Yi Ge'er and the others are still young, and the house is enough for you to live in. Save up the extra money, and we'll move to a bigger house when your brother-in-law gets promoted. I heard from my sister-in-law that a top scholar in the imperial academy only stayed for two years before going directly into the Ministry of Personnel as a sixth-rank official, and then three years later he was promoted to a fifth-rank official. With your brother-in-law's talent and character, he might not be promoted any slower than that person."
The two sisters exchanged auspicious words and then discussed arrangements for their families.
Luo Fu: "I originally wanted to ask my parents to move to the capital, but after Xiao Yu's outburst, I'm a little hesitant. I'm afraid that if they live closer to the capital, they'll be more likely to be implicated."
Roland: "You think you can disregard the Marquis's mansion just because you're here? Marquis Xiao is a first-class marquis who once protected the emperor, and he has two top-tier noble families by marriage. What ordinary official would dare to cause trouble for his brother-in-law? If they really wanted to make a move, the more remote your parents' residence, the easier it would be for them to ambush you under the guise of bandits. On the contrary, it's unusual for a few bandits to suddenly appear in the capital, right under the emperor's nose. It's obviously the work of enemies."
Luo Fu: "..."
As her sister had predicted, ever since she had witnessed her mother-in-law's simplicity, her father-in-law's unpredictable temper, and personally experienced the anxiety and unease that gripped the entire Xiao family after Xiao Yu's imprisonment, Luo Fu had indeed forgotten that the Xiao family was also a powerful and influential family in the eyes of ordinary people and officials.
"How about we build a house in that town we liked before?"
The two sisters had been in Beijing for half a year and had only managed to buy four acres of land through a middleman. Building a house was simple; they just needed to report to the village head, sign some documents, and pay some taxes.
Roland: "Yes, the messenger will deliver the letter, and the family will tidy up before heading here. It will take at least a month, and by the time they arrive, the house will be finished."
The two sisters split the expenses equally, and Roland took care of everything, while Rosanne just had to wait to reunite with her parents.
However, not long after the letter was sent, Luo Fu and her two sisters-in-law received an imperial edict from Empress Gao, summoning them to the palace to admire the flowers.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Here it is! 100 little red envelopes! See you at the second update tonight!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com