Chapter 122 "I'm a very reasonable person, I don't blame you..."
When Xiao Yu returned, Luo Fu had already brought Cheng Jie to Wanhetang to keep her parents-in-law company. Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun also arrived one after another. Xiao Hu and his nephews were either on duty or studying, and they would not be able to reunite until evening.
Over the past year, Deng had missed her youngest son terribly. Now that they were about to meet, Deng seemed indifferent and said to Luo Fu, "Third son, ever since he first took the imperial examination, he has gone to other places every few years. We've been separated and reunited so often that I'm no longer excited about our reunion. It's better for you to go to Jicheng so I can miss you."
Luo Fu turned to her two sisters-in-law to confirm, "After I left, did Mother ever shed a tear because she missed me?"
Cheng-jie, nestled in her grandmother's arms, shook her head first. Her grandmother then gently flicked her head, making everyone laugh.
Sitting among three generations of women, Xiao Rong felt quite uncomfortable and could only pretend to leisurely sip his tea.
Finally, Xiao Yu's travel-worn figure appeared in the corridor. Cheng'er was the first to rush out, and Deng Shi had already chased after him for a few steps. When she turned around, she saw her youngest daughter-in-law still sitting steadily in her chair, looking at her with a mocking expression. Deng Shi glared at her youngest daughter-in-law, sat back down, and even told her eldest and second daughters-in-law to sit down as well. She had already offered to sit down several times, so there was really no need to flatter the third daughter-in-law too much.
"Father!"
Cheng'er hadn't forgotten her father; she hugged his neck and called out to him sweetly.
Xiao Yu hugged his daughter tightly, kissed her hair several times, and then walked towards the main room while talking to her.
As Deng said, it was common for the family to see Xiao Yu off and welcome him back. Every time Xiao Yu returned, he would kneel and kowtow to his parents, confessing his filial impiety. In the past, this would have brought tears to Deng's eyes and made her two sisters-in-law, Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun, red-eyed. But today, after the jokes and teasing just now, the mother-in-law and daughters-in-law were all laughing.
Xiao Rong mocked her youngest son, saying, "Look at you, you're not as loved anymore now that you're old. Your mother doesn't care about you as much as she used to."
Cheng'er hummed, "Grandmother misses Father very much. She has shed tears in front of me several times. Grandfather is not allowed to lie."
Xiao Rong: "..."
Since Xiao Yu's most significant loss of favor with the emperor and setbacks in his official career while serving as the Chief Clerk of Jizhou was that he hadn't suffered much hardship, his return to the capital was a joyous occasion of promotion. Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun stayed for a while to chat before leaving, so that they could have their third brother and sister-in-law catch up alone as soon as possible.
After the two sisters-in-law left, Deng looked at Xiao Yu with heartache and said in a low voice, "You were able to be transferred back to the capital in less than a year this time. Besides being grateful for the Emperor's grace, at least half of the credit goes to Fu'er. In the future, think more about Fu'er before you say or do anything. You can't let Fu'er worry about you anymore."
From the time Luo Fu left Jicheng until Xiao Yu returned to the capital, he received no more letters from his wife or mother. Therefore, Xiao Yu had always been suspicious of why the emperor suddenly summoned him back. However, because the time when the Ministry of Personnel issued the transfer order was too close to the time when his wife arrived in the capital, Xiao Yu did wonder if this matter was related to his wife.
In front of his parents and Cheng'er, Xiao Yu simply thanked his wife. After his mother found a way to keep Cheng'er and her husband alone at Shensi Hall, Xiao Yu first took a bath and changed his clothes. After cleaning himself up, he came to the central courtyard to find his wife.
Luo Fu had arranged the four paintings that had contributed to the project in advance: one of Xiao Yu’s painting of her, another of Xiao Yu’s painting of the snow scene in Jicheng, and the third of each of her and Empress Xie’s paintings, “Xiao Yu Sends His Wife Off.”
Luo Fu frankly told Xiao Yu about her scheme: "You are not good at flattering the emperor, and you are probably used to being alone outside. But I can't bear the thought of my husband being thousands of miles away from me, and I can't bear the thought of my children being without their father for years. So before I went to Jicheng to find you, I had already planned to have you draw a picture about the people of Jicheng, and then go to the emperor to sell my sob story and my elegance."
Having experienced how Xiao Yu sent her a letter from Loujiang, which sparked interest among the nobles in the palace, and given the deep bond between Emperor Xianping and Xiao Yu—their harmonious relationship outweighing their conflicts—Luo Fu vaguely sensed that most of what she said about Xiao Yu to Empress Xie would likely reach Emperor Xianping's ears.
The late emperor was Xiao Yu's grandfather, and he had never lost face in front of Xiao Yu. So at that time, Luo Fu told jokes about Xiao Yu to amuse the nobles and reduce the late emperor's anger towards Xiao Yu.
When it came to Emperor Xianping, who had left Xiao Yu in Jizhou because of his repeated embarrassment in front of him, Luo Fu could not use the same trick. Otherwise, Emperor Xianping would feel frustrated, while Xiao Yu could still joke with his wife in his letters home and do well in Jizhou. The more carefree Xiao Yu was, the more Emperor Xianping would be unable to let go of him.
Therefore, Luo Fu deliberately played the victim for Xiao Yu. Instead of directly telling Xiao Yu about his suffering, she used her own journey north to tell Emperor Xianping that Xiao Yu was enduring the pain of being separated from his family for a long time. Luo Fu even made herself sick with cold symptoms before returning to the capital, all to put on a show of a tragic love story for Emperor Xianping.
Xiao Yu's painting "Auspicious Snow" was already in Luo Fu's plans. Asking Empress Xie to paint "Xiao Yu Sending His Wife Away" was a spur-of-the-moment idea. Luo Fu knew that Empress Xie was good at painting and could accurately depict the mood of Xiao Yu's parting from her. Luo Fu thought that perhaps Emperor Xianping would feel a little guilty about Xiao Yu's situation after seeing Empress Xie's painting and putting himself in Xiao Yu's shoes.
Finally, Emperor Xianping's decree proved that Luo Fu's method had worked.
It's just a matter of whether Xiao Yu, who disdains such flattery and sycophancy, can accept that his wife would use such a dishonorable scheme to help him.
A person of integrity will not accept charity. Luo Fu was really unsure how Xiao Yu would react, but she felt neither guilty nor regretful. She simply looked at Xiao Yu calmly and was prepared to retaliate with a beating and scolding if Xiao Yu dared to blame her.
Xiao Yu listened to every word his wife said very carefully, so his mind was filled with images of his wife painting hard by the dim light of the post station, the helpless scene of his wife deliberately making herself sick by opening the window in the cold night, and the smiling face of his wife who was clearly suffering in her heart but had to coax people in front of the nobles in the palace.
With his vision blurred, Xiao Yu failed to notice the obvious fierce glint in his wife's eyes and went straight forward to embrace her, saying, "It's all my fault for making you suffer."
Luo Fu should have laughed, knowing her husband wasn't the kind of scoundrel who blamed her after receiving the benefits. However, leaning against Xiao Yu's thin chest, Luo Fu still choked up pathetically, hitting him and asking, "What do you mean by blaming me? Do you mean I shouldn't have wisely advised the Emperor to stay overnight in Yicheng, or that I shouldn't have advised the Emperor to retreat to save tens of thousands of soldiers from dying in vain?"
If he were simply trying to show off his intelligence or gain a reputation as a virtuous minister, Luo Fu could blame him. But Xiao Yu was not like that; he was a true gentleman and a virtuous minister.
She could blame Xiao Yu for tainting her heart, but she couldn't blame him for keeping his heart too clean.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu gripped the back of his wife's head tightly with his right hand, rested his chin on the top of her head, and tilted his head back with his eyes closed for a long time.
Who wouldn't feel wronged if they were banished by the king without any fault?
Xiao Yu was not afraid of compromising himself, but his choice caused his wife to suffer.
"Father! I'm back!"
The sudden sound of their daughter's voice in the courtyard made the couple quickly let go. Luo Fu wiped away her tears and noticed that Xiao Yu was also wiping something with his sleeve with his back to her. Luo Fu was taken aback at first, then quickly said, "I'm a very reasonable person. I don't blame you, and you don't need to blame yourself. But you're not allowed to respond to anything Chen Ruliang says in the future. He's a cunning old fox, and people who are too straightforward are likely to suffer at his hands."
Xiao Yu lowered his arm and said, "Yes, Madam, don't worry, I've remembered."
At this moment, Chengjie ran in. Her father, whom she had been waiting for for more than a year, was finally home, and Chengjie was not about to be held back by her grandmother.
The little girl, with a sweet smile, ran back into her father's arms.
Xiao Yu then used his daughter's head to cover his face until it was almost completely covered before daring to face his wife directly.
Luo Fu didn't bother to look at him, quickly put away the four paintings, and personally delivered them to the study.
Cheng'er watched her mother leave with a puzzled look, and asked her father with concern, "Did Mother cry? Her eyes are red."
Xiao Yu: "Yes, your mother misses your father so much, just like your grandmother misses him so much that she sheds tears."
Cheng'er blinked, wanting to shed a few tears to prove that she missed her father too, but she just couldn't cry.
Xiao Yu smiled, nuzzled his daughter's face, and carried her to find his wife.
The day was spent in the joy of reunion, and at night Xiao Yu pressed his wife down for a long time.
Couples who have been arguing often reconcile through this incident, let alone couples who miss each other and have finally reunited. Afterwards, Luo Fu, who was exhausted, still nestled in Xiao Yu's arms and kissed him randomly on the shoulder and chest, kissing whichever side of his face was facing that made it easy for her lips to reach.
The couple chatted intimately for a while, then Xiao Yu asked his former superior with a heavy heart, "Old Fan, he..."
Luo Fu laughed and said, "I'm fine, it's just that I have a back ailment and need to rest more. I'm too weak to impeach anyone anymore."
"It's good that he's still here," Xiao Yu breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "After I've visited my parents-in-law, I'll go see him."
Luo Fu: "Go ahead and learn from Master Fan. See who can be impeached and who you should try to avoid impeaching."
Xiao Yu: "..."
He even mocked the late emperor and impeached the former deposed crown prince. Is the lady teasing him again?
On the same night, at the Chen residence.
Luo Fu knew that Xiao Yu's neglect by Emperor Xianping was related to Chen Ruliang, and Chen Ruliang's wife, Fang, naturally knew what her husband had done.
After lying down on the bed, Madam Fang asked worriedly, "Xiao Yu has regained the Emperor's favor. Now that he's back in the capital and still serving as the Censor-in-Chief, will he target you?"
Chen Ruliang said nonchalantly, "I have always acted uprightly and never broken the law. I am not afraid of his impeachment. Besides, a gentleman like Xiao Yu would not stoop to settling personal scores."
After arriving in the capital, Chen Ruliang first faced Yang Sheng's attempts to find fault with him, and then a group of officials in the capital who were dissatisfied with him tried to oust him. Chen Ruliang acted with extreme caution and strictly disciplined his family. As for his income when he was an official in the provinces, although he had some shady dealings, these were all tacitly accepted practices in officialdom, and it wouldn't be a big deal if they were discovered. Besides, more than ten or twenty years had passed, and there was no evidence left.
Fang thought of Xiao Yu's wife: "For a daughter from an ordinary family to become a favorite of the Empress and the Princess, Luo must be quite cunning. Moreover, she is clearly a member of the Empress's faction. I'm afraid she will slander you in front of the Empress, and then the Empress will whisper in the Emperor's ear."
Chen Ruliang smiled calmly: "What Xiao He has made is also what Xiao He has ruined. The Empress is almost like a clay idol crossing the river. The closer Luo gets to the Empress, the less the Emperor will like her and Xiao Yu in the future."
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Author's note: Ahem, when you're angry, just remember that the villains are like grasshoppers in autumn, and the main characters will be fine!
100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow!
P.S.: Still asking for nutrient solution, [pity]
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