Chapter 2: My brother-in-law killed my sister!? The Xue family is entrenched in Shangjing Luodu...
The Xue family has been entrenched in Shangjing Luodu for a long time.
There are thousands of households in the clan, and their ancestors have produced cabinet ministers, scholars, loyal ministers, and even those who resigned from office and retired to enjoy the leisurely life among the mountains and rivers.
Some people say that the cultural heritage of Dazhao lies in the Xue family, and Xue Yu and Xue Lingjun are the helmsmen of this generation of the Xue family.
The top scholar in the imperial examination, the unrivaled gentleman as bright as the moon, the brilliant and talented tutor to the Crown Prince, Xue Yu, is Yun Yang's brother-in-law.
Yun Yang remembered that after his father knew the identity of the old man he accidentally saved, he sat on the stone bench in the mansion for a long time without recovering from his shock.
The person rescued from the bandits turned out to be the Grand Tutor of the current dynasty.
After being rescued and brought back to the Yun family, Master Xue was in a coma for several days. The scholar was weak and had suffered such a great shock that he almost did not wake up.
After opening his eyes, he rested well for several days before he breathed a sigh of relief.
Tutor Xue is a well-known upright scholar and a standard scholar-official. How could he not repay the life-saving grace?
He immediately wrote a marriage contract, and said humbly, "My son is fourteen years old, four years older than your daughter. He is of fair appearance and literary talent. He just passed the provincial examination this year and has a gentle and polite temperament. If you don't mind... would you be willing to form a friendly relationship with my Xue family and support each other from now on to repay your kindness in saving my life?"
Yun Yang remembered his father asking, "Xue family? Which Xue family?"
"The Xue family in Shangjing Luodu." Taifu Xue replied.
Eight years later, when sister Yun Jia turned eighteen, Grand Tutor Xue kept his promise and ordered his only son Xue Yu to propose marriage.
"That's the Xue family from Goldfish Alley in Luodu. Young Master, haven't you heard of them? The Xue family's head, Xue Yu?" Yun Yang asked curiously, holding his chin and muttering softly, "Isn't he said to be a high-ranking official in the court and well-known in Shangjing?"
Xue Yu still stared at the direction of the girl, moved his lips but didn't say anything.
Who is she? She is from Youzhou. She knows his name but has never seen him.
Could it be that the people from Youzhou who were involved with him were...
It's a long way from Youzhou to here. The little girl from the Yun family just came of age this year. It's impossible for her to go to Shangjing alone to find her sister as she said in the last letter.
No, she didn't even have a horse.
Xue Yu calmed down and asked, "Miss, are you asking about Xue Yu and Xue Lingjun? Who is that Xue Yu?"
"You know Xue Yu?" Yun Yang's eyes widened and he perked up. "He's my brother-in-law!"
Xue Yu frowned slightly and looked at Yun Yang's youthful face with blank eyes.
Is it really her?
The little girl from the Yun family.
In the last letter sent by the Yun family, the little girl said that if her sister did not reply, she would come to find her sister in person.
It wasn't that he had to open Yun Jia's letters privately, but after Yun Jia left, letters from Youzhou came one after another. When they didn't receive a reply, the letters became more and more intense. Xue Yu was worried that something big had happened, so he opened the letter. It turned out to be just a sister's longing and worry for her sister.
At that time, he thought she was talking nonsense. After all, Youzhou was a thousand miles away from Luodu. How could she, a young lady from an official family who never left the house, come here alone?
His marriage was arranged by his father, his parents' orders and the matchmaker's words. Moreover, with the status of the Xue family, he no longer needed to use marriage to help his career. In this way, his father wanted to repay the Yun family for saving his life through his marriage.
He had never seen Yun Yang, but he was familiar with the name. Whether it was during the brief farewell with Yun Jia, or in the letters he exchanged under pressure from his parents, he was familiar with the name "Yun Yang".
I just didn't expect to meet her under such circumstances.
The emperor and Concubine Li were deeply in love. When he appointed a crown prince, he broke the ancestral order of "appointing the eldest son or the legitimate son" and appointed the third son born to Concubine Li as the crown prince.
Now that the emperor has been old and ill for a long time, the dispute between the crown prince and the eldest prince has become more and more fierce.
This time, he ended up being poisoned, blinded, and wandering in the wilderness, all because of the eldest prince's party.
Seeing the girl alone and acting cryptically during the day, he concluded that she had run away from home. After careful consideration, he decided that accompanying this girl back to the capital was the best option for him to conceal his tracks.
Unexpectedly, she was Yun Yang.
"Young Master?" Yun Yang called.
Yun Yang was young and inexperienced, and the fact that the man was handsome and blind made her feel pity for him, so she had already let down her guard.
The most important thing is that when Xue Yu is mentioned, Yun Yang can no longer contain his anger towards him and he has to express it!
"Xue Yu is not only mean and cold, but also extremely irresponsible! Before they got married, they exchanged letters, but there was no intimacy between the lines, only perfunctory words. He doesn't want to marry, right? He doesn't say it, but forces my sister to say it herself. Tell me, how can my sister, a woman, take the initiative to bring up the matter of breaking off the engagement?"
"It's been three months since my sister got married, and he hasn't even returned to Youzhou with her. He just sent someone to bring her some gifts. And I suspect he's secretly controlling my sister. Otherwise, why wouldn't she reply to my letters?!"
She kept talking about her speculations and criticisms of Xue Yu, while the real person listened to her calmly.
Yun Yang's tone and attitude were incredibly aggressive, and even when she was excited, she asked, "Isn't that right? Just because their family is so powerful, they think they can ignore my sister? The maids in the mansion all said that if a husband doesn't accompany his wife back home, he's looking down on us!"
Xue Yu lowered his eyes, his face calm, "What the girl said is true."
"I think he's just so hypocritical. What's with all the talk of a brilliant and bright top scholar? He's read so much that he's just learned so much. If he's really as insightful as the rumors say, he should have just said so directly if he didn't like her, instead of being so neglectful after marrying her." Yun Yang took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. "He didn't even come to the wedding reception, but instead sent a housekeeper over. I really don't know what he meant. Who repays a favor this way?"
"What the girl said makes sense." Xue Yu said with a faint smile.
"Could it be that Xue Yu is too ugly to be seen in public?" Yun Yang touched his chin with a look of disgust, "Or is it that he is too fat to move? Hahaha..."
Xue Yu's eyes twitched, but his expression remained calm.
The indignant girl suddenly fell silent. When she raised her head again, her face was pale. "What do you think... could it be that my brother-in-law murdered my sister? It's written in the storybook..."
"...The girl must have read too many storybooks." Xue Yu said.
Yun Yang thought it was a good thing to have someone who listened to her. She thought the day's journey would not be boring. She extended her hand to the blind man and said, "My name is Yun Yang. What's yours?"
After extending her hand, she remembered that he couldn't see her, so she withdrew her hand and smiled awkwardly.
The young man's slender figure was reflected on the mottled wall. He leaned forward slightly, clasping his hands, his eyes cast down to the ground. His voice was cold and gentle, "My surname is also Xue, and my given name is Yizi."
"Ah, that's really a coincidence. Maybe you were a family five hundred years ago, but I think you are much more polite and courteous than Xue Yu." Yun Yang muttered.
The young man just smiled and said nothing.
After pouring out these words like beans, Yun Yang felt much more relaxed. Looking at the young man standing by the window, he suddenly felt that he looked like a careless cat, a white one at that.
Elegant and noble, yet difficult to approach.
"So, when do we leave?" she asked.
*
Xue Yu was silent all the way.
He listened silently to Yun Yang's story about how deeply he loved his sister Yun Jia, and how no matter how wealthy and powerful the Xue family was, as long as Xue Yu was not good to his sister, he would not be worthy of her.
There is a girl's innocent stubbornness in her words. The criteria for judging a person has nothing to do with family background, status, power or wealth.
Even though they were chatting casually, the little girl's vigilance did not decrease at all. He was worried about being chased, but perhaps because she was carefully avoiding him, it did not happen.
When we arrived at the gate of Shangjing City, the night was hazy. The city gate was brightly lit and bustling with noise and bustle. The hawkers' cries were endless. On the tall and intricate pleasure boats on the river around the city, the singing girls' shawls fluttered in the wind, and drunken poets were spending huge sums of money.
Is this Shangjing?
The wealthy, dazzling, majestic and magnificent Shangjing Luodu described by literati and poets seemed like an unattainable dream when I saw it with my own eyes.
Yun Yang pursed his lips tightly, looking uneasy.
"What's wrong?" The young man's cold voice sounded, "Why are you hesitating?"
The girl nervously peered into the city gate, her hands gripping the reins nervously, as if she wanted to rub all her anxiety into them. "Sister, you won't blame me, will you? If she's living well in the Xue family, will my sudden arrival cause her any trouble? Um, um... the Xue family won't think I'm here to take advantage of them, will they? I..."
Along the way, Xue Yu understood that Yun Jia and this sister indeed had a good relationship, so good that they had telepathy.
The Xue family is a large clan, and he has many cousins. However, among so many brothers, none of them have the kind of tacit understanding that Yun Jia and Yun Yang have.
Even though his younger brothers politely bowed to him and expressed their admiration for him when they saw him, Xue Yu knew in his heart that was all.
"No," Xue Yu said, "If the young lady is truly worried and thinks this is inappropriate, I can arrange a temporary place for her to stay. Tomorrow, I will send someone to the Xue residence with a visiting card, and have Xue Yu come personally to pick her up."
"This way, this seems to be the right way. I won't embarrass my sister and I won't look like an ignorant wild girl." Yun Yang thought for a moment and nodded, her eyes still filled with uneasiness. "But Master, you have helped me so much. I don't know how to repay you."
Along the way, Yun Yang discovered that this man had a very noble demeanor, which was different from the noblemen and playboys she had met. It was obvious that he was well-educated.
A man like him should not be short of money, so how can we repay him?
"No need to repay," Xue Yu said, "Miss, when I was blind, you didn't despise me and were willing to go to the capital with me. Miss, you don't owe me anything."
"Then how are you going home, sir? Where is your home? I can take you there." Yun Yang said.
"No need. My family will pick me up after I enter the city." Xue Yu replied.
As their brief journey together was about to end, he paused and asked again, "If this journey is in vain, will you regret it, young lady?"
The girl was more resilient than he had imagined. Yun Yang said, "I traveled thousands of miles, took the wrong road, got tricked, and nearly fell off a cliff. Actually, I just wanted to know if my sister was doing well."
"If my sister is doing well, it doesn't matter if she doesn't want to see me."
"I have nothing to regret. I have made this trip with a clear conscience."
After saying this, a sour taste rushed into Yun Yang's nose, and her eyes were a little red. Before coming here, she never thought that if it was her sister, she would not want to reply to her letter?
"I'll leave after seeing my sister." Yun Yang added in a low voice.
Xue Yu was silent for a moment, then looked up at her, but could only see a blurry shadow.
In Shangjing, anyone who has some connection with the Xue family would be eager to get what they want.
This little girl, who had just come of age, traveled thousands of miles just to make sure her sister was doing well.
Xue Yu looked calm, but he felt sad in his heart. It was true that the youthful spirit was the most undesirable thing.
The stacked tiles not far away were the continuous walls of the Xue family's courtyard. He nodded and said, "Young lady, please come with me. I will arrange everything you want."
But she couldn't see her sister anymore.
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