Chapter 6 Peeping into the Burning Heart Old Madam Xue placed the teacup on the table,...
Madam Xue placed the teacup on the table and glared at Xue Yu, "Why?"
"Second Miss Yun has been away for a long time. Yun...my father-in-law and mother-in-law must be worried." Xue Yu said.
Madam Xue curled her lips, quite calmly, "On the first day Yun Yang came to the Xue Mansion, I sent a letter to the Yun Mansion in Youzhou. By now, your parents-in-law's reply should be arriving in the capital. I said in the letter that I like this child and asked her to stay in the mansion for a while longer."
With Yun Jia away, there was no concubine in the main branch of the Xue family to manage the household affairs, so these trivial matters had to be handled by Old Madam Xue.
After all this commotion, Xue Yu, who was a rather quiet person and didn't want to have anything more to do with the Yun family, frowned and said, "Grandmother, have you asked Second Miss Yun what she thinks? Second Miss Yun is still young and has been away from home for a long time. She must be homesick."
Yun Yang had originally wanted to return to Youzhou, but seeing that her brother-in-law's words seemed to be trying to drive her away, she began to rebel. Furthermore, she hadn't yet found out where her sister was, nor had she found out whether her brother-in-law was as attractive as that imposter. Since she was already here, why rush to leave?
"If my parents agree, I really want to play in Shangjing for a while. I haven't had enough fun yet." Yun Yang said honestly with his eyebrows lowered. After that, he looked up and smiled at Madam Xue, "Madam, please don't think I'm noisy..."
The Xue family had ties with aristocratic families, and the ladies were all shy and reserved, and spoke very carefully. Few of them spoke frankly like Yun Yang. Coupled with her big, bright eyes and the dust on her cheeks, Mrs. Xue and all the ladies in the room burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright, tell the kitchen to make some more snacks to calm this girl down." Old Madam Xue laughed happily.
Over the next two days, Yun Yang settled down in the Xue Mansion at the behest of Old Madam Xue. She hadn't brought any clothes when she came, but she had bought more in the past two days than she had in the previous ten years.
Yun Yang stretched out her hand and let the tailor from the silk shop measure her body back and forth.
There are also rare Yunjin, Shujin and Liuguangjin, with various colors that are simply dizzying. The flowers, cordyceps and fungi on the ready-made clothes hanging on the hangers are lifelike, and the butterflies seem to be about to fly out.
After the clothes were cut, the maids lined up in a row. The eldest lady of the second house called out their names one by one and told them to serve Second Miss Yun well in the future. Then she took Yun Yang to visit various courtyards in the mansion and get to know the young masters and young ladies of each house.
Yun Yang finally understood what it meant to be a big family of the Xue family. It took her two or three days to visit the whole family, just like visiting relatives. During this period, she was of course treated with some contempt. Some people simply implied that Yun Yang was here to take advantage of others and curry favor with the powerful. Yun Yang pretended not to understand. Anyway, she didn't stay in the Xue Mansion for these people.
The Second Madam told Yun Yang that the Xue family had strict traditions and did not accept concubines, let alone favoring concubines over wives. Even if they accepted concubines, it was only for the purpose of expanding the family line. After the children were born, they were raised by the concubines, but their names were registered under the name of the mistress. In this way, the Xue family's harem was clean and there was no such mess as favoring concubines over wives in wealthy families.
Xue Yu's mother died early, and his father never remarried. After retiring, he took Xue Yu's mother's portrait with him and traveled around the mountains and rivers, expressing his grief and interest in the mountains and rivers.
In comparison, Xue Yu was much more old-fashioned and dull. He thought that he would change his personality after getting married, but Yun Jia was forced to go to Jiuyi Mountain again due to fate. As a result, Xue Yu was still as harsh and mean to him as before he got married.
For example, he gets up at three o'clock every morning to read and practice sword. His daily routine is very regular. He often has a sullen face and especially looks down on the second wife's ignorance. Even though the second wife is his elder, she has to restrain her temperament in front of him. The second wife whispered to Yun Yang that this is because he has read too much sage books and has become stupid.
Yun Yang also knew that when Xue Yu and her sister had arranged their marriage, some people in the mansion did not approve, especially those from the third house. The third house's eldest daughter was good friends with Princess An Ning, who had admired Xue Yu since he was paraded through the streets on horseback after winning the first place in the imperial examination.
However, marrying a princess meant becoming a royal slave, and the end of one's official career. Usually, only the second son of a noble family would marry a princess and serve the royal family, just to live a leisurely and wealthy life.
As for someone like Xue Yu, the emperor had long regarded him as his future right-hand man to pave the way for the future crown prince, so how could he be willing to let him marry the princess?
What's more, the Xue family is a family of promises, and Xue Yu already has an engagement, so the emperor cannot force her to marry him.
In this way, Princess An Ning had no choice but to cry bitterly.
But if Xue Yu had married a noble lady with good looks and boundless talent, the princess could have breathed a sigh of relief. But Xue Yu married the daughter of a minor official far away in Youzhou. The daughter of the minor official had never even seen him. The wonderful man became someone else's husband. How could the princess not hate him?
Several people gathered in the courtyard of the third house. The eldest daughter, Xue Jin, sat under a blossoming tree, squinting at Yun Yang's back, teasing, "Her sister is away, occupying the title of eldest brother's first wife, and now she's here to take over. This younger sister isn't a great beauty, so how could her older sister be any more beautiful? Why is eldest brother willing to remain faithful to her sister? But he has to do it for three years!"
Xue Jin's voice was quite loud, and Yun Yang did hear it. His words were extremely harsh, and Yun Yang almost wanted to step back and fight back with his fist, but since he had just arrived, he swallowed his anger and secretly remembered the grudge.
After arriving in Shangjing, Yun Yang realized that the people of Shangjing loved to be lively, especially the high-ranking officials and nobles, who especially liked to hold various banquets. In late summer, they would hold lotus viewing banquets to cool off, and the wine-drinking banquet with winding streams was very elegant. In short, they would gather together under various pretexts to kill time and have fun.
Old Madam Xue was a person who loved to be lively. She especially liked to gather the girls from each room together, making the place a riot of colour and beauty, which was pleasing to the eye.
Yun Yang waited for a few days and finally received a reply from her parents. The implication between the lines was that since Old Madam Xue had given her such a favor, she would stay and look after her brother-in-law Xue Yu. The first purpose was to carefully consider his character, the second was to prevent someone with ulterior motives from taking advantage of her sister's absence, and the third was to allow her to see the world and learn the rules by staying in the Xue Mansion.
But half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Yun Yang followed the playmates found for her by the second wife and visited all the fun places in Shangjing Luodu. She rarely saw Xue Yu. It was said that he went to the Ministry of Justice to work before dawn, and went to the East Palace to teach the prince after work every day. On the tenth day of every month, he had to go to the imperial court to accompany the prince for examination by the emperor.
Moreover, the Xue Mansion is very big, and if we don’t make an appointment, we will never meet.
What made her happy was that after much inquiry, she found out that Xue Yu was still a clean person and did not do anything to attract other women.
One day, Yun Yang was concentrating on reading the storybook she had bought a few days ago. When she got to the point where she was excited, she ran to the gate of the mansion in a hurry. When she turned right under the corridor, she bumped into someone. When she looked up, she saw that it was the "fake" who pretended to be Xue Yu!
Chu Qin rubbed his arm in embarrassment, "Isn't this Miss Yun Er? Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Yun Yang was shocked. "How dare you come? You and Xue Yu deceived me! You, you even did it in public... You lecher!"
Chu Qin's eyes and brows were filled with a gentle smile. He bowed and said, "It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. I'm a colleague of your brother-in-law. My surname is Chu, and my given name is Qin. What I did that day was indeed inconsiderate. I apologize to Miss Yun Er. I'm sorry."
Yun Yang hummed, his face cold, "Get out of the way."
"Where is Second Miss Yun going?" Chu Qin chuckled softly, "Everyone coming to the banquet is going inside, why is Second Miss Yun running outside?"
"There are banquets every now and then. What's the point of attending them?" Yun Yang said calmly, "Get out of the way."
The wind in late summer was cool and pleasant, blowing past the girl's scattered black hair. Her face was obviously pretty and charming, but she had a cold expression. Her eyebrows were raised, her lips were curled up, and a youthful but lively breath came to her face.
Chu Qin had seen many women, but he had never found any woman who looked so pleasant when angry.
His smile deepened. "Hey, it's different from the past. Miss Yun, you don't know that the second branch of the mansion has recently acquired many calligraphy and paintings by famous masters of the previous dynasty. Your brother-in-law is fond of calligraphy, and his calligraphy is hard to come by in the capital. Even he strongly recommended that I come and see it."
At this moment, Xue Jin returned from outside the mansion. When he saw Chu Qin, he bowed and greeted him. From his words, he seemed to be very familiar with Chu Qin.
Xue Jin then said to Yun Yang, "There is indeed a banquet in the palace today. If Second Miss wants to go and see it, that's fine. However, the calligraphy and paintings of the masters of the previous dynasty are so elegant, and I'm afraid Second Miss won't understand them and find them boring."
Xue Jin's words were not difficult to understand, so Yun Yang was not angry. He smiled and said, "How can you know you don't understand it if you haven't seen it? Then let's go together."
The group walked towards the waterside pavilion in the mansion. Yun Yang secretly observed that Chu Qin was really familiar with the Xue Mansion and it seemed that he was really good friends with Xue Yu.
Arriving at the waterside pavilion, we saw various masterpieces of calligraphy and painting hanging on all sides. At first glance, there were wild cursive scripts, elegant thin gold scripts, and framed paintings about ten feet long depicting something unknown.
There are low tables around the waterside pavilion. Some people express their opinions in front of the paintings, while others sit down, pick up their pens and dip them in ink, and write on rice paper. From time to time, the sound of guqin can be heard, creating an elegant atmosphere.
The female members of the family gathered in the center of the waterside pavilion, each holding a plain silk fan, laughing and embellishing something with a pen.
Xue Jin walked over, picked up the fan, and chatted and laughed with the noble ladies.
Yun Yang stopped in front of each calligraphy and painting work, and after looking at them for a while, he really felt bored. He came here because he was angry at Xue Jin's contempt, but now he felt even more bored.
Just as she was about to slip away without being noticed, she saw Chu Qin leaning against the porch pillar, looking at her with a faint smile. In order to avoid being laughed at, she had no choice but to continue looking at him, and even nodded in a pretentious manner.
"Do you understand it? How about I explain it to you?" Xue Jin had unknowingly walked up behind Yun Yang, his voice tinged with superiority and contempt. "This is 'Playing with Plum Blossoms' by Princess Yueqing of the previous dynasty. The beauty of it lies in the word 'play'. The plum blossom is a noble and still object. The princess was of noble status, so what she saw was naturally different from what we see. That's why the plum blossoms in this painting look different from ordinary plum blossoms."
Yun Yang was young after all, and her pride and inferiority complex were both overwhelming. Especially in front of Xue Jin, she didn't want to be looked down upon, so she said, "Of course I know, Princess Yueqing. It's 'Playing with Plum Blossoms'."
Xue Jin chuckled. "I was just making this up. There's no such thing as Princess Yueqing or 'Playing with Plum Blossoms'! It doesn't even depict plum blossoms. Hahaha, you haven't even seen the snow scene painted by Master Qi. You're really surprised by something you haven't seen before, and you're still pretending. It's hilarious..."
The people who were talking nearby were attracted by Xue Jin's shrill laughter, and as they whispered to each other, they also realized the absurdity of the matter.
After learning about Yun Yang's identity, he felt sorry for Xue Yu, who had won the top three places in the imperial examination. How could such a learned man be married to such a vulgar family?
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Yun Yang's expression was indistinct, but she quickly composed herself and smiled, "I truly don't know the Qi family or Princess Yueqing, and I can't tell the difference between falling snow and falling plum blossoms."
"But Miss Xue, do you recognize the sharp spear, flower spear, double-headed spear, and hook-sickle spear? Also, do you know which forging master forged the famous divine weapons of the previous dynasty, the Fang Tianyun Halberd and the male and female swords?"
"What I'm good at is common sense to me, but to Miss Xue, it's like divine knowledge, right? I didn't use my common sense to embarrass Miss Xue, so why would Miss Xue tease me? Is this the Xue family's way of entertaining guests?"
"Why do I need to know all this?! What's the point of you, a woman, knowing this? Do you really want to go to the battlefield?!" Xue Jin said angrily.
"Of course, it's not for use on the battlefield. I'm just learning how you used your strengths to attack others' weaknesses." Yun Yang chuckled. "Don't you understand?"
"Besides, no matter it is a masterpiece by a famous artist or a cluster of gorgeous flowers, no matter how elegant and beautiful it is, it is just a scene of prosperity. If we talk about the practical point, Miss Xue may not know as much as I do." A trace of contempt flashed between Yun Yang's eyebrows.
After saying that, Yun Yang rubbed his stiff neck, and said lazily and casually, "Let's go. Everyone, take your time to read it."
The handsome young man in the corridor raised his lips and looked at the girl in the crowd. He thought this person was really interesting. He wanted to rescue her just now, but it seemed that she didn't need it.
Yun Yang walked out of the pavilion without looking around, but was stopped by Chu Qin under the corridor.
"You taught her a good lesson. Jin girl is used to being arrogant, but she is narrow-minded and likes to hold a grudge. You have disrespected her today. If she holds a grudge against you and causes you trouble in the future, you can tell me and I will take the responsibility for you." Chu Qin said with a smile.
"Oh, then I will have to rely more on you, old man?" Yun Yang stopped and turned around, speaking slowly.
Chu Qin didn't hear the teasing in her words. He just felt that not only was she being distant towards him, but she also treated him as someone as pretentious as Xue Yu. He explained, "Don't be so rude. I'm not the same age as your brother-in-law. I'm three years younger than him, and only... five years older than you! You don't have to be so reserved with me. Just be casual. My name is Jieran, you can just call me Brother Jieran."
"Besides, I'm not married. Having sex with someone on the street... I just drank too much. I'm not a lecher."
Seeing that he couldn't tell good words from bad, Yun Yang snorted and said rudely, "All crows are black. Get out of here!"
After saying that, she turned around and walked away, ignoring his red and black face.
At lighting time, the stone lanterns on the paths in Xuefu Garden lit up one by one, and the silver waves of Qinghu Lake were rippled with a clear light.
Xue Yu returned from outside the mansion and listened to the report from the servant Si Qing as he walked.
"Second Miss Yun and Miss Jin had an argument at the banquet. Second Miss Yun said...said..." Si Qing stammered.
Xue Yu didn't even raise his eyes, and just said, "Tell the truth."
Si Qing bowed his head and agreed, then told Xue Yu Yun Yang's words word for word.
The appearance of Second Miss Yun talking big was simply unforgettable, and the servants who had been treated harshly by Xue Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After hearing this, Xue Yu did not stop walking for a long time. He said, "After all, he is so vulgar that he can't even recognize Qi Wenyan's paintings."
This statement does not condone the younger sister in the clan to mock and oppress others, but is a statement of fact.
He had been taught by great scholars since he was young, and had never slacked off in the six arts of a gentleman. Before this incident, he had no specific requirements for his first wife and naturally believed that she would be a good match for him.
Today, when I learned that his sister was not even aware of the famous calligrapher, I suddenly realized how grateful my father was.
If his sister is like this, how much better can Yun Jia be?
The Yun family's status is really too low.
Seeing Xue Yu unhappy, Si Qing lowered his head and did not dare to speak for Yun Yang.
No matter what, if you don't like it, you don't like it. You have your own considerations when looking at the problem.
As they walked, they passed by Jinxiang Pavilion where Yun Yang lived. Xue Yu stopped and looked at it. The window paper of the second-floor attic was lit by dim candlelight.
It's this hour, why haven't you slept yet?
Xue Yu has been brought up with the mindset of being the next head of the Xue family since he was young. He also feels that Xue Jin is going a bit too far in teasing Yun Yang. He is very strict with his subordinates and should not indulge them even if they are his cousin sisters.
Thinking of this, he slowly walked into the Jinxiang Pavilion.
Xue Jin was wrong, and Yun Yang argued with him in front of the guests, which made people laugh at him. He cannot be said to be without fault.
It was almost the hour of the evening, the night was quiet, and the dim candlelight in the attic flickered, casting a shimmering light on the bluestone road like ripples of water.
Xue Yu stopped and looked up. Beneath the thick green banana leaves, under the window, he could see the girl's fair wrist bones. Looking more closely, he could see the pen she was holding was dancing with afterimages.
The girl sat upright at the table by the window, her brows slightly furrowed, her eyes fixed on the thick painting nailed to the wall. She looked up, then lowered her head to take notes.
Perhaps he didn't know what to do, so he rubbed his head in frustration and sighed heavily from time to time.
The summer night was sultry. She lifted her long hair and tugged at her clothes impatiently, revealing a section of her slender snow-white neck and small, round ears, as smooth as cream, glowing in the hazy moonlight.
Xue Yu frowned slightly, immediately retracted his gaze, turned around and said, "Let's go."
Xu Qing was confused and looked at the young master's hurried back and muttered softly, "Ah... aren't you going to comfort Miss Yun?"
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