Chapter 34: Seducing Her Heart and Deceiving Her Body Xue Yu went to the Ministry of Justice in a carriage...
The carriage that Xue Yu took to the Ministry of Justice was not big. At this moment, he leaned over slightly and was very close to her. Yun Yang could even smell the quiet and cool scent of agarwood in her nostrils.
Still smells so good.
It smells so good that I would regret it if I couldn't smell it again.
Yun Yang's dark eyes were covered with a layer of wet mist. She turned her face away and whispered, "I didn't cry."
"You didn't cry? Then what's this?" He wiped her tears away, his tone cold, "Did that Song guy overstep his bounds with you? You're such a fool..."
Yun Yang's nose felt even more sore, and she muttered, "No, Young Master Song is very well behaved. He doesn't even dare to look at me."
It’s not that Song Fanghe didn’t dare to look at her, but every time he raised his eyes, his gaze was so warm and burning that both of them could hardly bear it.
She could only avoid the other person's gaze with a blushing face, and when Song Fanghe looked at her pale pink cheeks, his uneasiness turned into a violent heartbeat, which he couldn't suppress at the corners of his lips.
She could feel how much he cherished and how careful he was with her.
Xue Yu frowned at her. Yun Yang was a simple-minded person who wouldn't lie. He knew from her expression that what she said was not a lie. He felt relieved and asked patiently, "What's the matter? Tell your brother-in-law."
"I just can't bear to leave my brother-in-law, the old lady, and you..." She lowered her head and raised her hand to wipe away her tears.
Xue Yu was heartbroken and silent for a moment. Then he put his arm around her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Silly girl."
Her beauty and obedience are simply indescribable.
How could she be so sensible and make him feel so distressed?
Xue Yu's eyes were burning, "Yun Yang, you don't have to get married."
He was shocked when he said this and didn't know how to continue.
But he really didn't want her to marry someone else like this. She could just stay in the Xue Mansion, and he could support her and protect her for the rest of her life.
Yun Yang was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Brother-in-law, what are you talking about? You don't have to get married? Then do you think you can just cut your hair and become a nun?"
Do I have to eat and use the Xue family's money for the rest of my life?
Then what kind of person has she become?
If a woman did not marry, she would be gossiped about and her family would be implicated, unless she became a nun or entered the palace as a court lady.
There was a Fengtai in the court of Dazhao, where women could serve as officials and have the same serious work as men. Even if they did not get married, no one dared to gossip about them.
But how could she be fit to be a court lady?
Xue Yu stared at her for a long time. He knew that this day would come sooner or later. He had already found several reliable Hanlin scholars for her. She would marry out of the Xue Mansion, spend her wedding night with someone, become a woman, and live a peaceful and stable life.
He knew that as her brother-in-law, his job was to bless and guide her, and then fade out of her life.
Then he and the Xue family would be her eternal support.
But he could not ignore the turbulent blood and unwillingness in his heart, nor could he ignore the burning anger in his body when he saw her interacting with Song Something.
How could this be?
Noticing Xue Yu's distraction, Yun Yang waved his hand in front of him, his eyes clear and bright, filled with concern for him. "Brother-in-law, what's wrong with you? Are you tired?"
The light in the carriage was dim, and Yun Yang didn't notice his abnormality at all, nor did she notice the tightly pursed corners of his lips, or the uncontrollable possessiveness in his dark eyes.
After returning to the Xue Mansion, the Fourth Lady did not dare to ask for credit or reward. She hurried back to her yard and told her husband what happened today. She thought about it over and over again, but could not figure out what she had done wrong.
After listening to his wife's description, Mr. Xue Si narrowed his eyes.
The next morning, Xue Yu went to pay his respects to Old Madam Xue.
Yun Yang was also there, talking to Old Madam Xue. Old Madam Xue had already learned that the Fourth Madam was matchmaking for Yun Yang, and when she asked about the young master of the Song family, Yun Yang lowered her eyebrows, covered her lips and smiled.
This shyness and the stirrings of love amused the sixty-year-old Madam Xue, who jokingly asked, "When are you planning to get married, Yun girl? It's supposed to take a year from the time of proposal to the time of marriage. You can't wait any longer!"
Yun Yang blushed slightly, "Madam! I, I'm not that eager to get married. It's you I can't bear to leave."
"I heard that the Song family is also a refined family. Young Master Song is handsome. Although he didn't pass the imperial examination, he is a gentle and polite man. Does Miss Yun like him?" asked the old lady.
Yun Yang sighed, but avoided answering, and shouted, "Old Madam, it's time for breakfast. Eating late will upset your stomach."
When she mentioned Song Fanghe, a youthful shyness flashed in her eyes. This girlish sentiment seemed to glow, making Xue Yu's originally calm heart burn again.
He looked at her quietly under the Luan tree for a while, then left with a wave of his sleeves.
It was easy for the Ministry of Justice to investigate someone. Xue Yu ordered a thorough investigation of the nine clans of the Song family.
Since Yun Yang likes him, he must not have any flaws.
After breakfast, Yun Yang was about to return to his yard when he heard the doorman say that someone was looking for him.
She had parted with Song Fanghe too hastily last night, and she thought he had come to see her again. However, when she arrived at the gate, she saw the same carriage that the prince and princess had ridden in last time.
Yun Yang became uneasy, but after thinking about it, she felt that she might be overthinking it. It had been more than half a month since she last saw the prince. The prince had seen women before, so he might have forgotten about her a long time ago. Who knows, he might have something to ask for this time.
It was still the handsome young eunuch. When he saw Yun Yang, he came forward and waved his hand. A little girl came out of the carriage.
The little girl was dressed in silk and satin, with her head lowered and her hands and feet a little stiff.
"Miss Yun, this is the person sent to you by His Highness." said the young eunuch.
After saying that, the little girl raised her head and found out that she was the girl dancing with a gun at the Lantern Festival circus stall!
"Your Highness has already ascertained that this girl is not the stall owner's biological daughter. Her parents are deceased. Your Highness bought her back and had her learn the rules of the palace for a while before sending her here to serve the young lady." The young eunuch continued, motioning the young lady to take two steps forward. "This girl doesn't have a name yet. Please give her one."
Yun Yang was shocked.
Giving gifts is fine, but giving gifts to others is also possible?
But she couldn't refuse to accept it. The girl was pitiful. She was in such pain at that time, but she still had to be driven around at will.
She changed her mind and realized that the prince was such a considerate person, remembering her regrets.
At that time, she said that she only intervened once, but she couldn't intervene completely. Now, she can intervene completely...
"Then please ask the eunuch to thank His Highness on my behalf." Yun Yang bowed and lowered his hands.
The young eunuch smiled faintly, "It's nothing, young lady, why should you thank me? To our Highness, you are the apple of his eye. Rewarding you with gold, silver, and jewelry would be too cliché. It would be better to relieve your worries and win your favor. Your Highness is thinking about you."
The last sentence was ambiguous, almost making the prince's intention clear.
The young eunuch only wanted to share his master's worries and asked for credit and reward in front of his master, but he did not guess his master's intentions clearly.
The prince had seen too many women of all kinds. He knew that if he wanted to get Yun Yang, it would be easy, but he also knew that the most wonderful thing about a relationship between a man and a woman was the process of knowing each other and falling in love with each other. Moreover, he was afraid of scaring Yun Yang, so he had to take it step by step, seduce her heart, then get her body, and make her slowly become dependent on him.
He is patient and can wait.
*
Xue Yu does not understand the feelings of youth.
When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he was still traveling around Dazhao or studying under great Confucian scholars. Thinking about it now, he felt a kind of stubbornness that made him not want to make up for what he had missed.
So he was suspicious of Song Fanghe's deep love for Yun Yang.
Within a few days, documents from many generations of Song Fanghe's ancestors were placed on the desk of the Ministry of Justice.
The first two generations of the Song family entered officialdom. They were originally local officials and were promoted to the capital by their mentor. They had never committed any crime and were a clean family.
On the day of his holiday, the weather was fine and he had wanted to take his sisters out to enjoy the flowers and the spring breeze. When he looked out the window, he saw Yun Yang wearing a green dress among the swaying shadows of the trees. She was pleasing to the eye and no less beautiful than the spring scenery.
Just when I was about to call her, I saw the young man next to her with curved eyebrows, touching his head and smiling foolishly.
The young man stood by the window with his hands behind his back, his hands tightening in his sleeves. After a while, he called Si Qing and said, "Prepare the car, go to the East Factory."
The Ministry of Justice can only check whether there is any criminal record, while the East Factory monitors all officials and can find out anything they want to.
Song Fanghe left Xue's house, but his foolish look had not faded away. All the way, he was thinking about Yun Yang's smile. She was so pretty, so fair, with red lips that were translucent. After eating the fruit he sent her, honey stains hung on the corners of her lips, shiny and crystal clear, like flower petals soaked in honey.
He just felt hot all over and had a desire that was vivid and surging.
He handed her his handkerchief to wipe her mouth, but what he really wanted to do was to kiss her, to lick the honey from the corners of her lips, to deeply absorb the sweetness from her petals...
Song Fanghe returned to his mansion and sat at the desk, his mind distracted and unable to read a single word of the book in his hand.
At night, the dream was beautiful and fragrant, both real and unreal, and it was a completely different Yunyang.
After waking up, I saw that my underwear was wet and my face was hot. I changed it in a hurry and washed it secretly.
If only I could marry her earlier.
How wonderful she is, gentle and amiable, pure and beautiful, like a delicate flower in the wind, different from those young ladies in the Xue Mansion.
At first, it was because of his father's words that Song Fanghe went to the Xue Mansion to report for duty. He did not like the aristocratic families who looked calm and amiable but were actually a little distant. He did not like to curry favor with others, nor did he like to be looked down upon. He would rather do nothing, even if he was looked down upon and became a bastard who accomplished nothing in his life, than to rely on nepotism to prove himself, which would only make him more inferior and more cowardly.
But Yunyang... the young man looked at the crescent moon. Was she suffering from the same longing as him at this moment?
He could feel that she was the same kind of person as him, and was completely different from Xue Yu and the others.
When I saw Xue Yu that day, he was dressed in red and looked like a god. Before that, I had only heard that he was well-educated and held a high position at a young age, but I didn't know he was such a handsome man.
He had seen the way Yun Yang looked at Xue Yu, and saw a natural closeness and joy in her eyes, which meant that she was indeed as close to Xue Yu as her father said.
He was also afraid that if they were too close, she would look down on him.
But Yun Yang was an honest person, and he treated her gently, and her face showed a look that was not there when she was with Xue Yu. Song Fanghe felt his back straightened, and the hidden inferiority and jealousy in his heart were well covered up.
After returning home, Song Fanghe wanted to see Yunyang every day, but he was afraid of the status of the Xue family and did not dare to disturb them too often.
The torment brought by missing her became more and more intense, and I missed her both mentally and physically.
Thinking of Yunyang's drooping eyebrows, the shy smile when she looked at him, and her thin and white hands, all of them entered his tossing and turning dreams.
I couldn't sleep at night, and when I finally fell asleep, my dreams were all about her.
Gentle, pure, and seductive.
He only dared to desecrate her in his dreams. He always felt that beneath Yun Yang's gentle and considerate appearance, there was a sharpness that he could not understand.
This endless struggle made the young man increasingly thinner. He would often hold a pen and stare blankly for the whole day, or sit in a carriage and secretly wait outside the Xue Mansion for a whole day. If he saw her, could look at her, or could talk to her, the young man's face would light up.
If I don’t see him for a day, I will feel depressed and lose my appetite.
Is this lovesickness? Madam Song saw that her youngest son really liked Xue Yu's sister-in-law.
Although this youngest son was born to a concubine, he had been raised by her since childhood and was very polite and sensible. He had never asked for anything on his own initiative. Mrs. Song felt uneasy and couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. She said to Mr. Song, "Why don't we go and propose marriage as soon as possible to avoid any more trouble at night?"
Mr. Song thought about it and his eyes changed slightly.
Xue Yu is a meticulous person. If the Supreme Being were to act in a hurry, he would probably become suspicious.
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