Chapter 60 He could no longer bear it. "Brother-in-law, let's agree on a date,
"Brother-in-law, let's set a date. It's already July. After the Chinese New Year, I will be seventeen. There's no time to delay." Yun Yang said anxiously.
Xue Yu didn't respond, only saying, "You really can't delay any longer, or do you want to leave the Xue family? There's been a lot of talk in the capital lately. If King Hui marches north, who would still want to celebrate a wedding?"
Yun Yang bit her lip and looked at him.
He also looked at her indifferently, with a smile on his lips, but his eyes were cold.
He didn't want her to get married, and he didn't want to be a stranger to her.
After this busy period is over, he will patiently coax her, accompany her, and make her fall in love with him.
The rain stopped, and the room was suffocatingly stuffy, with wisps of green smoke from the Boshan stove lingering in the air.
Xue Yu broke the silence. "Even if I miss out on the Zhang family, it's nothing. We still have the Liu and Li families. My Xue family wants to marry off our daughter, so how can we worry about not having someone to marry her?"
Xue Yu's eyes were filled with coldness and bitterness. He turned away and walked inside. "The rain has stopped, you can go back."
"Is it that the Zhang family doesn't suit my brother-in-law's taste?" Yun Yang asked.
"No, I'm just afraid Yangyang will regret it," Xue Yu said. "Who says women have to be chaste and virtuous? What was Yangyang like in the past? And what is she like now? Just to become the head wife of the Zhang family, Yangyang has learned needlework, calmed her mind, and learned how to manage household chores. If she were to marry him and find out he's not the husband she wanted, would Yangyang regret what she's done today?"
"I have no regrets. I'm marrying into the Zhang family, so I'm marrying up." After standing for so long, Yun Yang felt a little numb. She bent her arms and leaned against the door. "Why is my brother-in-law so dissatisfied with the Zhang family?"
"What do you think? Do you really think Zhang Qian is a man you can trust?" Xue Yu's voice was cold. "Tell me, what is it about him that you like?"
"Mr. Zhang is gentle and polite, and he is also very generous to me. He gave me a lot of betrothal gifts and never looked down on me, an orphan." Yun Yang said.
"Really?" He sneered. "Gentle and polite, or cold and indifferent? Giving a lot of betrothal gifts is like buying you off! Marrying you off as a decoration is not disrespectful?"
Yun Yang's heart trembled slightly, and she leaned against the door and looked up at him.
He knows everything!
Xue Yu turned around and sat in the armchair, smiling coldly, "I treated Yangyang like a precious treasure and took great care of her. Yangyang didn't live up to my efforts and married herself off like this."
Yun Yang recalled Zhang Qian's indifferent look when he saw her being teased, and then thought about the gentle care this man had given her over the years. He had never let her be contaminated by the filthiness of the world, and he had always protected her very well.
He is good, she is content, that is enough, there shouldn't be more...
Yun Yang calmed herself down and said, "If I marry into the family, I won't be under the supervision of my mother-in-law, nor will I have any sisters-in-law. With a family full of loyal and brave people, the emperor will surely favor me. As for my husband, what's wrong with seeking the immortal way? I'm not a greedy person. I already have so much, so I won't ask for my husband's love anymore. Besides, feelings in this world are always fleeting. They are not something that can be obtained. I don't care about them."
"Who told you that feelings in this world change so quickly?!" Xue Yu stood up suddenly, a cold glint in his eyes. "You don't care? Why don't you care?"
"Or, who made you feel that love in the world is just like this?"
"I just don't want it!" Yun Yang said, "Is brother-in-law satisfied? You insist on making me admit that Zhang Qian's heart is full of seeking immortality and asking for knowledge, and you insist on making me understand that if I marry him, I will be treated coldly by my husband! Since brother-in-law knew that Zhang Qian was such a wretch, and the Zhang family concealed the truth and was eager to marry him, why didn't you stop him earlier?"
"Now that I'm willing, my brother-in-law is trying to stop me! He keeps saying he'll be careful and kind to me, but in reality, he's making all the decisions for me. Doesn't he think he's being too controlling?! I'm telling you, even if the Zhang family is like this, even if Zhang Qian is like this, I'm still going to marry him!"
Xue Yu's knuckles, resting casually on the back of the chair, turned white from the exertion. He stared at the pitch-black night outside the window for a long moment before saying, "I hope Yangyang can marry a good family and live a smooth life. I also think Yangyang is cute and well-behaved, and I want to stay with her for a while. I like Yangyang to be by my side, to smile at me, and to share her quirky ideas with me. What should I do..."
She thought that since she had said those words in a bad tone, he would definitely lose his temper or treat her coldly.
I didn't expect him to say such sincere words.
Yun Yang's eyes felt a little hot. Maybe she was overthinking it. Her brother-in-law just couldn't bear to part with her. What was wrong with that? When her father was alive, he was always suspicious and thought that any young man who approached her had bad intentions.
"Since Yangyang knows the Zhang family isn't a good place for her, why don't she stay at the Xue residence?" Xue Yu leaned closer, resting his hands on his knees, appearing especially sincere. "Isn't it nice to be with my brother-in-law?"
"Thank you, brother-in-law, for your hard work in arranging my marriage. I have remembered the kindness of the Fourth Lady and the Old Lady in the mansion towards me. No sugarcane is sweet at both ends. I don't want to see it anymore. Let's go to the Zhang family."
Yun Yang took a deep breath, lowered his eyebrows, and the dark circles under his eyes became more and more obvious. He looked very tired. "Please help me, brother-in-law."
"What if I say no?" Xue Yu stood up and moved closer to her with a faint smile on his face. He was so close that he was almost touching her ear, his warm breath falling on her neck, which was made white by her wedding dress. "Knowing that the Zhang family is a hellhole, how could I bear to let you marry?"
"Brother-in-law!" She dodged backwards as if stung, and the back of her head almost hit the door frame. The touch was the back of his bony hand.
"Brother-in-law? Yes, I am your brother-in-law. I am the person closest to you now, am I not?" His narrow eyes were filled with tender affection. His fingers gently stroked her long hair and murmured, "So, listen to your brother-in-law and stay well in the Xue Mansion."
"Brother-in-law, are you going to break off the engagement with the Zhang family? Brother-in-law is willing, but the Zhang family may not agree!" Yun Yang turned her head away and trembled, "Since brother-in-law didn't intend to marry me to Zhang Qian from the beginning, why, why did he agree with the old lady at that time... I don't understand."
The drizzle fell into the Qing Lake, stirring up thousands of ripples. Xue Yu smiled: "Yangyang doesn't need to understand."
Seeing his vague words, Yun Yang knew she couldn't get anything out of him. The heavy wedding dress she was wearing was making her breathless. She said weakly, "You can stop me once, but you can't stop me every time. I have to get married eventually."
"I just hope Yangyang can marry a good man." Xue Yu's eyes were gentle. He pushed open the window, letting the mist outside in. The cold wind blew past, and he became very sober. He held back the words on his lips and changed them to, "Brother-in-law treats you the best, doesn't he?"
Yun Yang looked up at him, her face cold and clear, completely different from the little girl with sparkling eyes who hugged him and acted coquettishly. Xue Yu's heart trembled, and he felt pain and panic. He clearly wanted to take it slow, but why did he force her to move further away? In a trance, he allowed himself to touch her lips with his fingertips and blurted out: "Yangyang, don't look at me like that. Smile at me..."
"Whether I tried to stop you or not, you know it clearly in your heart." Yun Yang turned his face away, said coldly, and pushed the door open to leave.
*
By September, with still no news of King Hui raising his army, preparations for war had calmed down. However, rumors suddenly circulated within the court that Lu Jie had colluded with the enemy in Lucheng, in the southern border. The storytellers at the tea stalls changed their stories, no longer mentioning the title of "Little Lu Tanhua." It was as if the previous praise and excitement had never existed.
In the past few days, Yun Yang was feeling uneasy. How could Lu Jie be involved in treason?
Wasn't he sent to be a military supervisor? He had been away from Beijing for more than three months. Logically, he should have arrived in Lucheng long ago. After observing for a few days, he should have rushed the memorial to the emperor. Yun Yang didn't know what went wrong and who had forced such a serious crime of treason on Lu Jie. She only knew that Lu Jie strictly abided by the etiquette and was very upright, so he must have been wronged.
Ever since she wore her wedding dress to find Xue Yu that night, it seemed that she had drawn a clear line between them, but in fact, Yun Yang felt even more confused.
I haven't spoken to him privately in the past month. This time, I went to the Ministry of Justice to look for him, but was turned away several times. What connections does Yun Yang have in the court? Only my brother-in-law can find out some of the truth about Lu Jie's predicament.
She hasn't repaid him yet. How could such a good man be killed so unjustly?
"Miss Yun, the master is not here. He went to the East Palace early in the morning." The attendant from the Ministry of Justice said.
Hearing this, Yun Yang sighed deeply. It was like this again. No matter how long she waited, it seemed she'd missed him. The attendants said Xue Yu was either preoccupied with government affairs or had entered the palace. The rumors about Lu Jie's treason had become increasingly outrageous. Her heart was growing increasingly tense, her mouth bulging with anxiety. All sorts of speculations were swirling in her mind. She even considered going to Xue Yu's study to look up the Dazhao Code. No matter how it was interpreted, no matter which article was used, treason was a capital offense.
In the past few days, there were always urgent memorials from eight hundred miles away that came straight into the palace from outside the city. Yun Yang became more and more afraid, fearing that one of the memorials was Lu Jie's death warrant, and the emperor would execute him without asking any questions.
This kind of panic must find an outlet, and that is to wait at the place where Xue Yu is on duty every day.
The sky was dark and gloomy, with occasional rumbles of thunder. It looked like it was going to rain, and a heavy downpour at that.
The blue-gray carriage stopped, and a slender and thin hand stretched out, with a shiny ring on the thumb.
Xue Yu got off the carriage, frowning, thinking about what the emperor had said just now, that Lu Jie used his position as a military supervisor to trade food, fodder, and maps with the enemy country.
Xue Yu remembered this person. He had just passed the imperial examination this spring and was ranked third in the imperial examination. He wrote good articles and was an upright person, even a little inflexible.
How could such a person collaborate with the enemy and commit treason?
As he thought about this, he glanced at the girl standing at the foot of the stone steps. He was dazed for a moment, then looked closely. That slender and lonely figure was standing there alone, with no expression on her face and a dazed look in her eyes. She didn't even notice him coming.
Xue Yu suddenly remembered that his servant had said a few days ago that Yun Yang had come to see him several times.
At that time, there were piles of files on the desk, and there were also gifts from unknown sources that made him annoyed, so he just told his servants to let her go back.
Why are you still waiting for him after all these days?
Why are you in such a hurry?
Xue Yu walked towards her quickly and called her, "Yun Yang."
Yun Yang was stunned. He raised his eyes and then, as if waking from a dream, he showed some expression. He said happily, "Brother-in-law! I finally waited for you!"
"What happened?" Xue Yu asked, glancing at the sky that looked like it was about to rain. "It's almost autumn now, be careful not to catch a cold. Let's go inside and talk."
Yun Yang nodded gratefully. She had thought her brother-in-law would become distant from her after that night, and she had been worried before coming here, wondering if he would stop paying attention to her. It seemed she had been wrong to judge others by her own standards...
-----------------------
The author has something to say: One more chapter added
Keep asking for nutrient solution, give me some.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com