Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Do you still remember how you chose Fang Ying...
In the end, Fang Ying had someone clean up the east wing and make the bed for Ji Yanlang to sleep in.
After settling the ancestor, Fang Ying walked towards the main house and told Lichun and the others to remember to find some curtains tomorrow and hang them in the east wing.
Xing Niang was a little surprised and asked in a low voice: "Aren't you just staying for one night? Why do you want more..."
"Since we're staying here, it can't be just one night." Fang Ying took this opportunity to make it clear, "Madam said that we'll wait until the general returns home and choose an auspicious day to hold the wedding ceremony. Don't worry about it."
When the maids heard that the lady had made arrangements, they all agreed. Fang Ying then specifically asked a maid named Xi Liu to take a little girl to the east wing to stand guard at night.
Even Lichun was a little confused. After Fang Ying undressed and lay down, he whispered while putting up the tent, "My lady asked Xiliu to take the night watch. Isn't it a bit..." Before he could finish his words, Xiliu's voice suddenly came from outside: "Is my lady asleep?"
Fang Ying gestured for Lichun to answer. Lichun was gone for a while, then returned to report, "My dear, I asked about the clothes that he had changed out of at Madam's. I told him to remember to bring them back, wash them, and not throw them away, but to keep them well. I replied that I have brought them back, so please rest assured."
"Then remember to take him to the east wing after washing, in front of him. By the way, has the new clothes been altered?"
"Two pieces have been altered. I brought them back just to compare sizes. Although the clothes are old, the stitching is so fine and dense, it's so carefully made. I don't know who made them."
Fang Ying glanced at her and said, "It's not our business to worry about it, so don't worry too much and don't say too much."
"Yes. But Xiliu..." Xiliu is the most beautiful maid in the courtyard. Her husband is at the age of full vigor and has just returned from a poor and remote place. What if...
"Is there really something I can worry about..." Fang Ying yawned, "I'm sleepy, you should turn off the lights and go to sleep."
Lichun was unable to persuade this master who had his own ideas since childhood, so he had to go out worriedly, but he could not sleep well that night no matter what.
Unexpectedly, when she woke up in the morning, her husband was already practicing boxing in the yard. Lichun thought she was late and hurried into the inner room to wake her up, "Madam, it's time to get up."
Fang Ying was still half asleep. She drowsily glanced at the sky and asked, "What time is it?"
"I didn't see it. I'm afraid it's too late. My husband is practicing boxing in the yard."
Fang Ying was stunned for a moment before she realized who her husband was. She reluctantly came out of the warm bed and let Lichun help her put on her jacket and skirt and prepare to wash her face. Only then did she realize that the time was almost the same as when she got up yesterday.
"Let him fight as he pleases. Why are you in such a hurry to wake me up without even checking the time?" Fang Ying was unhappy because she was woken up before she even woke up and it was still cold.
Lichun honestly admitted his mistake, and Xingniang tried to smooth things over: "It's even colder today than yesterday. Why don't you have a bowl of sugared eggs to fill your stomach? Otherwise, if you go out on an empty stomach later, you won't be able to withstand the cold wind."
When Fang Ying heard about food, her expression finally brightened a little, and she nodded, "I want two eggs."
"Oh," Xing Niang agreed with a smile, and glanced towards the courtyard again, "That young man..."
Having one more person would only add to the trouble. Fang Ying frowned and said, "Ask him if he wants to eat it. If he does, cook an extra portion."
Xing Niang went out in response. Fang Ying finished washing and dressing. The man in the courtyard finally finished practicing boxing and entered the room and asked, "They said you ate both meals with my mother?"
"Yes, eating with two people is always better than eating alone."
Seeing that there was sweat on Ji Yanlang's forehead, Fang Ying turned to ask the maid for a silk handkerchief, but Ji Yanlang said it was not necessary and that he could just get some water to wash it.
Fang Ying asked Xi Liu to serve, but Ji Yanlang refused. He washed his face and dried it while asking, "Do you want to eat a bowl of sugar-soaked eggs first? After that, will you be able to eat when you go to my mother's house?"
"...I have a decent appetite." Fang Ying said, feeling a little embarrassed, and added, "It's mainly to keep warm."
Ji Yanlang looked at her in surprise - many of the wives of officials he knew would be full with a bowl of sugar-soaked eggs, but she actually said that it was to keep warm and not delay her meal.
"Your appetite is almost comparable to those women who work all day long." Ji Yanlang said as he walked to the dressing table and sat down, waiting for someone to comb his hair.
The best hairdresser in Fang Ying's room was Xiuzhu, the maid assigned by Li. She sent someone to find Xiuzhu, and sat down beside her. She asked with a smile, "Now you know how much a woman who works all day eats in one meal?"
Ji Yanlang looked at her in the mirror, their eyes met, and they both recalled some unpleasant past events.
"Yeah, I know now," he said calmly.
Fang Ying remembered that he hadn't mentioned how he'd spent the past three years at the dinner table yesterday. Since she had nothing else to do, she casually asked, "Have you been staying at that fisherman's house these past three years? Does he have any relatives there?"
"No, I was later conscripted with him into the service of a general in Jiaozhi."
Ji Yanlang just answered with this sentence. Fang Ying saw that he didn't want to say more and was too lazy to look at his cold face, so she stopped asking. Seeing Xiuzhu coming, she got up and went out to eat the bowl of sugared eggs first.
After she finished eating, she sat for a while before Ji Yanlang finished combing his hair and getting dressed before coming out. Fang Ying followed him out, keeping a distance of about one step between them, all the way to the Li family courtyard.
When Mrs. Li saw the two people coming in one after another, she was very happy. She asked a few questions like whether they slept well, and then asked for food to be served.
Breakfast consisted of steamed buns and omelets, with both meat and vegetable options. The omelets were fried to a golden brown, garnished with emerald green onions, and cut into bite-sized pieces, which looked very appetizing. There was also a pot of glutinous rice porridge and four side dishes.
Ji Yanlang had practiced boxing and kicking early in the morning and was very hungry. He sat down and ate four meat buns in one breath, drank a bowl of porridge, and when he asked the maid to add more porridge, he saw Fang Ying pick up another bun.
"Which one are you?" he asked.
Fang Ying put the buns down and was about to reply when Madam Li scolded her son, "Why do you care how much they eat? They didn't steal yours. There's enough for you."
Ji Yanlang laughed and said, "I'm not worried that it's not enough, but I think this is her third one. Does she usually eat this much?"
"Aren't you annoying?" Li continued to scold him, "You're still staring at how much I eat. Ying'er, ignore him and eat until you're full."
Fang Ying didn't take Ji Yanlang's words seriously at first. She just smiled and lowered her head to take a bite of the meat bun - her mouth was full of oil, so delicious!
Ji Yanlang begged Li for mercy, picked up an egg pancake with his chopsticks and gave it to her, saying, "You can't just eat vegetarian food, have some eggs."
Mrs. Li said, "I have made a vow to the Bodhisattva. The day has not come yet. I will eat when the time comes. You can eat it." Although she was still a vegetarian, her son and daughter-in-law were eating with relish at the dinner table today, so she followed suit and ate a little more.
After dinner, Ji Yanshou and Yue Qing'e came over with their children. They were too busy yesterday to take care of them, and only now did they remember to ask the children to meet their sixth uncle.
Ji Yanlang touched the top of Yun'er's head and said with a smile, "They've grown so big. When I left, Yun'er and her sister were about the same age, right?"
"Still smaller." Yue Qing'e looked back at the little girl in the wet nurse's arms. "Yun'er is growing fast. Even at the same month, she looks bigger."
Ji Yanlang didn't know what to say after hearing this. He just looked at the child and laughed. Li Shi saw this and pretended to look out the window. She said, "It's getting late. You should go to the palace to meet the emperor. You should go now."
Ji Yanlang agreed, and Ji Yanshou said, "I'll go with you."
He was now serving as an inspector of the Ministry of Revenue as a Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Revenue's office was just south of the palace, so the two brothers were on the same route.
After seeing them off, Li instructed Fang Ying, "Send someone back to your parents' home to tell them that Liu Lang has returned safely. Ask your in-laws when they are free so you and Liu Lang can go back and pay them a visit."
Fang Ying agreed, and Li told Yue Qing'e to prepare the things she would need to fulfill her vow at Xiangguo Temple. After these things were done, Li called Fang Ying alone and asked her whether Ji Yanlang had bullied her or given her a cold look after he returned last night.
"No, we only talked about family matters in the past few years..." Fang Ying repeated to Li what Ji Yanlang had asked her and how she had answered. Finally, she said, "He insisted on staying in the east wing, and I couldn't persuade him..."
"Don't worry about him. If he wants to stay in the wing, he can stay. When your father comes back, someone will take care of him."
Fang Ying smiled flatteringly. She said this not because she wanted Li to control Ji Yanlang, but just wanted her to know that such a thing happened. Moreover, it was Ji Yanlang who insisted on living in the wing room, not because she occupied the main room and wronged him. Now that her purpose was achieved, she didn't say anything more.
Ji Yanshou, who was riding with his younger brother to the palace, was also asking Ji Yanlang, "You didn't show disrespect to your sixth sister-in-law anymore, did you? I thought you'd grown up after going through a big thing, but now you can talk about this. How can you blame your sixth sister-in-law? You even showed disrespect to her in front of mother and all of us. Fortunately, your sixth sister-in-law is strong, otherwise a weaker woman would not be able to stand it."
"If it were someone else, I wouldn't be like this."
When Ji Yanlang first learned that his family had married him off to a wife because of the so-called Master Lu Tianshi's words, although he thought it was absurd, he did not feel disgusted with this "wife" at all, as she had been with him for two years and had done a lot of things to serve his parents. He even felt that she was quite pitiful.
Because according to common sense, the "wife" herself could not have been willing in any way.
He had really prepared himself to treat this "wife" well. Even if he really didn't like her after meeting her, he would at least give her due respect. But Ji Yanlang never expected that the person his family arranged for him to marry was Fang Ying, and she kept saying that she admired him!
Something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary. He had to find out.
"Mother told me that Master Lu Tian only gave us the eight characters, and we chose the person ourselves. Second brother, do you still remember how you chose Fang Ying?"
Ji Yanshou thought about it and replied, "I remember that my mother was anxious at that time. She said that if we look for it outside, we don't know the details, and secondly, we are afraid that it will be too slow. It would be better to ask among our old acquaintances in Shu. At that time, we asked a few familiar ladies to inquire..."
Given the power of the Ji family in the new dynasty, their selection of a daughter-in-law should have been a hot topic for many families, but the idea of bringing good luck to the family - although it was not said so openly, everyone knew that was the case - and unless they really couldn't make ends meet, most families really didn't want to bear this reputation.
Furthermore, at that time, the old officials in Shu were all saying that the direct line of the Ji family had met with disasters one after another. Ji Guangting might take the opportunity to completely sever ties with Shu and support Sanlang to inherit the family business. At this time, marrying his good daughter to Ji Liulang, whose whereabouts were unknown and whose life or death was unknown, would really make anyone say that their daughter's horoscope was not noble enough.
Nowadays, if you are truly a widow, you can still remarry. But what I fear most is the situation where you don’t know whether the person is dead or alive. What if you wait for ten years and the person still hasn’t come back, and someone else is in charge of the Ji Mansion? If you want to remarry again, you will have missed your prime years. How can it be that easy?
"So the people we found at the beginning all had some... unsatisfactory aspects." Ji Yanshou was a kind man, and his words were tactful. "But mother and we are convinced that you are fine and will come back sooner or later. How can we accept it?"
Ji Yanlang was furious when he heard this: "Who are these people talking nonsense? What is unsatisfactory about it?"
"It's all in the past. It's not worth getting angry about it." Ji Yanshou looked at the palace walls faintly visible in front of him and smiled with relief. "Isn't everything fine now? You're home, and your sixth brother's wife is a very virtuous woman. Just live a good life from now on."
Although he has a gentle temperament, he definitely cannot ask about things he doesn't want to say. Ji Yanlang put it aside for the time being, "Second brother, you haven't told me how you chose her yet."
"Ah, it was my in-laws who heard about this and came to ask me. I remembered that Dad had praised Judge Fang as a very cautious and reliable person, and your second sister-in-law also said that the Fang family has always been grateful to Mother for taking my sixth sister-in-law to the mansion to take care of her, so I told her the truth. My in-laws listened thoughtfully at the time, but didn't mention my sixth sister-in-law's birthday. It was only a few days later that they sent a message through Madam Fan, whom Mother had asked."
"Which Mrs. Fan?"
"She's the wife of Fan Weipeng, the former governor of Jinzhou. Why are you asking so much?"
Ji Yanlang hesitated for a moment, thinking that if he didn't tell his second brother, there was no one else he could tell him, so he moved closer to him and whispered, "I suspect she has other intentions."
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