The moon-viewing event ended smoothly without any disturbances or setbacks.
On August 16, the emperor, accompanied by his officials, returned to the capital in a grand procession. The commotion was so great that the area around the South Gate was completely closed off. The people, upon seeing this, thought the emperor had returned victoriously.
The emperor's carriage went straight to the palace, and all the officials entered the city and naturally went back to their homes to find their mothers.
As soon as he arrived at the Xu Mansion, Xu Yixing was pulled to the study by his father, who anxiously asked him about what had happened in the previous two days. It is conceivable how uncomfortable he had been during those two days.
"Father, I know what you're going to ask. To make a long story short, my daughter was kidnapped by Fan Shi, who was with the Fourth Prince, and then stuffed into the Second Prince's bedroom. Later, thanks to the Seventh Prince who discovered something was wrong and took me away in time to send me to Madam Jing, a tragedy was avoided."
Xu Yixing's words were completely sincere, but she concealed the fact that she hired someone to kidnap her and the Seventh Prince's analysis of the incident. She also didn't want to interfere with her father's thoughts.
Father Xu pondered for a moment and understood the general idea: "So, the Second Prince is really trying to make things difficult for my family? Humph! I was wondering why everyone is saying today that the Second Prince brought back a concubine. It turns out they're just covering up this very thing!"
After Father Xu finished speaking, he thought about it again, and his expression became a little strange: "Yan'er, this is not right. How could the Second Prince be so courageous?"
"My daughter also finds this strange. Perhaps there's something else going on. We should consider it carefully..."
"Let's discuss this in the long run? Is this something we can discuss in the long run? Ever since you were rescued by the Seventh Prince, without any evidence, who else can point the finger at this matter?"
Xu Yixing didn't understand why his father was so indignant. "According to you, I should lie on the second prince's bed as living evidence, and then let the emperor kill all the people who knew about it to be considered successful?"
"father?"
Father Xu seemed to realize his loss of composure and calmed down: "Yan'er, I didn't say that you and the Seventh Prince did anything wrong. This is the only way to preserve your reputation and your marriage with him.
Dad is just too angry. The Second Prince has been making things difficult for us since our engagement. It was like that last time with the token, and it’s the same this time. Dad is really worried about whether the Seventh Prince has the ability to protect you and our family.”
It turned out that it was to preserve the family's reputation. Xu Yixing smiled bitterly. In his father's mind, the Xu family was indeed more important.
"But the engagement has been confirmed now. Even if Dad has something wrong, it's hard to change it." It was you who took the initiative at the beginning. You were so happy to see Madam Jing coming to propose marriage. Now you think the royal family is not good enough. It's too late!
"Ah! That's right. Back then, Dad was determined to find you a good family, so that our family would be proud. Now it seems that I was not thoughtful enough. It would be better for you to marry into an ordinary official family and live a stable life."
Well, that's what a father should say.
"Alright, Yan'er, now that this matter is over, let's just pretend it never happened, both for our family and for you. It's only right for you to marry him peacefully and expect to be rewarded later."
"Yes. Dad, I heard that my family gave the kidnappers 10,000 taels of silver?"
"Yes, they've put on a complete show, even taking this into consideration. But don't worry, I've marked all those banknotes. If anyone uses them, we'll catch them!"
"What's the point of catching them? Can we still deal with the Second Prince's men?"
"Hahahaha, you don't know. As soon as the money was handed over, I reported it to the authorities. It wasn't a kidnapping, it was just a simple theft. We can't let them get too complacent!"
"Dad is wise." Xu Yixing took note of it silently, knowing in his heart that he would not be able to touch the ten thousand taels of silver in the future, at least not until the case was closed.
After saying goodbye to her father, Xu Yixing returned to her own yard after many twists and turns. Although she had only been out for two days, all these things added up, she felt like she had been out for a month.
Now there is less than a month left before I get married. Since I have decided to put some things aside for now, I must deal with my personal belongings, post-marital security, and matters related to my parents' home as soon as possible.
"Ouch! I'm so tired! I can't rest at all!" Xu Yixing sat down at the table, sighed deeply, and began to issue his own tasks.
"Siqin, take the two pieces of satin awarded by the Empress yesterday and send them to Gu. This time, Dad used her illness as a cover-up, preventing her from attending the moon-viewing ceremony. We can't be too apologetic."
Siqin pursed her lips, obviously not wanting to go.
"I didn't send her anything to curry favor or seek reconciliation. She did absolutely nothing wrong this time, so I have to give her some balance. Go!"
Siqin bowed and took Sihua away with her. She didn't want to go to Gu's alone.
"Si Wen, I know my sister left five thousand taels of silver with you and Si Wu. Is it still there?"
Si Wen widened her eyes in surprise. She had never told the Second Young Lady about this matter. She didn't intend to embezzle it, and she had not touched the money.
"I still have this one, but I don't know if Siwu's was given to Sun Gu Ye or if she kept it for herself."
"Si Wu will never hand over his grandson You." Having money around is much better than having a concubine in name only.
"But I didn't have the time to ask when she died. If it wasn't among the confiscated property in the Sun Mansion, I'm afraid she had somewhere to hide it.
Go tell Yingyi to look for it for me, for example, if there are any relatives of Siwu there. If they can find it, I will give it to you to keep."
"Is this servant keeping it? Second Miss doesn't blame me for concealing this matter before?"
"Haha, I know you're not hiding it sincerely. Otherwise, if you had five thousand taels, you could ask dad to let you out of the house. It would be better than your current life.
From now on, you and Siqin will both work for me. She has the five thousand taels I gave her, but you two will have different responsibilities. I hope you can do for me what Nanny Bai did before."
The second young lady had said this last time in the mountains, but so far, Si Wen had only passed on the message a few times and had not done anything substantial.
Seeing her stunned, Xu Yixing explained, "Dad gave me quite a bit of dowry when I got married. You have to take care of those shops for me. Do you understand?"
"But I don't understand the art of business, Miss, please find someone else!"
"If you don't understand, go and learn. You've already been out of the house once. If I don't take you with me this time, how will you survive in the Xu family?"
When Si Wen heard the Second Young Lady's harsh words, he felt overwhelmed and almost burst into tears.
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