Chapter 50 Unquenchable Hatred "I will make the general take my fourth sister as a concubine."...
The entire household searched high and low until midnight, but they still couldn't find Lu Xiuyi.
A living person, a general who knew kung fu, had simply vanished from the inner quarters, leaving everyone utterly shocked.
Only then did they realize that Lu Xiuyi's reputation had never been good, and his sudden disappearance might mean that his enemies had come looking for him.
The guess was obvious, and a chill ran down the spines of everyone present.
As dawn approached, a slightly cool morning breeze swept in from all directions. Aunt Shen quietly sent Yan'er back to fetch a thin cloak for Meng Yu.
When questioned, everyone in the mansion either said they were busy at the time and didn't notice it when they passed by, or they had never been to the long corridor.
Meng Yu felt that he could not delay any longer, so he planned to send someone to inform Chu Ze to bring his troops to investigate.
Upon hearing that she was going to send troops into the mansion, Meng Yanqing instantly sprang up from her armchair and shouted, "Don't inform them! If word gets out that you're sending troops into the mansion, how can my Meng family maintain its standing in the capital? Will your second sister and fourth sister still be able to arrange marriages in the future?"
At a time when lives are at stake, he was still thinking about how to save face. Meng Yu was so angry at his words that she laughed: "Father, in your heart, is the face of the Meng family more important, or the lives of your entire family? Lu Xiuyi disappeared in the Meng residence. Do you think this can be kept secret? Do you think the Emperor will spare us after he finds out? Stop dreaming, wake up!"
Huaiyin translated these words with a look of panic.
Meng Yanqing listened with a livid face and remained silent for a moment.
Meng Yu immediately instructed Huai Yin to inform the soldiers waiting at the gate to quietly send Chu Ze with a small number of soldiers over, without making a sound.
Huaiyin hurriedly ran out.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, Chu Ze arrived with a stern face. He questioned everyone in the mansion, and after a moment's hesitation, asked again, "Why is the Fourth Miss the only one missing?"
Meng Yanqing hurriedly replied respectfully, "Fourth Miss drank a bit too much today and got drunk before finishing dinner. She's still resting in her room."
After a moment's hesitation, Chu Ze asked again, "Are there any areas we haven't searched yet?"
Meng Yanqing replied, "They've all been searched."
Meng Yu immediately raised her hand: "There are still three places that haven't been searched: Ci'an Hall, Zhenhua Studio, and Qingli Courtyard."
“Cian Hall is where the old lady lives,” before anyone could speak, Madam Yuan immediately jumped in to stop them, “and only the two young ladies and I live in Zhenhua Zhai. How can we hide a man there? Wouldn’t people laugh if word got out…”
"shut up!"
Before she could finish speaking, Chu Ze glared at her sharply and shouted in a deep voice, "If anything happens to the general, can you bear the responsibility? Search him."
The soldiers in front of him immediately scattered.
Yuan was choked and shut her mouth. She glanced at Meng Yu with a dark expression, her eyes seeming to be spitting sparks.
Meng Yu ignored him and simply sat upright in her chair.
The soldiers from the Cixi Hall came and went, and reported that there was nothing wrong.
A moment later, the soldiers who had searched the Pillow Flower Pavilion returned with red faces, bowing their heads and stammering, "Reporting to the lord, there is something strange in the Fourth Miss's room. Please ask you and your wife to go and take a look."
The crowd looked at each other in astonishment.
When Meng Yu arrived at Zhenhuazhai with a group of people, Meng Yin's door was kicked open, and Tingyue was huddled under the eaves, sobbing.
As if guessing what was going on, Meng Yu immediately stepped forward to block the doorway, making way for them, and gestured "please" to the pale-faced Madam Yuan and Meng Yanqing.
The two of them, their faces contorted with grief, stumbled and ran inside.
The next moment.
"ah!"
The expected piercing screams suddenly shattered the sky, instantly extinguishing any trace of goodwill that Lu Xiuyi had managed to cultivate in Meng Yu's heart.
No wonder, no wonder his body got so hot when he was drunk.
It's hateful that she didn't think much about it at the time.
When the word "hateful" suddenly popped into her mind, Meng Yu was stunned. She had never had any feelings for Lu Xiuyi to begin with; she was merely a substitute bride that day. What did she have to hate? What was there to hate?
"Madam..."
"grandmother……"
Just as she was pondering this, two panicked shouts suddenly came from behind her. When she turned around, she saw that Old Madam Meng had already fainted.
Meng Shuang and Meng Zhangzhou looked grim. They hurriedly escorted Old Madam Meng back to Ci'an Hall and sent someone to fetch a doctor.
When Madam Yuan came out, her face was as white as paper, her body was weak, and her steps were unsteady. She could only hold onto the door frame to avoid falling to the ground.
Meng Yu quickly recovered, her voice perfectly normal, without a trace of jealousy: "Now that it has happened, I will have the general take my fourth sister as a concubine."
When Huaiyin translated these words, her eyes were filled with shock and indignation.
Meng Yanqing, who came out later, seemed to have lost her soul. Upon hearing Meng Yu's words, she stiffly shook her head.
Thinking that he was dissatisfied with Meng Yin becoming a concubine, Meng Yu raised his hand again: "If Father thinks that a concubine is not acceptable, then how about a secondary wife?"
"Madam is truly magnanimous, even granting me the position of a concubine." Before Huaiyin could translate these words, a sharp shout came from afar at the hanging flower gate.
Meng Yu was startled and looked in the direction of the sound. Although a few drops of dawn were breaking on the horizon, the sky was still somewhat dark. In the distance, he could only see the orange candlelight flickering, casting a shadow on the face of the person who had come, making his expression look gloomy.
A sense of danger seemed to pierce through layers of obstacles and rush straight towards them in an instant.
Meng Yu looked on in disbelief, her eyes wide as she stiffly turned to look into the room. After a moment of stunned silence, as if she had just remembered something, she rushed inside.
Clothes were scattered all over the floor. The closer to the bed, the louder the sobbing became. Meng Yu tremblingly lifted the beaded curtain and saw that a corner of the quilt was pressed to the ground, and the curtains were also wrinkled.
Through the semi-transparent orange-yellow curtains, Meng Yin knelt, clasped her hands together, and buried her head in her arms. Opposite her, a familiar figure could be faintly seen.
Meng Yu took a closer look.
It was Jiang Xuanli...
***
This matter was too shocking and too shameful. Even after returning to Qingli Courtyard and recovering for a long time, Meng Yu was still not able to recover from the shock.
Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, just sitting there blankly without offering any explanation, Lu Xiuyi recalled how calmly she had said she wanted to take a concubine for him, and felt a surge of anger stuck in his throat and between his lips, unable to rise or suppress it.
Finally, suppressing his temper, he couldn't help but say, "Shouldn't you explain yourself?"
Hearing the voice, Meng Yu was instantly pulled back to reality, and looked at him with a complicated expression.
Her eyes held shock, doubt, and bewilderment, as if she was surprised that these words had come from him.
His anger instantly turned into a deep sense of grievance, and his imposing manner weakened. He accused her in every sentence: "I have never overstepped my bounds in my marriage, and I have done everything I promised you. But what have you done? You didn't even ask me a question before you wanted to take a concubine for me. Have you ever thought about me for even a moment?"
Meng Yu slowly raised her hand: "I thought the person in the room was you."
"How could that be?" Lu Xiuyi exclaimed dramatically. "I am loyal to you and have no other intentions."
Meng Yu carefully examined the expression on his face, then raised her hand in confusion: "You clearly returned to Qingli Courtyard, and I went back to Qingli Courtyard to look for you immediately, so why can't I find you?"
According to the soldiers who conducted the search, they found Lu Xiuyi unconscious in her room, but the first place she went to was Qingli Courtyard.
She asked again, and Lu Xiuyi patiently explained, "Didn't I tell you? I felt like I had been waiting for you for a long time, and when I saw that you hadn't come back, I thought I would go back by myself. But I was confused and took the wrong road without realizing it. I took a long detour back and ended up missing you."
Meng Yu recalled that she had indeed only returned to Qingli Courtyard once, and after that, the soldiers went to search.
Upon closer examination, his reasoning seems to be without fault.
But she always felt something was off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
***
After this incident, Meng Yanqing immediately issued a strict order to keep it a secret, and anyone who dared to spread even half a word of it would be beaten to death on the spot.
Since it concerned Meng Yu's reputation, and it wouldn't sound good if word got out, Lu Xiuyi naturally followed his instructions and gave orders to the soldiers present, sternly warning them that anyone who did not comply would lose their head.
Inside the Pillow Flower Studio, the atmosphere was heavy and oppressive.
Mother Deng and her maid were driven into the courtyard and were not allowed to approach the gate unless instructed to do so.
Meng Yanqing paced back and forth.
Madam Yuan propped herself up on her forehead, sobbing and wiping away tears with a handkerchief; her eyes were red and swollen.
Upon hearing that Meng Yanqing was going to betroth Meng Yin to Jiang Xuanli, she immediately rushed forward and pleaded, "Master, our Yin'er is lively and clever, and she is destined to marry into a high-ranking family. She has been pampered since childhood and has never suffered any hardship. But the Jiang family is destitute, and even getting a full meal is a problem. Now you want to betroth her to Jiang Xuanli. You might as well just strangle her with a rope."
Meng Yanqing pulled back the hem of her dress that she had been holding, her brows furrowing impatiently: "If I really strangled her, would you be willing to do it?"
Madam Yuan collapsed to the ground, speechless, only wiping away tears.
“The deed is done, what else can we do but give Yin’er to him?” Meng Yanqing sighed. “Besides, although the Jiang family is poor, Jiang Xuanli is an ambitious boy. With his talent, he should have no problem becoming a second or third-place scholar in the imperial examinations. Otherwise, how could I agree to let Zhang Zhou associate with a poor boy? If he can really pass the imperial examinations and return with a title, there will be immense wealth waiting for Yin’er. Even if he doesn’t, you and I can help him out so that Yin’er won’t suffer.”
Faced with the facts, Madam Yuan finally agreed to the marriage.
Upon hearing the news, Jiang's mother brought betrothal gifts and visited Baoshan that very afternoon to propose marriage.
Madam Yuan didn't even offer her a cup of tea. Seeing her coarse linen clothes and shoes stained with grime that couldn't be washed off, she looked at her with disgust and said coldly, "I knew it! What kind of mother raises what kind of son? On the surface, he's a well-mannered and learned gentleman, a scholar with a wealth of knowledge, but in reality..."
"Shut up!"
Before she could finish speaking, Meng Yanqing interrupted her in a deep voice, "If you've lost your mind, get back here. There are outsiders here in public."
The word "outsider" immediately snapped Yuan out of her daze. Baoshan was standing awkwardly to the side, and she could only reluctantly suppress her temper and shut her mouth, letting out a cold snort before falling silent.
The Jiang family had little property, only an acre of fertile land they had bought with all their money when they came to the capital, and a few hairpins. The hairpins were just silver hairpins and not worth much money.
Jiang's mother brought the land deed and the hairpin with her, her sallow face full of guilt: "Although my family doesn't have much property, I've brought everything I have. I'm giving this land deed and these hairpins to the Fourth Miss as betrothal gifts. I only hope that my in-laws won't find them objectionable."
Ultimately, it was her son who had made the mistake. Jiang's mother stood in the hall with her head down and her back hunched over, her voice as weak as a gentle breeze passing by her ears.
Although displeased with the disgraceful deeds of Jiang Xuanli and Meng Yin, Meng Yanqing, concerned about his reputation, still had a maid serve tea to Jiang's mother and pushed the land deed and hairpin back: "Our family has land and shops, we don't lack these things. You can take these back and keep them with you. As for Xuanli..."
"Mother."
Before Meng Yanqing could finish speaking, Jiang Xuanli rushed over upon hearing the commotion: "Didn't I tell you? Let me handle the marriage proposal."
Upon seeing Jiang Xuanli, Madam Yuan was immediately enraged and was about to launch into another tirade against him, but a glimpse of Baoshan out of the corner of her eye made her reluctantly shut her mouth.
Jiang Xuanli lifted his robe and knelt down before Meng Yanqing, raising his hands above his head with a resolute expression: "Uncle, Aunt, I, Jiang Xuanli, swear to heaven that if you will betroth the Fourth Miss to me, I will cherish her as a treasure and protect her for the rest of my life. If I break this oath, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death."
Meng Yin wanted to kill him with a single sword strike.
She didn't know where the mistake was. She and Tingyue had clearly helped Lu Xiuyi back to his room, so why was it Jiang Xuanli who appeared on the bed?
It's hateful that she slept with the wrong person and ruined her life.
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