Chapter 213: Green Tea, White Lotus

That night.

The little devil tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. If you didn't know him well, you might think he had passed the examination for the boy's degree, and that's why he was so happy that he couldn't sleep.

He slept alone tonight. He kept thinking about the good things Xu Wan had done to him, while he covered his head with the quilt and quietly practiced using all kinds of emotions to call her that.

"Mother, mother... mother? Mother! Mother, mother..."

Calm, coquettish, doubtful, angry, happy, depressed... He tried them all, shouting and kicking his legs excitedly in the quilt.

The night was dark and the courtyard was quiet.

Bu Yan, who was on night watch, listened to the voice of the kid in the house. He couldn't help rolling his eyes, but at the same time, he wanted to smile.

He sighed and said, "Little kid."

It's the same thing every day.

The next day's banquet was a flower-viewing banquet hosted by the Duke of Jin's Mansion.

Xu Lian'er personally sent an invitation, saying that she wanted her elder sister to go over to save face. Xu Wan originally wanted to continue pretending to be sick and not go, but Minister Xu also sent an invitation, forcing Xu Wan to go.

Xu Wan didn't want to have much contact with this family, and she didn't care about the progress of the house fight between Xu Lian'er and the wife of the Duke of Jin. But she didn't want to tear her face with the Xu family openly, and she was not at the point of fighting to the death with them.

"Don't be nervous, I'm here." The little devil had some experience in dealing with people, so he dressed up early in the morning and followed her into the carriage.

Xu Wan said with a smile: "Little guy, you are becoming more and more skilled at supporting me now."

The little devil raised his head proudly: "Of course, I am handsome, rich, powerful and knowledgeable, and I am proud of whoever I go out with. They threatened me, so I invited you to the banquet in advance. If the results of the imperial examination come out, my status as a boy will be even more powerful!"

"Haha... I've never seen a child as confident as you. You seem to be sure that you will pass the exam." Xu Wan was amused by him and the slight annoyance in her heart disappeared.

"Of course, little Tong Zi Ke, it's easy to catch!" The little devil raised his head higher.

Xu Wan couldn't help but pinch his cheek and praised him, "How adorable, my great son."

The little devil became even more excited when he was praised by his mother, and the smile on his face became brighter and brighter.

The Duke of Jin's Mansion did not invite many people today. Xu Lian'er had few good friends from the capital, and many of them did not come after being invited. This made the situation of Xu Lian'er, the daughter-in-law, in the Duke's Mansion even more difficult.

It's not easy to be a bride of a rich family.

"Sister, you are finally here. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

As soon as Xu Wan arrived, Xu Lian'er came forward to hold her arm, but the little devil had already put his arm around her and forced Xu Lian'er's hand back.

Xu Lian'er's smile froze for a moment, but she quickly calmed down and said, "Jincheng is here too, come in quickly, your aunt has specially prepared many delicious cakes for you."

The little devil ignored her and took Xu Wan in directly.

Why did you prepare it specially for him? You just made up a lie. If it was specially prepared, why did you say Jin Cheng was here too?

Contradictory.

Xu Wan walked into the house while talking to Xu Lian'er with a smile on her face, and asked politely, "How is your health lately, sister?"

Xu Lian'er had just had a miscarriage a few years ago, and she had recovered in the past few months. It was a pity that she was ultimately unable to defeat the wife of the Duke of Jin, and let the concubine's son born to that prostitute marry into the family. Now she has a bastard son who is not presentable.

Xu Lian'er smiled falsely and said, "Very well, the court doctor said there's nothing wrong with my body, as long as I relax, I'll be able to have a son soon."

Xu Wan smiled and said, "That's good."

The two exchanged greetings and sat down, seemingly on good terms.

Seeing how the sisters were on good terms, the other noble ladies, whether they were sincere or just there to watch the fun, couldn't help but change their attitude towards Xu Lian'er a little. This was the power of family; as long as outsiders saw that the sisters were of one mind, others would feel that Xu Lian'er was not so easy to bully.

Minister Xu asked Xu Wan to come just to support Xu Lian'er.

Xu Wan didn't care. If she couldn't refuse, she could just accept it. It didn't hurt her anyway. But at this moment, she was glad that the Marquis' Mansion was not that powerful. If Xu Lian'er was so powerful and took advantage of her, she would be very depressed.

"Don't worry about them, we'll leave after dinner." The little devil suddenly interrupted.

Although he didn't quite understand the intricacies of this kind of banquet, he could sense that his mother was unhappy every time she saw people from the Xu family and the Duke of Jin's Mansion.

Xu Wan felt warm in her heart, and she blinked and replied, "Okay, let's go after we finish eating and not get involved in their affairs."

During the halftime, Xu Wan went out to relieve herself.

The little devil just sat in his seat, eating cakes boredly. His mother was not there, and he was too lazy to even lift his eyelids. He simply wanted to recite a few poems on the spot to clear out the messy voices of the women.

"Jincheng, how is your relationship with your stepmother recently? I heard that she beat you on New Year's Day." Xu Lian'er sat down and asked.

The little devil rolled his eyes at her and replied, "That happened a long time ago. I was careless and almost blew my hand off. My mother spanked me to teach me a lesson."

Xu Lian'er continued, "You can't hit him, after all you are a noble young master, why are you being beaten like an ordinary child? If it were me, I would definitely not be able to do it."

Xu Lian'er pretends to be weak and pitiful, but it's a pity that this is all left over from Zong Jincheng's play. What is she pretending for, Bai Lianhua?

Tsk…

The little devil really wanted to punch back, but he was sensible now and knew that he couldn't take the initiative to cause a fight and had to let the other party break down first.

He raised his eyebrows and said deliberately, "What do you know? To teach a boy, you have to beat him. Beating is love and scolding is care. She beat me because she loves me, otherwise why did she only beat me and not my brother? Oh, by the way, you probably don't have experience in raising a son. I heard that your only illegitimate son was raised in your aunt's room. You will know when you have experience."

Being stabbed in the center by the chain darts, Xu Lian'er was so angry that she immediately stood up and pointed at Zong Jincheng and cursed: "You bastard..."

The maid frantically reminded her, "Madam, Madam, calm down, calm down. The ladies of the other families are watching us. We must not break up with the Yuanyang Marquis's Mansion. Don't forget the purpose of holding the flower viewing banquet today!"

Xu Lian'er was so angry that her chest heaved violently. This bastard and rebellious son of the Zong family hit her hardest with every word he said. She was so angry that she wanted to slap him twice on the spot.

How on earth could Xu Wan tolerate this bastard?

Seeing that she was angry, the little devil pretended to be innocent and said, "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong to make you angry? Please don't bother with me. I'm still young and my words are innocent. You can't take them seriously."

Xu Lian'er was once again so angry that she was shaking all over.

This bastard kept saying that he was still young. If she got angry with him, it would make her look petty and nitpicking with a child.

But she couldn't swallow this anger if she didn't fight back.

Xu Lian'er took a deep breath for a long time, thinking that she was surrounded by enemies on all sides in the Duke of Jin's Mansion, and she could not afford to have one more enemy.

Besides, she has spent a lot of money on bribery recently. If she could get access to the Yuanyang Marquisate, which is rich enough to rival a country, why would she worry about spending money?