Chapter 246 Leaf Cards
Back at the manor, the Yun family members were all waiting at the door.
Upon seeing the carriage carrying Wang Shi return, he excitedly shouted, "They're back! They're back! Sister-in-law and the others are back!"
"Auntie is back."
"So much stuff! We have money now! We have silver! That's great! We won't go hungry on the road ahead."
"roll!"
Yun Xiuwen also rushed out and saw the maid carrying gifts out of the carriage. He rushed over and snatched them away.
"Yun Yanzhe, you bastard, how dare you commit patricide..."
Wang interrupted him sharply, "Shut up! Yun Xiuwen, if you dare to say another word, don't even think about getting anything from us."
Yun Xiuwen said in a deep voice, "You won't give me any benefits, but you want me to keep your secret? I'm telling you, no way!"
Wang pulled the person into a corner.
What will it take for you to shut up?
"You want to shut me up? Fine, but I want compensation from you. I want all of these and all of them." Yun Xiuwen pointed to the gifts he was holding and the things the maid was carrying.
"Why should I? I had to talk myself hoarse to get all this, and you think you can just take it away with a few words? Let me tell you, no way!"
"You don't need so many for yourself, are you planning to give them to that bitch?"
"Shut up! I won't allow you to call Rou'er a slut."
His Rou'er is the kindest woman in the whole world.
Wang sneered, "Oh, who was it that called her a shameless slut before? And let me kill that bastard child."
"I was tricked by your scheme and misunderstood Rou'er. You killed my son. I regret it so much..." Yun Xiuwen blamed everything on Wang Shi.
He raised his hand as if to slap her.
Wang grabbed his wrist and pushed him hard, "Bang!"
"You killed my Yang'er, and I haven't even settled accounts with you yet. How dare you hit me?"
Wang gave him half of the gifts to shut him up.
Yun Xiuwen agreed. His goal was not to destroy Yun Yanze, but to teach them a lesson and let them know who the head of the family was.
Wang stared at his back, her two gazes cold and chilling, as if they were poisoned.
As a man, he can't even support his wife and children, yet he dares to threaten them into taking advantage of him to support his concubine. What a shameless old man! I'll kill him one day.
Yun Xiuwen happily went back to find Aunt Chen after receiving the gift.
"Rou'er, these are for you. You must keep a close eye on them and not let that wicked woman take them back."
Only Rou'er was truly sincere towards him.
Last night he was injured and caught a cold, and Rou'er took care of him all night without taking off her clothes.
Aunt Chen declined, "My lord, this gift is too generous. I am but a humble woman, and I cannot accept it, nor can I keep it. What if someone steals it from me..."
"Let's see who dares to steal it!"
"Take it if I give it to you. We'll live in the same room and watch over it together."
The Third Prince's estate was not large, with only about thirty rooms. Usually, seven or eight people would squeeze into one room, and Aunt Chen did not have a separate room.
Yun Xiuwen was the Third Prince's father-in-law and was allocated a separate room. He had Aunt Chen move in with him that morning.
Aunt Chen agreed.
Yun Xiuwen's head ached again, so he asked Aunt Chen to pawn a piece of cloth to buy some food.
"I suddenly feel a little dizzy, I need to lie down and rest. Thank you for your hard work, Rou'er."
Aunt Chen was about to go out with a cloth in her hand when she encountered a familiar figure carrying a food box at the corner.
She instinctively walked back and hid in a corner, not wanting him to see her, and raised the cloth in her hand to cover her face.
Hu Feng had already seen her, and as he brushed past her, he said, "Madam Yun is no pushover, take care of yourself."
"Yes, thank you. I'll find a way to pay you back the money I owe you."
Hu Feng waved his hand and said, "No need. Even if I don't give you the money, those thieves will rob it anyway. I should have spent all the money before, so that those bandits wouldn't have gotten it."
...
Yun Zhaoxue wanted to find time to go to Tiger Head Mountain to look for mines, but people were watching her upstairs and downstairs, like they were watching a prisoner, worried that she would run away.
The window on the other side of the alley was sealed off; the other window overlooked the street.
I've eaten fruit, pastries, nourishing soups, and medicinal meals several times, and my stomach is completely full.
"Go and do your own thing. You don't need to keep an eye on me. I'm not going anywhere."
"Spending time with you is the most important thing."
Because of his leg disability, he delegates tasks to his subordinates instead of doing them himself.
Yun Zhaoxue was so bored that she would lie on the table or on the bed for a while. After lying down for a while, she stared at the curtains above her head and said, "I'm so bored. We've kissed and hugged, and now it's not appropriate to stagger around like this."
What does "staggering" mean?
"Husband and wife sharing a room."
Xiao Xuance was taking a small sip of tea when he said, "Ahem... Xue'er is thinking..."
The book says that pregnant women have a stronger desire to have sex than usual.
He can help her using the methods taught in the book.
Yun Zhaoxue shook her head. "No, I didn't mean anything. I was just saying it offhand."
Doing that in broad daylight, with people walking by outside at any moment, it's so embarrassing.
She got out of bed and put on her shoes. "I'm going to go play with Shu'er and my sister-in-law. You can continue reading your book."
Hmph! It's his fault for not letting her go out; he won't let her play with him.
Xiao Mingshu and Yang Shi shared a room. When she arrived, Xie Wanyun and Song Mingyan were also there with their children.
Several people were making clothes around a round table.
Yun Zhaoxue saw a finished product on the table, picked it up and compared it to her own, but it was smaller than her undergarment.
"Who would wear such small clothes..."
"Of course it's for your unborn baby in your belly to wear."
Yun Zhaoxue put the clothes down. "I didn't even think about these things. I don't know how to make clothes. At most, I can sell them to them, but that's still a long way off, a few more months."
There are many fabrics and clothes in the space, but none for children. I'll have to buy some when I have time.
Lingnan was backward and not wealthy, so good quality materials could only be found in big cities.
Yun Zhaoxue also tried embroidering a few stitches. At first, she found it interesting, but after a few more stitches, she found it tiring for her eyes and gave up.
I saw Jun'er and his younger siblings playing with leaf cards, squatting in the corner.
This card seems to have been given to me by Pei Huaiji.
Yun Zhaoxue went over to watch them play; she wanted to play too.
The children don't quite understand the rules yet and are still figuring them out, but they're having a great time playing.
She played a few rounds with the children and roughly figured out the rules. She won every time. However, it was unfair for the children to win. Yang and Xie Wanyun knew how to play, but they only had one deck of leaf cards.
Yun Zhaoxue returned to her room, pretended to rummage through a cloth bag, and took out three small toys from her spatial storage: modeling clay, marbles, and a Rubik's Cube. She then asked them to exchange these for leaf cards.
The three little ones looked at the toys they had never seen before with great curiosity.
They didn't know how to play with a Rubik's Cube, so Yun Zhaoxue briefly explained the rules.
After quickly fiddling with it dozens of times, my hand speed was so fast that it was almost a blur. When I stopped, all six faces of the Rubik's Cube on my palm were the same color.
Xian'er looked at him with eyes full of admiration, clapping her hands and cheering, "Wow, Third Aunt is so amazing, it's like magic! I want to learn too."
"Try to figure out the method I just described. If you still don't understand, come and ask me again."
Xiao Mingshu doesn't know how to play yet.
Yang was playing with her three daughters-in-law, and she sat aside and watched, waiting for Yang to learn before giving her her seat.
Put away the clothes, fabric, and needles and thread on the table and replace them with leaf-shaped items.
Shuffle and deal the cards.
Yun Zhaoxue threw the "ten thousand strings of cash" onto the sandalwood table.
The elder sister-in-law snatched the rope from him with a beaming smile.
The second sister-in-law gripped the cards, looked at the two "coins" (a type of currency), frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then randomly played one.
Yang's moves require almost no thought.
The eldest sister-in-law also came out very quickly.
Song Mingyan knew the rules, but she didn't play often. She would think for a while before playing a card, and everyone waited patiently for her to play.
After several rounds, it was Yun Zhaoxue's turn. She slowly pushed the deck over—it turned out to be a complete set of mixed suit coins.
The others were in an uproar.
Mrs. Yang said, "It's done again. Xue'er has a real talent for this..."
Xiao Mingshu said, "Third Sister-in-law is the smartest person I've ever met; she can do everything."
"I'm terrible at needlework. The stitches I made just now looked like they were chewed by a dog. I'm too embarrassed to even mention it."
Xie Wanyun also sighed, "My third sister-in-law said she didn't know how to play, but this is the third time she's won. Could she be lying to us? A veteran pretending to be a newbie?"
"Sister-in-law, I'm not lying. I really am a novice. Maybe I'm just lucky. I'm dealt a good hand, so I can't afford to play it badly."
Leaf cards are similar to mahjong and playing cards from her previous life. She had some basic skills and got the hang of it after a few rounds.
Song Mingyan also said, "Smart people learn anything quickly. I am mild-mannered and not very quick-witted. I am far inferior to my third sister-in-law."
Yun Zhaoxue smiled and said, "Everyone has their strengths. Third sister-in-law is good at needlework and making clothes. She is also very thoughtful and can make all kinds of pastries. I am far inferior to second sister-in-law in these aspects."
Yang taught Xiao Mingshu how to play, and let her play a few times. In the first round, all three sisters-in-law deliberately let her win.
Xiao Mingshu felt that the game was going better and better, and it seemed like she had won. She excitedly widened her eyes and said, "Mother, can you help me see if I have won? I can't believe it, this is my first time playing!"
"It's done, it's done."
Hearing the cheers coming from next door, Xiao Xuance's brows relaxed and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
Just as he was about to go over and take a look, Zhuiying walked to the door and, seeing that no one was inside, said, "Young Master, I've found out."
He went inside and closed the door. "It seems that the Marquis of Jiangling is colluding with those sea pirates."
"Is the Third Prince aware of this matter?"
"The Marquis of Jiangling has long harbored ulterior motives towards the Third Prince, and we subordinates cannot be certain."
"He probably knows, and he was the one who orchestrated it."
"Your Highness, Li Cheng nearly killed the Third Prince's wife and humiliated her. Why did he do that?"
"By allowing the Marquis of Jiangling to achieve merit, the people in the court will not shake his position for the time being."
Zhuiying added, "Apart from the Third Prince secretly visiting the Marquis's residence once, the subsequent contacts were all made by the Marquis of Jiangling personally going to the teahouse to meet the Third Prince."
"The Marquis of Jiangling is wavering among the princes and is suspected of betraying his master. Our people have found out. The Third Prince must know this, yet he still keeps this man around, which is unusual. Perhaps he is turning a blind eye because he has no one else to rely on."
Those in positions of power are truly unfathomable.
Xiao Xuance's fingertips traced the pages of the "Geography" section of the Book of Han on the table.
“A hundred years ago, Ezhou established an ironworks official, and a certain important figure mined copper and iron here to forge swords. The Daye County Annals also records that the iron vein extends from Tonglushan to this place.”
"Is it because of iron ore?"
If that's the case, then everything makes sense.
The Third Prince forgave the previous offense in order to allow the Marquis of Jiangling to mine iron ore.
The Third Prince also intends to arrange a marriage between the eldest son of the Yun family and the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Jiangling.
"It's said that Miss Li was deceived by her sweetheart, causing her personality to change drastically. She started keeping male lovers at brothels, and after being banished to her estate, she had affairs with guards and servants, apparently becoming pregnant and being forcibly aborted. This scandal has spread throughout the streets and alleys of Jiangling, and to this day, no one dares to marry her. The Yun family thought they had climbed the social ladder, but they will surely regret it to death when they learn the truth and are unable to extricate themselves..."
Once Zhuiying starts talking about gossip, she can't stop.
Xiao Xuance gave him a cold look, "When did you become so gossipy?"
Zhuiying quickly shut his mouth, "Your subordinate knows his mistake."
"Send people to inquire among the people about any strange or unusual things that happen in the mountains of Ezhou, especially those related to the government."
"yes!"
Zhuiying suddenly remembered something else, "Your Highness, there's one more thing. When we were crossing the river, the Wu family gang and the Hong family gang got into a fight, and Yan Wanshan was arrested. I heard that he escaped from prison, took a boat across the river, and ran to Ezhou. Zhufeng has already sent people to look for him."
"Yes, capture him alive. Don't let him die; he's still very useful."
"Yes! I'll take care of it right away."
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