Chapter 130 Taking the Pulse
"Is that so? I'll definitely visit my second brother another day to catch up," Xu Qingyan said, maintaining his gentle demeanor.
"Okay! Your second sister-in-law will order a good meal for you then," Liu Yue said happily, oblivious to the couple's perfunctory attitude, and went back into the house to share the good news with Xu Mingchuan.
Xu Mingchuan felt no joy upon hearing this. He was more clear-headed than Liu Yue and knew that Xu Qingyan had never respected him, his second brother who was born out of wedlock. He impatiently interrupted Liu Yue's incessant chatter about Xu Qingyan and his wife.
"If you have free time, stay at home and take good care of your children. Don't go around asking questions unless you have something to say."
"The children are being looked after by the maids and servants in the manor! Why do I need to do everything myself? Besides, I'm dealing with the people from the third branch of the family for your sake. And yet, instead of showing any appreciation, you're blaming me!"
When Liu Yue saw his sour face, all the joy in her heart vanished. She couldn't stand Xu Mingchuan's disdainful attitude. He had said he didn't care about social status and had a fight with Master Xu before marrying her. Now, the one who looked down on her was the man she was willing to break ties with her family to marry. How could she possibly stay rational?
"Enough! I only said one sentence, and you retorted with ten. It's truly incomprehensible!" Xu Mingchuan was furious. He turned and went to his concubine's room, ignoring Liu Yue, who was going crazy inside.
"The second couple is really interesting. Back then, my second brother was beaten thirty times by the old man for marrying my second sister-in-law, but he still gritted his teeth and didn't change his mind. I used to respect him as a real man. Now that the good couple has become a bitter one, it's really ironic," Xu Qingyan naturally knew about the commotion caused by the third family, and just sighed calmly.
"Your second brother has been keeping a house full of concubines, and now he's probably been arrested. Why don't you go and help him out?" Ning asked meaningfully.
“Didn’t I use all my money to support my wife? Where would I get the money to support other women for him?” Xu Qingyan looked at Ning Shi with deep affection.
"Smooth talker," Ning said without saying whether she believed him or not, and then ignored him.
Xu Qingyan stayed with her for a while longer before leaving.
"Bang!"
"Young master, spare my life!"
"Hmph! You all seem to have forgotten who your master is. Have you really forgotten who holds your indentures?" Xu Qingyan added with a gloomy expression.
The servant who was kicked to the ground immediately cried out in pain and begged for mercy again.
"Guards! Drag him out and sell him!"
After venting his anger, Xu Qingyan ordered his men to drag the disloyal servant away.
Thinking of what Ning had said today, he turned around and instructed another servant to send away the woman he had placed outside a few days ago.
After Xu Qingyan left, Song Yushu had been thinking about the cooperation, but he couldn't make up his mind, so he went to discuss it with Old Master Liu.
"The third young master of the Xu family has a good reputation outside, but he is too philandering. However, this is just a facade. Now that he has the powerful Yue family as his backing, it is a foregone conclusion that he will inherit the Xu family business in the future. Although what he said to you was a threat, it did make sense."
“You’ve worked with him before, and if there were no losses, you might as well sign a contract with him again to supply goods, just like before,” Old Master Liu said. Although he disliked the Xu family, he was also afraid that Song Yushu would suffer retaliation from Xu Mingchuan. He thought that her cooperation with the third young master of the Xu family might solve the problem of Xu Mingchuan.
Listening to Old Master Liu's analysis, Song Yushu realized that it was indeed the same as what she had thought. However, back in the county town, she felt that Xu Qingyan wouldn't be too presumptuous because it was far from the Xu family. Now that the Xu family was in the prefectural city, it was because he was retaliating against her for the previous incident at Taixing Restaurant. She was afraid she could only accept her fate.
"There's no need to worry about that. You've only opened a small eatery. If he didn't even have that much tolerance, he wouldn't have let you keep running the eatery in the first place. Don't worry."
After thinking it through, Song Yushu sent someone to the Xu residence to deliver a letter.
After receiving the letter, Xu Qingyan's restless heart finally found some comfort. These past few days, he had been groveling before Ning Shi, yet he hadn't received a single smile from her. This made him think of what his mother had told him the night before.
"Why did you make her angry again? I told you to hurry up and have a child. If something happens, a child can help smooth things over. She won't disrespect you because of the child!" Xu's mother glared at her son with exasperation.
“Mother, a child doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. My son has been staying in her room ever since he came back from the county town, and I don’t know why there’s been no sign of a baby,” Xu Qingyan said, her head aching from her nagging.
"I'll find a doctor to check on both of you tomorrow. You'd better make her feel better. I know you're upset, but she's the eldest daughter of the Ning family. Even if it's just you, I, as her mother, have to treat her well," Xu's mother said for a while before letting Xu Qingyan go.
"Child...you're being silly, why are you thinking about these things?" For some reason, Xu Qingyan suddenly thought of Zhao Yuzhi's face, and the fact that this woman had once been pregnant with his child, but had caused her to have an abortion because he was afraid of being discovered by Ning Shi, made him feel a little guilty.
"Young Master! The Old Madam wants you to come over, and the Young Madam has already gone over," came the servant's voice from outside the door.
Xu Qingyan quickly arrived at his mother's room, where Ning Shi was sitting. She didn't even glance at him when he came in.
"I called you here today to check your health. You've been married for several years now, but you still don't have a child. My husband and I are worried about this. That's why we sent someone to invite Doctor Lin a few days ago. He only had time to come today. He will take your pulses later to see what's wrong."
Seeing that Ning was still ignoring Xu Qingyan, Madam Xu sighed inwardly and had no choice but to break the deadlock herself.
Ning's eyebrows twitched slightly upon hearing this, but she simply thanked Xu's mother for her kindness and said nothing more.
A moment later, Doctor Lin was invited in by a servant.
"Dr. Lin, how is my daughter-in-law's health? Why have she not had any children even though she has been married to my son for several years?" When it came to her youngest son's lack of offspring, Xu's mother couldn't help but feel anxious and spoke somewhat inappropriately, implying that the couple's lack of children was solely Ning's problem.
"Madam, please don't worry. I just took your pulse, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's just that you seem to be feeling down. You should go out for walks more often," Doctor Lin quickly replied when he saw her anxious.
"That's good!" Madam Xu didn't notice that Ning's expression was off. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Ning was alright.
When Xu Qingyan saw Doctor Lin coming over, she took the initiative to let Doctor Lin take her pulse.
"How are you? Am I feeling unwell?"
Xu Qingyan had thought that because she often went out, her health would naturally be much better than that of the women in the inner quarters, but when she saw Doctor Lin's furrowed brows, a bad premonition flashed through her mind.
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