When He Yuanhao heard He Yunxiao say that he liked the girls at Chunfeng Tower, he nodded calmly.
He Yuanhao remained calm, but He Yunxiao could not.
"Father, my mind is made up, I want to marry her!"
"Hmm." He Yuanhao remained calm.
He Yunxiao said, "Father, Aunt, if you want to hit or scold me, go ahead."
Zhang Jingxian looked at He Yuanhao with concern, but He Yuanhao was not as quick to resort to violence as usual; instead, he remained very calm.
"It's almost noon now, let's talk about this after lunch," He Yuanhao said.
He Yunxiao was quite surprised to see He Yuanhao acting so agreeable.
"Auntie, what's wrong with my father?"
Zhang Jingxian was also confused. Logically speaking, it should be normal for his father to beat him until he cried out.
"Auntie doesn't know either, let's eat first. Auntie will go and urge the kitchen to prepare the food."
...M.cascoo.net
At the dining table, the He family of three were eating.
He Yuanhao ate vegetables and meat with gusto, showing a great appetite, but He Yunxiao and Zhang Jingxian couldn't eat.
He Yuanhao, a former soldier, ate quickly, finishing two bowls of rice in no time. After finishing his meal, he drank a bowl of soup before saying, "You're all eating, why are you all staring at me?"
Zhang Jingxian asked with slight concern, "Master, what do you think of Xiao'er's matter?"
He Yuanhao laughed and said, "Just because of this? It's no big deal. Xiao'er has always been a womanizer, as his concubine knows that. As long as he has money, he can buy his freedom or marry whomever he wants. Let him do as he pleases."
He Yunxiao thought his father would vehemently disagree, but to his surprise, his father was so open-minded that he agreed immediately!
As long as his father agrees, money and such things are a trivial matter to He Yunxiao.
"Father, can you keep your word?"
"Natural calculations are the basis for the result."
"That's wonderful!" He Yunxiao exclaimed with delight. "I'll go and redeem her today, and bring her to the Marquis's residence tomorrow."
After finishing his meal, He Yuanhao wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and said casually, "By the way, Xiao'er, you still haven't told us who that girl is. She's not pretty, so she can't come into our family."
He Yunxiao was naturally very confident in Sister Jiang's leading lady-level looks.
"Father, don't worry, she's definitely a rare beauty in Yinjingcheng. Oh, I remember now, you should have seen her when you attended the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration."
"Who is it?" He Yuanhao asked casually.
He Yunxiao smiled and said, "Jiang Wuyou."
"Oh. So it was her." He Yuanhao silently got up and stretched. "After all that effort, I finally managed to get you to talk."
He Yunxiao: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
"Men, tie this unfilial son up!" He Yuanhao pulled out a wooden stick he had hidden under the table, weighed it in his hand, and found it to be quite heavy and easy to handle.
"Master! Xiao'er is young, he doesn't know anything about marriage, he's just talking nonsense!" Zhang Jingxian quickly intervened to save the situation when she saw things were going wrong.
He Yunxiao wasn't intimidated at all. "Dad, hurry up and hit him. I'll go ransom him tonight after you're done!"
"Good lad, you've got guts! Men, tie him up and put him on the bench! I'm going to make him a hero today."
A pig-like scream immediately echoed above the Marquis's residence.
Gubie
...
That night, in He Yunxiao's bedroom.
The ropes binding him hadn't been untied yet, and He Yunxiao was tightly bound and lying face down on the bed.
Even with his ninth-grade cultivation and the restorative boost from the Soul-Devouring Pill, his buttocks were still beaten until they were a bloody mess. This alone shows that the assailant showed no mercy.
Zhang Jingxian felt heartbroken seeing He Yunxiao's condition, and with tears in her eyes, she applied medicine to him.
“Xiao’er, can’t you just give in? Your father has a temper; the harder you stand, the harder he stands. Why do you have to suffer like this?” Zhang Jingxian’s voice was much hoarse than it was in the morning.
He Yunxiao said softly, "Auntie, please don't argue with Father on my behalf. Look, your voice is hoarse now."
Zhang Jingxian applied the medicine with gentle pressure, and He Yunxiao immediately grimaced and cried out in pain.
"Auntie, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."
"You feel pain now, but won't you feel it this afternoon?"
He Yunxiao lay on the bed and said, "Auntie, I want to marry her."
"Jiang Wuyou?"
"Um."
Zhang Jingxian said with slight dissatisfaction, "You've seen your aunt before at the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration. She's only slightly better than your cousin Lingrou, nothing special. Look how infatuated you are. You've lost your soul."
He Yunxiao laughed and said, "Auntie, it's not that I'm infatuated with her, it's that she's infatuated with me. We like each other. If it were really as you say, Auntie, that she only coveted my noble birth, then I wouldn't like her so much. The key is that she genuinely likes me, and even wants to become a maid in the household, just like you said. The more she does this and the less she wants it, the more I want to give it to her."
Zhang Jingxian said, "You're still naive. What she's doing is called 'retreating to advance,' a common tactic women use to win favor."
"Wuyou won't do that." He Yunxiao believed Sister Jiang.
“There’s nothing you can’t do.” Zhang Jingxian applied medicine to He Yunxiao. “When you men have conflicts, you fight it out with real swords and spears, and the winner is decided. Women don’t fight. In the harem, there are all sorts of messy things to do to determine who wins and who loses. You’re a man, so you wouldn’t understand.”
He Yunxiao thought to himself: I'm a long-time reader of palace intrigue novels, so I definitely know more than my aunt.
“Auntie,” He Yunxiao decided to skip the other questions and asked directly, “How can I bring Jiang Wuyou to the Marquis’s residence?”
"Maid."
"no!"
"Xiao'er, listen to your aunt. Your marriage to Princess Nanzhu is still stuck with the Ministry of Rites. The list of betrothal gifts has been revised repeatedly and has not been finalized. Now, at this critical juncture, you want to marry a courtesan. Aren't you afraid that your proper marriage with the princess will fall through because of this?"
Upon hearing that the Ministry of Rites was obstructing the process, He Yunxiao immediately thought of Li Jin, the son of the Minister of Rites, and then of Li Jin's father, Li Gongqin, and then of Li Gongqin's eldest brother, Meng Qingqian.
Damn it! It must be Meng Qingqian who's up to no good! Trying to sabotage my marriage with Nanzhu!
Meanwhile, in Changhe Palace, Meng Qingqian, who was reviewing memorials, sneezed. She immediately thought: It must be that scoundrel He Yunxiao talking badly about me! Just wait and see how I, *achoo*, teach him a lesson.
The Marquis's Residence.
Zhang Jingxian earnestly advised, "Xiao'er, listen to your aunt. No matter what, you must first marry the Princess and make her your principal wife. Only with the Princess as your principal wife can you control the household and then consider taking concubines. If you really marry Nanzhu, then your household will be under the Princess's control. As long as you and your husband discuss it and she decides on the best way for you to take a concubine, then even your father won't be able to interfere."
He Yunxiao slapped the bed and exclaimed in admiration!
Auntie's move was a true example of feigning one thing while secretly doing another!
And it's an enhanced version of "I want them all".
But……
He Yunxiao then thought of another, even more troublesome matter. Making Nanzhu the legal wife and marrying Sister Jiang was fine, but the key issue was what would happen to Ziruo if Nanzhu became the legal wife.
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