Chapter 80: He could have let it go last night, but he couldn't do it at all.
It rained unexpectedly.
This night is hard to endure, it is so long that it seems like it will never pass.
Jiang Keyu stood by the window, watching the moon being gradually covered by dark clouds, and then lightning and thunder appeared.
He rubbed the tooth marks on his tiger's mouth with his fingertips.
This was left by Ayuan half an hour ago when she tried to break free from him by brute force but failed, so she bit him hard.
pain.
But he did lose control, so it's not Ayuan's fault.
At that time, he refused to let go of her hand, as if letting go would mean losing her completely, so he was extremely stubborn.
He must have done something wrong again.
But if he let it go, he simply couldn't do it.
Song Baoyuan tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, and was forced to listen to the entire rain.
There seemed to be a lingering taste of blood in her mouth that could not be dissipated, making her uneasy.
I want to go there quickly tonight, but I'm afraid to meet you in the daytime.
A new day will eventually come.
After the heavy rain, the sky was clear and the ground was slippery.
Song Baoyuan was confused and stayed in the room for a long time.
Normally she would go to look for her daughter, but this morning it was her daughter who came to urge her.
"Mom!" Jiang Suisui peeked through the door frame. "Why aren't you ready yet? Breakfast's getting cold."
"Mom will be here soon."
Song Baoyuan took a deep breath, walked to the door, took her daughter's hand, and walked into the yard together.
She walked down the hallway and saw her son, bounding around with his buns and playing with the Eight Moves. Jiang Keyu sat at the table, staring at her son while peeling an egg.
Everything seems to be normal.
Song Baoyuan pretended to be calm and walked to the center of the courtyard, "Chengcheng, you can't eat and play at the same time. Come here and sit down."
Jiang Chengyou turned around after hearing this, sat back at the table, and took the egg his father handed him.
He tilted his head, "Daddy, what's wrong with your hand?"
As soon as Song Baoyuan sat down, her heart immediately began to beat faster.
"I got bumped." Jiang Keyu said casually. Children couldn't tell the difference between injuries anyway.
He looked calm, scooped half a bowl of porridge, pushed it in front of Song Baoyuan, and asked softly, "Are you going to the teahouse today?"
Song Baoyuan frowned slightly. He looked as if she was the only one who had memories of last night.
"Let's go to the Ministry of Revenue first."
Jiang Keyu nodded and put another piece of food into her bowl with chopsticks, "Eat more."
Song Baoyuan felt uncomfortable all over and had no appetite.
She ate a few bites, then picked up her daughter who was squatting on the ground feeding her eight moves and walked out quickly, "I'm going out first."
"Goodbye, mother!"
Jiang Chengyou raised his hand high.
But Song Baoyuan's mind was wandering, she didn't notice and just walked away.
Jiang Chengyou was stunned for a moment, then turned back and said aggrievedly, "Mom ignored me."
Jiang Keyu's eyes followed the mother and daughter who left in a hurry, and so did her thoughts.
"Dad doesn't pay attention to me!" Jiang Chengyou frowned and shook his legs in dissatisfaction.
Jiang Keyu came back to her senses and touched his head, "Eat."
"I'm full." Jiang Chengyou held up his empty bowl to show him, "Dad, can I still not go to school today?"
"cannot."
Jiang Chengyou pouted, but his father's tone of refusal was unusually gentle today, so he asked again: "Then can I take Ba Zhao with me to the academy?"
"Can't."
Jiang Chengyou immediately wilted.
Jiang Keyu looked up at the sky and said, "When it snows, you won't have to go to school anymore."
"So when will it snow?"
"It's almost there." Jiang Keyu whispered.
Not long after, Liu'an ran back from outside.
Before he could speak, Jiang Keyu asked, "Did the neighbor go out too?"
"Yes." Liu'an nodded. "Shall we do what you asked us to do now?"
"Go." Jiang Keyu said in a deep voice.
He slowly sorted out his thoughts, looked up and found his son had been looking at him, and urged him softly, "You should go to school too, and when you come back, daddy will play Cuju with you."
"Um?"
It was such an unexpected surprise that Jiang Chengyou was unable to react for a moment.
He opened his eyes wide. Although he was very happy, for some reason, he always felt that his father was weird.
*
Song Baoyuan went to the Ministry of Revenue and it was already past noon when she returned to the teahouse.
She glanced around the first floor and saw that everything was calm and everyone was quietly listening to the piano. She thought it was a rare sight.
She walked up to the counter and asked, "Is Mr. Xie not here today?"
"No." Xu Pingsheng said truthfully.
Song Baoyuan nodded and was about to go upstairs, but her eyes were attracted by the middle-aged man standing in front of the calligraphy and painting.
Most of the people in the teahouse were regulars, but this person looked unfamiliar and had a calm temperament. He didn't look like a scholar or someone who loved poetry.
The calligraphy that the man was looking at was two lines of poetry written by Xie Yuchao.
The middle-aged man looked carefully for a while, looked around, and his eyes happened to meet Song Baoyuan.
He smiled kindly, "You are the shopkeeper, right? I heard that Mr. Xie is very talented, with beautiful calligraphy and poetry. I wonder if you know his name?"
Song Baoyuan thought for a moment and shook her head.
"Everyone calls him Master Xie. If you want to know his name, you can wait for him to arrive and ask him in person."
The middle-aged man asked again: "Will he come today?"
Song Baoyuan really didn't know. "That depends on fate."
From a distance, Xie Yuchao peered through the window and saw the two people talking, but he was worried because he couldn't hear what they were saying.
He was afraid that he couldn't go to the teahouse today. The middle-aged man was the steward of the Xie family who had watched him grow up.
Could it be that his reputation was so great that it spread to the Xie Mansion?
At first he was worried about this, so he used the name Miao Gongzi, but later he was lucky enough to think that this was just a street vendor and people in the mansion would not notice it.
But now, Butler Lin actually came in person.
He must not be caught. Although he has a noble status and a comfortable life after returning to the Xie Mansion, the old man controls everything from who he meets, what books he reads, what clothes he wears, and what he eats. He cannot disobey him in any way.
I've had enough of this kind of life.
The middle-aged man in the teahouse suddenly turned around, and Xie Yuchao quickly stepped back, hiding his figure behind a roadside stall.
Forget it, Xie Yuchao thought, I’ll explain it tonight.
He took advantage of the coming and going of people and left quickly.
On the way home, a hand suddenly appeared from the corner and dragged Xie Yuchao into the alley.
"Master, it's me!"
Fortunately, he recognized Xiao Si's voice in time, otherwise Xie Yuchao would have already hit her with his fist. Although he looked weak, he still had some strength.
"What are you doing here?" Xie Yuchao turned around, looking surprised, "Still looking like this."
Xiao Si was covered in dust and dirt, but Fubao in her arms was still clean and noble.
"We can't go back!" Xiao Si said anxiously. "Suddenly, there are so many people from the Xie Mansion wandering around here, visiting everyone and asking questions. I escaped through a dog hole with Fubao, and I'm afraid we'll be caught!"
He became more and more panicked as he spoke. If they were caught, they would definitely be punished by the head of the family. The young master was the master, so there wouldn't be any serious problems. But he said it was not good, and breaking his legs would be the least of his worries.
At least they have to wait until the young master passes the imperial examination next spring and has the confidence to rebel against the head of the family and the ability to save his life, before they can return to the Xie family.
"Master, let's run! We can't stay here any longer!"
Xie Yuchao looked towards the direction of his own courtyard.
"Master, what are you still hesitating about? If we are seen by the people from the Xie Mansion, we won't be able to escape!"
"But..." Xie Yuchao frowned, "If I leave without knowing the reason, how will I explain this to her in the future?"
Xiao Si looked confused. "What explanation do I need to give? Who should I explain to?"
Just after asking, he suddenly realized, "Madam Song?"
His expression suddenly became ferocious. "It's already this late, Master, you still want a woman?"
"How can you talk like that!"
"Oh!" Xiao Si stamped her feet anxiously, but dared not speak too loudly for fear of attracting the Xie family. "My young master, with your status and strength, you have a bright future. What kind of woman can you want? There are all the noble ladies in the capital for you to choose from. If this one is gone, then it's gone."
Xie Yuchao's expression was serious. "How could I be such an irresponsible person who would easily change his mind?"
Xiao Si was startled, alarm bells blaring in her heart, "Master, you are not serious, are you?"
"Could it be fake?"
The sky fell, and Xiao Si's pupils shook.
"Young Master, are you crazy? Madam Song is beautiful, but firstly, she's just a merchant's daughter, of low status. There's no way she's worthy of you! Secondly, she's been married before and has children! Forget about being the wife, even as a concubine, the head of the family would never allow her to be!"
"Wouldn't it be better if he wasn't happy?" Xie Yuchao snorted coldly, "I'd rather die than marry someone he's happy with."
Xiao Si took a deep breath and said, "Forget about the other things, but there's no need to get angry with the Patriarch about your lifelong event."
Xie Yuchao was dissatisfied, "Which side are you from?"
"I want to support you, too!" Xiao Si was on the verge of tears, "But if the head of the family finds out about this, and I still help you, I'll be beaten to death!"
He cupped his hands, "Fubao too!"
"Don't worry." Xie Yuchao said seriously, "Unless I die, no one in the Xie family will touch you and Fubao."
These words gave Xiaosi a little comfort, but when she thought about her current situation, she couldn't be happy at all.
"Put everything else aside, we really should run away, young master! You haven't even passed the imperial examination yet, so you can't be the boss of anyone, including yourself!"
Xie Yuchao still hesitated.
"Even if it's for Madam Song, you have to stay out of the spotlight!" Xiao Sixin said with gritted teeth, "Have you forgotten those two girls, Yunqiu and Dongzhao?"
Xie Yuchao's heartbeat stopped.
"They are ignorant of the heavens and the earth and want to climb into the master's bed. It's wrong for them, but it's not a crime punishable by death. But does the master care? In fact, your plea for mercy will only make them die faster!"
Xiao Si felt bad when she talked about this. "Master, don't blame me for being harsh. In the eyes of the master, Madam Song's status is no different from those two girls."
Xie Yuchao lowered his head and clenched his fists.
"Let's go, young master. Everything will be fine after next year's Spring Examination."
*
Song Baoyuan's mind was in a mess and she couldn't calm down at all.
She couldn't understand why the man who had said he was just her brother had treated her like this last night. She also couldn't understand why the person who had said they would "see you tomorrow" hadn't shown up yet.
She sat by the window, looked up at the sky, and watched it darken little by little.
She heard footsteps at the door and turned back hurriedly, only to be disappointed again.
It’s Qiao Yue.
She looked uneasy and pointed upwards, "Miss, a noble lady just came up, it seems to be..."
"Come back with me!"
Before Qiao Yue could finish her words, an angry roar came from upstairs.
Fortunately, it was almost closing time and there were not many customers in the teahouse.
"You're always hanging around, do you still think you're a kid? You're not going home until I'm pissed off and you're supposed to be in mourning, right?"
"Why are you cursing yourself?"
It was Gao Luoshu's voice. Song Baoyuan walked out of the room in surprise, only to see a woman grabbing Gao Luoshu's ear and dragging him downstairs.
"You bastard, if I hadn't been unable to have children, you could have died however you wanted!"
"Mom!" Gao Luoshu was dragged downstairs with his head tilted. He saw Song Baoyuan's figure in his peripheral vision and blushed with embarrassment. "I have to save face too!"
The noblewoman sneered, "Everyone knows I have a good-for-nothing son who's been making fun of me, both openly and covertly! You've made me lose face, and you still want to save face?"
Song Baoyuan was stunned. If she had known that the censor's wife was the daughter of a general, her behavior would have been worthy of the family name.
"Can you please let go and talk nicely first?"
"no!"
The mother and son went downstairs arguingly and came to Song Baoyuan.
The noble lady stopped and looked over, "You must be Madam Song."
"Meet the Madam Censor."
"No need to be so polite." The lady put on a kind expression, but she was still pulling Gao Luoshu hard. "This bastard has been bothering you so much. As his mother, I want to thank you and Jiang Shaoqing on his behalf and apologize."
Song Baoyuan said politely, "Madam Censor, you are too kind."
The lady looked her over, confusion growing on her face. "Why do I feel like you look familiar?"
She suddenly remembered the painting in her son's study, and an idea struck her: "Fairy?"
Gao Luoshu's eyes widened immediately, his expression uncontrollable in panic, "Mom, don't talk nonsense!"
Song Baoyuan didn't understand.
The lady was so shocked that she couldn't speak, and her raised hand trembled slightly.
“Bang!”
She was so angry that she suddenly turned around and slapped Gao Luoshu, stunning him.
Song Baoyuan was frightened and took a step back unconsciously.
"You, you, you actually destroyed someone else's family!"
"I don't!"
"It's okay if you're a little stupid, it's okay if you're not ambitious, but you actually dared to do such a morally corrupt thing. I'll beat you to death!"
"I really don't have any!"
Before his mother's fist swung at him, Gao Luoshu finally saved his ear and crawled downstairs.
"Stop right there!"
The lady rolled up her sleeves and ran after him, with the servants following closely behind.
Judging from the situation, Master Gao is doomed, Song Baoyuan thought.
Qiao Yue was amazed and said, "Now I know why Master Gao would rather waste his time here than go home."
She was confused again. "What does Madam Censor mean by destroying someone's family?"
"I don't know." Song Baoyuan was confused.
However, I seem to have heard the word "fairy" somewhere before.
But so many things had happened during this period of time that she couldn't remember anything after thinking about it for a while, so she was too lazy to waste her time on it.
*
There were constant shouting in the old house.
"Young Master! Here!"
In the yard, Jiang Keyu took Jiang Chengyou, who had just returned from school, to play Cuju. Ba Zhao and a few servants also joined in.
The servant wanted to pass the ball to Jiang Chengyou, but was intercepted by Jiang Keyu and kicked to Ba Zhao.
"Dad, you're bullying a child!"
Jiang Chengyou waved his fist in the air in dissatisfaction.
Jiang Keyu walked past him and asked lightly, "So what?"
"ah!"
Jiang Chengyou seemed to cheer himself up, and after shouting, he continued to chase for eight moves, sweating profusely.
Jiang Keyu looked at the child's stubborn figure and laughed. Seeing Liu'an coming back from outside, she walked over to the side and drank a sip of tea.
Liu'an walked up to him and whispered, "The room next door is empty, and the censor's wife has already taken Master Gao back."
"Okay, I understand."
"There's one more thing." Liu'an seemed a little confused.
Without waiting for him to speak, Jiang Keyu frowned and looked sideways, "Go ahead."
"Today, the Censor's wife saw the young lady and said two words."
"What."
"Fairy." Liu'an lowered his head, his voice becoming increasingly quiet. "He also cursed Master Gao for destroying other people's families."
Jiang Keyu suddenly froze, and memories from not too long ago came flooding back.
He suddenly remembered that it was after seeing Ayuan that the guy gave up searching for fairies all over the capital.
"Bang!"
Jiang Keyu slammed the teacup heavily on the table.
At that time, he had not yet divorced.
No wonder she didn't stay in his house and insisted on going to the teahouse, and even said she was taking care of her sister for him.
It turns out they all had other intentions.
He was also stupid and never doubted it.
Even though I felt something was strange, I never thought about it in that way.
Good brother, this is his good brother.
"Don't be angry, my dear. Miss doesn't like Mr. Gao either."
"But she still likes someone else!"
After saying this, Jiang Keyu felt very uncomfortable.
Liu'an sighed, "There's nothing we can do about it."
"What did you say?"
"I, I said...it's not too late." Liu'an quickly changed the subject, "After all, the young lady has liked you, my lord. If there was a first time, it won't be difficult to have a second time."
Disaster.
Jiang Keyu found it difficult. This was the most difficult thing he had ever encountered.
"The lady is back!"
The girl ran and shouted.
Jiang Keyu woke up in shock, sat down at the nearest table, picked up the case file on the table, but found that the tea in the cup had spilled out.
He cleaned up in a hurry, put away the teacups, wiped the table, and winked at Jiang Chengyou who ran to his side.
Jiang Chengyou held the Cuju ball and hit his head hard.
When Song Baoyuan brought her daughter back, she saw Jiang Chengyou playing Cuju with Ba Zhao, and Jiang Keyu sitting next to them reading files.
"mother!"
Jiang Chengyou ran forward to greet him.
Song Baoyuan squatted down and touched her son's face, "Why are you sweating so much?"
"hey-hey."
Jiang Chengyou said nothing, just smiled foolishly.
"I'm back." Jiang Keyu closed the file and rubbed her brows as if she was tired of reading. "Change your clothes and get ready for dinner."
Song Baoyuan pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped her son's forehead. "Take your sister to wash her face, then put on your coat before eating dinner to prevent you from catching a cold."
"good."
Jiang Chengyou threw away the Cuju and took his sister back to the house.
Song Baoyuan glanced sideways. This man seemed a little too nonchalant, she thought, and it even made her doubt herself frequently.
It seemed as if what happened last night was just a dream of hers, and nothing had actually happened at all.
If it weren't for the tooth mark that hadn't disappeared.
She probed, "The Censor's wife came to the teahouse today and took Master Gao back."
Jiang Keyu suddenly raised her eyes, as if she was surprised. "Thinking about it carefully, he has indeed stayed outside for too long, and the New Year is approaching, so it's time for him to go back."
He frowned again, "But he certainly wouldn't want to. Madam Censor is a bit tough, I hope she didn't scare you."
Song Baoyuan always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"No."
"That's good." Jiang Keyu stood up by the table and urged softly, "Come in. You've lost weight recently. You must be tired from working outside and not getting enough rest. I asked the kitchen to make some chicken soup to nourish you."
Song Baoyuan was full of doubts. What did he mean?
Could it be that day and night are two different people?
The dinner was delicious and nothing went wrong.
Song Baoyuan looked at the courtyard wall from time to time. Fubao didn't come today.
At night, it is quiet.
After the child fell asleep, Song Baoyuan walked out of the room alone, holding a lamp, and slowly walked into the corridor.
She looked towards the courtyard wall, but did not approach it. Instead, she sat down by the railing.
Winter nights are always accompanied by cool breezes, which make the shadows of the trees sway and occasionally make Song Baoyuan's cloak rustle.
He also lifted her long black hair and brushed it across her face, which made her feel itchy.
She waited for a long time, and the lamp in her hand was not as bright as when she first lit it.
But there was no movement on the wall.
Unable to bear it any longer, Song Baoyuan stood up and walked back. Her legs were a little numb from sitting for so long, and she stumbled a few steps.
But halfway through, she stopped.
Just this time, the last time, she thought, she would count to five.
So she turned around, walked straight to the edge of the courtyard wall, squatted down, found a medium-sized stone, and threw it hard to the other side of the wall.
One, two...
She recited it very slowly in her mind.
Three, four...
She paused for a moment.
five.
No movement.
"snort."
Song Baoyuan quickly turned back.
But he still couldn't help it, so he stopped and looked back when he was about to lose sight of the courtyard wall.
Still nothing.
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