When Bai Yu'an said the last words, Mrs. Li was already crying. She kept wiping her tears with a handkerchief, holding Bai Yu'an's hand tightly, and gently stroking Bai Yu'an's hair.
Bai Yu'an sat quietly next to Mrs. Li. Although her eyes were red, there was always a smile on her face: "Mother, if you touch me like this again, the skin on your face will almost break."
Bai Luozhu, who was sitting below, saw Li's excited expression and advised her: "Mother, you should be happy that your fourth brother is back. Please stop crying."
Li looked at Bai Luozhu with tears in her eyes and shook her head: "Silang has suffered too much, and I feel sorry for her."
Bai Luozhu laughed: "What did mother say? Everyone in the family does not regard the fourth brother as a treasure."
"When I was a kid, my fourth brother was naughty and got his clothes wet when he stepped in water, but I was the one who got scolded."
"I got married early at that time. When I came back, my mother blamed me for not being able to take care of my fourth brother."
Ms. Li didn't speak, just wiped her tears and said, "I have no other wish. I just want you four siblings to support each other."
"Shiro is still young after all, so you sisters should take more care of him."
Bai Luozhu laughed: "My mother is still worried about my fourth brother. Now that my fourth brother is a high-ranking official in the capital, I might be able to take you to the capital in the future."
As she spoke, Bai Luozhu smiled at Bai Yu'an and asked, "Fourth brother, you are almost eighteen. Do you have a woman you like in the capital?"
"The ladies in the capital are definitely more delicate and good-looking than the girls in Shuyang, but Yu'an's appearance is definitely worthy of her."
"If you have someone you like, you should give a betrothal gift as soon as possible."
Bai Yu'an waved her hands hurriedly: "Third sister, spare me, I don't want to be controlled by a tigress."
Bai Luozhu was slightly surprised: "The women in the capital are really so powerful."
Bai Yu'an nodded heavily with a serious expression: "It's much more powerful than Third Sister thought."
"Those women from aristocratic families are almost all prominent in their families, and each of them has dozens of servants to serve her. Even if I marry a high-ranking woman, I still have to be careful and serve her like a quail. In this case, I might as well not marry."
Bai Luozhu hesitated and asked, "Then you can't marry someone from an ordinary family?"
Bai Yu'an spread his hands: "Even if I have an ordinary family background, I can't afford to offend him. Relations in the capital are complicated, so I don't dare to offend someone who is inconspicuous."
"Furthermore, a woman from an ordinary family will look down on me from a humble family, and she is out of reach of an aristocratic family. It's not because I have a bad temper that I am not good enough."
"I am a foreigner, and my mother's family supports me when we quarrel. I can only stay with Smiley Face, otherwise I will be kicked out."
A Tao stood aside and listened to Bai Yuan's pinching, and couldn't help but cover her lips and want to laugh.
If her son's words are heard by women in the capital, they are not allowed to chase him with a mallet.
There are no tigresses among the women in the capital. They are all gentle, virtuous, dignified in manners, and well-behaved since elementary school. It is a great blessing to marry one.
Bai Luozhu has stayed in Shuyang all her life and has never been outside. She really believed it. She covered her lips and said: "A woman from the capital is so powerful and dares to drive her husband out of the house."
"This is not marrying a wife. Isn't it just marrying an ancestor?"
As she spoke, Bai Luozhu looked at Mrs. Li: "Mother, I think it's better to find a marriage for your fourth brother in Shuyang. The wealthy and powerful people in the capital will be miserable if they ask for it."
As soon as Bai Luozhu finished speaking, a majestic voice suddenly sounded outside: "What nonsense are you talking about."
As soon as this voice came out, the atmosphere in the small hall immediately became quiet. Bai Luozhu shrank in fear, and even Bai Yu'an stood up unconsciously.
Mrs. Li quickly wiped away her tears and stood up. She walked up to Bai Tongchun and said with a smile, "Master, look, look who's back."
Bai Tongchun stepped through the door with his hands behind his back. He was nearly seventy years old, but his eyes were very bright. With that stern look, Bai Yu'an could only face him bravely.
He called out politely: "Father."
Bai Tongchun pursed his lips, the wrinkles on his face collapsed, and he had a long face. He was very serious when not smiling. When Bai Yu'an was a child, his legs trembled when he saw his father's face.
He was still wearing official uniform, and he didn't reply to Bai Yu'an's words. He went to sit down at his head and then looked at Bai Yu'an and asked, "Did you see your uncle when you came back?"
Bai Yu'an drove the carriage for several days. He was tired and the sky was getting dark. He couldn't think of going to see him.
Her expression was dull: "Not yet."
Mrs. Li interjected from the side: "Silang just came back. It's getting dark now. It will be the same if we go to see him tomorrow."
Bai Tongchun's face darkened, he frowned and looked at Mrs. Li, and placed the teacup in his hand heavily on the tea table next to him: "You're not the one who's used to it!"
"In the past two years since he went to the capital, he finally came back without visiting his uncle. This made others think that he was now an official in the capital and looked down upon his relatives in the clan."
"That's what people say behind your back!"
"He is just a junior, why should he wait for others to come to see him tomorrow?"
Mrs. Li was so frightened by the suddenly angry Bai Tongchun that she stepped back and did not dare to speak for a long time.
Bai Yu'an lowered his head and said to his father, "Then I'll go see him now."
Bai Tongchun glanced at Bai Yu'an: "Hurry up and go!"
"Remember to take your Uncle Chen with you, in case you still can't remember the way!"
Bai Yu'an trembled and quickly took A Tao out.
It was already dark outside now. Looking at Bai Yuan's back, Ms. Li couldn't help but complain: "Silang is now a Hanlin official, and he is still a top three in high school. You asked her to visit her at such a late night? What dignity does she have?”
Bai Tongchun slapped the table on the table angrily: "A woman's opinion!"
"Not to mention that he is still serving in the Imperial Academy. Even if he becomes the prime minister, he should abide by those rules."
"If he forgets his roots as soon as he gains some power, his reputation will be ruined!"
He looked at Mr. Li coldly again: "Yu'an is my only son, is it possible that I will harm him?"
"There are many saints and sages from ancient times to the present, but none of them has a reputation behind their backs. You are an ignorant woman, so don't harm Yu'an."
After being reprimanded like this, and in front of her daughter, Mrs. Li didn't even look at Bai Tongchun, turned her head and said nothing.
Bai Tongchun frowned again and said, "Now that there's Yu'an's marriage, I forgot to talk to him properly just now. I'll take care of him when I get back."
Li was stunned and said hurriedly: "What did Silang do again?"
"I've just come back. It's just that you didn't give me a good look. You chased her away before your butt was even hot, and you have to scold her again when you come back."
"You are a good father!"
Bai Tongchun snorted: "What do you know?"
"This time he suddenly came back without saying hello. He probably encountered something in the capital."
"I haven't asked him to settle the matter with Princess Jianing last time, so I'm going to ask him about it this time, so that he won't cause trouble for me in the court and involve my family!"
Bai Luozhu sat next to him with his head lowered, listening to his father's words without daring to say a word.
Mrs. Li couldn't stay any longer, so she took Bai Luozhu and went out: "Come with me to the kitchen and leave your father here alone!"
Mrs. Li ignored the expression on Bai Tongchun's face as she spoke, took her daughter and left.
