Chapter 13
When I woke up in the morning, there was a light rain in the yard, and the falling raindrops hit the green tiles and red walls. After a while, a large area of the high wall was wet.
The entire Zhongqin family got up extra early that day. It was spring in two days, and Su Dian, the fourth son of the Su family who was studying at Bailudong Academy, came back.
The whole family packed up neatly and greeted him at the door.
Su Yining stood behind Mrs. Su. In front of her were the eldest wife Zheng, the eldest wife of the second wife and several cousins. Su Yiru stood on the left side of Su Yining.
Su Yiyun didn't come and was sitting in the room losing her temper.
Ever since that day when Su Yining lost her reputation and ended up causing a scene where the three sisters were forced to kneel down in the ancestral hall, Su Yiyun finally became kinder to her two sisters and changed her mind.
As soon as the carriage coming back from Bailudong Academy stopped, Zheng and Su Che rushed to greet them. Su Yining supported Old Mrs. Su and followed behind them.
It was a rainy spring day, and while the raindrops were falling, Su Dian jumped down from the carriage and saluted everyone.
Through the drizzle of rain, Su Yining couldn't see clearly. She only felt that a gaze passed through the crowd and hit her.
Su Dian wore a dull blue straight jacket and a gray-white hat on his head. He smiled at her across the crowd.
This gratuitous smile made Su Yining quickly look away.
After everyone finished greetings and the excitement subsided, Su Yining took people to Su Che's main room.
"Father, my daughter has redeemed the Dongzhu head that the third sister pawned a few days ago." In addition to Su Che, there were also the eldest lady Zheng Shi, Su Yiru, Su Dian, and Su Yining in the room. He stepped forward to salute and said calmly.
Thinking that she would no longer pursue the case, Su Dian happened to be back again. Zheng was immersed in joy and walked over to hold Su Yining's hand with a smile on her face: "It's a coincidence that you are here, second lady. Your brother has brought you many gifts." Come and take a look?"
Su Yining stood still and just smiled: "Don't worry about the gift, Madam. This is my redemption note. You and your father can take a look first."
As she spoke, she took out the bill, without handing it to the eldest lady Zheng who was just around the corner. She unfolded it and handed it to Su Che.
Su Che didn't even look at her. He just nodded and said perfunctorily: "Very good. Now that you have been redeemed, take good care of her from now on and don't get angry with your sister over trivial things."
Knowing his temperament, Su Yining did not expect Su Che to take the initiative to propose it. She came with the receipt and originally planned to speak in person.
"Third sister pawned one thousand taels, and I redeemed it for 2,500 taels. I can't pay this money." Su Yining took the note back, folded it, and put it securely in her arms.
She was not short of money, and her biological mother had a life-long friendship with Concubine Chen in the palace. During her wedding that year, both Concubine Chen and the Duke of Zhenguo provided her with a dowry, so her biological mother's dowry was very generous. Now it is up to Mrs. Su to make the decision, split it in two and give it to her and the eldest sister.
But she is not short of money, and whether she is willing to give it, whether she should give it, or whether she should give it is not the same thing.
Besides, she was now determined to start a household of her own and moved out with Mrs. Su. She didn't want to waste even a single coin on someone irrelevant.
"What do you mean?" When Su Yiru heard this, she couldn't sit still, stood up, and rushed over.
Seeing her asking, Su Yining didn't mince words: "It's not interesting. Whoever caused the trouble, who committed the evil, is responsible. Don't you understand such a simple truth?"
After saying that, she turned to Su Che: "Father, I ask Third Sister to return the one thousand taels of silver that I got from pawning Dongzhu's face. Third Sister should not have the remaining one thousand five hundred taels, so we should get it from Third Sister's The monthly quota for the third sister is one hundred taels. This one thousand five hundred taels is exactly fifteen months, so for the next year and three months, the third sister's quota should be sent directly to me. In the yard.”
She didn't have much money to begin with, but now she had to deduct it all. Su Yiru was not happy: "Why! Do you mean what you say? I also said you gave me that face!"
Su Che sat silently, with a gloomy face, and looked like he didn't want to care about the affairs of the back house.
"Then let's report it to the officials and go to the Yamen to find out whose fault it is."
Hearing Su Yining said that he wanted to report to the official, Su Che reacted immediately, stood up, and said angrily: "What are you doing, you want to report to the official again! You are shameless, our Earl's Mansion wants you too!"
Su Yining actually never thought about actually going to report to the official, she was just trying to scare Su Che.
If she didn't mention the reporter, Su Che would never stand up for justice and would always act like it had nothing to do with him.
Seeing the quarrel between the two parties, Su Dian had just come back and didn't know the reason, but he stood up and smoothed things over: "Second sister's suggestion is indeed reasonable, but fifteen months is too much. Why not half a year? Let's each Take a step back?"
If she had known that Su Che had a conciliatory temperament and knew Zheng's methods, Su Yining originally just wanted to get a little bit of it. Anyway, the days were still long and she could always make them vomit out a little bit.
She thought about it and was about to agree, but Su Che was already impatient: "Okay, the second girl is indeed wronged, just half a year. The eldest lady has no way to teach her daughter, so she will deduct three months from the second girl."
This was unexpected, but Su Yining quickly reacted. Su Che thought that she was likely to marry into the Yang family, and he didn't want to offend her.
She achieved her goal and immediately bowed and left.
After she left, Su Che was also called to Chaohui Courtyard by Mrs. Su. Only Zheng, mother and son were left in the room.
Having just been fined for half a year, Su Yiru slapped the table angrily.
Mrs. Zheng was calm and didn't care. She turned around and was busy packing the belongings that Su Dian was going to take to Gongyuan.
After a long time, Su Dian said quietly: "Mother, has the second sister decided on a family?"
Su Yiru answered quickly: "No, no one wants her, she's just an old girl."
"Oh?" Su Dian took a sip of tea, thoughtfully.
"Second sister, she looks better now than she did three years ago."
The figure is graceful and charming.
"Huh." Su Yiru snorted unconvinced.
Zheng was taking out a fox fur knee pad from the cabinet and holding it in her hand. When she heard Su Dian's words, she stopped and turned to look at him.
"A beauty in the world." Su Dian turned the tea cup in his hand and said with a smile.
Mrs. Zheng was startled. She hurriedly walked up to him and hit Su Dian with a knee pad: "What do you want to do! My little ancestor, forget it if you were stupid in the past, that is your biological sister!"
Su Dian raised his eyes, and a sinister light flashed through his dark eyes: "We don't have the same biological mother, so what does it matter? I am lucky to have such a beautiful sister."
Su Yiru's eyes widened. She simply couldn't imagine what Su Dian had in mind for Su Yining.
"I made friends with a noble man in the academy. He doesn't have any special hobbies, but he especially loves beauty."
Hearing this, Mrs. Zheng breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm scared to death, as long as it's not you. No matter how noble or not, as long as it's beneficial to you, my mother will find a way to do it for you."
After saying that, she asked in a low voice: "Is one enough? That dead girl Su Yiyun is also in the house now."
"There's no rush," Su Dian glanced at the kneepads Zheng had prepared for him, picked them up with disgust, and threw them aside, "We'll talk about it after I get married."
*
A few days later, the Spring Festival ended, and the whole family went to the gate of Gongyuan to pick up Su Dian.
Su Yining didn't go. A few days ago, she asked someone to help ask the Ministry of Finance about setting up a female household. They gave her a reply and asked her to meet at the teahouse.
It happened that the whole family was going to pick up Su Dian from the tribute house today, so Su Yining found an excuse to go to the teahouse.
Setting up a female household is not a trivial matter. To prevent the news from leaking out, Su Yining deliberately disguised herself when going out. She did not wear her usual clothes and only wore plain clothes and a white gauze hat.
When she arrived at the place, she saw a man dressed as a servant waiting for her at the door.
"Excuse me, are you Miss Su Er? Our Lord is waiting for you in the private room on the second floor. The matter is serious, and I suggest you go alone without any entourage."
Su Yining was a little hesitant. Since the other party was an adult, he was a man. Wouldn't it be inappropriate if she didn't bring the female envoy there.
"Is it necessary?" she asked.
The boy bowed to her and said: "Yes, it must be like this. We, adults, are doing this for your own good. According to the laws of Daliang, if your parents are still in an independent household, you need a staff of thirty, and if you establish a female household, you need a staff of fifty. You , I probably don’t want this matter to be publicized.”
Su Yining understood, but still hesitated: "My female envoy will not tell anyone."
The young man advised: "If you don't believe me, how can you not believe the princess? We adults are the prince's people, how can we harm you?"
Hearing this and thinking that she had entrusted Princess Qin with this matter, Su Yining slowly let go of her guard and asked Wen Yuan to stay downstairs and went upstairs alone.
This is a highly private teahouse, specially set up for the dignitaries of Jinling City to discuss important matters. The private rooms on the second floor are all equipped with guards. Su Yining walked slowly upstairs and walked to the appointed place. At the door of the private room, the guard opened the door and let her in.
"Little lady, please give your regards, sir." The other party was standing in front of the window with her back to Su Yining. As soon as Su Yining entered, the guard outside closed the door of the private room, and she saluted the other party's back and said hello.
"Why do you want to establish a female household?" A familiar voice sounded, and Su Yining looked up.
Through the white gauze on the hat, the person in front of her slowly turned around and raised her eyelids towards her, without much expression on her face.
With just one glance, Su Yining wanted to turn around and leave.
But the door couldn't be opened.
Xie Yu walked to her side at some point, put a big hand on the door, held the latch of the door, pushed it in, and locked the door from the inside.
Su Yining's heart skipped a beat, and she even forgot to step back, just standing in front of him.
"Speak, have I ever poisoned you? Are you mute every time you see me?"
Xie Yu lowered his eyes to look at her, his voice was low but somewhat mocking.
There was a big difference in stature between the two of them. Su Yining looked at Xie Yu's heaving chest, pursed her lips and didn't know how to speak.
"What? You can't speak when you see me." Xie Yu's words were breathy.
