Noble Lady

"Sister, why did Brother Xue... go down?"

After talking to Xue Chenyu, Xue Huai hurried downstairs. Seeing that her elder sister ignored him, Luoluo was so anxious that she wanted to chase after him.

"Let him go, Luoluo. I made a bet with him."

bet?

Even the clever Miss Xue couldn't figure it out for a moment.

"What bet are you two siblings making?" Chen Lizhu asked.

"Miss Chen San, you'll know after you see it later." Xue Chenyu smiled and kept it a secret.

Chen Lizhu raised her eyebrows, but stopped asking questions.

While they were talking, Xue Huai had already gone downstairs.

Suddenly, a tanned, thin young boy appeared in the garden, and the previous lively discussion came to an abrupt end.

"Go on, weren't we having a lively discussion just now? Why are you all silent all of a sudden?"

Xue Huai stood there. Although he was younger than everyone present, he was calm and composed, and was not inferior to others in momentum.

"Who are you? You just barged in like that without even showing any basic etiquette." Qin Xing, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Qing's mansion, shouted.

"I am safe. I was able to enter this garden because I walked in with an invitation. I don't know whether your origin is legitimate or not."

Xue Huai's words are a double entendre.

Qin Xing himself hadn't read many books. He was a playboy who spent his days dissolute and getting into trouble. Given his status, he couldn't get an invitation to the poetry gathering. The invitation belonged to the prince of the Duke of Qing, and he took someone else's invitation.

Of course, his identity was indeed not legitimate. Although he was called a bastard's son, he was actually a son of a concubine.

It was his seductive mother who pestered Duke Qing so much that after she gave birth to his son, she brought him into the mansion to be a concubine.

Qin Xing's face turned green, "You, you..."

"What do you mean by 'you'? I just heard you cursing the Marquis of Wu'an, insinuating that he had embezzled military pay to become wealthy. Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself?"

"With all the gold and silver, I thought you were some prince or young prince. Your father, Duke Qing, is also the Minister of Revenue. He's quite wealthy, isn't he?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was shocked.

They originally only talked about Marquis Wu'an, but they didn't expect that the truly powerful person was right next to them.

"Yes, Qin Xing, this outfit of yours is worth at least several thousand taels of silver. The Ministry of Revenue is indeed the most lucrative position in the world."

"This young man is right. I can't even afford to wear the clothes you wear, and you, a bastard, actually wear them out so casually."

With someone to share the firepower, they had no time to curse Marquis Wu'an.

"Brother He, look at that young man. I feel like he looks a little familiar."

Mr. Yu Si patted He Minzhi, and he came back to his senses.

Looking in the direction he pointed, why does that young boy look so familiar?

Wait, isn’t that Xue Chenyu’s younger brother, Xue Huai?

"He, why is he here..." He Min felt guilty and was afraid that the other party would see his face.

The fourth son of the Yu family teased him, "Are you afraid that your brother-in-law will see you and tell on you?"

"How is this possible? I just don't want to get involved." He Minzhi said stubbornly, but only he knew whether he felt guilty or not.

Of course, he had moved back again and moved the chairs into the shadow of the trees.

Although the trees don't have many branches and leaves this season,

The Fourth Young Master Yu, however, was always anxious to create chaos in the world. He suddenly called out, "Hey, Mr. Ping'an, I see you're dressed well. Whose family are you from?"

Xue Huai looked over when he heard this and caught a glimpse of He Minzhi behind the Fourth Young Master Yu.

After all, he is my brother-in-law in name only, so it’s hard not to recognize him.

However, the other person looked like he was afraid of being recognized, and he was also thinking about the bet with his sister, so he was too lazy to waste time on this occasion.

"This young man is curious about my identity. I will tell you privately later."

Fourth Master Yu: "..."

How come this kid looks so young and honest, but is so cunning?

"Hey, kid, stop talking nonsense without any basis. What I wear has nothing to do with what my father does. What gives you the right to talk about him?" Qin Xing finally reacted.

This is not a fool.

Xue Huai held his chin with his hands and said innocently, "Isn't this just based on what you said? Marquis Wu'an led the troops to war and was in charge of the military pay, but you think he embezzled the money, which is why he has so much money. According to your theory, the nice clothes you wear are all given by your father. But how much is your father's monthly salary? You can't just give him money out of thin air, right?"

"You! Our Duke's Mansion has been accumulated for generations. What makes you think my father's money was taken from the Ministry of Revenue?"

"I didn't say that. You admitted it yourself." Xue Huai was full of twisted logic anyway. "Let's take a step back and say that only your family has accumulated wealth while others don't? The wife of the Marquis of Wu'an is a royal merchant."

"How many of you here can make as much money as she does?"

These people have always been proud of their noble birth, and being compared with a businessman makes them pale, but it is true that no one is good at making money.

Who wouldn’t envy the Marquis of Wu’an for having a wife who can make money?

"And you guys just kept cursing the Marquis of Wu'an and the military officers. So, let me ask everyone here, did you all participate in the Guanshanling battle three years ago?"

"How is that possible? How old were we?"

"With our status, why would we need to go to the battlefield ourselves?"

Xue Huai asked again: "Did anyone in your family die or get injured in that battle?"

"We are well-read men, and we have always used our pens as swords. Do we really need to go out and kill the enemy ourselves?"

"That's it."

"Since you have never been to the battlefield, and none of your family members have been, what qualifications do you have to question the Marquis of Wu'an, who saved five cities of our dynasty and was seriously injured in that war?"

Xue Huai became angrier and angrier as he spoke, and he almost wanted to drag someone up and punch him.

Before he could realize this thought, another gentle but powerful voice came -

"In the Battle of Guanshanling, 70,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. Not a single one of them was a so-called well-educated person like you. They were all just rough people. Yet it is these rough people who allowed you to sit here and eat your fill, and now you are cursing them."

"If everything is as you say, without military commanders and without recruiting soldiers, and the barbarians invade, are you going to use you and your families to fend off their warhorses and swords?"

"Bullshit! My father is the Duke of Qing. Why would he be afraid of using us to fend off the barbarians' warhorses... and swords and spears..."

Qin Xing was originally very aggressive, but after seeing who was speaking, his aggressiveness immediately dissipated.

How could it be this devil?!

Everyone else present was startled and distanced themselves from Qin Xing, fearing they would have anything to do with him.