Minister

154 [Jiankang Nine Years]

The dinner was regarded as a welcome for Qi Yuan, the whole family was present, Xu Xiaonian told a few seasonal jokes during the dinner, and the two concubines in the side room laughed accordingly.Feng Shixun also laughed: "People in the capital are getting more and more mischievous now, ma'am, today's dishes are still suitable?"

"Thank you, master, it's very good." Qi Yuan nodded politely.

"My lord, the weather is getting colder. Those rouge powders from earlier are no longer suitable. Our family..." Xu Xiaonian has studied these things very well, and she worries about the preparations every year.

Feng Shixun didn't listen to him: "I'm going to visit Mr. Wei next door in a while."

"Master Wei next door? Really, sir, you are bothering him so late!" Xu Xiaonian laughed.

Feng Shixun noticed that Qi Yuan's chopsticks paused, so he helped her pick up a piece of fish and put it in her bowl, then turned around and said to Xu Xiaonian, "It's really something in the yamen."

"We can discuss matters in the yamen tomorrow when we arrive at the yamen. It's really not polite to visit at this moment." Qi Yuan actually spoke!Xu Xiaonian couldn't believe it.

Feng Shixun didn't seem too surprised: "I can't help it, it's a matter of urgency, I'm afraid it will be too late to talk about it tomorrow."

"..."

"..."

"Then master, remember to come back early to rest." Qi Yuan took a bite of the fish, without raising her head coldly.

"En." Feng Shixun also replied coldly.

Xu Xiaonian didn't know what the two of them were talking about, but felt that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he quickly picked some interesting topics to talk about, but no matter what she said today, Feng Shixun just didn't agree, and only the two side rooms were talking dryly. apologetically.

After finishing dinner with great difficulty, Xu Xiaonian prepared to write a visiting post to Feng Shixun: "Master, how should I write the post?"

"I'm not going." Feng Shixun threw his handkerchief on the hanger in the study: "Which maid is following Madam?"

"It's a maid named Mei Yue, what's wrong with the master?" Xu Xiaonian was a little confused.

"Call the housekeeper, and find someone to sell tonight."

"Oh...Master, she is not a maid we bought, her uncle comes to collect wages every year."

"Tell the housekeeper to find her uncle!" Feng Shixun suppressed his anger: "Drive her to the outer courtyard tonight!"

Xu Xiaonian didn't know what angered him, and he didn't dare to say anything else for the time being, so he had to follow Feng Shixun's words.

Feng Shixun stayed alone in the study, shaking with anger, so much so that the anger was beyond his control!No man can accept such an insult!At this moment, he no longer wanted to speculate whether it was Qi Yuan who seduced Wei Chi, or that bastard Wei Chi who seduced Qi Yuan.Qi Yuan is a majestic wife!Who gave her such an honor?it's me!it's me!For a famous family like the Yang family, only his mother was granted the title!Who is Qi Yuan?But a country girl!If you want, you can divorce her and marry another famous star at any time!Really shameless!You ungrateful animal!

Feng Shixun felt that all his patience was exhausted at the moment Qi Yuan paused, completely exhausted.

"Master? Where are you going?" Xu Xiaonian saw Feng Shixun suddenly stand up from the desk and walk towards the door.

"Let the housekeeper sell that maid tonight, and then tell everyone in the yard, I don't want to hear anyone talking about anything."

Xu Xiaonian loosened Feng Shixun's clothes in fear, Feng Shixun didn't look at her aggrieved face, and slammed the door out.

Light rain and snow made the night in the capital extremely cold. Qi Yuan sat alone in front of the window and looked at the dark sky——Feng Shixun... did he know something?If he went to Wei Chi like this, would Wei Chi directly contradict him?Qi Yuan was worried about Wei Chi, she knew that this man was very manic in his bones, since she knew about her affairs, she has become more and more distant from Feng Shixun.This alienation is not only disgust, but also difficult to control.

Qi Yuan sighed, she was getting more and more confused about what she thought about Wei Chi.Except for my father and brother-in-law, I am not in the mood to trust any man, is it possible for Wei Chi?I may believe that it is possible, she is kind, resolute, and full of sense of justice.She once said that she could start over.Did you feel tempted at the time?Assuming that she is not six years older than him, assuming she can start over with herself?

no……

Qi Yuan felt that she had never experienced it.There seemed to be a strange peace around him, innocent, without any sense of possessing or being possessed.

But when she confessed her gender to herself, her heart trembled a little inadvertently. Although it was small, it seemed difficult to ignore, so that she had to stay on the mountain for several months before it gradually calmed down.I began to worry about her every day and night, worried about how such a girl would deal with herself if someone found out, and worried about whether her impulsive character would do something irrational if she conflicted with Feng Shixun.I kept thinking that I was tired, so tired that I couldn't do anything, and I still couldn't extricate myself.

Would you be envious if you were just a bystander?I envy a woman who has such a wonderful destiny... I should be a bystander!Just like she should be a bystander watching her own tragic fate!But why is she so angry that she has to worry about her.

What should I do to regain my peace?

Or should first consider how to prevent Feng Shixun from arguing with her, so that she would do stupid things recklessly!

"Housekeeper! Butler! What are you doing..." Mei Yue saw the butler suddenly barged in, pulled her arm and dragged it out, crying in fright: "Madam! Madam! Help!"

Since the housekeeper got the order, he didn't bother to chatter with these little girls, he raised his hand and slapped Mei Yue so much that Mei Yue didn't dare to yell.

"What are you doing!" Qi Yuan rushed out of the room, a little incoherent in surprise: "Presumptuous! Stop!"

Qi Yuan was about to stop her when the person next to her suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, my little one." The housekeeper saluted the shadow, and dragged Mei Yue out of the yard.

After the courtyard door was closed, Feng Shixun didn't bother to talk about etiquette, and directly dragged Qi Yuan into the house.

"You are also from a scholarly family, so it's too shameless to do this?" Feng Shixun smiled coldly.

Qi Yuan was irritated by this sentence: "Shameless? I don't know what you mean by shameless?"

"Are you questioning me instead?" Feng Shixun took up the posture of handling the case, and dragged a chair to sit on: "You have been going to Baiyun Nunnery for a long time, and if you have the ability, you will never come back for the rest of your life. Just don't do it."

Qi Yuan smiled: "Madam Madam? If you didn't want to ask me for the name of this laborious person, I wouldn't bother to come to the capital to watch your mess add trouble! If you want to take it back, find a woman to take it back , I hand in hand."

"Aren't you afraid of losing your father's face by saying that?"

"I don't know who is embarrassing between us!" Qi Yuan said fiercely: "I have honored my elders in Jiangnan for eight years, and I have no shame towards your Feng family. But Feng Shixun, do you dare to say that you are worthy of our Qi family?"

"Don't press me with the things of those few years!" Feng Shixun slapped on the table: "This is your duty as a wife! Don't take yourself seriously! Wang Baochuan has been guarding the cold kiln for 18 years, you In the south of the Yangtze River, where you eat, drink, and live, everyone treats you like a daughter, and you will be wronged at any point!"

"Then it seems that I have wronged you?" Qi Yuan sneered: "I didn't spend my whole life being a candy figure for you, so I wronged you? Think of me as a daughter? I am a daughter of a daughter! I I don’t dare to compare Wang Baochuan, but you are really sorry for Xue Pinggui if you draw yourself on that allusion. Wang Baochuan’s marriage to Xue Pinggui is where his heart belongs, and he is willing even if he suffers. .Even if other people’s couples have only had eighteen days of happiness, that is still happiness. Wouldn’t it be disrespectful for couples like you and me to rush to this allusion?”

"you!"

"Me? On weekdays, I give you three points because I don't want to have anything to do with a hypocritical person like you. If you want to think that I am such a young man who is greedy for your so-called warmth, you are wrong. I don't care about you. It's not because of pity You, it's not because I feel sorry for myself, but because I'm old and I don't want to take these trivial things to heart. Whoever you want to take to the gentle hometown, or who you want to pass on to the next generation, it's your master Feng himself I really don't want to mess with things like an idler. Whoever wants to be jealous, whoever wants to commit murder, I don't care about it, and I don't want to care about it."

"you!"

"Others say Zhongshan wolf. How could my father, who has seen so much all his life, be deceived by you, a scoundrel in human skin? You don't have to speculate about me. I'm an innocent person, so I don't care Thinking about your nasty things!"

"Bitch! You really won't cry when you see the coffin!" Feng Shixun trembled angrily, "Is it reasonable for you to act yourself? What a shrew, what a shrew!"

Seeing that Feng Shixun's words were gradually becoming vulgar, Qi Yuan didn't want to argue with him any longer, so she turned her face away and stopped looking at him.

Seeing the disdain on Qi Yuan's face, Feng Shixun became even more furious: "You... are very good! Counting on the young and promising next door? Tomorrow I will let you see how the next door goes to the wild!"

"what are you going to do?"

Seeing Qi Yuan defending Wei Chi overtly, Feng Shixun was furious. In his heart, if it wasn't for the love between a man and a woman, he wouldn't be able to do this.Thinking of Qi Yuan being so rampant, and thinking that she has been on the mountain for so long, I am very sure in my heart, since I am very sure, then I don't have any scruples.

The bewildering warmth of autumn has come to an end, and the winter in the capital is coming, sweeping away the fallen leaves, and faintly sweeping an infinite chill in the hearts of people in the darkened sky.

Although the butler didn't know why the master suddenly became angry, he seemed to smell something ominous. Although he didn't say how to deal with Mei Yue, it was definitely right to tell the second wife such good news.When Xu Xiaonian got the news, he hurriedly dismissed the people in the room: "Where is that girl?" Xu Xiaonian sensed a scent sensitively.

"The master just said to throw him out, and he is still in the woodshed."

Xu Xiaonian smiled, and she thought of the first time she met Madam Qi, the first time she couldn't get rid of - the serenity on her face, the restrained arrogance, and the self-sufficient innocence.This unearthly aloofness is like a blunt plow that cuts my heart all the time.Thinking that the so-called innocence might actually be a kind of ridiculous self-deception, Xu Xiaonian was relieved, let go, and felt that the breath in his heart should finally be swallowed and vomited, and his mood was broadened.

Xu Xiaonian smiled knowingly: "Take me to see her."

——Is there anything more interesting than confirmation?

Mei Yue's hands and feet were bound, and to prevent her from crying, a coarse cloth was used to cover her mouth.Mei Yue didn't know why there was such an accident, the dark firewood house reminded her of the night she was trapped on the mountain,

But even more frightened.

When the door latch rang, Mei Yue struggled unconsciously.

The second wife?

Mei Yue looked at her beautiful face in fear.

Xu Xiaonian pouted at the butler, and the butler saluted respectfully, then came over and removed the coarse cloth from Mei Yue's mouth.

"Your name is... Mei Yue?"

"...Yes." Mei Yue's face was sore and sore, and the tears couldn't stop flowing down.

"Do you know why the master tied you here?"

Mei Yue shook her head.

Xu Xiaonian didn't seem to respond to Mei Yue, but turned his face and asked the housekeeper with a smile: "Did her family sign a contract of sale?"

The butler immediately understood Xu Xiaonian's meaning: "Mrs. Hui, yes, but such a girl can't get a good price. Can this look be sold to a serious person in the hands of a girl? It can only be sold at a cheaper price. If you are picky, you won't make much money."

The picky ones are those laborers who do rough work on the wharf. Most of them cannot afford to marry a wife in their lifetime, and the few who have saved a little money can't find a decent girl, so they can only buy one casually.

If a girl grows up in the capital and tells her that she is going to be sold to picky people, that is almost the greatest threat to her.

Sure enough, Mei Yue trembled even more.

"Master is a kind person. After all, if you want to punish a servant, you have to ask why... Mei Yue, everyone in the house knows that you are the most honest. If you are willing to tell the truth, I will definitely ask the master to keep you. How are you?"

"Okay!" Mei Yue quickly replied, "Second Wife wants me to say...what?"

Mei Yue really didn't know what to say, did she admit that she ate the sugar pancakes or that she broke the blue and white porcelain brush washer? ...But, these things have passed for a long time.

"She's a good and sensible girl," Xu Xiaonian smiled kindly, "The eldest lady has been on the mountain for so long, and you are the only one accompanying her?"

"Yes……"

"Has anyone visited the eldest lady?"

"No... just being with the host every day."

"Aren't there any male guests?" The butler was impatient.

Men?Mei Yue suddenly came to her senses, could it be...

"The eldest lady is a good person, not what you think! Not what you think!" Mei Yue was trembling with anger.

The housekeeper raised his eyebrows contemptuously: "Aren't you being honest? How can you scare the master? If you say it, the master will sympathize with you and maybe give you a way to survive. If you don't speak out, you will be killed right now!"

Xu Xiaonian raised his hand to stop the housekeeper: "Mei Yue, you are an honest person, you will never lie, think about it carefully..."

think carefully……?Mei Yue suddenly thought of it!

Lord Wei!

Seeing Mei Yue's face turned pale, Xu Xiaonian understood that things were as expected.

"Say!" the butler shouted angrily.

Lord Wei!Lord Wei is a good man!Mei Yue's head is muddled, but this sentence is still clear in the chaos.Mr. Wei did come to see his wife, why...why did he come to see his wife?Mei Yue closed her eyes in despair.

Snapped!The butler raised his hand and slapped her so hard that Mei Yue almost staggered to the side.

Mei Yue bumped her head against the dry wood, and felt something hot flow out from her forehead.But Mei Yue forgot the pain and also forgot to cry.She trembled not because of fear, but because she didn't understand, she only knew one thing: Master Wei is a good person!When Houshan rescued himself, he suddenly understood that even if he rode the same horse with him, even if he hugged him tightly, he still felt safe.In her heart, she had a vague feeling that Master Wei is a clean person with clean thoughts.What is clean?Mei Yue didn't understand it herself, but it seemed that when she saw him and his wife together, they felt that they were both clean, but it was the master...it made people feel scary...dirty...

"Little bitch, don't be ashamed!" The housekeeper didn't expect that this stupid and fat girl still had a bit of backbone, and the little patience in his heart was gone: "Madam, I won't say anything unless I hit her."

Xu Xiaonian signaled the housekeeper to step aside: "Dirty things are not tolerated in this big house. Haven't you seen the end of the third wife? If you say so, this matter is none of your business. I can keep the sweet-scented osmanthus, so you I can save it. If the master comes to ask you in person tomorrow and spoil everyone's eyes, I will not be able to save you."

Dirty everyone's eyes?

"You still don't understand the matter of men and women. Which one can be covered with paper? Without a matchmaker agreement, even an unmarried man and a woman are unmarried, it is an extremely shameful thing! What's more, the wife is a married woman! You If you don't confess, can you afford such a crime?"

something to be ashamed of?

"You are still……"

"Bah!" If it wasn't for her hands and feet being tied, Mei Yue would almost have bitten the housekeeper's hand: "The eldest lady is innocent, you! You! Why do you slander the eldest lady!"

"Slander?" Xu Xiaonian was irritated by Mei Yue: "There are all witnesses and evidence, who would dare to slander her."

"Which is the witness? Which is the physical evidence?" Mei Yue struggled to get up: "You are just slandering the eldest lady! The eldest wife is not such a person at all!"

"What kind of person?! Why isn't that kind of person?!" Xu Xiaonian was aggressive.

For the first time, Mei Yue felt a vicious emotion in her heart: "It's not someone like you! It's not someone in a brothel like you!!!"

Snapped!

It wasn't until he felt the sharp pain in the palm of his hand... Xu Xiaonian woke up with a start, and couldn't help but take a step back.

"Second wife, second wife..." The housekeeper didn't care about beating Mei Yue, and hurried over to support Xu Xiaonian, fearing that she would faint.

Xu Xiaonian's face turned pale: "It's wrong... It's wrong! Hit! Hit me! Hit me to death!!! Beat her to death!"

Xu Xiaonian fled out of the woodshed in a panic, the cold wind of the winter night made her shiver.

"Second Wife...Second Wife?" Osmanthus came to look for her with the light on, and took a step back in fright at Xu Xiaonian's ferocious appearance.

Xu Xiaonian breathed a sigh of relief: "What's the matter?"

"Master... the master said he came back... asked... about you..."

"Master... is he back?"

Xu Xiaonian wanted to straighten his back, but suddenly felt dizzy.

"Second wife? Second wife? Come on! Come on!"

When the butler heard someone shouting outside, he didn't care about beating them, and ran out quickly: "Quick! Find the master! Find the doctor!"

"Don't!" Xu Xiaonian grabbed the housekeeper's hand: "Don't! Myself...myself!"

The housekeeper thought that he had brought Xu Xiaonian over to ask Mei Yue privately, and he thought it was to ask for some benefits, but he didn't want to cause trouble, so he quickly stopped talking and thought for a while: "Madam, are you living in another hospital today?"

Xu Xiaonian nodded with difficulty.

"Don't watch! Go back to the master quickly, and tell the second wife to sleep in the other courtyard. Come back after answering, and go out secretly to find a doctor!"

Feng Mansion woke up in the tranquility in the early morning, as if nothing had happened, Xu Xiaonian helped Feng Shixun put on his coat and hat as usual, and sent him to the door.Feng Shixun bid farewell to Xu Xiaonian as usual, got into a soft sedan chair and went to court.

When the sedan chair arrived at the entrance of the alley, it suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes. Feng Shixun slightly disliked the curtain of the sedan chair, and when he saw the back of the horse rider, he smiled heavily.

The sun came out of the hills, and the servants at home started to get busy, the buckets for fetching water collided with the mops for mopping the floor, busy and noisy.The courtyard on the west side is quiet, because there are no servants in it... The sun gradually passed through the empty courtyard and shone on the top of the head...

Qi Yuan stayed up all night, still lying on the bed, covered with clothes and quilts.

Not anger, not sadness, not despair, not any kind of intense emotion, Qi Yuan looked coldly at the beam of the bed.

The sun didn't stay in the empty yard for too long, she shifted indifferently to the west, and the tepid light pierced into the house through the yard.

Qi Yuan sat up with difficulty, lifted the quilt, and posed a stiff posture on the white cotton cloth with a sarcastic dark red.

He...is my husband?

Now he is finally my husband?

He is my husband now?

If he thinks this... that's ridiculous!