Volume 1 Chapter 130 Harvest (Middle) (Pink Tickets: 1290)

  The couple has been together for over a decade and are already familiar with each other's everything.

  Xu Lingning's imposing manner dissipated, and the three madams immediately sensed it.

  The little guilt and fear just now have vanished into thin air.

  She rushed over: "You hit me, you hit me... I gave birth to children for you, I worked hard for you, and you actually hit me..." Despite this, her hand did not dare to fall on Xu Lengning's face, fearing that the flaw would be exposed, and grabbed his shoulder instead.

  A sharp pain suddenly made Xu Lingning sober up.

  He grasped Sanfuren's hand and lowered his voice: "Enough. Do you want everyone to know?"

  "Doesn't everyone know already?" The third madam's eyes moistened and tears fell. "What is there to be afraid of anymore!"

  "You also know that what you've done is ugly!" Xu Lingning looked at his disheveled wife, pulling her to go out, "Clean yourself up, we're going to face my mother and confess our mistakes."

  Qiu Yan stood under the windowsill, listening with a start, and hastily made gestures to the maids and old women standing far away on the corridor.

  The maids and old women saw it and immediately retreated quietly.

  Qiu Yan slightly pondered, then went to close the hanging flower gate. She turned around and ordered the maids and servant women standing in the courtyard: "All of you go back inside and lock the door tightly for me. If I find out anyone is peeking, I'll immediately report it to Madame and have her deal with it!" Her voice was rarely so severe.

  The maids and old women looked at each other in dismay, chorused "yes", and each returned to their own room and closed the door.

  Qiu Ling lightly shook her head and gazed out at the wind from the main house door.

  The three madams in the house heard Xu Lingning say this and suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

  "What shameful thing have I done? Who in this household doesn't do some small calculations? Did I steal or rob, what shameful thing did I do? What about the second and fifth branches of the family, aren't they openly running shops on West Main Street and East Main Street? That's just straightforward, what I did is a shameful thing? You Xu family are just dissatisfied with my lowly birth, and now that something has happened, you're trampling all over me!

  She became more agitated as she spoke, "I'll go with you to our mother's place to confront her, see which part of what I did was shameful! Those refugees, as long as they have food, it's fine. What difference does it make to them whether it's snow in June or moldy rice? It's not like we're the only ones who do this, is it? You think the Wei Bei Hou family is that clean? Me doing this, I'm just trying to save some silver for the Xu family... what's shameful about that?"

  "You're still quibbling!" Xu Lingning's face turned iron-green with rage, "Can our family compare to those families? Is our family an imperial in-law family? If we get caught, it can't be settled amicably... We might even lose our official positions and titles..."

  "Outsider! Outsider! You only know 'outsider'." The resentment that had been hidden in the heart of the third madam could no longer be suppressed. "Good things have nothing to do with us, but bad things we have to bear together. Why? Why should I separate from the family? You are a concubine's son, according to the rules, we should separate. Why do you want to do this and make us green leaves to stick gold on their faces?" She wiped away tears and sobbed softly, "Have these years been easy for me? My father was a concubine's son, my uncle wanted to save face and didn't want to separate the family, but only gave 20 taels of silver as allowance every year. Our household expenses were huge, with many guests coming and going, it was never enough. When I got married, my mother emptied the house to give me a good sendoff. On the day I returned home, my mother's jewelry was all borrowed from fifth aunt... After marrying into your family, I didn't have the ability to compete with second sister-in-law, nor could I compete with yuan niang, and I wasn't qualified to compete with dan yang... Must I not even be able to say a word in front of that little eleventh madam? What's wrong with me? Am I inferior to anyone?"

  Madam San's words hit Xu Lingning right in the sore spot.

  He was a concubine's son, and although the madam treated him well, when it was hot outside, she would bring out a bowl of iced plum juice, but those mothers would always give it to Xu Lingyi and Xu Lingkuan first... He had always wanted to move out on his own, he had never let his concubine have children, just so that his own children wouldn't suffer this embarrassment. When the Xu family was in trouble, he deliberately didn't take out the silver he had set aside, hoping that the madam would drive him away. But seeing the usually shrewd and capable madam lying weakly in bed, hearing Xu Lingyi call him "Third Brother", he changed his mind... His own wife, although fierce and reckless, and bold to the point of being lawless, was always gentle and considerate towards him, and always cared for the children. She had only been looking at others' faces her whole life because her father-in-law was a concubine's son and she didn't have the ability to set up an independent household, in the Gan family... It turned out that he owed her an apology!

  Xu Lingning thought to herself, "The more I see you, the more decadent you become. It's me who owes you, but you can't do something like this and lose face for the Xu family!" Her voice was both helpless and disheartened.

  The three wives looked at their husbands' sloppy appearance, and the already surging anger burned even more fiercely.

  "Do I have today just for myself? That year my younger brother got married, apart from the dowry from the Xu family, I also secretly added twenty taels of silver. Why do I not get along with both families? Is it not all for you, Third Master Xu? For the sake of our sons, Jing and Jian! Her voice grew louder as she spoke, "Do you know how much a house in Baoda Fang costs? Do you know how much a house in Huanghua Fang costs? Do you even know how much a house in Xianyi Fang costs? Don't forget, you have two sons! Are they going to end up living at the foot of Luoshan Mountain or something?" She grew more indignant as she spoke, "You're always saying that children will bring their own good fortune, let them study hard and take the imperial exams, so they can help the family without anyone's assistance. So everyone knows you have a good son. But is taking the imperial exams such an easy thing? Look at my father, he studied for over twenty years and only became a juren. And look at you, why didn't you continue to take the exams? It's because Father said we don't need it, people like us don't need it. They may not need it, but we can't even get what we want! Thinking of these things, her grievances poured out from deep within, and she began to mock sarcastically, "But I suppose it's my fault. Who made my father a poor juren who failed the exams multiple times? Who made me not have a dowry like the one from Danyang? Who made me not have any money of my own to give you to spend on your concubines?"

  As soon as her words fell, Xu Lingning jumped up: "You say yourself, why drag three families and four families!" The voice was very cold.

  For a moment, the three madams thought the speaker was Xu Lingyi...

  She paused involuntarily, coldly humming a "hmm", and ultimately didn't mention it again.

  "What should I do now?" Xu Lingning slumped down in the armchair, "Fourth brother has given me an ultimatum to figure everything out by tomorrow noon and give him an explanation!"

  The third wife thought of her husband not returning last night, saying that he was going to settle accounts with Bai Dazongguan. She still thought it was being pulled away by those who came to drink flower wine. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be settling accounts... She felt that things were serious and couldn't help but say: "Isn't he the most concerned about face? How could..."

  So this is how you've been carrying on behind my back?

  Xu Lingning's eyebrows were etched with fatigue.

  The three ladies stood there, their faces turning pale one moment and white the next.

  After a while, she gritted her teeth: "Let's go see the old lady! I'll take responsibility for what I've done, no one will be dragged down!" She also said, "I'm not doing it for myself... aren't those saved silver coins still on the account?" Also, "Isn't this all about saving some silver coins?" There was another sentence she didn't say out loud.

  After all, she was the mother of both Diligent and Frugal, so Madam You had to give those two brothers some face...

  If you can't even handle this, then don't be in charge of the family!

  It's a different story now, if it were a month ago, walking around like this would have people welcoming and flattering her, every word would be carefully considered, she really didn't want to give up this position. But now it's not the same. Who would have thought that doing rice business had so many tricks and such huge profits? No wonder Auntie and the others were thinking of ways to do business... After all, she was relying on the name of Yongping Hou, which was inconvenient in many ways, if...

  Her mind began racing quickly.

  Xu Lingning sighed softly: "Now, it can only be like this!"

  Someone knocked on the window frame: "Third Master, Third Madam, the Marquis has arrived!"

  It's Akane Kanzaki's anxious voice.

  It happened suddenly, and the couple looked at each other in a state of panic.

  Xu Lingning, after all, was a man. Having managed the Xu family's affairs for several years, he had seen and experienced much, and quickly calmed down. In a deep voice, he said, "Please come in quickly," then turned to instruct Third Madam, "Quickly go and tidy up."

  The three wives hastily exclaimed "oh" and rushed into the inner room, only to find it empty. They then remembered that the maids and older women had retreated earlier after noticing the couple's unusual expressions, and they ran out again to call for Qiu Xiang.

  Qiu Yan opened the door of the main hall early, instructing the maid to welcome Xu Lingyi and serve tea. Hearing San Furen call out to her, she knew that San Furen wanted to re-do her hair, so she responded with a "yes" and personally led the usual serving maid to bring in hot water into the inner chamber.

  Xu Lingyi saw from afar that the gate of Sanfang's house was tightly closed, and thought to himself that he had to get things clear with Xu Lingning before noon tomorrow. He guessed that the couple must have had a quarrel. He knocked on the door, intentionally slowing down his footsteps, just in time to give Sanfang's wife a chance to avoid him.

  What's the point of saying anything now!

  Xu Lingning saw Xu Lingyi and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

  "Fourth brother, sit down!"

  Xu Lingyi smiled and said, "Forget it, I won't sit either. Fan Weigang is back, let's go listen to the opera. It's freezing outside, and I don't think San Ge has anything important going on. Why not go together?"

  Xu Lingning was stunned.

  "It's been a long time since we brothers have had a chance to talk alone." Xu Lingyi decided to get straight to the point, "Just in time, Wei Gang is treating us to drinks, let's go have a couple of cups."

  Xu Lingning understood that Xu Lingyi had something to say to her alone.

  So anxious, and yet found an excuse with no loopholes... I wonder what he's up to?

  A thought flashed through his mind, and he felt a sense of desolation again.

  What can you do even if you make up your mind? After all, it's your own fault!

  He got up and instructed the maid beside him: "I'm going out to drink with Master Hou. Tell Madam!"

  The maid responded and went into the inner room, Xu Lingning grabbed a cloak beside her: "Let's go!"

  Xu Lingyi looked at his disheveled brother in front of him, thinking back to when he led himself catching cicadas in the backyard as kids, and how after their father's death on a similarly cold and snowy day, the two stood together waiting for Old Master Luo to return from court at the entrance of Luo Family Alley...

  He couldn't help but softly call out "Third Brother": "Your hair is messy, let the maids help you comb it!"

  Xu Lingning stroked his temples, silent for a long time, but his eyes sparkled with tears.

  He thought of the year his father died, when the two of them stood together at the entrance of Luo's alley waiting for Old Master Luo to return from court. This younger brother, who had not yet inherited the title of Marquis Yongping, stood silently there, telling himself, shivering with cold: "Third Brother, rest assured, I will definitely make you hold your head high and let others see that you only know how to smile, dare only to smile..."

  What was I thinking at that time? What did I say then?

  Don't believe it.

  But he didn't want to give him a perfunctory answer, and suppressed his determination. With a serious expression, he nodded: "Alright! I'm counting on the day when my fourth brother will make me proud. At that time, we brothers will be able to walk horizontally in Yanjing."

  Those times, when did they disappear...