Xu Qingwan was not there, so Wei Yang glanced at the eight beauties, and asked Wei Luo with a smile, “Third brother, the elder brother will let you choose first.”
Wei Luo still had that natural face of ice cubes as he said, “Elder brother, you can accept them all.”
Wei Yang teased on purpose, “Are you afraid that your wife will get hurt? Don’t worry, we won’t bring these singers with us when we go back.”
Wei Luo’s lips twitched. Agreeing with his brother’s joke, he got up to leave.
Wei Yang also needed to accompany Xu Qingwan to visit Duke Zhenguo’s mansion, and so he let the singers go out first.
At dusk, when they hadn’t come back yet, Wei Luo left with his entourage.
His uncle, Wen Cheng, was admitted to the examination and served as county magistrates in other places. He was also transferred to the capital as an official the year before last, but his official position was low, only sixth rank.
Whether the official position was high or low, it was his uncle.
Wei Luo came to the door of the Wen family’s small house. Just as Wen Cheng came back from the official office, when he saw Wei Luo, he wanted to recognize him but dared not.
Wei Luo saluted first and called him uncle.
The corners of Wen Cheng’s eyes got red, and he hurriedly invited his nephew in.
His wife also came out. She was a shrewd and capable young woman.
Wei Luo had a cold attitude toward his new aunt. After drinking a cup of tea, he asked, “Uncle, my cousin came to Beijing last year, is she used to the climate of the capital?”
He got married in March, and his cousin took the initiative in February to come to seek refuge with her father.
Wen Cheng smiled and said, “She adapted. She liked it very much, she said the scenery here is good. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Ruyue got married at the beginning of this year, and went to Shaoxing with your brother-in-law.”
Wei Luo glanced at his aunt and asked, “Which family did she get married into?”
Wen Cheng was still very satisfied with his daughter’s marriage and explained, “Xue Qi from the Hou family of Yongcheng. Although he is a concubine born, he is young and promising. Your cousin is already blessed by the ancestors of the Wen family to marry him.”
Wei Luo nodded.
It was indeed a good marriage. What he was worried about was his cousin tortured by her stepmother and being married to an inhumane person.
After dinner at the Wen’s house, Wei Luo went back to the palace and didn’t stay any longer.
That night, he rested alone, but Wei Yang chose a beautiful singer to accompany him.
When Wei Luo and his party entered Beijing, Erlang and his mother, who had been confined for a month, finally came out.
The first thing after the ban was lifted, of course, was to make amends in front of King Yan.
Wei Yan and Erlang knelt down when they saw King Yan. Ji Xianxian wanted to kneel too, but her belly was so big since she was eight months pregnant, so she had to be supported by a maid to bend her knees.
King Yan glanced at the second daughter-in-law, and said, “You don’t have to kneel.”
Ji Xianxian breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you for your forgiveness. Rest assured, this daughter-in-law already knows that she is wrong, and she will definitely… ”
“Are you aware of your mistakes? Then tell me first what mistakes you made that day,” King Yan interrupted halfway through hearing it.
Ji Xianxian tensed up again and she looked at her husband for help.
Wei Yan glared at her fiercely.
Ji Xianxian remembered all the accusations her husband had made to her in the past month, and was worried that she might have to continue grounding if she answered dishonestly. She lowered her head and said, “I made three mistakes. To show off the knowledge in front of the third sibling, secondly, I shouldn’t pamper Erlang so much that he doesn’t know how to be polite, and thirdly, I should’ve clarified Erlang’s lies in time.”
King Yan really didn’t bother to take care of those trivial matters in the backyard. Just because they were caught by him last time, he took the initiative to punish the second family. Seeing that Ji Xianxian admitted her mistakes sincerely, King Yan hummed, “If you know your mistakes, correct them, and don’t do it again in the future.”
Ji Xianxian hurriedly agreed.
King Yan lectured his son again, “The children belong to you two. As a father, you should pay more attention to their discipline. If you only beat and scold the children after they make mistakes, how is it different from the villagers?”
His face was flushed and he had nothing to say, so he kowtowed and said, “I’ll change.”
King Yan finally said to Erlang, “Grandfather is very busy and has no time to take care of you. If you are a good boy, then I’ll reward you. If you make a mistake, I’ll punish your father, so you can figure it out.”
Erlang’s eyes sparkled when he heard it. He would be rewarded if he didnt make a mistake, but if he made a mistake, his grandfather would only punish his father, which didn’t seem bad. However, if his father was punished, he would definitely beat him again.
King Yan was amused by the expression on his grandson’s face, waved his hand, and told the family of three to retreat.
King Yan was a fair person. He scolded his son along with his daughter-in-law. When it came to Concubine Li, she neither scolded her son nor her grandson, but only spat at Ji Xianxian, “You are pregnant, but you are so stupid. It didn’t matter if you were grounded yourself, but you have caused the second master to be grounded together with you, which delayed his errand for a month. You dragged the second master down with you.”
That month, the number of times the prince came to see her had become the least. Even Mrs. Wen had been serving him for four nights. Concubine Li found out that the main reason for the prince to go to Jinghao Hall was because of a painting Old Yin sent Mrs. Wen.
Mrs. Wen’s daughter-in-law helped her mother-in-law to win favor. But her daughter-in-law could only hinder her.
Ji Xianxian didn’t dare to refute her mother-in-law. She just lowered her head, with tears in her eyes, and glanced pitifully at Wei Yan.
———
The author had something to say:
Ji Xianxian: Sister-in-law, was the capital fun?
Xu Qingwan: …Third sister, the third master had gone to the Wen family’s house.
Yin Hui: Oh.