Chapter 478 Mother and Daughter Conversation
The west wing of the courtyard.
Seeing Wang's seductive manner leading Sun and Liu into the main hall, Aunt Xue gently lowered the door curtain, turned back and explained awkwardly: "Although your sister-in-law is not very decent, she is also a kind and loyal person. She has been guarding your brother without hesitation these days and has never disliked him at all."
Xue Baochai was seen sitting sideways on the marble bed in the middle, in a honey-colored brocade bodice with a lotus-green gauze skirt underneath. The outfit was neat and tight, and it also highlighted her curvy figure to great effect.
She had received the news from her mother yesterday afternoon, and knew that her brother had met with misfortune again, so hurried over early in the morning. However, before she could chat with her brother for a few words, someone outside came in to report that Sun Shaozong and Liu Xianglian had arrived.
Therefore, the mother and daughter had to take refuge in the west wing temporarily.
Although it is said that "lust is the root of all evil", just this one act of immorality is already a major taboo for a wife or daughter - but it was Baochai who had insisted on marrying Wang in the first place, so how could she comment on Wang's merits and demerits now?
So when she heard her mother trying to cover up for her sister-in-law, Xue Baochai just smiled and did not answer. Instead, she stood up and pulled her mother to the Luohan bed, sitting opposite each other on a Ganoderma lucidum rosewood kang table.
As she was sitting idle at home, Aunt Xue dressed in imitation of Tang Dynasty palace dress according to her preference, with a charcoal red bodice and a glazed outer robe, which set off her proud white breasts to look like jade, as white as cream.
Compared with Xue Baochai opposite her, although she lacks some youthfulness, she is more mature and charming.
But after she was pulled by her daughter to sit down, she leaned her plump and moderately shaped body against the cushion, frowned and asked in a low voice: "My dear daughter, do you think that Lord Sun will stand up for your brother and bring the damned thief to justice?"
Baochai picked up the small purple clay teapot on the tea table and poured a cup of Lu'an Guapian tea for her mother. After she put the teapot back on the tea tray, she said slowly, "In my opinion, it's better for the thief not to take it."
"Not taking it?"
Aunt Xue was startled when she heard this, then she sat up straight, leaned forward slightly, and hid the Northern Song Dynasty Ru Kiln teacup under the two towering buildings. She asked in confusion, "Why is this happening? Did your brother suffer all this in vain?!"
"How can it be said that I suffered in vain?"
Xue Baochai said helplessly, "Brother is now the son-in-law of the official in the Ministry of Personnel. Who would dare to cause trouble for him? Brother must have offended some enemy somewhere, so someone came to his house to punish him."
"But……"
"Moreover, that person came secretly to seek revenge, but he was very measured in his actions and did not really hurt my brother - the intestinal disease was purely an accident, and it must not have been his intention."
"It shows that the other party was cautious and only took the risk out of anger when he could no longer tolerate it."
"Even if he didn't intend to hurt your brother, this suffering is still caused by him!"
Aunt Xue was annoyed to see her daughter speaking for the thief. Her chest rose and fell, and she heard a clanging sound from the table on the kang. It turned out that the teacups under the towering weight were shaking and hitting the tray.
Aunt Xue quickly pulled herself back and continued, "We should find the person and sort out the clues!"
Xue Baochai just shook her head: "Mother, please be patient. In fact, if it were just these considerations, I would not want my brother to suffer this humiliation . But mother, think about it carefully. When my brother was attacked, he was hosting a banquet in the annex of Baihua Tower. There were young men guarding the gate outside and servants serving inside, but the enemy was like an empty space. It is obvious that he is not an ordinary strong man."
"And his humiliation did not harm my brother's life or body. If it really goes to court, he will just be fined some silver. Even if I ask the second brother of the Sun family to take him away, what good will it do my brother?"
"It's possible that this will only add new hatred to the old one, making him even more angry with his brother, and even make him take risks again - by then he may not be able to restrain himself and not harm his brother's life."
"My son!"
After hearing this, Aunt Xue couldn't help but lean over and grab Xue Baochai's wrist. She ignored the splashes of water in the teacup, wetting her charcoal-red bodice, and said in a trembling voice, "So, this person must not be provoked? Then...then I have to stop your brother quickly, otherwise, given his temper, he will definitely ask Sun Jia Erlang to take action!"
Having said that, he stood up and left.
"Why is mom panicking?"
Xue Baochai hurriedly stopped her and advised, "Don't say this in front of your brother. It's better to wait until Lord Sun and the others come out, and then mother can find time to give you some advice."
When Aunt Xue heard this, she suddenly realized that given Xue Pan's stubborn temper, if she really said such submissive words in front of him, he would definitely do the opposite.
So he nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, yes, wait for Lord Sun to come out, and then I will ask him not to interfere in this matter."
"No."
Xue Baochai shook her head and said, "We still have to investigate, but I would like to ask the second brother of the Sun family to investigate secretly, so as not to alarm the other party. Moreover, we must not only find out where the other party came from, but also find out what grudges the other party has with my brother."
"If it's a 'misunderstanding', just ask someone to mediate and it'll be fine. After all, my brother has always been kind-hearted. As long as there's a suitable excuse, it won't be difficult to make peace."
"If it's a 'knot' that can't be untied..."
Xue Baochai stopped talking here. Her unpainted green eyebrows slightly tightened, and a hint of coldness appeared in her warmth.
Although Aunt Xue was a woman from a wealthy family and had a frivolous heart that was not suitable for her age, she still vaguely sensed what her daughter meant. She trembled and blurted out, "You... Aren't you always annoyed by your brother's reckless violation of the law? Why are you so angry today..."
"What's mom thinking about?"
Seeing that her mother was frightened, Xue Baochai hurried over and acted like a daughter, saying coquettishly, "If it really comes to that , with Minister Wang, Brother Sun, and my aunt here, it would not be difficult to find a legitimate reason to get rid of that man."
Aunt Xue finally breathed a sigh of relief, stroking her bodice that was soaked by tea, and complained without pause: "You almost scared me with that half-sentence!"
As he said this, he took the remaining tea and drank it all in one gulp.
By the time she had put the teacup back in place, Xue Baochai had already handed her a handkerchief to wipe the stains off the corners of her mouth. She then took the initiative to change the subject and said, "I heard that Xue Ke from my second uncle's family had been to the capital a few days ago?"
Xue Ke is the eldest son of Baochai's uncle, and also Baochai's cousin.
"Brother Tad came in less than half a day and then left in a hurry. I saw that he was so busy that he didn't even bother to tell you or your brother. He just told Brother Tad that your brother had gone out of town to hunt and he didn't know when he would be back."
Speaking of Xue Ke, Aunt Xue said with both pity and admiration: "Speaking of which, he is only half a month younger than you, but now he actually supports the family business from inside and outside, and he is very knowledgeable when it comes to business. He actually has some of your father and second uncle's shadow!"
As she spoke, she could not help but sigh, "You brothers and sisters are so unlucky. Before you even grew up, those two cruel brothers passed away, leaving only the two of us women behind..."
Xue Ke's father had also passed away two years ago, and he also left behind a pair of children. The elder one was the same age as Baochai, and the younger one was thirteen years old, a few months younger than Lin Daiyu.
Seeing the big tears falling on her mother's face, Xue Baochai hurriedly squeezed her delicate body into her mother's arms, rubbing her wet bosom, and said in a tender voice: "It's all my fault. I made mother think of sad things for no reason. Please stop crying, otherwise how can you go to see the second brother of the Sun family and Mr. Liu later?"
Aunt Xue hugged her daughter and cried a few more times. Then she burst into laughter and said, "Look at me. Why are you bringing up all this for no reason?"
As he spoke, he helped his daughter up and wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and then said, "By the way, when Xue Ke passed by Jinmen Prefecture, he ran into Sun Jia Erlang. At that time, the dock was crowded with people, and most of the officials of Jinmen Prefecture were there. Xue Ke thought that the Governor of Zhili was going out, but later he found out that he was sending Sun Jia Erlang back to Beijing."
"You also know that your cousin loves to make friends with strange people and unusual things, so he specifically inquired about what Sun Jia Erlang was doing in Jinmen Prefecture, and took advantage of the opportunity to go to Beijing together to find him and have a chat. That's how he learned about the relationship between our two families."
"So when he came to our house, Xue Ke told me that since your brother has a good relationship with Sun's Erlang, you might as well move some of the business in the south to Jinmen Prefecture. On the one hand, with Sun's Erlang taking care of it, you won't suffer any losses; on the other hand, you won't be out of reach and let the managers below become unfaithful."
At this point, Aunt Xue could not help but be angry: "You can say that they are all people your father used, but who would have thought that they would dare to bully us orphans and widows like this behind our backs? If it weren't for the power of the Wang family, I would have dealt with a few of them, and I estimate that in a few years, our family would have been broke!"
After Xue Pan married Wang, while they fought at bedside and made peace with each other every day, he naturally did not forget his original intention - to use the power of the Wang family to suppress those unruly shopkeepers.
But things are still easy in the capital, but business in Jiangnan is far away and the emperor is far away. Even if a group of people are frightened by killing a chicken to scare the monkeys temporarily, unexpected things are bound to happen over time.
With the addition of Xue Pan and Xue Baochai, brother and sister, they all wanted to settle down in the capital, so the focus of future development would inevitably be shifted to the north, so Xue Ke made this suggestion.
"Tianjin Prefecture..."
Xue Baochai lowered her head and pondered for a while, but finally shook her head and said, "It's best not to get too close to the Sun family at the moment, and wait until the matter of the imperial lineage is settled, then it won't be too late to make plans."
She has always been the one who makes the decisions at home, and Aunt Xue didn't care much about business, so after hearing this, she turned the page with a little regret.
After that, the two of them chatted casually again, talking about family matters and discussing trivial matters in the palace.
As they chatted, they naturally brought up the topic of the virtuous concubine Jia Yuanchun, who was shortlisted as a 'seed player'.
Aunt Xue lowered her voice and asked quietly, "When I went to Rongguo Mansion a few days ago, your aunt was still hiding the truth and refused to tell me the truth. In your opinion, is this true or not?"
"this……"
Xue Baochai was hesitant, not knowing how to comment on this matter. By chance, the door curtain was lifted, and Wang rushed in from outside, shaking off the water that had gotten on her face from somewhere. She said in a delicate voice, "Mother, sister, that fool wanted to have a few drinks with Lord Sun, but I couldn't persuade him. What should we do? Come up with an idea quickly."
When Aunt Xue heard this, she jumped up and said, "How can this be possible?" Then she wanted to go over and persuade Xue Pan not to act so recklessly and hurt himself.
Xue Baochai didn't care and shook her head, saying, "If only Master Liu was here, we might have to go over and persuade him, but since the second brother of the Sun family is here, he will definitely not let you do whatever you want."
Since Wang was a fickle person, she naturally couldn't stand Xue Baochai's obedient appearance. Relying on the strength of her mother's family, she always loved to confront Baochai.
At this time, hearing her confident words, he immediately shouted exaggeratedly: "Oh~ Listening to what my sister said, it seems like the roundworm in Lord Sun's stomach, but I don't know how much of Brother Bao's thoughts can you figure out?"
Xue Baochai knew her temper well, so she was not annoyed. She just said calmly: "Brother Bao is a kind-hearted person. His thoughts and ideas are all on his face and on his lips. Why should I try to figure him out?"
Wang sneered when she heard that and was about to make a few more sarcastic remarks, but Aunt Xue at the side quickly acted as peacemaker and changed the subject, asking what Sun Liu and Xue Pan had said just now.
"Nothing important."
Wang said nonchalantly, "At first, that fool wanted to take revenge, but Lord Sun scolded him and made him droop his head. This is the first time I've seen him behave so well!"
"Later, Lord Sun said that he would secretly send someone to investigate. Once he found out the other party's background and the grudge between him and that idiot, it would not be too late to decide how to deal with him."
When Aunt Xue heard this, she couldn't help but turn around and look at her daughter, thinking to herself that this Erlang of the Sun family really had the same idea as her daughter.
Based on this mutual understanding and his son's respect for Erlang of the Sun family - if it were not for the example of Jia Baoyu, recruiting him as a son-in-law would have been an excellent choice.
But now...
Seeing that he had the chance to become the emperor's legitimate uncle, Jia Baoyu naturally wanted to tie him down with all his heart, and even had to give up the "test" he had prepared before.
Just as I was thinking this, I saw Ying'er come in from outside, with beads of water on her temples, bowing and saying, "Madam, the master wants you to come over and talk."
"Call me over to talk?"
Aunt Xue was stunned when she heard this and asked in surprise, "Master Sun and the others have already left?"
"Not really."
Ying'er shook her head and said, "I heard that they wanted to discuss opening a business in Jinmen Prefecture."
Doing business in Jinmenfu?
Aunt Xue couldn't help but glance at Baochai again. Seeing that her daughter was also looking at her, she shook her head and said, "Your brother is still recovering from illness these days. I never mentioned what Ke'er said to him."
Xue Baochai hesitated for a moment, so she told her, "In that case, mother, you might as well agree to it first. Anyway, when to return the shop is still up to us."
Aunt Xue agreed, lifted the curtain and went outside with Wang, but she saw only wisps of drizzle, which turned into a heavy downpour without her knowing when.
