Chapter 622 Xue Pan Joins the Military Camp
In the Lin family's backyard, looking at her shy granddaughter, Grandmother Jia was really happy.
Let's not talk about anything else, just the betrothal gifts. If Baoyu were to marry, the most precious thing would be her private treasury. Although it was not small, it was far less than what Jia Cong had prepared. With such a generous gift, I think the monkey would not treat his granddaughter harshly in the future.
"My dear Yu'er, although your mother passed away early, you have finally found a good man. Grandmother is relieved!"
…
The situation at the Xue family was the same. Wang Ziteng arranged more than a dozen people just to count the betrothal gifts.
In the backyard, listening to the constant stream of rumors from the front yard, Wang Ziteng's wife, Qin, was practically envious. Was this a betrothal gift? Not to mention the rank-signifying items, how much gold and silver alone was there? Now her family was also exchanging gifts with the Hou family. Qin had secretly sent someone to inquire about it. Although her daughter was marrying a bastard from the Hou family, the Hou family had not neglected her.
At least the betrothal gifts were fully prepared. If all the items were counted, it would be at least nearly 100,000 taels of silver.
Not to mention that one hundred thousand taels of silver is not a lot, it is only because the Marquis family is well-off now. Otherwise, how many of the eight dukes and twelve marquises could have come up with that much?
Originally, Qin was happy because her daughter was not the best in the capital, but at least she was one of the best.
But look at the betrothal gift given by the Jia family. Our family is almost no different from a poor family.
"You've found a good son-in-law!" Seeing Aunt Xue's joyful expression, Qin said sourly, "Although our Xue family is rich, this kind of betrothal gift is almost like giving them another inheritance."
Even though Aunt Xue was usually calm, she was grinning from ear to ear at this moment. "My precious daughter is so lucky! The betrothal gift is just a figure. As long as the couple live in harmony and prosperity after their marriage, I will be satisfied."
Aunt Xue was practically clamoring to tell everyone in the capital about the generous gift her son-in-law had given her . Furthermore, she secretly decided that while the previous dowry had been generous enough, now that her son-in-law had given her such a large betrothal gift, how could she be stingy? She had to somehow make up for the 100,000 or 200,000 taels of silver in the dowry. While cash was a concern, the Xue family had plenty of shops and properties, didn't they?
If that doesn't work, just put the trade routes and business contracts from all over the place into the dowry. Although this thing seems worthless, it is actually worth a fortune.
Just take those trade routes, how did the Xue family manage to do such a big business? Those were trade routes that the Xue family had built at the cost of countless lives, how could they not be valuable?
Today was the day to give a big gift to Baochai, so Xue Pan, who was thrown into the military camp by Wang Ziteng, was also "showed mercy" and temporarily released.
Life in the military camp was practically hell for Xue Pan. When he first arrived, our Master Xue declared, "My uncle is the Minister of War, Wang Ziteng; my brother-in-law is Jia Cong, Marquis of Guanjun; I am Master Xue of the Jinling Xue family." Anyone who followed Master Xue would receive five taels of silver per month, and anyone who dared to provoke Master Xue would be punished.
And then… well, Uncle Xue suffered the most. The squad leader gave Uncle Xue a brutal fight. First, Uncle Xue challenged a squad of soldiers, then a squad of soldiers challenged Uncle Xue. Anyway, Uncle Xue rested on his first day in the camp, and stayed there for a full ten days. It wasn't that his injuries had healed, but rather that he was dragged out for training.
Uncle Xue was naturally a man of integrity. He threw away the armor and weapons he was assigned. "Drill? What is Uncle Xue's identity? Drill your grandma!"
So, that day, Uncle Xue came to fight against another group of five people, and also rested for ten days.
After the second ten days were over, Uncle Xue, with his limited knowledge, remembered the saying, "A man under the eaves has to bow his head!" So he obediently put on his armor, picked up his weapons, and followed the team to practice.
Including the military food, Uncle Xue initially scoffed at it. This is the kind of food Uncle Xue's dog wouldn't eat. But on the fourth day of starvation, Uncle Xue, mindful of not wasting food, tasted it and made a surprising discovery: the coarse flour steamed buns seemed quite good. And the slop-like soup actually tasted sweet.
As for the living conditions, needless to say, with one person per tent, the smell in the tent was naturally not that pleasant given the conditions at that time.
The smell of sweat, rotten food, and feet... Even with a blocked nose, Mr. Xue still found the smell irritating... But habit is terrible. After ten days and eight months, Mr. Xue no longer found the smell unbearable. After a month, without the smell, Mr. Xue actually had trouble sleeping...
After the first month, Uncle Xue managed to hold on. Although his training was still not up to standard and he was still beaten for being late for the daily roll call, Uncle Xue was not only still alive, but also living a comfortable life.
The reason for this was that Xue Dabo was completely unconcerned with his status. He would often exchange insults with the soldiers, charging into fights at the slightest disagreement. Although he would often use his uncle and brother-in-law as a scapegoat, he gradually integrated into the military, and even the soldiers themselves accepted him as a special comrade.
When Wang Ziteng sent someone to pick up Xue Da Nao yesterday, Mr. Xue's first reaction was that he would not leave even if he was beaten to death.
It wasn't for anything else; saying he liked the military camp was nonsense. But Uncle Xue was a man who would never let go of a grudge. He'd been beaten so many times here, all on his own. If he didn't fight back, how could he leave with the dignity he deserved? If he really left, wouldn't that be a sign of weakness? Uncle Xue absolutely refused to accept this.
Besides, those people in the military camp were indeed powerful. But when it came to strength and the like, Uncle Xue was no worse off. As long as he held on, he would definitely be able to fight back.
It was not until it was made clear that Xue Pan was asked to go back and busy himself with presenting gifts to Baochai, and that he would need to come back again after finishing the work, that Master Xue said arrogantly and harshly, "Wait for Master Xue to come back in two days, and then I will deal with you." Then he left leisurely.
It took the two families more than half a day to complete the delivery of the huge amount of betrothal gifts. Afterwards, they hosted a banquet for many guests. By the time they were done , it was already time to light the lamps.
After seeing everyone off, the Xue family held a grand banquet. The food in the Xue family was naturally exquisite and luxurious. The whole family sat together and enjoyed the meal happily.
Xue Dabo took a tofu skin bun, took a bite and frowned. Why didn't it taste like coarse flour bun? He picked up the bird's nest soup and took a sip. It didn't taste right either. It didn't have that sour smell.
