Chapter 80: Xue Baochai whispers through the wall, Sun Shaozong reveals the secret
To the northwest of Rongguo Mansion is Yiranxuan.
Since moving out of Lixiangyuan, the three members of the Xue family have lived here. Although it is not as quiet and independent as the original Lixiangyuan, it is far away from the residence of Jia Zheng and Jia He and is less restrictive, so it is quite to Xue Pan's liking.
Because the weather was so hot and stuffy, Xue Baochai's congenital illness began to recur, so she had been recuperating at home in recent days and had not gone out at all.
That afternoon, she took a nap on the couch in the inner room for half an hour. She was half asleep when she heard someone in the yard shouting, "Second brother, this is your first time in my yard. You have to sit for a while longer today!"
Baochai knew that it was her troublesome brother who had invited some bad friends home. Given his noisy nature, he would not have a moment of peace and quiet for the time being.
So Baochai simply used her lotus-like arms to push herself up and sit up straight on the couch.
Crash~
Ying'er, the personal maid on duty, heard the noise and immediately pulled the curtain to the inner room. She came up to help Baochai wash and comb her hair, and said excitedly, "Miss, who do you think our master brought back?"
If it were just some ordinary friends, Ying'er would naturally not be so excited.
Thinking of the word "Second Brother" and the word "first time", Xue Baochai's heart was moved at first, but then she frowned and asked anxiously, holding her handkerchief, "Is the guest invited by my brother Sun Tongpan?"
"Young lady, you are really smart. You guessed it right at once." Ying'er said with a smile, "Besides Sun Tongpan, Feng Yanei is also here. I saw that Lord Sun looked reluctant just now. It seems that he was forced to come by Master and Feng Yanei."
As soon as she finished speaking, Baochai suddenly stood up from the couch. She didn't even bother to pay attention to the plain silk stockings hanging on the armrest, and directly put her two snow-white and tender feet into the shoes, and hurried out.
"Girl? You are..."
Ying'er was startled and hurriedly put the jade comb back into the makeup box, then chased after him in a hurry.
The master and servant walked into the flower hall from the side door, one after the other. The man's rough laughter immediately reached her ears. Ying'er's heart beat like a drum, fearing that something embarrassing would happen.
But because of Baochai's high prestige, she dared not stop him. She could only quietly follow Baochai behind the screen, thinking to herself: This young lady of our family has always been very steady, but today when she heard that Sun Tongpan was coming, she came here so impatiently to peek, could it be...
Thinking of this, Ying'er's heart began to beat wildly again, but this time she was more happy than surprised - who among the maids in the Rongguo Mansion didn't know that Sun Tongpan was not only an expert in solving cases and had a bright future, but was also a man who was good at loving people?
Take Ruan Rong for example. She seems to be living in a honey pot all day long. Many decent mistresses would be jealous when seeing her.
If I were to accompany the girl to marry into the Sun Mansion...
For a moment, Ying'er's face turned red, and she didn't know how many "speakable" and "unspeakable" scenes she imagined in her mind.
Unfortunately, these were just her imagination. In fact, at this time, Xue Baochai not only did not have any emotional attachment to Sun Shaozong, but instead felt as if she was facing a formidable enemy.
As a younger sister, she knew exactly what her brother was thinking. Now that he was eager to invite Sun Shaozong home, it was most likely for the Wang family's marriage. Now that her mother was not at home, if her brother really persuaded Sun Shaozong and created an unmanageable situation, how could the Xue family bear it? !
That's why she didn't care about the rules and etiquette and ran to the flower hall to spy. Fortunately, she showed up at the critical moment to stop Xue Pan from doing something stupid.
But when Xue Baochai peeked out from behind the screen, she saw Sun Shaozong sitting in the middle with a stern face. He naturally exuded an air of arrogance. Although Xue Pan and Feng Ziying on both sides were also unruly dandies, they could only be attentive and apologetic in front of him.
After three rounds of drinking, Xue Pan had almost finished his preparations, so he quickly gave Feng Ziying a look.
Feng Ziying picked up the wine pot and poured wine for Sun Shaozong while smiling: "Second brother, although this Xue Dabo is not a good guy, the Wang family girl is really... In my opinion, you should be kind enough to save him. If this guy can escape this disaster, he will never forget your kindness!"
Ever since that day in Baihua Tower when he had an affair with Commandant Qiu's son, Feng Ziying and Xue Pan's relationship has become closer, and now they are inseparable.
It was because of Feng Ziying that Sun Shaozong came to Yiranxuan reluctantly.
Hearing Feng Ziying come forward to speak up, he rolled his eyes and said unhappily: "Do you think you can say such things casually? Go back and look up the Great Zhou Law and see what the crime of 'a demon making irresponsible remarks about blessings and disasters' is!"
This was clearly a rejection, but Xue Pan still asked curiously, "What is the charge?"
Sun Shaozong could not help but roll his eyes speechlessly, and then said viciously: "At the least, you will be exiled 800 miles, at the worst, your entire family will be executed!"
When these words were spoken, Xue Pan didn't know how to respond, and hurriedly made a gesture to Feng Ziying to come out and smooth things over.
Feng Ziying had accepted his benefits in advance, so he could only bite the bullet and smile: "Brother, you are joking. There are many people in the court who like Zhouyi divination, and I have never seen anyone punished for this."
"That's because no one is watching them." Sun Shaozong said helplessly: "Don't look at my current glory, I don't know how many people dislike me secretly. If I make a wrong step, I will be attacked by everyone!"
After saying this, seeing that Xue and Feng both had doubtful looks on their faces, he knew that these two people could not understand the taboo of military officers holding concurrent civil service positions.
Then he sighed again and said, "Besides, even if I am willing to help, do you think an old fox like Minister Wang can't see the trick? If the Wang family gets angry and embarrassed, it will not be good for your Xue family."
"Who cares if it's any good?"
Xue Pan swore nonchalantly, "I would rather be a eunuch than marry this woman!"
"hehe……"
Sun Shaozong glanced at him and said, "With the Wang family girl's bold style, do you think she would care whether you are a eunuch or not? She might even be happy to have an excuse to seduce others!"
Xue Pan immediately became depressed again. He drank a few cups of wine in a sullen mood, and suddenly slammed the glass on the table, angrily saying: "That damn old lady should just run away from home. If I can't find her, I don't think she will marry me!"
Bang!
Before he finished speaking, he saw the screen facing due north swaying a few times and then quickly stopped.
"Who is there?!"
Xue Pan shouted and was about to get up to investigate.
Sun Shaozong, however, had sharp eyes. When the screen shook just now, he had already seen four embroidered shoes hidden inside. Although one of them was plain in color, it was decorated with several shiny cat's eye stones, which was obviously not something that a maid or servant girl could have.
Therefore, he guessed that the person hiding behind was most likely Xue Baochai.
Although Sun Shaozong had always wanted to meet the heroine of the Red Mansion, it would be very awkward for both of them if he asked Xue Pan to pull her out from behind the screen.
So he pushed Xue Pan back to his seat and said sternly, "Big head Xue, your mother is fine, but have you ever thought about why your sister is so determined to have you marry that Wang girl?"
Xue Pan was so angry that he said without thinking: "My sister has always despised me for being useless. She just wants to find a useful relative!"
But Baochai was just annoyed at his irresponsibility and accidentally bumped into the screen. Now, after hearing these words, she felt even more heartbroken and felt that all her kindness had gone to waste.
Just when he was completely hopeless, he heard Sun Shaozong say, "Is there something wrong with your brain? If the daughter of the Wang family were to marry into your family, the first thing that would be affected would be your sister's reputation. It would be difficult for her to find a suitable marriage in the future!"
"For an unmarried woman, such relatives are something she would rather avoid than not. How can they be considered useful?"
"I think there must be some hidden story behind this. Your mother and sister probably hid it from you because they were afraid that you would do something foolish in the heat of the moment."
