“I had a wind chill the other day and it took half a month of bitter medicinal soup to get better, I’m fine now.”
Song Wan Yue put down her tea and held out her hand, “Let me check my aunt’s pulse.”
Knowing that she was unsure of herself, Mrs Xu Yan stretched out her hand and placed it on the table, Song Wan Yue squeezed her wrist, her brow visibly furrowed.
Mrs. Xu Yan could see clearly and her heart lifted, “Is there something wrong?”
Xu Yan also put down her tea and looked at her nervously.
Song Wangyue let go and gestured for her to extend her other hand as well, asking after both hands were finished, “Has auntie taken the medicine to exterminate her son before?”
Mrs. Xu Yan froze for a moment, then nodded, “Mm.”
Song Wangyue looked at Xu Yan in disbelief.
Xu Yan looked calm as she put down her tea, “Back then when we went out to look for your mother, your aunt was afraid that a pregnancy on the road would delay things, so she discussed with me about taking the son extinction pill, at that time I didn’t know when I would find your mother, so I agreed.”
“It’s all in the past ……”
Fearing that Song Wan Yue would be upset, Xu Yan’s words just fell, Mrs. Xu Yan took over, “Yue’er, you know and I know, so don’t tell anyone else, especially your mother, if she knows, she doesn’t know how badly she will feel.”
Song Wan Yue’s heart was sore and swollen, she nodded, “Don’t worry aunt, I won’t tell anyone.”
Mrs Xu Yan patted her hand.
They were prepared to hide this matter for the rest of their lives without telling anyone, but they never expected Yue’er to find out.
……
Inside Xu Cotoneaster’s house.
Zhu Wen sat bored in his chair, letting out one sigh after another.
Xu Cotoneaster does not pay any attention to him.
For a while now, he had been following himself to the house every day after school to dine, and he was used to not going back until curfew.
Zhu Wen heaved a few more sighs, and when he saw that Xu Cotoneaster was still ignoring him, he went up to him and snatched the book out of his hand and snapped it onto the desktop, “I say, are you a friend? I’m bored to death and you don’t say anything to help me.”
“If you feel annoyed, just tell your family.”
“That’s easy for you to say ……”
Zhu Wen stretched his feet and hooked the chair he just sat on over and sat down opposite him, “I’m sixteen this year, and if I don’t say marriage again I’ll be told that there’s something wrong with my body.”
“Then what else is bothering you?”
“I don’t want to get a wife!”
“Young master ……”
The voice of the boy rang out at the door, “The cousin girl is here.”
Yue’er had returned.
Xu Cotoneaster was just about to get up when Zhu Wen had already stood up before him, “Is it Miss Song?”
“Yes.”
Zhu Wen’s eyes lit up, he had gotten to know Song Wan Yue well over the past three years and had long since stopped treating himself as an outsider.
“Where is she?”
“Gone to the young lady’s courtyard.”
“Go go go ……”
Zhu Wen pulled Xu Cotoneaster outside, he hadn’t played chess with Song Wan Yue for months and his hands were itching.
Xu Cotoneaster, however, stood unmoving.
Zhu Wen wondered, “Let’s go.”
“Cousin has rushed all the way back from the border, she must be very tired and needs to rest, we’d better not go over there.”
And so it was.
Zhu Wen also felt that he was too eager and scratched his head, he was going crazy with the affair these days, his brain was not working well.
Sitting back down like a boneless man, his chin rested on the back of his chair.
Xu Cotoneaster also sat back down and picked up the book he had just read, but his mind was not on the book, thinking of how to find an excuse to get rid of Zhu Wen.
Zhu Wen was already discussing marriage, and he could not be allowed to have casual contact with his cousin again.
“Since my cousin is coming over, father will certainly let me come over and have dinner together, I’m not free to accompany you today, you should go back first.”
Zhu Wen waved his hand carelessly, “You don’t need to mind me, just have someone casually fix me a bite to eat.”
He really didn’t want to go home, he didn’t want to go back at all.
Seeing him like this, Xu cotoneaster pursed his lips and added, “You have been with me for several days, if you don’t go back to eat with your parents, Lord Zhu will definitely be angry.”
Thinking of his father’s anger, Zhu Wen shivered, he was not afraid of the world, but his father was afraid of teaching him a lesson.
He stood up as if he was dying, “Then I will go back today and come back tomorrow, you can tell your cousin to come over tomorrow night too, I will play two games with her.”
Xu Cotoneaster didn’t say anything.
Zhu Wen didn’t care either, and let his own boy come in to carry his book basket.
When he stepped out, Xu Cotoneaster let out a long sigh of relief and quickly got up to walk towards his mother’s side, but before he could get close, he heard laughter coming from inside the house.
The maid who was guarding the entrance to the house saw him, saluted and then lifted the curtain and allowed Cotoneaster to enter.
Song Wan Yue caught a glimpse of him, “Cousin.”
Xu Cotoneaster saluted his parents before smiling and asking, “When did cousin sister return?”
“I came back this afternoon.”
Xu Cotoneaster went over and sat down.
“Is cousin planning to go down to the exams next year?”
Xu Cotoneaster shook his head without thinking.
The Xu family motto was to be only a scholar, not an official, and naturally he would be no exception.
“I’ve arranged to meet some friends and go out on a trip in a few days, and when I return I’ll go to Qingping County to accompany my great-grandfather.”
Reading ten thousand books is better than travelling ten thousand miles, he will inherit his great-grandfather’s mantle and carry the Xu family forward in the future.
Song Wan Yue nodded her head and said in a wealthy voice, “I support cousin, I’ll pay for all the silver you need to go on your trip.”
Mrs. Xu Yan laughed, “There’s no need for you to pay, you can’t spend all the silver in that one shop.”
She had never known that a shop could be so prosperous, not only was there an oversupply of rouge and powder, but even soap was often sold out of stock, and each time the dividends were more and more.
“Save that silver for your cousin’s daughter-in-law.”
He said, pulling out the silver cheques from the Ministry of Finance and placing them on the table, pushing them to Xu Cotoneaster, “Cousin take these first, talk to me if you don’t have enough.”
Even though they knew that Song Wangyue had money, they were still shocked.
Xu cotoneaster was busy pushing the silver tickets back in front of her, “Cousin, take them back, I don’t want them.”
“Since you’re going out on a trip, you should travel more places, more money gives you more strength.”
Xu Cotoneaster said she didn’t want it.
Song Wangyue Gu Yi put on a small face, “Cousin is treating me like an outsider.”
“No, not ……”
Xu Cotoneaster waved his hands in panic.
Song Wangyue shoved the silver ticket into his hand, “If it’s not, just take it, the last thing your cousin me needs is silver.”
“Take it.”
Xu Yan opened his mouth, treating the money as if it was their niece’s money, and when she needed it one day, they would just take it out again.
……
Zhu Wen returned home, as soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw his father standing in the doorway with a dark and sullen face, his heart stuttered, “Father, father ……”
Looking at him, Zhu Zhihong was furious. He had already had his eldest daughter when he was sixteen, but this rebellious son was good, he still had no intention of marrying up to now.
“Today, you can say what you want, do you want to discuss the marriage or not? If you do, you will come in; if you don’t, you will leave this house and never come back.”
Zhu Wen wanted to say that he really didn’t have the heart to do so now, and that he might as well read more books and get a scholarship soon. But seeing his father’s dark face, he didn’t dare to say anything.
“I, I, I ……”
Suddenly, a flash of light came to his mind and the words came out, “I, I want to marry Miss Song.”