Chapter 30 Past
The next day.
Liu Yu got up early and looked at Guyu who was busy in the room, dressing and washing her. The feeling of being spied on last night was too real. She was still frightened and had to ask a few questions.
"Guyu, were you sleeping beside my bed last night?"
Guyu shook her head: "No! I have always slept in the outer room."
It’s not Guyu, could it be that she was sleep paralyzed last night?
Liu Yu stopped his wild thoughts, thinking that there was nothing wrong with the situation now.
After packing up,
Liu Yu went to Shou'an Hall to pay his respects early in the morning.
When she arrived at Shou'an Hall, she happened to meet the descendants of the Chen family paying their respects to the old lady.
The whole room was filled with people kneeling. In front of them knelt eight grandsons, ranked in order of age from left to right. The oldest was about twenty years old and the youngest was only three or four years old. Behind them were six granddaughters, three of whom were familiar faces to Liu Yu: Chen Ruhan, who was engaged to the Tao family, and Chen Rushu and Chen Ruqi, whom Shui Xie met.
Today, standing in Nanny Feng's place is Chen Xiyao.
Chen Xiyao was also the first person to notice Liu Yu coming in. She smiled and nodded to Liu Yu.
Liu Yu smiled back and hid quietly in the corner.
The old lady sitting in the main seat was sensitive to her daughter's gaze. She followed her daughter's line of sight and was a little surprised to see Liu Yu.
But these three rooms don’t have a mistress, so if anything happens, they can just come to me!
The old lady retracted her gaze and looked back at her grandchildren who were bowing to her. Her loving face became even gentler:
"Good, good, grandma is happy to see you grow up healthy! Get up quickly!" She waved to two of the boys, who were wearing the uniform navy blue student robes of the Imperial College.
"Brother Rui, Brother Zhan, come to Grandma and tell her about the interesting things you have experienced while studying..."
Looking at the people sitting in the room, it’s no wonder that Shou’an Hall is so lively today. Except for Mr. Chen San, people from the other four families are all here. It turns out that the children of the Chen family who were studying outside have returned.
Chen Zirui walked to the old lady and squatted down, letting his own ancestor touch his head, and said coquettishly:
"Grandma, you are the best to us. You always ask me how my studies are going as soon as I come back."
"That's right, it would be great if our family had a third uncle who was a high-ranking official! In my opinion, for someone like me, it would be better for me to take part in the martial arts examination. Maybe I can even become the top martial arts champion for my grandmother." Chen Zizhan pinched the old lady's shoulders and echoed.
The Chen family has been a family of civil servants for generations, but the illegitimate son of the eldest son was born to love wielding swords and guns.
Chen Zhiping shouted, "Zhan'er, what nonsense are you talking about?"
The old lady couldn't bear to see her grandson being scolded, so she slapped the table:
"Boss, keep your voice down. Zhan'er just came back. Don't scare him."
Liu Yu felt that what Chen Zizhan said was a way out.
Almost all the noble families in the Jin Dynasty devoted all their resources to cultivating the most promising descendants, and then adopted the method of grafting to ensure the family's continued prosperity from generation to generation.
Now, the Chen family has a broad career path for the third master. If he can hold on for a while longer, it is possible for him to sit in a position above everyone else.
Therefore, three generations of the Chen family will have to make way for him.
According to her understanding, among the descendants of the Chen family, the candidate to inherit the mantle is the eldest son of the first wife, Chen Zijie, who is now serving as a Jishu in the Hanlin Academy.
The old lady poked Chen Zizhan's head with her hand.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Fortunately, your uncle is not here, otherwise you would suffer."
Chen Zizhan curled his lips. No matter what he said, they would say he was fooling around, so he simply didn't dwell on the topic.
"Grandma, I heard that our third uncle has entered the mortal world. Is this true?" Chen Zizhan's eyes were filled with uncontrollable excitement, and his eyes swept over the people sitting below one by one.
Finally, his eyes fell on Liu Yu in the corner behind the door, and he shouted excitedly:
"Is that her, Grandma?"
The old lady scolded with a smile: "You are such a scoundrel."
He waved his hand, motioning Liu Yu to come forward.
Liu Yuwei lowered his head and bowed:
"My concubine greets the old lady, all the masters, ladies, young ladies, and young masters."
Chen Zizhan looked Liu Yu up and down for a long time before saying impartially:
"Well, he is a good match for my Third Uncle."
This made all the Chen family members present look unhappy. Chen Ruqi, who was sitting below, was even more unhappy and retorted:
"Chen Zizhan, what nonsense are you talking about? She is just a concubine, how can she be worthy of Third Uncle?"
Hearing this, Chen Zizhan once again looked at Liu Yu from his hair to his feet.
Concubine? Not really. He felt that although his uncle's concubine was young, she was full of elegance and grace. The legitimate daughters of the Chen family could not compare to her.
But this was in front of his grandmother, and he would not argue with the uncultured Chen Ruqi, which would be unmanly.
He curled his lips and returned to the old lady.
Then she chatted with the younger generation for another quarter of an hour. The old lady waved away the younger generations in the room and kept Liu Yu.
"You need me for something?" the old lady asked directly.
Liu Yu nodded: "Yes, my grandmother wrote to me yesterday and wanted me to go back and stay for two days."
The old lady nodded:
"Well, tomorrow I'll ask the third brother to take you back to the Pingnan Marquis's Mansion."
"No need." Liu Yu refused rationally. If Mr. Chen San sent her back, she would be able to hold her head up high in the Pingnan Marquis' Mansion and have dignity, and her life would be much better.
But she was more afraid that Mr. Chen San would be entangled by those scoundrels in the Pingnan Marquis Mansion.
The old lady saw Liu Yu's expression and knew that the situation in Pingnan Marquis's Mansion was more or less known in Yanjing City. She comforted him:
"Girl, you are so young, why do you care so much? Since you are the third brother's person, he will contact the Pingnan Marquis Mansion sooner or later. There is no reason for you to face it alone."
Liu Yu opened his mouth and wanted to say something.
"Okay, it's settled. I'll ask him to come over to my place for dinner later. You just wait here!"
The old lady always keeps her word, and Liu Yu didn't want to disobey her, so he agreed.
On this day, Liu Yu stayed in Shou'an Hall, chatting with the old lady and Chen Xiyao.
Listening to the old lady talk about her youth,
Only then did she find out that the old lady was not from a noble family in Yanjing, but just a merchant's daughter. She and the old man were robbed by pirates at the same time, and they helped each other and escaped from the pirates.
Therefore, the two developed feelings for each other, but due to class etiquette, they did not contact each other again. It was not until half a year later at the Spring and Autumn Banquet that they met again and realized that they were deeply in love and had expressed their feelings to each other.
When the old man returned to the Chen family that night, he expressed his intention to his family and asked Mr. Chen Sanye's great-grandfather to go to the Lu family to propose marriage.
Although the Chen family did not have the status and position they have today, they were still a powerful official family. How could they allow their son to marry the daughter of a merchant?
The old lady looked out the window...
"What happened next?" Chen Xiyao couldn't help but ask curiously. It was the first time she heard her mother talk about her experiences when she was young.
Liu Yu made a cup of tea and handed it to the old lady, looking into her eyes with interest.
The old lady used the lid of the cup to stir the tea and took a sip.