Chapter 285 Xiao Xia Returns
Chapter 285 Xiao Xia Returns
Yu Wenzhi hurried to his father's study, only to see his father looking at him with an unhappy face. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly bowed and asked, "Father, do you have something to ask me?"
"When did you come back last night?" Yuwen Shu asked coldly.
Yu Wenzhi felt uneasy and whispered, "First watch!"
"fart!"
Yuwen Shu slammed the table and said angrily: "You clearly didn't come back until three o'clock in the morning, do you think I don't know?"
Yu Wenzhi knelt down and tried to explain: "Father, last night was a special situation. Yang Yan refused to leave, so I had to accompany him. In fact, I was already tired and wanted to go home and sleep early!"
"I heard that you were caught by the Wuhou Guards. Have you registered?" Yuwen Shu asked again with narrowed eyes.
Yu Wenzhi said helplessly: "That's the first thing they did when they took office. They required every person who violated the ban to register. In fact, it has been implemented for almost two months. Hundreds of people register every night, but no one has ever been punished. In fact, it's just a routine matter!"
"Hmph! When someone wants to punish you severely, it's no longer a routine matter."
"Father, if you say that, then no one should be an official. The whole court is full of people who are involved in corruption. Who dares to say that they are innocent? Even in our mansion, you can't find a person who has never made a mistake. I have made many mistakes over the years. There are handles everywhere. If you want to punish me, you don't even need to use something as trivial as violating curfew."
Yu Wenshu couldn't convince his son, so he returned to the previous topic.
"I'm not angry because you came back in the middle of the night. Today is the day your brother proposed to the Cui family, and nothing is ready, not even the wild geese. This should be your business, but you don't care about anything all day."
Yu Wenzhi smiled and said, "Father, don't you know? The proposal date has been postponed. The Cui family sent someone to say that Miss Cui's engagement letter was in the cabinet and was gnawed by mice. Many important contents are missing. We have to make a new one. The proposal date has been postponed for another five days."
Yuwen Shu was very surprised. "There is such a thing. This is the first time I have heard of it. Go and get the second young master and the housekeeper."
Soon, Yuwen Shiji and the housekeeper came together.
Yuwen Shiji was a little depressed. Today was supposed to be a good day for him. He had gone on a blind date, and the next step was to propose marriage and ask for the bride price, which meant the wedding process had begun. The two parties had exchanged engagement letters, and the proposal would be considered successful, and the marriage would be preliminarily settled. But what he feared came true, and something unexpected happened, and the proposal had to be postponed for five days. Yuwen Shiji felt like he had stepped on empty air, and he felt very uneasy.
Yuwen Shu asked, "What happened? Who from the Cui family told me about it?"
The butler bowed and said, "Sir, it was the Cui family's chief butler who came here early this morning."
Yuwen Shu was a little unhappy. How could he send a butler to say this? Even if Cui Hongzhou didn't have time, he could let his eldest son come to express his apology. What was the point of sending a butler to say this? This was clearly a bit of a snub to the Yuwen family.
Yuwen Shu asked again: "What did they say?"
"Their housekeeper said that when they were preparing the engagement letter last night, they found that Miss Cui's engagement letter had been gnawed to pieces by rats. The name, birth characters, and signatures of the elders were all gone. There was no other way, they had to prepare a new one, which would take two or three days. They could only wait for the next auspicious day, which would be five days later."
Yuwen Shiji was afraid that his father would be angry, so he quickly explained, "Father, it has not been used for more than ten years. It has been kept in a box and no one has ever looked at it. It was damaged by mice. This kind of thing is actually very common. It happens all the time. Ordinary people don't care. If it is damaged, they can just write a copy by hand. It has almost no impact. But the Cui family is a prestigious family. They are very particular about the Geng Tie that proves their bloodline and identity. They must carefully make another copy. This is also a respect for our family."
"I know they are a prestigious family!"
Yuwen Shu glared at his son and said angrily: "If they respect us, they shouldn't send a butler to explain. What kind of person is a butler?"
Yu Wenzhi whispered, "Father, I suspect they just discovered that the engagement card was broken this morning, and they had to notify Cui Hongsheng and others not to come. They were too busy and short-handed, so they asked the butler to explain the situation. After all, it's just a proposal, and our two families don't have any relationship yet. If it comes to Naji, they will definitely take it seriously."
The eldest son finally said something sensible. Now the two families are still in the stage of discussing the marriage. They have only agreed to discuss the marriage. Even the proposal has not started, let alone succeeded. It is normal for the Cui family not to attach importance to the Yuwen family. If they reach the stage of engagement, they will be relatives, and Cui Hongzhou will have to explain it personally.
Yuwen Shu nodded, "Alright, we have time to prepare properly. Huaji, prepare real geese for your brothers, not wooden ones. The four-color gifts must be of the best quality, not perfunctory ones, or others will look down on our Yuwen family."
"Don't worry, father. I will definitely prepare the real goose!"
Yuwen Shu comforted his second son and said, "Good things take time. Five days have passed in a flash." Yuwen Shiji bowed and said, "I will wait patiently!"
Three days later, Xiao Xia returned early in the morning. He asked his men to send his weapons and luggage back to the mansion, and he rushed to Lingyan Pavilion to report. Today happened to be the reception day of Lingyan Pavilion, and there was only half a day in the morning. He had to complete the task and he would be fine.
When Xiaoqing saw the young master's luggage, she hurriedly took a carriage to Xiao Cui's mansion in Lanlingfang. The carriage was provided by Xihai Trading Company. Xiaoqing asked the steward Ma to inform Xiao Xia that she would come to find Xiaoqing in the carriage herself.
After waiting at the door for a while, Cui Mei ran out, and Xiao Qing asked anxiously: "The young master is back, but he is not in the mansion for the time being. If we go back now, he will probably be back."
Cui Mei jumped onto the carriage and urged, "Let's go!"
The carriage started and drove towards Qinrenfang. Xiaoqing asked with concern: "How is your sister?"
Cui Mei said worriedly: "My sister is ill, and my mother is very worried, so she allowed me to come out and go with you."
"You mean your mother doesn't object to your sister and the young master being together?"
"My mother is worried about my sister, and my father is an old stubborn man. If we hadn't destroyed the engagement letter, my sister would have been forced to get engaged to Yuwen Shiji three days ago. Now it's postponed to the day after tomorrow."
The carriage sped along and soon arrived at Xiao Xia's mansion. Coincidentally, Xiao Xia had just returned. He was originally planning to go to the military camp and would not return to the mansion until the afternoon. As a result, the steward Ma sent someone to wait for him at the gate of the military camp, saying that there was an urgent matter in the mansion, so he hurried back to the mansion.
"Brother Xiao!"
Cui Mei suddenly saw Xiao Xia, and the grievances of the past few days immediately flooded into her heart. Her eyes turned red and tears fell.
"Hey! Why is Xiaomei here? Where is your sister?" Xiao Xia was very surprised.
Cui Mei couldn't bear it any longer, so she jumped off the carriage and threw herself into Xiao Xia's arms and started crying.
"Something happened to my sister."
Xiao Xia's face changed, and she asked, "Don't cry! Don't cry! Tell me, what happened to my sister?"
Cui Mei sobbed and told her about the Yuwen family's engagement with her sister. Finally, she said, "Dad has brought back the new engagement letter today. The day after tomorrow, we will start proposing and exchanging engagement letters. My sister is exhausted and has fallen ill."
Xiao Xia's face was as gloomy as water. He had only been away for a month when such a thing happened.
"Does your father know about your sister and me?"
Cui Mei nodded, "Dad knows. My sister told him. He was very angry and refused outright."
"Does the Yuwen family know?" Xiao Xia asked again.
Cui Mei nodded again, "Sister fell ill, Yuwen Shiji came to visit yesterday, and sister refused to see him, so I told him directly that sister and Mr. Xiao love each other, and asked him not to steal her love."
"How did he say?"
"He said that he was married at the behest of the matchmaker and his parents, and that this is what marriage is, and that it has nothing to do with him about love. What he said was very unpleasant, and he said that kind of unconventional approach would not lead to any result!"
Xiao Xia laughed coldly, took out a jade pendant from his bosom and handed it to Cui Mei, "Give this to your sister. This is a token of love I gave her. Tell her that she is my woman. If anyone dares to steal my woman, I will destroy his entire family!"
(End of this chapter)