Yuchen asked for Yuxi to discuss a way to keep the Han family out of this matter but at the same time to be able to vent out their family grievances.

Yuxi did not want to get involved in such a matter, “San Jie, this is not something we can interfere with. Let’s just leave it to Father and Mother.” She had made up her mind to just watch the fun on the sidelines and wasn’t interested to give out any suggestions.T

/N

Yuchen looked at Yuxi who had an unconcerned look on her. With a frown on her pretty brow, she pointed out, “Si Mei, you are also a part of the family. You can’t be this indifferent when something like this happens to us.”

Yuxi felt it odd that she said, “San Jie, although Father didn’t check first before agreeing to this marriage with the Qiao family, Qiu Yanfu is not a member of the Han family. Even when the marriage was eventually withdrawn, we will not be implicated. If Father feels embarrassed over this, he should just send Qiu Yanfu back to Hebei. As for the Qiao family, if Third Young Miss Wang really marries into the Qiao family, she will certainly be full of resentment. By then, the Qiao family will be like chickens flying and dogs jumping.” The meaning was that even without their help, when the time came, Third Young Miss Wang would be able to torment the people of the Qiao family to death.

Yuchen shook his head as she said, “You still don’t know what kind of temper our Father has? After such an incident, Father will not send Qiu Yanfu back.” After suffering this humiliation, if he sent Qiu Yanfu back, wouldn’t that cause people to see as him being somewhat shallow?

Yuxi wished very much to spit out, how could she know what kind of temper Han Jingyan had? Ever since she was a child, the time she had spent with Han Jingyan had not exceeded twelve shichen even when she added with the time she had with him in her previous life. So how could Yuchen expect her to know about it? “Then there is nothing else we can do.” Since their Father was unwilling to send Qiu Yanfu back, then he could continue to suffer mental suffering over it. Though it seemed like only Qiu Yanfu would suffer since she was the one who experienced the mishap and no one was willing to send her away.

Yuchen was not very satisfied with Yuxi’s answer, “The Qiao family are bullying us so much. If we put up with it, anyone can step on us in the future.” She did not care about Qiu Yanfu’s broken engagement. She did not like Qiu Yanfu either, but she did feel that the Qiao family was stepping on her father’s face to the ground.

Yuxi spread her hands with a helpless look, “San Jie, you should trust Father and Mother to handle this matter well. Even if they can’t, there’s still Grandmother!”

When Yuchen saw Yuxi reacting like this, she felt very uncomfortable. They were all part of the family. Once one became glorious, all would be glorious. If one was harmed, all would be harmed. Somehow, Yuxi had turned out with this indifferent attitude.

How could Yuxi not see that Yuchen was displeased with her? At that moment she tactfully said, “San Jie, I still have something to do, so I will go back first.”

Yuchen didn’t stop Yuxi. She had her maid sent Yuxi out, before she spoke with Momo Gui, “Si Mei, she really stands by with folded arms.” She had asked Yuxi to come here because she thought that Yuxi had learned political tactics from Han Jianming. Thus, from this meeting, she wished she could discuss this matter properly with Yuxi. Momo Gui knew what Yuchen wanted to do but she did tell her that Yuxi wouldn’t lend her hand and would prefer to stand by with folded arms.

Momo Gui said, “The Fourth Miss has been on guard against the Lord and the Old Lady. Moreover, this incident doesn’t involve her. So how could she possibly come up with any idea?”

Yuchen wondered, “Even if Grandmother and Father were negligent towards her in the past, they have been remedying the situation over the years. How come she still has so much resentment with the two of them?”

Momo Gui thought it was because of Yuxi’s temperament, “From the fact that Fourth Miss has repeatedly confronted the Third Lady and Qiu Yanfu, we know that she is someone who can’t take any loss and has no room for something irritating to her eyes. She must have always remembered what the Old Lady and the Lord had done to her.”

Yuchen was in a complicated mood as she said, “Even if Father did not act thoughtfully in the beginning, he is still our Father, compared to Eldest Aunt and Dage, who are just our relatives.” There was no such thing as parents who always did things right. Yuchen felt that even if their father had not treated Yuxi well at first, she should not have been so cold and unfilial to him. Now that Yuxi was acting like this, how could Father expect Yuxi to help her maiden family when she finally married out?

Momo Gui wouldn’t tell her any tales of Yuxi at this time either. It would be too clumsy. She only said, “Everyone has different ideas.” Fourth Miss had observed and analysed the current situation and estimated the changes in it. In those days when Momo Gui first came here, Fourth Miss was a poor thing. But ever since Fourth Miss got the favour of First Lady and Master Shizi, her attitude has changed and at the same time, she became particularly powerful.

Although Yuxi didn’t come up with any ideas to deal with the Qiao family, she would still pay some attention to this matter, “Bingmei, did you find out anything in the past two days? Tell me about it. The more details the better.”

Bingmei told her the general news, some of which overlapped with what Yuchen had said before, but there were also additions, such as the difference in age of two months between the Third and Fourth Young Misses Wang. The other difference was that the Third Young Miss was a shu, while the Fourth Young Miss was a di.

Yuxi thought for a moment and then she asked, “Both of them are sixteen years old this year? Why aren’t they engaged yet?” This was very strange!

Bingmei shook her head and explained, “The one who is not engaged yet is the Third Young Miss, but the Fourth Young Miss is already betrothed to Meng Yao, the di son of Grand Secretary Meng. It’s just that since the Third Young Miss is not married yet, it’s hard to say when the Fourth Young Miss’ marriage will be.” If the Fourth Young Miss was married off before the Third Young Miss girl, their family would be criticised.

When good fortune came, the mind worked well. Zisu, who was standing by the side, offered her opinion, “Miss, do you think it could be because the Third Young Miss is getting in the way of the Fourth Young Miss, so Madam Wang used such a method?” She had listened to the discussion between Yuxi and Yuchen just now. Naturally, she knew that the so-called secret affair was a false charge.

Yuxi shook her head, “Even if you want to get the Third Young Miss out of the house early, you shouldn’t go to such great lengths. I’m afraid there’s a hidden agenda here.”

After a pause, recalling what Zisu said about getting in the way, Yuxi had a vague guess in her mind, “What kind of person is Meng Yao?”

Bingmei looked at Yuxi with a stunned expression as she asked, “Miss has not even heard of Eldest Young Master Meng?” Her Miss often went out to socialise, so how could she not have heard of such a famous name such as Eldest Young Master Meng.

Yuxi felt she was somewhat uncommon, “Even if Eldest Young Master Meng is famous, I am still a woman in a boudoir. Who would talk about him in front of me for no good reason?” Who would talk about a young man in front of her unless they were particularly close? But Yuxi hadn’t heard of this Eldest Young Master Meng from Zhou Shiya or the other girls.

Bingmei blushed a little when she heard this.

Hearing Bingmei’s introduction to Eldest Young Master Meng, Yuxi’s face was somewhat expressionless. “What’s with this man having a good family background, fine literary talents, good looks, good temper, and good relationship with other people? Nine times out of ten these things are just bragging about himself. He may be just a filthy thing wrapped in human skin!” She had some suspicions that this Meng Yao was the one having an illicit affair with the Third Young Miss Wang. The reason for this was simple: the Third Young Miss Wang rarely went out. So she had very few opportunities to meet outside men. As well as, the Third Young Miss was both beautiful and intelligent. She belonged to the type of proud and arrogant people, thus she did not look at ordinary people. Suddenly this so-called young man with five good attributes caught her eye. Of course, there was a reason why Yuxi thought it would be like this. The reason laid with Madam Wang. Bingmei froze when she heard all this. She did not understand what Yuxi meant. What did her Miss mean by ‘filthy things wrapped in human skin’?

Zisu was more attentive and she immediately asked after she instructed Bingmei to withdraw, “Has Miss guessed something?”

Yuxi nodded as she laid out her guess, “Third Concubine Wang is particularly favoured, but Madam Wang, the continuing wife, still holds the inner courtyard and has raised several children of her own, which proves that Madam Wang is also an extremely skilful person. If she was a wise woman, she would not have failed to realise that she was killing a thousand enemies but damaging eight hundred of her own. But what could have made Madam Wang so angry that made her lose her sense?”

Zisu was not stupid and she understood the matter at once, “Does Miss mean that the Eldest Young Master Meng is the one who is having an affair with Third Young Miss Wang?”

Yuxi nodded, “There is a half probability.” In fact, this was a conservative estimate, but the truth should have been more than half probability.

The matter of Qiu Yanfu’s broken engagement did not affect the Han family too much. It was just a cousin who had been living in the Han family for over a year. Therefore, apart from ridiculing Qiu Yanfu, Qiu Shi didn’t care about it at all. As for the Old Lady, she also kept quiet.

Not three days later, Kufu informed Yuxi, “Miss, now rumours are going around outside saying that the Third Young Miss Wang family did not have an illicit affair with the Second Master Qiao, but rather the Second Master Qiao is like the toad that wants to eat swan meat.” The Third Young Miss Wang was a shu daughter, but she was still a young miss from a government minister residence. Although the Second Master Qiao was also a government official, he was going to marry for a second time, making him have a bad reputation outside. Hence he was not even like a toad that wanted to eat swan meat.

Yuxi muttered to herself, “This is a good method.” This method, which did not involve the Han family, but also made the Qiao family become enemies with Minister Wang. She just did not know whether this method was thought up by Yuchen or the Old Lady.

Kufu asked, “Miss, do you think the Wang family will withdraw from the marriage?” The two families were also going through the wedding formal process, and it seemed like they hadn’t reached the betrothed stage yet.

Yuxi was also unclear, “That will depend on Third Young Miss Wang’s skills.”

This matter was actually quite lively to follow. First, the Third Young Miss Wang family withdrew her marriage with the Second Master Qiao, and then the Fourth Young Miss Wang broke off her engagement with Eldest Young Master Meng. The people in the capital were all very smart, so when they heard that the two sisters had withdrawn from their marriage back to back, they were able to figure out what was going on. When the gossip was flying around, Madam Wang just took the Fourth Young Miss back home with her.

When Kufu finished telling Yuxi the news, she stated, “It’s very inappropriate for Madam Wang to take the Fourth Young Miss Wang back to her old home at this time!”

Yuxi laughed, “What’s wrong with that? A lot of the Wang family children have gotten married and had children of their own, and Madam Wang’s position is so strong that even if she returns to her hometown, her position will not be shaken. This time she will take her daughter back to her hometown so that she can lie low until something else blows over and also find a marriage for the Fourth Young Miss Wang there.” Knowing the situation of the Wang family, Yuxi had a favourable impression of Madam Wang. Although Madam Wang was a jishi and had her own two sons and a daughter, she was still very kind to the children left behind by the First Wife. She was genuinely kind and not the type of person who was nice on the surface but used dirty tricks behind the scenes. This was confirmed by the fact that the Eldest Young Master Wang and the Eldest Young Miss Wang respect Madam Wang like she was their birth mother.

From the fact that Madam Wang had taken her daughter back home, Yuxi guessed that Madam Wang had made up her mind to withdraw from the Meng family before, but she didn’t want to let Third Young Miss Wang off lightly, which was why this incident had come about.

Zisu looked at Yuxi and said, “Miss can even calculate.” Even before this news came out, her Miss had speculated that the Third Young Miss Wang had an affair with the Eldest Young Master Meng which average people couldn’t even think of.

Yuxi laughed a little, “It’s just a blind guess. I just don’t know if Grandmother will let Father send Qiu Yanfu away after this incident.” Han Jingyan would not send Qiu Yanfu away, but the Old Lady might have this idea.

Zisu knew that Yuxi particularly hated Qiu Yanfu. For Yuxi, this was probably what people called hated the house and its crow, “Miss, we can ask the First Lady for help in this matter. If the First Lady mentions it to the Old Lady, she may agree.”

Traditional Chinese Spinning Top

/ Tuoluo, 陀螺

Image Credit | Helen Dai ( Traditional Chinese Spinning Top Toys, June 9th, 2018)

Yuxi rejected this proposal as she explained, “My aunt has been busy just like a spinning top with Er Ge’s’s marriage recently. So how can I give her additional trouble at this juncture!” Although her Eldest Aunt was the mistress in charge, it was not good for her aunt to interfere in the matter regarding the Third House.