Chapter 218 : Adoption (1)

In the seventh lunar month, when the sun came out, it was sweltering. When it was near noon, it was as hot as a stove. The twigs of weeping willows on the side of the road were motionless, with their shadows shrunk into a ball, and their leaves, covered with a layer of dust, were curled up.

Han Jianming went to the hamlet. He looked at the lush mountains and the people working in the fields. There were mountains and water here, which was a perfect place.

Yuxi wasn’t surprised to hear that Han Jianming had come; something like what happened yesterday always had to be dealt with. Even if not for sentimental reasons, from the point of benefit, Dage would not let her out of the clan.

Han Jianming looked at Yuxi as she looked normal and did not look scared in any way. He said with a smile, “You, this girl, are good at enjoying yourself. You have such a nice place. You don’t even know to ask your Dage to come and stay here for a few days.” This place was much cooler than the capital.

Yuxi laughed. “Dage, I was driven out. I didn’t come here for a holiday.” As she spoke, she welcomed Han Jianming to the parlour.

Zisu brought a cup of water over, and Yuxi smilingly said, “Dage, this is spring water from the mountain. It’s very sweet. Dage, try it. I use this mountain spring water to make fragrant tea, and it tastes especially good.”

Han Jianming waved his hand and told everyone to withdraw. Only when everyone had left did he say, “Seeing you like this, you are not worried about the future at all.”

Yuxi picked up the chrysanthemum tea she had just brewed, took two sips and put it down, saying, “Dage is here, so what do I have to worry about. Don’t you think so? Dage?” The fact that Han Jianming could show up here already indicated an attitude that he wouldn’t let her out of the clan.

Han Jianming couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so broad-minded. Grandmother has intervened in this matter. Grandmother intends to let the Main House adopt you. What do you think?”

Yuxi froze and asked, “He agreed?” She was now even unwilling to call Han Jingyan her father. Her affection for him had long gone anyway. She didn’t even want to keep up with that facade.

Han Jianming nodded. “San Shu and my Mother have agreed. There’s no problem on my Father’s side either. My Mother has already asked someone to choose a prosperous date, and this will probably be done within a month.”

Yuxi revealed a relieved look and said with a smile, “That’s good, that’s good.” By being adopted to the Main House, she no longer had to face Han Jingyan’s hypocritical face, nor did she have to worry about Han Jingyan using her as a punching bag if he didn’t get his way with her.

Han Jianming looked at Yuxi and asked, “If San Shu throws you out of the Han family, will you truly go to Jiangnan?”

Yuxi was silent for a moment and said, “If I really drive out of the Han family, I can only take one step at a time. I have always heard that Su Hang is picturesque. I want to see the beauty there when I go to Jiangnan. I don’t know if I will settle in Jiangnan.”

Su Hang = SUzhou and HANGzhou

Her words were somewhat sad. Han Jianming quickly jumped over them and said, “Grandmother intends to keep the adoption quiet for the time being and wait until some time has passed. Therefore, you’ll have to stay at the hamlet for a while.”

Yuxi smilingly said, “It’s quite good for me to live here.” She was free to do whatever she wanted without worrying about this or that, and no one was bothering her.

Han Jianming responded, “I can tell by the way you look that you’re doing well here.” She was rather like a bird that had been released from its cage.

Zisu announced from outside, “Master Shizi, Miss, the food is ready. It’s time to eat.” With the words that Han Jingyan had put out, Zisu had been up all night. It wasn’t until Han Jianming came over that she was slightly more at ease.

Lunch was vibrant, with eight dishes and one soup. Yuxi smiled and pointed to the minced eggplant on the dining table and said, “Dage, I planted this eggplant. Try it. It tastes delicious.”

Han Jianming said with amusement, “You’ve only been at the farm for a few days, and you’ve already planted eggplants?”

After lunch, Han Ji came over and told Han Jianming and Yuxi that the person who spread the rumour had been found. “It was Steward Chen’s eldest daughter-in-law, and she passed the news to the Third Lady.” The hamlet head’s eldest daughter-in-law felt that since Yuxi had been thrown out of the residence because of Yuxi’s bad reputation, it would undoubtedly be difficult for Yuxi to turn over a new leaf in the future. So Wu Shi’s people approached her and asked her to help keep an eye on Yuxi, and she agreed to do so.

Han Jianming said, “You should dispose of the hamlet head’s daughter-in-law. For the Third Lady, leave it to the Old Lady!” As for Wu Shi, Han Jianming would not give his comment.

Yuxi nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Han Jianming had many things to do and did not have time to rest for two days on the hamlet. When the sun was close to setting, he went back with his entourage. Before he left, he said, “I’ll have someone bring you back after the Mid-Autumn Festival.” Since the matter of adoption could not be made public, it could only be settled in private. So, whether Yuxi was present or not, was not a problem.

After sending Han Jianming away, Yuxi turned to Han Ji and instructed, “Go and bring Steward Chen’s family over.” Yuxi thought it was one of the tenant farmers who had revealed the news. Thus, she never thought it would be Steward Chen’s daughter-in-law.

Steward Chen’s eldest daughter-in-law, Gu Shi, was still a little delighted when she heard the Third Lord had come over to make a scene last night. After all, she had betrayed Yuxi, and she would only be safe if Yuxi did not end up well. But before she could be happy, she heard that Master Shizi had come over and was having lunch on the farm, so she was in a state of panic. She thought that the Han family had abandoned Yuxi, so she dared to betray her. If the Han family had abandoned the Fourth Miss, why would Master Shizi come over?

Steward Chen was a little surprised to hear that Yuxi had asked him to bring his whole family over. What was the point of calling his family when she could just ask him if there was something she needed to know? Steward Chen was a down-to-earth kind of man. So he didn’t overthink about it. He just called his whole family over, even his eight-month-old granddaughter, as instructed.

Steward Chen had three sons. Before, when his family was so poor, his sons were unable to marry. When he came here and got more prosperous, his two sons managed to marry girls from the tenant families on the farm. Now he had six grandsons and four granddaughters. Therefore, it could be considered that his family was currently flourishing.

Yuxi looked at the Chen family kneeling on the ground and asked expressionlessly, “Do you know why I called you all here?”

Steward Chen shook his head and said, “I’m requesting Miss to please reveal it to me.” Steward Chen did not know what was going on. He was so busy with the affairs of the hamlet every day that he could barely get over it. So how could he have the energy to manage the affairs of his family? And besides, he could not handle it even if he was asked to do so.

Yuxi said, “A rumour spread in the capital two days ago that I was having an affair with the Second Master Chen, and we had a private meeting right at the manor. Steward Chen, do you know about this?”

Steward Chen was not that well-informed and shook his head. “Miss, this is something that this old servant has not heard of.” He had been anxious and angry the other day because of the rain. Thus he had been busy in the fields all day. He didn’t even have time to chat with his son, so how could he know what rumours were going around in the capital?

Gu Shi’s whole body trembled when she heard this.

Yuxi didn’t say anything. She just looked at the pale-faced Gu Shi. There was no need for Yuxi to say anything, as the others understood what was going on when they saw Gu Shi’s face. Steward Chen’s eldest son slapped her across the face and asked sternly, “Say, what’s going on?”

Gu Shi also knew that it was useless to clench her jaw and resist. At that moment, she told them all about Wu Shi’s people who had approached her with the promise of a large sum of money. When Gu Shi finished, she kowtowed towards Yuxi and begged for mercy, “Miss, I only said that the Second Master Chen family had come over to look for Miss, but I didn’t say anything else.”

What Yuxi detests most was this kind of crawling high by stepping on the low stuff.

When everyone heard this statement, Steward Chen’s eldest son slapped Gu Shi to the ground, “You wicked woman, you are trying to get our whole family killed.” Gu Shi’s behaviour was precisely betraying her master. This kind of behaviour would make one most hated by one’s master.

The Chen family’s second daughter-in-law begged, “Miss, we didn’t know about this. Please spare our lives.” If they were to be sold out, they didn’t know what was in store for them.

Yuxi sneered. “How can you live under the same roof and not know anything about such a big matter? Do you think I would believe that?” If you did something like this, you would show traces of it. As long as one had a heart, one would know.

As soon as Yuxi said these words, the faces of the rest of the Chen family changed. Steward Chen burst into tears and kowtowed, “Miss, this old servant didn’t know. If this old servant had known that Gu Shi had dared to betray her master, this old servant would not have tolerated it.” If it were a family dispute, he would have passed it with a blind eye. But if she betrayed her master, the whole family would be implicated.

The reason why Yuxi could call Steward Chen over was that he had been conscientiously taking care of the estate for the past few years. He never cheated by shirking away from his responsibility, and his accounts were crystal clear. This time, when she was rushed to the estate, Steward Chen treated her with respect and dignity, without a trace of perfunctory treatment. No matter what she ordered, Steward Chen did an excellent job of it. If not, with what Gu Shi had done, there would be no need to bring them all here, and it would not be too much for her just to sell the entire Chen family.

Just at this time, Han Ji walked in and reported to Yuxi, “Miss, the search has been completed. These are all found from the Chen family house.”

Han Ji explained what he had found. From Steward Chen’s house, he found five hundred taels of silver notes and sixty taels of broken silver, as well as a pair of gold earrings and two gold rings. But Steward Chen’s five hundred taels was not a whole sheet. It was made up of ten or twenty taels added together. They could see that Steward Chen had saved these up day by day and month by month. On the other hand, what was recovered from Gu Shi’s side were two silver cheques of five hundred taels, a gold bracelet and a gold hairpin, while the golden jewelled hairpin looked exceptionally bright. In addition to this, a gold bracelet and some pieces of silver were also found in the Chen family’s second daughter-in-law’s house.

Yuxi looked at the pattern of the two gold bracelets and knew without asking that they were originally a pair. She looked at the Chen family’s second daughter-in-law and asked with a smile, “You know nothing about it? Then tell me, where did this gold bracelet come from?”

Chen’s second daughter-in-law’s face turned pale.

The result was simple: Gu Shi was bundled up and sent to the State Residence, not to be handed over to Qiu Shi for disposal, but Gu Shi had to act as a witness to prove that it was she who had passed the news to Wu Shi that day. As for the Chen family’s second daughter-in-law, since she was from a respectable family, Yuxi did not dispose of her either. She left her to the Chen family on how to handle her.

When Steward Chen saw that his family was not implicated and Miss had returned to him the silver tickets and scraps of silver she had found in his house, he felt grateful and guilty.

Yuxi didn’t say much. She only said, “You’ll have to work harder on managing the affairs of the hamlet in the future.” Steward Chen received no less than a hundred taels of silver every month, but he had only saved about five hundred taels of silver in more than seven years, which showed how clean he was.

Steward Chen choked back a sob and promised, “Don’t worry, Miss. I will make sure that the hamlet is properly taken care of so that Miss doesn’t have to worry about it.”

Yuxi nodded her head and said, “You guys can go back!”

When the Chen family returned to their home, several people felt that they had returned from the gate of hell. If it weren’t for Miss’ generosity, they estimated that the family would have been ruined right now.