Chapter 48: Secret Alliance Without a Matchmaker
Xue Yue Lou arrived early, changing into a brightly colored new dress and applying makeup, making her appear full of vitality. She held her six-year-old son, Ming Ge’er, by the hand. Though her expression was cold and distant, even the servants secretly gossiped that after the Second Master Yao’s accident, the Second Madam’s complexion had visibly improved.
She paid her respects to the Old Madam and Madam Fu before heading directly to Li Xiang Courtyard.
Xue Sui observed her complexion and smiled, her eyes crinkling.
“Ru Yi, quickly fetch a seat for the Second Young Lady.”
Xue Yue Lou was not one for pleasantries. She sat down, accepted the tea poured by Ru Yi, and then began to speak of Yao Wei’s situation.
“Third Master Yao’s life was saved, but his eyes are ruined, he can’t see clearly, and he can barely speak intelligibly. He moans and coughs all day, barely alive. The doctor said it was due to the inhalation of toxic fluids, which caused stagnation of lung qi, damaged the internal organs, and the bodily fluids turned into phlegm and saliva, obstructing the airways, scorching the lung yin, and ulcerating the corners of his eyes…”
She said this with a smile.
Xue Sui listened with a smile.
Compared to death, a life worse than death for Yao Wei was more tragic, and he could no longer bully her.
Xue Yue Lou couldn’t suppress her joy and, before Xue Sui could ask, spoke again.
“The Yao family is shrouded in gloom, and they’ve invited all the famous doctors in Shangjing, but they all say it’s difficult to treat. No matter how they try, he likely won’t recover to his former self. His parents and his widow sister-in-law weep incessantly, urging me to attend to him. I’m quite willing, as he is now at my mercy… I am now willingly serving him.”
Xue Sui smiled faintly.
“Third Master Yao suffered such great injustice, did he not think of finding someone to settle the score?”
Xue Yue Lou chuckled lightly, “Who is there to settle the score with? The wound on Third Master Yao’s back clearly shows claw marks. Are we to round up all the cats in Shangjing and interrogate them?”
Seeing her cheerful demeanor, Xue Sui also smiled.
Senior Brother Yaoguang was very experienced in handling such matters and had many methods.
She pondered for a moment, a slight smile on her lips, and asked cryptically.
“Has anything unusual happened in the Yao Mansion recently?”
Xue Yue Lou paused. Seeing no one else around, she took two rolled-up scrolls from her wide sleeves and handed them to Xue Sui.
“I found these in his study. Sixth Sister, see if they are of any use?”
Yao Wei’s father, Yao Hong, was an Assistant Minister of the Interior, usually responsible for drafting, reviewing, and disseminating imperial decrees, and also involved in the compilation of archives and classics. He had access to confidential imperial decrees and important official documents.
However, what Xue Yue Lou gave Xue Sui had nothing to do with this.
Instead, it was about the appointment and dismissal of officials…
On the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth of February this year, there were three imperial examinations. After the spring examinations, many scholars from the provinces remained in the capital to seek official positions.
This Minister Yao and his son sought the favor of Princess Ping Le, using the opportunity to gain considerable benefits…
They were originally allies. Yao Wei’s full sister, Yao Minjun, was a manager in Princess Ping Le’s “Women’s Workshop” and one of Ping Le’s trusted confidantes.
“Very useful.”
Xue Sui accepted the items and smiled faintly at Xue Yue Lou.
“Second Sister, are you willing to divorce and completely separate from the Yao family?”
The word “divorce” startled Xue Yue Lou.
“Sixth Sister… how is that possible?”
Since ancient times, it was easy for a woman to be divorced, but divorce by mutual consent was exceedingly difficult.
From the moment she married into the Yao Mansion, she had been a tool for the alliance between the two families. During the humiliating days and nights, she had even begged Yao Wei to divorce her, but to no avail. How could she escape?
“Allow me to keep it a secret for now. For now, Second Sister, protect yourself and continue to enjoy the pleasure of serving Third Master Yao. If you encounter any difficulties in the mansion, go to Steward Fang, and he will assist you.”
After speaking, Xue Sui stood up and walked over to gently stroke the child playing on the ground.
“Ming Ge’er, come, say hello to Auntie…”
Ming Ge’er looked up, gazing at her blankly, saliva dripping from his mouth, his eyes vacant. He clearly appeared to be intellectually disabled.
Xue Yue Lou sighed inwardly, filled with sorrow.
“Ming Ge’er fell ill when he was three years old. We consulted countless doctors and gave him innumerable medicinal soups, but nothing worked…”
Xue Sui picked up the child and said with a smile, “He’s quite heavy.”
Xue Yue Lou replied, “Fortunately, his mouth still works well; he can eat and sleep. Otherwise, I would worry even more.”
Xue Sui weighed the child’s build and found him to be even more slender and robust than ordinary children. His features also resembled Xue Yue Lou’s, refined and elegant. If not for his illness, he would have grown into a handsome young man.
She looked at Xue Yue Lou and asked, “Would you like to leave Ming Ge’er at Li Xiang Courtyard for a few days? I can find someone to examine him again…”
A flicker of hope appeared on Xue Yue Lou’s face.
She owed her survival that day entirely to Xue Sui’s intervention.
“Sixth Sister, you are a divine doctor?”
Xue Sui chuckled sheepishly.
“I dare not call myself a divine doctor; I only know a little.”
Xue Yue Lou mistook her words for modesty and thanked her profusely.
But Xue Sui was serious.
She had studied the Ten Arts at Old Mausoleum Swamp, and one of them was “medicine.” However, she was not specialized in medicine. The truly skilled one was her Senior Disciple Brother Tianshu. The pill that saved Xue Yue Lou that day was given to her by Tianshu for survival…
However, this was not something she could easily explain to Xue Yue Lou.
So, she picked up Ming Ge’er again and changed the subject.
“It should be lively out front now. Shall we go and see?”
With a glimmer of hope in her life, Xue Yue Lou’s complexion improved considerably, and she quickly agreed and followed.
“Prince Duan has arrived, and the guests are more numerous than usual. All the prominent families in Shangjing City have sent gifts…”
Mundane affairs were like this. Even if one desired a more refined spirit, one had to go with the flow in the treacherous world of fame and fortune, struggling to survive. Everyone was like this, unavoidable…
Xue Sui’s gaze was calm, her smile unchanged.
“It should be so.”
Everyone should see the grandeur of the Xue family marrying off a daughter, and how lavish Xue Yue Ying’s ten-mile dowry was…
Around the hour of You, the wedding procession from Marquis Jingyuan’s Mansion arrived. With gongs and drums, they proceeded grandly through Fu’an Lane, creating a magnificent spectacle.
The Xue Mansion was located right in the center of Fu’an Lane.
The sides of the street were already crowded with onlookers.
Maids from the Xue Mansion were scattering wedding money and distributing wedding candy at the entrance, creating a lively atmosphere.
“The sedan chair has arrived, the groom is here!”
Gu Jie, dressed in a bright red wedding robe and wearing a black gauze cap, had a flush on his handsome face, his eyes bright, his posture upright, and his smile like the warm sun of spring. He looked spirited and proud.
He repeatedly cupped his hands, smiling and bowing to those around him, eliciting bursts of laughter.
“What a handsome groom.”
“Gu Wulang is renowned throughout the capital for his talent and distinguished appearance. Many young ladies from noble families were infatuated with him, yet he only had eyes for the young lady from the Xue family.”
“That is also because the Xue family has a high status, which allowed them to attract such an outstanding son-in-law…”
Amidst the praise, Gu Jie walked to the manor gate and dismounted.
At the main entrance, several of Xue family’s brothers, uncles, and male relatives, along with the young men from related families, were crowded together like chirping birds, shouting and calling for the groom to pass a test before entering.
It was a custom passed down from their ancestors, and no one could break the rules.
Composing poetry and matching couplets was something Gu Jie excelled at.
The brothers cheerfully presented their challenges, and Gu Jie answered quickly and well, drawing cheers from the crowd.
At this moment, Xue Yi, the youngest son of the Third Branch, squeezed out from the crowd, raised his hands, and shouted with a grin.
“I want to ask too, I want to ask too. Let me pose a question!”
This little fellow, with his sturdy build, stood in the middle of the crowd with his hands on his hips, immediately drawing laughter from everyone.
“You are still too young to be the groom; don’t cause trouble…”
Xue Yi’s small face turned red, and he yelled at the top of his lungs.
“I want to ask the groom, ‘A secret pact made in private, a hidden pregnancy, the coupling of male and female,’ what does this mean? I heard someone say that my Fourth Sister and Fourth Brother-in-law are like this…”
The child’s words were like a ladle of cold water thrown into a pot of boiling oil.
The surroundings fell silent, and the smiles on everyone’s faces froze.
The child was young, and whatever he said couldn’t be considered malicious. But every word was like a slap to the faces of Gu Jie and the Xue family. Even those who were not privy to the situation and were merely curious onlookers would smile knowingly after hearing this, understanding it to some extent.
Gu Jie’s smile became extremely awkward, and the festive atmosphere turned subtle.
The wedding officiant, experienced and knowledgeable, quickly had Xue Yi taken away. The Xue family men also stopped their teasing, opened the main gate, and let them pass. Gu Jie slipped inside, pretending not to see the burning gazes or hear the whispers around him.
Little Xue Yi was taken away by his wet nurse. Madam Qian, in front of the Old Madam and the First Madam, scolded him with a dark expression. The child’s lips quivered as if about to cry, and he shed silent tears. The Old Madam felt pity for him.
This incident had embarrassed the Xue family, and Xue Qingzhi’s expression was very displeased.
However, with the wedding ceremony underway, he couldn’t possibly start an argument with the Third Branch in front of all the guests.
Xue Qingxiu, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned. He stroked his son’s head and chided Madam Qian.
“Why scold him? Children speak without malice. Yi Ge’er is at an age where he is eager to learn. He knows his Fourth Brother-in-law is very learned, so he went to him for clarification. What’s the big deal? Is it worth making such a fuss?”
He was always carefree, and Madam Qian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Privately, she quietly asked Xue Yi.
“Tell your mother honestly, who instructed you to do this?”
Xue Yi stuck out his tongue and ran off faster than the wind.
“I won’t tell you. I won’t tell you!”
Madam Qian could only sigh with amusement.
“This is also the consequence of the Fourth Young Lady’s own actions; no one else is to blame.”
Liuli Pavilion.
Before Xue Yue Ying left for her wedding, she heard about what happened at the gate.
Her face turned red with anger, her heart pounded, and tears immediately welled up. The makeup artist had to patiently touch up her makeup, and several people took turns comforting her for a while before she managed to suppress her anger and bitterness. She took the wedding fan embroidered with twin lotuses, and with the help of the wedding officiant, she covered her face and walked out. She knelt and kowtowed at the altar set up in the courtyard to bid farewell to her ancestors and parents, and then boarded the sedan chair.
As the wedding procession left with music, Ru Yi watched with regret.
“To let Fourth Young Lady leave so easily, what a pity, what a pity.”
Xiao Zhao hugged her arms and nodded in agreement, “Why not kill her…”
Ru Yi clicked his tongue, “Why are you always thinking about fighting and killing?”
Xiao Zhao looked at her, “We don’t have any other skills.”
Xue Sui wiped the saliva from Ming Ge’er’s mouth, glanced at the two of them, and smiled faintly.
“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy…”
