Chapter 26 A Thing That Can’t Be Shown in Public

Chapter 26: Trash That Can't Be Shown in Public

But no matter what Lianye said, Liu Mei simply refused to believe it.

Why would the Eldest Young Madam summon Lianye out of the blue? She must have used some scheme! To drive a wedge between the two of them.

"This is a classic wedge tactic. Lianye, don't let yourself be fooled by it."

Seeing that Liu Mei wouldn't listen to reason, Lianye said helplessly, "Fine, if what you say is true and the Eldest Young Madam did use some ploy, then she's pretty clever. She said nothing, did nothing, and yet here we are, at odds with each other."

Liu Mei looked skeptical but a little more at ease, taking Lianye's hand: "Dear sister, you have no idea—today, when I was with the Eldest Young Master... all of a sudden, the Eldest Young Madam walked in. I was scared out of my wits! I thought she was going to kill me!"

"You dodged a bullet today. From now on, let's both be more careful. If she doesn't go easy on us next time..."

Those words sent a shiver down Liu Mei's spine—the Eldest Young Madam would even hit the Eldest Young Miss and the Eldest Young Master!

Xi Qianyue was eating the fruit sent from the estate, looking carefree, showing no sign of being troubled over the chamber maid.

Qing Rong, fearing she might be bottling up her feelings, urged, "Eldest Young Madam, if you were truly upset just now, it would have been fine to give those two maids a beating. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Xi Qianyue laughed heartily: "Qing Rong, my honest Qing Rong has become just like me—ready to strike at a moment's notice? Hahaha, you're really rubbing off on me."

Qing Rong's face flushed red, and she said, pretending to be annoyed, "Eldest Young Madam, why do you have to tease me like that?"

Xi Qianyue stopped smiling: "Alright, alright, I won't tease you. I truly didn't take today's events to heart, so don't worry. But from now on, if any of you see a woman with a small red teardrop mole beneath her eye, don't forget to report it to me."

The maidservants didn't know why the Eldest Young Madam suddenly brought this up, but since it was an order, they just nodded and went along with it.

Xi Qianyue thought to herself: in the book, Yang Xingxian had taken a big chunk of the original owner's dowry, used it to get an audience with the Great Confucian Scholar, received his guidance, and then passed the provincial exam to become a juren!

Could that scholar really predict the exam questions?

He was a real master—she absolutely couldn't let Yang Xingxian succeed.

Now that she wouldn't let him take those valuables out, he couldn't get in touch with the Great Confucian Scholar, right?

By cutting off his path to the imperial exams from the start, she should have changed his fate, right?

After all, with his repeated failures in the examinations, he couldn't rise to prominence either.

Xi Qianyue had a few peaceful days until someone from her parents' house came, saying her mother wanted her to return for a visit.

She knew that Zeng Shi had found a candidate from the clan, and that child would become her younger brother, so of course she needed to go back and see.

When Lady Wu learned that Xi Qianyue had waltzed back to her family home again, she was so furious she nearly smashed her teacup.

Nanny Wu quickly snatched the cup out of her hand—it couldn't be broken, or they'd have to buy another one...

"Is this proper? What married woman keeps running back to her family home? Her mother doesn't have a lick of sense either—what matters so much that she must have her daughter come rushing back..."

The maidservants in the room thought the mistress's temper was getting worse by the day.

This time, Zeng Shi didn't greet her at the ornamental gate. As Xi Qianyue entered the courtyard, she found Ye Fei and Ye Xue posted at the gate.

Xi Qianyue was extremely pleased: "Well done. Don't let random people into the courtyard to disturb my mother. I'll give you a reward."

Ye Fei and Ye Xue were delighted at the praise: "Yes, Eldest Young Madam!"

Xi Qianyue immediately had Qing Rong give each of them a tael of silver, and the two maids stood proudly like a pair of sentinels.

Entering the main hall, she saw Zeng Shi and Nanny Li fussing over a small child.

The child was only two or three years old, with big eyes, a round little face, and full of energy. He wore his hair in a little topknot, absolutely adorable.

Zeng Shi had been in a great mood all day: "Qian Yue, come quickly. This is your younger brother. I plan to give him a new name—Qian Xun, Xi Qianxun. What do you think?"

Xi Qianyue nodded: "Very good. Xun means trust, faith—it's a good name."

"Eldest Young Miss, you don't know—when the mistress announced she wanted to choose a good child from the clan, the women all brought their kids over, some seven or eight years old, some two or three. Though the other children had been told how to behave, they didn't dare approach the mistress." Nanny Li began to chatter.

Zeng Shi was in a great mood and described it herself: "I wanted to find a child that caught my eye. I didn't bribe them with treats. The other kids wouldn't come near me, but this one walked right up to me on his own. You have no idea—when his little hand reached for mine, my heart melted."

Xi Qianyue was glad for her mother: "What did his family say?"

"They were naturally overjoyed and repeatedly assured me they had no ulterior motives. The poor child lost his birth mother early. His father remarried, and the stepmother bore another son... They took the money and sent him packing. His father and stepmother were delighted."

"Good—no loose ends."

Xi Qianyue patted the child's head, and he said in his babyish voice, "Eldest sister."

Xi Qianyue was pleasantly surprised: "What a good little brother."

Seeing the two of them get along so well, Zeng Shi was overjoyed.

"We should get this done sooner rather than later..."

Before she could finish, Master Xi's voice boomed from outside: "Why didn't you consult me? Such a big matter..."

Master Xi came alone with his steward, and Ye Fei and Ye Xue let him in.

As he entered the hall and saw Xi Qianyue, he said with displeasure, "This is all your fault, girl, egging on your mother to adopt some son. I already have sons..."

Zeng Shi said coldly, "I have no use for any of your concubine-born sons, and I won't have them put under my name. If you want to put your concubine above your wife, I'll take you to court and see what crime that is! I've already informed the clan elders. Later, we'll open the ancestral hall and add Xun Geer to the family tree."

Under the "three conditions," a wife couldn't be divorced, and Zeng Shi had observed three years of mourning for both his parents, so there was no way he could divorce her. Nor was she willing to leave, and for the sake of her daughter's reputation, she only wished to live a peaceful life in her own courtyard.

But her adopting a legal heir changed everything.

Even if she had already lost most of her wealth, she still had tens of thousands of taels of silver, and in the future, none of it would go to his concubine-born sons.

Master Xi naturally understood this and pointed at Zeng Shi: "You're being foolish. You'd rather give your big fortune to this child with no blood relation to you than to my concubine-born sons? A concubine-born son is still my son..."

Xi Qianyue cut him off: "What do your concubine-born sons have to do with my mother? Do they share any blood with her? Your concubine-born sons and your concubine still scheme to oppress my mother and eye her money—stop dreaming! They can remain trash that can't be shown in public for the rest of their lives!"

Xi Qianyue's words carried weight, once again changing how Master Xi saw her.

Though she had kicked up a fuss in this courtyard before, he clearly still hadn't fully realized that this daughter of his was not under his thumb.