Chapter 18

When Yuan Jin returned to Xue Mansion, it was already late, but he still talked about the Xining Battle with Wen Yu.

Wen Yu was able to learn from one example and his mind was quick and flexible beyond Yuan Jin's expectations.

Yuan Jin felt that he was indeed talented in this area, so he felt relieved and asked the girl to send him back to rest.

After Wen Yu left, Liu'er replied to her: "I have asked me that there are indeed a staff member of the Dingguo Duke's Mansion in Chongshan Temple. I don't know if his surname is Chen. The girls can't tell me about this, they only said that the aide was disliked by Dingguo Duke and their lives are very poor..."

That's what it means, Yuan Jin thought to himself, it seems that this person's identity is fine.

She was about to ask Xing'er to take water and wash and go to bed. At this time, Cui brought the girl over and complained as soon as she entered the door: "Why are you back now!"

"Do you have something to do?" Yuan Jin usually asked her if she couldn't hear her complaints about Cui.

Cui sat down, holding a brocade box with fine copper buckles with sandalwood and auspicious cloud pattern in her hand, and opened it and handed it to Yuan Jin. "This pair of golden hairpins with the begonia were given to me by your grandmother when I was wearing a hairpin."

The golden hairpin was placed on the white silk cloth, and the carved crabapple flowers were lifelike, and there were a few rubies as big as rice grains embedded in the stamens. The gold was a bit heavy, and Yuan Jin was a little heavy when he was weighed. Although it was a golden hairpin of crabapple, it was not vulgar, but it was noble and exquisite.

It seems that my grandmother's aesthetic taste is better than Cui's.

"I think it looks bad in style and I have never worn it much. I gave it to you as your birthday gift." Cui said awkwardly, but Yuan Jin laughed.

Cui didn't think gold was not good-looking, she just wanted to give it to her.

"Thank you, mother." Yuan Jin asked Liu'er to put it away very much.

Cui coughed and continued, "You are fourteen years old now and you are at the age of getting engaged. You dress better on weekdays, don't dress too cleanly." She said and touched Yuan Jin's hair, "Your father and I have good hair. You are just like your grandmother. Your hair is thin and soft, and it's not easy to wear hairpins. It's also not easy to wear hairpins. Wearing the same thing, I don't have a festive day, and you don't wear good-looking clothes for you. I don't know what you are thinking, it makes people worry about white..." Cui scolded her in a nagging manner.

Yuan Jin didn't feel impatient.

Her mother passed away when she was three years old in her previous life, and she had no impression of her mother. She could only hear from the empress dowager and her father's description. Her father said that her mother was full of poetry and books, a lady from a family, gentle and kind, and there was no place that was bad anyway.

The empress dowager laughed and said to her: "Your mother has the most urgent temper. If others don't suit her, she often never interacts. Especially for your business, she must do the best in everything, raise you very well, and take it out as good as a porcelain doll. When she was sick, she told your father that she should take good care of you and not let her stepmother bully you, otherwise she would not let your father go astray... Your father was half-kneeling beside her bed at that time and told her that if you die today, I will marry a second wife tomorrow and will not raise a daughter well."

"Your mother was so angry that she stared at him. But your mother finally went, but your father knelt on the edge of the bed and cried bitterly, trembling all over. I had never seen him cry like that... Later..."

Yuan Jin learned later that his father never married anyone else.

Whenever she heard this, she was curious about her mother. She regretted that she couldn't remember such a mother, and she and her father lost such a mother early on.

She suddenly found a trace of her mother's shadow on Cui, which actually evoked the warmth in her heart.

It is clear that my mother and Cui are different at all.

"I remember everything, you should go to bed early, too." Yuan Jin said with a smile.

"What's the use of remembering? You are too young. When you get married, you will know that everything you say for your mother is for your own good." Cui finally scolded her and hesitated for a moment, "How much chance of winning between you and Wen Yu is? There are many powerful people. You should focus on yourself. Don't delay your marriage for this."

Yuan Jin was right when she said that she finally sent Cui away.

Yuan Jin looked at the golden hairpin for a while before going to bed.

*

The next day, Duke Ding personally inspected these people, using the Xining Battle as a model and asked them to analyze and plan. Wei Heng and Xue Yunhai both answered in moderation, but Wei Xiang's answer was not bad.

Wen Yu was beyond everyone's expectations, with a smooth answer, clear thinking and proper arrangement. He actually made Duke Ding admire him. Before, he thought that although Xue Wenyu was smart, he was inevitably having problems with his temperament. Now it seems that the problem is not big, which surprised him a little, thinking that Xue Wenyu is a good person to cultivate.

This incident made Xue Yuntao feel very bad.

He was not like Yun Hai and Wei Heng. He was already appreciated by the Duke Dingguo Mansion, nor was he answered well like Wei Xiang. Now that the only fool who is not as good as him is appreciated, wouldn’t he become the worst one? If one of them is to eliminate one of them now, wouldn’t he be in danger?

He returned to the mansion with great concern and told Shen what happened today.

Shen frowned when he heard this: "Originally, it would be fine if you defeated your elder brother or Wei Heng. They are better than you, and it is not embarrassing to lose to them. Now they are defeated by a fool. If you tell me this, you may lose face."

Xue Yuntao nodded: "This is the truth. If I say that I will not be able to accept defeat to this fool."

Xue Yuanshan and Xue Yuanyu were listening, not knowing what to do.

They were also afraid that Xue Yuntao would not be elected.

Although no matter which boy in the Xue family is selected, the sisters from other rooms have the chance to become the step-by-stop lady of the Duke of Dingguo Mansion. However, the possibility of their biological brothers and sisters is high, not to mention that they are not as advantageous as Xue Yuanzhen. If Xue Yuntao is eliminated, what hope will they have?

Now the two sisters had no intention of fighting each other and looked at each other in a bad mood.

It is suffocating to think of the glory and wealth of the Duke Dingguo Mansion and the powerful Gu Heng, who is known as the most beautiful man in the capital, is now about to lose it.

Xue Yuanshan was also very unwilling to give up. She was second only to Xue Yuanzhen in the Xue family. She also fantasized about how enviable it would be if she had such a family background and identity. Now everything is going to be vanished, and it would be hard to think about it.

She also wants to save it.

"Brother, I said you just sit so stupidly." Xue Yuanyu suddenly spoke, his tone a little serious, "If you really don't think about anything, wouldn't you really fulfill the fourth room?"

The other three looked at each other and suddenly felt that the silly sister made sense.

I sigh here, it is better to think of some ways to come out.

"Then what did you think of?" Shen asked her.

Xue Yuanyu's idea was simple and direct, and she said without thinking: "How do we eliminate Xue Yunxi? Just let Xue Wenyu be eliminated!"

Shen and Xue Yuntao looked at each other. Although Xue Yuanyu was usually reckless and brainless, he was right at this time. It was not that they could not use any means.

A trace of decisive and cruelty flashed across Xue Yuntao's face.

He would not show mercy to a child like Xue Yunxi, and now he would not show mercy to a fool!

Shen asked the two sisters to go back and rest first, and the mother and son secretly discussed what to do in the room.

And this incident was soon passed through a girl next to Shen to Jiang's place.

She immediately stood up and said, "They are going to attack Wen Yu? Have you discussed what to do?"

"I heard it really! That's true." The girl replied, "Later, the second wife stopped her from her, and I didn't hear it. I only knew that she had this plan, but I didn't know what was the solution."

Jiang sat back and pondered. Naturally, Shen could not let them hear such a thing.

"You have done a good job in this matter. If you have any news in the future, you can come and tell me." Jiang said to her, asking Su Xi to give you twenty taels of silver as a reward. "I will give you more today. I will release you out of the house in the future and you can also buy two acres of land outside."

The girl was very happy and thanked Mrs. Jiang several times and went back with the silver.

"Madam, what should we do?" Su Xi said, "The Fourth Young Master finally had some possibilities, so they wanted to attack him!"

Jiang sneered: "The second wife has always had a narrow vision and can only pick up soft persimmons and pinch them! Naturally, I can't let them succeed!"

Fortunately, the second house is harsh and very stingy on weekdays, and the girls often deduct their monthly money. So she bought a few people from the second house, and now it comes in handy.

Jiang decided to tell Yuan Jin about this.

She went to Yuan Jin's place overnight.

Yuan Jin was not surprised to hear Jiang's words.

She knew that once Wen Yu showed her edge, she would definitely attract others' plans. But she didn't expect that the second wife would be so impatient!

Yuan Jin thanked Jiang: "Thank you, my third aunt, I will be careful."

Jiang said: "Don't worry, as long as you keep your Wen Yu close, Xue Yuntao and Xue Yunhai will not be his opponent. Taking the position of prince is just around the corner."

Jiang's words made Yuan Jin smile. Jiang didn't know that the two Wei family were not easy to deal with. However, she nodded and said, "I will keep an eye on him."

Jiang also knew that Yuan Jin was a smart person. When she chose a four-bedroom cooperation, she was not interested in Xue Wenyu's talent, but Xue Yuanjin's intelligence. Yuan Jin didn't need her to say much. She drank a cup of tea with Yuan Jin before leaving.

Yuan Jin went to find his father and told him about this.

Xue Qingshan's face turned pale when he heard this. His second brother secretly took his article to choose, which made him feel uneasy. Now their family still wants to attack Wen Yu! Yuan Jin said: "Tong'er is young after all, I hope you can send a few strong servants to accompany Wen Yu to avoid things like Yun Xi."

Xue Qingshan thought for a while and said, "We happened to buy a few young and strong servants in our mansion. You can choose a few for Wen Yu."

Yuan Jin picked a few servants out and arranged to accompany Wen Yu to Dingguo Duke's Mansion to study every day. However, since he had just entered the mansion and was not the child he bought, Yuan Jin was afraid that he would not know the details, so he temporarily placed it in the outer courtyard.

But after three or four days, nothing happened, and it was inevitable that people could not guess what the second house wanted to do.

For a time, some people also relaxed their guard.

The Duke of Dingguo's Mansion is studying once every five days and one more day off. This day, because I didn't have to go to Duke of Dingguo's Mansion, I heard that I was studying in the study.

He was reading a book. Tong'er came in, put down the breakfast box in her hand, and said to Wen Yu: "Fourth Master, please eat something first."

Wen Yu nodded.

Then Tong'er went to open the window sash for him and asked the sunlight outside to shine in.

Wen Yu put down the book and was about to open the food box.

But then he felt something was wrong, so he lowered his hand gently, took a step back, and stared at the food box intently.

Seeing this, Tong'er walked over with some confusion: "Fourth Young Master, why don't you eat?"

He said as he was about to help Wen Yu open it, but Wen Yu stretched out his hand to stop him: "Don't move."

Except for occasionally responding to him, the Fourth Young Master rarely talks to him. Tong'er was even more confused: "Four Young Master, what's wrong?"

Wen Yu shook her head gently and said, "Don't move, go and call my sister over."

After a while, Yuan Jin brought the people in. The food box was placed in the middle of the book. Wen Yu and Tong'er stood beside him. Yuan Jin walked over and asked Wen Yu, "What's wrong?"

Wen Yu thought for a moment and said to her: "There seems to be something moving in the food box."

Yuan Jin frowned slightly and told everyone to withdraw. He said to Liu'er: "You go find a long bamboo pole, and go to the front yard to find a few strong servants."

Liu'er responded and left, but after a while, he came back with a bamboo pole. Yuan Jin signaled to close the door and asked the servant to stretch the bamboo pole through the window and pick the basket open.
To be continued...