Chapter 2

The sun had already set in the west, and the golden sunset light fell on the eaves. Yuan Jin looked up at the golden turtle and the shadows of the distant mountains, and was silent for a moment.

After her death, the Empress Dowager passed away and her father was beheaded for greed. The power of the Northwest Hou family was once extremely powerful, but it was just a topic of conversation for others after dinner.

Zhu Xun, who was rescued by her, who had been trusted and raised since childhood, became the crown prince after this catastrophe. What happened is obvious.

He betrayed her and the Queen Mother in exchange for the glory he has now.

Maybe she was killed by him.

They all lived well, and the only thing that changed was her, the Queen Mother, and the Northwest Hou family.

She closed her eyes and felt a cool breeze blowing between the sky, brushing her cheeks.

She was in a daze, and Xing'er, a little girl from behind, whispered: "Fourth Lady, we should go back. If you are later, the wife should tell you."

Yuan Jin came to his senses and nodded. He picked up the small bamboo basket and walked in front.

The Xue family where Yuan Jin is now located is an ordinary official family in Taiyuan Prefecture. The largest official in the family is just a fifth rank, the eldest master of the eldest rank. Her father Xue Qingshan is the fourth rank and was born in the vassal state. He has neither real power nor future.

Xue Yuanjin's current mother, Cui, is the daughter of a gentry in Bingzhou. She has never read any books and is also an ordinary woman.

As soon as Yuan Jin stepped into the door of the west wing, he saw Cui walking towards him.

Cui wore a lilac-colored brocade robe, who was in his early thirties. It was obviously early summer weather, but she was holding a ball of fan and fanning it. It seemed that she was very angry. When she saw Yuan Jin, she glared: "Why are you back now!"

Yuan Jin put down the small bamboo basket and said, "The nanny who taught needlework today came late."

Cui picked up the peony embroidered in her bamboo basket and looked at it, and couldn't help but say, "You embroidered so crookedly, who dares to use it? You are now thirteen. Please save some fun for your mother and practice the girl better. In the future, the matchmaker will have a headache."

Yuan Jin was just drinking water. Seeing that she didn't listen, Cui grabbed her ear with one hand: "Did you hear what you said in your mother?"

Yuan Jin was sore that his ears hurt, and he immediately said, "I'm listening!"

After Cui let go, she rubbed her painful ears and burst into anger. If this were the case before, who would dare to treat her like this?

The tiger falls into the sun and is bullied by a dog!

When she was the lord of Danyang County, she had never learned female red embroidery. She could understand poetry, calligraphy and painting, and was proficient in military tactics, and could also understand the political situation. But are these useful now?

A woman without talent is virtue. In Cui's eyes, these combined are not as good as doing needlework.

"You are still young, how can you know the importance of marrying a good husband? My mother married your father, who was a concubine, but now she lowered her head in front of your legitimate aunt." Cui taught her with her own personal experience, "You are not as good as your cousins. Try to practice the female red needle better and gain a virtuous reputation so that you can get married well in the future."

Yuan Jin doesn't want to listen to this topic.

After all, the only ones who could talk about marriage with her before were the only young men from aristocratic families in the capital. Now it is really hard to be interested in telling her that she will change her destiny by marrying her.

What's more, Cui is too naive. Having a virtuous name can't make her marry well. It's better to have an outstanding family background or amazing beauty. She looks pretty now, but she hasn't grown up yet, so it's not a certain amount of things.

She asked Cui: "What's wrong with you looking for me?"

When Cui was reminded by his daughter, he remembered the serious business and said to her happily, "This is a good thing. Tomorrow, the Duke of China will hold a garden party, and all the women in our mansion will go!"

Yuan Jin stopped drinking water when he heard this. She knew about the Duke Ding Mansion.

Taiyuan Prefecture has only one duke, and is famous throughout the Northern Zhili, which is Dingguo Duke. This duke of Dingguo was brave and good at fighting and was named first-class duke. He also has military power, so he is extremely powerful. Unexpectedly, the Xue family is still related to this kind of gentry family.

"In Taiyuan Mansion, only people with a strong face can go there. Although our family is a branch of the Duke Dingguo Mansion, if the old lady had a very good relationship with the Duke Dingguo Madam, our family wouldn't have had this opportunity to go there. I'll make you a new dress, and you'll try to fit it later." Cui asked the girl to carry out the clothes she had just made and gave Yuan Jin.

"What new clothes she wears!" A young male voice came from outside, and a boy seven or eight years old walked in with someone. He was young, with a fleshy face and a pair of almond eyes similar to Yuan Jin.

This person is Yuan Jin's younger brother Xue Jinyu. Because Cui had only this son, he was very pampered and arrogant and arrogant.

He sat down next to Cui, took Cui's hand and said coquettishly, "Mom, I'm going to eat rock candy elbows tonight!"

This brother only loves to be unable to get along with her. He often sarcastically and doesn't have a bad temper. Yuan Jin looked at his stinky face and said, "I'm so fat and I still eat it."

Xue Jinyu couldn't hear others saying that he was fat, so she jumped up immediately: "How come I got fat! The braised pork with chestnuts made by a nanny yesterday, you just ate the meat."

Cui protected his son, hugged Xue Jinyu and coaxed him, "Your sister is just kidding you, boys just need to grow stronger."

Cui finally kissed and hugged his little ancestor and glared at Yuan Jin. "What are you doing to mess with your brother? It's important to get your insoles done right now!"

Yuan Jin stopped talking. Cui spoiled boys so much that he would only slap Xue Jinyu. If it were someone else, he would have beaten Xue Jinyu with just a few beats. But Cui protected his son and would not allow others to intervene at all. She has no such leisure now.

Cui was still angry and said to the person who came in with Xue Jinyu at the door: "What are you doing when you stand there? Why don't you come in quickly!"

Yuan Jin looked up and saw the child coming in with Xue Jinyu at the door.

He stood silently, with his shoulders very thin, his robe wearing old clothes and his face was extremely thin and delicate. Although he was not old, looking at his snow-white complexion and his elegant face without growing between his eyebrows, he knew that he must have a extraordinary appearance when he grew up.

This person is Xue Yuanjin's younger brother, Xue Wenyu.

Cui himself is fierce, so Xue Qingshan has never dared to take concubines, and even if he takes concubines, he dared not let them have children. Xue Wenyu is Yuan Jin's only concubine brother.

Xue Wenyu's biological mother passed away when he was very young. Cui treated him very well. After all, he didn't come out of his own belly. He sent an old mother to take care of his daily life and ignored him.

But this gangster has been a little abnormal since he was a child. He doesn't like to talk and doesn't communicate much with others, which seems to be a mental problem.

Xue Wenyu heard Cui call him, but there was no response. She was still pulled by the nanny behind her and took her to the table to prepare for dinner.

Seeing that everyone was here, Cui asked Cuixi to pick out each dish for Xue Qingshan, and then started eating with her three children.

Although the Xue family is not a big family, it is also a family of officials, and the food level is naturally not bad. Two plates of fried meat, one plate of leeks and shrimps, and the rock candy pig's trotters that Xue Jinyu wants to eat, a side dish and a vegetarian soup, but it is naturally much inferior to the delicacies that Yuan Jin had eaten before.

But I don’t know if I have a vulgar taste or have become more and more accustomed to these home-cooked dishes. Yuan Jin actually ate more than before and added a bowl of soup after the meal.

Fortunately, she is now growing up and she won’t be afraid of getting fat if she eats more.

Yuan Jin drank the soup and looked at Xue Wenyu sitting beside her.

She found that he seemed to hold only a plate of vegetables in front of him, never any other plates of vegetables.

She looked at it carefully and realized that his hand holding food seemed to be a little wrong, his movements were stiff and he was very slow. She frowned and asked Madam Song behind Xue Wenyu: "What's wrong with the Fourth Young Master's hand?"

Madam Song was also confused: "I don't know..."

Xue Wenyu seemed to have not heard it and continued to pick up food. However, Yuan Jin felt something was wrong as he looked at it. He stood up and pulled his hand over to see it.

He seemed to want to retract, but Yuan Jin couldn't allow him to go back. When he opened it, he found that his palm was covered with wounds. Although the wounds were thin, they were crisscrossed. In some places, the blood had not stopped and blood was still leaching out.

When Xue Yuanjin saw this situation, he frowned and asked Madam Song: "How did this happen?"

Madam Song hesitated for a moment before saying, "In the afternoon, the young master said he wanted to play with him, so he turned out to be like this..."

Yuan Jin's face turned cold. Just now, Madam Song said she didn't know, and she was clearly hiding this matter. She looked at Xue Jinyu and said, "You did it?"

Yuan Jin knew that Xue Jinyu had always been bad to Xue Wenyu, and he was careless of saying it was not good. He was simply happy to bully Xue Wenyu.

He once pushed him into the pond in the middle of winter, and the cold was so cold that he had not retreated for four or five days. He was deceived into the woodshed and locked him up until the third day. He was so naughty and absurd, but in Cui's eyes, he naturally did not take Wen Yu, the illegitimate one seriously, turned a blind eye, and he always turned a big thing into a small matter.

But this matter was not the case in Xue Yuanjin's eyes.

Xue Wenyu is different from a normal person and cannot express his joys, sorrows and pains. Isn’t bullying such a concubine’s son a bully?

What's more, if such a thing is spread, people will guide their family behind their backs to treat their concubine's sons, which will not benefit anyone's reputation. Cui never takes this kind of thing seriously. He is so rough that he doesn't know the seriousness of Xue Jinyu's behavior. Xue Qingshan is not very concerned about the affairs of the inner house. Therefore, the whole family is mediocre and has no ambition.

Xue Jinyu rarely sees her sister's stern expression, and she is actually shocked for a moment.

Xue Yuanjin usually quarrels with him, but he just teases him. He actually knew that Xue Yuanjin had never really been accustomed to him. But her expression at this moment made Xue Jinyu realize that she was serious, which made Xue Jinyu feel a little guilty. "It was him who insisted on playing with a dagger, and hurting herself, it has nothing to do with me..."

Yuan Jin's voice became a little stern: "If you say it has nothing to do with you, try?"

Xue Jinyu immediately looked at Cui: "Mom..."

Cui rarely sees her daughter like this. Her daughter has always been easy-going. She usually doesn't refute whatever you say. Once her daughter becomes harsh, she really can't refute her.

Cui smoothed out: "Your brother probably didn't do it on purpose. I think he seemed to be seriously injured. You should take him to apply medicine first. I'll ask the girl to bring supper to your house."
Chapter completed!