Springtime Affairs in a Noble Family

Xie Yunting dragged Cui Zeyu to Fanlou and poured out his grievances, "Old man Qin said that his third daughter was already engaged, and only the betrothal gifts were missing. Unexpectedly, the emperor suddenly bestowed a marriage upon me, wanting me to marry his fourth daughter, who was born out of wedlock, so that both of us could have the best of both worlds."

"Pah!"

Xie Yunting slammed down his wine cup. "Does he think I'm a fool? The Emperor didn't just bestow a marriage without asking any questions. That day, the Emperor asked him to come with me. The Emperor personally asked him if he had any eligible daughters in his family who could be married off in place of him. He said he had a third daughter born of the principal wife and a fourth daughter born of a concubine. If the marriage of the third daughter is to be settled soon, he could simply not mention the third daughter and only mention the fourth daughter."

Cui Zeyu understood. "He was afraid that if you said you only had a fourth daughter born out of wedlock, the Emperor would think that a daughter born out of wedlock was not good enough for you, and the marriage would fall through."

"That's exactly right. The Qin family is completely out of their minds. They look down on me, don't want to marry their eldest daughter to me, yet they still want a marriage alliance with me." Xie Yunting was a rough man, and his speech was also rough. "Now they're telling me all this? Do you think I'm some kind of dough to be manipulated?"

Xie Yunting smashed his teacup on the spot. He had never had a good reputation in Bianjing, and the Qin family's disdain for him was overflowing. He would certainly not give them a friendly look.

Cui Zeyu asked, "And in the end? Did the Third Miss marry you, or the Fourth Miss?"

Xie Yunting raised an eyebrow, a playful glint in his eyes. "His third daughter doesn't want to marry me, and I don't want his fourth daughter either. I said, in that case, I'll go to the government and have them cancel the marriage."

"The Qin family will definitely not agree," Cui Zeyu said. "If this goes to the authorities, the Qin family's actions will be tantamount to playing you for a fool, and they will also be suspected of deceiving the emperor."

"Yes, Old Man Qin almost knelt down before me, saying that we'd all be family from now on and asking me to be understanding."

Xie Yunting downed another cup of wine, still feeling uneasy. He then boldly picked up the wine jug and downed it in one gulp. "The Qin family dared to scheme against me, of course I won't let them get away with it. I won't give them a straight answer; since they brought it up, I'll make them think twice. Anyway, I, Xie Yunting, am a ruthless man. If I'm not happy, I'll make sure neither of the Qin family's two daughters can get married!"

The high-ranking officials and nobles in Bianjing, especially the scholars, looked down on Xie Yunting, a boorish fellow.

Unfortunately, Xie Yunting was enjoying the emperor's favor, and the Qin family wanted to take advantage of Xie Yunting's fame, which led to the marriage swap.

However, the Qin family also knew that Xie Yunting had a bad temper, so they didn't dare to directly change him. They even knew to consult with Xie Yunting, which is why Xie Yunting didn't rush into the palace.

Now, with Xie Yunting holding the Qin family hostage, the fourth young lady can't get married. As for the third young lady... if she had been willing to marry, this whole mess wouldn't have happened.

It's easy to imagine how chaotic the Qin family must be right now.

After venting his frustrations, Xie Yunting felt much better. He put his arm around Cui Zeyu and said, "Good brother, when you're looking for a spouse in the future, you must keep your eyes open. Don't go to someone whose family is a mess and full of trouble. I must have pissed on the God of Love in my past life to have this marriage arranged for me!"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but think of Cui Zeyu's adopted sister, "If everyone were as beautiful and virtuous as Sister Cui, why would I have to worry about not having a virtuous wife?"

To this day, he has never even met the two girls from the Qin family, and he doesn't know whether they are fat or thin, ugly or beautiful.

If I had known, I would have refused on the spot, and this mess would have been avoided.

Speaking of her sister, Cui Zeyu couldn't help but say, "My sister is so wonderful, you can't find another one like her in the whole world."

"That's true, she wouldn't look down on anyone." Xie Yunting had drunk another half pot of wine and was starting to feel drunk, muttering curses at the Qin family.

He has a loud voice and doesn't care whether people can hear him.

Seeing that Xie Yunting was upset, and remembering that the Qin family looked down on Xie Yunting, Cui Zeyu didn't stop him and drank with him.

When Song Shulan passed by, he heard Cui Zeyu and Xie Yunting's voices and stopped to listen.

Gao Jingzhi craned his neck and leaned his head against the door. "Shulan, it sounds like Xie Yunting is the one cursing inside. He seems to be cursing the Qin family?"

Xie Yunting's curses were mumbled and unclear, so Song Shulan and Gao Jingzhi couldn't understand the specifics, but they knew that Xie Yunting was cursing Minister Qin for having shit for brains and being a lowly, despicable old bastard.

"Haha, Xie Yunting is really rude. If Minister Qin heard this, wouldn't he be furious?" Gao Jingzhi said with a tone of watching the show, but his face froze when another voice started criticizing Song Shulan.

Hearing Xie Yunting's insults, Cui Zeyu chimed in, "What's Minister Qin? My brother-in-law, Song Shulan, you know him, right? He's the one with a brain full of shit. He wants it all, like a prostitute..."

Song Shulan and Gao Jingzhi couldn't hear what Cui Zeyu said next because he lowered his voice.

Gao Jingzhi asked awkwardly, "Shulan, is he your brother-in-law?"

Song Shulan said no, and kicked the door open.

Who is it?

Xie Yunting looked over with displeasure.

Cui Zeyu followed the gaze and saw Song Shulan standing at the door with a dark blue face, and he sobered up instantly.

Thinking about what he had just said, Cui Zeyu's mind sank. Instead of being afraid, he asked with a smile, "Is Lord Song drunk? He kicked the door with such a temper. We won't pay for that."

"Cui Zeyu, is this how your sister teaches you?" Song Shulan asked through gritted teeth.

He's an elder, and instead of showing respect, they insulted him behind his back.

"Of course not." Cui Zeyu had been dissatisfied with Song Shulan for a long time, but had tolerated it for his sister's sake. Now that things had come to this, there was no need to smooth things over anymore.

Cui Zeyu didn't explain, but just stared at Song Shulan.

At this moment, Xie Yunting suddenly chuckled, "Oh, isn't this Song Shulan, the one who relies on your sister for financial support but secretly takes a concubine?"

Xie Yunting was so drunk that he didn't care about anything he couldn't say.

Upon hearing the word "subsidy," Song Shulan's face darkened further, and he turned and left.

Gao Jingzhi didn't understand and wanted to go after Song Shulan, but then he heard Xie Yunting mockingly say, "No skills whatsoever, all she does is rely on women. Brother Cui, our sister really had bad luck in marrying such a spineless gigolo!"

When Gao Jingzhi went to chase after Song Shulan, he took a second look at Cui Zeyu. This person was quite handsome, but why did Cui Zeyu's appearance seem so familiar to him?

Gao Jingzhi didn't have time to think much. When he ran downstairs, Song Shulan was already gone.

Having lost face, Song Shulan returned to the Marquis's residence in a rage, still in front of her best friend. She intended to confront Cui Lingrong, but was summoned away first by the old lady's people.

As soon as Old Madam Song saw her son, she complained, "That Cui woman is outrageous now! She threatened me and took 6,700 taels of silver, then gave it to Cui Zeyu. Tell me, she's married into the Marquis's household, yet she's still thinking about an adopted brother, not even a biological one. What kind of behavior is that?"

Princess Rongjia whispered from the side, "Sister Cui treats Cui Zeyu exceptionally well, even better than the Cui family."

This statement is practically an open declaration that Cui Lingrong treats Cui Zeyu exceptionally differently.

"The princess is right. The New Year's gifts given to the Cui family were very ordinary. Now she's sending money to Cui Zeyu. Just how good is their relationship that she's so good to Cui Zeyu?" Old Madam Song felt a pang of heartache at the thought of her money ending up in Cui Zeyu's hands.

Song Shulan was already angry, and upon hearing this, his anger flared even more.

He stormed into Qiu Shuang Zhai and saw Cui Lingrong and Qiu's mother chatting and laughing. He immediately went over and smashed a teacup. "I'm asking you, why did you ask your mother to give you money? And why did you send money to Cui Zeyu? What exactly is your relationship?"

At this point, Song Shulan did not think about personal feelings, because he subconsciously believed that Cui Lingrong would never betray him.

He was just angry that Cui Lingrong valued Cui Zeyu so much!

Cui Lingrong was stunned for a moment.

After quickly cleaning the floor, Qiu's mother and the others retreated to the doorway.

"The money was asked for by Zhizhi and me, but the old lady insisted on paying it back for Zhizhi. It was my money to begin with, is it wrong for me to keep it?" Cui Lingrong also stood up.

She looked up at Song Shulan and said, "As for giving it to Zeyu, it's because the cloth shop went bankrupt and lost several thousand taels of silver. That's my cloth shop, and I'm not giving it to Zeyu for his own use; it's to help him with his business."

"Fire? When did that happen?"

"A few days ago, the Marquis didn't believe it, but you can still go and see for yourself. The burned-down storerooms haven't been cleaned up yet."

Hearing this, Song Shulan felt a little better knowing that Cui Lingrong was being used for business. But then he remembered Cui Zeyu scolding him at Fanlou, and his face darkened again. "Hmph, do you know what your good brother is saying about me outside?"

"He said I'm brain-dead! And he even told that brute Xie Yunting about what happened in the Marquis's mansion!"

Upon seeing Cui Zeyu's provocative expression, Song Shulan immediately said, "That ungrateful bastard, he's forbidden from coming to the Marquis's residence again. As for you, it's best to cut ties with him. The cloth shop can operate without him; I can send someone to take over!"

Cui Lingrong's eyes widened upon hearing this.

Then she took a deep breath and said, word by word, "What if I say no?"