The gatekeeper saw Li Xuan leave, it was nothing special, but when he came back he was wearing a Flying Fish Robe, and his attitude was even better than before.
“Oh, my Xuan Siye!”
“I thought you were going to report for duty this morning.”
“I didn’t expect His Majesty to value you so much, and he even bestowed upon you a Flying Fish Robe. This is the second-ranked robe bestowed by the emperor, second only to the Python Robe. I congratulate you!”
Li Xuan smiled and threw him two taels of silver, dismounting and saying:
“You can’t take the reward money for nothing. Go, go to the stable and return the horse!”
“Thank you, Xuan Siye!”
The gatekeeper quickly took the silver, his smile showing all his teeth.
He gave Li Xuan a salute and led the horse through the side gate towards the stable on the east side.
Who wouldn’t be happy to get a month’s salary for free?
This time Li Xuan didn’t go through the side gate of the Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion’s alley, but walked through the corridor, past the Mengpo Zhai, letting everyone in the mansion see the Flying Fish Robe.
There’s no way, it’s only been a few days, and these rich people are already not putting in enough effort for me.
If I don’t show them my strength, they will continue to mistreat me.
All the way back to the small courtyard without any obstacles, the news naturally spread.
“Sir, wipe your face.”
As soon as he entered the courtyard, Xiangling came up to him with a warm, damp towel in her hand.
Taking it and wiping his face casually, Li Xuan smiled:
“Xiangling, how come you’re here so precisely, you wouldn’t be standing at the courtyard gate like a stone statue, just waiting for me to come back, would you?”
“Yes, anyway, I have nothing to do, I might as well wait at the gate, so I can see you sooner.”
Unexpectedly, Xiangling, this simpleton, actually admitted it.
Before she finished speaking, Qingwen’s voice appeared outside the courtyard.
“If you have nothing to do, why don’t you go get the food box next time?”
Li Xuan and Xiangling looked over, and saw Qingwen, Yang Liu, and Ru Yan each carrying a large food box, panting as they walked in.
“Our three-person small canteen, our three-person big canteen, this is... Flying Fish Robe?”
Halfway through her words, Qingwen saw Li Xuan’s clothes, and her voice changed.
She wasn’t like Xiangling who was indifferent to the outside world and things outside.
She was ambitious, and since she knew her Siye would inherit the position of the Jinyiwei, she had been inquiring left and right, almost figuring out all the ins and outs of the Jinyiwei.
In her understanding, this Flying Fish Robe wasn’t something ordinary people could wear!
Li Xuan smiled: “I went to report today, I saw the Duke of Zhongyi, this was bestowed by His Majesty, and he also granted me permission to wear it as my everyday clothes.”
“Sir, you’re amazing!”
“It’s all thanks to the glory of my ‘ancestors’, I hope you can say this about me next time.”
Qingwen: (⊙_⊙)?
Seeing her puzzled and dazed look, Li Xuan smiled and touched her head.
He waved his hand and said: “Alright, today is a day of great joy, everyone gets a month’s extra pay, go pay them.”
“Thank you, Sir (Xuan Siye)!” ×4
…
While having dinner, Yuanyang came looking with a surprised expression.
“Greetings, Xuan Siye!”
“Yuanyang girl, you’re too polite, is it the Old Lady who wants to see me?”
“Xuan Siye is clever.”
Yuanyang looked at Li Xuan who had changed clothes, and looked around the room.
She discovered that she couldn’t see anything, so she gave up.
Although she spoke softly, her words were tinged with wonder: “The Old Lady heard that Xuan Siye was bestowed a Flying Fish Robe by His Majesty, and she was very nostalgic, saying that this is the Emperor’s grace and Xuan Ge’er is highly regarded.”
“If Xuan Ge’er is available, why don’t you put on the Flying Fish Robe and go talk to the Old Lady.”
“No problem.” Li Xuan nodded.
It’s only right to let the Old Lady see my progress.
If I were really useless, I wouldn’t be able to stay here for long, she would have to find a way to get rid of me.
Li Xuan got up and went into the room, Xiangling and Qingwen followed to help him change clothes.
As for Yang Liu and Ru Yan, they were rough maids, they couldn’t enter the main room, they couldn’t get to Li Xuan’s side.
While helping him change clothes, Qingwen teased: “Xiangling, will our Sir be kept for dinner again this time, are you going?”
“I don’t want to go out.”
“And what if I’m kept for dinner, it’s not like they’ll let us eat.”
“I’d rather stay and eat our Sir’s dinner, it’s more satisfying.”
She wrinkled her little nose, Xiangling immediately grasped the key point.
Compared to seeing the world and joining in the fun, eating is more important!
Qingwen could only shake her head in disappointment, then happily followed Li Xuan to leave.
Xiangling didn’t like to meet outsiders, she wasn’t used to the bustle, Qingwen was willing, she was used to it!
As expected, when they arrived at the Old Lady’s courtyard, there was another round of 感慨 (reflection, reminiscence, sigh).
“Since... sigh... this old woman has never seen this robe at home again.”
“Madam, Xuan Ge’er is a good child, he’s still young, he can’t take care of everything, you need to take care of him more.”
“After all, he’s your own relative, and he’s close to Baoyu, maybe in the future the two children will support each other.”
Wang Xifeng’s hand, which was twirling the prayer beads, stopped, then spun even faster.
How could she not understand the Old Lady’s words.
Isn’t she saying that Xuan Ge’er is promising, and now that she’s taking care of him, he can take care of Baoyu in the future?
Their Baoyu was born with a jade in his mouth, he’s supreme and noble, he’ll inherit the title and the Rongguo Mansion in the future, why would he need a small...
Alright, he has the favor of the Emperor, he should still be looked upon with respect.
So she put on a kind smile: “The Old Lady is right.”
“He’s the younger brother of the eldest wife, Baoyu is the younger brother of the eldest wife, they’re family, I’ll take good care of him.”
“And there’s Lian Ge’er from the eldest branch.”
“The eldest master doesn’t care about anything, he’s completely focused on the General’s Mansion, even when my second brother and Feng’er came to tell me about breaking off the engagement with Gui Ge’er, he didn’t care at all.”
“Fortunately, it was only the breaking off of the engagement with Gui Ge’er, the eldest branch’s 庶子 (庶子: a son born out of wedlock), and it was given to the eldest branch’s 嫡子 (嫡子: a son born in wedlock), Lian Ge’er, otherwise I don’t know how people would make fun of our Rongguo Mansion.”
Wang Xifeng came? When?
Could it be that the middle gate opened just now, and it was Prince Teng who came out, and Wang Xifeng was in the carriage?
While Li Xuan was thinking, Jia Mu’s expression became gloomy again.
As soon as Wang Xifeng mentioned this, she couldn’t help but think of the scene just now.
She snorted.
Wang Xifeng took the opportunity to smear him: “Gui Ge’er really doesn’t have any manners, adults are talking, why would he interrupt.”
“He even said ‘Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don’t bully the young and poor’."
“Where does he put our Wang family and Jia family, does he think we’re his enemies?”
Li Xuan: “?”
It’s not “宁欺白头翁，莫欺少年穷 (It’s better to bully an old man than a young man)”, but “三十年河东，三十年河西，莫欺少年穷 (Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don’t bully the young and poor)”。
There’s no “儒林外史 (Rulin Waishi)” novel in this era.
And the most famous one who said this was our Emperor Huo Huo, is this Jia Gui who suddenly appeared also problematic like Jia Hu?
And this breaking off and giving is all from the eldest branch, but it’s changed from a 庶子 (庶子: a son born out of wedlock) to a 嫡子 (嫡子: a son born in wedlock).
It reveals a subversive change in the status of the Jia family and the Wang family.
But since the engagement was broken off, that means they offended the eldest branch, how could Prince Teng have the face to give Wang Xifeng, who just had her engagement broken off, to Jia Lian?