Chapter 49: Retribution
Hearing the words “Su Niang-zi” from Xu Yun’s mouth, Xie Yi immediately became alert: “There’s no need. Sister Mu is not someone who likes to take what others fancy. We certainly wouldn’t dare to accept the peonies that the Sixth Young Master likes.”
Xu Yunshu smiled slightly and said: “Young Master Xie may not like them, but what if Su Niang-zi does?”
Xie Yi’s gaze darkened. Calling her “Su Niang-zi” repeatedly, it seems this Xu Yunshu cares a lot about Sister Mu. No wonder he wanted to perform on the zither earlier. It turns out he was like a peacock showing off, trying to attract Sister Mu’s attention.
He looked Xu Yunshu up and down. His appearance was ordinary and unremarkable. Only his family background was worth mentioning, and his personality was the gentle type that women tend to grow tired of.
In the world of men, family background could only guarantee him a decent position in his wife’s family, but it couldn’t guarantee his future favor. As for gentleness, it could barely ensure that he wouldn’t be disliked by his wife-master, but to be favored, looks and temperament were crucial.
Originally, Xie Yi didn’t know the purpose of County Magistrate Xu pulling Su Mu aside for a private conversation, but now seeing Xu Yunshu’s reaction, Xie Yi had a pretty good guess.
County Magistrate Xu probably wanted to push Xu Yunshu into Su Mu’s rear courtyard, to share her favor.
However, Xie Yi wasn’t worried. As a rival, Xu Yunshu wasn’t qualified enough. He was fully confident that he could make Xu Yunshu enter the Su family happily, only to fall out of favor within a month.
“Then let’s do as the Sixth Young Master says,” Xie Yi said with a smile on his lips.
Xu Yunshu turned slightly: “Que’er, go to my courtyard and cut two of the best blooming Erqiao peonies.”
Que’er curtsied and turned to run towards Xu Yunshu’s small courtyard.
Xu Yunshu smiled as he watched Que’er run away, then turned back with gentle eyes looking at Xie Yi: “After chatting with Young Master Xie for so long, I feel we are quite compatible. May I ask how old brother is?”
Xie Yi said: “Seventeen.”
He was only a little over a month younger than Su Mu.
Xu Yunshu’s lips parted slightly, and he smiled: “Then I should call Young Master Xie ‘brother’. I’ll be turning seventeen in a month.”
Men have always cared about age, even if it’s just a few months or days difference, they want to establish seniority. This is because everyone wants to be the youngest, as being young means being more attractive to women.
Usually, it was always others calling him brother. Except for Xie Miaorong, this was the first time someone dared to call him brother.
“Of course,” Xie Yi’s lips curled into a slight, dismissive smile: “I didn’t expect the Sixth Young Master to be even younger than me. It’s really hard to tell.”
Xu Yunshu’s smile stiffened a bit, and he said: “Brother’s beauty naturally makes him look young.”
Xie Yi smiled: “The Sixth Young Master is not bad either, so mature at such a young age.”
Just then, Que’er returned with two Erqiao peonies. Xu Yunshu smiled and changed the subject: “These flowers are blooming beautifully. What do you think, brother?”
Xie Yi casually said: “They are very beautiful.”
“What’s very beautiful?” Su Mu and Magistrate Xu walked back, seeing Xu Yunshu holding two Erqiao peonies.
Xu Yunshu held the flower stem with one hand and cupped the flower with the other, bowing slightly: “Greetings to Mother and Su Niang-zi. I was just talking about peonies with Brother Xie Yi. As it happens, the Erqiao peonies in my courtyard are blooming beautifully. Since they’re not potted, I couldn’t bring them out for everyone to admire together, so I specially asked Que’er to cut the two best and most flourishing ones to give to Brother Xie Yi and Su Niang-zi.”
As he spoke, Xu Yunshu extended his hand holding the flowers towards Su Mu, his watery eyes shy yet inviting: “Which one would Su Niang-zi like to choose?”
Su Mu casually picked one and politely said: “Thank you, Sixth Young Master.”
Xu Yunshu smiled slightly, quietly beautiful: “Su Niang-zi, there’s no need to be polite. The remaining one is for Brother Xie Yi.”
Xie Yi accepted it and thanked him indifferently.
Finally enduring through the banquet, Su Mu and Xie Yi bid farewell to Magistrate Xu who was seeing off guests, and slowly walked home.
Xie Yi walked silently beside her, his moon-white clothes seeming to be dyed with moonlight, elegant as smoke. The Erqiao peony in his hand was brilliantly eye-catching.
In the female-dominated country, from the royal nobility to the common people, everyone loved peonies.
A good variety of peony could be worth as much as a house. If an ordinary family had an Erqiao peony of such good quality, they would almost worship it. But Xie Yi casually held the peony stem, the delicate flower head drooping. With his pace and the intentional or unintentional swinging of his arm, most of the petals had already fallen off.
A peony that others would cherish dearly, he showed no care for, as if venting his frustration.
Su Mu held back her laughter: “If you want to throw it away, wait until we get home. It doesn’t look good to throw it away outside.”
Xie Yi’s eyes flickered, and only then did he properly protect the peony in his arms.
“Sister Mu, what did County Magistrate Xu want to talk to you about just now?” Xie Yi asked hesitantly.
Su Mu didn’t hide it and said directly: “She wants to give the Sixth Young Master to me.”
“Then what did you say, Sister Mu?” Xie Yi immediately became anxious.
“What do you think I should say?” Su Mu looked at him calmly.
Xie Yi pursed his lips: “I know the Sixth Young Master has a good family background and personality. If he marries you, he can help you advance further. Rationally, I hope he would come. But personally, I want…”
“Want what? Tell me the truth.”
Xie Yi gazed at Su Mu, his eyes full of adoration and restraint: “Sister Mu, if I tell the truth, you’ll dislike me.”
Su Mu shook her head: “I know you’re sensible, but sometimes I hope you could be a bit more willful.”
Xie Yi opened his mouth, after a while: “I thought Sister Mu didn’t like willful men, like Young Master Yan.”
That’s why he tried his best to be sensible, to be gentle, to learn everything that could please Su Mu.
Su Mu held his hand, interlocking their fingers: “Yan Jiyue is a bit too overbearing. But you’re different. I don’t want you to hide all your frustrations in your heart, pretending to be indifferent in front of me, while secretly brooding in your room.”
In the previous life, it was because Xie Yi kept too many worries to himself and hid them too deeply that they missed each other.
“Alright.” Xie Yi looked at her, his eyes filled with brilliant and dazzling emotions. Whatever Sister Mu liked, he would be that way.
“Oh, why are you here?” A familiar voice suddenly came from the side. Shen Yuxue lifted the curtain of her carriage and looked at them: “Just returned from the County Magistrate’s flower-viewing banquet?”
Su Mu nodded, seeing the excited smile on her face, she asked: “What happened today? Why are you so happy?”
“If you knew, you’d be even happier.” Shen Yuxue jumped down from the carriage and came to her eagerly: “Great news! The Yan family is finished! Retribution!”
Su Mu quickly asked: “The Yan family is finished? How do you know?”
“In a while, everyone in the city will know. You should have seen the scene in front of the Yan family’s gate just now. It was so satisfying. It’s a pity you weren’t there. If you were, it would have been even more gratifying. Let these people bully others.” Shen Yuxue said angrily.
Su Mu hurriedly held her and asked: “What exactly happened?”
“Speaking of which, the catalyst was the father-daughter pair of Yan Ruyu. When they were driven out of the family, didn’t they take quite a lot of property and shops with them? At that time, Yan Zhujun was in a hurry to drive them out and didn’t think they had taken so much money. It wasn’t until it was time to pay the servants’ monthly wages that they found the accounts didn’t add up. Upon investigation, they realized there were two big rats in the family.”
“Yan Zhujun and the others must have been anxious. They quickly gathered the clan elders to ask Yan Ruyu to return the property she had taken. But Yan Ruyu and Liu Cui, that father-daughter pair, refused to return the money, insisting on not letting go.”
“The Yan family master was furious. He gathered the clan elders and dragged Yan Ruyu and her father to the ancestral hall. After a round of family punishment, Yan Ruyu finally told the truth. It turns out that in order to get cash quickly, she had sold many fields and shops at low prices. Didn’t I take advantage of that to make a profit last time? Suddenly having so much wealth, Yan Ruyu felt like she was sitting on a mountain of gold. Being in the countryside with no one to restrain her, she stopped studying. She spent her days gambling, drinking, playing with men. A mountain of gold didn’t last long before it was almost squandered away.”
“Hearing these words, Yan Zhujun trembled with anger and beat her half to death. Fortunately, Liu Cui brought out the only two worthless shops left, which saved Yan Ruyu’s life. But how could two worthless shops be enough? Not to mention the meals for masters like Yan Ting and Yan Jiyue, even the monthly wages for dozens of servants weren’t enough.”
“With no choice, the old master had to use his own money to pay the servants their monthly wages. After paying, he immediately dismissed several dozen servants, keeping only a few personal ones. You should have seen it, the Yan family is in such chaos now. I heard that some servants even secretly took things with them when they left.”
“But come to think of it, the money Yan Ruyu took was really just small change. The real reason is that the Yan family has been declining day by day, not knowing how to increase income or reduce expenses, which led to today’s situation. Now, all the prominent families in Juancheng are privately laughing at them. Some families are even relieved that they didn’t marry Yan Jiyue back then… Just wait and see, the Yan family will have more to suffer in the future. This is called ‘evil deeds will surely bring retribution’.”
Su Mu sighed slightly after listening. She had known that the Yan family might fall, depending on whether Yan Ting could turn the tide as she had done before. But unfortunately, Yan Ting couldn’t.
She knew about Yan Jiyue and Yan Zhujun’s daily expenses. When she was still in the Yan family, a single piece of clothing for Yan Jiyue would cost dozens of taels of silver. Now they’ve fallen to the point where they can’t even pay the servants’ monthly wages.
“Alright, enough talk. I still have business to discuss with the Xu family,” Shen Yuxue said as she returned to her carriage and waved goodbye.
“Let’s go back too,” Su Mu said, holding Xie Yi’s hand.
“Okay,” Xie Yi smiled, seeming to have swept away his earlier frustration.
But just as the two reached the doorway, they saw someone standing quietly in front of the door.
Su Mu was prepared for someone from the Yan family to come find her, but she never expected that the person who came would be Yan Ting.
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*Spotlight on Finished Novel Translations*
Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up! (Female-dominant)
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
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