Chapter 442: 438: Who Is He_1
Wei Zhan also noticed his wife’s gaze. His face turned as red as a monkey’s butt, and he rushed to cross his legs, kneeling on the side of the bed.
“No more.” He said, feeling upset as he put away the cards. Then he stared at Yingbao blankly.
“Wife, we haven’t consummated our marriage yet.”
Yingbao blinked: “You want to consummate it now?”
Wei Zhan nodded his head.
Yingbao, “But it’s daytime, speaking silver is not proper in broad daylight.”
Wei Zhan looked at his wife with aggrieved eyes, “We are husband and wife now.”
Yingbao thought for a moment, “Alright then.”
Anyway, they had to consummate their marriage sooner or later, doing it in the daytime didn’t make any difference.
Wei Zhan was overjoyed and quickly got up to put down the curtain around the bed.
There’s an old saying: Enjoying the beauty of the small garden fully, red peach flowers, white plum flowers, yellow vegetables flowers all indicate the arrival of spring.
Accidentally walking over the eastern hill, hearing the bird’s singing, watching the dance of the swallow, and the busy butterflies.
It was until after noon that Wei Zhan finally came out of the room, ordering the maids to bring water in for his wife to clean up.
He also ordered some good-quality food to be made in the kitchen and sent into the room.
Early the next morning, Yingbao was about to get up when Wei Zhan held her tightly.
“Let go, I want to greet my mother-in-law.” Yingbao poked his arm in annoyance.
“No.” With his face pressed against his wife’s back, Wei Zhan was as sticky as a plaster: “Mother said you don’t need to greet her in the morning, she wants to sleep more.”
Yingbao: “That won’t do, there are your sisters-in-law, and your younger sister…”
“They can’t control us,” Wei Zhan continued to stick to his wife.
Yingbao: “At least I have to go to the Gongfang.”
Only then did Wei Zhan finally let go of his wife and sat up: “I’ll go too.”
They got dressed together, went to the outhouse toilet, and then came back together to wash up and eat breakfast.
So another day went by like this.
On the third day, it was time for Yi Yue, the visiting of the bride’s family.
Wei Zhan got up early. He personally checked the list of gifts, then ordered servants to hitch the horse carriage, and loaded up all the gifts to be sent to the Yue family.
After his wife was ready, they had a quick breakfast, then went to inform Lady Wang, before boarding the carriage to head to the Jiang Family.
Watching the crowd go away, Wei Dàsao, from the Cao Family, sniffed and returned to her own courtyard. She told her husband, Wei Wenbo: “You work so hard outside, and in the end, they just took away everything on a carriage. If people didn’t know better, they would think our family is the Jiang Family’s treasury.”
Wei Wenbo was eating his meal and didn’t respond.
Cao snorted and sat down next to the table, casting a glance at the food: “I’m telling you, you’re too honest. You and second brother manage the business in Beijing, but others just took the pot away. You can actually tolerate this?”
Wei Wenbo: “Father has already made up for the loss, let’s not bring this up again.”
“I don’t want to mention it, but I feel it’s not worth it for you.” Cao picked up a steamed dumpling and took a bite, whispering: “Eldest son, why don’t you talk to father about separation?”
Wei Wenbo glanced at his wife sideways: “Separate? I can’t believe you mentioned it.”
Cao: “If we don’t, we will end up with nothing. Didn’t you see Qi’s attitude? He would like to empty out all our family’s possessions for the Jiang Family.”
Wei Wenbo snorted: “He just took some things that are on the surface. The bulk of it is still in father’s hands. Stop meddling in such things.”
Cao frowned: “Whatever is in father’s hands will all be left to Qi. We will be left with scraps.”
“You don’t know anything!” Tired of arguing with an ignorant and foolish woman, Wei Wenbo finished the porridge in his bowl and took a sip of tea that the maid offered. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, stood up, and left.
Seeing her husband about to leave the house again, Cao quickly chased him and asked: “Will you return for lunch?”
“No, I have a client to see.” Wei Wenbo did not look back. His manservant had already rushed out to hitch the carriage.
Cao: “Will you come back for dinner?”
Wei Wenbo ignored her and walked straight out of the Moon Gate.
Cao, stomping her foot angrily, turned around and went back into the house.
At that moment, a woman came in and whispered something into Lady Cao’s ear, then chuckled with her hand over her mouth. “I’m nearly fifty myself, and I’ve never seen any mistress so shameless. Frolicking around with her husband in broad daylight, tsk tsk, she’s even a countess. I can’t bear to watch,” she said.
Lady Cao’s lips twitched, her mind full of mixed feelings.
She herself had also been a bride once. Her husband used to dote on her the same way during their honeymoon period.
But now, he wouldn’t enter her bedroom even once a month.
She snorted and said to the woman, “Be sure not to let my daughter hear this; we don’t want to encourage improper behavior in young ladies.”
“How could I ever say such a thing to the young lady?” The woman sat down at the table and stuffed a small steamed bun into her mouth.
She was the wet nurse of Lady Cao, having been with her since she married into the Wei Family. Feeling herself different from the other servants, she would sometimes share meals with Lady Cao.
Lady Cao also sat down and stared blankly out the door.
Her family had a younger sister, born to her stepmother. She was about the same age as the Countess, and rather pretty too. She had initially thought to recommend her for Wei Qi, but her mother-in-law, Lady Wang, had flatly refused.
Even now, her little sister was still not engaged. Perhaps her stepmother was still harboring the dream of marrying her daughter into the Wei Family.
Perhaps she should invite her little sister to stay with them for a while?
…
The sixth lunar month of summer was the hottest time of the year.
But it was also the lotus season.
After Yingbao and Wei Zhan returned home, they went to a lotus pond on the outskirts of the city to appreciate the lotus blossoms.
Accompanying them were Jiang Jie and his wife.
The lotus pond was vast, and the lotus leaves swayed with the breeze.
Bunches of lotus flowers stood proudly above the leaves, dazzling in their beauty.
Yingbao had originally wanted to pick lotus flowers with her sister-in-law Luo Zhao, but Wei Zhan held her arm: “I’ll accompany you, let your brother take her.”
Therefore, two pairs of people each boarded separate small boats, heading into the depths of the lotus pond to pick flowers.
The lotus leaves of midsummer were very useful. Not only could they replace oil paper for wrapping food and desserts, they could also be used to make a cooling porridge.
This time, Yingbao was picking lotus petals. After drying them, she would use them to make lotus petal perfume powder.
The boatman pushed the small boat, parting the flowers and bushes, and entered the depths of the pond.
Wei Zhan, quite pleased, busied himself with helping his wife pick lotus petals.
The boatman curiously asked, “Young mistress, why don’t you just pick the whole flower?”
Yingbao: “I only need the petals. If I picked the whole flower, the yield of lotus seeds in your pond would be reduced.”
The boatman laughed, “Young mistress is so considerate.”
The boat soon reached the inner part of the lotus pond, and the boatman said, “There’s an islet in the middle of this lotus pond, let me take you there.”
Yingbao nodded.
She had vaguely seen the islet from the shore, but because the lotus leaves were too tall and dense, she couldn’t see what was on it.
The boat soon arrived beside the islet.
There were pavilions and verandas on the islet, all very elegant.
Wei Zhan jumped onto the shore first, then extended his hand to help Yingbao jump over.
The boatman asked, “Would the young master and young mistress like some fresh lotus root?”
Wei Zhan quickly replied, “Yes, please prepare it.”
The boatman agreed and paddled away with his pole.
Yingbao and Wei Zhan stepped onto the veranda and strolled along it.
There were other visitors in the veranda as well, but not many, just two or three people.
Suddenly, someone turned around and made eye contact with Yingbao.
In the blink of an eye, Xuanwu in Yingbao’s mind shouted loudly, “Why is he in this world too?”
Yingbao asked, “Who’s he?”
“The one who wronged you!” Xuanwu cried out.