They were quite far away, so Shen Yuning could only vaguely see the anxious expressions on their faces. She couldn't hear what they were saying.
Shen Yuning got up and wanted to go closer, but Yin Zidu pressed her down.
"Judging from their looks, it seems they have something to discuss. If you go over like this, you might tip them off."
The two of them were sitting in a small teahouse facing the street. Their eyes were wandering, as if they were afraid of being seen by acquaintances.
After hearing Yin Zidu's words, Shen Yuning hesitated and didn't dare to move forward. She had only met General Liang a few times. She thought the man was extremely burly and looked terrifying. But since he was kind to Xue Yuxi, Shen Yuning didn't think much of him.
Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Xue Yuxi for a long time. Even at the grand wedding yesterday, Xue Yuxi didn't show up.
But seeing her younger brother now, Shen Yuning could hardly recognize him. When Xue Yuxi came back from the battlefield, he was high-spirited, quite different from the weak scholar before. It had only been a short time, yet the younger brother in front of her was now a haggard young man.
Yin Zidu had slightly lifted the curtain on the other side. He whispered something, and then a shadow flashed by.
Shen Yuning was confused. Only later did she realize what was going on. She quickly grabbed him and asked, "Isn't this eavesdropping? It's not appropriate, is it?"
Yin Zidu curved his eyebrows. He pulled Shen Yuning into his arms and rubbed his nose against hers. "What's inappropriate? That kid Xue Yuxi didn't go to the Xue family to send you off for the wedding yesterday. Instead, he went straight to the prince's mansion. I thought something was off. If it weren't for the short 'spring night' last night, I should have taken care of this matter for you earlier."
Hearing the words "spring night", Shen Yuning remembered his mischief yesterday. She blushed and didn't dare to look up.
Yin Zidu just loved her shy look. He couldn't help but pull her into his arms again. He gently lifted her chin and kissed her.
Shen Yuning was a bit annoyed. But she was also dazed by his kiss. Finally, she heard the commotion around them, which brought her mind back a little. She quickly pushed him away. "How can you be so improper in broad daylight?"
Yin Zidu seemed a bit dissatisfied. He still hugged her tightly. "I've always been such an improper person. I've just been pretending in front of others. Now that I've finally got you, how can I still pretend in front of you?"
He laughed playfully and rubbed his face against her rosy cheeks. Shen Yuning kept dodging.
"I didn't know before that you were so clingy."
Yin Zidu was in a daze for a moment. His voice was full of grievance. "You don't like me anymore?"
Shen Yuning was both angry and amused. She gave him a reproachful look. "Stop fooling around. We're in the carriage. Don't act recklessly."
Taking advantage of Yin Zidu's loosening his grip, she quickly moved to the window. She lifted the curtain and continued to look in the direction of General Liang and Xue Yuxi.
Yin Zidu frowned and glanced in that direction too. He muttered, "Your heart is all on Xue Yuxi."
Shen Yuning looked back in surprise. "He's my younger brother."
Yin Zidu's face was full of grievance. "But wasn't I your younger brother before too?"
Thinking of this, Shen Yuning's face blushed again unconsciously. Yes, Xuanzhi was also her younger brother. Not long ago, she still thought that he was the younger brother she had taken in for six years and raised for three years. How could she suddenly... suddenly fall in love with him?
She turned her head and looked into his long and narrow eyes. His thin lips were pouting, quite different from his usual coldness. But he was still so good-looking that it made her heart skip a beat.
Her heart started pounding.
His lips were always warm, making her heart flutter.
Before she knew it, even Shen Yuning herself didn't understand why, out of the blue, she would take the initiative to kiss his lips.
When she came to her senses, she was shocked. She quickly separated from him. Blushing, she turned her head and didn't dare to look at him.
But because of this, Yin Zidu was in a great mood. The gloom on his face had all disappeared. He didn't make any more trouble. He just leaned forward to look too.
Looking this way, he saw a familiar figure walking quickly towards General Liang.
Shen Yuning was stunned. "Xue Yuxuan?"
They saw Xue Yuxuan rushing forward angrily. He was about to slap General Liang.
Xue Yuxi quickly stood up and shouted, "Father."
General Liang was also startled. He stood up but didn't fight back. But because he was so tall and burly, the hand that Xue Yuxuan was about to slap with stopped in mid-air.
It looked quite comical.
Shen Yuning watched their actions in confusion. She thought to herself, had Xue Yuxuan finally restrained his nature, stopped going out philandering, and now wanted to take good care of his children?
You know, in the past, it was the eldest branch's father and son who had always cared about Xue Yuxi's studies. Xue Yuxuan had never cared about this son.
General Liang seemed to be in a hurry. He whispered something. But Xue Yuxuan flew into a rage. Since he didn't dare to beat General Liang, he slapped Xue Yuxi hard twice.
Xue Yuxi didn't resist. He took the two slaps. But he had trained a lot in the past year, while Xue Yuxuan only liked to play and didn't like to exercise. So the two slaps didn't hurt much.
After hitting him, Xue Yuxuan seemed to say a few harsh words. He grabbed his son's arm and told him to go home with him.
General Liang stared blankly as the two of them left. The worry and anxiety in his eyes didn't lessen, but he didn't make any attempt to stop them.
Not long after, someone knocked on the carriage wall.
Yin Zidu quickly glanced at Shen Yuning. He reached out and wiped the slightly messy lipstick from the corner of her lips. Then he said in a deep voice, "Come in and report."
The man who came in was dressed in black and looked like a guard. He didn't dare to look up. He just told them what had happened outside.
It turned out that General Liang was asking about Xue Yuxi's birth mother, Concubine Bai. It seemed that Concubine Bai was sick.
Shen Yuning asked in surprise, "Why is he asking about Concubine Bai?"
It didn't seem reasonable to say that it was out of love for Xue Yuxi and thus caring about his mother.
The guard heard the clear and beautiful female voice. He knew it was the princess. He didn't dare to look up. He lowered his head and replied, "As far as this subordinate heard, the birth mother of Young Master Xue and General Liang are from the same hometown. Second Master Xue means that General Liang and that concubine have an unclear relationship. He also... also suspects that Young Master Xue is not of the Xue family bloodline."
Shen Yuning's eyes widened. Did this mean that Xue Yuxuan thought that Xue Yuxi wasn't his son but General Liang's?
This was impossible. Not to mention that Concubine Bai was a well-bred girl carefully selected by the old lady of the Xiao family before. Moreover, for so many years, Concubine Bai had always been dutiful. She didn't have any relations with others. She had always stayed in the inner courtyard and never even stepped out of the door.
Shen Yuning still remembered that when she was a child, someone from the Bai family came to ask for favors and wanted to see Concubine Bai. The maid beside Madam Shao went to ask her. Concubine Bai just shook her head and said that since she had entered the mansion as a concubine, it wasn't appropriate for her to see outsiders. She just asked Madam Shao to take care of them.
At that time, Madam Shao also sighed and said that a simple and innocent concubine like Concubine Bai was really worry-free. She didn't know why Madam Xiao had taken this concubine in voluntarily but always made things difficult for her.
Moreover, at that time, General Liang was still a bandit somewhere. How could he have come to the capital and had an affair with Concubine Bai?
Although Xue Yuxi's personality was different from Xue Yuxuan's, his appearance was exactly that of a Xue family son. How could he be the son of the strong and burly General Liang?
Yin Zidu held Shen Yuning's hand. "Don't get involved in such things."
Shen Yuning nodded. It was a family matter. How could she get involved? If she was still the daughter of the second branch of the Xue family in the past, she could have stopped them and helped the poor Concubine Bai. But now, she really couldn't do anything.
On the third day when they returned to her natal family, Zhu Bin and Xue Yuxin also deliberately chose this day to go back.
Xue Yuxin pulled Shen Yuning into Madam Shao's room early. She started talking about the second branch's affairs.
It turned out that after General Liang's triumphant return, he became very famous. Even the women in the inner courtyard who rarely went out knew about the brave Liang Hong.
Since Xue Yuxi was now serving under Liang Hong, he also gained some prestige. This prestige made Xue Yuxuan think that his son was very capable. He could finally straighten his back. The morale that had been suppressed by the eldest branch for a long time had returned.
Unfortunately, Concubine Bai couldn't keep things to herself. She heard that this great general was the man she had almost been engaged to in the past. And now he was so kind to her son. She was so scared that she fell seriously ill.
She was delirious during her illness, which worried Xue Yuhan very much. Since her stepmother was unkind, Yuhan had no choice but to go to her father and beg him to find a better doctor to take good care of Concubine Bai.
This made Xue Yujiao unhappy. These days, her father had been favoring Xue Yuxi. She was already very angry. Now a lowly concubine was sick. It was already good enough to give her some medicine. How dare she ask for a doctor?
So Xue Yujiao went to Madam Xiao and forced her to make a fuss.
Madam Xiao was also feeling stuffy in her heart. She was also dissatisfied with this submissive concubine. So she was thinking of sending her to the manor.
Speaking of the second branch, they originally had some good shops and manors. But after the family split up, Xue Yuxuan didn't care about family affairs, but he didn't want to save on expenses. Xue Yujiao thought of herself as a young lady. Her tastes had grown over the years, and she always wanted the best.
They were spending more than they were earning. What could they do? Madam Xiao hadn't managed the family for many years. She believed others' words and exchanged the good shops and manors for inferior ones. She even thought she had got a good deal.
After a while, the manors in the hands of the second branch were small in location and small in area. And the tenants on the manors were not good people.
Xue Yuhan and Xue Yuxi naturally wouldn't let their birth mother suffer such hardships. So they completely made a scene.
Xue Yuxin sighed. "This all happened in the summer. Later, I don't know what happened. It seems that Concubine Bai almost got drugged. Yuxi whipped his second aunt. Then his second uncle punished him with the family law..."
Shen Yuning was still in a daze. How did the whole second branch family end up in such a situation?
Seeing that there were only the three of them - mother and daughters - in the room, Xue Yuxin carefully said, "I've inquired about it. Second aunt is determined to kill Concubine Bai and Yuxi. So Yuxi doesn't dare to go home. Yuhan guards Concubine Bai every day and doesn't dare to relax for a moment..."
She looked around again. "In addition, General Liang is actually from the same hometown as Concubine Bai. And they almost got engaged. If the old lady of the Xiao family hadn't taken a fancy to Concubine Bai and bought her as a concubine for the second uncle, things would have been completely different now."
Shen Yuning suddenly understood. Xue Yuxuan probably knew that Yuxi was his son. But since he knew about General Liang's past with Concubine Bai and saw that General Liang was so kind to Xue Yuxi, he was just being petty and got angry.
She sneered in her heart. Xue Yuxuan was a heartless man. Now there was only Concubine Bai left among his concubines in the house. In the past, when he was suppressed by his grandparents, he had already taken in several concubines. Not to mention his lovers outside and the prostitutes in the brothels. There were quite a few of them.
He could have fun with his own affairs, but he couldn't even stand it when Concubine Bai hadn't even done anything wrong?