He clearly knew that she didn't like cats or dogs, yet he chose to give Baozi a dog at this moment. What was this if not rubbing salt in her wounds?
"Mother, can I really keep it?" Baozi asked uncertainly.
For some reason, he always felt that there were two flames burning in his mother's eyes, which was a bit scary.
"Sure." Yi Qing's fake smile was on the verge of falling apart.
Xiao Tian, Xiao Tian! She was going to settle the score with Xiao Tian!
But Baozi happily shouted towards the door, "Uncle Xiao, come in quickly. Mother isn't angry. Mother isn't mad at you anymore."
Yi Qing retorted, "Who said that?"
Baozi lowered his voice and said, "Mother, mother, don't be angry. Uncle Xiao even bought you a gift."
"What gift? Did you pick it or did he?" Yi Qing squinted her eyes and asked.
Baozi swore that he had never lied to his mother so many times like today. But for Uncle Xiao, he was willing to take the risk.
"Uncle Xiao picked it." He would never admit that he had revealed the secret that his mother liked turtles!
As he was speaking, Xiao Tian had already entered with a basin in his hand. He glanced at Yi Qing, who was clearly unhappy, and placed the wooden basin on the ground. "This is for you."
Yi Qing looked down and saw two turtles that should have been hibernating slowly sticking their heads out of the warm water...
If Baozi hadn't been there, she would have already slammed the table in anger. No, she would have even overturned the table!
This was just too much to bear! It was bad enough that he gave Baozi a dog to irritate her, but now he even gave her turtles. Wasn't this a mockery of her being cuckolded by Xiao Jinghan?
"Baozi, do you want to take the dog to Aunt Zi? Maybe she'll like it too!"
Baozi immediately nodded upon hearing this. "Mother's right. Aunt Zi must like it too."
He happily ran out with the dog in his arms.
Finally, Yi Qing didn't have to pretend anymore. She pulled a long face and asked, "Xiao Tian, what do you mean by this?"
Xiao Tian had a vague feeling that he had done something wrong. He said somewhat awkwardly, "I heard that you like turtles, so..."
"Who did you hear that from? Did you also hear that I especially like being a cuckold!" Yi Qing said angrily.
Xiao Tian was speechless...
He felt like he had been dragged into the water by his own son.
"Don't listen to Ping Xinian's nonsense. General Xiao only knew that she was the eldest daughter of the Ping family at most. As for what she looked like, he had no idea." Xiao Tian said. "Otherwise, think about it. Could I not recognize her?"
"How did she get the title of County Mistress?" Yi Qing sneered.
She wasn't jealous. She just hated that Xiao Tian had lied to her. He had lied once and now he was still lying.
Xiao Tian felt very wronged. "The Ping family donated a large sum of silver and a lot of grain and grass. According to the convention, in this situation, the Ping family should be rewarded. Originally, the reward was supposed to go to Ping Xinian's father, but she managed to send a message to... General Xiao, saying that she wanted a title.
Yi Qing was stunned. "And then?"
Seeing that she was willing to talk properly, Xiao Tian was happy. He naturally told her everything in detail. "General Xiao was impatient dealing with women, but he also didn't want to owe her a favor. So he submitted a memorial to the emperor and got her the title of County Mistress. It was just an empty title without any fief. After this matter was over, General Xiao forgot about it and never mentioned it again."
Yi Qing said, "Now I seem to know where your stupidity comes from. Like master, like servant!"
What Ping Xinian wanted was the position of General Xiao's wife, okay!
This stupid straight guy must have a really strange way of thinking to think of getting Ping Xinian the title of County Mistress.
And with a subordinate as stupid as Xiao Tian, who would remind him?
Yi Qing suddenly felt a bit sorry for what Ping Xinian had gone through back then. She had spent a lot of real money but only got an empty title in the end. If it were her, she would have been so angry that she would have died.
Xiao Tian asked cautiously, "Are you not angry anymore?"
Yi Qing said, "We're talking about Xiao Jinghan. What does it have to do with you? You and the emperor lied to me. Shouldn't I be angry?"
"I didn't want to do that." Xiao Tian said. "The emperor threatened me with our matter..."
"He threatened you and you just gave in? How did he threaten you?" Yi Qing said menacingly.
It wasn't that she wasn't firm. It was just that when she saw Xiao Tian looking so cautious and confused, she suddenly felt relieved.
— How could she be so stupid to argue with such a stupid straight guy?
The "big gift" that Xiao Tian gave her made her realize after getting angry that he was so stupid. How could he have been testing her?
So the blame naturally fell on the emperor. But on the surface, she wouldn't just let it go easily. She had to teach him a good lesson so that he would remember it deeply.
Baozi thought, See, I told you mother likes turtles. Turtles are great!
Xiao Tian felt that her attitude was softening. He gave a silly smile and told her everything without any concealment.
"Now I finally know why the emperor has a special fondness for you."
"Special fondness isn't used like that." Xiao Tian corrected Yi Qing.
"I'm illiterate. What I say goes."
Xiao Tian knew he was in the wrong, but he still said, "It's okay to say it like this to me, but if you say it outside, people will laugh at you. Yi Qing, you should read more books when you have time."
Yi Qing wanted to tell him to get out, but she suppressed the impulse several times.
"Just do whatever he says. Will he help you coax me when I'm angry?"
Xiao Tian sighed. "It's good that you're not angry now. I won't listen to him anymore in the future. I originally thought that since he got married early and had many women..."
"If you want to learn, pick a better role model. I think you should send these two turtles to him!" Yi Qing scolded angrily.
Xiao Tian didn't dare to refute. He just listened like a wronged little daughter - in - law.
The more he said, the more mistakes he might make. As long as she didn't ignore him anymore, he would let her do whatever made her feel better.
"I won't lie to you anymore, Yi Qing." Xiao Tian said seriously.
Yi Qing snorted.
"What will Magistrate Xu do about Ping Xinian's attempt to harm Baozi?" she finally couldn't help but ask him about this.
Xiao Tian said, "Naturally, she won't be let off."
"Then I'm relieved. If you have time... Forget it. Don't go. You're still a suspect in Magistrate Xu's eyes." Yi Qing said angrily. "By the way, how did Xiao Jinghan die back then? Do you have any way to prove that you're not the murderer? There must have been someone else around when he died, right?"
Yi Qing had to admit that when she heard Xu Maozhi accusing Xiao Tian, she felt extremely uncomfortable.
Xiao Tian immediately felt that he was going to be embarrassed. He thought for a while and then said, "I can't tell you about this."
"Fine. If you can't tell me, then don't." Yi Qing wasn't very insistent. "This time it was Xu Maozhi who made trouble. I'm afraid more people will question you in the future, so you'd better figure out how to deal with it."
As their relationship got closer, there would be more and more skeptical voices.
"Yeah, it won't last long." Once he figured out how to confess everything to her, he would tell her all the truth.
"The imperial edict is here!" came the shrill voice of Eunuch Xiao from outside.