Chapter 348: Chapter 349 - Doubt and Hesitation

When she returned to the mansion, she told her husband the whole story when he returned from the court and said, “I guess what our grandmother means is that the Shen Family and the Liu Family have talent, but history says that Six Warlords were too prominent when they were in their prime and would be frowned upon by the royal family. Therefore, if we befriend them, we can certainly draw on each other for support, but we will also attract suspicion?”

“Now that the Imperial examinations are on the rise, how can it be that easy for Six Warlords to revive their fortunes?” Jian Xubai said casually, “In the past, when the Nine-grade System was popular, there were no poor families at the top and no scholar clans at the bottom. Nowadays, no matter where you come from, you will win on the basis of your writings. Those who enter the court like me are already exceptional. Even if the Shen Family of West Liang Region and the Liu Family of East Hu Region are going to enter the court, can they guarantee that all their children will be successful? Imperial Privileged Examination not taken into account, how many people will be accepted in the examination which happens once in three years?”

Song Yixiao said, “So what about Grandmother’s proposal?”

“Since they are Grandmother’s old acquaintances, I surely should meet them, but not before the roll of honor is released.” Jian Xubai said, “After all, there are no false scholars under the reputation. The Shen Family of West Liang Region and the Liu Family of East Hu Region have been in hibernation for these years. Those children they send won’t have any problems succeeding in the exam. If that is the case, why do I bother to meet them before the exam to provoke people’s discussion?”

He didn’t enter the court by taking the examination and he wouldn’t be the one to administer the exam. But with his status and power, if a scholar was close to him before the examination, it would be difficult not to be suspected of cheating after being awarded the title.

So it was in the best interests of both families to meet again after they had passed the examination.

Since her husband had given the certain words, the next day, Song Yixiao went to convey the message to Elder Lady Duanmu. Elder Lady Duanmu nodded and said, “I am really too old. I only thought of introducing you to old acquaintances, but I forgot about this.”

Song Yixiao hurriedly said, “You are just caring much about us all the time!”

Hearing this, Elder Lady Duanmu smiled but didn’t answer. She changed the topic and said, “Qingyue will soon be one year old, right? Would you like to bring her to me when you come next time?”

“It is her fortune that you like her. Why would I be not willing to?” Song Yixiao smiled and said hurriedly, “Speaking of her, I am grateful for you. If Aunt Yun were not in the mansion, we would have been terrified by her illness that occurred during the summer vacation!”

“You become parents for the first time, so you are inevitably inexperienced.” Elder Lady Duanmu sighed, seemingly reminded of her own son who had died young. she suddenly lost interest in the conversation and said, “Aunt Yun has no use if she is around me now. Sending her to you will at least be worthy of the efforts she has taken to study traditional medicine.”

Saying this, tiredness showed up on her face. Song Yixiao understood it and excused herself.

There were still a few months to go before releasing the roll of honor next year. The member of the Shen Family and the Liu Family were still on their way. Therefore, this matter came to an end here.

After Song Yixiao returned to the mansion, she finally had the time to send someone to invite Wei Chan. But Jinxun came back alone, saying, “Lady Wei has just agreed on a wedding date with the Cheng Family two days ago, and will get married in spring next year. So she has to sort out her dowry and has no time to come over. She asked me to apologize to you for her.”

She continued to say, “The Wei Family said that even if you did not send me to invite Lady Wei today, they would send someone to inform you of the good news.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Song Yixiao said, “Why don’t you quickly pack up the presents that we have prepared before and send them to Wei Chan later?”

Although she said so, Song Yixiao was a bit puzzled. Wei Chan would get married in spring of next year, and it was not as if she would be getting married the next day. How could she not find the time to come over?

It wasn’t that she felt she was being neglected, but that Wei Chan’s rejection was indeed a bit suspicious.

To put it mildly, given the power of the Duke of Yan’s Family, Wei Chan should not have refused this time.

After all, Wei Chan’s parents were in the mansion, and her grandmother was still alive. She had plenty of siblings. As the youngest daughter, since the entire Wei Family had been familiar with the matter of wedding, how could she need to worry about it on her own? Hearing that Song Yixiao invited her over, the rest of the Wei Family would also share out the work she had to do and let her come over.

Wasn’t that how the Wei Family used to do?

“It’s true that since they came back from Cuihua Mountain, they have been all out of sorts.” Song Yixiao pondered for a moment and sighed softly, “Forget it. Leave it there until the New Year!”

She had no time to obsess herself with investigating it. It was already the end of November, and December was near. As the mistress of the mansion, she had to worry about everything, from worldly wisdom to New Year’s presents.

So she decided to put it off a little longer.

December 4th was Wei Mengying’s birthday. Although their last conversation was not so pleasant, Song Yixiao had to pack a congratulatory gift for the occasion and congratulate her in person, so that no one would figure out the gap between them.

“The new emperor has been on the throne for almost half a year, and the name of the era will be changed soon.” As the Family of Prince of Hengshan had not yet gone through mourning, and Wei Mengying had recently been worried about Song Yuan’s death, she was not in the mood to celebrate her own birthday. In the name of mourning out of filial piety, she told acquaintances not to come.

Therefore, on this day, except for Song Yixiao, there was no one coming to the door personally, only sending their servants to provide the gifts.

Wei Mengying summoned her into the inner room to talk, “Does Xubai have any plans?”

“Why are you suddenly concerned about the politics?” Song Yixiao was surprised and said, “I haven’t asked him yet. But Xubai is Emperor Duanhua’s cousin, so he won’t be at a disadvantage.”

She thought all that Wei Mengying was thinking was just to make Lu Guanyun become the heir of the prince. Among the sons of Prince of Hengshan, the eldest son and the fifth son were both born of concubines, so they had little chance with the presence of a legitimate son, not to mention the fact that they were not favored and their wives were not from noble families.

The third son, Lu Guanlun, who was the most hopeful to be the heir, had been passed out. The second son, Lu Guanqun, had been schemed by Wei Mengying to marry Cao Lianxiu, the daughter of a minor official.

Under such circumstances, Lu Guanyun, young and favored, leaned on Helou Duhan, and was indirectly linked to Gu Shao. Song Yixiao had always liked this brother. Wei Mengying shouldn’t do anything more.

So when Wei Mengying mentioned the politics, Song Yixiao thought that her mother was just asking a casual question.

But Wei Mengying said after hearing this, “Next year, there will be the Imperial Privileged Examination. According to the past rules, the examiner will be the Vice Minister in the Ministry of Rituals. Now, there is only one Vice Minister in the Ministry of Rituals, and that’s your uncle, Ji Zhou. If there’s no accident, this group of scholars will be his. Xubai has deliberately recommended such a candidate at this juncture. Doesn’t he have any idea about the new batch of scholars?”

“Mother, I didn’t even think of it until you said so!” Song Yixiao was slightly surprised and said, “Originally, Xubai had no intention to interfere with Uncle’s affairs. It was coincidental.”

Song Yixiao told Wei Mengying that Princess Consort of Liang wished to return the favor by urging Prince of Liang to get Xie Yan back to the imperial capital, but she didn’t want to take up the position of Vice President of the Imperial Academy that Ji Zhou was interested in. She said, “Xubai only has one aunt, and his aunt and uncle are in a good relationship. So how could we not help? Xubai personally went to discuss the matter with Prime Minister Gu, and only then did he recommend his uncle to take the position in the Ministry of Rituals.”

“He recommended Ji Zhou into the Ministry of Rituals instead of any other ministry. I’m afraid he still has some plans after all!” Wei Mengying lifted her chin and said, “You should be smart too! You only understand things after Xubai tells you. As time goes on, they may not bother to tell you because they think you are stupid. Listen to me. Many beautiful girls take the advantage of this and become concubines.”

Song Yixiao said unconcernedly, “Don’t worry about that, Mother. I have my own rules.”

Jian Xubai had said frankly that he didn’t like his wife involved in the court. If she had to be his wise counsel in this area, it would split them apart!

Besides, she wasn’t really interested in directing the politics.

It is rare that Wei Mengying didn’t scold her for being ungrateful. She only said, “Actually, all these are secondary. The most important thing is that you should have a legitimate son. It’s said that Xubai likes Qingyue very much. But no matter how adorable a girl is, she will be married one day. The only person you can rely on in your old age is ultimately a son! Don’t think I’m being sarcastic. There’s no one else here. Ask yourself. If you had a brother from the same parents, would we both need to be in turmoil?”

She added, “Besides, it’s not a secret that Xubai and his brother from the same parents don’t get along! The title of the Jian Family belongs to Xubai. You won’t want it that an outsider will inherit the mansion of Duke of Yan and you will need to read his face at last.”

“I understand your good intentions. But as I’ve said, children come due to my fate.” Song Yixiao didn’t take offence at her words. After all, in this world, no one said they were alright with not having a son. But being solemnly concerned about the issue of an heir by her own mother reminded her of last year’s incident. When Wei Mengying had killed Dowager Consort of Hengshan last year, she had also repeatedly asked her daughter if she was expecting.

She settled down and said, “Besides, we are still young. And there’s still a long time to come.”

Wei Mengying also seemed to have thought of the past and didn’t say more, “It’s good that you know. After all, Qingyue will soon be one year old.”

Then the mother and the daughter had some casual talks. Song Yixiao also visited Lu Guanyun, Lu Zhuo’er and Lu Cui’er. She played with them for a while before she had to leave.

Before she left, she originally wanted to visit Madam Kong and Cao Lianxiu. After all, when she lived in the mansion of Prince of Liang, she got along well with Madam Kong. And Cao Lianxiu was her cousin.

But Wei Mengying said, “It’s not easy for Madam Kong to get pregnant. She is now carefully settling down for miscarriage prevention. You also know how hard it was for her after she lost her legitimate eldest son. Now that she’s finally pregnant, even Lu Zimu wants to quit his job and come back to look after her all day! You don’t come often, so if you go to see her, she will need to get up to meet you. That’s a nuisance!”

As for Cao Lianxiu, “She has been bedridden with a cold for the last two days. So, it will be fine if you go to see her yourself. But what if you bring the illness back and Qingyue gets infected? Zhuo’er and Cui’er are older than Qingyue, but I even ask them not to go to Cao Lianxiu’s place!”

Hearing this, Song Yixiao dismissed this idea, and after asking Wei Mengying to convey her greeting, she said, “I don’t know the condition of the two sisters-in-law, so I only bring the celebratory presents for you today. I will ask someone to send some things over later. Could you deliver them for me?”

Seeing that Wei Mengying agreed, she stood up and excused herself.

After she had left, Ms. Bo brought in some desserts and told other servants to leave. Then she asked Wei Mengying, “Madam, you have been worried about the Song Family’s matter recently. Since Song Yixiao is here today, why don’t you reveal something to her? After all, she is right. Jian Xubai is the cousin of the present emperor, and he’s been close to Emperor Duanhua. If Song Yixiao and Jian Xubai are willing to share your worries, even if Prime Minister Gu is on the Song Family’s side, what can he do with you?”

“I was going to say it.” Wei Mengying took a sip of her hot tea and said with a gloomy expression, “But remembering what happened last year, I really don’t have the confidence. After all, even if Song Yuan treated Yixiao badly, he only wanted to break her legs and marry her to the Liu Family. But I nearly killed Yixiao then!”

She sighed wistfully, “Although I’m her own mother and have no shame in Song Yuan’s death, who knows if Yixiao will side with me when she finds out about it? After all, as you know, she has become more and more distant from me since she got married and had Xubai as her backer. We almost had a quarrel when we met last time!”

Ms. Bo was worried and said, “But you also said that Guanyun became a student of Mr. Helou’s and Mr. Helou was close to Prime Minister Gu. Now Guanyun needs to go to Mr. Helou’s place to study occasionally. If the Song Family turns to Prime Minister Gu and he becomes angry with Guanyun, then…we can’t guard against that!”

But Lu Guanyun formally acknowledged Helou Duhan as his master, and Helou Duhan was not a hired teacher in the Prince’s mansion. It was said that he was willing to teach Lu Guanyun because of Lu Guanyun’s good sister. Otherwise, why would the No.1 Scholar personally instruct a young child who was not from his family?

Therefore, even if Wei Mengying was unrelieved, she couldn’t change Lu Guanyun’s teacher. Otherwise, the criticism that she did not respect the teacher and despised him would be enough for her!

Lu Guanyun was too young to study in another place to hide from this matter. He went to Helou Duhan’s place occasionally. Even though Wei Mengying had sent many people to accompany him, she was unrelieved all day long. After all, she only had one son of her own. If something happened to him, all her efforts over the years would be wasted!

At this moment, Wei Mengying was silent for a while after hearing this and said, “It is difficult to gauge her reaction if I speak to her directly. Let me think of a better way to ensure that she will help me!”