Xu Mingye threw out a few words and went to propose marriage with full confidence. Mingyu and her parents waited at home until after lunch time before Xu Mingye and Dongyuan came back.
Mrs. Xu hurried forward and took her son's arm and led him into the house. As they walked, she hurriedly asked, "What happened? Ah?"
Xu Mingye's arm was hit by Fu Guang's feather duster and it hurt. When Madam Xu pulled it, he screamed and pulled his arm out of Madam Xu's hand, grinning and saying, "It hurts, mother, be gentle."
Mrs. Xu rolled her eyes at him and said, "I didn't put in any effort... Have you decided on a date? When is it?"
"What day?" Xu Mingye asked.
Mrs. Xu slapped Xu Mingye on the forehead and said, "You naughty boy, didn't you go to propose marriage? When is the date for your wedding with Miss Fu? Your father and I should make preparations." Xu Changqian and Mingyu also came out and stood at the door looking at Xu Mingye expectantly.
During the time when Xu Mingye went to propose marriage, Mrs. Xu and Xu Changqian discussed it and agreed that their son had let the girl down. They planned to do their best to give Fu Lemei a decent marriage, which was also a way to compensate her with all their heart. They must not let anyone say that they looked down on Fu Lemei.
"That..." Xu Mingye spoke with difficulty, stretching his body that was aching all over. Looking at the expectant eyes of the three people, it would be too embarrassing to tell the truth, so he smiled and said, "We haven't set a date yet. I'll go to the Fu family to discuss it tomorrow."
Xu Changqian was about to nod, but suddenly thought of something and shook his head, "No, no, since you have proposed marriage today, according to the rules, I and your mother should go to discuss the marriage tomorrow, which also shows respect for the girl."
"Don't..." Xu Mingye rejected with a wry smile, "I'll go first. When the date is set, my parents will go and propose formally."
Dong Yuan felt so distressed when he saw the young master forcing himself to smile. He stamped his feet and said, "What date did you set? Master and Madam. Today, the young master went to propose marriage, but the Fu family was so unreasonable that they didn't even let him in. Mr. Fu even beat the young master with a feather duster. It's too much!"
Xu Mingye looked back at the "loyal" servant boy and was so moved that he wanted to strangle him to death.
Mingyu was the first to give no face, but she couldn't hold it back and burst into laughter. Madam Xu glared at her, reached out and tapped Mingyu's forehead, and said angrily: "You two are both troublesome. You are so happy to see your brother being beaten!"
Xu Changqian recalled that at this time yesterday, he seemed to be beating Sima Hong with a ruler. Suddenly, his eyes went dark and he couldn't help but hold his forehead. He felt that retribution was coming so quickly... Could it be that the late Lord Sima knew about this and was heartbroken and angry that he beat Sima Hong... The ancestors of the Sima family were too powerful. It seemed that he had to be more polite to Sima Hong in the future to avoid retribution on his own son.
Mrs. Xu didn't have as much imagination as Xu Changqian. Seeing the daughter-in-law she was about to marry fly away, she was so anxious. "I will go to your house with your father tomorrow and apologize in person." Mrs. Xu said.
"I'll go," Xu Mingye said. "Master Fu is angry now, and he's angry at me. It won't be any use for you to go. When he calms down, he'll probably agree."
Xu Changqian sighed and warned, "Be nice when you go there, and don't say anything back when someone scolds you. You are being unfair to the girl. She is good in every way, but she is willing to sacrifice her family's reputation just to prove your innocence. Besides, she raised the girl like her apple of her eye, and you got away with it so easily. It's inevitable that she will be angry. Considering the affection Miss Fu has for you, it's nothing for you to get hit by Lord Fu a few times."
Xu Mingye naturally nodded respectfully, but he was complaining in his heart. He almost knelt on the ground and pretended to be a grandson to Fu Lemei's father. He apologized with gifts and was beaten with a feather duster. If Master Fu didn't nod in agreement, he would have no choice but to jump into the lake.
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Hu's voice rang out from outside the door, "Brother, sister-in-law, are you home? The old lady is worried about the child, so she came to check on him."
Li Xiang hurried to open the door. Old Madam Xu, supported by Mrs. Hu and Xu Mingrui, walked into the yard anxiously on crutches. When she saw Mingye, she asked immediately, "I heard that Mingye was sued so early in the morning. What happened?"
As women, the old lady and Mrs. Hu thought they were wives of wealthy families and were unwilling to go out easily. Xu Changgong went to the government office and would not be back for a while, and they did not know whether the gossip brought back by the maid who went shopping on the street was credible. When the servants heard that the young master had come home, they were anxious and did not care too much, and rushed over directly.
"It's nothing, thank you for your concern, grandma." Xu Mingye smiled, "It's just a few ruffians who wanted to extort money. The Jingzhao Yin has already made a decision on the case." He was too lazy to say more to Grandma Xu.
Old Madam Xu was not going to let it go, and with a serious, wrinkled face, she asked, "I heard that Lord Lu also went to court? What happened?" Mainly because she heard that Lord Lu took his cousin with him, and his cousin even went to court to expose Mingyu's reputation. This made her feel very nervous. She was worried that Lord Lu would dislike Xu Mingye's bad reputation due to the lawsuit, and she was also worried that Lord Lu regretted the marriage and asked his cousin to take the lead to give the Xu family a hint.
"The court is so big, and Lord Lu is a minister of the court, so he can go whenever he wants." When it comes to Lu Hao, Madam Xu no longer has the previous enthusiasm, and she feels a little unhappy. It would have been fine if he didn't help, but he also let that damn cousin make trouble and almost harmed her son.
Old Mrs. Xu was dissatisfied with Madam Xu's attitude and snorted, "I'm asking a serious question!"
Mingyu frowned. She hated the way Old Madam Xu behaved the most. She regarded herself as an elder and put on airs when she came to the first house. She was either scolding this or educating that, as if she was afraid that the people in the first house would disrespect her. It was really annoying.
"If you want to know, why don't you just ask Lord Lu? How do we know what he really thinks?" Mingyu said. Seeing that Mrs. Xu was furious and about to explode, Mingyu pouted and said, "My brother just came back from the court. As a grandmother, you didn't ask him how he was and whether there was any impact, but only asked Lord Lu. Do you think it's appropriate? Who is your grandson? If you think what I said is wrong, why don't you go outside and ask the neighbors to judge."
Mrs. Xu's anger was blocked by Mingyu's words, and she couldn't utter it. Xu Mingye was not her grandson, and she had no feelings for her. If something really happened to him, she wouldn't feel bad, at most she would feel sorry. Lu Hao was different. If they could get married, Lu Hao would bring real benefits to her and the second and third branches of the Xu family. She was very clear about the importance of interests, but she knew it was okay to say it, but it would be wrong for her to say it out loud, and she was being unkind.
"Hey, look at what my eldest niece said." Mrs. Hu smiled and tried to smooth things over. While trying to appease Old Madam Xu, she looked at Mingyu and said, "I've always known that my eldest niece is smart. With this mouth, she will definitely not suffer any loss when she gets married!"
Mingyu glanced at her and was too lazy to say anything more.
Xu Mingrui could not hold back any longer. She was very angry at Yu Mingyu's rudeness towards her grandmother and mother. Just as she was about to stand up and curse a few words, she was secretly pulled back by Hu, who signaled her not to say anything more. Xu Mingrui had to stand back unhappily.
"But I'm not being nosy. I want to say something to you. You're about to get married, so you can't be like your own family when you go to your husband's family. You have to think before you speak, otherwise you'll offend people. Your husband's family is not like us, their family. We don't care about anything. Don't you think so, niece?" Mrs. Hu smiled and spoke in a very amiable way, like an elder who was giving advice.
After hearing this, Old Lady Xu felt relieved and nodded, saying, "Your second aunt is right. The Lu family is such a good family. You should have changed your temper a long time ago. You can't let your temper do everything for you after you marry into the family."
"Who said I'm going to marry into the Lu family?" Mingyu said indifferently. This group of people have always been talking to themselves.
Old Madam Xu was stunned. "This is something we have agreed on..." Thinking that Lord Lu might have changed his mind and was unwilling, she became nervous and looked at Madam Xu and asked, "What's going on?"
Before Madam Xu could say anything, Xu Mingye got angry first. "When did you agree on this? Who did you agree on this with? How come we don't know? Can you just talk about your daughter's marriage so casually? Wouldn't it be a joke if it gets out?"
"What's with your attitude? I'm not asking you, I'm asking your mother what's going on!" Old Mrs. Xu was shocked and angry, and stomped heavily on the crutch in her hand.
Xu Mingrui was listening with her ears pricked up at the side, feeling shocked and secretly delighted. She thought that Lord Lu must have looked down on Xu Mingyu. Now that was good, it was Xu Mingyu's fault for having her eyes on the top of her head, thinking that she was going to fly onto a tree and become a phoenix. Now she had fallen into the mud, which made her so happy!
"Nothing happened." Mingyu was quite impatient. It was her who was getting remarried, not Old Madam Xu. This was never going to end. She had been in Tianshui for such a long time, but the second and third branches of the Xu family had never come to ask about her. The only good thing this group of people did was to send a pearl incense stick, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the sick Xu Mingyu.
"I don't want to marry him, that's all," Mingyu said.
Old Mrs. Xu was dumbfounded. She didn't want to? She didn't want to? She must have lost her mind! Without Lu Hao, wouldn't her family have to live a tight life as before? Wouldn't Xu Changgong still have to be a shunned official? What about the future of her three grandsons? How can her two granddaughters marry into good families? How can she accept the fact that her wonderful future life was shattered in an instant
Seeing that Old Lady Xu was panting heavily, Mrs. Hu quickly helped her to calm down and said to Mingyu, "Mingyu, this is a matter of life and death, so you can't lose your temper! Second Aunt knows that you are good-looking and arrogant, but Lord Lu was picked out from thousands of miles away, so don't feel wronged..."
Old Madam Xu pushed Mrs. Hu away and shouted in a sullen voice, "What a grievance! Why don't you look in the mirror? How dare you feel aggrieved?"