"The Deng family's matter... was a misunderstanding, and I didn't handle it properly." Sima Hong said seriously, "I came here today to apologize, and I hope my father-in-law and mother-in-law will not blame me."
The way they called each other father-in-law and mother-in-law was very smooth and shameless. Xu Mingye was indignant, "Who are your father-in-law and mother-in-law? Our temple is small and cannot accommodate a great god like you, Lord General."
Sima Hong smiled and didn't mind Xu Mingye's attitude. He decided to treat Xu Mingye's sarcastic attitude as the fact that old guy Fu Guang was too cruel and had psychological problems. He was a magnanimous man and would not bother with his brother-in-law.
"That's it. I know you have a deep misunderstanding. It's a good opportunity for me to clarify things face to face today so that I can be cleared of all charges." Sima Hong said in a serious tone.
Xu Mingye suddenly smiled at Sima Hong and nodded, saying, "Since the Marquis has such a heart, then Xu must not jeopardize the Marquis' innocence. Come in."
Sima Hong was uneasy about Xu Mingye's sudden improvement and enthusiastic attitude. It also made his innocence seem like something had happened between two grown men... After hesitating for a moment, Sima Hong immediately cheered up and followed Xu Mingye into the yard. He didn't know how Xu Changqian would "warmly" welcome him!
After entering the courtyard, Lixiang and Dongyuan were the first to see Sima Hong. Lixiang was so surprised that she covered her mouth and screamed. Then she thought of something and her expression became less respectful and happy. She said, "My Lord... My Lord, why are you here?"
Sima Hong was unhappy. This was Mingyu's maid, which meant she was also his maid. How could a maid with such a deep hatred and resentment welcome her son-in-law
Dong Yuan was bold enough to glare at Sima Hong. What if he was a general? How dare he play both sides? If it weren't for Miss Pearl who came forward, and Sima Hong came to court to help their young master, they would have thought Sima Hong was a very loyal and righteous person!
Xu Mingye smiled at Sima Hong, who was disliked even by the servants, and called Dongyuan and Lixiang over, saying, "Dongyuan, go tell the master and his wife in the house that Lord Sima is here and wants to see them. Lixiang, go take care of Mingyu and don't let her out."
Li Xiang said "Ah?" and looked at Xu Mingye in a bit of a daze, then turned to look at Sima Hong. Sima Hong was anxious and sulking, it was too much, he wouldn't even let him see Mingyu! In the future, he would marry Mingyu and take her to the northwest, and he wouldn't let them see his wife either!
Dong Yuan shook Li Xiang's hand and said with a smile: "Just follow your orders, Master! Go inside and keep an eye on our young lady! Don't come out!"
Li Xiang lowered her head. She uttered a trembling "Oh" and ran into the house as if her butt was on fire. Sima Hong hurriedly stood on tiptoe to look, but after the bamboo curtain in the house fell, there was no more sound. Mingyu did not come out, which made him quite disappointed. However, thinking that he would soon have to deal with the two elders of the Xu family, he quickly cheered up.
Dong Yuan went to the main house. Xu Mingye smiled at Sima Hong and said, "Please wait here for a while, my Lord. I will go to the government office first."
Sima Hong wanted this troublemaker brother-in-law to get out of here as soon as possible. This brother-in-law had bad intentions and always came to ruin his things. He immediately put on the most sincere smile and said in a very friendly way, "Go ahead, go ahead. Drive slowly! It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are a lot of cars and people in Beijing recently."
Xu Mingye got goosebumps all over his body because of this corny concern. He glanced at Sima Hong sideways, suppressed his nausea, and quickly left.
At this time, Dong Yuan came out from the main room and said to Sima Hong with a smile: "My Lord, my wife is dressing up. It is not convenient to meet guests at this time."
Sima Hong looked at the rising sun in the sky. It was already so late and he had just finished dressing. It must be that Xu Changqian and Madam Xu were dissatisfied with him and wanted to leave him alone. After thinking for a while, Sima Hong decided to keep a low profile.
"I'll just wait." Sima Hong smiled, carrying two heavy wooden boxes obediently. He stood straight in the Xu family's yard, looking straight ahead. No matter what, he had to be nice.
Dong Yuan still had a smiling face and ignored Sima Hong. He walked past Sima Hong and gave him another sidelong glance when he got behind him.
The sun rose higher and higher, but there was no movement in the main house. There was no sign of him coming in. Sima Hong sighed, switched the heavy wooden boxes in his hands, and carried them in the other hand. In the bird cage hanging under the eaves, the starling he gave Mingyu was jumping up and down in the cage, very happy, but no one asked him to teach it.
"Hey, where are the words I taught you? Bark twice and let me hear them!" Sima Hong lowered his voice and said to the mynah bird.
The mynah bird glared at him with its green bean-like eyes. Just when Sima Hong thought it was about to speak, the mynah bird jumped around and turned its butt towards him.
Sima Hong sniffed in boredom. He was really unpopular...
However, after waiting for nearly two hours, the sun was already high in the sky, and the people in the room still showed no sign of calling him in. Sima Hong could not help it. He thought, this man must go to the toilet or something, it has been almost two hours!
However, there was no one in the yard. Dongyuan and Lixiang had both returned to the house, and he couldn't find anyone to ask. He wanted to ask Xu Changqian and Madam Xu directly, but he felt it was impolite. Thinking that they might dislike him because of this, he was in a dilemma and worried.
Sima Hong had been standing for the whole morning until the sun rose directly overhead. He was strong and healthy, so this consumption was nothing to him, but he was still anxious. At this time, the door of the Xu family was knocked. Sima Hong heard it clearly. Mingyu's voice came from the other side of the door, "Lixiang, open the door, I'm back!"
Before she finished speaking, Lixiang hurried out of the house with her head down. She was too guilty to dare look at Sima Hong. She opened the door for Mingyu with trembling hands and feet, praying that the young lady was there and that the murderous marquis would not take his anger out on her.
Sima Hong looked at Mingyu standing at the door in surprise, "You're not in the house?"
Mingyu was also surprised to see Sima Hong standing in the yard as if he was being punished as soon as she entered the house. "Why are you here again?" She subconsciously glanced at the courtyard wall and climbed over it again. This time, there was someone else at home!
Sima Hong almost wanted to roar in his heart, I came in through the front door with dignity, don't keep looking at me through the crack of the door!
"What are you doing here?" Mingyu asked.
Sima Hong was not stupid. From the moment Mingyu started knocking on the door, he guessed that Xu Mingye had been playing tricks on him from beginning to end. What did he mean by asking him to wait? There must be no one in the main room!
"I want to meet my parents-in-law. Your brother said they were in the house and asked me to wait here. I have been waiting for two hours!" Sima Hong felt very aggrieved and accused Xu Mingye of evil deeds.
"Uh..." Mingyu couldn't help but think of Xu Mingye's smirk, and looked at Sima Hong with sympathy. Poor kid, standing for so long. Mingyu shook her head and said, "My father went to the government office a long time ago, and my mother took me and Liu's mother to buy things for the wedding early in the morning. I came back first, and they were still outside. There was no one in that room."
"Your brother has gone too far!" Sima Hong said angrily.
Mingyu nodded, “Indeed!”
"These two are not good people either!" Sima Hong pointed at Dong Yuan who was laughing dryly and Li Xiang who lowered her head and dared not say a word, and sued them to the end.
Mingyu was slightly surprised that even the honest Lixiang was involved.
"This... I'm so sorry, Lord Hou." Mingyu was very apologetic, "When my brother comes back, I will definitely let my parents teach him a lesson!"
Sima Hong rarely saw Mingyu's attitude so kind and soft, so he immediately took advantage of it and asked fiercely: "Just teach him a lesson and that's it? Are you so tolerant of him? Fortunately, he met someone as magnanimous as me. If it was someone else, wouldn't he be killed?"
Mingyu was speechless, trying not to laugh, and said, "Well, I don't think my brother would just sit there and play tricks on others..." The implication was that the Marquis didn't need to worry about this, because Xu Mingye would just bully you at most.
Sima Hong felt even more aggrieved. He stood there cautiously for the whole morning. He didn't dare to drink water or wipe the sweat off his face. He stood like a straight pine tree, fearing that something might go wrong and displease his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Even if he had doubts, he didn't dare to question them. In the end, all his efforts were in vain.
"In your eyes, I am an outsider. Your brother and your parents are your family, right?" Sima Hong felt quite uncomfortable.
Mingyu looked back at Dongyuan and Lixiang who were still watching the fun, and whispered, "What are you talking about? My brother did something wrong, I will tell my parents, he just has a bad temper, his mouth is very poisonous, but his heart is still good."
"Good-hearted?" Sima Hong squeezed out these words from between his teeth, "Just because you have a good heart, you tricked me into standing here like a fool for a few hours?"
"Don't be angry." Mingyu coaxed him with the patience of stroking the fur of a disobedient Samoyed, "I'll teach him a lesson when he comes back, so that you can vent your anger."
Sima Hong was relentless and finally found Mingyu's weakness. He wanted to act like a spoiled child to Mingyu, "No, you have to scold him in front of me to vent my anger."
"How is that possible?" Mingyu curled her lips. Was Xu Kongque someone so obedient that she could scold him? After Xu Kongque became the censor of Cheng'an Sheren, his ability to scold people became more and more advanced. She and Sima Hong together were no match for Xu Kongque.
Sima Hong snorted, very dissatisfied, and threatened: "Then I'm leaving!"
Seeing Mingyu didn't say anything, Sima Hong became anxious. He walked backwards, carefully looking at Mingyu's expression, and emphasized: "I'm leaving, I'm really leaving!" The subtext was, stop me, stop me!
Suddenly, he felt that Mingyu's expression became very strange, like she was screaming and laughing at the same time. He thought proudly that the little girl was reluctant to let him go. However, before he could finish being proud, the back of his head came into close contact with the door of the Xu family, which made his eyes blurry, and all he could see was Mingyu's pretty smiling face.