Chapter 73

Even if it's a token of love◎

Now Xue Lingyu finally knew Jiang He's true identity. No wonder the head steward in the young lady's courtyard served her closely; it turned out that she was the young lady herself.

After a night of intimacy, Xue Lingyu finally moved back to Liushui Xiaozhu. Jiang He had already told the maids serving in the courtyard that she was about to marry Xue Lingyu as her husband, and from today onwards she would have to call him Young Master.

Xue Lingyu was still getting used to the sudden change in their identities. He had originally thought that Jiang He only had five taels of silver a month and was trying to save money for her. He never expected that she was so good at hiding her wealth. She could easily calculate enough money to buy a house.

Xue Lingyu spread her hands and said to Jiang He with a puff of air, "Give me back the hairpin I gave you before. You don't need any of these things, yet you still want mine."

“That was a thank-you gift you gave me after asking me for help. I didn’t accept it for nothing.” Jiang He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You said back then that I should give it to my sweetheart, but now you want it back. Why beat around the bush like this?”

Jiang He saw through his awkward little thoughts and made no attempt to hide her teasing.

Xue Lingyu snorted, turned her back to her, and started to throw a tantrum: "If you don't want to give it to me, fine, I'll just buy it later anyway."

Hearing Jiang He's pleasant laughter, Xue Lingyu suddenly had a bad feeling and turned around to ask her, "Could it be that you gave it to someone else?"

"No." Jiang He stroked Xue Lingyu's hair and whispered, "I'll give it back to you now."

Before Xue Lingyu could react, he felt as if a hairpin had suddenly appeared on his head. He looked up and saw that Jiang He's hand was empty, so he shook his head. Sure enough, he heard a crisp sound, like the sound of beads.

Xue Lingyu looked at himself in the mirror and saw that the hairpin on his head was not the one he had bought. He remembered that the one he bought was quite plain and did not have such dazzling beads, and it was even inlaid with a few agates, so it was obviously very expensive.

Xue Lingyu looked at Jiang He in surprise.

Jiang He walked behind Xue Lingyu, looked at him in the mirror, tidied his hair behind his ear, and smiled, "This red jade agate hairpin suits you very well."

"Is this for me?" Xue Lingyu's eyes flashed with surprise as he touched the hairpin in his hair. He felt that it suited his taste perfectly as soon as he saw it, as if it had been made especially for him.

"I drew the design myself and had the craftsman make it." When she was young, she went to great lengths to find out Xue Lingyu's preferences and specially placed this hairpin in the Jiang family's shop. Xue Lingyu saw it when he was passing by and liked it so much that he bought it.

The hairpin fell from the Fifth Prince's body. At first, it was covered in dirt, so Jiang He used a handkerchief to wipe it clean little by little until it was restored to its original state, looking as good as new.

This can be considered a loss that has been recovered. Jiang He felt very happy to see Xue Lingyu so happy because of this hairpin.

In Xue Lingyu's eyes, this was a token of love from Jiang He, and she had put it on him by herself. He was reluctant to take it off until it was time to go to bed, when he finally put the hairpin into the jewelry box.

Because of an urgent matter at the business, Jiang He went out late at night and would not return until later.

As Yuange was clearing away the dishes, Xue Lingyu suddenly stopped her. "Sister Yuange, I'd like to ask you a question."

Yuange stopped what she was doing and said respectfully, "Young Master, you flatter me. You are the master, and I am just a servant. I am not worthy of being called 'elder sister'."

“I heard Xinyan call you Sister Yuange, so I just followed suit. Besides, I’m just a servant girl, not born a mistress, and I’m not that pampered,” Xue Lingyu said, blinking her eyes.

In Yuan Ge's view, he was indeed not as pampered as before, but he was still the person Miss cherished, so she had to treat him with ten times the seriousness.

The name Xinyan was quite familiar to Yuange. It seemed to be a pleasing little servant in the main courtyard. Because she was helping her mistress inquire about Xue Lingyu, she seemed to have met Xinyan a few times.

"Does the young master have any questions for this servant?"

"I want to know if the master of the manor dislikes me very much?"

Yuange paused for a moment. Judging from yesterday's reaction, the lord not only disliked Xue Lingyu, but even felt that he was the one who caused Jiang He to have no children and prevented her from marrying a noble young master of equal social standing.

Judging from that situation, the master was practically ready to kick Xue Lingyu out of the house immediately, but he didn't succeed because the young lady had returned.

However, Yuange couldn't tell the whole truth. After thinking for a while, she said, "Young Master is overthinking it. After all, he is Miss's father. Given time, he will definitely accept you."

Xue Lingyu felt a chill run down his spine when he thought about the way Jiang's father looked at him yesterday, but if he waited for Jiang's father to accept him on his own initiative, he didn't know when that would be, and he didn't want Jiang He to fall out with her family because of him.

So Xue Lingyu asked, "Do you think if I try to please my lord, will he like me?"

Seeing that he said such naive things, Yuange resisted the urge to facepalm and patiently said, "Young Master, you should listen to Miss and stay obediently in the courtyard. Miss will take care of the rest, so you don't need to worry about it."

Xue Lingyu nodded, but she hadn't given up yet.

As long as he can win the favor of his lord, his marriage to Jiang He should not be opposed, Xue Lingyu thought to himself.

Even when Jiang He returned home late, Xue Lingyu was still thinking about this matter in her dreams.

In the main courtyard, Mr. Jiang hadn't slept well last night and couldn't sleep in this morning. As soon as he got up, he felt a headache. Ruiming was massaging Mr. Jiang's temples to help him relieve the pain.

Jiang's father couldn't help but sigh, "I don't know if it's because I'm angry, but I feel like I'm going to die of anger sooner or later."

Ruiming comforted her, saying, "Miss is becoming more and more capable. The master will have many good days ahead of him. He can just look forward to enjoying his grandchildren and living out his old age in peace."

“It’s better not to mention her, because I get angry as soon as I do. She’s worthy of even a prince, but she just had to fall for that Xue Lingyu. I don’t know if it was some sin I committed in my past life that gave birth to such a love-struck child!” Father Jiang became more and more angry as he spoke, and finally he started coughing.

Even if she really liked a lowly servant, he, as her father, wouldn't object so much. But she just happened to like a man who couldn't have children. Wouldn't the Jiang family's huge fortune be ruined after a hundred years?

Thinking of this, Jiang's father felt utterly hopeless.

Ruiming quickly stopped and brought Jiang's father a cup of tea to soothe his throat.

A servant came to report at that moment: "My lord, someone has come to the young lady's courtyard."

Ruiming asked, "Is Miss here?"

Father Jiang also looked up, wondering if Jiang He had come to her senses and come here to apologize to him.

The servant hesitated for a moment before saying, "No, Miss, it's Young Master."

Now almost all the servants in the mansion call Xue Lingyu that, and the young servant is just following suit.

Father Jiang slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly. “He actually dares to come to the main courtyard. How arrogant! Does he really think that I, as his lord, dare not touch him?”

After thinking it over, Father Jiang sneered, "Let him in. I want to see what tricks he has up his sleeve."

Not long after, a figure in red entered and greeted Father Jiang: "Greetings to my lord."

He came in looking quite well-behaved, but Father Jiang wanted to leave him alone for a while, so he picked up his teacup without saying a word. Unexpectedly, Xue Lingyu stood up on his own and looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to speak.

Father Jiang had no choice but to put down his teacup and speak first: "What are you doing here?"

"My lord, I'm here to serve you. Did you not sleep well last night? Let me massage your legs and shoulders. My shoulder massage is so soothing." Xue Lingyu said, then happily stepped forward.

Xue Lingyu deliberately pushed Ruiming aside. He really disliked this person, and besides, such a big guy standing there was blocking his way.

Ruiming cried out in terror, "Don't touch the lord!"

Father Jiang was clearly not expected Xue Lingyu to do this. Before he could even shout, a pair of hands were placed on his shoulders and began to gently massage them.

Ruiming wanted to drive Xue Lingyu away, but if he really harmed Xue Lingyu, Miss would definitely not let him off if she found out, so for the time being he could only watch anxiously.

In any case, the lord dislikes Xue Lingyu very much, and no matter what he does, he will definitely be severely punished in the end.

It's not that no one has ever massaged Jiang's father's shoulders, but compared to Xue Lingyu, their techniques are clearly far inferior, not even a fraction as good as Xue Lingyu's.

The anger that had been building up all night seemed to dissipate at this moment with the word "comfort," and Father Jiang's brows and eyes gradually relaxed.

Xue Lingyu smiled and said, "My lord, how is it? Comfortable, isn't it?"

"Alright, you should use it to please He'er, don't try to get close to me." Father Jiang gestured for him to stop, and after saying a few words, he realized that his throat was a little dry.

Xue Lingyu immediately offered tea: "My lord, please have some tea."

Jiang's father glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and then accepted it.

Ruiming coldly observed Xue Lingyu, thinking to himself that she was indeed cunning, actually setting aside the airs of a noble young master to curry favor with her lord.

Xue Lingyu was not immediately kicked out. Instead, he stayed for an hour until Jiang's father got tired and went to take a nap before letting him leave.

Xue Lingyu had never served someone so attentively before. At least Jiang's father was willing to talk to him for a few minutes, which was a good start.

Xin Yan had just returned from her errand when she ran into Chun Xiao at the courtyard gate. "Chun Xiao, what brings you to the main courtyard?"

Xin Yan remembered that the master did not seem to like Chun Xiao and even opposed the young lady's marriage to him. So why is Chun Xiao now in the main courtyard?

Xue Lingyu explained his purpose for coming, saying that he was now showing filial piety to his elders in advance and hoping to gain his lord's approval.

“These are all things that servants can do, and the master will not look at you differently because of them.” Xin Yan held Xue Lingyu’s hand and earnestly instructed, “Chunxiao, you must remember that you are no less than anyone else. In the future, you will be on equal footing with the masters in the mansion, so you must never look down on yourself.”

Xue Lingyu nodded, indicating that she had remembered, and then pursed her lips and said, "I also want to get married as soon as possible."

Xin Yan smiled and said, "That makes it even simpler. If you are pregnant with Miss's child, even if you suddenly don't want to marry Miss anymore, the Lord will definitely beg you to marry into the family. After all, during the time I spent in the main courtyard, the Lord's biggest worry was about having children."

A note from the author:

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-02-23 14:43:56 and 2022-02-24 13:19:12!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Strange Conch (4 bottles); Little Duck (2 bottles);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!

◎Latest Comments:

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Why isn't Ruiming stepping down yet?

[It's already chapter 73, and they still haven't gotten to the part about pregnancy and becoming the legal wife in the plan. Hurry up, I want him to have more children!]

When will I get pregnant?

-over-