Chapter 78: A Strong Possessiveness

He Songning was at his estate, and he learned about the betrothal a little late.

“I’m going back to the city today,” he said.

“The eldest master is going back to the city already?” The young servant standing in front of him was surprised.

He Songning answered, “Yes.”

Xue Qingyin had gone to King Xuan’s mansion, but he couldn’t break off his relationship with King Wei. In the future, if he could monitor both mansions, it would be even better.

He hadn’t been to see Qinghe in a while. But important matters came first.

He Songning had already seen the letter sent by the servants in the mansion.

The letter said that the second miss’s maid had been driven out of the mansion, and asked him if he should stand up for the second miss.

He Songning didn’t pay any attention.

He hated that Qiu Xin anyway. It was better without her.

Now that Qinghe could manage the household herself, he felt much more at ease and didn’t have to rush back to see her.

In comparison, it was Xue Qingyin.

He Songning sneered in his heart, she really surprised him again and again.

After returning to the city, He Songning went straight to King Wei’s mansion.

Usually, it would be Jiang, the head steward, who would come out to greet him, because he was a distinguished guest of King Wei.

But today, a young eunuch came out instead.

Had King Wei turned against him?

He Songning quickly thought about it, but he wasn’t nervous.

The young eunuch said, “His Highness is unwell, please come in with me, and keep your voice down.”

He Songning followed him inside and asked, “Why isn’t Jiang the head steward here?”

The young eunuch looked sad and said, “Jiang, the head steward, I don’t know what happened, he was robbed by bandits in the suburbs, and now he’s lost both his hands. He’s still lying in bed, I don’t know if he can pull through.”

He Songning felt something was wrong, “Bandits?”

“Yes.”

“Where in the suburbs? When?”

“This… Jiang, the head steward, didn’t say.”

“Why did he lose both his hands?”

“This… I don’t know.”

… Was it King Xuan?

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? He Songning couldn’t think of anyone else who had the same interests and the ability to make it look so natural.

Was it because Jiang, the head steward, had bought Xue Qingyin’s “personal belongings” from the Xue family servants twice?

King Xuan was really possessive! What a temper!

He Songning pretended not to know.

He didn’t know that he had also been guessed by King Xuan.

Soon, He Songning met King Wei.

In just two days, King Wei had become much more haggard. Sometimes, when he looked at himself in the mirror, he was amazed at how much of a love-sick fool he was!

“Zhongqian, you’ve come,” King Wei called He Songning’s courtesy name weakly.

He Songning frowned and called out, “Your Highness.”

“Zhongqian, your sister, your sister…” King Wei spoke, his voice choked with tears. He didn’t know if he was crying because the beauty had gone to someone else, or because he had suddenly discovered that his father wasn’t as indulgent as he thought, or because he had been scolded by the Concubine Wan for being stupid the other day.

Seeing him like this, He Songning couldn’t help but feel disgusted.

He thought, no wonder Xue Qingyin didn’t like him.

“Zhongqian, do you have any other way?” King Wei asked.

“Your Highness, what way could I have? It’s His Majesty’s decree. Who dares to disobey?” He Songning paused and said, “Your Highness is not young anymore, after your wedding, you should petition His Majesty to enter the court and take up a position.”

King Wei was annoyed, he didn’t want to marry Liu Yuerong.

He could barely accept Qiao Xinyu.

He asked, “What do you mean? I have a mansion, I have officials in the mansion, I have a fiefdom outside the capital, why should I enter the court?”

He Songning said, “Your Highness should go to the Ministry of War.”

King Wei was puzzled.

He Songning then whispered to him in detail.

Half an hour later, He Songning left King Wei’s mansion and went straight to the Xu family’s house.

Mrs. Xue was very happy to see him, “Aren’t you studying at the estate? Why did you come back?”

He Songning frowned and said, “I just learned that Mother took Qingyin back to her family’s house, how could I not rush back?”

Mrs. Xue didn’t want to worry him, so she said, “We’re just staying here for a short while.”

He Songning hesitated, “If Father…”

Mrs. Xue smiled, “I know your father’s character, he’s always been like this, I’m used to it. Don’t talk about these things, you must be tired from rushing all the way back. Stay at your maternal grandfather’s house tonight.”

He Songning wasn’t used to saying words of concern, he nodded and asked, “Where’s Qingyin?”

Mrs. Xue said, “She went out to play.”

He Songning: “…” She was so carefree.

He Songning asked, “Did the Princess Jinque invite her again? Or is it someone else’s house?” He thought, now that Xue Qingyin had received the imperial decree, she should be in high spirits. The noble ladies who usually didn’t like to associate with her, now, even if it was for the sake of King Xuan’s mansion, they could play with her.

But Mrs. Xue said, “She went out to play with her cousin.”

“Cousin?” He Songning immediately thought of the stupid people from the Xu family…

At this time, Mrs. Gui came to invite Mrs. Xue to go shopping together.

In a blink of an eye, only He Songning was left.

He Songning sat there, just took out a book and read, and waited for another half an hour before Xue Qingyin came back.

“This one should be braised. Oh, you don’t understand what braising is? I’ll tell you later. This one should be steamed, this one should be roasted, it’ll be delicious.” Xue Qingyin’s voice came closer.

She stepped into the door, but she was still holding a hot water bottle in her arms, even though it was spring.

He Songning saw that her skirt was wet.

He Songning’s brow furrowed.

Then he saw the five big and strong, not very intelligent Xu family cousins behind her, all carrying things. Some of them looked like they were bought from the market. But the most eye-catching was the wooden bucket one of them was carrying, from which came the sound of “crackling”.

He took a closer look, and saw that it was full of fish.

He Songning’s voice instantly became incredulous, “They took you fishing?”

Xue Qingyin nodded, “It’s Big Brother, why did Big Brother come here?” She corrected herself, “They fished, I fished.”

Now, when Xue Qingyin faced He Songning, she always spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

But perhaps because He Songning had gradually accepted and gotten used to her changes over the past few days, he didn’t even bother to argue with her about these details.

“What kind of behavior is this? Aren’t you afraid of falling into the water?” He Songning scolded coldly.

Xue Qingyin clicked her tongue, “How could I fall into the water while fishing? It was Second Cousin who fell into the water today.”

Second Cousin, who was mentioned, nodded foolishly.

He Songning glanced at Xue Qingyin, who was surrounded by the Xu family cousins,

Xue Qingyin turned back to them and said, “Big Brother is a bit old-fashioned and boring, don’t mind him.”

He Songning felt a surge of nameless anger rise to the top of his head.

He was old-fashioned and boring?

These stupid people from the Xu family were better?

The Xu family cousins looked at each other and nodded in agreement with Xue Qingyin’s words. They called out softly, “Cousin,” and stopped talking to He Songning.

It was too much pressure to talk to He Songning.

They only asked Xue Qingyin, “Cousin, should we take all these things to your room?”

Xue Qingyin smiled and said, “Yes.”

He Songning asked, “Where did all these things come from?”

“Of course they were bought by my cousins,” Xue Qingyin said confidently.

He Songning suddenly remembered that when he took Xue Qingyin to fly kites before, she had also nagged him to buy her a lot of things. Now, she was changing quickly, and she was already taking advantage of the Xu family.

He Songning grabbed Xue Qingyin’s arm and pulled her aside to speak.

He lowered his voice, “Xue Qingyin, you’re getting carried away.”

Xue Qingyin asked him back, “Can’t I be happy?”

He Songning: “…” He said coldly, “Can’t you see why the Xu family is so flattering you? They’re just coveting your current status and the benefits you represent behind you.”

Xue Qingyin: “Oh.”

He Songning frowned and emphasized, “They’re not sincere to you, don’t you understand?”

Xue Qingyin shrugged, “Where in the world is there so much sincerity?”

He Songning agreed with this statement, but hearing it from Xue Qingyin’s mouth always made him feel uncomfortable. It was as if Xue Qingyin was referring to him.

Xue Qingyin added, “Any amount of insincerity is hard to come by.”

He Songning was stunned for a moment, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Xue Qingyin’s words sounded a bit pitiful…

But then, she turned around and ran back to the Xu family cousins, saying in a sweet voice, “Cousin, make some more fish bait tomorrow.”

He Songning listened from afar, and after a moment of reflection, he couldn’t remember when Xue Qingyin had last spoken to him in such a sweet voice…

Soon, Xu Qi came back, carrying some food in his hand, and said with a smile, “Qingyin, Uncle bought you some delicious food. Uncle has some great news to tell you…”

They chatted, surrounding Xue Qingyin in the middle.

It was as if they were the real family.