Chapter Fifteen: The Seductive Voice in the Bridal Chamber

  We have to admire Hu Zhongren's extraordinary martial arts skills and strength. He hobbled on one leg, yet managed to carry the tightly bound Liu Qingqing, who was as stiff as a rice dumpling, all the way from the east wing to the west room of the main house, a distance of over 50 meters. His older brother didn't even take a break, and he carried her without stopping, while Liu Qingqing's head and feet were still straight, and she was cursing at him. He got angry and kissed her mouth shut, taking advantage of the situation to his heart's content.

  If Xiaolian hadn't been following behind them, Hu Zhongren would have liked to take care of Liu Qingqing on the spot. However, he knew he couldn't do that before figuring out whether Liu Qingqing was indeed the wife of his good friend, Yue Qianshan. He had to restrain himself, even though in his heart, he prayed countless times that Liu Qingqing wasn't Yue's wife, so that no matter what, she would be his lawfully wedded wife, and he would have the right to protect her.

  Let's put aside Hu Zhongren's passionate feelings for now and formally introduce the layout of the Hu estate. From an airplane, it looks like a large "h", with the east wing and west wing on either side of the main house. Unlike ordinary courtyards, the east and west wings are attached to the main house and extend south and north, without any passageways or empty spaces between them. The rooms are connected by doors.

  Liu Qingqing originally lived in the east wing but has now moved to the west room of the main house. The east room is larger and belongs to the old lady, while the central hall is like a living room, very spacious. The west room has four rooms on each floor, with a study, tea room, and two bedrooms. Compared to the wings, it lacks a guest room, but in fact, the part of the wing corresponding to the main house serves as the guest room.

  The doors all face east and are divided into four rooms, which can be connected by doors. The southernmost room is the study, followed by the bedroom, then the tea room, and finally another bedroom. It's a warm day today, so Hu Zhongren and Liu Qingqing's bedroom is in the northernmost room.

  Now, Hu Zhongren was holding Liu Qingqing in his arms, with Xiaolian following behind him. This scene made the servants laugh and also frightened the two maidservants, Yingying and Yanyan. They had been waiting for their mistress here early on and didn't know that a martial arts performance was being staged in the east wing, nor did they know that their own mistress had lost and was trapped like a rice dumpling, looking like an intimate couple from the outside. Feeling embarrassed to watch, they thought it was shameful of them to do this. Anyone would feel awkward encountering such a situation as a young girl's family, but as servants, they couldn't say anything, so they could only come forward and pay their respects. Hu Zhongren waved his hand for them to retreat, and the two of them hastily retreated to the main hall.

  Between the western wing and the reception hall was a row of real and fake doors, forming a passageway between the western wing and the reception hall. The two maids should have been sleeping in the passageway to attend to Miss, but suddenly retreated to the reception hall. The eastern wing was set up in the same way as the western wing. After Madam came out of her room, she also walked through a row of real and fake doors, then crossed the reception hall, before arriving at the real and fake door of the western wing. She had already received news from the servant's report, and hurriedly came out to take a look. At first glance, she saw the two maids standing in the reception hall, and hastily asked them what was going on.

  Two maids were stuttering and didn't know what to say, when Yang Liuqing received the news and rushed in from the back door, panting. Because he lived in the north room of the west wing, he was slower than others.

  "Auntie, you must stand up for your nephew! Cousin is being utterly outrageous!"

  "Qing'er, Qing'er, my good Qing'er, what are you doing with such a huff? Don't forget your identity as a young master of a noble family!" The old lady knew her nephew was very angry and understood his feelings. But all she could say was to ask him to calm down.

  "Elm green hate way: 'Aunt, I can not stand it! You always tell me to pay attention to identity, pay attention to identity, but does my cousin pay attention to identity? In the past, he clearly knew that I liked Xiulian, but still competed with me for her. You know how much I liked Xiulian and wanted to marry her, but you said to pay attention to identity and told me not to compete with my cousin, saying it would be a laughing stock for outsiders to see brothers fighting each other. But what about him? He took Xiulian away! Now that I want to take a concubine, you had already promised to give Xiaolian to me, but then gave her to my cousin and told me not to compete with him... who is competing with whom, him or me?"

  The old lady argued, "Qing'er, listen to my explanation. I didn't promise Xiaolian to him, but he forcibly took Xiaolian in. What can I do? Didn't I just hear the news and come out to stop it?"

  "Then go in and call out Xiaolian, or ask Brother-in-law to come out. I must marry Xiaolian today." Yang Liuqing said with a huff. In his heart, he secretly scolded Xiaolian: "You little slut, you're not marrying someone as good-looking as me, but instead want to marry that Iron Club Li. That guy is cold-blooded and unfeeling, doesn't he know what passion is?"

  "But they've already rested, how can I, as their mother, go in? Why don't you go in yourself, after all, you're their little uncle, no need to stand on ceremony." The old lady really did have a soft spot for her nephew.

  A lady disguised as a man, a handsome young master 5200

  Such a stupid idea has been brought up again.

  But before they could take action, the sound of "mmm ah" echoed from inside, clearly the three people inside had started a 3P game. The accompanying maids were so embarrassed that their faces turned red, while the old lady and the male servant on the side listened with relish, almost as if they were cheering them on. They thought to themselves, "Hou Shao's abilities are truly amazing and heroic", not to mention his previous reputation as a "one-night-seven-times" man, now he was putting on a show of "dual swords vs single gun". The old lady's face couldn't take it anymore, "You scoundrels, get out of here at once! You're killing me with your shamelessness!" In her heart, she weakly thought: "Dear son, can you please not be so loud?"

  The people inside seemed to be having a great time, not only did they not lower their voices, but instead became even more intense, all that could be heard was the man's exertions, Xiaolian's giggles, and Liu Qingqing's moans, which were endless. The young male servants outside finally couldn't take it anymore, one by one they set up small tents. After hearing the old lady's words, those who were supposed to go home went home, and those who were supposed to go out went out, it was too much, they had to let off some steam.

  The old lady looked at Yang Liuqing's face, and her heart ached as she didn't know what to say. "Qing'er, calm down, apart from Xiaolian, whoever you like, your aunt will give them to you! Tonight is the wedding night, how about that?"

  The old lady has made a big investment, Yang Liuqing's face turned iron-green, "Except for Xiaolian, I don't want anyone else!"

  "Cough, cough, my child, Xiaolian has already become your cousin's wife. What's the point of still liking her? Listen to Auntie's words, there are many good girls out there. Tomorrow, Auntie will ask the matchmaker to find a few suitable ones for you, and you can choose from them. Why do you want to hang yourself on one tree?"

  Yang Liuqing really wanted to push open the door of Hu Zhongren's bedroom, pull out this adulterous couple and give them a good beating. In the end, she just scolded loudly and ran out of the Hu family gate. There was no way, it seemed like a fire had ignited dry wood inside, and he also had to put out the fire. Seeing her nephew run out, the old lady called an old slave to follow him. Actually, the old lady let out a sigh of relief and hurried back to the east house with Yang's mother's support. Coughing, she sat in the armchair, and Yang's mother quickly brought up a cup of tea.

  "Cuiyun, what can be done about it?" Cuiyun was the name of Yang's mother, she was a maid brought by Old Madam. She was highly valued by Old Madam.

  The old lady looked at Yang's mother and raised an eyebrow in question.

  Yang's mother waved her hand and asked the accompanying maidservant to withdraw, saying in a low voice: "I think this is also good. Xiaolian and Ninth Lady are close and can work together to serve Master Hu. Your wish for prosperity will soon come true. But I have one thing to say, I don't know if it's right to say it or not?"

  "You and I are still distinguishable from each other, but it doesn't matter what we say." The old lady took a sip of tea and said, will there be any more explosive scenes than this? There's nothing that can't be said.

  "I'm more worried about the situation of Ninth Madame and Xiaolian than what you're concerned about, Madam. I don't know if you've also heard some rumors, but Young Master has always been interested in Hu Shao's wife, except for Xiulian, the other madames couldn't bear the humiliation from Young Master and ended their own lives. Originally, they were willing to degrade themselves, so it's not worth sympathizing with them. However, today these two are different from before." Yang Mama paused here, looking at Old Madame's furrowed brow, and didn't dare say more.

  "Go on." Although Old Mrs. Hu did not want to hear these words, since it concerned the continuation of the Hu family line, she could only listen on.

  "For these two people, the young master is very fond of them, and it's an inexplicable liking. Especially for Ninth Lady, she's intelligent, beautiful, and has a quirky personality, just like a mischievous spirit, completely capturing the young master's heart." Yang mom said to Old Lady.

  "What makes you think so?" The old lady said: "I didn't feel that he had anything special for her."

  "Didn't the old lady see it? Firstly, Hu Shao would never let a woman linger at home, but now that business is tight in the capital, he only sent Chen Xixi away and stayed behind himself. What's the reason for this? Secondly, Ninth Lady took the pearls and silverware from the phoenix coronet to the pawnshop and exchanged them for one thousand taels of white silver and ten thousand taels' worth of silver notes, and even made a big scene at the pawnshop, injuring Hu Neng and others. It was all over town, but not only did Young Master not get angry, he even retrieved the phoenix coronet and silverware for Ninth Lady. Thirdly, Ninth Lady often comes and goes from the rear garden, which is a place he explicitly forbids, yet he lets her come and go as she pleases, and even had the big tiger moved away for many days to make it easier for her to jump over the wall...and there's more..."

  "Alright." The old lady scolded for a moment, then pondered for a while and said: "Then what do you think we should do?"

  "I think the only way is to send Ninth Madame to Hong Cuishan Manor. Let her develop some feelings with Young Master, and wait until Ninth Madame or Xiaolian becomes pregnant with Young Master's child before coming down. You also know that only at Hong Cuishan Manor will Eldest Young Master not go."

  "For the foundation left by our ancestors, for the prosperity of the Hu family, I must do this." The old lady said with a sigh, with a heroic spirit, and we can see how much she dotes on her nephew.

  "All right, let them go to Hong Cuishan Villa tomorrow morning." The old lady made a decision.