Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Housewarming Banquet 3

“General Cang certainly cuts an imposing figure!”

When a slant-eyed young man beside Little Fatty saw him lose the exchange, he stepped up in his place.

He studied Xia Heng, who stood behind Cang Chuli, for a long while before finally seeming to confirm something.

Xia Heng only felt that the way he looked at people was sinister. He did not seem like anyone good.

Before she could think of anything, the system suddenly stuffed another chunk of plot into her head.

“My dear elder sister, what is this? Father married you into the General’s Mansion, so why are you following behind like a maid, waiting on people?”

“Great General Cang! Is this how you humiliate a daughter of Xia Mansion?”

It took Xia Heng great effort to digest it all.

Damn it! This guy was Xia Jinguang’s second son! Technically, he really did have to call her elder sister!

But what was he doing here?

In the original novel, her character was an invisible nobody no one paid attention to.

Back at Xia Mansion, this guy had relied on his status as a legitimate son to bully his older brothers and sisters plenty of times.

He had never once called anyone “elder sister.”

That rotten bastard-why had he come here, drunk on a bit of piss-water, to throw a fit!?

Seeing more and more gazes turn toward her, Xia Heng nearly lost her composure.

“If Xia Mansion treasures her so much, then why, when my people went to your residence to deliver a message saying I had no need for a concubine and that three hundred taels of gold would be enough to redeem her, did everyone in Xia Mansion act like they were dead?”

“I do not keep useless people at my side. But as it turns out, Xia Mansion values this daughter so highly?

“Then it must have been the servants in your residence deceiving their superiors and hiding the matter, failing to report it, yes?”

Xia Lang’s expression turned awkward, but he could hardly say that once a money-losing good had been sent away, then sent away she was-why spend three hundred taels of gold to buy her back?

What couldn’t he do with three hundred taels of gold?

He could only hem and haw.

“Probably… yes.”

“Then Young Master Xia should go back and properly discipline those wicked servants. But since Young Master Xia is here today,

“why not settle the money now? It would be better than making a young lady of Xia Mansion work here on her own to save up her redemption money.

“After all, Princess Consort Zhao and Minister Chen have already taken their daughters home.”

With that speech, he tore off Xia Mansion’s face, threw it underfoot, and stomped on it again and again.

It made clear that Xia Mansion had been the one eager to send her to the General’s Mansion in the first place, and also pointed out that he had already said he did not want her. Those who cared about their daughters had taken them back. Since Xia Mansion cared so much about its daughter, why was it unwilling to pay even three hundred taels of gold?

Xia Lang’s face shifted from embarrassment to patches of blue and white.

In his heart, he resented his second uncle, Xia Yun. It was his own daughter, yet he had not redeemed her himself, causing Xia Lang to lose so much face today at Miss Xiao’s housewarming banquet.

He completely forgot that if he had not gone out of his way to provoke Cang Chuli, Cang Chuli would never even have noticed him.

Xiao Yaqing followed everyone’s gazes and looked toward Xia Heng.

Huh?

Wasn’t that the young lady she had seen at the restaurant last time?

Looking at her now, the girl could remain as steady as a mountain in the middle of such a storm. She really did not seem like a maid.

Xiao Yaqing swept her gaze over the men’s seats, where the guests had already turned crooked and disorderly after drinking a little, making complete fools of themselves.

Then she looked at the women’s seats, where everything was harmonious on the surface while undercurrents surged beneath.

Only at times like this did ancient times and modern times overlap perfectly.

Xiao Yaqing lowered her eyes and continued eating. It was always inappropriate for her to cut in when the male guests were drunkenly talking.

Besides, it was not her place to help.

Cang Chuli shot Xia Heng a look.

Xia Heng was also holding in a breath of resentment on behalf of the original owner.

She had just been standing there perfectly well. Who had she offended?

She had already been sold off by her family, and now they still wanted to use her as a tool.

What kind of people were they?

So, following Cang Chuli’s meaning, she walked up to Xia Lang.

She pinched her thigh until it reddened and forced out a few tears.

Before she even spoke, the tears began to fall.

“Second Brother!”

She collapsed beside Xia Lang.

After thinking about it, she still could not bring herself to hug his leg, so she merely clutched the corner of Xia Lang’s robe.

“Second Brother, I’m begging you. Redeem me and take me home. I know you must have three hundred taels of gold!”

Xia Lang had never expected that this quiet, unassuming elder sister of his at home would have so little tact!

Fine, she had gone to someone else’s residence and had not even managed to become a concubine, but now she actually dared to come before him and give him a problem like this.

Three hundred taels of gold! She really had the nerve to say it! Even if she were sold ten more times, she would not be worth three hundred taels of gold!

But everyone around him was watching him make a fool of himself, so he could only grit his teeth and comfort her for now.

“Elder Sister, I really didn’t bring that much money today. Don’t worry. Once I go back, I’ll tell Father and Second Uncle!

“Were you bullied at the General’s Mansion? Why are you even wearing a veil? Now that I look at it, your face seems swollen! Did he hit you?”
With that, he glared furiously at Cang Chuli.

“Don’t be afraid, Sister. Our Xia family isn’t so easy to bully either. My father and Second Uncle will both back you up.”

“Think of your mother.”

Xia Lang lowered his voice for that last sentence.

This time, Xia Heng’s eyes truly reddened with anger. You still dare bring up my mother?

Ever since they decided to send the original host to the General’s Mansion, Xia Yun had packed her off to a martial arts school for three months of movement training.

For those three months, she had not been allowed to return home even once.

They had someone who had studied footwork for three months go poison Cang Chuli. How did they even come up with that?

After three months, they sent the original host straight to the General’s Mansion.

In truth, the moment she was sent away, her mother had fallen ill.

Once she collapsed, she never got back up. Her death was murky and unexplained.

Three months! Not one person had told her that her mother was gone!

They were afraid that if they told her, she would become harder to control. They did not even hold a funeral, only buried her quietly.

Even now, they claimed to outsiders that she was ill and refused visitors.

They had even resented her mother for dying at an inconvenient time!

Her mother had been a merchant’s daughter. She had nothing else, only money-and a devoted heart.

Unfortunately, that devotion had been given to the wrong man. In the end, she lost her daughter, then left this world herself.

And these men who had survived by sucking her blood actually dared to use her safety to threaten her daughter!

If Xia Heng had not recently merged more and more smoothly with this body and its memories, and if she did not have the system at her side,

they really might have gotten a hold on her!

Xia Heng was so furious she almost laughed.

You son of a bitch, why don’t you take a look at the Purple-Gold Crown on your head? That was part of my mother’s dowry!

That old bastard Xia Yun thought wearing it made his face look too dark, so he never used it. Instead, it ended up benefiting a beast like you!

Speaking of which, Xia Jinguang had a concubine too, also the daughter of a merchant family, surnamed Wan.

And then look at her own father.

Now Xia Heng understood why Xia Lang had shown up here.

You bastard. Your whole family made its fortune off women, and you think you can lay a finger on the female lead too?

“You are mistaken, Brother. I’m not swollen. I’ve simply put on a little weight recently.”

“The food at the General’s Mansion is too good, and they don’t limit portions. I wasn’t paying attention for a while. Haven’t you noticed I’ve grown a little taller too?”

All these years, in order to send the original host out and win a good future for these two brothers, they had not even allowed her to eat more. She had to maintain her figure.

“Since Brother puts it that way, then please do be sure to tell Eldest Uncle and Father.”

Xia Lang glared at her. She was actually this tactless!

Hmph. In the end, won’t you still have to ask my father to step in? Just you wait! The family doesn’t have three hundred gold to redeem you!

But he had not expected Xia Heng to speak again.

“If it truly won’t work, taking three hundred gold from the dowry Mother left me would be fine as well. The Purple-Gold Crown on Brother’s head today is worth quite a bit. Mother said that when she had it custom-made before marrying my father, it cost no less than a hundred gold. In that case, another two hundred gold should be enough.”

After saying that, Xia Heng returned to stand behind Cang Chuli.

Just you watch, you bloodsuckers of the Xia Mansion!

One day, she would make them spit out everything they had swallowed from her mother!

She wanted everyone to know: they said they had sent her to the General’s Mansion as a concubine,

but in the end, that entire family had even embezzled the dowry her mother had saved for her.

For a moment, everyone at the banquet wore different expressions.

They had not expected the household of the Vice Minister of Rites to be such a mess.

Sending his own niece to be someone else’s concubine was one thing. After all, every family had a few relatives who tried to climb up through marriage ties.

Even they themselves could hardly claim they had never entertained such thoughts.

Although Cang Chuli’s move of making people pay to redeem their own daughters was rather wicked,

who told him to be Cang Chuli?

This man had never been the type to suffer a loss! Besides, other people with higher official rank than you could pay to redeem their daughters. You can’t?

Three hundred gold sounded like a lot, but among the families present, who couldn’t produce three hundred gold?

And from the sound of it, the Purple-Gold Crown Young Master Xia was wearing today was part of Xia Heng’s mother’s dowry?

Tsk, tsk, tsk. A nephew wearing his aunt’s dowry out to a banquet-now that was truly unheard of.

Even Little Fatty beside him showed disdain and shifted his body away.

Over on the women’s side, there was dead silence. Everyone’s eyes darted back and forth, their souls burning with gossip.

They all felt this banquet had been well worth attending.

Truly, it was like getting your ass sliced open with a knife-an eye-opener.