Chapter 179 Rich businessman Bai Yang proposed marriage
He Danggui was suddenly inspired by Bai Yangbai’s words. She stared at Bai Yangbai’s mask with bright eyes and walked around him twice. Then she poked the “soft object” on his chest with her hand. Suddenly, she seemed to think of something. A greedy thought flashed through her mind.
Under her eyes, Bai Yangbai could not help shaking. He asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?”
He Danggui bit her lips and said with a smile, “Qianjun, you are not wrong. I also want to thank you for reminding me that. Yes. If I have been busy mending the hole, there will always be water leakage. So, I have to solve the problem fundamentally. It’s better for me to get married. However, I am fond of you more than Meng Xuan. When I met you at this time, this is your chance to help me obviously.”
Bai Yangbai shook his head firmly and said, “You are fond of me? Never. I’m a real monk. I seldom go to brothels. How can I help you get married? There’s no need to talk about it. Even if you give me money, I won’t agree.”
He Danggui ignored the feasibility and began to consider the details, “Your family name is Bai and your first name is Yang. You are 18 years old. Your family is engaged in tea business. Besides, your family moved to Yangzhou City from the north and planned to settle in Yangzhou City for a long time. It is very important, because Madam Luo does not want me to marry someone who lives far away. Meng Xuan has a large separate courtyard on the outskirts. We can borrow it from him. He is too lazy to name the separate courtyard. I will make a big plaque of ‘Bai’s Mansion’ and send it to hang outside the separate courtyard. It will be more like your mansion. However, as you are only a tea merchant, if you want Madam Luo to agree on the marriage, you must ask me to be your wife and show your extraordinary talent. Madam Luo likes the intelligent younger generation best. You can roll your eyes around to show your liveliness and cleverness.”
“I haven’t agreed yet...” Bai Yangbai interrupted in a low voice.
“By the way, you still need to prepare betrothal gifts. Generally, 1,000 liang is more than enough to marry a concubine, but marrying a wife will make you spend more money.” He Danggui touched the palm of her hand and calculated. Then she nodded and said, “5,000 liang silver is very suitable. Even if Madam Luo doesn’t really want your silver, it will be very decent if there is such an amount. Then she is more likely to agree.”
“I have no money...” Bai Yangbai whispered his objection.
He Danggui patted his shoulder and said in a soft voice, “You can get money ready before you propose a marriage officially. You go to ask for a marriage first. Then, on the pretext that you want to take the imperial examination for official rank, you can postpone the marriage for three to five years. When I write a letter to inform you of the termination of the engagement, you will break off the marital engagement. We don’t have to pay the money. I’ve already came up with the excuse. You will disguise as a manservant to give an obituary notice. You can say that your Master Bai is killed by bandits on the way to taking the exam. Before he dies, he asks you to break off the marital engagement.”
Bai Yangbai was angry. He said, “I don’t want to help you. You can choose one of the noble childes who is fond of you to help you. Won’t you get married in the rest of your life?”
“There are different ways to have a poor or rich marriage. Naturally, I have my reasons for doing so.” He Danggui did not compromise and was not afraid of his anger. She said, “It’s useless for you to be angry with me. Unless you are going to break up with me, you must help me!”
Bai Yangbai’s anger only lasted for a moment. He lowered his head and protested passively, “I can’t guarantee that I will obey you in everything. If you bully me like this again, I’ll tell them about it and make Madam Luo be so angry. Then she will ask you to marry Guan Bai and Guan Mo at the same time. And you have to give birth to a child for each of them.”
He Danggui regarded that as Bai Yangbai had compromised. She nodded with satisfaction, “Bai Yang must have parents and siblings. It’s easy to find the flaws if we ask someone else to play them. It’s better to play three members of Bai’s Family by yourself, including the kind Madam Bai, the friendly elder sister Bai Qian, and Bai Yang. You appear several times in turn as the three roles. After the marriage is confirmed, you can just play Bai Qian to come alone.”
Bai Yangbai walked to the sedan chair of Luo’s Family and muttered, “Why do you only bully me? When will you bully others?”
“Because you are a Taoist Sage. And you are the most reliable one with good conduct.” He Danggui said with a smile, “If you help me successfully this time, I will thank you sincerely after this. However, this method can only solve temporary minor problems. It cannot solve more serious problems. There is a very powerful enemy who wants to come to the Luo’s Family to propose marriage. I need your help in this matter...”
“If I had known this, I would not have sold medicine candies at the gate of Chengxu Academy. You are so awesome. Even your enemy wants to marry you.” Bai Yangbai walked two steps into the carriage and said vaguely, “How did you start a feud? Did someone die because of your aphrodisiac?”
Before He Danggui answered, Bo He who stood beside the sedan chair ran to her immediately and said in a flustered way, “It’s terrible, Miss. Concubine Hua of Second Branch has been pregnant for four months. When she was wandering in the garden this afternoon, she suddenly bled. Just a few days ago, Madam Luo felt that Concubine Hua was pregnant with a boy, and Madam Luo was very concerned about her. And Madam Luo sent two mammies for her, so this matter was immediately heard by Madam Luo!”
He Danggui lightly got into the carriage and turned around to pull Bo He into it. He Danggui said, “Don’t worry. Let’s talk slowly on the way.”
After they got into the carriage, Bo He noticed the woman sitting opposite. She was surprised and asked, “Sister Huai Hua, didn’t you go back to your hometown to farm? Why did you come to Chengxu Academy?”
The woman sitting opposite giggled, and He Danggui answered for her, “She brought local products to visit me. I’ll let her stay for two days. Bo He, you can go on and tell about Concubine Hua. Did she miscarry? You came to me in such a hurry. What’s the matter with you?”
“Gee! Gee!” The carriage galloped so fast that Bo He’s voice was intermittent, “No... Although the fetus was saved, the doctors said it’s not stable. It’s hard to keep it.”
He Danggui tasted the tea and cakes on the table. She raised her eyebrow and chuckled, “It’s just bleeding, not miscarriage. Amitabha Buddha, it’s so good!”
Bo He waved her hand and said, “Miss, don’t say Amitabha Buddha. Doctor Ma diagnosed that Concubine Hua’s fetus was unstable because of defects in the antiabortifacient, so he took out a pile of prescriptions prescribed for Concubine Hua to check. Both Madam Luo and Doctor Ma were sure that there was no defect in the prescription, but there was a mistake in dispensing or boiling the herbal medicine. The closest maid who boiled the herbal medicine for Concubine Hua immediately knelt down and said that she didn’t dare to hurt the master. The herbal medicine were boiled in the big kitchen and there were people everywhere. How dare she poison Concubine Hua? Finally, Concubine Hua’s maid thought that there was some medicine left in the cupboard, so she submitted it to Madam Luo and others for inspection. As a result, they found that there were parturifacient in it!”
“Concubine Hua is pregnant for only four months, and parturifacient is taboo for her.” He Danggui said and chewed an almond cake. Seeing that she ate deliciously, Huai Hua immediately felt hungry. She washed her hands with tea, and then grabbed most of the almond cakes from the dishes. He Danggui covered up her less half of the cakes and said with a smile, “I didn’t expect Concubine Hua to be a tough woman. After taking several pieces of parturifacient, she just bled. If someone else, she would have a miscarriage.”
Seeing the master and maid were grabbing food, Bo He said anxiously, “Miss, stop eating! Now it involves you, and parturifacient was seen at the scene. It is irrefutable evidence! They sent me to take you back to trial! How to deal with it, Miss?”
He Danggui stopped chewing and repeated, “The irrefutable evidence? What’s my motive? Why did I harm Concubine Hua, who had nothing to do with me?”
Bo He said helplessly, “That’s all I know. If you want to know more, you have to go home to be interrogated first.”
He Danggui shrugged indifferently and said, “Let’s look forward to the results.”
Huai Hua approached her ear and said, “Are you afraid? They have got irrefutable evidence. But in any case, why does Sun Meiniang just bully you? Isn’t there Miss Chai who is better than you to bully in Luo’s Family?”
He Danggui approached her and replied, “It’s not bullying, but framing. In the whole Luo’s Family, Sun Meiniang treated me in a special way. As a wife in charge of the family, she was very busy every day, but she had to spend her time to plan to frame me. It’s my ‘honor’ to mention this. As for fear, I guess the most scared one at the moment is Hua Yu, the victim of using parturifacient.”
In the previous life, Sun Meiniang never spent time to “frame” He Danggui, she just “bullied” He Danggui directly. She arbitrarily skimped her food. In Luo’s Mansion, there were many snobbish villains flattering the superior and bullying the subordinate. Naturally, many of them bullied miserable Third Miss for Sun Meiniang. At this time, He Danggui was weak. She pursed her mouth with hanging tears when she was bullied. She looked very pitiful and easy to be bullied. Sun Meiniang felt very delighted when seeing the daughter of her enemy He Jingxian had been bullied by a group of despicable minions. She really relieved her hatred.
Besides relieving hatred, Sun Meiniang despised He Danggui’s weakness, so she didn’t bully her directly or did anything outrageous. Therefore, He Danggui, who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, thought that although Sun Meiniang was mean and ungrateful, she was not a villain. Instead, she was bullied cooperated by her First Aunt and Elder Sister-in-law. They were two very annoying women. With this idea in mind, in the days to come, she who was the favorite of Lord Ning would be deceived by the hypocrisy of Sun Meiniang and others. She was their obedient niece and ignored the hatred generously.
In fact, in the previous life, if He Danggui hadn’t had such a good fortune to become a superior and only married an ordinary childe as a concubine, living a mediocre life, Sun Meiniang probably would not have planned to harm her. However, He Danggui, who was silent when she was a child, became more and more excellent and lived better and better. She not only married a hundred times better than the husband of Sun Meiniang’s own daughters, but also Sun Meiniang’s daughters were not promising. All of them could not attract their husbands, and they had to ask He Danggui for their husbands’ official posts. These sharp contrasts stimulated Sun Meiniang, so she was more and more jealous and hateful about He Danggui. She began to bedevil He Danggui, whose life was very blissful.
In this life, the situation was similar. Originally, He Danggui lived in Taoist temple for half a year. When she returned to Luo’s Mansion to keep a low profile, Sun Meiniang would not regard her as a top enemy. However, when she lived in the Taoist temple, she made Sun Meiniang be embarrassed and annoyed. In addition, Sun Meiniang’s brother died just after He Danggui was reborn. Although there was no relationship between them, Sun Meiniang still stubbornly believed that He Danggui had robbed her brother’s life. So, she hated He Danggui more and more. Although Sun Meiniang’s younger brother didn’t live long in his previous life, he didn’t die until he was infected with a disease. He Danggui was surprised to hear that he died so early in this life.
In addition, He Danggui lived in Tao Yao Yard as soon as she returned to the mansion, occupying the valuable land of Luo’s Mansion. Therefore, before meeting with He Danggui after her rebirth, Sun Meiniang had hated He Danggui even more than in her previous life.
At the beginning, Sun’s method was the same as before. She informed the relevant administrator in charge to cut off necessities of life of Tao Yao Yard. She artificially turned the Tao Yao Yard into a doghouse and hoped that He Danggui could become a wretch. After hearing about this, Madam Luo didn’t care about it. Sun Meiniang guessed that Madam Luo probably felt guilty after giving Shao’s Tao Yao Yard to someone else. And Madam Luo was too embarrassed to say anything more. So, Sun Meiniang felt proud and thought that she had prevailed.
However, in an instant, Zhu Quan, whose pseudonym was Ning Yuan, left a painting and a jade pendant after leaving, which made Madam Luo wonder if the identity of Childe Ning was different from others. Was he fond of Yi? These things could be regarded as a part of bride-price. When Yi grew up, he would marry her, wouldn’t he?
With this idea in mind, Madam Luo was also concerned about the daily life of her granddaughter. Madam Luo asked maids to make up for what was deducted by Sun Meiniang, which irritated Sun Meiniang. Why did Madam Luo suddenly change her mind?
Later, Feng Yang came to visit Madam Luo. At the beginning, when Madam Luo asked him the identity of Ning Yuan, he avoided this topic without a worthwhile word, which made Madam Luo have suspicion. Later, Feng Yang furtively went to visit He Danggui, and after her entreaty and threat, they unified their views. When Madam Luo asked again, Feng Yang said that Ning Yuan was a rich businessman and his deceased younger sister was similar to He Danggui in appearance, so he gave her the painting with no other intention.
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