Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 741 - 694: That Village Girl Again! (3)

Chen Meixin intentionally asked this, intending to pique Pei Jingxiu’s curiosity.

She couldn’t find out about Pei Shenyan’s wife’s situation, but Pei Jingxiu, also a Pei family member, could certainly find out.

Although they didn’t live together, it was impossible not to meet.

Pei Jingxiu looked back at Chen Meixin, "Arrogant? A village woman? Heh! Just wait until I see her, I’ll see how she acts arrogantly! The last arrogant Li Yuwen has already gone to the countryside of Zhen An Prefecture to dig grass roots, I’ve heard she’s tanned like a black bear monster, could she be more impressive than Li Yuwen? If she provokes me, I’ll have fifth brother divorce her and send her back to the village to dig soil!"

Pei Shenyan was worried that Pei family members would discriminate against Li Yuwen, who had her Commandery Princess title stripped, so he never mentioned Li Yuwen’s status before she came to the Capital.

Pei Shenyan believed that once people met Li Yuwen face to face, they would accept her.

He only mentioned that he married a teacher’s daughter living in a village in Qingyang County, Zhen An Prefecture, who had studied, was literate, good at needlework, and not bad-looking.

A village girl, born as a villager. Whether she’s viewed highly or lowly, she’s ultimately a girl from the village, which wouldn’t trigger particular gossip.

Eunuch An from the palace went to Zhen An Prefecture but didn’t publicize Li Yuwen’s situation as it would bring pride to the Li Family. The Emperor, Li Can, ordered everyone to block news about the Li Family.

Apart from Old Madam Pei, no one knew Li Yuwen’s true identity.

Pei Shenyan was only an illegitimate son, so Mrs. Pei was too lazy to care about whom he married.

Prime Minister Pei was bedridden after a stroke and couldn’t manage.

Besides, Prime Minister Pei never liked Pei Shenyan and never cared whom he married.

As for the other Pei family members, they pretended to be concerned but inwardly mocked.

Even Sixth Miss Pei, Pei Jingxiu, who had a good impression of Pei Shenyan, looked down on Pei Shenyan’s village wife.

She even thought that if Pei Shenyan insisted on bringing that village girl back to the Pei family, she wouldn’t see Pei Shenyan.

A village girl wasn’t worthy of her meeting guests, let alone worthy of her calling her Fifth Sister-in-law.

"Jingxiu, considering how well we get along, I specially came to tell you this, but don’t tell your fifth brother, or he will blame me." Chen Meixin thought of Pei Shenyan and reminded Pei Jingxiu.

Pei Jingxiu teased her, "What if I chase that village woman away and let my fifth brother marry you? He is now in favor with the Emperor, even my eldest brother has a new level of respect for him."

Chen Meixin’s face suddenly reddened.

She quickly waved her hand, "Oh, no, no, this is not a joke to be made."

Pei Jingxiu pursed her lips into a smile, "Look how scared you are."

Chen Meixin exhaled, quickly fanning herself to hide her inner panic.

Pei Jingxiu sighed, "But speaking of which, although my fifth brother is an illegitimate son, he’s a man. Whether legitimate or illegitimate, it doesn’t make much difference for a man. Look at my eldest brother, he’s a legitimate eldest son, thirty years old already, yet he is only a registrar in the Taichang Temple, managing the personnel list during ceremonies, with no prestige or prospect."

Chen Meixin accompanied her in sighing absent-mindedly.

Pei Jingxiu looked at Chen Meixin again, "Although my fifth brother is an illegitimate son, and his biological mother’s background isn’t good, the Emperor promoted him to the Left Minister of the Central Secretariat, someone by the Emperor’s side, seeing the Emperor every day. As long as he doesn’t make a mistake, he will have boundless prospects. Moreover, he is young, only twenty; if he works well in the Central Secretariat for ten or eight years, he will certainly be Prime Minister in the future! If you marry him, you won’t lose out."

"Jingxiu, why are you bringing this up again? Fifth Young Master has a wife." Chen Meixin gave her a look.

Pei Jingxiu sneered, "So what? Our family hasn’t agreed yet. Does a village girl dream of entering our home? Hmm, she can at most be a concubine, to be the legitimate wife? She’s not qualified!"

Chen Meixin was stirred up by Pei Jingxiu’s words, feeling restless inside.

Yes, so what if Pei Shenyan is married? His status, how could it let a village girl be a wife? Wouldn’t the ministers laugh?

If they host a flower banquet in the future to entertain other ministers’ wives, would a village girl know how?

That village girl can only be a concubine!

.

After leaving the city gate, Pei Shenyan curiously asked Li Yuwen about the soldier, "Yuwen, who is that person? Why is he so afraid of you?"

The little maid Cui Xi sitting beside Li Yuwen also looked at Li Yuwen curiously.

Li Yuwen proudly smiled, "In this Capital, there are plenty of people afraid of me. Husband, wouldn’t you be afraid?"

Cui Xi widened her eyes in surprise, "Is the young mistress so formidable?"

Pei Shenyan smiled slightly and cupped his hands to bow towards Li Yuwen inside the carriage, "Formidable, my lady."

His serious look amused both Cui Xi and Li Yuwen.

Li Yuwen laughed for a while, waved her hand and said, "I’m not teasing you anymore. Let’s talk business; that person was once my attendant, grew up in my family. Three years ago, he got into trouble, and I saved him, gave him some silver money to make a living for himself. Unexpectedly, he became an official at the city gate, which is nice; eating the official’s food, he won’t starve."

The father of the city gate soldier leader was originally Prince Luling’s driver but later fell seriously ill and died early.

At that time, he was young, only about seven or eight years old. Prince Luling, feeling sorry for him, took him into the Royal Mansion and made him a servant for Li Yuwen.

Three years ago, on a certain day, he saw a bully in the street forcibly taking a young woman and even crippling her father. He intervened out of a sense of justice, but struck too hard and ended up killing the man.

Although the other party was at fault, he had killed a person and was taken to court.

It was Li Yuwen who vouched for him and paid some silver to the victim’s family. Li Yuwen also found someone to write a petition to articulate his grievances. The Shuntian Prefecture Government revised the case, and the City Gate Soldier Leader was released after serving only three months in prison.

He could no longer return to the Prince Mansion, and Li Yuwen gave him money to find a new path. His quick wits led him to achieve the position of City Gate Soldier Leader, which is a ninth-grade official position.

Though the position was low-ranking, it nonetheless came with an official salary.

Li Yuwen’s recounting of the soldier’s past also gave Pei Shenyan a deeper understanding of Li Yuwen’s temperament.

Within the capital, people often gossiped that Li Yuwen was domineering, arrogant, unreasonable, and devoid of compassion.

But over the past couple of years, he had discovered that she was a person with a hard exterior but a soft heart.

Though domineering and coarse, she adhered to principles.

Her domineering, her coarseness, her unreasonableness, were all directed at evil people.

Pei Shenyan, with the two sisters of the Li Family and Mu Yuanxiu, went to rest at a new residence he had recently acquired in the capital; it was a three-entry courtyard.

The interior and exterior of the residence were newly painted, and in every corner of the walls and courtyard, were planted flowers and trees that Li Yuwen loved.

"The residence was given by Old Madam. I wanted to buy one, but she wouldn’t allow it, saying there was no need to purchase one when there was already one available," Pei Shenyan said as he took Li Yuwen on a tour of the residence. "There are only two gatekeeping servants here, and two housecleaning maids. If any more servants are needed, Yu Wen, you can decide on that."

Li Yuwen looked up at him and smiled, "Alright."

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu walked behind them, also inspecting the residence.

"When shall we visit Old Madam?" Having heard many stories about Old Madam Pei from Pei Shenyan, Li Yuwen was eager to meet the only relative of Pei Shenyan.

Although there were other Pei Family members in the capital, Li Yuwen never considered them as Pei Shenyan’s relatives at heart.

Pei Shenyan smiled and said, "Let’s rest a bit first and change our clothes. We will visit Mrs. Wei and then go to the Pei Family. The Wei Family are our extended relatives and elders, while the Pei Family is our own family, so there is no rush to visit."

Li Yuwen and Li Yuzhu reminisced about the Princess Consort Luling’s instructions to visit Mrs. Wei as soon as they arrived in the capital.

The Wei Family had been demoted and penalized because of the Lu Ling Royal Mansion, and Princess Consort Luling always felt remorseful.

Hearing Pei Shenyan take the initiative to visit the Wei Family, Li Yuwen smiled and said, "You are so considerate, my husband."

Pei Shenyan returned her smile, "Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?"

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu maintained a distance of about a dozen steps from them.

Listening to their sweet talk, Li Yuzhu was about to burst into laughter and pulled Mu Yuanxiu to turn around and walk elsewhere.

But just then, Li Yuwen called out to them, "Third Sister, Yuanxiu, go pick a room over there to stay in, so you won’t have to rent a place."

With the Prince Mansion sealed, the other properties of the Li Family also couldn’t escape misfortune.

Before their trip, Princess Consort Luling instructed Li Yuzhu and Li Yuwen to visit the Wei Family, where Mrs. Wei would certainly invite them to stay, but with so many people and complications in the Wei Family, living there might be inconvenient.

She advised them to preferably rent a separate place to live.

Now that Pei Shenyan had a large three-entry residence, there was no need for Li Yuzhu and her husband to rent separately, and Li Yuwen generously invited the two of them.

Li Yuzhu laughed, "Got it, we’ll go pick a room now."

.

After having some refreshments and changing clothes at Pei Shenyan’s residence, Pei Shenyan, with two sisters and Mu Yuanxiu, along with some gifts, went to visit Mrs. Wei at the Wei Family.

Their carriage nearly collided with another one at a street corner.

The carriage in front was driven by Pei Fusheng, with Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu’s carriage following, driven by Pei Ji.

Upon seeing the carriage opposite theirs, Pei Fusheng’s face changed suddenly. Was it destiny to encounter foes?

Why was it the same carriage they collided with before during the day?

Inside the opposite carriage were Chen Meixin and Pei Jingxiu.

They had planned to go out and admire the late-blooming lilies together.

Chen Meixin noticed the stopped carriage, lifted the curtains, and upon recognizing Pei Fusheng, she sneered, "Jingxiu, I was wondering who had hit my carriage again, turns out it’s an old rival."

"What old rival? Who else has your carriage collided with?"

"That village girl I met at the North City Gate, your Fifth Sister-in-law." Chen Meixin looked at Pei Jingxiu, teasingly smiling, "Do you want to get off and say hello?"