CH 18.2

18. The Yu Family (2)

Yu Qingjia gripped the door knocker on the black corner door and unhurriedly snapped it three times, “Is anyone there?”

After knocking for a while, the slave inside tentatively opened the door crack and looked suspiciously at the two women wearing curtain hats that covered their entire body tightly, “Who are you?”

Yu Qingjia put her fingertips on the white hat and gently lifted it to the sides. She then nodded to the slave inside, “It’s me, the Sixth Young Lady.”

The slave was stunned for a moment, and opened his mouth in disbelief, “It turned out to be Miss Six! Miss didn’t you follow the Eldest Master to Qingzhou? Why are you alone…”

The slave looked back and found that there were no escorts around her except for another unidentified woman. Yu Qingjia sighed and said, “This is Lady Jing, a concubine that my father brought when he was in office. It was hard to explain the whole story…”

The news of Yu Qingjia’s solo return soon reached the inner court, Old Madam Yu had not slept well last night, but today she got up and was blown by the cool autumn breeze, her headache became even more severe. She wore a forehead protector on her head and was leaning listlessly on the couch. She swept her gaze from the bottom of the hall and glanced coldly at the women outside the doorway who was still wearing the curtain hats, her tone was not really pleasant, “Why are you two the only ones who came back? How did you arrive, where is the Eldest child?”

Yu Qingjia could only tell the story of how her father suddenly received the transfer order, and then went on the road with the family, only to encounter an assassination halfway. When it came to the frightened horses, Yu Qingjia omitted all the things she and Murong Yan had done on the road, and simply said, “Lady Jing and I got separated from my father and met a merchant caravan in the nearest town, and we promised a heavy sum of money to be escorted back to Yanzhou.”

Old Madam Yu frowned when she heard about the attack, and became even more displeased when she heard that Yu Qingjia was escorted back by a caravan of ordinary people. At this time, the most important thing that she cared about was the insult to their family’s prestige. The so-called rules, regarding the separation between men and woman, and other things have not been taken into account. Old Madam Yu doesn’t think that Yu Qingjia is innocent by traveling alone. She just disliked her having to mingle with commoners for half a month. Which was insulting the prestigious name of the Yu family.

“What about the eldest child?”

Yu Qingjia said with a low sigh,

“Father was injured by villains. Fortunately, he was escorted by the family servants and found the protection of the nearby Governor of Pingchang County and went to Pingchang City to recuperate with his injuries. We received a letter from my father while we were at the post station, and he said in that letter that he was not seriously injured, but that he was not well enough to go on the road, so he had to stay in Pingchang County for a while. He said that he would return with his men when his wounds had completely healed. I was so relieved to learn that my father was okay but at this time I was already a long way from Pingchang County. The servant who delivered the letter advised me to come back and report to the family first. After hesitating for a while. I still followed my father’s instructions and immediately wrote a letter for the servants to send back to Pingchang, and I took Miss Jing along with me back to Yanzhou first.”

The old lady did not care about Yu Qingjia’s life or death, but she was still very concerned about Yu Wenjun, who was the only male child of the second household, and she immediately said, “Give me the letter.”

Yu Qingjia took out Yu Wenjun’s letter from her sleeve and handed it to the maidservant standing next to the old lady.

Old Madam Yu unfolded the letter with a sullen expression, and after reading it quickly, her face turned even darker, “If he had listened to my advice and stayed in Yanzhou peacefully then these things shouldn’t have happened. Now there’s too much trouble. My God, he met with an accident this time, so I don’t know how long it will take for him to recover! He knew that he was the only heir to my eldest son, but he still didn’t respect his own life…”

Yu Qingjia inwardly rolled her eyes, but on the surface, she still meekly bowed her head and pretended that she could not hear her great grandmother’s derogatory remarks about the second household. The old lady chanted and scolded for half a day, but no one spoke up, and she felt bored. She did not want to look at this great-granddaughter who resembled that Madam Yu, and waved her hand coldly, “Okay, it’s not easy for you to come back in a rush, so go back and rest.” Old Madam Yu’s eyes immediately peeked out and asked coldly, “Is that the concubine that the eldest child brought back from his appointment?”

“Yes.”

Old Madam Yu looked up and down at the figure in the courtyard, and her eyes were scrutinizing, “You have entered the door of my Yu family, why didn’t you take off the curtain hat? Do you even understand the rules?”

Murong Yan’s temperament is not very tolerant, so she was afraid that he would immediately flip out on the spot. Since Yu Wenjun was not around they are all alone, and this place was different from the Guangling residence. She gently took a step back, just in time to block Old Madam Yu’s scrutinizing eyes, “Old Lady, she is the concubine that father has brought back and she has not been to many places. If there is anything wrong with her, you can tell me and I will go back and teach her a lesson, it’s really not worth your trouble.”

Old Madam Yu didn’t care about a mere concubine, as long as Yu Wenjun didn’t take another wife, it wouldn’t affect Madam Li’s status. She’s just simply an ornament-like thing and he can claim her if he wants. Yu Laojun waved her hand and said, “All right, go back.”

Yu Qingjia bowed her body in response. She then stood up slowly, and retreated outside the courtyard. When she was just changing shoes on her way out, a person suddenly walked towards her outside, she raised her eyes lightly, just in time to meet the other person’s gaze.

The other person was wearing a wide green jacket, underneath was an equally light lotus-colored skirt, and the sleeves were elegant and refined. The other party walked towards Old Madam Yu’s main hall with a particularly high air. When she saw Yu Qingjia, something quickly flashed in her eyes which finally turned into a gentle smile on her lips, “Sixth sister.”

Yu Qingjia also responded with an impeccable smile, “Fourth sister.”

It was Her fourth cousin, and half-sister, Yu Qingya.

(T/N: I got carried away and used Old Madam Yu again lol. I’ll revert back to Yu Laojun on the succeeding chapters. Sorry!)