Chapter One
Contrary to Xian Yi's expectations, the two men were not locals but from "Guai Zi Village", a place about three counties away from Lin Qing County. Guai Zi Village was infamous for being a hub of human traffickers who made a living by kidnapping and selling women and children. The village was notorious for its remote location in the mountains, making it difficult for outsiders to find their way in. Moreover, the villagers were united in their crimes, leaving the authorities frustrated and unable to crack down on them. This time, the two human traffickers caught by Jin Fenghua were reportedly the "backbone" of Guai Zi Village, responsible for selling countless women and children, including some from official families. The authorities had been itching to take action against them, and this time they finally got their chance without much effort.
The kidnapper was caught, but the baby's origin was unknown. The kidnapper was tortured and only revealed that they had stolen the child from a household, but did not know the family's name. Although the pattern on the baby's clothing seemed extraordinary, it was impossible to determine the child's background based solely on the design. Furthermore, when the authorities followed the lead provided by the kidnapper and found the house, they discovered that it had been abandoned long ago. After inquiring about the owner of the house, they learned that a couple had rented the place around the time the kidnapping occurred, but their whereabouts were now unknown.
The neighboring counties and villages that were plagued by the "Kidnapping Village" all applauded and cheered for this official operation. Many people even went to the road from the "Kidnapping Village" to Lin County, waiting for the kidnappers who were caught by the officials to pass by, wanting to see their fate. If it weren't for the surrounding people stopping them, those kidnappers might have been beaten to death on the spot. Moreover, due to this official operation's thorough search of the "Kidnapping Village", many children who had recently been kidnapped and brought back to the village were rescued before they could be sold. As a result, the area outside the county government office was crowded with families who had lost their children, and many people were reunited with their own kids, which was considered a good deed.
However, after waiting for a period of time, none of the babies brought back by Jin Fenghua were claimed by anyone. Even if someone did come to claim them, Jin Fenghua would investigate their background and abandon them on the streets again. Gradually, no one dared to come anymore.
Helpless, Xian Yi thought of temporarily taking care of the child and finding a good family to entrust him to in the future. However, what she didn't expect was that Jin Fenghua, who was bloodthirsty and violent in her eyes, actually wanted to adopt this infant, and she would become a "mother" before even getting married. Unable to understand Jin Fenghua's intentions, Xian Yi thought it was probably just another one of Jin Fenghua's eccentricities, so she didn't raise any objections. Moreover, the baby looked white and tender, with an adorable appearance, and in this era, taking care of children didn't require her to do everything personally. So, she agreed, but made up her mind that she would definitely educate him well in the future, lest he turn out like Jin Fenghua, with a twisted personality.
Having decided to adopt a child, of course, they couldn't just leave it aside. Xian Yi and Jin Feng Hua had also arranged for a reliable wet nurse and a young maid to take care of the child. It was indeed fortunate that Jin Feng Hua had many connections. On the second day, these two arrived at the mansion. Xian Yi only let them take care of the child for a while before keeping them on. The wet nurse, Li Shi, whose husband's surname was Shi, was called Shi Nang Zi by everyone in the mansion. The young maid was about ten years old and did things with precision, quite mature for her age. When she arrived, she introduced herself as Hu Po, and it seemed that she knew Bi Xi too. It looked like they had come from the same place before. However, Xian Yi had never been curious enough to ask questions. To her, Jin Feng Hua was always a mystery, and now that he was being nice to her, it didn't mean he liked others prying into his secrets. Anyway, she wasn't worried about food or clothing, so why bother trying to figure things out?
"Third Granny, this child is probably premature and his body isn't very robust." Shi Niangzi hadn't addressed Xian Yi as "young lady" since she arrived. Anyway, it wouldn't be long before Xian Yi would marry Young Master, plus the two had adopted a child, so calling her "young lady" wasn't quite suitable anymore.
Xian Yi didn't expect that Shi Niangzi would know medicine, and after asking another question, she found out that Shi Niangzi's husband's family had been doctors for generations. Although the origin was not spoken of, it also made Xian Yi feel at ease, at least in the future if something happened, having someone who knew medicine by her side was much safer.
"Will there be any hindrance afterwards?"
The stone girl wrapped the child up and put it in a stroller, smiling: "This child is four months old, but because of premature birth, he looks like three months old. Fortunately, there are no congenital diseases from his mother's womb, so with proper care, he will be fine later on."
Xian Yi nodded, no wonder she looked a bit weak earlier.
The mansion had a stone girl, and the little guy also had a mouthful of food. However, the immortal clothes were afraid that the stone girl would come over to feed this child, while her own child was not being taken care of. She thought that raising one was the same as raising two, it's better than cruelly separating the mother and son. But who would have thought that just as she opened her mouth, the stone girl smiled and shook her head, saying: "There is a wet nurse at home to take care of them, no need for you to personally take care of them."
In short, Xian Yi didn't ask any more questions and had no idea which wealthy family's grandmother Jin Fenghua had brought back to be the wet nurse for their own adopted child. However, she added another sentence: "After all, the child is young, so when you have time, come home often to take a look."
The stone girl immediately responded with enthusiasm.
At home, there is a new child, and Xianyi also has things to do. However, with the mourning period almost over, it's been nearly three months since Madame Han passed away. Xianyi not only has to busy herself with the summer clothes for the household but also with the matters of removing her mourning attire. After removing her mourning attire, considering Jin Fenghua's temperament, she might have to endure another round of wedding arrangements and celebrations. In any case, Xianyi won't be able to rest for these two months.
Jinfenghua obviously had the same idea as Xiānyī, but all the mundane tasks and preparations were arranged by Xiānyī, so he couldn't help much. He put his energy into the wedding instead. Since people from the capital wouldn't be attending anyway, he wanted to make it more lively. However, since Xiānyī was a house-born daughter and he was a concubine's son marrying a servant girl, they couldn't follow traditional customs like matching horoscopes or giving betrothal gifts. Nevertheless, he didn't skimp on the preparations; he personally arranged for 24 trays of gifts to be prepared, each one filled to the brim. Later, these would serve as Xiānyī's dowry. In a family with concubines and servant girls, this was extremely rare. Many families who didn't adhere to traditional customs wouldn't even bother giving their servant girls marriage certificates, let alone dowries. After all, it was considered shameful for a noble family to marry off a servant girl, so they would often try to humiliate the concubine's son as much as possible.
But the busy days finally arrived, and since both the bride and groom were from their own family, it was not possible to have a grand wedding feast. However, they still needed an elder to preside over the ceremony. Eldest Aunt thought that no one would come from the capital city, so she assumed that she would be the most senior member of the family present. As a result, she expected to play a key role in supporting the proceedings at the Gold estate on the day of Golden Breeze's wedding. However, it turned out that Golden Breeze didn't even mention her name and instead invited the wife of a scholar from the county library. At first, others were puzzled by this choice, but later they found out that this scholar was a graduate of the Imperial Academy and had previously taught at the Hundred Collections Academy in the capital city. He had also given guidance to the young masters of the Gold family, including Golden Breeze. Since Golden Breeze was not favored, Old Master Gold would not have allowed him to become illiterate. In a sense, this scholar, Jiang, could be considered Golden Breeze's teacher. As for Eldest Aunt, she was in no position to override Golden Breeze's teacher, so naturally, Madam Jiang entered the Gold estate and helped Golden Breeze with the wedding arrangements.
With the reliable elder, Jin Fenghua brought Chen's mother to see the marriage certificate in person, proving that Xianyi had already left her household register and officially became a member of the Jin family.
Xian Yi didn't know that Jin Fenghua was really going to bring her mother over, so after finishing the household chores, she started working on her own wedding dress. Anyway, she was going to be a bride soon. These external matters were all taken care of by Jin Fenghua, so Xian Yi didn't bother with them at all. She just made sure that everything a normal bride should have, such as the wedding dress, bedding, and pillowcases, were all prepared. Fortunately, after Jin Fenghua had decided to marry her, she started making arrangements for these things little by little. Her mother also reminded her about it, otherwise, she would be worried that there wouldn't be enough time when the day arrived.
On the day of their wedding, Jin Fenghua broke the rules and rented a flower sedan chair, riding a white horse, with the dowry in celestial clothes. He took the red celestial clothes from his mother-in-law's hands and put them on the flower sedan chair. After that, he strolled around Linqing County City for a while before returning to the Jin Mansion to hold the wedding ceremony. Jin Fenghua was dragged away by familiar or unfamiliar men to drink wine, while Xianyi was naturally sent into the new room by Biyi and others.
The lady almost didn't know that her nephew, Jin Fenghua, had escorted Madame Han's spirit back to Linqing until he was about to get married. It turned out that he wanted to get married in Linqing and seemed to have no intention of returning to the capital. The lady was worried about this and feared that if the old madam found out later, she would blame her too. Then she thought that her granddaughter, Meng Hualan, had already gotten married, and her grandson was still young, so she didn't need to worry about the old master for the time being. She put aside her concerns and brought her daughter-in-law to pay respects at the gate without losing face.
They are relatives, and Tai Yiniang also brought her daughter-in-law to the door, but she relied on her seniority to scold the people in the mansion, and seeing that the things in the mansion were valuable, she had a greedy heart, and was quickly subdued by the people sent by Jin Fenghua, losing face. He Shi is a person with a thief's heart but no courage, usually only knowing how to stir up trouble for her mother-in-law, but this time seeing her mother-in-law being subdued, she immediately lost her voice, honestly accompanying Tai Yiniang to find a seat at the banquet, but in her heart, she was thinking that such a rich and noble courtyard would be great if she could get it from Jin Fenghua's hands.
The female relatives related to the Jin family, except for Auntie and Tai Niang's family, also came with the clan leader's wife, as well as the village head and Li Zheng's wives from Tai Niang's village. Everyone was fairly familiar with each other, so they naturally gathered at one table. However, among the men of the Jin family, only the clan leader didn't come; Auntie's husband, Meng Xiucun, and her sons and grandsons all came. The village head and Li Zheng also came to join in the excitement. Jin Zhibao initially looked down on the marriage of a junior member of the Jin family and didn't want to come, but unexpectedly, Jiang Fuzi from the book hall was so familiar with Jin Fenghua that he put aside his disdain and followed his mother and grandmother to attend.
So, except for Han's sister-in-law who went to another county to make a living, almost everyone related to the Jin family came to celebrate. Jin Fenghua didn't care about the gifts they brought; he just wanted to experience the excitement of an ordinary person's wedding, even if he couldn't understand it. He was happy to be in the midst of it all. But Xian Yi hadn't expected that what she thought would be a quiet and elegant wedding banquet would actually last until midnight before slowly dispersing.
