Chapter 9 Encounter

  An ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her parents-in-law sooner or later.

  For Lingyun, this sentence should be changed to "even if the son-in-law is also seen by his parents-in-law". Although Lingyun made a special request and Gao Qianxue personally acknowledged that their marriage was no longer about Lingyun marrying into the Gao family, but rather about Lingyun taking a wife, in the end, no matter what name they used to get married, after the wedding, Lingyun would still have to live in the Gao family compound. Therefore, for the people of the Gao family, Lingyun was just a son-in-law who had married into their family.

  The new son-in-law is about to enter the door, and it's also a uxorilocal marriage. In this era, there has never been much status. If it were an ordinary family, the husband would actually be similar to a child bride, and he wouldn't even count as the master of the house, with a status similar to that of a servant. However, if the family had a higher social standing, the situation would be slightly better. For example, although the emperor's son-in-law is also considered a uxorilocal husband, his status is still very high, just like the emperor's concubines, who are all noble women with titles such as imperial consort, imperial concubine, and so on.

  Although Gaojiazhuang appears to be just a manor on the outskirts of Yangzhou, it has hundreds of people and is a small landlord's family, so they don't think of Lingyun as a weak and easily bullied young daughter-in-law.

  In fact, the situation of Gao's family is much better than what Lingyun imagined. It is said that in modern times, a girl's ideal husband's family has a house and a car, and both parents are deceased. Now, Gao Shanshuang's situation is almost like this. The Gao family's estate is located on the outskirts of Yangzhou, Jiangnan's prosperous center, with a luxurious resort villa village nestled in the mountains and waters, and hundreds of hectares of good fields. Not only do they have tens of thousands of acres of land, but they also own dozens of shops in Yangzhou and other major cities in Jiangnan. The Gao family is large and wealthy, employing over a thousand workers and tenants, with nearly two hundred servants and laborers within the estate alone.

  What's even more astonishing is that the owner of this vast estate, Gaoshang Village, are merely two unmarried young ladies, Gao Shanshu and Gao Mingyue. Gao Shanshu's parents had passed away early, while Gao Mingyue, the second miss, was only her distant cousin from a different branch of the family who came to live with her after her own father's untimely death.

  Lingyun doesn't even have in-laws to see!

  After marrying into the family, he can be considered as the third master of Gaojiazhuang.

  Ever since Miss Gao Shanshui brought back Lingyun a few days ago, all sorts of rumors have been flying around the Gao family village, and they're getting more and more exaggerated as time goes on.

  "Miss, you're as pure and clean as jade, how can you just pick someone up and want to marry them?" The fat aunt who was washing clothes by the well in the big courtyard shook her head with regret.

  "Actually, there's more to this than meets the eye." Another water-carrying aunt said with a mysterious tone that piqued people's interest.

  "What inside information do you know?" The laundry aunt intentionally pretended to be skeptical and said.

  "Hey, let me tell you, my daughter is working in the inner courtyard, she told me herself. I'm telling you, don't go spreading rumors to others, or else those above will blame us and it won't be good." The laundry aunt had a superior feeling as if her daughter being a personal maid made her a higher class person.

  "Ah, sister, I'm so strict with my words, I won't speak carelessly, hurry up and say it."

  "I'm telling you, miss is already twenty and still not married, it's all because of that silver hair and white eyebrows. In the past, someone said this was a lonely star fate, I heard that miss' parents died early and this has some connection with it, also heard that it will harm her husband, so until now at twenty no one came to propose. I heard that a few days ago was the anniversary of miss' mother's death, miss suddenly couldn't take it anymore and jumped into the river. Luckily she was lucky and someone happened to pass by and rescued miss."

  "Is it Miss who brought back a good young master?"

  "That's right!"

  "But I heard that this man has lost his soul, he can't even remember his own surname and name, where he lives, how can Miss still want to marry him? If you want to thank him, just give him some silver money, no need to invite him in." said the tall and thin water-carrying aunt in confusion.

  "Let me tell you, it's said that when Young Master Yi saved the young lady, she had already stopped breathing. And then Young Master Yi did something incredible - he took off the young lady's clothes and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and actually managed to revive her! I mean, what kind of method is this? It may have saved her life, but it's also quite...unseemly. I mean, the young lady is an unmarried girl, after all, and he went and undressed her and kissed her...it's really not good for her reputation. But since our young lady hasn't found a suitable husband yet, why don't we just bring Young Master Yi back and have him be our son-in-law?"

  The thin aunt listened with continuous surprise and felt very satisfied.

  "You say, is this Easy Young Master's loss of soul related to Miss? They all say that Miss has a hard fate, she can overcome her father, mother and husband..."

  "You two are not working hard, gathering together to talk nonsense. If you don't work, I'll pluck out your tongues!" Suddenly, Head Nurse Gao Ding appeared behind the two of them.

  Fat Aunt and Thin Aunt were frightened, their faces turned pale, they quickly lowered their heads, picked up the wooden basin of clothes and fled in a hurry.

  "Wait, Gao Bo!"

  After coming out of the miscellaneous courtyard, Gao Yi saw Gao Guan's family passing by in front and hurriedly called out to them.

  The white-haired old man Gao stopped in his tracks.

  "Is it true that the princess is a reincarnation of a celestial being, destined to be a widow and bring misfortune to her parents and husband? And that Yi Feng was disrespectful to the princess, ruining her reputation?" Gao Ding asked with an indignant expression.

  "Weren't you also by the river that day?" Gao Bo said, despite his advanced age, he was not confused. "The so-called 'overcoming father and husband' and other words are just rumors and slander against Miss, how can you also believe them like those ignorant people? As for the so-called 'Yi Gongzi ruining Miss's reputation', there is no need to mention it, it's just a temporary measure of 'sister drowning and uncle rescuing'. Yi Gongzi at that time was also urgent to save someone, not doing anything improper."

  "Was it really because of Miss's oppression that Ye Feng suddenly got a loss of soul when he arrived at Gaojiazhuang, and not because he was going to marry into our Gao family?"

  "Of course not, that was the reason why Yigongzi was injured earlier."

  "What a coincidence, nothing happened by the river, but as soon as I entered Gaojiazhuang, I lost my memory."

  "Alright, Xiao Yi. You shouldn't listen to those ignorant and gossipy women. They don't know the young lady's noble status, do you not know either? In fact, I think that Yi Gongzi, although he has lost his soul, seems like a decent person. The young lady has decided to take him in as her husband, and he has also decided to stay, this is a good thing. The young lady has been living alone for a year, now she's finally going to get married, this is a good thing, we should be happy."

  "Yes, Gao Bo." Gao Ding nodded, but in his heart, he still found it hard to accept that the princess had suddenly decided to take in a mysterious stranger with amnesia as her son-in-law.

  "Let's go, Miss just let the people in the village know that we will arrive at the main hall soon. She said that Master Yi has almost recovered and before the evening ceremony, we will first formally meet and get to know the people in the village."

  "This is Gao Bo, the chief steward of our estate. Originally, he served under my father in the north and has been diligently managing the affairs of the Gao family for over 40 years. Nowadays, all matters big and small on our estate are handled by Gao Bo."

  Listening to Gao Qiansheng's introduction, Ling Yun couldn't help but feel a deep respect for this white-bearded old man who was full of elegance. In the Gao Family Manor, Gao Qiansheng was the chairman of the board, and Gao Bo was undoubtedly the general manager of the group. With over 40 years of experience, he was absolutely loyal to the Gao family. Especially when the Gao family only had a young mistress left, it was even more precious.

  Lingyun hastily stepped forward, bowing his head and nodding to show respect. Gao Bo didn't put on any airs, taking a step forward to return the courtesy with a slight bow: "I don't dare, I don't dare, this old man is just a servant of the Gao family, I don't dare receive such grand treatment from you, Young Master. After the wedding ceremony tonight, you will be half the master of Gao Family Village. This old man has been in the Gao family for over 40 years, and today he finally sees Miss's big wedding day, he is overjoyed!" As he spoke, the old man was so moved that tears streamed down his face.

  Lingyun hastily said a few words of comfort and finally calmed down the excited mood of the old housekeeper.

  Next, the dignitaries of Gaojiazhuang came in one by one to meet the new son-in-law who was about to enter the door. It has to be said that Gaojiazhuang is indeed a wealthy family, with various high-ranking officials, accountants, doctors, and even the leader of the guards, the captain of the guard, and the first-class maidservants, as well as the kitchen manager, the stable master, and other miscellaneous personnel, totaling over 30 people. This was because the wedding was rushed, and the managers of the outer estates, the farm heads, and the store managers were unable to return in time. Otherwise, the number would have increased several times. This allowed Lingyun to gain a deeper understanding of Gaojiazhuang's vast family business.

  "This is Gao Ding, the leader of our household's guards. He was originally my father's personal bodyguard and has been serving in the Gao family for over 20 years. Gao Ding is highly skilled and excels in martial arts, he is the number one hero in our village."

  This is the head of security at Gaojiazhuang, who used to be a personal bodyguard and assistant to the former chairman of Gaoji. It seems that he holds a high position in Gaojiazhuang and is also a core member of the upper echelons. Lingyun hastily paid his respects to Gao Ding, but unexpectedly, Gao Ding was very cold towards him, even giving off an aura of deep hostility that made Lingyun feel bewildered and confused - had he unknowingly offended this muscular devil?

  "I've heard that Master Yi also practiced martial arts, and when I have time, I'll ask him to teach me a few moves!"

  "Just call me Lingyun, no need to be so polite with the 'Young Master' title. As for competing in martial arts, let's just forget about it, shall we? I've forgotten all about past events and I don't even remember if I ever practiced martial arts. Besides, even if I did practice before, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to compare to a master like you."

  Lingyun wasn't used to being called Yifeng by others, but he had accepted that name as his own now. He had taken his original name Lingyun as his courtesy name instead. According to ancient customs, people rarely addressed each other by their full names; they usually just used their courtesy names in everyday conversations.

  He didn't know why Gao Ding harbored hostility towards him, but he also didn't want to start a conflict with the head of security and high-ranking member of the Gao family as soon as he arrived at Gao Family Village. He decided to try to make nice instead.

  Gao Qianxue also felt Gao Ding's strangeness and whispered: "Yi Lang suffers from amnesia, so he may not be polite in some ways. Uncle Gao, please forgive him."

  There was a shallow snow on the ground, and Gao Ding also didn't want to say anything that would pressure others, so he could only retreat and do his job.

  Then saw many more people, spent half a day and finally finished seeing everyone, which made Lingyun let out a long sigh of relief. This feeling was just like the first time attending a company department meeting after joining a new company, with so many new faces that his face muscles were stiff from smiling.

  It's okay, just seeing a few dozen people with heads and faces, if it were hundreds of people coming and going, I'd go crazy just thinking about it.

  "Mulan, you and Qinglian take Yilang to the East Wing to prepare for the wedding attire and ceremony. Be sure to be diligent." Gao Qianshu said with a smile, then nodded slightly towards Lingyun, without any hint of shyness as a bride-to-be. Lingyun nodded, bid farewell to Gao Bo and the others with a slight bow, and followed Mulan and another maid Qinglian to make the final preparations before the wedding.

  PS: It's Monday, and this week new books are rushing to the top of the chart. Although the word count is still low, I also hope to strive for a good ranking. Muzi will work hard to update, and sincerely ask for everyone's recommendation ticket support, thank you all!