Chapter 15

“Aiya, quickly invite him in. It’s raining heavily now. Nephew Xie’s body is weak and can’t withstand the wind.”

Madam Xie then asked Granny Liu to bring her in.

Others might not know, but Xiao Baoxin knew very well that Granny Liu had been accompanying her mother since her marriage back then. She had been serving her mother all these years without getting married. She was her mother’s most trusted subordinate, and ordinary people could not order her around.

“Why did he come here on a rainy day? I had only casually tied my hair up. Won’t it be too rude if we meet later?”

Xiao Baoxin’s mouth twitched.

“Mother, why didn’t you think about why Xie Xian would come to our residence at such a sensitive time?”

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Hearing that, Madam Xie was stunned and her expression turned ugly.

“Could it be that he heard about the lawsuit between our family and the Cai family and came over to criticize us?” It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on her head in the middle of winter, immediately making her heart cold.

Had her mother suffered a huge blow recently? Did she start to suffer from paranoia?

“I presume it wouldn’t be.” Xiao Baoxin said, “No matter what, he’s still a junior. Even if the Xie Clan is displeased with our family, they wouldn’t send a junior over to humiliate us.”

Hearing this, Madam Xie felt relieved. She had been dragged down by Xiao Baoshan and was now hated by everyone.

“Then what could it be for?” She combed her hair in confusion and then asked Xiao Baoxin, “Is this okay? Does it seem disrespectful?”

“Not at all. Mother is young, beautiful and dignified.”

Madam Xie muttered in her heart. Was her daughter praising her or scolding her? Was she complaining that she wasn’t dignified enough?

In fact, Madam Xie had wrongly accused Xiao Baoxin. Even though Xiao Baoxin could be harsh with her words, this time, she was genuinely praising her.

Xiao Baoxin had always been quite confident in her looks. Who did she inherit her looks from? It was naturally her mother, not her boorish father.

Therefore, praising Madam Xie’s beauty had always come from her heart, and it could be proven by lightning strikes.

In fact, Xiao Baoxin did not notice Madam Xie’s complicated and fragile inner thoughts at all. All her attention was on Xie Xian, who had suddenly arrived.

Men and women sat at different tables after they were eight years old. Although the Liang dynasty was quite open-minded, it was not so open that they could still be in the same room as each other if they were not related.

As for kinship, no one took it seriously.

It had happened over a hundred years ago. Who could tell if it was true or not? Only her mother would take it seriously.

Xiao Baoxin stood up and was about to leave when she heard Madam Xie lamenting.

“What a pity. That child is so handsome, but his body is so weak. A few years ago, when Palace Attendant Xie was still alive, he still came out to walk around. He was handsome and had manners. His big eyes were like black grapes, big and black.”

“In the blink of an eye, he ended his mourning period and started to work for the emperor. He’s only twenty years old, so his future definitely won’t go wrong.”

She sounded so emotional and proud. Xiao Baoxin wondered if she still remembered that her biological son was acting like he was going to become a monk a few days ago. It was such a mess.

What if her son couldn’t satisfy her vanity and she sought comfort from another person?

On second thought, Xiao Baoxin realized that her mother had been taking the blame for a lot of things these past few days. It was really despicable. Just now, she was still complaining to her. So she shouldn’t stab her in the back at this time and make her unhappy.

Endure it.

She lifted the curtain and entered the inner room. After a while, she heard Xie Xian enter. As the door was opened, the sound of rain became clearer. It sounded like the rain was not light.

“Why is it raining so heavily?”

Madam Xie complained about the weather while solicitously inviting the maids to serve tea. Regardless of whether this relative was real or fake, she gave off a strong sense of warmth.

Xie Xian was no longer as immovable as he was at Xiao Baoshan’s place. He didn’t even lift his teacup, let alone drink a sip of tea. He even sat on the chair with his hands in his sleeves, not touching any of the furniture in the room.

But here, he happily picked up the hot tea and drank it.

Madam Xie couldn’t guess Xie Xian’s purpose in coming here. The news of him arriving at Xiao Baoshan’s courtyard hadn’t reached her either, so after lamenting about the weather for a while, she went straight to the point. Even Xiao Baoxin, who was hiding in the inner room and eavesdropping, was shocked. Her saliva almost choked her.

“You came here because you heard the rumors, right?”

Tang Li, who was by her side and serving her closely, appeared much more reliable than her Miss. She silently handed over a handkerchief and signaled Xiao Baoxin to cover her mouth, in case Madam Xie said something earth-shattering later. She might be unable to hold back her reactions, and by that time, it would be hard to tell who would look bad.

Did you know that you were despised by your own maid?

Oh dear, Xiao Baoxin had a headache.

To put it nicely, her mother was silly and sweet, but to put it bluntly, even the housekeeper was just imitating her previous master. At least for the past few years, everything was stable and nothing had happened.

Who knew that after Xiao Baoshan and his wife’s matters were revealed, they immediately created lots of trouble for Madam Xie. She was in a difficult position, and even some of her strategies were used by others. Those little tricks were like water droplets flowing into a river, and no one could control the surging public opinion.

“Eight and half out of ten of those words are lies. Don’t listen and believe them easily. Xiao Baoshan… cough cough, I mean, my eldest son was also muddled for a moment and started raising a mistress outside. In the past, the couple’s relationship was very good and nothing could get between them. It’s definitely not what they say about domestic violence—there really isn’t.”

“This time, it was the Cai family who came to visit. They mistakenly thought that Eldest Young Master had hit his wife until she miscarried and they beat him up without saying a word. After the incident, we also explained that it was his wife who had beaten his mistress and caused her miscarriage. We thought that it would be fine if the explanation was clear, but who knew that when they returned home, they changed thoughts and they started slandering our Xiao family.”

“Tell me, how is this reasonable?”

Xiao Baoxin covered her face in the inner room. Did her mother think that Xie Xian was here to chat as a caring sister?

You were the one who asked the question. Why didn’t you give him time to answer? Why did you keep sharing your bitter plight?

It wasn’t enough for her to share it with herself and she continued sharing with anyone she saw. She was really not afraid of exposing her family’s dirty linen—

Come to think of it, even if they didn’t make a fool of themselves, others had already done that for them.

Xie Xian, on the other hand, did not think much of it. He took a small sip of tea and had a gentle temperament. A faint smile hung on the corner of his mouth, but it did not make people feel distant from him.

“Three people make a tiger. Aunt doesn’t need to worry about some despicable people.”

Aunt?

What aunt?

Where did this aunt come from?

Xiao Baoxin was shocked. Was this an official acknowledgment?

One must know that even though her maternal grandfather and her mother had worked together for two generations, only one or two members of the Xie Clan had acknowledged their surname— Yes, they had only acknowledged their surname as Xie. She wondered if they didn’t acknowledge, could it be that they wouldn’t even allow them to use the surname ‘Xie’?

And now, this eldest son of the Xie family’s first wife actually addressed her as aunt…

Does your Xie Clan know that you’re such a casual person?