“What do you think?”
Seeing that Sun Jin did not respond for a long time, Mr. Big sank his voice.
Sun Jin returned to his senses and hastily stood up, “It is only an honor for the student to be favored by Mr. Big, but this matter should be noted to my father, I ……”
The first thing you need to do is to get to know the people of your country. What’s more, every time he entered and left the Xu family he was with Song Si, and if he really had to choose, it should be Song Si and not him.
“This is good to say ……”
Not sure if he didn’t hear his excuse, the elder gentleman interrupted him, “I’ll send to the inn to fetch your father and question him face to face.”
Sun Jin instantly broke out in a sweat in a hurry, if his father had come, he would have promised to answer immediately.
“Are you unwilling?”
Huo asked gently, as if sensing something.
“No, no, the student is just ……”
“Afraid we’ll cajole with you?”
“No, no, no”, Sun Jin waved his hands in panic, “That’s not what the student meant, the student was just too surprised.”
“It is your good fortune to have been chosen by you, sir. My granddaughter has been asked by many people in the capital to marry her, but I have not settled on her because I could not bear to part with her. Of course, we wouldn’t want Ling’er to follow us to go away to suffer, and will find a way to keep you in the capital.”
Stay in the capital?
Sun Jin was moved, the capital was a place where many students aspired to be and everyone wanted to stay here, but with his current grades, he would at most be sent out as a local official after the temple exams, which was no match for staying in the capital.
“Of course ……”
The first thing you need to do is to go behind a screen, and I’ll have Ling’er come over for you to have a look.”
The actual fact that Sun Jin had this in mind, he didn’t push it, and went behind the screen.
Huo instructed the maid standing at the door to go, “Go and ask Miss Sun if the tonic soup for her grandfather is ready, and have her send it over when it is.”
The maid answered and went, but a moment later the door to the room was pushed open and Xu Ling’er walked in, followed by the maid carrying the tonic soup.
“Grandfather, grandmother.”
Xu Ling’er’s voice was cheerful and lively, not knowing “at all” that there was someone behind the screen.
When Sun Jin saw her face through the screen, his heart pounded. It was the girl he had seen outside the old gentleman’s door that day, and with just one glance he was amazed.
Xu Ling’er personally brought the tonic soup and placed it in front of Mr. Big, “Grandfather try it, how is my stew?”
“Didn’t I say that the weather is getting hot, let the maids do such things.”
Mr. Big was heartbroken and relieved, this child had always been so filial, never pretending to be someone else’s hand in what she made for herself.
“They are not as good as my stew, it has to be cooked for an hour on a low fire, you can’t be impatient at all.”
Mr. Big took two small sips of the stew and praised it, “It’s very good.”
“Since it’s good, grandfather should drink it all, I haven’t finished practising my writing today, so I won’t watch you drink it.”
“Go on.”
Xu Ling’er blessed her body and then withdrew.
Sun Jin came out from behind the screen, all doubts in his heart dispelled, and performed a big salute to the end, “I thank you for your kindness, I will go back and discuss with my father about asking a matchmaker to propose marriage.”
“It’s good to keep it simple, don’t be too ostentatious.”
……
Over there, Song Si went to Song Wan Yue’s house and told the two of them about Xiao Yao’s invitation for them to go to the Ding Guo Gong Mansion for dinner.
Song Wan Yue was very happy and immediately urged Song Si and Gu Yi to go back to the house and change their clothes. She herself changed into a new pink dress and put on a cloak of the same colour and went out of her room, waited for Song Si and Gu Yi to come out, went downstairs together and got on a carriage to go to the Ding Guo Gong Mansion.
When he saw their carriage coming, he immediately ran up to meet them, and when the carriage stopped, he opened the curtain, “Mr. Song, please take your time.”
Fearing that Song Si would see what was going on, he didn’t dare to look at Gu Yi at all.
“Many thanks.”
Song Si got off the carriage, turned back to put Song Wan Yue next, and finally Gu Yi.
Gu Yi had just come out of the carriage, the housekeeper could no longer hold back, his eyes fell straight on him, just for a few days, young master cousin looked quite a lot thinner, he would have to tell master in a while to ask the kitchen to make more of what young master cousin loved to eat.
“A few of you please follow me.”
The butler led them to the parlour.
Duke Ding had already met Gu Yi last time and was still composed, but not Xiao Zheng, who kept walking around and only reluctantly sat back when he heard the subordinate report that Song Si and the others had arrived, stretching his neck to look out.
“Restrain yourself, don’t let Song Si see anything.”
Duke Ding warned him.
Only then did Xiao Zheng sit down with a straight face, but he still couldn’t help twisting his body to look out.
The butler accompanied a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy in, with clear eyebrows and a bookish air all around him, needless to say, it was Song Si. Xiao Zheng only took one look at him before his gaze crossed over him and fell on Gu Yi behind him.
The twelve year old teenager, only half a head shorter than Song Si, had a face ……
Xiao Zheng almost couldn’t resist jumping up and down, instantly turning his head to look at his father, wondering how he could tell from this current face of Gu Yi that he was six percent in the likeness of his elder sister.
The Duke of Ding was calm, the marks on Xiao’er’s face had gone down quite a bit, and it was even more frightening than this when he came that day.
“Your Highness, Uncle.”
Song Si looked at Xiao Zheng’s face, which bore a slight resemblance to that of Duke Ding, guessed his identity and bowed.
Song Wan Yue and Gu Yi also bowed.
“Good, good, good, sit, sit, sit.”
Duke Ding stroked his beard and smiled, his gaze skimming unnoticed from Gu Yi and landing on Song Si, “I see that you have lost a lot of weight in the past few days, what do you like to eat, feel free to tell the people in the kitchen later and let them make it for you.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“What do you call the Duke of State, call grandfather.”
“Grandfather.”
The Duke of State laughed happily and his gaze fell on Song Wan Yue, “This is your sister, isn’t it, such a pink and beautiful little girl.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency of State, for the compliment.”
“I heard Yao’er say that day that she and you are very much alike, you can come and play in the mansion from now on if you have nothing to do, treat this place as your own home.”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness, I won’t be polite.”
Duke Ding laughed once more before his gaze fell on Gu Yi, “This is ……”
“My name is Gu Yi, I am the little girl’s fiance.”
Obviously not expecting Gu Yi to be in this capacity, both Duke Ding and Xiao Zheng were “slightly stunned” for a moment.
Lest they misunderstand something, Song Si was about to explain, when Gu Yi continued, “After I accidentally fell into the water and almost died, it was the little girl who saved me, so I had nothing to repay, so I gave my body to her.”
Lord Ding, ……
Xiao Zheng, ……