Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 910: Hidden Truths Traverse Rebirth (4)

Chapter 910: Chapter 910: Hidden Truths Traverse Rebirth (4)

There’s one more thing, the Mo Family lacks a foundation in Jing City, and it wouldn’t be easy for Princess Hejia to marry into a prominent family, unless the Crown Prince can ascend the throne tomorrow, and the Champion Scholar gets an important post. Otherwise, within the next three to five years, in the eyes of the real aristocratic families, the Mo Family still wouldn’t count for much.

Under these circumstances, even though the Cui family and the Mo Family are not well-matched in social status, Princess Hejia’s title could just offset this disparity, and no one could accuse anyone of marrying above their station.

Hearing this, Cui Qingrou finally understood Old Lady Cui’s good intentions, and all the past memories surged up, leaving her feeling bleak and forlorn.

If only... if only that person hadn’t come between her cousin and her older brother, if her cousin, Xiaoqi’s mother, was still alive, if her older brother hadn’t fallen and had strived to protect Xiaoqi, would their mother have had to exhaust herself worrying over Xiaoqi’s marriage prospects?

Seeing what her daughter was thinking, Old Lady Cui personally wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, comforting her, "Rourou, don’t be sad, your mother is strong and healthy. In the future, I will find you a good match, so don’t worry about me."

Cui Qingrou did not wish to sadden her mother and gradually stopped her tears, "In the future, I will stay with mother and go nowhere. If mother gets tired of me, I’ll just keep out of your sight. Anyway, you can’t get rid of me that easily."

"You..." Old Lady Cui tapped her daughter’s forehead, feeling somewhat helpless. She couldn’t bear to send her fine daughter away but didn’t want to see her spend her life alone. Knowing that her daughter didn’t want to hear this, she didn’t continue, but her mind was searching for suitable candidates.

Cui Qingrou was also worried that her mother would keep on talking about old concerns, so she changed the subject to her nephew Cui Pingan, "Today, I saw Xiaoqi looking sullen, and only after asking Can Dou did I learn that he had nightmares again last night. He was calling out a girl’s name all night long."

"Calling a girl’s name?" Old Lady Cui was very surprised, for her grandson often had nightmares, usually about his days in the southern estate and was hard to wake. It was the first time he had called out a girl’s name!

Seeing the troubled look on her daughter’s face, Old Lady Cui felt a slight sinking of her heart and said, "Rourou, are you hiding something from your mother?"

Cui Qingrou knew some things could be hidden temporarily but not forever. Sooner or later, her mother would notice what she was hiding. It was better to speak out. Perhaps she could fulfill her poor nephew’s wish.

Resolved, Cui Qingrou glanced at Hongshang but did not speak.

Hongshang was a girl with a clear understanding of situations, knowing that the matters to follow were not for her to overhear. She hurriedly excused herself to the two mistresses, "The kitchen has made fresh lotus seed cakes; I will go check if they are ready."

Old Lady Cui nodded slightly to dismiss her.

After Hongshang left and closed the door, Cui Qingrou finally spoke, "Xiaoqi met a tenant farmer girl in the southern estate, and mother knows that he has been living there since he was five, so having playmates is normal. But with dozens of tenants, he happened to become close with a girl two years younger than him. Isn’t that fate? They grew up together, and their affection could not be deeper. Last night, Xiaoqi was calling that girl’s name. It seems he is eager to go south, mostly for that girl."

Old Lady Cui, after hearing this, looked displeased and fell silent for a long while before saying, "If that’s the case, we will have someone bring that girl to serve Xiaoqi. When Xiaoqi is married and has a wife, we’ll give the girl a generous dowry and send her back to her village to marry. If she is unwilling to go back, we will find her a well-off family in Jing City to marry into as a reward for taking care of Xiaoqi."

"But..." Cui Qingrou, thinking her mother had misunderstood, was about to say something when Old Lady Cui interrupted her, "Your mother understands what you want to say, but Xiaoqi absolutely cannot marry a tenant farmer girl. His affection for that girl is only that of a bamboo orchid, Rourou, do you understand?"

Cui Qingrou naturally understood, but she did not agree with her mother’s approach. Yet, seeing her mother’s resolute face, she knew her persuasions would be futile, so she resigned herself and decided to inform her nephew, letting him make his own decision.

Still, before she left, she couldn’t help but advise, "Mother knows Xiaoqi’s temperament. If you force him, he may develop a grudge. He has just returned to us after great difficulty; please consider his feelings more!"

Old Lady Cui pressed her lips together and said nothing, her expression becoming even colder, and it was unclear if she had taken in the words.

Cui Qingrou sighed inwardly, praying in her heart that her nephew wouldn’t do anything for that girl that might break her mother’s heart.

In the room, with Old Lady Cui deep in thought, she did not notice a gray bird quietly flying onto the windowsill, flapping its wings and disappearing into the vast sky.

To the right of Old Lady Cui’s courtyard was a small, exquisite yard, with several tall maple trees. The brilliant sunlight filtered through the layers of maple leaves, casting sparse spots of light on a frail-looking young man in white sitting beneath the trees.

At this moment, the young man in white reclined weakly on a bamboo couch, ignoring his attentive servant Can Dou standing beside him, with a furrowed brow, pondering without a clue: His grandmother in the previous life had betrothed him to a girl from his maternal extended family, yet in this life, Princess Hejia had come out of nowhere. Could it be that his memory was wrong?