If not abolished

Chapter 103 Destined but not destined

At this time, Du Fu

"Mother, does grandmother really intend for my brother to marry that Hu Shanxiang?" Du Ruyun didn't dare to ask her grandmother and father, so she ran over to ask Mrs. Du after the banquet.

"Who told you?" The matter had not yet been decided, so naturally, too many people could not know about it. She had to wait until it was confirmed, so Mrs. Du questioned her daughter.

Du Ruyun was so frightened when she saw her mother's expression suddenly change that she stumbled over her words. "Daughter, I heard it from them. They said they saw my brother and Miss Hu burn incense together a few days ago, so they came... to ask me."

"So what did you say?" Mrs. Du continued to ask.

"I said I don't know." Du Ruyun was indeed not very clear. She was surprised when she heard the news, so she hurried to ask her mother after the banquet.

"What else did those people say?"

"They also said... they also said that Hu Shanxiang used to be in..." Before Du Ruyun finished her words, she heard the voice of Du Tongpan coming from outside the door.

"Madam, you know what happened today... Hey, why is Ruyun here so late?" Pan Du stopped talking halfway when he saw his daughter.

"My daughter came here to talk to her mother. Now that we're done, I'll go back first." Du Ruyun said and turned to leave.

"This child, madam, you don't know, today..." Pan Pan Du was still talking incessantly.

Mrs. Du was distracted, thinking that she would definitely ask Ruyun to come over tomorrow to ask her about those things, so she didn't hear what her husband said at all.

After Judge Du finished speaking a lot, his mouth was dry, so he had to pour himself a glass of water and take a big sip.

"Ma'am, did you listen to me?"

"Yes, that's what the master said. Well, it's getting late. Let me help the master to have some rest. We have to get up early to go to the government office tomorrow." Mrs. Du quickly changed the subject.

"Madam is right. Let's settle it."

The next day

Du Ruyun went to her brother's yard specially and finally waited for Du Ruheng to come back from the academy.

"Brother." Du Ruyun trotted over when she saw him coming in.

"Can you act more like a girl? Why are you making so much noise every day?" Du Ruheng saw his sister running towards him from a distance and shook his head. She didn't look like a girl at all. In comparison, Miss Hu San looked much more ladylike.

"Brother, please don't criticize me. I came here to ask you for advice." If it had been any other time, she would have had an argument with Du Ruheng if he said that, but today she was so curious that she didn't care what her brother said.

"What's the matter?" Du Ruheng knew that his sister was always impetuous, and he didn't know what the matter was this time.

"That's right. My sisters said at the banquet yesterday that they saw you and Miss Hu San going to the temple to burn incense together. Is that true?" Du Ruyun had been curious all night and couldn't help but ask the parties involved.

Du Ruheng frowned. His own sister was indeed not a serious person, and neither were her friends. "What nonsense are you talking about? It was just raining and she didn't bring an umbrella. We happened to meet when she was hiding from the rain. We didn't burn incense together. She went alone and came back alone." Du Ruheng explained to her patiently.

Du Ruyun was a little unconvinced and continued to ask, "Brother doesn't usually go to worship Buddha, why is he suddenly there?"

"My grandmother asked me to get the Buddhist beads blessed by the master."

"So it's true?" Du Ruyun said to herself.

"What's true or false?" Du Ruheng didn't understand what his sister was saying.

"That's right. They all said that your grandmother wanted to match you up with Miss Hu San. Why did she ask you to get something for no reason? And you just happened to run into that girl. How could it be such a coincidence?" Du Ruyun suddenly came to her senses.

"You..." Du Ruheng didn't know how to refute, nor could he quibble, so he had to find an excuse to leave and not talk to her, "Okay, I won't talk to you anymore, I have something else to do, so I'm leaving first."

"Brother." Du Ruyun still wanted to gossip? But it was also very nice to see her brother running away. I didn't expect that the always calm eldest brother would have such a moment. It was really rare.

"Miss, we finally found you. The old lady and the madam want you to come over." Du Ruyun was still making fun of her elder brother when the maid ran over and called her.

"Did grandma and mother call me over together?" Du Ruyun confirmed.

"Yes, hurry up. We have been looking for the girl for quite some time. The old lady and the lady have been waiting for a long time." The maid urged.

Du Ruyun's heart skipped a beat. Why were they calling her over so early in the morning? It wasn't even time to pay respects.

"Hello, grandma and mother." Du Ruyun came with a nervous mood.

"Ruyun is here, please sit down." Old Madam Dudu put down the spinning Buddhist beads, "Everyone else, please go down." She then asked the servants to leave.

Du Ruyun became even more frightened after watching the door close.

"Ruyun, don't be afraid. I just called you over to talk. Don't be nervous." Old Mrs. Du saw her granddaughter holding the chair nervously.

Du Ruyun thought that this scene was as simple as talking, but she still smiled and said, "Grandma, what do you want to say?"

"I heard from your mother that you heard those young ladies talking about our family and the Hu family yesterday. What did they talk about?" Old Mrs. Du went straight to the point.

"It's just a joke between girls. It's not worth telling grandma." Du Ruyun evaded the question.

"It's a joke, you said it was a joke, you said it was a joke, I received a letter from Madam Hu early in the morning. She said that she felt her granddaughter was not worthy of your son, and hoped that you could find another good match."

"What? They rejected our family." Du Ruyun was shocked. The Hu family actually dared to...

"Why wouldn't she dare? Her family is an official in the capital, her sister is a lady-in-waiting in the palace, and her brothers are promising and work under His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. She has plenty of capital. Our family wants to marry her, but we don't know how high we are." Mrs. Hu was so angry that she received a letter from the Hu family early in the morning. She was confused and couldn't figure out what was going on. When she knew her daughter-in-law came to greet her, she mentioned this matter, and her daughter-in-law told her what her granddaughter had heard from those young ladies yesterday. She didn't know if there was any connection between the two, so she asked Du Ruyun to come and ask what was going on.

"I...I really didn't say anything, it was...it was all said by them." Du Ruyun was so anxious that tears came out. She didn't expect things to turn out like this.

"Then tell me, what did they say?" Mrs. Du continued to ask.

Du Ruyun tried hard to recall what happened yesterday, and told her everything from the beginning: "Yesterday, my granddaughter took Sister Hu to play as you instructed. As soon as we got there, those people said that Sister Hu left the capital because no one wanted her. They said that Sister Hu was a sickly girl and couldn't stay in the capital anymore, so she came back. Later, when we were playing, they deliberately tripped Sister Hu, and she fell. I helped her to the side room to rest."

"You are really capable of causing trouble but not being able to help. If I had known, I should not have handed the person over to you." Madam Du almost fainted after hearing this. No wonder the Hu family sent the letter so early in the morning.

"Mother, this can't all be blamed on Ruyun. She isn't familiar with Miss Hu San, and those words were said by another young lady. Old Madam Hu can't be so angry with us, right?" Mrs. Du is on her daughter's side after all. Besides, her daughter did nothing wrong, and they didn't say those words.

"But she is a guest. She has suffered such a great injustice in our home. Do you think we can deny any connection with her? Besides, we were the ones who invited those people. What if the Hu family thinks that we deliberately invited those guests to humiliate her? We know we didn't do it, but have we explained it clearly?" Old Madam Du said with great sorrow.

"This...what should we do? It has already happened." Mrs. Du was at a loss for words when she heard what the old lady said.

"You lose your mind when it comes to the critical moment. What will you do if I am no longer here?"

"Pooh, pooh, pooh, mother, please don't say such unlucky words. You will live a hundred years."

"With you guys around, I think it won't be easy to live to be a hundred years old." Old Mrs. Du said with a sigh.

"grandmother."

"Okay, you're right. It's already happened. Nothing we do now will help. Maybe Ruheng and that person are just not meant to be."

"Mother, why don't we go and explain to Mrs. Hu again? This was really not our intention, right?" Mrs. Du suggested.

"It's useless. I know Madam Hu. Since she has said this, she has already saved face for both families. There is no point in explaining it further. Besides, perhaps the truth of this matter is no longer important."

"Mrs. Hu didn't even give us a chance to explain. I'm afraid what those people said is not true. They are in a hurry to cut off ties with us because they were hit in a sore spot." When Mrs. Du heard her mother say this, she began to make groundless speculations about the Hu family.

"What are you talking about? Those people don't know, so how can I not know? It's true that Miss Hu San was not in good health when she was a child, but it wasn't very serious. Besides, her health has improved a lot in the past two years. Those words are simply rumors. She came back because Mrs. Hu was not in good health recently, and she was filial, so she came back to accompany her grandmother to recuperate. I don't know if you will be filial to me if I become like this one day in the future." Speaking of this, Mrs. Du felt a little sad, but also a little envious of Mrs. Hu for having such a filial granddaughter.

"Mother, we will all be filial to you." Mrs. Du quickly winked at her daughter.

"Yes, yes, I, your granddaughter, will be filial to you in the future." Du Ruyun received her mother's gaze and quickly expressed her determination.

"Okay, I know you also have filial piety."

"Grandma, my brother doesn't know about this yet, right?" Du Ruyun suddenly thought of her brother and asked.

"I don't know yet. Speaking of which, Ruheng seems to have a good impression of Shanxiang." Old Madam Du said regretfully.