AWB Chapter 334: Full of Perfunctory
Chapter 334: Full of Perfunctory
Chapter 334: Full of Perfunctory
In the evening, Xu Rongrong returned to Zhuxiang Yayuan.
Before the carriage was steady, a distant voice was heard from outside: "Sister Rong."
Xu Rongrong's eyebrows twitched.
Sure enough, when she opened the car door, she saw Xu Chaoqian, wearing a navy blue robe and with a dark complexion, standing in front of the car.
The driver was Wu Ping, who had arrived after Xu Rongrong arrived at Zhuxiang Yayuan. Seeing the carriage being stopped, he asked, "Who are you? How dare you stop the carriage of Princess Ping'an?!"
Xu Chaoqian had been planning to put on a grand show of a father missing his daughter, but this question left him speechless: "..."
"I am her father! Xu Chaoqian, the Tongzhi of Weizhou Prefecture in Longyou Province!" The Tongzhi of Weizhou Prefecture was the official position that Xu Chaoqian held when he was exiled to Longyou Province in the northwest. Although it was a sixth-rank official, two levels higher than his position in Beijing... everyone knew that this was an effective means of promotion when he was exiled.
He thought that after he revealed his identity, this short-sighted coachman would quickly apologize to him, but he didn't expect that Wu Ping's first reaction was to look back at his own county lady to confirm his identity.
After seeing Xu Rongrong nod, he jumped off the carriage and said indifferently, "Greetings, Master."
Xu Chaoqian was so angry that he almost jumped up, but when he thought of the purpose of his visit, he suppressed his anger. He ignored the servant driving the carriage and only looked at Xu Rongrong, his eyes red: "Rong Jie'er... Daddy missed you so much... I came to see you as soon as I returned to Beijing."
Xu Rongrong sneered in her heart. As far as she knew, Xu Chaoqian returned to Beijing the afternoon of the day before yesterday, which was inconsistent with the time he said.
However, she did not expose it. With the help of Wu Ping, Yingying got off the carriage and greeted him: "It's been more than two months since we last saw each other, how come father has become so thin?" The Xu Chaoqian in front of her had dark skin and chapped lips... There was no trace of the smooth and shiny look he had when he was in Beijing before.
"This is my father's first time going to the northwest. I'm not used to the climate, but more importantly, I miss you, Sister Rong..."
Xu Rongrong's eyelids twitched twice.
Being able to say this, it seems that Xu Chaoqian came here today to ask for a lot.
But he was her biological father after all, so she had no reason to turn him away and invited him in.
This was the first time that Xu Chaoqian approached Zhuxiang Yayuan. Among the officials in the capital, no one did not know the name of this house. Seeing that his daughter had been living here since she left the Xu Mansion, he felt very jealous!
The northwest is bitterly cold, with strong sandstorms, and the people's lives are also very tough. Since he became the Tongzhi of Weizhou Prefecture, he has been tortured by the local people a lot.
Ever since he began studying with He's father, had he ever suffered such hardships? He wasn't wealthy, but she devoted her heart to him, taking care of him in every aspect of life. Later, Liu, though not as obedient as He, was a blessing to her husband! She had helped him rise through the ranks and become a Beijing official. Even though he hadn't been promoted in ten years, life in the capital was comfortable. How could it be compared to the misery he had endured over the past two months?
The bumpy road was fine, but the food was also very unfamiliar! His only thought was that Xu Rongrong would get married soon so he could pick her up at the airport and return to the capital. Therefore, he counted the days until her wedding with his fingers all day long.
Weizhou is a fifteen-day journey from Beijing. He tried every means to ask for leave from his superiors and rushed back early. However, when he returned to Xu Mansion, he found out that life in the mansion had become like this!
Before he left Beijing, he wanted his second daughter Xu Yaoyao to collect one thousand taels of silver from Xu Liu's dowry, but his second daughter cried poor and only gave him five hundred taels before leaving. After he arrived in Weizhou, he bribed his superiors and colleagues, and soon he was short of money.
He had wanted to ask Xu Yaoyao for some more after returning home, but he didn't expect that not only had half of the servants in the mansion been sold, but there was even only one meat dish in the welcoming banquet prepared for him the night before!
Who would believe that a fifth-rank official is so poor?
But he asked too urgently, so the second daughter simply threw the account book out to him and let him look at it himself.
Now that the shop was gone, the only source of income was his salary. However, he was used to spending lavishly, and the salary was far from enough to cover his extravagant spending over the years.
Xu Liu's dowry was in the hands of her second daughter. Although it contained a lot of items, they were all large items. If she pawned them, how would her colleagues view her? Being sent out was already embarrassing enough. If people knew he was pawning his own woman's dowry to make a living, how would he ever go out and see people again?
The only thing that can move is Zhuangzi...
But Xu Minmin lives in it.
Because she angered her eldest daughter Xu Rongrong, she was exiled to the manor by herself. Now that the eldest daughter is the county lord, there is no reason for him to let the third daughter come back at this time. But if the third daughter doesn't come back... the manor cannot be vacated!
After thinking about it, the only way out is to come to the eldest daughter!
He originally wanted to show off his fatherly status, so he sent someone to Zhuxiang Yayuan early in the morning to invite Xu Rongrong back home, but who knew that Xu Rongrong actually went out!
And the day is almost over and no one has come back.
The cold and desolate appearance of the Xu Mansion annoyed him, and the account books Xu Yaoyao had thrown at him gave him a headache, not to mention the constant fear that he would have to return to the northwest after his eldest daughter got married...
He couldn't wait any longer and had to come in person!
Following Xu Rongrong into the front hall, after sitting down, I saw an unfamiliar wealthy nanny coming forward to greet me politely.
"I am Zheng Xiao, the servant, and I pay my respects to the master." Nanny Xiao said with her head lowered.
Seeing this, Xu Chaoqian leaned back in his chair and waved his hand: "Get up, bring some good tea."
Madam Xiao replied, "Yes."
Soon, tea was served.
Although Nanny Xiao had never seen Xu Chaoqian's character, she had heard Wen Yao and Luo Shu talk about him. So today she served ordinary tea for guests. She did not give him any of the tribute tea given by the palace or sent by the marquis.
What if this old man gets drunk and opens his mouth to leave, will the county lady give him money or not?
But even such tea drew Xu Chaoqian's repeated praise.
He couldn't wait to take a sip: It's still more comfortable here with the eldest daughter!
Even the maids looked much more impressive than those in the mansion.
"Dad, you have worked hard. It's only been more than two months, and you are so exhausted... Your daughter feels very distressed when she sees this. Dad, you must take care of your health while you are away." Xu Rongrong looked concerned.
Her words really touched Xu Chaoqian's heart. He didn't care whether his eldest daughter was just being polite or not, and told him in detail what had happened in the past two months - how rough the food was, how tough the people were, how difficult the common people were, how difficult the people in the government office were to get along with, and so on.
He rambled on about these trivial matters, and Madam Xiao frowned as she listened: "How could the county lady's father be so useless? He's been an official for so many years, how come he can't even handle these trivial matters?"
It can be seen that being an official... seems to be simpler than being a housekeeper.
Nanny Xiao was disgusted, while Xu Rongrong was listening with great interest.
While she was scouting for Xu Chaoqian, she nodded busily:
"Dad has worked so hard."
"The daughter felt sorry for her father after hearing this."
"How dare they do this?" "..."
The perfunctory attitude was evident in his words, but Xu Chaoqian didn't notice it at all.