Chapter 38: Quickly ask your father for the full-month gift

Lin Jiaojiao dodged nimbly, avoiding Pei Aosong's hand that was trying to wrap around her waist. She quickly stood beside Lu Zhenting. "Who said I was coming back? I came back to get the Letter of Release for Concubine, and my and Tiezhu's household registers. Can you give them all to me?" She said righteously, reaching out a hand to Pei Aosong to demand the Letter of Release and the household registers.

Lu Zhenting handed Pei Aosong a full-month gift for the child, "Lord Pei, you only know about the full month of the child in your home, but have you prepared the full-month gift for the other child?"

Guo Shi stepped forward at the right time and held Pei Tiezhu in front of Pei Aosong, "Tiezhu, be good, quickly ask your father for the full-month gift."

Pei Aosong looked at the infant in the swaddling clothes: the chapped black face, the narrow eyebrows and eyes, the scabs on his head had gone down, but several pieces of tender red skin were exposed, with a few sparse hairs like peach fuzz sticking up. He truly looked unspeakable, and he absolutely did not want to admit that this was his child!

Since he didn't want to admit he had such an ugly baby, let alone prepare any full-month gift.

Lin Jiaojiao saw through Pei Aosong's disgust for the child at a glance. She took Pei Tiezhu from Guo Shi's hands, showed off the new gold bracelets on the child's hands, and said unceremoniously, "Early this morning, General Lu sent Tiezhu a pair of gold bracelets."

"And there's more," Lin Jiaojiao slightly lifted the child's clothes, and a priceless piece of jade made into a longevity lock was hanging around the child's neck, "This is the jade specially made for the child by Lord Song."

Even Lu Zhenting leaned over to take a look: Good fellow, this guy Song Shijie really still had valuable good things. He was truly willing to spend; he didn't usually gift him a jade ruyi or anything.

Pei Aosong's face was very ugly, but Lin Jiaojiao continued to point to the child's little feet and said, "Do you see? There is also a pair of gold rings engraved with auspicious cloud totems. This was gifted by Lu Zhenting's mother."

"Even the wet nurse Guo Shi worked overnight to sew a set of little clothes for Tiezhu," Lin Jiaojiao handed the child to Guo Shi, put her hands on her hips, and asked Pei Aosong righteously, "You, the biological father, have you prepared anything for the child?"

Pei Tiezhu in Guo Shi's arms was sucking his thumb, opening a pair of bright little eyes to look at his biological father, his eyes seeming to carry a bit of questioning.

"Truly ridiculous. You dare to bring a wild child born with someone else to the Pei Mansion to ask for a full-month gift." Suddenly, a cold laugh with quite a bit of authority came from the side, "Since you are wearing things gifted by General Lu and the Dali Temple Junior Minister Lord Song, then perhaps one of them is the father of that ugly baby. How dare you run to the Pei Mansion and randomly recognize a biological father?"

"Father-in-law," Pei Aosong saw the person coming and hurriedly went over, his back bent, his words carrying a trace of panic, "You have come, why didn't you inform us in advance?"

"I arrived early. Aosong, what are you entangled with people here for? Why don't you go in and entertain the guests with Wanqiu?" The person who came was the current Prime Minister Su Hongtu. He was about fifty years old, looking ruddy, with bright eyes, and quite authoritative, but his hair and beard were already gray.

A group of noble guests saw him, and all gave way and flattered, "Prime Minister Su has come."

Only Lu Zhenting nodded slightly toward Su Hongtu.

Lin Jiaojiao saw at a glance that this Prime Minister was not someone to be trifled with. She was someone who could bend and stretch. As long as she could achieve her goal, what did it matter if she bent her knees a little?

She brewed her emotions, even pinching her own thigh so that her eyes could be filled with tears.

She saw her kneel directly in front of Su Hongtu in front of all the noble guests, her eyes filled with tears, "Prime Minister Su, just as you said, Lord Pei should not be entangled with me here. Since you are here, why don't you preside over justice for a small person like me."

Lu Zhenting's eyes showed disbelief. Why did Lin Jiaojiao suddenly kneel to the Prime Minister? What did these words mean?

Pei Aosong only felt that Lin Jiaojiao kneeling to his father-in-law in front of people was very shameful. He hurriedly went over, wanting to help Lin Jiaojiao up, but she shook him off.

Even Su Hongtu couldn't see through her move, what her intention was.

Lin Jiaojiao sobbed a few times and continued, "Prime Minister Su, look at this child's eyebrows and eyes; they look exactly like Lord Pei's, but Lord Pei is unwilling to recognize this child. This little woman also doesn't want to be entangled with him here. No matter what, the child is innocent. This little woman just wants to take the child to another place and raise him well. I ask Prime Minister Su to let Lord Pei let us mother and child go."

Everyone heard this and turned their heads to look at Pei Tiezhu in the swaddling clothes. Everyone was frightened by his ugly appearance, and they immediately whispered and discussed.

"This child is ugly, but his eyebrows and eyes are the same as Lord Pei's, born with a pair of phoenix eyes."

"No way, no way? Lord Song is a man of talent, how could he give birth to such an ugly monster?"

"I heard before that this concubine is not a stable one. If this child was born to her and a Yaksha, that would make sense."

Lin Jiaojiao turned a deaf ear to people's discussions. She was a concubine; those who have nothing to lose don't fear those who have everything. But the Pei Mansion was different. Everything people discussed was bad for the Pei Mansion's reputation, and even Prime Minister Su was implicated.

They only had the choice to let her and the child leave the Pei Mansion today to let the matter subside.

Who knew that another voice, weeping and sobbing, would come over, "Sister, why do you have to kneel to my father? This was originally my fault. It was I who didn't take good care of Sister, which led to Sister having nowhere to go. If you want to blame someone, blame me."

"Wanqiu..." Pei Aosong turned his head to look and saw Su Wanqiu walking out from the room holding a child, her eyebrows and eyes full of heartbreaking sadness and grievance.

"Wanqiu, this is not your fault. You are a dignified legal wife; is it possible that you are still being bullied by a mere concubine?" Su Hongtu went over before Pei Aosong, his eyes revealing his love and heartache for his daughter.

Pei Aosong absolutely dared not help Lin Jiaojiao up in front of his father-in-law and legal wife.

He could only brace himself, go to coax Su Wanqiu first, take off his own shawl, and put it on Su Wanqiu, pretending to be thoughtful, "Wanqiu, the weather has turned cold. You just finished your month, why didn't you stay in the room and keep warm, and instead came out holding the child? Be careful of catching a cold."

Good fellow, ginger is still old and spicy!

Lin Jiaojiao sighed secretly in her heart. She was just asking them to let her go, but after the Prime Minister Su and Su Wanqiu father and daughter reversed black and white, she became a concubine who bullied the legal wife!

Truly, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked!

Su Wanqiu was supported by Pei Aosong, holding a cute, fat baby in her arms. Outsiders all said they were a loving couple, while the concubine kneeling on the ground, with a wet nurse holding an ugly baby beside her, looked like she was there to cause trouble.

"Sister Wanqiu, no need to talk to such a vixen," a young girl in orange-red clothes pushed through the crowd. Behind her followed a noble lady with a head full of gold hairpins. The two squeezed to the front of the Pei Mansion, and the girl walked toward Su Hongtu and Su Wanqiu, acting coquettishly, "Father, you walked too fast, and Mother and I couldn't catch up with you in the carriage!"

"You, you, dawdling when going out, and now blaming your father," the noble lady looked very similar to Su Wanqiu, both having willow-leaf eyebrows and eyes, and they were clearly mother and daughter. She poked the girl's cute garlic nose dotingly, then turned to look at Su Wanqiu, reaching out to hold the child, "Let me take a good look at my little grandson, he is truly a joy to behold!"

This new mother and daughter were Su Wanqiu's mother Fang Xuan and younger sister Su Chunyan. The surrounding nobles saw these two and all bowed respectfully, calling out "Prime Minister's Wife" and "Little Sister Su."

Prime Minister's Wife looked approachable and greeted everyone she knew one by one. When her gaze swept over Lin Jiaojiao and the wet nurse Guo Shi, she turned a blind eye.

Instead, Su Chunyan saw Lu Zhenting at a glance. She jumped over happily and reached out to pull Lu Zhenting, "Brother Lu, you have come too!"

Lu Zhenting moved forward extremely quickly, reached out the hand that Su Chunyan wanted to pull toward Lin Jiaojiao, helped Lin Jiaojiao up from the ground, and asked with concern, "Does your knee hurt?"

For a moment, Lin Jiaojiao felt a pair of vicious eyes staring at her.

She looked back following the feeling, but Su Chunyan was full of smiles, "I suppose this is the concubine that Brother-in-law keeps? She is so beautiful! No wonder she is so lovable, it really makes people envious!"

"That's right! She is used to hooking up with people!" Other noble ladies in the Capital expressed dissatisfaction.

"Even General Lu was hooked up with. I really don't know what kind of aphrodisiac she gave people in private!"

"One look and you can tell she is a vixen. Maybe she was a fox spirit reincarnated in her past life!"

The wet nurse Guo Shi was angry. She was impulsive and opened her mouth to curse back, "You lot, your figures are like cutting boards, you can't do anything but cut vegetables, right? You are just jealous that my concubine has a front and back!"

"If you want men to look at you more, you have to have the capital!"

"If you have the energy to gossip about others, you might as well go back and stuff your chest with two taels of lard!"

"Your two legs are like chopsticks, you can't even walk properly, and you are here learning to gossip! Truly, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked!"

Guo Shi cursed without using dirty words, but she cursed those gossiping noble ladies until their faces turned red, and they couldn't say a word of rebuttal. The noble ladies saw Guo Shi was vulgar and shook their heads repeatedly, hiding far away.

Even the infant Pei Tiezhu in her arms was crying out loud. Because his appearance was not pleasing, the noble ladies only took one look and felt their eyes had received a great shock.

Lu Zhenting finally held Lin Jiaojiao's hand this time. He thought for a long time about what to say to coax Lin Jiaojiao, but only managed to squeeze out one sentence: "Don't listen to their nonsense."

Lin Jiaojiao looked at Guo Shi and the little infant in her arms, then turned to look at Lu Zhenting, who was full of a sense of security, and suddenly burst out laughing with a "pfft."

What was happening now was not beautiful, but having someone by her side who understood her and tried his best to protect her was extremely beautiful.

She rubbed her knees, walked to Guo Shi's side, took Pei Tiezhu, and kissed his chapped black little face with a "smack."

Although this was a child born to Pei Aosong and Su Wanqiu, although he was only a full month old, he was truly a child she had put her heart and energy into taking care of. She originally thought the baby was too young to understand people, but after being kissed, Pei Tiezhu actually laughed happily with a "giggle," his eyes full of bright little stars.

The infant Pei Zhaoyang, held by Su Wanqiu, was attracted by Pei Tiezhu's laughter. He turned his face, and as soon as he saw Lin Jiaojiao, he suddenly seemed to have a flash of inspiration and reached out his little hand toward her.

Su Wanqiu saw this, her expression changed slightly. She wiped her sorrowful tears and said softly with a deeply apologetic voice, "Sister, it is all my fault. Now the weather outside has turned cold, shall we go into the room together? If there is anything, everyone can sit by the heater and discuss it properly."

"Wanqiu, how can you be so kind? Oh, my child, no wonder you are bullied by a concubine." The Prime Minister's Wife said, wanting to stop her daughter.

"Mother, Concubine Lin is a good person. It's just that Husband stays with me every day and hasn't paid attention to Concubine Lin, so she would make such a request, wanting to leave the Pei Mansion." Su Wanqiu said, pulling the infant Pei Zhaoyang held by her mother into her arms. Who knew the child was a bit resistant, pouting his little mouth as if he wanted to cry.

Su Wanqiu had to walk toward Lin Jiaojiao holding the child, with a soft smile on her face, "Look, Yang Ge'er also likes you. Do you want to hold him?"

Lin Jiaojiao wanted to avoid Su Wanqiu to avoid any bad things happening, but after all, she hadn't seen her own child for a long time, so she couldn't help but soften her heart and wanted to see how the child had grown.

Just as Su Wanqiu was getting closer and closer, suddenly Lin Jiaojiao felt someone push her lower back. She couldn't stand steadily, stumbled, and fell toward Su Wanqiu!

"Ah!" Su Wanqiu was knocked backward by Lin Jiaojiao. As her hands became empty, the child fell into the air!

Everyone held their breath in shock, wanting to go over to catch Yang Ge'er. It happened in the blink of an eye. Lu Zhenting ran forward in two or three steps, jumped into the air, caught Yang Ge'er, and then landed steadily on the ground.

Yang Ge'er was frightened and cried out loud. Pei Aosong hurriedly took the child from Lu Zhenting's hands. Lu Zhenting then turned to pull Lin Jiaojiao up and checked if she had any injuries.

And the Prime Minister's family ran to the front to check on Su Wanqiu's situation, and many noble guests followed to see if there was anything they could help with.

"Ah... my leg..." Su Wanqiu lay on the ground, looking at her slender ankle with a painful expression. A large piece was already red and swollen there.

"What is your intention, you witch, actually daring to knock down my sister in public!" Su Chunyan pointed at Lin Jiaojiao and scolded angrily, "And almost broke my little nephew!"

"What's going on? Why is it so noisy outside?" Suddenly, an old but powerful woman's voice came from inside the Pei Mansion. Everyone hurriedly gave way, and they saw the Pei Mansion Old Madam leaning on her cane, showing anger, walking toward them step by step. ===== CHAPTER 39 =====