All Hail Cousin Brother

The room fell silent for a moment.

Only then did Old Madam Xie look at Yu Youyao. “Can we trust your cousin?”

Yu Youyao lowered her eyes and said obediently, “Cousin and I have always been close, and our relationship is much closer than any of my brothers and sisters at home.’

A cousin was actually closer to her than her siblings in the residence?

Such a close relationship was clearly indulged by Old Madam Yu, or even deliberately done.

Madam Wang frowned and asked about Zhou Linghuai.

Yu Youyao knew that they were worried about Yin Huaixi, so she brought her grandmother and Eldest Aunt to the Jade Courtyard and showed them the brushes and ink she had used to practice calligraphy.

There was a full box, and every piece recorded her improvement.

She also took out the books she had studied, including the Four Books and

Five Classics, all kinds of history books, scriptures, and a thick stack of books.

Every annotation on each book was written by Yin Huaixi with time and effort.

She even took out a beautiful zither.

The longevity peach blossom seal.

There were all kinds of paintings.

Carvings.

Facts spoke louder than words. Whether Zhou Linghuai was good or bad for Yu Youyao was already obvious from all this. He was inferior even to her biological brothers.

“You two…” Old Madam Xie’s expression was a little complicated. She kept feeling that Zhou Linghuai’s attitude towards her granddaughter was a little off. It did not seem like an ordinary cousin relationship. “Have you always been so close?”

After all, he was an outsider. Was Old Madam Yu just going to watch and indulge him?

Yu Youyao nodded. “Grandmother asked me to learn more from Cousin. She said that Cousin is very capable. If I learn from him, I’ll benefit in the future.” These words were true, so Old Madam Xie couldn’t say anything else.

Her granddaughter and cousin had grown up together. If she were Old Madam Yu, she would probably turn a blind eye to it. As long as there were no mistakes in etiquette on the surface, she probably wouldn’t interfere.

In any case, etiquette was for outsiders to see.

Every family had a life behind closed doors.

The Xie Residence had bought a residence in the capital. They only stayed for lunch before leaving.

Yu Youyao returned to the mourning hall.

In the next few days, many families came over to pay their respects one after another. Yu Youyao and Yu Shanyan brought their younger siblings over in mourning clothes. The men and women knelt in front of their grandmother’s coffin. There were guests who came to pay their respects. If there were male guests, Yu Shanyan would bring his younger brothers to greet them, send them off, and kneel back in front of the coffin.

If it was a female guest, Yu Youyao would greet her.

After a few days, Yu Youyao’s waist was about to break.

In the blink of an eye, Old Madam Yu’s seventh day passed.

The Xie Residence visited again and looked for their old granduncle.

Old Madam Xie took the initiative to take out the guarantee that Old Madam Yu had personally written back then. There were also the signatures of a few elders of the Yu Clan.

“Your Yu Residence knows very well what happened to Roujia back then. It’s said that a husband and wife are indebted to each other for life. Before Roujia’s corpse turned cold, Yu Zongzheng couldn’t wait to move on, nor did he care about marriage and familial ties. During Roujia’s mourning period, he welcomed new people into the residence. Our family endured it.” As soon as these words were spoken, not only was Yu Zongzheng unable to raise his head, but even the elders of the Yu Clan were embarrassed.

It had only been three to four years since Xie Roujia had married into the Yu Residence, but she had passed away. No matter what, the Yu Residence was already in the wrong.

Later on, the matter of Yu Zongzheng remarrying Madam Yang during the mourning period was even hidden from the Xie family.

Although the Xie Residence could not interfere with Yu Zongzhengs remarriage, Xie Roujia was the first wife. He had to ask his deceased wife’s family about his remarriage first. Only then would it be appropriate.

Therefore, this matter had blown up back then.

Initially, the Xie family endured Xie Roujia’s early death for the sake of their granddaughter. Later, when they found out that Yu Zongzheng was about to remarry during the mourning period, they forced him to come over to give the Xie family an explanation.

The matter of remarriage had already been settled, and Madam Yang had yet to marry into the family.

Old Master Xie had caught the Yu Residence red-handed and wanted to bring his granddaughter back to Quanzhou.

As Old Madam Yu was in the wrong, she lost her confidence and could only ask the clan for help.

It was also the clan who had stepped in and argued with Old Master Xie. The Xie Residence lacked legitimacy and were worried that they would go overboard. If that happened, in the future, their granddaughter would face troubles in the residence and the clan. They had no choice but to give up on bringing Yu Youyao back to Quanzhou. However, they had also forced Old Madam Yu to write a guarantee that she had to treat Yu Youyao well.

There was a clear message in the guarantee letter. If the Yu Residence disobeyed it, Yu Youyao would be allowed to return to her mother’s clan.

At that time, a few elders in the clan had all signed their names.

After 13 years, the Xie family’s old matters were brought up again.

It was during Old Madam’s funeral that she had taken out the guarantee that she had written back then.

The old clan master had a bad feeling.

Old Madam Xie mentioned her daughter and cried on the spot. “No matter how heartless the Yu Residence is, you’ve slapped our family one after another and trampled on our family’s face. Our family has to endure it too. Roujia has already passed away. We still have to care about Roujia’s daughter whom she risked her life to give birth to. We can’t let this child stay here and be sidelined…

The Old Madam did not care about her face and wailed on the spot. She cried until the Yu Residence and even the people from the Yu Clan were so angry that they could not say anything to refute.

Yu Zongzheng immediately felt that there were thorns on the chair for nothing. For a moment, he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, and he did not even dare to raise his head.

It wasn’t that he had a good temper, but that Old Madam Xie was still his mother-in-law in name and an elder. He had no right to interrupt when an elder was talking. Furthermore, if he spoke up openly, the Yu Residence would be labeled as unreasonable.

Madam Wangs eyes were red as she cried. “For Little Yaoyao, my sister-in-law donated 30% of her property to the Yu clan, and 20% of her property to the Yu Residence. Every quarter, the Xie Residence’s Merchant ships come to Beijing, and all kinds of gifts are brought into your house by horse-drawn carriages. The ceremonial etiquette during the holidays has never been neglected. The channels and connections under the name of the Xie Residence are also used by the Yu Residence and the Yu clan. As long as it is convenient, our Xie Residence has gone to great lengths to treat your Yu Residence well to give little Yao’er a place to live and settle down.”

These words were the truth.

Every time the Xie Residence gave a gift, they would leave a courtesy list. The clan had already helped Yu Youyao clean up Matriarch’s belongings and placed everything in An Shou Hall.

Eldest Madam, the daughter-in-law of the patriarch’s family, said quickly, “Grandmother, please don’t be upset. We understand how you feel about your granddaughter. Let’s talk about it calmly..”