The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

Chapter 598 Imperial Envoy, Wen Yibin

Such things do happen, and they are not unreasonable.

If it was someone they knew well, they would invite them to stay at their residence. But if it was someone they didn't know well, officials would either stay at a post station, or if there was no post station in the county town, they would choose to stay at an inn, which would be much more comfortable.

It's quite rare to see someone come to someone's house and immediately ask to stay there.

Seeing that Ling Silang's expression was not right, Du Mingxian comforted him, "He probably wants to discuss things with you and thinks it would be more convenient to live together. You are the local official, so it wouldn't be good to just ask you to leave. It's better for him to move in by himself."

"I hope so. Judging from his behavior, this high-ranking official is not someone who likes to have much contact with others. Moreover, it is too unusual for him to directly ask to stay at someone else's house."

"Don't worry, let's take it one step at a time. Once he arrives, which of you two will be in charge?"

Since they are both officials working on the same task, it's impossible for two people to have the same ideas. There will always be times when they disagree. This is when the advantage of being in charge becomes apparent.

When opinions differ, the person in charge has the final say.

“There’s no one in charge. The higher-ups told us to discuss things thoroughly and only take action after we reach a consensus.” Ling Silang was speechless when he thought about this. “I’m afraid… we’ll never reach a consensus. Will we have to keep discussing things and keep postponing them?”

Du Mingxian sensed something was amiss. "Don't worry, the Crown Prince isn't the kind of person who doesn't consider things carefully. Since he gave such an order, there must be a reason. Why don't you go out and meet this person first?"

"Okay, you rest now, I'll go and meet this person."

Because he was an imperial envoy, the county magistrate, Ling Silang, was required to go out of the city gate to greet him. When he arrived at the city gate, the envoy had not yet arrived, so he did not get off the carriage but remained seated and waited.

Not long after, Xiang Guang said from outside, "My lord, the imperial envoy has arrived."

Ling Silang then dismounted from the carriage and saw the convoy approaching from afar. The imperial envoy was anything but low-key, accompanied by a full ten people, eight on horseback and two driving the carriage.

As the carriage drew near, Ling Silang suddenly smiled when he saw a somewhat familiar person sitting in front of it. No wonder the Crown Prince's message was that they should discuss things before taking action, and that there was no one in charge.

He stepped forward and made a show of it, saying, "This humble official is the magistrate of Ping County. Greetings, Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy."

"Let's get up and head straight into the city."

Xiang Guang was somewhat unconvinced. Watching the convoy head straight into the city, he muttered to himself, "This imperial envoy is really something else. He didn't even get out of his carriage, and we had to run out to greet him."

Ling Silang glanced at him curiously, said nothing, and stepped into the carriage. "Let's go, let's go straight back to the manor."

"My lord, shall we not go and speak with the imperial envoy?"

"His carriage is heading towards our residence, let's go."

"Oh."

Ling Silang's carriage followed behind, all the way back to his doorstep. Before the people in the carriage got off, Xiang Guang was so indignant that he cursed the imperial envoy countless times.

When he saw the people getting off the carriage, Xiang Guang's mouth trembled. He didn't know what to say for a long time and just stared blankly as the two adults walked into the mansion together.

He slapped his mouth in disgust, "This stinky mouth, no wonder the adults stared at me with such surprise outside the city."

It turns out he didn't recognize his own family.

Inside the mansion, the two were walking side by side.

Ling Silang led the man directly to the main courtyard. The man turned to look at Ling Silang and saw his smug expression. He felt extremely jealous. "I sent you to be the magistrate of such a remote little county, and you've developed a sense of superiority. Look at how smug you are."

"No, it's just that I have some good news recently, and people are in high spirits when they have good news."

The other person curled their lip. "Hmph, where is she?"

"Please come in."

Du Mingxian had just put the child to sleep and settled the child down. Then she got up, took the child's clothes, and stood at the door calling for Xiangyang.

Xiangyang jogged over, "Madam, what's wrong?"

“This little guy is growing fast. I see his clothes are a bit too small. Among the children we took back, see if any of them can fit into these clothes.”

"Madam, let's keep the young master's clothes for now."

"Don't you have anything to wear?"

"Yes, the children who were sent over are a bit thin and small, and their clothes fit the young master perfectly."

Du Mingxian put the clothes into Xiangyang's hands, "Take these and have them washed so the child can wear them. What's the point of keeping these clothes? They'll just gather dust. It's better to let someone else keep them warm."

"Yes."

Just as Du Mingxian was giving instructions to Xiangyang, Ling Silang entered with his men and witnessed the scene.

Xiangyang took the clothes and turned to leave, but when she looked up and met Ling Silang and the people around him, she was extremely surprised and hurriedly bowed, "Greetings, Your Excellency, greetings, Fourth Master."

Du Mingxian looked up and saw two men standing there. She was quite shocked. "Fourth Uncle."

Hearing this "Fourth Uncle," Wen Yibin chuckled with a hint of smug satisfaction. "Haha, good, good. It's good that you haven't forgotten your Fourth Uncle. You're heartless. After leaving home, you sent a letter home to let us know you were safe, but then you didn't write anything else. Your father scolded you every day."

Du Mingxian was extremely embarrassed. "I'm a bit busy."

"Busy? What can you possibly be busy with?"

Du Mingxian gave an awkward smile and gestured for him to come in, "Fourth Uncle, why don't you come in and see what I'm busy with?"

"Why are you being so mysterious?" Wen Yibin's curiosity was piqued, and he stepped inside.

Du Mingxian and Ling Silang exchanged a glance and smiled. The three of them went inside, and Xiangyang quickly brought in tea.

Soon, the sound of a child crying came from outside, and Xiangyang rushed out.

Wen Yibin was quite curious, "Did your household buy children to serve as servants? Why are they crying so miserably?"

"It wasn't bought; someone else brought it here."

"Oh?"

Just as Du Mingxian was about to speak, the sound of a child crying came from the inner room. She hurriedly got up to check. Ling Silang was also a little anxious and wanted to go in to see what was going on, but with Wen Yibin there, he didn't move.

Wen Yibin was somewhat surprised. Hearing the crying coming from inside and seeing the two people's movements, he opened his mouth and asked, "You two... secretly had a child?"

"It's not that we're keeping it a secret, it's just that the birth of this child needs to be kept low-key, and we can't announce it to the outside world."

Wen Yibin really didn't know what to say, but he was still very happy. His eldest niece had a baby, so wasn't he the maternal grandfather? The fourth maternal grandfather.

My grandfather died.

It doesn't sound good at all.

Grandpa is still better.

The two didn't speak. Soon, there was a commotion inside the house. Du Mingxian came out carrying the child, who was no longer asleep. The child's eyes were wide open, looking around.

"Come here, let Grandpa give you a hug."

Du Mingxian placed the child in Wen Yibin's arms. Wen Yibin didn't know why he was holding the child, and the way he held him was quite standard, which surprised her.

Ling Silang asked, "Fourth Uncle, your posture in holding the child is quite standard."