It was said that the child was being sent to his maternal grandparents' home to stay for a while. When sending the child off, Xue Chao, with great carelessness, only assigned five people to accompany him, one of whom was Xue Ju's personal page boy.
When Xue Ju later returned to the Xue family, he described his disappearance vaguely and incompletely. It wasn't until a major event occurred afterward that people, looking back and piecing together the known information, gradually reconstructed the course of Xue Ju's disappearance.
Three days before the Lantern Festival, eight-year-old Xue Ju, along with one page boy and four servants dispatched by his father, set off for his maternal grandparents' home.
Xue Ju's maternal grandparents lived in Rongcheng, two hundred li away from the capital city, Shangjing.
Why not stay at the Marquis's estate to celebrate the Lantern Festival before leaving?
His father, Xue Chao, gave him the reason that celebrating the Lantern Festival at his maternal grandparents' home would make the two elderly people happier.
As for the actual circumstances behind it, presumably only Xue Chao himself knew best.
The named Xue Chao wore a look of dejection, ignoring the glances his colleagues inadvertently cast his way.
Only the two gazes from above made him feel as if needles were pricking his back, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He recalled how, before the New Year, his brother-in-law (from his second marriage) had sought him out, saying their family wanted a grandson with a noble title. The reason they were willing to marry their sister to him, a widower, was precisely because they saw his family possessed a hereditary title that could bring blessings to descendants.
If this demand had been raised when they were first discussing the marriage, he might have refused the match. But with the wedding just over a month away and the wedding invitations already sent out, Xue Chao found himself in a difficult position.
There was an even more important point: he had met the Liu family girl several times and had to admit that, whether in appearance or temperament, she suited Xue Chao's preferences perfectly.
He couldn't deny that compared to the strong-willed nature of his late wife, Lady Liao, he preferred this Lady Liu, who was in the prime of her youth, gentle and lovely, and looked at him with eyes full of admiration.
He had asked his brother-in-law, Liu Yuzhou, at the time what Lingniang thought about this matter. Liu Yuzhou told him that his sister was filial and would follow all arrangements made by their parents.
After returning to the estate, Xue Chao pondered for three days. Later, upon hearing that his eldest son had gotten into a fight with Da Ge'er, the son of his second brother, anger rose within him. The long-undecided resolution seemed to finally find an excuse at that moment to send his son away.
The five of them traveled in two carriages. They hadn't gone far, only about ten li out of the city, when they stopped at a roadside tea shed to rest and drink tea...
When they woke up again, they found themselves in a different place, tied up with ropes, surrounded by children only a few years old. Xue Ju immediately realized that the tea shed where they had stopped was a den of iniquity.
Those people were likely lookouts stationed outside the city by the villain known as Que De Ge. They probably saw that Xue Ju's party of four only had one young master and one teenage boy, yet they were driving two carriages.
Judging by the deep ruts the carriage wheels left in the muddy ground, the carriages seemed to be carrying a considerable load. Greed overcame them, leading them to disregard the obvious signs that these people came from a powerful and noble family, and they kidnapped them.
After the Lantern Festival, Xue Ju, along with three children from the Ling family, was secretly smuggled out of the city. The batch of children was then sold off separately to places far from Shangjing.
"Little Pearl, is what you're saying true?"
"These are all speculations by outsiders. The truth is, the carriage taking Xue Ju to his maternal grandparents' home didn't get far out of the city before arriving at a mountain hollow, where several people were already waiting.
Upon seeing these men, the four men driving the carriages jumped down without a word and left without looking back, leaving only the unsuspecting Xue Ju and his page boy on the carriage.
By the time the two were taken to Que De Ge's lair, it was already too late to escape."
"Was Xue Ju given to the traffickers by his own family? No, not given! Weren't there two carriage-loads of things? They practically paid the traffickers to take him.
Who did it? Xue Chao or Xue Yao?"
The faces of the Xue father and son had now turned from pale to deathly white, with cold sweat slowly beading on their foreheads.
"Master, guess what is most important in the eyes of the Xue family?"
Yue Fuguang thought for a moment and said, "The hereditary title?"
"Correct, the hereditary title. With the title comes status, power, and wealth. The Xue family has only one title, and it is currently set in stone that Xue Chao, who has already been petitioned to be the heir-apparent, will inherit it.
But the Xue family has more than just him as a son. Xue Yao currently has five sons: four by his principal wife and one by a concubine.
Let's not mention the younger brother born of a concubine; he's the youngest and a son of a concubine, so it certainly won't be his turn.
Do you think Xue Chao's other three brothers want this title or not?"
"Was Xue Ju essentially sold off by his own uncles, who even paid for the deal? They are, after all, Xue Chao's full brothers by the same mother. Even if they wanted to seize the title, shouldn't they first target the heir-apparent, Xue Chao?
Why go directly for the third generation?
Even without Xue Ju, isn't Xue Chao, who is about to marry, still capable of having more sons by his principal wife?
He's not infertile. If you have the hen that lays eggs, why fear not having eggs?"
Xue Yao closed his eyes, his face somewhat ashen. His worst fear had come to pass. To quell the ambitions of those sons of his, he had early on petitioned for the eldest to be named heir-apparent, hoping to settle the matter. Little did he think they had never given up their aspirations.
Xue Chao, the "egg-laying" one, though his complexion was poor, also felt that the Little Immortal Lord's words, though crude, held truth. As long as he was alive, even without Ju Ge'er, he could still have other sons.
Thinking this, his heart sank. Would his dear brothers next move against him?
Directly eliminate him? And what about Father... Xue Chao looked at Xue Yao. Both father and son understood the other's meaning.
Before they could ponder further, they heard the voice of the Divine Artifact say, "Master, what if Xue Chao is not the current Marchioness's son? What if Xue Chao could no longer father children in the future?"
Xue Yao closed his eyes. Xue Chao's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at his father.
Could it be that his mother's lack of closeness to him wasn't because he had been raised in his grandmother's quarters since childhood? That his brothers' distance wasn't due to this reason and their grandmother's favoritism?
And also... what did it mean that he could no longer father children?
He already had Ju Ge'er and Rui Jier. If Lady Liao hadn't died with her unborn child, he would also have a second son named Minggui Ge'er by now.
He... How could he be infertile?!
Xue Chao stared fixedly at his father, Xue Yao, desperately hoping for an answer.
Xue Yao, under the piercing gaze of his eldest son, kept his eyes tightly shut, not daring to face him.
"What does 'not the Marchioness's son' mean? Is this Xue Chao like Xi Ling, with a birth mother who married someone else?
And what does 'cannot have children' mean? Xue Chao seems quite healthy, and having Xue Ju and Xue Rui proves he has fertility."
Xue Chao nodded frantically in his heart. Yes, yes! He has a son and a daughter. How could he suddenly be incapable!
"Master, let's address the first point. Xue Chao is indeed somewhat similar to Xi Ling, but Xue Chao's birth mother is dead, not remarried.
His birth mother was originally a young lady from a wealthy family named Jiang Wan, whom Xue Yao met while stationed near the border with Nanzhao. The two fell in love at first sight and married upon meeting again.
The following year, she became pregnant with Xue Chao. Just as she was nearing her due date, the Nanzhao army launched a night raid on the border town. Jiang Wan, frightened, went into premature and difficult labor. She desperately gave birth to Xue Chao but died shortly after due to massive hemorrhaging."
