It was said that the child was being sent to stay with his maternal grandparents for a while. When sending the child off, Xue Chao, with his typical carelessness, only assigned five people to accompany him, one of whom was Xue Ju's personal attendant.
When Xue Ju later returned to the Xue family, he described his disappearance in vague and incomplete terms. It wasn't until a major event occurred afterwards that people, looking back and piecing together the known information, slowly reconstructed the course of his disappearance.
Three days before the Lantern Festival, eight-year-old Xue Ju, along with one attendant 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 from the capital city, Shangjing.
Why not stay at the Marquis's estate for the Lantern Festival before leaving?
The reason his father, Xue Chao, gave him was that celebrating the Lantern Festival at his maternal grandparents' home would bring the two elders greater joy.
As for the actual truth behind it, one can only assume Xue Chao himself knew best.
The named Xue Chao wore a look of utter dejection, oblivious even to the glances his colleagues cast his way.
Only the two gazes fixed upon him from above made him feel as if needles were pricking his back, breaking him out in a cold sweat.
He remembered how, before the New Year, his brother-in-law (from his upcoming 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 a widower like him was precisely because they had their eye on his family's noble title, which could bring blessings to future generations.
Had this demand been raised when they were first discussing the marriage, he might have refused the match. But now, with just over a month until the wedding and the invitations already sent out, Xue Chao found himself in a difficult position, unable to back down.
There was an even more important point: he had met the Liu family's young lady several times. One could say that both her appearance and temperament were very much to Xue Chao's liking.
He had to admit that compared to the strong-willed nature of his late wife, Lady Liao, he preferred this Liu girl, who was in the prime of her youth, gentle and lovely, and whose eyes were always full of admiration when she looked at him.
He had asked his brother-in-law, Liu Yuzhou, right then: what did Lingniang think about this? Liu Yuzhou told him that his sister was filial and would follow all her parents' arrangements.
After returning to his 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 decision he had been unable to make for so long suddenly seemed to have found an excuse in that moment—a reason 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 have some 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 thieves.
Those people were likely sentinels placed outside the city by the villainous "Brother Que De." They probably saw that Xue Ju's group of four was only escorting one young master and a boy not yet fully grown, yet the six of them were driving two carriages.
Judging by the deep tracks the carriage wheels left in the muddy ground, the carriages must have been heavily loaded. Greed overcame them, and they disregarded the obvious signs that the group came from a powerful and noble family, kidnapping them.
After the Lantern Festival, Xue Ju, along with three children from the Ling family, was secretly smuggled out of the city and sold off to places far from Shangjing, the children dispersed among different buyers.
"Little Pearl, is what you're saying true?"
"All of that is speculation by outsiders. The truth is, the carriage taking Xue Ju to his maternal grandparents' home didn't travel far out of the city before arriving at a mountain hollow, where several men 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 attendant on the carriage.
By the time the two were taken to Brother Que De'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, cold sweat slowly beading on their foreheads.
"Master, take a guess. What is the most important thing in the eyes of the Xue family?"
Yue Fuguang thought for a moment. "The noble title?"
"Correct. The noble title. With the title comes status, power, and wealth. The Xue family has only one title, currently set in stone to be inherited by Xue Chao, who has already been officially designated the heir.
But the Xue family has more than one son. Xue Yao currently has five sons: four by his principal wife and one by a concubine.
Let's not mention the youngest brother from a concubine; he's the youngest and a son of a concubine, so it definitely wouldn't be his turn anyway.
Do you think Xue Chao's other three brothers might want this title?"
"Was Xue Ju essentially sold off by his own uncles, with them even throwing in money? 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 get rid of the heir, Xue Chao?
Why directly target the third generation?
Even without Xue Ju, couldn't Xue Chao, who is about to marry, still have other sons by his principal wife?
He's not infertile. As long as the hen that lays eggs is there, why worry about no eggs?"
Xue Yao closed his eyes, his face somewhat ashen. His worst fear had come to pass. To quash any ambitions his other sons might harbor, he had long ago petitioned for his eldest to be designated the heir, hoping to settle the matter definitively. Little did he expect that they had never given up their aspirations.
Xue Chao, the "egg-laying hen," though pale-faced, 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.
At this thought, his heart sank. Would his good brothers next move against him?
Directly eliminate him? But then, his father... Xue Chao looked towards Xue Yao. Father and son both understood the other's meaning.
Before they could ponder further, they heard the divine artifact say, "Master, what if Xue Chao is not the current Marchioness's son? And 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 distance towards him wasn't because he had been raised in his grandmother's rooms since childhood? That his brothers' aloofness wasn't due to that 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 Jie'er. If Lady Liao hadn't died along with the unborn child, he would also have a second son named Gui Ge'er by now.
He... how could he be infertile?!
Xue Chao stared fixedly at his father, Xue Yao, desperately hoping for an answer.
Under the penetrating gaze of his eldest son, Xue Yao kept his eyes tightly shut, not daring to face him.
"What do you mean, 'not the Marchioness's son'? Is this Xue Chao like Xi Ling, with his birth mother having married someone else?
And what does 'cannot have children' mean? Xue Chao seems perfectly healthy. Having Xue Ju and Xue Rui proves he has the ability."
Xue Chao nodded frantically in his heart. Yes, yes! He has a son and a daughter. How could he suddenly become incapable!
"Master, let's address the first point. Xue Chao and Xi Ling are indeed somewhat similar, 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, Nanzhao forces launched a night raid on the border town. Jiang Wan, frightened, went into premature labor and had a difficult delivery. She struggled to give birth to Xue Chao before dying from massive hemorrhaging."
