Chapter 141 The Storm is Coming
Xiu'er saw her cousin's eyes full of doting on his cousin's wife and became jealous for a moment. She started to tease him. Everyone was guessing riddles together, and the atmosphere was originally lively, but her words made it dull. Everyone fell silent and looked at her, but no one responded to her.
Xiao Yun knew Xiu'er's feelings and didn't like her. She was especially against his favorite sister-in-law, which made Xiao Yun annoyed. Seeing her teasing his cousin's wife in every way, the atmosphere became cold again. He felt disgusted. He was afraid that if the atmosphere continued, Xiu'er would say something unpleasant and hurt his sister-in-law's dignity, so he quickly opened his mouth and said decisively:
"Of course, as a man, how can you argue with a little girl? Tonight, I will follow the rules set by my second sister-in-law."
"good"
Mengxi nodded readily. Who was Mengxi? She had already filtered out Xiu'er's words and treated them as mosquitoes humming in her ears.
Xiu'er was displeased after hearing what the Third Master said. She was about to say something else, but when she looked up, she met her cousin's cold gaze. She was shocked. She must not let her cousin think that she was narrow-minded and could not tolerate his wife. Thinking of this, she swallowed the rest of her words, showed a gentle expression, and looked at her cousin.
Xiao Jun retracted his gaze, sat there in silence with a gloomy face, and did not notice the flash of resentment in Xiu'er's eyes. Seeing that everyone stopped talking, Zhiqiu looked at Xiu with dissatisfaction, turned to the second wife and said:
"Second Madam, guess the riddle first. If you guess wrong, the agreement you made with Third Master will be invalid."
She also didn't want her grandmother to force the Third Master to sign such an unequal agreement, and be accused of being greedy, so she thought to herself:
My second grandmother, our Yichuntang now has a daily income of 1,800 taels, and this is because you insisted on limited sales. Otherwise, with the magic of Lengxiang Pills, it would not be a problem to make 18,000. You always say that it doesn't matter how much money you have, as long as you have enough to spend, and that life is short and you should enjoy life while you can. Why are you so obsessed with money now, staring at other people's gold ingots, your eyes are blue, and you look like you will not give up until you get them. I don't believe that there are flowers on the third master's gold ingots!
Zhiqiu secretly resented her second grandmother for being a money-grubber, so she found an excuse, hoping that she would pretend that she had guessed wrong and brush off what had just happened as a joke. She didn't want her grandmother to have a reputation as a money-grubber.
But her money-obsessed grandmother was destined to disappoint her. Mengxi just nodded and said:
"The answer to the riddle just now is - water"
After hearing this, Zhichun snatched the answer from Zhiqiu's hand and looked at it:
"Really? That's right. Once you use water to wash things, the water becomes dirty. Of course, you can't drink it. Why didn't I think of that?"
Zhichun was jumping up and down as he spoke, looking like he was regretting it. Xiao Yun and the others thought about it carefully and found that it was indeed water, so they nodded and said:
"Second sister-in-law guessed it right. Okay, let's go ahead and do it."
Mengxi thought for a moment and said:
"Master San, guess what animal weighs only 2 kilograms when flying in the sky, but weighs 1,000 kilograms when it lands on the ground?"
Everyone at the table, including Xiao Jun and Xiu'er, guessed for a long time, and finally shook their heads, unable to think of anything. Xiao Yun then said:
"Okay, this one is considered the winner, I accept the punishment"
Then he handed the gold ingot to the second sister-in-law. Mengxi happily took it . The third master looked at the gold ingot in the second sister-in-law's hand reluctantly and asked:
"What kind of animal is it? Can you tell me about it, sister-in-law?"
Mengxi played with the gold ingots in her hand, but smiled without saying anything. Seeing that her second sister-in-law was determined not to tell anyone, Xiao Yun became even more curious and said:
"Second sister-in-law has finished talking, it's my turn to solve the riddle ."
"Okay, Master San, go ahead and tell me, and I'll guess."
Mengxi had the gold ingot in his hand, so he was not afraid of losing and responded readily. The Third Master stood up, put his hands behind his back, walked a few steps gracefully, and said:
"Second sister-in-law, guess what animal weighs only 2 kilograms when flying in the sky, but weighs 1,000 kilograms when it lands on the ground?"
Everyone looked at Mengxi at the same time. There was nothing they could do; they were too curious and wanted to know what kind of animal this was.
Mengxi generously handed the Third Master a gold ingot and said:
"I lose this one. I accept the penalty. I don't even know what kind of animal it is."
Xiao Yun stood there, dumbfounded. Everyone, including Xiao Jun, looked at Meng Xi in astonishment:
This is fine, what's the difference between this and robbery! Next time I see this second wife, I must hide the gold ingots!
Zhiqiu and the other four maids blushed as they looked at the ground, wishing there was a crack in the ground for them to crawl into. This was also what our grandma did! They secretly swore that they would never admit that the second grandma was their master.
Mengxi was playing with the gold ingots she had just won. She looked up and saw Third Master still standing there with his mouth wide open. She was in a very good mood and smiled at him happily. Suddenly, the garden was full of spring flowers.
When Xiao Yun saw this, she was so scared that she didn't care about a gold ingot anymore and just sat down stupidly.
When Xiao Jun saw this, he was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself: "If I can see such a smile often, what would it matter if I gave away everything I have, let alone a gold ingot?"
…
The old lady's birthday was over, and Miss Xiu, who was supposed to leave the house, was unexpectedly not sent back. On the contrary, the old lady became particularly enthusiastic towards her and treated her like her own granddaughter . These days, Miss Xiu was really like a fish in water.
Xiao Jie and Xiao Fei rushed back to the south three days after the old lady's birthday. The second master and the first master suddenly became busy. They often discussed in the study room until late at night. The second master often left the house at night, and no one knew what he was doing. He often disappeared for three or four days.
Even the old lady had become abnormal. She no longer sought out Mengxi to chat and rub shoulders whenever she had nothing to do. Often, Mengxi would just greet her and then be sent back to Xiaoxiang Courtyard. Occasionally, they would chat a few more words. Mengxi could often see a trace of regret in the old lady's eyes, but when she looked closely, it was nowhere to be seen.
Mengxi even noticed that even the servants in the Xiao Mansion were trembling with fear and keeping silent. There was an atmosphere of tension everywhere in the Xiao Mansion, as if a storm was about to come.
Finally, Zhiqiu finally found out from the old lady's personal maid Shihua that all this was because: the prince was critically ill, and Emperor Jin intended to appoint another crown prince!
Sitting on the stone bench in the backyard of the east wing, Zhiqiu finished speaking, sighed and said:
"No wonder I was so worried but didn't see the prince at his birthday party. It turns out he was ill, so he didn't come to celebrate. How could a healthy person suddenly become critically ill? It's true that there are unexpected events in the world and people are subject to misfortunes at any time. Second Madam is right. Life is short and we should enjoy it while we can. It's a pity that people like us are helpless."
After hearing what Zhiqiu said, Mengxi didn't say anything. She looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. The sky was really going to change. She didn't understand. Didn't the Xiao family have an ancestral precept: "The head of the Xiao family in all generations is not allowed to serve as an official in the court?" Then in the replacement of the crown prince, the Xiao family didn't take sides, and there was no possibility of taking the wrong side! Why is the sky of the Xiao Mansion going to change?
Suddenly she remembered that when she first married into the family, she went to Chenxi Garden to give gifts to the eldest grandmother. The eldest grandmother once mentioned that the opportunity for the second master to be sent out was due to the prince's connection. The old lady was almost sick because of this. A light bulb suddenly flashed in her head. The Xiao family lined up this time, and they stood in the wrong place!
Shaking her head, the affairs of the court were changing rapidly, and it was not something a woman like her could care about. She should just look at her own situation. The dull and suffocating atmosphere of the Xiao Mansion, especially the old lady's obvious behavior of pairing Xiu'er and the Second Master, made her feel that the day of her being divorced and leaving the Xiao Mansion was not far away.
