Chapter 167 Going South
The old woman pulled Zhiqiu up and was about to slap him. Mengxi was also shocked and knelt there watching with heartache. She absolutely could not open her mouth to beg for mercy at this moment. If she did, the punishment would only be heavier.
Zhiqiu's punishment made her terrified. She had been planning to leave the house, but she had overlooked one important thing. She was divorced. Would the old lady let her take the four maids with her?
Even if the old lady is willing, these four maids have completely become enemies with the first wife and the cousin because of the Taoist's practice. Given the first wife's broad-mindedness, even if she divorces her, she will not let these four maids go !
Seeing the raised hands of the maids about to fall, Mengxi was helpless when she heard the master shout:
"stop!"
The eldest master was also shocked just now. The eldest wife's blame was far-fetched. As long as the daughter-in-law did not admit it and said that the old lady agreed, he and the old lady would agree to it and at most scold the daughter-in-law a few words.
But now she said that her illness was not serious, and she did not come to pay her respects, and admitted that she had committed the seven grounds for divorce, which made him and the old lady speechless. He also knew the eldest lady's little thoughts, but he did not like Xiu'er from the bottom of his heart. If it were not for the emergency last time, he would never agree to marry Xiu'er.
Seeing that his daughter-in-law admitted it, he was feeling helpless, but Zhiqiu's explanation made him feel relieved. He was thinking about how to make peace for this silly daughter-in-law, but the eldest wife got angry with Zhiqiu, which made him dissatisfied with the eldest wife, and his mother was still sitting there.
Seeing that the master was angry, the old woman dared not attack him. She quickly let go of Zhiqiu and stepped aside. Zhiqiu took the opportunity to kneel beside the second mistress.
"Xi'er vomited blood a few days ago. Mother did indeed allow her not to come to pay respects. Madam, please don't make a fuss. Leave everything to mother's discretion."
When the first wife heard the eldest master speak, she looked at him resentfully and shut her mouth. She really had no right to speak in front of her husband and mother-in-law.
After a long while, the old lady with a gloomy face finally spoke:
"We are all family, there is no need for such strict rules. I promised that Xier would not come to pay her respects because she was sick. I will let it go this time because Xier is young. Xier, don't be so presumptuous next time!"
Mengxi was relieved after hearing this and kowtowed to express her gratitude. The old lady looked at Zhiqiu and said:
"When the masters are talking, servants have no right to interrupt. Zhiqiu is too ignorant of the rules today. Considering that you are devoted to the master, I will spare you the pain. I will fine you two months' salary and let you learn the rules for another half a month."
After hearing this, Zhiqiu kowtowed and thanked him.
A storm seemed to be easily overcome with the concerted efforts of the master and the old lady.
Xiu'er, who was sitting on the side, was anxious. Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was ruined by the eldest master. The old lady's ambiguity made her even more puzzled. The old lady had been wanting to marry her these days, but she no longer had time to think about these things.
She turned her head and looked at her cousin. Fortunately, her cousin was not satisfied with this place either. He was sitting there with a gloomy face and said nothing. This calmed her flustered heart. Her mother once told her that she must fight for her own affairs. Thinking of this, she looked at her cousin and asked:
"Xiu'er heard that my cousin asked a doctor to check my cousin's wife's pulse. I wonder what the doctor said."
In Xiu'er's opinion, her cousin only needs an opportunity. Now that she has brought it up, her cousin can take the opportunity to tell him the doctor's diagnosis the day before, thereby exposing the fact that her cousin's wife pretended to be sick and did not come to pay her respects. Although the old lady had agreed before, the circumstances of her cousin's wife's pretending to be sick were so serious that even if the eldest master protected her, she could not withstand the ironclad evidence.
After Xiu'er finished speaking, she looked at her cousin timidly with her watery eyes. She said, "She has built the bridge, but how we cross it depends on you, cousin. Our future happy life depends entirely on you!"
The Second Master glanced at Xiu'er expressionlessly and said calmly:
"Doctor Zhang diagnosed Xi'er as being extremely weak. It will take time to cure her. She needs long-term care and should not be overworked."
Xiu'er was stunned when she heard this. Why did her cousin speak up for his wife? Then she thought again, yes, this serious illness is also one of the "Seven Reasons for Divorce". Could it be that her cousin saw that the first wife's claim of disobeying her parents was rejected by the first master, so he thought of using this reason to divorce his wife? Thinking of this, she was very happy and looked up at the first wife, who asked:
"Did the doctor really say that?"
"Yes, mother, Jun'er dare not lie"
"Since it requires long-term recuperation, how come I heard the doctor didn't give me any medicine?"
The first wife saw Xiu'er giving her a look, but she was not as smart as Xiu'er and could not guess her son's "concerns" immediately.
Of course, she didn't understand why Xiu'er was a girl after all, so it was not easy for her to tell her directly that her cousin's wife had a serious illness and that they could not share the family line or carry on the family line. This would also be a violation of the seven grounds for divorce. If she was asked to speak out, she would think that Xiu'er wanted her to ask why she didn't get any medicine when she was seriously ill, so she kept asking.
After hearing what his mother said, Xiao Jun was shocked. He had been ill for almost half a year, and Xiaoxiangyuan was almost like a vegetable market. How could there be any privacy? Thinking of his mother's hostility towards Mengxi, if this continued, Mengxi's every move would be under her mother's surveillance. Wouldn't she be a lamb to be slaughtered?
He looked up and saw his mother staring at him, so he quickly put his thoughts aside and said:
"Mother, you may not know that the doctor did not prescribe any medicine for you. Instead, he recommended a pill from Yichuntang, called Yangsheng Pills, which he said is a good medicine for nourishing blood and replenishing qi. I wonder if mother has heard of Yichuntang?"
Yichuntang? It is a newly rising upstart in Pingyang City. The medicine there is said to be unrivaled in the world. What is the origin of this second wife? How can she be qualified to take the health-preserving pills of Xichuntang? Just prescribe some tonic medicine. Doctor Zhang is really nosy. When the first wife heard this, her face turned cold and she said casually:
"I have heard of it, Jun'er, don't trust that nonsense. It is more sensible to use the medicine passed down by our ancestors."
Xiao Jun sighed inwardly after hearing this. He knew his mother didn't like Mengxi, but he didn't expect her to hate her so much. After all, she was his mother, and he couldn't disobey her. He nodded and said:
"Mother is right. Jun'er also thought so, so he has not been to Yichuntang. These two days he is thinking of finding a doctor to prescribe some herbal medicine."
After hearing what the Second Master said, Zhiqiu and Mengxi looked at each other. They couldn't believe that the extremely filial Second Master would dare to lie to the First Wife like this, but they could also feel that the Second Master was doing it for their own good.
She glanced at the Second Master doubtfully, and met his cold gaze, which seemed to warn her not to talk too much. Her heart skipped a beat and she turned away.
Xiu'er looked at everything in front of her in confusion. How could it be so different from what she expected? It sounded like there was no such thing as her cousin's wife.
My aunt actually led the topic so far away. I kept looking at my aunt, but when she saw that my aunt didn't look at me, I felt that if she didn't speak, the opportunity would slip away.
As the saying goes, when doing great things, you don't need to pay attention to small details. You must fight for your own happiness. Thinking of this, Xiu'er made up her mind and ignored her daughter's reserve. She raised her head and was about to speak, but she heard the words of the old lady.
"Okay, okay, it's so early in the morning and we've been talking for a long time. Everyone must be hungry. Xier, get up too and set the table."
After the old lady finished speaking, she stood up.
It turned out that the old lady saw Xiu'er sitting there restlessly and must be looking for trouble again. Today's incident was all caused by her. Seeing that she was about to speak again, she was afraid that Xiu'er, who didn't know what modesty was, would say something shocking and she would not be able to smooth over the situation.
Mengxi must take a break, but not today.
Just like she did with the Crown Prince and Prince of Yan, the old lady didn't want to offend Xiu'er or divorce Mengxi at this time. It was better to wait and see what happened. Seeing Xiu'er was about to speak again, she spoke first.
Seeing that the old lady had spoken and had stood up, Xiu'er left the words on the tip of her tongue unspoken. She glanced resentfully at her cousin's wife who had stood up and was standing aside, then gritted her teeth and stood up with the crowd.
…
Zhiqiu was punished by the old lady. The second master was furious when he returned to Xiaoxiangyuan. He said that he had been ill for half a year and the servants had no manners at all. He actually made the old lady angry, so he took the opportunity to give the servants in the courtyard a good scolding.
Zhiqiu wiped her tears with grievance. It was true that she had violated the rules , but she did it to protect the Second Mistress. It would have been fine if she had just been scolded by the Second Mistress when she came back, but the Second Master actually used this as an example to scold all the servants in the courtyard, as if he was afraid that the servants in the courtyard didn't know that she had violated the rules and was being punished.
It seems that the Second Master hated himself for ruining his good deeds. He failed to divorce the Second Mistress that day. From then on, Zhiqiu and the Second Master became complete enemies. However, Zhiqiu also knew that he was the master and could not be offended, so she acted more carefully.
The Second Master's violent rage made Hongzhu, Hongxing and the others tremble in fear every day. They even wanted to sleep with their eyes open, for fear that the Second Master would find out their mistakes and drive them out.
The Second Master had been sending people out a lot these days. He was also very ruthless. He would not allow people he didn't need to be sent to other courtyards, but would directly drive them out of the house. The First Wife personally came to persuade her several times, but she couldn't persuade her son a few maids, and it was not worth hurting the mother-son relationship. The First Wife had no choice but to follow the Second Master's buttocks and buy a batch of maids to send over. It made everyone in Xiaoxiang Courtyard feel insecure and afraid of enemies.
These days, Xiao Jun has been extremely depressed. Thinking back to the incident when he paid his respects to Meng Xi, he was almost forced to divorce her because of Meng Xi's calm words. This still makes him tremble with fear.
With Mengxi's intelligence, she should not make such an idiotic mistake. He always felt that something was wrong, but he recalled what happened that day over and over again and could not remember what was wrong. A feeling of uneasiness kept stirring in his heart, making him feel awkward every time he saw Mengxi. He wanted to be nice to her, but when he met her calm eyes, he was always at a loss. As a result, the opposite of what he wanted happened. Unknowingly, the relationship between the two, which had been eased by burning incense, became tense again.
On this day, the eldest master called the second master to the study and discussed the matter of going to the south. Although the prince's illness had recovered during this period, the popularity of Prince of Yan was growing day by day. With the instigation of the Empress Dowager, rumors had spread in Pingyang City that the prince's position was no longer secure. This made the eldest master feel very uneasy. He was afraid that something might happen if he was too late, so he wanted the second master to hurry up and go to the south as planned.
Going to the south was also something Xiao Jun had been preparing for these days. Things in Pingyang had been almost dealt with. He was more anxious about this matter than his father. After listening to his father, Xiao Jun thought about it and finally decided with the master to set off tomorrow.
