Chapter 176 If Life Could Just Be Like First Meeting
The days are long in the summer. It was already past the hour of You and the sky was just beginning to darken. The second door had already been locked. Aunt Cui was dressing up neatly and walking around the room. Wu Er stood aside, dazzled, and thought to himself:
This Concubine Cui is really energetic. She got up so early in the morning, didn't sleep all day, and hasn't had dinner yet, but she can still walk so vigorously. I wanted to call her to rest, but then I remembered how cruel she is in her daily life, so I didn't dare to disturb her. I just stood there, my eyes following Concubine Cui around.
Finally, Aunt Cui got tired of walking around, stopped, looked at Wu'er and asked:
"What time is it? Second Master, haven't you received the letter yet?"
"It's one quarter past the hour of You. It's getting late. Auntie, please have some food first. I haven't eaten much all day."
"Okay"
After hearing what Aunt Cui said, Wu'er breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to ask the maid to bring her food, she was stopped by Aunt Cui again.
"Forget it. What if the Second Master comes over when I'm having dinner? I won't have time to put on makeup and he'll look embarrassed. Let's wait a little longer."
"But Auntie, if the Second Master comes, you will have to serve him, so how can you have time to eat?"
"It's just a dinner, I won't starve to death. If I had known that the Second Master hadn't come back so late, I would have eaten earlier. Now that we have waited till this hour, let's wait a little longer. Is the Second Master still at the old lady's place?"
"I think he is still there. Si'er is waiting at the gate of Xiaoxiang Courtyard. No matter which courtyard the Second Master goes to, he has to pass by there. How about I go and take a look?"
"Forget it, Si'er is a reliable person, you can just stay here. Is this the Bo Lan?"
As Aunt Cui was speaking, a faint fragrance wafted into her nose. The scent was unique and strong. She hurried over to the incense burner and looked at and smelled it carefully.
"Yes, Auntie, I just lit it and the fragrance is just beginning to spread. Please smell it, Auntie, it smells really good."
"Well, the Second Master must like it. No wonder that vixen was reluctant to give it to him. I thought so. Two years ago, the Second Master actually went to her and Aunt Li's room. It turned out that she used this to seduce the Second Master. This fragrance is rare and the Second Master likes it. You should be more careful next time. Order it when the Second Master comes. Don't use it on weekdays."
"Yes, I know what to do."
As she was talking, Si'er pushed the door open listlessly. When Aunt Cui saw him, she became panicked and asked:
"The Second Master is back. Whose garden did he go to? Aunt Zhang's?"
After she finished speaking, she saw Si'er looking at her without saying anything, and her eyes suddenly stood up:
"Speak up, you're dumb! I can only think of that vixen, right?"
"My aunt, the Second Master came back early and went straight to the main room. I waited outside and didn't dare to leave, fearing that the Second Master would come to our garden after finishing his business in the main room. But I waited and waited, but there was no movement. I secretly asked the little maid and found out that the Second Master had drunk wine in the evening and said he was tired. He sent someone to the east wing to call the Second Madam to rub his feet. He has now gone to bed."
After hearing this, Aunt Cui sat there in a daze for a long while, then suddenly snatched up the teacup on the table and threw it away, saying:
"How could this be? Second Master never lets Second Mistress serve him."
The fourth and fifth children were so frightened that they fell to their knees and said tremblingly:
"Auntie, calm down. Normally, the Second Master should stay in the upper room on his first night back home. This is the rule. The Second Master is a very rule-abiding person. Today he is just doing this for the servants to see. Tomorrow, the Second Master will definitely come over."
…
Mengxi sat on the embroidered cushion beside the bed, gently massaging Erye's feet and looking around the room. She hadn't set foot in this room for two years since Erye recovered from his illness last time. When she came in again, she had a feeling that everything had changed. The bright red color in her impression had long been replaced, and there was no sign that this was their bridal chamber. There was no memory of him and her here anymore. Listening to the snoring coming from the bed, Mengxi stopped what she was doing, gently covered Erye with a thin blanket, motioned Hongzhu to go out, and she also tiptoed out.
Hearing the sound of the door closing gently, Xiao Jun opened his eyes and looked at Mengxi's departing figure. A trace of melancholy passed through his heart. After he fell in love with her, she and he had become strangers. He stood in front of her, but she didn't know his heart.
Mengxi woke up when she covered him with a blanket. He didn't open his eyes, hoping that she would be like they did on their wedding day. After he fell asleep, she would gently cross his body and lie down against the wall. At that time, the distance between them was visible. Now, she was standing in front of him, but he couldn't feel where her heart was. Could they go back to the beginning?
How wonderful it would be if life could always be like the first time they met. Now he can only look at her back but dare not tell her that he loves her.
It had been a long time since she had worked so hard, and Mengxi was a little uncomfortable. She went to bed early after returning from the upper room. But the next morning, she still couldn't get up, so Zhiqiu dragged her out of bed and helped her wash her face. She was still a little dazed when she sat in front of the dressing mirror. Zhiqiu combed her hair and said:
"The Second Master is back and living in the upper room again. According to the rules, the Second Madam should go over to pay respects to the Second Master today. Don't miss the time and let the Second Master choose the gift."
"When he was here, we didn't have to go to pay respects to him. We could go directly to the old lady. If we delayed, we wouldn't know what time it would be. He's her biological son, so it's okay to wait a little longer. But I'm the stepmother, so I can't delay even a moment. Haven't you seen the way the first lady looks at me every day? She looks as if she wants to eat me up."
"But Second Grandma..."
"Don't worry about this and that. Let's do everything according to the old rules. That's it. Now that he's back, we should have a result. Urge Li Du to deal with the matters of the outer house as soon as possible in the next two days. I may be out of the house in ten days or half a month."
After hearing what the Second Madam said, Zhiqiu's hand holding the comb trembled involuntarily, and the comb almost fell to the ground. Although with the strength of Yichuntang, it would not be difficult for the Second Madam to leave the house to survive, and although she also believed that the Second Master was not a good man, the idea of women being faithful to one man that was deeply rooted in her mind made her subconsciously not want the Second Madam to be divorced. After all, the Second Madam and the Second Master had consummated their marriage.
Even if Second Grandma could really be the master of the world and live freely among mountains and rivers, that would be a wandering life after all, destined not to be accepted by the world and destined to be lonely all her life. Although she had already decided that if that day really came, she would never marry and spend her life accompanying Second Grandma, but every time she thought of this, she still felt despair in her heart. Deep in her heart, there was always a glimmer of hope that good people like Second Grandma could have a happy and fulfilling future.
Looking at Zhiqiu's hand suspended in mid-air in the mirror, Mengxi couldn't help but sigh. This Zhiqiu, her painstaking brainwashing over the past two years did not change her much. She still stubbornly believed that a woman should be faithful to her husband. Even if the Xiao family was cannibalistic and even if she had no contact with the Second Master for the rest of her life, as long as she was given the title of Second Wife, it would be fine.
This made Mengxi extremely depressed. She couldn't even change Zhiqiu, who hated the Second Master so much, let alone the feudal system of male superiority and female inferiority that she hated.
“Move faster”
"oh"
Zhiqiu came back to his senses and responded quickly, swiftly putting up a lily bun for the Second Mistress. Mengxi looked around in the mirror and nodded. Then she stood up and Zhichun helped her change into a brocade wedding dress with lilies in watercolor that had been prepared earlier. After everything was ready, Zhichun walked around the Second Mistress and said excitedly:
"Second Madam is beautiful, and she looks good in anything she wears. This dress has a very simple pattern, and I thought it wouldn't look good on her, but I didn't expect it to look so light and elegant on her. I'm tempted to see it, and I wonder if it can charm Second Master."
Mengxi, who was originally feeling very happy because of the compliment, felt unhappy after hearing Zhichun's last words.
Shit, they spent so much effort dressing her up, just to let her seduce the Second Master!
Poke Zhichun's head with your finger:
"You, stop talking nonsense and stay in your room "
Zhichun stuck out her tongue, and Zhiqiu simply said "Pooh", which made Zhichun pinch her waist and stare at her with her big murderous eyes.
Mengxi directly helped Zhiqiu out. These two people started quarreling as soon as they opened their eyes and there was no peace all day long. It would be better to separate them quickly so that they could have some peace and quiet.
As soon as they walked out of the door, they were stunned. They saw Hongzhu waiting outside the door, chatting with Zhixia and Zhidong. When the three of them saw the Second Madam coming out, they all stopped talking and went forward to greet the Second Madam. Mengxi asked in confusion:
"Hongzhu came here so early, why didn't she go in? Zhixia didn't go in to report it either."
"Don't blame Zhixia, Madam. It was me who didn't let her go in to report. The Second Master told me to wait here for Madam to come out so that we could go to Shouxi Hall to pay our respects together."
"Together, with whom?"
After hearing this, Hongzhu looked at the Second Grandma in confusion and thought to herself: This Second Grandma is really confused, she even needs to ask this.
But since the master asked me a question, I had to answer it, so I quickly replied:
"Of course it's the Second Master. According to the rules, the Second Madam and the Second Master should go to Shouxi Hall to pay their respects together."
Glancing at Hongzhu's eyes, Mengxi felt a little uncomfortable and wished she could bite off her tongue. How could she ask such an idiotic question? It seemed that they had never greeted each other together since their wedding. She was so confused that she couldn't understand it for a while.
Zhiqiu on the side coughed and asked:
"Is the Second Master waiting in the upper room? We'll be there soon."
Hongzhu nodded and said yes, then turned around and led the way. Just as they reached the entrance of the hall and were about to go in, they saw the Second Master coming out, fully dressed. Mengxi stepped forward and bowed softly:
"Second Master An"
"Hello, Second Master." Zhiqiu also stepped forward to greet him.
"Well, it's getting late, let's go."
Glancing at Mengxi, Xiao Jun's eyes flashed with surprise, and then he returned to his usual coldness. After nodding and speaking, he strode forward.
Zhiqiu and Mengxi looked at each other and followed slowly behind.
When the group arrived outside the second gate, Mengxi was dumbfounded. Where was her sedan chair? It was just standing there alone, with four servants and two maids standing beside it in an orderly manner.
Seeing the Second Master and Second Madam coming out, he hurried forward to greet them. Hongzhu had already come forward to open the curtain of the sedan chair. Xiao Jun saw Mengxi standing there, looking around for her sedan chair, and a sly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Mengxi's eyes finally fell on the Second Master, and he thought to himself:
It must be his doing. Could it be that he also learned from his vicious mother and punished her by making her follow the sedan chair?
