Chapter 197: Fighting Outside the House
After Zhiqiu recovered from her injury, Mengxi tried to have a deep talk with the Second Master, trying to persuade him to end their marriage. She didn't want anything, but only asked the Second Master to allow her to leave the Xiao Mansion safely with her four maids, in consideration of her hard work in the past two years to take care of the old lady, the eldest master, and the eldest mistress in the mansion. As for excuses, he could choose any of the seven grounds for disobeying his parents, jealousy, having a serious illness, etc. She would admit to any crime, as long as he gave her a letter of divorce.
Before this in-depth discussion, Mengxi had done a lot of psychological preparation. In the past two years, she had figured out a lot of things. Not to mention the barrier of ancestral precepts, just the fact that she and Erye were from two different times and spaces, with different ethical beliefs, and each with different but deep-rooted ideas of respect and inferiority, was destined not to be together. The fact that she and Erye could get to where they are today was not just Erye's fault, she was also at fault.
But now that things have come to this, there is no turning back for him and her, so there is no need to pursue who is right or wrong, who is right or wrong.
They were finally married. Second Master was a good man, but not her ideal husband. Now they each had their own power, so there was no need to act like enemies and spend all their financial resources and energy on fighting. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life fighting Yichuntang and the Xiao family. What's more, from the prince's perspective, they were in the same camp, and they would all be humiliated together and honored together. This was also the reason why she had never used the power of Yichuntang to threaten the Xiao family to divorce. After making full preparations, Mengxi began her first long talk with Second Master since her wedding.
What surprised Mengxi was that the Second Master did not get so angry that he smashed everything like he did two years ago after hearing just one sentence from her. This time, he sat there and listened to all her reasons without saying a word, then looked at her with a very deep gaze that she could not understand, which made her feel a little scared. She swallowed all the words she wanted to argue with him, and sat there dignifiedly, looking at him coldly.
Seeing that she stopped talking, after a long time, the Second Master withdrew his gaze from her, reached out to pour himself a cup of tea, took a sip, put down the cup, and then told her in a lukewarm tone.
Their Xiao family is an aristocratic family, they would not do such a thing as arbitrarily accusing her without distinguishing right from wrong. She was his wife who was carried back home in a sedan chair, they had been married and consummated the marriage, and she had been branded by him for the rest of her life. In life, she was his, Xiao Jun's, and in death, he, Xiao Jun's ghost. He should let her give up the idea of leaving the house as soon as possible and be a good mistress in the Xiao Mansion. He could give her everything she wanted.
After listening to Mr. Xiao's lies which were full of feudal ideas of hierarchy, Mengxi almost wanted to find a brick to kill Mr. Xiao, who was expressionless and blowing his tea.
Without saying a word, he put down the tea in his hand and stood up. Mengxi didn't even bother to fight with the Second Master. He supported Zhiqiu and walked out slowly.
For the first time since their marriage, she was so angry that she went berserk during a confrontation with him .
Mengxi, who was walking away, didn't notice that when the Second Master watched her leave, a trace of despair flashed in his phoenix eyes. It was a heart-wrenching pain.
Just like the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the past, if the negotiations fail, the result will be just one word: "fight!"
Ever since Mengxi went to the Second Master to discuss divorce and got so angry that she went berserk, in the following days, Mengxi formally declared war on the Second Master, marking the beginning of her war to leave the Xiao Mansion.
But she didn't know that in two years, she had changed from a young wife who endured everything to a warrior who would do anything to fight for freedom. The Second Master had also changed, from a young boy with true feelings to a reserved warrior who was determined to defend true love to the death. It was destined that the war between her and him would be a war without gunpowder but full of scars, and it was also destined that Mengxi would have a bumpy road out of the mansion. It was not until she finally left the mansion as she wished that she realized that there was no winner in this fight.
Mengxi referred to the divorce model of her previous life and first returned to her parents' home to find a safe haven. Her parents' home was not her safe haven, but she didn't believe that if she returned home with twenty or thirty servants and stayed with them for three or two months, the Xiao family would still not know that she was a concubine's daughter who was married off in place of her. That would be amazing!
Once she returned to her parents' home, as long as she refused to come back, the Xiao family would sooner or later hand her a letter of divorce. Having made up her mind, Mengxi asked the Second Master for permission to go back to her parents' home the next day after a long talk with him. To her surprise, the Second Master ignored her rage and refused without hesitation.
Mengxi was not giving up. She bypassed the Second Master and took Zhiqiu directly to Shouxi Hall to ask the old lady. She said that she had been married for two years and had never been back. She missed her parents very much and begged the old lady to allow her to go back to visit. However, the old lady who had always doted on her rejected her request outright, saying that the Qiqiao Festival was about to come and she was too busy. No matter how much Mengxi begged, the old lady only said one sentence - no.
The plan to go back to her mother's home was not feasible. Mengxi remembered what the second master said that their Xiao family would not do anything to confuse right and wrong. So she would do evil things and gain a bad reputation. Disobeying her parents was not an option. Her wicked mother-in-law was dark and cruel. She might beat her half to death. It was better not to experience physical pain. She was also afraid of pain.
After weighing it over, Mengxi decided to start with the Second Master. After all, the Second Master was a gentleman and it seemed that he had never hit a woman in the past two years. So Mengxi began to make trouble in Xiaoxiang Courtyard wholeheartedly.
What shocked Hongzhu was that Second Madam became more and more rude to Second Master. When it was time to serve the meal, Second Master asked to serve Second Madam's meal as well. But Second Madam was not polite at all. She sat down before Second Master even took his seat, which made Hongzhu's eyes almost pop out. She looked at Second Master nervously. She knew Second Master had Second Madam in his heart, but no matter how much he doted on her, he could not let a woman be on equal terms with him.
But the Second Master still had his usual expressionless face, and waved his hand to send away all the servants, leaving only Hongzhu and Zhiqiu to serve. He allowed the Second Mistress to break the rules of not talking while eating and not speaking at the dinner table, saying things that even Hongzhu was embarrassed for, and doing everything that could irritate him.
As for the Second Master, he acted as if he didn't see any of this. He had no expression on his face and ate the rice in his bowl silently. Ren Mengxi was shouting on the side, and he would only glance at his restless little wife from time to time and let her make a fuss.
After much trouble, Mengxi discovered that Erye was no longer the frivolous young man who was easily angered. She tried her best but failed to test the bottom line of Erye's anger.
In the end, Mengxi was exhausted from all the work. In her own words, perhaps she chose the wrong time to declare war on Erye, and her luck was not good. During this period, she was defeated time and time again. Erye was like a rolling pin. He would either refuse to fight or suddenly hug her and pretend to spank her as a punishment. Mengxi was so scared that after causing trouble, when she shouted at Erye, she would flee as soon as she saw that look on his face, otherwise she would probably run into Erye's arms the next moment.
As for the Second Master, Mengxi's constant nagging him to get a divorce letter didn't annoy him at all. Instead, his mood became better and better. He felt that the contacts and frictions they had had in the two years since their marriage were not as much as during this period.
Mengxi was no longer so restrained, and they talked more. Although many of Mengxi's words were unpleasant to hear, and sometimes even made him feel as if he had eaten a fly, which seemed to have angered him, it was better than keeping silent before. No matter how angry he was, she would just look calm and indifferent.
So the Second Master was happy to cooperate with Mengxi in her troubles. When Mengxi bullied others, even his concubines, he helped to bully them. When the trouble came to his mother, he helped to conceal it. When Mengxi had made enough trouble, he was responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. In a word, except for , he allowed Mengxi to do whatever she wanted in Xiaoxiang Courtyard.
Although the battle started off badly, Mengxi was not discouraged. Victory and defeat are common in . What's more, there is a beautiful girl waiting to make a fortune behind him. The repeated failures also calmed Mengxi down. It seems that if he continues to struggle like this, there will be no result in his lifetime.
Then she thought of Miss Xiu. It was time to join forces with Xiu'er. After all, they had the same goal. She wondered what Miss Xiu was busy with now?
…
Xiu'er really lived up to Mengxi's expectations and was wholeheartedly helping Mengxi realize her dream of leaving the house. At this time, Xiu'er was sitting in her little room, holding a cup of tea in her hand. She asked Bingxin again in an angry voice:
"What? Those young masters are afraid of the power of the Xiao family and dare not come out. Aren't they afraid of the power of our Imperial Censorate?"
"Yes, young lady. I have sent people to look for them several times, but no matter how much money they spent, as soon as the Second Mistress of the Xiao Mansion was mentioned, the young masters shook their heads and kept silent. I guess they don't have much power, and they are afraid that if they speak out, it will hurt the Second Mistress's reputation. If the Xiao family gets angry, they will destroy them first. No man will tolerate such a thing. Young lady, you should think of other ways."
"Useless slaves, they only know how to use money, but they don't know how to bring up my father! With threats and coaxing, they won't stop talking."
"Miss, you are right. I thought so too. When they refused to say anything, I mentioned the name of the Censor. But they said that they had not violated the law. If Censor Zhang wanted to know, he could go there in person."
After hearing this, Xiu'er's arrogance suddenly subsided, and she sighed and said:
"Father must not know about this. Go find the man called Xiao Shunzi that the Prince of Yan always keeps by his side and ask him to step in. He once said that if we have any problem, we just need to tell him. I think those young masters also understand that no matter how powerful the Xiao family is, they cannot afford to offend the Prince of Yan, so they will definitely agree to our request."
"The young lady told me about this last time. I have already found Xiao Shunzi, and he readily agreed. But when I went to find him again, he told me that he had already reported this to Prince Yan, and Prince Yan said that the servants did not convey the message clearly, so he invited the young lady to meet him in person. He will have a banquet at Fenglai Pavilion waiting for you, and everything will be fine as long as you go. I thought that you are a lady from a wealthy family, and it would not be good for you to go out and meet a prince like this. Not to mention that the master and the mistress will punish you if they hear about this, it would be bad if the second master knew about it and misunderstood you. So I rejected him outright. When Xiao Shunzi left, he said that Prince Yan's words are always valid, and the young lady can go find him whenever she wants to."
After hearing this, Xiuer put the teacup on the table and cursed:
"This old fox!"
