Chapter 52 The Battle for the Succession
The old lady was almost sick because the second master protected the prince, and even wanted to disown this second son. Mengxi was puzzled and asked:
"It's a good thing that the Second Master is favored by the Crown Prince. Why is the old lady like this? My sister is stupid and I really can't figure it out."
"I think my sister has been staying at home all year round, so of course she doesn't know what's going on in the court. The current emperor has four princes. The eldest son, Shangguan Honghui, was born to the former queen. He was made the crown prince the year Emperor Jin ascended the throne. The second prince, Shangguan Hongtao, was given the title of Prince of Jin. The third son, Shangguan Hongyue, was given the title of Prince of An. Both Prince of Jin and Prince of An have fiefs far away from Pingyang City. The youngest prince, Shangguan Hongmian, was born to the new queen. Because Prince of Yan is the youngest, he was only made a king last year and has not yet been given a fief. Prince of Yan's mother is the niece of the empress dowager. Prince of Yan is the most favored by the empress dowager. Both the queen and the empress dowager intend to abolish the crown prince and protect Prince of Yan. Currently, the position of the crown prince is unstable. Our Xiao family has been... The reason why it has been prosperous for so long is that it obeys the ancestral teachings and does not participate in party disputes. I don’t know what made the second master crazy, but he just protected the prince. The eldest master was furious when he knew about this. Because of this, the second master was critically ill and it was his wedding, so the second master did not dare to come back. He said he was busy and sent his cousin back, but he also said that he was blocked on the road and has not come yet. I think the cousin did not dare to face the anger of the eldest master and the old lady. But the matter is done, and there is no point in getting angry, so I discussed . The second master is ill, and this matter is still hidden from him. Hey, things in the court change rapidly, and it is not something we women should talk about. Sister, just listen."
Mengxi nodded after hearing this. As she was talking, a maid came in to report that the Second Master had sent someone to say that the old lady had arranged a family dinner tonight to see off the First Master, and asked the Second Madam to go back early to get ready. Mengxi heard this and hurriedly got up to leave. The First Madam knew that the Second Master did not favor the Second Madam, so when she saw the Second Master sending someone to call her, she did not try to keep her, but only said that when she had the opportunity to go out with the Second Master to inspect the business in the future, she would like to stay at her place for a few days. Mengxi also hurriedly agreed. The First Madam held her hand and sent her to the second gate. She also told the maids and servants to serve the Second Madam carefully until the Second Madam's sedan chair went far away, and then turned back to the mansion.
When Mengxi held Zhiqiu's hand and walked into the main hall, Xiao Jun unexpectedly did not go to the study room. He was sitting there drinking tea with a sullen face. Mengxi walked up to him and bowed softly:
"Hello, Second Master. The master is going out tomorrow. I just sent the gift I prepared to the master and the grandmother. The master happened to go to the outer study, so I chatted with the grandmother for a while."
"In the future, for small matters like this, you can just send a maid to deliver it. There's no need to go there in person. The old lady has prepared a family banquet for you to see you off. Even the concubines are going with you. They will be here soon. You go down and prepare it. "
The second master sat there and said coldly without raising his head. He knew that her health was not good and going out in the hot sun would hurt her health, so he said that. He was very annoyed. Why was she so disobedient? So restless?
But Mengxi didn't think so. After listening to what the grandmother said just now, she had already determined that the Second Master and the cousin were childhood sweethearts. She was thinking about the cousin in her heart, so she didn't like her no matter how she looked at her. In short, whatever she did was wrong unless she begged to leave. So now she simply ignored his attitude.
"Second Master is right. I will pay more attention in the future. I will go and wash up and get ready now," Mengxi said calmly, as if she didn't notice Xiao Jun's anger.
Seeing that the Second Master didn't say anything else, Mengxi bowed to him, took Zhiqiu's hand and walked out the door. Zhidong had already told her that all the things had been moved to the east wing, so Mengxi took Zhiqiu's hand and went directly to the east wing.
As soon as he entered the room, Zhiqiu saw the simple decoration of the room and felt unhappy. He opened his mouth and said to the second grandmother:
"Second Madam, this place is a bit too shabby. I will go and ask the Second Master to buy some more furniture."
Zhiqiu thought that the Xiao family was rich, and she was the mistress of the house anyway. Even if she was not favored, she would not be short of this little money. Why was she making things difficult in this regard? She didn't know that this was all the idea of the second wife. The second wife liked this simple and generous arrangement by nature. She just thought that the servant was bullying others by taking advantage of his power and deliberately making things difficult. The second wife was unwilling to ask for it, which made her suffer.
"No, this is good enough. When you die, you should die at the peak of your career. When you live, you should live in a place where you are the last."
Mengxi glanced at Zhiqiu and said.
Zhiqiu shook his head, not understanding! But seeing that Second Madam had made up her mind, he did not force her.
After Mengxi sat down, he saw Zhichun standing there, hesitant to speak, and was very curious, so he asked:
"Zhichun, what's the matter?"
"Second Madam, you don't know. This afternoon, I went to the account office as instructed by Second Madam to withdraw 50 taels of silver. But the accountant said that Second Madam doesn't know how expensive firewood and rice are because she doesn't run the household. She needs to withdraw 50 taels of silver just for going out to play, which is enough for ordinary people to spend for several years. The mansion has been tight these two days. It happened that the eldest master withdrew a large sum of cash yesterday because of business matters. Now there is no cash in the mansion treasury. Because grandma is the second master's wife and just got married, it is not easy to be stingy with her. So I scraped together 30 taels of silver. If it was a concubine who came, she would have been sent away directly."
Zhichun described it with grievance, imitating the accountant's sharp voice perfectly, and several maids jumped up in anger:
"Second Madam, we can't just let them bully us like this. Let's go report to the old lady and ask her to make the decision for us. The Xiao Mansion is so big, how can they be short of these few taels of silver? They are clearly trying to make things difficult for you, Second Madam."
Zhixia shouted, and Zhiqiu and Zhidong also said yes. They all knew that they couldn't ask the Second Master to make the decision on this matter.
Mengxi heard this and thought, how could an accountant have the guts to embarrass the mistress? It was obvious that someone was instigating this. She thought that the eldest lady was angry with her. Seeing the four maids' angry faces, she was very grateful that they were so wholeheartedly serving her. Then she thought, this is the Xiao Mansion. There are dangers everywhere in the backyard. How can they be allowed to have such simple schemes? It's time to teach them a lesson. So she coughed and said coldly:
"Shut up, all four of you. Listen to me. Even if you do something wrong in this garden, I may not be able to protect you. Don't even mention this yard. From now on, be careful when you act. Keep things you shouldn't say to yourself, so that people will find fault with you, suffer, and chase you out . Don't say that I, the Second Mistress, can't save you. Do you hear me?"
What Mengxi said was true. The eldest wife wanted to find fault with her, and if she couldn't find any, she would definitely start with the people around her.
Seeing that the Second Madam was really angry, the four maids calmed down immediately. Zhiqiu was busy helping the Second Madam to wash and dress, preparing to attend the family dinner in the evening.
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