Chapter 12 012 Xiao Yu is good, outsiders are bad!

Xiao Yu only saw his wife's angry departure, while Chao Sheng and Ping An, who were waiting in the courtyard, saw their wife's furrowed brows, pouting lips, and flushed face.

Ping An had followed his mistress since childhood and could tell that she was angry and embarrassed. He quickly chased after her, and in the blink of an eye, the two figures disappeared on the corridor leading to the central courtyard.

Chao Sheng was not familiar with the Third Madam, who had only been in the household for ten days, but he had served the Third Young Master for more than ten years. Long before his own young master became "notorious," long before the Marquis, the Heir Apparent, and the Second Young Master were willing to take the Third Young Master to visit other people's homes, young ladies from other families would often try to get close to the Third Young Master. Both legitimate and illegitimate daughters were interested in the Third Young Master's appearance or his family background.

Without exception, all the young ladies were angered by the Third Young Master's words and ran away. When they ran away, their faces were as red as the Third Madam's. The difference was that the Third Madam was only embarrassed and annoyed, and a little coaxing should calm her down. The other young ladies were ashamed and hateful, wishing they could tear the Third Young Master's mouth apart and gouge out his eyes!

With a sigh, Chao Sheng approached the study door and saw the Third Young Master calmly sipping tea. Chao Sheng tactfully reminded him, "Did you and Madam have a disagreement, Young Master?"

Xiao Yu put down his teacup, looked at him, and asked, "What makes you say that?"

Chao Sheng: "When Madam left just now, she seemed very angry; her face was flushed."

Xiao Yu knew that his wife left in a huff because she didn't like hearing his honest words, but that didn't mean there was a fight between them. As the saying goes, shame is the mother of courage. If his wife valued etiquette and rules, she should realize her current shortcomings and correct them. Once she corrected them, she wouldn't have to worry about being looked down upon by outsiders because of etiquette and rules.

Xiao Yu knew about his wife's background before they got married, so he wouldn't demand too much of her from her according to etiquette and rules, just as he wouldn't despise his mother because of it. But unless his wife was willing to follow her mother's example and stop associating with those noble ladies, she would have to consider what outsiders would say about her and which path she should take.

Guessing that his wife needed some time to calm down and reflect on her mistakes, Xiao Yu went back to his study to read.

In the middle courtyard, Luo Fu closed the door to the inner room and sat alone in front of the dressing table.

Her face in the mirror had returned to normal, leaving only a look of displeasure.

Luo Fu was indeed furious and embarrassed. She was the most educated girl in Huangqiao Village, and having seen much of the world by following her older sister who had married into the city, she had secretly learned the manners of wealthy city ladies. Of course, Luo Fu knew that the wealthy ladies of Guangling City couldn't compare to the refined ladies of the capital, but she was used to the admiration and praise of her friends. She had been living quite comfortably in the Marquis's mansion these past few days. However, just when she thought she had successfully integrated into the mansion, Xiao Yu suddenly told her that her knowledge of etiquette and manners was far from sufficient.

This reminded Luo Fu of the look in Xiao Yu's eyes when he frequently glanced at the dirt on her shoes.

So, Xiao Yu never said anything about her shortcomings in etiquette and manners, but he had always noticed them. What was Xiao Yu's gaze like when she was unaware? Was it critical, disdainful, or did he think that a wife like her was only fit for the home and that taking her out would only bring him ridicule?

Luo Fu lay down on the bed dejectedly, as if all her energy had been drained away.

At noon, Ping An reminded her from outside the inner room that it was time to go out for lunch. Luo Fu was too lazy to move, so she wrapped herself in the quilt and shrank to the innermost part of the bed, casually dismissing Ping An.

Ping An only felt sorry for his wife, and with a hint of resentment, he retreated to the main hall. He lowered his eyes and said to the well-dressed man sitting in the main seat, "My wife said she is not hungry. Young master, please eat by yourself."

Xiao Yu: "How could I not be hungry?"

For the past ten days, the couple ate at the same table. According to Xiao Yu's observation, his wife had a very good appetite, and there was even a suspicion that she deliberately refrained from eating more for fear of being criticized by him for her food intake.

Ping An: "...She didn't move much. After talking to the young master, the lady locked herself inside and hasn't come out since."

Xiao Yu glanced at her, then left his seat and walked towards the inner room.

The first time he knocked on the door, his wife gave him a perfunctory reply, "I'm sleepy, I'm not hungry, you can eat by yourself." After that, no matter how much he tried to persuade her, she ignored him.

Xiao Yu had never dealt with this situation before, but he understood that his wife was angry with him. Well, like most people, his wife wasn't very broad-minded and didn't easily accept his bluntness.

He can ignore others, but his wife is different; they will spend their lives together in the future.

Xiao Yu first sent all the maids away, then spoke through the crack in the door to the inner room: "If you don't want to see me, can you come over and listen to me for a few words?"

If he were lying in bed, he would have to raise his voice, and there was still a chance that the maids in the courtyard would hear him.

Luo Fu was also afraid that he would dislike her again, and if the news got to the ears of the maids, how could she face anyone?

Left with no other choice, Luo Fu, disheveled and with her hair in disarray, stepped out of the canopy bed, then walked along the wall to the side of the door, stopping at a spot where Xiao Yu couldn't see her even if he peered through the crack in the door. She said coldly, "What do you want to say? If you look down on me, fine, I know in your eyes I'm just a clown."

Xiao Yu: "...I didn't look down on you."

Rove: "So you admit you see me as a clown?"

Xiao Yu: "No, in my eyes you are simple and innocent, unlike many arrogant and unruly people among the powerful and wealthy in the capital. I was worried that you cared about their scrutiny, so I advised you to follow the local customs and be as agreeable as your father and second brother, or to learn from your mother and eldest brother and keep your distance from hypocrisy."

Luo Fu: "...Why use your father and second brother as examples? Didn't you also learn those ways from the children of high-ranking families?"

Despite her embarrassment and anger, Luo Fu had to admit that Xiao Yu's every move exuded the elegance of a nobleman's son, and even his panting and groaning at night were very restrained.

Xiao Yu explained, “My father and second brother learned the manners and etiquette of high-ranking families in order to make it easier to associate with powerful and influential people and to appear cultured. I learned it because when I was young I saw my eldest and second brothers’ unrefined and ugly behavior compared to that of the children of high-ranking families. One was elegant and the other was ugly, so I naturally chose elegance. Just like your rouge, one box is fragrant and the other is smelly. You chose the fragrant one purely out of personal preference.”

He started remembering things when he was three years old; at that time, his eldest brother was nine and his second brother was seven.

Both of his older brothers grew up in the countryside. According to his mother's recollections, the boys in the village were even less tidy than the girls, often rolling around in the mud and casually taking off their pants to relieve themselves. Xiao Yu had seen his eldest brother, when he was visiting a villa, run to a patch of grass in the garden to urinate because he was in a hurry, and was laughed at by the other boys. He had seen his second brother stuffing his mouth with meat, then glancing at the guests around him before changing to chewing slowly and awkwardly. He had also glimpsed his father imitating the gait and smile of some powerful figure in the courtyard.

Thanks to his youth and intelligence, Xiao Yu learned what he considered to be elegant manners with just his eyes.

"So, we actually come from the same background. I won't look down on you, and you don't need to think too highly of me. It's just that I entered the capital more than 20 years earlier than you and learned some formalities earlier."

A clear and peaceful voice drifted through the crack in the door, flowing into Luo Fu's ears like a gentle spring breeze.

Luo Fu sensed Xiao Yu's sincerity, which warmed her heart that had been cold all morning. She then felt ashamed of her misunderstanding and stubbornness, her voice barely audible: "It's my fault for overthinking it. I thought..."

Xiao Yu: "We haven't been married long, so I didn't know you were sensitive and thoughtful, and you don't know how outspoken I am. We'll get to know each other better as we get to know each other."

Luo Fu hummed in agreement.

Xiao Yu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you hungry now?"

Luo Fu laughed and said, "I'm hungry. Go and get the food. I'll get ready and come right away."

Hearing Xiao Yu walk away, Luo Fu also returned to the dressing table with light steps, humming a little tune as she let her long hair down and re-tied it into a bun.

When they met again, Luo Fu blushed for a moment, but Xiao Yu only kept serving her food and didn't bring up the matter again, which made Luo Fu feel relaxed and at ease.

After dinner, Luo Fu stopped her husband, who wanted to go back to the front yard to study, and took his hand to lead him into the inner room.

When Xiao Yu passed through the east side room, he still didn't understand his wife's intentions. After entering the inner room, he saw his wife looking shy and occasionally stealing glances at him, as if she wanted to do something but couldn't bring herself to say it. Suddenly, Xiao Yu realized what was going on. At this realization, he felt hot all over, and a battle of wits ensued in his mind: according to propriety, he should refuse his wife, but he had spent two nights alone in the front yard...

Just as that greedy desire was about to surface, Xiao Yu saw his wife muster up her courage and walk towards him, blushing as she tugged at his sleeve and shook it, then said in a soft, alluring voice, "Since you know where my manners and etiquette are lacking, why don't you teach me?"

She wasn't familiar with her sister-in-law, Yang Yanzhen, and with the trip to the Yang residence tomorrow, she was shamelessly trying to get help from her sister-in-law at the last minute.

Xiao Yu: "...How do I teach him?"

Just because he can see it doesn't mean he can act like a well-bred lady.

Luo Fu had her own methods. She first walked around the inner room, including turning around and stamping her feet, so that Xiao Yu could point out her mistakes. After walking around for a while, she corrected and practiced her sitting posture, the manner of serving tea and water, and even her eyes and smile.

His wife was eager to learn and was truly beautiful. Her shyness when being corrected and her joy when being praised were both charming and lively. Xiao Yu gradually enjoyed it and showed no impatience. The young couple spent the whole afternoon in the inner room, teaching and learning together. Occasionally, Luo Fu's laughter would drift out of the window, and the maids guarding the courtyard would hear it and be happy for the loving relationship between their masters.

As night fell, after taking a bath and lying in bed, Luo Fu suddenly thought of a question. With most of her body on Xiao Yu's, she deliberately rubbed her fingertips against his chest: "How do you know so much about the demeanor of a lady from a respectable family? Do you often peep at some beautiful young lady?"

Xiao Yu, who was upright and honest, had no guilty conscience. He held his wife's small hand and said, "There is no need to spy. I saw those young ladies walking on the road and noticed them. I initially wrote them down to teach my mother, but she was not interested."

Not only was his mother uninterested, she also questioned him, asking if he looked down on his mother for being a country girl, or if he envied other women whose mothers were wealthy ladies...

Luo Fu seized on the flaw in his words: "You shouldn't look at what you shouldn't see. How could you stare at those women for so long?"

Xiao Yu: "...I was only three or four years old at that time."

Rosé was speechless.

Finally, there was no need to speak. Xiao Yu took the opportunity to lift his wife completely onto his body, making her much taller than him.

Only Luo Fu's sobs could be heard inside the tent.

.

A quarter to nine o'clock, Yang Yanzhen arrived at Wanhetang with Sanlang and Li Huaiyun with Erlang and Yingjie. It was not appropriate to bring male guests to the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet today, but the young children could go with their mothers to play at relatives' houses.

Luo Fu had arrived long ago and left her seat to greet her two sisters-in-law.

In Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun's eyes, their third sister-in-law had a face like a peony, bright eyes like water, and a particularly captivating smile. That smile held neither the obsequiousness of someone trying to climb the social ladder nor the forced naturalness of someone trying to appear genuine; it was as if she had known them for years. They had felt the same way on the day the bride served tea, but today their third sister-in-law's demeanor was even more composed.

"It's our fault for being late, and for keeping Mother and my third brother and sister-in-law waiting for so long."

Yang Yanzhen said apologetically that in the past, when the three of them (mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and mother-in-law) had to go out for social events at the same time, she and her second sister-in-law would arrive 15 minutes early, because the two sisters-in-law knew that their mother-in-law was not used to being with them, and it would be awkward for everyone to arrive too early.

Luo Fu smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, you're too kind. This is my first time visiting the Prime Minister's residence, and I'm so nervous that I decided to come early to ask my mother for advice."

Madam Deng added, "I'm a simpleton, it's good enough that I can take care of myself. When we get to the Prime Minister's residence, I'll need your elder sister-in-law and second sister-in-law to help you out."

Since the Prime Minister's residence was Yang Yanzhen's maternal home, Yang Yanzhen said gently to Luo Fu, "We are all relatives. Third sister-in-law, you don't need to stand on ceremony after you arrive. Just come with us to enjoy the flowers and have tea."

Luo Fu nodded generously.

The carriages were ready. Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun each rode in one carriage with their children, while Luo Fu, who was alone, was called over by Madam Deng to ride in the same carriage.

The Yang residence was located on the east side of the imperial city, separated from the Marquis of Zhongyi's residence by only one neighborhood. The Marquis's entourage traveled steadily and arrived quickly.

The Left Chancellor's wife, Madam Xu, came out to greet the guests along with her two daughters-in-law and the younger members of the family.

Xu was born into a prestigious family, but having experienced the turbulent years of warring states at the end of the previous dynasty, from a life of ease and comfort to one of sleepless nights and restoring her noble and comfortable life, Xu possessed a kind of compassion and peace that came with the passage of time. Therefore, although she and Deng did not get along, she treated Deng with great courtesy and had no intention of looking down on her.

Looking at Luo Fu, who was beautiful and charming beside Deng, she was more confident and composed than Li Huaiyun, who had lost her mother at a young age, and more romantic and approachable than her daughter, who was too deeply influenced by etiquette. Even Xu Shi took a liking to her at first sight and praised Deng Shi highly.

Mrs. Deng smiled and said, "I am truly a blessed person to have married these three wonderful daughters-in-law."

The journey into the mansion was filled with mutual flattery and polite exchanges. Luo Fu had no chance to speak, nor did she compete for it. She silently observed everything in the Prime Minister's mansion, including the Xu family.

After drinking tea, they went to the garden to admire the flowers. Only then did the young women, who had been persuaded by the two elders to come out and admire the flowers alone, have the opportunity to get to know each other privately.

Madam Yang the Second was twenty-three years old this year. She and Xiao Yu were both from the same generation of young men in the capital. While Yang Yanzhen was catching up with his sister-in-law, Madam Yang the Second walked gracefully to Luo Fu's side. She first looked Luo Fu up and down, and then said rather frivolously, "Looking at your good complexion, you and Xiao Yu are doing quite well?"

Luo Fu was very good at reading people. Just by looking at Madam Yang's eyes, she knew that the other party looked down on her background and therefore disdained to pretend.

Why? Are you jealous that she married well?

It wasn't that Luo Fu valued her husband too much; it was simply that she had no grudge against Madam Yang. Madam Yang's malice could only be related to Xiao Yu. Luo Fu had come into contact with the love and hate entanglements of some young men and women. Some girls liked a man but couldn't have him, so they would speak coldly to the girls around the man.

"My husband is indeed very good to me," Luo Fu admitted, as if she couldn't tell the difference between good and bad.

Then, instead of seeing resentment in Madam Yang's eyes, she heard the other woman sneer: "I really didn't expect that Xiao Yu, who is full of morals and shame, and even criticizes some noble ladies, would actually prefer someone like you who only has beauty and figure when it comes to choosing a wife. It's clear that he is a lecherous man at heart, a hypocrite."

One sentence was enough to insult both Luo Fu and Xiao Yu!

Luo Fu was angry inside, but smiled on the surface. She gave the other woman a once-over and said softly, "I don't know what grudge you have with Xiao Yu, but today is my first time visiting the Prime Minister's residence, and you, as the host, have spoken ill of me. This shows that not all noble ladies in the capital deserve their reputation as virtuous ladies. Oh, I see. You were reprimanded by Xiao Yu because you didn't follow the rules, weren't you? I'll ask him later how he reprimanded you back then, so that you still remember it to this day."

Madam Yang was both shocked and furious: "You..."

Luo Fu glanced at the two elders sitting together in the waterside pavilion. Seeing the look of apprehension on Madam Yang's face, Luo Fu continued, "You insulted me first, and I insulted you back. Our matter is now settled. But if you go and complain to someone to cause me trouble, don't blame me for spreading the story of why you were reprimanded by Xiao Yu back then. By the way, I heard that the Prime Minister's residence is very strict about rules. I wonder if they can tolerate a daughter-in-law like you who says one thing to someone's face and another behind their back."

Having just arrived in the capital, Luo Fu didn't want to offend anyone, but there was no point in trying to please Madam Yang, who already harbored resentment towards her and Xiao Yu. Rather than swallowing her anger, she decided to retaliate!

Madam Yang was so angry that she trembled all over but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

A note from the author:

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Here they are! 100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow!