Chapter 38

Mu Yulu suppressed her impatience and listened to Pu Zhaoshi's long speech. When she saw Pu Zhaoshi swallow and turn to drink tea, she thought she had finally finished.

Unexpectedly, she only took a sip of water to moisten her throat, took a short break, smacked her lips a couple of times, and then continued her tirade: "I also heard that you don't often come to your mother's house to pay your respects? That's not right of you, and your aunt has to say a few words to you today."

Mu Yulu rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. She wondered how many complaints Mu Wanyi had made to Pu Zhaoshi that she could be blamed for not coming to pay her respects to Mu Zhaoshi.

Once Pu Zhaoshi started lecturing, she went on and on, her voice constantly buzzing in her ear: "Everyone says that of all virtues, filial piety is the most important. How can children not be filial to their parents? Not coming to pay respects to Mother is unfilial. I'm not trying to scare you, but unfilial people will be punished."

"Don't underestimate the importance of daily greetings. Your filial piety towards your parents is reflected in these small acts. As your parents get older and you are about to start your own family and career, you will have less and less time to spend with your mother. You must take advantage of the present moment to show your filial piety and not wait until later to regret it."

Pu Zhaoshi's spittle almost landed on Mu Yulu's face. Seeing that Mu Yulu's face was ashen and she was just listening to her without any reaction, she sighed and said, "Auntie is getting old and is inevitably a bit long-winded. Please don't find it offensive."

This sounded like a closing remark, and Mu Yulu finally seemed to come back to life. However, before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, she heard Mu Zhaoshi say, "If she can really listen to what you said, then I'll be very grateful."

Anyone with a normal mind could hear the sarcasm in Mu Zhao's words. Mu Yulu finally couldn't hold back and retorted, "The reason I didn't come to pay my respects was because you were annoyed by me and didn't want to see me, wasn't it? Why are you making it sound like it's all my fault now?"

Mu Zhao snorted coldly, giving Mu Yulu an expression that said, "You finally couldn't hold back and revealed your true nature, huh?" She said, "Even if I don't want to see you, don't you think about why? Every single thing you did in the past has humiliated me. Even if you have the face to see me, I have no face to see your father!"

Mu Yulu originally intended to endure it.

A few days ago, Feng Wentang came to ask her for a favor, saying that his good brother Qi Zhizhi wanted to cut in line to have his fortune told by her. Since Feng Wentang was both her friend and her investor, she naturally had to give him face. So she chose a free day and squeezed out the morning for Qi Zhizhi to have his fortune told.

Because she had important matters to attend to today, she did not intend to argue with Pu Zhaoshi and the others. Otherwise, she didn't know how long it would take. So, she prepared herself mentally from the beginning to be tolerant of them and not to talk back no matter what they said. She would let it go after they finished speaking.

But she never expected that her tolerance would only lead to further demands, with all sorts of words being thrown at her and all sorts of mistakes being made to make her take the blame.

She couldn't swallow this insult.

Since I've already talked back, I might as well go all the way: "What did I do? All I wanted was to marry into a good family!"

"You always seem to have endless worries about Mu Wanyi, constantly trying to find her a good husband. If you had put even a little bit of that energy into me, would I be so eager to play the fool and make a fool of myself trying to marry into the royal family?"

“You always say I have no shame, but have you ever taught me what shame is? Have you ever taught me how a woman should cherish herself? Of course not, because you won’t even see me once. You get annoyed when you see me, so I’ve become like this all thanks to you.”

These words clearly enraged Mu Zhaoshi. She rushed down like a madwoman, swung her arm, and slapped Mu Yulu across the face. Mu Yulu's face instantly swelled up. Even so, Mu Zhaoshi was still not satisfied. She grabbed Mu Yulu's hair, forced her to raise her head, and raised her hand to slap her again.

Pu Zhaoshi finally rushed over at this moment and separated Mu Zhaoshi and Mu Yulu: "Sister, children don't know any better, don't upset yourself."

As she spoke, she turned her head and glanced at Mu Yulu: "Just now I said you've grown up and should be sensible, but now you're talking back to your mother like this."

With Xin Yun's help, Mu Yulu steadied herself and sneered, "Alright, Aunt, stop stirring things up. You deserve half the credit for our mother-daughter feud today."

Mu Wanyi rushed over at this moment: "I told you not to go too far. You're like a mad dog, biting everyone you see. You're just being annoying because you're useless. What does that have to do with your aunt?"

Mu Yulu stared at her coldly: "What, do you also want to hit me?"

Mu Wanyi was stunned for a moment.

She had originally intended to give Mu Yulu a push, but under Mu Yulu's icy gaze, she suddenly hesitated to reach out.

Mu Yulu glanced around at the people in the room and swallowed back all the words she wanted to say.

There's no need to say another word to these people.

In the end, she only said to Mu Zhaoshi, "Mother, you should be grateful that I did not marry into the Mu family as you wished. Otherwise, if you had attacked the people of the Prince's Mansion today, even if I had completely broken ties with the Mu family and taken you to court, I would have charged you with disrespect."

This time, it was Mu Zhao's turn to roll her eyes in anger. She staggered back a few steps, unable to utter a single word, only pointing a trembling hand at Mu Yulu.

Pu Zhaoshi, feigning despair, rushed forward to support her, squeezing out a couple of tears: "Oh dear, my poor sister, how could you be driven to this state by your own daughter?"

She wasn't satisfied yet, feeling that the farce before her wasn't big enough, and desperately continued to fan the flames.

As expected, Mu Wanyi's anger was ignited the next second. She raised her hand to slap Mu Yulu, but her hand was firmly held in mid-air by Mu Yulu as soon as she raised it.

"I didn't fight back when Mother hit me just now because I crawled out of her womb." After saying this, Mu Yulu pushed Mu Wanyi away: "And who do you think you are, daring to lay a hand on me?"

Mu Wanyi hadn't expected Mu Yulu to be so strong. After being pushed away, she staggered back several steps until she bumped into the table and stopped.

Mu Yulu stared intently at her: "Mu Wanyi, listen to me carefully. If you dare to lay a hand on me again, I'll whip you."

While clutching her chest, Mu Zhaoshi looked up and yelled at Mu Yulu, "Get out! Get out of here!"

Mu Yulu nodded, said nothing more, turned around and walked out without looking back.

Xinyun followed closely behind, walking quickly behind Mu Yulu while whispering indignantly on her behalf: "Aunt Pu has such a sharp tongue. She clearly can't stand seeing Madam doing well, nor can she stand seeing Madam's daughter marry better than her daughter, so she's here to sow discord."

She sighed and said, "Why can't Madam see this clearly? Madam and Miss are clearly the closest of relatives, so why does she side with outsiders to bully Miss?"

Mu Yulu hadn't expected Xinyun to have such feelings, let alone such insight. So she stopped and looked back at her, then said coldly, "Even you can see through Aunt Pu's thoughts, but Mother just can't."

Unlike Xinyun, who was indignant, she smiled meaningfully and said, "It's clear that our family is unworthy of our position. If someone takes back all the wealth and glory of the Mu family in the future, it's what we deserve."

Xinyun was taken aback: "Miss, why are you saying such unlucky things?"

Mu Yulu shook her head and said nothing more. She returned to her courtyard to make some preparations, then quietly slipped out of the Mu residence with Xinyun and headed to the fortune-telling shop.

She couldn't go back on her promise to Feng Wentang.

Fortunately, they didn't spend too much time at Mu Zhaoshi's place this morning. When Mu Yulu and the other arrived at the shop, it was not yet time to meet Qi Zhizhi.

Mu Yulu quickly took the opportunity to change her outfit.

Xin Yun paused slightly as she put the mask on Mu Yulu. Looking at the pained expression on Mu Yulu's face, she said, "Miss, the slap mark on your face hasn't faded yet, and half of your face is swollen."

Mu Yulu put on the mask without a care. The wooden mask touched her swollen face, and she grimaced and cried out in pain.

Despite the pain, she put the mask on her face and, while arranging the table, comforted Xinyun: "It's okay, you won't be able to tell once you put on the mask."

Xinyun opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.

She felt sorry for Mu Yulu, whose face was swollen and still had to wear this unbreathable mask. Each time Mu Yulu performed divination for someone, it would take anywhere from half an hour to one or two hours. How suffocating it must be for her not to be able to take off the mask during such a long time.

She originally wanted to persuade Mu Yulu to cancel the divination, and she would apologize to Young Master Qi on Mu Yulu's behalf. The most important thing now was to quickly treat the injury on her face and let the swelling go down.

Unexpectedly, Mu Yulu didn't care at all, so Xinyun didn't say anything more.

This was the first time she realized that Mu Yulu didn't care about her at all.

Mu Yulu had no idea what Xinyun was thinking. She quickly arranged the table and then took out a string of copper coins from the cloth bag she carried with her: "Alright, Xinyun, there's nothing else here. You go back to the manor and watch the courtyard for me. I'm worried that after arguing with Mu Wanyi and the others today, this girl might cause me some trouble."

Xinyun responded and turned to walk out through the back door.

Mu Yulu sat down at the table, gently fiddling with the string of copper coins on it, and began to wait for Qi Zhizhi's arrival.

The copper coins spun between her fingers, making a crisp sound. Mu Yulu looked down at them, lost in thought as she calculated the days.

In two days, the imperial court will begin to reclaim these shops. She needs to prepare in these two days and have Feng Wentang find a reliable person to sell all these shops on her behalf.

Therefore, today should be the last time she performs divination for someone, and Qi Zhizhi is her last customer.