Chapter 11 "My newlywed life with Yuanyuan is still..."
Meng Yuanxiao clung to him, her clear eyes fixed on him without blinking.
Perhaps to cover up what he had just said, Cui Xintang pecked her lips and suddenly rolled over while holding her.
He lay lazily on the bed, letting someone sit on him.
The two switched places, and Cui Xintang calmly reached under the pillow, pulled out the embarrassing storybook, and turned to a page.
"On our wedding night, Yuanyuan glanced at this page a few more times. I didn't want you to be tired that night, so tonight, I'll trouble Yuanyuan to accompany her husband to try this?"
Meng Yuanxiao glanced at it, and her face instantly turned bright red.
Cui Xintang teased her with a smile, "You're bold enough, but you're thin-skinned. You still need to practice more."
Meng Yuanxiao ignored his words, looking at him suspiciously with her wet eyes.
Cui Xintang: "What?"
Meng Yuanxiao pursed her lips, "Brother Tang, are you...?"
"Um?"
Meng Yuanxiao forced a smile and asked, "Do you feel it's too frequent, and you can't handle it?"
So the wedding night ended hastily the first time, the second night he deliberately came home late, and these past few days he has been hiding in the study, afraid to come back.
Now, she actually has to do the work.
She tried her best to appear understanding, saying, "If you have such thoughts, feel free to tell me, and I should be able to understand you."
Cui Xintang: "..."
He laughed in exasperation, "'Should' be able to understand me?"
He emphasized the word "should," and Meng Yuanxiao blushed, pursing her lips and remaining silent.
Cui Xintang stopped arguing with her and pulled her over to cover him. He forcefully wrapped his large hands around her waist and silenced her unrestrained words with a kiss.
The next day was a ten-day break, and Cui Xintang slept until dawn, which was a rare treat.
After tossing and turning half the night, Meng Yuanxiao was exhausted, but still slept soundly, her arms and legs wrapped around him.
Cui Xintang tried to pry her away, but the person in his arms whimpered and snuggled even closer into his embrace.
Helpless and afraid of waking her, Cui Xintang had no choice but to do as he had done yesterday, carefully taking off his inner garment and letting her hold it in her arms before he could escape.
He disliked others getting close to him, and now that he was married and had a wife by his side, it was even more inconvenient for others to serve him. So he dressed himself neatly and went out, instructing the maid not to disturb the young mistress, and then went outside.
Just as they stepped out of the courtyard, they encountered Madam Qin, who was coming this way.
With a sly smile, Madam Qin asked, "Oh, is Eldest Brother going out?"
Cui Xintang smiled faintly, "Greetings, Aunt."
Qin stopped in front of him, looked past him and peered into the courtyard. "Is Yuanyuan up yet?"
Yuanyuan was Meng Yuanxiao's childhood name. Cui Xintang was somewhat displeased that Qin Shi, an outsider, called her so affectionately.
He didn't move. "Aunt, Yuanyuan was tired last night and is still asleep. Aunt, you can talk to your nephew if you have anything to say."
"Oh, it's just some trivial matters in the inner quarters, how could I trouble you?" Madam Qin said, looking up at the sky. "It's already this late, and you're still asleep? What did you do last night to stay up like this?"
Cui Xintang paused, his expression unchanged, and said, "Auntie, you're joking. Yuanyuan and I are newly married, what else could we be doing?"
Qin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what she meant.
He said this without changing his expression, and Qin choked, thinking to herself, "You two are really something, it's true that you can't sleep in the same bed with two different kinds of people."
Yuanyuan speaks to her like this, she really doesn't treat her like an outsider.
As an elder, she couldn't very well say such things to him, so she simply straightened her face and said, "Alright, go ahead and do your work. I have nothing to do anyway, so I'll go in and wait for Yuanyuan to wake up so I can talk to her."
Just as he was about to leave, he remembered something and turned back to ask, "By the way, I heard you chased away the servants in your study?"
"Yes," Cui Xintang didn't hide it, his phoenix eyes half-smiling, "When did Auntie become so familiar with the people in my room? Did Auntie arrange for them to be there?"
Qin choked, "How can you talk like that, child! How would I know about the people in your room? I only saw a pretty maid in the kitchen yesterday. She was hiding in a corner crying pitifully, and I thought she had been bullied, so I asked her a few questions."
"You too, such a pretty girl, it would be so much better to keep her by your side to serve you. She only made a small mistake, why send her to the kitchen?"
“My aunt is kind-hearted,” Cui Xintang said cryptically.
Qin was not a shrewd person at all; her thoughts were all written on her face and in her words.
Not shrewd, but ambitious, and coveting the management of the household, Wu was extremely annoyed and simply handed over the lucrative but troublesome kitchen to her.
Qin Shi only kept quiet for a short time. After Meng Yuanxiao married into the family, she began to stir up trouble again.
Cui Xintang didn't bother with Qin's thoughts and simply said, "Since they are servants, it doesn't matter where they work. If Aunt can't bear it, she can just ask for them herself. I don't think Second Uncle will have any objections."
Qin was nearly choked to death by his last sentence.
Cui Xintang said more seriously, "As for the people around my nephew, there's no need for Aunt to worry about them."
Madam Qin's expression changed; she was never happy to be slighted by a junior.
However, Cui Xintang was the eldest son of the main branch and quite capable, so even her husband had to be tolerant of him. Therefore, although Qin Shi held the status of an elder, she did not dare to criticize him.
She was annoyed, but said with a forced smile, "Alright, go ahead and do your work. I'm going to find your wife."
Qin insisted on going in, and Cui Xintang couldn't stop her. Only after everyone had gone inside did he call for a maid.
He didn't need to say anything; he just looked at the maid, and she understood. "Reporting to the eldest young master, the second madam has been coming over frequently these past few days."
Cui Xintang frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and asked, "Does the First Madam send Chen over every day?"
Chen was Cao Mama's daughter and also worked in the Cui household. She was always well-behaved and was also a person of the First Madam Wu.
The maid replied, "Yes."
Cui Xintang nodded, "When the Second Madam arrives, find an excuse to keep Madam Chen a little longer."
The maidservant respectfully agreed.
As soon as the maid left, Qingzhu, the personal servant, stepped forward and asked, "Master, would you like to have breakfast before going out?"
After a moment's thought, Cui Xintang said, "No need, let's go to my uncle's place first."
Last night, when he returned to the mansion, his second uncle, Cui Qin, sent someone to summon him for a talk. He couldn't leave, so he went straight to his study, finished his official business, and hurriedly returned to his room without seeing his second uncle.
Since we've run into the Qin family, we might as well go see our second uncle first.
When Qin entered, Meng Yuanxiao was still asleep.
Hongshao stood guard outside the door, trying to stop Qin Shi, but Qin Shi ignored her and went straight in.
As the weather got warmer, an ice basin was placed in the room, but Meng Yuanxiao was still afraid of the heat. She kicked the thin blanket into a mess, leaving half of her arms and calves exposed outside her nightgown, dazzlingly white.
That sheer nightgown was no longer wearable. Last night, when she was half asleep, Cui Xintang held her and helped her change into another nightgown. It had also become a little loose from her sleep, with the collar slightly open, revealing a section of her beautiful collarbone, the marks of which were clearly visible.
When Qin Shi lifted the bed curtains, this was the scene that greeted her. She was so shocked that she was speechless, and the words she was about to say stuck in her throat.
Upon closer inspection, one could see a fair and delicate face flushed with spring-like rosy cheeks, like a peach blossom moistened by a spring rain, exquisitely beautiful, and she was fast asleep, clutching a nightgown in her arms.
That nightgown is obviously whose; it must have been a huge commotion last night for it to look like this so early in the morning.
Thinking back to what Cui Xintang had just said, Qin's face turned red. She couldn't bear to look at her, so she pulled the quilt over Meng Yuanxiao and reached out to shake her.
"Yuanyuan, get up quickly!"
Meng Yuanxiao was fast asleep when he was shaken awake. Still groggy, he rubbed his eyes and sat up. He was taken aback when he saw Qin Shi. "Aunt?"
Madam Qin clicked her tongue and said, "What time is it? Still asleep. When I first married into this family, I would have been paying my respects to your grandmother by now!"
As she spoke, the blanket slipped off Meng Yuanxiao's body, revealing the marks on her chest through her open clothes.
Seeing that Qin Shi's gaze was on him, Meng Yuanxiao looked down and immediately became angry.
She pulled the blanket over herself and said unhappily, "Aunt, when did you come in?"
Who would barge into someone's bedroom so early in the morning?
Qin was shocked. Wasn't it said that the young couple had a bad relationship and that the eldest son spent all his time in the study?
Yesterday, she also saw the Lin family coming to freeload again. When they saw Madam Wu come out, Steward Lin was all smiles, which suggests that he had gotten quite a bit of benefits from the Cui family again.
Thinking of this, Qin felt a surge of resentment. Wu had been in charge of the household affairs for so many years, and she had taken all the benefits.
Despite the Lin family being an outsider with no real kinship, Wu was incredibly generous, providing them with substantial financial support over the past two years.
But what about her? She was clearly the second wife of the household. Whenever she tried to give her family a little something, she was always severely reprimanded by Madam Wu, and in the end, she couldn't get anything at all.
Madam Wu is not kind-hearted; she took care of the Lin family, but she had ulterior motives.
Yesterday, upon learning that her eldest son had sent the man to the kitchen, and then running into the Lin family, she thought...
But now she had doubts.
Qin sneered inwardly, her eyes darting around. "Hey, I just came in. I was worried you'd oversleep and get punished by Chen again, so I kindly came to wake you."
After saying that, he couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "You two, even if you're young, should be more restrained."
Meng Yuanxiao: "Then you should go and talk to Brother Tang."
Qin Shi: "..."
Seriously, this young couple is just like that, so shameless.
Just then, Hongshao came in. Qin waved her hand and said, "Never mind, get up quickly. I'll wait for you outside."
Meng Yuanxiao had just gotten up and tidied herself up, and hadn't even had breakfast when Chen arrived.
Madam Chen brought over the accounts of the various estates and shops from the previous month. She first reported to Meng Yuanxiao that the old princess's birthday banquet was at the end of the month, and that invitations had just been sent, so they needed to arrange for congratulatory gifts.
This was a big deal and could not be taken lightly. Meng Yuanxiao felt a headache coming on when he heard this.
Previously, Mingyue had handled this matter with ease, but when it came to her, her mind went blank, and she couldn't come up with a plan at all.
Wu and Chen had naturally thought of this as well, so they discussed and decided on the matter themselves. They only mentioned it to Meng Yuanxiao as a formality.
Meng Yuanxiao breathed a sigh of relief. Chen then opened the account book and explained the accounts of last month to her in detail.
As Chen was speaking, Qin listened attentively without any attempt to hide her thoughts. Whether she truly understood or not, she seemed to be learning even more diligently than Meng Yuanxiao.
But she got annoyed after a short while and started talking to Meng Yuanxiao.
Qin was a very talkative woman; there was nothing in the inner quarters of the various mansions in the capital that she didn't know.
These gossips were far more interesting than the dry account books. Meng Yuanxiao listened with great interest, while Madam Chen was left standing aside. She chuckled and said, "If Madam has had enough, shall we continue?"
Qin stopped speaking and glanced at Chen, "When the masters are talking, who gives you the right to interrupt?"
Madam Chen smiled and said, "Second Madam, I dare not neglect the task assigned by the First Madam. If I delay, the Young Madam will be punished, and you wouldn't bear to see that, would you?"
"..." Meng Yuanxiao swallowed hard. Was she going to be punished again?
Qin and Chen were exchanging words, and she didn't want to get involved, but Qin grabbed her hand and said, "Yuanyuan, you speak!"
Qin looked aggrieved, which left Meng Yuanxiao bewildered.
Qin was only thirty-five or thirty-six years old. She was well-maintained, and her round face gave her a slightly plump appearance. She wasn't particularly exquisite, but she wasn't unattractive either.
This look of grievance on someone else's face would seem fake, but it didn't look out of place on Qin's face.
When Meng Yuanxiao was looked at like that, she suddenly understood why Cui Qin had been willing to indulge her all these years, and why even Wu Shi had tolerated her to some extent.
It turns out that being stupid has its advantages.
She coughed lightly and said to Madam Chen with a smile, "Sister Chen must be tired and thirsty after talking for so long. Please sit down and rest."
After saying that, she turned to her and instructed, "Hongshao, bring Sister Chen a bowl of lotus seed soup to soothe her throat."
Chen knew perfectly well that she was trying to shirk her duties. She glanced at the sky outside and decided not to make things difficult for her.
"Young Madam, there's no need for you to trouble yourself. I still need to report to the First Madam. Please rest first, and I'll come back this afternoon."
After saying that, he glanced at Madam Qin again before stepping out.
A note from the author:
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