Chapter 118 Rules (Part 2)

At night, after blowing out the lights, in the darkness, Shiyi Niang discussed with Xu Lingyi: "...I have been married for more than a month...Mrs. Qin is scheduled from the 11th to the 15th of each month, Mrs. Wen is scheduled from the 16th to the 20th of each month, and Mrs. Qiao is scheduled from the 21st to the 25th of each month. What do you think, Lord Hou?"

Xu Lingyi thought about her daily life at the end of the month and her discomfort, and felt that he vaguely understood something.

Although according to the custom in the mansion, five days were arranged for each concubine, and she was arranged at the time when she was most likely to conceive, her daily life was also included in this... She didn't want to serve Chushi anymore, right?

I felt a little unhappy, but it soon passed.

He hopes that Eleventh Lady can give birth to more sons; this is the most important thing.

"You can just take care of the things in the house!" He said casually, and asked about Aunt Qiao's illness: "...Why hasn't it recovered yet?"

"I changed to Doctor Wu from the Imperial Hospital." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I just took one dose of medicine. I'm afraid I need to take a few more doses to see the effect."

"If that doesn't work, let her mother come and accompany her!" Xu Lingyi said, "She only has a widowed mother."

"I understand." Eleventh Lady responded respectfully, "Send someone to invite Madam Jiang to come over tomorrow morning."

Xu Lingyi hummed with satisfaction, turned over and fell asleep.

Eleventh Lady breathed a sigh of relief.

They slept in their own bedding and chatted about their family matters. The warmth of being neighbors made her feel at ease and she fell asleep quickly.

The next day, Xu Lingyi went to court, and Eleventh Lady specifically asked Mother Tao to invite the three concubines over.

Concubine Qin and Concubine Wen came one after the other. The former wore a lotus-colored gray squirrel fur jacket and a silver-gilded jasper hairpin on her head. After greeting everyone, she stood there a little stiffly. The latter wore a peach-red mink fur jacket, a jadeite knot, and scarlet ruby ​​earrings on her ears. She greeted everyone with a smile as soon as she came in.

"The lake-colored silk-carved baby-playing full-sleeved blouse that Madam is wearing today is so beautiful." She praised, "This is a gift from today's spring festival. I thought about it for a long time but couldn't buy it. Madam must be very generous."

Eleventh Lady was speechless at first.

It's hard not to like such a person.

She smiled slightly: "Is there anything that even the Third Master of the Wen Family can't get?"

"The Wen family just has some spare money!" She smiled and knelt down to greet Eleventh Lady. "Learn literary and martial arts, and sell them to the emperor. If you want to talk about good things, they are all in the palace. It's hard to catch up with our family even if you ride a horse!"

Eleventh Lady laughed and joked, "That's like riding a bloody horse to chase after him."

"That is also a royal tribute. You can't buy it even if you have money!" She responded to Eleventh Lady with a smile.

The atmosphere in the room immediately improved.

When Aunt Qin saw Amber coming in with tea, she immediately stood up and served it to Eleventh Lady.

Madam Wen spoke to Eleventh Lady very attentively before Qiao Lianfang arrived.

She had her hair done in a bun, and wore three fingernail-sized twin flowers on her head. She wore a moon-white plain jacket with flowery details. Her eyes were smoky and her figure was as delicate as a willow. I'm afraid she was even less delicate than Xishi.

"Madam." She saluted to Shiyi Niang, but her eyes looked at Shiyi Niang without showing any weakness, "What do you want me to do?"

There is no sign of humility at all.

Aunt Qin looked very anxious and kept winking at Qiao Lianfang. Aunt Wen stopped chattering and looked at her feet with her eyelids drooped, as if she heard nothing and saw nothing.

Eleventh Lady disagrees.

She was never afraid of open provocation, she was only afraid of the sword hidden in the smile.

"I'm not just looking for you." She took a sip of tea with a calm expression and told Amber to bring stools to the three of them. "Everyone, sit down and talk!"

Aunt Qin hurriedly thanked them, while Aunt Wen half-sat on the stool, and Qiao Lianfang sat down gracefully.

Every time Eleventh Lady saw the elegance that emanated from Qiao Lianfang's bones, she felt a kind of heartache as if a "high-rise building had collapsed", and she was particularly tolerant of her inappropriateness.

"I discussed it with the Marquis yesterday, and there is something I want to tell you all." She smiled and told the days when everyone would sleep with the Marquis.

Aunt Qin hurriedly agreed, and Aunt Wen, as usual, smiled and complimented Eleventh Lady with words like "good at managing the household, virtuous and generous". However, Qiao Lianfang lowered her head and said nothing.

Eleventh Lady asked Qiao Lianfang: "After taking Doctor Wu's medicine, are you feeling better?"

Qiao Lianfang's voice was very distant: "Better."

But looking at her increasingly thin face, Shiyi Niang shook her head slightly and said, "The Marquis asked me to invite Madam Jiang to come to the mansion today. You and your daughter can also have a chat."

Qiao Lianfang suddenly looked towards her with a sharp gaze.

"Master Hou..." There seemed to be a gleam of water in the corner of his eyes.

"The Marquis is worried about you." Eleventh Lady said with a smile. "You should also recover quickly from your illness."

The corners of Qiao Lianfang's mouth twitched, and she choked with sobs for a long time without making a sound.

Just like that, I couldn't keep my composure any longer.

Eleventh Lady lowered her head to drink tea, but she looked at Aunt Qin and Aunt Wen out of the corner of her eyes.

Madam Wen looked very calm, neither happy nor resentful, as if she had expected this to happen. Madam Qin, on the other hand, looked at Qiao Lianfang with a smile, as if she was also happy that Qiao Lianfang could receive Xu Lingyi's care.

Why can't the two of them be like Qiao Lianfang, letting people see their true colors at a glance...

Eleventh Lady was quite helpless.

"Everyone, please go away!" Eleventh Lady smiled and stood up, "I also want to go to the Madam to pay my respects.

The three of them respectfully escorted her out of the yard.

Eleventh Lady went to the Madam's place and found an opportunity to quietly tell her what happened in the room: "...I don't know if it's appropriate."

Her cheeks flushed.

The lady dowager chuckled softly, looking at Eleventh Lady with a look of relief.

"I feel relieved if you think this way." She took Shiyi Niang's hand and sat on the kang. "You know, other women are like flowers. Occasionally, there are two who have become spirits through cultivation, but they are only flower spirits. They cannot enter the fairyland or become immortals. What they are afraid of is a Taoist spell. There is no need to haggle with them."

This was the first time that Eleventh Lady had heard such a statement, and she couldn't help but smile. She agreed with the Madam, "That's right, mother."

The lady smiled with satisfaction.

Just then, the third wife came in and said, "What did the fourth brother's wife say to make mother so happy?"

"Oh!" the lady laughed, "I was just talking about the snow and thought of going to the back garden to take a look."

"It's rare that mother is in such a good mood when the second sister-in-law is not around." The third wife smiled and said, "I'll have someone prepare a shoulder bag to take you to the back garden!"

This was just Madam Tai's excuse. Eleventh Lady immediately said in a gentle voice, "It's snowing hard outside. Mother, you should wait until the snow is lighter before going. Otherwise, all you can see are the rustling snowflakes, and there's nothing to see."

The lady nodded: "As you wish."

There was a hint of coldness in the third lady's eyes.

…

When they returned to the house, Lu Yun immediately came to report: "Madam, Madam Jiang is here."

Eleventh Lady nodded, went into the house to change her clothes, and then Mother Hang, who was beside the Grandmother, came over.

"She said that Fifth Aunt's shop will open on November 10th, and she wanted to know if Eleventh Aunt is free on that day."

"I won't go." Eleventh Lady smiled, "I will tell the Marquis when the time comes and see if he should send a steward over."

Mother Hang smiled and said, "Eleventh Aunt is really thoughtful."

Eleventh Lady asked about the eldest wife's illness: "Is she feeling better?"

"Much better." He added, "A letter came from Yuhang saying that the fourth grandma has been married. She is very beautiful and behaves very decently. The eldest master is very satisfied."

"That's good." Eleventh Lady smiled and chatted with her for a few words, then asked Amber to give her the fifty taels of silver that she had prepared long ago, "This is what I wanted, let my sister-in-law take it over."

Mother Hang quickly declined: "Grandma said that she will temporarily hold the fifty taels of silver. It won't be too late for you to take it back when you visit us someday."

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

Mother Hang looked at it and said: "It's not that I don't want to help take it over. It's just that my grandmother has repeatedly told me not to do so. I really don't dare to accept it."

Shiyi Niang felt mixed emotions. She chatted with Mother Hang for a while, then let Amber give her some change and sent her out.

Amber sighed: My aunt is really kind-hearted.

Eleventh Lady sighed deeply and put aside the disappointment just now: It's okay, as long as we find a way to make money, we will return double the money to the eldest sister-in-law.

Amber also laughed after hearing this, and joined in the fun in front of Eleventh Lady: Madam, now we have the one thousand taels of silver given by the Marquis, and you get fifty taels every month. The three hundred taels for renting the sloping land should also be delivered in a few days. The Second Madam is in the West Hill Villa, so you don't have to worry. It won't be too late for us to make the fragrant dew until summer.

Eleventh Lady nodded: Just urge Jiang Bingzheng to reply quickly!

Amber left immediately, and Shiyi Niang and Dongqing sat on the kang and did needlework.

Mother Hang came back and said: "Eleventh Aunt, our Great Grandma asked me to tell you that Tenth Aunt has given birth. Great Grandma has prepared the things to be sent, and asked if you have time to go and see Tenth Aunt together."

Eleventh Lady's heart trembled when she heard this, and she immediately jumped off the kang and said: I will go and tell my mother right away.

Dongqing called Binju to change his clothes, and asked Zhulan to stay in the side room to rest. Yun and Hongxiu, one holding Shiyi Niang's arm and the other holding an umbrella, went to the lady's place.

When the lady heard about this, she hurriedly said, "You should go quickly." She also asked Du's mother to prepare some herbs such as Panax notoginseng and Gastrodia elata for her to take over, and told him to take good care of him and not to cry or hurt himself, as he was young and would have more in the future.

The words are very true.

Eleventh Lady thought that Second Lady Yuanniang both had their first child and could understand the Lady Dowager's feelings, so she answered "yes" obediently and went to Gongxian Hutong with the herbs.

"Fifth aunt is pregnant, and I'm afraid there will be some taboos, so I told him not to go." When the eldest grandmother heard that she was coming, she immediately asked Xinglin to help her dress and said, "I know you are young, but these. Rice wine, eggs, black chicken... I have prepared three bottles of each of these. Don't say anything more to me, go see mother quickly, and we will set off for the Duke Mao's Mansion. It's snowing heavily, it's too late, be careful of the slippery roads." She pushed her out the door herself.

Eleventh Lady was very grateful. In this situation, even if she didn't understand, there would always be a mother who did, right? The eldest lady said this, clearly to shut herself up. And from the tone of Mother Hang, she didn't know her predicament. After all, Mother Hang was the most capable person around the eldest lady. It was too hypocritical for her to push and shove at this time. She smiled and knelt down to bless the eldest lady, then followed Mother Hang to the eldest lady.