Chapter 103
The continuous rain does not let you know that spring is gone, the clear sky does not let you know how deep summer is.
Mrs. Jin Er from the Nan Mansion passed away in early May. Even though Xie Yunchu hired the best imperial physician and used the best medicine for her, she was still weak and exhausted.
That day, Xie Yunchu was wearing a plain jacket, sitting in the mourning hall, looking at the white curtains fluttering in the wind, and watching his two half-grown children kneeling in the mourning hall and crying. His mind was in a daze, as if he saw his own mourning hall.
At that moment, I felt heartbroken. I felt sad for Sister Jin, for myself, and even more so for those women who worked so hard and never complained.
Jin's mother-in-law, Liu, had gone somewhere, and her husband was hiding in the small tea room behind the mourning hall drinking tea. He didn't look like his wife had died, but rather as if he had been freed from shackles, and looked extremely relaxed. Before his wife's coffin had even left the house, he had already flirted with the maid.
Xie Yunchu felt sorry for Mrs. Jin, so after the funeral, he ordered people to secretly keep an eye on Mr. Ji. A husband has to mourn for a year after his wife's death, so how could Mr. Ji bear it? Sure enough, he secretly went to brothels. Xie Yunchu took the opportunity and ordered the maids from Wang's Discipline House to guard the house and catch him red-handed.
Master Ji has no official position, and the court does not care about such matters, so Xie Yunchu will take care of it.
On this day, the night was as dark as water. As soon as it got dark, sporadic lights were lit under the corridors.
Master Ji was dragged in by two guards, his hands and feet were tied up with thick ropes, and then he was pushed onto a stool, making him unable to move.
Upon hearing the news, Liu hurriedly took the hand of the maid and staggered over the threshold, and shouted to Xie Yunchu from a distance,
"Brother Huai's daughter-in-law, what are you doing? You tied him up and brought him back to the palace in front of everyone. Do you think the Wang family hasn't lost enough face?"
Xie Yunchu sat in the hall, holding a teacup leisurely, and said with a fake smile, "I am just following the family rules. You don't teach your son, so why are you blaming me?"
"According to the Wang family's rules, when a wife dies, the husband must mourn for a year. If anyone breaks this rule, he will be severely punished. If he does not remarry within the time limit, he will be expelled from the family. If he takes a concubine, his monthly salary will be deducted for three years and he will be caned with thirty strokes. If he has affairs outside, he will be caned with thirty strokes."
"Someone, drag him away and beat him up!"
Liu's heart sank. She turned around and saw her son with his mouth covered and winking at her desperately. Liu was extremely anxious. Thinking of her good relationship with Jiang in the past and her habit of flattering her, she immediately sent someone to inform Jiang and ask her to come and punish her daughter-in-law.
Jiang was still drinking tea with the fourth wife and others in the Glazed Hall. When everyone heard what had happened, they all rushed to the Discipline Courtyard.
When the ladies stepped into the courtyard, they saw a man sitting in the three-room hall. He was wearing a moon-white jacquard satin jacket embroidered with orchid patterns, and a stone-blue Song brocade short jacket embroidered with twined branches. He had his hair in a bun with eight-treasure lilies and a colorful phoenix-playing-with-pearl hairpin in his hair. His posture was elegant, and he exuded a sense of majesty without even getting angry. Who else could it be but Xie Yunchu?
Liu cried for a while. Seeing her son being whipped mercilessly with a stick, her heart trembled. She waited for a long time and finally saw Jiang. She rushed over and
"It's a pity, this kind of thing happens in every family, but our family takes it very seriously. We can't take a concubine within a year, let alone remarry. It's okay to go to brothels, Sister Jiang, your daughter-in-law is too arrogant, you have to control her."
Jiang looked at Xie Yunchu from a distance, and seeing that she didn't even look at her, she didn't dare to intervene. She pushed Liu away awkwardly, "Look at you, why don't you restrain Ji Ge'er? Something like this has brought shame to the Wang family, and it's only natural for the daughter-in-law in charge to deal with it according to the family rules."
Liu looked at the third and fourth wives again.
The fourth wife immediately turned her face away. She just came to watch the fun.
The third wife was even more unhappy.
When the group arrived at the corridor, Xie Yunchu also stood up to greet them. She knelt down and bowed to the elders, her face as calm as water and she did not intend to explain at all.
The Third Madam was also very reluctant to tolerate any injustice. After listening to the nanny's report, she angrily said, "She really deserves to be beaten. My nephew's wife has always worked hard. Not to mention mourning for a year, it would be worth it even if she never remarries."
Liu was shocked when she heard this. "That's impossible. Your nephew is still young, just over 30. It's normal for a widow to remarry and a widower to remarry. Why can't he do that?"
But after the Third Wife said this, Liu no longer dared to plead for her son.
In the middle of the courtyard, two guards raised their boards and hit Master Ji hard on the butt.
Master Ji shouted three times and then fainted.
Seeing this, Liu rushed over to stop the guards, then came over to plead with Jiang and others. She was so flustered that even her carefully applied makeup was ruined by her tears.
The Second Master Ji was a drunkard on weekdays, and his body was hollowed out by beauty. If he were beaten with thirty boards, he would be crippled if not dead. Liu cried and wailed, and seeing that the other ladies were indifferent, she immediately went to look for the Second Master herself. As soon as she stepped out of the hall, she saw the two old men of the Nan Mansion escorting the Duke towards this side.
When Liu saw the Duke, she felt like she saw a savior. She immediately knelt down in front of the Duke and cried,
"Duke, please save Ji'er's life. He is the eldest grandson of our second branch. He must not be beaten to death by Huai's daughter-in-law."
The Duke frowned and didn't even look at her, he walked past her and entered the Discipline Courtyard.
Soon, the second master and others arrived, and the Discipline Court was crowded with people.
The Duke came to the main hall and sat down. Xie Yunchu and others followed him in. The Duke glanced at Xie Yunchu standing in the hall and asked in a gentle voice, "Chu girl, what's going on?"
Xie Yunchu knelt down and saluted, and replied calmly, "While Master Ji was keeping his wife's period, he stayed in a brothel. If someone saw him, please report it to me, and my granddaughter-in-law will deal with him according to the family rules."
Long before the eldest princess left, the Duke instructed Xie Yunchu to take over the household management. However, since she was too busy with the establishment of the academy at that time, she still handed it over to the ladies to manage. In the past six months, the three ladies completely let go and Xie Yunchu became the head of the household.
The Duke naturally knew what had happened. The reason he asked was to test Xie Yunchu's attitude.
The Duke didn't want to plead for Master Ji, but he was really worried that Xie Yunchu might have beaten someone to death with too much force, and it would be difficult to explain.
Seeing that Xie Yunchu was ruthless and impartial, he knew that there was no room for maneuver.
Xie Yunchu is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family, and the Duke would never offend her. He glanced at his half-brother and said that he was powerless. The second old man of the Nan Mansion was dumbfounded.
"Brother Huai's daughter-in-law, this is going to kill someone."
Xie Yunchu raised his eyelids coldly, "Dead? He did kill someone. If he hadn't been sleeping with other women, Sister Jin wouldn't have gotten that disease, and she wouldn't have died with regrets. Besides, I'm following the rules of the Wang family. As long as you're still a member of the Wang family, you must obey my orders."
The old man didn't take the young Xie Yunchu seriously. He ignored her words and angrily said, "Someone, stop him."
Several managers of the Nan Mansion immediately stepped forward and hugged the guards of the Discipline Courtyard.
When Xie Yunchu saw this, he immediately laughed out loud, "Second Uncle, do you know what it means to do this?"
The old man glared at Xie Yunchu and said, "Don't be so pretentious. I can't stand watching you beat someone to death."
Xie Yunchu's face turned cold, "Okay, since you want to stop me, then don't rely on the Wang family to make a living in the future, and don't even think about getting a penny from the direct branch."
The second old man's face froze when he heard this, and then he laughed wildly as if he had heard a huge joke, "Why do you have the final say over your parents-in-law?"
Xie Yunchu had no expression on her face. "Because I'm the wife of the Wang family."
"You..." The second old man choked up, turned his head to look for the Duke, pointed at Xie Yunchu and cursed, "Brother... look at her, she is simply a traitor."
The Duke stroked his forehead and sighed, "Second brother, Chu girl is following the rules, I have nothing to say. Either you leave the child in the Discipline Court today, or the two houses will settle accounts completely in the future."
The old man staggered when he heard this. It was hard for him to imagine that the Duke had accepted Xie Yunchu's words without hesitation. He was unable to react for a moment and stood there for a moment. He turned around and looked towards the courtyard. After more than a dozen strokes of the board, the grandson was lying on the bench with a pale face. If he continued like this, he would be crippled if not dead. He also knew that he had gained a lot of benefits by relying on the direct branch over the years. He suspected that Xie Yunchu was taking the opportunity to deliberately attack them. He felt quite humiliated and gritted his teeth and said angrily,
"Someone, carry Ji'er back."
This means drawing a clear line between oneself and the direct descendants.
When Liu saw that her source of income was cut off, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Xie Yunchu used this incident to establish her authority. Everyone witnessed the courage of the young lady in charge and dared not underestimate her. The branch of the third old master of the Nan Mansion respected her more and even tried to please her. Xie Yunchu said that she wanted to expel the second branch, and she did so. No one among the masters and mistresses said anything about what she said, and even the Duke did not say a word, which shows her prestige.
Jin's death made Xie Yunchu sad for a long time, and this depressed mood was not suppressed until mid-June.
On June 16, Qi Wei sent a battle report from the front line, saying that Wang Shuhuai had successfully captured the capital of Western Chu and might be able to return to Beijing in a while. Xie Yunchu's heart was relieved, but he was also a little puzzled. In his previous life, the war lasted until the autumn of this year. After Wang Shuhuai pacified Western Chu, he settled in Western Chu for another half a year and returned to Beijing in late spring of the following year.
During this period, the eldest princess and Prince Xin fought a life-and-death battle. The eldest princess forced the emperor to issue an edict to appoint the fifth prince as the crown prince and to remove Prince Xin from his military power. Prince Xin rebelled, and the eldest princess organized the imperial guards to resist. The two sides fought outside the suburbs for more than two months. Prince Xin finally forced the eldest princess to commit suicide at the foot of Wanshou Mountain. Just as Prince Xin was preparing to return, Wang Shuhuai quietly returned to the capital, successfully defeated Prince Xin, supported the new emperor to succeed to the throne, and became the prime minister of the dynasty.
But at that time, she was already terminally ill and had no time to ask Minggui for details. Not long after that, she died.
In this life, Wang Shuhuai occupied Western Chu half a year earlier. I wonder if the disaster next year will also happen earlier.
She needs to prepare early.
In her previous life, Xie Yunchu was short of money and the Wang family fell apart, so she didn't save much wealth. But it is different in this life. There are endless banknotes hidden in Chunjing Hall. In order to prepare for war, Xie Yunchu has even exchanged a lot of gold and silver over the years and hidden them in her house.
Although the disasters in the previous life did not affect the palace, Xie Yunchu was still worried and planned to have someone dig a cellar to hide the banknotes and gold and silver.
As soon as the thought came to her mind, she quietly called Qi Wei over.
"You quietly call a few reliable people to dig a cellar under the Second Master's study. I want to hide something."
Qi Wei guessed what Xie Yunchu was trying to hide and agreed without asking any questions.
After secretly divined, construction started on June 18th. They dared not make too much noise, so the digging would naturally not be done very quickly. After all, there was still a year since the internal strife in his previous life, so Xie Yunchu was not in a hurry.
However, on June 20th, an imperial decree from the Queen came from the palace.
The biennial flower viewing banquet was held on June 28, which happened to be the birthday of the late Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager loved chrysanthemums the most, and the chrysanthemums in Yanque Garden outside Beijing were the best, so they chose this place. Officials of the fifth rank and the wives of the dukes' mansions could attend the banquet, which was also a blessing for the country and soldiers at the border.
The eunuch smiled and took out a red gold imperial invitation from his sleeve,
"This is an imperial invitation to the female members of the Duke Wang's family. Please keep it well, Madam, and bring the female members of the family to join in the fun."
Xie Yunchu knelt down and saluted, then took it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
