The Madame paid no heed to whether Su Rong was in the mood to continue sleeping. After venting her frustrations, she tilted her head to the side and fell asleep.
Su Rong sat quietly on the bed for a while before lying down, and after laying for a long time without being able to sleep, she got up from the bed, avoiding the sleeping Madame.
She was very tempted to find Zhou Gu and ask him why can’t he let go? What was wrong with the path of success that the old Duke, Yan Huisheng and Grand Tutor Qin paved for him? Even a three-year-old would understand the allure of leaving one’s name in history.
What worth does the slight affection Zhou Gu had for her in Jiangning County have? Could it be worth a few taels of silver? As a person, she was not top-tier. She was not so conceited. She was not only messy, but also had a plethora of faults. She was insensitive and cold-hearted by nature.
Even if she weren’t the princess of Nanchu, even if she didn’t go to Nanchu, she would not make a good daughter-in-law for the Duke Residence. She could mimic the elegant and gentle demeanor of a refined maiden, but she couldn’t change her nature of being carefree and willful, which was ingrained in her bones.
It wasn’t that she was deliberately belittling herself, rather, she had an extremely clear understanding of herself. Compared to her shortcomings, her slight feelings for Zhou Gu were not enough for him to give up his bright future and his path to success.
She wanted to ask him - your brain is a useful thing, why do you use it only to hold feelings of love?
She stood at the door for a while, ultimately did not leave her room, but turned back, sat down in front of the fireplace. The fireplace was boiling red date tea, bubbling and emanating the aroma of dates. She poured a cup, added some water, then clinked her teacup and sat by the fireplace to drink.
The fire was lively, the high-quality gold-threaded charcoal was burning red.
She thought back to her childhood, when there were many people in the house, the expenses were high, they couldn’t afford this high-quality gold-threaded charcoal, they could only burn second-grade charcoal. She loved to fight and wasted silver. The Madame was angry. In order to cure her, she cut off her coal supply and made her go up the mountain to learn how to chop wood like a peasant, so she wouldn’t have the energy to fight. She was too lazy to move, she didn’t think it was cold, she could bear it, but little Yuewan couldn’t stand it, she had to go up the mountain to chop wood, then carry it back, adding dry wood to the stove. The dry wood made a humming sound when it was burning, and the entire stove was burning red, warming up the entire house. Yuewan clapped her hands and said "Miss, this coarse wood is even warmer than the top-grade gold-threaded charcoal."
The Madame didn’t expect her to actually go to the mountain to chop wood. She’d rather travel ten miles than listen to her and still fought when she should. Later, in her anger, she made her pack the entire mansion’s firewood. She had to drive the cart out to chop wood. Later, she chopped so much that it was not only enough for the mansion, but it also saved them money on buying charcoal. She developed a new revenue source by selling firewood, making money. Later, her ambition grew, so she started to burn charcoal herself...
Su Rong thought about many things from her childhood. At that time, she didn’t have many choices. She was single-minded, once she identified a path, she followed it, as long as it didn’t kill her.
Later, she was about to come of age, and she met her betrothed, Zhou Gu.
That boy, a favored son of heaven, wherever he goes, there is sunlight, dazzling and shimmering, with the heat and intensity of the sun itself. He was the epitome of beauty and brightness.
His splendor made her heart happy. She reached out cautiously, step by step, trying to get closer to him, to paint her favorite color on his unsculpted jade that had not yet experienced the world.
She succeeded, but also failed.
She put down her teacup, held her brow, and laughed silently. Then she took a piece of the high-quality gold-threaded charcoal with the tongs and threw it into the stove. This charcoal was indeed superior, it produced no smoke, made no noise, unlike the coarse dry wood which made a humming sound when burned, causing the entire stove to vibrate.
When the Madame woke up, she saw Su Rong sitting by the fireplace, as if she had been sitting there for quite a while. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, "Why did you go down?"
Su Rong looked at her, "You’re restless when you sleep, how can I dare to share a bed with you?"
The Madame laughingly scolded, "You ungrateful girl, I raised you and you dare to despise me."
She sat up, put on her outer robe, and came to the fireplace. She reached out to poke Su Rong’s forehead with force, "What do you want to eat tonight?"
Su Rong replied: "Duanhua has transferred a batch of people from the Princess Residence, none of us have to cook, you can rest!"
The Madame snorted, "They’re all doing it for their own interests."
Su Rong laughed, "There’s give and take, borrowing and returning. These human relationships ebb and flow. If you don’t use others, how will they feel justified in using you in the future?"
The Madame clicked her tongue, "What a bunch of twisted reasoning."
She reached out and touched Su Rong’s fingertips. "How long have you been by the fire? Why are your fingers still so cold? You should quickly go to bed and rest. No matter how big the problem, nothing is more important than your health. Don’t take advantage of your youth, neglect to care for yourself. Once you’re old, you’ll suffer."
Feeling tired, Su Rong yawned, "Alright, I’m going to sleep."
She obediently went to bed, burrowing into her blanket.
The Madame grumbled, "If only you were so obedient when you were young, how nice it would be."
Teasing her, Su Rong stuck out her tongue, "You already have enough well-behaved daughters, six of them! Do you still want each one of us to be molded in the exact same way?"
Amused, the Madame replied, "It would be easier to raise you that way, at least I could sleep for an extra shichen everyday." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
Humming in response, Su Rong turned her back and closed her eyes.
The Madame stayed sitting for a while, finished the date tea from the pot, stood up and left her room.
The scholars in the front hall had dispersed at this point. Su Xingze, who had returned after seeing off some guests, was planning to check on Su Rong when he encountered the Madame at the yard’s entrance. He greeted, "Mother."
The Madame nodded at him, while complaining, "Did you drink too much? You reek of alcohol."
Rubbing his forehead, Su Xingze explained, "They said we’ll be too nervous waiting for tomorrow’s examination results, making it hard to sleep tonight. So, drinking more to get drunk enough to sleep well and wake up refreshed in the morning is a good idea."
The Madame agreed, "That makes quite some sense."
She then waved towards Su Xingze, "Your sister’s asleep, don’t disturb her anymore. Go and get some rest."
Su Xingze stood still, asking what was bothering his mind, "Mother, you went to the Duke Residence today, did anyone speak to you about something?"
The Madame suspiciously looked at Su Xingze, "How did you know?"
Su Xingze paused from rubbing his forehead, "Really, someone mentioned something to you? Was it the Duchess of Sheng An, or was it the Duke’s wife?"
The Madame sighed, "The Duke’s wife."
With no intention to hide anything, she recounted in a low voice what the Duke’s wife had told her.
Su Xingze listened, then nodded, asking, "Did you tell Seventh Sister the truth?"
"I did," the Madame responded, "I don’t know if what I did was right, but hiding it from her didn’t feel appropriate. This matter concerns her, after all. Rather than letting her discover later that Zhou Gu went to Nanchu, it’s better to let her know now. If she wants to stop Zhou Gu, there would still be time."
She paused, "What the Duke’s wife had in mind must be the same too. She only has two sons and she’s invested more in her younger son, Zhou Gu. She’s probably testing to see if Xiaoqi is truly heartless, denying Zhou Gu even a chance to go to Nanchu. If that’s the case, then him going to Nanchu would be in vain."
Su Xingze nodded, kept silent for a while, then said softly, "Mother, you’re right. No matter how many times I’ve been on the road, you and the Duke’s wife have definitely eaten more salt."
The deliberations of elders are much deeper.
Zhou Gu asked him to keep the secret, so he did. Zhou Gu probably didn’t expect that the Duke’s wife would privately share it with his mother, who, on the other hand, would never conceal it from Su Rong.
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