It was already late in the afternoon, and the villagers usually had already eaten. But because they were busy watching the drama between the Wang and Wu families today, most of the villagers had just started cooking. Seeing the father and son of the Wang family coming to invite them, the men all happily went to the Wang family.
Five tables were set up in the yard, and Wang Cheng led his younger brother Wang to entertain the guests outside. After Chen Afu and Wu and other women had dinner in the house, they began to pack up their belongings. The Wang family was extremely poor, and except for a few old clothes for changing, there was nothing worth taking away. Wu looked at the embroidery frame for a long time, but still didn't take it. She didn't want to touch it again in her life.
After the meal, Wang Cheng gave the unfinished dishes to the guests, and said that after he left, if they liked anything, they could take it.
Chen Afu and others walked out of the yard with the Wang family. Wang Cheng and Wu looked back at the thatched house where they had lived for nine years, said goodbye to the people who were seeing them off, and got into the car wiping their tears.
Chen Afu took Wang Xiaomei and Xia Yue in a carriage, and the other three members of the Wang family took another carriage. When the team of carriages and horses was about to leave the village, they heard a burst of crying outside.
Chen Ahfu opened the curtain and saw Old Lady Wu, an old man, and three men following the carriage crying, "My daughter, you have no conscience. You learned the skills of the old Wu family, but you don't care about the life and death of your mother and father..."
This family is amazing. Not only are the people weird, but their ideas are even weirder.
Wang Xiaomei shrank into Chen Afu's arms and said timidly, "I'm scared!"
Chen Ahfu hugged her tightly and said, "Don't be afraid, little sister. When we go to our new home, you will never see them again."
After hearing this, Wang Xiaomei's eyes sparkled and she smiled with her lips pursed.
Chen Afu smiled and pinched the little girl's thin face. She was a modern person and was unwilling to treat her life as worthless. Luo Yuan and the guards secretly asked her if she should "do" those two old men. Chen Afu did not agree, but just let her uncle's family get rid of their oppression forever.
The carriage entered the city gate at dusk, and it was dark when they arrived at the mansion. They went to the bamboo courtyard to eat first, and then ordered people to clean up the courtyard. He also took out ten taels of silver and asked the sewing room in the mansion to make a few sets of clothes for the Wang family.
It was already late at night when the Wang family was sent away. Chu Lingxuan had not returned yet. Since the incident with Wang Cheng, the men in the Chu family had become even busier.
The next day, Chu Lingxuan still did not come back. He only asked his personal soldiers to come and tell Chen Afu to continue preparing things for the return journey and set off on time at noon on the 26th.
Although Chen Afu was eager to go home, he had no choice but to wait patiently.
That day, Chen Afu steamed dozens of cakes. In addition to giving them to the master of the Chu family and several people from the Wang family, he also gave twenty to the Empress Dowager and ten to the Rui Palace. He even gave one to several respectable servants, but he didn't give any to Li.
When Li heard about this, she was furious and ran to the old man to argue, saying that Chen Afu didn't take her, an elder, seriously and that she was not even as good as a servant. She also said that Chen Afu brought poor relatives into the mansion to eat and drink, and asked the sewing room to make clothes for those poor ghosts, which was too unruly...
The old man had lost his patience with Li and said, "If you want others to respect you as an elder, you have to act like one. You don't even consider yourself a human being, so why should others treat you as an elder? As for other people's relatives coming to live in the Marquis' Mansion, they should, because this mansion will belong to Xuan'er and his family from now on..."
Every word of the old man's words was heart-wrenching, especially the last sentence, which hurt Li so much that she burst into tears. She was so angry that she asked her maids to go to the kitchen and the sewing room to hint that there was no need to treat the Wang family as guests.
The stewards of the kitchen and sewing room said that the Third Madam had specifically instructed that the Wang family members must be treated well and that the meals must be the same as those for the master. She even asked the Third Madam to return the ten taels of silver that the eldest grandmother had given to the sewing room to make clothes...
These things were passed on to Chen Afu by Xiaohong. Xiaohong's mother was the second in charge of the kitchen, and the kitchen was the center for spreading and making gossip in the mansion. As long as it was related to Chen Afu, Xiaohong would report it to Chen Afu without missing a word.
Chen Afu praised Xiaohong, gave her instructions, and also wrote two recipes for making snacks for her mother.
She was afraid that Li would secretly make trouble for Wang Cheng's family, so she sent Hong Po from her own courtyard to serve Wang Cheng.
As Chen Afu had expected, two servants often said unpleasant things in front of the Wang family. Once, they deliberately pushed Wang Xiaomei to the ground. Once, when Wang Cheng came back from doing some business, he was also harassed by the doorman.
Chen Ahfu was extremely angry. She would have tolerated it if she was provoked, thinking that less trouble is better than more, and she didn't want to have a direct conflict with Li yet. But if she provoked her uncle's family, that would not do!
Chu Lingxuan was the prince, and she was the prince's wife, so they were the real owners of the mansion. Anyone with a clear mind knew this. Chu Lingxuan had been away from the mansion for a long time, and these people really rebelled.
She did not go to find the Third Madam, but directly asked someone to call the housekeeper Chu, the manager of the inner courtyard, Madam Cai, and the Third Madam's maid, Yuzhu, to come to the Bamboo Pavilion.
Without inviting the three of them to sit down, she sneered, "My young master has not been in the mansion for a long time, and I am a newly married country girl, so naturally others will not take me seriously. I am thick-skinned and have no choice but to endure being bullied. But my uncle's family only came to stay for a few days, and they were bullied by the servants like this. How can I explain to my mother?" She wiped her tears and said to Hong Fei and other maids, "Go and ask the housekeeper Chu, Madam Cai, and Miss Yuzhu for me, and ask them to show mercy and not let the servants bully my uncle's family."
After hearing this, the three housekeepers Chu were so frightened that they knelt down and said, "I dare not do that. It was my fault that caused the uncle's family to suffer. We will investigate it right now and give the uncle an explanation..."
Two hours later, six servants were arrested, including two capable maids from the second wife. They were beaten with 20 boards and sold out of the house. The six people cried out that they were innocent, saying that the second wife had told them to do this.
Li cried and made a fuss, and was slapped in the face by the second master who came over.
After this incident, the third wife came to Zhuxuan to visit Chen Afu in person. The old marquis and the third and second masters all sent people to Zhuxuan to tell her not to think too much, as the marquis's mansion was her home.
Chen Afu still fell ill.
In the past two days, some rumors have spread among the servants in the Marquis' Mansion, saying that the Second Madam was planning to prevent the Crown Prince and the Grandmother from returning to the Marquisate, so she did so many things...
Li did have this idea, and many people knew about it, but the rumor spread so widely that the second master's family was too ashamed to leave the courtyard. Li refused to admit it and went to the third wife to cry and complain, saying that someone had framed her, and asked the third wife to find the person who spread the rumor and punish him severely.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
