Chapter 13 Maintaining the Image of a "Virtuous Wife"
The next day, the snow fell even more heavily.
At 3:45 AM, a piercing noise came from outside the window.
Upon hearing the voice, Lu Zhaoruo recognized it as the maid Zhang had brought from her maiden home. A year ago, Zhang's family said they needed someone to serve them and they were going back. Now that Li Chunyan had been sold off and had no one to serve her, she was coming back.
It's obvious that Madam Zhang must have found out that she had taken Dongrou as a maid, and seeing that she hadn't gone to serve her before dawn as usual, she couldn't wait to give her a warning.
Before leaving, Lu Zhaoruo sat in front of the bronze mirror, dipped her fingertips in lead powder, and applied it little by little to her face until her skin turned sickly pale. Then she turned to Dong Rou and whispered, "If I cough later, you cough too, the more heart-wrenching the better."
Dongrou nodded. Although she didn't understand why, she always trusted her mistress implicitly. There must be a reason why her mistress asked her to do something.
The snow had piled up to half a foot deep, and with each step, the shoes sank deep into the snow.
A chill crept up from the soles of my feet, creeping through my veins and into my heart.
My toes, which were frostbitten last December, have scabbed over, and now the area under the scabs is itchy again, as if needles are buried in my skin, pricking me with every step I take.
Thirty years.
She walked for thirty years in such freezing weather.
The Zhang family's courtyard was next to the accounting office, which naturally made it convenient to secretly monitor the family business.
The light in her room was still off, but a kneeling cushion had been placed under the porch. The four corners of the cushion had been deliberately splashed with water, and a layer of ice had formed on it.
This was Zhang's favorite trick.
Lu Zhaoruo stared at the cushion and suddenly wanted to laugh.
Every day in the past, at 3:45 AM, regardless of a raging storm or heavy snow blocking the door, she would get up early and kneel on this mat for an hour.
The bruises on my knees have never faded.
But things are different today.
She no longer knelt down meekly as before, but nodded slightly and said in a clear voice, "Dongrou, this cushion is dirty, kick it away."
Without hesitation, Dong Rou stepped forward and kicked the mat. The mat didn't budge, but the impact made her toes ache.
Her face flushed red, and she could only bend down, grab the cushion, and throw it three zhang away with a whoosh.
She had served Lu Zhaoruo for three months and knew how her mistress was bullied and mistreated in the Shen family.
"This is outrageous!"
Granny Zhou shouted sternly, "Is the eldest daughter-in-law going to disobey the old lady?"
Lu Zhaoruo seemed not to hear, walked straight forward, and raised her hand to knock on the door—
"Auntie".
Her voice was clear and resonant, neither humble nor arrogant: "You're in such a hurry to call your daughter-in-law over, is it because your old chest pain has flared up again?"
There was no sound from inside the room.
Lu Zhaoruo's eyes flickered slightly, then she suddenly increased the force, making the door frame tremble with three loud bangs: "Aunt? Is Aunt alright?"
The last syllable rose slightly, subtly conveying a touch of "concern".
A rustling sound came from the inner room; it was clearly Zhang Shi who had angrily knocked over the pillow screen.
"not good!"
Lu Zhaoruo feigned surprise and looked worried: "Dongrou, quickly go and invite Doctor Liu from East Street to perform acupuncture and bloodletting."
"You little bitch! Are you trying to kill me?"
The door was yanked open with a bang, and Zhang rushed out with disheveled hair.
She yawned first, her eyelids drooping, but the curses she uttered grew increasingly vicious: "You damned slut! What's with the wailing so early in the morning? In such a hurry to call a doctor, are you waiting to collect my corpse?"
Lu Zhaoruo took a few steps back and explained softly, "Auntie, you must have misunderstood your daughter-in-law's filial piety. I was actually worried that your old heart pain would relapse, and in my anxiety, I disturbed you in this abrupt way."
Zhang narrowed her eyes, her gaze sweeping over her: "At this time in the past, you would always wait obediently outside the door for me to get up. Today is strange, you actually guessed that I was feeling unwell?"
A hint of panic flashed in Lu Zhaoruo's eyes, but it quickly turned into grievance: "Today is different from the past. The way Granny Zhou was shouting and yelling in the yard was much more frightening than Li Shi used to be. It scared my daughter-in-law so much that she almost lost her soul... I thought something had happened to my aunt."
She suddenly choked up, clutching her handkerchief to wipe away tears: "Auntie, you absolutely can't be hurt... My husband hasn't returned yet, and it's just my aunt, my brother-in-law, and me, the three of us, relying on each other. If something happens to you..."
"Alright, alright..."
Zhang interrupted her impatiently.
I wanted to scold her severely and punish her, but I couldn't find an excuse, so I simply went back to wash up and get dressed.
Inside the hall.
Zhang looked coldly at Lu Zhaoruo, while Granny Zhou whispered in her ear that Lu Zhaoruo had ordered the maid to throw away the cushion.
She was so angry that she could only cough.
Seeing this, Granny Zhou quickly offered her some warm tea.
Zhang refused the teacup and angrily retorted, "My daughter-in-law is still here. Why should a lowly maid like you bother to serve her?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhaoruo trembled slightly, then coughed a few times, forcing out a weak smile, and said, "Let your daughter-in-law... cough... personally serve your aunt tea..."
Zhang frowned and leaned back in disgust: "Why are you coughing so badly?"
"Perhaps... cough cough... Xing'er caught a cold and accidentally passed it on to my daughter-in-law..."
As Lu Zhaoruo spoke, she coughed violently again.
At this moment, Dong Rou suddenly covered her mouth and coughed, each cough more urgent than the last, as if she were coughing up her internal organs.
Lu Zhaoruo looked at her in alarm: "Did you get it too?"
Then he gave Zhang a weak smile: "There's a cold going around lately, and I heard... cough cough... it's spreading like wildfire."
Zhang looked panicked and said with disgust, "Stay away! I'll make this tea myself. Don't pass your illness on to me!"
Lu Zhaoruo knew best that Zhang was a person who cherished her life and feared death. Firstly, it was her nature, and secondly, she was hoping to live to see her children and grandchildren return home so that she could enjoy the happiness of being surrounded by her grandchildren.
However, he didn't live to see Shen Rongzhi return.
She suddenly narrowed her eyes and stared coldly at Dongrou: "Wasn't this lowly servant girl sent away a long time ago? Why did you bring her back again?"
Lu Zhaoruo coughed lightly, covering her mouth, and said slowly, "I went to the shop early yesterday morning, thinking that there were only two months left until New Year's Eve, and I should prepare some New Year's gifts for our regular customers. The amount of cloth from more than a hundred households is not light, but Xing'er caught a cold and kept coughing..."
She looked troubled as she spoke: "I really can't carry all those bolts of cloth by myself, and it's freezing cold outside. I just happened to run into Dongrou on the road. I heard that her mother is going to sell her to Master Niu as a concubine, and it will cost a full ten taels of silver."
She paused, then said, "I was thinking that I haven't paid back the money for Dongrou's body yet, so I might as well let her come back and lend a hand."
"This girl is very diligent. Not only is she skilled at spinning silk, but her needlework is also top-notch."
Dong Rou immediately kowtowed heavily and said in a trembling voice, "Please have mercy, Madam! I am willing to do any dirty or tiring work, as long as I can eat. I will never dare to be lazy or shirk my duties."
Zhang squinted her triangular eyes and scanned Dong Rou from head to toe, mentally calculating: she's a ready-made laborer, might as well use her.
Her gaze shifted and landed on Lu Zhaoruo's pale face.
Since that night, this daughter-in-law has indeed become less timid than before, but it wouldn't be accurate to say that she would dare to challenge her.
She thought to herself that it was probably because Li Chunyan was too talkative, and because her brother had passed the martial arts exam, that she had gained some courage.
Lu Zhaoruo seemed to sense something, coughed, and hunched over even more, almost burying her head in her collar.
Zhang snorted coldly. In the end, he was still a soft persimmon, and could still be manipulated.
Moreover, Shen Qingshu repeatedly instructed that she should be kept to manage the shop and serve the family like a beast of burden. If she were pushed too far, who would take care of the work?
Zhang took a sip of tea: "Fine, since you're back, let's keep it."
She suddenly curled the corners of her mouth: "You're clever, you should know... who the real master is in this house."
Lu Zhaoruo knew that this blatant warning was clearly intended to recruit Dong Rou as her eyes and ears and place her by her side.
Dongrou quickly replied, "This servant understands."
In this era, a daughter-in-law's obedience to her parents-in-law was strictly bound by etiquette and law; disobeying her parents-in-law could result in punishment.
Even though the Shen family's livelihood now depends entirely on Lu Zhaoruo, if she directly offends Zhang Shi, given her mean nature, she might be dragged to the county government office and beaten.
Right now, she still needs the Shen family as a place to stay, and she also needs to maintain the appearance of a "virtuous wife." If she rashly breaks ties with Zhang, the old woman will definitely write to Shen Rongzhi. Although Shen Rongzhi is not shrewd, he is by no means stupid and will definitely become suspicious.
What she had to do was first replace all the servants in the house with trusted confidants, then find a way to take over the two shops, and finally lure Shen Rongzhi back home obediently.
Another 'letter of request for separation', to get away from this home of wolves and tigers.
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