Chapter 82 Shame and Embarrassment
Meng Jinyao originally thought that women shouldn't make things difficult for each other. No matter what the fault was, it was Gu Xiuming's fault, and she didn't want to make things difficult for Li Wan'er.
However, she didn't want to make things difficult for others, but others could use Gu Xiuming to annoy her. So, her words made it seem as if she was still hung up on Gu Xiuming and resented Li Wan'er, which was why she was making things difficult for her.
In all honesty, if she wanted to make things difficult for Li Wan'er, she would have summoned her and scolded her as soon as she entered the manor and learned that Li Wan'er was living in the main house of Qingyuxuan. Why wait until now?
She lowered her face, glanced at Li Wan'er indifferently, and said in a low voice, "The only people who are qualified to call me mother, besides my son Gu Xiuming, are the legitimate wives of the heirs, not my son's concubines."
She paused for a moment, then said to Ningdong beside her, "Ningdong, tell Aunt Li how the young master's concubine should address herself in front of her elders, and how she should address the masters in the mansion, so that she won't make a mistake next time."
Ning Dong responded and looked at Li Wan'er, saying calmly, "Aunt Li should refer to herself as 'concubine' in front of the Madam. Only the future Heir's wife is qualified to refer to herself as 'daughter-in-law.' You should address the masters and servants in the mansion in the same way. Although a concubine is half a mistress, she is also half a servant. Aunt Li has never been exposed to these things before, so ignorance is no excuse. But you must remember this in the future and not make any mistakes again."
Upon hearing this, Li Wan'er turned pale. Only then did she realize why the atmosphere had been so strange after she called Old Madam Gu "Grandmother" along with Brother Xiuming and referred to herself as "Granddaughter-in-law." It turned out that they were all mocking her in their hearts.
The night before last, Brother Xiuming said that even though she was a concubine, she was the only wife in his heart, the only woman in his heart, and the daughter-in-law of the Gu family. As long as she gave birth to the eldest grandson of the third branch, the elders would be happy and would no longer care about the past. Their child would be the heir apparent and inherit the title.
But now, she has become a joke.
Although her parents died early, her grandfather loved her very much. The neighbors were all kind-hearted people who pitied her for losing her parents at such a young age. Her grandfather made bamboo baskets to sell and support her, which was not easy. They took good care of her and her grandfather. Even though they ate simple meals, she never suffered any grievances.
In the past fifteen years, he has suffered two major grievances. The first was more than a month ago when he was captured by the Gu family and humiliated in front of Meng Jinyao and Marquis Changxing. The second was today, when he was ridiculed by everyone in the Gu family.
After what happened today, who knows how the Gu family will ridicule her when they see her in the future, mocking her for being arrogant and not recognizing her own place.
The jokes that were made because of shallowness and ignorance.
She felt ashamed and embarrassed.
An indescribable sense of shame overwhelmed her, as if crushing her. She felt completely drained and swayed precariously, but fortunately, a maidservant was there to support her as she was on the verge of collapse.
Seeing that Li Wan'er's face was as pale as paper, and two lines of clear tears were falling silently as she wept, Meng Jinyao knew that the girl was only fifteen years old and her emotions were easily revealed. Her face showed humiliation and shame, and she wished she could find a hole to crawl into and hide. So Meng Jinyao said nothing more and left with her maid.
On the way back to Wei Rui Xuan, Ning Dong couldn't help but mutter, "Madam, that Aunt Li is really disgusting. She eloped with Gu Xiuming, yet she acted so innocent, as if the fault lay with you. She's just like Gu Xiuming; no wonder they hit it off."
Meng Jinyao reminded him, "Ningdong, he is the heir apparent."
Upon hearing her mistress say this, Ningdong immediately corrected her, saying, "Aunt Li and the young master are cut from the same cloth; no wonder they can take a liking to each other."
Meng Jinyao gave her a reproachful look. What a clever little devil! She immediately knew she couldn't call her by her first name.
Ning Dong was still angry and muttered to herself, "She became the prince's concubine and still acts like she's the prince's wife. It's one thing to be ignorant of manners, but she's also shameless. I really don't know how her parents raised her. Knowing that the young master has a fiancée, she still wanted to elope with him."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao suddenly stopped in her tracks, her face serious, and said in a deep voice, "Ningdong, you are not allowed to say such things again."
Ningdong gave a blank "Huh?", not understanding why her master had suddenly become serious.
Meng Jinyao explained, "Aunt Li's parents died early, and she was raised by her grandfather."
Upon hearing this, Ning Dong immediately understood. It was indeed inappropriate to say such things if someone's parents had died young, as it would be like reopening old wounds, which was truly unethical. She quickly nodded and said, "This servant understands."
Back at Wei Rui Xuan, Meng Jinyao had a cup of tea to rest before starting to think about teaching Li Wan'er manners.
Wei Rui Xuan has no head maid; all the maids are young and beautiful. This is probably due to Gu Jingxi's hidden illness, which makes her so pleasing to the eye. Her mother-in-law must be thinking that Gu Jingxi should look at more beautiful women to help with his treatment. Maybe one day, while looking at them, he will suddenly become interested in one of the beautiful maids, and his hidden illness will be cured without medicine.
She didn't have a dowry maid. She originally did have one, but that maid was sent by her stepmother, Madam Sun, to monitor her. She dared not accept her, so the day before her wedding, she gave the maid a laxative, causing her to have an upset stomach. That's why the maid couldn't accompany her to the Marquis of Changxing's residence.
Originally, she only planned to delay it until she married into the family, and then find an excuse to refuse the dowry nanny that Sun had prepared for her. Unexpectedly, such a thing happened on the wedding day. When she returned to her parents' home, she had some unpleasantness with the Meng family, which led to the dowry nanny being left unresolved.
Now her mother-in-law wants her to send someone to teach Li Wan'er manners, but given the awkward relationship between her, Gu Xiuming, and Li Wan'er, sending her personal maid isn't a good idea.
On the contrary, Chunliu and Xiazhu are better. These two maids came from Shouan Hall and were assigned by their mother-in-law to work at Weirui Pavilion. They are first-class maids at Weirui Pavilion, so it would be most appropriate to send such maids to Qingyu Pavilion to teach Li Wan'er manners.
As far as Gu Xiuming was concerned, this was a maid who had served his grandmother and father, and she held a certain position. Gu Xiuming did not dare to make things difficult for her, and at the same time, he could prevent Li Wan'er from turning her back on him just because Gu Xiuming favored her.
As for whether to send Chunliu or Xiazhu.
After some further thought, Meng Jinyao decided to send Chunliu instead. Xiazhu was very honest and would do whatever she was told, but she would never approach anyone unless instructed to do so, so she was not very noticeable. Chunliu was smarter and more clever, making her more suitable for this task.
Thinking of this, Meng Jinyao summoned Chunliu and told her about going to Qingyuxuan to teach Li Wan'er manners.
Unexpectedly, Chunliu felt like the sky was falling when she heard this. She was originally serving the old lady, then she went to work at Weirui Pavilion, and later she got on the good side of the madam. But the madam suddenly didn't want her anymore and sent her to that so-called Aunt Li. How could the young master's concubine compare to the marquis's wife?
With a dejected look on her face, Chunliu asked, "Madam, did I do something wrong? Do you not want me anymore?"
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