Chapter 195 Increasingly Attentive
The next morning.
When Gu Jingxi arrived at the Dali Temple, he had just sat down when the door opened. He looked up and was met with a pair of mournful eyes.
Qi Yunwen looked tired, with stubble on her face, dark circles under her eyes, and bloodshot eyes. She was looking at him with a resentful gaze, like a wronged woman.
Qi Yunwen asked in a low voice, "You still have the heart to come back? I've been so busy I didn't go home last night."
As he spoke, he continued walking towards Gu Jingxi, saying in a huff, "Take a sniff. In this sweltering heat, I spent the whole night at the Dali Temple, and last night I went to the prison to interrogate prisoners. I didn't change my clothes, and I smell terrible."
Gu Jingxi seemed to feel no guilt and calmly replied, "Yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday."
Hearing this, Qi Yunwen rolled her eyes in annoyance and snorted, "I don't remember you two having a good relationship, that it's worth you taking a day off for him. Don't you know how busy we've been lately?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "I'll go back with my wife."
After listening, Qi Yunwen remained silent for a moment, then said helplessly, "Is it necessary to keep such a close watch on her? With your personality, do you think those people from the Meng family can eat her alive?"
Gu Jingxi said calmly, "She's timid, she might really be."
Qi Yunwen scoffed, "If she were timid, she wouldn't have wanted to marry you. I saw it all clearly on our wedding day; she was incredibly bold. Tell me, how many young women in the capital would dare to do what she did?"
Gu Jingxi glanced at him: "You don't understand."
"Fine, fine, I don't understand, only you do."
Qi Yunwen was too lazy to argue with him about the issue. He was about to take a short rest to refresh himself when he turned around and took two steps. He then stopped, turned back to look at him, and said with a smile, "Yaoling, I've noticed that you're becoming more and more interested in your little wife. It seems like you're about to fall in love with her."
Gu Jingxi retorted, "Mo Bai, don't you care about your sister-in-law at all?"
Qi Yunwen's smile deepened: "I care about her because I have her in my heart. But why do you care about your little wife?"
Gu Jingxi was slightly stunned after hearing this.
At this moment, an official came over, first bowed to Gu Jingxi, then bowed to Qi Yunwen and said, "Lord Qi, Lord Jiang is looking for you. He said he found some suspicious points in the case in last night's confession and wants to discuss them with you. He asked me to come to Lord Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to take a look. I didn't expect you to actually be here."
Qi Yunwen replied, "Okay, I'll be right there."
-
The Changxing Marquis's Residence.
Princess Jingning and Song Xinning made an appointment to come and find Meng Jinyao.
Song Xinning had attended banquets with her elders before and had also visited the Changxing Marquis's residence, but this was her first time visiting since Meng Jinyao married into the Changxing Marquis's residence.
After meeting with Meng Jinyao, the two of them went with her to Shou'an Hall to pay their respects to the elders. Otherwise, it would be too impolite to visit the elders without greeting them.
After leaving Shou'an Hall, Meng Jinyao led them to Zuilian Pavilion in the mansion. It was a cooler place, built in the middle of a lotus pond, and a good place to escape the summer heat and appreciate the lotus flowers. It was also used as a banquet venue when guests came.
Song Xinning suddenly asked, "Ayao, I think the old lady treats you very well. How come you've been married into the family for so long and haven't been put in charge of the household affairs yet?"
Upon hearing this, Princess Jingning also thought of this question and asked, "Yes, why weren't you put in charge of the household affairs? The First Madam is ultimately from the concubine's branch, while you are the legitimate wife, the matriarch of the clan."
Meng Jinyao replied, "A while ago, my mother-in-law said in front of the whole family that she wanted me to manage the household affairs, but I refused." As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeve, revealing a translucent green jade bracelet on her wrist, and continued, "My husband said that this bracelet is a family heirloom passed down through generations and is a symbol of the matriarch of the family. When I went to serve tea on the second day of my marriage, my mother-in-law gave me this bracelet, which means that the power to manage the household affairs will be mine sooner or later, so I'm not in a hurry."
Princess Jingning was very puzzled: "Since the old lady approved of you as soon as you married into the family, why did you refuse? This is a right that many wives of noble families crave. You actually want to push away the right that you have in your hands? Are you stupid? Even if it will fall into your hands in the future, isn't it better to have power in your hands now?"
Meng Jinyao smiled faintly and said slowly, "I was too tired living in the inner chambers. My mind was always on edge. Now that I can finally relax, I don't want to be entangled in daily affairs and busy like a spinning top. It just so happens that others like to be busy, so I can have some leisure."
"I can take over the management of the household affairs after the family is divided. For now, my eldest sister-in-law is in charge, with my second sister-in-law assisting. The two of them don't get along and are keeping an eye on each other, so things won't get out of control, and neither of them would dare to seek personal gain."
Upon hearing this, Song Xinning was taken aback at first, then nodded in agreement: "That's good. Your health isn't very good. Take advantage of this free time to rest and recuperate. Get your body in good shape first. Overworking might break you down."
Princess Jingning glanced at Meng Jinyao and asked, puzzled, "Ayao doesn't seem to be sick or in pain. Is she unwell?"
Meng Jinyao replied, "I am a little weak, but I am better than before."
Looking at her friend, who looked quite well, Song Xinning smiled with relief and said, "Now that you've married into the Gu family, your complexion is noticeably better. It just goes to show that the environment here is good for you. Ayao used to get sick easily when the weather was cool and hot, but she's been fine this summer. I guess it's because she's doing well in the Marquis's mansion and has been well taken care of by the maids."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but sigh: "Ayan, you don't know, when Ayao was in the Meng family, because she was not favored, even the servants would neglect her. She was worse off than her half-brother. Moreover, her courtyard was in a bad location, cold in winter and hot in summer. She was a bit weak and could get sick from the heat in the summer."
Princess Jingning was both surprised and astonished: "Ayao, as the eldest legitimate daughter, is living a worse life than a concubine's daughter?"
"It's no wonder that you can't have a good life if you're stuck with a family like that."
Song Xinning became more and more indignant as she spoke: "Her courtyard was originally quite nice; it was given to her by her grandfather. Later, Meng Jinyu took a liking to it, and Old Madam Meng directly said that as the older sister, she should give way to her younger sister, so she was told to move out. She was randomly assigned a courtyard that was cold in winter and hot in summer to move to."
Having acquired this courtyard, she was never given ice to cool it down in the summer, and her charcoal supply was cut back in the winter. There was no silver frost charcoal left, only inferior, thick-smoking charcoal, and even that wasn't enough. So she was constantly catching either heatstroke or frostbite, and to make matters worse, her grandmother said she was delicate and difficult to please.
Princess Jingning fell silent after hearing this. She had only known that Ayao was not favored, but she did not expect that she was not as well off as the maids around her. The maids around her used silver frost charcoal in their rooms, and the lower-ranking maids used medium-grade gray flower charcoal, but none of them used low-grade thick smoke charcoal.
After a moment, she asked softly, "Did A-Yao resist?"
Meng Jinyao smiled bitterly: "I couldn't resist. If I had a reasonable elder in my family, I wouldn't have had to endure it for so many years."
Song Xinning said, "Marrying an unvirtuous wife will bring disaster to three generations. Madam Meng and Madam Gu are worlds apart. As elders, they are ignorant of the ways of the world. To a certain extent, the decline of the Yongchang Marquis's family is also due to Madam Meng's influence."
Meng Jinyao nodded in agreement. Her father was of average talent, but her second uncle, who drowned in the lake while drunk, had a talent for studying. It was because her grandmother spoiled him too much that he became playful and pleasure-loving, unable to endure the hardship of studying. Her grandfather tried to educate him, but her grandmother felt sorry for him and spoiled him, so it was all for naught.
Later, my second uncle became addicted to gambling. His grandmother helped him hide it, but his gambling became increasingly lucrative. By the time the rest of the family found out, he had already lost a significant portion of the family's wealth with his grandmother's indulgence.
But not long after, my second uncle got drunk with his friends and fell into the lake and died. My second aunt, still young and childless, remarried.
If her second uncle hadn't been spoiled by her grandmother, and had been successful and hadn't fallen into bad habits and died young, how could the Yongchang Marquis's mansion have fallen to such a state?
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