Chapter 267
When a high-ranking official was transferred to Shanghai, his colleagues inevitably had a welcoming banquet and some social events.
He was having a banquet today, and several people brought their families to his house for the banquet.
This man's first wife had passed away a few years earlier, and he had married a concubine who was twenty years younger than him. Although his wife was young, she was the principal wife, so the several fake imperial edicts had to treat her with equal courtesy. They appeared friendly on the surface, but an atmosphere of covetousness hung over them.
When they saw her, they seemed to think that one day they would die early, and then their husbands would marry a vixen.
Lao Yi saw a green plant in his home. It had very large, stretched heart-shaped leaves, dark grass green in color. The leaves were surprisingly furry, like velvet curtains and artificial flowers.
The man said, "The flowers my wife grows are really interesting. When we moved, we left a lot of things there. She saw how well she took care of these flowers and couldn't bear to part with them. She was willing to go through a lot of trouble to move them here."
He asked where he could find some, as he also wanted to plant a few at home.
The man's wife was called over and said with a smile, "I'll call back and ask. If they have any, I'll send a few over. If they have any in Shanghai, that would be more convenient. Otherwise, I'll send a few over from there."
He smiled and said, "If it's too much trouble, forget it."
The man's wife said, "It's just a few flowers. It's not a big deal. At worst, we can just ship them over there. It'll just take a few more days."
Several colleagues thought the man was a bit foolish. With his wife dead, he was free from constraints, yet he insisted on marrying a second wife, asking for trouble. If he married someone from a lower family, he wouldn't dare control her, but he wouldn't be presentable, which would be a source of gossip. If he married someone from a similar family, he would be shackled, depriving himself of his freedom. However, considering his second wife, although of humble origin, she was quiet and docile, and good at managing the household, it would be a good idea to marry one who could stay at home. Of course, they wouldn't dare control her, as it wouldn't lead to ridicule.
Mrs. Yi listened and of course knew that this family was not that family.
Several fake imperial eunuchs had been taking turns to set traps, waiting to see the young lady make a fool of herself and lose face, but they didn't expect that there was no mistake at all and she was very generous. This made them particularly disappointed and very unwilling to accept it.
Fortunately, some time later, someone else held a birthday party, and they got together again. The man was away on business, and his wife had something else to do at home, so she couldn't come either, which was a perfect opportunity for them to express their feelings.
Mrs. Liao said, "I heard that my father is the principal of a high school, but I don't know which high school it is."
Mrs. Ma said, "What's the big deal about a high school? No matter how much you talk about it, it's just that. Besides, people like this always try to make their family background sound high. I'm afraid it's just a high school principal. To save face, they insist on saying she's the principal. But who knows, she might not even be a high school principal, let alone an elementary or junior high school. Who would visit her house to investigate? It's just her making it up."
Mrs. Liang said, "She's taking all the pain herself, leaving the happiness for the newlyweds. She's so young, her ambitions are so high, and she doesn't even know how to be so coquettish and shameless. It would be fine if she was just a concubine, but the man is so foolish as to want her to become his principal wife."
Mrs. Liao said, "This little girl is so young, what's the point of marrying her? Hard times are ahead. How can she be content at such a young age? If she gets into trouble and becomes a cuckold, how can she face people as a man?"
Madam Ma said, "With her background and looks, she's not even qualified to be a proper concubine. If she were a decent person, how could she be so bewitched that someone would marry her as the principal wife? People from humble backgrounds are so eager to climb up the social ladder that they'll do anything to achieve it. Once they've mastered a skill, how could they possibly not use it in the future?"
Mrs. Liang said, "You are so young, from such a small family. If you don't want your man to be a high-ranking official with a high salary, what else can you want? There are so many unruly young ladies among them."
These wives deliberately said this to the husbands at the next table. Old Yi was amused when he heard them say this. Those women wanted their husbands to be cuckolds, but they could slander others without blushing or beating their hearts.
He looked at the people at the banquet today and saw how many of them had become green-haired turtles because of him. Fortunately, he did not give others this opportunity. Only he asked others to become green-haired turtles, and no one else had the opportunity to make him a green-haired turtle.
Mrs. Yi deliberately said: "A girl loves a boy. He is so much older than her. What does she like about him? People like this must have a mutual affection before getting married..."
At this time, Old Yi turned his head and glanced at her lightly, and Mrs. Yi immediately stopped talking.
Mrs. Liao's daughter was also at the table. She was furious at the ruthless humiliation these false edicts were displaying. As women, they had no sympathy for other women. Who knew how the young woman had ended up marrying that man? Her parents, driven by their desire to move up the social ladder, had forced her to marry a man twenty years her senior and leave her former lover. Even if she didn't want to, what could she do about it, considering his power and position?
Moreover, the lady was very honest and quiet, and had not offended anyone. Why did they slander her so badly? Originally, Mrs. Liao's daughter was not very satisfied with her marriage. Her parents did not value their daughter and only wanted to marry her off to a high-class family.
Mrs. Liao's daughter said, "How can you be so mean? I haven't done anything to offend you. We're all women, and you don't understand the hardships women face. Yet you treat me like this? How can you prove you don't respect me? If I didn't want to marry this high-ranking woman and was forced into this relationship, what can I do? If I had someone I loved before, it's even more pitiful to see them separated. Besides, even if I wanted to marry someone, I waited until my previous partner died before marrying her, and I didn't destroy her family. If there's a real reason to be responsible, men should be as chaste as women. If their husband dies, they shouldn't remarry, saving others the trouble. You keep saying how virtuous you are. If there's a good woman, you'd be eager to marry her, but you're just not happy that your husband is being seduced by a bad woman outside. You're so jealous of her marrying a young and beautiful woman. If your husband actually brings someone virtuous home, who knows what will happen? Besides Aunt Liang, who else here is virtuous and generous enough to accommodate someone else?"
Mrs. Liao scolded her daughter for her ignorant and careless remarks. The other wives were also unhappy with her slandering them. Mrs. Liang was pleased to hear her only praise herself, but she was also afraid of causing resentment among others. She told everyone that it was neither good to say anything to her nor good to say nothing.
Mrs. Liao's daughter is now completely different from when she was a girl and she was submissive. She suffers from the bullying of her husband's family and her own family just asks her to endure it. She is now depressed and can go crazy at any time. She doesn't care about anyone and even has a debate with a table of fake imperial edicts.
On the other hand, the men's table were very happy that Mrs. Liao's daughter acted as their spokesperson. Seeing that they were making a lot of noise, someone went over to help Mrs. Liao's daughter, and it took a while for them to calm down.
Hearing that, Lao Yi felt a little melancholy. He wondered if she really had a boyfriend she was deeply in love with before, and was forced to be with him out of desperation. That would be quite pitiful. But then he thought, she was incredibly clingy whenever he was around. If she really had someone she loved, there was no way she could let go of him like that. This thought made him feel a little better.
The aunt's son came back with some things for her. He said, "I saw this over there. I thought it was interesting, so I picked one for you to play with."
Wang Jiazhi touched the furry leaf and said, "It's so interesting. It feels like a velvet curtain, just like it's fake."
She looked at it over and over again to confirm whether it was real. Only when she saw juice on the cut of the stem did she confirm that it was a real flower.
She thought it looked especially like the curtain fabric that Scarlett O'Hara used to make her skirt in Gone with the Wind.
She put the leaf in water and placed it on the desk. At night, she touched the fur with her hands. The kitten sat on the desk and scratched the leaf with its claws.
She drew a picture of a large, dark green, fluffy leaf with two kittens hiding from the rain underneath.
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