Chapter 6 "I'll be back, I'll be back, I won't be back": Yu Lang still hasn't returned. The person I promised him before going to bed was right back, and I still haven't seen him...
Yu Lang hasn't returned yet. He patted his chest before going to bed and said he'd be right back, but there's still no sign of him.
Shen Wanqing was not surprised by this. To her, Yu Lang was at most a colleague with whom she had close contact at work. She had experienced too many colleagues standing her up and dragging things out.
Having had a good sleep, Shen Wanqing sat in front of her dressing table and asked Chunxian to quickly put her hair ornaments back on. When she was halfway through combing her hair, a nanny and two maids came in from the outer room and stood at the door to greet Shen Wanqing respectfully.
"Grandma, you've had a good rest."
"What is your name, Granny? You've been so busy today that you haven't had a chance to meet with anyone in our courtyard. Is there something important?"
The old woman looked to be around forty years old. Her hair was neatly styled in a bun at the back of her head, and her clothes and appearance resembled a simpler version of Niohuru. Even the pearl earrings on her ears were tightly attached to her earlobes and remained perfectly still as she moved. It was clear at a glance that this person was definitely trained by Niohuru.
Sure enough, this nanny's surname was Zhou, and she was a servant girl who came with Niohuru as part of her dowry. Later, Niohuru arranged for her to be married to the steward of the Hesheli family. After getting married and having children, she returned to serve as Yulang's wet nurse.
Granny Zhou was the head nanny in Yulang's courtyard. Her husband looked after Yulang's farmland outside the city, and her son Changlu managed Yulang's inner study. If we're talking about confidants, this family was Yulang's closest confidant.
Originally, Shen Wanqing was supposed to meet with the servants in the East Courtyard in the afternoon and distribute the rewards that had been prepared in advance, but she slept too soundly and just fell asleep.
In the afternoon, Granny Zhou wanted to come over and ask Chunxian and Qiuwen when the new mistress was going to get up, but she was stopped by Biyun, Yulang's head maid.
Rules are rules, but Madam Daxin is from the Han Banner Army. If her family's rules are different from those of the manor, why offend her at this time?
What the new mistress said in the main courtyard this morning has spread throughout the entire mansion. The East Courtyard has suffered a lot of humiliation from the West Courtyard over the years, both openly and secretly. Although they still don't quite understand what kind of person the new mistress is, at least she's someone who has teeth, which is better than a taciturn, honest man.
Since he wasn't an honest man, it wasn't appropriate to use the rules of the manor to pressure him. It was true that they were the master's closest confidants, but could they be closer than a married couple sleeping in the same bed?
Since no one in the courtyard came to ask, Chunxian and Granny Feng naturally wouldn't forcibly wake Shen Wanqing, who was sleeping soundly. It was simply absurd to wake their mistress over such a trivial matter as distributing rewards to servants.
"When the eldest mistress entered the house, everyone in our courtyard was so happy that they couldn't sleep. This afternoon, several groups of people have come to ask me when they can come to pay their respects and kowtow to the eldest mistress."
"Okay, I understand."
Shen Wanqing knew why they were talking, but she didn't intend to explain that she was too tired and had overslept. After all, anyone with eyes could tell whether she was tired or not these past two days. The fact that Granny Zhou was bringing this up now showed she wasn't taking her own affairs to heart.
"We should meet everyone this afternoon, since we're all family from now on. But your uncle hasn't come back today. He said he'd be back soon after going out, but it's already so late and he's still not here. Why don't we meet him together when he gets back? What does Granny think?"
Having worked for a while, Shen Wanqing had transformed from the naive girl she was when she first graduated into a shrewd woman who could easily shift blame with a single word. Who said she wouldn't see you if she didn't reward you? There's a reason she wouldn't see you. You're a newlywed wife, and your husband abandoned you on your very first day. And you're still here expecting a reward? What are you thinking?
"Yes, yes, yes, we should meet together. Grandma, you don't know, our eldest uncle is not only a Zuo Ling of our Plain Yellow Banner, but also a Hu Jun Xiao in the Hu Jun Camp."
"When you leave the manor, there are always social engagements. He must be busy with his men and guards again since he hasn't returned. Madam, please don't misunderstand, Master."
"Of course not, men are all busy outside. My father and brother are the same, one went to the government office and never came back, the other went to the academy and disappeared, they're the same."
"That's exactly right. Even before Grandma married into the family, we all heard people say that she was well-educated, dignified, and kind. Now that we've met her, she really is like a Buddha or Bodhisattva."
Granny Zhou used Yu Lang's banner affiliation and family background to elevate her master's status, which Shen Wanqing naturally returned in a measured way. A hereditary banner affiliation in the Manchu Eight Banners was valuable, and the Shen family's generations of management were no small feat. Your master is busy with social engagements outside, but have I never seen what someone truly engaged in serious business looks like?
After saying this, Granny Zhou's attitude immediately softened considerably. She offered a few compliments, but seeing that Shen Wanqing only nodded slightly and didn't say anything, she obediently stood aside and remained silent.
Biyun couldn't help but smile. This new matriarch was really interesting. Not only was she tough on the West Courtyard, but she was still the same seemingly smooth and easy-going person in the East Courtyard, but actually so tough that she wanted to break people's teeth. This was really interesting.
Whether it was interesting or not, Shen Wanqing dawdled as she combed her hair and changed her clothes before heading to the main courtyard. The second master, He Yi, hadn't been home that morning, and she still owed him a pipe of cigarettes. The Hesheli family took such matters of etiquette very seriously, and Shen Wanqing didn't intend to cause herself any trouble over this.
When Shen Wanqing arrived at the main courtyard, everyone was already there. It was the same in the morning and the same in the evening. Shen Wanqing wasn't late, but this constant routine still made her feel uneasy.
This is similar to working in a company in later generations. No matter when you arrive, whether it's a morning meeting, an evening meeting, or a group meeting, you're always the last one there. That feeling is terrible; it's a sense of powerlessness where you know everyone is isolating you, and you can't do anything about it.
That was her job; now she was married into this family. It was normal for the second wife to kick her while she was down in this matter. Shumulu had arrived early with her child, and she was the dutiful daughter-in-law who fawned over Tongjia.
Why didn't her own mother-in-law, Niohuru, send someone to look for her? Even if she didn't come early, it would have been fine if the whole eldest son's family had arrived a little later. This family is really something else. No wonder they're being squeezed out by the second son's family; they can't even stick together.
He Yi now mostly serves in the Qianqing Palace, making him a close advisor to the emperor. It is said that these second-class guards serving in the Qianqing Palace and Yangxin Hall have far more opportunities to meet Emperor Kangxi than the Grand Secretaries of the previous dynasty.
The lineage of Hesheli Xifu has produced many scholars since Xifu's generation. Although He Yi now holds the position of second-class bodyguard, he looks more like a Confucian scholar with a straight posture.
Regardless of their true attitude towards the first wife in private, such people always act very politely on the surface. Lighting a cigarette is just a formality; the gesture is enough.
After Shen Wanqing got up and sat down, he took the initiative to ask where Yulang had gone. Without waiting for Shen Wanqing's reply, he turned around and beckoned the servant standing in the corner of the room to go out and look for him. What kind of behavior is it for the groom not to be at home on the first day of the wedding? He shouldn't be anywhere.
These words were meant for Shen Wanqing's ears. After all, she was a new bride, and the young couple naturally wanted to work things out for each other. Now that Yu Lang was nowhere to be found, even Shu Mulu, who had always been polite but lukewarm, was talking to Shen Wanqing non-stop, acting as if they were a close family.
Only one person, with a hint of disdain, let out a laugh, abruptly shattering the harmonious atmosphere.
There was still a young lady in the family who hadn't married yet, a fact the original owner knew even before she married into the family. When Shen Wanqing went to the main courtyard that morning, she specifically looked around, but didn't see anyone in Tongjia's presence who could be matched with this young lady.
Now that she had met her, Shen Wanqing's heart skipped a beat when she heard her smile. Her intuition told her that this person was probably not easy to deal with.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com