Chapter 5 When a child says they want to pee, it's probably already too late...
The sun was high in the sky, and the sunlight felt warm on people. Shen Lingyue turned over in her blanket and slept soundly.
Since her falling out with Zhao Lan, she has been skipping the housekeeping course with a clear conscience, sleeping in until she naturally wakes up every day, and enjoying herself immensely.
Suddenly, she felt something light and airy brush against her cheek, tickling her, and then something seemed to be crawling into her nostrils...
Achoo!
Shen Lingyue sneezed, still dazed, when she felt a weight on her body and then heard a little girl's silvery laughter.
"Auntie, how embarrassing! The sun's already high in the sky and you still aren't up!"
She groggily opened her eyes and saw a little girl with a bun hairstyle, wearing a bright red brocade top with butterflies and a pale yellow embroidered cloud skirt. She was lying on her body with a smile and was holding a long peacock feather in her hand, which she was using to scratch her face.
"You are... Sister Heng?"
Shen Lingyue received fragmented memories from the original owner of the body; she could only match them up when she met the people in the body.
The lively and adorable little one in front of her is her eldest sister Shen Yuanjia's daughter, who is four years old this year.
Hengjie was born plump and fair-skinned, with round, chubby cheeks like a little steamed bun. With such a solid little cannonball pressing down on Shen Lingyue, it took her a lot of effort to sit up while holding her. She couldn't help but pinch the pleats of the bun a couple of times; it felt wonderful.
"Did Heng'er come back with her mother?"
"Mmm." Heng'er nodded, hugging her aunt's neck affectionately, and said in a clear voice, "Father and Mother had another fight, so Mother brought Heng'er back to see Grandmother!"
Another argument?
Shen Lingyue frowned slightly, about to speak, when the door was pushed open and Shen Yuanjia walked in with a smile, his tone somewhat teasing.
"I heard that my younger sister's temper has grown, and she doesn't allow outsiders into the house. I wonder if I count as an outsider?"
As soon as she entered the room, she saw Hengjie nestled in Shen Lingyue's arms like a mischievous monkey, and couldn't help but smile helplessly, "Hurry up and get down, or you'll crush your aunt."
"I'm not that fragile." Shen Lingyue was fully awake now, and still had the strength to hug Hengjie and lift her up a couple of times, making the little girl giggle. The sound carried out of the window and startled a bunch of birds in the tree.
In the end, it took a lot of persuasion from Shen Yuanjia to coax his daughter down. Shen Lingyue went behind the screen to change and wash up. A moment later, the two sisters sat down at the table to talk.
Shen Yuanjia looked at her face with concern. "I heard you were quite ill before, and I've wanted to come back to see you for a while, but the Marquis's mansion is full of people and things to do, and I've never been able to get away..."
"That's not true at all." Hengjie ate the pastries on the table and suddenly spoke up: "Grandmother wanted Mother to pay for her birthday celebration out of her own pocket, so she forbade Mother to go out."
"Heng'er!" Shen Yuanjia quickly interrupted her, his face showing some embarrassment and awkwardness. He lowered his voice and scolded, "You're just a child, who told you to talk nonsense outside?"
Heng'er blinked. "But this is my maternal grandmother's house, my mother's family home, not outside. My aunt is my mother's younger sister, so she's not an outsider either."
Shen Yuanjia sighed and rubbed his forehead, "This girl is getting harder to manage as she gets older."
"Big sister is wrong. I think Heng'er is just fine this way. Otherwise, would everyone be like you, only reporting good news and not bad news?"
Shen Lingyue hugged her little niece, looking like she was there to support her. "Heng'er, don't be afraid. Tell your aunt if you have any grievances. Your aunt will support you."
Seeing the aunt and nephew looking so close, with their similar faces and almond-shaped eyes staring at each other as if they were mother and daughter, Shen Yuanjia couldn't help but find it both funny and touching.
In front of the child, she couldn't say anything. Her long eyelashes fluttered, she turned her head slightly away, and said in a low voice, "It's nothing, just some trivial matters of housekeeping. Every wife goes through this."
Shen Lingyue scrutinized her closely. Shen Yuanjia looked very much like Zhao Lan, both with a dignified and cheerful face, but with a touch of gentleness in her features. She was tall and well-proportioned, wearing a gorgeous dress embroidered all over, and the hairpins and ornaments in her hair trembled slightly, reflecting a dazzling light in the sunlight. She looked like a fairy from the clouds, with a noble and elegant demeanor.
As the eldest daughter of the Shen family, Shen Yuanjia married the heir of the Pingxi Earl's Mansion six years ago. At that time, Shen Hang had not yet been promoted to Vice Minister of Rites, so this marriage was considered a step up for the Shen family.
Fearing that her eldest daughter would suffer mistreatment after marriage, Zhao Lan prepared an extremely generous dowry for her, which enabled Shen Yuanjia to gain a foothold in the Marquis's mansion. She also taught her how to gradually take control of the household affairs – only when the heir's wife holds the power of managing the household can she truly sit at the table of noble ladies in the capital.
However, Shen Yuanjia's biggest flaw was that she only had one daughter, Hengjie, in the six years she was married.
In the past two years, Shen Yuanjia has consulted many famous doctors in the capital, and Zhao Lan has also found many prescriptions to regulate her body. She has prayed to gods and Buddhas everywhere, but there has been no good news.
Hengjie'er had already been taken to play in the courtyard by Qingchan. Shen Yuanjia looked at his daughter's carefree figure, a layer of melancholy settling between his brows.
"Little sister, don't be angry with Mother. She's only doing this for your own good."
Shen Yuanjia gave a bitter smile. Just because she didn't have a son, her mother-in-law had been subtly and overtly targeting her for years, and she was always self-righteous, demanding that she use her dowry to make up for the losses.
If it weren't for Shen Hang's promotion and Zhao Lan's father's rise to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, overseeing all officials, she probably would have already been unable to restrain herself and would have been trying to place someone in her son's harem.
Shen Lingyue realized that she had come to act as a mediator, and rubbed her face in annoyance. "I know her intentions are good... but could she please not set off yet?"
Shen Yuanjia looked at her, puzzled.
Shen Lingyue took a deep breath. "Anyway, I don't want any concubines. At least I won't rush to prepare one for him."
Shen Yuanjia's eyes flickered slightly, "What if your husband... wants to take a concubine?"
"Hmph..." Shen Lingyue laughed menacingly, extending two fingers and making a snapping motion.
"Then I'll make sure he never has a son in his entire life!"
*
Hengjie was precocious despite her young age. She knew that her father and mother had quarreled and that her mother had taken her back to her parents' home in a fit of anger, but she didn't know the reason for the quarrel.
It was Qingchan who went to the main courtyard to inquire and brought back the information.
"...The man surnamed Han dislikes that the eldest sister can't bear a son, so he wants to take a concubine?"
Shen Lingyue slammed her hand on the table in anger, "Are you sick! Do you want a son that much? Does his family have a throne to inherit?"
Qingchan whispered a reminder: "There is no throne, but there are titles of nobility."
Shen Lingyue: ...
"Does the title have to be inherited by a son? Can't it be passed on to Heng'er? If that's not possible, we can adopt someone from the clan. Why does it have to be a child of our own?"
Shen Lingyue muttered indignantly, "Maybe it's his own fault. He's already lucky to have a daughter."
Qingchan knew that her young mistress couldn't stand hearing things like "taking a concubine" or "having a son" lately, so she quickly patted her chest to soothe her.
"some."
Suddenly, Shuangxu, who had been standing silently to the side, spoke up.
Shen Lingyue hadn't reacted yet, "What?"
Shuangxu said in a serious tone, "During the reign of Emperor Taizu, there were five female generals and three female marquises. They were all heroines who fought alongside Empress Zhaohui when the country was being conquered."
Qingchan also remembered and clapped her hands, "That's right, I heard that Empress Zhaohui herself led an all-women army and made many military achievements. If she hadn't become empress, she might have been granted the title of Queen!"
Shen Lingyue couldn't help but sigh, she really had traveled to the wrong era. If only she could have come a hundred years earlier.
But thinking back to the chaotic world of more than a hundred years ago, when everyone was vying for supremacy, she was just a weak and helpless but gluttonous college student, and it seems like she could only play the role of a refugee fleeing famine...
After lamenting that she was born at the wrong time, Shen Lingyue asked Shuangxu, "What happened after that? Why did no more women become generals or nobles?"
Shuangxu recalled the stories told by the storytellers, "Because at that time, the ministers in the court protested, saying that women attending court was a reversal of yin and yang, and that the female..."
"A hen crowing at dawn," Shen Lingyue snorted.
Shuangxu nodded, "Yes. Anyway, they were unwilling, but Emperor Taizu insisted on bestowing official titles and even punished many officials. In the end, both sides compromised and allowed women who had made meritorious contributions by following Empress Zhaohui to the battlefield to be appointed as generals and granted titles, but their titles could only be passed down for three generations, and only to men, not women."
Shen Lingyue rolled her eyes.
She waved her hand helplessly, "Let's not talk about that now. Since my brother-in-law wants to take a concubine, what do Mother and my sister think?"
Qingchan scratched her head. "It seems that Madam intends for the eldest young lady to take those maids who came to the manor a few days ago back with her..."
Shen Lingyue: ...
No, why are those potential concubines going to my eldest sister's house again?
Seeing that she was about to lose her temper again, Qingchan quickly stopped her, "Miss, calm down. It's the eldest son-in-law who wants to take a concubine. Well, it's better if our family prepares in advance than if he finds one outside himself."
Shen Lingyue sighed deeply and couldn't help but sneer, "Maybe my brother-in-law doesn't like the person my sister arranged for him and insists on finding his own true love."
As we all know, when a child says they need to poop, they've probably already pooped in their pants.
She pointed at Qingchan and said, "Go to the main courtyard, investigate further, and report back."
Qingchan was too busy to finish.
Shen Lingyue then looked at Shuangxu, "I remember you have two older brothers who work in the outer courtyard?"
Shuangxu nodded, "My eldest brother is with the eldest young master at the academy, and my second brother doesn't have a formal position yet. He usually runs errands for the steward in the outer courtyard."
“That’s perfect.” Shen Lingyue’s eyes darted around. “Go home and visit your second brother later. Ask him if he has any reliable friends. Find a few and have them take turns following my brother-in-law to see where he usually goes.”
Shuangxu and Qingchan were both born into a family, and their family lived in a row of houses in the back alley of the Shen family mansion.
Shen Lingyue opened the money box, grabbed a handful of loose silver and stuffed it into her hand, "This is the activity fund. Don't try to save me money, I just want the results."
Shen Lingyue was full of fighting spirit; she wanted to prove to her mother that you can't stop a man from having an affair.
In the evening, Shen Yuanjia came over in person and asked Shen Lingyue to have dinner together in the main courtyard.
She took her younger sister's arm and said gently, "It's rare for your older sister to come home, so please spend more time with me?"
Shen Lingyue thought that her elder sister's own family was already troublesome enough, and she also had to worry about her relationship with Zhao Lan, so she didn't resist much and followed her to the main courtyard.
Having not been here for several days, upon entering the flower hall and facing Zhao Lan's calm and expressionless face, Shen Lingyue felt a little guilty and silently sat down in the seat diagonally opposite her, the furthest away in a straight line.
She looked like a little mouse, which made Zhao Lan chuckle. She said irritably, "What are you afraid of? I invited you to eat, not to eat you."
Shen Lingyue bit her lip, blinked, and tried to get away with it by being cute, "Mother..."
Zhao Lan said calmly, "Eat up, the food will get cold soon."
Shen Lingyue glanced at the table and saw that it was full of her favorite foods, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After the meal, Liu's mother presented a visiting card with great joy, as if it were a precious treasure.
"Third Miss, whose post is this?"
"Who's looking for me?" Shen Lingyue was puzzled. When she opened the window, her pupils narrowed slightly.
The post said that I would visit Miss Shen at the Shen residence tomorrow morning.
The signature was Yan Yi.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Pei Er, who was drinking outside, suddenly felt a chill on his body—
Oops, my prediction was wrong! We'll definitely meet again in the next chapter!
Please continue to comment and favorite! Mwah! (づ￣ 3￣)づ
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