Chapter 162: If Cui gets pregnant and gives birth to a son...
There was a lot of buzz outside about the things happening in the backyard of the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion. It involved the marriages of the two girls from the first and second houses to the second master of the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion, Pei An, as well as the discord between Cui Lingyan, the wife of the Crown Prince, and her mother-in-law, the Cen family. The daughter-in-law actually forced her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to return to her parents' home. This made people more and more curious and wanted to spy on the affairs of this noble family.
For a time, everyone was talking about it, treating the affairs of this noble family as a topic of conversation after dinner, and watching whether the Weiguo Mansion would not be able to withstand all the discussions and lower its stance, or even whether the Weiguo Duke would personally go to the Cen family to bring his wife and daughter back, or whether Lu Danyan would not be able to bear the accusation of snatching away her cousin's marriage and cancel the marriage with the Dingguo Mansion.
But after watching for more than ten days, there was no movement from the Duke of Weiguo. The second wife, He, even took her daughter Lu Danyan to the Duke of Dingguo's mansion. It seemed that neither family took the rumors outside seriously.
This actually put Cen in a difficult position. Everyone wanted to see how Cen made such a fuss but nothing happened at her husband's house. Could it be possible that as the wife of a Duke, she could swallow her pride and go back to the Duke of Wei's mansion on her own?
Then, rumors spread about why Cen had not been liked by the Duke of Weiguo for so many years after marrying into his mansion, and why even Old Lady Dou, the mother-in-law who was kind to the younger generation, had a lot of opinions about her. Even the fact that she had punished the illegitimate son and almost killed him became known to everyone.
Some believed it, some didn't, but the story was so convincing, especially the secrets of the powerful families that everyone wanted to hear. Some people even went to the Cen family to inquire about the news, and some even asked in a roundabout way when they visited the Cen family, asking whether Aunt Cen was going to live in her parents' home with her daughter forever, or whether Xue was trying to match her son with Lu Danruo. After all, her son's engagement was broken off by the Jiang family, and there was no suitable one for the time being. If he could marry Lu Danruo, the eldest daughter of the Weiguo Mansion, it would always be a good thing for the Cen family.
Somehow, word of this spread, and as the saying goes, gossip can be terrifying. There was no way to stop the numerous speculations, and it only made the Cen family feel humiliated. They felt that the Cen family had coaxed the young lady into marrying off, secretly plotting against the younger generation's marriages. Otherwise, Cen Shi wasn't stupid. Even if she wasn't happy in the Duke's Mansion, she was still the eldest daughter-in-law in the eldest house. How could she have stayed away from the Duke's Mansion for so long? Perhaps she was just being cowardly and was being goaded into doing these foolish things by her family?
When Xue heard the discussions outside, she was so angry that she threw the teacup in her hand heavily to the ground.
The teacup fell to the ground and splattered everywhere, making a mess.
The maids and old women knelt on the ground, not daring to even breathe, for fear that Xue would vent her anger on them.
As soon as Cen Yueying walked to the corridor, she heard movement in the house. She frowned slightly, opened the curtain and went into the house.
Seeing the broken teacup and the maids and servants kneeling on the ground, Cen Yueying waved her hand and asked them to retreat.
Soon, she and Xue were the only ones left in the room.
She knew without asking that her mother was angry about the rumors, so she comforted her, "Don't worry about what they say. Aunt and Danruo have only been back for less than a month. How could they be so complicit in such fabrications? Someone must be displeased with Aunt and is deliberately making up such absurd stories."
As she finished speaking, Xue's face grew even more furious. She slammed her hand on the table and angrily said, "How can I not be angry? You thought I was stupid and didn't realize that your aunt had deliberately spread those rumors before. She wanted to elevate herself and wanted the Duke to come to the Cen family to take her back to the Duke's Mansion. She also wanted the Duke's Mansion to give her the respect she deserves as the Duke's wife for the sake of outsiders' opinions. She even wanted to use these rumors to control Cui Lingyan, her daughter-in-law. But she didn't think about her own worth. It's not enough to ruin her own reputation, she also brought this fire to our Cen family and to your brother."
Cen Yuexi's eyes flickered slightly as she listened to the last sentence. She carefully studied the expression on her mother's face. After a long hesitation, she lowered her voice and asked, "Mother, are you trying to bring my brother and my cousin together? Are those rumors hindering your plans, and that's why you're so angry?"
Xue's face changed and she didn't say anything, but Cen Yuexi grew up by her side and was closest to her mother, Xue. Even though she didn't say anything, Cen Yuexi knew what she meant.
Her guess was actually true? No wonder her mother had been so kind to her cousin recently, asking the kitchen to prepare whatever she liked, and she hadn't had any objections to her and her aunt living in the Cen family.
Even though my aunt and cousin had just returned to the Cen family, my mother was still unhappy in her heart even though she didn't say it.
Later, she seemed to have no objection. She thought her mother was afraid of expressing her displeasure and making her grandmother angry, and as a sister-in-law, she always had to be patient to avoid offending others.
Now that I think about it, this is what my mother had in mind.
Xue Shi didn't feel embarrassed when her daughter guessed her thoughts. She often told her daughter privately that her sister-in-law, Cen Shi, had married well but had played a good hand badly, not only failing to bring much benefit to the Cen family, but causing them to suffer a lot because of her. She even felt that the five thousand taels of silver she had accepted from Cen Shi was her sister-in-law's compensation to the Cen family, so she was unhappy that her sister-in-law had taken her daughter back to live with the Cen family.
However, after returning to her parents' home, Cen paid for her own food, clothing, and other expenses, and was never generous in giving gifts to her subordinates, unlike her, who was so stingy and calculated to support the whole family. Moreover, Cen's clothes and jewelry were much better than hers.
This is the case with Cen, and Lu Danruo, the legitimate daughter of the Duke's Mansion, is even more so. In the past, we only knew that this niece was not favored, but so what? After all, she is the legitimate daughter of the Duke's Mansion, and she should be treated with dignity.
The more Xue looked at those things, the more irritating they seemed to her. She also felt that Cen was doing this on purpose for her, her sister-in-law, to see. Once, the younger generations happened to come together to pay their respects to their mother-in-law. Seeing her son and Lu Danruo standing together, Xue was moved for the first time. In the past few days, she had also intended to show her good will to her sister-in-law and niece. However, before she could express this idea, the rumors outside reached her ears. How could she not be annoyed?
"I do have this idea, but now that people outside are saying that, I feel it is difficult to bring it up with your aunt." Xue said.
Cen Yueying clenched the handkerchief in her hand, lowered her eyebrows slightly, looked a little embarrassed, bit her lips and said nothing.
Seeing her like this, Mrs. Xue quickly hugged her to her chest, patted her on the back, and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you like this for no reason? I just had this thought. There are all these rumors outside, and I haven't even told your aunt about it yet."
Cen Yuexi was silent for a while before she whispered, "Didn't you ask Aunt Cui to marry your daughter to Cui's brother before? But then Aunt Cui and Cui had such a fight, and the matter was dropped."
"You have this idea now. If Aunt knew about it, I wonder how she would look down on our Cen family. She must think that you, as a sister-in-law, are good at scheming. Since my daughter's marriage to the young master of the Ningshou Marquis's Mansion didn't work out, you are now thinking about bringing my cousin and brother together. My brother has always wanted to save face. The Jiang family even broke off the engagement before. If you mention this to Aunt and it gets to my brother's ears, he will definitely not be happy. Not to mention, who can stand Danruo's temper? If she becomes my sister-in-law, how can our family live in peace in the future? Even if we have this idea, Aunt may not agree. She only has one daughter, Danruo, and she is thinking about someone of the status of Pei'an from the Dingguo Mansion, not someone like my brother."
Don't open your mouth and get rejected directly by your aunt. If then, the Cen family will lose face.
Xue listened to her daughter's words and sighed heavily. "That's true, so even if I had this thought before, I can only give up now. Seeing that your aunt can't control a daughter-in-law and is forced into this state, I think if Danruo marries your brother, the family will be even more uneasy. As a mother-in-law, I can't even expect my daughter-in-law to be filial and respectful. With her temper, I don't know when she will be pissed off to death. Forget it, let's not talk about this. Don't tell your brother about this, and don't tell Danruo and your aunt at all. Otherwise, if we can't get married, your aunt will look down on us."
Cen Yueying nodded: "I understand, my daughter is not stupid."
"By the way, if uncle doesn't come to pick them up one day, will aunt and the others just stay at the Cen family and not go back?"
Hearing her words, Xue's face also showed sadness. "As her sister-in-law, I can't open my mouth to chase them away. Besides, your aunt has to save face. After causing such a big commotion, if the Duke of Weiguo Mansion doesn't send anyone to pick her up, she will go back with Danruo in disgrace. I'm afraid she will become a laughing stock in the capital."
"It's also because she didn't have the ability to win over the Duke of Wei. After all, she gave birth to a daughter for the Lu family, but she couldn't even earn this little bit of face. As a result, our Cen family has also been implicated and criticized."
Xue and her daughter were worried about the rumors outside.
In a courtyard of the Cen Mansion, Cen and her daughter had their meal together. The atmosphere was depressing throughout the meal. The maids and servants who were serving them had also heard the rumors outside, so no one dared to show up at this time. They just quietly did their own things and hoped that their aunt and cousin would ignore them.
But thinking about the rumors outside, my aunt and cousin's situation in the Duke of Wei's mansion is really not good. Otherwise, why would the Duke be so unwilling to lower his head and come to take my aunt back to the mansion? Even if the Duke didn't come in person, sending someone from the mansion would at least give my aunt a way out, and the matter would be over. Unlike now, there is no movement at all, making my aunt's previous actions a joke.
In the past few days, the maids and servants didn't dare to say anything in front of my aunt and cousin, but they talked about the two masters in private. Don't even mention how ugly what they said was. My aunt didn't hear it, but if she had heard it, she would probably have fainted from anger.
If she were to say, it was because I was not capable of seeing my own worth, otherwise I wouldn't have started those rumors and tried to compete with my husband's family and daughter-in-law. Now I regret it, I have lost all my face and dignity. Everyone in the capital knows how high her status is in the mansion as the wife of the Duke of Wei.
The atmosphere was so solemn that after an unknown amount of time, Lu Danruo suddenly put down his chopsticks, stood up abruptly, and said to Cen: "The room is too stuffy. I'm going to the garden outside to get some fresh air."
After saying this, Lu Danruo turned around and walked out without waiting for Cen to speak.
Her cousin had a bad temper, and since she was angry, she didn't ask anyone to follow her, so the maidservant didn't go up to her to complain. So Lu Danruo left the courtyard where she and Cen lived alone.
Not long after I walked out of the yard, I heard the voices of several old women talking.
"Alas, our aunt is in this situation now because she can't defeat Cui, the daughter-in-law. Even if Cui gets pregnant and gives birth to a son, there will be no place for our aunt and cousin in the Duke's Mansion. Perhaps Cui doesn't like the cousin and just whispers something to the prince, and the cousin is married off casually. This sister-in-law mistreats her unpleasant sister-in-law, and she specifically targets her marriage."
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