Chapter 45 Shortcut Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, the wedding was approaching, the mansion...
Cui Lingyan, Zhan and others stayed at Bian's house for dinner.
In Cuiwei Courtyard, Madam Qi walked into the house holding Nanny Jiang's hand and sat down in front of the couch, looking exhausted.
Today she was attending to a sick patient in Xilan Courtyard. Although her third brother's wife, Gao, was also there, she had been standing for most of the day. In addition, her mother-in-law, Madam Zhai, was in a bad mood, so the atmosphere in the room was very depressing. After most of the day, she felt her temples throbbing, and she was in great pain, but she was just trying to hold on.
Nanny Jiang poured half a cup of tea and handed it to her. Qi took two sips when she heard footsteps outside. The maid Feicui came in, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Qi's expression changed slightly. She placed the teacup on the table and said with some displeasure, "Just say what you want to say. Why are you hesitating?"
Qi thought that Feicui was just talking about trivial things that happened in the mansion. After all, the Ningshou Marquis's mansion was so big, and there were hundreds of maids and servants in the inner courtyard alone. With so many people, it was natural that trouble would easily arise.
Feicui hesitated for a moment before replying, "Madam, this evening the Third Miss, her aunt's wife, and her cousin went to the Second Madam's place for dinner."
Qi hadn't expected to hear such news. She was stunned for a moment, then even laughed in anger. She looked at Feicui and asked, "What did you say? Did Yan and my sister-in-law go to Bian's place?"
"How is this possible? Cui Lingyin's misdeeds have tarnished Shaozhang's reputation. My sister-in-law has always loved my nephew the most. She must be extremely resentful of the people in the Second Branch right now. How could she be so close to the Bian family?"
As Qi spoke, her expression darkened, and she said coldly to Feicui, "What's going on?"
Seeing her mistress furious, Feicui dared not hide it any longer, and hurriedly replied, "Madam, it was the Second Madam who felt guilty about what the Second Young Miss had done, so she invited the Madam and the Cousin over for dinner to personally apologize, and she also invited our Third Young Miss to accompany her."
Hearing Feicui's words, Qi's face turned even uglier. She said with a hint of sarcasm, "Second brother's wife is quite humble. I've been nursing the sick in Xilan Courtyard and fulfilling my filial duties to the old lady, while she, the second wife, has been acting like a hands-off boss, refusing to take the trouble to nurse the sick and instead engaging in these things behind my back. Is she trying to get close to my sister-in-law and the others so that the people in the mansion will criticize me, a young lady from the Qi family?"
In her opinion, Bian's apology for Cui Lingyin, a concubine's daughter, was fake, and the real intention was to disgust her and make things difficult for her.
Zhan was the daughter-in-law of the Qi family and her sister-in-law. Since she came to the capital, she and her sister-in-law were not very close. Later, when the rumors spread outside, she, the wife of the Ningshou Marquis, did not argue with the second house for her nephew Shaozhang, and asked the second house to give justice to the Qi family.
Even if Qi didn't hear it, she could imagine what the maids and old women would say, saying that she looked down on her sisters-in-law from her natal family after she gained power, and that she didn't even dare to make a fuss with the second wife when her nephew from her natal family was wronged.
Qi knew what was going on, but she also had her own calculations. She thought that she would let her sister-in-law and the others suffer a little for the time being, and she would compensate them in the future.
How could she have imagined that Bian would act like this in private? Isn't this a slap in her face?
Qi felt embarrassed and her heart was choked with anger. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.
Nanny Jiang naturally guessed what she was thinking. She waved her hand and asked all the maids in the room to retreat. Then she stepped forward to comfort her, "Madam, don't think too much. The mistake was made by the second young lady. It is reasonable for the second lady to invite someone to apologize. Since your aunt is living in our mansion, please invite your aunt and your cousin to come over for tea and chat more often in the future. Let's see who dares to criticize your aunt?"
"To be honest, the Qi family is a small family. The Second Madam has humbled herself and asked someone to come and invite her. Even if Madam Auntie feels it's inappropriate and doesn't want to go, I'm afraid she can't just refuse directly."
"My aunt is the daughter-in-law of the Qi family. Could it be possible that she can really be close to the second wife?"
Hearing her say this, Qi's expression softened a bit. After a moment's thought, she instructed Madam Jiang, "Go to the storehouse and find a good set of four treasures of the study and send them to Shaozhang. Oh, and I remember there's also a Shoushan stone seal with a crane pattern; send that along as well."
Nanny Jiang nodded, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Madam, do you want to say something to the young master?"
Qi shook her head. "Just send the things over. There's no need to say anything else. I've only met Shaozhang a few times, but he seems to be inherently arrogant. Talking too much will only make him suspicious."
Qi sighed softly and said, "My brother and sister-in-law are praising Shaozhang too much. He thinks he's just talented and educated, and he's become arrogant. But in reality, how can he be so arrogant? Is he from a noble family or a marquisate? Or does he have the Empress Dowager and the Emperor as his backers like Lu Bingzhi? He has nothing and doesn't even realize it. How can he understand the difficulties my aunt faces in a marquisate?"
"In that case, just send the things over. No need to say anything else."
Nanny Jiang felt that something was not right, but although the Madam and the cousin were aunt and niece, they were not close. Besides, the aunt and the cousin would not stay in the capital forever. After the third lady got married, would the aunt still have the nerve to live in the Marquis' Mansion? Naturally, she would have to go back to the Qi family.
In this way, the lady doesn't have to explain anything to her cousin. After all, the aunt and niece will probably never meet again in the future.
Nanny Jiang also felt a little sorry for her own lady at this moment. The lady seemed to be doing well on the surface, but in reality, only the person who drinks the water knows whether it is hot or cold. The Marquis now dotes on Concubine Liu, and the young lady and the lady are not close. The young master also has a grudge against the lady because of the scene he witnessed that day. Now, except for necessary greetings, he spends most of his time in the study in the outer courtyard. The lady is busy with household chores all day long, and even if she feels bad, she has no time to take care of these things.
Now the old lady is ill again, and the wedding of the third lady and Master Lu is coming up soon, so she is very busy these days.
Seeing Qi's tired look, Nanny Jiang didn't say anything else. She just nodded and went to the private storehouse as Qi instructed.
Soon, Nanny Jiang took the things and went to the courtyard where Qi Shaozhang lived.
After explaining her purpose, Nanny Jiang placed the things on the table, thought for a moment, and finally spoke: "Young Master, although Madam has been the Marquis's wife for so many years, her family is not prominent, and Madam is also very cautious in the mansion. Even if she knows that Young Master has been implicated, it is not appropriate to quarrel with the Second House because of this matter. I hope that Young Master will understand Madam as an aunt."
"Besides, the second young lady has already reaped the fruits of her own labor. When the third young lady marries Prince Lu, she will be married off and away from the capital. This will ruin the future of any noblewoman in the capital. Now that things have come to this, it can be considered a relief for my cousin."
After saying this, Nanny Jiang bowed and stepped back.
In the room, Qi Shaozhang sat behind the desk. He reached out and took the Shoushan stone crane-patterned seal on the tray. He rubbed and played with it for a long time, and suddenly chuckled.
The servant Yun Zheng heard his young master suddenly laugh out loud and looked at him with some nervousness.
The young master had been feeling down these days, plagued by the rumors surrounding Miss Cui and Concubine Wen. He had considered moving out of the mansion, but the lady persuaded him. The young master had been in a bad mood for the past few days, even considering returning to the Qi family sooner rather than later.
At this moment, the young master was actually interested in playing with the Shoushan stone seal and even laughed out loud. Yun Zheng's heart tightened involuntarily and she opened her mouth to say something.
Before he could speak, Qi Shaozhang looked at him with a smile and said meaningfully, "In the past, I only thought that I was talented and well-versed in writing, and that my Qi family was not bad, so I, the young master of the Qi family, was also a handsome man. But now that I have entered the capital, I realize that in front of these aristocratic families, I, the young master of the Qi family, am nothing. Without a prominent family background, even if I pass the imperial examination, I will not have the support of the court in the future, and my official career is not guaranteed to be smooth."
"Before, when my mother asked me to marry my cousin Yan, I didn't mind. I thought that if I did so, people would inevitably say that I was trying to climb up the social ladder and rely on the Yue family. Although it was better than those sons-in-law who came to live with their parents, it would also inevitably lead to people pointing fingers and saying that I was not a good person. But now I think about it, although I have a lot of education, I may not be as worldly-wise as my mother. My mother's original idea may not be wrong. She was truly thinking about me."
"Now that I think about it, if cousin Yan wasn't about to marry into the Duke of Wei's mansion, marrying a girl from the Marquis's mansion would have been a shortcut for me, the young master of the Qi family."
Yun Zheng's heart skipped a beat, and she felt that the young master's temperament seemed a little different from before.
He didn't know how to respond. The young master had always been arrogant, but now he was so self-deprecating. It seemed that he was not having a happy life in the capital.
In fact, he secretly felt that it would be better to return to the Qi family. The Qi family was considered a wealthy family in the local area and had quite a bit of reputation. Unlike in the capital, even with relatives like the Ningshou Marquis's Mansion, his wife and others were looked down upon by the people in the Marquis's Mansion. Even Aunt Qi had never cared about her family.
Otherwise, the aunt should have come in person to talk to the young master, her nephew, instead of just sending her trusted confidant, Madam Jiang, to deliver these things. Although these things are valuable, the aunt's action is a reward and comfort from a superior to a subordinate.
The young master has always been arrogant, and he didn't know how to feel uncomfortable in his heart, otherwise he wouldn't be so angry and say such words that he would never say in the past.
......
Cui Lingyan accompanied Zhan and the others to have dinner at Bian's house. When they returned to Chuyunyuan after the banquet, it was already late at night. After taking a bath, they went to bed early.
In the next few days, she went to Xilan Courtyard every day to pay her respects to the old lady, and the old lady's complexion became better day by day.
In a blink of an eye, half a month passed, the wedding was approaching, and the mansion was decorated with lights and was filled with joy everywhere.
The day before the wedding, the eldest daughter Cui Linghui also came back from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and came to Chuyunyuan on purpose.
As soon as she came in, the atmosphere became a little awkward, and both Zhan and Qi Ruoruo looked at Cui Linghui.
Cui Lingyan smiled and said to Cui Linghui, "Big sister has returned home. I thought she was unwell and would stay at the Zhenguogong Mansion for a few more days."
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