Chapter 76: Unvirtuous
In the evening, Xu Junying came back from visiting the old lady outside, smelling of alcohol, but fortunately he was not drunk. He went to the old lady's room to greet her and talked to her. He was not in the mood to drink the tea made by Zhuang Yulan, so he returned to Tsinghua Courtyard. Ruizhu and Ruibao helped him bathe and change clothes. Baoju opened the door of the study, but Xu Junying did not go in. He asked Baoju to lock the door of the study and brought Baizhan to the room on the Tsinghua Courtyard side.
In the upper room, Mei Niang was practicing handstand on the couch against the wall, Cui Xi and Cui Lian were doing needlework nearby, and Cui Si was practicing calligraphy. Mei Niang said that her handwriting was the worst among the three maids, and asked her to practice writing ten or twenty words every day.
Mother Wang came over and said, "It's time, grandma, get up."
Mei Niang couldn't hold on any longer and turned over. This body was too weak and her physical condition was too poor. She could hold on for more than half an hour before, but now she could only hold on for ten minutes at most. Thinking back to when she was practicing in the gym, fighting with others on the stage, and doing somersaults in the air at any time, she could do more than ten in a row. But now she dared not to do it. Qin Mei Niang's arms and legs were weak, so she had to take it slowly. Don't hurt yourself by accident. If you hurt your bones and muscles, you won't be able to go out. It's not worth it.
Suddenly, I heard Cheng'er shouting outside: "Master Hou is back."
The people in the room were stunned for a moment, and then there was chaos. Lord Hou had not come to the upper room for a long time. Mei Niang was exercising or looking at the account books or something, so she asked the maids to accompany her. Everyone was doing their own things, and they were used to it. They never expected him to come at this time. The three maids quickly packed up and left the couch, and Xu Junying lifted the curtain and walked in.
The room was warm, with a hint of fresh floral scent in the air. Mei Niang was only wearing a fitted snow-cherry-colored top and pants, and before she could even put on her outer robe, she got off the couch and saluted Xu Junying. Xu Junying stood with his hands behind his back, not even looking at her, and only said:
"Go put on your clothes, I have something to tell you"
Mei Niang walked into the curtains that were lowered in front of the bed. Cui Xi and Cui Lian took out a bright red robe embroidered with lotus flowers and put it on her, matching it with a lotus-colored silk skirt. She simply tied her hair into a bun, without wearing a hairpin or pearl flowers. She came out and saluted Xu Junying again. This time, Xu Junying glanced at her and pointed at the round table:
"Sit here, no need to serve tea, let them go down"
Mei Niang knew why he came and disliked his arrogant attitude, so she deliberately said, "Sir, don't you want to drink tea? I'm thirsty. Cui Xi, bring me a cup of hot tea."
She was indeed thirsty, and Xu Junying didn't know how long he would talk. Could he let her endure the thirst and listen to him?
Of course Cui Xi couldn't just give her one cup of tea, so she brought two cups directly, placed one in front of the two of them, and then left.
Mei Niang said: "Master, please have some tea."
He picked up the teacup and took a sip, then spit it out immediately, fanning himself with his hands, breathing in and shouting, "Cui Xi, you are going to kill me!"
Cui Xi rushed in in a panic: "Did my big breasts get burned? Oh, what should I do?"
Mei Niang took a few breaths and waved her hands: "It's okay, bring another cup of tea."
Cui Lian had already exchanged a cup for the tea and said, "This cup of tea has been left to dry. Grandma can drink it now."
Mei Niang said: "Okay, you guys go down"
Cui Xi and Cui Lian went out, and Mei Niang picked up the teacup to drink tea again. This time she took a small sip first, and when she felt it was ok, she drank two sips and put down the teacup.
Xu Junying sat quietly aside and asked, "Are you ready? Can you talk now?"
Mei Niang nodded: "Master Hou, please speak."
"Are you always like this? You only realize your mistakes after you've done them? Just like when you drink tea, if you carefully probe the cup, why would you get burned? Before asking Jingyu to work with you, you should think about whether she can handle it. If you contradict the Second Madam, you should know the consequences. What are you going to do now? The Second Madam and Jingyu don't understand you. If the Second House and the First House have a rift because of this, you will be the sinner. You have disturbed the peace of the whole family during the New Year. The Old Madam tolerates you, and the Second Madam is sick because of you. You don't even understand the principle that a harmonious family brings prosperity, so what are you talking about as a manager of the household?"
Mei Niang had imagined countless times what it would be like to talk to Xu Junying about this matter, and she was mentally prepared. Therefore, when she heard Xu Junying mocking her, obviously favoring the second wife, and not having the slightest sense of fairness, she managed not to get angry, and readily lowered her head and admitted her mistake:
"What Lord Hou taught me was that I shouldn't have dragged Jingyu along with me to serve food to the old people, causing her to faint from exhaustion. I shouldn't have contradicted the Second Madam, causing her to become ill from anger. All of this was my fault. The Old Madam and the First Madam punished and taught me a lesson this morning. I also went to apologize to the Second Madam and Jingyu, but they didn't respond to me and didn't let me into the house to meet them. However, they accepted the gifts I gave them, which shows that they are willing to forgive me."
Xu Junying looked at her, and her nonchalant, indifferent expression made him angry: "How do you know they are willing to forgive you? You had no sincerity at all. You just had someone deliver the gifts and left them without even saying a nice word. Jingyu is fine, she is your sister-in-law, and she can't say anything about being bullied by you. As for the second wife, she refused to see you, so you should have knelt in the yard. How could she have the heart to let you kneel for a long time? She will definitely forgive you, isn't it great? Things that should have been settled today have to be delayed until tomorrow. Every extra day means more resentment and a little less family affection. You don't understand..."
Mei Niang lowered her head, but finally she couldn't bear it anymore. She suddenly raised her head and looked at Xu Junying with her bright eyes, forcing him to look away.
Mei Niang said: "It seems that the Marquis followed me to the Second House to apologize. Who told you that? Do you believe everything they say? How do you know that I am not sincere? I stood in front of the Second Madam's door for a long time with sincerity, and stood in front of Jingyu's door for a while. It was really that they didn't see me. Why didn't they see me? The Marquis must not know the reason. If you want to know, I can tell you. If you don't want to hear it, forget it."
She rolled her eyes and thought for a while, then said, "You should listen to this, Lord Hou: The Second Madam came to me to argue about Jingyu's fainting, which is completely groundless. Jingyu's fainting has nothing to do with me. She quarreled with the Second Madam, which is my fault. I shouldn't be rude to my elders, but as an elder, she should behave like an elder and shouldn't always bring up my family. What did my family do to provoke her? She should belittle my family, but I can't talk about hers? If she gets sick from anger, I have to kowtow to her. If I die of anger, who can I complain to?"
Mei Niang saw Xu Junying looking at her coldly and thought something was wrong. She said she would be patient, but she unknowingly acted on impulse again.
He lowered his eyes and said after a while: "I will go to the second wife's room to apologize tomorrow."
Xu Junying said, "We have to get up early tomorrow. I will go with you before I go out. We must eliminate the resentment in the Second Madam's heart. We have always valued the rules in the Hou Mansion. It has never happened before that the younger generation offends the elders. The old lady is very unhappy. You have ruined the fun of this New Year's Day."
Mei Niang bit her lip gently: "Did I stir it up? You don't know what happened in your Xu Mansion, but you blame me for everything."
He still said humbly: "I'm sorry, I was too straightforward and made things difficult for you, Lord Hou."
Xu Junying stood up and prepared to leave, but looked at her calmly and said, "Qin Meiniang, you are not a virtuous wife. I misjudged you. By marrying you, I will take care of your life and death, and let you have support for the rest of your life and have no worries about food and clothing. I tell you clearly now: in three to five months, I will marry someone new. After the new person enters the house, you will not be in charge of the household affairs of the Hou Mansion. If you want to live in Tsinghua Courtyard, you can live there. If you want to live in another courtyard, that's fine too. No one will control you then, and you can do whatever you want, but you still have to abide by the rules of the Hou Mansion. It's best to stay in the courtyard, cultivate your character, and walk less in the garden when you have nothing to do, so as not to offend the old and young in the mansion again. It can be forgiven once, but if it happens twice or three times, the family law will not tolerate it, and you can't blame anyone else."
Xu Junying walked to the door, and Mei Niang stopped him with a gentle word: "Can I ask the reason?"
"explain"
"Why did you divorce your wife and remarry?"
"I just said, you are not virtuous"
"I don't accept it"
Xu Junying turned around and looked at her: "What are you dissatisfied with?"
“…”
Mei Niang blinked her eyes, but finally held back the string of condemnations that were about to burst out of her mouth - it's better not to cause trouble. He said that he would marry a new person in three to five months. Three to five months is enough time. Who cares what he wants to do by then?
She lowered her eyes, pretending to be miserable, and said with resentment: "I just think that Lord Hou shouldn't treat me like this. After all, we are married. Do you have no feelings for me anymore? You find a new lover and leave me alone to suffer. How can you bear it?"
Xu Junying was silent for a moment, then said, "You may remember some things later. I don't owe you anything... Just accept your fate."
After Xu Junying left, Mei Niang sat at the table in a daze for a while. The previous Qin Mei Niang was just timid and fearful. Xu Junying was attracted by her beauty and did not like her character. If he wanted to marry another wife, he could just marry her, but he was afraid that people would say that he divorced his wife and remarried, and abandoned her after having an affair. So he had to accuse the current Mei Niang of being "unvirtuous" just because she offended the second wife?
It was too easy for women to be convicted in ancient times.
Mother Wang, Cuixi, Cuilian and Cuisi came in and looked at Meiniang worriedly. Meiniang said, "You have heard something in the garden, right? But you are unwilling to learn from me that the master wants to marry a new wife, right?"
The girls looked at each other, lowered their heads and said nothing.
"Mother Wang, tell me, was I unvirtuous in the past, or am I unvirtuous now, or am I neither? Lord Hou just told me that this is the reason why he married a new wife."
Mei Niang picked up the teacup and drank tea, speaking slowly.
Mother Wang lowered her head and shed tears, saying nothing. Cui Si said angrily: "As long as the master wants to marry a new wife, he can tell her the reason. What is wrong with grandma? She is several times better than the second grandma."
Mei Niang smiled and said, "You are my master, so naturally I think she is better than others. But you are right. I am fickle and I want to find faults with women. I want to be romantic but don't want to take the blame. How can such a thing be easy? Just wait and see. The day when the Marquis marries his new wife will be the day for me to leave the Marquis' Mansion. He wants to support me, but I don't even bother to accept his favor."
Cui Si nodded repeatedly: "Wherever grandma goes, I will follow her."
Cui Xi and Cui Lian also said: "Even if we go to the streets to beg for food, we servants will follow us."
Mother Wang wiped away her tears and shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about? Grandma is the wife of the Marquis. If you continue to talk nonsense, you will be punished."
The maids fell silent. When Mother Wang showed her power, it was actually quite shocking.
"All of you, get out." Mother Wang said sullenly, "I will serve Grandma tonight."
Mei Niang was stunned for a moment, and said quickly: "Mom is old, let Cui Si stay with me at night..."
Mother Wang said, "Don't worry, Grandma. I'm a light sleeper and can still serve you. Cuixi, did you hear me? You guys go to sleep."
Cui Xi and Cui Lian looked at Mei Niang, who nodded and said, "Then let mom stay with me for one night, and you guys go to sleep."
Several maids went out and Mother Wang closed the door. Mei Niang had already gone to bed by herself. In fact, there was no need to do anything. Just cover herself with the quilt and lower the curtains, and then Mother Wang could sleep on the couch. But after Mother Wang turned off the lights, she did not go to sleep. Instead, she came and sat on the edge of Mei Niang's bed. Mei Niang found it strange and guessed that she must have something to say to her, so she sat up, half leaning on the head of the bed, waiting for her to speak. Sure enough, Mother Wang said something that shocked Mei Niang. Not only did she lose her sleepiness, but cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
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