Chapter 85: Take Back
After breakfast, Baoju packed up the documents that he had brought back yesterday but that the Lord was too drunk to read, and locked them in the box again. He asked an attendant to hold them, and the others stood guard in the corridor leading to the small side door of the East Courtyard, waiting for Xu Junying to come. Xu Junying temporarily went back to his room to get something, and when he came out, he looked at the attendants and said,
"Go out the side door and wait at the main entrance. I'll be there in a moment."
He motioned to Baoju to take the document box and followed him to the upper room of Tsinghua Courtyard.
It was already bright outside, which was considered late compared to the previous days. This was the first time that Xu Junying was late for leaving home. Even if he did not have to attend court and only had to go to the government office to handle business, he would never be late. This was related to his usual diligent style.
After walking out of the moon-shaped door, Xu Junying glanced at the upper room. The corridor was deserted, with only three or two maids busying themselves with something. Was Mei Niang still not up? Why were her personal maids and Wang Ma nowhere to be seen?
The little girl Cheng'er came out from the path behind the holly trees on the left. Seeing Xu Junying, she bowed and saluted. Xu Junying asked:
"Are your big tits up?"
Cheng Er replied: "Replying to Lord Hou: Grandma got up before dawn and has now gone to Qiuhua Courtyard to pay respects to the First Madam."
Xu Junying pursed his lips, his expression became indifferent and cold, and nodded to let Cheng'er leave. Cheng'er had just taken a few steps when he called her back, paused, and finally handed over a small brocade box in his hand:
"This is a pill from the palace, it's for dizziness, I'll give it to you, my dear. Just take one pill when you get sick. Don't always use a minor illness as an excuse. It's fine if you don't care about your business, but if you don't serve the old lady for days, you're showing impoliteness."
Cheng Er came over and took the brocade box with both hands, bowed and said: "I've made a note of this. When you come back, I'll give you the pills and pass on the words of the Lord."
Xu Junying said nothing more, and led Baoju out of Qinghua Courtyard and walked towards the second gate. He felt a little uncomfortable: he estimated that she was dizzy and couldn't get up early, so he couldn't go to Qiuhua Courtyard, so he waited until this time to come and personally gave her the pills that the palace doctor specially prepared for the queen mother and the best effect for treating dizziness. In recent days, she gave him a sweater and took care of him several times, and he had no choice but to accept it. This palace medicine was more precious than anything else, and ordinary people couldn't get it easily. He originally asked for it for the old lady, and curing her illness was also a repayment for her favor, and neither of them owed her anything.
She actually got up and left before dawn. Did her dizziness heal so quickly? She went to visit Heng'er again and pay her respects to Madam Zheng. The three of them looked like a real family together.
Xu Junying thought silently, and this idea suddenly appeared in his mind. He gritted his teeth, put force on his feet, and walked very fast. The precious horse behind him was stunned for a moment, and quickly caught up.
In Qiuhua Courtyard, Mei Niang held Heng'er in her arms and played with the birds in the cage for a while under the corridor. Then, she followed the maids into the second hall and put Heng'er on the warm couch. While waiting for Xia Lian to bring breakfast, she held his hand and taught him to play fighting insects, sing nursery rhymes, and do various exercises to exercise his hands and feet. Heng'er was very excited and laughed happily. Mei Niang was very happy to see that her son was smart and learned everything quickly. The mother and son played for a while, and Heng'er's breakfast was served. Mei Niang fed him personally. The child had a good appetite to begin with, and with his mother holding him, he was in a good mood and ate quickly and well. After a while, he finished a bowl of meat porridge. Mei Niang put the last spoonful of porridge into Heng'er's mouth. After he swallowed it, he still opened his mouth and waited, which made everyone around him laugh. Mei Niang wiped his mouth for him, kissed his pink little face hard, and said, "Your little belly is bulging. Eat this much first. We can eat more when we're hungry, okay?"
Heng'er seemed to understand. He nodded at her with a pair of bright eyes. His adorable little look made Mei Niang reluctant to hand him over to the wet nurse.
It was not until Madam Zheng woke up and asked Chunyue to call her in to talk that Mei Niang gave Heng'er to the wet nurse. Heng'er naturally refused and hugged Mei Niang's neck tightly and refused to let go. He also screamed and waved his hands to drive the wet nurse away. Mei Niang had no choice but to carry him to see Madam Zheng. Madam Zheng coaxed Heng'er for a few words and asked Xia Lian to take him away. After a while of crying, mother and son had to be separated. Mei Niang stood in front of Madam Zheng's bed, listening to Heng'er's crying gradually fading away, and her resentment towards Madam Zheng increased a little more, and it was extremely deep.
Madam Zheng looked at Mei Niang and said with a little dissatisfaction: "I mentioned to you a while ago that we would pick up Mei Yu after the Lantern Festival. Didn't you remember what I said? Or do you want to wait until the first month of the lunar year to pick her up?"
Mei Niang lowered her eyes and said, "I have not forgotten what my mother said. I just thought that my mother would go to visit my uncle after the New Year and pick up my cousin Yu..."
Madam Zheng said, "I look after Heng'er every day. He is so delicate that he cannot stand the cold weather. How dare I take him back to your uncle's house? I don't have the time to pick him up. I am old now and don't take care of the housework. You are in your prime, so why did I help you to be the head of the household? Heng'er and I will depend on you from now on. You can't always remember to do things only after I remind you. If you are more attentive and take care of your mother-in-law and son, I will enjoy my life."
Damn it, I beg you to look after Heng'er? Want to go back to my parents' home and return my son to me? What kind of person is Zheng Meiyu? Why do we need to go through so much trouble to pick her up? It's just a matter of a carriage and a few maids. The mistress of the house, Xu Junying's wife, had to send someone to pick her up, just to achieve a certain purpose.
Mei Niang really wanted to talk back to the old woman and tell her that Zheng Meiyu was not worth her trouble, and was not what she had imagined, that she could be her undercover agent and help her implicate Xu Junying. But when she saw Mrs. Zheng staring at her with her swollen eyes, she no longer had that mood. It was not worth it, and she was not really in an alliance with her. When the time was right, she took her son and left, and had nothing to do with the old woman anymore.
Still lowering his head meekly: "My wife knows what to do. I will send someone to pick up Cousin Yu in the next two days."
Madam Zheng's expression relaxed a little. "Let Madam He follow the carriage. Madam He often goes to the farm 80 miles north of the city. I won't be back for the New Year, and you sent some New Year gifts before the New Year. Just be casual this time, and don't bring too much."
Mei Niang said: "It is still the New Year, the first month of the year, it is not good to pick up Cousin Yu empty-handed, wait for my wife to bring Mother He to the storehouse, and personally select some good gifts for them to take away."
Madam Zheng hummed, and continued, "You are smart and capable, better than Jingyu from the second house, and the wives of the second house have never been as good as me. Look at Jingyu, her family background is several times better than yours, and she is a strong-willed woman. What's the problem if she marries someone like the second house? You know very well how I treat you. I am not a harsh and stingy mother-in-law, you don't have to suffer the kind of grievances that Jingyu has suffered. Junying wants to remarry, and the old lady has mentioned it to me. Don't worry, how many years can the old lady live? As for me, the household affairs of the Hou Mansion are in your hands, and whoever wants to share your power has to go through me. No matter how much Junying favors and loves his new wife, he must always take filial piety into consideration and cannot go beyond the rules to stop me from disciplining my daughter-in-law. With the old lady here, Zhuang can be on an equal footing with you. Without the old lady, she is just a concubine who takes the title of a lady. You have to be patient, and when Heng'er grows up, you will have everything."
Mei Niang responded: "The daughter-in-law listens to her mother."
But what she was thinking in her heart was: Go quickly, go quickly, I don't have the patience to stay in this kind of place, Heng'er must be taken away - the old lady is shrewd and has a kind face, but she kicks you in the back and supports her own niece's granddaughter. The lady from a noble family, Zhuang Yulan, is not a good person. Madam Zheng is shrewd and conceited, and Zheng Meiyu is shameless. If Heng'er is left here, he will be killed by them sooner or later.
On the twenty-second day of the first lunar month, three carriages came from outside the city and drove into the alley of Xu's mansion. Instead of going directly to the side door, they stopped at the main gate. Four servants were standing in a row at the main gate. One of them saw that the carriages had stopped, so he ran down the stone steps and asked. When he learned that it was the cousin of the Zheng family, he waved his hand:
"Go in through the side door. The Lord has guests. He is chatting in the front hall. He may come out at any time. It would be bad if he is caught by the guests."
The Xu family maid who got off the carriage went to tell Mother He, who smiled and said to Zheng Meiyu who was sitting in the same carriage, "It's better to go in through the side door. The carriage can go directly to the Chuihua Gate, so the girl doesn't have to walk."
Zheng Meiyu stroked her legs and said, "Mom, you don't know, riding in a car is really tiring, my legs are sore. I just want to walk, so I want to go in through the main gate."
Mother He looked at her with a smile and said, "Okay, okay, when we get off the car, let the maids help you walk around the corridor a few times to stretch your hamstrings."
Zheng Meiyu said: "Forget it, I have to go back to see my aunt first. I miss her so much after being away for so many days."
Mother He nodded: "After all, the girl grew up with Madam since she was a child. Although they are aunt and niece, they are more like mother and daughter. Madam also talks about the girl every day. After the New Year, she asked the eldest aunt to send someone to pick up the girl and bring her back home. The eldest aunt was busy and didn't remember it. Now she urged her again, and then she went to pick her up."
Zheng Meiyu's gaze slowly shifted away from He's mother's face. She stared at a row of swaying silk tassels on the wall of the carriage for a while, then lowered her eyelids, quietly hiding the hatred and coldness in her eyes.
After the Spring Festival, every time she went home to visit her parents, she never stayed for more than a month. The family situation was getting worse and worse. Her sisters were all married, and her father had a cough every day. The medical expenses were high, all of which were earned by selling land. After so many years, there was still no improvement. What's more, he had to support three concubines and had a half-brother who was as sickly as him. Her mother was sharp and mean, and she was always nagging. If she stayed in such a house for one more day, she would feel so uncomfortable that she was going to die. She had to leave after half a month at most and less than ten days at least. Among the three aunts, only the one who married into the Xu Mansion lived the best and loved her the most. As long as she didn't want to stay with her parents, she sent someone to tell Madam Zheng, and Madam Zheng would immediately send someone to pick her up. In the Xu Mansion, she had fine clothes and delicious food, a relaxed and beautiful environment, and two cousins who treated her like their own sisters. She lived a leisurely life and believed that the Xu Mansion was her home and she would live here forever.
Cousin Ying was handsome and powerful, and a smile from her could make her excited for most of the day. Cousin Jie also loved and spoiled her, but he only treated her as a child, and never had the patience to accompany her. Only the eldest cousin would talk to her politely and treat her like a girl. When she was very young, she chose Cousin Ying for herself as the object of her love and the husband she would marry in the future.
Before Qin Meiniang appeared, she and Zhuang Yulan argued, and Qin Meiniang was granted marriage and married into the mansion. Zhuang Yulan collapsed directly. Although she hated it so much that she wanted to vomit blood, she insisted on not leaving. Finally, Qin Meiniang died. Zhuang Yulan was far away in Jiangning. She gained the trust of her cousin Ying, and a great opportunity was right in front of her. Who would have thought that Qin Meiniang would come back to life? At that time, she wanted to run to Tsinghua Court and strangle Meiniang to death again.
This time, was it Qin Meiniang who did it on purpose? She delayed taking her back and wanted to suffocate her to death in Zheng's house?
Zheng Meiyu gritted her teeth and stared at the embroidered felt mat under her feet: Qin Meiniang, did you remember anything? If she really remembered, for Heng'er, she should die in silence in a quiet place.
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