Chapter 12
Chapter 12
At the end of March, the spring breeze blows across your nose, carrying a faint scent of flowers, and you feel refreshed.
Wen Shuse was so excited that he could hardly calm down. Besides the dizziness from the windfall, his heart felt as if it was burning with fire as he took on the heavy responsibility of being a housekeeper for the first time.
Even though her father left the family fortune to her after he went to Fuzhou, her grandmother did not dare to put all her eggs in one basket. The only things she could spend were the money her father brought back every quarter to support the expenses of the first wife and her pocket money. The teahouse and shop in Fengcheng were all in her grandmother's hands.
Xie San was different. He handed over all the money of the second branch of the Xie family to her without reservation.
Being able to trust her so much, she would definitely not let him down.
Although she does not have the reputation of the eldest lady, she is willing to give it a try. When she manages the household well in the future, when she leaves the Xie family, she will not leave people with the impression that she eats and drinks for free and leaves without leaving a trace.
When Uncle An came to visit, Wen Shuse's attitude was very good. He sat upright on the official hat chair, asked Aunt Qing to drink tea with Uncle An, and spoke politely, "I am a young man with little knowledge, so please give me more guidance, Uncle An."
Perhaps it was because of the precedent set by the prodigal son Xie Shao, seeing her like this, Uncle An burst into tears and instantly saw hope. He went through the account book with her carefully from beginning to end.
From sunrise to sunset, Wen Shuse was filled with enthusiasm, but in the end, it was completely worn out by the boring numbers in the account book.
After seeing Uncle An off, he was just coming back to his senses in the reclining chair when Nanny Fang came in to report that Biyun, the maid serving the First Madam, had arrived.
The one who is called the eldest lady must be the mother of the eldest son. If it weren't for Xie San, the eldest lady would be her mother-in-law by now. Not knowing what he wanted to see her for, Wen Shuse asked Nanny Fang to let the person in first.
Biyun brushed the curtain and entered the room, but she was not looking for Wen Shuse. She knelt casually and bowed to her, "Third Madam," and then looked around the room. She turned around and asked Madam Fang behind her, "Has the Third Young Master not returned yet?"
The look on his face showed that he didn't take Wen Shuse seriously at all.
It was a bit disgraceful for the lady to enter the mansion, but now she is a legitimate lady acknowledged by the Third Young Master. After seeing with her own eyes that the Third Young Master supported the lady in front of the eldest lady, Xiangyun suddenly felt confident. Without waiting for Nanny Fang to reply to her, she spoke first, "The son-in-law is busy, what can this sister do for you?"
Biyun didn't expect the maid from the Wen family to speak up. She was slightly surprised and glanced at Xiangyun. She couldn't hide a trace of contempt in her eyes. She didn't answer her, but just smiled at Wen Shuse, "Third Madam, I came here today on the orders of the first lady to find the third young master to collect the money for next month's powder. Since the third young master hasn't come back yet, I'll wait outside for a while." She was suddenly startled, as if she remembered something important and was quite annoyed. "Look at this maid's brain. I forgot that the third young master is now living in the west wing. I'm sorry to disturb you, Third Madam. I'll take my leave now."
Xiangyun was so angry that he was gasping for breath. This pretentious...
He tilted his head back and said loudly to the figure who was turning around and walking away, "What a coincidence! My uncle handed over the warehouse to grandma today. I'm afraid this sister will have to turn around and come back to find our grandma."
Sure enough, the person in front paused and turned to look at Nanny Fang behind him.
Nanny Fang nodded, "Madam Xiangyun is right. The young master has handed the account book to Third Madam today. If you want to withdraw money from the third young master, you can go to Third Madam."
How is that possible?
Biyun was shocked. Everyone in the mansion knew that she was a fake. If the Third Young Master could really tolerate her, why would he move to the west wing? He kept her in the courtyard just to appease the old lady. Once the old lady recovered, he would write a divorce letter. Her coming to the Xie family would just be a quick visit...
But Nanny Fang is the Third Young Master's person and cannot lie.
After a while, Biyun finally recovered. Although she didn't understand why the Third Young Master was so foolish, she had to lower her head and walked back to Wen Shuse. This time, she was much more polite, "Third Madam, please take a look at the Madam's expenses for next month's gouache..."
Wen Shuse had been nagging Uncle An all day, and his ears were still buzzing. He didn't expect that he would get the hang of it so quickly, so he casually asked, "How much?"
The words and tone were exactly the same as those of the Third Young Master.
Biyun breathed a sigh of relief, "Five hundred taels." She was waiting for the other party to issue the bill, but she saw the girl sitting on the armchair opposite slowly straightened up and asked, "Which brand of watercolor?"
Which one.
Such a simple question, perhaps it had never been asked before, Biyun was stunned by the question, looking at the doubt gradually revealed by the girl opposite, and hurriedly said, "The Cui family on West Street."
The girl paused, revealing a slightly annoyed look, "After all, Cui Nian, the young master of the Cui family, and my young master are sworn brothers, how could he have the intention to deceive you behind my back?"
Seeing Biyun's bewilderment, Wen Shuse explained to her, "Madam, you don't know yet, right? Although the boxes of Cui's powder are beautiful, the selling point is all on the boxes. The powder inside is all imported from Qingzhou. Where does Qingzhou's powder come from? Isn't it Yangzhou? My mother-in-law's family, the Ruan family, is a famous spice family in Yangzhou. Every year, the Ruan family accounts for 80% of the rouge and powder exported to other places. It's fine for the Cui family to deceive others, but why did they deceive Madam?"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. Wen Shuse straightened his chest and said, "Our eldest lady is from a famous family, she looks pretty, but her face is not a big jade plate. She uses at most ten boxes a month, and ten boxes cost five hundred taels!" His brows furrowed even tighter. "The Cui family used the mother-in-law's watercolors, and then sold them to my husband at dozens of times the price. Aren't they treating my husband like a fool? Aren't they afraid of going against their conscience?"
Biyun was stunned.
"No, I'll go find my husband and tell him he was cheated." She suddenly stood up, and Biyun was so scared that she stopped her, "Third Madam, wait a minute..." She said in a panic, "The gouache used by the eldest lady doesn't seem to be all from the Cui family. Others... This servant's head really doesn't remember things."
Wen Shuse did not embarrass her, and his expression gradually relaxed, "I knew it, the Cui family is too kind-hearted."
Biyun said yes repeatedly, "I made a mistake for the moment."
Wen Shuse did not continue to ask, fearing that the Xie family would be cheated. "Doesn't our Xie family also have a gouache shop? I've used it before. The goods are the same as those of the Cui family. If Madam needs gouache in the future, just go to the shop and get it. We can't let others make money from us for no reason." Turning around, he called Nanny Fang over, "Nanny, go to the gouache shop tomorrow and see what's going on. How can the gouache used by the masters of the mansion be so stingy that the Madam has to pay for it herself..."
"Don't bother Third Grandma..."
Xiangyun looked at Biyun's colorful face and felt relieved.
My wife is different from the third young master. If she squanders the family's wealth, it is her own fault. It is not so easy for others to plunder her. The dowry of the eldest wife of the Wen family is an example.
Half a minute later, Biyun came out of the house empty-handed. When the night wind blew, she realized that there was a layer of cold sweat on her vest.
I suddenly realized that this Third Grandma...is not an easy person to deal with.
She hurried back and told the eldest lady everything Wen Shuse said word for word. The more she listened, the more ridiculous it seemed to her, "Does she really think of herself as the third grandmother of the Xie family?"
He hated Xie Shao again.
"The Third Young Master can do whatever he wants with other matters, but he dares to hand over such an important matter as the accounting? I'm afraid he hasn't heard of the Second Lady Wen's ability." That night, the eldest lady went to the old lady's room, "Mother, you don't know the character of the Second Lady of the Wen family..."
After the eldest son of the Xie family got engaged to the eldest lady of the Wen family, she had frequent contacts with the eldest lady of the Wen family and knew everything about the Wen family.
Madam Wen was a complete spendthrift. She wore a new set of clothes every day and never wore the same ones twice. She bathed with milk and only drank morning dew from green mountains. It was said that all the dishes and chopsticks in her house were made of gold, not to mention the jewelry.
Madam Xie was suffering from a heart disease, and the eldest lady's kick hit her sore spot that she almost choked.
The eldest lady said excitedly, "She has been in the mansion for less than half a month, and she has hired painters and asked craftsmen to repair the courtyard. She has spent my family's money lavishly, but today I asked someone to withdraw 500 taels of silver, but she refused to give a penny. When the second master returned to Fengcheng with 50,000 taels of gold, so many eyes were staring at him. If it weren't for the old master protecting him all these years, there would be no peace now..."
Mrs. Xie didn't hear a word of what the eldest lady said, she only heard the words "not a cent". Her eyes suddenly brightened, and her temper slowly calmed down. She listened to the eldest lady's complaints calmly, and when the people left, she immediately sat up from the bed and ordered Nan Zhi, "Quick, call Nanny Fang over."
—
Yesterday, Xie Shao agreed to take her home. Wen Shuse's mind was full of her grandmother all night. She woke up before dawn and couldn't fall asleep anyway, so she got up and started packing.
Fearing that Xie San might suddenly change his mind, Xiangyun was sent to stand guard at the door of the west wing early on.
After Xie Shao came out of Pei's house yesterday, he was dragged by Zhou Kuang and Cui Ni to the White Building, where he listened to a few Xixia merchants singing songs all night long.
The singing style of Xixia is different from that of Dafeng. The songs are full of love without any concealment. The debauchery in the bones of ordinary people, once provoked, is like a flood bursting through a dam. When the song is finished, all the people in the room exclaim that it is wonderful.
Xie Shao returned home very late. He was sleeping soundly when he suddenly heard a noise in his ears.
"Uncle, it's morning."
"It's one o'clock in the morning."
"It's two quarters past midnight, uncle, uncle..."
"Madam Xiangyun, please don't make any noise, the young master hasn't woken up yet..."
Xie Shao turned over and sat up, his head aching and heavy. When he put on his clothes and went out, his eyes were still a little sore. The young lady in front of the door looked energetic and waved to him with a smile, "My dear, it's time to go."
He changed his tune pretty quickly.
Xie Shao ignored her and asked Min Zhang to prepare a return gift. He then followed the young lady, who was about to jump up, out of the yard.
"My dear, what do you like to eat? Is there anything you cannot eat? I'll tell the chef first."
Xie Shao was not interested at all. "All is fine."
"Then I'll see to it." She turned her head and continued, "My dear, you don't have any plans today, right? I just came back from the farm on the day of my wedding, and I didn't even have time to go back to my room before I was pushed onto the flower bridge. I want to go back and pack up today, and it will probably take some time. I'd like to say hello to my dear first, so don't rush me, okay?"
Without the previous aggressiveness, and with an attitude of begging, that bright and expectant face seemed inexplicably much more pleasing to the eye.
Xie Shao naturally knew why she went to the manor, and he also had a deep understanding of the feeling of being forced into marriage. Since he had already agreed to her marriage, there was no need to spoil her mood. "Today, at the latest."
The day bed is enough, as long as you don’t sit for a while and leave, “Thank you, my dear.”
The girl was satisfied and turned her head away and ignored him. One of them looked excited while the other one looked listless. As soon as they came out from behind the screen wall, they saw Madam Xie standing at the door.
Yesterday, when Xie Shao went to visit her, he saw her lying on the bed with a haggard face. Suddenly, he saw that she was able to get out of bed. He was stunned for a moment, "Grandma?"
Old Madam Xie's eyes were on Wen Shuse, "Is this Shuse? Look at how pretty she is, she must be a member of my Xie family..."
Half a month after the marriage, it was the first time that Old Lady Xie saw someone. The surprise in her eyes was not pretended, because she really did not expect that the second wife of the Wen family was so beautiful.
Last night she heard from Nanny Fang that the Third Madam was coming back home today. Since the couple had already discussed it, she couldn't stop them. If she couldn't stop them, then they could go together.
The two families can't keep wasting time like this. They will meet sooner or later. She doesn't believe that old man Wen can hide someone under her nose.
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