Zhang Zhaoci said, "But Miss Zhou's older brother looks much more manly. He's intimidating at first glance. He didn't waste any words and got the Ming family's kid to get down and walk home on his own."
As the mother and daughter walked, they chatted. The traffic jam on the street had been cleared. The old lady instructed someone to park the carriage on the side of the road. When Zhang Zhaoci returned, he saw the old lady looking at him with great anticipation.
Zhang Zhaoci asked, "Where is the Zhou family's daughter?"
The old lady said, "It's in Xiao Jiu's car in the back. How was it resolved there?"
Zhang Zhaoci then recounted the whole story. After listening, the old lady nodded and said, "The eldest son of the Zhou family has always been a capable person, and Grand Tutor Ming is a man of principle. It's just a pity that his wife dotes on her children. Apart from the few that Grand Tutor Ming himself raised, the other children in the family are not very successful. In a large family, not every child is successful."
Zhang Zhaoci said, "However, it is really shameful to stage an accident on the street and blame a young woman."
The old lady chuckled and said, "Don't worry, at the latest by tomorrow, Grand Tutor Ming will personally take his young master to the Zhou family to apologize. Grand Tutor Ming is known for his impartiality."
Lady Wu, the wife of the Marquis, was already waiting at the second gate with her sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, and niece-in-law. After the old lady's carriage entered the side gate, a servant came and helped the old lady into a sedan chair. Zhang Zhaoci and the children followed behind the sedan chair. After everyone met at the second gate, they went to the old lady's courtyard together.
Although the old lady had recovered, she was still very old and much weaker than before. When Wu saw the old lady like this, her eyes welled up with tears.
After the old lady sat down, she said with a smile, "I'm back safe and sound, aren't I? Look at you, the children aren't even alright yet, and you're already crying."
Madam Wu was actually a very sensible person. She knew that the reason she had been able to live comfortably in this mansion all these years was thanks to the old lady. Without the old lady's enlightened mother-in-law, Madam Wu's personality would not have been well-received in many families.
Wu said, "Mother, I really shouldn't have done that. I didn't even visit you while you were recuperating on the estate."
The old lady said, "I told you not to go. Zhaoci and the children are doing just fine keeping me company at the estate."
Hearing her mother-in-law mention her illegitimate daughter-in-law, Madam Wu frowned slightly. However, over the years, the old lady had always treated her granddaughter-in-law Zhang Zhaoci differently. Most importantly, the old lady was a strong-willed person who was truly the one who had the final say in the household. There was nothing she couldn't do if she wanted to. Therefore, over the years, the people in the household could only watch the old lady's favoritism with resentment and dare not do anything else.
Madam Wu nodded and said, "It must have been hard on the third son's wife. Mother, Shao'er has been thinking of you a lot and said she wanted to go to the village to visit you. I was afraid that her visit would disturb your peace, so I didn't let her. Now that you're back, let's see when Shao'er can bring the children to visit you and keep you company."
Thinking of Xu Shao's background, the old lady felt very complicated. She also felt that she couldn't blame the child. No one could decide their own birth. She sighed and said, "Shao'er is going to be a mother-in-law. She can't just go back to her parents' home whenever she wants. Let's talk about it in a few days."
Upon hearing this, Madam Wu's heart skipped a beat. This meant they didn't want her daughter to come back. Madam Wu was anxious. Her daughter was having a hard time. Her eldest son, on the Marquis's advice, had been sent to Ru'er's place to study. She had heard that the academy Ru'er's husband attended was not like the Imperial Academy. The conditions there were poor, and students really had to study hard. Moreover, they had to do everything themselves in their daily lives, and they weren't allowed to bring anyone to serve them. Shao'er had often come to complain about this.
Although Wu's mind was racing, she still nodded respectfully. The old lady could tell from Wu's expression that her thoughts and actions didn't match. The old lady thought her daughter-in-law was really muddle-headed. Rao'er was standing right in front of her, looking so much like her own brother. Why didn't she think about it? Now that things were like this, she could only grit her teeth and accept it. But it was impossible for Wu to send money and gifts to the Zhao family as before.
The old lady, exhausted from her journey, became somewhat fatigued after talking for a while and said, "You can all leave now. From now on, I will stay here in this courtyard to recuperate. Don't come over unless it's absolutely necessary."
The two sisters-in-law, surnamed Wu, were puzzled, but since their mother-in-law had given the order, they could only bow and agree, leading their daughters-in-law out of the old lady's courtyard.
Following behind Ning, Zhou noticed that she was quite far from her mother-in-law and whispered, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong with Grandmother this time? The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. And Third Sister-in-law, she came back without a word and went straight to the estate. The more I think about it, the more suspicious I feel."
Ning was also puzzled, but the young master couldn't understand many things either, especially on the day Consort Zhu passed away. Ning had been the wife who had managed the household for many years, and no matter how strict the Marquis's arrangements were, Ning could always find clues from some subtle signs. What shocked Ning the most was that the young master couldn't understand it either. However, there was a servant in their household who had come from Ning's family. He said that he vaguely felt that someone who came back with the Marquis that day looked a lot like the Third Master.
Ning was not an ignorant housewife; she knew a lot about what was happening outside. It was precisely because of this that she was even more terrified. Sometimes, beneath the calm surface, there are turbulent waves.
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