Chapter 300 Once jealousy takes hold, it truly becomes a death warrant!
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"No one has asked Pan'er what she thinks!"
Her parents sold her;
She was beautiful, and when she reached a certain age, she was assigned to be Zhu Dalang's bed warmer.
Yes, she has a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear, and she doesn't have to worry about anything; she's already living a pretty good life.
But, Second Uncle, she's a living, breathing person!
"She, too," Li Shiyue pointed to her head with her finger, "has joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness."
So, what's so surprising about her feeling sorrow and resentment towards the moon?
Second Uncle, you don't actually think that a woman kept in the backyard, a bed warmer, shouldn't have her own thoughts, do you?
Pressed by Li Shiyue's questions, Li Wangming was now speechless.
Li Shiyue chuckled twice at Li Wangming's open-mouthed expression, then turned her head away and continued looking down at the high platform.
The scene on the high platform has changed now; it looks like the next day, Zhu Dalang and his wife will receive greetings from everyone in their courtyard.
Pan'er, dressed in a fresh pinkish-peach-colored dress and wearing a jade hairpin, knelt before the principal wife and Zhu Dalang.
The wife showed no disgust, only asked a couple of casual questions, accepted Pan'er's kneeling obeisance, and gave Pan'er a piece of cloth and a silver bracelet.
This is already quite generous, considering that Pan'er is just a bed warmer.
But Pan'er harbored resentment towards Zhu Dalang, the legal wife, and her own status as a bed warmer.
So she knelt on the ground, looked up at Zhu Dalang sitting at the head of the table, and raised her hand to touch the jade hairpin in her hair.
This jade hairpin was a birthday gift from Zhu Dalang when they were deeply in love.
After putting her hand down, Pan'er thanked the wife sitting at the head of the table for the reward.
This scene is over, and there is no strong conflict. However, considering that the play is called "The Jade Hairpin", one can imagine that the jade hairpin in Pan'er's hair must be a key prop in this play.
"Pan'er is dissatisfied with her own status and is jealous of the legal wife."
Li's mother looked at the opera troupe members moving props below the stage and said this.
"Sigh, only wealthy families can afford to provide their sons with bed warmers. Isn't that just insulting people?"
"For a man like me in the countryside, finding a wife is already a great achievement in this lifetime. As for a bed warmer, that's something I can't have."
Zheng Meiniang put down her bamboo chopsticks and continued what Li's mother had said.
“Mother, those big families have many rules and many things to do, how can they be the same as us?”
If you ask me, in the future I'll find a family with many brothers among farmers like us, not the eldest or the youngest, just a middle-aged man to marry into the family.
I think the next part of the play will be the struggle between the wife and Pan'er. They don't do anything productive all day, instead getting involved in all this jealousy and fighting over men. It's really...it's really...I don't know what to say."
Li Qiutian was right; what followed was indeed a drama of women fighting in the backyard.
While Zhu Dalang was reading in his study, Pan'er would dress up and bring him sweet soup. With a few sweet words and coaxing, Zhu Dalang would agree to anything.
That night, the legal wife was left alone in her room.
Then, the legal wife was not one to be trifled with. The very next day, she found a reason to order Pan'er to do rough work in her capacity as the legal wife.
What kind of rough work is it?
If it's just sweeping and dusting, that's fine, since Pan'er has done those things before.
But does the legal wife really want her son to do chores?
She wanted Pan'er, the bed warmer, to bow her head, to recognize who the big and small kings of this backyard were, and to recognize Pan'er's own status!
So, Pan'er went to clean the chamber pot for the wife, wearing that peach-pink dress.
This can be considered a lesson taught by the legal wife to Pan'er, the girl who warms the bed.
Li Shiyue watched as Pan'er on the high platform kept washing the chamber pot for his wife while crying and singing about her inner turmoil.
Not wanting to listen to any of this, Li Shiyue turned around, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating the stewed mutton on the table.
While she was eating, she heard Li Wangming, who had been silenced by her words, sigh.
Li Shiyue swallowed the fragrant stewed mutton in her mouth and looked up at Li Wangming: "Second Uncle, why are you sighing?"
But I still feel that Pan'er shouldn't be so sorrowful?
Li Wangming shook his head and replied to Li Shiyue, "I was wrong before. I overlooked the fact that Pan'er also has her own ideas."
However, seeing Pan'er's behavior, I sighed because she failed to recognize the situation; she would surely suffer for it later.
Li Shiyue raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Second Uncle, tell me in detail."
"Pan'er's resentment stems from the fact that she is merely a bed warmer and envies the status of the principal wife."
But she never considered that the reason the legal wife was able to be the legal wife was because her parents and brothers were capable, and her family background was a good match for Zhu Dalang.
Pan'er was just a servant who had been sold into servitude by her parents since childhood.
Even if she felt resentful, she shouldn't have been jealous and resorted to such tactics to win favor in front of the legal wife.
Because she never left the backyard, after Zhu Dalang got married, Pan'er's mistress had changed from Zhu Dalang to his legal wife!
Pan'er should be trying to please the legal wife; how could he possibly challenge her dignity?
"Competing for favor with the legal wife?"
Li Wangming glanced downstairs and said, "Right now, Pan'er is just cleaning chamber pots. If she doesn't repent in the future, and the legal wife decides to sell her off, what can Pan'er do?"
At this point, Li Wangming seemed to remember something. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but couldn't, which aroused Li Shiyue's curiosity.
Even Li's mother and the others at the same table turned to look at Li Wangming.
"Oh dear, her second uncle, hurry up and tell us. This room is full of our own family. Who would dare to tell you what you're saying to others?"
Zheng Meiniang was impatient, but she couldn't stand Li Wangming's hesitant manner, so she spoke directly to him.
Li's mother also looked at Li Wangming, wondering what had made him think of something, that he had come up with such a look.
Facing the gazes of Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang, Li Wangming felt a little embarrassed. He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and said in a low voice to everyone, "You didn't see it just now, but when I closed the door to this room, I saw Li Chunli outside!"
The person next to her must be Liu Shu, the heir of the Prince of Zhenbei!
I met the Crown Prince once when I went to the Prince's Mansion with October.
Didn't they say before October that Li Chunli had gone after the Crown Prince?
It is said that Li Chunli has now become the Crown Prince's concubine.
Sister-in-law, a concubine is still just a concubine. How is she any different from a bed warmer like Pan'er?
If the principal wife is determined to sell herself, then the maids and concubines can be sold off just like that!
Selling them to a respectable place is still a good thing, but if you're ruthless and sell them to a dirty place, how will they live the rest of their lives?
That's why I said Pan'er made a mistake. She should bow her head to the legal wife and not be jealous. Jealousy is truly a death sentence!
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