When Li Shiyue woke up, there was no one beside her, and even the temperature was cool, indicating that Xu Yunci had been gone for some time.
"The young lady is awake. Would you like to get up?"
Hearing the commotion, Chunling came in. Seeing Li Shiyue nod, she then lifted the bed curtains on both sides.
"With the year drawing to a close, there are many things in the household that need your attention, Miss. This morning, Granny Sun had people waiting in the flower hall, just waiting for you to come over."
Li Shiyue opened her eyes, looked at her appearance in the bronze mirror and nodded in satisfaction. Since she was at home, she could wear jewelry casually, unlike the elaborate headdress she wore when she left the mansion.
It was foggy early this morning, and it hasn't cleared up much yet.
Stepping out of the house and looking out the courtyard gate, half of the lush green bushes were hidden in the mist, and even part of the stone steps underfoot disappeared in the mist.
"The amount of money required is what I have mentioned. This is the account I have copied down. Please take a look, Madam."
Chunling took it and handed it to Li Shiyue.
The ledgers were a thick stack. After flipping through a few pages, the accounts clearly recorded the destination of each transaction and what items were purchased.
"Add one more thing: take out the warm jade from my storeroom and then go and buy some soothing soft pillows to send to Mother's courtyard. Remember, the silk of the soft pillows must be inspected by Mother Luo herself; only if she nods in approval can it be said that Mother likes them."
"We found a good pharmacy that could soothe my mother's nerves, and got the medicine according to her condition. After my mother recovered, she didn't seem to sleep very well. I noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes, which hadn't gone away for several days."
Li Shiyue closed the ledger and returned it to Granny Sun.
Granny Sun looked surprised, but smiled and agreed, feeling a bit more favorably disposed towards Li Shiyue's actions.
Before he could say anything more, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps from under the eaves. When the person came in, he saw that it was Zhou Shi.
Since her son and daughter got married, she had become more relaxed and spent her days either in the main courtyard or in the Shousong Hall. She had never been as anxious as she was today.
Li Shiyue looked puzzled and waved her hand, signaling Granny Sun to lead everyone away. She couldn't let anyone in the mansion see Zhou Shi in such a discomfiture.
“Yan Yan…”
When Zhou approached, Li Shiyue could see that she seemed to have been crying. When she saw Li Shiyue, her eyes revealed a mixture of grievance and anger.
Li Shiyue was puzzled and quickly pulled Zhou Shi to sit down, asking, "Aunt, what's wrong? Tell me slowly, don't rush—"
"Yan Yan, please help A Qing."
Zhou shook her head, pushed Li Shiyue's hands away, grabbed her wrists instead, and pleaded in her eyes: "Aqing is not pregnant when she gets married, but the Yang family makes her stand in the rules every day."
“Aqing advised me not to make a scene, so I held back. But after I gave birth to a daughter, who was only a month old, I wanted Aqing to continue standing in the proper place.”
"I... I can't swallow this insult. When have any of the Xu family's daughters ever been treated like this?"
Li Shiyue was shocked. She knew that Xu Lingqing had given birth to a daughter, who had only just turned one month old.
Yesterday, she saw Xu Lingqing at the Guo residence. She was wearing makeup, but her expression didn't reveal anything. This morning, she was thinking about what to give Xu Lingqing, since she was the first to get pregnant after marriage and gave birth earlier.
"Does Aunt mean that Aqing was wronged at the Chengen Duke's Mansion?"
Madam Zhou nodded: "That's right. The Cheng'en Duke's mansion is a large family, but it's not as peaceful and comfortable as our family. Especially since A-Qing gave birth to a girl, those people from the Yang family have shown their true colors. One by one, they've been rushing to the Cheng'en Duke's mansion to give A-Qing a hard time."
"But those people in the Duke of Cheng'en's mansion are like they can't speak up. They don't speak up for A-Qing, and because of the affairs of the inner quarters, Yang Yan can't interrupt. If he does interrupt, it will only give those people an opportunity to talk about A-Qing again."
"It was because the Duchess of Cheng'en couldn't stand it anymore that she specially sent someone to our Duke's Mansion to ask for help. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known if Aqing hadn't told me."
After saying that, Zhou seemed extremely angry. She stood there, gritting her teeth in fury.
"Do Grandmother and Mother know about this? We can't go alone. Please be patient, Aunt, and leave it to me. You should go to Shousong Hall first and tell Grandmother about this."
“I’ll go with my fourth cousin and his wife to the Duke of Cheng’en’s mansion to see what’s going on. Don’t worry. We’re all family. Now that we know A-Qing has been wronged, we can’t just sit idly by.”
After calming Zhou down, Li Shiyue sent someone to find Xu Yunyao and Zhang, and the couple arrived quickly.
Since entering the palace with Xu Yunci, Xu Yunyao had also obtained a minor official position. It just so happened that he was on his day off, so upon hearing the report, he and Zhang rushed over.
"Now that we're here, let's go to the Duke of Chengen's mansion and see how the Yang family treats our sister."
Li Shiyue looked at Xu Yunyao and Zhang Shi. After all, they were Xu Lingqing's own brother and sister-in-law. She said some things on behalf of the Rongguo Duke's Mansion, and having them come might be more comforting to Xu Lingqing.
She just didn't expect that someone as insightful as Xu Lingqing would have such a moment.
She wasn't always dismissive of romantic relationships, but now, for Yang Yan's sake, she suffered injustice and was thinking of him as her husband.
However, Li Shiyue couldn't help but despise Yang Yan in her heart. How could a dignified man of seven feet tall tolerate his wife and children being bullied?
If it were her, what could she do about matters of the inner quarters? If a dignified man of seven feet tall couldn't even protect his wife and children, what use was he?
Sitting in the carriage, Li Shiyue and Zhang Shi exchanged glances and couldn't help but look at Xu Yunyao, who was clenching his fist. The two sighed, realizing that they had no choice but to make this trip.
"Ah Qing is really something. If the Duchess of Chengen hadn't allowed people to come back, would she have just kept quiet about it?"
Xu Yunyao frowned and looked anxiously out of the carriage, seemingly feeling that the carriage was still moving too slowly, and urged the driver to go faster, faster.
Madam Zhang sighed and tugged at his sleeve: "It's good that you know, but it's cold and the roads are slippery, so be careful. We still need to see what those people from the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion have to say later."
Li Shiyue nodded and looked at the couple opposite her: "Auntie doesn't know which members of the Yang family these people are, but judging from what the Lady of Chengen sent, they are some of the Yang family's former relatives who are deliberately acting arrogantly. The Duke and Lady of Chengen can't completely stop them."
"That's when we had no other choice but to call for help. We couldn't bear to see Aqing being forced to compromise."
"However, the man didn't say what Yang Yan's attitude was. Judging from my aunt's words, she was protecting A Qing, but it was inconvenient for her to interfere in matters of the inner quarters."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com