Chapter 292 Bet
Xiao Qingxi was dumbfounded, and for a moment she forgot how sad she was about Huo Yunzhou. She even suspected that Shen Wantang had cursed her mother!
"Doesn't Mother feel sorry for my brother? He's your own flesh and blood!"
“I feel sorry for him, but I’m not confused. I can’t control your brother, but your sister-in-law can, and that’s enough.”
"But Mother, aren't you afraid that Shen Wantang will take advantage of you in the future if you indulge her like this?"
“I’m not afraid. I’ll watch you two siblings ride on my head, but Tang’er will never do that. She respects me far more than either of you.”
Princess Ning has never regretted choosing Shen Wantang as her daughter-in-law. On the contrary, she is grateful every day that she chose Shen Wantang and not anyone else.
“Xi’er, your sister-in-law comes to pay her respects to me every day without fail. When I am sick, she comes to take my pulse and prescribe medicine herself. When I have a poor appetite, she will cook for me herself. Whenever she goes out, she will bring me some exquisite pastries, fashionable fabrics, and some strange little trinkets to make me happy. Have you and your brother ever been so filial and thoughtful to me?”
Xiao Qingxi was speechless after a long while, and finally managed to utter a sentence: "She's just putting on a good act in front of you!"
"Whether it's an act or not, I appreciate her kindness. If she can keep up this act, that's quite an achievement. Otherwise, why don't you put on an act for me?"
Xiao Qingxi snorted coldly: "I won't pretend. I'm not as hypocritical as her."
"I don't think your sister-in-law is hypocritical. If she were, she would always flatter you and pretend to be a good person, but she isn't, is she? She will argue with you and make fun of you. Isn't that hypocritical?"
Xiao Qingxi opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a word.
Strictly speaking, Shen Wantang wasn't insulting her; she was directly cursing her. While others were generally polite to her as a princess, Shen Wantang was anything but.
“Xi’er, the reason I chose this Crown Princess for your brother is to hope for peace and tranquility in the family. I initially chose Tang’er because, firstly, she does resemble Chu Yanluo by three points, and secondly, I felt that she was neither arrogant nor humble in her dealings with others, and was kind and polite, but not the kind of person who would be submissive and swallow her anger.”
"Although she comes from a humble background, she does not belittle herself. She respects your brother in daily life and yields to him in small matters, but she is never ambiguous in important matters. What is this? This is the demeanor and vision that a noblewoman should have. Xi'er, if you can learn a little bit of her wisdom, then Huo Yunzhou will be at your mercy, and no concubine will dare to act presumptuously in front of you."
"Actually, I have another suggestion. I hope you can get closer to your sister-in-law and ask her for advice. Maybe she can help you solve the problem of Huo Yunzhou wanting to take a concubine."
Xiao Qingxi looked incredulous: "Mother said so many good things about her just so I would ask her for advice?! How could Shen Wantang possibly have a way to resolve Huo Yunzhou and Lin Rouxin's matter? Nobody can solve this!"
Princess Ning chuckled softly: "How about we make a bet?"
Xiao Qingxi immediately perked up: "What are we betting on?"
"If your sister-in-law can help you resolve Huo Yunzhou's concubine issue, from now on you must respect her, support her in everything she does, and call her sister-in-law, and you are not allowed to call her by her name anymore."
"What if she can't solve it?"
"If she can't resolve it, then from now on, I will no longer interfere in your disputes. Whether you curse her or want to drive her away, I will no longer speak up for her."
Xiao Qingxi confidently declared, "Deal!"
"Wait a minute."
"Did Mother regret it?"
"No, we're making a bet, but there's a condition."
"What premise?"
"You must sincerely apologize to your sister-in-law tomorrow."
"I don't want to!"
"You must apologize, and you must apologize twice."
"What?!"
"Once you falsely accused her and Huo Yunzhou, and once you injured her face."
"Her face injury wasn't caused by me hitting her; she was just unlucky to get hit by a shard of porcelain!"
"No matter how much you argue, her injuries were caused by you. You were the one who broke all those broken pieces of porcelain. She wasn't unlucky because she was hit by a shard of porcelain; she was unlucky because she had to run into an unreasonable sister-in-law like you."
——
Wutong Garden.
The atmosphere was incredibly somber, and all the maids had red eyes.
Qin Xin was applying medicine to Shen Wantang's face while shedding tears.
Du Juan fared somewhat better than her, because compared to when she was at the Shen family, Shen Wantang's injuries this time were actually quite minor.
But she was also very angry: "The Crown Princess treated the Princess so well, yet the Princess hurt the Crown Princess's face. That's too much! The Crown Princess shouldn't be so nice to her anymore!"
The injury on her face stung a little, but Shen Wantang remained calm: "It was just a small accident, nothing to worry about. I treat the princess the same as I treat the prince, I treat them both as immature children."
She wasn't bad to Xiao Qingxi, but to say she was particularly good to him wouldn't be an exaggeration. In daily life, she was mostly just concerned with maintaining appearances.
Anything more is just to please my mother-in-law.
The people she truly respects are her parents-in-law, because they also genuinely protect her.
Qin Xin choked back tears as she asked, "Your Highness, will this injury leave a scar? With such a beautiful face and such fine skin, if it leaves a scar..."
She couldn't continue speaking and started crying again.
Seeing Qin Xin, who was usually the most lively, crying so hard, Shen Wantang smiled and said, "It won't leave a scar. It's a very shallow wound. It will be fine in a few days. Don't cry anymore. Your eyes are all swollen from crying. People who don't know better will think you're the one who's injured."
Qin Xin wiped away her tears: "This servant just feels heartbroken. You have suffered an undeserved calamity this time. If I had known it would turn out like this, this servant should have driven Young Master Huo away!"
Shen Wantang's heart stirred slightly, and she asked, "Where is he now? Has he left?"
"He hasn't left yet. He went to Xinghe Courtyard with the young master. It seems he's going to stay there tonight."
Shen Wantang asked with some confusion, "Why is he staying in the Prince's courtyard instead of going home to sleep?"
"I don't know, but if the Crown Princess wants to know, then this servant will go and take a look."
Shen Wantang shook her head: "No need, it's freezing cold, don't bother coming all this way. I was just asking casually, what he's doing with the young master isn't important." What's important is that with Huo Yunzhou around, Xiao Qingyuan definitely won't sleep well tonight.
Qin Xin was surprised that her mistress was worried about her getting cold, which was why she didn't want her to make the trip. She was touched. After helping Shen Wantang to sleep, she put on a thick cloak and ran out.
She wasn't afraid of the cold; she was only afraid of being useless.
Her master never asked her to do heavy work. Her greatest value was in providing her master with various kinds of information, which was her advantage.
She ran to Xinghe Courtyard, listened for a while at the back gate of the courtyard, and was stunned.
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