Chapter 443: Courting Death
Song Liyun's anger came and went quickly. What she needed was a clear and calm mind to face the first real dispute between wives and concubines in her life.
It is not accurate to say that it is a dispute between wives and concubines. These three people are not Zhao Tingduo's concubines, and they are not even maids. It can only be regarded as an exercise in handling the affairs of the inner house.
According to the information from Nanny Xu, these noble ladies were all losers in the struggle for imperial power. Of course, they were also accused of crimes such as indulging domestic slaves and oppressing the good, but there was very little description of the character of these women. They seemed to be just labels attached to these powerful people.
Based on Song Liyun's observations over the past few days, Tang Qingluan and the others were just rookies who had been kept in seclusion and had some little tricks up their sleeves like jealousy and house fighting.
Being in the Di tribe, without the power given by the family, the rookie has no fighting power.
Even Aunt Xu, who had experienced the struggles in the palace, had almost no way to resist in the face of Madam Uya's dominance, so Song Liyun didn't have to be the villain.
Song Liyun did not hate these noble ladies. As long as they did not provoke her or steal her things, she would even feel sorry for them.
Cao Jing was stopped by Aunt Xu. Her face turned red, and with the fever, she was about to bleed.
Song Liyun had already learned about the past of the three people from Wan Youyou yesterday.
The great-grandfather of Duke Rong Tang Xuan was a meritorious official during the reign of Emperor Wu Gao. He was granted the title of Duke for his outstanding military achievements. The title was inherited by his family and was passed down to Tang Qingluan's father, the fifth generation in the family.
The Tang family has many male descendants, but it has been lacking in daughters. Now the wife of the Duke has given birth to a legitimate daughter, Tang Qingluan, who is treated as a treasure by the whole family. She is even raised by the grandmother at home, and no one else can say a word against her.
Wan Youyou only said this much, and Song Liyun also had a new understanding of Tang Qingluan.
He looks innocent and straightforward, but he is actually a fool.
Children from such a family should have a certain understanding of danger, but when the house is collapsing and the family is broken up, Tang Qingluan is still proud of being the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Rong.
If she had not been sent to the Dilu grassland, she would have lost her head for saying that no one cared about the Duke of Rong's Mansion.
She looked at Cao Jing and Jiang Wanru. Both of them were relatives of the former prince's wife. Their families were exiled. In addition to the fact that they had indeed made mistakes, there were also political reasons.
If Wan Youyou is a talented woman, Jiang Wanru is also a talented woman in Beijing.
It’s just that one is well-read and well-read, while the other is good at writing poems and making friends with talented people.
Wan Youyou was a prop that her grandfather, the Minister of Rites, brought to show off to his colleagues, while Jiang Wanru enjoyed the admiration of talented and elegant men and her reputation spread far and wide.
Staying on this grassland where the cattle and sheep are illiterate is a life worse than death.
Among the three, Cao Jing is the most thoughtful and scheming. She is the one who calls the shots at home, and her father's concubines are all completely obedient to her, an unmarried woman.
These words were said by Wan Youyou.
If it were at the beginning, Song Liyun might not believe what Wan Youyou said.
But now that I've been observing these people for nearly two months, I can't help but believe it.
At this moment, Cao Jing suddenly wanted to argue with her, and Song Liyun also became interested and wanted to hear what these noble ladies were thinking.
Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle.
"Madam Xu, since Miss Cao has something to say, please let her speak freely. If she keeps something bottled up, her illness will never heal!"
Cao Jing brushed the strands of hair hanging on her forehead and stared at Song Liyun coldly: "Young Madam, you don't have to pretend to be kind in front of us.
Everyone knows that you are just a lowly military daughter, and it was by chance that you managed to marry into the Young Master's family and end up where you are today."
Song Liyun nodded: She was right, she was indeed a military daughter, and she met Zhao Tingduo by chance.
She just disagreed with the idea of "marrying above her station". She was the chosen girl of the tribe, and it was not certain who was marrying above her station!
Seeing Song Liyun's calm expression, Cao Jing's hatred deepened: "Even if you are the young lady now, we are both from noble families, and we came to the grassland by the Queen Mother's order to establish a good relationship between our two families.
As your master, you not only failed to treat us with courtesy, but also deliberately treated us harshly."
Song Liyun couldn't stand it any longer. "You still think you're from a high-class family and superior to others? Since you have the Empress Dowager's decree, bring it out. You're still being harsh on you. Are you short of food or clothes?"
Jiang Wanru finally found the opportunity to speak up: "Each of us has two maids and servants to serve us. Give us our maids back! You poor bastard, you don't even have a dowry, yet you only know how to take our people away."
Although everyone now has a maid to serve them, she only comes to help with cleaning in the morning and evening, forcing them to serve rice and fetch water by themselves with their hands that have been pampered for more than ten years.
Song Liyun sneered, her face darkening. "Are you disabled or paralyzed? Meals are delivered here every meal, and you still need someone to feed you?"
Madam Wu Ya also had maids who did odd jobs around her, but they were different from the full-time maids in the Wu Dynasty.
In addition to doing the work in the wife's yurt, these tribal women also have their own families.
They even milk cows and herd cattle, and usually spin yarn and weave carpets. Everyone is busy.
Mrs. Wu Ya herself lingers among the carpet weavers every day, and Yuquan, who is beside Song Liyun, also makes leather boots.
Speaking of which, only Madam Yun did not go to the tribe to do chores.
But in addition to washing and mending for Song Liyun and her husband in the tent, she also had to take care of Shi Tou and Xiao An.
Now, not only do these noble ladies each have their own dedicated servants, they also say that Song Liyun stole their men.
Tang Qingluan covered her face, pointed at Song Liyun and Wan Youyou, and cursed, "You are not good people. You tricked the young master into not seeing us, you jealous woman! If it were in the capital, you two bitches would have been beaten to death and thrown into a mass grave."
She felt that Wan Youyou had always been at odds with people like her, and even when she arrived in the tribe, she was still a maverick.
It was fine when everyone lived in the same room before, but after Wan Youyou found Zhao Tingduo, she never came back. Occasionally, when she was seen from afar, she was with the young lady.
And the clothes Wan Youyou is wearing now, it used to be an old sheepskin robe, but now it is a satin leather robe.
Tang Qingluan hated it!
Wan Youyou got benefits from being with the young lady, but she didn't even know to share some of the benefits with everyone else, and she still kept holding on to the young master.
This young lady is even more of a slut, that's why she gets together with a slutty maid.
Before Tang Qingluan finished speaking, the door curtain was pulled open with great force. The sudden noise startled everyone in the yurt.
Aunt Xu, who was near the door, was almost knocked down by the opened curtain.
Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, Zhao Tingduo came in wearing a fur hat and a fur robe, with a tall figure and covered in snow.
Song Liyun stood up in surprise: "Why are you back?"
She came here after seeing Zhao Tingduo off. It's been less than an hour, so why is she back again and so angry?
Zhao Tingduo walked over to her with a dark face, put his arm around Song Liyun's shoulders, and said in a deep voice, "I thought you had some good ideas, but it turns out it's just like this. Why are you wasting your breath on these guys?"
"Wudan!"
He shouted outside, and Wu Dan, also wrapped in a fur robe, rushed out from behind him: "Young Master!"
"Immediately notify Mudan. Ask Kwabu, Falcon, and three other tribal leaders to come over and take these three people away!"
Want to give these noble ladies to others... Wu Dan was stunned, responded happily and turned around and ran away.
Aunt Xu's face was ashen at this time: "Young Master, you are like this..."
"Shut up! Since the Duke of Anguo gave it to me, it's my property. Don't say anything more, you slave!"
When Tang Qingluan and others saw Zhao Tingduo suddenly come in, they were shocked and shyly pulled the quilt to cover themselves.
But then came the news that I was going to be rewarded.
Jiang Wanru, not caring that she was only wearing a thin coat, rushed towards Zhao Tingduo and said, "Master, we are your servants. We cannot reward you!"
Before she could get close, Zhao Tingduo had already picked up a quilt from the ground, pinched the edges and pulled it out towards her.
He was very strong and the bedding became a weapon. Jiang Wanru screamed and was thrown into the corner.
Zhao Tingduo was filled with hostility, his dark eyes gleaming with wolf-like ferocity. He coldly scanned the people in the room, then stared at the trembling Tang Qingluan and Cao Jing, saying, "I will not allow anyone to disrespect my wife, Song Liyun!"
(End of this chapter)
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