Chapter 496 The Palace Maid Wants to Retire (22)
The wife of the Minister of Rites saw the maid come in and asked hurriedly, "Is there a reply from General Shi's wife?"
The maid quickly took out Wen Shichu's reply: "Yes."
The wife of the Minister of Rites picked it up and looked at it. She couldn't help but frowned and said, "This general's wife is so arrogant that I can't even invite her here if I want to. Humph."
When the Minister of Rites came back from the palace, his wife called him over, took out Wen Shichu's reply, and said unhappily, "You asked me to invite Shi Li's wife, and I did, but she didn't want to have anything to do with us. You can't blame me for that."
The Shangshu was a little surprised after reading the reply: "She doesn't want to accept the invitation? She doesn't even give face to our family?"
"Hmph, what's the point of our house? Shi Li is a heretic. Don't you see that he doesn't even recognize his own father? He doesn't want to pay attention to us at all." The Shangshu's wife said.
The Minister of Rites threw the reply aside and said, "Forget it this time. Invite me again next time. If I don't come, you can take the initiative to come to my house as a guest."
The Shangshu's wife was immediately unhappy when she heard this and said, "Do I have to go to her house in person? Why? I am already humble enough to invite her to a banquet, and you still want me to go to her house? I am already quite old, and I still have to please an old palace maid for your good nephew? Do you really regard me as your wife? Your good nephew wants to win over Shi Li, so he wants me, his aunt, to be his pawn. I am not his biological mother, why should I humiliate myself for him?!"
The Minister of Rites saw that his wife was angry, so he quickly comforted her, "We are doing this for our descendants. If the eldest prince ascends the throne, as his mother's family, will we still have glory? The merit of following the dragon is not so easy to earn. None of our sons have much potential. Only this path can continue the family's century-old glory. Otherwise, if other princes ascend the throne, will our family still have a good life? We will be in poverty within three generations..."
The Minister of Rites had to use much persuasion before he finally convinced his wife to continue to be friends with Wen Shichu.
But Wen Shichu was not someone they could just get along with as they wanted to. She was much harder to deal with than ordinary ladies. When people invited her to a banquet, she had no interest at all. When people sent her an invitation and said they wanted to visit her, she replied that it was difficult to entertain guests at home. When people wanted to "accidentally run into" her outside, she would often leave them speechless with just a few words, and then she would leave calmly...
She was even more difficult to deal with than Shi Li, and left those women from various families who wanted to take advantage of her helpless.
The invitations from other housekeepers' wives can be ignored, but there is one family that even Wen Shichu cannot refuse, and that is the royal family. After all, Shi Li does not intend to rebel, so Wen Shichu has to give face to the royal family.
The Queen was going to hold a flower-viewing banquet and had invited women from all families to the palace to attend. Wen Shichu was also among those who would enter the palace. When she received the invitation from the palace, she felt a little curious. After all, this would be her first time returning to the imperial palace after leaving. But after returning this time, her identity was completely different. Before, she was an ordinary palace maid who had to keep a low profile and be obedient. People of higher rank than her had to be respectful to her. But this time, she was already the wife of a first-rank general and no one could look down on her.
"You can go into the palace. For the sake of your husband, those people won't dare to do anything to you. If you are wronged in there, you don't have to endure it for me. Just vent it out. As long as your husband lives, they will respect you." Shi Li instructed Wen Shichu.
"What if the Queen or the Emperor makes things difficult for me?" Wen Shichu asked him deliberately.
"Hmph, if they had any brains, they wouldn't have made things difficult for you." Although Shi Li was famous for his good fighting skills, it didn't mean that he was stupid or had no keen political sense. On the contrary, he saw everything going on in the court clearly and naturally knew that he was in this position. As long as he didn't rebel, even the emperor would have to be wary of him and tolerate him at the same time.
"Then I will take advantage of your power and bully others with my power." Wen Shichu touched Shi Li's chin and said with a smile.
Shi Li felt itchy when she touched him, and couldn't help but pull her hand, then kissed her and said, "It's my honor."
On the day of the flower viewing banquet, the queen was dressing up. She looked at herself in the mirror, her beauty no longer visible, stroked her hair, and asked the maid beside her: "Qingyi, I heard that you had the best relationship with Wen Shichu in the past. What kind of person was she? Tell me more about her."
Qing Yi was a good friend of the original owner in the palace. When they were still little palace maids, they lived in the same dormitory. Later, they gradually became senior palace maids, but they did not lose contact and would occasionally talk together. However, it cannot be said that they had a very good relationship and understood each other very well. After all, they both had duties and did not have much free time. Moreover, they had different shifts and did different things, so it was difficult to get together at the same time when both of them were free.
Qingyi replied nervously, "Your Majesty, I have known Wen Shangyi, no, Madam Shi, for more than ten years. When I first entered the palace, I lived in the same room with Madam Shi. Madam Shi has a gentle and kind personality. She gets along well with everyone, never quarrels with others, and is hardworking and willing to work..."
Qingyi told the queen everything about the original owner, and also included her own description of the original owner's personality.
The original owner was indeed a gentle and kind woman. She was not competitive or showy, and she behaved properly. Otherwise, she would not have been able to achieve the position of Shangyi. She could also live safely until the age of retirement. It was just that she was too unlucky and died on the eve of leaving the palace.
However, as a space beast, Shi Chu's personality is completely different from that of the original owner. Shi Chu is not a gentle and kind woman. She has a black heart. It is impossible for others to plot against her, so the queen's wishful thinking was wrong.
Wen Shichu changed into a formal dress and led his people into the palace. Other wives of officials also arrived one after another. Wen Shichu was not familiar with them, but knew most of them. After all, the original owner had seen these wives when she was a maid in the palace.
"Mrs. Shi, you're here too?" A pretty lady in her twenties walked towards Wen Shichu and said with a smile.
"Madam Wang, I just arrived too." Wen Shichu answered politely. This Madam Wang was the second wife of Censor Wang. She was young and beautiful. It was said that she had bewitched Censor Wang so much that he didn't even care about the children left by his late wife. This was what was commonly known as "if you have a stepmother, you will have a stepfather."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
