Chapter 93 Thunderclap
Instead of getting angry, Wang Xifeng laughed.
"Aunt Zhao, what are you saying? Look at your conscience! When have I ever mistreated Brother Huan? Have I shortchanged him on his monthly allowance, or on his clothes for the seasons? When he cheated on his gambling, how much have I covered for him? Have I given him less pocket money? Even you, Aunt Zhao, have you received less from me? Tell me, where have I sided with you?"
"As for coming to Rongyue Courtyard every day, everyone in the family knows that I admire Teacher Yuan's talent, became her student, and learned to read from her."
"Haunted? I think you're the one with a guilty conscience, that's why you see everyone as a ghost!"
Wang Xifeng had already learned from Yuan Hongqu that Aunt Zhao would harm her in the future, so she was advised to be careful.
Since nothing happened, she treated Aunt Zhao the same as before.
Unexpectedly, Aunt Zhao thought this way about herself.
Hehe, it seems I was too soft-hearted.
Wang Xifeng's phoenix eyes were full of sarcasm, while Aunt Zhao remained silent, seemingly preparing a big move, or perhaps recalling what Wang Xifeng had said, which seemed to be true.
Yuan Hongqu remained silent, letting Wang Xifeng do as she pleased.
What Jia Lian just revealed made Yuan Hongqu realize that the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion could easily find out news from the inner courtyard of the Rongguo Mansion. She immediately felt that the servants of the Rongguo Mansion were like mobile surveillance cameras.
Although Rongyueyuan didn't have much contact with these people every day, it still made Yuan Hongqu feel a chill in her heart.
He wished he could move out of this place with Daiyu immediately.
Yuan Hongqu had always known that the servants of the Rongguo Mansion were not good at keeping their mouths shut. Otherwise, the fact that Baoyu tied a red handkerchief to Jiang Yuhan's clothes would have been known to the people of the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion.
Most of the servants in Rongyue Courtyard were brought by the Lin family, with only a few old women who did menial cleaning and sweeping being old servants from the Rongguo Mansion.
Although the topic of the green rice seeds was initially discussed with Wang Xifeng, they didn't keep it a secret, and the whole capital probably knows that Jia Lian is looking for rice seeds...
The Rongguo Mansion holds no secrets.
It seems I really can't stay here any longer...
As soon as Wang Xifeng spoke, Aunt Zhao seemed to have her secret thoughts revealed.
"Hmph, you call yourself a teacher, but everyone knows you call her 'sister' in private. If you want to be sisters with her so badly, why don't you just give her your Jia Lian instead! You have to seduce our Second Master..."
"What did you say!" Yuan Hongqu frowned and shouted upon hearing this.
Who said that?
Aunt Zhao had recently become less respectful of Wang Xifeng, but when Yuan Hongqu shouted at her, she felt as if her throat had been squeezed, and she was so frightened that she could hardly make a sound.
Wang Xifeng didn't dare to speak. She knew about this matter. The old lady had mentioned it to her once, but the old lady had given up the idea at the time and never brought it up again.
She hadn't mentioned it to Yuan Hongqu, so how did Aunt Zhao know?
"You...you stayed in the main hall of the Second Master's Rongxi Hall for so long, who knows what you were doing? Didn't you take a fancy to our Second Master...?" Aunt Zhao said timidly.
Wang Xifeng felt relieved upon hearing this, realizing it wasn't that time after all.
Yuan Hongqu was speechless. That day, when Li Changshi from the Prince Zhongshun's mansion came over, Jia Zheng and several servants were in the main hall. People were making a fuss about that.
"Second Madam Lian, go and fetch a royal physician to examine Aunt Zhao's brain," Yuan Hongqu said helplessly.
"You're the one who needs to look in the head!" Aunt Zhao actually understood. She suddenly had courage. This Yuan Hongqu would become just like her sooner or later, so why should she be afraid of her?
"You two are so close, do you know that the old lady discussed with her about letting the second master..."
Wang Xifeng rushed over and covered Aunt Zhao's mouth with her hand.
"Gag them and lock them up! We'll deal with them when we get back to Madam. If she utters another single word of nonsense, we'll sell you all off tomorrow!"
Ignoring what Aunt Zhao was mumbling, several strong old women stuffed a cloth into her mouth.
The second wife arrived late, and seeing that everything was alright and Wang Xifeng's expression was not good, she had someone take Aunt Zhao to Rongxi Hall.
Not long after, Jin Chuan'er came and said that the Second Madam had dealt with Aunt Zhao, confining her to the Buddhist hall for a month, where she would eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures every day to help her cultivate her mind.
Yuan Hongqu no longer cared about these things.
All was quiet. The lights that had been lit in Rongyue Courtyard went out one by one. On such a cold night, what could compare to a warm bed?
The servants of the Lin family all thought so, but the servants of the Rongguo Mansion had more to talk about, all wondering what Aunt Zhao hadn't said.
Yuan Hongqu listened to Wang Xifeng recount the old lady's plan from a few months ago.
“Sister Yuan, I persuaded the old lady to stop talking about it back then, and she never mentioned it again. I guess she gave up on the idea. There was no one else around at the time, so I don’t know how Aunt Zhao found out…” Wang Xifeng explained anxiously to Yuan Hongqu.
Given Yuan Jie's cunning, if Aunt Zhao already knows about this, then I'm afraid even more people will know.
This time, Sister Yuan definitely won't stay in the Rongguo Mansion anymore...
The thought of Yuan Hongqu leaving filled her with panic.
She finally found someone to rely on, Yuan-jie, and if Yuan-jie gets angry and abandons her...
The image of herself wrapped in a tattered mat in the snow immediately flashed before Wang Xifeng's eyes, and she felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart.
"Sister Yuan, I'm sorry. I should have restrained these people much earlier and stopped them from talking nonsense... It was my carelessness that allowed Aunt Zhao to spout such nonsense here today..."
"Is it really that serious? How can a single woman like me avoid all sorts of gossip?" Yuan Hongqu's voice was indifferent, revealing no emotion.
“If I weren’t in this world, being a widow would be even harder. I would rather get married and then become a widow.”
"Sister Yuan..." Wang Xifeng was surprised that Sister Yuan had such thoughts. But after thinking about it, she realized it wasn't hard to understand.
Sister Yuan has always been single, but she lives a more comfortable life than most women.
Like many men who pride themselves on being good family men, they always say that they can do everything a woman can do, except give birth.
That Yuan-jie is not only capable of giving birth, but she can also do everything that men do, so she doesn't need a man to prove herself.
In this world that is so harsh on women, the tolerance for single women is not much higher than that for widows.
Given Yuan's personality, it's normal for her to have such thoughts.
"Don't worry, this kind of thing won't damage our friendship."
Yuan Hongqu offered Wang Xifeng a word of comfort, then changed the subject...
“However, Feng’er, we are not planning to stay in the Rongguo Mansion any longer.”
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