Zheng Liushi lowered her head and said nothing, like a child who had made a mistake.
"What else are you hiding from me?" Zheng Ruqing saw that Zheng Liushi did not excuse her son this time and accepted the scolding honestly, and he suspected that there was something else she had not said.
Sure enough, the next second, Zheng Liushi explained the matter of the return gift.
"Two pounds of sugar? Liu, you're so damn good! My Zheng family needs you to eat or wear. Who are you humiliating? You and your son have brought shame to the Zheng family." At this moment, Zheng Ruqing suddenly wanted to marry a second wife to help him manage the family business. This Liu was really confused.
Zheng Ruqing was angry all night. The next day, in order to apologize to his in-laws, he asked his long-time attendant to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ask for sick leave.
Mrs. Huang Dong arrived at ten o'clock, and Mrs. Zheng Ruqing and Mrs. Zheng Liu received her in the front hall.
"My mother-in-law is here? Sit down! Qiuju, bring the tea." Zheng Liu pulled up the corners of her mouth, revealing an ugly smile.
"Are you feeling better, my dear in-law?" Zheng Ruqing also greeted him.
Mrs. Huang Dong said softly, neither angry nor smiling, "Thank you for your concern, dear father-in-law. My master's health had just improved, but he has been bedridden due to the setbacks in my daughter's marriage. I apologize for not being able to come to your house today."
Zheng Ruqing glared at Zheng Liushi and smiled awkwardly, "I'll definitely go visit him someday when I'm free. It's all because of the child's ignorance that he neglected his daughter-in-law."
Zheng Liu hurriedly explained, "It's my fault. I've been too busy these days and haven't been feeling well. I didn't tell the servants well enough, and they were too ignorant to even inform me of the important event of my daughter-in-law returning home."
Mrs. Huang sighed helplessly, "Who says it's not true? I've just been too busy these days and haven't gotten many things done."
"My master wants to see the title deed to the house. I've been looking for it for two days and can't find it. I want to get a new one, but I haven't had time to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs yet. I'm very upset."
Zheng Liu slapped her thigh and said quickly, "Don't worry, mother-in-law. Just go find my master and he'll get it done in a moment."
"Then I'll trouble you, in-laws. Once it's done, just hand it over to Wanzhen and ask her to send someone to send it back to me." Without waiting for Zheng Ruqing to say anything, Mrs. Huang Dong finalized the matter as soon as she opened her mouth.
Zheng Ruqing said "hmm, hmm" twice and said politely, "No need for daughter-in-law, I will send someone to deliver it to your house directly."
"Just a quick question, was your house deed originally a white deed or a red deed?"
"It must be a red deed. My old grandfather was an official." Mrs. Huang said with a smile.
Zheng Ruqing nodded, "That's easy, I'll send someone to deliver it to your house tomorrow."
"Thank you, my in-laws. Yesterday I told Wanzhen that I'd be relieved to marry into your family." Mrs. Huang had achieved her goal and didn't want to stay any longer. After saying some polite words, she wanted to leave. "Because of the marriages of our two children, there's still a lot of work to do at home. I won't bother you any more. I'm going home now."
Zheng Liu smiled and tried to persuade him to stay, "You've finally come here, why don't you have dinner before you leave? You can also see Wanzhen."
Mrs. Huang Dong waved her hand. "I just saw her yesterday. I don't miss her very much. She's still young. If she doesn't do something right, you should teach her more."
Madam Zheng Liu nodded, no longer trying to persuade her to stay. She waved over Madam Li and asked, "Is the carriage ready?"
Mother Li bowed and said, "I'm ready."
Zheng Liu turned around and said to Huang Dongshi with a smile, "Mother-in-law, it's not easy for you to come here. Since you won't be eating here, I'll ask our carriage to take you back. We've prepared some gifts for my father-in-law. Please take them to him for us."
"No, please don't be so polite. My master will definitely scold me if he knows I'm here and bring things back." Mrs. Huang declined.
Zheng Liu hugged her and said like sisters, "Just say I gave it to you. You have to accept it. It's the respect that the master and I give to our daughter-in-law."
Having said that, Mrs. Huang accepted it.
Every family is busy before the New Year, the days pass quickly, and the New Year is just around the corner.
"Cherry, why does the young mistress always stay in the house when the young master is not at home?" Mother Liu in the kitchen grabbed a handful of melon seeds from her pocket and stuffed them into Cherry's hand.
Cherry tasted two before saying, "Who knows? She writes and draws all day long. If you don't know, you might think she's going to be the top scorer in the imperial examination."
Mother Liu chuckled twice and was about to speak when she heard a female voice behind her, "Hey! Isn't she a woman with bound feet? Can she read?"
Mother Liu took out a handful of melon seeds and handed them to the new woman. "You old, pious woman, why are you here in my kitchen when you're not guarding the door in the backyard?"
Mrs. Zheng stuffed a melon seed into her mouth and said, "I'm not allowed to drink water. These masters in the family don't use the back door. It doesn't matter whether I follow the rules or not."
After saying that, he turned around and asked Yingtao, "Can that woman with bound feet read?"
Cherry spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth. "She must know how to draw. She can even paint with charcoal. It looks pretty good."
Mother Liu curled her lips and said, "You young people just love to mess around with foreign things and are restless!"
Yingtao snorted twice, "Mother Liu, I didn't do anything, why did you take me with you? If you want to do this, I'll leave."
Mrs. Zheng grabbed her and said, "No, no, I just got here, let's chat for a while."
"Master, why isn't he back yet?"
Cherry: “No!”
"But I guess it will be soon."
Mrs. Zheng: "What do you mean?"
Yingtao glanced at her sideways, threw her handkerchief proudly, and said, "The New Year is almost here. Master has only this one son. If he's absent from the ancestral worship, given Master's temper..."
She didn't even finish her words, just turned around and left.
When she walked away, Mrs. Zheng said in her direction, "Pooh!" "Look at her energy. If you don't know her, you would think she is the master's concubine."
Mother Liu: "Isn't that almost right? Why did Madam give her to the Young Mistress? It was because she found that she was not content."
Mother Zheng: "Oh! Doesn't that mean the young mistress will suffer?"
Mother Liu: "Hey! We have no right to interfere in the master's affairs. Even if he suffers a loss, he is still the master, right?"
"Miss, Cherry is back." Xiulan looked into the yard through the window and saw Cherry twisting and turning into the yard. She immediately reported to Huang Wanzhen.
"Well, you keep an eye on her. Once I get familiar with the Zheng family, I'll find a way to replace her." Huang Wanzhen put down her pen and gently rubbed her right wrist.
Xiulan turned her head and whispered, "Okay."
Then, as if he had thought of something, he quickly walked to the table and said to Huang Wanzhen, "Mrs. Zheng, the gatekeeper in the backyard, allowed me to go out after I sent her food three times."
"Miss, look, how about I help you mail the manuscript tomorrow?"
Huang Wanzhen thought about it for a while before nodding and saying, "Okay, when you go out, give her a few copper coins, and when you come back, bring her some small gifts."
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