Improve relationships between sisters
That day, Shujia finished checking accounts with Xiluotai and put down her abacus. With autumn approaching, it was time to prepare charcoal for winter heating. Unlike the north, where the north has kangs (kangs), the south lacks them, so extra care was required to stay warm. The best silver bone charcoal was produced in western Beijing, mostly for imperial use, so it was crucial to act early to secure it. Calculating travel time, charcoal costs, and travel expenses, along with the usual heating charcoal, took her the entire morning.
Mrs. Xiluo looked at the Western clock on the Duobao Pavilion, recognized the time, and asked Ah Fu, "I remember they were going to pay their respects to the old lady today?" Ah Fu said, "Madam, the girls go to pay their respects to the old lady once every five days, and today is the day." Mrs. Xiluo said, "Go and ask the kitchen to prepare the four dishes made in the morning carefully, and take them to the old lady later to honor her." Ah Fu responded and left.
Xiluo Te said to Shuxian and Shujia, "You two should go and clean up. Second girl, please stay. I have something to say."
Shujia felt strange, but she remained obedient. Shuxian, a little curious, went back to her room to pack. Xiluotai instructed the attendant wives and servants to carry out their instructions, and then sent Hongxiu and Qingjin to pack the things Shujia needed for her trip today.
Okay, the room has been cleared, now it's time for the conversation.
Sirut first asked: "What do you do every day? Who are you with? What do you talk about? What do you do..."
Shujia was furious. She stayed home all day—a real stay-at-home. Even before, she'd at least go to the market to buy apples and watermelons, or to the supermarket to pick up fresh milk. Aside from the chance to pay her respects to her great-aunt, she'd barely even left the house. Everything was happening right under Xiluo Te's nose. She'd even tricked Shi Wenbing, and she knew everything the next day. Was there anything else she didn't know? Or... was there something fishy going on?
Shujia thought about it, but after all, they were biological mother and daughter, so she didn't care about so many things. She said directly: "It's just the same things. Get up, come to mother, have snacks, listen to things, have breakfast, go to school, have snacks at noon, take a break, do needlework, dinner, and walk in the garden with mother..."
The more Xiluo Te listened, the more she felt something was wrong: "I'm not asking you that. Who do you usually talk to to relieve your boredom?"
Shujia: ...Who else could it be? "I talk to my mother. Oh, and the maids too. They often remind me of the rules. Chunxi, Xiaxi, Hongxiu, and Qingjin, sometimes they say a few words to the aunties..."
"What else?"
Shujia clapped her hands and said, "I'm playing with my father at night," and laughed, "I won't disturb my father's business. I even helped him..."
Xiluo Te's expression was not very good. "Your sisters? You go to school together, do needlework together, and you don't have anything to say?"
Yes, recently, Xiluo Te had noticed something ominous: the relationship between her youngest and oldest daughters seemed less than close. She knew, of course, that the two daughters had been different from birth. Never mind the notion that they were both the master's daughters, the masters of the household—there was a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. Shi Wenbing wasn't one to favor his concubines over his wife, or even favor a concubine over a minor. So, a concubine's daughter couldn't be compared to a legitimate daughter. Even if Shi Wenbing was such a person, the state still had the tradition of selecting concubines! Ultimately, they could still distance themselves.
Even so, it didn't mean Xiluo Te would tolerate her own daughter being so cold towards her concubine sister. Originally, they were both young, so it was normal for them to disagree. Now that the age gap seemed less and less important, how could they still be so indifferent?
After all, she's still my sister. What's the point of not having a close relationship? It wouldn't sound good if I said it out loud, and it wouldn't look good if I did. Wouldn't it also negatively impact the reputations of both mother and daughter? Asking Xiluo to treat Shuxian like her own daughter would be hypocritical. Xiluo only discovered this after her biological daughter was born. She didn't have a biological daughter at first, and while she truly loved Shuxian, she later realized that being a non-biological child just wasn't the same—the emotional difference was truly something only she could understand.
So, she felt, expecting Shujia to view Shuxian exactly the same as Fu Dali and Qingde wouldn't work. A difference in feelings was one thing, but overtly treating them differently was unacceptable; after all, it was a matter of human relations. Xiluo Te felt the need to educate her daughter. This was a matter of temperament, a matter of the way she treated others, and it needed to be corrected.
Shujia was taken aback. They really didn't have much conversation. When they'd shared a courtyard in Beijing, they were both still young, and the age gap was so vast that there wasn't much to talk about. As they grew a little older, they started losing their teeth. Even if you ignore the gaps in their teeth, a young girl who hadn't yet mastered the physics of speech would often show off her gaps, which was unsightly. Overall, they spoke less, and naturally, their interactions were even less. In Hangzhou, each of them lived in their own courtyard, listening to the teacher in class and reviewing separately after class... Shujia even tried to sneak into her father's study, but communication became even less.
Shujia whispered: "Big sister has her things to do, and I have mine too..."
Xiluotai was completely unimpressed. "How old are you? How much trouble can you possibly have? Is your sister not good? How many words do you exchange in a day? Or did you just listen to what the servants said? Or did she do something to you?" Then she glared at Chunxi and Xiaxi, knocking them both out with one blow. They were so frightened that they ducked their heads. The maids couldn't stand it anymore and said, "No one said anything, no one did anything. The second young lady is really busy, writing, studying, and sewing. The eldest young lady hasn't even come to see the second young lady..."
In another scenario, the younger one would have approached the older one, respecting the order of seniority. But here, both girls were younger, so the older one should have been more sensible and proactive, approaching the younger one. The maids seemed to be clinging to this point, making a fuss about it. After all, they had to protect their masters.
Xiluo Te said, "I thought I was just being overly suspicious, but that's not the case. The maids are all elderly, so they should teach her some things. What you just said, will you listen? Don't do that again in the future."
Shujia said hurriedly, "Don't blame the maids. It was my fault for not being careful enough and neglecting it. I will change everything from now on."
After beating her with a stick, Xiluo Te began to give her sweet treats, and first said to the maids: "I am relieved that you are protecting her. I would be really worried if you told her that she is timid and doesn't take herself seriously when she meets everyone. But her behavior really makes me worried. What if the master knows that the sisters are not close?" The maids nodded, and the maids didn't dare to say anything.
Xiluo Te's focus wasn't on them either. Instead, she turned to Shujia, "How can you do this? She's your sister. Whether you want to be close to her or not, she's still your sister. How much worse is it to have a sister you get along with well than a sister who doesn't talk to you?"
How unfair! Why don't you want to get close to her? I just have a generation gap with her, Shujia thought gloomily. Or, the focus of Shujia's life is not on Shuxian. She was really born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was the first daughter born to the main wife and the only one so far. She is so young that only others rush to find her, and she doesn't have to find others. If Shuxian doesn't express something first, how can she let her find Shuxian? The second girl is too busy with her own little thoughts to handle it.
Shujia explained to Xiluo, "Sister is so quiet, I'm embarrassed to bother her." After all, she hadn't taken the initiative, so it was incredibly difficult for a nerd like her to actively show her affection. The only person in the family she'd approached was Shi Wenbing, while her mother and brother had always taken the initiative to approach her.
"Nonsense! Can't I even sense you?" You just treat me like air.
"Mother, don't be angry."
"Then why are you still worrying me?" Xiluo began to coax her daughter. "Your sister has so many good qualities..." She began to list them in detail: her strong will, her diligence in study, her obedience to rules, her patience, her good needlework...
Shujia felt uneasy, almost rebellious. It was like your parents telling you how the kid next door is better than you. You hate being used as a comparison point. Fortunately, Shujia still had some adult sanity and didn't really rebel. She was still a little pissed.
Xiluo Te was really a little tired, and Qing'er hurried forward to wipe her sweat. Shujia raised her head when she heard the noise, then lowered her head again and whispered, "I know."
Xiluo Te said, "You don't understand! When you were little, I didn't say anything to you. But you're getting older every year. If I don't say anything now, it will be too late. You can't even get along well with your own sister, how can you get along with strangers in the future? This is still at home, and I'm still your biological mother. If you're still like this, what will happen in the future? It won't be good to change now."
Shujia finally reacted and heard Xiluo Te continue: "I am your biological mother, how can I be an outsider to you? Silly girl."
Shujia blushed, and went up to hold Xiluo's hand and said, "I know that, isn't it true that you should be quiet? It's not right to visit people everywhere."
Seeing that she seemed to have figured it out, Xiluo Te was just too embarrassed to admit her mistake and sneered, "You."
Shujia held the teacup and said, "Mother, have some tea."
He took over: "Are you tired of listening to me? Do you want to shut me up?"
Shujia heard the playful tone and thought, this is my own mother. Being too cautious is just being petty. Smiling, she sat down next to Xiluo and said, "Mother, you're tired. Have some tea and rest before you continue to teach me." Then she whispered, "Once upon a time, when we were little, my older sister started learning before me. We couldn't even get together to learn needlework or calligraphy, so..."
Xiluo Te scolded her with a smile: "Where did you get 'in the past when I was little'? You are 'in the past when I was little' now. You are right. Now I feel relieved. From now on, you must be good. Didn't I tell you that?"
Shujia nodded honestly.
"You still have a lot to learn, girl. It's one thing to have a better background than others, but the word 'noble' is not something you can just flaunt."
Shujia: Mother, I really didn’t…
——————————————————————————————————————————
How to build a good relationship with a loli is a subject. Fortunately, it is not too difficult, and even more fortunately, it is not too late.
Shuxian's heart was in turmoil. As she grew older, her anguish only grew worse. She had been a little princess herself, born with at least a silver spoon in her mouth. Born in an earl's mansion, even though she was a concubine's daughter, her mother, though daughterless, had two sons, and wasn't the intolerant type, so she was truly loved.
Then, one day, a notice came down, telling you that you were not in the experimental group, but the control group. Who could stand that? Of course, when she received the notice, she couldn't understand what it meant, but the little girl could feel the subtle changes in the attitudes of the creatures around her - how could it be different?
Later, she learned the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, who her biological mother was, and who that was—others sat while she stood, others ate while she watched, and this "others" included herself. Isn't that sad? This is why Miss Shuxian is so competitive and reserved. Although she doesn't know the specific purpose of this, she subconsciously wants to do her homework well, learn all the rules, and never let anyone look down on her again.
She was well-off, intelligent, and a quick learner. The maids around her praised her, giving her some confidence. Then, misfortune struck. Her younger sister, three years her junior, was just as good as her in every way. It wasn't a big deal to say she couldn't be better than others, how could she possibly be better than them in every way? But the problem was—she was outshone by someone three years her junior. How could she feel? She had to work harder, and her frustration only grew.
It could be said that she was always watching her younger sister's actions, and when she got older, she had to be careful not to steal her younger sister's limelight. The nanny and the maids around her were fine, but the two younger maids hadn't been trained to be role models yet, and they couldn't help but gossip in private. Aunt Zhang also felt that she was a little less valued than Shujia. As the younger sister, Shujia ignored her elder sister's existence and "never set foot in the girl's yard, which was too rude."
But when Shujia Baba ran over and said to her, "Are you okay, big sister? It's time to go to the old lady."
They were surprised again, and then wondered if the second girl came - there was no good news when a night owl came in, and there must be ulterior motives when giving courtesy to others?
Shuxian spoke at this time: "You also know that I was raised by my aunt. What is there for her to gain? Don't say such things again." But she couldn't help but feel a little suspicious in her heart.
Therefore, the lack of closeness between the two sisters cannot be blamed entirely on one person.
But children's opinions are always easily distorted, and Shujia knew this well: a lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth. With so many advertisements, they'll just be tempted to go there when they see it. What's there to be afraid of? Xiluo Te also secretly helped. She had naturally chosen Shuxian's nanny, so how could she not have heard a word of Aunt Zhang's words?
It's so easy for the mistress to punish people. Concubine Zhang is too idle, isn't she? I'll find you something to do. Just set the rules in front of me all the time. I don't hit you or punish you. It seems like the mistress thinks she's very respectful of you, but in fact... it's impossible to say that the other two concubines don't have their own thoughts. Maybe they'll do some small actions and roll their eyes. They're busy until dusk every day before letting her go. Don't even think about it, Master. She's already gone to the other concubine's room. The eldest girl has gone to bed early, so you should go to bed too.
What are the maids for, these two little girls?! Just letting them gossip and sow discord between the masters? Clean them up!
This is what Xiluo later told Shujia. Shujia concluded: Before apprehending a target, one must quickly and efficiently remove obstacles and achieve the goal. Furthermore, intelligence work is crucial!
It's a truism that the younger the child, the easier it is to color. A blank slate is the easiest to color. Shujia believed this. While Shuxian wasn't a blank slate, she did grow up innocent. The innocence here doesn't mean she's as innocent as Xiaobai, but rather a relative term—she'd been surrounded by people since she was little. Her aunt wasn't competitive, and Xiluo Te, as her legal mother, was perfectly qualified. She hadn't been exposed to anything like the shadows of family feuds. As sisters, their material lives were equal, at least for now, and there was really nothing to complain about.
Of course, she wasn't completely clueless. At least she knew the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children. Although she felt depressed, she didn't harbor any ambitions of revenge against society or trampling them all underfoot. In short, life was manageable—except for the increasing nagging from Concubine Zhang.
Concubine Zhang was a dutiful woman, staying quietly in the backyard and not daring to stir up trouble. This was nonsense. Shi Wenbing's biological mother had died long ago, and his stepmother had been dead long before. There was no old lady in the family to remind her son-in-law to be virtuous. The biggest boss in the backyard was Xiluo Te, and anyone with a little sense knew to be honest. And since she gave birth to a daughter, Concubine Zhang was very honest.
However, duty is a matter of condition. As her daughter grew older, Concubine Zhang's thoughts gradually became more active. Her daughter was older and about to get married, yet she had little communication with her daughter, her own child. Concubine Zhang, with her motherly nature, also felt that Shuxian would marry well in the future, and she would ultimately rely on her, so she showed more and more concern for her.
Shuxian, on the other hand, respected her stepmother, and of course she also had feelings for her biological mother. She welcomed Aunt Zhang's arrival. Regardless of whether Aunt Zhang could help her, just seeing her and knowing that she was her biological mother and that she cared about her made her feel much better.
As the mother-daughter relationship grew closer, Concubine Zhang couldn't help but nag. Previously, her daughter was cared for by maids and raised in the Madam's courtyard. Following the family rules of mother-daughter, servant-master, Concubine Zhang felt a certain awe for her own flesh and blood. Now, with more contact, the feeling of "this is my daughter" grew stronger. She felt she had no ill intentions, especially since Shi Wenbing had first been interested in Concubine Wang, then had taken a liking to the newcomer. After the newcomer was killed by the Xiluo mother and daughter, Shi Wenbing no longer had eyes for Concubine Zhang. This made her anxious, and she wasn't as careful with her words. The disparity in status and upbringing became apparent, and Shuxian felt a little uncomfortable.
For children born out of wedlock, their birth mother is an awkward presence. When she's gone, they miss her; when she's around, they can't help but feel a bit embarrassed if they behave inappropriately. The saying "a son never thinks his mother ugly" isn't always entirely true, especially when the mother is generous and fair, and the siblings aren't idiots or mean.
When Shuxian was born, she had no idea that Concubine Zhang was her biological mother. She called Xilute "E Niang" and Concubine Zhang was just "Concubine". This alone was enough to cause misunderstandings. Add to that the influence of feudal society's orthodox thinking, and it's perfectly normal for her to have complicated feelings towards Concubine Zhang.
So, recently, Concubine Zhang hadn't bothered her, and she felt relieved. Shuxian had been raised under the influence of feudal ethics and morals, and while she certainly wouldn't be rude to her biological mother, she also felt that her mother's words and actions were inappropriate. If Concubine Zhang were around again, Shuxian felt that she would not be able to help but dislike her biological mother, which would be very bad. When Xiluo transferred Concubine Zhang away, Shuxian was worried at first, but later found that Concubine Zhang had not been mistreated, except for taking up some of her time, so she felt relieved.
The nanny accompanying Shuxian was naturally not idle. She quietly "corrected" Concubine Zhang's misunderstanding: "Miss, Concubine Zhang is your biological mother, so she has no extramarital affairs. It's just that her judgment is still lacking." Then she made it clear that there was no conflict of interest between you two sisters. As a girl, your future depends not only on your father but also on your stepmother. After listening to Concubine Zhang's words, you picked a fight with your boss's biological daughter. Do you want to get fired?
"What are you talking about, Auntie? Didn't the Second Miss come to see you? When you were both raised in the Madam's room, she was still young. How could you be so close to her? Isn't it good now?"
The maids, chosen by the Xiluo family, were naturally not disloyal. However, having raised a baby to a young girl, and seeing her soon-to-be young woman, they naturally developed feelings for her. Being caught in the middle allowed them to see both sides more clearly, and the maids were dedicated to preventing the children they raised from coming into conflict with their masters.
In the eyes of the maids, even though Concubine Zhang was her biological mother, she was still a servant. In terms of respectability, she was truly inferior to the maids. She was no longer polite in her words, but only because of Shuxian's face did her words sound less harsh. She directly pointed out Concubine Zhang's intentions: "I'm afraid she wants you to remember her and to support and respect her. You just need to know it in your heart, but you don't need to express it. Now that things have come to this, if she goes to your room and gossips, even if you are soft-hearted, Concubine Zhang might cause trouble."
Shuxian's mind was forcibly twisted. The maids suggested that she could be nice to Concubine Zhang, but not let her do whatever she wanted because her ideas were indeed questionable and her status was a factor. Poor Shuxian, she wasn't a time traveler, but had been influenced by so-called orthodox ideas. Even if it didn't reach the level of brainwashing, she felt that the maids were right.
"After all, I watched her grow up, and you're on her side," Xiluotai said lazily, smiling at the maids' shrinking silence. "I pulled Concubine Zhang out of there to protect her. If Concubine Zhang had let her talk nonsense and she had taken it to heart, I'd be in a real pickle."
The maids hurriedly said, "Madam, you couldn't be more wise."
"Then keep an eye on the girl."
"yes."
From then on, the Shi Mansion became more harmonious.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
