“Grandmother.” She whispered, interrupting the matriarch’s train of thought, “From a young age, second sister had learned a great deal from master Yao. Chen Yu just thought about it, there is no harm in trying the methods she stated. Now that concubine mother Yao has returned to the capital, along with second sister and Zi Rui, we should repair the relationship between our family and the Yao family. Chen Yu will speak with mother about getting the Yao family a gift for the end of the year.”
“No!” The matriarch was awoken from her reverie by Feng Chen Yu. The Yao family had been punished personally by the Emperor. Daring to have have relations with them, wouldn’t that just be slapping the Emperor in the face? “Yao shi returning to the manor has nothing to do with the Yao family. There is also no rule where the husband’s family should give gifts to a concubine’s family. Do not bring this up again.” With a wave of her hand, this matter was concluded.
Feng Yu Heng did not mind. Whether or not there was an elder in the manor to protect her, it did not matter to her. For her, outside of Yao shi and Zi Rui, she could not care less about the others in the manor. If they wanted to fight, then fight properly to the end. Do not worry about the original body owner dying in the mountain village and being reborn.
She sat back again. To her side, Fen Dai shifted her chair away, the two accidentally brushing a corner of her clothes. Fen Dai raised her handkerchief and slapped her twice with it, then put her handkerchief away, glancing at Feng Yu Heng.
She blinked a few times and also brought out a handkerchief to brush the corner of her clothes. Then, she handed it over to Man Xi, “Take it out and throw it away.”
Fen Dai’s face went green with anger. She still had no way of dealing with her second sister. She could only remain seated and resentfully wring her hands.
At this moment, from outside someone loudly yelled: “Is mother-in-law up yet?”
It was Chen shi.
The matriarch really disliked when Chen shi did this sort of thing. If she lost some of her own dignity then it was fine, but to drag her down as well. What in the world is ‘up yet?’ What time of the day was it? Who was this yell meant for?
Feng Chen Yu saw the matriarch’s facial expression was not good and quickly went to welcome her. Supporting Chen shi, she said: “Mother really knows how to keep grandmother happy.” As she spoke, she saw that Chen shi held a jadeite bead necklace. She had never seen it before, so it was definitely newly acquired. The jadeite was exquisitely carved, showing that it was the most rare and expensive type.
Chen Yu recalled that her young uncle had come to the hall yesterday afternoon. Every time young uncle came, he would give mother a good number of nice things. She must have received it from him yesterday.
Turning that thought around, she immediately spoke: “Are these the beads mother said she wanted to gift grandmother? It’s actually a glass-type, so such a rare and expensive item really should be held by grandmother. Only that would be best!”
When these words were spoken, everyone froze. Even Chen shi was stupefied. Looking at the thing in her hands then at Chen Yu, who winked at her, she could tell that something had happened in the room before she arrived. She then thought about the things reported by granny Li. Everything from the large to the small, all the happenings in Willow courtyard were reported. Her gaze set itself on Feng Yu Heng.
This girl must have done something again!
She did not really believe some of the things that granny Li had reported. In her memory, Yao shi and her children were not the type to counterattack. Could it be that living in the mountains had changed them?
Feng Chen Yu saw that Chen shi was in a daze and secretly pinched her arm, “Mother, why are you still in a daze? Quickly let grandmother take a look!”
Chen shi could only bear with it, as her heart ached.
Yesterday, her little brother, Chen Luo, had just given her something nice, yet she now had to transfer it to someone else after having just received it. How could she bear this loss?
However, she had no choice but to bear it. If it were anyone else, she would not bother, not even Feng Jin Yuan. But when Feng Chen Yu opened her mouth, it was different. This daughter carried all of her hopes, in fact, she loved her more than that noncompetitive son. Add on that Chen Yu was a girl with ideas of her own that were never baseless. Since she had said to gift it, then she had no choice but to gift it.
Chen shi prepared herself psychologically and squeezed the beads in her hand, then she came to terms with it. She advanced in large strides, and smiled when handing the beads over to the matriarch. “Mother-in-law, just now was meant as a joke for your pleasure. Please look, daughter-in-law has brought you a nice present!”
The matriarch hearing Chen Yu speak of glass-type jadeite became very moved. From that moment, she no longer cared about the way Chen shi had yelled out. Both her eyes were fixed on the beads.
Chen shi’s heart ached greatly, but she had to act as though she were happy to explain: “Precisely how rare this is, I do not know, but my little brother came to see me yesterday. In the past, he has brought me many nice things, but this time he only brought this one piece. Thinking about it, if it weren’t extremely expensive, someone as reliable as him would not come and gift just the single piece.”
The meaning behind these words was clear. The things that were sent before were all great. The piece that was gifted this time was worth as much as all of the previous gifts combined.
How could the matriarch not understand, as she was unable to hide her happiness. She held the beads in her hand as if they were a rarely seen treasure. She very nearly kissed the beads.
Feng Yu Heng had seen greedy people before, but she had never seen both a family so greedy as the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. In order to maintain their relationship, then sharing some common interest would be most reliable.
But she could not allow this group of people to get too comfortable. The reason she had come to this courtyard was not truly to pay her respects. She had come to upset their mindset.
At this moment, she saw Jin Zhen, who was following behind Chen shi. She wore a high-collared brocade garment, yet she did not seem to find the middle of the day to be hot.
This could work. It was the maidservant that liked to look pretty, and the master was used to it, but the high collar could not block the sight of a faint trace of red on the nape of her neck.
A hickey?
She carefully looked at it again. Mhm, it really was a hickey.
At that moment, she furled her lips. This was seen by Feng Xiang Rong, causing her to tremble and subconsciously bump Feng Yu Heng with her elbow.
She turn her head and quietly asked: “Xiang Rong, what are you doing?”
Feng Xiang Rong spent some time mustering up her courage before finally saying: “Seco-second sister, wha-what are you going to do?”
She chuckled, “When people are hungry, they eat. When thirsty, they drink. Likewise, when they have no clothes to wear, they will look for clothes. They may want to brush over this matter, but I won’t let them.”
Having said that, she directly stood up and walked towards Jin Zhen.
Feng Xiang Rong, of course, did not know what plans she had, but she subconsciously read a line for Jin Zhen: Pray for your own good fortune. After this line, she picked up her tea and prepared to watch the play.
Feng Chen Yu had also seen her movement, but before she could speak, she heard Feng Yu Heng speak in surprise: “So the clothes on mother’s side also bleed color quite easily!”
The room fell silent.
Feng Yu Heng, your desire for clothes really is steadfast, huh!
Chen shi clearly understood the concept of clothes losing color. Granny Li had already informed her that Man Xi wore those clothes there. At that time, she was still not awake and was jolted awake by granny Li’s words. In an instant, she became vigorous and quickly headed off for Shu Ya courtyard.
But, saying that the clothes on her side were bleeding color. What did she mean?
Chen shi turned her head and saw Feng Yu Heng carefully inspecting Jin Zhen’s collar area. She was confused and also looked over.
Sure enough, it was easy to miss, but Jin Zhen’s neck had a patch of red; furthermore, she had not carefully looked at that girl earlier. Why did she put on high-collared clothes when it was merely the end of summer?
Jin Zhen obviously understood what Feng Yu Heng had seen, but she had no idea that it was Feng Yu Heng who had taken her shoes last night. Even though Feng Yu Heng had seen the hickey, she purposefully kept on talking about the clothing. It seemed that everyone had underestimated the second young miss, or it was as granny Li had said, and the second young miss had completely changed after living in the mountains for a few years.
She wanted to hide, but when she retreated one step, Feng Yu Heng followed one step. This continued until Jin Zhen was backed against a table corner and had no where left to retreat to. Only then could she grab the collar and ask: “Jin Zhen girl, if this isn’t clothing bleeding color, then what is it? Could it be a rash? If it is, then we need to call a doctor to carefully look at it!”
Jin Zhen was frightened and trembling. She subconsciously said: “You can’t call a doctor!” What a joke. Under a doctor’s careful eyes, they would immediately see through the truth. She was just a maidservant. Even if she was a first-rate maidservant, she was still just a maidservant. A doctor obviously would not leave her any considerations. Thinking along these lines, Jin Zhen immediately changed her tone- “The clothes are bleeding color.”
Chen shi sighed then yelled- “Since when have I given you clothes that will bleed color?”
Chen Yu quickly pinched her again, then tried to smooth things over: “Of course, there’s no possibility these clothes came from mother. Recently we have received new clothing material in the manor. It might have some defects. It might be better to change them all.”
Feng Yu heng squinted her eyes. In her past life, she had heard many dishonest people, but recently there was Chen shi who was quite dishonest. From when she was young, Feng Chen Yu had been in charge of helping her smooth over problems. It must be quite tiring for her as well.
No longer paying attention to Jin Zhen, she had achieved her goal, which was good enough. She did not care for anything else.
Jin Zhen trembled as she returned to the middle of the room. Seeing her master look at her, she became panicked and knelt with a thump: “This is all this servant’s fault. This servant did not look too carefully when putting on these clothes. This servant will return and change in to a different set of clothing.” After speaking, she stole a glance at the head wife. Seeing that she still had a furious appearance, she could not help but look towards Feng Chen Yu for help.
Feng Chen Yu nodded for Chen shi, “Then go back first and get changed.”
Chen shi glared at Jin Zhen. She looked as though she might swallow her whole. As Jin Zhen retreated, her head felt numb. She feared that she would later be physically punished. She could not help but secretly resent Li Zhu a little.
With this commotion, there was no longer any way to cover up the matter of clothing.
The matriarch understood what Chen shi had done, but she did not expect Feng Yu Heng would force her hand with just a few words. It was a good thing that Chen Yu had already found a good excuse for her, and it did not cause Chen shi to lose too much face.
The matriarch felt the beads in her hand, and the unhappiness in her heart quickly evaporated, “Chen Yu is right. It must be the materials that are defective. Chen shi, you are the head wife of this family. I will leave this matter for you to handle. Other than that, help get A-Heng, Zi Rui and their mother a new set of clothing. Making it now will not be in time, so go out and buy some ready-made clothes for now. We can’t keep having A-Heng wear her old clothes everywhere, or the Feng manor will lose face.”
Gritting her teeth, Chen shi spoke unwillingly: “Yes, daughter-in-law understands. I will take care of it in a while. I will also make sure to properly lecture the person in charge of acquiring materials.” After she finished speaking, she glared at Feng Yu Heng, then looked again at the sitting children. Her brows furrowed: “Have the manor’s rules been thrown out the window? Having just returned to the manor yesterday, why did they not come to pay respects this morning?” These words were very clearly directed towards Yao shi.
Feng Yu Heng smiled towards Chen shi and explained: “Concubine mother could not come because she had rewarded her clothes to Man Xi, thus she could only wear the dirty clothes she wore yesterday. If she came, it would dirty grandmother’s eyes. Secondly, we have just moved in to Willow courtyard, so concubine mother rose early to begin cleaning. There is truly too much work to do, so she still had not finished when A-Heng left.”