Chapter 9 The Worried Old Madam Ming
The old friend that Senior Master Sheng visited was Xu Baoting, whose son was the Ningwei Marquis, named Xu Zijing.
Those two elderly people met in the army when they were teenagers. During the years of war in Beijiang, they warded off arrows and swords with their own body for each other, saving each other on many occasions. Therefore, they had a very deep friendship.
After their leaving from the army because of the old age, they no longer stayed with each other day and night. Later on, the Xu Family was conferred as the Marquis. Such changes didn’t estrange them. On the contrary, they became more closely associated.
Nevertheless, there was a huge gap between their social classes. Old Madam Ming got very nervous.
Although her daughter, as well as her daughter’s family, had just arrived, she was in no mood to entertain them. She sent a maid to call over Sheng Lanci to have a discussion, “I have no idea what the Young Lord is going to do here, and whether we can help him or not. Furthermore, is he used to live in an ordinary family like ours?”
“Though he has a high status, he came back with my father, so he would live in our family as a junior.” Sheng Lanci said. He had entered the Imperial Academy as a Jinshi, during which he met Ningwei Marquis and his family for one time. He was not intended to pay homage to the Young Lord, saying carelessly, “Clean up a few yards and let him choose one to live in. Even if there is something he is not used to, he will not show that in consideration of the deep friendship between my father and Uncle Xu.”
Old Madam Ming forced a smile after hearing the answer, “Wouldn’t that make him feel aggrieved?”
“The Young Lord will also kowtow to pay his respects to you. Why do you think so highly of him?” Sheng Lanci said with a smile, “Moreover, he will not be here right away. Considering the time of my father’s departure, there will still be a few days before their arrival. Why are you worrying about that now?”
Before Old Madam Ming said anything, he stood up and said, “It’s a busy day for my parents-in-law, so I dare not to bother them. Tomorrow, in the early morning, I have to go to their family and pick up Yinlu! If there is nothing more to be told, may I go back?”
Old Madam Ming said with a sigh, “I have nothing to tell you now. You can go back.”
Alas, the stepson was thinking of nothing but his wife who had returned to her parents’ family. It’s no wonder that he was careless of the Young Lord’s arrival!
Now, the Old Madam could do nothing but prayed that Madam Feng would be successfully taken back by Sheng Lanci. Then, he could take charge of the reception without distractions.
Except for Sheng Lanci, people in the Sheng Family could mess things up. If anything was not done by him, they would be worried. After many years, the habit was gradually formed.
However, the result was opposite to her expectation. The next day, Sheng Lanci went out in the early morning, with lavish gifts, and came back near the curfew, with a sad face.
Old Madam Ming sent someone to make some inquiries and learned that although the Feng family let the Eldest Master enter the door, they led him to a small parlor, where he was served with cups of tea for the whole day. They didn’t serve him even some biscuits, let alone the lunch. When it was very late, the Eldest Master was considering to live there, while he was driven away.
“My sister-in-law was a pearl in the palms of my brother and her family. With sudden sufferings like that, it was inevitable that she couldn’t figure things out for a little while. It was only one time that my brother had been there. Tomorrow, she might be softhearted. After all, Weiqiao was still here,” Sheng Lanxin consoled the Old Madam after feeling her sadness, “If my sister-in-law decided not to come back again, how come she left Weiqiao at home?”
Old Madam Ming thought it reasonable. The couple had always been in a close relationship since getting married. The only had one child, Sheng Weiqiao, who was the apple in their eyes. No matter how much hatred Madam Feng had for her husband’s betrayal, she must not be apart from her daughter. After one or two days, she would come back with an excuse.
It was a good trick of Yinlu and her mother! For consecutive 5 or 6 days of going out early and coming back late, Sheng Lanci saw no traces of Madam Feng. Old Madam Ming suggested that Sheng Lanxin accompany him to visit her. Madam Feng could ignore her husband who took the bastard home, while she might not treat her sister-in-law in the same way, since they shared a close relationship.
However, Sheng Lanci insisted on his view to move his wife and the Feng family through his persistent efforts. He was in a mood to play the role of a model of deep love. Old Madam Ming stamped with rage, “The Senior Master and the Young Lord will arrive the day after tomorrow. You didn’t even glance at the yards prepared for him. All work was left to the steward. How come you behaved like that?!”
His stepmother complained with tears and snort. “Call Shuihe to deal with those things then!” Sheng Lanci, who was about to go out, said after listening patiently, “Wasn’t it just about checking whether the yard was okay? It’s a trivial matter, and we can ask Shuihe to walk around there to have a check!”
After saying this, he went away without caring about the Old Madam whose face turned deathly pale because of anger!
“Since the elder brother told us to make Shuihe in charge of that, why were you so angry?” Sheng Lanxin came to console her mother after hearing the news, “The elder brother had been in the Imperial Academy, so he didn’t treat the Hou Mansion with so much reverence as us. But he dared not to take it carelessly. In my opinion, the elder brother had already decided to hand it over to Shuihe. After all, he only brought back Shuihe without his mother, with a clear intention to have a son of his own. Since his son has come back, there was no doubt that the family business would be handed over to him. He wanted Shuihe to show his ability in the reception, not only for the Sheng Family but also for coming into contact with the Young Lord.”
After hearing her daughter’s words, Old Madam Ming had a more peaceful mood, saying, “But Shuihe has been outside these years, can he handle that properly?”
“He is the only son of the elder brother. Even if he was raised outside, the elder brother must have asked someone to teach him.” Sheng Lanxin said, with funny and annoyed feelings, “Furthermore, the elder brother has mentioned that he is junior to us, because my father is bringing him back. That’s right. So, don’t worry too much about that!”
“I have said that the eldest branch must have a son. Didn’t it confirm what I said?” Old Madam Ming said with a sigh, “Since Lanci already had his own plan, why not just speak out? If so, I would not have been anxious for days. Now, thinking about it with a peaceful mind, I know the reason. He might be afraid of Weiqiao’s opposition. From my point of view, it was a little earlier to take Shuihe home. Weiqiao is thirteen years old, and she will get married in a few years. At that time, being a wife of someone else, she will not be as headstrong as she is now. Even though he has taken many considerations into account, Weiqiao will bother him after knowing Shuihe’s assignment! Let’s see.”
Old Madam Ming hit the nail on the head!
A maid told Sheng Weiqiao that Sheng Shuihe took charge of the reception of the Young Lord. Then, she threw the jade comb into the dressing-case instantly and said, “The friendship between the Xu Family and our family spanned two or more generations. However, due to long-distance, we cannot communicate with each other often. It is the first time that the elder brother of the Xu Family came here. Father called the bastard to take charge! Was he serious?”
In fact, Sheng Shuihe didn’t want to run this errand. He sat on the couch and spoke to the steward through the curtain, “The reason why my father took me home was that I got wounded seriously, and he was worried about my wounds might result in sequela because no one could take care of me out there! So, how am I supposed to work with an injury?”Then, he coughed.The steward smiled sadly and thought that actually, Sheng Lanci did say the same thing after he brought his son home.But during these days, everyone started to talk about the news that Sheng Family’s son hit a person for his sister. Now, everybody knew that the first day Sheng Shuihe came back home, he beat the ass of the Xuanyu Che.But strangely, Xuanyu Che said something rude and insulting to Sheng Weiqiao and her mother that day in public. However, until now, his parents still didn’t bring his son to the Sheng Family to offer a humble apology. Well, the reason actually
Sheng Weiqiao went back to Zhuying Mini Villa with a flushed face. She felt grateful that no one appeared in her way to see her nuances, and hastened to warn Lvqu and Lvjin never to let out the thing.The two maids logically nodded, “We’ve seen nothing and heard nothing today!”“He’s fortunate!” Sheng Weiqiao relieved herself. When recalling the scene that she ran into today, though she felt bashful and annoyed, she had no courage to go trouble Sheng Shuihe again, so she simply cursed in her mind, “Next time when I catch you, you’ll see!”At that thought, she lowered her head, caught the kylin jade pendant and couldn’t help crumpling her brows. She considered in heart, “The jade is not a common one. I have to take it to my aunt!”After a while, At Xuanyu’s mansion, Madam Feng frowned, studying the kylin jade pendant, and said, “It belongs to the son of a mistress? Are you sure?”“I saw him put it by his hand myself. Ho
“Old Sea Master Gongsun, who was keeping us good connection, failed in the war and died. His son has retreated to Daimao Island. Outside there are two Sea Masters seeing covetously, including Han and Pan; Inside there is a group of cunning underlings who are not loyal to him for his inferior age,” Sheng Lanci sighed, “The son of Old Sea Master sent his henchmen to island to sell the treasure accumulated by the ancestors during a long time on sea. That jade pendant was in the treasure.”The name Sea Master was to address the leaders of the pirate respectfully.Nanfeng County was next to the sea, surrounded by many islands where lived abundant pirates making a living by robbing the boat past. They robbed the people near the sea from time to time but could not be arrested by feudal officials more than once. The officials only set out the sea as a deterrent for the pirates every year.But the emperor on the throne indulged himself in the lust and n
We would leave aside the bustle and stir in Sheng’s Mansion tonight first. The early next morning, all the people ranking below Old Madam Ming, including Sheng Lanxin who came back for a visit with her whole family, had dressed up and went outside of the gate in order to receive Senior Master and Young Lord Xu.Senior Master Sheng had got married twice, and he had three sons and two daughters in total. Among them, the oldest son Sheng Lanci’s birth mother was Madam Ai, his first wife. When giving birth, she suffered from dystocia, but Senior Master had happened to be absent, so the midwife had followed Madam Ai’s orders and had sacrificed the mother to save the son. Because of this, Sheng Lanci was born but Madam Ai died, which was why Old Senior thought he owed Madam Ai a lot and he had been partial to the eldest branch all the time.Fortunately, his second wife Old Madam Ming wasn’t a narrow-minded person. Even if she had given birth to two sons and two d
For god’s sake, Old Madam asked this completely out of her concern for the guest and the consideration of the relationship between Xu Family and Sheng Family.But the words somehow offended Senior Master Sheng. Senior Master was extending his arms to let Old Madam Ming fasten the clothes band for him, and hearing the words, his countenance turned gloomy and groaned, “You’re a woman. What’s the meaning of inquiring so much?!”“Wasn’t I afraid that we weren’t thoughtful enough for that child?” Old Madam Ming found the blame unjust. Because she was the second wife, naturally she was inferior to the first wife. Especially that the first wife died of giving birth to a child for Sheng Family, which made Senior Master Sheng guilty until then, moreover, Sheng Lanci alone was even more competent than all the four children she had given birth to, so she knew that she had no power and never dared to go against Senior Master Sheng.However, though Senor Ma
When Sheng Weiqiao and her cousin arrived, Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo were watching the servant packing up the chess and getting ready to leave.Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo were shocked when they saw Sheng Weiqiao making a beeline for them angrily.“Sh*t, sister will find out I lied to her!” Luckily, Sheng Shuihe had a quick reaction, and he quickly saluted to Xu Baomo, saying regretfully, “Brother Xu, there is something perhaps you don’t know. Two days ago, I beat a playboy, who said something nasty to my sister and her mother on the street. After that, my sister has been going on about this for many days! This time, she would not let it go when she saw me. So, later, if my sister said anything rude, hope brother could forgive her!”After hearing what he said, Xu Baomo quickly replied, “Our families have been old friends for two generations, so there is no need to be so overcautious! Besides, it is actually quite enviable that sister cares about
When two siblings went back, they didn’t see Shen Jiuniang talking to Xu Baomo. Well, because he had already gone.But Shen Jiuniang was still standing there, reluctantly seeing his back off.Well, even a blind person could feel the sense of infatuation and intoxication through her eyes. Sheng Shuihe showed a faint smile when she looked at the expression of Sheng Weiqiao. First, she frowned, and then she pouted. When she realized that his eyes were on her, she glared at him angrily and shouted, “What?!”“Big Weiqiao?” Sheng Shuihe hadn’t answer yet, Shen Jiuniang was already shocked by the voice. She was flustered. She turned around, making her gourd-shaped earrings shook violently, and her red cheek became even redder as blood. “When, when did you guys come back?”“Good to see you, Cousin Shen!” Sheng Weiqiao was going to say something, but Sheng Shuihe took the chance to speak first, and he smiled, “We were just playing around, y
Sheng Weiqiao was completely unaware that Xu Baomo had come for her, and she comforted Shen Jiuniang, “Anyway, Brother Xu will stay for a few days. You have mentioned that you want to study painting from my mother. After grandfather’s birthday, you can live with us for some days instead of going with my aunt. Maybe, there will be a turn.”“He must think me tiresome now. Will he tell my grandfather what happened between us?” Shen Jiuniang said with enthusiasm and worries, “If so, grandfather will not allow me to stay here!”In addition to the partiality for the eldest branch, Senior Master Sheng treated juniors including his sons and daughters in a normal manner, without excoriating or spoiling.As his granddaughter, Shen Jiuniang visited the Sheng Family only on some special occasions such as some festivals. There were fewer chances for her to contact with her grandfather. As a result, she felt scared rather than close when facing him.