Originally, Madam Ye thought that when she finally could endure this pent-up unspoken grievances, she would allow Ke Minjie to become her son"s concubine. Then, in the future, she would find an opportunity to send Ke Minjie out of Ye Residence, then her days in the Ye Residence afterwards would pa.s.s smoothly.
It was merely that, Madam Ye"s idea was quite glorious, but she somehow had forgotten that she had an absolutely infatuated son. Second Master Ye became aware that Madam Ye had intended to let him take Ke Minjie as his concubine. How could he let his sweetheart become his concubine? Therefore, he went to the Lu family without permission, wanting to announce that he would withdraw from the arranged marriage between the two families.
Miss Lu wasn"t from a poor humble family. The Lu family head, Old Master Lu held the position of a Yīpǐn(of officials in imperial times) the highest rank¹who was in charge of the Imperial Guards, a position that couldn"t be held by the Emperor"s confidants. Although Second Master Ye"s luck was not generally bad, when he ran to the Lu family to withdraw from his marriage however, it was found that Old Master Lu was at home at that time. When Old Master Lu heard Second Master Ye"s purpose, he replied with only one sentence, "Go out and beat him for me." He used to think that Second Master Ye was a good person, but he didn"t expect that he would be a brainless one too.
With words from Old Master Lu, the servants of the Lu family started to be ruthless. Second Master Ye was beaten till he spit blood and they also broke one of his legs. At last, he was carried back to Ye Residence by some of Lu family servants.
After hearing the news, Madam Ye became more powerless. "Go and ask Eldest Master to return." Eldest Master Ye was on duty in a 3,000 battalion camp which was not situated in the capital city. As for Old Master Ye, he just went out to do an inspection and was also not in the capital.
Madam Ye called her eldest son back because she could not handle this matter regarding Second Master Ye. If the engagement was broken, it would create a big feud between the Ye family and the Lu family!
After giving some instructions to the servants, Madam Ye immediately went to the Lu family home. She sat on a cold bench inside for a long time, when she was met by the personal old woman servant of the Second Madam Lu.
At that time, Second Madam Lu had already known about this matter, which made her feel very furious. Her daughter was already 16 years old this year, and both families had already set the date of the wedding date, which would be held in October. Now that the Ye family had made such a big fuss, not only making the Lu family lost their face, but at the same time, her daughter"s life had also been delayed.
The old woman servant sarcastically asked, "Is Madam Ye here to deliver a gengtiecard with the horoscope of a boy or girl sent as a proposal for betrothal, T/N : It"s like another version/word for 8 Characters? Please correct me if I"m wrong.²?"
Madam Ye knew she was in the wrong and explained, "I have come to make amends.“
Because of the fuss that the Ye family had brought forth, Second Madam Ye"s personal old woman servant started to ridicule Madam Ye for a while. After enjoying a lifetime of fame, Madam Ye never thought that one day she would be ridiculed by an old woman servant. She really wished that she could drill herself underground at this moment.
When Madam Ye returned home, she finally collapsed. Even an iron manperson of exceptional physical and moral strength³like her could not endure the blows that came one after another. But fortunately, there was Da Nainaida=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house⁴handling the Ye family household duties, otherwise everything in the residence would be in a mess. .
When Eldest Master Ye returned to the Ye Residence, he caught sight of his sickly-looking mother lying on the bed. Eldest Master Ye belonged to a rational type of people, as he began to quietly listen to his mother"s personal old servant"s explanation. Once he had done listening to it, he asked the most crucial question, "Why did Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵suddenly calculated against Erdier=second, di=younger brother, short form for didi⁶?"
Old woman Feng didn"t know how to explain.
The pale faced Madam Ye suddenly instructed, "Mama Feng, go outside and keep watch!" It was more appropriate for her to personally tell her eldest son about this.
Eldest Master Ye looked at the current situation and knew, this matter was a big deal.
Madam Ye started by telling him about Ke Minjie"s malicious trick with the sachet that Ke Minjie had brought to the Han family home. After that, Madam Ye explained, "I"d let it known to her that I had sent a letter to Suzhou. However, she didn"t want to go back to Suzhou, so she schemed against your Didiyounger brother⁷."
Eldest Master Ye didn"t expect his Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵, who usually had gentle and soft like water appearance, would be this sinister and vicious that she even dared to harm her Dajieda=eldest, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie⁸, "Mother, when you already knew the most crucial part that she wanted to hurt Dameida=eldest, mei=younger sister⁹, you should have immediately sent her back to Suzhou instead of writing to the Ke family to pick her up." If Ke Minjie had been directly sent back to Suzhou, this kind of situation would not have happened right now.
Madam Ye also felt regret. At that time, she didn"t want the news to spread, and it was also to save her face, but she didn"t expect such an outcome. "Now that things have ended up like this, what do you propose to solve them?"
Eldest Master Ye replied, "Mother, Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵"s affair is easy to handle, but Lu family affair is quite troublesome."
Madam Ye nodded and said, "When I went to Lu family home, none of them showed up unfortunately and I have failed to keep the marriage. It is just that, I"m begging you, when you try to settle this matter, don"t make enemies with them."
Eldest Master Ye nodded and said, "I will immediately go to the Lu family home." His Didiyounger brother⁷used to have a good att.i.tude. How could he abruptly make this huge mistake because of being schemed by a woman!
Eldest Master Ye and Second Master Lu had a good relationship. Second Master Lu said that they would settle the problem peacefully after he finally met with Second Master Ye. The two discussed in the study for half a sichen2 hours¹⁰. The topic of their discussion was unknown. However, the Lu family didn"t personally make a visit to the Ye family. They instead asked a matchmaker to withdraw the marriage from the Ye family.
Madam Ye took out the gengtiecard with the horoscope of a boy or girl sent as a proposal for betrothal, T/N : It"s like another version/word for 8 Characters? Please correct me if I"m wrong.²with a bleeding heart. It was her husband who racked his brainChinese idiom : to take great pains to think sth through¹¹to plan the marriage with the Lu family that day. Not only for the reason that Old Master Lu had won the Emperor"s heart, but what was more important, several of Miss Lu"s uncles held important positions in the army. Even three of her elder brothers were outstanding. Miss Lu"s eldest brother had become a third rank a.s.sistant Commander in less than 30 years, while her other two elder brothers were similarly competent, as they rose without receiving any help from their family. Besides, with Second Master Ye being the one responsible for stirring up trouble, it would be hard for them to find a good marriage in the future. At the very least, many families with a little bit of background in the capital would forget about this incident.
As the Lu family problem had been settled, it was now time to deal with Second Master Ye and Ke Minjie"s matter. Eldest Master Ye told Madam Ye, "It is impossible for him to marry Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵to be his wife, but it is still acceptable if he takes her as his concubine."
Madam Ye also knew that Second Master Ye must accept Ke Minjie as his concubine, not for nothing else, but to use this settlement as a gamble to stop the crowd outside from talking about this for a long time.
Eldest Master Ye said, "Mother doesn"t have to worry about Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵harming Erdier=second, di=younger brother, short form for didi⁶anymore. When Erdier=second, di=younger brother, short form for didi⁶has gotten well from his injury, let him go outside and earn some experiences. As for Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵, if Mother doesn"t want to see her, I will send her to a hamlet as soon as her position is decided. We will wait for the rumour to pa.s.s, and at the same time, let her die there!"
Ke Minjie didn"t know that she was already a dead person in the eyes of Eldest Master Ye, as she was still under house arrest inside her courtyard. At this point, all the maids inside the courtyard had been reduced and replaced. Even Mama Cui had been missing. The only one who could lift her out of this difficult situation right now was Second Master Ye.
As Madam Ye thought, Ke Minjie only schemed after Second Master Ye after she knew Madam Ye planned to send her back to Suzhou. Her father didn"t like her because she was a daughter, while her stepmother was mean and vicious towards her. If she was sent back to Suzhou, she would definitely be pushed into the fire pit by those two people. However, it was also useless for her to beg Madam Ye anyway. Hence, in her desperation, she thought of an idea to use Second Master Ye.
Ke Minjie had always known that Second Master Ye was very fond of her. However, all her previous thoughts had been on Han Jianming, therefore she paid little attention to Second Master Ye. Now that she was at an impa.s.seChinese idiom : to be in a tight spot¹², she had no choice but to climb on this root (Second Master Ye) as she clutched hard at a strawone"s last hope¹³. However, she had never imagined that Second Master Ye would go and ask for marriage withdrawal from the Lu family for her. At the beginning, her heart was very happy. After all, who would like to be a concubine? But when she heard that Second Master Ye had been beaten till he spit blood, she immediately felt foolish. How could she forget that the Lu family background was on par with that of the Ye"s, and this family marriage between the two families wasn"t an easy to be withdrawn.
The Ye family dispute had nothing to do with Yuxi. In this occasion, she was trying to adapt to her new status as one of the manager of the household.
Qiu Shi noticed that although Yuxi and Yuchen had only been managing the household for more than a month, they had handled the matter in perfect order. She didn"t go out during this period, as she used this time to deal with her household duties. However, she also thought of stealing some times to be idle, for this reason she divided more than half of the houseworks between the two girls.
Yuxi didn"t refuse them either. Although she felt a little bit tired right now, as to her, by learning these things well would only give her advantages rather than disadvantages. She used to learn housekeeping from Momowet nurse¹⁴Quan, but all she learned was only in theory. There was still a big gap between theory and practicality. Although she had spent her time studying it, she often made mistakes during the practical process of managing the household. However, with Mama Li, staying alongside her as she led her towards the right directions, Yuxi quickly entered the role. As for Yuchen, she hadn"t done any mistakes at all. .
It was another busy afternoon that day. After Yuxi had finished with her work, she was on her way to
Rose Courtyard when she met Qiu Yanfu. With Yuxi"s temper, she certainly had no reason to pay attention to Qiu Yanfu. Unfortunately, Qiu Yanfu"s skin was as thick-skinned as the city wall as she took the initiative to greet Yuxi, "Si Biaomeisi=fourth, biaomei=younger female cousin¹⁵."
When Yuxi was in the middle of a public situation, she would not say anything offensive. As she saw Qiu Yanfu"s manner, she asked with an indifferent look, "Do you have something to say to me?"
Qiu Yanfu smiled and answered, "It"s nothing. It"s just that my parents had sent some things, many of them are speciality products of Hebei province. I"ll give some to Biaomeiyounger female cousin⁵and is it okay for me to send them over in the evening later on?"
Yuxi flatly rejected, "No need. I already have special products from Hebei, such as pictures woven from reeds and so on."
Qiu Yanfu was about to say something else, when she noticed that Yuxi had already turned around. She gripped her hands tight, but she didn"t dare to show any dissatisfaction on her face. Otherwise, she wouldn"t realise in what way she would be schemed again by Yuxi. Now, she had to be scrupulous in everything she did while she was still in the state residence.
When Yuxi finally arrived in Rose Courtyard, she did some body stretching, as she prepared to read in the study. Then, Kufu walked up to her and said, "Miss, Second Master Ye had accepted Ke Minjie as his concubine today. The deed had already been signed."
Yuxi smiled as she asked, "This concubinage, was it only a formality?" She clearly remembered that Second Master Ye couldn"t get out of bed after he was being badly beaten. Thus, how could he take a concubine with this kind of appearance?
Kufu nodded and said, "En. After the deed had been signed, Miss Ke had been immediately sent to Second Master Ye"s courtyard."
Yuxi just smiled and said nothing more.
Zisu didn"t say a word at first. However, after Kufu left, she questioned, "Miss, will the Lu family just let themselves swallow this implication? I"ve heard that the Lu family is no less powerful than the Ye family? What"s more, the Ye family has simply lost such a good marriage, how could they not be angry with Ke Minjie?"
Yuxi smiled and replied, "In the end, she"s going to be a dead man, so what"s the point for them to be angry with her?" The reason Ke Minjie was able to stir up trouble in the state residence, was because of her good luck. At first, Ye Shi wanted to help her give birth to a son, so she always protected her. Later, her eldest aunt needed her to fight Ye Shi, so she shielded her. Later, when she gave birth to three sons, her position was firmly established in the state residence. Unfortunately, in this life, she had become one of the Ye family, and yet, everyone refused to shield her, in addition with the Old Master Ye and Eldest Master Ye weren"t the type of softhearted persons. Ke Minjie had broken Second Master Ye"s marriage, thus ruining his bright future. For this reason, how could Old Master Ye and Eldest Master Ye accommodate her? Now, Second Master Ye had accepted her as his concubine, but he was doing this only to block outside people from talking.
Zisu disliked this kind of woman who fooled around with a married man the most, because she and her mother had suffered from the same thing at the beginning. "Let her eat her own bitter fruitChinese idiom : reap what one has sown¹⁶. She is really such a lowly woman. Luckily, Da Nainaida=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house⁴has not been schemed by her, otherwise our residence would not have been peaceful." If one saw such white eyed wolf, it was better for one to retreat three feet back.
Yuxi thought that Zisu was like the G.o.d of truth. In her last life, the state residence was made into a mess by Ke Minjie. But it was also because of this matter, it had made Yuxi feel that being softhearted wouldn"t cause no end of troubleChinese idiom : nip the problem in the bud¹⁷. If Madam Ye had ruthlessly dealt with Ke Minjie after she was aware that Ke Minjie was going to kill Dasaoeldest sister-in-law¹⁸, it wouldn"t have turned into such a big deal. Not only this matter made the Ye family reputation swept to the ground, but it also made them lost such a good marriage potential.
Zisu thought for a moment before she asked, "Miss, how long are you going to keep the matter of the Ye family from Da Nainaida=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house⁴?" It was impossible to hide it all the time. Inevitably there would be time when the matter would be exposed.
Yuxi smiled and responded, "How long can you hide it? It"s better to conceal it until Dasaoeldest sister-in-law¹⁸has completed her three months rest." Now, Ye Shi was lying on the bed, keeping the foetus at ease. Once the foetus finally stabilised, it would be time for Ye Shi to go out and stretch her legs. How could such a big thing that had happened to the Ye family be able to hide by that time? As for Ye Shi"s inability to bear the stimulation which could also affect her foetus, Yuxi did not think much about it at all. If this matter could still result in Ye Shi having a miscarriage, it could only be said that Ye Shi did not have the fate to be a mother, and the child didn"t have a good fortune to be a member of the Han family.
:: :: ::