Volume 1 Chapter 7

  Summer listened to the beautiful eyes, and suddenly glared at him fiercely. "Father, it's been a long time since I've seen you. How is it that even teaching a woman a lesson requires me to ask for your permission first?"

  Is this Mrs. Li? She's still her mother, but what kind of mother is she? She speaks without fear of the wind blowing away her tongue. What a stupid and brainless person, it's as if her head was kicked by a donkey.

  Xia Lao Ye was stared at by his own daughter, and his heart skipped a beat. Moreover, the phrase "it's been a long time" wasn't it implying that he had neglected them for so many years?

  Xia Lao Ye thought of this and looked at Hong, whose eyes were red-rimmed, weak and pitiful.

  Her heart tightened, Jing'er was a strong and reasonable person, she wouldn't wrong that Wang nanny. It must be that old woman who didn't know the rules, offended her, which made Jing'er lose her temper.

  After some deliberation, Old Master Xia's tone softened and he said, "This Wang nanny is being unreasonable. You should report back to your mother when you return. Let her deal with it, and in the future, this kind of thing will not be allowed again."

  Now that you mention it, I just want to get this over with.

  Li heard this and immediately became dissatisfied, saying that after all, the old master was still protecting that cheap woman Shi. What's so good about her? Isn't it just that her son passed the imperial examination as a xiucai? What's there to be proud of?

  Master Bao received the letter and hastily reported to Old Madam that they would go to pick them up, saying that as long as they nurtured the son of Shi well, he would surely bring glory to their ancestors in the future. To his surprise, Old Madam agreed.

  She's really infuriating, if she had any dignity at all, she'd still be just a concubine, and yet she can't even compare to her own son Ruyu.

  Although she was unwilling in her heart a hundred times and a thousand times, for the sake of Lianer, she absolutely could not let Xia Ting walk. Now she can only secretly swallow this bad breath.

  Xia Lao Ye saw that his wife was no longer making things difficult, so he hastily took advantage of the situation and ordered "Someone, take Shui Niang and the others to Li Yuan to settle them in"

  Shui watched as his daughter got into an argument with the lady, and had been frightened out of her wits. When Xia Lao Ye ordered someone to take the three of them away to rest, she hastily pulled over her daughter and son, bowed, and retreated.

  Xia Tingjing stepped on Wang's hand as she turned to leave.

  A shrill howl like the slaughter of pigs suddenly echoed in her ears. Xia Tingwei slightly raised an eyebrow, pretending not to have heard it, and led the bewildered Shui Shi out of Qinghua Hall with a good mood. Under the guidance of several maids, they headed towards Liyuan.

  That Wang's hand hasn't rested for over ten days or half a month, it's probably irreparable.

  Xia Ting's move was undoubtedly a slap in the face for Li Shi, and she almost got her nose crooked.

  Li could only watch their backs, gritting her teeth in anger, and thought to herself: Hmph, just you wait, who knows if that cheap woman's son can pass the imperial exam next year, at that time he'll still be under my control.

  Arriving at the Pear Courtyard, Xia Ting really didn't want to listen to her mother's lengthy lectures again. In short, it was all about saying that she was unruly, that she couldn't speak to her stepfather in such a manner, and also couldn't be rude to Stepmother Yun and so on.

  On the way back from Qinghuatang, she kept reciting and got a headache. She waved her hand to let Biyan, the maid beside her mother, hurry up and support her back to the room to rest. Then she turned her head and said to her younger brother Xia Ziyun, "Ziyun, you go rest too, don't get tired."

  Xia Zi Yun nodded obediently, and after what had just happened, he also knew that his nominal stepmother didn't like them.

  He couldn't help his sister in any way, so he could only secretly encourage himself: He must study hard and take the imperial examination as soon as possible to help his sister. Then he took the little servant back to his own room.

  Xia Tingjing directed the maids and young servants to sort out the items in the luggage.

  This time in Kyoto, she naturally brought enough people. Xia Ting had two maids by her side, Wan Yu and Lu Wei. Her mother, Shui Shi, usually used two maids, Bi Fu and Lan Qiu, who were all brought from the mansion in Yixing City.

  Considering that Old Master Xia is after all a high-ranking official of the fourth grade, if there were only two maidservants attending to her and Mother, it would be too shabby.

  Before arriving in Kyoto, Xia Ting again selected four maids and two sweepers from Ren Yazi, all of whom were signed with a death contract.

  In this way, she and her mother each had four maidservants attending to them, while Xia Ziyun's side also had two young servants following him around. The kitchen had a cook and several rough-handed servant women, and the courtyard had a small maid sweeping it clean. As a result, Li Shi didn't have an opportunity to plant anyone by her side.

  As for the new servant girls and maids, whether they would be blinded by money and do something disloyal, that was up to Lanyu and Bifen to watch over. Moreover, with the sale contract in Xia Tingcong's hands, she didn't have to worry about it.

  It wasn't until after dinner that Xia Tingjing finally lay down on the bed, exhausted. Leaning against the soft pillow, her whole body relaxed. She needed to get a good night's sleep, as tomorrow she still had to go pay respects to her cheap father's mother, Old Lady Xia.

  This summer old lady knew that, listening to her mother say, the cheap father's legitimate wife Li was actually this summer old lady's natal family.

  She should have been protecting Li's family, but what she couldn't understand was why Old Lady Xia didn't agree to bring her mother back to the mansion that year. It is worth noting that in this era, taking a concubine was a very normal thing.

  It's said that because of his love for Li, he wouldn't believe it even if she were beaten to death. Besides, there are other concubines beside her cheap father, so why did it have to be her mother who was taken as a concubine? This old lady definitely won't agree. There must be some reason behind this, and someone should investigate thoroughly.

  The next morning, Shui called up his children and came to Chunxi Residence to pay respects to Old Lady Xia.

  They had just stepped inside the door and knelt down to pay their respects, except for her younger brother Xia Ziyun who was called up by Old Lady Xia. Xia Ting and her mother, Shui Shi, remained kneeling on the ground, as according to custom, they were not allowed to get up until Old Lady Xia spoke.

  Li sat in the first place on the left, his almond-shaped eyes occasionally staring at Xia Ting and Shui, seemingly still upset about yesterday's incident.

  And several of her children were also present. Li had three daughters and one son, with the eldest daughter Xia Fu already married and not seen at the moment. The third daughter Xia Lian was about the same age as Xia Ting, wearing a long dress in peach red color, with light makeup on her face, looking quite pretty and similar to Li, with eyes occasionally scanning towards Xia Ting.

  Miss Wushi was smiling and chatting with her mother, a round face, exquisite hair ornaments. She looked lovely and charming, if one could ignore the malicious glint in her eyes.

  The two sisters of the Xia family stared at her non-stop after Xia Tingning entered the house, extremely jealous of her looks, and secretly resenting in their hearts: She's just a low-born child, why is she so beautiful? They themselves thought they were also top-notch beauties, but were unexpectedly surpassed by Xia Tingning.

  Young Master Xia Yu is thirteen years old this year, with a few similarities in his eyebrows and eyes to Old Master Xia. He has no grudge against the three members of the Shui family, after all, he is the legitimate son, and no matter how clever Xia Ziyun is, she cannot surpass him in status.

  Behind Li stood a delicate and weak-looking girl, the fourth young lady Xia Qinghe. Her mother, Lin Yiniang, was originally Summer Old Master's concubine, and later gave birth to her, only then was she promoted to be a yiniang.

  Looking at Mrs. Xia, she was wearing a dark red gold-embroidered phoenix-patterned dress, with two gold-inlaid jade hairpins inserted on either side of her head, and a pair of white jade earrings hanging down, exuding an air of elegance.

  Right, smiling with a benevolent face, holding Xia Zi Yun's hand, the words that came out were all about working hard on homework and becoming a top scorer in the future to bring glory to the ancestors. Xia Ting listened and muttered to herself: Only thinking about bringing glory to the ancestors, what does he take my brother for?

  "After talking for a long time, he finally shifted his gaze to Shui and said lightly, 'Considering you have given birth to children for the Xia family and expanded our branch, I'll give you the status of a concubine. Remember to behave yourself in the future and don't lose face for our Xia family.'"

  Shui's face turned somewhat pale after hearing this, but he still kowtowed to thank her. Old Lady Xia waved her hand and said, "All of you can get up and go back now."

  The Shui family again bowed and then pulled their son and daughter to retreat.

  Xia Ting stood by and felt a dark cloud gathering over her head. Could it be that this old lady was still half asleep?

  She had told her father before entering the mansion that she would enter as a concubine after discussing with her family, and everyone in the mansion knew about it.

  This old lady's words, whether explicit or implicit, all treated her daughter-in-law as a concubine.

  Doesn't this clearly show that in the eyes of this old lady, Mother was just a concubine when she followed Father?

  This concubine and the madam are not on the same level. The madam is at least half a mistress, while the concubine is simply a slave.

  It's really outrageous for this old lady to say such a thing. Her mother was also the daughter of a merchant, has she ever seen a merchant's daughter become a concubine?

  Daring to lose her mother's face in front of so many people, and still putting on a condescending expression.

  Xia Ting was just about to make a move when he was tightly grabbed by Shui Shi and dragged outside.

  As soon as they walked out of Chunxi Residence, Shui Shi warned, "Ning'er, no matter what she says, she is still your grandmother. You must never again humiliate her in public like you did yesterday." She could endure some grievances, but most importantly, she didn't want Ning'er to bear the shame of being unfilial because of her.

  Xia Ting didn't know what her mother was thinking, she could only angrily swing her sleeves. From now on, she decided not to give this old woman a good face, did she really think she was Empress Dowager Cixi?

  Xia Ting Fu supported Shui Shi as they walked towards the Pear Courtyard, and along the way, she sternly told her brother Xia Zi Yun that he was absolutely not allowed to get close to Old Lady Xia. He didn't have to listen to anything she said either, it was as if this grandmother didn't exist.

  Xia Zi Yun cleverly pulled her sister's sleeve, nodding heavily in guarantee. He didn't like this grandmother either, and now she had made his sister angry, making their mother sad, he disliked her even more.

  Xia Ting and her mother and son didn't go far before Old Lady Xia also waved her hand to let Xia Qinghe return together.

  Li and others had all gone, and he hastily spoke to Old Lady Xia, "Mother, in a few days we will have to send the portrait and birth date into the palace. What do you think..."

  Madam Xia raised her head and looked at Li Shi, saying slowly, "What's the hurry? I agree to bring back Water's mother and son. Half of it is for Lian'er's sake. My own legitimate granddaughter is naturally heart-aching. Qinghe is still young, not suitable. When the time comes, you can send in their portraits and birth dates. She is a few months older than Lian'er, just the right age, and when the time comes, she won't let people with ulterior motives gossip."

  Li heard this and finally put down the big stone in her heart, with a curved smile at the corner of her mouth.