Chapter 16: To Capture In and Let Out

  Su Ying thought this wasn't Wei's usual style, but Wei pulled out a handkerchief and bowed to Su Ying: "Madam, please save me, the master scolded me severely yesterday, I didn't sleep all night, my heart is uncertain, so I came to ask for your guidance."

  After finishing speaking, she continued to cover her face and cry. This time, Wei Niang was really flustered. Last time, she used the eldest daughter as a scapegoat, wanting to drag Su Ying and Bai Ling down together, but unexpectedly, she lost everything. That time, Fu Ye Yang was so angry that she also panicked along with him. But after waiting for a day without seeing any follow-up, she felt slightly relieved.

  She was still proud that her status in the old man's heart was much higher than Su Ying, his legitimate wife. After calming down, she thought about what excuse to use to win back the old man's heart again. Usually, she would do this every day, but this time, she didn't know why, the old man suddenly smashed that lid, and a small half of the scalding chicken soup splashed onto her skirt. Fortunately, it was cold and she was wearing thick clothes, otherwise, she would have been scalded!

  Not only that, the old master kicked her maid and scolded her, which completely stunned Wei Niang. At that time, she was so frightened by the old master's momentum that her legs were soft. For several days in a row, the old master had such a big fire at her place, and then he stayed in the main house for several days, which was unusual.

  Wei Yiniang has always been arrogant, even the mistress would give in to her a bit, relying on Master's favoritism. What she fears most is losing this unspoken privilege for no reason. She didn't sleep all night, thinking it over and over again, and felt that it must be Su Ying saying something to Fu Yeyang!

  Since the old master returned, he had not spent a single night at her place, and as far as she knew, he hadn't gone to Liu's or Linyue's either. He was basically always at Su Ying's, who else could it be? But Wei Niang wouldn't be foolish enough to say this directly, so she waited for the right moment to come to Su Ying's door with a humble attitude and cry, trying to get something out of her. Even if she couldn't get anything, by taking on this posture, she had done enough, and when the old master found out, his attitude would definitely soften.

  Thinking so, Wei's wife became even more humble, "I beg of you, madam!"

  Su Ying's foot was on the footrest, and she said: "You yourself did something to provoke Master, you don't even know what it is, how would I know?"

  Wei Yiniang still patted her chest, "I shouldn't have dared to intercept the master, I was thinking of Big Miss, Big Miss misses her father, so I took pity on her with a mother's heart..."

  "Wei," Su Ying coldly interrupted Wei's words, "at the beginning, because of Eldest Miss's frail health, we especially allowed you to raise her by your side as her birth mother. What qualifications do you have to call yourself Eldest Miss's mother? Do you not put me, the mistress, in your eyes?"

  Wei Yiniang knelt on the ground, unable to support herself. "I was in a hurry and misspoke, please don't take it to heart, madam. I just wanted you to give me some advice, I really don't know what to do." She covered her face with her handkerchief and wept, her hair disheveled, her pale face without rouge looked even more pitiful.

  Su Ying slightly raised an eyebrow and said loudly, "Wei Shi, what are you doing? Hurry up and help your aunt get up. Whatever the matter is, discuss it properly, don't cry like that." She also said, "Help her go and re-wash herself. As a maternal aunt, even if you don't consider yourself, you should think about the eldest young lady." Su Ying gave a signal to Lu Hui with her eyes, and Lu Hui nodded in agreement. After Wei Shi was helped inside to re-wash herself, her hair was re-combed and adorned with a pair of Jingfu and Ditihaitang earrings.

  Wei Yiniang was stunned by Su Ying's behavior, earlier when Su Ying lost her temper with her she still felt a sense of satisfaction in her heart, but unexpectedly Su Ying became gentle and amiable in the blink of an eye, this was not what she had expected.

  Bai Zhi moved a stool over for Wei Niang to sit on, and they exchanged polite conversation.

  Wei's aunt sat half of her body on the stool, still covering her face with a handkerchief to wipe away tears, "Please, madam, have mercy!"

  In the face of Wei's persistent and shameless crying, Su Ying didn't feel annoyed at all. Isn't she just trying to show a low profile to Fu Ye Yang and highlight her own shallowness as his wife? Su Ying deliberately couldn't let her have her way, especially since this wasn't the first time Fu Ye Yang had blown up like this in the past few days, but Wei was only doing this now, which seemed a bit late.

  She didn't seem to be angry at all. Su Ying just held the teacup, not speaking, and she didn't speak, so the maidservants didn't dare make a sound either. For a moment, the only sound in the entire side hall was Wei Niang's sobbing.

  At this time, Mint came in and said: "Mrs. Liu and Miss Luyue have arrived."

  "Let them come in." Liu Yiniang and Liyue had come to pay their respects, and then report on the household matters to Su Ying. Unexpectedly, they saw Wei Yiniang covering her face with a handkerchief and crying. Liu Yiniang first paid her respects to Su Ying, then looked at Wei Yiniang and asked in puzzlement: "Sister Wei, what's wrong? Is it that Big Miss is not well again?"

  She came up and poked Wei's trachea, so angry that Wei was almost dead. She wiped the corner of her eye, looked at Su Ying first, and didn't respond to Liu's words, still saying: "Please, madam, have mercy."

  Su Ying glanced at Wei Niang, who was lowering her head and eyes, and sighed. "If you want me to be considerate, you have to explain the reason clearly. What exactly happened?"

  Wei Yiniang did not expect Su Ying to come out, and she was immediately at a loss for words. Liu Yiniang kindly chimed in from the side: "Last night when it got dark, I heard a commotion outside and my maid's heart was worried, so I sent someone to take a look. All they saw was Wei sister's maids begging for mercy outside the south wing, but those people at the bottom were not following the rules and rushed into Master's room? Wei sister is an old person in front of Master, how could she not know that Master dislikes this the most? However, Wei sister is too kind-hearted. It's just that those slaves at the bottom don't know what's going on, and it would be fine to just punish them. Why did Wei sister have to run to Madame's place to cry and beg for mercy for a few slaves?"

  When Old Lady Liu spoke up, Old Lady Wei's face turned blue and white, white and blue again, but she couldn't think of anything to say in rebuttal, her eyes were about to spout fire.

  Su Ying glanced at Liu Niang with interest, and this Liu Niang was a second person. After scanning her eyebrows, Liu Niang stood aside obediently, Liyue was always a wooden person, she didn't ask her, she wouldn't speak easily.

  Su Ying didn't care about Wei Niang, who was lowering her head to wipe away tears. She admired that Wei Niang could still cry at this age and asked Liu Niang: "Is the household chores management going smoothly?"

  Liu Yiniang's heart was set, and she hastily replied: "With Gui Ayi and Han Jiejie by my side to help, I can finally get the hang of it." Liu Yiniang was not like Wei Yiniang, who had a big girl by her side. Although she had served in front of the old ancestor before, now that the old ancestor was no longer around, and Fu Ye Yang rarely came to her room, she naturally didn't dare to be careless with such a respectable task.

  Wei's aunt listened to Liu's aunt recounting the household chores assigned to her, and not only did her eyes blaze with anger, but her heart also burned with indignation. Originally, she had not even touched the power of managing the household, and yet Su Ying had spoken so eloquently about dividing the power, which was certainly just a show for the old master and mistress. She still didn't understand that this mistress, seeing that she couldn't get the old master's favor, grasped the power of managing the household in her hand, and wouldn't easily relinquish actual authority.

  Unexpectedly, some real power was actually delegated. Looking at the proud and arrogant look of Liu Niangniang, Wei Niangniang's tears stopped flowing, and she just sat stupidly on a round stool, holding her handkerchief and pouting.

  Su Ying Yu Guang saw that Wei Yi Niang's tears had stopped, and thought to herself that this was the end of it, what a pity! However, she didn't say anything to her, and after Liu Yi Niang finished reporting, she praised: "Indeed worthy of being taught by our ancestors, generally there's nothing wrong with it."

  Liu Yiniang bowed to Su Yingying: "It's Madam who sympathizes with me."

  Wei Yiniang was just unable to get a word in edgewise, but now that Liu Yiniang has spoken up, she hastily stood up, and her eyes instantly reddened again. "Please also take pity on me, madam." It's unclear whether it's because her legs had gone numb from sitting or if she hadn't steadied herself after standing up so abruptly, but as she curtsied, her body began to tremble, and it seemed like she was about to topple over.

  Su Ying sneered inwardly and ordered the large maid behind Wei Niang in a low voice, "Don't you hurry to support your mistress?" Lu Hui also stepped forward and supported Wei Niang with Mo Li. Su Ying frowned and said, "Support your mistress back to rest, looking at her face when she came, it wasn't very good, maybe she caught a chill from the wind last night?"

  "Madam!" Wei's aunt grasped Jasmine's wrist tightly, still not giving up, wanting to say something, when Su Ying said: "If you, Auntie, fall ill with the sickness, who will take care of Big Miss then? Big Miss can't be away from her own mother now." It was just that now Su Ying changed her words and wanted to bring Big Miss over to raise, Pei Yeyang wouldn't have any suspicions at all. But Su Ying had never had this intention from the start, though she pretended as if she did in front of outsiders.

  As soon as she said this, not only Wei Yiniang, who had already suspected her intentions, but also Liu Yiniang and Li Yuemei were surprised. Liu Yiniang secretly glanced at Su Ying and thought to herself: Madam is really different from usual today, normally she wouldn't be so unkind to Wei Yiniang, nor would she be so concerned about the eldest young lady?

  Jasmine saw that something was amiss and tugged frantically at Wei's sleeve, while Wei, whose mind had been thrown into chaos by Su Ying's words, looked up at her in incredulity. She met Su Ying's enigmatic smile and couldn't help but shrink back, unable to speak. Jasmine supported her on one side, while Lü Hu helped prop her up on the other, lest Wei collapse to the ground again, and escorted her back to the southern courtyard.

  Wei Yiniang lay down on the kang, the more she thought about it, the more resentful she became. With a huff, she grabbed the colored pillow and punched it several times, panting heavily. Her face, which had lost some of its beauty from crying for so long, twisted in anger, becoming ferocious. She couldn't just sit back and watch as her elder daughter was taken away!