Chapter 29: Seeing Off and Sending On

  Su Ying sent Fu Yeyang to the front hall as usual - Liu Yiniang and Li Yuemei had just been dismissed by Su Ying, and Fu Yeyang suddenly remembered something and said to her: "The second house over there, you'd better keep an eye on it."

  What's going on? Are you here to watch the commotion? This person is really stubborn, but actually worried. He deliberately speaks rudely in front of Fu Mu and Fu Xueyang. Su Ying has truly seen it all. Su Ying brushed off his clothes and adjusted his court beads while softly saying: "Husband and wife shouldn't hold grudges overnight. Yesterday, your younger brother was probably just angry, maybe after he calms down, nothing will happen. Besides, isn't there still the old lady to preside over things?"

  Fu Yiyang pursed his lips, somewhat disapproving, but didn't say anything. Su Ying watched him leave the front hall, then turned back and walked in through the courtyard gate, asking Lu Hui: "In the end, how was the matter over there resolved?"

  Wearing a tight-sleeved green dress, the aloe vera smiled and said: "The old lady took charge and gave the second lady's dowry to the maid Amber, who had opened her face and became a person in the second master's room. She also promised that if she gave birth to a boy or girl for the second master in the future, she would immediately become a madam."

  "What? How did the second wife react?"

  "The old lady has spoken, and the second lady can only agree even if she's unwilling. However, I heard that after returning home, the second lady fell ill and even called for a doctor in the middle of the night."

  Minty fresh mouth, now who dares to say that Second Mistress is kind and magnanimous again.

  "Madam, what's even more unbelievable is yet to come," Mint continued from where Aloe left off. "That Amber girl actually refused to die and the Second Master didn't get angry at all, instead he indulged her, and her monthly allowance is even higher than that of the concubine."

  This is called "luring by pretending to yield", Su Ying thought, and since she had the antidote bead, she would just observe coldly for now, and instead wanted to see what kind of tricks this suspected fellow countryman could come up with.

  Madam Chen is ill, and Su Ying, as her sister-in-law, should also go to comfort her. Let Bai Zhi go first to test the waters. After a while, Bai Zhi returned and said: "The second madam's body is not very convenient, so it's better for you to visit tomorrow."

  "The slave servant saw that the second house was coming and going, and also heard Wang's wife say at the gate of the courtyard that they would set up a wine table to celebrate the new arrival of Hu Po's sister when the second lady got better."

  Mint hummed from her nose: "It's just a concubine, it's worth the second lady to come out, it's too arrogant." When she said this, she involuntarily glanced at the south side. Wei Niang also fell ill, and the entire southern courtyard became quiet. People with discerning eyes could see that Wei Niang had lost favor. It was unknown elsewhere, but Su Ying and a few maids were delighted, sometimes unconsciously teasing her.

  Su Ying smiled, originally wanted to go back to sleep for a while, but someone came over and said that the eldest daughter was ill, and the old lady was tired and didn't want to disturb her, so she had to call Su Ying back.

  It was already mid-morning after all the hustle and bustle, Su Ying returned and sat on the couch, letting Lu Hui massage her neck. Bo He handed the invitation to Su Ying and said: "In five days, it will be Old Lady Shou'an's birthday, we've sent an invitation to the Hou Mansion, would you like to take a look?"

  "What did the old lady say?" Su Ying sighed in her heart, only to realize that what she had thought before was too simple. As the wife of the Hou Mansion, not only did she have to manage the entire mansion, but also attend social events outside. Moreover, Fu Mu was a widow and rarely received invitations from others for happy occasions, so these matters were basically handled by Su Ying herself. Being the legitimate wife was indeed not easy.

  "The old lady said let you consider and handle the longevity gift."

  Su Ying put the post on the kang table: "Prepare according to the amount of previous years."

  Su Ying once again rummaged through Su Shi's original memories, and even if she had borrowed Su Shi's body to obtain her memories, it wasn't like she knew everything. The reason was that what she received wasn't just memories, but also the emotions that came with them. At first, even with the system reminding her, Su Shi's emotional memories and her own were mixed together, causing Su Ying to almost lose herself and forget whether she was the original Su Shi or Su Ying.

  As a result, there was also an aftermath, because some memories contained emotions that were too strong, causing too much fluctuation. Although it wasn't something she had experienced before, during the earliest period of time, everything could make her cry for no reason. Now, things are much better, and Su Ying slowly felt more integrated with this body.

  Su Ying rummaged through her memories of the Su family's social interactions, pondering her demeanor when interacting with others, what to avoid saying, and carefully combed through the interpersonal relationships in the Hou Mansion. After finishing, Su Ying couldn't help but let out a sigh, hoping that nothing would go wrong later on.

  Lang Xia Zi Su pulled Bai Ju's sleeve and glanced inside the house before saying in a low voice, "Don't you think that Madame has changed a lot since she recovered from her illness? In the past, every day Master would do something or eat something, she would ask about it in detail. But look, since Master returned from outside, Madame hasn't asked anything again. Now even the household chores are assigned to Liu Niang and Li Yue Jie, whereas before she used to take care of everything personally."

  "I think the madam is doing quite well now," Bai Zhi said, "looking at her relationship with the old master has eased a lot, in the past I haven't seen the old master stay in the main courtyard for several days in a row. And looking at the madam's complexion now is better than last year, it's just missing having another legitimate son."

  Zi Su's face turned red as she pinched Bai Ju, laughing at her: "You really are shameless."

  They still don't know that the lady who has changed in their eyes is no longer the original Su Shi. As for the eldest son, Su Ying hasn't made any preparations yet, it seems there's still a lot to wait for.

  Su Ying, who was bothered by social interactions, received another visit. It was Liu's wife, a good friend of Su's from her boudoir days, now married to the eldest son of the Minister of Rites. Gui Mama sighed, "Earlier when Madame was ill, Liu's second wife would send someone to ask after her every few days. Now that she's heard Madame has recovered, she's come in person."

  Su Ying thought for a moment, the Su family and Mrs. Liu had a good relationship when they were waiting in the boudoir, and after getting married, the two still kept in touch, so she smiled at the accompanying lady next to Mrs. Liu who came to deliver the invitation: "I'm not inconvenient here, I also miss your master."

  Mrs. Liu arrived quickly, and Su Ying had just taken a subtle glance at her before she could say a polite word, when the other woman rattled off a string of words: "Are you fully recovered? I was worried sick when I didn't see you for a while, and I wanted to come visit but was afraid it wouldn't be convenient for you. Now that I hear you're out and about again, I dared to come take a look at you. You look pretty good now, just a bit thinner - I'm not afraid the wind will blow you away!"

  Her personality is really refreshing, and it doesn't quite match her delicate appearance. Su Ying laughed and said, "You'd better sit down first, I'll have Aloe bring tea to Mrs. Liu." Su Ying also pushed a plate of fine skin pine nuts in front of her, "I remember you used to love eating these the most."

  Mrs. Liu was also straightforward, she tilted her head and took a glance at Su Ying, "I saw when I came over that the maids in your house were coming and going, why did you let them follow the steward?"

  Lotus leaf tea arrived, Su Ying used the tea lid to wipe away the foam on the surface of the water, took a light sip, and pursed her lips. She brought up what she had previously said to Gui Yatou and repeated it to Madame Liu: "This time I was ill for so long, but after recovering, I've come to realize that many things aren't as important as they seemed. It's not good to trouble my younger brother and sister-in-law with these matters either. The two people in charge are both by-the-book types, as long as they don't make any major mistakes, it'll be fine."

  Mrs. Liu snorted: "You really can put your mind at ease? Which one is a thrifty lamp, hum! If it were me..." She wanted to say something, but suddenly remembered that she was different from Su Ying, and now that she had both children, the power of the second housewife didn't fall on her.

  Alas, I used to envy my good friend for marrying well, but now it seems that everyone has their own destiny. Let's change the subject quickly and laughingly say: "A new Western-style store has opened on East Main Street, and everything they sell is imported goods, really novel. Among them, there is a Western clock, every time it strikes an hour, a green bird will fly out of the tower on top of the clock, its call sounds so good, after finishing the report, it flies back, I really don't know how those craftsmen made it! If you're interested, let's make an appointment to go see it together tomorrow."

  After listening to Mrs. Liu, Su Ying suddenly remembered the glass lamp that Fu Yeyang mentioned yesterday. She hadn't seen what it looked like yet, and after hearing Mrs. Liu's words, she thought about the era it was in, maybe she was overthinking.

  "That's a good idea." Su Ying also wanted to go out and take a look. Since she came here, she hadn't gone out for a stroll yet.

  Two people had a conversation, Su Ying herself didn't talk much, but Mrs. Liu was eloquent and straightforward, whatever she said was interesting, with their previous relationship, Su Ying felt particularly close to her, and even stayed for lunch, when leaving, Mrs. Liu held Su Ying's hand and said: "Now that you're better, come out and move around more," after a pause, she also gave some subtle advice, "There are still many days ahead."

  Su Ying's heart warmed up, having a friend like this didn't feel bad at all.

  That night, Fu Da didn't return to the backyard due to official business. Su Ying had given all the necessary orders and lay down early in her bed made by the maids. This was the first time she slept alone since Fu Yi Yang's return, and she felt a little melancholic. After thinking for a moment, she attributed this feeling to the glass lamp that Fu Yi Yang had sent over with his message earlier.

  The glass lamp was exquisite, with floral patterns on the outside of the glass shade, much brighter than the usual candles, and shaped like a modern table lamp. Su Ying thought again about the polished and smooth mirror that reflected people clearly, furrowed her brow, and suddenly felt that science students were really vulnerable, let alone she was in an empty dynasty now, and couldn't grasp it at all.

  It's better not to think about it anymore, this is purely increasing trouble, let's just think about how to go out and meet people.

  The path of being a virtuous wife is long and slow, I will search high and low for it.