Chapter 8 To Be Virtuous

Madam Song returned to the house in a gloomy manner. Huamei, the chief maid, carried up an Agarwood drink for her as usual. She held the drink with her slender fingers in joy. The moment when Huamei was about to say something flattered, Madam Song glimpsed the drink and immediately thought of the Agarwood Bead Bracelet mentioned in Wei Zhengyin's previous letter, which was gifted to Wei Lingyue of Zhiben Hall in public deliberately by Madam Su, the mother of Shen Cangfeng. All of a sudden, anger rushed up so fast from the bottom of her heart that she knocked over the silver cup.

It flew out and fell to the ground. Huamei, who was totally unprepared, was poured over. Fortunately, there was no other consequence except that her clothes went wet, as the drink was just put in the cold well.

She looked up in surprise but could only see Madam Song's livid face and angry eyes—although she didn't know what was wrong, she was still agitating! With her legs softened, she knelt down and pleaded guilty, "Madam, please forgive me!"

"No such sour thing is allowed here from now on!" Madam Song was so angry that she slammed on the side table and said, "It's annoying when I see it! Do remember!"

"Yes, Madam!" Everyone was scared too much to breathe. They answered timidly together, and they were a bit out of wits. Among the Five Spice Drinks passed down from the previous dynasty, the Agarwood drink was the best. As the lady in charge of the Wei Family, there was no reason for her to have the second-class drinks.

She had been having the Agarwood drink since she was a child and for many years after she got into the Wei Family. Even in summer, she had always preferred the Agarwood drink to the iced black plum soup. But what happened now... even Granny Shi was shocked.

Only by looking at Madam Song's face, Granny Shi knew that Madam Song would be mad if she asked about it at this moment. On second thought, she tried to bring up what Madam Song was most concerned about, "Madam, the Old Madam Song has just talked about that people around the fifth young master might need some trains. What do you think?"

As expected, Madam Song cheered up a little when she heard something related to her children, temporarily depressing the anxiety for her daughter, and said, "Since Old Madam has ordered, you can't ignore it. You go back to the Liuhua Yard. Tell Mrs. Guan to pay more attention! If those maids are not useful, replace them by another batch!"

Granny Shi promised and went on the way to Liuhua Yard. Madam Song pressed her forehead and gave another command, "Bring me that rogue!"

"Rogue," a word in the tone of love and hate, everyone just knew who it was.

Hua Tang went and brought Wei Changying soon afterwards.

Before Madam Song burst her anger, Wei Changying, taught by Song Zaishui earlier, took the lead and threw herself into Madam Song's arms crying in panic, "Mom, look at my face. Granny He has just cried for it for a long time, asking what I am gonna do if I get tanned."

At once Madam Song forgot about that she was going to scold her. She comforted her tenderly, "Don't worry, my dear. It's only been one day under the sun that will not get you tanned. I'll ask Granny Shi to apply some ointment on your face. It'll be okay if you stay inside for another two days."

Then she checked her cheeks out carefully at the bright place. As expected, she found her daughter's original snow-like skin was faint red now, which was obviously a new sunburn.

Madam Song now was being both angry and sorry about her daughter. Now that she had already been scared, Madam Song had to swallow all the words of blame but comfort her gently. When she calmed down, Madam Song felt relieved a lot.

She wiped her daughter's face with a handkerchief, and then coaxed her daughter sitting next to her. After that, she glanced around, "Excuse us now."

Hua Tang as well as others bowed their knees and saluted. He pulled up Huamei, who was still on the ground, and stepped out quietly.

Seeing this, Wei Changying lost her nerve right away and said to herself, "I'm done. How can my mother be so savvy today? Did she see through my tricks? She must ask everyone to leave me alone so that she can bawl me out."

To her surprise, Madam Song only stared at her for a while, and then sighed deeply, "It is the end of May. Your wedding date is on April 9th in the coming year. However, Shen Cangfeng will definitely pick you up in advance. You will have to leave Fengzhou no later than the end of next March."

Seeing her daughter's look changed from confusion to embarrassment, Madam Song's mood became more and more complicated. She continued, "In that case, your life here is actually less than ten months."

"It's only about ten months." Wei Changying rolled her eyes, raised her mother's arm flatly, and coquettishly said, "According to Granny He, I should learn the needlework, the Four Arts, and the cooking... How can ten months be enough for all these? Mom, might as well not make me learn!"

Madam Song had always enjoyed her daughter acting cutesy and could never turn her daughter down. Especially today, Wei Changying had sunburn on her face. Madam Song was so sorry about it that she would try her best to make it up to her. However, thinking of what the letter from Wei Zhengyin said, she had to harden her heart and refused her little girl.

Wei Changying groaned and fluttered into Madam Song's arms," I'm stupid. I'll never learn."

"You must learn!" Madam Song pulled her up hard, pinching her one ear, and yelled, "Don't haggle over with me. I do spoil you. Do you think I'm happy to put you in trouble? Your Second Aunt wrote a letter back, and your 'good idea' of learning martial arts and dominating your husband has been passed on to your mother-in-law by your Second Uncle's family! Last month, at your mother-in-law's birthday party, she despised you in front of your Second Aunt! You don't learn now. How are you going to survive in the future?"

Madam Song became even sad while speaking. With her eyes being red, she choked and continued, "If it depends on me, our family is rich enough to feed you all lifetime. You can do whatever you feel like to as long as you are happy. I will never restrain you. But a woman is bound to marry someone. When you get into the Shen Family, Madam Su would not treat you as nicely as Shen Cangfeng! Every mother loves her children. Not to mention biological child, if you heard the future wife of Changfeng was planning to hit him before she arrived, were you happy about it or not?"

Heard that her plan had been known by her mother-in-law, Wei Changying paused for a second. She thought for a moment, then tentatively said, "This... Mom, no need to be sad. Even if Second Uncle had arranged someone in this house to pass my occasional words to the Shen Family, there's still no solid evidence for it. Besides, everyone in the capital knows that Grandmother doesn't like Second Uncle due to the adoption. The Shen Family is no exception. We shall not admit it. Let Second Aunt tell Madam Su that it is Second Uncle who took a revenge on Grandmother, and deliberately made rumors. We're going to condemn him for his crime of filial piety!"

Madam Song listened to the solution that her daughter just came up with. Although she once brought up some ridiculous ideas about her future husband, Madam Song was pleased that her daughter was surely smart. Realizing all of these tricks were also played on her, Madam Song gave Wei Changying a glance and said, "But you have to go to the Shen Family anyway. After that, when your mother-in-law asks what you have learned, what will you answer?"

"Can't I say random one or two?" Wei Changying felt a bit embarrassed, and said, "Just say one or two that doesn’t matter."

"Like what?" Madam Song sneered, "At that point, how Madam Su would believe that you can be a good wife if you can't handle anything?"

Being silent for a while, Wei Changying looked pretty serious about what she was going to say, "I can't be talented, but I can be virtuous, as this old saying goes, mediocrity is the virtue of women... ah!"

Madam Song got so mad that she pulled her one ear for a long time before letting it go. She said in a rage, "You piss me off!"

"Mom, you have all my ears!" Wei Changying hold Madam Song's arm so tight that she could not shake her away. Madam Song had to let her be, and then she sighed, "You have always been fudged on that. I am not your enemy. Even if you were intellectually lazy and achieved nothing in your life, I would still take good care of you because I am your mother. But right now, do you really understand who you are dealing with?"

"But I've only got ten months now. What can I learn in such a short time?" Wei Changying took the excuse while snuggling up against her, "I would say that I continue to learn martial arts! Madam Su is a fine lady. She won't order a bunch of people to hit me, will she? If she did embarrass me, I would kick her son's ass. Mom, did you just say that mothers will always love her children? Shen Cangfeng is her own flesh and blood. For his shake, I assume she wouldn't bother me...."

... Madame Song couldn't bear her nonsense speech anymore. She knocked on the head of Wei Changying, "Are you taking her for a fool? As your mother-in-law, she will be superior to you forever. Besides, Madam Su is a lady hard to read and she has been in the Shen Family for many years. You are no match for her. Stop daydreaming!"

Wei Changying covered her head and grieved, "I know. I felt you're a bit upset. So, I was just making some jokes to tease you!"

When Madam Song heard that, her heart turned to be soft again. She said slowly, "As long as you can learn something serious, I'll be happy—you can learn as much as you can in this period. That's the way for you to show respect!"

Madam Song got tired and she was afraid that she would give her consent in the end if Wei Changying continued acting cutesy, so she shut Wei Changying up. Then Madam Song turned a sullen face and yelled, "Anyway, now you are still in my custody. You will do what I say. Start to learn the knotwork tonight. Mrs. He will teach you the needlework from tomorrow—If you dare not obey, I will drive Jiang Zheng out of the house, or even out of Fengzhou!"

Jiang Zheng was the Uncle Jiang who taught Wei Changying martial arts. His father was an armed escort from an Escort Establishment in Fengzhou. In his early years, he was hired to deliver items for the Wei Family for several times, so he met a chief worked there. Later, in a delivery, thieves cut off his legs and dragged him to death. The goods he escorted were also stolen by the thieves.

Not only did he lost his father, but he also had to pay 30% of the delivery fee as compensation to the client. Therefore, he owed debts and was pressured by the Establishment every day. In desperation, he asked the chief of the Wei for help. The chief knew that the martial artists of the Jiang family were quite skilled throughout the history. The reason why Jiang Zheng’s father died with hatred was just that he was defeated with exhaustion in the face of outnumbered enemies. But even so, he still took more than ten thieves' lives. He was a hero indeed. For this reason, the chief repaid Jiang Zheng's debts, and invited him to join the Wei Family as a guard to pay back the grace.

The Wei Family was located in Fengzhou. It valued its reputation as a big family there, so it treated the servants and guards well. Although the chief obviously took advantage of him, after years of work, when the contract expired, Jiang Zheng found himself does not want to leave.

As time went by, Jiang Zheng became the Uncle Jiang.

Wei Changying had been taught by Uncle Jiang for many years. Although he was not formally acknowledged as her teacher because of his identity, they already developed a real mentoring relationship. When Wei Changying heard that Madam Song tended to drive Jiang Zheng away, she became anxious right away—she knew her mother well. Her mother would never do anything harmful to her children, but she would do it to others.

Since Madam Song claimed that Jiang Zheng could no longer stay in Fengzhou, he would not be able to stay by then!

Wei Changying was going to argue—Madam Song had decisively called the servants in, "Bring her back to the Xianshuang Court! Tie ten... five... no less than three string bags tonight, or Jiang Zheng has to leave tomorrow!"