Chapter 196: Dine Out, Family Affairs, National Affairs, Hualan, Hacking... (121.3)
Translator: Iris
He Youchang respected his wife a lot. He smiled and said, “Of course! Before we left our family, my father has lectured me over two nights. He said that it was the best that we could have a wise madam. He also told me that as long as we were loyal to our madam, we wouldn’t be mistreated.”
In fact, Minglan didn’t want Cuiwei to get too busy. Not only because Cuiwei’s daughter was still too young, Minglan also wanted Cuiwei to have more sons so that Cuiwei could have someone to count on in the future. After all, she was in the ancient time. For example, if Minglan had to choose one of Hai shi and Hualan to give birth to a son, she would choose Hualan to have son and Hai shi to have a girl. Because Hualan was still having a hard time now while Hai shi lived quite well.
After a few days, someone came to report that Hualan really had given birth to a son.
In order not to get late, Minglan began to dress up early in the morning on the baby’s Three Shower Day. She put on a plain lunar-white coat embroidered with dark threads and flower patterns and a purple waistcoat with the same patterns. The maids had combed her hair into a oblique bun under which were three to four round and pure large pearls. Then after a super delicate gold hairpin with a colorful butterfly on the top had been anchored under the hair bun, the hair was done. The cirrus of the butterfly kept shaking. Then, Xiaotao brought an armful of fresh flowers which still had morning dewdrops on them. Minglan picked a magnolia flower which was as big as the rim of the teacup and inserted it by her temple. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she found herself looking even more gorgeous than before being around the fragrance.
This was the Nth time Minglan had to sigh and let her imagination run away, ‘This face really is so pretty! If I travel back to the troubled times, I’m even eligible to be the enchanting Imperial Concubine. Just don’t know if I will die with the fatuous emperor or marry to the next emperor.’
Marquis Zhongqin’s mansion was situated in the Third Ring Road. So it had taken two hours for Minglan to arrive there. Xiaotao climbed into the coach and helped Minglan fix her make up. Then they both got off the coach. Wang shi, seeing Minglan arriving early, showed a smile on her face. Aunt Kang still stood there with sarcasm on her face. The moment Rulan saw Minglan being there, she dragged Minglan’s sleeves and whispered to the latter’s ear with a smile, “Today my husband will pick me up!” On these words, she glimpsed at Minglan with a beaming smile, looking extremely complacent.
Minglan was completely speechless. After she had gritted her teeth, she also approached to Rulan and whispered, “It was worthwhile to meet him privately in the midnight.”
Rulan blushed right away while glaring at Minglan indignantly. However, the smile on her face was hard to cover. Then she pinched on Minglan’s arm violently, which made Minglan moan in a soft voice. The wolf back at her house had just pinched her yesterday.
Molan only looked on them indifferently on the side.
As Minglan met Hualan, she was shocked. Right now, Hualan was reclining on the bed with a handkerchief embroidered with spring flowers on her head. Although it was clear to see that she had neatened her clothes, her sallow and withered face was still unable to be covered. Comparing to Hai shi who was plump and healthy, Hualan looked like as if she was suffering from a serious illness instead of giving birth to a baby.
Wang shi threw herself at Hualan right away while shouting “My daughter!” Hualan only laughed and said, “... I wasn’t in a great condition when I was pregnant with the baby. Just need some time to recover. I’ll be fine.” She spoke those words weakly and couldn’t help panting.
The baby also looked sickly. He was thin and didn’t even let out a cry. When the maids were taking off his clothes to shower him, he only sobbed for a short while like a little sick cat before he stopped moving. Minglan still remembered when Hai shi’s daughter had been showered, that little girl’s chubby hands had struggled so hard that she had splashed the water all around the floor. That really was a strong baby!
The guests all got suspicious and turned around to look at Old Madam Yuan and First Madam Yuan. The latter seemed to be ill at ease and only talk to her mother, Aunt Zhang, with her head lowered. However, Old Madam Yuan was perfectly calm. Seeing the doubts in others’ eyes, she only mentioned lightly, “I have already told my second daughter-in-law that she should be more careful this time since her condition was not so well during her pregnancy. But she had to...”
As she was talking, she even tried to imply that Hualan was to blame for all of this. The other guests felt inappropriate to respond her, so they just listened to her with a smile. Wang shi, feeling resentment towards Old Madam Yuan inwardly, couldn’t question the latter in front of everyone. So she had to bear that feeling with her teeth gritted. Molan, with a calm look on her face, only lowered her head and drank her tea, feeling quite joyful.
Minglan then glanced at Hualan, finding her lowering her head with vague hatred in her eyes. Minglan who felt very upset sat by Hualan’s bed and touched her skinny hand. Suddenly, Minglan felt something hot dropping on her hand. Then she saw a teardrop on the back of her hand.
That gave Minglan a bitter feeling. Then she held Hualan’s hand tightly.
Rulan, as insensitive as she was, always reacted slower than others. It took her very long to find that Hualan was not well. After that, Rulan lost her temper right away. She stood up and said to Old Madam Yuan loudly, “Why is my sister so skinny? Is she sick?”
After she had said that, there was a deadly silence in the room. Sometimes only rudeness could conquer the outrageousness. Rulan glared straightly at Old Madam Yuan and First Madam Yuan. Then with Old Madam Yuan’s face being abruptly sullen, she said, “Why are you talking like this, sister of my daughter-in-law? Every pregnant women will get sick! You’ll see when you get pregnant!”
Those words might be useful to retort normal madams. However, Rulan was one of a kind madam. She was Cui Yingying (T/N: A female character of a famous novel in Tang Dynasty) of this generation who had climbed the mountains to meet her lover in the midnight. As expected, she stepped forward and said in an even louder voice, “I don’t want to wait for that. Let me just ask you! Have you sent a bunch of girls to my brother-in-law again?” That was the thing which Old Madam Yuan had done when Hualan had had her first miscarriage.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Old Madam Yuan’s face was covered with redness and the tea cup in her hand kept shaking. There were already titters around her.
“Then you must have forced my sister to stand all day when she was pregnant!” Rulan pointed to Old Madam Yuan with her finger almost touching Old Madam Yuan’s nose- That was Old Madam Yuan’s creation when Hualan had been pregnant with Zhuang.
“You rude girl! How dare you!” Old Madam Yuan was trembling now while the guests already stopped hiding the irony look in their eyes.
“Or you have forced my sister to handle the family affairs for you during her pregnancy!” Old Madam Yuan was not Sheng Hong, so Rulan had no fear for her at all- That was Old Madam Yuan’s new move when Hualan had been pregnant with Shi.
“You, you, you...” This was the first time Old Madam Yuan had met such a frank and provocative girl like that. So she didn’t even know what to say for the moment. In the meantime, Minglan only felt cheering up secretly.
Except for the wife of Marquis Shoushan who couldn’t come because she had to deal with the affairs in her hometown and Yuan Wenying who had got married, most of the madams who were presented today were old acquaintances of Marquis Zhongqin’s family and knew lots of details of Yuan’s family. And lots of guests only watched the fun with joy. Only a few of them frowned slightly.
First Madam Yuan supported her mother-in-law with her hand and said in a sharp voice, “My lady, please save your tongue. Are you going to blame us for all the things happen to my sister-in-law?”
However, Rulan only refuted her with great confidence, “Of course I am! As long as something bad happen to my sister, you and your mother-in-law must behind that! Look at the two of you, so chubby with double chins! If you really treated my sister nicely, you should have got thinner taking care of her!”
Minglan almost burst into laughter. Rulan was being unreasonable as always and Wang shi had no intention to stop her. Then First Madam Yuan could do nothing but shut up and stroke her double chins secretly. After that, she only turned around and sat down with her head lowered, feeling extremely humiliated. Hualan said weakly, “Rulan, stop saying anything...”
Then Old Madam Yuan who finally came to herself shouted angrily, “You Sheng’s ladies are all delicate girls. Our family is not able to take care of Hualan! Please bring her back to your mansion!”
Seeing the situation becoming intense, the guests all started to persuade Old Madam Yuan to calm her down. However, Old Madam Yuan still struck a pose with a cold face. Hualan felt both angry and anxious. At the moment, Minglan suddenly stood up and stared at Old Madam Yuan with coldness in her eyes, “Old Madam Yuan, please be specific! What do you mean by bringing her back? Do you want to show us a divorce paper!” She sounded ruthless and tough.