On most occasions like this, Madam Xuan was the one to mediate the dispute. However, she seemed to be angry today and stayed silent on purpose. Seeing that, Second Madam Bing rushed to Madam Xuan while pulling the latter, sobbing, “Sister-In-Law Xuan, say something! You are close to our sister-in-law in ordinary times, you have to say something! How can you let your brother-in-law suffer?!”
Madam Xuan’s sleeves were crumpled because of the drag. Then she pushed her sister-in-law away furiously and said in a cold tone, “What can I say? You are her sister-in-law, not her grandpa!”
Second Madam Bing who had nowhere to vent her anger pointed to Madam Xuan and shouted at once, “I know what you are planning to do! You hope that both my husband and I would die, then you and your wicked husband could inherit all our family property!”
Madam Xuan flew into a rage at once. She stood up all of a sudden and thumped the papers she had taken out from her sleeves on the table and then said in a loud voice, “Check what this is!” Everyone looked over, finding a few pawn tickets of various colors.
Madam Xuan, red in face, fumed, “These days, it required a huge amount of money to pull some strings to help Second Brother Bing, but over the past few years, Second Brother Bing held everything in his hands and my husband and I have never touched a penny of our family! Now that we need silvers, father-in-law only keeps saying that he’s short of money. My husband has no choice but to pawn the objects in our home!”
The more she talked, the angrier she got. At last, she said bitterly, “Second Sister-In-Law Bing, I’ve never asked anything from your over these years. All right! As your sister-in-law, I don’t owe you anything! You’d better watch your mouth. If you dare to piss me off, none of us will live a good life!”
Second Madam Bing, with her mouth opened wide, didn’t know what to say. She kept the money because she had wanted to save some money for herself and her children, so she had wanted her father-in-law to offer the help. Little did she expect that Fourth Old Master would be so stingy. With tears falling down from her eyes, she also didn’t know what to say for the moment.
Seeing that her families had turned on each other, Fourth Old Madam finally couldn’t sit still anymore. She straightened up her body with a pleading look, “Minglan, although you have just married into our family, I know that you are a kind-hearted girl. Now that your Brother-In-Law Bing is in having a hard time and his children are still young, why can’t you have pity on him?”
Minglan raised her head and looked at Fourth Old Madam with a curious look in her eyes, “Fourth Aunt, may I ask you a question? When Master left the Gu family, did you know how many silvers he had with him, or whether he had anyone to rely on outside? The outside world is full of dangerous people, have you considered whether he would be safe? Did anyone in the mansion know where he was or what he has been doing over these years? Has anyone ever asked about that?”
Each time Minglan raised a question, she would pause a while. Her words were like sharp knives stabbing into those women’s hearts. To put it bluntly, even if Gu Tingye had died outside, no one in the Gu family would collect his dead body. Minglan really disdained the Gu’s people and only said in a flat tone, “Now that Second Master Bing has his parents to worry about him and his brother and sister-in-law to run about for his safety, his situation is so much better than Master Gu’s.”
Fourth Old Madam couldn’t answer any of Minglan’s questions. After a while, with a guilty look on her face, she said in a low voice, “I also know… that this boy has suffered a lot at that time.”
Minglan, mouth curled up, sneered, “I think that I should pity my own husband first, then others’ husbands.” Definitely, she could not show sympathy for everyone.
After Second Madam Bing saw that even Fourth Old Madam stopped talking, she got anxious right away. As she was about to speak, Minglan turned around and said ahead of her, “Second Sister-In-Law, considering the brotherhood between Master and Second Master Bing, my husband has already done enough.”
Minglan emphasized the word ‘brotherhood’ on purpose. Hearing that, Second Madam Bing fell into a trance. Minglan stared at her and then said smilingly, “By now, you should beg Fourth Uncle instead of Master, Second Sister-In-Law.”
“Beg, beg for what?” Second Madam Bing still tried to play coy with Minglan.
Minglan secretly despised that woman and answered indifferently, “Second Sister-In-Law, you cannot get everything you want by playing dumb.”
The Fifth Family was more resolute. Now the family members had already started packing up their luggage and counted their servants. They would leave the mansion in about half a month.
Since Minglan had already put it bluntly, everyone there should know what she meant, unless they chose not to know on purpose.
Second Madam Bing slumped into the chair. She didn’t want to move away from Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion since she wanted Gu Tingye’s protection, not to mention that Fourth Old Master had also been dismissed from his post which he had inherited. Madam Xuan kept her mouth shut the whole time.
Fourth Old Madam took a look at her daughters-in-law and sighed. Then she held Minglan’s hand and pleaded in a sad tone, “I know that my nephew Tingye has lots of grievances. These years… his Fourth Uncle and Tingbing have done wrong many times. But, Minglan…”
Fourth Old Madam choked with sobs, “We will move away, but please give us a few more years to do that, for the sake of your sister Tingying. She is about to get married. If she could marry someone as the lady of Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion, then…”
Minglan calmed down and turned around to face Fourth Old Madam while saying in a soft voice, “Fourth Aunt, I know about your difficulties. However, I’m afraid that Master is not even willing to let you guys stay for a few more months, not to mention a few years. Don’t blame him for being cruel, just think about the two affairs about money at that time.”
Fourth Old Madam suddenly raised her head and stammered, “What, two affairs?”
Minglan stared at her and said calmly, “One in the Red Sleeves Pavilion, one in the Wansheng Money House.”
Second Madam Bing looked up all of a sudden and shouted in a sharp voice, “That’s right. My husband did have exposed the two affairs and accused Brother Tingye, but does Brother Tingye have to hold grudge until now?! He…”
She was not able to continue under Minglan’s gaze which was as sharp as the blade.
Then Minglan glared at Second Madam Bing while saying slowly, “I can’t say who’s right or who’s wrong about those two things today, but Second Master Bing knows about the truth, so do others. Second Sister-In-Law, if you have no guilt about this, you can curse the evil ones who did wrong in front of the Bodhisattva!”
Second Madam Bing felt guilty suddenly. When the first affair happened, she hadn’t married into the Gu family yet, but she knew the facts about the second affair. At that time, she felt lucky that someone could take the blame for his husband. As a result, her husband never lost a penny and easily got away with that.
Madam Xuan opened her eyes wide. She had been a bit confused before. Now after she had thought over the whole thing, she gradually showed an enlightened look in her eyes. In the meantime, the expression on her face turned more disdainful when she looked to Second Madam Bing.
Fourth Old Madam sighed inwardly. She knew both of the affairs. Even though she hadn’t known the inside story at that time, she still figured out the truth by herself later. She knew that the wrongdoing of Fourth Master and his son was truly despicable, so she understood that Gu Tingye would still hold a grudge toward the father and son. At that time, Fourth Old Madam chose to stand by and never spoke for Gu Tingye. Now she truly had no ground to beg for help from him.
“But, will we become enemies forever?” Fourth Old Madam said in a trembling voice.
On most occasions like this, Madam Xuan was the one to mediate the dispute. However, she seemed to be angry today and stayed silent on purpose. Seeing that, Second Madam Bing rushed to Madam Xuan while pulling the latter, sobbing, “Sister-In-Law Xuan, say something! You are close to our sister-in-law in ordinary times, you have to say something! How can you let your brother-in-law suffer?!”
Madam Xuan’s sleeves were crumpled because of the drag. Then she pushed her sister-in-law away furiously and said in a cold tone, “What can I say? You are her sister-in-law, not her grandpa!”
Second Madam Bing who had nowhere to vent her anger pointed to Madam Xuan and shouted at once, “I know what you are planning to do! You hope that both my husband and I would die, then you and your wicked husband could inherit all our family property!”
Madam Xuan flew into a rage at once. She stood up all of a sudden and thumped the papers she had taken out from her sleeves on the table and then said in a loud voice, “Check what this is!” Everyone looked over, finding a few pawn tickets of various colors.
Madam Xuan, red in face, fumed, “These days, it required a huge amount of money to pull some strings to help Second Brother Bing, but over the past few years, Second Brother Bing held everything in his hands and my husband and I have never touched a penny of our family! Now that we need silvers, father-in-law only keeps saying that he’s short of money. My husband has no choice but to pawn the objects in our home!”
The more she talked, the angrier she got. At last, she said bitterly, “Second Sister-In-Law Bing, I’ve never asked anything from your over these years. All right! As your sister-in-law, I don’t owe you anything! You’d better watch your mouth. If you dare to piss me off, none of us will live a good life!”
Second Madam Bing, with her mouth opened wide, didn’t know what to say. She kept the money because she had wanted to save some money for herself and her children, so she had wanted her father-in-law to offer the help. Little did she expect that Fourth Old Master would be so stingy. With tears falling down from her eyes, she also didn’t know what to say for the moment.
Seeing that her families had turned on each other, Fourth Old Madam finally couldn’t sit still anymore. She straightened up her body with a pleading look, “Minglan, although you have just married into our family, I know that you are a kind-hearted girl. Now that your Brother-In-Law Bing is in having a hard time and his children are still young, why can’t you have pity on him?”
Minglan raised her head and looked at Fourth Old Madam with a curious look in her eyes, “Fourth Aunt, may I ask you a question? When Master left the Gu family, did you know how many silvers he had with him, or whether he had anyone to rely on outside? The outside world is full of dangerous people, have you considered whether he would be safe? Did anyone in the mansion know where he was or what he has been doing over these years? Has anyone ever asked about that?”
Each time Minglan raised a question, she would pause a while. Her words were like sharp knives stabbing into those women’s hearts. To put it bluntly, even if Gu Tingye had died outside, no one in the Gu family would collect his dead body. Minglan really disdained the Gu’s people and only said in a flat tone, “Now that Second Master Bing has his parents to worry about him and his brother and sister-in-law to run about for his safety, his situation is so much better than Master Gu’s.”
Fourth Old Madam couldn’t answer any of Minglan’s questions. After a while, with a guilty look on her face, she said in a low voice, “I also know… that this boy has suffered a lot at that time.”
Minglan, mouth curled up, sneered, “I think that I should pity my own husband first, then others’ husbands.” Definitely, she could not show sympathy for everyone.
After Second Madam Bing saw that even Fourth Old Madam stopped talking, she got anxious right away. As she was about to speak, Minglan turned around and said ahead of her, “Second Sister-In-Law, considering the brotherhood between Master and Second Master Bing, my husband has already done enough.”
Minglan emphasized the word ‘brotherhood’ on purpose. Hearing that, Second Madam Bing fell into a trance. Minglan stared at her and then said smilingly, “By now, you should beg Fourth Uncle instead of Master, Second Sister-In-Law.”
“Beg, beg for what?” Second Madam Bing still tried to play coy with Minglan.
Minglan secretly despised that woman and answered indifferently, “Second Sister-In-Law, you cannot get everything you want by playing dumb.”
The Fifth Family was more resolute. Now the family members had already started packing up their luggage and counted their servants. They would leave the mansion in about half a month.
Since Minglan had already put it bluntly, everyone there should know what she meant, unless they chose not to know on purpose.
Second Madam Bing slumped into the chair. She didn’t want to move away from Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion since she wanted Gu Tingye’s protection, not to mention that Fourth Old Master had also been dismissed from his post which he had inherited. Madam Xuan kept her mouth shut the whole time.
Fourth Old Madam took a look at her daughters-in-law and sighed. Then she held Minglan’s hand and pleaded in a sad tone, “I know that my nephew Tingye has lots of grievances. These years… his Fourth Uncle and Tingbing have done wrong many times. But, Minglan…”
Fourth Old Madam choked with sobs, “We will move away, but please give us a few more years to do that, for the sake of your sister Tingying. She is about to get married. If she could marry someone as the lady of Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion, then…”
Minglan calmed down and turned around to face Fourth Old Madam while saying in a soft voice, “Fourth Aunt, I know about your difficulties. However, I’m afraid that Master is not even willing to let you guys stay for a few more months, not to mention a few years. Don’t blame him for being cruel, just think about the two affairs about money at that time.”
Fourth Old Madam suddenly raised her head and stammered, “What, two affairs?”
Minglan stared at her and said calmly, “One in the Red Sleeves Pavilion, one in the Wansheng Money House.”
Second Madam Bing looked up all of a sudden and shouted in a sharp voice, “That’s right. My husband did have exposed the two affairs and accused Brother Tingye, but does Brother Tingye have to hold grudge until now?! He…”
She was not able to continue under Minglan’s gaze which was as sharp as the blade.
Then Minglan glared at Second Madam Bing while saying slowly, “I can’t say who’s right or who’s wrong about those two things today, but Second Master Bing knows about the truth, so do others. Second Sister-In-Law, if you have no guilt about this, you can curse the evil ones who did wrong in front of the Bodhisattva!”
Second Madam Bing felt guilty suddenly. When the first affair happened, she hadn’t married into the Gu family yet, but she knew the facts about the second affair. At that time, she felt lucky that someone could take the blame for his husband. As a result, her husband never lost a penny and easily got away with that.
Madam Xuan opened her eyes wide. She had been a bit confused before. Now after she had thought over the whole thing, she gradually showed an enlightened look in her eyes. In the meantime, the expression on her face turned more disdainful when she looked to Second Madam Bing.
Fourth Old Madam sighed inwardly. She knew both of the affairs. Even though she hadn’t known the inside story at that time, she still figured out the truth by herself later. She knew that the wrongdoing of Fourth Master and his son was truly despicable, so she understood that Gu Tingye would still hold a grudge toward the father and son. At that time, Fourth Old Madam chose to stand by and never spoke for Gu Tingye. Now she truly had no ground to beg for help from him.
“But, will we become enemies forever?” Fourth Old Madam said in a trembling voice.
