“Simply outrageous! As a man, if the son-in-law cannot even protect his own wife, what kind of man is he? It would be one thing if you, as the daughter-in-law, did something wrong. But for your mother-in-law to scheme against your dowry, that is her wrongdoing; why can the son-in-law not speak to her about it? Huaiping is your personal maid, your own person, and only you have the right to order her around! Where on earth is there a whole family that orders around a daughter-in-law’s personal maid? Have they no shame at all!”
“Small and lowly families are just like this, acting as though they’ve never been able to afford servants in their entire lives—they are all just tacky, petty trash! And that sister-in-law of yours is shameless enough too. Who has ever heard of a sister-in-law tagging along for a newlywed’s home visit? I have truly never seen anything like it.”
Lin Yuwei stiffened, feeling somewhat awkward inside, as though her mother were scolding her as well. After all, wasn’t she currently the daughter-in-law of a small and lowly family?
“Mother, it will get better in the future! It will definitely get better!”
“Hmph!” Madam Gu let out a cold laugh, maintaining her patience as she said coldly, “What do you plan to do? The days ahead are still long. Are you planning to quarrel and bicker every single day?”
Lin Yuwei choked. How on earth would she know what to do?
If she had known, she wouldn’t have been left feeling so wronged.
Looking at her daughter’s aggrieved, pleading expression, Madam Gu sighed inwardly. Children were simply debts one collected in this lifetime. No matter how much she resented or scolded her, didn’t she still have to help her?
“Here is what we’ll do: I will have your father and your brother have a serious talk with the son-in-law. We will make sure he properly keeps his family in line. Our Lin family married our daughter into their family, not for her to go over there and suffer grievances.”
It was only because the Meng family’s ancestral graves were smoking with good fortune that they managed to marry a daughter of the Lin family, yet they didn’t even know how to cherish her. Truly deserving of damnation.
Lin Yuwei hurriedly said, “Mother, Big Brother Meng is filial; my mother-in-law and sister-in-law won’t listen to him anyway. Please don’t make things difficult for Big Brother Meng!”
Madam Gu: “…” She might as well just drop dead!
What kind of creature had she given birth to?!
Lin Yuwei, however, paid no mind to how much her mother’s inner defenses were collapsing at this moment. Naturally, she refused to let her husband be put in a difficult position or let him become dissatisfied with her, especially since she was counting on enjoying a life of ease by his side in the future. Absolutely nothing must ruin the affection between husband and wife.
She eagerly said, “Mother, teach me how I can make my mother-in-law and Meng Zifang behave themselves? How to make them never dare to target me again?”
Madam Gu looked at her, feeling utterly helpless.
A daughter-in-law wanting to stand up to her mother-in-law and sister-in-law? Just from hearing this description, she already knew roughly what kind of person that mother-in-law was. With someone like her daughter, ten of her wouldn’t be enough for the woman to tear to pieces, yet she still wanted to make them behave?
There were ways, of course—in her dreams. You could achieve anything in a dream.
After a long pause, Madam Gu said, “Do not argue with them. Treat everything they say as wind passing by your ears. When you are wronged, complain more to the son-in-law so that he knows you suffered grievances for his sake. If he has any conscience at all, he will naturally go and talk sense to his mother. Furthermore, manage your own dowry properly. Don’t be foolish enough to use your own dowry to support their entire family!”
Lin Yuwei was overjoyed and quickly asked again, “Then what about Huaiping—”
Madam Gu sneered, “If they want to order her around, let them!”
What could one expect from such a shameless family? Did she want to start a bitter quarrel with them just because they wouldn’t allow her to keep her personal maid from doing chores?
That wouldn’t even be enough to keep people from laughing at them!
Lin Yuwei was not very pleased, but seeing that her mother had put it this way, she had no other choice. She pouted unhappily and muttered, “Fine then, I’ll let them off easy!”
She would endure it! At most, there were only six months left.
Six months would pass by in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t worth causing a conflict with them over this and affecting the affection between herself and Big Brother Meng.
Seeing this attitude from her daughter, Madam Gu felt her heart turn another half-shade colder.
She truly was a扶不起的阿鬥 (hopeless and incapable person).
“Nanny Zhang, go call that dead girl Lin Yulan inside!”
She had a stomach full of anger that needed an outlet. Since she couldn’t bear to direct it at her biological daughter, directing it at the concubine-born daughter would have to do.
To her surprise, Nanny Zhang returned shortly after, looking somewhat troubled as she reported, “Mistress, the Eldest Young Miss is not outside. The little maid said the Eldest Young Miss instructed earlier that she would not disturb your conversation with the Second Young Miss, and went to stroll in the garden instead…”
Madam Gu flew into a rage. “Has she grown wings now and stopped regarding me, her legitimate mother, as anyone important? Did I tell her she could leave? How dare she!”
Hearing this, Lin Yuwei immediately perked up. “Hmph, since she now holds the empty title of a Marchioness anyway, doesn’t she think she’s something extraordinary now! Success has gone straight to her head! Nanny Zhang, go call her over right this instant. I want to see how she dares to put on airs in front of Mother.”
Seeing that the mistress hadn’t spoken, Nanny Zhang acknowledged the order and turned to go.
“Wait,” Lin Yuwei stood up. “I’ll go myself!正好我也同姐姐說說話！” (Just in time, I can have a chat with elder sister as well!)
Out in the garden at that moment, Lin Yulan was speaking with Meng Zifang.
It was her bad luck to run right into Fangshi and Meng Zifang.
The moment Fangshi laid eyes on her, she smiled and announced she needed to check on the kitchen, then bolted away as if chased by a ghost. Meng Zifang clearly showed an enthusiastic willingness to cozy up to her, rushing over with a full face of ingratiating smiles.
Not wanting to completely ignore her, Lin Yulan had no choice but to offer perfunctory, half-hearted responses.
At this moment, Meng Zifang was pulling out all the stops to ingratiate and flatter her, looking completely different from her arrogant, self-righteous, petty, and stingy self in her past life.
The only thing that remained unchanged was the greedy look in her eyes whenever she spotted fine clothing or jewelry.
Meng Zifang clung to her with boundless envy, eagerly prying about everything related to the Marquis of Wuwei’s estate, while casting envious glances at the clothes she wore and the golden hairpins and tassels in her hair.
“The moment I saw Elder Sister Lin, my heart warmed toward you, as if I had met a real elder sister. I don’t have an older sister of my own, so in my heart, I treat Elder Sister Lin like a real sister. I just want to be close to Elder Sister Lin. Another day when you have time, can I come with my sister-in-law to visit Elder Sister Lin at the Marquis’s estate? Elder Sister Lin won’t look down on me, right?”
Hearing this made Lin Yulan want to gag, and Xiaoqu couldn’t help feeling a surge of disgust either. The Second Young Miss’s sister-in-law truly had an extraordinarily thick skin! She really knew how to elevate herself.
Lin Yuwei probably wouldn’t ever want to step foot in the Marquis of Wuwei’s estate again in this lifetime, so Meng Zifang had miscalculated with this idea.
Besides, Lin Yulan had no desire to entertain her, let alone entertain Lin Yuwei.
“Miss Meng is my younger sister’s sister-in-law, and we can be considered relatives. Among relatives, there is no such thing as looking down on one another.”
“No such thing as looking down on one another?” Lin Yuwei sneered coldly as she stepped forward with Huaiping, launching into an aggressive and overbearing interrogation. “Although my sister-in-law is a young woman from an ordinary family, she is still the precious darling of her father and mother, raised with delicate care since childhood. It is not your place to look down on her! For you to say such a thing is deeply insulting! Don’t forget that you are nothing more than a concubine-born daughter yourself. You’ve only flown up to a high branch for a few days, yet you’ve already forgotten your roots and started looking down on this person and that person!”
“You’ve misunderstood, younger sister,” Lin Yulan remained unprovoked, smiling gently as she replied, “I said there was no such thing as looking down on anyone. Miss Meng, am I right?”
Meng Zifang curried favor with a ingratiating smile. Naturally, she could hear what Lin Yulan meant by not taking the bait, and she felt a brief pang of embarrassment. However, since Lin Yulan had asked her directly, she was certainly unwilling to offend Lin Yulan.
After all, the woman was a Marchioness!
Why on earth would she go out of her way to offend a Marchioness?
Having such a relative could only bring face and prestige no matter what, and perhaps she might even reap some benefits in the future.