Perhaps because she was too exhausted recently, or perhaps because the heavy stone in her heart had finally fallen to the ground, Lin Yulan slept soundly through the night.
When Xiaoqu gently called her to wake up, the morning light had already broken.
Today, as a newlywed bride, she was supposed to go offer the morning tea, and then there was that bridal cloth—
Just as Lin Yulan had finished dressing properly with Xiaoqu’s assistance, Shao Xun emerged from the side chamber. The young Marquis seemed to have a bit of morning temper, wearing a displeased expression.
Lin Yulan didn’t care whether he was pleased or not, but propriety and decorum could not be omitted.
“Good morning, Marquis!”
“Hmm…”
Lin Yulan walked closer to him and lowered her voice. “Marquis, there is a matter that I’m afraid I must trouble you with. If you look at that bridal cloth…”
Shao Xun was momentarily stunned, almost forgetting about this entirely.
He used the small dagger he carried with him to slice open his finger and smeared blood across it casually. “Is this enough?”
“En—enough.” Lin Yulan picked up the neat, unwrinkled bridal cloth, rolled it into a ball in her hands, and rubbed it roughly a few times. Even with the memories of living two lifetimes, performing such an awkward task still felt somewhat embarrassing.
The usually unrestrained Marquis Shao also felt a bit unnatural, coughing slightly. “Wash and dress properly, then follow me first to the ancestral hall to pay respects to my parents.”
Lin Yulan was momentarily taken aback.
Logically speaking, they should first go offer tea to the Marquis’s Estate’s Old Dowager and the others, and only afterward open the ancestral hall to worship the late Marquis, the late Marchioness, and their ancestors.
However, for Shao Xun to go pay respects to his parents first was equally a fulfillment of utmost filial piety as a son.
Missing his deceased parents—who could possibly hold this against him with any seriousness?
Besides, given his temperament, doing something like this was hardly surprising.
Lin Yulan nodded with a smile. “What the Marquis says is true. Your concubine should indeed go offer tea to my father-in-law and mother-in-law first.”
After Shao Xun led Lin Yulan to kowtow and burn incense before his parents, the two of them finally headed toward the main hall of the Marquis’s Estate.
Stepping into the hall, the couple instantly met numerous cold, unfriendly, and barely concealed angry gazes.
Dowager Xie and the others were already aware that the two had gone to pay respects to the late Marquis and his wife first. Naturally, Mrs. Fu and the Second Master Shao wouldn’t miss the opportunity to denounce Shao Xun for showing disrespect to the Old Dowager and completely disregarding rules and decorum.
Mrs. Fu conveniently dragged Lin Yulan into her complaints as well, blaming her for being incompetent, lacking virtue, and not knowing how to persuade the Marquis.
The more Dowager Xie listened, the angrier she became, her face sinking like frost.
Casting a glance at the two, Mrs. Fu smiled. “A-Xun and his niece-in-law have finally arrived! The Old Dowager has been waiting for you both for half a day! Ah-Xun, your conduct is still as lawless as ever; naturally, the ancestral hall would have been opened later to pay respects to the ancestors, so why did you go over there first? Making the Old Dowager wait here like this! This is unfilial!”
Shao Xun lifted his eyelids, threw a casual glance at her, and drawled with a lazy smile, “Second Aunt, won’t you spare me today and find fewer faults? Could it be a crime for me to hold my mother and father in my heart? Must you insist on bickering over this with my departed parents?”
“You!” Mrs. Fu was irritated, shifting her anger back onto Lin Yulan. “Lady Lin, you come from a family of scholarly repute after all, so you should understand propriety. Why didn’t you know how to advise A-Xun, and instead went along with his lawless behavior? They say that marrying a virtuous wife avoids disaster; you are truly a disappointment.”
Lin Yulan knew very well that if Mrs. Fu succeeded in establishing this initial intimidation, the servants would inevitably look down upon her, making every step forward in the future extremely difficult.
Raising her gaze, she spoke with a gentle, soft tone, “Second Aunt’s words are rather biased. Early this morning, the Marquis said he dreamed of his father and mother last night, and couldn’t help feeling deeply grateful for their grace in giving birth to and raising him. Furthermore, remembering that a son wishes to support his parents while they are no longer around, he felt heavy-hearted. That is why we went to pay our respects to my father-in-law and mother-in-law first, to fulfill the Marquis’s filial piety and comfort the spirits of his parents in heaven, which is why we arrived late. We ask the Old Dowager to show understanding, and Second Aunt as well.”
Mrs. Fu choked, glaring fiercely at her.
Such preposterous nonsense—she didn’t believe a single word of it!
Right, this woman possessed an exceptionally sharp tongue; she had already experienced it firsthand last night.
Shao Xun hadn’t expected Lin Yulan to throw Mrs. Fu’s words right back at her in just a few sentences. He glanced at Mrs. Fu with a half-smile: “My wife is entirely right—that’s precisely how it was! Does Second Aunt want to know what my mother said to me in the dream? My mother said that Second Aunt must have had a truly exhausting time yesterday, and it was hard on Second Aunt to toil away and meticulously plot everything. She even said she wanted to thank Second Aunt in person!”
Mrs. Fu’s heart gave a violent jolt: “Silence!”
The late Marchioness An had already passed away; what did thanking someone in person mean? Whose funeral was this curse wishing for?
Shao Xun continued lazily, “Second Aunt, don’t ask my wife to advise or discipline me in the future either. After all these years, even Second Uncle and Second Aunt haven’t been able to keep me in line, have you?”
At this, Second Master Shao could no longer sit still, glaring across the room fiercely. “You still have the nerve to speak! Look at yourself—where is there a single thing about you that resembles a Marquis!”
Shao Xun chuckled cheerfully. “Second Uncle, whatever I am like, that is what a Marquis is.”
He didn’t need to “resemble” one, because he simply was one.
Second Master Shao was so angry he felt his chest tighten.
Seated above like a serene Bodhisattva, Old Dowager Shao finally spoke up. “Alright, let’s proceed with the tea ceremony first. A-Xun, your second uncle and second aunt also have your best interests at heart. Since you’ve inherited the peerage, you should carry yourself as befits a Marquis to avoid becoming the laughingstock of gossip. Now that you’re married, you should settle down and live your life properly instead of acting as lawless as before. Otherwise, no matter how many kowtows you kowtow to your parents, they won’t be able to rest in peace. Lady Lin, a virtuous wife keeps her husband from straying into misfortune; you must also pay closer attention to your own husband. Whatever needs managing, you should naturally manage it. If he refuses to listen, come report it to me, and I will speak to him!”
Lin Yulan curtsied submissively. “Understood…”
Shao Xun offered a faint, derisive sneer, a look of profound mockery hidden deep within his eyes.
A little maidservant gently placed a kneeling mat before the Old Dowager. Lin Yulan rose, stepped forward, knelt, and accepted a teacup, raising it high above her head with both hands to present it forward. “Please, Old Dowager, have some tea.”
Old Dowager Shao took the teacup, took a sip, and motioned to the nanny beside her to present the welcome gift.
Inside a small vermilion lacquer box no larger than a palm, a translucent, crystal-clear jade bracelet glowed with a moist, sparkling luster.
Lin Yulan hurriedly accepted it and expressed her respectful thanks.
In her previous life, Lin Yulan had seen countless treasures, and this bracelet could barely be considered top-tier.
Like it or not, Old Dowager Shao, acting as the grandmother presenting a welcome gift to her granddaughter-in-law who was the Marchioness, couldn’t afford to give anything too shabby.
Otherwise, the one making a fool of themselves and losing face would be herself.
Lin Yulan greeted everyone one by one, treating them with courtesy and decorum, accepting the elders’ welcome gifts and giving gifts to the juniors. She neither drew undue attention nor gave anyone grounds to find fault.
Mrs. Fu stared intently, wishing desperately to pick flaws in her, yet failed to find even the slightest blemish.
Lin Yulan laughed inwardly.
In high-ranking aristocratic noble households, the rules and regulations were as numerous as ox hairs; if one followed every single one of them strictly, life would become unlivable. Passing through daily life smoothly, without losing propriety or making a fool of oneself, was more than enough. Rigidly and meticulously learning every rule step-by-step was utterly meaningless.
This was precisely why many legitimate mothers in aristocratic households, whenever they wished to torment a concubine-born daughter, would have training nannies instruct her strictly in the rules, all while taking the moral high ground by claiming it was for the daughter’s own good—when in reality, it was simply intentional torment and torture.
In her previous life, the Duchess of Rongguo had found her and Meng Mingchi displeasing in every possible way and had subjected them to endless nitpicking and harsh treatment. On the single item of learning rules alone, she had suffered untold hardships.
By the later years, her mastery of etiquette and rules was so flawless that absolutely no one could pick out a single star’s worth of error.