Chunmei felt rather smug inside. No matter what the young master did, didn’t he still have to listen to the nanny?
Nanny Cao had said before that she should become Xie Zi’an’s chamber maid, and in Hansong Courtyard she had long regarded herself as a mistress. Today, being scolded so harshly by Xie Zi’an had cost her a great deal of face.
Chunmei smoothed her hair and said with a beaming smile, “Young Master, you really can’t go wrong listening to the nanny.”
Xie Zi’an was already irritated. The only reason he hadn’t dealt with her on the spot like he had with Zhao Er was that Nanny Cao was no ordinary servant.
Nanny Cao was his stepmother’s dowry maid and had been in the Xie household for nearly twenty years. If he simply dismissed her like that, never mind what his stepmother would do, the servants below would likely not accept it either.
He gave a half-smile. “What, do my words go in one ear and out the other today?”
Chunmei’s smile froze on her face.
Xie Zi’an snorted coldly and said flatly, “My Hansong Courtyard has no room for people who eat from my bowl while working against me. Wanqiu, tie her up and send her to Nanny Cao.”
Wanqiu silently walked in from the doorway and, without a word, seized Chunmei’s arm.
Chunmei panicked. She ate well and lived well in Hansong Courtyard without having to serve anyone. If she were thrown out, she would lose more than just a job—once other courtyards heard she’d been expelled, none of them would take her either!
Tears immediately streamed down Chunmei’s face. “Young Master! Young Master! I was wrong, don’t send me away!”
Xie Zi’an waved his hand, not wanting to bother with her at all.
He still had a hard battle to fight tonight.
Chunmei struggled with all her might. She refused to be thrown out of Hansong Courtyard—she still wanted to be the eldest young master’s chamber maid!
Wanqiu frowned and shouted at the other two, who stood frozen in fright, “What are you standing around for? Didn’t you hear the young master’s orders!”
Wanxia and Chunliu jolted. “Oh—oh, yes!”
They pounced on Chunmei and grabbed her, terrified that they might be the next ones thrown out.
Soon, Chunmei’s cries faded from the courtyard.
Those who had been stirring restlessly because of Nanny Cao’s arrival quieted down once more.
That evening, not long after Xie Songren returned from his official duties, he sent someone to summon Xie Zi’an.
Wanqiu hesitated, then still offered a word of advice: “Young Master, if the Master gets angry, it would be best to go along with him.”
Wanqiu gave this advice because the original owner had stubbornly refused to explain the matter of Madam Wang coming to propose a marriage, so Xie Songren still didn’t know that they wanted his son as a live-in son-in-law.
And with the stepmother fanning the flames beside them, and the original owner’s sharp tongue, Xie Songren had been so enraged that he had beaten the original owner severely.
Xie Zi’an smiled slightly. “Enough, I know what I’m doing.”
At the end of the day, it was because Xie Songren never kept this son in his heart. If he’d paid even a little attention, he couldn’t have known nothing at all.
Following the servant boy, he soon arrived at the courtyard of his stepmother and Xie Songren.
Before he even entered the door, a teacup smashed at his feet.
“Rebellious son! Kneel down at once!”
In the main hall sat a man and a woman.
The man was Xie Songren, who had just returned.
The woman was his stepmother, Madame Mei.
And Nanny Cao stood beside Madame Mei, a mocking, gleeful smile on her face.
Xie Zi’an sneered inwardly, but on the surface he stiffened his neck and asked, “What wrong have I committed, that Father berates me the moment I walk through the door?”
Xie Songren grew furious at the sight of him and roared, “You know perfectly well what you’ve done!”
“Clutching that tattered book of yours all day—you never learned anything from it, only turned your brain to mush! You actually dared to covet a young lady with such filthy schemes!”
“Oh, so that’s why you weren’t satisfied with the prefect’s daughter—your ambitions reach the heavens, and you want to climb into high society! I’ll beat you to death, you unfilial son!”
Xie Songren grew angrier the more he spoke, and snatched up the willow switch he had prepared in advance to strike Xie Zi’an.
But Xie Zi’an wasn’t going to stand there blankly and take the beating like the original owner had. He twisted aside and dodged.
“You actually dare to dodge?!” Xie Songren couldn’t believe it.
Xie Zi’an said, “You muddled old fool, you’re beating me without asking a single question, and now I’m not even allowed to dodge?”
Being cursed out by his son actually relieved Xie Songren. When the young man first came in, he had almost failed to recognize him.
The original owner had been so suppressed that he’d lost all confidence, surrounded by an oppressive gloom that made people uncomfortable just looking at him.
Xie Zi’an, on the other hand, was a rich second-generation son, raised being fawned over. As long as he wasn’t walking around with his nose in the air, he was already restraining himself in imitating the original owner.
Seeing this, Madame Mei spoke up. “Now, now, Master, it’s a good thing for a child to have a girl he likes. If he didn’t take a fancy to the one I found, it’s fine for him to find one himself.”
In modern times, those words would have been perfectly reasonable. But in ancient times, with the emphasis on “matchmakers’ words and parents’ orders”—and with rumors already spreading that Xie Zi’an had shared a room with the girl—lightly put, it was an illicit private affair; more seriously, it was adultery.
Xie Songren, who had just calmed down, felt his anger surge again at her words, and he raised his hand to strike once more.
But Xie Zi’an put on an expression of grief and despair. “It’s one thing for others not to believe me, but does Father not believe in his own son’s character either?”
“It’s not that I look down on the person Mother found—it’s that Madam Wang has gone too far, insisting that I become a live-in son-in-law! If Father can afford to lose that much face, fine—I’ll dash my head against this pillar right here and now!”
With that, before anyone could react, he lunged toward the nearby pillar!
Xie Songren was scared out of his wits. He threw down the willow switch and blocked it with his own body. Xie Zi’an’s iron-hard head slammed straight into him, making Xie Songren grimace in pain as if his organs had been crushed by a giant boulder.
Madame Mei also shot to her feet in alarm. She had known her stepson had a fierce temper, but she hadn’t expected him to actually threaten his own life.
“Why did you stop me, Father? Just pretend you never had this son!” Xie Zi’an shouted, neck stiff with defiance.
Xie Songren was so angry his teeth itched. This eldest son of his—no good at his studies, yet he’d developed all the foul airs of a pedantic scholar!
“You’re a man! Why act like some hysterical woman threatening death?!”
He called for servants to restrain Xie Zi’an, and only then realized the reason for his son’s agitation. His face darkening, he turned to look at Madame Mei.
“Madam Wang came to propose a match—a match that would make my son a live-in son-in-law?”
Madame Mei explained unhurriedly, “That’s right, though I didn’t know at first. When she came to visit, I meant to refuse her outright. But you know Zi’an’s temper—if I hadn’t asked his opinion first, he might well have grown estranged from me, his mother. So I had Zi’an come take a look.”
“Who knew the boy’s temper was so fierce—he drove Madam Wang off on the spot.”
Every word of this was shifting the blame onto Xie Zi’an. If the occasion hadn’t been so inappropriate, Xie Zi’an would have applauded his stepmother’s artful way with words.
If not for Madame Mei secretly coordinating with her, would Madam Wang have come to their door directly?
Xie Songren snorted coldly. “Then why didn’t you say anything when I was beating the boy?”
Madame Mei pressed her handkerchief to her face and began to cry. “You were determined to beat him no matter what, Master. I was so busy trying to stop you—when would I have had the chance to explain?”
Xie Songren’s expression turned awkward. It did seem that had been the case.
Xie Zi’an wasn’t about to let his stepmother brush the matter aside so lightly. For no reason at all, the original owner of this body had taken a beating, then, suppressing his resentment, gone to the Xu residence—only to be poisoned by Xu Nanchun and die on the spot.
Only then had Xie Zi’an transmigrated over.
“Naturally, I trust you, Mother. It must be some spiteful gossip whispering in your ear that made you forget to mention this to Father.”
“Nanny Cao in my courtyard was just advising me today to listen to you properly and become a live-in son-in-law of the Xu family. Might that have been your intention as well, Mother?”
The moment those words left his mouth, Madame Mei’s face twitched.