First Madame was so furious she paced around the room.
She hadn’t expected Jiang Zhiyu to be so difficult to deal with. An ordinary person, faced with such deliberate provocation, would have long since stormed off in anger, yet she remained smiling and even spoke of spending decades together in the future.
Who wanted to spend decades with her?
Really…
“She’s truly low…” The word “vulgar” was on the tip of her tongue, but First Madame couldn’t bring herself to utter such an ugly, crude word. After holding her breath for several moments, she finally spat out, “She’s truly shameless!”
“Exactly! She was originally supposed to marry the Second Young Master, but now she’s been shoved onto our Eldest Young Master. Yet she accepted it so easily, acting as if she were always meant to be our Eldest Young Mistress. She’s really… brazen.”
Thinking of Jiang Zhiyu’s bright and beautiful face, then looking at her own slightly plump figure, Fudong grew even angrier.
And when it came to Jiang Zhiyu originally being meant for the second branch, First Madame’s heart burned with even greater fury.
Even though Jiang Zhiyu hadn’t consummated the marriage with Gu Jin, she was still a married woman. Now that the second branch didn’t want her, they shoved her onto her son, and on top of that, they had to cover up the second branch’s disgraceful affairs.
Her poor son—if she hadn’t forced him to join the military back then, he wouldn’t have been disabled on the battlefield, and he wouldn’t have to suffer such humiliation today.
“Madame, if the Young Mistress refuses to leave, what should we do?” Fudong asked.
What should they do?
First Madame frowned for a moment.
Everything she had done today was the result of a sleepless night and racking her brains, yet it had been utterly useless. What could she do to drive this Jiang Zhiyu away?
Lost in her distress, she caught sight of the clepsydra in the corner of the room. It was already the hour of You.
It was time for Gu Huaiqiu to take his medicine.
First Madame could no longer spare a thought for dealing with the thick-skinned Jiang Zhiyu. She fetched the prepared medicine from the water room and hurried toward the empty courtyard.
Gu Huaiqiu was always in his study at this hour, currently holding a brush and writing something.
First Madame gently pushed open the door, even setting down the medicine bowl with extra care, afraid of disturbing him.
But Gu Huaiqiu didn’t even lift his eyelids, as if he hadn’t noticed First Madame’s arrival.
Clutching the tray, First Madame said, “A-Qiu, you should drink the medicine while it’s hot.”
“Alright.” Gu Huaiqiu replied indifferently, but his movements didn’t pause for a moment.
First Madame tightened her grip on the tray. Even though he had been this cold for over a year, every time she heard it, her heart felt pricked.
But she understood—it wasn’t her son’s fault. It was hers.
She was the one who had caused A-Qiu to become like this.
Thinking of Jiang Zhiyu again, First Madame felt even more guilty. After hesitating for a moment, she spoke up to comfort him: “A-Qiu, Mother knows that being forced into this marriage exchange has wronged you, but for the sake of the Marquis’s household, we have no choice. We must rely on the Marquis’s household. But rest assured, Mother will definitely handle that woman from the second branch properly. I won’t let her disgust you.”
“It doesn’t matter. In my condition, any arrangement will do.” Gu Huaiqiu’s tone was icy and flat, as if merely stating a fact.
But First Madame felt as if needles were piercing her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn’t dare let them fall. She hastily turned around and, leaving behind the words “Drink the medicine while it’s hot,” fled the room as if escaping.
From beginning to end, Gu Huaiqiu’s gaze never shifted even slightly.
…
The next day, Jiang Zhiyu rose before dawn as usual.
There were no cabinets in the room, so Jiang Zhiyu randomly selected a set of lotus-pink robes from the trunk, put them on, draped a cloak over her shoulders, and followed the first hint of gray-white on the horizon, heading toward the main courtyard from memory.
When she arrived, the old woman on night duty was still dozing under the eaves.
Jiang Zhiyu gently patted her, startling the old woman.
She stared blankly at the beautiful yet unfamiliar Jiang Zhiyu for a few moments before asking in confusion, “Who are you?”
“I am the eldest young master’s wife, here to pay respects to my mother-in-law.”
The eldest young master’s wife?
This left the old woman even more bewildered.
Where did their eldest young master get a wife? His legs were crippled, and he didn’t even have a concubine. How could a wife appear out of thin air…
At this thought, the old woman suddenly widened her eyes and realized who the person before her was.
She rolled over, not even bothering to stand up, and scrambled into the main room on all fours.
“What? Paying respects?” First Madame exclaimed, springing up from the bed.
The old woman nodded.
First Madame was still not fully awake, her mind moving slowly.
She had never imagined that Jiang Zhiyu would dare come to pay respects to her.
Couldn’t she tell yesterday that she wasn’t welcome?
What kind of person is this!
“Tell her… tell her…” She struggled for a long time, unsure what to make Jiang Zhiyu do to teach her a lesson.
When she married into Chengen Houfu, Old Madame was still in charge. Old Madame was kind, and her husband doted on her, so she had never been subjected to strict rules.
Later, when her husband passed away and the title shifted, Marchioness naturally took over household management. She had never managed a household, and for many years, it had just been the two of them, mother and son, in the main branch.
How to enforce rules, how a mother-in-law should assert authority over a daughter-in-law—she had no idea at all.
After pondering for a long time, she finally remembered that twenty years ago, when paying respects to Old Madame, she had been made to stand outside for a while.
Suddenly inspired, she said, “Make her stand in the courtyard and wait.”
The old woman went out to relay the message. Jiang Zhiyu smiled and nodded, then retreated to the center of the courtyard, standing upright.
First Madame peeked out through a crack in the window, her frown deepening.
She really is thick-skinned, not saying a word.
Then let her stand there for a few hours!
First Madame closed the window and returned to lie down on the bed, but Jiang Zhiyu had already caught all those furtive movements out of the corner of her eye.
First Madame was simple-minded, her thoughts easy to understand.
A mother-in-law like this wouldn’t be difficult to get along with, though it would require some effort.
Since she had already decided to live well in the main branch, this effort was necessary. At the same time, it was also to show Old Madame that she truly meant what she said.
And so she stood in the courtyard as the sun gradually rose.
In autumn, it was cool before the sun came out, but once it rose, it could still be scorching, especially at noon, no different from summer.
After returning to her bed, First Madame tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Seeing the sunlight outside grow increasingly glaring, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is she still standing?”
“She is, not moving an inch, though her forehead is starting to sweat,” the old woman replied truthfully.
What kind of person is this!
“Let her stand, let her faint from the sun!” Though she spoke harshly, before the words even finished, First Madame dashed from the bed to the window, pushing it open a crack to look outside.
Sure enough, Jiang Zhiyu was still standing there, her posture exactly the same as before.
Her forehead was already beaded with sweat, and the sun was growing harsh. If she stayed out any longer, she might truly suffer heatstroke.
First Madame was both angry and annoyed, finally huffing, “Call her in. I want to see what tricks she’s up to!”