Chapter 23 - Lady Tu Pressing on at Every Opportunity (1/2)
Chapter 23 Lady Tu Pressing on at Every Opportunity
“It was actually my fault. In the beginning, I thought of telling Marquis Jing Yuan something about Yuewu. However, Marquis Jing Yuan had set off to pick up Yuewu. So I told Wei Yan’s personal maid to take a message to Marquis Jing Yuan when she saw him. I never knew that the maid was so bold that she actually followed Marquis Jing Yuan along without asking for permission. Lady Li, dismiss that girl when you go back. We can’t keep such a servant at our house.”
The Madam Dowager coughed and opened her smiling eyes as she responded to Lady Tu. By giving a casual order to Lady Li, she intended to understate the matter.
“Yes, mother.”
Perceiving the Madam Dowager’s anger, Lady Li didn’t dare to say any more. She lowered her head in a respectful manner and heaved a sigh of relief in her heart. Wei Yan’s reputation was at least saved by blaming Shuiyun for everything.
“Madam Dowager, it was amazing that maids at your house should be so presumptuous and so disloyal that a maid dared to take the initiative to look for a man outside your house and stay with him all along. I heard that the maid is the head maid of the Second Young Lady at this mansion. It is really inappropriate for such a girl to serve the Second Young Lady!”
Lady Tu remarked blankly, without the slightest intention to let Wei Yan get away.
Hearing what Lady Tu said, the Madam Dowager could not help but flush despite her usually perfect composure, and her face was as red as pig liver.
Secretly applauding Lady Tu, Wei Yuewu slightly curled her lips with a flash of cold mockery in her eyes. When the Madam Dowager and Lady Li tried to blame Shuiyun for everything, they both neglected one critical point: although Shuiyun acted on her own, she was still a maid of Wei Yan for her service. The logic was that if the servant behaved improperly, the mistress could not be better in that aspect.
It was more so in the case of young ladies’ head maids, who could make most decisions for their mistresses.
“Madam Dowager, although our mansion is not very large, we keep our door tight against those who are unfit for the job of a servant. Yuewu has lived in our mansion for so many years, and the maids and nurses around her are all well-behaved. I never heard of a servant doing such things.”
Lady Tu clicked her tongue as she glanced sideways at Lady Li and covered her mouth with a handkerchief. “It’s impossible in our mansion that an unclean girl like the Second Young Lady’s head maid be allowed to serve an unmarried young lady.”
The ridicule in Lady Tu’s words was clear to everyone. And the fact was simply undeniable because the Madam Dowager and Lady Li had admitted themselves the existence of such a maid serving the Second Young Lady!
“Lady Li, kneel down! How are you running this family?”
The Madam Dowager rebuked Lady Li with piercing sharpness in her eyes as she turned to Lady Li and slapped her hand heavily on the table. Her face had changed colors several times, turning from red to blue.
In front of Lady Tu, she had no choice but censure Lady Li for not managing the house well.
When she heard Lady Tu referring to Wei Yan again, Lady Li was so angry that her lips trembled. She was just about to argue when she heard the Madam Dowager’s sharp rebuke. Noticing the Madam Dowager’s livid face, she fell on her knees, arguing anxiously, “Mother, mother, listen to me. It’s not that I didn’t manage the affairs well in this house, but that cheap maid was too bold. She always had her own way of doing things.”
At this point, Lady Li had to put things this way. She must insist that it was all Shuiyun’s fault and blamed Shuiyun for everything. And she made a decision in her heart to kill Shuiyun and make her a scapegoat for Wei Yan.
“Madam, it’s interesting to hear what you said. Are you saying that you knew the maid was a defiant girl a long time ago? Then why didn’t you find another maid for the Second Young Lady? Was it because the Second Young Lady wasn’t born by you so that you didn’t care about her reputation?”
Lady Tu seized the loophole in Lady Li’s words. She sneered and pointed it out bluntly.
“I… I’m too busy with all sorts of things in the whole back courtyard to find another maid for the Second Young Lady!”
Lady Li stuttered as she couldn’t find a reasonable answer for the question.
“Oh, so you have so many things to deal with in the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. Then I have to worry about our Yuewu. Since the Second Lady can’t even manage her own daughter’s affairs well, how can she take good care of Yuewu! It is better for Yuewu to go back home with me, so that she would not disgrace the whole family of Marquis Hua Yang by being entangled to such a scandal as the Second Young Lady.”
Lady Tu taunted coldly, her eyes glancing sideways at Lady Li.
Lady Tu made it clear: if the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang couldn’t take good care of Wei Yuewu, she would take her back home.
It would make the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang a big laughing stock that the first daughter should be unable to stay in her own mansion.
The Madam Dowager had to take a stand now. She slapped her hand heavily on the table and threw a fierce glance at Lady Li before she angrily scolded, “See how well you are managing the house! Since you are so busy dealing with all sorts of things in the mansion, your third sister-in-law Lady Zhang will be in charge together with you from tomorrow on! ”
“Mother, I…” Lady Li got really anxious when she heard that she was about to be deprived of half of her power. Lady Zhang standing on one side, however, was overjoyed. She had only come to watch the drama, never expecting such a good opportunity to fall into her lap. She immediately stepped forward and smiled at the Madam Dowager. “Yes, mother. I will do my best to help my second sister-in-law run the house.”
“Madam Dowager, what about the engagement with Marquis Jing Yuan? He must be unsatisfied with Yuewu so that he had attempted to murder her. If this matter cannot be settled well, we will do whatever we can and never let Marquis Jing Yuan get away.”
Satisfied with the Madam Dowager’s disposal of Lady Li, Lady Tu let it pass and changed the subject.