Chapter 125: Friction (1/2)

Although Sang Wan was feeling upset, she knew those words could not be said as it would only embarrass Shi Fengju and her mother-in-law.

Meanwhile, Gu Fangzi was secretly gloating when Sang Wan talked back to Shi Yumei. She could not wait for a larger fight between them. However, she was disappointed when she saw how Sang Wan had no intentions of continuing the squabble after just talking back once.

“Big sister, what are you saying?” Shi Fengju laughed and said, “All the gentlemen, officials, and neighbours have given expensive gifts to congratulate brother-in-law Sang, how can their in-laws be stingy on this?” He also casually brought up the size of fertile land, big houses, and the amount of gold and silver that were given as gifts. Adding on, he said, “Anyway, you’ve wrongly accused Sang Wan. I settled all these with the management servants and she knew nothing about this at all!”

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“Yumei, you better sit down prudently now! Don’t you dare talk excessively anymore!” Wang Shi frowned at her and quickly nodded at Shi Fengju, “Fengju is right! Our Shi Family is known to be the richest in Qingzhou. If our gift is too shabby, what will the people say about us! What’s more, Sang Wan is our eldest daughter-in-law in the family, which makes it even more important that our gifts are good! Fengju, you will make the arrangements with the management servants! Sang Wan, what do you think?”

Wang Shi quickly ordered Xiu Chun to bring the list for Sang Wan’s perusal.

Shi Yumei was suddenly out of words. Yes, Sang Wan was the eldest daughter-in-law of Shi Household. Her family was the Shi family’s in-laws. What did this have got to do with her if they were to arrange expensive gifts? What say did she have here?

At the thought of how she now belonged to the Ren family even though her surname remained as ‘Shi’, she felt a little dejected.

“Sir’s decision is good! There’s no way I’d have a clue about this!” Sang Wan smiled and hurriedly glanced over the list before putting it down.

“Mother, then I’ll have the servants start handling this!” Shi Fengju smiled and took the list back. He smiled towards Shi Yumei and said, “Big sister, when Brother-in-law Ren becomes a top escorted examinee too in the next exams, I will surely prepare the exact same expensive gifts to congratulate him! I will definitely not throw your face!”

Shi Yumei felt slightly better after hearing Shi Fengju’s words, but she went on to grumble, “Why the same? Are you so reluctant to prepare a bigger one for me?”

Shi Fengju laughed out loud, and said, “Big sister, I can’t be biased. If not, Sang Wan will surely complain that I’m being unfair!”

“You!” Shi Yumei stomped her feet angrily, and she gave an elusive smile, “What? Are you so afraid of your wife? You’re afraid of her complaining but not my frustration?”

Shi Fengju shook his head but didn’t answer her. He smiled to Wang Shi and said instead, “Mother, look at big sister, why does she seemed to have grown backwards; saying all these childish words! I think, Mother, you might have spoilt her too much. You have to teach her some etiquette!” Not waiting for Wang Shi or Shi Yumei to reply, he took the list and ran off playfully.

“That rascal, are you my younger brother or my older brother!” Shi Yumei was so angry that she stomped her feet. She turned towards Wang Shi and said, “Mother! Listen to what he said!”

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Wang Shi had already been tickled by her son’s words and she laughed uncontrollably. She held Shi Yumei’s hands and patted her, “Alright, alright! I think Fengju is right. You have to reflect on yourself and learn some etiquette! You, you just have to care about taking care of your husband, both in his studies and his well-being, and accompany me to chat once in a while. Anything else, you don’t have to worry about it! I’m old but not foolish and neither is Fengju a foolish man!”

Shi Yumei’s heart sank a little. She lowered her voice and said, “I understand, Mother… “

So what if she was feeling indignant? She belonged to the Ren family! Even if Sang Wan emptied the entire Shi household and moved all the assets to Sang household, as long as Fengju is happy, even their Mother would not be able to do anything about it, let alone someone like her. And because of that, her heart felt a little uncomfortable!

On the other hand, Sang Wan was feeling secretly grateful. Just yesterday, Shi Yumei was being sarcastic about the amount of money the Shi family had spent on the Sang family, but today, Shi Fengju had taken out this costly list of gifts for everyone else to see. Shi Yumei wouldn’t be able to say anything behind her back after this, even if she wanted to!

“Hmph! So you understand? If you understand, then that’s good!” Wang Shi’s expression changed, and she asked with a tone of disgust, “Is that Cui Bao behaving obediently?”

“Eh?” Shi Yumei was stunned momentarily, but she quickly smiled and said, “Her? She’s quite all right, she greets me everyday and is obedient. She also doesn’t give me any trouble! Normally, she will be serving in the study room and accompany me occasionally to ease my boredom!”

“You are just too gullible! You really believe the few good words other people say so easily!” Wang Shi gruntled, “Just the day before yesterday, why did I see her in the flower garden wearing a robe made with the Xiang Yun silk that I gave you?

“Mother!” Shi Yumei said nonchalantly before saying with a smile, “It’s just a piece of clothing! I have gotten quite a few clothes done for myself and that silk would have been a waste if I just kept it, so I just gave it to her! Anyway, I’m sure there’ll be better quality silk next year!”

“You! Really!” Wang Shi sighed and could not do anything about it.

Seeing how her mother-in-law was discussing about something private, Sang Wan quickly excused herself; Shi Lian took the opportunity to leave as well. And so, the both of them left together.

Shi Yumei watched as they left. Afraid that her mother would continue nagging at her non-stop, she quickly excused herself as well and gave a signal to Gu Fangzi before pulling her along.

“Mother, I’m going to send cousin back! I will come back to accompany you in the afternoon!”