Chapter 249 - The Solution (3)

Speaking of that, Wang shi said happily with her eyebrows dancing, “I’ve known this good news for a while. However, at that time Rulan hasn’t been pregnant for a long time. I didn’t dare to make it public. Now that her condition is stable, she then asked us to visit her. Actually, Old Madam has been too careful. The moment we got the message, she sent two capable Mama to look after Rulan’s diet and daily life.”

That was the most annoying thing about Wang shi. Since Old Madam Sheng cared about Rulan, Wang shi should only feel grateful instead of putting on an act. Right now, she turned around to blame Old Madam Sheng, “Mother! I know you love Rulan a lot, but I’m afraid that her mother-in-law might not be happy with what you have done. When I went to Wen Family the other day, I saw the look on Rulan’s mother-in-law’s face not so delightful!”

Hai shi didn’t know what to say. Minglan lowered her head as usual, pretending that she hadn’t heard anything. Although Old Madam Sheng believed in Buddhism, she had no intention to tolerate everything. Before, Wang shi had also put on airs lots of times, however, most of the time she only ended up with tragedy.

As expected, Old Madam Sheng glanced at her daughter-in-law’s complacent look and took a sip of the tea. Then she said, “Before, I didn’t like to interfere in these things because I was sensitive about my reputation. However, now thinking of Hualan, I realize that the health of our ladies is the most important thing. I don’t care if I was a bit rude to Rulan’s mother-in-law. After all, Rulan’s not as tolerant as Hualan. If she quarrels with the people of the Wen Family, it will harm either their family unity or Rulan’s body. Then, I don’t mind being the evil person once!”

Thinking of Hualan’s sick appearance, Wang shi got tears in her eyes. Then she lowered her head and stopped talking. Actually, Old Madam Wen wasn’t easy to deal with either. However, Sheng’s family was more powerful than Wen’s family and Wen Yanjing treasured Rulan a lot. After Old Madam Wen found her carrot-and-stick approach all useless, she finally stopped making trouble.

Old Madam Sheng put down her tea cup and said to Wang shi with sincere words, “You are lucky to have so many children and grandchildren. Now that Hualan has two sons, she could finally be a bit relieved. Let’s not talk about other girls first, but Rulan was raised by you since she was born. I am an old woman who is not able to take everything into consideration, you should give more advice to Rulan in her daily life!”

“After all, she is a madam now! You can not let her come back to her parents’ home all the time. If others hear about this, they would assume that our family is bullying. Tell her to be thoughtful and respectful to her husband. Tell her not to act like a giver to the Wen’s family, unless she doesn’t want to live a good life in the future! She should treat her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law nicely and learn to tolerate! Don’t act as if she has suffered great grievances every time she ran into a little trifles. All the madams would experience difficulties, why should Rulan be an exception? Is she made by gold or jade? Her husband seems like a man with a good heart. I believe he will treat Rulan well even if he becomes successful in his career, as long as Rulan doesn’t go too far.” Old Madam Sheng’s words didn’t sound very strict but were straight to the point. Every blunt or implicit point she made touched the raw nerve of Wang shi. Right now, the latter was stuck for words.

“Mother, you are right. I’ll remember everything you said and tell Rulan about it afterwards.” After a long while, Wang shi said that with her neck turning very stiff.

Hai shi lowered her head and counted the tea leaves in the cup like what Minglan was doing with a serious look.

Seeing Wang shi’s pale face, Old Madam Sheng felt quite satisfied. Then she changed the topic, “If we make mistakes in etiquette, we can not argue on anything even if we have enough grounds. If Rulan sticks to the etiquette, our family will not tolerate any misconducts of the Wen’s family either!” On these words, Old Madam Sheng also got a bit angry. She felt sad to see her favorite eldest granddaughter suffering. However, at least Hualan had married into a family which was more powerful than the Sheng’s family. If Rulan who had married into an ordinary family also got bullied, Sheng’s family would be a joke.

It was the best that the two families which were united by marriage could be on equal terms. Since the marriages of the Sheng’s girls were not frauds, no one should submit themselves to humiliation.

After Minglan had counted the tea leaves three times, she changed the topic by talking to Hai shi, “When are you going to hold the one-month feast for Hui, sister-in-law? I am looking forward to it.”

Hai shi, as a clever woman, replied to Minglan right away with a smile, “My condition was not so good when I gave birth to Hui. My mother who cares about me a lot decided to hold the two-month feast in Hai’s family. By then, Hui and I will be more vigorous to meet the guests and attend the feast.”

Wang shi nodded while glancing at her daughter-in-law complacently, “That’s right. By then, it will be a month after your Eldest Sister’s delivery. Rulan’s condition will be more stable too. Our family could all gather together.”

Minglan glanced at Old Madam Sheng, finding the latter fiddling with the dried orange in the plate calmly with a slightly scornful look on her face.

Minglan tried her best to hold back her laughter and said to Wang shi, “Madam, you are so experienced and thoughtful. We should always learn from you.” She stared at Wang shi while speaking in a sincere tone and with an earnest look. That was something Minglan had been accustomed to do. No matter how ridiculous Wang shi’s words sounded, Minglan was always able to agree with her firmly without blinking an eye.

Wang shi covered her mouth while smiling. Then, in order to show her modesty, she then changed a subject, “Speaking of your Eldest Sister, I visited her a few days ago. She’s still very slim but in high spirits lately.”

“That’s great. Last time I saw Eldest Sister, I found her so thin that the clothes on her seemed so large.” Minglan said worriedly, not knowing if her plan had worked.

Wang shi, with a gloating look, said joyfully, “Ha ha! Now Old Madam Yuan is busy enough with her own affairs. Your Eldest Sister’s life is much easier than before. She also said that she missed you a lot. If you are not busy, who don’t you go visit her?”

“Busy enough with her own affairs? What happened in Yuan’s family?” Minglan’s heart suddenly beat fast. Now she felt both excited and anxious.

Wang shi was about to speak when Old Madam Sheng suddenly coughed loudly. Then Wang shi suddenly realized that it was not appropriate for her to gossip about the elders of another family in front of the young girls. Hai shi reacted very fast by saying right away, “It’s nothing. Lately Old Master Yuan married a new concubine. Old Madam Yuan was only afraid that this new concubine didn’t know all the rules and couldn’t take care of Old Master Yuan. So Old Madam Yuan has been busy with lecturing the new concubine.” See, what a perfect speech! Mrs. Wang, you still had so many things to learn.

Then, Minglan acted as if it was the first time she had heard of that and replied slowly, “Well…” Hurray!

Although it was mean to bring a concubine to a family, it was still a right thing to protect her own sister. Since that old woman always tortured Hualan and had almost sent a team of women to Hualan’s husband, Minglan felt it was not wrong to let that evil woman have the same experience as Hualan. She deserved it! Minglan didn’t feel guilty at all.

“… Old Madam Yuan truly is a good wife.” Minglan said that with an innocent look in her eyes.

Old Madam Sheng looked at Minglan with a meaningful look, which made Minglan feel a bit uneasy all of a sudden. Then she blushed and lowered her head.

After Quan was put on the Ocean Bed, he kept fiddling with the jade ring which had been threaded by a red ribbon in front of his chest. First, he put one of his fingers in the ring, and there was still lots of space. Then he put two fingers, and there was still lots of room. At last, he reached out his chubby fist and put four of his fingers into the ring. Whoa, then his little hand was stuck in the ring! The ancient jade was smooth, so he didn’t feel hurt. However, after he had swung his little arms and pulled the ring a dozen of times, he still failed to take it off. Then he raised his fist and slipped into Old Madam Sheng’s arms to ask for help.

Old Madam Sheng comforted him and took the ring off his hand slowly. Right at this moment, a maid outside reported in a loud voice, “Old Master and Third Master are back.”

All the women except Old Madam Sheng stood up and gave obeisance when Sheng Hong and Changfeng entered the room in tandem.

Seeing that, Quan hummed loudly and cheerfully on Old Madam Sheng’s shoulder and spread his short arms to Sheng Hong.

Sheng Hong, this middle-aged man who got a bit portly lately, was softened the moment he saw his grandson. After he had given obeisance to Old Madam Sheng, he held Quan in his arms at once with a smile. Then he, having sat on the seat beside the bed, put the chubby boy on his knees and started to play with his grandson.

“Gl, glandpa!” The boy still couldn’t utter words clearly. However, he was good at grabbing his grandpa’s beard.

“Oh! My cute boy!” Sheng Hong laughed joyfully and let the boy grab his beard.

Old Madam Sheng was still holding the jade ring. Seeing Sheng Hong and Quan being so intimate as if they hadn’t seen each other for hundreds of years, Old Madam Sheng found that funny but also annoying. Then she taunted, “You ungrateful boy!”

Sheng Hong chuckled while still holding Quan in his arms. Quan kissed over half of Sheng Hong’s face with his arms around Sheng Hong’s neck. Wang shi said smilingly, “No wonder they say kids are all close to their grandparents!”

After all, Sheng Hong’s daughter and daughter-in-law were still in the hall, so he couldn’t play with his grandson all the time. After a while, he passed Quan to the wet nurse.

Old Madam Sheng said to Hai shi, “This boy won’t stay quiet if he doesn’t run around outside. Today’s weather is fine, you can take him outside and let him play for a while.”

Hai shi answered in a gentle voice. The plump boy who was in the wet nurse’s arms was quite clever and seemed to understand Old Madam Sheng’s words. As his wet nurse bent over, he stretched his legs and stepped on the ground steadily. After that, he jumped to the outside cheerfully. Then a few maids and servants followed him right away.

Hai shi felt ill at ease and apologized right away, “This child is so undisciplined…”

“Doesn’t matter!” Sheng Hong watched his grandson walking out smilingly and waved his hand, “It’s good for a little boy to be energetic. No matter whether he will be a scholar or be in the troops, he always needs to have a strong body.”

“That’s right.” Old Madam Sheng felt pleased inwardly, but still said on purpose, “As long as he’s strong enough, we don’t need to worry if his father will beat him! I hope he’s not like his Sixth Aunt, who couldn’t even stand being hit on the palms.”

“Grandma!” Minglan felt embarrassed right away and said, “You, you, it was just once, please don’t mention that…”