Lady Helan dismissed the servants in the house, allowing Old Lady Yun to watch the door to the inner room. She then pulled Xu Mingwei in front of her and asked with a solemn face, "I heard your husband say that you were pushed into the water a few days ago? Was it really made by that little bastard from the West Branch? "
Xu Mingwei was slightly startled. Before this, she had never heard any profanities from the Lady Helan's mouth, so it was clear how angry she was this time. She actually said the words "little bastard" in front of him.
Xu Mingwei imitated her deductions that she had shared with the Master Fang that day and nodded, "This courtyard can handle that fragrance. With such a high stature and the grudges I've formed with you, other than Xu Tiandi, your daughter can't think of anyone else."
"It's been hard on my son. Fourteen years ago, if Mother was able to be cruel, she wouldn't have been able to bear the consequences of her actions. On the contrary, she would have caused your death. I should be merciful as a blessing, but I didn't think that there would be such a born ingrate who would always want to bite people. Don't even mention your father for now. Even if you poke him in the face, you can only do it as a small matter. If that were the case, you can't even hear the sound of a slap! "This young mistress has raised such a rotten bastard, and mother will take good care of it for you. You can't just swallow your anger like this."
Xu Mingwei did not want to cry anymore, but this kind of feeling of having someone support for him after being wronged was too unfamiliar. She felt her nose sour, and the tears started rolling down her face like beads that had dropped from a string, she could not stop.
When Lady Helan saw this, her heart ached even more. Just like when she was young, he hugged Xu Mingwei onto her knees and gently patted her back to coax her. The two ladies were bored for a while before they could be considered better. When they removed their arms to take a look, their eyes were red and swollen. It was a big and a small rabbit.
Xu Mingwei nodded her head, "My daughter did not know at the time, that it was the little girl in the room who said it, and Second Aunt also said it like that, so it should be so."
Lady Helan sincerely bowed to Tian Zhen and rejoiced, "Bodhisattva bless me! It's all thanks to the young master of the Fu family. Otherwise, my son would have been killed by that slut. Tomorrow is a good day. Your mother will bring you to the temple to repay your blessings and to donate some scented oil, but your Second Aunt still hasn't went to the Fu Family to express your gratitude, right? "Since you've received a great favor from others, you must remember it."
Lady Helan started to plan on her own, but then she asked her, "A few days ago, Eldest Princess escaped and came to our house, was it not so?"
Xu Mingwei replied and hesitated, "Second Aunt butler, the servants' movements have become a lot more lax, and since the guests did not ask for the name scroll, they came in themselves. As a result, we revealed our faces behind them, revealing that it was Eldest Princess, scaring us to the point that our hearts were about to pop out."
Lady Helan herself had eyes to see, how could she not see it when she returned home today, it was just that she did not have the time to care about it, hence she sighed on the spot, "It's already fortunate that I knew that she was useless and did not cause any big problems. The matters of the family should be tidied up after a while, and it just so happens that at this time, those who are lazy should be kicked to the manor, so that these old servants don't have to put their lives on the line again. "
When Xu Mingwei heard Lady Helan mention this old servant, her face heated up and threw herself into her embrace again.
The Lady Helan smiled as she tapped her forehead and said, "You really are getting older and older. Why do you love acting like a spoiled child today? Mother already knew that you chased away Mrs. Ma. So what if you chased her away? Mother just despised her for being so thick-skinned as to say she wasn't going to make a move. The method was a bit crude, but it worked better so that the people below could see who the real owner of the courtyard was. "In the future, you will have to be the one in charge. Many things have to be done with your eyes, and you can't be like these few things and directly use your blade. If you meet an old granny and sister-in-law with powerful means, you might not be a match for them, and even if you break your teeth, you can only swallow them with your blood."
It was all thanks to his master's identity that Xu Mingwei was able to deal with Old Ma. Being at home was fine, but in the future, girls would have to go to their parents' home to live. If they met an old cunning servant, would Xu Mingwei be able to do the same? If her in-laws gave her face and supported her a little, if she did not get along well and did not cause trouble by the side, it would be good enough for her to add insult to injury. Besides, the most important thing for a girl was to have a good reputation. Xu Mingwei was still young, to think that he would be able to deal with Old Woman Ma with a cold face. Furthermore, he mentioned that he already had an idea at such a young age, so it didn't really matter to him. However, if he was a bit older, he would probably be called ungenerous and harsh.
The Lady Helan caressed Xu Mingwei's hair that was as thick as ink tenderly. As a daughter, she had to be like this hair, soft and smooth, beautiful to look at, but when she pulled it down to her throat, it was so sharp that it could take a person's life.
Xu Mingwei also knew that the Lady Helan was acting for her own good. She nodded humbly and said, "Your daughter will definitely watch and learn carefully in the future. She won't be reckless anymore."
Lady Helan smiled with gratitude, and held her hand, "There's no rush, there's still a long way to go. With mother watching from behind, you definitely won't be bullied. Mother still has things to do in the courtyard. Wei'er, go back to your own courtyard and play. Come back after dinner and have a good talk with Mother about the matters of the palace. "
Being mentioned by the Lady Helan, Xu Mingwei remembered that she had just returned, and all the chores were waiting for her to be taken care of. She had delayed her for so long, it was time to leave. She then stood up and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were not as red as before, and she walked out of the Lady Helan's house.
The Lady Helan sent his daughter away, then called her trusted aide to come over to the Second Branch Courtyard to hand over the account book. On the way there, Nanny Xue was still worried that Lady Ji might not be willing to spit it out because he had obtained the authority of the butler. However, when she saw that Lady Helan's expression did not change at all, she felt annoyed and tolerated.
Seeing that they had arrived, the Second Branch's gatekeeper hurriedly invited them into the courtyard with a face full of smiles. Nanny Xue was curious why the second house was so polite today, she never thought that Lady Ji and her wet nurse who came to welcome them would be even more so. Hearing Lady Helan saying that she was here to take back the account book and the storage key, without any hesitation, she threw all the things back to them, as if she was throwing hot potatoes.
The Lady Helan did not mention the ridiculous matter that she had done previously. The two of them had been properly dealt with by Fang Yu and the Lady Ji herself had learned his lesson. It had been so many years since she had gotten pregnant with great difficulty that she pretended that she did not know it, lest the timid Lady Ji get scared to death again.
The Lady Ji didn't need to fill in the bottomless pit like the butler anymore. Furthermore, the Lady Helan was considerate enough to not mention anything old. Lady Ji was so happy that she almost cried when she saw Lady Helan out. If she did not come back today, tomorrow would be the day of settling debts with the stewards. Lady Ji would have to use her dowry silver to fill the gap, wouldn't she?
Nanny Xue followed Lady Helan all the way out of the Second Branch's courtyard. Seeing that no one else was around, she couldn't help but ask her mistress curiously about how the Second Branch's wife was able to return the job of a butler so easily. Instead, it made the Lady Helan laugh and say, "You'll know tomorrow."
In fact, they did not even need to wait until tomorrow. When Nanny Xue returned to the courtyard and opened his account book, she could see that the billing for March had not been completed yet. No wonder Second House Mistress was in such a hurry to return the account book.
Nanny Xue closed the account book with a mischievous smile. If she had known this would happen, she would have gone to the Second Branch and sat in her own courtyard and waited. The Second Branch could not help herself and jumped out.
However, these stewards were full of evil intentions. They acted quite obediently on normal days, but they did not expect to be replaced by a housekeeper.
When his wife returned home, it was already too early for the Xu family to return. Other than the news from their family, they probably wouldn't be able to spread it for a while. I wonder what kind of expression the stewards will have when they meet with the Eldest Wife tomorrow. Nanny Xue sighed as he thought, whether it was good or bad, everything depended on luck, he hugged his heart and fell asleep after watching a good show.
Xu Minglan hurriedly ran back to the courtyard in the fourth wife. However, like this morning, it was still cold and lonely, and she couldn't help but feel hurt in her heart. Seeing that she was sad, Xi Shi asked the guard in charge of the Xu family. They only came back early, probably because they received news that Xu Mingwei had fallen into the water, so they came back this quickly.
As for when Old Master Xu and the rest would return, the gatekeeper didn't know either. It would take them at least seven or eight days, or at most half a month, most likely until May. After all, the Old Master Xu and the Old Lady Xu were still there, so they couldn't afford to wait any longer.
The news that Xi Shi had brought back did not make Xu Minglan very happy either. Because their master was unhappy, the whole house did not dare to speak loudly, afraid that Xu Minglan would vent her anger. The people of Xueju were waiting in their own yards, and no one asked about the movements of the big house. They didn't even know that the second wife had already handed the housekeeper over to the big house's wife. It was only on the evening of the second day that several stewards were found out by their wives to have their accounts falsified, and the news of them being the stewards spread. It was only then that the servants of Xueju knew that the household had changed.