0p0 Chapter 185 Utterly Lost Face!
Chapter 185 Utterly Lost Face!
Upon hearing Madam Sun's words, Madam Jin was immediately bewildered! Radiant brocade? Tribute?
Even with her eloquence, she was momentarily at a loss for words in front of so many ladies. How could she possibly cover up this lie? If Mu Xin Nuan herself were here, with the old lady present, a wink from her might have salvaged the situation, but she wasn't here! No matter what she said, the ladies present probably wouldn't believe her.
“Sister-in-law, actually, this shimmering brocade was originally a new curtain made by A-Nuan. It just so happened that it came in time, so I took it and hung it up here for now. I will naturally return it to you later. Isn’t that right, sister-in-law?”
Upon hearing Li's reminder, Jin nodded repeatedly in agreement.
"Of course! Not only this curtain, but everything will be returned to Anuan. She's just a little kid, and she only sent things over because she saw that my room was deserted. But as an elder, how could I accept her things? I'll leave them for now and send them back to her when I have time."
“Anuan is always kind-hearted and very thoughtful. How could she be so careless this time? Several of these ornaments were bestowed by the Emperor. If they are damaged or chipped, wouldn’t that be a grave offense?”
Upon hearing this, Madam Jin couldn't help but shudder. Although she was the daughter of a noble family, she was still born into a concubine's family. How could she compare to the noble demeanor of this Madam Li? In addition, Madam Li had managed the household for many years and was a second-rank imperial consort bestowed by the emperor. Her words and actions naturally exuded an air of authority.
"How could that be? We'll definitely be careful."
Even Jin herself didn't realize that she had unconsciously become more subservient to Liu. Her humble and guilty demeanor and behavior made many of the ladies shake their heads.
They all secretly speculated that this second wife was indeed rather uncouth. Leaving aside whether she had taken anything from Miss Mu, her very demeanor was far inferior!
And look at the First Madam? She's a true lady of high society. She comes from a distinguished family. Even though her sister-in-law bullied her daughter first, she still remembered that they were all family and spoke up to smooth things over for her. That's the demeanor of a matriarch!
As soon as the banquet ended, the old lady glared at Li Shi and stormed back to Rongyuan. Jin Shi, on the other hand, said with a mixture of embarrassment and resentment, "My sister-in-law is indeed cunning! She actually came up with such a way to embarrass me. She truly deserves to be the matriarch of the Mu family."
Perhaps she was too angry, but Jin emphasized the words "head mistress" with extra force!
"Why are you getting angry at me, sister-in-law? Was this banquet my idea? Did I ask you to set these things up? Now that the banquet is over, you should go and clean up the things. Just as my sister-in-law said, more than half of those things were gifts from the Emperor. If you really damage them, don't blame me for not warning you. You'd better be careful that no matter how much money you have, you won't be able to afford to pay for them!"
"You!" Madam Jin was furious, her chest heaving. "Fine! You really are my good sister-in-law! Humph! I thought you were easy to get along with, but it seems I underestimated you. Compared to you, I, a mere official's wife, am truly insignificant."
"Thank you for your kind words, sister-in-law. Ah Nuan and I will wait at Yuexuan. Let me give you a piece of advice: you should clean things up and settle down as soon as possible. Otherwise, if word gets out, I think you really won't be able to stay in the circle of noble ladies in the capital anymore."
Jin snorted angrily, threw off her handkerchief, turned around, and swayed her not-so-slender waist as she returned to the west courtyard.
"Miss, you were absolutely right! Sure enough, people recognized quite a few of those things!" Rongyue looked at her young mistress with eyes full of admiration.
“Of course they’ll recognize it,” Granny Yu laughed. “Miss deliberately had some valuable items, which had been displayed in Madam’s courtyard, placed in the most conspicuous spot from the very beginning. That Second Madam is short-sighted; she only knows those are good things to show off, how could she have thought of so many things?”
"That's right, Miss is so smart, how could she possibly let that Second Madam get away with it for nothing? Tch! What kind of person is she? As an elder, she returned to the capital and met so many juniors, yet she couldn't even spare a single copper coin. How dare she call herself an elder?"
After Mu Qing finished speaking, Rong Yue chimed in, "That's right! Our Madam has a good nature; otherwise, she shouldn't have had these things delivered to the west wing in the first place. To be honest, the Old Madam is too biased. Today, she's made a fool of herself!"
"Alright, don't say that again," Granny Yu reminded her.
Mu Xin Nuan smiled. Jin Shi must be furious today, right? Not only her, but the old lady will probably hold her mother accountable for this too. Heh! That's how people are. They always covet what isn't theirs.
If you take something from someone and they don't say anything, you're considered a good person. But if they try to get it back, you become the most wicked person in the world! Is it really true that good people are often taken advantage of?
"Mu Qing, come with me to the outer courtyard. It'll be good, and we can play a game of Go with Grandfather."
"Yes, ma'am."
Because of the obligation to be filial, the father and mother could not do anything to the old lady. The only person in the mansion who could control the old lady was the grandfather.
"Greetings to my grandfather."
"It's Ah Nuan. Come, have a seat."
Mu Xin Nuan had the soup placed down and then everyone left, while she knelt down upright.
"What are you doing? Ah Nuan, has something happened?" The old man was taken aback. This granddaughter was always sensible and gentle. What was wrong with her today?
Mu Xin Nuan tilted her head slightly, her eyes already misty with tears. "Grandfather, today Second Aunt hosted a banquet for many ladies from prominent families in her courtyard. Some people recognized the furnishings in the room as belonging to Mother and A Nuan's courtyard, and naturally, they had their say. My eldest aunt, being straightforward, even pointed out that some of the items were actually imperial gifts. Although A Nuan wasn't present at the time, she knew that, given her aunt's temperament, she might have gone a bit too far. But Mother and A Nuan truly had no intention of embarrassing Second Aunt. Please, Grandfather, understand."
The old man frowned. He had heard a little about what happened in the west courtyard today, but how could it be that an imperial gift had been given? If that was the case, things were likely to get really out of hand!