The Old Madam simply could not believe what she had heard. She raised her hand to rub her ears and said to the maidservant, “Say what you just said again—what has Meng Fu been doing these past few days?”
The little maid repeated those words, then quickly lowered her head, not daring to look at the expression on the Old Madam’s face. Actually, not just the Old Madam—even they, the servants in this Marquis Manor, had at first instinctively thought that the Madam was not favored by the Marquis. Now that she had even lost her authority to manage the household, surely her days would not be easy in the future.
No one expected that the Madam not only wasn’t heartbroken, but was instead living a life like that of an immortal.
That day during the pitch-pot competition, hearing the bursts of laughter coming from Jixue Courtyard, the little maid’s heart itched terribly. If she hadn’t had to return to Luoyu Courtyard to serve the Old Madam and the Old Marquis, she would have very much liked to go up and give it a try too.
Thinking of this, the little maid couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty, and buried her head even lower.
“What a good one, Meng Fu! What a good Marquis’s wife! Truly wonderful!” The Old Madam was so angry she actually started to laugh.
The little maid didn’t dare make a sound. The Young Madam really was living quite well now, but the Old Madam didn’t look so good at the moment.
With a whoosh, the Old Madam stood up from the long bench. Whether it was that the fire rushed too fiercely or that she stood up too quickly, her body even swayed a bit. She lifted her foot and began to walk out.
The little maid followed and asked her: “Old Madam, where are you going?”
The Old Madam said, “To Jixue Courtyard!”
The little maid silently followed. She actually wanted to ask what the Old Madam was going to Jixue Courtyard for. Now that the Madam no longer managed the household, surely she couldn’t even be forbidden from going out to play?
The Old Madam had only made such a decision in a moment of anger. As she walked along the road, her rationality slightly returned, and she began to think: once she reached Jixue Courtyard, what was she going to say to Meng Fu? She couldn’t possibly tell Meng Fu that from now on she must stay obediently in Jixue Courtyard to reflect on herself and not go anywhere. No matter what, Meng Fu was still Xie Wenzhao’s principal wife. If this were to spread out, their Marquis Manor would truly lose face.
By the time the Old Madam arrived outside Jixue Courtyard, she had completely calmed down. She felt that Meng Fu must have her reasons for doing this. Was it that she couldn’t accept being stripped of her household management authority and thus became self-destructive? It couldn’t possibly be that she genuinely wanted to go out and have fun. When she saw her later, she would have a proper talk with her. As long as she behaved well, the household authority and a few of the shops in her own hands would be given to her. The so-called method of giving a slap and then offering a sweet date, the Old Madam had used many times.
The Old Madam confidently stepped into Jixue Courtyard. In the courtyard, Li Yue was practicing swordplay. His posture was graceful, like floating clouds and flowing water, cold and murderous with a hint of chill. Using that classical phrase “as fleeting as a startled swan, as graceful as a wandering dragon” to describe him could not be more appropriate.
The Old Madam muttered inwardly: when did Meng Fu start touching these kinds of things?
But it actually looked quite good, much better than the few moves the Old Marquis used to perform in his youth.
When Li Yue twirled his sword into a flourish and withdrew it, the onlooking servants in the courtyard clapped in excitement. The Old Madam also raised her hand, wanting to clap along. But just as her hand was halfway up, she suddenly realized something was wrong—she wasn’t here to applaud Meng Fu. So she pretended nothing happened and quietly put her hand back down.
Li Yue acted as if he hadn’t seen this Old Madam at all. He tossed the sword to Qingping, took a long towel to wipe the sweat from his face, then lifted his foot and walked toward the room.
The Old Madam’s face darkened. She, such a large figure standing here, naturally would not believe Meng Fu hadn’t seen her. What did Meng Fu mean by this? Was she harboring resentment toward her for taking away her household management authority and deliberately pretending not to see her?
The fire that had just been suppressed in the Old Madam’s heart flared up again in an instant. This directly caused her tone to not be very pleasant when she spoke to Li Yue after entering.
This person, Li Yue—well, even when your attitude toward him is good, you might not get any decent response, let alone if your attitude is bad. This Old Madam wasn’t even his mother—what right did she have to act haughty in front of him?
Looking at Li Yue’s expression of indifference and unwillingness to respond, the Old Madam’s temples throbbed fiercely. She took a deep breath and said to Li Yue: “Meng Fu, if you still want to manage the household, then reflect properly on what you’ve done wrong.”
Li Yue picked up the storybook. His mistake was not pushing this unlucky matter away sooner, wasting so much good time. He said lazily, “Don’t want to. My health is bad, just forget it.”
The corner of the Old Madam’s mouth twitched uncontrollably twice. She had clearly seen just now that Li Yue nearly stabbed her sword into a rock, and now she was lying there on the couch, righteously saying her health was bad.
If that counts as unwell, then should she go straight into the grave?!
The Old Madam was so angry that her head was spinning, her eyes were blurred, and golden stars were flashing before them. She tightly grabbed the little maidservant’s arm beside her just to barely steady herself. Meng Fu had truly become utterly unruly and lawless now. She absolutely had to show her some consequences—yet aside from revoking Meng Fu’s household management authority, she couldn’t think of any other way to make her recognize her fault.
Even if today Li Yue had just slightly acted a bit—made a show on the surface—he wouldn’t have made the Old Madam this uncomfortable. But instead, he blatantly showed her: do whatever you like, I don’t care.
But the Old Madam cared! She gritted her teeth and said to Li Yue, “Since that’s how it is, then stay in Jixue Courtyard and properly nurse your illness!”
After saying that, she turned and left. She walked too quickly and nearly tripped on the steps—fortunately, the maidservant supported her just in time, otherwise, it might have been another tragic incident.
Qingping, who was standing to the side, was about to die from anxiety when she heard those words. She wanted to stomp her feet several times, but when she saw Li Yue, she held herself back again.
Li Yue hadn’t taken the Old Madam’s words to heart at all. After the Old Madam left, he picked up the storybook he hadn’t finished earlier and continued reading. After reading for a while, he felt something was off. He looked up and indeed saw Qingping staring at him with red eyes like a rabbit. Li Yue asked: “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Qingping was about to worry herself to death. How could the Madam not be even a little anxious?
She said, “Madam, the way you spoke just now, the Old Madam probably won’t ever bring up giving you back the household management authority again.”
Li Yue gave a low heh and said, “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“How is that good?” Qingping wore a bitter expression and stomped her foot as she said, “What kind of principal madam doesn’t manage the household? What are we going to do in the future?”
Li Yue waved his hand carelessly and said to Qingping: “Don’t worry. It’s fine. Even if something does happen, it’ll be the Marquis Manor’s problem.”
Qingping said, “But… but it shouldn’t be like this. You are the Marquis’s official wife—how can you let that Concubine Sun manage the household?”
Li Yue didn’t answer Qingping’s question but instead asked her: “Have you had fun these past two days?”
Qingping really wanted to persuade Li Yue to take back the authority to manage the household, but upon hearing Li Yue’s question, she couldn’t bring herself to lie and say she hadn’t enjoyed herself. But if she said she had fun, it would seem like she was heartless. In the end, she could only give a muffled “mm.”
Li Yue asked again: “Back when I was managing the accounts, did you ever have this much fun?”
Qingping shook her head.
Li Yue said: “Then that’s settled. What’s the point of managing so much? As long as we’re happy, it’s fine. Don’t worry, following me, you won’t lose out.”
Even if he and Meng Fu switched back in the future—if Meng Fu were bullied in the Marquis Manor because of this—he would definitely help her bully them back.
Qingping frowned. She suddenly felt that what Madam said seemed to make sense, but still felt that something was off. Could it really work, having the principal madam never manage the household?
What Li Yue said to Qingping was quickly proven true. Even though Sun Yulian firmly believed that there was something wrong with the accounting books and that the Marquis Manor shouldn’t be this poor, she just couldn’t find a single loophole. There was only that much money on the books. When it came time to issue the monthly wages to the servants, Sun Yulian was dumbfounded. It wasn’t yet the season for collecting rent, and the Marquis Manor didn’t have much money to begin with. The congratulatory gift she prepared for the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War’s family was extremely generous, and she also gave a large sum to Ronghui Hall. This only made an already not-so-wealthy household even worse off.
When the servants couldn’t receive their monthly wages, and knowing that Meng Fu no longer handled household affairs, they went directly to kneel outside Luoyu Courtyard, asking the Old Madam to give them justice.
The Old Madam had just gotten herself worked into a fury a few days ago at Li Yue’s place, and her body had not been in good condition. Today she had only just started to feel a little better, when she saw row after row of kneeling servants outside the courtyard. Upon hearing the servants say that Sun Yulian wasn’t giving them their monthly pay, the Old Madam’s eyes went black, and she almost fainted. She immediately had someone summon Sun Yulian to come before her.
The Old Madam asked her: “What’s going on here? Why haven’t the servants received their monthly pay?”
Sun Yulian hadn’t expected the servants to act so quickly. She had clearly told them that the payment would be delayed by two or three days and would be issued later—yet they couldn’t even wait that long? If it had been the Madam who said so, would they have rushed over to the Old Madam to complain this anxiously? Just wait—they’ll be in for it later!
These thoughts, Sun Yulian currently only dared to think about in her heart. She lowered her head and replied, “In a few days, the eldest young master of the Assistant Minister of War is getting married, I prepared a gift.”
The Old Madam raised her hand and slapped the table, shouting loudly: “I asked you why the servants’ monthly wages weren’t paid, what use is it for you to tell me this!”
Sun Yulian wore a bitter expression. How could she have thought that the money in the marquis manor’s accounts would be this tight? After preparing a congratulatory gift for the Assistant Minister of War, she couldn’t pay out the monthly wages.
“There’s… there’s no money left in the account.” Sun Yulian said softly.
“No money? How could there be no money?” the Old Madam asked with a frown.
Sun Yulian presented the account book in front of the Old Madam. The Old Madam reached out to open the account book. With every page she turned, her brows furrowed a bit more.
“The gift prepared for the Assistant Minister of War’s family is so lavish? Can’t you take a look at how Meng Fu used to prepare them?” From now on, if gifts for other officials are not equal to this, it won’t be appropriate.
Sun Yulian mumbled without speaking. She just wanted to behave better than the Madam.
“And what’s the matter with this Ronghui Hall? Didn’t we already give them silver? Why was so much given again?” the Old Madam asked.
Sun Yulian told the matter of Wu San coming to her that day, word for word, without omission.
The Old Madam was so angry she got a headache. Was Sun Yulian a fool? Why give money for everything? She finally understood: Sun Yulian had some petty cleverness, but managing the household—she was simply not up to it.
Seeing the Old Madam’s expression, Sun Yulian knew that the Old Madam already harbored dissatisfaction toward her. From now on, she probably wouldn’t let her handle household affairs anymore. She hurriedly said, “I saw the Madam went out that day and came back with a lot of jewelry. I didn’t expect the marquis manor was already this strained.”
The Old Madam asked, “Where did she get the money to buy jewelry?”
Sun Yulian shook her head, “I don’t know.”
The Old Madam thought for a moment, then pointed at a maid and said, “Go call Meng Fu to come see me.”
The maid ran out, but soon returned. She hadn’t seen a trace of Meng Fu. The maid knelt on the ground and said, “Young Madam said, her body isn’t well, she can’t walk such a long distance.”
The Old Madam nearly couldn’t catch her breath. She could go out shopping! Could go to the lake! Could practice swordplay in the courtyard! But now she couldn’t walk a few steps!
The Old Madam didn’t want to go to Jixue Courtyard anymore. She directly sent Sun Yulian over to ask what was going on.
Sun Yulian also didn’t want to go. She truly didn’t want to listen to the Madam’s scolding anymore.
But in front of the Old Madam, how could she have the right to refuse? As expected, when she arrived at Jixue Courtyard and saw Li Yue, the moment she asked where the money came from for the Madam to buy jewelry, she was blasted with a head-on scolding by Li Yue.
“…My own money, I’ll spend however I want. It didn’t go through the marquis manor’s accounts, why are you coming to ask me? You think I secretly used your marquis manor’s silver, or are you trying to ask me for money? Have some shame, will you? When you all had money, each one of you wanted to act high and mighty. Now that you’re broke, you suddenly remember me—how do you even have the face to come here? If you’re really out of money, selling that face of yours should be enough to patch up the household expenses a bit.”
Before, Meng Fu’s health was poor, so whenever Li Yue scolded someone, he’d have to pause several times. But now that he’d been training for many days, his breath was much longer than before. This one breath of scolding really came out with great satisfaction.
Sun Yulian’s face turned as white as paper, her eyes brimming with tears, her body slightly swaying, looking so pitiful it would evoke compassion—but definitely not from Li Yue. Sun Yulian choked a bit and said, “Madam, I didn’t mean it that way, it’s just that the situation in the marquis manor—you also know.”
Li Yue sneered coldly: “Know what? The carriage hits the tree, then you know to turn. The bun goes bad, then you know to sell it. Now the marquis manor is out of money, then you know something’s wrong—what were you all doing earlier? Did I ever stop you from spending less in the past?”
Li Yue truly didn’t know whether Meng Fu had ever tried to advise these people, but that didn’t stop him from performing now.
Even if Meng Fu herself were here today, she wouldn’t have been able to speak as righteously and forcefully as he did.
Sun Yulian stood in place, tears pattering down like raindrops.
……
There weren’t many memorials today. When Meng Fu finished reviewing them, the sky outside had not yet completely darkened. At noon, the Empress Dowager had sent someone to say that she had made a few dishes Li Yue used to like eating, and told her to come try them in the evening. Meng Fu arrived at Cining Palace, but the Empress Dowager wasn’t there. She sat on the couch with the Little Prince and read books for a while.
When the Empress Dowager came in and saw this scene, she was slightly stunned. She rarely saw her son being so gentle and patient—or more accurately, she had never seen it at all.
The Emperor had changed a lot recently, almost as if he were a different person. What had happened?
Immediately, the Empress Dowager thought of his matter with the Marchioness of Xuanping. She had heard from Gugu Chen that the Marchioness of Xuanping was the daughter of Meng Yanxing, and had a very good temperament. Could it be that this lady had influenced him—that tempered steel had been softened to wrap around the finger?
The Empress Dowager’s heart stirred, and she called out: “Emperor ah…”
Meng Fu raised her head and looked at the Empress Dowager, hearing her continue, “If you truly have a girl you sincerely like, then go and ask for her.”
The Empress Dowager paused, then said, “If there’s any trouble that you can’t resolve, don’t keep it buried in your heart all the time. Tell your mother, and Mother will help you think of a way.”
The Marchioness of Xuanping’s background was indeed not easy to handle, but as long as she also had feelings for the Emperor, this matter was not impossible.
Meng Fu didn’t understand why the Empress Dowager was suddenly bringing this up again. Could it be that His Majesty really had someone in his heart? Just as well—tomorrow she would be going out of the palace to meet His Majesty. She could ask about it then, so as not to spoil things in front of the person he liked in the future.
She gave a hum in response: “Many thanks, Mother Empress.”
Upon hearing this reply, the Empress Dowager became even more convinced that he really did have something going on with that lady.
After finishing dinner, Meng Fu returned to the Zichen Hall. She selected many old memorials to read. One reason was to better understand court affairs, and another was to better understand Li Yue’s way of handling things. She also checked the almanac, feeling as if there was something she had forgotten—but didn’t think too deeply about it.
Early the next morning, Li Yue awoke from sleep. He had agreed with Meng Fu in a letter that they would go to Yunxi Tower together this afternoon. But for some reason, his body wasn’t feeling well. As soon as he sat up, his stomach began to ache with a needle-pricking pain. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and stood up—at that moment, he felt a rush of heat surge downward from his lower abdomen.
He immediately sucked in a breath of cold air, frowning as he said to Qingping outside: “Qingping, quickly go call the doctor.”
Qingping was startled upon hearing this and rushed in from outside in a panic, flusteredly asking Li Yue: “Madam, what’s wrong with you?”
Li Yue’s right hand tightly grasped the curtain at the side. His stomach hurt terribly, and his face was pale, yet he still said calmly: “I’ve been poisoned.” (T/N: LMAOO)