Empress has purpose

Chapter 4 Stepmother
Mrs. Meng sat on the kang with her back against the cushions. She was thirty years old and had a beautiful face. She wore a brocade gown with rose and purple peony patterns and a moon-white pleated skirt. She glanced at everyone with a faint smile on her face. He nodded and said, "Sit down."

Gu Yunxi went over and sat on the side chair, and the eldest girl, the second girl, and the fifth girl also sat down.

It was quiet in the house for a while.

Gu Yunxi looked up at Meng Shi's face: "Mom, are you feeling better recently?"

Mrs. Meng looked at Gu Yunxi, with a stronger smile on her face: "Yeah, it's better than a few days ago, and I trouble you to come and visit me as a patient every day."

Over there, Gu Yunxi was about to open her mouth with a smile, when she heard a shrill voice rushing to say: "Auntie, you are really kind, isn't it only natural for a child to come to greet his mother?"

As soon as the words were spoken, there was a sudden silence in the room, as if a needle could be heard falling on the ground.

Gu Yunxi raised her eyes to look at Meng's gloomy face, secretly amused in her heart, this Miss Zhao's family really dares to say anything, does it need an outsider to intervene in the family affairs of the Prime Minister's Mansion?Meng Shi was just being polite at first, but now that Zhao Shuxiu is trying to grab her, it seems like she is deliberately using her identity as the mistress to suppress others.

"Puchi." Someone laughed, and everyone looked up at the place where the voice was made, it was Gu Qingrui, the fifth girl.

Meng's face turned even darker.

Gu Qingrui didn't look at Meng's dark face, and said with a smile: "It turns out that Miss Zhao is also there, but I didn't see it just now."

When Zhao Shuxiu heard this, her face became a little ugly. You said you didn't see me when I was such an adult. She snorted coldly and said, "The fifth girl was joking, Shuxiu has been by my aunt's side all the time, but I don't know that the ladies of the prime minister's mansion are alone. Everyone has the ability to open their eyes and tell nonsense."

Meng's complexion changed drastically, and she scolded angrily: "Shut up!"

Zhao Shuxiu trembled when she heard the words, looked at the angry Meng with tears in her eyes, and said with some grievances: "Auntie, isn't what Shuxiu said true? First, she was stopped by someone's maid this morning. After a sarcasm, now even a concubine is laughing at me."

Gu Qingrui's face darkened, she was most annoyed when others mentioned her status as a concubine.

Meng Shi fell on her back even more angrily, how could she have such a stupid niece like a pig!

After thinking about it for a while, just as she was about to speak, Gu Yunxi's soft voice came from over there: "Is the person Miss Zhao mentioned about me?"

Her voice was very soft and she couldn't hear any emotion, but those who knew Gu Yunxi well knew that she was angry.

"Miss Zhao is saying that the county magistrate of Ronghua, appointed by Emperor Dali personally, didn't know how to teach his servants the rules, so he stopped you, the county magistrate's daughter, from the door? Don't say I don't know about it, even if I do, then You should too! How dare you trespass into the county lord's residence without permission?!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked, yes, why did they forget the identity of the county head of the third girl?
Mrs. Meng hurriedly pushed Zhao Shuxiu who had been stunned for a long time: "Hurry up and apologize to the county magistrate!"

Zhao Shuxiu was still a little unwilling at this time, and said sullenly: "I'm sorry, the county lord, Shuxiu was rude."

Gu Yunxi gave a faint "Yes": "For mother's sake, I won't argue with you too much. I just hope that you will use your brain more when you talk and do things in the future. Don't talk about my identity. You must know that even our prime minister's mansion Miss Concubine, you are not a daughter of an eighth-rank official who can criticize casually." This can be regarded as speaking for Gu Qingrui.

Gu Qingrui looked up, she didn't expect that this sister-in-law who was not very close to her would speak for her today, it felt a little weird.

Meng smiled and said: "This is the demeanor that a noble girl in Dali should have. Shuxiu, you should really learn more from the county magistrate. If you don't understand etiquette like you, it's better to be in front of your own family. Outsiders, I have already suffered because of you." It sounded like she didn't mean to defend Zhao Shuxiu at all, but she was saying that Gu Yunxi should do this, she is my niece, and she is also a family People, you can't hurt your peace because of this little thing.

After speaking, he turned his head to the girls with a smile and said, "It's getting late, you can eat with me here."

Gu Yunxi also replied with a smile: "Yes, it is really a blessing for us to be able to eat with my mother."

It doesn't make much sense to say this usually, but just after the Zhao Shuxiu incident happened, everyone thought about it: These three girls are a little bit wrong today, why are they acting differently from usual?

Especially the eldest girl and the second girl, who usually stood by Gu Yunxi's side, quietly exchanged puzzled eyes with each other, what happened to the third sister today?
When the two were wondering, Gu Yunxi secretly blinked at them and glanced at Gu Qingrui, which made them even more puzzled.The eldest girl lowered her head silently, thinking about what the third girl meant, but the second girl, Gu Qingwu, seemed to understand, so she rolled her eyes at Gu Yunxi, and lowered her head quietly. No matter what, she and her elder sister both supported her. Three girls.

Gu Yunxi pursed her lips and smiled, she knew that Gu Qingwu had understood.

The servant girl came in and said, "Ma'am, the dinner table is ready."

Meng Shi then smiled and said: "Then go." She raised her hand as she spoke, as if she didn't understand the deep meaning of Gu Yunxi's words at all, the maid beside her hurried up to help, Zhao Shuxiu also had quick eyes and quick hands, and helped Meng Shi the other side.

Gu Yunxi stood up and waited for Mrs. Meng to go out first, and then walked out, and the other three girls followed behind Gu Yunxi.

After having breakfast with Mrs. Meng, Gu Yunxi got up to leave, and the eldest and second girls also left together.

After leaving the gate of the Chonghua Courtyard, Gu Yunxi, Gu Qingmo and Gu Qingwu went for a walk by the lotus pond in the mansion. It didn't take long before they heard Gu Qingrui's voice behind him: "Third Sister."

The three of Gu Yunxi stopped and didn't speak, they just turned their heads and waited for her to come over. Gu Qingrui took a few steps, came to Gu Yunxi, and said with a smile: "Third sister, thank you for speaking for me today."

Gu Yunxi also smiled back at her: "Speaking of which, I didn't do much, it's true that Zhao Shuxiu went too far."

Gu Qingrui didn't care at all: "No matter what, thank you, Third Sister."

Gu Yunxi nodded and said, "My sister, why are you so polite?"

They walked to the pavilion in the lotus pond and sat down, and after a few words, Gu Qingrui said goodbye and went back to her chair, Meiju.

After Gu Qingrui left, Gu Qingwu said a little puzzled: "This proud fifth girl will show up to you, third sister, it doesn't seem to fit her character."

Gu Yunxi smiled and joked: "Second sister, you said nothing, you want to ask me why I behaved like that in front of my mother today."

Gu Qingwu's cheeks were slightly red, she smiled and opened her mouth, revealing a mouthful of thin white teeth: "Isn't it, Sanmei, you really surprised me today, you have never done this in front of your mother before, but it's really satisfying what."

The eldest girl and the second girl's mother, Mrs. Wang, were brought up by their wives, and because Qin Hua was very kind and generous, and took good care of the concubines, so Mrs. Wang was very grateful to her.After Qin Hua's death, she took extra care of Gu Yunxi, and she had a hearty personality, so she couldn't get used to her stepwife Meng Shi, and the eldest and second daughters naturally followed their mother's example and were somewhat dissatisfied with Meng Shi. happiness.

Gu Yunxi looked at the green lotus leaf, and said with a faint voice: "I just feel that if I don't do anything, some people may forget my identity as the county lord."

The eldest girl heard the words, and said with some doubts: "How could it be? Who in the family does not know that the third sister is the head of Ronghua County bestowed by the emperor."

The second girl immediately said: "Why is it that no one doesn't know? Doesn't the Miss Zhao family know? If she doesn't know, doesn't she know that one too? It's clearly pretending not to know, and letting Miss Zhao's family had been making a fuss outside the Three Sisters Courtyard for so long, and finally the old lady sent someone to ask her to leave."

The eldest girl stopped talking after hearing this, yes, Zhao Shuxiu didn't know, and how could their stepmother, Mrs. Meng, not know.He sighed softly in his heart, it's not easy for the third sister.

There was a moment of silence in the pavilion, and the servant girl behind the three of them stood quietly.

Gu Yunxi turned around, sighed and said, "Go back and have a rest, I'm a little tired too."

Gu Qingmo and Gu Qingwu nodded in agreement, and they went back.

Gu Yunxi sat in the pavilion for a long time, and then went back to the house.

He was talking about the head of the Gu family over there, Meng Jiao, who heard the maid came back and said that Gu Yunxi and the others had left, she was silent for a while, and then raised her head to look at Zhao Shuxiu who was sitting on the chair on the lower right of her.

Zhao Shuxiu looked up at her: "Auntie, Gu Yunxi is too much, I went to talk to her early in the morning, but she stopped me outside the door so that the servant girl didn't even sarcastically say anything to me, and now she is ashamed to say that she doesn't know at all I'll go, and put on airs of her county magistrate in front of your aunt, and don't take your aunt seriously." After speaking, she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, as if she was very sad.

"Presumptuous!" Meng yelled angrily: "You can talk about the third girl? You should listen to her when she said you, but now she is talking about me, why don't you hurry up and wipe away your tears, I don't mind making people laugh." Although Meng was annoyed that Gu Yunxi was putting on airs in front of her, she would never show it.

At this time, she really regretted why she agreed to her insignificant cousin to take her daughter to live temporarily. It only took a few days to cause her such a big trouble, and now she is in front of so many people. In the face of human beings, Gu Yunxi came to scold her, and those who came from small families really couldn't make it to the stage.

Seeing that Mrs. Meng was really angry, Zhao Shuxiu said nonuo: "Yes." She quickly wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, her eyes were red, and she sat blankly.

Seeing that she finally stopped crying, Mrs. Meng turned her head and asked the maid standing beside her, "Is the master back?"

The eldest maid, Dongju, replied: "Go back to madam, the master has not returned to the house yet."

Mrs. Meng nodded and said to Zhao Shuxiu: "Shuxiu, you can't stay in the mansion. If the prime minister comes back and finds out what happened today, he will have to skin you. I'll make arrangements and send you off later." Go to your cousin Yong'anhou's mansion, and you should stay there."

After finishing speaking, he felt that his tone was a little blunt, so he took a sip of tea from the tea bowl, thought for a while, and comforted him softly: "There are two cousins ​​of yours over there, so I won't bully you. You also You see, I'm in this mansion now. I don't have a son by my side, and my daughter isn't by my side. I don't have a good life. You can see what happened this morning. You'd better go there early. Uncle and aunt will take good care of you." What Meng said was half-truthful and exaggerated, but now she must not be able to keep this naive niece by her side, and there is no need to provoke her. Bigger things to come.

When Zhao Shuxiu heard that she could live in the Hou's Mansion, she immediately cheered up. In addition, she was accused by Gu Yunxi today, and she felt that she had lost face in Gu's Mansion, so she followed Meng's words and replied: "It's Shuxiu. You are causing trouble to my aunt, Shuxiu will go back to clean up and wait for my aunt to send Shuxiu out of the house." Then she got up from the chair, blessed Meng Shi, then turned around and went out briskly.

Staring at Zhao Shuxiu's leaving figure, Meng groaned heavily.

(End of this chapter)