Second Marriage

“Young Miss, Madam Li is kneeling at the gates and crying that it was she who was afraid that her son would be implicated. Thus, she forced Second Master Li to divorce his wife. She has been crying that she had made thousands upon thousands of mistakes and to only blame her. She is saying that it has nothing to do with the rest of the Li Family.”

Xiao Youning was combing her hair and was disgusted when she heard the news.

Yuan Guo rolled up her sleeves and was ready to rush out to drive Madam Li away. “She is an old hypocritical woman; she is absolutely shameless. She should at least act with a good character that matches her rank instead of behaving so despicably. What is she trying to do by slandering the Master and Young Miss by saying you have been detrimental to their Li Family?”

Yuan Guo never liked to think too much, but with one glance she could see that Madam Li’s scheme was indeed too foul.

“Don’t go, come back and continue to comb my hair.” Xiao Youning called her back, and Yuan Guo stomped her feet angrily. “Young Miss, that shameless one is being deceptive at the gate!”

“You already said that she is putting on an act. The guilty one will complain first. The other people in the capital are not fools to let themselves be deceived by her.” She looked into the mirror and coldly laughed. “Besides, she is showing the extent of how shameless she can be when she’s always been this shameless. Her new daughter-in-law has just married into the family but went back to her maternal home to intimidate them with her influence. The daughter-in-law has also placed a jar of green dye over her son’s head1 and has asked for performers to enter the residence to fulfill her pleasures. So, where does she have any shame? Even if her daughter-in-law really did break the jar, she is trying to use me to break off her relationship with the Eldest Princess.”

“I don’t know why Young Miss is saying these things.” Yuan Guo shook her head, unable to understand.

She explained, “She is Madam, with a better title than me, kneeling in front of my house. I am the daughter of an official without a title, so how am I supposed to bear it? She just wants to force me to appear, and I believe that as soon as I show up, Li Qingzhi will also be there. I was carried into their residence with an eight-person sedan, even if I was given a letter of divorce, and even if my father has performed outstanding military service, I am still married in the eyes of some people, and I cannot compare to those beloved daughters who have yet to marry. So once I see her and Li Qingzhi, what will the people think? They will probably think that I will be magnanimous and go back to the Li Family.”

“Pah! They have unrealistic dreams!” As Yuan Guo listened, she understood it better and spat on the ground.

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“Ah, so she’s acting quite clever. My father has made a great contribution to the country. If I am really taken back to the Li Family, then I might have to ask my father to request the Emperor for an imperial decree to make me the first wife. Even if that was it, the outcome might be becoming an equal wife2. Do you think that that person in the Eldest Princess Residence will keep being pretentious and stay at her maternal home and not come back?”

At this point, Xiao Youning really admired Madam Li’s mind.

This crafty plot was very shrewd and there was some execution, but it was a pity that it didn’t benefit anyone. It was obvious that she was using her intelligence to create a plan to bring honor to her family as she was the main wife. It resulted in a failure, and one misstep turned into multiple ones.

On that day, if Madam Li had not forced Xiao Youning’s divorce and not treated her coldly, then she would not be facing a humiliating end right now. When Xiao Youning’s father returned, the Li Family could have benefited from it. But no one could have predicted that her father would launch a surprise attack.

“Between time and fate… She has tried everything, and still ended up ruining her reputation and was spurned by others.” She sneered. Then, she took a delicate butterfly hairpin from the accessory box and gestured it at her hair.

Yuan Guo began to tie up her hair and took the hairpin. She was extremely angry as she asked, “Then this is her trying to get things to play in her favor?”

Once these words were said, a servant ran over from the gate and stood in the hallway of the small room. The servant was sweating and panting, and said, “Young Miss, the Second Master of the Li Family is kneeling and kowtowing to his mother at the gate. He is urging Madam Li, who is not leaving and still begging, to see you.”

Everything she just said had come true.

Xiao Youning waited until Yuan Guo placed the hairpin into her hair. She looked at the mirror, smiled at first and said, “It is autumn, but I am still wearing a butterfly hairpin. I wonder, is it appropriate for the season?” After speaking, she stood up and glanced at Yuan Guo, whose eyes had widened. She followed up with, “I didn’t feel well when I woke up. I feel dizzy.”

Yuan Guo’s round eyes suddenly curved into crescent moons. She understood that the Young Miss was going to expose the scheme. “This servant will immediately find a doctor for the Young Miss.” She lifted her skirt and ran out instantly.

While running, she shouted that the Young Miss was so dizzy that she felt sick and to quickly boil water, prepare the earthenware warmer, and so on. Those who didn’t know really thought Xiao Youning was ill.

The stewards and servants in the courtyard were shocked by this, and it took them a long time to react. Like ants in a heated pot, they began to scurry and yelled for things to be prepared.

The house was not big. Any loud noise inside could be heard outside. Many people had gathered around the gate to watch what was going on. They were curious and stuck their necks out.

They saw a well-dressed girl running out with a horse. Everyone thought this was the Xiao Family’s Young Miss, but then she turned her head towards the Li Family’s mother and son and criticized, “When you said you divorced our Young Miss, you truly meant it, but now you’re going to hound her to death? The Young Miss already has a weak body, but she is so worried about the power your identity holds that she vomited blood right now! If you touch one hair on our Young Miss, then I will never forgive your Li Family!”

After the criticism, she got on the horse and shouted to make way. She needed to find a doctor, and galloped away.

Madam Li was pelted with criticisms to the point where her face turned white. Li Qingzhi believed every word of it, even if his mother didn’t care about her. He got up and wanted to go in. However, he was blocked and stuck outside because of the men Ye Shen had arranged to be there, and it was useless for him to struggle. Someone had also secretly sent a message to Ye Shen.

Madam Li originally wanted to force Xiao Youning out, but Xiao Youning didn’t show up at all by pretending to be ill. She had thought that Xiao Youning was just a silly little girl, but she was much more cunning than she thought.

Madam Li was trying to trick Xiao Youning by coming to her gate, but Xiao Youning remained calm and stayed away. Where was Xiao Youning’s burning anger and rudeness when she was divorced at the Li Family’s gate that day? Madam Li had miscalculated.

Since Madam Li was already kneeling, she was going to keep kneeling as she was already ashamed. The play needed to be fully implemented.

Madam Li kept kneeling and did not move even when Yuan Guo came back with the doctor. The onlookers began to whisper. Their beliefs were shaken by Madam Li’s persistence and thought that she was really sincerely asking for forgiveness. Meanwhile, they were also thinking about how the Xiao Family’s Young Miss was too unreasonable.

When she heard the whispers behind her, Madam Li endured the sore knees. The longer it took, the better it would be for her.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Youning stumbled out at this time. Her small face was pale, her hands were holding white silk. A crowd of wailing servants followed, screaming for their Young Miss to not do it.

 

Footnotes

It’s referring to the phrase of putting a green hat on someone which means cheating. So here, Huijing hasn’t cheated yet, but it can potentially happen.Equal wife means both wives are di status (legitimate wife), instead of one being di status and the other being a concubine.