Second Marriage

Chapter 62.1

When Xiao Youning arrived at the reception hall, the female relatives of the Ye Family had arrived for a while now and had even had lunch already.

She was originally told that Old Madam Ye would allow the two of them to come at noon, but she still felt a little uneasy.

When the female relatives married into the Ye Family, they were never bestowed this kind of a treatment. No matter which branch of the family they married into, or how much they were trembling in fear, they had to abide by the rules even if they were aching all over on the second day of the wedding. In the end, Fifth Master Ye and his wife were late and arrived after lunch. They watched how the new wife walked slowly. Was it possible that he couldn’t control himself in the middle of the day?

All the faces were pretty displeased, including Old Madam Ye, who was always smiling the brightest.

They were all women who were married. They saw how Ye Shen supported his young wife and was careful in how he treated her. He even helped her lift her dress when she crossed the threshold, so how could they not be jealous?

Xiao Youning naturally knew that she had accumulated the envy of these wives and aunts from every branch of the family. She discreetly pulled Ye Shen’s sleeve and asked him to let go of her and to no longer be so protective around her.

However, Ye Shen did not let go. This slender man was full of energy even after one night, to the point that his usual cold and fierce demeanor had turned gentle. He pulled his wife to pay respects to his mother, which made Xiao Youning bashful and even more apologetic to Old Madam Ye.

It was obvious that the elders were being considerate, but now there was some ungratefulness being shown to them.

Ye Shen was calm when he said, “This son got up late. I seldom have a good night’s sleep so we are late to pay our respects to mother, but don’t fault us.”

“Well, you’ve been living in the palace over the years, so it must be rare for you to have a quiet place to get a good night’s sleep. What harm is there with being a little late? The residence over there1 has relied on you for many things, but you don’t have to care about it. They have tried to stir things up between us, mother and son, by saying we’re not close. Anyways, Ningning joined the family yesterday. It’s not like I’m hard to get along with. Ningning, don’t be frightened, I have never cared for conventional courtesies.”

Several daughters-in-law of the Ye Family were speechless by their mother-in-law’s words. It was as if cold water had been poured over them and the flames of jealousy in their hearts were extinguished.

It was just as Old Madam Ye said. When she was still at the residence, she did not tell them to be punctual every day. Instead, she said that there was no need to be so formal, but the entire family did not bide by her words.

It was the daughters-in-law who were extremely careful out of fear that they might make a mistake. They would be so nervous that they would be awkward. After Old Madam Ye went to the Daoist Temple, they all breathed a sigh of relief. However, on the 15th of each month they still wrote a letter out of respect to be sent to the Daoist Temple. At first Old Madam Ye sent a reply telling them not to bother. However, they continued to send it but received no reply.

This was what Old Madam Ye meant by what she said.

None of them had really understood the kindness of their mother-in-law.

Several daughters-in-law’s faces twisted. They mostly scolded themselves in their minds for being so stupid! They had squashed their mother-in-law’s good intentions and pushed their mother-in-law away!

Old Madam Ye couldn’t even laugh about it.

Old Madam Ye had already ordered servants to prepare the tea for the ritual. She drank the tea the couple offered and smiled. She gave each person a big red envelope. It was thick and bulging, and it could be silver or something extravagant.

Everyone felt that the little welcome gift they had brought was a little poor.

Thus, when Ye Shen brought Xiao Youning to greet Eldest Madam Ye, she gave Xiao Youning the welcome gift, took off her bracelet, and put it on Xiao Youning’s wrist. The other ladies followed Eldest Madam Ye.

Xiao Youning had a rich welcome gift without understanding why. The two servant girls behind Yuan Guo could not hold all the gifts with both hands.

When greeting her relatives, Xiao Youning realized that someone from the Li Family had also come. Huijing stood among the younger generation and was followed by several palace mamas.

Xiao Youning had vaguely seen her in the bridal chamber yesterday, but there were a lot of people at the time. Huijing was so much like a skeleton that Xiao Youning didn’t recognize her. When they met today, Xiao Youning realized that she was so thin, like she only had one layer of skin, and her clothes were hanging on her body.

The change startled her, especially the lifeless way Huijing said “aunt” to her. Her eyes were blank as if her soul had left her body.

Like this, she etched Huijing’s appearance into her mind. She received Huijing’s welcome gift like how she received the others’ and then went to see the other members that were a part of the younger generation.

Ye Shen stayed with her the entire time as if he was watching to see if someone would be disrespectful to her.

It was not easy for all the women to control their expressions.

Ye Shen was ready to go to the front hall to receive some guests.

The guests in the front hall had waited long enough.