Chapter 20: 104

Chapter 104 – Quarrel

Madam Chen was raised in a well-educated household and stayed in the inner courtyard learning all the necessary etiquette befitting of a lady, so her temperament was refined, gentle and mild. Madam Wang was different. She was born in a merchant family, and from a young age, had developed a mind of her own and was good in accounting. This was what Yu Tang’s grandfather saw that made him suggest her as a wife for Yu Bo. Madam Wang was assertive and direct, and she liked to be open and upfront especially when talking with her own family members.

The two sisters-in-laws couldn’t help but laugh when they saw Yu Tang’s dumbfounded expression. Madam Wang was the first to reply, “So you knew about Mrs. Li’s visit? It’s a pity that you returned late, otherwise you would have seen Mrs. Li’s wretched appearance! Humph! Trying to bully our family, fat chance!”

Such a sassy eldest aunt was only something she saw as a child. Later on, Eldest Aunt became more cautious with her words, reserved and less direct in stating her intentions.

Was it because of the various situations she underwent?

In her previous life, her aunt experienced loss and separation of family members, saw how both her son and niece lived difficult lives, and did not have any relative who could support her in her old age. Therefore, she grew afraid of causing trouble for her son and niece and tried to keep a low profile and maintain peace at all times.

Now, with everything going well, their family’s days were like the sesame flowers blossoming, growing taller and better with each new season, looking more prosperous than ever. Eldest aunt’s head was held high, not mentioning Mrs. Li, even if it was the governor’s wife, if the matter was unreasonable, Eldest aunt would have dared to refute and state her stand.

Having elders like this not only made her proud, but also made her feel relieved and happy.

One day, she would become the support and pride of her parents and elders, and their efforts to shield her from the storms and hardships when she was young would not be in vain. She would find a way to repay them.

Yu Tang’s eyes turned slightly misty as she stepped forward and held her aunt’s arm, and stifled a laugh, “What does aunt mean by that? I only left for a moment, but why do I feel as though everything has changed dramatically after my return? Quickly explain the situation!”

Madam Chen hit her shoulder in mock anger and chided her, “Is this how you should speak to your aunt?”, She then went to pour some tea and gestured for everyone to sit down and talk.

Yu Tang sat down next to Madam Wang.

Madam Wang smiled and told her what happened.

On the second day of the first month, Li Duan went to Hangzhou City to say his New Year’s greetings to the Gu family. Unexpectedly, Grand Elder Gu was ill, and Gu Xi, her father and stepmother had all gone to visit him at the eldest house’s residence. When he arrived, the Gu family’s grand elder saw him briefly before directing him to the Gu family’s second branch steward. However, the steward just left him by himself in the guest room after setting the table and providing refreshments, and did not even arrange for an attendant or a server to accompany him. Li Duan was a little dissatisfied, so he made up an excuse to leave and returned to Lin’an City that night. On the eighth day, a person of the second branch of the Gu family suddenly showed up, saying that second branch’s old master Gu had invited Li Duan to speak with him at his home. Li Duan did not dare to delay and he quickly changed his clothes and went to Hangzhou City bearing expensive gifts.

Who knew that the Gu family’s second master and Li Duan only drank some tea for a while and Old Master Gu politely commented that as Lady Gu was still young, the originally scheduled wedding date would have to be postponed for a few years with the details to be discussed further at that time.

At this, Li Duan blew up.

Although the Gu family did not explicitly state a withdrawal of the marriage, but clearly they had the intention to put it on hold.

He pressed for a reason.

The Gu family only said that they had assessed the fortunes of Lady Gu, and was told that she should not get married too soon, otherwise it would result in a calamity. The Gu family grew frightened after listening to the fortune teller. Although somewhat sceptical, they would rather believe it than suffer the consequences and thus decided to wait for two years before discussing marriage again.

This sounded like a legitimate reason and Li Duan had high hopes for the success of this marriage. Therefore, not wanting to ruin his relationship with the Gu family, he complied with the Gu family’s wishes and spoke prevaricatingly with the second old master for half a day, before putting this matter to rest.

However, he wasn’t kind of person who merely went with the flow.

As soon as he left the Gu Mansion, he spent some silver to inquire about this matter.

Soon, he found out that the Gu family had learned of the dispute between their Li family and the Yu family.

Everything that happened was true, so he could not refute it, but he had to think of a way to improve the Gu family’s impression of him.

He returned to Lin’an City.

When he got off the pier, he found San Mu sneaking around, spying on him.

He already had held some pent-up anger in his heart, so he caught SanMu and interrogated him aggressively.

San Mu did not reveal any information, so Li Duan was unable to learn anything, but he became suspicious of the Yu family.

When he returned home, Madam Lin immediately learned about this incident from her son’s attendant.

She was convinced that the Yu family was behind this, and after thinking about her son that was going to join the imperial court in the next two years, and was counting on the Gu family’s Eldest young master, Gu Chang, for support. If there arises a change in the marriage plans between the Gu family and the Li family, what about Li Duan? What about their Li family?

Furthermore, their family was now separated from the Li Patriarch family. Many people were only waiting to see their downfall, and even more people who wanted to take advantage of the situation to obtain benefits for themselves.

She was filled with anxiousness and anger and decided to go to the Yu Family’s residence along with a few strong and muscular servants.

Madam Chen was alone at home and didn’t dare to open the door, Old Aunty Chen saw that something wrong and immediately ran to find Madam Wang from their back door.

Madam Wang was not someone who could be easily bullied. She quickly ran over and confronted Madam Lin on the spot.

Madam Lin was raised as a well-bred, noble lady, and after so many years of enjoying a comfortable life, with everyone giving way to her whenever any conflict arose, she has never met someone like Madam Wang with her marketplace-like aggressiveness and intellect. After a few rounds, she got so upset that she fainted and was carried away by the family’s servants.

After Madam Wang finished speaking, she still felt indignant, adding, “If it wasn’t for the fact that you’ll be having marriage discussions this year, I wouldn’t have spared her so easily. I would have chased her to the streets and ask the locals to evaluate her reasoning as well. Don’t think that just because they produced a scholar in their family, they are so great. Does it mean that anything that goes awry in their family is all our fault?”

Probably because she was reminded of what had just happened, she became irritated as she said this.

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Madam Chen quickly refilled Madam Wang’s tea and calmed her down, saying, “Don’t get upset. Isn’t that what they want? When we get riled up, then we would have lost.”

Madam Wang took a few deep breaths and muttered under her breath, “Don’t get upset, don’t get upset.”

Yu Tang felt a little guilty and blamed her older cousin for not listening to her and not getting Ah Liu, the pear seller, to keep an eye on Li Duan instead. However, after some reflection, if she didn’t let the Li family know about this, then her efforts were no different from wearing splendid clothing in the middle of the night – no one would ever know.

It must be known by the Li family.

They should become restless and uneasy.

Yu Tang coldly snorted in her heart and said to her eldest aunt,  “Madam Lin was correct. I was the one who went to tell the Gu family about the grudge between their family and ours.”

Madam Wang and Madam Chen were stupefied.

Since she had returned safely from Hangzhou City, her family elders had no reason to worry about her well-being, and she had nothing to hide either. She told Madam Wang and Madam Chen everything that had happened, and said, “This was my idea! Why should their Li family make such a mess, and we have to forgive them and clean up after them just because we received their ‘reparations’? Why can’t our family stir up some trouble for them too?”

In her previous life, wasn’t their Yu family ruined by the Li family?

If she hadn’t been reborn and if she didn’t have the memories of her previous life, the Yu family would still have been framed by the Li family just like in her previous life!

Yu Tang said coldly, “I would have liked to ignore them, but those who have wicked intentions will not leave us be. The more we avoid and tolerate their actions, the more they will take advantage of us and do more vicious things.”

Madam Chen got so anxious that she leaped to her feet and said, “Dear child, you are too disobedient! There is always a time for revenge. It’s best to avoid conflicts. We’re all doing fine, so don’t create more trouble.”

Madam Wang, on the contrary, felt that Yu Tang’s words reflected her current feelings as well.

She said to Madam Chen, “Ah-tang is right. Why do we have to suffer because we are soft-hearted, and forgive them just simply because they have apologized for their wrongdoings? Had I known that it was Ah-tang’s doing, I would have admitted it when I quarrelled with the Li family just now, and I would have dragged her to the streets and invited the onlookers to give their comments. The Gu family even postponed the marriage!”

The reason why Li Duan was so highly regarded nowadays was only because he had gotten the support of the Gu family.

If the Li family did not have the Gu family as their in-laws, they were only a fourth-rank official family, so what’s there to be afraid of?

“This ……” Madam Chen vaguely felt that this was not nice, but was also convinced by Madam Wang’s words, and did not know how to reply.

Yu Tang simply commented, “Mother, only the brave will prevail. In the past, I had too many concerns and always needed to think twice before taking action, constantly worrying about the consequences, yet with what result?”

Because of that, her eldest uncle and cousin both suffered misfortunes.

If she had escaped from the Li family earlier in her previous life, wouldn’t things have turned out differently?

There were tears in Yutang’s eyes.

“Wife, Ah-tang is right!” Yu Wen’s voice suddenly sounded in the room.

Everyone turned their heads in unison.

At some point in time, Yu Wen had returned and was standing at the entrance of the door with a serious expression listening to them.

“Husband!”

“Second uncle!”

“Father!”

The three of them greeted Yu Wen at the same time.

A smile appeared on Yu Wen’s face, he placed his hand on Yu Tang’s shoulder and said to Madam Wang, “It’s still sister-in-law who is insightful. The wolves are ferocious, so we have to be fiercer than them to be good hunters.” After saying that, he made a deep bow towards Madam Wang and said, “All thanks to sister-in-law’s help today, I won’t bother with polite words, later, I will ask Ah-tang’s mother to cook some dishes, and you and elder brother can come and have a good meal and drinks.”

Seeing her own brother-in-law thanking her so earnestly, Madam Wang blushed and waved her hand helplessly, saying, “Second uncle is too kind.”

Yu Wen turned his head to address Madam Chen, “If you encounter such a thing again in the future, just ask your sister-in-law for advice and listen to her.”

Just now, when Madam Wang fought with Madam Lin, Madam Chen already admired Madam Wang’s courage, so now, after hearing Yu Wen say this, her admiration for Madam Wang grew and she thanked her again.

As the two sisters-in-law exchanged polite words, Yu Wen interrogated Yu Tang with a grave face, “How audacious of you to go to Hangzhou City and stir up the hornet’s nest! Were your father and brother just for decoration? Why didn’t you tell me in advance about this?”

Didn’t she already invite her elder cousin to join her?

Seeing her father’s temper, Yu Tang only dared to mentally rebuff him, but her head hung down low, looking as though she had done something wrong.

However, Yu Wen’s next sentence made Yu Tang laugh out loud.

“If I had known you had such a devious idea, I would have gone with you!”

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