Chapter 26: A Birthday Surprise

Madam Meng was a typical woman from a region south of the Yangtze River. She had a petite body and a delicate face. There was gentleness and warmth coming out from every behavior of hers. With the similar age as An, though, she looked younger than An, even if An had always cared about her own body beauty and health.

“Long time no see, Madam Meng.” An went forward with a smile.

With a mild and pleasant expression on her face, Madam Meng glanced at Su Jingwen. Standing by An’s side, Su Jingwen looked back as if she was a bit distracted. Madam Meng quickly looked away and put her eyes back on An.

“Definitely. A few days ago, I heard that Old Lady Meng was coming back, and has been busy preparing for her arrival.”

“We know your filial piety to the old lady better than anyone else. I still remembered that when Old Lady Meng was in her illness, you were there to look after her for three days and nights without even taking a bath.”

After the exchange of conventional greetings and compliments, An invited Madam Meng into the mansion in person.

Right after they were seated in the living room, An touched Su Jingwen in secret as a reminder. Su Jingwen should have made a courtesy etiquette to Madam Meng there outside the door, but somehow the child stood still as if she was enchanted by something.

Meng Xiuwen, the Master, didn’t show up with Madam Meng together, so Su Jingwen was a bit upset. But soon, she stood up and stepped forward with an appropriate smile.

“My sincere greetings to you, Madam Meng.”

Su Jingwen bowed slightly with a very standard example of a courtesy. It was not until this moment that Madam Meng set her eyes back on Su Jingwen again.

“Today is your birth day, Second Miss, and therefore, you don’t have to be too polite.”

Madam Meng replied with a poker face. There was no emotion mixed in her words. An frowned at such a scene. She had mentioned to Madam Meng about the marriage between the two families in an obscure way, and though Madam Meng hadn’t expressed a hint of a consent then, at least there was some room for consideration. But with her attitude today, what did she mean by that?

Madam Meng had a few more casual words with Su Jingwen, ordered her servant to bring out the birthday gift, and changed the topic of the conversation from Su Jingwen to something else.

Su Jingwen was not dumb and she sensed the coldness in Madam Meng. Her face suddenly turned pale and she was about to collapse.

An pinched her daughter covertly.

“You don’t have to be too cautious to accompany us. Why not go and be a nice host to the ladies who came to celebrate your birthday?”

“Yes, Mom.”

Then Su Jingwen led a group of young ladies to the garden.

Several girls soon circled around Su Jingwen when they were in the garden.

“Sister Jingwen, you look so pretty today.” A girl with a round face was talking. Her name was Hu Le, and she was the daughter of a county magistrate whose land was within the jurisdiction of Shunyang prefecture.

“Mind your word, Sister Hu. You were talking like Sister Jingwen was not pretty before.” With a provoking glance at Hu Le, a girl who had an oval face took over the words. They were all daughters of Su Lun’s subordinates and had been long aware that Su Jingwen was most favored by her father upon the arrival of the Su family. They had flattered her around in the past.

“You!”

“Stop squabbling! Aren’t you annoying?” Su Jingwen pulled out a handful of flowers impatiently and threw them on the ground. The two girls arguing shut up quickly.

“I heard that your elder sister was seriously ill and was sent to the village for her recovery, which is a good thing for you because otherwise she could be an eyesore in the mansion.” Hu Le knew that Su Jingwen hated Su Muge most, and it was never wrong to belittle Su Muge at anytime.

Sure enough, Su Jingwen’s sneered with the air of complacency as soon as someone was speaking disparagingly of Su Muge.

“Well, to recover her body in a village? Actually, she ran away with some wild man!”

The girls’ eyes were all round in amazement at such unexpected words.

“Sister Jingwen, are you serious?”

What a story about a lady from the family of a public official had eloped with a man! If she was caught back, she would be hanged up in a pig cage and put in a river! And that was not a heavy punishment!

“Why shall I lie to you? My mom helped her to cover up the truth. Otherwise, how did you know she went to the village to recuperate?”

“Jesus! The, the eldest Miss Su was too bold!”

Standing at the entrance of the garden, with her face in pale, An tried to raise her head with a smile and pretend that she had not heard anything, but she couldn’t. The people present were no deaf, and they all heard Su Jingwen’s loud words, which were crystal clear.

Madam Meng, who was standing aside with her dark and gloomy eyes, took a quick look at An. An could only bit her mouth and pinched herself to keep calm. She opened her mouth with a lump in her throat, “Sorry, sorry for the stupid story. This was supposed to be a family scandal, and we had no idea that Muge had done it that way. She grew up at my sister’s, and usually behaved well…”

Besides Madam Meng, most of the people who came with An to the garden were wives of the officials in Shunyang prefecture, but there were only very few of them who knew about what happened in the capital many years ago, and they thought Su Jingwen was talking about the daughter of some mistress of Su Lun. Madam Meng was the one and only to know who exactly Muge was.

“Don’t worry about it, Madam Su. It’s not worth losing you temper because of nobody. After all, she was the daughter of some unimportant mistress, and you are the real hostess of this family. Look at your girl, our second Miss, how elegant and virtuous she is! One can tell that she was brought up by you with extreme good education.”

“Yes, precisely.”

With those compliments, An could hardly hide her laugh.

Nobody! Zhao, did you hear that!

“Why not go back to the room and take a seat? The sun is going to burn.” Madam Meng suddenly spoke. An thought Meng was saving her from the embarrassment, so she gathered the wives and left.

The elopement of Su Muge with a man was then spread out over the whole Su Mansion.

…

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Carriages of the Meng family went slowly through the city gate.

After entering the city, the carriages didn’t go in the direction to the Meng Mansion. Instead, they went towards the Su’s.

The carriages stopped outside the Su Mansion, whereas An, with a group of ladies, was watching a play at the moment.

A maid in blue dress went to Madam Meng and whispered to her ear. Madam Meng was in a great shock when she heard about the words. She turned aside and looked up at Su Jingwen who was sitting next to An.

Immersed in the excitement of others’ contempt against Su Muge, Su Jingwen didn’t notice there was somebody looking at her. An, however, felt that something was wrong. Before she could talk, Li Mama had come to her side.

“Lord Meng and Old Lady Meng from the Meng Mansion have arrived!”

“What?”

The surprise on An’s face was no less than that of Madam Meng. Madam Meng hadn’t expected that the birthday of a prefecture chief’s daughter could drive the attention from both her husband and mother-in-law.

An jumped up to herself and dragged up Su Jingwen, who was so obsessed with the play. “Hurry up, go and greet our guests.”

Madam Meng stood up as well and followed An out.

They left the others in puzzlement.

“What’s going on? Madam Su and Madam Meng looked weird when they went out.”

“No idea. Shall we go after them? But the play has not finished yet.” A madam in yellow grinned a bit with her hands on her mouth.

Despite of all the compliments to An back in the garden, it was, after all, a family sandal that a lady in the mansion had run away with a man. It should be hided with caution, yet the second Miss had told the story in front of so many people, which somehow reflected her poor upbringing.

Outside the gate of the mansion, Madam Meng greeted Old Lady Meng with the face of obedient, whereas An went forward, taking Su Jingwen with her to show their courtesy.

“Please, Old Lady Meng.”

Old Lady Meng nodded her head and didn’t move. She took a look behind.

“Where’s the child? Come on, why are you hiding behind?”

All the attention was paid to some point behind the old lady, and there came the slim and thin figure. An was the first one to be unprepared towards such a reunion!

Su Muge!

How could she be with Old Lady Meng!

“How come? Didn’t you run away with some guy, Su Muge? How dare you come home!” Su Jingwen yelled out without thinking too much.

Su Muge was in a traditional smoky green suit dress, which had been a fashion a couple of years ago in Shunyang prefecture. There was only one jade hairpin at the side of her black hair, of which the quality was not quite good. Such costumes were even worse than those maids in some great aristocratic families.

She went calmly to the side of Old Lady Meng and held her hand gently, ignoring other people’s strange looks.

Old Lady Meng was pleased and she smiled. She turned to look at Su Jingwen.

“This must be the second Miss of the Su family.”

The old lady was indifferent to Su Jingwen, which made her shrink a bit with fear.

An had to step forward regardless of all the questions and anger in herself. “You are right, Old Lady Meng.”

Old Lady Meng nodded.

“So what was she saying?”

“She…”

The rage washed over Su Jingwen when she saw that An didn’t answer the old lady, and moreover, Su Muge was in a state of pureness and loftiness!

“Old Lady Meng, she is my elder sister. She left home several days ago, lied to us that she was going to look after our grandma. But then she just ran away with a guy! It was a shame of her to come back like this. If not being abandoned and with no place to go, she could never come back!”

“Jingwen, what nonsense are you talking about!”

“Mom, I said nothing wrong. She’s the one who made the mistake, and now she is afraid to admit, isn’t she?”

“It was so shameless to be abandoned by a man and to have the face to come back. If I were her, I would have hanged myself by a rope!”

“That’s true. How can there be such a person in the world with no shame at all.”

“Nonsense!” The furious voice from Old Lady Meng with a bit hoarseness made them all quiet.

“Old Lady Meng, you cannot be fooled by her!” Su Jingwen argued. She didn’t understand that bad excuses were worse than none.

“The child has been with me all the way back to Shunyang prefecture. I did see no man at all! It’s you, who kept prating about your sister, that disappointed me so deeply!”

An was almost frightened to death when hearing so.

The Meng family played a decisive role not only in Shunyang prefecture, but in the capital as well. If words spread out as such that Su Jingwen could not get along well with her sister and even vilified her, she would never be able to marry a descent family!

“Jingwen, what nonsense are you talking about! The Miss is too tired today, take her back to her room for a rest. Hurry up!”

The maids behind Su Jingwen helped her back in hasty, and she only stopped speaking unwillingly because of the pale look on An’s face.

“Old Lady Meng, please forgive us. That child was spoiled, I shall give her a heavy punishment later.” An quickly walked up and apologized for her daughter. But her look towards Su Muge was still puzzled, and this was seen by most people around.

“Muge, where on earth have you been all those days? Your father has sent the servants to escort you to Nancheng prefecture, and how could you escape by yourself on the way? We were so worried about you.”

An was determined to ruin Su Muge. How could An let her go when she had made such a fool of her daughter in front of so many people!