Chapter 7: Confrontation

  Madam Chen clutched a handkerchief tightly in her hand, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she had swallowed back words that had been on the tip of her tongue for a long time. She turned to Xie Yuanmao with tears welling up in her eyes. Before he could react, she quietly turned away and wiped away the tears at the corner of her eye, then stood up and said: "Originally, we had planned to let your sister live in the East Wing's Haitang Courtyard, but yesterday's heavy snowfall has made a mess of it, and I'm afraid it can't be occupied now. However, Zhilan Pavilion on the other side was not affected by the rain and snow... what do you think, sir?"

  Xie Shuning almost burst out laughing as she listened.

  It's no use whether it's Yu Mei Yuan or Zhi Lan Zhai, these places are already good enough, and no matter how comfortable and thoughtful the arrangements are, they are still useless!

  These two places are not bad, but the location is remote, far from the main house, and even farther from Father's study in the inner courtyard. Chen Shi had calculated a good abacus, wanting to separate them from Father as far as possible, how could she let Chen Shi have her way!

  In her previous life, her mother had died alone in the Zhi Lan House, and whenever Xie Shu Ning thought about it, she felt a dryness in her throat and a chill in her hands and feet.

  Then she bit her lip and softly asked Xie Yuanmao: "Dad, where do you think it's better to live?"

  Xie Yuanmao didn't expect her to ask herself and was slightly taken aback.

  "Daddy, if we lived in Zhilan Village, would you live with us?" Seeing that he didn't respond, Xie Juning looked up at him with pitiful eyes and asked again.

  Xie Yuanmao pulled the corner of his mouth, looked at her helplessly, and finally made up his mind to say to the three old ladies: "Mother, the child is afraid of giving birth, and Zhilan Temple is a bit biased, it's better to let them stay in Yumei Temple first."

  Xie Shu breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately her father's heart was still with them.

  Ke's heart was suddenly tightened by Xie Yuanmao's words. Earlier, it was clearly agreed that Song's mother and son would live in Haitangyuan, and she said that the house was dirty and temporarily uninhabitable, wanting to move to Zhilanzhai was not nonsense, but now Xie Yuanmao suddenly proposed to let Song's mother and son move to Yumingyuan, wasn't this a slap in her face?

  Yu Mei Yuan is actually the legitimate wife!

  Mr. Chen felt his heart ache with a dull pain.

  She was holding Xie Yuanmao's memorial tablet when she entered the door, and from the very beginning, she was Xie Yuanmao's legitimate wife, living in the main house. But now that Xie Yuanmao said so, didn't it mean that he wanted her to move out of the main house? Clearly, she should be the legitimate wife!

  Xie Shu Ning quietly observed the changes in Chen's facial expression, her heart cold and detached.

  This struggle for the position of first wife is indeed difficult to decide.

  It turns out that when Chen's wife married into the Xie family, her father had not yet married her mother. Calculating it this way, it seems that Chen's wife should be older and her mother younger. The Xie family used this very reason to throw the three of them into the mud pit in the first place.

  Ke Chen's family, although raised as the wife of his father since childhood, did not have a marriage contract with his father. At that time, the matter of getting married had not been discussed through his father's mouth, so how could it be considered? And his mother, however, was not recognized by the Xie family.

  In this game of chess, Chen and his mother ended in a stalemate.

  Now it's just a matter of who has the more overbearing chess style!

  Xie Shu Ning clenched her small fist tightly. Entering from the main gate and residing in the main house was just the beginning. This time, she must make a strong move and take down her mother's rightful position! She must protect her mother and brother!

  She knew Chen's temperament, and since her father had said so, she would voluntarily give up the position of the main room even if she didn't want to. From start to finish, Chen was always a pitiful person in her father's heart, which is why he later thought that her mother was the evil woman. Her mother, who was not good at pretending or being fake, naturally couldn't compare to Chen, who was like a white lotus flower.

  "Father..." Xie Suning snorted to herself, but her face became even more flustered as she called out to Xie Yuanmao.

  "Lao Liu." As soon as the words fell, San Lao Tai Tai gave her a sideways glance and suddenly withdrew her gaze, saying, "Have you thought it through?"

  Xie Yuanmao hesitated for a moment.

  Xie Shuning's great-grandfather was originally a resident of Bianjing, and it wasn't until he was nearly 50 years old that he moved to the capital. The Xie family had few descendants, and his great-grandfather only had one son, who was Xie Shuning's great-great-grandfather Xie Xuan. Xie Xuan was a talented scholar, and his exceptional abilities earned him a high position in the Hanlin Academy, where he received recognition from the emperor. Later, he married the eldest daughter of the Wen family of Kyoto and had three sons.

  The Wen family of Kyoto is an old and prestigious family, whose status is as solid as that of the Xie family. Therefore, after Xie Xuan married a daughter of the Wen family, he was considered to have truly established himself in Kyoto. He then had a smooth career as an official.

  Unfortunately, among his three sons, only Xie Shu-ning's paternal grandfather, who was also his eldest son, made a name for himself.

  The remaining two, Lao Er had been in poor health since childhood and only left behind a son born out of wedlock before dying young.

  Xing San's grandfather, Xie Shu Ning, was in a sorry state. He was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and to make matters worse, he couldn't even produce a son, only managing to have an eldest daughter born out of wedlock before passing away.

  And so, although the Xie family had three branches, the second and third branches combined were not as prosperous as the main branch. Moreover, Xie Yuanning's father, Xie Yuanmao, was from the main branch, and the main branch's paternal grandmother was her own birth grandmother.

  A person lives with a face, and the eldest house is a family that values reputation and fame. They naturally don't want to be said to have mistreated their younger brothers and not prospered. So over the years, the eldest house has become increasingly better towards the second and third houses.

  The house in the mansion was divided into three parts, with no one having more or less than anyone else.

  The eldest branch of the family has many people, but it's actually quite crowded. The second branch, which was originally just my uncle, worked hard to expand and now there are many more people. Only the third branch has been empty for many years. It wasn't until Father returned that there was finally a bit more life in the house.

  As a result, most of the houses in the mansion are now idle, except for the Zhilan Pavilion and the Haitang Courtyard mentioned by Chen just now. There are still many places left, and as long as they are cleaned up and arranged, they can be inhabited. Therefore, there is no need for Xie Juning and her mother and son to live in the main house. Just now, Xie Yuanmao's subconscious suggestion was only because he found that Xie Juning wanted to live with him, and at one time, he only thought that he lived in the main house, so they should also live in the main house. After returning, he did not go to Chen's round house, but slept alone in another room, so he completely forgot that there was a Chen.

  "Let it go." Just then, Song Shi, who had not spoken until now, suddenly said, "We can stay at the Zhīlán Lodge, Ah Man is just a child, no need to bother."

  Xie Shuning was stunned as soon as she heard it, and her mother really knew how to ruin things...

  Ke Xianmou listened and secretly let out a sigh of relief, gratefully glancing at Song Shi.

  Song smiled, seemingly as long as this matter did not make Xie Yuanmao difficult, he himself had not thought about it at all.

  "Father!" Xie Suning saw the situation and became even more anxious, not knowing what to say, so she just called out to him first.