Chapter 5 Entering the Mansion

  At the time when the front door was bustling open, the old lady of Xie's third house was sitting upright in a carved red wooden soft chair with her eyes half closed and resting.

  "Old lady, Eighth Miss insisted on entering through the main gate, and the doorman pushed Eighth Miss with one hand, pushing her to the ground. Sixth Master's eyes turned red with anger, and he kicked his foot forward, bringing the person into the main gate." Big maid Chunping quietly came in, holding up the thick down curtain, and said respectfully.

  The old lady turned the Buddhist beads in her hand, slightly lifted her eyelids and said: "Go and replace all the people on the gatehouse. Keeping such incompetent people is also a disaster."

  "Mother, that girl is only four years old and has such a temper, I don't dare to raise her." Chen's wife looked at the back of Chunping who had just left again, slightly frowning.

  The old lady, upon hearing this, tossed the Buddhist rosary in her hand to one side. Her well-maintained white fingers, slightly curved, lightly tapped on the copper-embossed phoenix warming stove that had been idle. She said somewhat absent-mindedly: "What are you afraid of? She's just a young girl with no experience. Once she's caught, we can teach her a lesson and see how much courage she has left. It's like raising a cat or dog for ten years and then giving it away to someone else. What you should be worried about is her son."

  "Also, I hope mother will give some advice to my daughter-in-law." Chen's slightly upturned eyes sparkled with her words, but her tone was humble.

  She was the niece of the third old lady, and everyone said that the niece looked like her aunt. She indeed had a five-part resemblance to the third old lady. With slightly raised eyebrows and eyes, she had three parts of sharpness and five parts of brightness. Perhaps it was because of this that the third old lady was willing to bring her up by her side.

  As the young lady of the house, she grew up in the Xie family from a young age. Although Xie Yuanmao, the only son of the third branch of the Xie family, had not yet settled on a marriage, everyone knew that she would eventually marry into the Xie family. However, six years ago, Xie Yuanmao went to Jiangnan with several classmates to study and never returned. He fell into the water and disappeared without a trace. Not even his body was found.

  The Xie family's three branches were thus completely exterminated.

  Not long after, Chen was married into the Xie family under the auspices of the Third Old Mistress, carrying a memorial tablet for Xie Yuanmao.

  People in the mansion secretly said that the feng shui of the third house was not good. If it weren't for this, when the old master of the third house was young, he had taken many concubines, how could he not have a son? Not long after, his first wife fell ill and passed away. During the mourning period, he married the current third madam, Chen Shi, as his second wife.

  Only a year later, the Third Old Master, who was only thirty-five years old at the time, got drunk and fell, losing his life.

  Xie Chen was a stepmother, and before she was twenty years old, she had already become a widow. Her life was naturally not easy to pass. However, her thoughts were straightforward, knowing that as a widow, she would be empty-handed and feared that she could not live long, so she gave up her dignity and asked the clan to agree, and from the flourishing branch of the main house, she adopted seven-year-old Xie Yuanmao as her son. But who knew that after raising him with great difficulty, he also did not live for too long. Also because of this matter, it made the old lady of the main house extremely disgusted with the third old lady, thinking that she had harmed her own son to death.

  "Lao Liu is back, and it's good. I couldn't bear to see you, so young, living alone in an empty house. As an old woman, my heart wouldn't be at ease either." The third old lady suddenly smiled slightly, "As long as I'm still alive for a day, the position of the legitimate wife can only be yours."

  Chen got the nod of approval, and finally a few smiles appeared on his face as well.

  As the niece of San Lao Tai Tai, she had always been confident in her aunt's methods.

  Chen believed that as long as the three old ladies were there, Song outside would never be able to stir up any trouble.

  "It's just that you should also be careful, Old Six has been back for these days, has he ever entered your room?" The old lady said with a smile, suddenly her face turned cold, "Are you asking me as his mother to force him to marry you?"

  Chen's face stiffened and he couldn't smile anymore.

  Xie Shu Ning couldn't laugh either.

  This house is full of wolves and tigers, but the most ruthless and poisonous one is undoubtedly the third old lady!

  She is already an old lady with three houses, but she is less than 40 years old this year. With good maintenance, she looks like she's only around 30 years old.

  Xie Shu Ning couldn't help but shudder at the mere thought of her appearance.

  She stood in front of the Xie family's green oil gate, clanging the bronze ring loudly, making a big fuss, and then pretended to fall when the person in the gatehouse stretched out his hand to stop her, provoking her father into anger. The three old ladies must have received the news by now. Sure enough, after entering the flower gate, someone came out to greet them soon.

  "Sixth Master, Fifth Young Master, Eighth Miss." The newcomer bowed to them one by one, but seemed to deliberately ignore the Song family.

  Xie Shu Ning was held in Xie Yuan Mao's arms, narrowing her eyes to carefully identify the person, vaguely remembering that it was Dong Le, one of the three old ladies' maids, and smiled as she stretched out her short, plump white hand to point at her, saying loudly: "You forgot to pay respects to my mother!"

  Winter joy is stunned.

  "The slave greets the madam." After a while, Dong Le responded vaguely and made a gesture of courtesy to Song Shi.

  Xie Shu Ning looked on coldly and hugged Xie Yuan Mao's neck, saying in a soft childish voice: "Daddy, the people here are so unruly!"

  "Turn back and Daddy will punish them." Xie Yuanmao coaxed her in a gentle voice.

  Dong Le was shocked beyond words, she never expected Xie Yuanmao to be in this state in front of the eighth miss whom she had just met for the first time...completely different from his demeanor in the mansion.

  A few people walked along the winding corridor, the trees outside the corridor had shed their leaves and were covered with a thick layer of snow, looking very desolate.

  Xie Shuning felt the cold air constantly sweeping over her body, making her shiver. She was not used to Kyoto's winter chill, and even after many years, she still couldn't adapt. In this regard, Zhen'er was just like her, fearing the cold terribly. Every time she mentioned Jiangnan, he would also shout that he wanted to go.

  However, even she never had a chance to return to Jiangnan again.

  She dully buried her head in Xie Yuanmao's fluffy cloak, sighing to herself.

  Before long, they arrived at Shou'antang.

  As soon as they entered the front hall, someone inside must have heard the noise and sent Chunping out to greet them. When Xie Juning raised her head, she saw that Chunping had just lifted the curtain and was bowing with a smile: "Sixth Master is back, Old Madame has been waiting for you."

  He asked only one person, Xie Yuanmao.

  Xie Shuning pursed her lips and didn't make a sound.

  From the moment they entered, Grandma had no intention of giving them a good face. But unexpectedly, in their previous lives, they were all foolish and thought that this young grandma was kind and benevolent.

  As soon as she entered the door, Xie Shuning felt a strong fragrance hitting her face.

  Three feet wide and five feet high, a large marble screen with intricate carvings of gold and bronze stood in front of it. On top of the screen was placed a black lacquered incense table, upon which sat an ancient bronze incense burner, emitting a thick and pungent fragrance.

  "Mother, someone has arrived." Xie Yuanmao put down Xie Shuning in his arms and respectfully said to the three old ladies.

  "Mother." Song also called out.

  The old lady seemed not to have heard, only smiled lovingly and beckoned to Xie Yu, saying: "Is this Yu'er? Come, come sit by Grandma's side."

  Xie Yun turned back hesitantly, looking at Song Shi and then at Xie Yuanmao, hesitating without daring to move forward.

  "Brother Yi is approaching, calling for Mother and Grandmother to take a good look." Madame Chen saw the situation and smiled, getting up to warmly greet them. She called herself "Mother", and in the blink of an eye, she seemed to have subtly suppressed Songshi, who had just arrived. However, at this moment, it was still unclear who was the legitimate wife, so what kind of "mother" was she?

  Xie Shu Ning glanced at Song Shi, seeing that she was only worriedly looking at Xie Yu who was hesitating and unwilling to move forward. She secretly sighed in her heart. Then she grabbed Xie Yuan Mao's hand, took a step back, pretended to be silly and confused, and looked at him with a frightened gaze: "Father, why does this aunt let brother call her mother?"