However, the thought of Xiao Changyi possibly watching him wash his wife and concubine’s feet alongside An Jing made Master Zhou feel indescribably embarrassed.
Unable to help himself, he burst out in anger, "I asked you to come to my house to observe, not to bring someone with you."
An Jing didn’t mind Master Zhou’s anger and smiled, "It’s ’know the face but not the heart’; besides, as a woman, it’s safer for me to have someone to protect me, and my husband is the best choice for that."
Master Zhou was immediately choked with rage. What did she mean by ’know the face but not the heart’? Wasn’t it just her polite way of saying she felt unsafe around them because they weren’t close?
Too angry to bother with pleasantries, Master Zhou turned and walked towards the direction of his wives and concubines’ rooms.
An Jing wasn’t annoyed, instead, she shared a smiling glance with Xiao Changyi before they followed behind Master Zhou.
Master Zhou had a wife and three concubines, whose maidservants had all been sent away. Each wife and concubine stayed in her own room while Master Zhou went from room to room to wash their feet.
Even though Master Zhou had already spoken to them in advance, his wife and concubines were nevertheless extremely anxious and dared not let him wash their feet.
Having to wash his wife and concubines’ feet with a man and a woman watching the whole process was already extremely mortifying for Master Zhou, and now that his wives and concubines were uncooperative, he immediately lost his temper. Frightened, his wives and concubines no longer dared to withdraw their feet and timidly let Master Zhou wash their feet.
In the end, he did wash the feet of all his wife and concubines, but as soon as it was done, they all knelt down and cried, "My lord, it’s only right and proper for us to wash your feet; there’s no reason for you to wash ours..."
Master Zhou didn’t say a word to his kneeling wives and crying concubines; he only stood there with a stern face, looking imperious and unchallengeable as the head of the family.
An Jing stood to the side, watching all this with a particularly calm demeanor, yet she sighed in her heart: Natural and justified? It seems that the women here have been oppressed for too long, getting used to it and believing it to be expected.
Her gaze shifted towards Master Zhou, who stood there with the air of the family patriarch, and An Jing silently added in her mind: And the men evidently believe it’s their due as well.
After leaving Master Zhou’s place, An Jing and Xiao Changyi went their separate ways to visit Master Zhao, Master Qian, and Master Sun.
Masters Zhao, Qian, and Sun were just as embarrassed as Master Zhou, and neither of them bid farewell to An Jing and Xiao Changyi after both witnessed them washing their wives and concubines’ feet and leaving their respective residences.
Despite the large number of servants who were ordered not to speak of the foot-washing affair, word still got out, and eventually, everyone knew about it.
The four masters felt they had lost all face.
Eight days passed in the blink of an eye.
That day, An Jing was at home multitasking, taking care of the children and discussing with Xiao Changyi about transplanting the seedlings in the experimental field the next day.
The grafted seedlings had grown quite a bit and were indeed ready for transplanting.
Before Xiao Changyi could even respond with a ’hmm’, Meng Zhuqing came to report that Li Jifan had arrived.
"Don’t see him!" Xiao Changyi’s words were directed towards An Jing, sounding rather stern; it was obvious his jealousy had spilled over again.
An Jing found it amusing yet complied. She was a married woman, after all, and it was better to limit interactions with other men in her daily life.