"Elder Sister is right," Sang Wan’s heart seethed with anger and bitterness, her palms clenched tightly to suppress the slight trembling of her body, she said softly with a smile: "Our Sihe Village is remote and the country folks aren’t particular, we’re already content with having chicken, duck, fish, and meat! If Elder Sister’s husband were to succeed, Elder Sister could consider inviting the Master Chef from Yuhe Tower to Meng County for a banquet! The young master would surely be happy to help! Besides, I think Elder Sister’s husband’s friends and relatives must be sophisticated and elegant people, they would definitely rave about sea cucumbers and abalones!"
"You!" Shi Yumei’s complexion changed, she said coldly: "What do you mean by that! Looking down on us, aren’t you?"
Shi Yumei and Ren Zhixian had been hearing everyone in the mansion from top to bottom talk about the Sang family, even Second Master Shi was all smiles discussing with others that the senior official who had been competing with him to buy the gold-threaded peacock had yielded once he heard that their Shi family’s daughter-in-law’s natal elder brother was the Xie Yuanlang of this session. Shi Yumei and Ren Zhixian felt a thorn of discomfort in their hearts. With Gu Fangzi stirring things up beside her ear from time to time, Shi Yumei’s heart was like a volcano waiting to erupt. Upon seeing Sang Wan, the more she looked, the more she felt Sang Wan was full of smugness and self-satisfaction. Unable to contain the raging fire in her heart, she intended to humiliate her thoroughly, but instead, received a calm and pointed retort that left her unable to save face.
"Elder Sister!" Sang Wan quickly stood up, her hands loosely folded in front of her, her head bowed, she glanced timidly at Mrs. Wang.
"What are you doing, Yumei!" Sang Wan’s words were spoken with a gentle and sincere tone, her demeanor calm and tranquil, so to the unconcerned Mrs. Wang, there seemed to be no other implication. Only Shi Yumei could feel the piercing pain. Mrs. Wang frowned and glared at her daughter, reprimanding: "How can you speak to your brother’s wife like that! Miss Wan is right, if the son-in-law succeeds, I will definitely ask Fengju to hold a grand banquet in Meng County, to give you some face! Miss Wan, please, sit down, sit down! Your elder sister is just like that, don’t take it to heart, ah!"
"How could Miss Wan take what Elder Sister said to heart!" Sang Wan said with a slight curtsy in thanks, then sat down again.
But Shi Yumei, burning with rage, retorted: "Mother, am I still your daughter or not! How can you talk about me like that in front of outsiders! You are so biased!"
"Stop it! I think you’re becoming more and more unreasonable!" Mrs. Wang’s face also darkened.
"It’s true that you’re biased, after getting a daughter-in-law you’ve forgotten about your daughter!"
Mrs. Jiang made significant eye contact with Sang Wan, urging her. Sang Wan quickly stood up with a forced smile: "Mother, I have some matters to take care of in Ningyuan, I’ll leave now! I’ll come to pay respects again tomorrow!"
"Go, go!" Mrs. Wang was in the midst of an argument with her daughter and couldn’t wait for Sang Wan to leave.
Sang Wan made her apologies and hurriedly left.
Exiting the door, she could still hear the indignant and tearful voice of Shi Yumei behind her, "Just because her elder brother won the title of Xie Yuan, does she think she can ride over my head! That kind of family, even if they produced a top scholar, would still be destitute. They’d need our family to provide manpower and money to hold a banquet in the countryside, what nonsense! You and Fengju still expect to rely on them in the future!"
Biting her lip, Sang Wan held back the tears swirling in her eyes, blinked rapidly to dissolve them, and took several deep breaths.
"You can all leave! I want to be alone for a while!" Back at Ningyuan, Sang Wan sent everyone away and sat by herself in the warm pavilion lost in thoughts, not even keeping Liu Ya.
Humiliation welled up, and she could no longer restrain the tears from flowing.
She, who was formally married into the Shi family as Grandma Shi, now had to endure the wrath of an elder cousin-sister who had married out and returned to her natal family for support—such sharp and harsh humiliation to her face, leaving her nowhere to voice her injustices!
She wished she could give the silver back to Shi Fengju immediately, so the Sang family would no longer take any advantage of the Shi family. But she couldn’t! Where would she get the money?
After a good cry, Sang Wan slowly calmed down and wiped the corners of her eyes, exhaling a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, her eldest brother and sister-in-law, and her second brother did not know these things; otherwise, who knows how distressed they would feel! She could bear these trivial grievances herself.
When Shi Fengju returned, Sang Wan was still in the warm pavilion, lost in thought. Shi Fengju found it strange to see all the maids looking disturbed; after Liu Ya quietly explained the situation to him, he understood what had happened. He sighed softly and entered.