Lady Zhao’s eyes widened in astonishment; when she had previously declined the Zhou family’s marriage proposal to the wife of the heir apparent, Miss Ye had questioned her integrity, albeit in a more veiled manner. But to hear her son put it this way, Miss Ye had brazenly voiced insults to her!
Enraged, Lady Zhao lifted her hand, but ultimately did not dare smash the Qi family’s porcelain on the floor. Instead, she turned her wrist and slammed her palm heavily on the table, "This Miss Ye is utterly unreasonable! I have lived my life squarely and honorably for decades, and no one has ever spoken half a word against me. How dare she slander me ?"
As she spoke, she attempted to get down from the heated brick bed, "I’m going to find her and argue this out; how am I not a good person?"
Lady Zhao was truly angry. When she was younger, her husband had been imprisoned and later sent to the border pass. She raised her child alone for ten years, waited for ten years, only to receive the news brought back by her husband’s sworn brother that her husband had died in battle.
All these years, she had upheld her duty as a wife, conducted herself with propriety in all things, and anyone who knew her praised her for her upright character. How had she become a villain in Qi Ye’s eyes?
Seeing his mother so upset, Wong Qiao felt distressed as well, but he still tried to restrain and soothe her, "Mother, please don’t be angry. Miss Ye was just speaking mindlessly; she didn’t mean anything by it."
Lady Zhao pushed him away with force, furious, "Didn’t mean anything by it? People live for their face, trees live for their bark. Isn’t a person’s reputation and face all they have in this world? If she can speak of me so openly, what else does she want? And you!"
As her anger rose, she turned towards Wong Qiao, "I’ve raised you from infancy to adulthood, and now that you have grown up, when someone speaks ill of your mother, you just accept it! What use are you to me?" By the end, Lady Zhao’s voice was choked with emotion, and her eyes had begun to moisten.
Xiuqin hesitated to come forward, unsure whether to help her cousin restrain their aunt or to side with her and confront Miss Ye together, and she froze in place.
Wong Qiao struggled to defend himself, "Mother, please don’t be angry, you’ll harm your health. I did refute Miss Ye; I didn’t let her speak ill of you freely. Really, I truly defended you."
Lady Zhao, her voice filled with sobs, challenged him, "Then why did you come to me with such words? Where is your conscience?"
"Mother, truly, don’t be so upset. I really did argue with Miss Ye, really." The problem was he felt that what Miss Ye said was correct; what was he to do now?
"What exactly did she say? You useless thing, were you left speechless by her rebuttal?" Lady Zhao glared at Wong Qiao as she questioned him.
Wong Qiao fell silent, glanced at Lady Zhao, and bowed his head, saying nothing.
Lady Zhao, pointing at Wong Qiao, scolded, "Just as I thought, I knew you were worthless. What did she say? What could she possibly have said about me? You tell me!"
Wong Qiao remained silent, while Xiuqin shakily retreated to stand by the wall, terrified that her aunt’s rage might turn towards her. Truth be told, although she somewhat feared her aunt, she had never seen her show such anger.
A voice sounded at the door of the outer room, "Madam Zhao, I was the one who spoke. Before this, Brother Jia’s stepmother in the Qi family’s third branch got along well with outsiders, but behind closed doors, she mistreated Brother Jia, and yet, no outsider ever spoke ill of her."
Qi Ye had arrived? Lady Zhao fixed her gaze on Qing Min at the door.
But what did Qi Ye mean by that? What does Jia’s stepmother have to do with her?
Madam Zhao was only stunned for a moment before she understood Ye Xinyan’s meaning, and then saw Ye Xinyan leading her maidservant into the inner room.
Madam Zhao’s face turned red with anger as she said coldly, "Miss Ye may indeed have a noble status, but that doesn’t mean she can insult others at will. As for what kind of person Jia’s stepmother is, although this old woman hasn’t heard of her, I’ve never seen Jia and the Qi Family Third Branch have any contact. Since Miss Ye said so, it seems that Jia’s stepmother must be evil. This old woman would like to ask, what did I do to be compared to that wicked stepmother by Miss Ye?"
Ye Xinyan smiled faintly and spoke leisurely, "Madam Zhao, why so agitated? Why don’t we sit down and talk?"
Madam Zhao stubbornly glared at Ye Xinyan and didn’t sit down, instead saying, "If the young lady doesn’t give me an explanation, I will go and ask Eldest Uncle Qi whether, just because we are of low status, we deserve to be insulted by the young lady at will?"
Ye Xinyan stood in front of the seat of honor, calmly looking at Madam Zhao and said softly, "Didn’t I say, Madam Zhao, not to get agitated? Whatever the matter is, we can sit down and slowly clarify it."
Ye Xinyan’s calmness made Madam Zhao feel like she couldn’t unleash her anger. Angrily glaring at the calm and oppressive young woman in front of her, Madam Zhao’s momentum weakened more and more, until she finally sat down sulkily in the lower seat, her face still showing displeasure.
"If Miss has anything to say, just say it. If I, Madam Zhao, am really such a malicious person who abuses children, I will just smash my head in front of the Miss and die."
Ye Xinyan smiled lightly and, while sitting down, said, "After all, I am my grandfather’s granddaughter. It wouldn’t look good to see Madam Zhao really take such a step, so I made a comment to Wong Qiao, hoping that Madam Zhao would take it as a warning."
Madam Zhao’s face, which had been red with anger, turned somewhat pale upon hearing Ye Xinyan’s words, "What does the young lady mean by this?"
"Does Madam Zhao not understand?" Ye Xinyan smiled and said, "It is said that even though the Wong Residence could afford to buy servants, Madam Zhao would not allow the servants to serve, insisting only on the daughter-in-law attending by her side, is that right?"
So that was what she was talking about. Madam Zhao lowered her eyes and responded in a lukewarm tone, "Yes, each family has its own way of doing things. Is it wrong for a daughter-in-law to observe filial piety?"
Ye Xinyan laughed, "Then, may I understand it as Madam Zhao treating her daughter-in-law like a servant? Even worse than a servant, for servants have shifts for attending to people."
Madam Zhao was taken aback, and Ye Xinyan continued, "Take my own mother as an example, she has four Senior Maids, four second-tier maids, two wet nurses, and two daughters-in-law serving her in a rotating schedule. However, from what I understand from Madam Zhao, the bride that Wong Qiao brought back has to do the work of these twelve people alone."
Ye Xinyan fixed her gaze on Madam Zhao and asked, "I wonder if that counts as oppression? If that’s mistreatment? Or maybe it’s intentional grinding?" Ye Xinyan said this and glanced at Xiuqin. Sure enough, Xiuqin’s eyes were wide as she sneaked a peek at Madam Zhao, and quickly lowered her head before Madam Zhao could look her way.
Seeing Xiuqin with her head down, Madam Zhao felt even more irritated. If Xiuqin were obedient and followed instructions properly, why would she have treated her harshly?
"From Miss Ye’s perspective, it seems that serving one’s mother-in-law is not supposed to be done. Attending upon the mother-in-law shows the familial affection between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. Why does it seem like filial piety to the in-laws turns into an evil deed in Miss’s mouth?"
Ye Xinyan looked at Madam Zhao with great interest. Madam Zhao, having brought up her son all by herself, was certainly not a weak person. If she were to give it her all, she certainly wouldn’t let others push her around.