Chapter 600 - 602: Have Hated Ruozhu for a Long Time Already
Shuxin coldly huffed and said, "The Meng Residence is not somewhere one can enter as they wish. What happens if spies or assassins infiltrate? Our Old Lady only invited the wife of Xie, she did not mention anyone else."
"You..." Deng Shi bulged her eyes, but in the end she still dreaded the Meng Residence and dared not argue with Shuxin.
Yu Hongxiu, who was in the room, was in a good mood. She knew that it was Bai Ruozhu who found the Old Master. She herself had thought of this method, but Deng Shi watched her and Ruyi closely, so she had no way to send a message to the Old Master. Unless Deng Shi slept at night, but at that time, she had no face to disturb the Meng family.
In fact, she had almost reached her limit these past two days, thinking of simply giving up, even though she was a woman from Jiangnan, it did not mean that she didn’t have a temper. Fortunately, Bai Ruozhu came to help her, otherwise it would be inconvenient for her to make a fuss on her own.
She gently touched her slightly swollen belly, her face softened with a smile, "Child, your mother will definitely protect you."
When Deng Shi saw Yu Hongxiu coming out of the room, she wanted to go over and help her, but Shuxin hurriedly signaled the guards who directly stopped Deng Shi.
"What does this mean? Can’t I even touch my own niece?" Deng Shi widened her eyes, "No, it must be that Bai Ruozhu confused right from wrong and slandered me. I must see the Old Master Meng, I’ll wait at the Meng Residence’s gate. Miss, please inform the Old Master for me."
Deng Shi quickly walked towards the horse carriage outside after speaking, Shuxin showed annoyance. The guard dutifully ran over to stop her again, saying, "Madam, the horse carriage was not prepared for you."
Deng Shi angrily rolled up her sleeves, "My niece can sit in it, but I, as an elder, can’t?"
Shuxin helped Yu Hongxiu walk towards the horse carriage, her movements extremely careful. The Old Master had instructed her to protect Madam Xie at all costs.
After helping Yu Hongxiu onto the carriage, she turned back to Deng Shi and said, "This horse carriage is prepared for Madam Xie. The space inside is small, and if more people crowd in and bump into her stomach, it will be bad. Even I have to run outside."
"How could I be so careless?" Deng Shi said unwillingly.
"Regardless of whether you are careful or not, this is the rule. If you want to wait outside the Meng Residence, then run after the horse carriage. Or you can hire your own horse carriage. We’ll go ahead." After Shuxin spoke, she ordered the guard to follow, and the horse carriage proceeded towards the Meng residence.
Deng Shi stomped her foot behind and glared at Yu Hongxiu’s maid Ruyi, rolling up her sleeves again. Ruyi was frightened and ran away. Deng Shi didn’t have time to chase her and was thinking about going to the Meng Residence, so she temporarily let Ruyi go.
Bai Ruozhu had prepared six flavorful dishes along with two kinds of dimsum. Half catered to Old Madam’s preference, while the other half were Yu Hongxiu’s favorites. When her maid brought the dishes to the main house, Yu Hongxiu had just seated herself, and was drinking milk with red-rimmed eyes.
Bai Ruozhu said that drinking tea during pregnancy wasn’t good, and it was better to drink warm milk. The Old Lady remembered this, and Yu Hongxiu’s milk was prepared before she arrived.
When Yu Hongxiu saw Bai Ruozhu, she wanted to stand up to thank her but was quickly pressed down by Bai Ruozhu and told, "You’re frail; don’t bother with these formalities."
The Old Lady said sadly by the side, "Yes, you were fine before New Year, but it hasn’t been half a month and you’ve lost weight."
"She has been feeling down. Normally, she wouldn’t be upset about such little things, but when pregnant, especially during the first pregnancy, one’s mood can easily be affected and subsequently impact one’s health." Bai Ruozhu sighed, in modern times this was called prenatal depression, but ancient people didn’t pay attention to psychological diseases, so there was no term for prenatal depression.
"Come, let’s chat while we eat. Look, Ruozhu has prepared many dishes that you like. You must eat well, so your body can recover," said the Old Madam, afraid that the dishes would get cold, she had a maid serve them, and the three women started eating.
Danliang, unlike strict countries that follow the rule of not speaking during meals, fosters relationships by encouraging conversation during meals.
Yu Hongxiu felt much better now that she was out of the cage. She quickly began to talk about her second aunt. As it turned out, Deng Shi’s family owned a martial arts hall, so Deng Shi learned some martial skills from her father. The Xie family had some reputation in their hometown, but the family’s second son, Xie Xingyun, had a stubborn personality. He didn’t read much, and frequently engaged in chicken fights and dog races. The Old Master of the Xie family chose Deng Shi, a slightly stronger wife, hoping she could manage the second son of Xie.
The last few decades had been acceptable. After the consecutive deaths of Mr. Xie’s parents, Xie Xingyun and his wife had indeed helped him a great deal, and they had always cared for and looked after him, so Mr. Xie always felt indebted to his second uncle’s family.
Until Mr. Xie met the city master of Beiyu City, becoming the city master’s staff member. His second uncle and aunt then became much warmer with him, even planning to arrange for their niece to be his wife. At that time, Mr. Xie was already older because he was in mourning, so he didn’t express his opinion. Of course, he didn’t outright agree either, otherwise, his troublesome second aunt would have bugged him to death.
Soon after, Mr. Xie followed Meng Liangshen on an official mission to the south, where he encountered Yu Hongxiu. Meng Liangshen played the role of matchmaker, and Mr. Xie was naturally willing. Yu Hongxiu was a noble lady from Jiangnan, and they shared harmonious relation. Moreover, her fragrance attracted him so much that he felt marrying such a woman was a blessing from his past life.
Once things were settled, he immediately wrote a letter home, which was sent urgently. Even so, when he returned home, his second uncle and aunt made a big fuss, accusing him of being untrustworthy, despising the poor and loving the rich, and so on.
At that time, he and Yu Hongxiu had held their wedding in the south. As a result, Xie Xingyun claimed that the Xie family did not acknowledge this, to which Yu Hongxiu immediately retorted: "Our wedding was arranged and officiated by the city master. The marriage certificate is valid. If you do not acknowledge this, you can take it up with the city master."
In the end, the elders of the Xie family naturally added Yu Hongxiu to the ancestral tablet. However, over the next two years, Yu Hongxiu didn’t show signs of being pregnant, so Xie Xingyun and his wife began to stir again. They initially forced Mr. Xie to take a concubine, that person was also Deng Shi’s niece. The girl was only sixteen when she was introduced to Mr. Xie. After that, her family proposed her to other families, but she and her mother looked down on them, so they kept procrastinating since she was young.
Mr. Xie felt a deep affection for Yu Hongxiu and didn’t want to take a concubine, so Xie Xingyun and his wife insisted that he should adopt an heir, given that Mr. Xie was already thirty. Mr. Xie was furious at the thought. He was perfectly capable of having children. Why did he need to adopt? Especially when the child he was supposed to adopt was Xie Xingyun’s second grandson.
Just as Mr. Xie brought Yu Hongxiu back to Anyuan Town, Xie Xingyun and his wife were still foolishly fighting for the adoption. Suddenly Yu Hongxiu became pregnant. Naturally, Mr. Xie and his wife came to know about Bai Ruozhu, so Deng Shi had hated Bai Ruozhu for a long time.