Chapter 17 Clever Tongue

A thick red seal was stuffed to the eunuch. Sun shi called her daughter-in-law to the main courtyard to speak. Except for Zhao Wangshu, who was in bed due to injury, the other masters also came. No matter what they thought, they all showed a happy appearance.

Sun shi carefully stroked the red imperial court dress, and sighed, “This patchwork is so exquisitely embroidered, it must look good on.” Zhao Chunxi stood by the side and looked at it silently, her eyes hid some envy, but also overflowed with longing and admiration. First-rank title, except for the imperial concubine, this was probably the highest reward that a woman of Wei could get. How could Guan Suyi get it?

She wanted to tell herself that Guan Suyi get it because of her father’s light, but she felt even more bitter when thinking of the old madam who was overlooked by the emperor alone.

The servants below rolled their eyes, thinking that Guan shi also said that the glory of the Guan family had nothing to do with the Marquis Mansion, so did this granted title have nothing to do with the Marquis Mansion? If she didn’t marry lord marquis, could she become a first-rank madam? Before the triumphant expression appeared, they heard the sound of congratulations from outside the courtyard. It turned out that the Guan family’s steward woman came bringing gifts. Corals, jade, and antiques were all imperial gifts, and their preciousness was staggering. Before leaving, the steward still said, “The old master and the master came to the palace specially to ask for this first rank title. Miss, if you are wronged in the future, just go back and tell them and they will be the masters for you. Old madam, please don’t blame them and be lenient, the Guan family now has only one seedling which is miss here, of course they will protect her tightly. Please bear with it.”

Although Sun shi was unhappy, she did not dare to show it, even saying that it’s okay, the in-laws was thinking too much, and so on.

It turned out that this first rank title was requested by the Guan family? That’s right, if it’s because of Lord Marquis, then the old madam should be conferred first. The mistresses of the other Marquis Mansion all have already been granted title, but the old madam did not. Was it possible that the emperor had forgotten about the Marquis Zhenbei Mansion alone? Alas, it seems that the friendship between Lord Marquis and the emperor is nothing more than this! Thinking of this, the stewards who straightened their backs a little bit buckled again, standing at the door with low eyebrows and waiting for the admonishment. Guan Suyi didn’t open her mouth to let them go, but none of them dared to move.

After sending off the Guan family’s people, Sun shi interest was greatly reduced, and she returned the imperial court dress to her daughter-in-law so that she could keep it properly. Zhao Luli was speechless the whole time, flipping through the “Records of Noble Family” in his hand that he get from Mingfang, his face was very ugly. He always thought that the Marquis Zhenbei Mansion was a direct descendant of the Zhao family in Tianshui, but who would have thought that they were actually after a runaway slave. At that time his father rushed over to recognized relatives, and he was probably very humiliated.

How come the Marquis Mansion seemed to have been stripped several layers of skin after Guan shi came, and it was painful and embarrassing? He was in a bad mood, slammed shut the book, then saw the author’s name printed in the lower left corner, and his eyes could not help feeling stabbed ruthlessly. Zuo Boxiong, the ancestor of the Zuo shi, which was also great ancestors for Guan Suyi. He served the Kings of Qi, Chu, and Qin successively. He was a historian whose name has passed through the ages, and his reputation was even higher than Zuo Dingxiang. This “Records of Noble Family” was actually written by him, it’s no wonder that Guan Suyi had it at her fingertips.

Although the Zuo family and the Guan family had no wealth, their academic and prestigious accumulations were very outstanding. Marrying the daughter of Guan’s family, Marquis Zhenbei Mansion has benefited a lot. At that time, Huo Shengzhe wanted to accept Guan Suyi as imperial concubine, it was probably to attract the famous scholars of the Central Plains, but unfortunately was asked by himself. How could he agree? Was this some kind of test?

Zhao Luli’s forehead instantly burst into a lot of cold sweat, and he hurriedly tossed “Records of Noble Family” into the brocade box, his face turned extremely pale. The old madam was sure she still misunderstood, and asked with a smile, “Suyi, the matter of the rumors has been resolved by lord marquis, all the broken-mouthed slaves will be sold out, none of them will be kept. If you still have some dissatisfaction you can talk to lord marquis in private, or you can discuss it with me, why should you expose people’s scars and not be forgiving?” She also found out afterwards that the Zhao family was a runaway slave, and her heart was extremely uncomfortable. If it wasn’t for the good news of the granted title, she might have fallen ill from embarrassment and anger.

Guan Suyi offered a cup of hot tea, and slowly said, “Old madam, I’m talking about Zhao family’s roots, you and lord marquis must be very unhappy, right?”

The unranked Sun shi couldn’t lose her temper, could only lower her head and snorted inaudibly. Zhao Luli finally recovered from his terrible conjecture, waved his hand to dismiss the few stewards, “You go down first.” The ugliness of the family should not be exposed, even if he was dissatisfied with Guan shi, he couldn’t let others see the joke.

All the stewards complied and raised their legs to leave, but they were stopped by the new madam, “Where are you going, I still haven’t arrange the housework today. Wouldn’t it be troublesome to call back one by one later? What should be known, what shouldn’t be known, everyone already understood, unless you want your tongue to be pulled, you better be able to control your mouths, understand? Within Central Plains’ noble families, which family’s ancestral hall does not have a copy of “Records of Noble Family”? What is the origin of Marquis Zhenbei Mansion, others have long been aware, they just don’t reveal it, that’s all.”

All the stewards were shaking and sweating like pulp, for fear that the lord marquis would really pull their tongues, they couldn’t help but kneeling on the ground and kowtow.

Guan Suyi’s index finger touched her lips, and her tone was light, “Be quiet, don’t be too noisy.”

In a split second everyone fell silent, and moved to the corner by their own initiative so as not to obstruct with the new madam’s eyes. This master now have a family background, a rank title, and her method of killing someone with other people’s knife was so cruel, which showed that her scheming were also very deep. Seeing that even lord marquis and the old madam were unable to suppress her, the little fishes and shrimps bellow should go rolling as far as possible.

Zhao Luli really couldn’t suppress his new wife. In front of her, he felt powerless, embarrassed, and ashamed again and again. But now, this shame has reached the point where it burned all his insides. It turned out that the great families of Wei all knew the origin of Marquis Zhenbei. No wonder in those days his father couldn’t get into their eyes no matter how much currying he done, no wonder even if he worked so hard to earn the marquis title, he often marginalized and despised by others. Descendant of runaway slave, as long as this “Records of Noble Family” still exists, this extremely shameful name would always be engraved on the plaque and even the tombstone of the Marquis Zhenbei Mansion.

Thinking of this, he had so many evil thoughts and wanted to take out the book from the brocade box and throw it into the brazier.

“What do you want to do?” Guan Suyi first closed the lid of the box, and said slowly, “Burn the book in my hand, can you burn other houses’ collections? Noble comes from blood, but also from the heart, as long as the heart is strong enough, even if everyone looks down on you, you can stand proudly in the world. I took out this “Records of Noble Family” is not to belittle the Zhao family. I just want you to know that when you insult others, it is also mean you are humiliating yourself. The Sage said: ‘Do not do to others what you don’t want done to yourself.‘ if you find it unbearable for yourself, don’t force it on others. Your Zhao family made a big fuss about my background, my mood at the time, you may feel the same way now? If a marriage or a family needs to use the method of ‘you suppress me, I humiliate you’ to maintain a balance, then it’s not far from falling apart. Once the misunderstanding has occurred, it’s like a broken wound covered with rotten flesh and soaked with venom, it’s useless to clean it alone. You have to scrape the bone to heal the injury, break it and then set it straight.”

She hung a nine-knot chain lock in the latch of the box lid, pressed it firmly, and then threw the copper out of the window, and he said, “The nine-rank Zhongzheng system will be replaced by the imperial examination system, and sooner or later the noble family will become a legacy in the long river of history, not worth mentioning. The Jiuli people were once the defeated generals of our Han people, but now they have entered the Central Plains again, and dominating one side. It can be seen that time has changed, the vicissitudes of life, even the dynasty cannot last forever, let alone the family. We should abandon the prejudice of blood and caste, and also abandon the previous misunderstanding and resentment. Live in harmony as family, live our life with affection and respect, this is my true original intention.”

After saying this, Guan Suyi poured two cups of hot tea, raised her hands across the peak of her eyebrows, bowed and said, “If it seems to have offended before, Suyi hereby apologizes to the two of you. Now Marquis Zhenbei Mansion is also my home, I naturally want it to be prosperous and flourishing. Therefore, there’s more need for everyone to work together with one mind and one heart. The so-called ‘The virtue of the emperor come from boudoir’s gate’, the rise and fall of a family and even a dynasty, the honor and disgrace of a family and even a dynasty, half of them is tied to the tens of thousands of women in the back house. However, a huge marquis mansion, now they have joined hands to squeeze out and even suppress the mistress, causing panic and distracting people. How can you talk about being unanimous to the outside world? How can you talk about preserving the clan and reviving the lintel? I am a straightforward person, if I have something to say then I will say it. If you two feel that I have done something wrong, just point it out in front of me in the future, don’t hold grudges and makes the house restless. If there is any deficiency, I will correct it, and if not, I will encourage myself to be careful not to make mistake, and build a calm and stable backyard for the Marquis Mansion. Let’s live our lives well, what does it matter what others think? Don’t you think so?”

The teacup was right in front of her eyes, bubbling with white steam, and it looked extremely hot and fragrant. Sun shi wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and then took the heart of her daughter-in-law and drank it all in one fell swoop. Guan shi have a sharp tongue but a soft heart, every move, every word and deed was fair and straightforward. She was able to cut it open, crushed it into pieces, and explained her inner thoughts and the situation of the Marquis Mansion one by one, which showed that she was sincerely considering everyone.

On the other hand, if she hid the “Records of Noble Family”, the Marquis Mansion would never know what they were like in other people’s eyes, and then they would always call themselves the lineage of Zhao family in Tianshui, causing others to ridicule and invite contempt. Was that kind of thing right? No, it would only make the Marquis Mansion’s situation even more embarrassing.

Sun shi stretched out her hand, touched Guan Suyi’s dark cyan hair, and sighed, “You are a good child. The Guan family really knows how to teach people.”

What his mother could think, Zhao Luli would only think deeper. His heart that was full of resentment had turned into guilt and gratitude. He put the teacup aside and said muffledly, “I can’t take this cup of tea. Originally it should be me who apologize to madam. If madam didn’t say anything, my Marquis Mansion is still a joke.” When the words fell, he stood up, and bowed to give a big salute, the word “Madam” was actually called willingly.

Guan Suyi quickly avoided and said a few beautiful words.

The stewards kneeling in the corner were stunned by this new madam’s mouth that could invert black and white. It was obvious that she deliberately embarrassed the eldest miss. In the end, she became the benefactor of the Marquis Mansion and firmly nailed her position as the mistress. If anyone disobeys her, or undermines her prestige in the future, wouldn’t they become the chief culprit who disturbs the Marquis Mansion, and everyone would be beaten? Thinking of this, everyone bowed down in fear and put their foreheads on the back of their hands to show their respect for the new madam.

On the other hand, Zhao Chunxi couldn’t keep up with all of this. She only knew that she, and even the entire Marquis Mansion, had been devalued by Guan Suyi, but not only her daddy and the old madam did not get angry, they were coaxed back by her again, and they were still shed tears of gratitude and respected her very much. She, she is too good at talking, isn’t she?

Mom, you give me evil calamity! Zhao Chunxi felt regretful at first, but then thought: If this person enters the palace, she will be able to coax the emperor into a circle, and make mom lose her favor. In that case, mom has the foresight to bring her to the Marquis Mansion first. If I can’t restrain her by myself, can’t I just find a helper?

After a while, she actually buried her head and smiled.

Translator’s note:

First of all Happy Lunar Year!

Secondly, I decide to increase the release times to (hopefully) five times a week. The chapters are relatively short and has consistent length, which is amazing, I think I can handle this much work. Let’s finish this novel quickly.

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