The Marquis Is Innocent

He is going to take Zheng Shu as his concubine?

Although Xiao Qiao had not been in the Wei family for long, she knew from the second day she arrived in the manor that the servants in the east house were treating Zheng Shu as Wei Shao’s concubine.

Although Zheng Shu had not yet settled in the west house, it was only a matter of time.

Wei Shao took Zheng Shu as a concubine, which is not benefitted for Xiao Qiao. But it is not much of a loss, except for the face of the new wife, who has not yet been in the family for three months, which may be unpleasant.

But the current situation is already much better than what Xiao Qiao expected. Contentment is the most important. She can’t refuse it. Was it necessary for her to pour cold water on a man when he was interested in taking a concubine? That would be a mistake on her part.

“Is that so? That’s great.”

Xiao Qiao showed a smile and turned around. “When I first came here within two days, I knew about you and Zheng Shu. I saw she had been living in the east house, and I’m confused. Now it’s settled, right? The date has also been chosen. Tomorrow I will go to decorate the house. I think the room in the east wing of the courtyard is good. It’s spacious and full of sunlight. The bathroom and ear room are all available. Tomorrow you can go to check it. If it’s good, I’ll arrange the house. Whatever is here will also be there.”

The east wing of the courtyard was a nice room. The best thing, it was far from the room she lived in, and there was an inner door in between.

Xiao Qiao finished speaking and looked at him with a smile on her face. Seeing him looking at her, expressionless and with no reaction. Her smile faded away. She hesitated and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unsatisfied with the arrangement?”

……

Wei Shao stared at Xiao Qiao, looking at her happy appearance. Suddenly, he felt a little interest.

……

He is not interested in sleeping with Zheng Chuyu. He does not want to delay his cousin’s life because of him. Because of Mrs. Zhu’s pressure, he neglected it and did not feel any guilt. But tonight, Mrs. Zhu changed her attitude, which made Wei Shao feel a bit stuck.

Wei Shao knew his mother had limited vision and a tendency to look at things from the corner. She did not have the personality of a noble person. He did not believe that his grandmother had made things difficult for her, as she had said. But no matter what, she was her mother, after all. She was good to him, Wei Shao always remembered. He also has deep feelings for this widowed mother. Deep in his heart, he is a filial son.

At the East House, Mrs. Zhu said so much, complaining about his grandmother, accusing his new wife, and so on. The only thing that entered his heart was Mrs. Zhu said she was lonely, and only Zheng Chuyu could accompany her to relieve her boredom.

He is always on the move. Fighting battles every day. It is impossible to turn back after taking this road, and there is no way to know when the end will come. The sword and the spear have no eyes. Maybe, one day he will die like his father and brother. His grandmother and his mother were estranged. Newly married wife, at first glance, he knew she could not please his mother. If Zheng Chuyu can replace his filial piety and make his mother happy, it is just a small thing for him to accept her.

With such intention, he returned to the west room. Once he entered, he saw she had obviously slept on her own again. She looked respectful to him on the surface but did not put him in her mind as a husband.

Wei Shao has lived for over twenty years but never knew that he turned out to be such a petty and calculating person.

This newly married Qiao’s daughter, does not know what is going on, he wants to ignore her, but she always hangs in front of him. When he looked at her, he couldn’t stand the sight of her. Nothing about her body, except her face, satisfied him. He doesn’t know where the anger came from. After going to bed and remembering what Mrs. Zhu had just told him, he blurted out. He wanted to give her a reminder that she can’t despise his mother, her mother-in-law, like that.

In the end, she gave him an excellent reason, saying she could not cook.

It is unbelievable.

The daughter of the family nowadays, even if her status is noble, such as his grandmother, and she no needs to cook after the wedding, they received the most basic kitchen training before the wedding. She said righteously that she could not cook. After he heard it, he looked at her pathetic look. Although suspecting that she is pretending, unexpectedly he can’t get angry. He can’t hit or scold her, but only feels helpless. His heart becomes more depressed. And remembered the daytime in the Longevity Hall when they teased about giving birth to a child. He could not restrain himself from saying he wanted to take Zheng Chuyu as a concubine.

Actually, this matter, Wei Shao has not yet been finalized. Even if he did, he had no intention of mentioning it to her.

But the words have been spoken.

……

“Husband?”

Xiao Qiao saw he looked odd and called him again.

Wei Shao returned to his senses and glanced at her: “You can’t cook, and don’t know how to sit. With no woman’s virtue at all. Only this jealous of others, you are very virtuous.”

His tone was plain as if he was chatting with her. But the meaning of the words is clear.

Wei Shao’s phrase “don’t know how to sit” happened a few days ago.

In the afternoon, Wei Shao would never go back to his room. Yesterday afternoon, Xiao Qiao and Chun Niang were in their room. Chun Niang was doing needlework while Xiao Qiao was helping her draw a pattern. Since no one else was around, she sat with her legs stretched out on the couch. Unfortunately, Wei Shao came in, and Xiao Qiao withdrew her legs. But it was too late. He had already seen it.

At that time, he only glanced at her lightly. He said nothing, took the things, and left. Chun Niang blamed herself. She felt she had not taught Xiao Qiao well and was worried. Fortunately, he said nothing, so she felt relieved. Then, she repeatedly reminded Xiao Qiao that she must not sit like this again in the future.

Xiao Qiao thought Wei Shao did not care about this. She didn’t expect it to be on his mind, and this time, he turned out to criticize her.

The posture of sitting with straight legs in modern times seems ordinary, but at this time, it is indecent. Hundreds of years ago, Mencius’s wife was sitting with her legs straight when she was alone at home. When Mencius saw her, he told his mother he wanted to divorce his wife. His mother asked why, and the sage said one word: “squat”. This shows how serious this is.

Xiao Qiao heard him turning over old scores with her. She bowed her head and whispered, “I know I am not virtuous enough, but not being jealous. It’s not only my duty, it’s also from my heart.”

Wei Shao snorted and laughed.“Listen to your tone, so I married such a virtuous wife. Is my blessing?”

“It’s my good fortune that I can marry into the Wei family as a wife.” She said.

The room then fell silent.

Wei Shao had nothing to say.

Suddenly, he felt that what he said to her tonight seemed a bit too much. It was beyond his intention.

“All right, go to sleep. It’s late.”

He looked at her again and said.

Xiao Qiao murmured. She blew out the light, crawled back into bed, and fell asleep this time.

……

The next morning, Xiao Qiao was still asleep. She sensed movement on the side and opened her eyes to see that Wei Shao seemed to have gotten up.

But the sky outside was still dark, and the room was lit with candles. It was only four o’clock.

Xiao Qiao suppressed her unwillingness and opened her eyes. She yawned as she tried to get up with him. She heard him say in her ear, “It’s still early. I have to go out. You can sleep on your own.”

Xiao Qiao was so relieved that she fell back onto the pillow with her eyes closed.

Wei Shao looked at her. He lifted the quilt off the bed, stood out, and dressed one by one. When he got dressed and was about to leave, he turned his head and looked at Xiao Qiao on the bed.

She had already tucked her head under the blanket, revealing only a raven of hair on her temples.

Wei Shao hesitated. He turned around, leaned over to the bed, raised his hand, and flexed his fingers. He knocked on the edge of the bed.

Xiao Qiao was woken up by him again. She pulled down the quilt and opened her eyes to see Wei Shao with a leg pressed against the edge of the bed and his upper body approaching, looking right at her.

“Husband …… what is it?” Xiao Qiao rubbed her eyes. She was still a little disoriented.

“After thinking about it last night, taking Chuyu is not right. I am not available to go there today. You are my wife. You go on my behalf today and say it to my mother.”

Wei Shao finished saying and the corners of his mouth pulled. He smiled and walked away.

Xiao Qiao froze for a moment, back to her senses, and the sleepy bug was instantly driven away.

What does he mean? One minute he’ll do it, the next he won’t. There’s no problem if he won’t take Chuyu, but the problem is, isn’t this making her go to the East House to suffer again?

……

Wei Shao packed up and left in a good mood at a leisurely pace.

But Xiao Qiao’s whole body was bad.

When he left, it was not even five o’clock, and the sky was not bright. After he left, Chun Niang came in and helped Xiao Qiao put out the lights.

The spring night is suitable for sleep, and no one is occupying her space in bed now, so she can sleep how she wants.

But once Wei Shao left, she can’t get any sleep either.

She woke up and freshened up. When Chun Niang saw she was distracted, she first thought she had failed to please Marquis Wei again. But when Marquis Wei went out in the morning, he looked better than she had ever seen him in days. There should be nothing wrong, so she asked what was happening.

Xiao Qiao told Chun Niang about the big twist that happened last night about Wei Shao’s concubinage. With a crying face, she flung herself into Chun Niang’s arms. “Wei Shao is doing this on purpose. He knows his mother doesn’t like me, and he’s asking me to reject the concubinage for him ……”

“My dear — “

Chun Niang was startled and covered her mouth. “Can you call the name of Marquis Wei carelessly? Be careful of being heard!”

At this moment, one cannot call freely by name. Unless the elders, only rivals or enemies, will call each other by name to show contempt and insult.

Xiao Qiao closed her mouth.

However, Chun Niang’s face showed joy again: “It is a great good thing that Marquis Wei does not accept Zheng Shu. Why is the Lady not happy? As for rejecting Madam ……”

She thought for a moment, came to Xiao Qiao’s ear, and whispered a sentence.

Xiao Qiao’s eyes lit up, and her brain cleared up.

It is all Wei Shao’s fault (repeated here a thousand times). From the first day of their meeting, his attitude toward her was either blackface, mockery, or like interrogating a prisoner. Every minute living together with him, she is tense and cautious. Afraid that in the next second, she offended him, this young master Wei. Her brain is dizzy and forgot the Buddha of the northern house, Mrs. Xu.

Xiao Qiao’s mood immediately became good and she changed her clothes.

After her birthday yesterday, Mrs. Xu should be tired. But this morning, she still got up very early.

Probably she did not want to meet with Mrs. Zhu, her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Xu had exempted her from the morning rituals a long time ago. If she was at home, Mrs. Zhu would only come over on the first and fifteenth days to visit. So, when Xiao Qiao went there, she did not meet Mrs. Zhu.

She asked the servant to inform her, and after waiting for a moment on the porch, they summoned her.

Mrs. Xu goes to bed early and wakes up early. Her life has always been very regular. She seems in good spirits. Wearing casual clothes, she sat on a low couch. She was drinking corn porridge with a few plates of side dishes on the small table in front of her. Her diet was simple, and the utensils were old-fashioned.

Xiao Qiao kneeled down and greeted her. Mrs. Xu told her to get up. She asked Old Zhong to add another set of bowls and chopsticks and asked Xiao Qiao to eat with her.