Chapter 81 — Wu Shan (Pink Vote 660 Bonus Chapter)

"That's enough!" Wu Ao's own expression was none too pleasant. She silenced Wu Ya with a low rebuke, then said gravely, "You know very well that you and your brother share the same mother. He's lived at the Dou family's these past few years, and he must surely owe them a great many favors. You've been in the capital with me, eating and drinking well, and you still have the nerve to blame your brother? It's too hot, and I'm feeling a little low. Why don't you go take a nap? We still have to pay our respects to the Second Madam later. Mind your manners."

Eyes red, Wu Ya curtsied to her mother with an aggrieved air and withdrew.

Wu Ao slumped at once against the great backrest behind her.

Bi, Wu Ao's personal maid, called out in alarm, "Madam!" then asked anxiously, "What's the matter? Shall I put a few drops of lavender restorative in your tea?"

"No need." Wu Ao pressed her fingers to her brow. Thinking of her son's stubborn face just now, she felt a dull throb at her temples. "You saw him. The way he looked at me, it was as if he'd fight me to the death if I refused... What does that Dou Yan have to recommend him besides a pretty face?"

Bi smiled. "Who in this world doesn't like a pretty face? That alone is already a fine thing."

Wu Ao was taken aback, and only after a long pause said, "No flower stays red for a hundred days, and no man stays fair forever. At such a young age he already knew to point at the ascetic painted on the temple wall and say that form is emptiness. So why is it that when it comes to himself, everything has changed? The Dou family is certainly respectable, but that Lady Wang is simply beyond the pale. Am I to become kin with her? Then how would I ever show my face again?"

"A married daughter is like water poured out," Bi urged. "The Fourth Young Master said so himself: he tied his hair to the beam and jabbed his thigh with an awl to come back with the top place in the county examination, all in the hope that you would let him have his wish. In the future he'll sit for the provincial and metropolitan exams too. If he can keep studying as diligently as he does now, that can only be a good thing."

"Don't I know it!" A cold gleam flashed through Wu Ao's eyes. "If I hadn't seen that the boy is still honest and upright, would I have let him carry on so recklessly? But who in this world cuts himself off from his natal family..."

"Madam," Bi said with a smile, "isn't the Sixth Madam the Fourth Miss's natal family? And aren't our young ladies the Fourth Miss's natal family too?"

Wu Ao fell silent.

Bi went on: "When a girl isn't close to her natal family, she naturally grows close to her husband's. You have only the Fourth Young Master at your knee. Wouldn't it be good to have a daughter-in-law who is devoted to you?"

"That's true enough!" Wu Ao nodded.

A young maid came in to report: "Madam, the Fourth Miss of the West Branch has sent her senior maid over. She says that the Eleventh Young Master and the Twelfth Young Master and some others are going to Zhaojue Temple for the vegetarian feast, and that Fourth Miss and the East Branch's Miss Yi and Miss Shu have been invited as well. Fourth Miss would like to invite our Seventh Miss to come along for an outing, and sent her maid especially to ask Madam's and Seventh Miss's wishes."

"Oh!" Wu Ao's eyebrows arched high.

Bi said quickly with a smile, "Well, Madam? Our Fourth Miss was raised at the knee of the Dou family's Sixth Madam, after all. She's no flighty girl—she knows propriety!"

Wu Ao gave a murmured "Mm," then could not help smiling. She said to the young maid, "Go and ask the Seventh Miss. If she wants to go," she added, glancing at Bi, "then you may go with her."

Bi answered with a smile and a "Yes, Madam," and left the hall.

Outside, a sharp-eyed young servant hurried up to her and asked in a low voice, "What did Madam say?"

Bi wore a faintly proud smile. "Tell the Fourth Young Master that this old servant has not failed her commission!"

The servant beamed with delight and flattered her: "No wonder everyone says you're the Madam's favorite, second to none—there's nothing you can't accomplish!"

Bi's face darkened. "You little wretch! Say one more word of nonsense and I'll tear that mouth of yours right off!" Yet she could not keep the smile from spilling out of her eyes.

"I wouldn't dare, not ever!" The servant grinned. "I'll go report to the Fourth Young Master right now." And he scurried off.

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o(n_n)o~

Doesn't everyone like Wu Shan?

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