Chapter 462 — The Country Estate

So Pang Yulou said in her heart. But raising her eyes, she caught sight of a little maid from Gao Mingzhu's room, peeking and poking her head out from behind the back gate to watch. She knew it must be Gao Mingzhu or Gao-shi who had sent the girl to see what was going on. An idea struck her, and she called out to the little maid, "Go back and tell Eldest Sister-in-law for me: though I may be moving out, Nan'er and Tan'er are still brothers, and I am still Nan'er's aunt. Nan'er failed the examinations this year all because that vile woman stirred up trouble. Let Nan'er come out and study with me. We can't let her ruin every last soul in this house, old and young alike!"

The little maid dared not answer; she turned tail and fled in terror.

When the word reached Gao-shi, she sighed again and again, and said to her daughter-in-law, "If your Second Aunt-in-law really does move out, then you and Nan'er go along with her to study. With the house in such a turmoil, it's no wonder Nan'er failed this year's examination. She may be a snob, but there's an advantage even in snobbery—Nan'er is a young provincial graduate. If he passes the metropolitan examination, it will be to her benefit and to Tan'er's as well. Without your aunt in the house, your Second Aunt-in-law still knows how to put on a good show, one act after another."

Gao Mingzhu was taken aback.

Her mother-in-law had always been a model of wifely virtue. That she should say such a thing now showed she had reached the end of her patience.

"And you?" She did not want to stay in this house either. Quite apart from anything else, the shouting matches between Wang Shuying and Pang Yulou were enough to make a listener's ears burn with embarrassment. And she had a young son, just learning to talk.

"Me?" Lady Gao said helplessly. "I'll just grit my teeth and bear it."

Better that than to have both son and daughter-in-law ruined along with everything else.

At this moment she regretted it deeply. Why had she ever spoken up for Wang Shuying?

Was this retribution?

Gao Mingzhu said hesitantly, "Why not let me and the child go and attend on my husband at the Gao family school? It's quieter there."

She disliked Pang Yulou intensely.

Lady Gao shook her head. "Your father-in-law will never agree."

Then there was nothing for it but to settle for the next best thing, and move out with Pang Yulou and the rest.

Still, that was better than things as they stood.

She gave a slight nod.

Wang Zhibing, who had always defended Wang Shuying, for the first time ever raised no objection. Instead he gently patted his wife's shoulder and said in a low voice, "You go along with them. The grandson is young and Nan'er needs to study; the household can't do without someone to manage it. I'll stay behind. We can't leave Mother without anyone to wait on her."

Lady Gao was astonished.

Wang Zhibing smiled at his wife. "It's not that I have no selfish motives of my own."

Lady Gao gripped her husband's hand tightly.

Old Lady Wang, however, seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. She fixed her eldest son with a sharp stare and said sternly, "Is this your idea, or Lady Gao's?"

Wang Zhibing's heart quailed, but he clenched his teeth and said, "It is my idea!"

Old Lady Wang's gaze went slack at once, and she slumped back against the great bolster.

This family was coming apart!

Was she to drive out her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson, all for the sake of that unfilial daughter?

As the thought flashed through her mind, she heard her son murmur, "I'm doing this for Yingxue's own good too. As things stand, the Dou family will certainly wash their hands of her, and that boy Dou Ming doesn't know the first thing about weighing consequences, so he's no use to count on either. She'll have to live out her days under her nephew and his wife. If the children come to resent her, how will she get through the years ahead?"

Wang Zhibing's words moved Old Lady Wang.

She turned her prayer beads for a long while, then sighed to her eldest son, "There's no need for you all to quarrel over splitting up the household. I'll make the decision: Yingxue is to be sent to the farm in the countryside!"

Wang Zhibing knocked his head several times before his mother with great force.

When Wang Shuying learned of it, she raised a tremendous scene in her rooms, threatening death and worse.

This time Old Lady Wang was adamant, and had her trusted old serving woman bear Wang Shuying off to the farm.

Lady Gao, having for once joined forces with Lady Pang, took the opportunity to have the maids and serving women of the household either sent away, sold off, or married out, replacing the whole lot. Then she quietly ordered a capable old serving woman dispatched to the farm, instructing her, "Keep the woman under watch. Don't let her come into contact with anyone from outside, for fear that her raving gets out and makes an ugly tale. If the master or the old lady takes me to task for it, I'll answer for you."

The old woman departed on her errand.

Pang Yulou likewise quietly sent an old serving woman to wait on Wang Shuying. Her instructions matched Lady Gao's at the start, but where they differed was at the end: "Everyone falls ill now and then, and aside from the old lady, who even remembers she exists? Only don't go tormenting the woman to death."

The old woman accepted the order with a smile and went on her way.

※

Brothers and sisters, here is today's extra chapter for you.

ps: I'm treating some people to a thank-you dinner tonight, so the timing of the next update is a bit uncertain. Don't wait up for me—I'll do my best to post before midnight.

o(∩_∩)o~

※