The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 1541 - 1538: I Won’t Indulge Your Bad Habits
She pleaded softly, "I beg you, Great Aunt, please be lenient. Our Third Young Madam is young and doesn’t understand things and spoke out of turn. But the Third Young Madam did not mean any harm. She was pampered at her maiden home and doesn’t think too much, her words and actions are quite direct. She just thought this is at home, where everyone is family, and that’s why she was careless for a moment!"
"It’s truly not because she doesn’t know the importance of seniority and respect! Please, Great Aunt, give her a chance; she is sure to change! In the future, she will never make such a mistake again! I beg you not to tell Her Highness. Otherwise, if Her Highness rebukes her, the Third Young Madam’s face is trivial, but won’t it also bring disgrace to our Duke’s Mansion?"
"The Wife of the Heir-Apparent is also a part of the Duke’s Mansion. As the saying goes, when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold. If the Third Young Madam’s reputation is tarnished, I’m afraid the reputation of the Wife of the Heir-Apparent will also be damaged. Outsiders might think the Wife of the Heir-Apparent is too indifferent and harsh towards her family—"
After all, Maternal Aunt Hou is a woman capable of bearing two sons for Song Hong, so she has some wits.
She knew that merely pleading for Little Lady Hou might not convince Lady Gao and Great Aunt in the palace.
Instead, she dragged Wang Yongzhu down with her; they might not care about Little Lady Hou’s reputation, but they surely wouldn’t disregard Wang Yongzhu’s reputation, right? 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Now she only has Song Chongzhao to rely on; if anything happens to Little Lady Hou, both her sons will be ruined!
If it really comes to that, she is prepared to go all out, even at the cost of biting off a piece of Wang Yongzhu.
Everyone, including Lady Gao and Bai Su, understood the implication in her words, as did Wang Yongzhu.
Lady Gao showed a hint of hesitation and looked towards Wang Yongzhu.
Bai Su also hesitated, dealing with a Little Lady Hou was easy, but if Maternal Aunt Hou went all out and ruined Wang Yongzhu’s reputation, she had to think twice.
Hence, she also looked towards Wang Yongzhu.
Everyone in the room, including both Little Lady Hou kneeling on the ground, looked at Wang Yongzhu, trying to see how she would handle the situation.
Under everyone’s scrutiny, Wang Yongzhu laughed.
Another one who is too young to understand!
Looking at Maternal Aunt Hou, she said, "Maternal Aunt Hou says the Third Young Madam is too young and doesn’t understand, but I must ask Aunt Hou, ordinary families teach their children to understand etiquette, integrity, and sensibility from a young age, especially the importance of respecting seniority and hierarchy, which even a child of five or six would understand."
"I wonder, how young is the Third Young Madam this year? Could it be that she doesn’t even understand what a child of five or six would know?"
Both Maternal Aunt Hou and Little Lady Hou turned crimson in an instant.
Especially Little Lady Hou; she had been spoiled at home, and when she made mistakes, her parents mostly excused her, claiming she was too young to understand, which always glossed over the situation.
She had long grown accustomed to this pretext.
But now, being questioned in front of so many people by Wang Yongzhu, she felt her face burning hot.
Maternal Aunt Hou argued forcefully, "After all, the Third Young Madam is a sister-in-law, newly married into our family, and the Wife of the Heir-Apparent, as the elder sister-in-law, could just offer a few words of guidance instead of holding onto a minor fault of her own family?"
Wang Yongzhu sneered, "Alright then, you want me to offer a few words of guidance? Third Young Madam, lift your head—"
Saying this, she walked toward Little Lady Hou.
Little Lady Hou felt an overwhelming sense of shame and anger; she was kneeling while Wang Yongzhu stood, wasn’t this akin to kneeling before her?
Especially as Wang Yongzhu asked her to lift her head, the tone was too frivolous, too insulting.
She kept her head lowered resolutely.
Wang Yongzhu bent down, extended her hand, and pinched Little Lady Hou’s chin.
Little Lady Hou felt unable to resist as Wang Yongzhu, with one hand, lifted her head. Yet she remained defiant, her eyes burning with anger and hatred, staring fiercely at Wang Yongzhu.
Wang Yongzhu examined Little Lady Hou for a moment before saying, "Third Young Madam, this is what your aunt asked for, for me, the elder sister-in-law, to offer you some guidance, listen carefully—"
No sooner had Wang Yongzhu finished speaking than a crisp sound echoed in the room.
Everyone watched with wide eyes as Wang Yongzhu gently slapped Little Lady Hou across the face.
Then she stood up and reached out to Bai Su.
Bai Su, perceptively, took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to Wang Yongzhu.
Wang Yongzhu took the handkerchief and meticulously wiped the hand she had used to hit, not even skipping the spaces between her fingers.
She spoke nonchalantly, "Before you got married, you were a child of the Hou Family. What happened in the Hou Family is their business, not mine. But marrying into the Song Family and trying to act innocent in front of me, clearly unleashing malice, sowing discord, and still claiming to be young and ignorant! Who are you kidding? Think I’m an idiot? Let me tell you, no way! I won’t indulge you in this bad habit!"
"If you want to be a child, go back to your Hou Family and be a child for life, no one will bother you! But as long as you are in front of me, you’d better behave! Apparently, you haven’t heard of my reputation; I even dared to break the leg of the Duke Qiguo’s youngest daughter, let alone you?"
"The first thing I’m teaching you today is, having married into the Song Family, be honest and upright. Don’t stir up trouble. If you don’t cause trouble, I won’t have time to bother with you. But if you try to play tricks in front of me, first ask yourself if your face is thick enough to endure several slaps from me?"
"And ask if your bones are strong enough, can they withstand a beating? If you’re like the Duke Qiguo’s youngest daughter, I advise you to forget it! Otherwise, at your young age, if your face swells, your leg breaks, and you end up with a lingering ailment, what then? Third Young Madam, don’t you think so?"
The room was silent; no one dared to breathe, and only Wang Yongzhu’s voice could be heard.
Little Lady Hou was stunned by the slap, her face first numb, then stinging painfully.
Her first reaction was to cry, then to leap up in anger; she had never suffered such indignity since she was born.
Especially after Wang Yongzhu slapped her and disdainfully wiped her hand clean with a handkerchief and tossed it into the nearby brazier to burn thoroughly, who could tolerate such humiliation?
But just as she moved, Wang Yongzhu’s gaze swept over her, pinning her where she was, not daring to move an inch.
After Wang Yongzhu finished speaking and withdrew her gaze, Little Lady Hou finally dared to let out a sob that had been stuck in her throat.
Soon the room was filled once again with Little Lady Hou’s crying.
Wang Yongzhu frowned slightly and pointed at Maternal Aunt Hou, "Maternal Aunt Hou, I have taken your suggestion and finished guiding the Third Young Madam, and it seems she knows her mistake now. You’d better take her back to reflect properly, as her crying here is giving everyone a headache."
"The Madam is still ill, isn’t this disturbing her rest? If word spreads, wouldn’t it invite more gossip?"
Maternal Aunt Hou didn’t expect Wang Yongzhu to be so unyielding. Previously, she at least spared some regard for Lady Ruan.
But now, she acts without hesitation, using her hands at the slightest provocation?
Unwilling though she was, recalling Wang Yongzhu’s words and the fate of the Duke Qiguo’s youngest daughter, Lady Wang, she couldn’t help but shiver.
Afraid of angering this formidable lady and ending up as her target, her old body couldn’t take it.
Looking around the room, Lady Gao was expressionless, staring at the tea in her hands as if she hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Everyone else had long since hidden their amused expressions, all staring seriously at the lines between the tiles on the floor.
Without help at hand, Maternal Aunt Hou got up, stomped her foot, and had the maid and granny support Little Lady Hou as they left, crestfallen.
