Li Guangshu was stunned by the slap. For an instant, his eyes were fierce, but realizing the person before him was his mother, he restrained himself and lowered his head: “Mother, please calm your anger.”
“Calm my anger?” The old lady took another quick step back to sit down and said coldly, “You’ve been away for five years, and you return with a beautiful child and lovely concubine, yet you still have the face to ask me to calm my anger? I think you want to anger me to death!”
“Mother, Hao Ge’er is your grandson—” Li Guangshu was quite puzzled.
The mother in his memory, who had been kind and humorous, seemed to have become a stranger in his eyes.
“What nonsense are you spouting? If Hao Ge’er isn’t my grandson, is he my father?” The old lady was furious and rolled her eyes.
Li Guangshu opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a single word.
Since mother had said this much, what else could he say?
He had thought his mother would be overjoyed to see Hao Ge’er, since after all, Hao Ge’er was the only grandchild of his branch of the family.
“Beast, I ask you, why didn’t you write home when you took a concubine?” Old Madam Deng asked sternly.
Liu Shi wrung her handkerchief tightly, her gaze like knives, staring at the man kneeling on the floor.
This was her husband, whom she had thought about day and night, yearned for constantly, yet what she had waited for was this scene.
Her heart was broken; she wished she were dead.
“Your son thought that concubines and bed-warmers weren’t worth mentioning…”
“Then what about Hao Ge’er? The child is already three years old, so why wasn’t he mentioned in any of your family letters?” Old Madam Deng pressed further.
The aggressive tone in the old lady’s voice made Li Guangshu somewhat uncomfortable.
He frowned and said with lowered eyes: “The environment in Lingnan is treacherous; many children die young. Your son was afraid that if I told you too early and something unfortunate happened, it would only cause unnecessary grief. Not long ago, your son received orders to return to the capital and originally wanted to give his mother a surprise—”
Old Madam Deng laughed coldly: “Surprise? You’ve angered me to death, where’s the surprise?”
Li Guangshu lowered his head and remained silent.
He hadn’t expected that upon finally returning to the home he’d been separated from for so long, before even drinking a cup of hot tea, he would completely lose face.
“Second son, I ask you, how do you plan to account to your wife?” Old Madam Deng pointed at Second Madam Liu Shi.
Before Li Guangshu could answer, Old Madam Deng pointed toward the Li Yan sisters: “How young were your two daughters when you left? They haven’t seen their father for a full five years! After returning, you keep calling ‘Hao Ge’er’ this and that—where does that leave them?”
Fourth Miss Li Yan bit her lip, her face pale as snow.
Sixth Miss Li Chan was still young. First she had eagerly awaited her father’s return, only to have her parents fighting at the family gate. After all these events, how could she bear it? Hearing Old Madam Deng’s words, she immediately covered her mouth and sobbed.
“Stop crying, what’s the use of crying?” Liu Shi glared at Li Chan.
Old Madam Deng glanced at her: “Enough, don’t take your anger out on the children.”
Li Guangshu’s gaze fell on his two daughters, showing some paternal love: “Mother, please don’t be angry anymore. I’ve wronged Liu Shi, and I’ll apologize to her.”
Li Guangshu stood up and bowed to Liu Shi: “I did wrong and should have informed my wife beforehand. Please forgive me.”
Liu Shi laughed coldly without speaking.
Did he take her for one of those women who swallowed their anger in silence? Who would forget all the bastard things a man did just because he said a few nice words?
Hah, if apologies worked, could she wear a green hat and then apologize?
“Does master mean that simply notifying me would have been enough?”
Li Guangshu paused, looked at Liu Shi with displeasure, and said indifferently: “Liu Shi, you know that I’ve been in Lingnan for many years and always need someone to take care of me.”
Liu Shi bit her lower lip until it turned white.
As newlyweds, loving for many years, this man had always called her by her given name “Yingying,” but now she only got an emotionless “Liu Shi.”
Liu Shi lowered her eyes, laughing madly and coldly in her heart.
In his eyes, she could be Liu Shi, Li Shi, Wang Shi—anyone but “Yingying” anymore.
“I remember that Yuanyang and Qingluan were sent to accompany you.” Liu Shi squeezed these words out through gritted teeth.
Yuanyang and Qingluan were her dowry maids. When Li Guangshu was posted away, she had stayed awake for three full days and nights before making the decision to let the two maids accompany him.
She didn’t want other women to touch her man, but she also knew a man not yet thirty couldn’t be away for years without a woman to serve him. Rather than have him eventually bewitched by wild flowers outside, it was better to personally select reliable maids for him.
To prevent any one person from becoming too powerful, she had sent two maids at once. Even so, she hadn’t explicitly said to take them as bed-warmers.
To the man she loved, she couldn’t bring herself to say it—it would be more painful than killing her.
Deep in her heart, she even had an impossible hope: what if he was willing to endure for her sake? As long as she didn’t say it explicitly, there was still hope, wasn’t there?
At that time, this man had indeed said to put her at ease, that he wouldn’t place his heart on the two maids.
Now thinking back, she could only laugh coldly.
He hadn’t placed his heart on the two maids, but he hadn’t kept it on her either.
Such a charming, absolutely beautiful woman—seeing her only made Liu Shi feel cold all over. Any dignity or authority as the legitimate wife became useless at that moment. All she could do was fight desperately with this man.
How could he be so cruel, bringing back such a woman!
Such a woman was enough to destroy any woman’s confidence and reserve, regardless of status.
“Yuanyang and Qingluan couldn’t adapt to Lingnan’s climate and died of illness one after another.” Li Guangshu said indifferently.
Liu Shi closed her eyes.
All dead, so there was full justification for taking a concubine. But she had kept the empty room for five years—didn’t she have reason to stray?
How unfair this world was to women!
Old Madam Deng grabbed her teacup and smashed it at Li Guangshu’s feet: “Beast, you continue kneeling!”
While kneeling, Li Guangshu was puzzled: Why was he being made to kneel again? Was this his birth mother? He might have entered a fake Li residence.
Old Madam Deng looked at Li Guangshu, who had knelt again and laughed coldly in anger: “This is how you account to your wife? An apology and that’s it?”
What else? Li Guangshu didn’t dare ask aloud but questioned inwardly.
“Hao Ge’er is still young anyway. From today on, he’ll be given to your wife to raise. That Bing Niang will live in the West Side Courtyard from now on and isn’t allowed out to be an eyesore!” Old Madam Deng decisively made the decision.
Liu Shi had been injured giving birth to Sixth Miss and could no longer conceive. Although Hao Ge’er was a bastard son, he was still young and didn’t understand things. If raised well now, he would be no different from her child in the future.
As for Bing Niang, with such natural beauty, for their small household, it might not be an auspicious sign.
“Old Madam (Mother)!” Li Guangshu and Liu Shi shouted in unison.
“What?” Old Madam Deng directly ignored her scumbag son and looked at her daughter-in-law.
“I don’t want to raise him!”
Li Guangshu breathed a sigh of relief, his expression much more relaxed: “Mother, Bing Niang is a county magistrate’s daughter and was properly taken as a concubine by your son. At that time, I promised her that any children she bore would be raised by her.”
Hearing this, Liu Shi’s heart turned completely cold.
Her not wanting to raise the child and not being allowed to raise him were two different things!
“Is Bing Niang from an official family?” A girl’s indifferent voice suddenly rang out.