Was he going to officially take Zheng Shu as a concubine?

Although Xiao Qiao hadn’t been in the Wei family for long, she knew from the second day that the servants in the eastern wing regarded Zheng Shu as Wei Shao’s concubine.

In other words, although Zheng Shu hadn’t officially moved to the western wing, it was only a matter of time.

Wei Shao taking Zheng Shu as a concubine was certainly not a beneficial thing for Xiao Qiao. But given the current situation, it couldn’t be considered a great loss either, except that it might make her, a newly married wife of less than three months, lose some face.

However, her current situation was already much better than she had initially anticipated. She should be content. Besides, given that her opinion didn’t matter anyway, was there any need to pour cold water on a man’s enthusiasm for taking a concubine? That would be working against her interests.

“Is that so? That’s wonderful,” Xiao Qiao smiled and turned around. “I knew about you and Zheng Shu just a couple of days after I arrived. At the time, I was surprised to see her still living in the eastern wing. Has it been decided now? Have you chosen a date? I’ll start preparing the room tomorrow. By the way, I think the room in the eastern wing across the courtyard is quite nice. It’s spacious, has good feng shui, and is fully equipped with a bathroom and side rooms. You can take a look tomorrow. If it’s suitable, I’ll start decorating. Whatever we have here, that room will certainly not lack.”

The room across the courtyard in the eastern wing was indeed quite nice. The best part was that it was somewhat distant from her room, with an inner door between them.

Xiao Qiao finished speaking and looked at him with a smile. Seeing him just staring at her expressionlessly, without any reaction, her smile gradually faded. Finally, she hesitated and tentatively asked, “What’s wrong? Are you unsatisfied with the arrangements?”

…

Wei Shao stared at Xiao Qiao, watching her happy expression, and suddenly felt somewhat disinterested.

…

He had no interest in sleeping with Zheng Chu Yu, nor did he want to ruin his cousin’s future because of himself. Previously, when Madam Zhu had been pressuring him, he had simply ignored it and didn’t feel any guilt. Unexpectedly, tonight Madam Zhu suddenly changed her approach, which made Wei Shao feel somewhat conflicted.

Wei Shao understood his mother, knowing that she had limited vision, tended to overthink things, and indeed lacked the air of a noble family. He also didn’t believe that his grandmother was deliberately making things difficult for her as she claimed. But no matter what, she was still his mother. He always remembered her kindness towards him. He harbored deep feelings for this widowed mother, and in his bones, he was indeed a filial son.

Just now in the eastern room, of all the things Madam Zhu had said – complaining about his grandmother, reporting on his new wife, and so on – the only thing that touched his heart was when she spoke of her daily loneliness, with only Zheng Chu Yu to keep her company and ease her boredom.

He was often away, fighting battles every few days. Having chosen this path, he couldn’t turn back, and he didn’t know when it would end. With weapons being unpredictable, he might lose his life like his father and brother any day. His grandmother and mother were estranged. This newly married wife was not going to be liked by his mother. If Zheng Chu Yu could replace him by being filial to his mother and making her happy, taking her as a concubine was just a small matter for him.

It was with this hesitation that he returned to the western room. As soon as he entered, he saw that she had fallen asleep again. On the surface, she seemed respectful to him, but in reality, she didn’t take him, her husband, seriously at all.

Wei Shao, in his twenty-some years of life, never knew that he could be such a petty and calculative person. When it came to this newly married daughter of the Qiao family, he didn’t know why, but when he wanted to ignore her, she always seemed to be around. When he looked at her, he found everything about her displeasing, except for her passable face. There was hardly anything about her that he found satisfactory. He didn’t know where this sullen feeling came from, but after getting into bed and remembering his mother’s complaints about her, he couldn’t help but confront her, wanting to remind her that his mother, her mother-in-law, should not be taken lightly.

As a result, she gave him a very sufficient reason, saying that she didn’t know how to cook.

It was simply inconceivable.

In those days, even daughters from noble families like his grandmother, who wouldn’t need to cook personally after marriage, received basic culinary training before getting married. Yet she boldly claimed that she didn’t know how to cook. What’s more, after hearing this and seeing her pitiful look, although he suspected she was putting on an act for him, he found himself at a loss for words. He couldn’t beat her, couldn’t scold her, and just felt helpless, his heart growing even more depressed. Remembering the teasing about having children in front of the longevity hall earlier that day, he couldn’t help but blurt out that he was going to take Zheng Chu Yu as a concubine.

Wei Shao hadn’t made a final decision on this matter. Even if he had, he had no intention of mentioning it to her.

But the words had already been said.

…

“Husband?” Xiao Qiao saw his strange expression and called out to him softly again.

Wei Shao came back to his senses and glanced at her: “Ignorant of cooking, sitting improperly, completely lacking in wifely virtues, yet in this matter of not being jealous, you’re quite virtuous.”

His tone was very calm as if he was just chatting with her. But the meaning behind his words was clear.

The “sitting improperly” Wei Shao mentioned had happened a few days ago.

In the afternoon, Wei Shao never returned to the room. Yesterday afternoon, Xiao Qiao and Chun Niang were in the room, with Chun Niang doing needlework and Xiao Qiao helping her draw patterns. With no one else around, she had stretched out her legs on the couch for comfort. Unfortunately, Wei Shao happened to come in at that moment. Xiao Qiao quickly pulled her legs back, but it was too late, he had already seen.

At the time, he had only glanced at her indifferently without saying anything, took what he needed, and left. Chun Niang felt both guilty for not teaching Xiao Qiao properly and worried. Relieved that he hadn’t said anything, she calmed down a bit, but then repeatedly warned Xiao Qiao never to sit like that again.

Xiao Qiao had thought Wei Shao didn’t care about this. She didn’t expect that he had remembered it and was now bringing it up to criticize her.

This way of sitting with legs stretched out, which seems ordinary to modern people, was considered highly improper at that time. Hundreds of years ago, Mencius’s wife was caught sitting like this alone at home by Mencius, who immediately went to his mother saying he wanted to divorce her. When his mother asked why, the sage simply said one word: “Improper sitting.” This shows how serious the matter was.

Hearing him bring up old grievances, Xiao Qiao lowered her head and said softly, “I know my wifely virtues are lacking, but not being jealous is both my duty and comes from my heart.”

Wei Shao let out a scoffing laugh: “From your tone, it seems I should consider myself fortunate to have married such a virtuous wife as you?”

“Being able to marry into the Wei family as a wife is my good fortune,” she said.

The room fell silent.

Wei Shao was suddenly at a loss for words.

He also felt that he had said too much to her tonight. This went beyond his original intention.

“Alright, let’s sleep. It’s late,” he finally said after glancing at her again.

Xiao Qiao made a sound of agreement, blew out the lamp, and this time crawled back into bed, finally settling down to sleep properly.

…

The next morning, while Xiao Qiao was still asleep, she vaguely sensed movement beside her. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw that Wei Shao seemed to be getting up.

But outside it was still pitch dark, and candles were lit in the room, so it was probably just past the fourth watch (around 3-5 AM).

Xiao Qiao suppressed her extreme reluctance and forced open her sticky eyelids, yawning as she prepared to get up with him. At this moment, she heard him say near her ear, “It’s still early. I have to go out on business. You can keep sleeping.”

Xiao Qiao relaxed and immediately fell back onto her pillow with her eyes closed.

Wei Shao glanced at her, lifted the quilt, and got off the bed. He stood outside, putting on his clothes piece by piece. Finally dressed, and ready to leave, he unconsciously turned his head to look at Xiao Qiao on the bed again.

She had already tucked her head under the corner of the quilt, with only her crow-black cloud of hair visible.

Wei Shao hesitated, then turned around, leaned over the bed, raised his hand, and gently knocked on the bed frame.

Xiao Qiao was woken up again, finally pulled down the quilt from her head, and slowly opened her eyes to see Wei Shao with one leg on the edge of the bed, his upper body leaning over, looking at her.

“Husband… what is it?” Xiao Qiao rubbed her eyes, still not fully awake.

“I thought about it last night, and taking Chu Yu as a concubine is still not appropriate. I don’t have time to go over today, so as my wife, you go on my behalf and tell my mother,” Wei Shao said. After finishing, he twitched the corner of his mouth in a forced smile and turned to leave.

Xiao Qiao was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses, and the sleepiness was instantly driven away.

What did he mean? One moment he’s taking a concubine, the next he’s not. Not taking one is fine, but isn’t this just sending her to suffer at the hands of his mother in the eastern room again?

…

When Wei Shao finished preparing and left, his mood seemed good, and his steps were quite light.

Xiao Qiao, however, was not feeling well at all.

When he left, it wasn’t even the fifth watch yet, and the sky hadn’t brightened. After he left, Chun Niang came in to extinguish the lamp for Xiao Qiao.

The spring night was perfect for sleeping, especially now that there was no one occupying her space on the bed, she could sleep however she wanted.

But once Wei Shao left, she couldn’t fall asleep.

She lay with her eyes open until daybreak, finally getting up. After washing up, Chun Niang saw her absent-minded state and at first thought, she had displeased Marquis Wei again. But then she remembered that when the Marquis left in the morning, his expression was the best she had seen in days, so there shouldn’t be any problem. She asked Xiao Qiao what was wrong.

Xiao Qiao told Chun Niang about the great reversal regarding Wei Shao taking a concubine that had occurred in the short span of one night. Finally, with a dejected face, she threw herself into Chun Niang’s arms: “Wei Shao is doing this on purpose. He knows his mother doesn’t like me, yet he’s making me go refuse the concubine on his behalf…”

“My dear!” Chun Niang was startled and quickly covered her mouth. “How can you casually call out the Marquis’s name like that? Be careful someone might hear!”

At that time, it was indeed improper to casually use someone’s given name. Unless it was an elder, only enemies or rivals would directly call someone by their name, as a sign of disrespect or insult.

Xiao Qiao closed her mouth.

Chun Niang’s face, however, showed joy: “The Marquis not taking Zheng Shu as a concubine is a great thing. Why isn’t my lady happy? As for refusing Madam…”

She thought for a moment, then leaned close to Xiao Qiao’s ear and whispered something.

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

It was all because of Wei Shao (repeat a thousand times here), from the first day they met, he was either scowling or mocking her or interrogating her like a criminal. Every moment living with him, she was on edge, carefully responding, fearing that the next second she would unknowingly offend the young master Wei again. This is why her mind became muddled, and she even forgot about the great Buddha that was Madam Xu in the north room.

Xiao Qiao’s mood immediately improved, and she hurriedly changed her clothes to go over.

Yesterday was the birthday celebration, so Madam Xu should have been tired, but she still got up very early this morning.

Perhaps to avoid encountering her daughter-in-law Madam Zhu too often, Madam Xu had long ago exempted Madam Zhu from the morning greeting ritual. If at home, Madam Zhu only came to pay respects on the first and fifteenth of each month. So when Xiao Qiao went over, she didn’t encounter Madam Zhu.

She asked a servant to announce her arrival and waited briefly in the corridor outside. Almost immediately, she was called in.

Madam Xu, who went to bed early and rose early, had a very regular lifestyle. She looked to be in good spirits. Dressed in casual home attire, she sat on a low couch, drinking millet porridge. On the small table in front of her were a few dishes of sauce and pickles. Her meal was simple, and the utensils were coarse pottery, clean, and with an ancient, unadorned style.

Xiao Qiao knelt to pay her respects. Madam Xu asked her to rise and instructed Maid Zhong to add another set of bowls and chopsticks, inviting Xiao Qiao to dine with her.