After Gu Tingye had lost his temper for no reason, he took a detour on the horse to a hundred years-old restaurant, House of Goodness, and brought back a fat braised pork joint with sugar candy. Seeing the praised pork joint with delicious soy sauce smell which was wrapped by the green lotus leaf, Minglan was in a daze with her eyes only fixed on the dish.

Then she couldn’t help but look around, finding there was nobody else around. Then she pounced on the food and took a huge bite on the pork joint. After that, she compared her arm and the pork joint, feeling quite satisfied with a smile on her face; Then she waved her hand and called Xiaotao over to let the latter to bring the pork joint to the kitchen. According to Minglan’s instruction, after the pork joint had been chopped, half of the meat should be left to Mama Ge and other cooks in order to let them learn to cook this dish while the other half should be served at dinner table.

However, Gu Tingye happened to come back from the outer study. When he saw Xiaotao running in the hall with that braised pork joint, he then ordered her to stop. As he came over to look at the dish, his face turned as green as the lotus leaf right away. He saw two rows of teeth marks on the glossy and smooth pork joint. Those were really deep and scary marks.

Well, those marks kind of spoke for themselves.

Then he raised his head to look at the sky, being both angry and amused.

At dinner that night, Minglan glutted herself with the pork joint, being completely overjoyed. She also strongly recommended the dish to her husband. In the meantime, Gu Tingye only looked at her and made no comment with the corner of his mouth curved. Minglan who didn’t notice that only buried herself in the food. This braised dish from a hundred years restaurant really deserved its reputation with an authentic flavour. She even ate up the whole plate of the meat.

As a result, Minglan was suffered from indigestion that night. Being tortured by the stomach distension, she lied on bed and sobbed gently. Gu Tingye, with his hair hanged down loosely, his snow satin rope unbuttoned and his strong chest vaguely exposed, dismissed everyone else. Then he held a cup of medicated leaven tea which could help her digest while coaxing Minglan to drink it up. However, the girl was not able to drink it in.

Gu Tingye was so anxious to see her suffering that he almost wanted to invite the imperial physician. However, Minglan dragged his sleeve and said in a sobbing tone, “If someone else knows that I was stuffed, I, I ,I… I would be so mortified!”

Gu Tingye walked around in the room furiously while reproaching her with a straight face, “You deserve it! How could you eat half of the pork joint at one time! Not a single lady or madam in the capital would be like you!”

Minglan touched her plump belly, sobbing and hiccuping. Now she looked exactly like a stuffed little squirrel. Then she covered her face and wept, feeling aggrieved and humiliated, “… It’s all because you have bitten me.”

Gu Tingye got even more angry and scolded her with his eyes wildly open, “You cowardly bully! Why don’t you have the gut to bite me and stop biting the pork joint!”

Minglan lowered her head in low spirit while disdaining herself secretly.

Because Minglan didn’t feel well lying flat, Gu Tingye could only held her in his arms while leaning against the bedside. As he messaged her belly, he couldn’t help cursing in a low voice. In the meantime, Minglan gradually fell into a sleep. While she was in a trance, she saw the Dong Ding stone censor carved with coiling dragon letting out smokes and heard the man’s heavy heartbeats.

While she was still in a daze, she suddenly felt very secure and at ease.

The next day before the daybreak, Gu Tingye got up early to go to work. When he was about to get off the bed, he suddenly felt something was dragging his collar. Then he lowered his head and saw a jade-like small hand dragging his robe. Due to the little tightening of her grip on his robe, her transparent fingernails turned a bit pink, looking like the tender and soft petals of the begonia bud.

Perhaps only until the midnight had she stopped feeling ill, now she was in a deep sleep. There was only calmness on her pretty and rosy cheeks. Gu Tingye suddenly had this indescribable delightful feeling. Having lowered his head and kissed on that chubby fist, he took off his clothes cautiously and left quietly.

Only after the day had been breaking did Minglan yawned and got up from the bed. Suddenly she found a robe which had the man’s scent in her hand, which made her get dazed. Danju looked at the robe and then at Minglan’s face, then she couldn’t help saying with a smile, “My lady, Master really treats… you very very good.”

After Minglan had been in a trance for a second, she, being in a loss, smiled and said, “That’s right.”

After days of works, the yards and the gardens were all started to look presentable. Minglan then began to prepare the feast for opening the mansion. Someone from Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion also came here to ask if she needed any help.

As Minglan who had been working her head off saw Xiang Mama who had been sent by Old Madam Qin arriving here, she then asked unreservedly for servants, the menu of the feasts which had been held in Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion over these years as well as the tables, the chairs, the drinking vessels, etc.

Mama Xiang rogered all of Minglan’s requests with a smile. After that day, Mama Fang kept shuttling between Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion and Commander Gu’s mansion. Then, as time went by, she and Minglan would chat with each other from time to time.

“… So, Lady Tingyan wasn’t in the capital over the past few years?” Minglan asked that smilingly with a cup of cold medlar herb tea in her hands– Old Madam He was the one who had given the formula of the tea. Come to think about it, Minglan had never met Gu Tingyan yet, the eldest illegal daughter of Old Master Gu.

“That’s right.” Mama Xiang took a sip of the tea and raised her head, saying, “Feng family is also a scholar-gentry family. Lady Tingyan’s husband is taking office in Fujian province. So Lady Tingyan has followed him there.”

Minglan was drinking her tea with her head lowered. Suddenly she raised her head and said with a smile, “Mama, please don’t find me ridiculous. We have talked about Lady Tingyan for so long and I still don’t know if she is older or younger than me.”

With a light flashing in Mama Xiang’s eyes, she answered. “Lady Tingyan is four months older than Second Master.”

“Then I should call her eldest sister-in-law.” Minglan reminded of something while still putting on that beaming smile on her face– Gu Tingyan’s blood mother was a concubine who had already passed away. First Old Madam Qin had held back a trick after all.

“Have you already drawn up the guest lists, Second Madam?” Mama Xiang asked tentatively, “Anything you don’t understand, please feel free to ask Old Madam Qin so as not to neglect Gu’s relatives.”

Minglan put down the tea cup and then put her hands on her knees slightly, looking very elegant. Then she chuckled and said, “Mama, you are right. I was also afraid that I wasn’t being considerate enough. So I have already asked the mama in charge who works for eldest sister-in-law to send me a list of our close relatives … However, Commander Gu said that things were very complicated in the Imperial Court, so we better keep a low key. And I decided to invite only a few of the relatives and friends.”

With Mama Xiang’s eyes fluttering, she said with a smile, “Second Master’s words are always reasonable.” Then she paused and continued, “Second Madam, I wonder if you are satisfied with the servants who are sent here? Old Madam Qin, Fourth Old Madam and Fifth Old Madam all sent the most reliable servants to your mansion.”

Minglan chuckled gently and said, “They are fine, they are fine.” Then she made a gesture to Danju. After that, Danju brought a booklet to them right away. Minglan showed a few pages to Mama Xiang. See what was written on those pages, the look on Mama Xiang’s face changed immediately.

Minglan said in a flat tone, “It’s not a big deal. As the saying goes, the orange is an orange in Huainan area and becomes a trifoliate orange in Huaibei area. Maybe I am not a virtuous madam for them and can’t not hold them in awe.”

…

“Those were exactly her words?” In the quiet inner room, Old Madam Qin sat upright in front of the niche for Buddha with a string of Buddha beads in her hand.

Mama Xiang said in a low voice, “The people we sent there are good-for-nothing. It has just been a few days, she has already had so many things on them, such as gabbling, pocketing a portion of the maids’ wages, sending something out of the mansion… Their mistakes were written down clearly with their fingerprints underneath. There was even someone witness the recording procedure. I was terribly frightened when seeing that booklet.”

The room was next to the flower nursery. A whiff of faint fragrance came into the room through the window. Old Madam Qin asked with her eyebrows knitted, “You have gone to their mansion very frequently. What do you think of her work?”

“I’m afraid she is a woman with lots of methods.” Mama Xiang used a jade clamp to stir the fire ashes in the censor while saying in a low voice, “I have inquired about her in private. Although Second Madam looks genial and easygoing, she has set many strict rules. All the maids in her main yard were assigned different duties. Every hours of every day, there will be a form registering the person on duty on every position. The person who take turns shall never make jokes or play with others. Especially the main room and the inner room of Second Madam, anyone unauthorized is not allowed to come in. There are someone guarding the door of those rooms all the time. Other people could only stay ten steps away from the door, including the maids who live in the same yard.”

“Mama Diao also told me that,” Mama Xiang recalled, “Her daughter, Chunyue, oh, who used to call Mingyue, has been punished twice over these days. The first time was because she had broken into the main room on her own. The second time was because she had wandered for a long time outside of the room. Now Chunyue has already been kicked out of the main yard.”

Old Madam Qin suddenly opened her eyes with a smile showing on her face, “She’s so clever. After all she is a lady from a marquis’s family.”

Mama Xiang shook her head and said, “She keeps strictly the rules for reward and punishment and always stands by her words. Her rewards are always generous and her punishments are fierce. Every time she punished someone, she could find a right cause. Anyone who denied their mistakes will receive harsher punishment, so will the person who shifts the blame to others. As for the ones who make venial faults, they will be given a light sentence. During this period of time, all the people in their mansion, from the mamas in charge to the scullions, all respected her a lot. Her mansion looks like an iron fence where no one can come in or come out. Even prying about something from that place is very hard. Alas… I’m afraid I cannot get any information from there anymore. Gosh, I never realized that an illegal daughter at such a young age will be that capable and imposing!”

With the look on Old Madam Qin’s face gradually turned stern, she snorted and said, “I thought I have taken in a sheep, it turns out… Huh, how’s the couple getting along with each other?”

“It’s hard to say.” Mama Xiang said in hesitation, “Sometimes they were deeply attached to each other, but they also quarreled with each other from time to time. Sometimes the sound of Second Master’s curse would even come out from their room. Yesterday he lost his temper to the maids around Second Madam. But I couldn’t find out about the details… But, I heard that Second Master told anything to Second Madam. She can even enter the inner and outer study.”

Hearing her words, Old Madam Qin frowned. The knuckles of her hand which was holding the Buddha beads turned a bit pale. She asked, “Is she pregnant?”

“Of course not.” Mama Xiang gave out a wry smile, saying, “Before Chunyue was kicked out, she has just washed the… But even during these days, Second Master still stayed in her room.”

After saying that, Old Madam Qin stopped asking and only closed her eyes to rest her mind. Meanwhile, Mama Xiang stood quietly beside her. After a long while, Old Madam Qin suddenly opened her eyes. She chuckled and said, “Now I start to admire a person.”

“Who are you referring to?”

“Her father, Sheng Hong.” Old Madam Qin patted her knees while saying with a smile, “At that time, I couldn’t understand how he dared to marry his legal daughter to Wen family and marry his illegal daughter to our family. Now I see him as a very sensible man.”

“Then what should we do?” Mama Xiang asked anxiously, “Ever since Second Master knew about what had happened in the past, he has holding grudges against us.”

“What do you mean by saying that?” Old Madam Qin smiled at ease, saying, “We don’t need to do anything. We didn’t kill Bai shi. He would never vent his anger on me! My fourth and fifth brother-in-law should be more anxious than me. I am Gu Tingye’s mother in name. As long as I don’t make any mistakes, no one could do anything to me. Take it easy! Wait and see my fourth and fifth brother-in-law making a scene in the future!”

“Then why did you make troubles for her over and over again?” Mama Xiang asked confusedly, “Isn’t it better to coax her and let her trust and respect you?”

Old Madam Qin started to fiddle with the Buddha beads in her hands slowly, saying, “She is an illegal daughter who have no guts to disobey her husband. Tingye has already been on guard against me. The kinder I am toward them, the more skeptical he would get. So why don’t I go with their thoughts and make some troubles for them? That’ll actually make them feel at ease.”

“Then… what about next?” Mama Xiang asked in hesitation.

After Old Madam Qin had put the Buddha beads on the table cautiously, she faced the statue of Goddess Guanyin and saying smilingly, “I’m her mother-in-law. Do I need to pick a time to find fault with her? There’s no rush to do that. Now she is only favored by Tingye because she’s young and pretty. Let’s wait for a while first and then make some plans.”