The Wife Is First

Chapter 33

Ch33 - Position

It wasn’t until two days later that the North Marchioness realized, from the veiled congratulations of the many Duchesses and Marchionesses who dropped by to visit the North Marquis’s residence, that the entire capital knew about it! She was extremely angry, but powerless to do anything. She could only call the third wife to come before her and scold her fiercely.

　　

“Elder sister, this cannot be blamed on me alone!” The third wife sobbed and wailed in a slightly sharp voice, “Was it not because I was happy for Suzhi? I only talked about it with the few maidservants by my side; not to mention, there were several people present on that day, not just me! Why am I the one being blamed?” 

　　

“You still dare to say that! I made it clear so many times that day not to disclose anything publicly for the time being; even if one is confident in one’s success, there are still “what ifs”! You’re really good: once you went out, you just started talking, as if you were afraid other people wouldn’t know about it!” The North Marchioness trembled with anger. Whether they succeeded in this matter or not, she would certainly lose face. The North Marchioness was afraid that if the Empress caught wind of this, she would feel that the North Marquis’s household was superficial, and thus dislike Suzhi, which might actually cause this matter to fall through.

The third wife (wife of the third brother of the North Marquis) stopped crying when she heard this and her face immediately became cold. “Sister-in-law, even if I wasn’t right in this matter, you still shouldn’t use such a tone to lecture me!” There was no distinction (in rank) between the wives of brothers. She just could not bear to see how pleased Lady Du looked. Her own husband was also a son of the old Marquis; how come Suzhi could marry a prince, but her daughter couldn’t?

　　

Besides the squabbling within the North Marquis household, when the young lady of the Mao Dukedom entered the imperial palace again after a few days, the Marquis’s household really became chaotic. It turned out that the embroidered purse which the Empress had given her was filled with jade tablets for entering the palace.

“The North Marquis’s bastard is already married to Cheng Wang – now they also want to marry their daughter to the fourth prince. How can there be such good fortune in the world?” Duchess Mao said to the Countess of Yongchang. 

　　

“Isn’t it because she’s afraid the bastard is too smart and will threaten the heir, that she’s rushing to marry her daughter off ? Now it’s good; she’s lifted up a rock and dropped it on her own foot!” The Countess of Yongchang said with a smile, “Our two families will become even closer in the future.”

“That’s just the way it is; in the future there will be even more reasons to go to your place and play mahjong!” Duchess Mao also laughed along. The Count of Yongchang was the Empress’s younger brother from the same mother. If Duchess Mao’s young lady married the fourth prince, the two families would be tied closely together. 

　　　　　　

Today, the Marchioness of Dingnan had invited the wives of the officials to come and appreciate her peonies, which had bloomed.

　　

The Marchioness of Dingnan smiled and said, “She has many things to do in her household, so I didn’t call her over today.” Knowing that they were curious for any information on the Second Prince, the Marchioness of Dingnan didn’t intend to say too much about her family’s affairs and changed the subject after a few sentences.