To Be A Virtuous Wife

80

The Duke of Chang De held a teacup for fifteen minutes. Looking at the silent door leading to the hall, it stirred up memories of the cold receptions he had received in other homes. He had endured it then. Now that he was at his daughter's place, he still had to sit on the bench. His face instantly darkened and he heavily slammed the teacup to one side, ranting: "I've raised such a good daughter. When her own father comes, she still acts like a wang fei. It was a waste raising her all those years!"

Liang Hong's heart jumped. He looked at the servants in the room who didn't react at all. He appeased: "Yifu, Duan wang fei has to take care of such a wang fu. She wouldn't be as free as she was before her marriage. We've only just arrived, don't be angry. If Duan wang fei heard what you said, she would be hurt."

"What does she have to be hurt about? After she'd married wang ye, she's never even seriously looked at her father. She came to my birthday banquet and threw a tantrum in front of the whole fu," When the Duke of Chang De thought about the contents in Tian Jin Ke's censure memorandum, his face flushed, "How is she my daughter? From the looks of it, she shouldn't be named Qu. She should've been named Tian!"

Liang Hong listened as his words became increasingly nasty and felt frantic inside. Right now, they had come to ask for aid, not to throw around their temper. How yifu had treated Duan Wang Fei these years, he had personally seen it. If wang feiwas willing to help, that would be a blessing from the Heavens. But yifuhad to maintain the face of an elder. If wang fei saw, even if Duan wang fei's personality was gentle, she wouldn't stand for yifu's attitude.

He was anxious but didn't dare say more in case he provoked yifu to get even nastier. He carefully looked at the servants in the room. These people were like statues. No matter how nasty yifu's words were, they didn't even move an inch. It was as though he and yifu didn't even exist. The conduct of these servants made Liang Hong feel the strictness of the protocol of the wang fu.

"Duke Qu, are you angry because this fu's tea and pastries aren't suited for your appetite?" Xiao Gan Zi asked scornfully as he came in with a lower-ranked taijian into the hall. He glared furiously at the yahuan serving in the hall, admonishing: "Useless beings! Remember what kind of place this is. You don't even know how to serve people. Go switch Duke Qu's tea!"

Liang Hong hurriedly interjected: "This gonggong is too courteous. The tea and pastries are all good. There's no need to trouble anyone." How could he not detect that this taijianwas pointing at the mulberry but swearing at the locust tree? But they had come here to seek aid. Furthermore, the pattern on the robe of this taijian was different to that of a normal taijian. His position in the fuwouldn't be low. The saying was that "the gatekeeper of the Prime Minister's gate was a fourth-pinofficial." How could he even dare to offend the taijian who had some status in the wang fu?

Xiao Gan Zi turned to look at the young person in front of him. He mockingly raised his hands in a fist to Liang Hong as he said: "This gongzimust be Duke Qu's son. This one greets you two."

"I don't dare receive gonggong's greeting. This student is Liang Hong, and yifu's nephew." Liang Hong returned a bow and tried to hand a pouch to Xiao Gan Zi.

"Liang gong zi doesn't have to be this courteous. This one is insignificant and doesn't dare to take gong zi's gift," Xiao Gan Xi unhesitatingly pushed aside Liang Hong's pouch, "Please sit, our wang fei will be here shortly."

"Hong'er, sit down. Today, I'm going to see when this good daughter of mine will arrive. I've waited this long and she's just sent a taijian to brush us off. Once she became a wang fei, her airs have become arrogant enough that she won't even attend to her own father." The Duke of Chang De impatiently looked at Xiao Gan Zi and Liang Hong, his actions and tone of voice showing just how much he looked down upon this taijian named Xiao Gan Zi.