Chapter 250: Just Maintain This Exact Attitude
“Madam, did we truly take the wrong road?” the nanny asked.
Lady Liu lifted the curtain to look out. This was indeed the old Wen residence, but how had it turned into a workshop?
“Have the coachman go ask,” Lady Liu commanded.
The nanny instructed the coachman to inquire at the workshop. The coachman went up to the entrance but didn’t go in, merely shouting from the doorway, “Excuse me, is this Scholar Wen’s home?”
There were currently about a dozen people employed in the workshop, all honest and dutiful women from the village. They were all working at the moment, but upon hearing the shout, they looked toward the entrance.
“Who are you looking for?” Nanny Du stepped forward to size up the coachman, also spotting the horse carriage outside.
The coachman asked again, “Excuse me, is this Scholar Wen’s home?”
Nanny Du nodded. “Yes, who are you looking for?” The workshop belonged to the old lady and was also the Wen family’s property, so this counted as the Eldest Master’s home as well; she wasn’t wrong.
Having received his answer, the coachman ignored Nanny Du, quickly running back to the horse carriage to report to Lady Liu that this was indeed the Wen residence.
Nanny Du’s expression turned somewhat displeased. This person was so utterly lacking in manners. Looking at the person inside the carriage who hadn’t even lifted the curtain, putting on such grand airs, they probably came with ill intent.
Soon the coachman came back again and asked, “Then is Scholar Wen at home?”
This time, Nanny Du didn’t give him a pleasant face, saying directly in a heavy voice, “Not in.” After speaking, she straight up had the people beside her shut the main doors. Their workshop was full of secret recipes; what if they let someone steal a glance?
Having been shut out, the coachman was furious. A mere country crone dared to pull a face at him.
Lady Liu had not expected the Wen family to change so drastically now. And those two new residences over there—when did they move into them? Could some wealthy household have moved into this village?
But she had come back to see the children today; she had to enter the Wen family’s doors, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to see the three children.
After hesitating for a moment, Lady Liu had the nanny and the maidservant support her down.
“Madam, in case they offend you, this old servant won’t be able to account for it to the Master,” the nanny said.
“It’s fine. If he asks, I’ll tell him myself. Let’s alight.” Saying this, Lady Liu stepped down from the horse carriage supported by the maidservant and the old nanny.
Fortunately, people usually didn’t come by the soybean paste workshop, so no one had spotted Lady Liu yet.
Lady Liu had the coachman knock on the door again while she waited at the entrance herself.
After knocking for a long time, Nanny Du’s impatient voice came from inside: “I already told you he’s not in. This is a workshop of ours, not a place just anyone can enter.”
The coachman was about to lose his temper when he was stopped by Lady Liu. They only heard Lady Liu say, “I must trouble you, Auntie, to open the door. I have come back to visit relatives and wish to see the members of the Wen family.”
Behind the door, Nanny Du paused. Looking at the crowd in the courtyard, she ultimately still opened the door. The moment it opened, she saw a glamorous and elegant lady standing at the entrance. Nanny Du didn’t recognize Lady Liu and furrowed her brow slightly. “Who is Madam looking for?”
But once the main doors opened, the people working inside could see outside. Everyone looked at Lady Liu with curiosity. After all, the wealthy ladies from the city dressed so beautifully, yet the more they looked, the more they felt something wasn’t quite right.
“Is this…? This looks like the Liu family daughter?” someone said in a low voice.
Only then did the others realize with a shock why the person looked familiar. It was actually Lady Liu who had returned.
The more they looked, the more it resembled her; it was indeed Lady Liu. A few of them stopped working entirely, wiping their hands dry to watch the excitement at the entrance. Someone directly called out, “Are you… the Liu family daughter? You’ve come back.”
Recognized by the crowd, Lady Liu’s expression turned awkward for a brief instant, but she adjusted quickly, offering a slight smile to that person as she said faintly, “Mm.”
“Oh, it really is Lady Liu.” A few of them laughed.
Yet to Lady Liu, their laughter felt like mockery—mocking her for leaving after the divorce back then. But with that waste Wen Xiuyi, if she hadn’t left, was she supposed to stay here and live a bitter life with him for the rest of her days, or even risk being sold by him?
Thinking up to this point, Lady Liu felt once more that she was not in the wrong. She straightened herself and asked, “Sisters, where have the other members of the Wen family gone? How did this place turn into a workshop?”
Nanny Du listened in utter bewilderment, only finding out from the people around her after asking quietly that this was actually Lady Liu—the Lady Liu who had gone to the capital to enjoy a life of luxury after divorcing the Master.
Now Nanny Du’s expression turned even worse. The Master, the Young Mistress, and the young masters were such wonderful people, and the Old Mistress and Old Master were so kind; how did this Lady Liu find the heart to abandon them? Furthermore, the youngest master was still so little back then.
However, this lady was the birth mother of the Eldest Young Master, the Young Mistress, and the youngest master after all. Nanny Du couldn’t go too far either, so she could only restrain her expression and reply neither humbly nor arrogantly, “This place was converted into a workshop long ago. It is the soybean paste workshop of my family’s Old Mistress and Old Master. Currently, the Old Mistress and Old Master have moved to the new residence over there with the Master and the Young Mistress. Does this Madam wish to pay respects to my family’s Old Mistress?”
Pay respects? This old woman had actually used the phrase “pay respects.” Did that old crone of the Wen family even deserve her respects?
Lady Liu’s hand supported by the maidservant tightened instantly, her fingernails digging deep into the maidservant’s flesh.
The maidservant could only endure the pain completely, not daring to make a sound.
Lady Liu was so choked with anger by Nanny Du’s single sentence that she was speechless. Seeing this, the nanny beside her immediately began to protect her master.
“From where does a wretched servant girl dare to speak to my Madam in this manner? My Master holds a fourth-rank official post; even if your local magistrate comes and meets my Madam, he must be completely courteous. A country woman actually deserves to have my Madam pay respects?”
With this single sharp rebuke, the expressions of the villagers watching the excitement behind Nanny Du turned incredibly complex.
Nanny Du’s expression shifted slightly. A fourth-rank official—wasn’t that a higher official post than the Master’s? Had she caused trouble for the Master?
During the brief moment Nanny Du was lost in thought, a voice full of stamina resounded from not far away.
“Who is it putting on official airs right at my family’s doorstep?”
Upon hearing the voice, everyone turned. Nanny Du even ran over respectfully in a hurry, curtsying. “Old Mistress.”
The one coming was precisely Old Madam Luo, supported by Nanny Du’s peer, Nanny Shi.
Looking at Old Madam Luo walking toward her, Lady Liu’s eyes were filled with astonishment. She naturally recognized this former mother-in-law of hers, but looking at her now, where was there even a single trace left of that sharp-tongued old lady from before?
Old Madam Luo also saw Lady Liu. She cast a few glances at her and said faintly, “You’ve returned.” Her manner was entirely as though she didn’t place Lady Liu in her eyes at all.
Her tone was so indifferent that Lady Liu thought she had misheard. Since she was her former mother-in-law after all, Lady Liu offered a slight bow: “Auntie Wen.”
“Mm,” Old Madam Luo acknowledged faintly, not even bothering to cast another glance at her. Instead, she looked toward the crowd watching the excitement in the workshop and said in a heavy voice, “What are you all doing not working properly?”
Only then did the crowd shrink their necks and quickly head back to work. Old Madam Luo had Nanny Du go attend to her own business, and only then did she look toward Lady Liu, opening her mouth to speak: “Since you’ve come, then come sit at the house.”
After speaking, regardless of whether Lady Liu agreed or not, she let Nanny Shi support her as she turned and walked away.
Only when her back was turned to Lady Liu did Old Madam Luo move the tense muscles on her face, asking Nanny Shi in a low voice, “Is it like this?”
Holding back her laughter, Nanny Shi nodded slightly. “Yes, Old Mistress. You don’t need to concern yourself with anything; just maintain this exact attitude. Right, the Young Mistress had you carry the ruyi jade bestowed by the Empress Dowager on your person. Did you bring it?”
Old Madam Luo felt her chest, where a ruyi jade tied with a red string resided. “I brought it, I brought it. Nanny Shi, can this truly bluff them?”
Nanny Shi replied in a low voice, “Old Mistress, rest assured. This is an imperially bestowed item, not to mention there is also an imperial decree at home. They will not dare to act presumptuously.”
