Chapter Eighty-Two: Shame and Humiliation

according to her taste. The interior decoration was similar to her boudoir at her parents' home.Wei Rui Xuan's maidservant, upon seeing this, revealed a look of unbearable distress. She muttered in a...Meng Jinyao originally thought that women shouldn't make things difficult for other women. The biggest problem was Gu Xiuming, and she didn't want to make things difficult for Li Waner.

However, she didn't want to make things difficult for others, but they could use Gu Xiuming to annoy her. With this conversation, it seemed like she couldn't get over Gu Xiuming and resented Li Wan'er, which is why she was being difficult.

Heaven and earth as my witness, if she truly wanted to make things difficult for Li Wan'er, the moment Li Wan'er entered the mansion and learned she lived in the main house of Qingyu Xuan, she should have summoned her and reprimanded her. There was no need to wait until now.

She narrowed her eyes, glancing coldly at Li Wan'er, and said in a flat tone: "The only ones who are qualified to be called my mother are my son Gu Xuming, or the legitimate wife of the Crown Prince. Not my son's concubine."

She paused for a moment, then said to Ningdong beside her: "Ningdong, tell Li's wife how the young master's concubine should address herself in front of elders, and how she should address the masters in the house, so that she won't make a mistake next time."

Ning Dong responded, looking at Li Wan'er and saying slowly, "Li shi should address herself as '妾' before the madam. Only a future concubine of the Duke has the qualification to call herself '兒媳'. As for how the other masters and servants in the house are addressed, Li shi should follow suit. While a concubine is half a master, she is also half a servant. Li shi may not be familiar with these matters because of her previous environment, so I won't fault you for ignorance. However, please remember this from now on and avoid any further mistakes."

Li Wan'er's face turned pale upon hearing this. She finally understood why the atmosphere had been strange after she, following Xiu Ming's lead, called Gu Lao Fu "grandmother" and referred to herself as his "granddaughter-in-law". It turned out they were all secretly ridiculing her.

Xiu Ming's older brother said the night before last that even if she were a concubine, she was the only wife in his heart, his only woman, and the daughter-in-law of the Gu family. As long as she gave birth to the eldest grandson of the third house, the elders would be happy and wouldn't care about what happened in the past. Their child would later be the crown prince and inherit the title.

Now, she has become a laughingstock.

Although she lost both her parents at a young age, her grandfather loved her dearly. The neighbors were all kind and simple people who felt sorry for her being orphaned at such a young age. Her grandfather worked hard weaving bamboo baskets to support them, and they lived simply but without hardship. Everyone was very considerate towards the two of them.

Over the past fifteen years, I have suffered two major humiliations. The first was a month ago when I was brought back by the Gu family and humiliated in front of Meng Jinyang and Changxing Hou. And today is another one, being laughed at by everyone in the Gu family.

After today's events, the people in Gu's family might laugh at her whenever they see her. They might ridicule her for being arrogant and out of touch with her own status.

Because of shallow and ignorant jokes.

She felt ashamed and embarrassed.

That indescribable sense of shame swept over her like a tidal wave, as if crushing her completely. Her limbs turned to jelly, and she felt unsteady on her feet. Thankfully, a maidservant attending to her was there in time to support her feeble form.

Meng Jinyáo saw Li Wan'er's face as pale as paper, two lines of clear tears streaming down her cheeks, crying silently. The fifteen-year-old girl's emotions were easily apparent, her expression showing the humiliation and distress, wishing she could find a hole to hide in. She didn't say another word, simply took her maidservant's hand and left.

On the way back to Huìruí Pavilion, Níngdōng couldn't help but say spitefully: "Madam, that Li shì is really irritating. She eloped with Gù Xiūmíng and yet pretends to be innocent, as if it were your fault. They are both of the same ilk, no wonder they hit it off."

Meng Jinyao reminded, "Ningdong, he is the Prince."

When Ning Dong heard the master say that, he immediately corrected him: "Lady Li and the young master are of the same kind, no wonder they hit it off."

Meng Jin Yao glared at her playfully. What a sly little thing, she immediately knew not to call her name directly.

Inside her heart, even though winter had arrived, she was still muttering: "Becoming the concubine of the prince, yet she still thinks of herself as the prince's wife. Not knowing proper etiquette is one thing, but to be shameless... I really don't know how her parents raised her. Knowing that the young master already has a fiancée, she still elopes with him."

Meng Jin Yao heard this, suddenly stopped her steps, with a serious face, said in a low voice: "Ning Dong, you are not allowed to say this kind of thing again.

Ning Dong looked blankly, "Huh" She didn't understand why her master had suddenly become so serious.

Meng Jin Yao explained, “Li's parents died young, and it was her grandfather who raised her.”

Upon hearing this, Ning Dong immediately understood. It was indeed inappropriate to mention someone's parents passing away, as it would be akin to rubbing salt in their wounds. Feeling ashamed, she quickly nodded and replied, "This servant understands."

Back at Weiruixuan, Meng Jinyao had a cup of tea to rest before beginning to think about how to teach Li Wan'er the rules.

Wei Rui Xuan had no older maids, all were young and beautiful. This must have been due to Gu Jingxi's hidden illness, only then could one see such a pleasing sight. His mother-in-law must have wanted Gu Jingxi to look at beautiful women more often, which would help with his treatment. Who knows, maybe one day while looking, he might suddenly take an interest in a certain beautiful maid and his illness would mysteriously cure itself.

And she didn't have a dowry maid either. There was supposed to be one, but it was sent by her stepmother, Sun, to keep an eye on her. She wouldn't dare accept it, so the day before her wedding, she gave the maid laxative, causing her stomach to upset, and this prevented her from going to Changxing Hou's Mansion with her.

She had originally only intended to stall, waiting until after she married in before finding an excuse to reject the dowry maids prepared by Mrs. Sun for her. Unexpectedly, something happened on her wedding day. When returning to her parents' home, there was a slight disagreement with the Meng family, causing the matter of the dowry maids to be forgotten.

Now her mother-in-law has asked her to send someone to teach Li Wan'er the proper etiquette. Her awkward relationship with Gu Xiwen and Li Wan'er makes sending her personal maid a rather bad idea.

On the contrary, Chunliu and Xiabao are better suited for this task. These two maidservants came from Shou'an Tang and were assigned to Weiruixuan by their mistress. In Weiruixuan, they are first-class maidservants. Sending such maidservants to Qingyuxuan to teach Li Wan'er proper etiquette is the most appropriate choice.

For Gu Xiuming, this was a maidservant who had served by his grandmother and father's side. She held some weight, and Gu Xiuming didn't dare to make things difficult for her. At the same time, it could also prevent Li Wan'er from giving him the cold shoulder because Gu Xiuming favored her too much.

As for whether to send the willow branches of spring or the bamboo shoots of summer.

Meng Jingyao pondered for a while, and finally decided to send Chunliu. Xia Zhu was honest and would do whatever she was told. She wouldn't approach unless instructed, with little presence. Chunliu was more clever and agile, suitable for this task.

Thinking of this, Meng Jinyang sent Chunliu in and told her to go to Qingyuxuan to teach Li Wan'er proper etiquette.

To her surprise, Chunliu felt like the sky was falling. She had served the old lady faithfully, then worked at Weiruixuan, and finally managed to secure a position close to the mistress. But now, suddenly, the mistress wanted nothing to do with her, relegating her to serve Li's side, the prince's concubine. How could that compare to being the wife of the marquis

Chun Liu asked with a despondent face, "Madam, have I done something wrong Don't you want me anymore"two sachets. One was embroidered with red beans, but fearing they weren't noticeable enough, she hesitated and then made another one embroidered with mandarin ducks.A pair of mandarin ducks cuddling t...