Chapter 550: Chapter 539: The Marchioness’s Maid
The youth is none other than the eldest son of Second Mrs. Shen, Duan Rongyu, and the little chubby kid is his eldest son. He is even a year younger than Marquis Weiyuan, but now the child is already one year old while Marquis Weiyuan has just gotten married.
There is a folk custom of having a child roll on the bed during a wedding, to symbolize happiness and the wish for early childbirth.
At this moment, Zhong Lan’s face was already embarrassingly red, luckily she was covered with a red veil, otherwise, she would have been too shy to see anyone.
Marquis Weiyuan approached, and the matchmakers brought over a plate, on which lay a scale adorned with a red auspicious knot, symbolizing perfect satisfaction.
Perhaps because of the presence of so many family members, the face of Marquis Weiyuan, Duan Rongjing, appeared much gentler now. He picked up the scale and lifted the veil from Zhong Lan’s head.
"Wow!"
"So beautiful!"
Cries of admiration arose within the room, everyone knew the bride was beautiful, but no one expected her to be this stunning! Now that he has married such a beautiful wife, would Marquis Weiyuan still have the heart to go off to war?
Several gazes were fixed directly on Zhong Lan, making her feel increasingly embarrassed.
"Alright, alright, the bride has been seen, time to go out, if not the wine will all be consumed," Second Mrs. Shen then eased the situation, the consumption of the wine was an excuse, genuinely, it was to give some privacy to the newly-weds.
Ye Qiu and the others also withdrew, it was still early, and she was idle, so she decided to cozy up to the head maid that serves Marquis Weiyuan.
She only found out then that Marquis Weiyuan disliked having maids serve him closely, and those who always followed him were two servants, Duan Hong and Duan Yan, who were stationed outside Qingfeng Courtyard, always ready to be summoned.
"Gentlemen, here are some rewards from the lady, thank you for your hard work," Ye Qiu approached with a smile, handing over two wallets.
The two accepted them without refusal and continuously said, "No trouble at all, it’s our duty." And they didn’t answer any further questions.
Ye Qiu knew this was probably a rule set by Marquis Weiyuan; she chose her questions carefully, and seeing that they had no desire to talk further, she shifted the subject to Marquis Weiyuan’s habits and the arrangement of the mansion. She mentioned that if there are things that cannot be told, then don’t tell. She was simply trying to gather information for the lady so that she could take better care of Marquis Weiyuan later on.
Seeing how tactful Ye Qiu was, Duan Hong and Duan Yan relaxed almost imperceptibly, which Ye Qiu keenly noticed, but did not mention, maintaining her cheerful demeanor.
Indeed, seeing her like this, the two men could not continue to remain silent and started chatting with Ye Qiu about things they could discuss.
Ye Qiu made a good impression on the two men, and they chatted until midnight. When Marquis Weiyuan called for water, Ye Qiu and Yang Chun hurried in to serve.
By then Marquis Weiyuan had moved to the inner chamber, and Zhong Lan was sitting on the bed, huddling under the covers, her face blushing. While attending to her, Ye Qiu noticed that the lady’s legs were trembling slightly.
Yang Chun was too embarrassed to look more, so she went to get the clothes and warm water that had been prepared earlier, while Ye Qiu draped the clothes over Zhong Lan, and then carefully helped her stand up; as she stood, Zhong Lan nearly stumbled, making Ye Qiu marvel at how physically demanding it must be to march and fight in wars.
The dirty wedding kerchief was also collected, as it was to be shown to Old Marquis Lady tomorrow. After serving Zhong Lan with washing up, and with Marquis Weiyuan also cleaned up, Ye Qiu and Yang Chun finished cleaning up, then considerately closed the door.
"Sister Ye Qiu, you don’t think the lady will have problems, do you!" Yang Chun finally burst out after holding back for a while, "How is the lady going to pay respects tomorrow!"
"Be cautious with your words; this isn’t something we can discuss," Ye Qiu quickly cautioned her to shut up.
Yang Chun closed her chattering mouth but couldn’t fall asleep; Ye Qiu couldn’t sleep either, as she was worried about the lady.
Since everyone thinks that the Lady married into the family only to end up living like a widow, it proves that Marquis Weiyuan’s trip to the border is extremely dangerous. She doesn’t ask for anything else but hopes that the Lady can get pregnant soon, whether it’s a boy or a girl, as there will be someone for her to rely on in the future; otherwise, there are still many hardships to come!
Ye Qiu didn’t sleep the entire night, and just around 5 a.m., she noticed that Marquis Weiyuan had already woken up. Thankfully, she inquired the night before and knew that Marquis Weiyuan rose early every day for morning exercise, otherwise she would have been late today.
"Marquis, do you need this servant to assist you with washing up?" Ye Qiu said, bowing her head as she stepped forward.
"No need," said Marquis Weiyuan in a particularly authoritative voice, without the slightest intention of giving any further instructions, and he left right away.
Ye Qiu was silent for a moment, thinking that even though he leads troops and protects the country, he is still not a good man.
What does it mean? You just married this wife, she served you all last night, and today you don’t have a single instruction or word of care for her? Not even mentioning when to have breakfast or when to pay respects, just planning to leave like this?
Ye Qiu does not want to indulge him. After all, she is now the maid of the lady, has not made any major mistakes, and certainly should not be punished for her own faults.
She rushed forward to ask, "Marquis, will you have breakfast with the lady later?"
"No, let her eat by herself when she wakes up," he responded.
"Then when will the Marquis come and join the lady to pay respects to the Old Lady and the Second Old Master and Second Madam?"
Hearing this, Marquis Weiyuan finally stopped, frowned unhappily at Ye Qiu, and finally answered, "I will fetch her at Chen (7 a.m to 9 a.m)."
"Yes, Marquis, take care," Ye Qiu responded.
Once Marquis Weiyuan had walked away, Yang Chun finally came forward with a large gulp of relief, "Sister Ye Qiu, how are you so bold? Aren’t you afraid of the Marquis getting angry? He looked really frightening just now!"
Ye Qiu’s expression remained calm: "Afraid of what? We are the Lady’s people, we haven’t done anything wrong, it was just asking a few extra questions on behalf of the Lady, who would punish us?"
"But still..."
"There is no ’but’. Yang Chun, remember, although I told you yesterday to be very careful, it wasn’t meant to scare you into being overly timid. In the future, the Lady is the rightful mistress of this mansion. As her personal maids, we cannot make mistakes or embarrass the Lady. If we ourselves are timid, not only will the other servants look down on us, but they will also look down on the Lady, do you understand?"
Yang Chun blinked her eyes, then stared fixedly at Ye Qiu: "I understand, Sister Ye Qiu, why do I feel like you have changed since coming to the Marquis Mansion?"
Ye Qiu lowered her eyes: "Changed what? It’s all for the Lady’s good."
"Right, you’re correct, the Lady has been so good to us, we absolutely cannot drag her down," Yang Chun assured, then asked, "So, should we go wake the Lady now?"
"No rush, let the Lady sleep for another hour, you go tell the kitchen to keep the porridge warm, I will prepare the clothes and jewelry, once that’s ready, let’s notify Shen Dong and Liu Xia, just don’t panic, we have enough time," Ye Qiu instructed.
"Okay, I’ll listen to you."
Although Zhong Lan was clearly tired last night and slept deeply, Ye Qiu felt somewhat reluctant to wake her own Lady. However, not waking her would only harm her.
Once again, Ye Qiu felt that Marquis Weiyuan was no good, for not even cherishing his newlywed wife.