The Return of the Pampered Wife

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: An Furen's Kindness

The crowd watched with wide eyes as the hot tea landed on a fair jade like hand. The hand immediately turned red from the burn, and the Xiaojie was quite pitiful to look at. Her big eyes were already swimming with tears, and a few wet trails rolled down her flawless skin. 

"Aiya, Meimei, you should have been more careful, how could a noble lady trip while merely serving tea?" Dongfang Ru Huo added more fanned the burning fire*. An Xiaojie did not look very happy. 

(*= Make someone even more intense about an emotion. Usually anger or betrayal)

"Prime Minister Dongfang, Xin'er* would like to add her opinion if Prime Minister does not mind." Dongfang Tian Qing nodded stiffly. 

(*= An Xiaojie's full name is An Xin Wu, and to make her name more endearing, we call her Xin'er. In this case, An Xiaojie is getting herself closer to Dongfang Tian Qing)

"Er Xiaojie does not seem to be educated properly by the Yiniang, and sending her to the country to regain her elegance may not have the best results. Xin'er would like to suggest sending Er Xiaojie to An Fu, Xin'er's muqin may be able to teach her some mannerisms. After Er Xiaojie knows the three obediences and four virtues*, that may the be correct time to send Er Xiaojie to pray to the buddha for Dongfang family's wealth and prosperity until Er Xiaojie regains her elegance." 

(*= a protocol followed by woman to be "virtuous". The three virtues for females are to obey the father as a filial daughter, the husband as a chaste wife, and her sons as a widow according to seniority. The four virtues are for proper conduct in marriage, virtuous in speech, in facial appearance, and being chaste (aka. Virgin before marriage, no s*xual intercourse with another man than her husband after marriage) )

Some of the more educated in the crowd whispered amongst themselves. An Furen was known for her three obediences and four virtues and her strictness. For Er Xiaojie to train from An Furen, Er Xiaojie had to brace herself for a few years of training, and even after, An Xiaojie suggested praying for the prosperity of the family... adding few more years. In a few years, Er Xiaojie should be married, not praying in a temple and eating vegetarian food. However, by refusing, it would sound like she didn't want the success of Dongfang clan. Truly, An Xiaojie was sharp, pushing Er Xiaojie to stand between a rock and a hard place* with just a few sentences. Truly, the daughter of An Furen.

(*= meaning you need to choose between two equally unpleasant situations/courses of action) 

Wou You realized the underlying threats of the few sentences An Xiaojie had thrown to her and paled. If she did not agree, it was disrespecting An Furen, and her family elders. If she did agree, she would be an old spinster by the time she was to get married. Offending An Furen and the family elders was pushing her to certain death. An Furen was best friends with the Empress before she became Empress and Gui fei before she became an Noble Consort in the harem. On top of that, Song Xue Yu was also apart of the group of friends before being pushed to her death by Li Yiniang. If Ru Huo were to suffer in clear view of the public, she also wouldn't have a good fate. While the Empress and gui fei would not be able to make things hard for her without the case of an Imperial Banquet, An Furen could, and had, just by the reasoning of her replacing Ru Huo every banquet. In banquets, the highly educated An Xiaojie's would challenge her to a contest and every time, she would lose. Now that her abusing Ru Huo spread, An Furen definitely wouldn't make her life easy for her in An Fu if she choose that path because An Furen would want to take revenge for her previous best friend and her pitiful daughter. However, if she didn't, she may be abused by the family elders and unable to marry at all with the title of unvirtuous.

Dongfang Tian Qing agreed easily. After all, Wou You being gone meant Ru Huo could be free from the torments Li Yiniang and her Er meimei gave her even for a short while. She dug up the past of his beloved Furen, like it was a topic she could have an opinion about and insulted Huo'er for not having a mother. On top of that, this time, Wou You had offended Ru Huo, in front of Eldest An Xiaojie too. Nothing bad would come out of Wou You learning the mannerism of woman from An Furen. Besides, he already declared in his own Fu that no offsprings from Li Yiniang would have any weight in their title, and by sending Wou You off to the country, he did not intend on calling her back soon. It would be best if she learnt the mannerisms of woman and prayed for the family, and brought pride to the family married to a wangye* as a ce fei** or high official.