It was well into the night, a plea for the blush of dawn.
×××......×××
Lady Zhou slamd her chopsticks down, and her face seed to fall with them. She glared at Lian Shouxin.
"Let’s eat, let’s eat," Old Master Lian sensed Lady Zhou’s mood and imdiately spoke, "Bring a bowl, pick so dumplings for your mother. Old Fourth, I won’t keep you any longer. Go back and have your al."
Old Master Lian waved his hand at Lian Shouxin, signaling him to leave quickly.
Lian Shouxin, of course, understood and hurried to the door.
"What dumplings are you picking for ?" Before Lian Shouxin could leave, Lady Zhou had already started shouting, "What have I ever done for them? Do I have the face to eat their dumplings? The ones who crawled out from my insides, who drank my milk, when they grew up, don’t need anymore, who would recognize in their eyes? Who am I to them? When they see , they can hardly bring themselves to call ’mother.’ And behind my back, who knows what nas they call ... that ungrateful wretch, who does he even care about now?... Don’t give dumplings, I’ll throw them on the ground, this old wretch doesn’t deserve their food..."
As she ranted, tears began to well up in Lady Zhou’s eyes from feeling so wronged.
Lian Manman saw everything clearly from the doorway and thought to herself that Lady Zhou’s behavior was quite a remarkable skill. It was a wonder how she could twist the truth so confidently that from deep within her heart, she felt justified, that everyone else was at fault, that the rest were all heartless wolves. In her eyes, she was the only good person, the only one with a kind heart.
"Everything was going well, Old Fourth was celebrating his birthday, and he even sent dumplings to us, why must you turn it into a storm?" Old Master Lian looked at Lady Zhou, exasperated, "What’s gotten into you now? Whose anger are you taking out on soone? Let’s eat, everyone eats. Old Fourth, don’t mind it, your mother is just like this, go ho and have your al, don’t take it to heart."
"Alright," Lian Shouxin replied, and quickly left the Upper Room.
In the Upper Room, after seeing Lian Shouxin leave, Lady Zhou cursed a few more words, but was stopped by Old Master Lian.
"What are you doing? How old are you now? Look how you’re treating Old Fourth, with such antics, aren’t you afraid of people gossiping?" Old Master Lian sighed after speaking.
Lady Zhou pulled out a large handkerchief from under her and wiped her face vigorously, then blew her nose loudly, completely ignoring the twisted expressions of Lady Gu, Lady Chiang, and Zhao Xiue.
"Old Fourth has no conscience. Does he think he’s a filial son just because he sends over so good food? He’s the one who lacks a conscience," Lady Zhou gesticulated as she spoke.
"Enough, enough, there’s no reasoning with you. Let’s eat!" Old Master Lian said impatiently, cutting the conversation short.
When Lian Shouxin returned to the West Wing Room, Lian Manman had already beaten him to it, telling Zhang everything she had witnessed in the Upper Room.
Zhang saw the dejected look on Lian Shouxin’s face, held back her questions, and instead offered consolation.
"His mother has a temper that you couldn’t even find in a hundred people. If we can’t agree with her, let’s just do our duty. Let her be," said Zhang.
Lady Zhou’s temperant was indeed peculiar, but at the root of it all, it was actually quite simple. If Lian Shouxin and Zhang continued to obey Lady Zhou’s every word like before, there would be peace. Lady Zhou’s constant nitpicking and theatrics stemd from no longer being able to manipulate the couple.
This reminded Lian Manman of an article she had read in the past; she couldn’t rember the exact words anymore, but she rembered the gist of it.
When the ruling class becos accustod to its position of power, and senses that the subservient people are trying to escape their control, the rulers will undoubtedly retaliate rcilessly. And when they feel that they have lost their position of power, they will not concede but will exhaust all ans in a desperate struggle to regain dominance.
The Fourth Household had escaped Lady Zhou’s control, and the rciless retaliation had already passed. Now it was nothing more than a struggle borne out of unwillingness, a mix of despair and hope.
The darkest hour is just before the dawn; if they could endure this period, willing or not, everyone would get used to the new order that had been established.
Therefore, really, there was nothing to worry about; they should actually be happy about it.
Thinking this, Lian Manman glanced at Lian Shouxin and saw that he still looked a bit downcast, so she turned her head and signaled to Xiao Qi with her eyes. Xiao Qi imdiately put down the book in his hands, took a few leaps, and clambered onto Lian Shouxin.
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