My Dearest Sister-In-Law, I've Been Waiting For You To Get A Divorce For A Long Time - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

◎ “Isn’t it okay for sister-in-law to dote on me?” ◎

It was already (9-11 PM) when Mo Shuqing returned to her courtyard. Mama Liu, remembering that she hadn’t eaten, had someone quietly light a candle in the warm room and prepare some meat porridge. Mo Shuqing stood by the table, placing the ledgers back, one by one.

Her gaze was on the ledgers, but her thoughts drifted, consumed by the events of the evening.

Mama Liu came in with the porridge. Seeing her distracted, she advised, “My lady, don’t think about the accounts. You should eat first.”

As she handed the bowl of porridge to Mo Shuqing, Mama Liu moved to tidy up the desk.

Mo Shuqing stopped her. “Just leave them there for now.”

Mama Liu was confused. “Didn’t you settle these accounts this afternoon? Are there still problems?”

“The accounts on the ledger are fine,” Mo Shuqing said, holding a spoon and slowly stirring the porridge. “But the account of Ayao’s grievances, which have been sealed for eight years, still needs to be settled.”

Mo Shuqing was like Madam Zhou; she was protective and would not let the Elder Gu-shi off easily.

Mo Shuqing sat in the armchair, waiting for the porridge to cool. “The things the Elder Gu-shi coveted are all out in the open. Getting them back would just mean a public falling out. These are all just petty squabbles in the inner courtyard. They won’t make a big splash, and I can’t deal with her the same way I dealt with Gu Shufeng.”

The Marquis beat Gu Shufeng today because his absurd actions on the wedding night involved the Gu family’s reputation and interests. Mo Shuqing was able to use the Marquis as a weapon to punish Gu Shufeng.

But the Elder Gu-shi was a different case.

Mo Shuqing saw it clearly. “The fact that the Elder Gu-shi’s conspiracy to drug Ayao and nearly kill her was brushed under the rug shows that to my father-in-law, these are all small matters as long as they don’t affect his fundamental interests.”

Her blunt assessment was so sharp it almost explicitly called the Marquis a cold and selfish family head.

Mama Liu looked around, and seeing no one else, she stepped forward with the porridge bowl and said in a low voice:

“My lady, you can’t say such things. We are in the Marquis manor now, and we live by the Marquis’s will. Our reputation rests entirely on his word.”

“It’s a good thing the Marquis doesn’t ask about matters in the inner courtyard. As long as you gain control of the household and secure your position as the First Madam, our family’s interests will be tied to the Marquis manor, and the Mo family’s position in the capital will be more stable. That way, Brother An will have a chance to be recalled from the frontier.”

Back then, the Mo family defied the Emperor, and her father plummeted from a third-rank official to an eighth-rank!

If not for the Emperor’s old affection, who spared them rather than executing them, Mo Qing’an, the Mo family’s eldest son who first incited the Hanlin scholars to submit a petition, would have faced execution for the whole family, not just demotion to a clerk on the frontier.

The marriage between the Gu family and the Mo family had been arranged by their elders. The reason the Gu family hadn’t broken the engagement all these years was purely because the Marquis was a pragmatist.

The Mo family’s actions, though they displeased the Emperor, earned them a good reputation among civil and military officials. If he had broken off his son’s engagement at that time, it would have seemed cruel. In recent years, the court’s attitude had softened, and the Emperor, getting older, had also begun to feel nostalgic, so he brought the Mo family back from Lingnan.

The Marquis secretly helped, and with the wedding, the two families were now on the same boat. When the political winds shifted in the future, they wouldn’t be caught off guard.

The Gu family was thinking about profit, and Mo Shuqing was thinking about her brother, who was as unyielding as a pine. That’s why she agreed to marry into the family.

Only by securing her position as the First Madam of the manor would she have a say with the Marquis and be able to convince him to help with her brother’s recall.

This was the reason Mama Liu had been harping on about the household authority since they entered the manor.

But after the chaos caused by Gu Wenyao tonight, Mo Shuqing’s thoughts had changed.

She looked up at Mama Liu. “Mama, look, Ayao and I are fated to be together. We both want household authority. Isn’t that a case of different roads leading to the same destination?”

They hadn’t seen each other in eight years, and now they had the same goal.

Mama Liu was speechless.

Mo Shuqing chuckled at her own words. “Since the Elder Gu-shi’s mistake today wasn’t big enough, let’s make her commit a big one. A mistake so big it threatens the Gu family’s reputation, so big that the Marquis will be forced to send her back to her ancestral home.”

As she spoke, she already had an idea, but she needed to discuss it with Ayao tomorrow.

The next morning.

Mo Shuqing had just woken up and was sitting on the stool in front of the bronze mirror when Mama Liu came in with a list, her face visibly happy. “Miss Yao said this is the list of gifts she prepared for your home visit. She wants you to take a look and see if anything is missing.”

There were gifts on four full pages. Mo Shuqing scanned them and nodded. “Tell Ayao that we’re still missing two horse carriages and two coachmen to carry all the boxes.”

These gifts would likely require two carriages. It was too much.

“Since you’ve asked, sister-in-law,” a soft, girlish voice rang from outside, “would you be so kind as to let me drive the carriage for you?”

Mo Shuqing turned around to see Gu Wenyao standing by the door, dressed in a pretty pink outfit.

Gu Wenyao raised her hand and lightly knocked on the door. Her eyes met Mo Shuqing’s. In front of her, she said with a sweet smile, “Sister-in-law, open the door. It’s me, Ayao.”

“Isn’t it Gu Shufeng today?” Mo Shuqing raised an eyebrow and beckoned for her to come in.

Gu Wenyao smiled. “My brother will have to stay in bed and rest for a while.”

She washed her hands and stood behind Mo Shuqing. She picked up an ivory comb from the table and offered to comb Mo Shuqing’s hair. Her eyelashes, like a long-tailed butterfly, lowered as she asked in a soft, tentative voice, “Do you want to see my brother more than me, sister-in-law?”

Gu Wenyao placed both hands on Mo Shuqing’s shoulders and bent down slightly, resting her chin on the top of Mo Shuqing’s head. She looked at their reflection in the mirror and feigned a disheartened sigh. “Then I’d be heartbroken.”

In the bronze mirror, two figures, one in white and one in pink, sat and stood. Both had beautiful faces. Reflected in the mirror together, the scene was incredibly harmonious and lovely, looking just like a newlywed couple drawing each other’s eyebrows.

Gu Wenyao picked up a strand of Mo Shuqing’s hair with her fingers, looking down to hide the emotion in her eyes. “My brother has Chunshui and Mother to dote on him. Isn’t it okay for sister-in-law to dote on me? We just reconciled yesterday.”

She deliberately placed Chunshui’s name first, implying to Mo Shuqing that while Gu Shufeng was in bed, he hadn’t spent any less time with his concubine.

After she said this, Gu Wenyao looked into the bronze mirror, carefully observing Mo Shuqing’s expression.

Mo Shuqing’s face didn’t change at all because of Gu Shufeng. She just reached up and took her hair from Gu Wenyao’s hand. She looked up at her, a slight frown on her face. “Gu Shufeng is in bed from a few minor scratches, but what about you? Didn’t Doctor Hu tell you to get some rest?”

Gu Wenyao kept her hands on Mo Shuqing’s shoulders and turned her to face the mirror again. “It’s just my old ailment. It would be too delicate of me to stay in bed.”

Perhaps it was because of the pink outfit, but Gu Wenyao’s complexion did look much better than yesterday, and her spirits were higher.

“It seems Doctor Hu’s medicine is very effective,” Mo Shuqing nodded.

Not really. It was just that the tea she drank this morning was especially potent.

Gu Wenyao discreetly changed the subject. “I’ve prepared everything for your home visit, sister-in-law. If you’re missing anything, just tell Mama Liu and Yi Yun.”

Gu Wenyao held a handful of Mo Shuqing’s beautiful hair and combed it carefully, her movements as gentle as if she were handling precious silk.

Even my sister-in-law’s hair smells good.

Mo Shuqing said, “I just looked at the list. You’ve prepared too many things. The Mo family hasn’t been in the capital for long, and there aren’t many people in our household. You don’t need to prepare so much.”

“These are all according to the rules. If there’s anything extra,” Gu Wenyao’s lips curved into a smile, and she glanced into the bronze mirror, “it’s just because I’m happy to give more to my sister-in-law.”

“After my mother passed away, my maternal grandfather and grandmother didn’t adopt a successor from the younger generation. They said as long as I’m alive, all the family wealth is mine,” Gu Wenyao said, her fingers deftly styling Mo Shuqing’s hair into a maiden’s bun. Her tone was proud. “So I’m especially rich.”

If she weren’t so rich, the Elder Gu-shi wouldn’t have coveted her so much.

At the mention of the Elder Gu-shi, Mo Shuqing looked into the mirror and reached up to hold Gu Wenyao’s wrist. “Ayao, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Gu Wenyao looked down, her eyes falling on their touching hands. Her expression was completely docile. “What is it, sister-in-law?”

Even her tone was no longer as sarcastic as it had been the last two days. She called her “sister-in-law,” but it sounded no different from “sister.”

Mo Shuqing said, “How about I organize a matchmaking banquet for you?”