The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

Duan Jing'an followed Aunt Wang to the east room and did not go in. There are differences between men and women. Even if they are mother and son, they should avoid suspicion when they grow up.

Soon, Aunt Wang came with the packed small bundle and said to Duan Jing'an:

"Besides the clothes, I've also put a hundred taels of silver in here for you. When you need money anywhere else, keep it close to you."

Duan Jing'an quickly declined.

"I'll take the clothes, and you take the money back. Big brother gave me the banknote, and the rest of the expenses will be paid by Butler Liu. You can keep this money for yourself."

"Why would I need to spend so much money at home? What your elder brother gave you is what your elder brother gave you."

"I didn't give you much. It was all just a token of my appreciation. I don't have anything else to give you, so please don't despise me."

Duan Jingan was anxious. "What do you mean by dislike or not? Aunt, you are embarrassing your son. I will keep it."

Aunt Wang pursed her lips, looking at the anxious expression on the young man in front of her, she smiled secretly in her heart. She always felt strange when she saw her son pretending to be mature before, but now he looks much better and finally looks like a teenager.

Aunt Wang stopped teasing him, gently stroked the boy's temples, smoothed the collar of his shirt on his chest and spoke.

"It's cold out here, and the roads are slippery. Be careful when riding, dress warmly, and wrap yourself in your fox fur coat when riding. Be sure to pay attention to safety."

Duan Jing'an held the package in his hand and listened to the constant reminders in his ears.

He remembered that when he was young and went to study at the academy, his aunt also told him to respect the teacher and be friendly to his classmates... His heart softened and he said softly:

"Aunt, I have to go. Please take care of yourself at home and pay more attention to mother. Your son will definitely return safely."

"I know. Come on, I'll take you to the door."

The two walked towards the door together. When they arrived at the door, Duan Jing'an bowed to Aunt Wang.

"That's all. Auntie, I'm leaving now."

"well……"

Aunt Wang said reluctantly, watching her son turn and leave. She stared at him infatuatedly until his back disappeared for a long time before turning around and saying to Yunxiang beside her, "Go back."

"There's only one scroll left in the sutras. I'm going to meditate. Go to the east room and get the sewing tray I didn't finish and put it on the couch. I'll need it tonight."

"Auntie, that's not the coat you made for the Fourth Master. You've been copying Buddhist scriptures for so long today, so take a break. It won't be too late to make it tomorrow."

Yunxiang dissuaded him:

"Nothing, it's cold anyway, let the girls light up the greenhouse, just to kill time."

"Yes."

……

Song Shengfu drank the medicine, woke up halfway, ate something, and went back to sleep. This sleep made her dream about what was about to happen behind the Earl's Mansion.

At that time, the original body fainted after reading Duan Jingwen's letter. The fourth master Duan Jing'an led the caravan south to Shu and did not return home until three months later.

The original body had lost his young daughter and was overwhelmed with worry. He was very weak and often lay quietly in bed.

Originally, the housekeeper in the Earl's Mansion was the eldest daughter-in-law. She came from a prominent family and had been following the instructions of the mistress when she was still in the boudoir. Neither the original owner nor Duan Jingzong had anything to say about the household affairs, and they even praised her as the mistress's role model.

However, due to Duan Jingzong's poor health, he had only one son, Duan Chengkang, for so many years. As he was the eldest son and the only child who was born at the age of 27, Yuansheng and Lu doted on this eldest grandson.

Children are always the most sensitive to the attitudes of adults. When they see that their elders all follow their will, the children who were originally smart and well-behaved when they were young will gradually change their temper.

When Shen Shiwei and Shen Shixuan first arrived at the Earl's Mansion, they should have met each other as siblings, but Duan Chengkang took the opportunity of skipping school to go to a restaurant outside to listen to a storyteller, saying that it was the finale of the "Today's Words of Mr. Liuxia" piece "Drunk Spring Pavilion".

When Song Shengfu saw this complaint, she thought that if this boy were in modern times, he would be a complete fan, and his study was full of books collected by Mr. Liuxia.

The eight-year-old Duan Chengkang could not recognize all the words, so Lu specially found a servant who could read to read to him every day. Lu's original intention was to let Duan Chengkang be influenced by the bookish spirit, but she never expected that she would attract a jackal.

Looking back, the original owner had the whole family gathered together to get to know each other, but Chengkang still hadn't returned from the morning till almost noon.

She looked unhappy at that time. She had always thought that Kang Ge'er was not doing his job properly because he always asked for leave to study and read those picture books. When this matter came to light, she was directly scolded by Lu.

Originally, Mrs. Lu was in the wrong, but after hearing this, although she respectfully accepted the punishment, she felt a little resentful towards Shen Shiwei and Shen Shixuan. Later, although she gave the two children everything they needed on the surface, she rarely cared about them in private.

Being the mistress of the house does have a lot of things to do. Lu has to take care of her husband Duan Jingzong and her own child Duan Chengkang, and she also has to be filial to her parents-in-law. She has to deal with all the big and small matters in the family. Even so, she doesn't have time to take care of her two children.

The servants may just go along with the situation, but the old lady no longer cares about anything and her health is not good. She is often bedridden, and the family rarely bothers her with these little things.

This resulted in Shen Shiwei and Shen Shixuan finding themselves in an awkward position within the mansion. Although the servants had not offended their masters and were not hungry or cold, there were still some cold words and mocking remarks within the mansion.

My cousin is only 2 years old, and my cousin's mother died early, so she has to take on the role of a little adult. At her age, she is not at home, so naturally her mind has become sensitive.

Noticing the attitudes of the people around him, he always felt unhappy, and was afraid that the old lady would worry, so he never said anything in front of her.

The master didn't say anything, but the servants felt aggrieved for him, especially Aunt Yu Zhong left by Duan Jingwen, who had already secretly remembered all this in their hearts.

They made do like this for a few years. One day, the servant in charge of ice said that the ice supply was tight, so he only gave one day's supply that was originally for three days.

Shen Shiwei was fine, but the boy Shen Shixuan had a fever and was covered with prickly heat all over his body.

The little maidservant who asked for ice wanted more ice, so she had an argument with the steward and was pushed to the ground, leaving a big hole on her forehead.

Yu Zhong reported this matter to the old lady and told her about all the grievances she had suffered over the years.

The original person was shocked and angry, angry that no one paid attention to the two children because of his poor health.

At that time, Qi's mother was asked to investigate the matter. When Qi's mother came back to report, we learned that there was no shortage of ice in the warehouse. At that time, Duan Chengkang had set up an area at home to play Laozi and build a base. The area was large, so naturally more ice was used.

Seeing that the ice was being consumed so much, the manager had no choice but to make up for it elsewhere.

The old lady and the uncle in the family are definitely indispensable, and the fourth master's only real job in the family, the Ministry of Justice, is also not acceptable.

Naturally, the money was filled from the remaining masters, including Aunt Wang, who was missing a share, but Duan Jing'an secretly subsidized her.

The original person was furious when he heard this. He was born into a noble family and was very concerned about face. The concubines he hired back then were all from noble and scholarly families.

For the sake of his own reputation, he had never deducted money from his concubines and illegitimate sons. Now that he learned that even the share of a concubine was shortchanged in the mansion, he became even more furious.

They found Lu and scolded him severely. The more he scolded, the more angry he became. He had just caught a cold and had not yet fully recovered. He died without even breathing a breath.

Song Shengfu was also dumbfounded. It turned out that her original body still had a few years to go before she died.

Song Shengfu suddenly felt a little bad. Although the other person was willing, she always felt like a wicked old ghost who had taken over someone else's body.

Could it be that the original body's previous reactions were because the original body had not left yet, so I couldn't control my body. Thinking of this, I felt a chill all over my body.

Continuing on this side, Mrs. Lu was terrified at the time. Duan Jingzong heard the news and rushed over. Seeing his mother had died of anger, he couldn't bear the blow and fell down. After waking up, he angrily scolded Mrs. Lu for being unfilial.

He blamed her for not managing the inner house well, being unfilial to his mother, and unfriendly to his children and nephews, and immediately wanted to write a letter to divorce his wife.

When the incident happened, Lu's mother knew that the matter had become serious, so she quickly sent someone to the Lu Mansion to ask for help.

When Duan Jingzong was about to write a letter to divorce his wife, someone came from the Lu Mansion. It was Lu Fangyuan, the eldest brother of the Lu family.

At that time, he advised Duan Jingzong to calm down. It would be embarrassing to tell others that his daughter-in-law had angered her parents-in-law to death. For the sake of the reputation of the Earl's Mansion and the future of his legitimate son, this matter must not be made public under any circumstances.

After Duan Jingzong calmed down, he felt helpless, as the Earl's Mansion was a legacy passed down from his ancestors.

There have been no outstanding sons or nephews in the family over the years. Only the fourth son got a real job as the head of the Ministry of Justice (sixth rank). This Earl's Mansion is just for show.

The current emperor attaches great importance to mourning. If someone impeaches this matter, not only will the reputation of the Earl's Mansion be in jeopardy, but the fourth son's official career may also be over.

What's more, he didn't educate his legitimate son well, and it's too late to find out now.

After he passed away, all he would inherit was the title of Viscount. Even if they were no longer around, at least they would still have a monthly salary of twenty taels of silver.