Shipin Dalizheng

Rong Xiu had heard that Rong Tang had returned. In the past, she would have run out to meet him and asked him if he had eaten or drunk, whether he was hungry or tired. However, she still remembered what Concubine Rong had said yesterday, and she felt very unhappy.

Yesterday, Concubine Rong said, "Grandma Xiu, Tang'er is willing to support you, so you should be a good lady in the Bo's Mansion, eat well and wear good clothes, and go out of the city for a stroll when you are bored. The servants in the mansion will not dare to serve you insincerely. But you must remember that you must get Tang'er's consent before doing anything. If he asks you to do it, you do it. If he doesn't let you do it, you don't do it. Acting on your own is not necessarily for his good. We are all women in the inner house. Although I am an imperial concubine and seem to be honored on the surface, in fact, in essence, I am no different from the officials and their wives in the capital. I even have less freedom than them. But that's it. Since Tang'er came back, he has shown his willingness to support me, and my life in the palace has obviously improved a lot. Grandma Xiu, don't you understand? You and I are all relying on him for honor and wealth. Don't interfere with him, don't hold him back."

Rong Xiu's face turned pale. "My Lady, I'm really doing this for the good of the Bo family. Can't even you understand me? You think I'm being pretentious!"

Concubine Rong said, "No one thinks you're being pretentious. You should have asked Tang'er if he was willing to withdraw first. I've heard that the young lady from the Tang family, besides being of foreign descent, is extremely beautiful. What if Tang'er falls in love with her? If you withdraw privately, wouldn't that be like digging out his liver? Wouldn't he hate you?"

Rong Xiu's face turned pale at that time, and she didn't know how to get back to the uncle's house.

After coming back, Rong Xiu was scolded by the housekeeper Tao with both soft and hard methods, which made her feel even more upset. Therefore, she could not calm down even though she was reciting scriptures.

Mother Shen asked, "Isn't the Madam going out?"

Rong Xiu hesitated, "I'm out, what should I say?"

"You just...ah! You just said a few soft words, saying that you were distracted and didn't consider whether he liked Miss Tang or not. You should know that the prince liked her and would never want to withdraw no matter what. Besides, you were just thinking about it and didn't really withdraw."

Rong Xiu put down the wooden fish mallet and was about to stand up when the door darkened and Rong Tang came in. Rong Xiu was panicked.

Rong Tang gestured to Mother Shen, "Go out, I have something to say to the Madam."

Mother Shen heard the difference. The prince called her "Grandma" today, not "Grand Aunt". There was a big difference between the two.

He admitted that Rong Xiu was his great aunt and Rong Xiu was the great lady. Once he was unwilling to admit it, then this identity of his great aunt who was seven or eight generations away would be too ridiculous.

He sighed inwardly and walked out.

Rong Xiu's face flushed red. Without waiting for Rong Tang to question her, she softened her stance and admitted her mistake, saying she had no idea Rong Tang was so fond of Miss Tang. If she had known, she wouldn't have given it much thought. Furthermore, she had thought that way at the time, indeed for the benefit of the Bo Mansion. Now that she knew she was wrong, she wouldn't do it again.

Rong Tang did not interrupt her. He waited until she finished speaking before saying, "Madam, it seems that you don't know where you are wrong."

Rong Xiu endured the burning shame on her face and asked humbly and cautiously, "Tang, where did Great Aunt go wrong? If you point it out, Great Aunt will definitely change."

"You think that because I like Miss Tang, you're wrong to want to cancel the engagement. If I don't like her, is it right for you to cancel the engagement at this time?"

Rong Xiu had a dazed expression. She tried her best to understand Rong Tang's thoughts, but she couldn't.

Rong Tang took a deep breath. "Mrs. Tang has suffered so much injustice that she can no longer endure it. She's finally made up her mind to escape from this hellish situation. She was originally worried that the Bo Mansion would be shaken by this and ruin her daughter's lifelong plans. At this critical juncture, you didn't even bother to comfort her, but the first thing you thought of was to cancel the engagement. How ridiculous, Madam! You had several engagements broken off when you were young. You should know the kind of worldly scorn and ruin a girl will face after a broken engagement. I thought that after suffering such hardships, you would know to pity a girl. If you can't protect her, at least don't hurt her."

Rong Xiu was shocked. "No, Tang'er, I'm not a malicious person. I'm... I don't really want to cancel the engagement. I just want Madam Tang to reconsider. After all, a husband and wife are bound by a hundred days of grace. People often say that it's better to demolish ten temples than to ruin a marriage, and to encourage reconciliation rather than divorce. Outsiders say that Master Tang and his wife separated because of you, and I don't want you to have that reputation."

Rong Tangqing looked at her coldly, "It sounds like you're doing all this for my own good! I don't know where you heard these outsiders say this, and I'm sure the servants in the mansion wouldn't dare to gossip about it in front of you. First of all, you have to understand that my teaching the pickle seller and the second young master Tang a lesson on behalf of the eldest young master Tang will not cause them to separate. The fundamental reason why Madam Tang insisted on breaking up is that Tang did something to break up. Let me ask you again, is Tang a good man? Is it a pity for Madam Tang to leave him? Or to put it another way, do you want a husband like Tang? Do you dare? You don't dare, right? Since you also know that Tang is not a good man, why do you think Madam Tang should swallow her anger and endure the disgust to live with him? If your answer is yes, and you think that women should be like this, and this is a woman's fate, then I can only say that your cognition is very consistent with the suffering you have endured for the past twenty years."

Rong Xiu instantly lost all the color from her face, and her mind was filled with what Rong Tang said, that all the suffering she had endured in the past twenty years was deserved.

She twirled her Buddhist beads with shaking hands, silently chanting the Buddha's name over and over again. Her mind was blank until she saw Rong Tang pick up a Buddha statue, throw it on the ground and break it, then pick up another one. She screamed in horror, "No..."

She rushed over, even at the risk of injuring her forehead, and hugged the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

She shouted sternly, "Rong Tang, you must not disrespect the gods and Buddhas. You will suffer retribution."

After saying this, she felt that she had spoken too harshly and tried to make amends, "I'm not cursing you. Gods and Buddhas really cannot be blasphemed. If you don't consider yourself, you should also consider future generations."

The hand that Rong Tang used to throw the Buddha statue remained in the same position. What made Rong Xiu feel incredible was that he also had a string of Buddhist beads wrapped around his hand. The beads were engraved with mysterious runes and looked very old, like a Buddhist magic weapon.

She murmured, "You, you also believe in Buddhism, how could you throw the Buddha statue?"

Rong Tang picked up another Maitreya Buddha statue and slowly raised it up in front of Rong Xiu's horrified eyes. He said slowly, "You can think I believe in Buddhism, or you can think I don't. Buddha is never a piece of wood or porcelain placed on a table to be worshipped by burning incense and bowing to. It doesn't mean that you truly believe in Buddhism just because you bow to it and burn incense every day. Since Buddha has never existed in your heart, these things on the table are just dead objects that you use to deceive yourself."

Rong Xiu screamed and almost collapsed.

Rong Tang didn't fall down in the end. He gently put the Buddha statue back and apologized, "Don't blame me. I'll build a few more water wheels and donate them to carve a statue for you."

Rong Tang wiped his hands and finally said to Rong Xiu, "These past two days, I've felt that bringing you back was a mistake. I've disrupted your life and added a lot of worries to your life. Before, you only had one worry, which was how to have enough food to eat. If you can't adapt to the status of the Lady of the Bo Mansion, I can send you back to Baimei Temple. Since we're from the same clan, I'll buy that piece of mountain land so you can farm it without any worries."