Chapter 40: Playing a Role

  Jiang returned to the Zhao family's old mansion three days ago. She followed the imperial edict and went south, with the nominal reason being to take care of her father-in-law who was sentenced to exile, and to help him with his daily needs along the way. Originally, this task would not have fallen on her shoulders alone, but her mother-in-law was too old and unwilling to suffer from the long journey, her husband was more eager to seek promotion and title, and the children were still young, so she had to take it upon herself. Besides, she also had her own private motives.

  The emperor issued a decree to exile Zhao Jiong for a thousand miles, but when the imperial edict arrived, no one in the capital knew that Zhao Jiong had already fallen from his horse and become paralyzed. It was not just difficult to exile him a thousand miles, it was even hard for him to leave his house. The palace messenger who delivered the edict also felt embarrassed. However, he thought that after Guangping Wang returned to the capital, he would report the situation to the emperor, and the emperor would certainly send someone to deliver another edict. Therefore, he only needed to stay in Fengxian and wait for news. Now, the imperial guards he brought had replaced the guards of the Guangping Wang's mansion and were responsible for monitoring Zhao Jiong. Jiang Shi, who should have been taking care of her father-in-law's daily life, was not doing her job properly and instead went to Zhang Shi's courtyard every day to kneel down and claim that she was begging for forgiveness for her father-in-law.

  If she was apologizing for herself, Zhang might have been willing to see her and scold her severely, but since she was apologizing on behalf of her husband, this made Zhang, who had already guessed the truth, feel extremely disgusted, not even wanting to see her, and not allowing the servant girl to open the door and let her in.

  Jiang didn't mind, she went to kneel every morning on time, kneeling for two hours, crying while kneeling, saying that she came to apologize to her father-in-law. She was wearing a plain blue dress, without makeup, looking pitiful and innocent. Given her good reputation as a virtuous woman, the servants in the old house who didn't know the truth felt sorry for her, thinking that she had been wronged by her cruel mother-in-law and her husband's avoidance of returning home made her suffer alone. Some even thought that Zhang was being too harsh on her.

  This rumor spread throughout the various branches of the Zhao family in just two days, and even the third branch, which had a grudge against the main branch, sent someone to persuade Zhangshi, saying that grievances have a head and debts have a master, don't make things difficult for the younger generation. Jiangshi is an official's daughter, and after marrying into the Zhao family, she has never been impolite, now she humbly comes to apologize, why must you be too hard on her?

  How can Zhang endure this?

  She continued to refuse to see the Jiang family, and taught her grandchildren: "There is always a kind of person in the world who appears humble and courteous on the surface, but actually has a belly full of evil intentions, harming countless people behind their backs. They pretend to be innocent, deceiving those who don't know the truth, making others speak well of them, but they are just a disguised poisonous snake that will bite you at any moment! Therefore, never be swayed by reputation, and don't soften your heart just because someone else speaks up for her. Remember, if you spare a snake, it will only harm you again; this time you may let her off, but next time she won't necessarily let you off!"

  Zhao Wei nodded vaguely, and Zhao Er followed her gaze out the door: "Is grandmother referring to that thing outside..."

  Zhang coldly sneered, "Apart from her, who else? You all remember this, Zhao Kuang is indeed an enemy, and this elder sister-in-law is also not a good thing! If it weren't for these two colluding with each other, you wouldn't have lost your parents at such a young age!"

  Zhao Wei's eyes shot out a vengeful glare, and he nodded vigorously: "Remember this, grandson!"

  Zhao? followed again, and then asked: "Grandma, others plead for the person outside, saying that Grandma's heart is too hard. We don't need to care about what others say, but hearing such words still makes us very unhappy. How should we respond?"

  Zhang coldly smiled: "What's there to fear? Now it's their fault, let her kneel! Since she wants to come and apologize to me, she must show the sincerity of apology. If she doesn't kneel for a year or two, don't say she's being true-hearted!"

  Zhao thought to herself, "Good", since Jiang's family wants to put on a show, let them do it. Anyway, she has harmed so many people, kneeling for a few days is just a bit of physical suffering.

  After carrying the book for a while, Zhao wanted to take a break and ran to the courtyard gate. He saw that Jiang Shi was still in her usual humble and innocent demeanor, exuding an aura of "I'm so pitiful, I'm so innocent". Next to her were a soft cushion on which she knelt, a maid holding a parasol, Hong Ying, and on the other side, a stranger carrying a tea tray and hand warmer. Looking around, he saw that they had already attracted a semi-circle of onlookers from the old mansion's servants, who were all whispering to each other, unanimously sympathizing with Jiang Shi.

  Zhao smiled and asked in a deliberately naive tone: "Sister-in-law, what time did you come today? How long do you plan to kneel?"

  Jiang was taken aback, staring at her little sister who had changed so much in just two months. She remembered that this child didn't speak so fluently before leaving the capital. But she quickly came to her senses and smiled gently: "Really? Sister, I arrived at Chen Zheng time (8 o'clock), as for how long I'll kneel...". She glanced around the courtyard, "Of course, I'll kneel until Grandma is willing to see me."

  Zhao? nodded and smiled, saying: "So that's how it is. Then you can kneel slowly." He lowered his head to look at the cushion under her knees: "Sister-in-law, this soft cushion of yours is really thick, it must be very soft and comfortable. Is kneeling very comfortable?"

  Jiang's face changed, and he dryly laughed: "Elder sister, you're joking..."

  Before the words were finished, Zhao? opened her mouth again, this time staring at the people around Jiang's side: "What are they doing here? It's not raining now, why do you need to hold an umbrella? Is this a stove? Is it for warming your hands, sister? What's in that basket? I smelled the fragrance of tea and some pastries?"

  Jiang's face turned quite colorful, and the onlookers' comments became even more colorful: "Hey, this thing is still pretty complete, we just didn't notice it earlier, really worthy of being a big madam, even kneeling down has to be prepared so thoroughly."

  "I've never heard of a daughter-in-law apologizing to her mother-in-law with such a big entourage, complete with tea, snacks, warm stoves and soft cushions in attendance. Is this an apology or is she here to enjoy herself?"

  "Never mind, it wasn't the second master and mistress's fault, it was all because of the eldest lady, she was just taking the blame for her father-in-law, not the main culprit. She can be a bit spoiled, but that's nothing, after all, she is a genuine official's daughter!"

  "No matter if she's the real mistress or not, this apology must have an apologetic appearance, otherwise how can it show sincerity? No wonder Old Lady was such a gentle person, yet refused to see her, turns out she saw through her insincerity!"

  The woman carrying the basket next to Jiang felt that these gossiping voices were piercing her ears, and she couldn't help but turn around and glare at those women with a fierce gaze. Those women were glared into silence by her, and they left in a huff, muttering under their breaths. They weren't afraid of Jiang, the old master had lost his title, and this old mansion was now controlled by the elderly lady. She wouldn't punish them just for gossiping about the mistress's private affairs. It's just that slaves discussing their masters is taboo, and the elderly lady has never liked it. They didn't want to stir up trouble. As for what they would discuss after turning around, that wasn't something the master's family could control.

  Jiang almost gritted her teeth, Zhao was still standing in front of her with an innocent face, she couldn't do anything to the girl in front of Zhang, so she could only force a smile and coax Zhao: "It's cold outside, sister, hurry back inside, be careful not to catch a chill." She also whispered to two trusted aides: "Don't you quickly put away the things?"

  Hong Yinger advised her: "Grandma, autumn wind is cold, this place is open and windy, there's no umbrella to block the wind, what if you catch a chill?"

  Another woman also said: "Yes, big madam, if there is a lingering illness, that will be a lifelong thing!"

  Jiang hesitated, she didn't want to take a risk.

  Zhao suddenly spoke up again: "Elder sister, why doesn't your daughter listen to you? Grandmother hates daughters who don't listen!"

  Jiang only managed to placate her: "Elder sister misunderstood, this servant girl is just worried about me and not disobedient." She glared at Hong Yu, who had no choice but to put away the umbrella. Another servant also reluctantly took away the basket under the mistress's indication.

  Zhao turned his gaze to the soft cushion under Jiang's knees, and asked with a smile: "Sister-in-law, this cushion must be very comfortable, can I play with it?"

  Hong Yinger hastily said: "Miss, stop making a fuss, our grandma is already kneeling, what do you want the cushion for?"

  Zhao didn't even look at her, but stared at Jiang Shi: "Sister-in-law must be eager to let grandmother know how sincere she is in apologizing for Eldest Uncle, right? Without a go-between, isn't it more possible to show your sincerity? Don't worry, I will definitely tell grandmother about sister-in-law's sincerity!"

  Jiang ground his teeth, pulled out a soft cushion from under his knee and handed it to Zhao, still forcing a smile on his face: "Then please ask Sister to put in a good word for me."

  Zhao hugged the cushion, nodded: "Okay, you kneel slowly, before grandma speaks, you can't get up, otherwise it will look too insincere." Then turned around and walked away.

  Jiang was stunned on the spot, and when she realized the implication of Zhao's words, she almost couldn't help but curse out loud.

  Zhao naturally wouldn't speak well of Jiang in front of Zhang, so after she returned to the courtyard, she casually told someone to close the gate, then tossed the soft cushion to a coarse servant girl and entered the main hall.

  Mrs. Zhang had just clearly heard what her granddaughter said, and sighed: "Foolish child, why bother to take the lead? That kind of person will not be able to make arrangements for you behind your back, girls should still love their reputation."

  Zhao looked at her with an innocent face and asked: "But I'm still a little kid, I'm only one year old, what can she say about me?"

  Zhang's face turned red with rage, and she couldn't help but poke her forehead: "You little devil!"

  On this day, Jiang knelt outside Zhang's door for the entire day, without eating a single grain of rice or drinking a drop of water. It wasn't until nightfall that she was helped back to her room by a servant girl, and she almost collapsed on the floor. After drinking some hot soup in her room, she regained a bit of energy, but soon felt dizzy again. Hong Niang felt her forehead and discovered she had fallen ill. In a panic, she sent someone to fetch a doctor, who prescribed medicine that was hastily prepared and administered to treat Jiang's severely swollen knees. The commotion lasted the entire night, and it wasn't until after noon the next day that Jiang began to feel better and could sit up in bed. Her daily kneeling had naturally stopped, and even if she hadn't been ill, she wouldn't have dared to continue.

  "Mrs. Zhang sent over Autumn Water to convey a message: 'Our elderly lady said, since the eldest madam has no sincerity, why bother with pretenses? The eldest madam originally had something in her possession that our elderly lady could use against her, but in the past, considering the children were still young, she didn't intend to spread it around. However, if the eldest madam continues to put on a show and deliberately performs in front of the imperial envoy's face, stepping on our elderly lady's reputation to establish her own fame, then our elderly lady will truly have to be an honest and upright person. We hope the eldest madam will think thrice about this.'"

  Jiang endured the pain in his knees, suppressing the fear in his heart, and forced himself to say: "Old lady is worrying too much, since she likes quietness, as a junior, I naturally dare not disturb her again."

  After Qiu Ye left, Jiang's spirit collapsed.