It was not easy to play pretend after that one blunder. Xiao Yue sighed in her heart while dipping her head underwater. Thankfully Yu Fen was so enraged with her that she started blurting more than she wanted, this unwittingly giving Xiao Yue more hints about the Third Madam. After Yu Fen prepared bathwater for Xiao Yue and helped her into the bathtub, she went somewhere to punish herself for her insolence.
When the Third Madam was but a maiden of eighteen-years-old, she liked to sneak out of her father's residence to play downtown. She always dragged Yu Fen to go shopping and play in the nearest town. They went almost every week and took the same route back and forth. Without realizing it, they became the target of a bunch of bandits.
On that fateful day, their carriage was stopped in the middle of the road and a fight ensued. The servants who came to accompany them were normal house servants who did not practice martial arts, so while Third Madam and Yu Fen hugged each other inside the carriage to hope for the best, they knew that they were done for. They were just waiting for a bandit to grab through the carriage curtain to pull them out.
By chance, General Long Zhao Xue's troop was passing by. Instead of a bandit's loud uncultured voice, it was General Long Zhao Xue's pleasant voice that they heard outside of the carriage. That was how Third Madam and General Long Zhao Xue's first meeting. Without knowing who he was, Third Madam fell in love with General Long Zhao Xue at the first sight, and then she started to pursue him. She was heartbroken when she found out that Long Zhao Xue already had two wives, but she was young and beautiful. She insisted to marry Long Zhao Xue even as a third wife and finally her wish was granted. Then why, why did she kill herself on her wedding night?
The whole thing was so absurd that it gave Xiao Yue a terrible headache just to think about it. The thing was that she was playing the Third Madam, right? If she could not understand what the hell the Third Madam was thinking, how was she supposed to defend her standpoint? Yu Fen clearly thought that the Third Madam was unreasonable. Although she did not say it out loud, Xiao Yue thought the same thing, so really they were on the same boat, and yet Xiao Yue had to pretend that the Third Madam did not do anything wrong. All in all, they could not arrive at the same conclusion so that was that.
She thought that Third Madam's idiocy was all she had to deal with.
Xiao Yue was terribly mistaken.
After she was done with her bath, a maid from the First Madam's manor came to visit. The First Madam was Long Zhao Xue's first wife. The maid curtsied before her and sweetly announced, "Greetings to Third Madam. First Madam would like to invite Third Madam for tea."
"Oh, alright."
There was nothing wrong with the invitation. Maybe wives of the same house did hang out together in Hong Kingdom, everyone lived in perfect harmony. Xiao Yue had no idea.
Xiao Yue had nothing to do, so she thought why not get to know the other two wives? While she agreed to go immediately, Yu Fen on the other side was frantic. She expressed her concern while helping her to change clothes.
"Y-Young Lady, please take care! Competition between wives can be harsh. You are young. You have only been married for a few days! And and…"
Xiao Yue pursed her lips and ignored Yu Fen's overdramatic reaction. Really, what could happen? She died once. Psh. Whatever came could not be worse than that. What could this so-called competition between wives do to her? Xiao Yue thus made her way to the First Madam's residence, followed by a disheartened Yu Fen and a few other maids.
General Long Zhao Xue assigned his three wives each a separate manor, with some distance in between. It was not a difficult thing to do since he was given quite a huge patch of land by the king to inhabit. He himself did not have a private residence. In each of the wife's manors, he reserved some rooms for his private use. The first wife's manor was naturally the most luxurious one in terms of size and decoration. A huge garden full of various fragrant flowers encircled the manor. A little koi pond was located at the front side of the garden, with some lotus flowers floating gracefully on the water's surface. The arrangement gave off an air of serenity. Xiao Yue got the impression that the First Madam must be a very peaceful person.
Inside the main hall, two women were already waiting for Xiao Yue. The one sitting in the middle was an elder woman dressed in a red silk robe embroidered with golden flowers. Her hair was put up in an elegant manner, befitting of a first wife of an accomplished general indeed. She had a tiny mole at the corner of her red lips, which made her look pompous and arrogant at the same time. As soon as she saw Xiao Yue approaching, she broke into a courteous smile.
"Little Sister, you are finally here. Come, why don't you join us for tea?"
Xiao Yue bowed slightly and sat in the only empty chair, opposite of the other lady, who could only be the Second Madam. The Second Madam was a lot younger than the First Madam, only around Xiao Yue's age. She looked like a tender blooming flower, her skin pearl-white and his lips red as a freshly picked cherry. She shyly looked up to Xiao Yue, only to look down at her lap again.
"…"
'Why is this girl acting like this in front of me? Am I that terrifying? Oh, whatever.'
Xiao Yue smiled at the First Madam.
"Thank you First Madam for the invitation."
First Madam looked at her benevolently.
"How is Third Sister recovering from the past incident? You look a lot better. Hopefully, you are feeling a lot better too. We are all sisters here, we should be happy for each other. Third Sister, the general is fair toward all his wives. As long as you make efforts, you too will soon be blessed with a child. Please do not be too harsh on yourself."
Xiao Yue's eyes widened. She moved her gaze to the Second Madam, who had both hands on her lap, discreetly crossed in front of her barely protruding belly.