In the past, Tang Rong would listen to whatever Aunt Cai said, and would give her enough face even if she didn't adopt her suggestions. But this time, she didn't let her touch the dowry at all, and she carefully handed the key and book to Tao Yiran, asking her to keep them safe.
Aunt Cai clenched her fists. She suffered a great loss next door yesterday. All the servants in the mansion were laughing at her. She had to restore her prestige as soon as possible.
"Prince."
She called out to Tang Rong who was about to help Tao Yiran into the house, "Young Madam is coming home, and today is a good day. We should invite Madam to have a cup of Young Madam's daughter-in-law tea."
This time, not only Tang Rong felt it was polite, but Tao Yiran also felt it was the right thing to do. "I should indeed offer tea to my mother. Please ask Aunt Cai to arrange it."
Aunt Cai immediately ordered the people in Chunhua Court to get busy, and soon the formal arrangement was made. When Tao Yiran arrived, she saw Aunt Cai holding the tablet of the former marquis' wife. There was a chair in the middle, and a cushion in front of the chair. She was holding the tablet in her arms even though there was an offering table. Aunt Liu, Tao Yiran's dowry, immediately understood her plan and said with a smile, "Aunt Cai, why did you take down the tablet of the former marquis' wife?"
Aunt Cai said sternly, "The former marquis' wife loved the prince the most when she was alive, and she was most worried about him when she was dying. The former marquis' wife must be extremely happy that the prince is getting married now, and she must drink this tea for her daughter-in-law herself."
Aunt Liu continued to smile and said, "The former Marquis' wife is of noble status and kind-hearted. She must be someone who loves her daughter-in-law. Aunt Cai has also considered everything. How about sending someone to invite the Marquis' wife to come and drink the tea for the former Marquis' wife?"
The shameless old woman actually wanted to accept the gift from the young lady of her family on behalf of the former marquis's wife and drink the tea of her young lady's daughter-in-law. How worthy of her!
Aunt Cai's eyes fell on Tang Rong. She was sure that Tang Rong, who was raised by her breasts, would give her this respect.
Tang Rong frowned, "Aunt Cai, put mother's tablet back on the altar. Mother is kind-hearted and will like Yi'er."
Aunt Liu's smile deepened, and with a glance, the two maids behind her stepped forward and moved the chair away. Aunt Cai's face was as gloomy as water, and she put the tablet back on the altar step by step.
Tao Yiran knelt down, and the maid beside her brought her tea. As soon as she put it in her hand, she screamed and then heard the sound of the teacup falling to the ground. Half of the steaming hot tea splashed onto her knees, scalding her eyes and making her tears well up. Aunt Liu quickly stepped forward and asked again, "Who prepared the tea and sent it here when it was boiling hot? Did you deliberately not want the former marquis' wife to drink this cup of tea as a daughter-in-law?"
Aunt Cai's words to blame Tao Yiran were stuck in her throat, unable to come out. She turned around and slapped the little girl serving tea, "You bitch, you can't even handle a small matter."
The little girl didn't dare to say anything, and hurriedly turned around to prepare tea again. Tang Rong felt sorry for the injured Tao Yiran, and wanted to help her go back to the house to apply medicine. Tao Yiran's eyes were red, but she shook her head stubbornly, "Mother hasn't had my tea yet, I'm fine."
Tang Rong felt even more distressed and was dissatisfied with Aunt Cai. After a farce, he finally served tea successfully. Tang Rong couldn't wait to carry Tao Yiran back to the bedroom and apply medicine to her.
After dinner, Tang Mo got the news from the other side and sneered.
"How can she have the nerve to say that she will give the Topaz Peony to you?"
"If you don't know, you might think that the topaz peony is already hers."
Xin An was not surprised at Tao Yiran's behavior, but was curious about Tang Mo's attitude. "I remember that you loved her so much before. You should have known that she is not a competitive person. Why are you so indignant now?"
Tang Mo glared at her unhappily, "Didn't my good brother always dote on his wife in the past? Don't you want to kill him with a glass of poisoned wine now?"
Xin An rolled his eyes successfully, and Tang Mo laughed at himself, "Tao Yiran has always been lenient to herself and strict to others, and she is used to pretending to be good and putting accusations on others. Tang Rong is still counting on her to fight for the topaz peony, but she doesn't know that Tao Yiran also thinks so, and is waiting for the other party to fight for her. Do you think they will end up fighting each other?"
Xin An was in no mood to think about this. At the moment, he felt a mixture of emotions. He said quietly, "It's not unfair that I lost to Tao Yiran."
Tang Rong just used her and he truly liked Tao Yiran. The difference between them was really obvious.
"In my previous life, I suffered a great loss at the hands of Aunt Cai. First, Tang Rong didn't care about me, so he naturally didn't care about what kind of grievances I suffered; second, the Xin family was not well-off, and Aunt Cai always used my background to make things difficult for me. Although I had the ability to refute, I was worried that Tang Rong would be embarrassed because of it. Aunt Wang and Chunyang and Chunlu followed my attitude and acted accordingly. Both the master and the servant lived in frustration."
"Whether Tao Yiran followed you or hooked up with Tang Rong later, she lived a good life and never suffered any grievances."
It's so ridiculous that she was secretly hoping that Aunt Cai would give Tao Yiran a hard time today.
Tang Rong was thoughtful and thoughtful, but he just couldn't see her before.
Tang Mo turned his head in disbelief, tightly grasping the cup in his hand, "Explain yourself clearly. You later hooked up with Tang Rong. How did you hook up with him? When?"
Xin An was listless and didn't feel like talking any more. Tang Mo walked back and forth in the room with his hands on his hips. "Did Tang Rong force her to do this? Yes, they are orphans and widows, and they don't know how to be bullied by you in the mansion. It's only natural for her to ask Tang Rong for help."
Xin An raised his eyelids and said, "If you feel comfortable deceiving yourself like this, it's not impossible."
Tang Mo stopped and looked back at the past, a bitter smile appeared on his lips, "It is true that I am deceiving myself."
The two of them had been flirting with each other when he was still alive, so was there any need to force them?
"You said she had no interest in me at all, so why did she agree to marry me?"
I never figured this out in my previous life.
"Of course I'm betting on your mother's skills, betting on whether you can have the last laugh. You must know that the Tao family originally wanted to send her to the Second Prince's mansion as a concubine, right?"
Seeing Tang Mo's blank look, Xin An knew that he didn't know. He let out a long breath, "I also learned about this when I occasionally gossiped with other ladies. She has worked hard on the Second Prince, so the Second Prince naturally has feelings for her. However, the Second Prince's wife's father is not only a general with military power, but also very decisive. He even personally humiliated her. The Second Prince still relies on the Second Prince's wife to get things done, so naturally he dare not offend her."
"Although this matter has not been publicized, many people know about it. As a result, there are not many people who can take over her. After all the picking and choosing, aren't you the tallest among the short ones, and you were chosen?"
"If you inherit the title in the end, she will have made a profit. This time it's Tang Rong, a legitimate prince, how can he still hesitate?"
Tang Mo smiled bitterly and suddenly understood why Tao Yiran always looked down on him. He used to think that he was not good enough in some way, but it turned out that he was just picking the best results and was never the first choice.