Chapter 2141: Alluring Madam Hou
Chapter 2141: Chapter 2141: Alluring Madam Hou
Shu Yu listened while welcoming Madam Hou into the room.
She had been in the capital for five or six days. Apart from the first day when she took Little Song Le to see Aunt Hong, she later visited several familiar houses, including the Yao Family and the Qi Family.
But she didn’t visit the Wan Family, mainly because she wasn’t familiar with Lord Wan and didn’t have much of a relationship, so visiting them didn’t seem appropriate.
Besides, Madam Hou was not the mistress of the Wan Family; she was a concubine. Shu Yu was unaware of the situation at the Wan Family and did not know how Madam Hou was faring in the household, so she worried that a sudden visit might cause trouble for her.
Thus, she sent word to Madam Hou, simply saying that she’d arrived in the capital and was at the small courtyard south of the city.
She gave an address, mentioning that if Aunt Hou was free, she could come and find her there.
Madam Hou hadn’t come in the previous days, and Shu Yu thought perhaps she was inconvenienced, unexpectedly she was actually worried a visit might disturb Meng Yunzheng’s studies.
Shu Yu led her guest to the living room to sit down, asked Ying Xi to pour some tea before speaking, “It’s been over four years since we last met, I didn’t expect you to come to the capital. But it worked out well, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to meet today. Did you receive the letter I sent you before the new year?”
“I did, congratulations! You’ve been engaged for years and finally decided to marry.” Madam Hou teased, “I’ve mentioned this to my lord. He heard you were marrying and didn’t stop me, saying if I wanted to visit my hometown, it was a good excuse. But he can’t leave the capital, so someone will escort me back to Dongan Province then.”
“Looks like Lord Wan treats you quite well.”
Madam Hou lowered her head slightly and smiled slowly.
Shu Yu was surprised, observing Madam Hou’s demeanor; it was richer in allure compared to the past at the Shu family.
How to say it? Madam Hou was always a beauty, but previously beautiful yet restrained, either accidentally or intentionally. Now, the inherent beauty revealed from her bones became uninhibited.
It seemed… there were not so many worries anymore.
Sure enough, Madam Hou whispered, “Lord Wan treats me quite well, my life is very comfortable now; compared to the Shu family, it’s like falling into a nest of blessings.”
In the Shu family, she was also a concubine, seen by others merely as an object serving with attractiveness.
Despite this role, one had to suppress oneself to avoid being too flamboyant. Because if you were too flamboyant, your end also approached.
Madam Hou endured several harms in the Shu family, even almost losing her daughter during childbirth. For her own sake and her daughter’s, she kept a low profile, dressing plainly as much as possible.
But the result of this was being disliked by her husband, who felt she lacked charm.
So, no matter what Madam Hou did, it was wrong; being too pretty annoyed the wife, not pretty enough lost the Lord’s interest. Entirely surviving in a gap, making progress was extraordinarily challenging.
However, in the Wan Family, things were completely different.
“The Wan Family’s rear courtyard is very peaceful. After the original wife of my lord passed away, he never remarried. There are only two concubines in the rear courtyard, both have honest and straightforward dispositions, having been with the lord for a long time. Now, they’re old and just keep to their small courtyards growing flowers, occasionally going out shopping, hardly showing up in front of the lord.”
Shu Yu, “So, are you managing the Wan Family’s household now?”
“Not really.” Madam Hou shook her head, “There’s a butler in the household, a nanny who understands these matters. Though my lord teaches me how to read accounts, occasionally having me check them.”