BXBX NOVEL Chapter 57 - Not on the list
“In a dream? It’s impossible!” Mammy Tang wondered.
He Danggui nodded and said, “I can’t believe it even when I’m dreaming. I feel that I’m confused and can’t take it seriously. So, I didn’t dare to mention my nightmare of last night to you at first. But I couldn’t help asking about my nephews to prove that the immortal in my dream was wrong...”
“Nightmare?” Mammy Tang gained the key words. She asked, squinting at He Danggui, “What kind of nightmare?”
He Danggui paused and said, “Danggui isn’t timid, but I dare not say these words, for fear of offending my Elder Cousin and his wife. Please don’t tell others that it’s me who tells you the words. Otherwise, others may think that I curse my nephews to death.”
“Death... death?! You said Zhu will die?” Mammy Tang screamed.
He Danggui shrank back, covered her mouth with her hands on the veil, shook her head, and refused to say any word. Mammy Tang was so angry that she pulled He Danggui’s arms. She forced down her anxiety and said softly, “Here are just you and me. You’re a child. You’re innocent. Even if you say something wrong, I won’t blame you or go to Younger Mistress Luo to speak ill of you. What you said worries me. Do you want me to guess in the bad direction?”
As soon as He Danggui was in a hurry, she felt itchy on her hands again. She scratched and recalled, “In my dream, I have returned to the East Yard of Luo’s Family. At night, the noises of mice and Aunt Wang’s gambling house really annoyed me, so I put on a dress...”
“You say gambling house?!” Mammy Tang interrupted her and asked, “What kind of gambling house is it?”
He Danggui’s eyes widened in surprise with remorse in them. At last, she looked down at Mammy Tang’s bright eyes and replied, “A few months ago, I overheard the conversation between Aunt Wang and her nephew, Wang Xiaoda. I didn’t mean to do it, but I couldn’t help listening to them when they mentioned my 400 liang sliver. It turned out that they opened an underground gambling house in the mansion. In addition to my meal allowance, they seemed to embezzle the board wages of many servants, all of which were used as gambling money to invest in the underground gambling house.”
After thinking about it, Mammy Tang didn’t believe He Danggui. She asked, “How could it be? If that’s the case, why didn’t someone report it?”
He Danggui explained unhurriedly, “They called nearly all the servants and maids in the mansion to gamble. Even if the other loses money and can’t pay, they are not afraid that the person would repudiate the debt. As long as they remove the name of that person from the list of servants, the board wages of that person will be theirs. However, people whose money have been deducted don’t dare to argue with them because they have the evidence of their gambling money. After a few months’ savings, those people can’t resist the temptation to gamble and want to earn back their own board wages. Then they are cheated by the banker... I heard all these words at that time.”
After hearing the description of He Danggui, Mammy Tang suddenly asked seriously, “But since Third Miss has learned about such a serious crime of Wang Qi’s wife, why don’t you report it to Madam Luo a few months ago? Do you know how harmful the underground gambling house is? When you were not born in early years, there was a big trouble in East Yard because of the gambling by servants. Therefore, any gambling behavior is forbidden in our family! Third Miss, you are also a member of Luo’s Family. Since you know this situation, you should report it in time! Now they have opened the underground gambling house for several months before you tell me. Are you also suspected of shielding?”
“Mammy Tang, I’m wronged!” He Danggui cried with her hands over her face, “How undeserved! I’m not protecting Aunt Wang. There is no benefit to me at all! Aunt Wang set the gambling house in the waste cellar behind the West Lateral court, so I couldn’t fall asleep at night because of the noisy. What was worse, I had no food because she was in charge of the kitchen, and I had no money to supply my own kitchenette. Finally, all of my maids and mammies were upset, and over 10 of them went to serve other masters. Then the remainder complained all day and didn’t regard me as their master. So, it’s too difficult to order them do somethings for me. Then I have no choice but to do everything by myself, such as fetching water, cleaning, sewing…”
“What!?” Hearing her words, Mammy Tang got so angry, “Oh damn! They were sold to Luo’s Mansion and got the monthly allowance, and even their lives were given by their masters. How dare they deceive you against their consciences? Third Miss, why don’t you ask Madam Luo for help?”
He Danggui lowered down her head, and replied in tears, “I intended to ask her for some maids and wanted to beg her for recalling the previous maids and mammies to my yard. But I heard from the remained maids that those who have left go to serve Concubine Mei of Third Uncle or Second Sister in Su Mei Yard, a new yard of her…”
“Su Mei Yard?” Mammy Tang frowned, “When does Second Miss own the Su Mei Yard? Why don’t I know?”
As time went by, the Second Miss was more and more beautiful with pretty face and grace behavior. Moreover, she was the eldest legitimate daughter of Second Mistress Luo. So, everyone thought she was the most promising lady, and the indulgent Second Mistress Luo was willing to let her do anything she wanted. A few years passed, she complained that her yard was too small to put somethings. So, Second Mistress Luo gave many empty yards to her as the bath room, study, Guqin room, dance room and so on.
When the Second Miss had 8 yards, Madam Luo couldn’t help blaming Second Mistress Luo that she couldn’t coddle her child madly. After Second Miss got married, there were a few rooms in a yard in her husband’s house. If so, she must feel wronged because of a great drop.
Then Second Mistress Luo asked the Second Miss to serve the tea and pound the legs for Madam Luo immediately. She said, “As the saying goes, ‘Raising a son economically and raising a girl generously.’ The daughter should have been spoiled. My daughter, Qiong will go to the imperial palace to serve the Emperor. Now, she was twelve, and she got the menophania. So, there was a short time for her to stay in our Luo’s Mansion. Madam Luo, you should be better to her than to an ‘outsider’. You should remember it!”
The “outsider” must be He Danggui. On the one hand, He Danggui was the granddaughter of Madam Luo. On the other hand, there were two wives who were in charge of Luo’s Family in the past. Grandpa Luo Duzhong married the sisters of Chai’s Family in Chengdu, and both of them were his wives. One was First Miss of Chai’s Family, He Danggui’s biological grandmother who had passed away. She gave birth to Luo Chuanbai of the First Branch and He Danggui’s mother, Luo Chuanqiong. Another was Second Miss of Chai’s Family, current Madam Luo who gave birth to Luo Chuangu of the Second Branch and Luo Chuanpu of the Third Branch.
Chai’s sisters were born by the same mother, but they turned against each other because of the favor of their husband. Then they hated each other like enemies. They didn’t make peace until Luo Duzhong died of a heart attack. But they never got along well with each other because of the fundamental misunderstandings. Three years ago, the First Madam Luo also passed away. So, Madam Luo became the only elder in East Yard of Luo’s Family. She had a high status only inferior to the Senior Lord Luo Maitong who outmatched the East Yard and West Yard of Luo’s Family and Luo’s Family in the capital.
It was surprised that He Danggui’s biological grandmother didn’t love her daughter Luo Chuanqiong. What was worse, she took her granddaughter He Danggui as an encumbrance and sent her to a farm. While Madam Luo loved Luo Chuanqiong and He Danggui more. Although Madam Luo couldn’t treat them in the way as her own children, she still protected them. They could not only subsist on the cold Luo’s Mansion in the case that they beloved parents or grandparents had passed away, but also get a yard and monthly allowance. In addition, they didn’t lose contact with the upper-class social circle.
In the previous life, every time Luo’s Family distributed money or goods, they always forgot Luo Chuanqiong and He Danggui “carelessly”. Then Madam Luo asked specially to make them “remind” it. Every time Madam Luo attended celebrity banquets, she always left a seat for He Danggui who was unmarried. She hoped that some madams or childes could like this beautiful girl and ask for her family background or date of birth and eight characters of a horoscope.
Although there were a lot of people liking He Danggui’s face, no one wanted to marry her when considering her identity as the daughter of the concubine and abandoned girl, as well as her growth environment. In addition, Madam Luo joked excessively, “We are old family friends, so how about letting Yi be Feng’s wife?”
Figuring out He Danggui’s background, the madam who wanted to retreat was tongue-tied. She thought, “Are you kidding me? If Feng marries her as a senior concubine, I still need to think about her farm life. My son Feng will inherit his father’s title in the future. Lumme! I wouldn’t agree this marriage, even if I were a fool, a lunatic or a psycho!
Therefore, in the previous life, even if Madam Luo tried to let He Danggui integrate into the upper-class social circle and marry a Childe as a wife, she couldn’t help He Danggui even using the glorious background of Luo’s Family and her noble identity.
Over ten years, He Danggui was still not on the list and couldn’t be a member of noble ladies until she was killed. She still got cursed by Concubine Gu in Lord Ning’s Mansion as “ill-bred”, “growing up in the countryside”, or “seeing a lot of dirty things”. But all people didn’t know that the farmers were much cleaner than these extravagant noble people. If her daughter could grow up, her daughter would still be cursed by others. When her daughter wanted to find a marriage, she was still lower than Zhu Quan’s other daughters.
Now He Danggui was reborn. She made up her mind that no matter who she chose to marry, she would not marry with the title of “the daughter of the concubine” and “abandoned girl”. She would scour off the stain on her identity, and show up in a glorious way. He’s Family in the capital didn’t give her a status. Someday, she would gain the status from a family much more distinguished than He’s Family.