Binding Spring Love

"Miss, this is an invitation from the Qi family."

"Which Qi family?"

Hengzhi looked down at the name card in her hand and replied, "The current head of the household is Qi Lun, the grandson of the former Duke of Li. This card was sent by his eldest grandson's wife."

Song Wan took the name card and carefully recalled the person in her mind. After a long while, she said, "No wonder the name seemed familiar. I saw her before I got married."

"If I remember correctly, she is a concubine's daughter from the Prince Zhongjing's mansion, isn't she?"

Song Wan frowned slightly and responded.

Hengzhi said, "The Qi family is also of noble birth, but after the old Duke passed away, there were no outstanding descendants in the family, and it declined generation after generation. Now, the eldest grandson of the family has actually married a concubine's son from the Prince of Zhongjing's family. It is really lamentable."

Upon hearing this, Hengwu leaned closer and asked, "Did she send out invitations today because the young lady had spread the word a few days ago that she was going to arrange marriages for the young ladies with the gentlemen of the manor?"

"That must be it."

Song Wan smiled and said, "Although the Qi family has a high social standing, it is not good enough now. Although the Second Master is born out of wedlock, he is not a match for the Qi family. Please help me find an excuse to reply to this invitation."

"This servant remembers that the Qi family has a legitimate daughter who has just reached the age of marriage this year..."

While tidying up Song Wan's clothes in the inner room, Zhao Mama heard Hengwu say this and said, "Even a legitimate daughter is not suitable. No matter how good her character is, she cannot be married to the Second Master."

Why?

Hengwu was puzzled: "Isn't it said that one should marry down and marry up? The Sun family girl that Miss had taken a liking to before, her father was only a fifth-rank Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, which is far inferior to this Qi family."

Upon hearing this, Song Wan rested her chin on her hand and laughed: "Silly Hengwu, of course it's different."

"Although Lord Sun is only a fifth-rank official, Miss Sun's elder brother passed the imperial examination before he was even twenty, and Miss Sun's maternal uncle is currently in the Ministry of War."

"Although the Grand Secretary of the Dongge Pavilion holds a low official rank, he belongs to the Grand Secretariat and is a proper close minister of the government. The fact that the tutor of Miss Sun's daughter is Meishan Jushi, who comes from the Wang family of Taicang Prefecture, indicates that the Sun and Wang families also have dealings."

Song Wan blinked: "This Wang family..."

"Oh, Miss, I can't stand hearing this. It makes my head spin."

Granny Zhao, holding the sun-dried quilt, laughed and said, "Even if I, an old woman, don't understand these things, I know that the young lady of the Qi family cannot be mentioned to the Second Master."

"Why? Is there something wrong with Miss Qi?"

Granny Zhao slapped her on the back: "What nonsense are you spouting? How dare you slander the reputation of a young lady like this?"

"You can't even understand something this simple? You're such a big idiot. Go ask your older sister."

After being rebuked by Granny Zhao, Hengwu grumbled and went to ask Hengzhi for the reason behind it all.

Hengzhi smiled and replied, "The Sun family is of low status but holds real power, while the Qi family has only a prestigious background. If Miss chooses such a family for Second Master, people will either say that our grandmother is short-sighted or that she is malicious and is humiliating Second Master."

"what……"

"No wonder Miss has been looking through various family registers all day these past few days; she's been thinking so deeply about this."

Seeing that Song Wan's dark circles were becoming more pronounced, Hengwu couldn't help but feel indignant: "If you ask me, Miss shouldn't be so concerned. The young master treats you badly at all. Why should you suffer and toil for the Marquis's mansion?"

"Pah, you little hussy, you've gotten too tough if you haven't been beaten in a few days."

Upon hearing this, Granny Zhao was so angry that her hair stood on end. Seeing that Song Wan's smile had faded considerably, she hurriedly went out of the room to pick up a pole to pluck the angelica root.

Hengwu was chased around the house by her.

As Granny Zhao chased after him, she said, "You're always spouting nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"Even if the master is incompetent, there are still the madam and the old lady in the mansion. Even if we disregard these things, if the young lady really abandons the household, are you suggesting that she hand over the power of managing the household to that little harlot?"

"How can you be so short-sighted? You only see the immediate gains and losses. Don't you ever think that if Miss only cares about her own peace and quiet and doesn't care about anything else, how can she remain uninvolved when the Marquis's mansion falls into chaos? Haven't you heard of that... what nest... what egg?"

"When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact."

Song Wan covered her lips behind the table and chuckled as she added a comment.

"Yes, yes, that's it."

"Now that Miss has married into the Marquis's household, our fortunes are intertwined; one's honor is our honor, and one's loss is our loss. Do you think I don't care about Miss? But have you ever seen me say anything like that?"

As she spoke, Granny Zhao's eyes also reddened.

Song Wan was raised by her own breast milk, nurtured and cared for since she was just a tiny child. Now that she has finally grown into such a beautiful young lady, why would she want to marry someone like Jiang Xingjian? If she had known Jiang Xingjian was like this, she would have preferred to let her young lady remain a widow forever.

It's hard to say which kind of life was more torturous.

The more Zhao Mama thought about it, the angrier she became. She thought about how Song Wan put on a show of being the mistress of the mansion in front of others, but secretly laughed like a child without a care in the world. She felt extremely sorry for her.

Her young lady was widowed at the age of twelve and was confined in Longxiangzhai for six years. In the end, she was still a naive child who had never experienced anything.

Hengwu saw that Zhao Mama was chasing after her when she suddenly collapsed onto the embroidered couch and buried her head in the quilt.

Song Wanhengzhi was startled and rushed forward to check. Hengwu was chuckling foolishly behind her until she heard soft sobbing coming from inside the house, at which point she hurriedly shut her mouth.

"Good nanny, I won't talk nonsense anymore."

"Which married girl doesn't restrain herself and act cautiously, taking every step with care? A woman's whole life is for a good reputation and virtue. Seeing the young lady suffer every day, how could she not feel sorry for her? In our household, this old servant won't even let the young lady have a drop of water."

"Not to mention the time when you used an abacus so much that your fingernails broke."

Granny Zhao held Song Wan's delicate fingers, her heart aching as she sobbed.

Apart from a few times when she was young and learning needlework, her young lady had never done any rough work. Now, she uses the abacus every day, and fine cuts have appeared on the edges of her fingernails.

"If the lady in the afterlife knew this, I wonder how much pain she would be in..."

Song Wan felt a pang of sadness as Zhao Mama held her hand tightly, not because of Jiang Xingjian, but because of the person who cared about her.

After thinking for a moment, she nestled into Granny Zhao's arms like a child, and murmured, "Granny, what are you saying? I'm already quite relaxed in the Marquis's mansion. It's just managing the household and keeping accounts, what's so difficult about that? Which matriarch hasn't gone through this?"

"This old servant is not referring to the matter of managing the household; this old servant is referring to the young lady's future."

Song Wan sighed inwardly, but smiled and said, "My husband and I grew up together. Our childhood friendship won't last forever. In a few days, he might remember how good I am to him."

Hengzhi and Hengwu also felt heartbroken. Just as they were feeling sad, they saw Lüzhu walk in with a receipt for the manor. As soon as she entered the room, she said angrily, "Miss, the young master has gone hysterical. He actually allocated two thousand taels to Lin, the concubine of Xiuyan Pavilion, to open a shop. Doesn't he know how hard you work to save this money for the Marquis's manor? Now he has allocated it all to that thing. It is really too much."

"What? Has the son-in-law gone mad?"

Granny Zhao suddenly stood up, making Song Wan dizzy.

Song Wan held her head, saying helplessly, "Be careful what you say...be careful what you say..."