Binding Spring Love

"Miss, Aunt Lin just delivered the invitation to the ceremonial office today, and the arrangements for the roadside memorial service were made exactly as you instructed. What's a little strange is that she sent two eulogies."

Delivered today?

That might be just what she wanted.

Song Wan smiled faintly, knowing that her words yesterday would surely provoke Lin Jiayue to stand up for her.

"I'm starting to get scared. Lin Jiayue's impulsive and brainless nature might lead to her taking over the household affairs of the Marquis's mansion in the future. I wonder if she might implicate me."

Hengzhi pursed her lips, also a little worried.

"Miss, shouldn't you have some backup plans?"

"It's meant to be kept."

Song Wan lazily rested her chin on her hand, and unusually, she became hesitant.

"Enough is enough. We've come this far anyway, there's no point in backing down now."

Picking up the colorful thread from the desk, Song Wan began to make a knot.

Just now, after meeting with Granny Lang, Granny Zhao told her that her brother had gone to the Imperial Garden to find Jiang Xingjian a few days ago after finishing his shift, and the two had gotten into a fierce fight. Moreover, Jiang Xingjian was impeached by the censor, and it was her father who had been pushing things along behind the scenes. Thinking of all this, Song Wan couldn't help but feel a sense of pleasure.

Madam Bai was right after all. With a useless husband's family, having a capable maternal family member is the right thing to do.

"Hengzhi, do you think it's better to make this netting a deep blue-green or a dark blue-green?"

Hengzhi lowered her head slightly: "This servant thinks Dailan is more suitable for the young master."

Song Wan nodded, pulled out a roll of dark blue thread from the basket, and started making it.

It had only taken two days to finish making the tassel for Song Fu when the Marquis of Jinxiang's family came to scold her at her door. Song Wan hadn't even gotten up yet. If it weren't for the head maid from the outer courtyard coming to Lan Courtyard, she probably would have stayed in bed longer.

"Grandma, please save this old servant!"

Green Bamboo stepped forward to help Song Wan tie her hair and get dressed. Upon seeing this, the old woman said anxiously, "The Marquis of Jinxiang's mansion sent two manure carts early this morning and poured them all over our mansion's gate. Moreover, those two old women cursed us so rudely that... that even you, Madam, and the Song family were implicated."

A hint of confusion flashed in Song Wan's eyes: "A manure cart?"

"Yes!" The old woman slapped her thigh. "There are so many people gathered in front of the mansion gate right now, and the weather is so hot. If the sun comes up, the heat will be unbearable..."

"Okay, okay, stop talking, it's really disgusting."

Hengwu pinched her nose, as if she could already smell the stench: "They come to our door cursing, why don't you curse them back? This Jinxiang Marquis's mansion is far too unruly, daring to drag our grandmother into this with the Song family? Couldn't you even send a dozen or twenty old women to deal with them?"

"etc."

Song Wan asked with a hint of doubt, "Why would the Marquis of Jinxiang's mansion do such a thing during the mourning period without any reason?"

"Please invite the person in first, and I will make a decision after questioning them carefully. As for the filth outside the gate, have a servant clean it up first, and each person who participates in the cleaning will be rewarded with five hundred coins."

The head maid nodded hurriedly in agreement and rushed out.

A short while later, she came in with two strong, sturdy old women dressed in mourning clothes.

As soon as the two entered Lan Courtyard, they launched into a tirade of vulgarities, so offensive that Song Wan could barely open her eyes.

"Make tea for the two matrons."

Having finally found a quiet spot, she interjected, "You two have worked hard, but I wonder what caused this incident today? Perhaps there's some misunderstanding. Why don't we lay it all out and talk it out? If the Marquis's mansion is at fault, it will give me an opportunity to apologize to the Marquis of Jinxiang's mansion."

"Hmph, how dare we trouble the Marquis's wife to condescend to apologize to our Jinxiang Earl's Mansion?"

Although the old woman said that, she casually tossed two pieces of paper in front of Song Wan. Heng Wu was about to lash out when Heng Zhi pulled her back.

She had a pretty good idea of ​​what had happened today; it must be related to Aunt Lin. She just didn't know what trouble Aunt Lin had gotten into that had caused someone to come to her door and start a fight, throwing excrement at her.

He handed the two papers to Song Wan, who quickly glanced at them and her pretty face immediately turned bright red.

This is the eulogy that Lin Jiayue wrote herself. She slipped it into one of the three invitations for the gift office and sent it to the Marquis of Jinxiang's residence.

Putting aside her illegible handwriting, the deceased's title and name were completely misspelled, and the higher-ups made a colossal error.

No wonder they came knocking on her door. If her family had suffered such humiliation, she would have come to demand an explanation as well.

Song Wan was extremely embarrassed, her cheeks flushed as if they were about to burst into flames.

"This eulogy was not added to the offerings by my own people, and the Marquis's mansion has no intention of humiliating anyone."

Folding the thin piece of paper in her hand and putting it away, Song Wan said with a look of guilt in her eyes, "I will definitely give the Marquis of Jinxiang an explanation for this matter. Please ask the two of you to return to the Marquis of Jinxiang and wait for two days."

Seeing that Song Wan's remorse seemed genuine, the two old women exchanged a glance and stormed out, cursing each other.

After everyone left, Song Wan sat down on the couch, somewhat flustered.

"Miss, what exactly did Consort Lin write that angered the Marquis of Jinxiang so much?"

Song Wan touched her cheek to cool it down a bit before opening the eulogy written by Lin Jiayue and pointing it out to Hengzhi: "This... does not conform to the writing style of an eulogy at all. It's fine if it doesn't conform to the format, but the eldest daughter-in-law of the Marquis of Jinxiang is named Lu Wan, and her husband is a fifth-rank judicial commissioner."

"The wife of a fifth-rank official is granted the title of Yiren, but in order to show respect to the deceased and increase their honor, the funeral rites will be elevated by one rank, that is, the fifth-rank Yiren will be elevated to the fourth-rank Gongren."

"Whether it's the memorial tablet or the offerings made before the deceased's remains, the correct way to write it should be 'Granted the title of Lady Lu of the Cheng Family,' but Lin Jiayue wrote the deceased's name as 'Lady Lu' throughout the entire document..."

Song Wan glanced at the pages filled with lamentations and tears streaming down her face, as well as her close friend, Lady Lu, and felt her eyelids twitch violently.

That day, she deliberately provoked Lin Jiayue, hoping she would take the lead and interfere in the mourning. She had set several small traps in the eulogy and the roadside memorial. Those who knew the rules would understand their meaning, but those who didn't might make a fool of themselves.

Song Wan's original intention was merely to make Lin Jiayue think she had caught some of her minor mistakes, so that Lin Jiayue would report them to Jiang Xingjian, and Song Wan could then use the excuse of being unable to bear the humiliation to completely refuse to take on the duties of managing the household affairs.

To Song Wan's utter surprise, Lin Jiayue, who knew nothing, dared to write a eulogy simply because she was provoked by the remark that someone of her low status was not qualified to participate in the affairs of another household, and even had the audacity to send it directly to the Marquis of Jinxiang's residence.

"What's even more outrageous is..."

Hengwu exclaimed in surprise, "Is there anything even more outrageous?"

Song Wan said with a bitter face, "This part, I think she copied from my eulogy, changing 'descendants of official families' to 'descendants of eunuchs'..."

"what……"

Hengzhi slapped her forehead and lamented, "Miss, if I remember correctly, the Jinxiang Marquis's mansion has been in decline for a long time. In order to find a way out, a few years ago, one of his direct descendants became the godfather of Eunuch Wan of the Eastern Depot... right?"

"yes."

Song Wan covered her eyes and murmured, "So, in the eyes of the Marquis of Jinxiang, we deliberately came to their door at the funeral to humiliate and provoke them."

"Respect for the dead is paramount. Even if the two families have a blood feud, they shouldn't go to such extremes..."

Hengwu said, "Even we servants know not to hit someone in the face or expose their shortcomings when we scold them. The Marquis of Jinxiang must hate us to death. In the future, we'll probably be locked in a life-or-death struggle."