Chapter 299: Turning the World Upside Down, She Is Unruly
"Who are you? Do you have an invitation?"
Ji Qingwu wore a light blue veil that concealed her face.
The guards at the Wei Mansion gate apparently didn’t recognize her.
Without giving it much thought, Ji Qingwu said, "I am the wife your General Wei just married a few days ago. Kindly let me pass."
The guard looked her up and down, noticing the young child she held by the hand.
He puffed out his chest, planted his hands on his hips, and said rudely, "Please remove your veil."
Not wishing for outsiders to see the scratch on her face, she said, "Am I not even allowed to return to my own home?"
"Madam?"
The guard froze, unsure which of the Wei Family’s madams she was.
"So, you do remember where you are. You even know this is your husband’s home."
Someone emerged from the main gate, stopping at the top of the bluestone steps.
Ji Qingwu looked over. The young woman was dressed in purple, with a delicate nose and a small mouth. Her eyes were bright, but they were the sanpaku type, making her look a bit fierce when she wasn’t smiling.
’She looks a little familiar.’
Ji Qingwu was fairly certain she had seen this young woman once before, in front of the prayer hall at Hanshan Temple.
However, her goal that day had been to provoke Madam Wei, so she hadn’t paid much mind to the Wei Family’s flock of chattering young women.
’But for her to be memorable, she must be someone who has Madam Wei’s ear. A proper miss of the Wei Family, not from some collateral branch.’
Standing on the steps above, Wei Tongyou said resentfully, "You disappeared the day after your wedding and are only just now returning. What kind of new bride behaves like that?"
Yesterday morning, the entire Wei Family had gathered in Madam Wei’s Yiyang Pavilion, waiting for the new bride to serve them tea. They waited until breakfast had gone completely cold, but there was still no sign of her.
Wei Tongyou glared at her. "You have the nerve to come back."
’Still, at least she knows to wear a veil to cover that bewitching face of hers when she’s out. I suppose she has some sense of propriety after all.’
Ji Qingwu looked at her and said, "Your older brother disappeared on the very first day of the wedding. I only left on the second. I’d say that makes us even."
She then turned to the tall, imposing guard at her side. "This young lady can attest to my identity. May I go in now?"
Upon learning her identity, the guard nervously bowed his head. "Please, come in, Madam. It was my failure to recognize you. Please don’t hold it against me."
So this was the new wife Wei Ting had married. Even if Ji Qingwu’s reputation was less than stellar, no one in the Wei household dared to treat her lightly.
Everyone in the Wei household knew that in his determination to marry the Ji Family’s Fifth Missy, Madam Wei had first punished Wei Ting by making him kneel in the ancestral hall, and had then even resorted to a hunger strike to pressure him. None of it had been enough to stop him.
In the end, he had married her anyway.
Wei Tongyou followed Ji Qingwu inside. After leading the little girl through the gate, she watched her stop in front of a rockery with a small, flowing waterfall.
Seeing the woman’s back and how she seemed lost in thought, Wei Tongyou said, "It’s too late to go to Grandmother’s Yiyang Pavilion now. She was absolutely furious..."
Ji Qingwu turned around, cutting her off.
She asked with a bewildered expression, "Which way is your older brother’s courtyard?"
After entering the main gate, she was faced with three paths of similar scenery, and she didn’t know which one led back to Xinyuan Hall.
Wei Tongyou choked with indignation. "You’ve just returned from outside, and you don’t even intend to go to Grandmother’s courtyard to pay your respects first? Is this how you behave in the Ji Family, with no sense of propriety?"
The women of the Wei Family were expected to respect their elders. Whenever they left or returned to the mansion, they had to go to the old madam’s residence to pay their respects and announce their presence.
Ji Qingwu felt the girl was making a mountain out of a molehill. "Are you only just realizing today that I have no manners?"
The light veil fluttered faintly with her breath as she spoke.
"But you’re right. This is exactly how ill-mannered I am in the Ji Family."
Wei Tongyou stammered, "You—you have a child with you! Aren’t you afraid of being a bad influence?"
Jiu Jiu opened her big, glistening dark eyes and said matter-of-factly, "If Mama and I had known your family had so many rules, I wouldn’t have let her marry into it."
Behind her veil, Ji Qingwu’s eyes curved into smiling crescents.
Wei Tongyou was rendered speechless by the child’s innocent outburst, unable to truly argue with a little girl.
’What in the world is wrong with the Ji Family? This is completely backwards!’
’A toddler getting involved in her own mother’s marriage!’
There was no need for Jiu Jiu to stick up for her. After seeing the guard’s complete change in attitude once he learned her identity, Ji Qingwu already understood her position in the Wei Family.
Water trickled down the rockery, making the dark stone wet and slick.
Ji Qingwu’s voice held a similar cool clarity.
"I’m stopped at the gate upon my return, and once I’m finally inside, I get a lecture just for asking for directions."
Ji Qingwu raised an eyebrow, her gaze meeting Wei Tongyou’s.
"How about I write a letter right now to your older brother, the one fighting way up on the Northern Border? I could tell him I’m finding it difficult to adjust to life in the Wei household, and that it might be better if I returned to my own family for a long-term stay."
Being quite young, Wei Tongyou was immediately intimidated by Ji Qingwu’s words.
She didn’t doubt the threat, because she believed Ji Qingwu was fully capable of carrying it out.
After all, Ji Qingwu had left the entire Wei household, young and old, in the lurch on the day after her own wedding to go gallivanting about.
When Wei Tongyou looked down, her sanpaku eyes lost their fierceness and instead looked rather foolish.
Beneath her veil, the corners of Ji Qingwu’s mouth curved into a smile. "Jiu Jiu, let’s go. We’ll go with Mama to see your grandmother."
’Of course, if she actually returned to the Ji Family right now, Mrs. Qiao would likely throw her out. It was just an empty threat.’
"Hey, you—don’t go!"
Wei Tongyou admitted defeat, jutting her lip out in displeasure.
"The path on the right. Go straight and then turn left."
Her tone was reluctant, but she felt she had no choice.
’If the Wei Family’s new bride took up long-term residence at her parents’ home, the other aristocratic families would find out and surely start gossiping about the Wei clan.’
’Most importantly, her older brother considered this woman incredibly precious. If he learned she was unhappy, they would all have to face the consequences when Wei Ting returned.’
Ji Qingwu nodded and didn’t forget to add a word of thanks.
"Thank you."
News of Ji Qingwu’s return quickly reached Madam Wei.
Nanny Cao said, "Madam, shall this old servant go and ask the new madam to come over?"
Madam Wei, wiping the Buddha Beads in her hand with a cloth, said, "And have her come here just to vex me? I’d rather use the time to recite a few more sutras before the Buddha and pray for Ting’er’s health."
Recalling yesterday’s scene, Nanny Cao frowned. "Since Ji Wu is now married to the young master, she is a woman of the Wei Family. You ought to teach her some rules, Madam."
Madam Wei carefully cleaned the spaces between her Buddha Beads. "There’s no hurry. I’d like to see just what sort of trouble she can stir up."
She then asked, "You said she returned today wearing a veil, with her face covered?"
Nanny Cao replied, "That’s right. She seems to have some sense, at least. She knows to be mindful of a wife’s appearance when in public."
Madam Wei scoffed. "Her appearance? Her virtue? You think far too highly of her. After stirring up those rumors about her and His Majesty in the palace, is there anything she wouldn’t dare do?"
She wound the Buddha Beads around her gaunt fingers.
"It’s just trivial matters like paying respects and observing etiquette. There’s no fun in teaching that."
"Then, Madam, you mean..."
Madam Wei rose and walked toward the prayer hall. "We’ll wait. She’s not the type to behave herself."
On this point, Madam Wei was not mistaken.
The very next day, someone knocked on the doors of the Wei Mansion, asking for Ji Qingwu by name.