47 - A great beauty

Chapter 47 – A great beauty

Shangguan Yan was shocked speechless.

Her family’s Lord Di is like a God when investigating cases, shrewd in his thinking and good in planning but did not expect that such an intelligent person to be an idiot with his money!

No wonder when he gave her the authority to manage the household affairs, he did it so readily. He was actually throwing this hot potato to her and did not want to touch the silver at all. Those valuable jade items and famous paintings were all rewarded by the Emperor, and could only be admired but could not be exchanged for silver!

Treasures that could only be admired but not eaten……what use do they have?

Shangguan Yan smiled in anger.

When Di Jing returned home from the Yamen, she pointed at him and questioned him. However, he admitted it readily and also said to her affectionately.

“You are so capable and also an expert in business. When the money reaches your hands, the money will only increase and won’t decrease. As for me, I will be responsible for supporting you from behind. Whoever dares to bully you, I will deal with him. In short, when we have the money in the future, whether it is gold, silver, jewelry, or properties, I won’t take anything including my monthly salary. Everything will be given to you.”

Listen, how sincere and beautiful these words sound! Who says Lord Di can’t speak sweet words? It’s just that he usually doesn’t speak them!

Knowing full well that there was deceit behind his words but she still chose to believe him. She wanted to grab hold of his weakness but was unsuccessful, instead, she was coaxed by him and her heart was softened by his words. Every word spoken was like honey as a feeling of sweetness rose in her heart and she could not muster any anger at all.

The greatest fear of women is losing their hearts. No matter how capable a woman is, once her heart is lost, she will be like the Monkey King who could flip over a thousand times but is still unable to escape Buddha’s Five-finger Mountains *.

(The Monkey King is a famous mythical tale of an intelligent monkey with magical powers who created chaos in Heaven and offended the Heavenly Emperor and Empress. Later he was captured and imprisoned by Buddha for five hundred years to learn patience and humility. Buddha used his five fingers to hold down the Monkey King trapping him in his palm and later imprisoned him at the base of the mountain with only his head and hands protruding. The details of this story can be found on Wikipedia.)

Lord Di knew very well how to please his wife.

Everything is hers and she belongs to him. After comforting her, what else is there that can’t be discussed?

It turned out that Lord Di is the smartest. Marrying the daughter of the royal merchant is equivalent to sitting on a goldmine. Why then does he need those troublesome gold, silver, and jewelry?

That night, he successfully blocked his wife’s mouth and completely ate his wife from head to toe. He enjoyed the clouds and rain all night, giving satisfaction to his wife and at the same time, satisfied himself as well.

So, the Governor’s wife, who was satisfied physically and mentally, held her sore waist the next day and began to deal with the affairs of the mansion. For convenience, she also instructed the managers of the shops in the imperial capital to come directly to the Governor’s mansion in Zhenzhou.

Before she married, her father had given her two shops on Prosperity Street in the imperial capital. One was a spice shop and the other was a tea shop. As she had managed these two shops before, so she was able to pick up the reins very quickly.

In the beginning, many officials of noble clans were not optimistic about Lord Di’s wife who came from a merchant family. Everyone thought that Lord Di should have married either a royal princess or a county princess to get a powerful family as his support.

(A Royal Princess is the daughter of the Emperor and a County Princess is the daughter of a Prince, usually, they are the Emperor’s brothers who are also rulers of provinces.)

He is a real fool!

But gradually, those people’s thoughts began to change. For Lord Di to marry the daughter of the royal merchant family was equivalent to having the God of Wealth holding the fort at home.

Just by looking at the contents in the gift list, it was apparent that the Madam is very powerful. Not only were the matters in the mansion handled in an orderly manner, but the sum of the servants’ monthly salaries and monetary rewards also were not small.

As long as the servants work hard, Madam’s rewards and punishments are clear. The reward given will not be a copper less and might even be more.

Facts had proven that Lord Di is the most discerning man. He is not corrupt, loyal to the Emperor, and cannot be bothered whether he has a clan to support him. It is because he does not seek benefits nor is he greedy and the Emperor places great importance on him.

Not only did the Emperor promote him, but the Emperor also gave him a mansion and also make him rich.

In life, men only seek official status, power, and beauty. Lord Di is only twenty-four years old and he already possessed all of them.

At this time, how can the men in the Daxing Dynasty not feel envious?

However, some people said that it was because Lord Di knows how to respect his wife. He made a promise worth one thousand in gold *……he will only marry one wife and his wife will be solely in charge of all household affairs.

(A promise worth one thousand in gold means a priceless or important promise that will be kept no matter what happens.)

It was said that a servant, who considered himself as an old servant, did not believe it and did something wrong. When the Governor’s wife wanted to punish him, he brought up the matter with Lord Di. As a result, Lord Di just stared at him coldly then told him to go back to plead with his wife.

If the Madam does not punish him, so be it……..but if the Madam wants to punish him, then he must suffer it.

With that as an example, all the servants did not dare to disobey the Madam nor did they dare to commit any wrongs anymore.

It must be mentioned that Shangguan Yan felt very happy as the Governor’s wife. Although she was a lot busier, she had her husband as her backer. Compared to the other main wives of those wealthy aristocrat families, she held more power and prestige and all the other madams secretly felt envious of her.

It is said that a big tree attracts winds *. Although Shangguan Yan did not go out to show off, some people like to gossip and spread rumors about her. Some people could not bear to see her like this and wanted to wreak havoc. If they could break up the couple and cause disharmony in the family, then only would these people feel happy.

(A big tree attracts winds means when one is famous or rich, other people tend to feel jealous and try to create trouble.)

Shangguan Yan was unaware that someone was scheming against her and lived her days in the mansion as usual. It was only today when Hua Qianqian and Bai Yuxiao, the two junior sisters, came to visit her and secretly told her about it that she finally knew.

“Princess Yunrou?”

“That’s right. Princess Yunrou is the youngest daughter of Zhuang Qinwang and is seventeen years old. It was Zhuang Qinwang who personally requested the Emperor to bestow a marriage and hoped that his youngest daughter can marry Eldest Brother-in-law as the main wife holding the same status * as Eldest Sister.”

(The main wife holding the same status – Usually, there is only one position for the main wife but sometimes two wives can hold the position of the main wife in a household. This will come about when the second wife is of a higher status than the main wife and is unwilling to hold a status lower than the main wife. However, this is normally not practiced as it would create a lot of problems.)

“A wife that holds the same status as the main wife?” Shangguan Yan smiled and that smile seemed to have caught the scent of a plot. “I have just married your Eldest Brother-in-law for only three months plus and there are already people who can’t wait to stuff women into the mansion?”

Hua Qianqian said. “In the past, Eldest Brother-in-law only worked and handled cases outside in the world of commoners under the orders of the Emperor. Now he had returned to the imperial court and also received a promotion to a second-ranked official. He is young and promising with a family structure that is simple and has a future ahead that is full of potential. To any family, he is considered a hot favorite and good candidate as a son-in-law.”

Bai Yuxiao also said. “That’s right. Moreover, Eldest Brother-in-law is of good character. One, he doesn’t lust for women……two, he doesn’t gamble. He is also talented and had publicly said he will not take any concubines, so it would be strange if those people who harbor intentions don’t make their moves.’

Shangguan Yan pondered for a while and asked. “Di Jing is not the only young and promising talented man in the imperial court, so why did they seek him?”

Bai Yuxiao replied. “Eldest Senior Sister might not be aware of this. As soon as Wangye heard the news in the imperial palace, he immediately returned and insisted that I remind you. There are some matters which you may not be concerned about but some people are unable to put it down!”

The moment Shangguan Yan heard, she understood. In the past, she had only offended one person in the imperial palace.

“Consort An?”

Hua Qianqian sneered. “Isn’t that so? I got Yeqing to investigate and found out some hidden news. It is not known what method that person in Lotus Palace had used, but she managed to convince the County Princess and stirred up her feelings. This County Princess now admires Eldest Brother-in-law and had agreed to marry below her status!”

Bai Yuxiao let out a humph. “She is truly too idle after a full meal *. This kind of intentional and shameless little act is an embarrassment for us womenfolk.”

(Idle after a full meal is a saying that describes a person who feels bored with nothing to do and makes use of his idle time to create trouble for others.)

Hua Qianqian spoke directly to Shangguan Yan’s face. “Eldest Senior Sister, it’s not that we don’t believe in Eldest Brother-in-law who is a true gentleman who can sit still amid chaos without having feelings for other women. Other than giving you this piece of news, we are here today specifically to tell you that County Princess is a great beauty.”

The last sentence was spoken by Hua Qianqian in a serious tone.

Shangguan Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She knew that Qianqian would not praise another woman’s beauty easily because Qianqian s a great beauty herself. For her to praise the other person as a great beauty, then that person must be a peerless beauty that can devastate cities!

“Is she truly that beautiful?”

Bai Yuxiao said. “Senior Sister Qianqian and I had once met this County Princess at the autumn banquet in Zhen Guo Gong Mansion. It’s not an exaggeration even if she is called the peerless beauty in the whole imperial capital. It’s no wonder that Zhuang Qinwang and his Wangfei treats her like a precious treasure for so many years. They kept her by their side until she is now seventeen years old and is still not married yet. Who would have thought that after going through a careful selection, they would choose Eldest Brother-in-law? Most probably, they thought she won’t suffer any grievances by marrying their daughter into the Governor’s mansion.”

Shangguan Yan finally understood and nodded gently.

“That’s true. In this mansion, there are no elders in the family, no sisters nor sisters-in-law. The other party is a princess and the status of her maiden family and their power are greater than mine. Even if she is to marry into the Governor’s mansion as the main wife with the same status as me, she won’t suffer any grievances at all.

Sharing the position as the main wife of Lord Di, who doesn’t lust for women, is way much better than marrying into another family where the husband can take in concubines even though she can be the sole main wife of that family.

Besides, in the mansion, there is only me, a businesswoman……. With her beauty and her status, it’s very easy for her to exert pressure on me.”