I'm already a concubine, who wants to fight with you?

Chapter 150: Not Suitable for Publicity
At the end of the year, Pei Sheng and Pei Honglang were both promoted. Logically, they should have been congratulated.

Madam Zheng said, "It's all about the enemy's spy. The whole capital is in an uproar and the court is even more turbulent. How can there be time to congratulate?"

Nowadays, the wealthy and powerful families have less contact with each other, for they are afraid to get too close to someone. Once that person is found to have connections with the enemy country, the whole family will suffer.

Xie Fei pretended to be puzzled and said, "I have heard about the secret agent, but I didn't expect it to be so serious. So, even if the two adults are promoted, it's not easy to publicize it?"

Mrs. Zheng frowned slightly.

Although promotion is something worth celebrating, there is no need to publicize it. After all, the eldest wife of the Marquis's Mansion enjoys status in the court, and Pei Sheng and Pei Honglang are both high-ranking officials.

If you are too arrogant and show off your power, you will be laughed at.

If someone else said this, she would just think that person was shallow and ostentatious.

But Xie Fei...

She had not met Xie Fei very often, but she had been paying attention to him since Shanbao's incident.

This woman doesn't look like a girl of fifteen or sixteen.

She is deep-minded, but sometimes she is naive and innocent. She is innocent, but she never suffers any loss and always manages to turn danger into safety.

Taken together, he is undoubtedly a smart person who is good at pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, hiding himself.

When she brought up this matter for no reason, Mrs. Zheng felt that there was something else behind her words.

After pondering for a moment, Madam Zheng said, "I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. Your uncle is a low-key and humble person. And we are in an extraordinary period. Whether he gets promoted or not is not a big deal. Why publicize it?"

Xie Fei was surprised and asked, "So there's no need to publicize it?"

Seeing Madam Zheng's puzzled face, she smiled and said, "Last night, I was walking along the street with my maid and saw a great commotion."

"What's the excitement?" Mrs. Zheng asked.

Xie Fei said: "I saw that Madam Ban and a woman brought people to smash an embroidery workshop."

Mrs. Zheng's expression changed slightly.

Xie Fei continued, "Madam Ban ordered the servants to smash the store and injure people. She said that the two masters in the mansion are now the favorites of the emperor. If a mere lowly person dares to act insolently in front of the mansion, it will be a serious crime of confiscating the property and exterminating the clan."

Mrs. Zheng's cheeks twitched. She endured it for a long time before picking up the teacup and taking a big sip of tea to suppress her anger.

Xie Fei came here to gossip, and said exaggeratedly, "I also heard from people nearby that Madam Ban often brings people to smash shops, and the government, due to the power of the Marquis' Mansion, dare not seek justice for the people."

Mrs. Zheng put down the teacup, her lips trembling, unable to utter anything.

Although what Xie Fei said sounded outrageous, she knew that nothing was impossible.

"Why would this happen? Could it be that you saw it wrong?"

"Nishang Pavilion, I think it's called that," Xie Fei frowned and thought for a while, then said, "The lady who was traveling with the eldest lady was a lady from Nishang Pavilion. I think she has bad intentions and has instigated a lot."

Madam Zheng's face darkened. "That should be Sihui's sister-in-law, named Du Juan'er."

Xie Fei suddenly realized, "Oh, so that's the case? No wonder, Nishang Pavilion is an embroidery workshop, and so is that small shop. It must be that the small shop is bullying others, so Madam Ban came to teach them a lesson."

Mrs. Zheng wanted to laugh, but she couldn't.

She had long known that Ban Sihui had used her own private money to open a shop for her mother's family.

One of them, Nishang Pavilion, was originally the private property given to Ban Sihui by the eldest wife, but was secretly moved to her natal family by Ban Sihui.

That would have been fine, but I didn't expect that the Ban family would act like this in the name of the Marquis' Mansion.

This was probably not the first time he had done this. Seeing the change in Mrs. Zheng's eyes, Xie Fei decided to stop while he was ahead, drank some more tea, and then said goodbye and left.

Mrs. Zheng did not have an attack immediately. Only a day or two later, Ban Sihui returned from her parents' home.

Before he could even go to his own yard, he was called to Madam Zheng's place.

Before entering the hall, Ban Sihui was still confused.

Recently, her mother-in-law has been avoiding her and even skipped the morning and evening visits. In name, she feels sorry for her hard work in taking care of the children, but in reality, she is still estranged from her because of Shanbao's matter.

She felt wronged and sad, and couldn't understand why someone was so harsh on such a small matter.
After much thought, it was the fourth concubine who was secretly causing trouble, causing her to become a dog between its tail in the eyes of her mother-in-law.

And today, the mother-in-law took the initiative to call her over. Was it because something went wrong with her children, or did she finally feel that she was innocent and wronged and wanted to comfort her?

After thinking about it, Ban Sihui felt that the latter was more likely.

Mrs. Zheng was not in the hall, so the maid Lianyi helped Ban Sihui to sit down first.

Ban Sihui asked, "Lianyi, why did mother-in-law suddenly call me here?"

Lianyi said, "Madam didn't want to see the eldest lady. The stalemate lasted for several days. I think she must want to reconcile with you now."

Ban Sihui asked, "Really? My mother-in-law finally forgave me?"

Lianyi knelt down, massaged Ban Sihui's legs, and whispered, "Madam, you don't have to be so afraid of our Madam. After all, you will be the mistress of the mansion in the future, but Madam is getting older. She knows that if she treats you badly, how can she have a good life in the future?"

"Shut up," Ban Sihui scolded, "Our dynasty has always emphasized filial piety. How can we disrespect our mother-in-law?"

Even if Madam Zheng becomes old and unable to move in the future, and even if she holds the power in the backyard, she will not be so indifferent to Madam Zheng.

Otherwise, if the news gets out, she will be drowned by the saliva of outsiders.

Lianyi saw Ban Sihui looking worried, and looked around, only trying to persuade her after seeing no one was paying attention.

"Madam, you are so honest. The whole backyard will be yours. You can't do anything openly, so do you have to tolerate it secretly?"

Ban Sihui was puzzled.

Lianyi also said that this so-called "filial piety" was done for outsiders to see. Who could climb over the wall and lie in front of the door to peek into the inner courtyard?
As long as the door is locked, the old man sick in bed will be in our hands, right?

Therefore, Mrs. Zheng knew very well that her daughter-in-law could not be neglected for too long. The older she was, the more she had to curry favor with her. Therefore, she took the initiative to find Ban Sihui to make peace.

Ban Sihui was stunned when she heard what Lianyi said. She felt that what Lianyi said was extremely disrespectful, but in her heart she strangely wanted to agree with it.

"That's strange. I've never heard of a mother-in-law trying to please her daughter-in-law."

Lian Yi said, "So those who treat their daughter-in-law badly when they are young will be very pitiful when they are old. Our mistress is a smart person and knows not to be too cruel. So, I come to apologize to you."

Ban Sihui smiled, her eyes sparkling, "Are you serious?"

Ripple nodded vigorously.

As he was speaking, Mrs. Zheng arrived.

Just as Ban Sihui was about to stand up and salute, Mrs. Zheng asked everyone else to go down first, leaving only one steward behind.

This steward was brought by Madam Zheng's family. He is responsible for handling all the internal and external affairs of the farm. Many shops and farms have to go through his hands. He is one of Madam Zheng's most trusted stewards.

Ban Sihui was puzzled as to why her mother-in-law brought this person here.

After the ceremony, Ban Sihui asked, "Mother-in-law, what went wrong in the shop that made you bring Manager Zheng here?"

(End of this chapter)