Being a second wife is difficult

The morning after returning from Ganen Temple, Jiang Wan was already awake when Qinghe brought in a basin of water.

She leaned against the headboard and went over yesterday's events again: Chen Si had made the contact, Dong Sinian had shielded her from the situation, and the old lady had protected her.

Everything was settled, but one thing remained unresolved.

"What is Madam thinking about?" Qinghe handed her a handkerchief.

"I miss Xiaoman." Jiang Wan took the handkerchief and wiped her face. "She handled yesterday's matter efficiently, but as efficient as she was, we'll have to wait two more days to see if it's reliable."

Qinghe placed the basin on the shelf: "Is Madam afraid she'll gossip?"

"If she says so, someone should come to test me in the next couple of days. If no one comes, then I can use it from now on." Jiang Wan folded the handkerchief and put it back on the edge of the basin. "Let's see in a couple of days."

"This servant is keeping an eye on her," Qinghe said, then added, "If she steps out of the courtyard even half a step these next few days, this servant will know."

Jiang Wan nodded and was about to speak when a series of hurried footsteps came from the courtyard gate.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, Lu Wan poked half her head in, her hands behind her back, with a "guess what I took" expression on her face.

Lu Zhao followed closely behind, his hands empty, but his gaze was fixed on Lu Wan's back. Dong Sinian walked at the very back, leaning against the door frame and not coming in.

"Mother!" Lu Wan couldn't contain herself any longer and ran to Jiang Wan's side, holding up what she had hidden behind her back. "Look! Brother Hui made this!"

Jiang Wan took it and examined it in her palm.

A small wooden bird, about half the size of a palm.

The wood was polished smooth, the bird's beak was pointed, and two fine lines were carved on the wings, like the outline of feathers. Every edge was polished and there were no burrs. Turning it over to look at the bird's belly, the bottom of the wood was shaved slightly bulging, which was the bird's chest.

"Did Hui-ge really make this?"

"Really! He made it and gave it to me, saying this one was the prettiest, and gave it to me." Lu Wan said, gesturing again.

Lu Zhao chimed in from the side, "He's definitely more dedicated to these things than to studying."

Jiang Wan looked down at the wooden bird again. The workmanship was indeed exquisite, and it was clear that a lot of thought had been put into it.

She placed the wooden bird on the table and asked Lu Wan, "Where is Hui-ge'er?"

"In the garden, he said he wanted to be a rabbit too, so I went to call him." Lu Wan turned and ran, and Lu Zhao followed.

Dong Sinian didn't move. He leaned against the door frame and looked at the wooden bird in Jiang Wan's hand, saying, "Auntie, this bird is indeed very well carved. The craftsmanship is exquisite, and you can tell that she has spent time practicing."

Jiang Wan nodded, stood up, and walked out.

When Jiang Wan arrived at the garden, she did not see Lu Wan and Lu Zhao; they had probably gone off to play somewhere again.

Beside the artificial hill in the garden, Lu Hui sat on a rock, holding a small knife in his hand, and carving a piece of wood with his head down.

A half-finished rabbit was already placed on the stone next to it. The shape was there, the outline of the ears had been carved out, and the curve of the belly was still being refined.

Jiang Wan walked over without saying a word, sat down on the stone next to him, and watched him slowly carve the rabbit's ears.

Lu Hui carved for a while before looking up. When he saw it was her, he paused, knife in his hand: "M-Mother?"

"You do your thing," Jiang Wan said. "I just came to take a look."

Lu Hui hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and carved two more strokes. He then put the knife aside, picked up the little rabbit, and handed it to her: "It's not finished yet... The rabbit's ears are too thin, they broke once."

Jiang Wan took it and looked at it.

The rabbit's ear was indeed cut off once. The broken part was patched with wood shavings and smoothed out, so it's not very noticeable unless you look closely.

She looked at the rabbit's belly again; it was round and bulging, with smooth lines, and even more delicate than the little wooden bird from before.

"How long have you been studying?"

"I haven't studied it." Lu Hui's voice was a little softer. "I'm just figuring it out. Last time I saw the gatekeeper repairing a stool, I thought it was fun, so I tried it myself with wood."

"To be able to carve this much out of mere guesswork shows you've put in a lot of effort." Jiang Wan placed the wooden bird and the little rabbit side by side on the stone. "How long have you been working on these?"

Lu Hui lowered his head, his fingers tracing the hilt of the knife, and after a while he finally spoke: "It's been about... more than half a year."

"I used to carve things a lot at school, and the teacher caught me and scolded me several times. So I stopped carving at school and started carving secretly at home." He looked up at her, then lowered his head again. "Mother, please don't tell my mother, okay?"

"Afraid she'll get angry?"

"She always says I don't do anything productive." Lu Hui's voice lowered a few decibels. "I'm not good at studying, and she looks down on everything I do."

Jiang Wan looked at him.

He kept his head down, his fingers still touching the hilt of the knife, while half a rabbit and the whole wooden bird lay side by side on the stone.

"The wooden bird and rabbit that Hui-ge carved is so good. Go back and show this rabbit to your mother. She won't be angry. Trust me."

Jiang Wan said, "After she finishes reading it, tell her how long it took you to finish, how many times you messed it up, and answer whatever she asks. Don't hide anything from her."

Lu Hui looked up at her, a hint of hesitation in his eyes: "Really?"

"Really, you've been working on this for over half a year, you should let her see it." Jiang Wan added, "Go to school on time, and when you come home from school, do your woodworking if you want. Tell your mother clearly what you're doing and how long you'll be doing it, don't do it secretly."

"What you've done isn't anything bad, there's no need to hide it."

Lu Hui held the rabbit tightly in his hand for a while before saying, "My mother won't agree."

"Show her your carved rabbit first, then we can talk about other things. Once she sees the rabbit, she'll know you're not just playing around. Go back and try it out, see if it works?"

Lu Hui remained silent for a moment, then put down the knife in his hand, carefully tucked the half rabbit into his pocket, stood up, and nodded.

That evening, Aunt Zhou arrived. When she entered, she was carrying the rabbit in her hand. It had already been polished, and the broken ear was repaired so well that it was almost invisible unless you looked closely.

She sat down on the embroidered stool, gently placed the rabbit on the table, and after a long while spoke: "Madam, Hui-ge'er has been making these little trinkets for half a year, and I only found out today."

Jiang Wan picked up the rabbit and looked at it. It was different from when she saw it in the afternoon. The curve of its belly had been reshaped, and although the ears had been repaired, they were now smooth.

It seems that the mother and son have reached an agreement.

"He said he made this," Aunt Zhou said in a low voice. "I've looked at it for a long time, and I don't know what to say."

He's afraid you'll be angry.

"What am I angry about? Am I angry that he can't recite the book? Or am I angry that he spent half a year making this?" Aunt Zhou paused for a moment, "I'm angry that he put so much effort into making this, and I didn't even know it."

The room was quiet for a while.

Jiang Wan put the rabbit back on the table and pushed it in front of Aunt Zhou: "Aunt Zhou, I've been remembering what you mentioned about changing Hui-ge'er's tutor."

Aunt Zhou paused for a moment, her fingers hovering over the edge of the table, but she didn't reply.

"I'll handle the matter of changing husbands," Jiang Wan said.

"But there's one thing you need to think about, Auntie. Hui-ge can sit and carve a rabbit all afternoon. He's not someone who can't sit still; he just isn't interested in reading."

"If you keep forcing him to memorize things he can't, he'll become more afraid of studying and avoid you to do carpentry. Even if you change teachers, he'll still be afraid of studying. It's the same no matter who teaches him."

Aunt Zhou tightened her grip on the handkerchief, but remained silent.

"He's happy when he does carpentry. As his mother, do you see him happy more often, or afraid of you more often?"

Jiang Wan pushed the rabbit forward again. "He spent half a year making this, hiding his true intentions. Why? Because he thought you would be angry. But after you saw the rabbit, were you really angry?"

Aunt Zhou lowered her head and looked at the rabbit on the table. After a long while, she spoke, her voice lower than before: "I'm not angry. I just..."

"I just don't know what to do," Jiang Wan finished her sentence for her.

Aunt Zhou did not deny it.

"Then there's no need to rush to figure out what to do," Jiang Wan said. "Have him make the carpentry work public, so he doesn't have to hide from you. Watch him do it, and when he's happy, you can talk to him about studying."

"When he's afraid of you, he won't listen to anything you say. You need to make him unafraid of you first, and then slowly bring out his interest in reading. This is more effective than changing ten teachers."

Aunt Zhou remained silent for a while, then picked up the rabbit and held it in her hand. Her voice finally became more steady: "Let me think about it."

Jiang Wan didn't urge her.

When Aunt Zhou stood up, she tucked the rabbit into her bosom, gave a sincere and thorough bow, and then turned back at the door to say, "I understand what you mean, Madam... Thank you for your concern, Madam. I will come again tomorrow."

After saying that, she lifted the curtain and went out. Her footsteps echoed in the courtyard for a few steps, then stopped for a moment before continuing forward, a little slower than when she came.

As night deepened, two figures stood very close together under the locust tree at the corner of the alley.

One was short and stout, that was Granny Ding; the other was thin and slender, standing in the shade of a tree, that was Cui'er.

The night wind blew in from the alley entrance, rustling the locust tree leaves, which just drowned out the two people's voices.

Cui'er spoke first, her voice very low: "Granny, after what happened in the storeroom last time, has the old lady said anything else?"

"No, but not saying anything is the most strange thing." Ding Mama's voice was neither loud nor soft. She stood in the sheltered spot, her hands folded in front of her, her gaze sweeping back and forth across the alley.

"If she had a meltdown on the spot, I would know how to handle it, but the old lady didn't say anything, and I'm still worried."

Cui'er paused, rubbing her fingertips on her sleeve, as if she had been considering her words for a while before speaking: "Granny, I overheard the Second Madam and the Second Master talking a few days ago. She was talking about the household accounts, but the implication was that she felt she couldn't trust the old nannies around the Old Madam. From what I heard... it seemed like she wanted to replace them with a new group of people."

She paused for a moment, then lowered her voice even further: "After saying that, she changed the subject and started talking about Mrs. Gu's shop, which is right at the entrance of her maternal home alley. She said that the old lady had locked it up with a single sentence, 'No one is allowed to touch the late Mrs. Gu's things,' but the mansion is no longer what the old lady thought..." Cui'er's fingers tightened around her sleeve.

"Granny, every word she said sounded like it was directed at you. Plus, you suffered a setback recently in the storeroom incident, so I have a feeling she's trying to make an example of you."

Granny Ding listened to the entire long passage in silence.

She had worked in the Earl's mansion for over a decade, and she had heard what Fang had said before, but when Cui'er relayed it word by word, it had a completely different meaning.

Fang's desire wasn't simply about being envious of the shop in Gu's dowry; she wanted to expose the truth about the old lady's confidants deceiving their superiors and subordinates, so that the old lady would lose faith in her former associates and allow her own people to take advantage of the situation.

Ding Mama's fingers, which were clasped together in front of her, tightened slightly.

Although Cui'er didn't repeat every word, the meaning was conveyed: if Madam Fang wanted to settle scores with the old guard, she would start with Cui'er, who had suffered a loss in secret.

She paused for a moment, then asked, "When you said those things, were you alone outside?"

"I was the only one outside at the time. I was so anxious when I heard it that I accidentally startled the birds. But I don't think the second wife noticed."

Cui'er paused for a moment, then lowered her voice further, "Granny, the reason I'm telling you all this today is because I'm really uneasy."

"The second wife's words are all aimed at the storeroom and accounts. She wants you to touch the things in the storeroom, but you just suffered a loss in the storeroom last time... I'm afraid she'll use you as a pawn."

Ding Mama didn't respond. She knew that what Cui'er said was true. If Fang wanted to touch that shop, she couldn't get around the storeroom's accounts.

The storeroom accounts were in Liu Mama's hands, but the person standing behind Liu Mama had changed. The hidden loss she suffered today was handed over by that person.

Cui'er seemed to have not finished speaking, and her voice showed a hint of hesitation: "Granny, you and I are from the same place. I know that I can't get to where I am today without your help. But we don't usually have much contact on the surface, and not many people in the manor know about this relationship."

"But the Second Madam insisted on having me come and interact with you. I've been wondering if she just happened to pick me, or if she already knows about this relationship and deliberately sent me here? If she knows, then when I come to talk to you, she might also..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Granny Ding already understood.

Granny Ding was silent for a moment, then spoke again, her voice trembling slightly, but her expression remained unchanged: "If she didn't know, she wouldn't have let you come. If she does know, you must pretend you don't know she does."

Cui'er's fingers clenched her sleeve tightly, holding on for a long while before loosening them, her voice trembling slightly: "Then I'll..."

"Just do as she says. If she tells you to hand me something, just hand it to me. You don't need to say anything else."

Ding Mama's voice deepened. "From now on, avoid seeing each other if possible. If she sends you to deliver a message again, leave immediately after delivering it. Don't linger. You also need to be careful. You're close to me. If she finds out about this relationship and decides to settle scores, you won't fare any better."

Cui'er stood there without moving, and after a long while she nodded: "I've got it."

"Go back. Don't come back."

Cui'er left. Her footsteps echoed twice in the alley before disappearing, and the night wind blew in again, rustling the locust tree leaves.

Granny Ding stood under the locust tree without leaving immediately, mentally reviewing what Cui'er had just said.

Fang wanted to settle scores with her old cronies. Knowing that Cui'er had suffered a loss at the hands of the warehouse, Fang deliberately sent Cui'er to get close to her.

She gathered her clothes, turned and walked into the depths of the alley. Her footsteps echoed on the bluestone ground for a while before fading into the distance.

Everything in the alley quieted down again.