When the couple stepped into the quiet yard, the only sound they can hear at the time was the rustling of their clothes. But suddenly, a sharp, arrogant voice cut through the stillness from the main hall. “Honestly, I think Liulang’s wife is so lucky! Three years she’s been here, and you’ve said nothing to her. Look how long we’ve been waiting for her and she is still not here ! Tell her to hurry up, or people will think the Duke’s Mansion has no manners regarding there elders !” With these words a cold snort followed, and Du Jingyi instantly knew without looking that it was the Third Old Lady, who was always chirping and eager to assert her authority within the mansion. She’d been hording over the mansion for years, especially over the younger generation, commanding for more “respect” in the form of material gains.
Du Jingyi, however, rarely left her Xitang Courtyard after marrying into the Duke’s Mansion, which therefore save her to became an easy target for Third branche’s old madams arrogance. That is why , she chose this particular moment to deliberately needle Shang Ji and Du Jingyi as being late . First, to embarrass Shang Ji in front of everyone to not maintaining his family , and second, to teach Du Jingyi a lesson, hoping she’d become “sensible” enough to send valuable gifts to her Beiyuan courtyard .
Still despite all the tension brewing in the atmospher Du Jingyi maintained a calm smile, but her eyes held the same cool indifference as her husband, Shang Ji. From an outsiders perspective , they looked like a couple coming to pay their respects to their elders , but to those who knew the inside story , it felt more like an offering in an ancestral hall. As they both stood still in the courtyard, silently unmoving .
Another voice, soft and gentle in response to third branch”s old madam, drifted from inside. “Don’t be angry, Third Aunt. She’s still a child. When she got married she just come of age and she’s only turn eighteen now it’s only natural if she dosen’t understand the rules of a prestigious household like ours . Don’t be so anxious, just teach her slowly from now on ‘Okay .”
“No wonder people say you have a good temper,” the arrogant voice retorted. “I’ve said it countless time ;you are just too kind .”
“We’re family, after all,” the gentle voice countered. “Where did this sudden feud come from?”
The veiled barbs continued afterwards , each clearly aimed at Shang Ji and Du Jingyi, or rather, mostly at Du Jingyi, the newly favored general’s wife. Du Jingyi couldn’t believe that the maids in the courtyard are blind; surely someone had seen them enter the courtyard and informed the family inside ? Still, everyone iside the room openly criticizing her as treating her exsitance as air . She had no positive feelings for the people in that room also . They not only sought to profit from her but also constantly hurled sarcastic remarks about her . She’d heard it all before and never let it bother her. After years of navigating the cutthroat world of business, a few harsh words from such lousy housewifes wouldn’t ruffle her feathers. Her philosophy in life was simple: anything solvable with money wasn’t worth stressing over her precious time .
But Shang Ji, her husband, saw things these differently. Three years away from his home hadn’t erased the true faces of these relatives from his memory. He recalled how his mother and sister-in-law had once been subject to their petty dissatisfactions as they constantly mention a the main household is being the patriach of the family and has a duty to take care every relative under them . They site there petty complaints again again when even his Eldest brother the former shizi of Duke’s mansion was alive and his mother and elder sister-in-law were incharge of the household .But How many years has it been since his brother vanished into the afterlife ? If they were so family oriented , why hadn’t they visites the grave of his elder brother even once ? He can clearly discern that these words were veiled attacks, meant to turn him against his wife, whom he barely knew.
Shang Ji had already sensed something was amiss when Du Jingyi hadn’t attended the palace banquet the day before and hearing these words now only confirmed his suspicions. He didn’t need to ask anyone to know how his young wife wasn’t having an easy time in the household without him over the years for which he also feel quite guilty in his heart ,at that time the situation was sever and he did’nt have any other choice but now as he returns to the mansion he won’t allow anybody to demeen any person related to him even if it’s his seemingly estrange wife . With this thought he turned to Du Jingyi, and with a hint of probing in his voice as he asked her . “Did you not go to the palace banquet yesterday because you were in poor health or there is another reason behind your absence from that important occasion?”
Du Jingyi, as always unafraid of offending anyone, a skill she honned for several when she was gliding in the buisness world along with her father tossed the question back to him. “What do you think, General?” Her unabashed response surprised Shang Ji, who had always assumed his wife to be an obedient and meek little girl as per her tender age ,she asked him this question without any hesitation—him, the great General of Daxi, a man before whom seasoned soldiers trembled without blinking for a second. And yet, in that moment, he felt an unexpected relief settle quietly in his chest. He also remembered the old, rundown martial arts training ground that he saw this morning in the backyard, so out of place amidst the meticulously crafted landscaping of Xitang Courtyard under her command and realized that his supposedly young wife before him was a woman who would not be wronged herself under any circumstance and like to hold grudges .But that, he thought, was also good. After all, neither he nor his wife had any so called familial connection to the people present inside neither he wants to maintain any superficial connection in the future either .
After analyzing the whole situation in his head in seconds a habit he mastered in his years in milltary camp a faint smile than tucked at Shang Ji’s lips. “Luo Yuan.” He merely spoke the name, and his personal attendant that is following them closely , and was a man known for getting things done, immediately entered the room and announce : “Announcing the arrival of the General’s wife, along with the Cavalry General!”
Shang Ji preferred his self earned identity of a general, forged through battle, to that of a powerless Shizi of a dukes household . The title of Cavalry General, a second-grade general no less, was a staggering achievement for someone not yet thirty. Many spoke of him as heaven’s chosen, a war god returned in mortal form for the protection of Great Daxi.
Lu Yan’s thunderous announcement of their arrival cut through the air like a blade, instantly silencing the so-called “nobles” of the Duke’s mansion. Just moments ago, they had been indulging in their petty intrigues, but now their faces were painted with embarrassment and barely disguised ridicule—especially the older ones. With no official titles, no scholarly achievements to their name, they should have risen and shown proper respect to Shang Ji and Du Jingyi. Yet they remained arrogantly seated, hiding behind the excuse of seniority.
As Shang Ji and his wife entered the main hall of Yunjin Courtyard and glance at the scene before them . It was indeed packed with everyliving member of duke’s mansion . A crowd of people packedly sat and stood, barely fitting into the vast hall of the main courtyard of the leading Duke’s Mansion. In which The fourth branch of the duke’s household consist of fifteen people , and the fifth banch of duke’s household cater a wopping ninteen members , which had effectively squeezed the three generations of the Main legitimate Household of Duke to the side. Shang Ji’s gaze immediately fell upon his widowed sister-in-law and the young nephew huddled helplessly in a corner. It was clear they, once the most powerful member of the family, were now heavely marginalized just because of lack of a backer . A surge of anger rippled through Shang Ji’s heart when he thought about his dead brother and his suffering family who is left behind , his already indifferent face growing even more solemn.
The relatives presentat this moment , absorbed in the excitement of todays glory, didn’t even notice the subtle change in Shang Ji’s gaze that now became sharp along with the Shang Ji’s darkening expression. Or perhaps, they were simply used to his perpetually stern demeanor. But Du Jingyi who stood beside him can still feel the change in his demeanor as he is now exuding a chilling aura around him , She can also feel the myriad of eyes upon her from everywhere—jealous, envious, resentful, and naturally, some happy. As all this things occured around her, she paid them no mind to any of it , and her gaze remain as calm and steady as it required for the person of her standing , focused straight ahead without showing anykind of timidity in her any action.
Seated at the head of the room was the current Duke, Shang Yukuan. Now in his fifties and slightly plump, he carried himself with the mild, cultivated air of a scholar with a gentle face —hardly what one would expect from the son of a renowned military general like Late Master Shang . However the trace of literary refinement about him, was just enough to be noticed, but not that much.