Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

69. Mammy Qian Walking on Air

Translator: Sissy That Walk

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, Xiao Yugui needed to dress up and give best wishes in the Imperial Palace.

Moqi woke Cao Mo and Xiao Yi up at four a.m, which was fine by Xiao Yi, but Cao Mo struggled so hard, he was never an early riser.

Moqi and Mohua washed Cao Mo’s face and put on new clothes on him while his eyes closed tightly.

Moqi tapped Cao Mo’s shoulder and said he was good to go, Cao Mo stood up half-asleep and only to hear the tinkling of the accessories.

Cao Mo hurried to the mirror and took a good look of himself, what met his eyes was a pretty boy wearing a glistening gold hairpin, the boy was decorated like fancy cakes, there was a necklace with precious stones hanging on the neck, several jade pendants hanging around the waist and layers of bracelets on the wrist.

Cao Mo looked dissatisfied, “How am I supposed to walk like this?”

Xiao Yi was slightly better than Cao Mo, he wore a wooden hairpin instead of a sparkling gold one, he was wearing less jade pendants as well. But they both wore indigo brocade cotton-padded jackets, Xiao Yi was wearing a black cloak made of marten fur and Cao Mo was wearing a white cloak made of fox fur.

Mohua handed Cao Mo a hand warmer, Cao Mo took it with pleasure, but he complained gently, “Yi, are all these accessories necessary?”

“Mo, we only need to be dressed up for a few days, especially today, we need to host a lot of clansmen!” Xiao Yi kept staring at Cao Mo, he found Cao Mo a changed person after he got dolled up, he wished he could coax Cao Mo into dressing up like this more.

“Young Master and Young Madam, it’s about time, Mammy Qian has just reported that His Lordship the Marquis Valour is about to leave.” Moqi reported.

The two soon arrived at the front gate.

… …

Xiao Yugui who was about to mount the sedan stopped and turned his head when he saw Cao Mo and Xiao Yi, he nodded repeatedly in approval, “Mo today looks good, we are expecting clansmen today, please host them well.”

“Yes, Your Lordship!” Cao Mo made a bow with hands folded in front and watched Xiao Yugui leave.

Cao Mo knew Xiao Family had a lot of relatives and clansmen, but he hadn’t met any yet. He heard Xiao Yugui’s Second Uncle’s family lived in Qingzhi Alley, and the rest of the clansmen were all distant relatives or born by concubines.

Cao Mo found this quite overwhelming, he was merely seventeen years old and Marquis Valour had entrusted him with such a great undertaking.

Cao Mo saw Mammy Qian standing not far away, he waved at her and asked, “Mammy Qian, please come, do you know how to host the clansmen?”

Mammy Qian didn’t want to miss this opportunity to fawn upon Cao Mo, she hurried to him and said, “Only Qingzhi Alley are close relatives really, Big Madam Qi, who is also called Big Second Madam there and Dowager Xiao are wives of brothers, please treat her with utmost respect.”

Cao Mo nodded and said, “Mammy Qian, please tell me more.”

“Hongfeng Alley and Zizhu Alley are engaging in a lawsuit for ancestral properties, I’m afraid they will ask His Lordship to uphold justice.” Mammy Qian winked.

“Does Young Master know about this?” Cao Mo thought he better discuss all the possibilities with Xiao Yi before anyone asked him about his opinion.

“I don’t think he does, Young Master never care to pry into stuff like this. Right, there’s one more thing you should keep in mind, Qinglian Alley has begged Lady Lu for something, but it got delayed due to you and Young Master’s wedding, chances are Big Fifth Madam there will give you a hard time.”

“Oh, no!” Cao Mo’s heart was burning with anxiety, he started to think no wonder Lady Lu had handed in the keys and account books, there were so many delicate situations awaiting!

“All right, thank you Mammy Qian, go get yourself a token flower from the Communal Treasury. You will be in charge of welcoming visitors and seeing them off, I will give you ten maids to help you out, you can punish them and praise them without asking me. Just one more thing, separate the guests from Hongfeng Alley and Zizhu Alley. And bring the guests to Young Master instead of me.”

Hearing that, Mammy Qian was radiant with joy, “Don’t you worry about a thing, Young Madam, I won’t disappoint you.”

Cao Mo nodded with a smile. Mohua recorded on his book: Mammy Qian, welcoming visitors and seeing them off.

Mammy Qian went to get her token flower with vigorous strides.

It turned out there was a huge difference among the stewards, stewards with a token flower was superior to the ones who didn’t get to wear flowers. If anything went wrong, it was the stewards who didn’t have token flowers would get punished.

… …

Mammy Qian bumped into Mammy Qin from Cunxi Hall after she put the flower on her hairpin.

Mammy Qin was cursing Cao Mo when she walked past Mammy Qian, “What a little bitxx! Making waves in the family and looking down upon me! Sooner or later I will avenge myself.”

Mammy Qin and Mammy Qian didn’t have any grudge against each other, but Mammy Qin didn’t want to let go of a good opportunity to make fun of someone that Cao Mo valued.

“Old Qian, look at you, wearing a flower in the hair and making eyes at people!” Mammy Qin sneered.

Mammy Qian frowned on being called ‘Old Qian’, she countered, “It’s you, Mammy Qin! Young Madam is such a great master, so I thought I better try my best to help him, so I brazened out and asked him for this job and he actually had granted it to me! Look at me, chitchatting with you like this, I know you are busy serving Dowager Xiao, I shouldn’t have wasted your precious time like this.”

Mammy Qin turned pale, she actually had no real power in hand, so she felt very attacked.

Mammy Qian rebuked a young maid who was sweeping the road, “What a useless girl! Look at you, you’ve done such a lousy job, work faster!”

The maid took the hint, she knew Mammy Qian was throwing her weight about to make fun of Mammy Qin.

With that Mammy Qin left in a huff.

The maid reminded Mammy Qian after Mammy Qin was long gone, “Mammy, you better watch out, Mammy Qin is very narrow-minded, I think she will tell on you in front of Dowager Xiao.”

“I’m not afraid of her any more, she fell into disgrace already.” Mammy Qian said with elation.