chapter 77

“Ah Chang, Mother knows that once you have a wife, you will even forget your own mother. So I personally came to Murong Mansion to spend the Spring Festival with your future mother-in-law, while waiting for you to come back and reunite with Mother. Why is your expression so weird? Not that happy seeing Mother here?”

Chu Changge let out a hollow laugh as he replied, “It’s not like what Mother has claimed. Your visit…is just ‘bloody’ timely.”

“It’s good that you’re happy. This little girl is my future daughter-in-law? Right. Long legs, thin waist and pretty face. Not bad, not bad. She matches you well.”

Murong Yunshu looked at the person who had been speaking by herself as soon as she made her appearance in front of her. Judging by her demeanour, this person seemed to be her future mother-in-law. Murong Yunshu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry[+]Chinese idiom : dumbfounded at her action. Shouldn’t people generally choose their daughter-in-law based on her virtue? While this future mother-in-law of her was just as good as her son, who was too vulgar to be endured…

After seeing this Old Lady Chu’s glamorous and extraordinary appearance, Murong Yunshu suddenly understood where such a taste came from. If the whole family had a face that was so beautiful, she would also value the appearance of his future wife very much. If his future wife had a mouth that stuck out and a chin like an ape[+]Chinese idiom : have a wretched appearance, or looking like crooked melons and split dates[+]Chinese idiom : ugly, no matter how virtuous she was, she would never be allowed to set her foot into the house. This was not a discrimination based on appearance. It was truly because――she would affect the whole family appearance. In any case, since this future mother-in-law of hers had come uninvited during the Spring Festival and treated someone else’s house as her own, she was definitely not a virtuous woman, and naturally, she would not be looking for a virtuous daughter-in-law.

With such a thought, the pressure in Murong Yunshu’s heart was instantly reduced by a lot. She thought, as long as this mother-in-law did not deliberately make things difficult for her, it should not be difficult for them to get along.

Chu Changge was not as optimistic as she was. It was because he knew the reason his mother came this time was actually not to reunite with him, nor to see his future daughter-in-law, nor to strengthen her bond with her daughter-in-law as a mother-in-law, but rather――her desire to see the world plunged into chaos. She came solely to set winds blowing and wave rolling[+]Chinese idiom : incite and create trouble.

As a veteran victim of her mother’s torment since childhood, Chu Changge was well aware of her mother’s ‘strength’ and he could not help but worry. What would he do if Yunshu was intimidated by his mother and back out from marrying him…[T/N]Yunshu? 😏. Trust Yushu. She can do even worse if she wants to. 😏

“I heard that you were promised to someone else before and were later abandoned by that someone else?” Old Lady Chu asked in astonishment as soon as she opened her mouth.

Chu Changge secretly broke out into a cold sweat. He was about to defend Murong Yunshu, when he heard her calmly answer, “Who hasn’t met a few scumbags when one was young? I never take such trivial things to heart. I hope you can relax and don’t care about that scum, lest it will reduce your style.”

Old Lady Chu was dumbfounded. She was obviously just looking for trouble. However, this future daughter-in-law was really good. She actually turned around and advised her, the mother-in-law, not to be too calculating over such ‘trivial matters’. This was really…the Chu family’s style! Very good, very good. This daughter-in-law was to her liking![T/N]Told you! 🤣

Murong Yunshu didn’t know what Old Lady Chu was currently thinking. She was concerned about another matter. “Can I ask you a question?” She asked Chu Changge.

“Even a hundred of them will do.” Chu Changge’s mood was as good as it could be. He was glad that Murong Yunshu was more skilled than her mother.

“Why do your mother and sister call you Ah Chang?” She wanted to ask this question long, long, long time ago, but she never found a chance.

Chu Changge was stunned for a moment, then he said, “You can also call me this way.”

Murong Yunshu only felt that the blue veins on her forehead started to show up, as she explained with her face full of black lines, “There is a pork seller in the south city market called Ah Chang.”

Chu Changge’s smile stiffened. He must make sure――to remove that pork seller!

“Nice one. Really a nice one!” Old Lady Chu clapped her hands and exclaimed. Then, she tugged Murong Yunshu’s arm like they were sisters and urged, “Come, let’s go in and have a good chat.”

Murong Yunshu smiled faintly. Whether it was about literary chat or martial chat, she would be happy to keep her company until the end.

With an aggrieved expression and a heart that was thousand times unwilling, Chu Changge watched on as his mother snatched the position next to Murong Yunshu which originally belonged to him.

Cries of complaint coming from the nine Madams of Murong Mansion filled the roads[+]Chinese idiom [cries of complaint fill the roads]: complaints rise all around. Not to mention that the lady had ate and drank at other people’s expense, and lived here for free, she would even dare to go as far as snatching their daughter from them! This was really a huge problem!

*

As soon as Chu Changge arrived at Murong Mansion backyard, an unknown object flew across the sky and took his arm, followed by a cry that made him want to kill someone――”Ah Chang!”

“Call me brother.” Chu Changge replied sullenly.

Chu Xiyue blinked. Hadn’t they discussed the question of who was older, who was younger many times and their discussion always resulted in failure? Why did he start to dwell on this again?

“Brother Chu, I haven’t seen you for many days, and yet, you are still as handsomely natural and unrestrained as ever, while your appetite hasn’t yet been satiated eh?” Feng Cheng’s pair of eyes stared tenaciously at Chu Changge’s hand that was being held by Chu Xiyue. The tone of his derisive words sounded sour.[T/N]Why are you jealous, Feng Cheng? 🤣 He’s still her brother, even if Xiyue’s current body isn’t really hers.

Since both of their loved ones had been snatched by others, it made Chu Changge and Feng Cheng to be in the same sinking boat. Thus, Chu Changge should have lent moral support to Feng Cheng. Contrarily, Feng Cheng’s ‘your appetite hasn’t yet been satiated’ caused Chu Changge, who originally had a little bit of an unsatiated appetite, to explode. “I have become even more handsomely natural and unrestrained, though my appetite is not as insatiated as Brother Feng’s.” Chu Changge said with a smile, and after he had done speaking, he went to continue chatting with his sister.

Feng Cheng wanted to steal Chu Xiyue back very much. But he knew that he couldn’t beat Chu Changge, hence he kept on glaring at Chu Changge’s back, wishing he could make a hole there.

Meanwhile, Murong Yunshu was gossiping with Old Lady Chu.

“Your home is very lively.” Old Lady Chu commented.

“Well, it’s a bit more livelier than yours.” Murong Yunshu replied.

“Among those concubines, which one is your birth Mother?”

“You yourself said that they are concubines, so naturally none of them are my birth mother.”

“Don’t keep on calling me ‘you’, ‘you’. I’m not much older than you are. You can just call me Sister Yue. When I was wandering in the jianghu[+]lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc. , considered as a social group, everyone called me Bewitching Fairy Yue.”

Murong Yunshu looked at her. Old Lady Chu was about forty years old, but she had a bewitching appearance of a person in her twenties. She was indeed――like a bewitching fairy. “Sister Yue.” Murong Yunshu kindly complied with a trace of smile in her eyes.

Bewitching Fairy Yue was pleasantly surprised by her reaction, “Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to call me sister?”

“What’s inappropriate about it?” Murong Yunshu asked while she clearly knew the answer.

Bewitching Fairy Yue glared, “You are Ah Chang’s future wife, who is my future daughter-in-law. How can mother-in-law and daughter-in-law call each other sisters?”

Murong Yunshu smiled as soon as she heard the word ‘Ah Chang’. After listening to Bewitching Fairy Yue’s words, she smiled even more. “Since you know that this is not inappropriate, why do you still want me to call your sister?”

“Of course it’s for…” Bewitching Fairy Yue stopped abruptly and then laughed out loud, “Such a good daughter-in-law. You’re really good with your words!”

Murong Yunshu smiled slightly as she felt flattered by the praise. Teasing people was not her real strength, but it could still be considered as one of her specialties.

Bewitching Fairy Yue asked another question, “Why did your father take those nine concubines?”

“Because eight wasn’t enough.”

“…” For the first time in her twenty years of existence, Bewitching Fairy Yue felt like she had met her opponent. “Girl, has anyone ever said that you have the fate of making your husband prospers?”

When Murong Yunshu heard this, she responded with a trace of a smile could be seen from between her brows, “As far as my worth is concerned, how can I not make my future husband prosper?” Her words were not in the least an exaggeration. Whoever married her, that person would absolutely be like a man who had attained the Tao, that even his poultry and dogs raise to Heaven[+]Chinese idiom : to ride on somebody else’s success.

“…I didn’t mean it like that.” Bewitching Fairy Yue held her forehead, “What I mean is that if you marry into the Mojiao Sect, the sect power will definitely be able to grow. Of course, this prosperous luck of yours is only suitable for a demon-like evil man, just like my son. If you marry into an honest and noble family, the marriage will surely put an end to one of you.”

Hearing this, Murong Yunshu nodded as if she had been enlightened, and commented quite emotionally, “No wonder Fang Hongfei’s life has not ended yet. It turns out that it is because I didn’t get to marry him.”

All of the members of the Mojiao Sect tended to shield each other shortcomings. As soon as Bewitching Fairy Yue heard Murong Yunshu mentioning Fang Hongfei, she instantly became furious, “That kid, he better not let me run into him, or else, I’ll beat him up once I see him!”

Murong Yunshu wanted to say, ‘the next time you see him, you should run quickly. Your son had suffered a loss in his hand, let alone you’. But she didn’t say anything. She just looked and smiled faintly at Bewitching Fairy Yue.

“In the absence of your own mother, did those stepmothers ever bully you?” Bewitching Fairy Yue’s eyes shone with light. Her overly eager and excessively kind eyes seemed to be saying, ‘hurry up and say ‘yes’, I will avenge you’.

Murong Yunshu asked, “Do you think I look like an easy person to be bullied?”

Bewitching Fairy Yue firmly shook her head. If Murong Yunshu was an easy person to be bullied, she wouldn’t have been smilingly talking with her at this time. Bewitching Fairy Yue couldn’t figure Murong Yunshu out. She obviously intended to play the part of an evil mother-in-law who wanted to cow her future daughter-in-law into submission and for her daughter-in-law to find her as bad luck. Why did she have a good talk with Murong Yunshu instead? This was weird. Really weird…

*

On the other hand, Chu Changge was currently chatting with Chu Xiyue in a pavilion over cups of wine. Meanwhile, a gloomy faced Feng Cheng who sat beside them and treated as if he was air, was drinking wine to drown his sorrows. The nine concubines, who were not willing to be lonely, did not dare to disturb Murong Yunshu’s conversation with Bewitching Fairy Yue, so they also ran to the pavilion to join in the fun. It was a festive occasion, and all they ever wanted was to have a good time. Moreover, mother-in-laws were usually the ones who took the initiative to bond with their daughters-in-law. So they, as mothers-in-law, naturally couldn’t leave their son-in-law out in the cold.

Of course, the nine concubines did not dare to be too arrogant. For the reason that they had already known how difficult it was to deal with their future Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family]. If Yunshu hadn’t already returned to the mansion to back them up, how would they dare to speak a word with this Wenshen-like Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family]?

Chu Changge saw his nine mothers-in-law standing outside the pavilion. They wanted to come in but did not dare to come in. They wanted to speak but did not dare to speak. Thus, he took the initiative to speak first, “Your relationship with her seems very good.”

When the nine concubines heard this, their faces immediately blossomed as they started to have seven mouths and eight tongues[+]Chinese idiom : all talking at once.

“Yes, Yunshu likes me best.”

“Nonsense. She obviously likes me the most.”

……

……

“I entered the mansion earlier than you people. When Yunshu took part in handling my marriage into the mansion, you people were nowhere around.” The oldest concubine words blocked everyone’s mouth. “I entered the mansion when Mistress had just passed away, and I was the one who brought Yunshu up.” This sentence was spoken for Chu Changge. Her implication was――without me, there would not have been Yun Shu today. So you must honour me as your future mother-in-law.

However, Chu Changge pointed out, “According to you, that twisted character of hers was cultivated by you?”

This was a very serious statement! The First Wife shook her head repeatedly, “Yunshu has been born with that temperament.”

The Second Wife raised her hand, “I can testify for her!”

The Third Wife similarly raised her hand, “I can testify for her too!”

The Fourth Wife stated, “I heard that Mistress was also a very strange person. Presumably…”

“Presumably what?”

A nonchalant question rang out from a short distance away. The Fourth Wife jumped up in shock, “Yun, Yunshu, you are here.”

Chu Changge’s black eyes turned slightly, with a smile flashed across his eyes. The children in other families were usually the ones ill-treated by their stepmother. However, in Murong Mansion, it was the child who ‘ill-treated’ her stepmother, or the nine of them were ‘ill-treated’ together by her. These concubines seemed to love and hate Murong Yunshu at the same time. There must be some kind of story behind their relationships with her.