"Mistress, Cousin has co again," Mother Lv hurried in with a plate of sour plums and spoke to Liu Tinglan, who was leaning on a soft couch reading a book, "She personally stewed so chicken soup for you to nourish your health. Look..."
Seeing the anger appearing on the Mistress’s face, Mother Lv didn’t continue, yet inside, she felt a flicker of resentnt toward the Cousin: knowing full well the Mistress didn’t want to see her, yet she insisted on coming over, causing the Mistress distress. Didn’t she know the Mistress was pregnant and needed to avoid stress and anger for the sake of the baby?
A few days earlier, Cousin had suddenly barged into the house and, in front of all the Shen family servants, said those ambiguous words, causing the Mistress to be wrongly accused of sothing she hadn’t done. Mother Lv had been serving at the side of the Mistress for several months; she knew the Mistress to be nothing but kind and generous and incapable of such acts.
Yet Old Master Shen and Lady worried so much for Cousin, who’d supposedly suffered a great injustice. Even after it was clear that it was all a misunderstanding and had nothing to do with the Mistress, they didn’t send her back to the ancestral ho. Instead, they allowed her to linger around the Mistress. Did they think the Mistress could easily forget the past and forgive Cousin’s wrongdoing?
Mother Lv was an old hand in the Shen family, fully acquainted with its many affairs. She understood the reason behind the strife between Liu Tinglan and Lu Zhu. In her view, the Mistress she served had done no wrong; it was the Cousin who was scheming, seizing any chance to slander the Mistress. It was intolerable to keep her in the house any longer, or who knows what trouble she might stir up in the future.
Liu Tinglan slamd the enjoyable book she had been reading onto the table, her complexion souring, "Ignore her, as if she doesn’t exist."
Since becoming pregnant, her temper had grown sowhat uncontrollable, and the smallest things could unsettle her. Previously, when living in Jing City with only four people in the household, Mother Lv took good care of her, and Shen Ji was loving and considerate, she seldom felt unhappy. Now, with an unwelco person in the house, always appearing before her, how could her mood not be affected.
"Mistress, considering Old Master Shen’s and Lady’s feelings, I think it would be best for you to et her," Mother Lv hesitated for a mont before delicately suggesting.
The Cousin had made such a humble gesture, personally delivering stewed chicken soup. If the Mistress refused to see her and she went to complain ambiguously to Old Master Shen and Lady, they would surely sympathize with her, and who knows what misunderstandings they might foster about the Mistress.
Liu Tinglan knew Mother Lv ant well and understood her point. Although she genuinely didn’t want to see that loathso person, she had to hold back her feelings. Rubbing her forehead and frowning, she said to Mother Lv, "Let her in then, Mother Lv. I’ll see her this one ti today, so she’ll stop pretending and making sick to my stomach."
Mother Lv pitied her as she heard this and consoled, "You’re thinking right, Mistress. The Cousin doesn’t share the Shen surna; she’s an outsider. In a couple of years, she’ll be married off, and then she’ll just be a visitor. You’re the mistress of this house; in the future, if you don’t wish to see her, just avoid her."
Being comforted this way by Mother Lv, Liu Tinglan felt much better. By the ti Mother Lv brought Lu Zhu in, she had entirely cald down, to the disappointnt of Lu Zhu, who had hoped to put on a show for her aunt and uncle.
"Sister Lan, this is the chicken soup Zhuzhu specially stewed for you. I was delayed a little outside just now, but it’s still warm and perfect for tasting. If you don’t mind, please try it, and if you like it, Zhuzhu will make it for you every day," said Lu Zhu, suppressing her ulterior motives and cautiously carrying the chicken soup toward Liu Tinglan.
The intimate address "Sister Lan" instantly reminded Liu Tinglan of the dear friends in Jing City she hadn’t seen for almost a month. However, coming from the person she disliked the most made it sound especially grating to her ears. She looked at Lu Zhu and corrected her expressionlessly, "You are the Shen family’s Cousin, and the man I am married to is your cousin. You should address as ’Cousin-in-law’."
Lu Zhu’s face stiffened imperceptibly, and a deep resentnt flashed in her eyes, but she responded anxiously, "Zhuzhu just felt that ’Sister Lan’ was a more intimate way to address you. I didn’t realize it would displease you, Sister Lan, oh no, I an Cousin-in-law. I won’t dare again. Please, don’t be angry, Cousin-in-law."
By the end, Zhuzhu’s eyes had reddened, as if she had been greatly wronged.
Since her marriage into the Shen family, Lu Zhu had never formally called Liu Tinglan "Cousin-in-law." The two had only t once before Lu Zhu was sent to the countryside ancestral ho, and since they hadn’t had a chance to et again, it was sowhat excusable. But now, as Liu Tinglan rested at Old Man Shen’s House during her pregnancy, and Lu Zhu found excuses to return from the countryside, despite having t several tis, she still refused to address Liu Tinglan as "Cousin-in-law," always using the pretense of intimacy with ’Sister Lan.’ The ulterior motives hidden behind that address were clear to both Lu Zhu and Liu Tinglan.
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