Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 316 - 26: The Birth of the Drama Queen (First Update)

Chapter 316: Chapter 26: The Birth of the Drama Queen (First Update)

The crowd looked towards the source of the sobbing sound and saw Bai Lianhua, Madam Bai, wiping her tears with a handkerchief, once again proving the saying, "Women are made of water."

"Boo hoo... Madam Su, Miss Yue is so pitiful, please don’t blame her. She was young before and made some mistakes, but she now realizes her errors."

Yue Baiyou, looking as if she had a sudden epiphany, cried, "Sister-in-law, I’ve already told you before, it was a moment of confusion on my part. I’ve thought it through and realized my mistake. I beg for your forgiveness, sister-in-law."

Susu looked at these two women crying as if they had lost their mothers, thinking they must have been reincarnated from actresses!

But who doesn’t know how to act!

"Aunt Zhao, Aunt Qin, look here, this is how misunderstandings are created. I haven’t even said anything, and they’re crying like I’m the one bullying them. Luckily, you’re here to witness that I didn’t say anything mean, right?"

The other ladies were speechless. Indeed, no mean words were spoken, but everything that needed to be said was already said.

Mrs. Zhao looked at Madam Bai and Yue Baiyou and said earnestly, "I know you’re grieving the loss of your relatives, but the deceased are gone and the living must go on. We are all good sons and daughters of Great Chu; our men put their lives on the line in battle for our country, and we women must not let them down."

Everyone sighed internally; as expected of Mrs. Zhao, the wife of Governor Qin—what awareness...

While they were thinking this, Mrs. Qin lightly coughed, awkwardly saying, "Sister-in-law, Madam Bai’s relatives are still alive."

Mrs. Zhao was taken aback and also quite embarrassed, "I saw her crying so sadly, I thought she also had relatives who died in battle."

Then, trying to ease the awkwardness, she asked Madam Bai, "Why are you crying so sorrowfully for no reason? Did you perhaps know Miss Yue’s brother?"

This question chilled the atmosphere of the side hall, oh dear, Madam Bai is done for!

Women are naturally gossipy, and now they followed Mrs. Zhao’s lead, spiraling into speculation: Madam Bai should be thirty-two this year, whereas Yue the soldier seems a few years older than Commander Hong.

Commander Hong is twenty-two this year, so Yue Yunpeng should be around twenty-seven or eight.

Two years ago, one should have been twenty-five and the other thirty. A five-year difference, come to think of it, it’s not impossible for them to have known each other.

In an instant, the ladies’ glances at Madam Bai became much more cryptic.

Madam Bai’s expression was similar to Yue Baiyou’s from earlier, changing from red to white. If not for a strong psychological resilience, being scrutinized by so many would make her want to crash into a wall to preserve her purity.

Of course, if someone else had said this, Madam Bai Lianhua might very well pretend to be about to crash into a wall to protect her reputation, forcing the speaker to kneel and admit fault.

But since it was Mrs. Zhao who made the comment, Madam Bai Lianhua knew that even if she really did crash to her death, it would be a pointless gesture.

No doubt, Governor Qin would gracefully send a few beauties to her husband, and the Han Family would just claim she died of illness!

As for silencing the rest of the ladies present, for Duke Zhen’s Mansion and Marquis Wenchang’s Mansion, that would be even easier!

So Madam Bai Lianhua could only wipe her tears and say, "Although I do not know Miss Yue’s brother, all of my brothers except the eldest died young, which caused Miss Yue’s mention of her brother to resonate with me!"

After hearing this, everyone was reminded of the curse rumored to afflict the Bai Family, causing the male descendants to suffer.

The Bai Family notoriously only had one surviving male per generation, and with Bai Lili’s generation, they were utterly extinct, leaving no male heirs to inherit the family estate!

Mrs. Zhao naturally knew about this. She was also familiar with that manor, those empty graves, and internally she sneered while outwardly she feigned puzzlement.

Mrs. Qin too sneered internally, but quietly relayed the well-known folklore of the Hami people to Mrs. Zhao, who displayed an "I see" expression and solemnly said, "Madam Bai, please restrain your grief!"

Madam Bai wiped her tears, "Thank you, Madam, for your comfort. Even after so long, I still can’t forget, let alone Miss Yue."

Believing that the focus finally shifted from Madam Bai, Yue Baiyou discreetly sighed with relief, only to nearly choke on her frustration upon hearing the next words!

Damn, you’re such a damn pig teammate! Ugh!

And Susu, watching Aunt Zhao and Aunt Qin’s brilliant performance, admired them completely and didn’t mind adding fuel to the fire.

"At home, Miss Yue has already apologized to me, and I also expressed that I don’t mind, so Madam Bai need not worry about Miss Yue.

Since she calls my husband and me brother-in-law and sister-in-law, we accepted, and there’s no need to talk about whether we recognize unofficial relationships, it’s not like we would let her go hungry.

But now that she’s grown up, we’re afraid the girl staying too long might turn sour, so we’re planning to arrange a match for her."

Susu finished, bowed to everyone, and said, "I’m young, so I ask for your help, dear madams. Anyone who succeeds in the match will receive a thank-you banquet in the future."

Seeing Yue Baiyou seemingly shyly lower her head, Susu smiled and said, "Miss Yue, don’t be shy. Since you are here to listen, of course, your opinion is the most important."

Then Susu turned to everyone again and said, "My husband and I discussed it, and when Miss Yue gets married, we’ll prepare a dowry for her. We’ve stated it today, making you all witnesses.

My husband’s monthly salary is limited, and each month there’s nothing left aside, so we can only do our best now.

We’ve prepared a dowry box of a thousand taels of silver, a shop, forty seasonal outfits, two sets of jewel-encrusted headpieces, two sets of golden headpieces, two sets of silver headpieces, twelve pieces of brocade and silk, a box of fur, and twelve pieces of mahogany and camphorwood furniture.

We will catalogue everything and hand it over to Miss Yue herself, to prevent anyone from saying I’m all talk and no action."

Upon hearing this, not only Madam Bai, who had been matched against Yue Baiyou before, but even other official family’s ladies were surprised.

Not to mention anything else, just the thousand taels of silver pressed down money and a shop are considerable, plus all those things add up to half a dowry (32 trays), which is about what they would provide for their daughters.

Some families with more resources might offer two or three thousand taels of silver, while those with less might only afford five or six hundred taels.

Like Yang, who now seemed greedily fixated on what Susu said, her family was poor, her dowry upon marriage was only eight empty boxes.

Finally, her husband had climbed to his current position, but with limited extra income, he also supported many concubines and illegitimate children, leaving the household perpetually strapped for cash. Hearing Susu’s words now, she began plotting.

What if she had her illegitimate son marry Miss Yue?

Her legitimate son was out of the question, with Miss Yue’s reputation as it was, she feared she would cuckold her own son!

Miss Yue might be difficult to handle, but illegitimate sons are easy to manage. When the time comes, she could control her daughter’s dowry under the excuse of their youthfulness, and even if only the shop was taken under her control, it would be a gain.

Moreover, her daughter needed to get married too. As the sister-in-law, Miss Yue would have to contribute, with the materials and jewelry in her dowry being quite nice.

Yang, feeling more and more pleased with her plan, could almost see herself wearing the clothes and jewelry "gifted" by her daughter-in-law and laughed quietly to herself.

Then she looked up and saw a few others with similar intentions, exchanging a glance with them, and in an instant, they were all in sync with each other’s thoughts. They then exchanged hostile glares, cursing at each other silently, threatening to become their worst nightmare!