stjorthotic Chapter 153 My cousin is still as fierce as ever!
Chapter 153 My cousin is still as fierce as ever!
In addition, He Wensi is a "phoenix man" (a man from a poor background who achieves success).
She had a particularly strong sense of self-respect, and in the past, Du Hanyun would basically never mention her family in front of him, so as not to make him overthink things.
Since discovering her husband's affair with his widowed sister-in-law, Du Hanyun was so disgusted that she wouldn't even speak to him anymore, let alone mention her cousin's affair.
Yesterday, the Shen family sent someone to say that Consort Chen had summoned her to the palace. The He family was completely bewildered. Old Madam He even said, "Didn't your cousin just enter the palace? She probably wouldn't reach the position of Consort Chen. Who is Consort Chen anyway?"
Du Hanyun didn't even look up. "It's my cousin!"
He Wensi had a strange look on his face. Back when he married Du Hanyun, Shen was the most opposed, and He Wensi had always disliked Shen.
"She's already Consort Chen, the Emperor really favors her, even bestowing upon her the title of Consort Chen."
The widowed sister-in-law chimed in, "Sister, Consort Chen wants you to enter the palace. Did you say something?"
She touched her belly, "All I wanted was a son, to give my short-lived husband an heir. From now on, I will never cling to my brother-in-law. Wensi is yours alone, okay?"
Du Hanyun didn't say anything, got up and went back to her room. When He Wensi tried to go in, she didn't let him.
This morning, He Wensi tried to talk to her several times, but she ignored him.
The He family was, after all, a small and insignificant household. Old Mrs. He was extremely worried and wanted to keep Du Hanyun from going out. He Wensi knew the situation well and had experienced Shen Shixi's arrogance before, so she didn't dare to make any rash moves.
Du Hanyun arrived at the palace gate without incident.
Chao En went to the palace gate to greet Du Hanyun. As soon as she entered, she gave her cousin a deep bow, saying, "This humble woman greets Her Highness Consort Chen!"
"Get up quickly!" Shen Shixi hurried down and, together with Bai Ping, helped Du Hanyun up. "Alright, there's no one else here, so don't stand on ceremony."
After taking their seats, Shen Shixi got straight to the point, "My mother told me everything when she went to the palace yesterday. What happened to you?"
The two hadn't seen each other for about two or three years. Before entering the palace, Shen Shixi rushed back from Jiangnan, packed up, and went into the palace. She didn't see most of her relatives.
Du Hanyun is only in her prime, but she looks like she's thirty years old, and she lacks energy and spirit.
"Thank you so much for seeing me!" Du Hanyun's eyes welled up with tears as she spoke of her family. "Did your aunt tell you everything?"
"Okay, so what are your plans?" Shen Shixi asked.
"What can I do? What else can I do? Cousin, I've wanted to die so many times, but the thought of dying and letting those two adulterers have an easy time makes me so unwilling."
"Well, you're not completely stupid!"
Du Hanyun looked at Shen Shixi with teary eyes, "I thought if I could have a child, I could get through this, but for several years now, I haven't been able to get pregnant. And yet, his widowed sister-in-law got pregnant so easily."
"It's not your fault you can't get pregnant." Shen Shixi said, exasperated. "What kind of good person is He Wensi? You still want to have his child! You should divorce this kind of man right now; are you planning to keep him around for the New Year?"
"What did you say?" Du Hanyun thought she had misheard.
"You came to me not because you wanted me to back you up and let you divorce your husband, but because you wanted me to?"
"Divorce...divorce?" Du Hanyun was dumbfounded. Forgive her, she had lived for twenty years and had only ever heard of divorcing a wife, never a husband.
"I was just saying. If you still want to live with that beast, I won't interfere. If you don't want to live with him anymore and want to kick the He family out of the house, I support you in divorcing him. If you want revenge, I'll help you get revenge. It all depends on your personal wishes."
Du Hanyun, who was used to following the rules her whole life, was really shocked by this opinion.
Shen Shixi naturally couldn't make decisions for others. She said this because she saw that Du Hanyun had been driven to a dead end and couldn't even think of resisting. This was a common problem for women in this era.
Du Hanyun clearly needs more time to process this information.
Shen Shixi beckoned to Du Hanyun's maid, Xiangyuan. Xiangyuan came over and knelt down. Shen Shixi took a Ruyi cloud hairpin from her hair. A small pearl was inlaid on the white jade cloud and she put it in her hair.
This hairpin was a very inconspicuous one that Shen Shixi specially picked out today. Xiangyuan could wear it if she wanted, and besides, it was a gift from her.
"Keep a close eye on your daughter, don't let her be fooled by He Wensi's words again. Life is short, there are many ways to live it. You can live well without a man, but living with that bastard He is sure to shorten your life."
Du Hanyun was both amused and exasperated by her words, tears welling in her eyes. "You, with that mouth of yours, how did you manage to get by in the palace?"
"I have my own way of living. You know, even if the whole world suffers injustice, I would never allow myself to suffer. They say even a clay Buddha has some temper, but you're practically a glutinous rice Buddha!"
Du Hanyun felt much better, perhaps because she felt more confident. "But, if things don't work out, am I supposed to go back to my parents' home? They might not accept me!"
Shen Shixi knew that her sister-in-law, who was also her cousin's wife, was not someone easy to get along with.
"Don't you still have a house in the capital that you brought as part of your dowry? You can move there first. I'll have someone register a female household for you. You can live there alone for now. If you meet a suitable man in the future, or if I find a suitable candidate, you can marry him later."
This was a life that Du Hanjun never dared to imagine. Establishing a female household meant that from then on she would be in charge of her own household.
She was in a daze when she came out of the palace.
But she knew that her cousin was insightful and the life she had arranged for her would definitely be good.
Citron was also dreaming, "Miss, I think your idea is quite good. Think about it, once you open your own household, no one will be able to control you. There will be no mother-in-law to set rules for you, and you won't have to serve men."
"Now that you've taken care of your own dowry, no one can tell you what to wear or what to adorn. Why don't you spend the money you're giving to your family on your own?"
Bai Ping saw them out and, upon hearing this, smiled and said, "That's right, Sister Xiangyuan's words have made me tempted. No wonder our Lady always said that if she didn't enter the palace, she would set up her own household and sleep until she naturally woke up every day."
Let's not even talk about recruiting seventeen or eighteen sons-in-law.
Shen Shixi then went to Lianyue Pavilion. The palace was full of people with greedy hearts and snobbish eyes. Consort Li had just given birth to the third prince, and she needed to take good care of the pregnant woman and the baby.
As soon as she entered the door, she heard loud crying, which gave her a headache.
Bai Kui asked, "What happened?"
Everyone inside came out and knelt down. The room was as cold as an icebox. Shen Shixi told the wet nurse holding the baby to get up and asked, "Why isn't there any charcoal?"
Li Sihe said from inside, "It was I who didn't let them light the charcoal."
Shen Shixi didn't believe him and looked at Feng Yuan.
"Your Majesty, the charcoal sent by the Imperial Household Department is not enough. The Lady was worried that if we used it during the day, we wouldn't have enough at night, so she said we wouldn't be lighting any more charcoal at noon."
Bai Kui said, "How could that be? Her Majesty specifically instructed that there should be enough charcoal for the concubines here, and the Third Prince also has his share. She even specially ordered the best silver-bone charcoal to be sent over. How could there not be enough?"
Before Li Sihe could speak, Shen Shixi said, "Let this palace maid speak."
Feng Yuan said, "Your Highness, the Imperial Household Department did send charcoal, but it was intercepted by Consort Ping halfway there. She said that a mere Consort could not use all this charcoal by herself, and that a mere Consort was not qualified to use such good charcoal."