flstandardbreds Chapter 585 Forcing the Fang Family!
Chapter 585 Forcing the Fang Family!
After the full moon celebration, Madam Fang and Madam Liu stayed a few more days before reluctantly returning home.
Originally, Li Haoran intended to move out of the Chang Le Prince's Mansion. However, seeing that Mu Xin Nuan and Fang Shi got along well, and considering that the child was still too young, and that Fang Shi was not very good at managing the household, Liu Shi persuaded Li Haoran to stay at the Chang Le Prince's Mansion for the time being.
In fact, Li Haoran knew that the woman he had married was naive but lacked wisdom.
If nothing goes wrong, she's a decent wife, but if something does happen, she'll probably just cry.
Compared to Mu Xin Nuan, the Fang family is truly far inferior.
However, such women also have their advantages, namely, they will stay at home contentedly to be good wives and mothers, and will basically not care about anything outside.
In fact, Liu looked down on Fang's personality to some extent. Although she came from a noble family, with such a way of behaving, how could she possibly shoulder the heavy responsibility of being the matriarch of the family in the future?
This was another reason why Liu wanted Fang to stay in the Chang Le Prince's Mansion.
She wanted to show Madam Fang how Mu Xin Nuan could be a proper and dignified princess.
She wanted Fang to realize for herself where the gap was between her and Mu Xin Nuan, and how big it was!
If it weren't for the fact that Fang had given birth to a son, Liu would have genuinely sent several women over to put pressure on Fang. For a matriarch to be so naive is simply foolish!
If one's heart is too soft, then one can only suffer in silence for the rest of one's life, and even one's offspring will suffer along with her!
If Fang doesn't understand this, then she will never be qualified to be the matriarch of the Li family.
Although the old master and mistress of the Zhenguo General's Mansion are still alive, almost all the power in the mansion has been transferred.
Now, Liu is the rightful matriarch of the Li family, and Fang is her eldest daughter-in-law. It is only natural that Liu has high expectations of Fang.
Li Haoran could see through his mother's thoughts to some extent. He also knew that Fang was a decent wife, but as the matriarch of a family, she was indeed lacking in temperament and methods. There was nothing he could do about it; that was just the kind of person she was. If he wanted to change her, it would probably take more than a day or two.
On the day Mu Xin Nuan saw Liu Shi off, she subtly understood what Liu Shi meant and simply smiled and nodded in agreement.
She couldn't say she particularly liked Fang Shi; all she could say was that Fang Shi had a certain degree of goodwill towards her, out of consideration for the Li family.
As for her aunt's last words, Mu Xin Nuan felt a headache just thinking about it.
It's amazing that my aunt could come up with such a method, sending her, the younger cousin, to discipline her sister-in-law.
However, Mu Xin Nuan didn't have a headache for long before Duanmu Chu Ze gave her an idea!
That is to let Fang try to take over some of the general affairs of the Prince's Mansion.
After Mu Xin Nuan had a deep conversation with Fang Shi, she let her manage her own courtyard house and also entrusted her with managing several estates outside the city.
These aren't the main points. The main point is that Mu Xin Nuan encouraged her to try to interact more with other ladies and young women, and to go out more. Staying cooped up in the mansion all the time would inevitably get too boring.
Even if you have children, those children aren't always cared for by you, the mother. Otherwise, what's the point of having a wet nurse?
Moreover, even if you don't go out, you can still send invitations to others and invite them to your home.
This truly worried Fang.
There is no doubt that Fang was a lady from a prominent family.
But before she got married, her mother naturally arranged all these things. She was only responsible for showing up, saying a few words, or playing the zither.
Not long after her marriage, she came to Yanzhou. For so long, all the social engagements and other matters in the mansion have been handled by Mu Xin Nuan, and she has almost never been involved.
Now that all these things have been dumped on her all at once, she really feels like she can't handle them.
"Sister, why don't you take charge of preparing for the banquet?" After hesitating for a long time, Madam Fang finally mustered up the courage to ask.
Mu Xin Nuan didn't even glance at her, continuing to prune the flowers. "Sister-in-law, you need to understand, my cousin isn't just staying here for a year or two before leaving. As his wife, don't you know what you should be doing?"
Fang looked somewhat embarrassed. How could she possibly be happy to be spoken to like that by someone who was clearly younger than her?
"But I really haven't made any arrangements before. What if there are any oversights?"
"That's no excuse! No banquet can be perfect. My cousin is out there working hard, dealing with and cooperating with many officials. Instead of trying to ease his burdens, you're pushing them onto me? I am the Princess Consort of Chang Le. Even if I wanted to share his burdens, I would only do so for my A-Ze. Do you understand, sister-in-law?"
Fang's face stiffened, and the few smiles she had managed to muster were frozen awkwardly on her face, making her look rather comical.
Seeing her like this, Mu Xin Nuan shook her head slightly. Is she really an incapable person?
If the next matriarch of the Li family is truly like this, then the Li family's decline is not far off.
Thinking of this, Mu Xin Nuan hardened her heart once again.
"Sister-in-law, don't worry. Even if your preparations are flawed, they'll overlook it for my sake. You can't make mistakes every time, can you?"
Fang knew there was no way to avoid it this time. She gritted her teeth and stamped her foot. "It's just preparing a banquet, what's the big deal? Don't I have so many maids and servants under my command?"
At worst, we can just ask Mu Xin Nuan to borrow someone else.
Watching Fang's retreating figure, Mu Xin Nuan sighed softly, "Aunt, you've really given me a difficult task. How am I supposed to discipline a cousin-in-law with such a temperament?"
As she spoke, she slapped her forehead, realizing that she seemed to be getting tired more and more easily lately.
I wonder if it's because I was so busy with Fang's childbirth recently?
Considering Fang's personality and her cousin's busy schedule, Mu Xin Nuan thought that if the two of them opened their own residence and lived separately, their lives would be quite exciting.
As soon as Li Haoran returned to the mansion, he saw Fang Shi looking dejected.
"what happened?"
Fang was a little annoyed and threw the pen in her hand, which hit the thin Xuan paper. She got up and helped him take off his clothes.
"It's all because of your cousin, who insisted on making me host some flower-viewing banquet. I'm living a perfectly good life, why would I need to do this?"