As soon as Luo Rui came back from outside, he was stopped by someone beside Qin Mei: "Master, you are finally back. The young lady has been waiting for you for a long time."
Luo Rui was puzzled: "What is she waiting for me for? I always come back at this time."
"The young lady has something to tell you." The servant replied with a dry laugh.
Luo Rui actually wanted to go find his father to talk about things first, but his newlywed wife had specially sent someone to wait for him, so he couldn't let her down, and therefore had to go back to find Qin Mei first.
"Young Madam! The young master is back!" The servant who was guarding outside saw Luo Rui's figure from afar, and ran back to report to Qin Mei in a flattering manner.
"Finally I'm back!" Qin Mei immediately stood up, tidied herself up, and asked the maid, "How do you think I look in this outfit? Do you want to change?"
The maid hurriedly shook her head: "No, Madam, you look great in this outfit, it makes you look particularly elegant and noble, the young master will definitely like it."
Qin Mei decided not to change into another set and looked anxiously outside the door.
As soon as she saw Luo Rui's shadow, she went to meet him and said happily, "Husband, you are finally back."
"Madam, do you have something to talk to me about?" Luo Rui asked.
Qin Mei immediately remembered the humiliation she had suffered from Xu Shichu today, so she pouted and snorted, saying:
"It's your stepmother! I went to accompany her with good intentions. When I saw the flowers in her yard were growing well, I wanted to ask her for a few. But who would have thought she was so stingy. Not only did she not give me any, she also mocked me for taking advantage of her, scolded me, and had the servants kick me out!
Don’t you know that I was dragged out of her yard by two maids? She actually bullied me like this and didn’t take me seriously at all. My husband, you must make the decision for me…”
When Luo Rui heard her say this, his face suddenly darkened and his brows furrowed. He said, "Then why did you insist on taking her flowers? She treasures the flowers in her yard very much and rarely gives them away. Even when my sister wanted a camellia from her last time, she had to buy it from Baihua Pavilion. You are a new daughter-in-law, let alone."
Qin Mei got even angrier after hearing this: "Husband, what do you mean by this? Are you saying that I don't deserve her flowers? It's obviously her petty nature. Besides, I'm not an outsider. She didn't even agree to ask for a few flowers. She doesn't take you seriously, otherwise she wouldn't have rejected me for your sake!"
"My stepmother is different from other people. She is a very cold and indifferent person. She only lives in her yard. She is even cold and indifferent to my father, let alone me. We usually don't interfere with each other. Don't go to her to cause trouble!
If you want any flowers, just go out and buy them. If you can't find them, ask someone to find them. Why do you have to ask her for them?"
Luo Rui said impatiently that he didn't understand why his wife was picking a fight with her stepmother.
"Husband, do you mean that I am being unreasonable? It was clearly me who was bullied by her today. Not only did you not help me get revenge, but you also blamed me!" Qin Mei felt very aggrieved.
Luo Rui stroked his forehead and said with a headache: "If you hadn't said something too much, the stepmother wouldn't have driven you away. She has always adhered to the principle of 'I won't offend others unless they offend me'. Don't think about her flowers anymore, and stay away from her in the future."
"Okay, Luo Rui! You are actually defending that bitch? Are you her husband or my husband?" Qin Mei was so angry that she said something without thinking when she saw that her husband did not stand on her side.
"Shut up!" Luo Rui's face darkened and he looked at her coldly, "Do you need me to teach you what you can and cannot say? If you continue to be so outspoken, stay in your room and don't go anywhere else!"
Qin Mei saw Luo Rui's cold expression and finally remembered what she had said. She immediately calmed down a lot. Although she was still indignant that he did not save her face, she did not dare to anger him again. She complained in a low voice: "It turns out that a stepmother is a stepmother. If she is not a biological child, then she is not a biological child. She even divides things clearly..."
Luo Rui glanced at her coldly again, and she finally shut up.
"No matter how rude the stepmother is to you, you can't call her a bitch. She was married to my father in a formal ceremony. If you don't respect her, you are disrespecting my father. Do you understand?" Luo Rui stared at Qin Mei and said,
"This is the Prime Minister's residence, not your country landlord's house. Don't let me hear those dirty words again..."
Qin Mei's heart skipped a beat. Luo Rui was not a serious and cold person, so when he was angry he looked cold and stern. Qin Mei was very afraid of him, and after hearing his warning, she could only nod obediently.
Although Luo Rui does not have much mother-son affection for Xu Shichu, he is a well-educated person. He is not close to Xu Shichu, but he will not deliberately humiliate her. So when Qin Mei calls her a bitch, he will warn her.
"I won't come back to sleep tonight. I'm busy in the study. You should go to bed early." After saying that, Luo Rui walked away.
Qin Mei watched his back as he walked away and stamped her feet in anger, secretly hating herself for not getting the best result she got. Not only did she not get her husband to help her get revenge, but she pushed him away instead. This was the first time they had slept in separate rooms since they got married, and it was all because of Xu Shichu!
The more Qin Mei thought about it, the more she hated Xu Shichu. Even though Luo Rui told her not to provoke Xu Shichu, she just couldn't swallow this.
She was unable to use her husband's hand to take revenge, but she could cause trouble for Xu Shichu in secret. Anyway, the power of the housekeeper in the mansion was in her hands now. As long as she did it secretly and the matter did not become a big deal, the men would not be able to know.
Qin Mei, feeling that she had an idea in mind, began her secret journey of revenge, relentlessly making trouble for Xu Shichu.
Since she failed to bribe the servants in Xu Shichu's yard, she had to start elsewhere.
So Xu Shichu's food began to slowly deteriorate. The snacks he wanted either tasted bad or looked bad, the meals he wanted either had no ingredients or were delivered too late, the carriages he used to travel out of the mansion were either insufficient or broken and had not been repaired, and the cloths the mansion distributed as a rule were either faded or torn...
Gradually, Xu Shichu came to her senses and realized that Qin Mei was deliberately trying to trip her up.
"Madam, look at the dishes on this table. Is there anything you can eat?" Zhichun pointed at the food that had just been put on the table and said angrily, "The people in the kitchen are getting more and more outrageous. They actually dared to fool you with such food! Madam, you can't put up with it this time!"
Xu Shichu nodded and asked, "It seems that the Prime Minister is taking a day off today, right? Is he still in the mansion now?"
The maidservant beside her answered, "Yes, the Prime Minister did not go out today and has been staying in the mansion the whole time."
Xu Shichu then ordered with satisfaction: "Put the food on the table back into the food boxes, and find out the cloth and utensils that were distributed by the government a few days ago. Let's go and give the things to the Prime Minister and treat him to a meal."