SGEIRS -Chapter 437 For A-Yao

The weather was clear, and sunlight filled the room.

Meng Jinyao sat intently doing her needlework. After a while, she vaguely sensed someone beside her. When she looked up, she saw a man in crimson robes standing next to her. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she smiled as she said,

“Husband, you’re back?”

Gu Jingxi nodded. “You should let the seamstresses handle these things. Don’t tire yourself out.”

Meng Jinyao shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ve just been idle and wanted to find something to pass the time.”

As she spoke, she set aside her work and pointed to the small tea table nearby.

“This is the date-paste pastry you had someone buy this morning. It’s from Yipin Pavilion. Try some. I heard the pastry chef’s wife passed away, so his pastries aren’t as sweet as before, but they’re still good in their own way.”

Gu Jingxi looked confused. “A-Yao, are you mistaken? When did I tell anyone to buy pastries this morning?”

She froze for a moment, then said, “Then it must have been something you ordered earlier. After you came back, you didn’t tell the servants to stop, so they kept up the old habit and bought pastries every couple of days.”

Gu Jingxi grew even more puzzled. He had never given such instructions.

“Are you sure I arranged this?”

“You’re still pretending to be clueless?”

She shot him a reproachful look and continued, “After you left the capital, you were afraid I wouldn’t eat well or dress warmly. You arranged everything for my food, clothing, and daily needs. I even asked around—it was all done under your orders. Look at the clothes I wear and the jewelry I have. You had people invite the shopkeepers from Jinxiu Workshop and Jinyu Pavilion to come over so I could choose styles and have them custom-made.”

After hearing this, Gu Jingxi finally understood.

He had once written to his mother, asking her to take care of A-Yao. It must have been his mother who did all this in his name, making A-Yao think it was his arrangement.

He then asked, “A-Yao, tell me—what exactly has been arranged these past days?”

Thinking he was worried the servants hadn’t done well, Meng Jinyao told him everything in detail.

After listening, Gu Jingxi felt complicated.

His mother had taken care of A-Yao far more meticulously than he ever had—so carefully that it rivaled the treatment of palace consorts. As her husband, he hadn’t done as well as his own mother, which made him feel a little frustrated.

At the same time, he finally understood why his mother had stuffed him with ten thousand taels in banknotes earlier.

That money wasn’t for him at all.

It was meant for A-Yao, passed through him.

His mother was afraid he couldn’t afford to support his wife, so she was subsidizing him.

He did have private assets, but his mother didn’t know how much. It seemed he should find time to let her know—he couldn’t let her think he was too poor to raise his own wife.

Seeing him silent, Meng Jinyao thought he was blaming the servants. She said gently, “Husband, they’ve done very well. They’re diligent and responsible, and I’m very satisfied. You should reward them.”

His mother had given him all the credit, but Gu Jingxi didn’t want to claim it.

He sat beside her and said softly, “A-Yao, I only wrote to Mother and asked her to look after you. I didn’t arrange any of these things. Mother did all of it.”

Meng Jinyao’s eyes widened in shock.

“You… you mean Mother arranged everything?”

Gu Jingxi nodded lightly. “More precisely, she did it in my name. I didn’t even know about it until you told me.”

He then took out ten banknotes, each worth one thousand taels, from his sleeve and handed them to her.

“This is what Mother gave us earlier.”

Meng Jinyao stared at the banknotes in his hand, deeply shaken.

Her mother-in-law had always treated her well, but this still overwhelmed her.

During the days her husband was away, her mother-in-law had carefully arranged everything according to her preferences.

She had thought it was her husband’s doing, so she hadn’t been frugal at all.

Now she realized it had been her mother-in-law all along.

No wonder her mother-in-law always looked so satisfied and admiring when she wore new clothes, praising her beauty—it was because she was pleased with her own “work.”

But that also meant she had spent quite a lot of her mother-in-law’s money.

She slowly looked up at Gu Jingxi and said awkwardly, “Husband… I’ve been a bit wasteful lately.”

Gu Jingxi patted her head gently.

“It’s fine. Mother is very wealthy. What you spent is nothing to her.”

As he spoke, he stuffed the banknotes into her hands.

“This is from Mother. Take it. Buy whatever you want. No need to save.”

Meng Jinyao lowered her gaze to the banknotes.

She hadn’t counted them, but at first glance there were over ten thousand taels. Though light in weight, they felt heavy in her hands.

She asked in confusion, “Why did Mother suddenly give us so much money?”

Gu Jingxi smiled.

“She probably thinks your husband is too poor and might mistreat you and the child, so she’s subsidizing us. It’s her goodwill—we should accept it. Thanks to you, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever received money from Mother. Not even one tael before. Now it’s ten thousand.”

Meng Jinyao exclaimed softly, “Ah?” then asked blankly,

“Husband… poor?”

Gu Jingxi laughed.

“Think of it like this: when it’s cold, you’re clearly not cold, but Mother insists you are and makes you wear extra clothes.”

Meng Jinyao immediately understood.

They weren’t poor at all, but his mother thought they were and insisted on helping them.

Warmth spread through her heart.

This heavy, sincere maternal love was something she had never experienced before.

Madam Sun wasn’t her real mother, so that was one thing. But even her biological father, Meng Dongyuan, had given her almost nothing and still complained that she asked for too much.

Her eyes grew slightly red.

Looking at the banknotes, she said softly, “I know Mother loves us, but we’re already grown. I have my dowry, you have your assets. Is it really right for us to take money from our elders?”

Gu Jingxi replied gently,

“It’s fine. If we accept it, Mother will feel at ease. Don’t feel guilty.

“She loves us. We’ll just be more filial in the future and repay her.”

After thinking it over, Meng Jinyao felt he was right.

She set the banknotes aside and picked up her needlework again, smiling softly.

“Look, this is the dress I made for Mother. I just need to finish the last stitches. I’ll take it to her tomorrow. She really likes the clothes I make. She always wears them when she goes out and says my embroidery is even better than the professionals’.”

Hearing this, Gu Jingxi recalled what his mother had once said.

No wonder her old friends envied her.

It turned out that every time she went out, she wore A-Yao’s handmade clothes to show off.