TRBDM -Chapter 20 Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix

Nanny Qi didn’t understand what Wei Zhaorong meant by “Is everything well?” She instinctively replied, “With the Madam here, naturally… everything is well.”

“Mhm. Second Miss Dou likes calligraphy and paintings. Tomorrow, send over the Spring Day Painting that His Majesty bestowed upon us. A guest is a guest—we must not neglect her.”

“Yes, Miss.”

After attending to Wei Zhaorong and helping her to bed, Nanny Qi felt puzzled.

Since the Prime Minister passed away, the Dou sisters no longer had anyone to rely on. She was hardly some honored guest—what was there to neglect or not neglect?

Besides, that Spring Day Painting had been bestowed by the Emperor. Second Miss had openly asked the Old Madam for it several times before, yet the Old Madam had always refused. So why was it now being sent directly to Second Miss Dou?

Nanny Qi had only lived one lifetime. Of course she did not know that the still-young Dou Shuxin would one day become the most exalted Empress.

After the current Emperor passed away, the seven princes would contend for the throne, their open and secret struggles exceptionally fierce.

Yet the final outcome of that struggle would be beyond anyone’s expectations.

The next day, the skies cleared, and the temperature rose along with it.

After breakfast, Wei Zhaorong decided to take a stroll in the garden to aid digestion.

Good weather naturally lifted one’s spirits.

But she had barely walked for a short while when angry shouting rang out from the distance. Wei Zhaorong’s expression quickly turned cold.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s the Eldest Young Master. He’s making a scene again,” Nanny Qi replied.

The garden was close to the Eastern Courtyard. With only a wall between them, the commotion carried clearly.

Wei Zhaorong knew that Xie Chuan’s temperament, cultivated over more than twenty years, could not be corrected overnight.

For someone like him, a slow, gentle approach would be useless. Only a fierce dose of medicine would cure him completely.

“Let’s go and take a look.”

Wei Zhaorong’s eyes were as calm and unreadable as an ancient well. No one could guess what she was thinking.

Even Nanny Qi, her closest attendant, could no longer discern her mistress’s thoughts.

Upon entering the Eastern Courtyard, they saw Xie Chuan with his sleeves rolled up, gripping Xie Wanyi’s wrist as he tried to charge out.

As he pushed forward, he roared, “Dou Shuyao, you’ve gone too far! Wanyi, don’t worry—your elder brother will get justice for you!”

“Eldest Young Master, you cannot go out!”

A group of servants desperately blocked his way.

Xie Chuan was aggressive and imposing. Whoever dared stand in front of him was kicked aside without hesitation. Several servants were kicked until they bared their teeth in pain, yet none dared truly let him escape.

The Old Madam had decreed that if the Eldest Young Master stepped even one foot outside the Eastern Courtyard, all of them would be sold off to human traffickers.

Xie Chuan shouted himself hoarse, but he could not even make it out of the front hall.

His face burning with embarrassment, he was racking his brain for a way to break through when his gaze caught sight of the stern-looking Wei Zhaorong.

“M–Mother…”

The momentum he had just moments ago instantly dissipated, and he loosened his grip on Xie Wanyi’s wrist.

“Mother, why have you come?”

Xie Chuan feared neither heaven nor earth—but he feared Wei Zhaorong.

Previously, because she had doted on him without limit, others had not noticed this much.

But ever since Wei Zhaorong had slapped him twice, each time he saw her, he was like a mouse seeing a cat—his legs would tremble uncontrollably.

“What happened? Why is it so lively here?” Wei Zhaorong asked coldly.

“N–Nothing. I just heard that Wanyi was bullied by Dou Shuxin. I was anxious and forgot that I’m under confinement.”

Xie Chuan’s mind worked quickly, and he immediately found an excuse.

“Mother, although Dou Shuxin is my sister-in-law, she bullied my second sister here in the Marquis Manor. As her brother-in-law, I can’t simply indulge her. Look—Wanyi’s face is swollen like this. Dou Shuxin struck too hard. What if it scars and ruins her face? How will Wanyi marry in the future?”

Wei Zhaorong shot a cold glance at the silent Xie Wanyi. At this moment, she was hiding behind Xie Chuan, head lowered like a quail, not daring to utter a word.

“Her face—was it Miss Dou the Second who struck her?”

“Who else could it be? You’ve always cherished Wanyi, never willing to let a single hair on her head be harmed. But that Dou Shuxin—she had the nerve to give Wanyi two slaps the moment she arrived. It infuriates me! It must be that jealous woman, Dou Shuyao, backing her up. Otherwise, she wouldn’t dare.”

Round and round it went, and once again the blame landed on Dou Shuyao.

These past few days, Xie Chuan had been treated like a prisoner under Dou Shuyao’s watch, forced to drink medicine every day. The frustration of being suppressed by her lingered in his heart day after day.

Just now, when he heard Xie Wanyi’s tearful complaint, he hadn’t even listened clearly before assuming it was Dou Shuxin who had struck her. He immediately clamored about going to settle the score with that “jealous woman,” Dou Shuyao.

“Oh? So you’re saying Wanyi was beaten by Miss Dou the Second?”

“Yes!”

Wei Zhaorong turned her gaze to Xie Wanyi.

Xie Wanyi stiffened her neck and remained silent. She still hadn’t forgiven her mother. Now that her elder brother was willing to stand up for her, she absolutely could not reveal the truth at this moment.

“Xie Wanyi, kneel!”

Wei Zhaorong suddenly lashed out. The cold severity in her voice made Xie Wanyi tremble.

“I won’t kneel. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I kneel?” Though she spoke stubbornly, fear gnawed at her heart. The two slaps from yesterday had left a deep shadow in her mind.

She added, “Eldest Brother just heard wrong.”

Xie Chuan frowned. Something wasn’t right. He turned to look at her. “Wasn’t it Dou Shuxin who hit you?”

In front of Wei Zhaorong, Xie Wanyi didn’t dare cause trouble. She shook her head slightly.

“Huh?” Xie Chuan was dumbfounded. So he had been jumping up and down all this time, targeting the wrong person.

His face darkened. “Wanyi, then who hit your face?”

Xie Wanyi burst into loud sobs. “It was Mother! Mother hit me. Eldest Brother, Mother doesn’t love me anymore. She hit me because of Dou Shuxin!”

“Mother?”

Now Xie Chuan realized he had wronged Dou Shuyao.

He himself had tasted the sting of his mother’s heavy slaps before.

For parents to discipline their children was perfectly natural. Not to mention two slaps—even two hundred—one wouldn’t dare utter a word of complaint.

It was only because Wei Zhaorong had doted on them excessively in the past, never punishing them or even speaking a harsh word.

“Mother, Wanyi is a young lady. Her skin is delicate—what if it leaves a scar? That wouldn’t be good. Wanyi, stop crying. If your eyes swell, you won’t look pretty.”

Xie Chuan wiped her tears. He might be harsh toward Dou Shuyao, but he doted on his little sister.

No matter what, Mother striking her so heavily was truly inappropriate.

Wei Zhaorong looked at this so-called “crouching dragon and young phoenix” pair and could only roll her eyes internally.

One by one, they did nothing but add to the chaos.

“Chuan’er, have you been taking your medicine daily these past few days?”

Since she had come to the Eastern Courtyard, she might as well ask what needed to be asked.

“Replying to Mother, your son has taken it on time every day, not missing a single dose.”

With Dou Shuyao keeping watch, Wei Zhaorong felt at ease.

“Wanyi, the last time I met with the palace governess, she said she assigned you homework—ten poems and one embroidery of flowers and birds. Have you completed them all?”

Xie Wanyi had been playing at the other residence for several days and had long forgotten the governess’s words. She hadn’t done a single task.

“Mother, my face hurts. I’m afraid I won’t be able to complete the governess’s assignments,” Xie Wanyi replied between sobs.

Wei Zhaorong did not expose her lie and seemed to consider her words seriously.

After a moment, she said, “In that case, from now on you need not go study with the governess. It will even save some silver. The remaining money can be turned over to the public account and distributed evenly among the households’ daily allowances.”

“No!”

With tears still hanging on her chin, Xie Wanyi rejected the idea without a second thought.