I Became The Stepmother of My Ex-husband

Gu Hui Yan leaned over and asked in a whisper. Lin Wei Xi wrinkled her nose and said, “not really.”

He’d already pulled her hair. What else could she do?

Gu Cheng Yao felt some mild emotions. He took a step back, lowered his head, and said, “This son still has homework to finish and won’t disturb Father and Mother’s appreciation of the snow. Please excuse this son.”

Gu Hui Yan nodded and said, “Go ahead. The civil service exam is coming up. Prioritize preparing for the preliminary round. Don’t be distracted by the clamour for the next few days. Understand?”

“I understand. Thank you for teaching me Father.” After Gu Cheng Yao responded, he looked up at Lin Wei Xi again and cupped his hand to salute to her before leaving.

Gu Hui Yan was teaching his son, so Lin Wei Xi stood aside and listened. After Gu Cheng Yao turned around and returned the way he’d come from, she remembered something and asked suspiciously, “why did Shizi want to come over? He’s going back just like that?”

“Perhaps he got bored of sitting in the study and came out to get some air.” Gu Hui Yan glanced at Lin Wei Xi and said, “The weather will be cold these few days. Don’t let your temper get the better of you and be careful not to catch a cold.”

“I won’t. I’m not that unruly.” she mumbled, too lazy to care about Gu Cheng Yao. Anyway, how Gu Cheng Yao was faring had nothing to do with her. She’d handed over management of Qingsong Garden to the dowry servant Princess Consort Shen left behind. She made it very clear that she wasn’t interfering with Shizi’s matters. Whatever happened in his courtyard was their own business and she had nothing to do with it.

As for whether Gao Ran would overpower Granny Bu or vice versa, it would depend on their methods. Lin Wei Xi would watch the fun without getting involved.

After returning to Jingcheng Courtyard, she first ordered the kitchen to prepare some food, then went to the inner room to change her wet clothing that was soaked from the snow. It was really too much of a coincidence that the snowball had fallen onto her. It was fine that her hair had gotten wet, but the snow that fell in her collar was troublesome. The snow was already cold. When it fell on her neck, it made her feel cold and her body temperature then turned it into icy water. It now seeped into her back. She was not only uncomfortable, but going to easily catch a cold.

Lin Wei Xi had to untie her hair and change into a new set of dry and warm clothes. She then casually tied her hair up into a low bun and went out to eat with Gu Hui Yan. Seeing her come out, he first reached out to check the temperature of her forehead. Only after he checked that she didn’t have a fever did he say in relief, “Fortunately, you don’t have a fever. Finish the ginger tea first.”

Lin Wei Xi looked at the ginger tea. Before she said anything, Gu Hui Yan saw through her and said, “don’t complain, you have to drink it. Your body is already delicate. You spent so much time in the snow today and it got into your clothes. If you don’t take care of yourself now, what will you do if you get a fever tomorrow?”

Yes, Lin Wei Xi knew that her health was bad right now and couldn’t be like how it was in the past. She could only take the tea cup and drink the hot ginger tea a bit at a time. Lin Wei Xi stared intently at the cup in her hand. Hot air rose from the ginger tea and turned into mist when it hit the air. It happened to cling on Lin Wei Xi’s eyelashes, condensing into fine drops of water.

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Gu Hui Yan watched her for a long time and couldn’t resist reaching out to touch her long eyelashes. Her eyelashes were especially long, the ends neatly curling up. With the water droplets stuck to it, refusing to fall off, she looked very delicate and pitiful. Gu Hui Yan’s finger touched the outermost eyelash. Lin Wei Xi was puzzled and raised her head to ask, “what’s the matter?”

He shook his head and smiled, but didn’t reply. Lin Wei Xi finished the tea after much difficulty. She took a handkerchief from Wan Xing and gently wiped the water from her lips. Only after Gu Hui Yan saw that she’d tidied herself did he have the servants serve the meal.

Although it was the New Year holidays from the twenty third of the twelfth month to the seventeenth of the first month, Gu Hui Yan’s status was different from the norm. He was simultaneously the commander of a hundred thousand strong army and a regent minister of the imperial court. Even if he didn’t leave the house, many problems would come knocking. Besides, with the New Year approaching, many families were making social visits. After Gu Hui Yan ate lunch with Lin Wei Xi, he didn’t linger and left to the front to deal with some work.

After he left, Lin Wei Xi had her own work to do. These past few days, Gu Hui Yan wasn’t the only one who was busy; she, the Prince Yan Consort, was also up to her neck with work. Many families visited them before the end of the year and gifts piled up at the gate everyday. It was the end of the year and officials from the other provinces had to come to the capital to give their report. Most of the gifts were presents sent by these officials from the various provinces. Although most people couldn’t even enter the residence, Lin Wei Xi couldn’t carelessly leave the gifts there. Who would send a gift if they didn’t want anything? Especially since Prince Yan’s current position was delicate. It wasn’t good for the emperor’s uncle, a first-rank Prince who led an army, to be too outstanding. Lin Wei Xi wasn’t short-sighted. She didn’t care about money that others sent but more about the Prince Yan Residence’s stability and longevity.

So she had to be especially careful when handling these gifts. She couldn’t keep those that were too valuable, nor could she accept the gifts given out of goodwill from households that they had friendly relations with too casually. She had to prepare a suitable and slightly more valuable gift in return, and send someone to deliver it to the other family. She had to repeat this everyday and just handling the gifts consumed all her energy.

Lin Wei Xi was in the middle of choosing a return gift for the capital governor when she suddenly heard someone make an announcement from outside. A maid with twin buns stood outside the door curtain and greeted her before saying, “Princess Consort, the Duke Ying Residence’s senior Lady and Madam are here.”

“The Duke Ying Residence?” Lin Wei Xi was dumbfounded when she heard the name. She quickly came to her senses and asked, “I never received the Duke Ying Residence’s greeting card yesterday. Did the gatekeeper leave it out by mistake?”

“The gatekeeper didn’t miss it.” The maid stepped forward and handed over the greeting card, and said, “This is the Duke Ying Residence’s greeting card.”

Lin Wei Xi had Wan Xing receive the greeting card. After she received it, she knew what was going on without even turning it over

Any household with a status, be it visiting relatives or friends, had to send a greeting card to the other party one or two days in advance. First, it was out of respect for the host and to allow the host time to prepare. Second, it was to demonstrate their courtesy. Every family’s greeting card was carefully prepared and an experienced lady of the house could guess which household it was from by just looking at the cover. But very few households would actually pay a visit on the day of without sending word in advance. Even a married woman returning to her maiden house would send someone to notify them in advance and would never drop by unexpectedly.

It was undoubtedly quite rude of the Duke Ying Residence to do this. It wasn’t a problem if Gao Ran was currently the person in charge. They were her family and it was all right to be a little relaxed. But Lin Wei Xi was now the one in charge and Gao Ran’s mother-in-law. The Duke Ying Residence dared to be so disrespectful to their in-laws. If they hadn’t gone insane, then something sudden must have happened and they were too anxious to pay attention to etiquette.

In any case, the Duke Ying Residence was a Duke Residence. It was unlikely that the Duke Ying Lady didn’t know about this aspect of social etiquette. So the Duke Residence’s actions could most likely be credited to that good daughter-in-law of hers.

Lin Wei Xi knew what was going on but pretended not to know. She closed the greeting card and said, “Quickly invite the Duke Ying Lady to the living room. Wan Yue, serve hot tea to the Lady and the Madam.”

On the other hand, Lin Wei Xi stood up and left to change her clothes in the inner room. She’d just eaten with Gu Hui Yan and was dressed for comfort, but it wasn’t suitable now that she had to greet her guests. She didn’t let anyone comb her hair over again and merely changed into the Zhuanghua dress she wore when greeting guests before leisurely walking to the living room.

The Duke Ying Residence had visited without notice. Since they didn’t respect her as the lady of the household, she didn’t need to care too much about being a good hostess. There was no harm in having the guests wait for a while.

By the time the people of the Duke Ying Residence had finished drinking two cups of tea, they could be considered to have waited for Lin Wei Xi, who arrived leisurely late. Hearing “Greetings Princess Consort” repeatedly from outside the partition, the Duke Ying Lady knew that Lin Wei Xi had arrived and couldn’t help but coldly humph to herself.

Lin Wei Xi walked in and everyone in the room stood up to greet her. Only the Duke Ying Lady calmly remained seated and didn’t have any intentions to get up. Seeing her enter, the Duke Ying Lady solemnly put the tea cup on the table, her expression indifferent and aloof, “Your Highness Prince Yan Consort, this old lady ought to greet you, but this old lady has weak legs and am afraid that it will be difficult to greet the Princess Consort.”

The Duke Ying Lady was sixty years old. She was old and relied on her seniority to not give Lin Wei Xi any face. A young person like her really couldn’t say anything about it. Of course she understood that the Duke Ying Lady was mocking her for being late despite being the host. Lin Wei Xi didn’t pay it any mind and instead smiled as she sat down opposite the Duke Ying Lady, instantly demonstrating that they were on equal footing, “Senior Lady, you are too polite. You personally brought the Lady and Madams of the Duke Ying Residence to grace our Prince Residence with your presence. As the junior, I ought to have received you at the inner gate. However, you came at an unfortunate time. I was in the middle of grooming myself and changing clothes. I had to put it on hold for the time being and made you and the Gao family’s Madam wait for a while. The Senior Lady and the Madams won’t blame me for failing to accompany you, right?”

The Senior Duke Ying Lady was dissatisfied that Lin Wei Xi had kept them waiting, but Lin Wei Xi could  retaliate with the fact that the Duke Ying Residence had come without sending notice. Wasn’t it the Duke Ying Residence that’d been rude first? The senior Duke Ying Lady lost so much face that she could only sigh to herself and swallow her feelings.

After everyone was seated, Lin Wei Xi looked at the women from the Gao family whom she used to be extremely familiar with, but was now supposed to be meeting officially for the first time. Her eyes swept across everyone and suddenly recognized a familiar figure. Her gaze darkened but she asked, her smile not faltering, “Senior Lady, this person is?”

The senior Lady turned around and only realized then that she hadn’t introduced them. Although they’d met before at the palace banquet, Lin Wei Xi had been a little orphan girl back then. How could the arrogant senior Duke Ying Lady take a liking to someone like that? Later on when Lin Wei Xi and Prince Yan got married, the Duke Ying Residence also participated in the wedding banquet. But how could Lin Wei Xi, the new bride, remember them when they were mixed with the other guests. So strictly speaking, she still wasn’t very well acquainted with those of the Gao family.

The senior Duke Ying Lady could only have her daughter-in-law and grandson step forward and said, “This is my second daughter-in-law and this is my eldest grandson. The two of you, quickly greet the Princess Consort.”

The second Gao Madam stepped forward and gave Lin Wei Xi a wanfu salute. Lin Wei Xi looked at the lady who used to be her second aunt and smiled as Wan Xing and Wan Yue helped her up. She said, “Second Madam is too polite. I’m young and don’t deserve this courtesy.”

The Second Gao Madam said, “Prince Yan Consort, you are too modest. Although you are young, you are a first-rank Princess Consort of the imperial family. Although I am the same generation as you because of my children’s marriage, I still ought to follow etiquette and bow to you.”

Gao Ran was the Second Gao Madam’s niece and Lin Wei Xi was Gao Ran’s mother-in-law. Using this line of logic, Lin Wei Xi and the Second Gao Madam were indeed of the same generation. However, the second son of the Gao family, Lin Wei Xi’s previous second uncle, didn’t have any rank or achievements but became an idle fifth-rank official due to his family’s contributions. Going by rank, the Second Gao Madam didn’t truly dare to consider herself Lin Wei Xi’s peer. She still needed to salute her.

Lin Wei Xi smiled and didn’t say much, but politely had a maid being a stool for the Second Gao Madam to sit. Once the Second Gao Madam was seated, the other person stepped forward to kowtow to Lin Wei Xi, “Paying my respects to the Prince Yan Consort.”

Lin Wei Xi’s smile was as appropriately elegant as before, but the fingers under her wide sleeves were tightly clenched. The Second Gao Madam thought that Lin Wei Xi didn’t know who he was and introduced him from her seat at the side, “This is our Duke Ying Residence’s Shizi’s only son. Although he is the son of a concubine, he is considered the eldest grandson, and is very bright and intelligent. Chen’er, come closer and let the Princess Consort look at you.”

Lin Wei Xi’s gaze quickly turned cold. How could she not recognize this person? Gao Chen, her former shu younger brother and Gao Ran’s younger brother from the same mother. He was also the child who’d indirectly killed Wei Shi back then.

And he was undoubtedly the future Duke Ying.