I Became The Stepmother of My Ex-husband

Granny Bu seemed to take her “transfer” quite well. She was fully mentally prepared, especially after Granny Zhao was heavily punished by being chased out of the Residence because she’d taken bribes. If Lin Wei Xi used the same method to deal with her, she’d instigate every servant in the residence to cause trouble. But she didn’t expect that Lin Wei Xi’s response would be lacking compared to her actions earlier.

Although she’d been demoted from the inner courtyard to Qingsong Garden, Qingsong Garden was where Shizi lived. It was obvious how important that was. Granny Bu didn’t utter a word when she heard this. Of course, there was no longer a need to organize the servants to make trouble. And Gu Cheng Yao was greatly relieved when he heard this. Granny Bu was indeed at fault, but if Lin Wei Xi acted as she pleased, he wouldn’t accept it. Fortunately, she merely moved Granny Bu to Qingsong Garden. This transfer made no difference to him. Granny Bu had raised him so he was fine with anything.

Both Gu Cheng Yao and Granny Bu were satisfied, and perhaps the only person who wasn’t satisfied with the outcome was Gao Ran. She never expected Lin Wei Xi to put her in this situation.

Lin Wei Xi didn’t want to deal with it herself, so she stuffed Granny Bu into Gao Ran’s courtyard. Once the male master got married, management power of the inner courtyard should belong to his wife. In the past, Granny Bu used to enjoy criticizing the management of Qingsong Garden, but because they didn’t live together and Granny Bu was busy with managing other internal affairs, Gao Ran was fine with enduring it. Gao Ran initially considered compromising and after enduring it for some time, would chip away at Granny Bu’s power and destroy her place in Gu Cheng Yao’s heart, progressively crushing Bu Shi. But her plan didn’t include Bu Shi moving to their courtyard. Qingsong Garden already had her. If there was another head manager, then who was in charge?

Gao Ran was extremely disgruntled by this outcome, but what could she say in front of Granny Bu and Gu Cheng Yao? Gao Ran had difficulty speaking, but Granny Bu and Gu Cheng Yao were happy with the result. Lin Wei Xi was really evil. She’d concluded the matter without giving Gao Ran a chance to respond.

Only Gu Hui Yan glanced meaningfully at Lin Wei Xi with understanding in his eyes.

Gu Cheng Yao didn’t notice the struggle under the surface, but Gu Hui Yan knew about it. Lin Wei Xi’s move was truly brilliant, even more brilliant than moves officials made to prevent themselves from suffering and passing the problem on to someone else. With such a simple move, not only did she appease the servants, she also showed that she was completely uninvolved with Shizi’s internal affairs and avoided rousing suspicion. She’d also taken back power over internal affairs and conveniently driven a wedge between the two parties. Gao Ran and Granny Bu seemed to be friendly with each other now because there was no conflict between them; the two were working together against Lin Wei Xi. There was no conflict now, but what about when they lived together?

A rift would definitely form between them. Gao Ran and Granny Bu would expose themselves without Lin Wei Xi having to do anything once the conflict and friction grew so fierce that they couldn’t be concealed. Having the enemy battalion split itself in two without sacrificing a single soldier was truly the best method a military strategist could come up with.

It seemed that his Princess Consort was quite scheming. Gu Hui Yan merely smiled and said nothing. Lin Wei Xi didn’t notice the look he gave her because she was overjoyed. In her previous life, she’d suffered a lot under Granny Bu. This old woman relied on her age and seniority and actually meddled with the newly-weds’ bedroom matters. But things were better now. The two old acquaintances from her previous life were now tossed together in the same place.

Didn’t Gao Ran and Granny Bu have a friendly and harmonious master-servant relationship? Didn’t they look down on Gao Xi’s uprightness, and were now ganging up on her to push her out? Since Gao Ran saw only Shen Shi as her mother-in-law, then properly take care of Shen Shi’s outstanding servant. Lin Wei Xi wholeheartedly wished them a delightful time with each other.

They’d made trouble until it was quite late and the sky was dark. No one was in the mood to eat anymore. Lin Wei Xi made the decision for Prince Yan, cancelled dinner, and had everyone return to their respective courtyards for dinner. Everyone in Jingcheng Courtyard left one after another and the kitchen delivered the meals to the room. Lin Wei Xi used the time the maids took to prepare the meal and whispered to Wan Yue to retrieve the keys and plaques.

Granny Bu held onto all the keys in the residence as well as the plaques required to retrieve items from the storeroom. It was easy to invite someone in but difficult to get them to leave. Who would be willing to give up what they had. Normally, it’d be too difficult to ask Granny Bu for the keys. But she’d angered Prince Yan today. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Wei Xi would of course strike the iron while it was hot and take back everything.

Of course Granny Bu didn’t want to hand over the key. But she was too scared to make trouble at this juncture. If she alarmed Prince Yan, it wouldn’t end with just a fine of her monthly salary. She was unwilling but could only dawdle as she took out the keys and box of placards, unhappily throwing them at Wan Yue.

Wan Yue didn’t care about Granny Bu’s black face. After verifying everything, she hurried back to the main courtyard. Lin Wei Xi was waiting in the side room. When she saw the items in Wan Yue’s hands, she let out a relaxed sigh.

It was only then that she became the actual mistress of the Prince Yan Residence. The keys to the courtyards and warehouses were in her grasp. She only had the confidence to speak when she held this lifeline in her hands. She couldn’t help but feel good. After looking at them one more time, she had Wan Xing and Wan Yue keep them and walked to the main room.

She hadn’t forgotten that Prince Yan was waiting for her for dinner.

He was sitting at the table when he saw her enter the room with a smile on her face. Throughout the meal, she was full of joy and obviously in a good mood. He took it all in but didn’t point it out. When it was just the two of them in the bedroom that night, he casually said, “it’s been hard on you today.”

Lin Wei Xi raised her guard up and her smile faded, “I don’t dare.”

Seeing her tense up, he couldn’t help laughing, “I’m not questioning you. No need to be nervous.”

His words relaxed her, but she still felt tense.

Gu Hui Yan could see that Lin Wei Xi was very defensive now and felt helpless. He wasn’t going to bite her. Why should husband and wife have to be so on guard with each other? How could he not side with her against a servant?

He didn’t understand where her strong distrust of her husband came from. He could only soften his tone and say, “you handled things very well today. I’m not in the residence all the time and the rules will naturally become relaxed. I wanted to deal with these people for you. But you just married into the household, so I was afraid that it would scare you. That’s why I didn’t bring it up. I never expected them to trouble you within the last few days.”

Hearing Gu Hui Yan’s words, Lin Wei Xi’s shoulders unknowingly relaxed. That’s right, he was Prince Yan, not Gu Cheng Yao. She didn’t have to worry about being coldly criticized by her husband when she went through the trouble to keep the servants in check. She finally smiled, unaware that her tone was probing, “my Prince, did you not feel that I handled things too coldly today?”

“Why would I?” He chuckled, beckoning her to sit next to him. He ran his palm through her soft long hair and said, “The rewards and punishments were clear, and the power given is reflective of the responsibility they bear. Your judgement is correct. The older and more trusted the servants are, the stricter we should be in them. Otherwise we will harm them, and then ourselves.”

Lin Wei Xi always used to be criticized for being unfeeling and heartless when she was in the Duke Residence. Her husband also said the same of her after she married, so she slowly began to doubt herself. She was now finally hearing something different from someone else. Prince Yan thought so highly of her that she immediately let go of the knot in her heart. Her expression relaxed and her eyes twinkled, “as long as my Prince doesn’t blame me.”

“I’m the one who ought to be blamed.” Gu Hui Yan saw his little miss’ eyebrows soften, the surprise and nervousness disappear from her face, and a tiny smile appear in the depths of her eyes, “I promised to marry you but I didn’t properly deal with the residence’s problems before that. It’s my fault that you had to face such a terrible mess.”

“How can I blame you?” Lin Wei Xi smiled as she said. She tried to lean her shoulder against Gu Hui Yan. When he didn’t react, she relaxed her body weight against him. Neither of them spoke, but the atmosphere in the room was very warm and comfortable.

The contrast between the present and the past was so distinct that Lin Wei Xi felt sorry for herself, and also a lot of strong emotions towards this father-son pair from the Prince Yan Residence. Gu Cheng Yao had lived a privileged life. On the other hand, senior Prince Yan had died early from illness and Prince Yan was busy with war. Gu Cheng Yao never had much contact with any male elders, and that was how he grew up pampered and indulged by the women of the inner courtyard. Because he was the centre of the world in his childhood, when he grew up, he naturally thought he was right and judged others with his way of thinking.

But Gu Hui Yan was different. He became famous when he was too young and stood at the peak of the dynasty at thirty. Only experienced old men in their sixtieth were qualified to sit with him at a banquet. Among the three auxiliary ministers, Gu Hui Yan was around the same age as Grand Secretary Zhang’s son. Because he’d assumed the expectations of his family, fief and even the army at a young age, his sense of responsibility was unexpectedly strong. And he’d spent half his life in the military. Of course he endorsed the army’s strictly impartial way of handling things. Although Gu Cheng Yao and Gu Hui Yan were father and son, there was a huge disparity in their values.

It was indeed disastrous to put Lin Wei Xi’s unbending and strong personality together with Gu Cheng Yao.

Gu Hui Yan watched her, who was slightly lost in thought. His eyes narrowed and his voice remained the same, “What are you thinking of?”

Lin Wei Xi returned to her senses. She covered her lips, coughed, and said, “It’s nothing. I got carried away for a bit thinking about Granny Bu.”

He didn’t probe further. Since she said it was about Granny Bu, then it was about that old servant. But Lin Wei Xi was still leaning against him and he refused to let  her think about other such trivial matters. He sat back and took the opportunity to pull her shoulders into his embrace, saying, “you don’t really need to work so hard. If you want the financial power of the residence, just tell me.”

Lin Wei Xi felt that Gu Hui Yan’s grip was a bit strong, but she thought it was merely accidental. She also didn’t think too much about his words and shook her head as she said, “No. This is my duty. I can ask for your help once, but can I always ask for your help my entire life?”

Gu Hui Yan smiled and asked, “Why not?”

Lin Wei Xi didn’t know how to respond for a moment. She couldn’t resist smiling and looked up at him, joking, “my Prince, you’re the most outstanding person in both the army and imperial court. If someone keeps looking for you for every little thing, why continue to keep that subordinate?”

“That’s different.” Gu Hui Yan watched her smile at him with glittering eyes and the dark clouds in his heart disappeared. His voice was soft, almost like he was speaking to himself, “You’re not my subordinate. There may be many officials who follow me, but there’s only one of you.”

Lin Wei Xi’s face grew a little warm, and because she was flustered, she unconsciously said, “That’s not a given. Loyal subordinates are hard to find, but it’s easy to change the Princess Consort.”

Gu Hui Yan watched her silently and she slowly caved under that gaze. She was finished. She’d spoken without thinking again. She cautiously turned around and gently pulled the corner of his clothes. He still didn’t move. She gritted her teeth. In for a penny in for a pound. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said anxiously , “my Prince, I said it randomly. Don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry.”

“You’re definitely angry.” Lin Wei Xi steeled her heart and clung onto Gu Hui Yan. Her arms tightened and her hair fluttered against his neck. Because her chin was perched on his shoulder, she sounded a little muffled, “my Prince, if you don’t calm down, I won’t let go. Otherwise, you won’t be able to attend court tomorrow.”

Gu Hui Yan really couldn’t hold back his laugh. He wrapped his hand around Lin Wei Xi’s waist and held her in his arms with little effort, “You have a convincing reason. Enough, it’s late. Let’s go rest.”