"The madam is truly of exceptional beauty." Xiao Xi's compliment pulled Song Ruotang's mind back. She pursed her lips lightly and smiled faintly.
Nanny Wang walked to the door and looked outside. "The time is about right. The people who come to welcome the bride are all here. It's time for the madam to leave."
Song Ruotang nodded. The maidservant behind her covered her with a red veil embroidered with mandarin ducks and the character "xi". Xiao Xi came to support her as she stood up and headed outside.
The matchmaker who came to pick up Song Ruotang did not slack off at all. She greeted her with a smile. "The auspicious time has arrived. Please get on the sedan chair, madam."
Song Ruotang nodded. As soon as she was supported onto the sedan chair by Xiao Xi, the band outside started to play immediately. The street became bustling. There were people who distributed candies. There were many voices of congratulations outside the sedan chair. This was in sharp contrast to the time when Song Ruotang entered the courtyard silently at night.
The sedan chair swayed unsteadily. The music band played cheerfully. Song Ruotang sat on the sedan chair and swayed all the way. In the end, she almost fell asleep. The sedan chair stopped. She heard the matchmaker's voice, which was different from the one at the mansion's door.
"Third madam, we've arrived. Please get off the sedan chair."
Song Ruotang heard the matchmaker's address. She pursed her lips lightly. She knew that there were two concubines in Pei Zhiyan's mansion. Since he had no official wife, they were all addressed as madam. The number in front of the address was just to distinguish the order in which they entered the mansion.
She felt her way out of the sedan chair. Xiao Xi came to support her. When they stepped on the steps of Pei's mansion, many noisy voices sounded.
There were two rows of maidservants standing at the door. They were muttering something. One of the voices was a bit clear. When Song Ruotang walked to the door, she suddenly heard a sentence: "Madam is just short of a maid to sweep the floor recently. Today is a good day."
Song Ruotang stopped walking. She wanted to look up and see the person's face, but the red veil blocked her vision. She could only clench her fingers tightly.
She understood that the person was talking about her. As for the two concubines in the mansion, they naturally did not want any new concubines. Therefore, they targeted her.
Xiao Xi supported her arm and shook it lightly. She whispered, "Madam, please bear with it."
Song Ruotang naturally knew that it was not suitable to start a conflict at this time. Before she married Pei Zhiyan, she already knew that there were two concubines in his harem, and neither of them was easy to deal with.
She was mentally prepared.
Xiao Xi supported Song Ruotang and walked silently to the side door. But before they entered, an older maidservant blocked their way.
"My madam said that if the bride wants the husband's family to be prosperous, she must step over the brazier. Please wait for a moment, new madam. Step over the brazier before entering the mansion." The person's tone was extremely arrogant. It seemed that she did not put Song Ruotang in her eyes at all.
Xiao Xi bit her lips. There were no such rules when the other two concubines entered the mansion. It was just that they targeted Song Ruotang now.
Before Song Ruotang could say anything, two servants carried a large brazier over. The side of the door was blocked by maidservants and servants. The brazier was just in the middle.
But this brazier was bigger than the ordinary one. The fire was burning brightly. The flame jumped up one or two feet high. Even ordinary people could not step over it. Let alone Song Ruotang, who was wearing a gorgeous wedding dress.
"Third madam, please." There was a trace of ridicule in the maidservant's tone.
Everyone around was looking at what Song Ruotang would do. She calmly tidied up her clothes and stood in front of the brazier without moving.
Until the fire in the brazier became smaller, only a pile of red carbon was left. The old maidservant beside her could not help but urge her. "What does this mean, third madam? If you don't step over the brazier, are you going to break the rules passed down from the ancestors?"
There was a trace of urgency in her tone. "If you miss the auspicious time, third madam, don't blame the servant for not reminding you."
Song Ruotang ignored her. She lowered her eyes and looked at the fire in the brazier. When the fire was almost out, she lifted her skirt and stepped over it. The old maidservant immediately refused. "How can you do this? How can you step over it after the fire is gone? This is not good for the mansion..."
Before she could finish her words, the fire in the brazier suddenly rose up. It was Song Ruotang who threw her handkerchief into the brazier and started the fire.
"The carbon fire in the brazier is not out. Although the flame has dissipated, when I stepped into the mansion, I added a fire and made the flame rise up again. This does not count as breaking the rules, right?"
Song Ruotang stood inside the door. Although there was a red veil blocking her, the old maidservant still felt a sharp gaze pierce through her.
She opened her mouth but could not say anything to refute. Song Ruotang was too lazy to pay attention to her. She let Xiao Xi support her into the courtyard.
But the person's harassment did not end. There was a long way from the courtyard to the main hall, but it was filled with tools for cleaning, such as brooms, basins, and rags.
The old maidservant who was speechless just now quickly caught up and said with a smile, "Third madam, the rules of the ancestors all emphasize that the bride must be diligent and willing to endure hardships when she enters the door. If you want to enter the door, just pick up these things."
There was a trace of pride in her tone. It seemed that she had found a way to retaliate for her embarrassment just now.
When Song Ruotang heard this, she sneered. She did not move. Xiao Xi saw the situation was deadlocked, so she bent down to pick up the things for Song Ruotang, but was pulled by her.
When the old maidservant saw this, she frowned and said, "I heard that third madam used to work in the village on the outskirts of the capital of the Song family. The work there is much more tiring than the cleaning work in our mansion. Madam is lucky to marry into our Pei's mansion. Picking up the miscellaneous objects in the mansion is your blessing."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Song Ruotang said calmly. "Isn't it your blessing as a servant to pick up some cleaning objects for the Pei's mansion?"
The old maidservant's face changed. She stared at her and said, "I'm the nanny beside the second madam. Why should I pick up these things?"
"If a nanny doesn't pick them up, why should I?" There was no aggression in Song Ruotang's tone. Instead, there was a trace of doubt. "The Pei's mansion is a high-class mansion. There should be no lack of a maid to sweep the floor, right?"
She sighed. "There are many people today. If this matter spreads out..."
The old maidservant immediately stopped talking. She clenched her fist and was silent for a while. "What a sharp tongue."
After a while of stalemate with Song Ruotang, she finally called two maidservants angrily. "Pick up the things and make way for the third madam."
Song Ruotang quietly waited for the maidservants to clean the road. Then she let Xiao Xi support her into the main hall.
The harassment along the way was so big, but there was no movement in the house. Song Ruotang clenched her fingers tightly. Pei Zhiyan was probably not in the mansion.
The backgrounds of the two concubines in his mansion were not simple. They had many ways to get him away.
All the way to the main hall, the hall was empty. There was no one there. In the middle of the hall, there was a round bamboo dustpan. It was extremely abrupt in the luxurious and magnificent main hall.
Although the old maidservant was still angry, she also understood that Song Ruotang was not easy to deal with. She followed her in and said indifferently, "Third madam, there is a rule in our master's mother's natal family that the bride must sit still in the dustpan."