Chapter 473: Ganged Up On

Chapter 473: Chapter 473: Ganged Up On

"So she’s just a lowly concubine. That’s rather improper. Does she really think she’s worthy of wearing this bright red?" Mrs. Qian mocked as she sized up Ma Mingli. Although her face was swollen from being slapped, she still had some beauty to her. Standing there, she was even half a head taller than Lin Dali. It was quite an eyesore.

"Mr. Lin, your family’s discipline is lacking. For a concubine to be so ignorant of the rules, it seems she needs to be taught a lesson."

"Mrs. Lin, you can’t allow this. If everyone follows her example in the future, will there be any peace left in the inner courtyard?"

"Mr. Lin, even if you dote on her, you can’t let her overstep her bounds. If word of this gets out, it will be very difficult for the Lin Family’s children to arrange marriages in the future. If you won’t consider yourself, you must at least consider your clan."

Lin Dali’s face flushed red, then paled. These ladies had incredibly sharp tongues, leaving him no chance to even open his mouth to retort. Naturally, he didn’t dare to admit to anything either. Otherwise, everything that happened in the Lin Family today would be spread far and wide by these madams. Just as the lady had just said, his clan would not let him off the hook. Just as he was thinking this, the gatekeeper hurried over to report that the clan elders from the village had arrived.

Lin Dali knew that Hu Waner had come prepared today. With things escalating to this point, it seemed impossible to avoid giving an explanation.

This woman really knew how to cause a scene. Why hadn’t he noticed how unvirtuous she was before? He had already told her that she could stay comfortably in the county town to accompany their children. Meanwhile, he would stay at this estate with Ming Li serving him, saving Hu Waner the trouble of running back and forth. How could this woman be so ungrateful? To even bring so many people to the house... Now that she had blown this out of proportion, he wanted to see how she planned to clean up the mess. For a woman to be so jealous... If it weren’t for the sake of their children, he would have handed her a divorce letter right then and there.

"I’m afraid you ladies have misunderstood," Hu Waner said. At this moment, she couldn’t care less whether the clan members had arrived or not. The clan knew all about this affair with Widow Ma, yet back then, not a single person had taken her side. Instead, a few women had even urged her to be generous. She had swallowed her anger when she left this place back then. But returning today, she had thought everything through. If she was going to be miserable, no one else was going to have an easy time either. Furthermore, no one was going to lay a finger on anything that rightfully belonged to her sons.

"This Widow Ma is truly not my husband’s concubine," she continued. "At least, up until now, she hasn’t served me tea to perform the concubine rites, nor has any contract been drawn up."

Madam Li exclaimed, "Good heavens, this is utterly preposterous! Then she should be drowned in a pig cage! She’s a widow—does her late husband’s family not care?

"Mr. Lin, you are forcibly taking another man’s wife. You could face legal punishment for this..."

"Widow Ma is the only one left in her family..." Lin Dali interjected.

"Then how did her husband and his family pass away? Mr. Lin, no matter how much you lust after women, you cannot disregard human lives..."

Lin Dali was left speechless. What were they talking about? Why couldn’t he understand any of this? How had he suddenly become involved in murder?

"No, don’t spout nonsense! Widow Ma’s husband went into the mountains and never came back out..." he argued, not even noticing how naturally the words "Widow Ma" had slipped from his tongue.

Ma Mingli cursed inwardly, wondering what the Lin Family’s business had to do with these women.

"Madam, as I said before, I am only here to serve the master," Ma Mingli said, covering her face and weeping bitterly. "I am willing to be a lowly servant with no official title. Why can’t you tolerate me?" Perhaps she knew that her face was currently too dreadful to look at and didn’t want to ruin her beautiful image, so she kept her head bowed the entire time.

Hu Waner replied coldly, "That won’t do at all. That would be far too unfair to you. I felt that what you two previously suggested was highly inappropriate. How could I let you follow the master without any proper status?

"If you are ignorant of the ways of the world, I cannot simply ignore your best interests.

"If word of this gets out, will the Ma Family have any reputation left? How will your sisters and female cousins arrange their marriages in the future?

"And as for the master... those who don’t know the truth might think you forcibly seized a widow. That won’t sound good either.

"Since you are to enter the Lin Family, everything must be done according to the rules.

"I wonder, should I notify your late husband’s family or your maiden family to come and sign the contract?"

Ma Mingli tugged desperately at Lin Dali’s sleeve, but he had already made a new decision. What his wife said made sense, and with so many madams here as witnesses, he couldn’t just brush the matter aside anymore. Since Ming Li would be staying by his side from now on anyway, he wouldn’t mistreat her. Giving her a proper title was the right thing to do.

"Ming Li, how about I send someone to notify the Ma Family?" he asked.

After all, her late husband’s family only consisted of distant relatives they rarely interacted with. Even if invited, they might not show up, so he could only seek out the Ma Family.

Ma Mingli’s eyes darted around as she replied, "I will leave everything up to you, Master. However, we have so many esteemed guests in the estate today. There’s no need to ruin everyone’s mood over this trivial matter of ours."

"Ming Li is right," Lin Dali agreed. "We can choose another auspicious date for this. It’s rare for all you madams to grace my humble abode with your presence today, so I must naturally entertain you well."

Bai Suihe and the others nearly covered their mouths to laugh. This was exactly why they had come today. If these two didn’t cooperate, how could they enjoy the drama? At the same time, they made a mental note to deepen their relationships with these madams from the county town in the future. They could all help each other out when the time came.

"Mr. Lin, you are far too polite, but there is no need to go out of your way to entertain us. In fact, I think today is the perfect occasion to set up a few tables so we can join in on the fun.

"This is giving this concubine quite a lot of face. Or could it be that this concubine doesn’t welcome us?"

Another madam chimed in, "Aunt Ma surely wouldn’t go as far as to not welcome us. She probably just feels she isn’t worthy of such a great blessing.

"But it doesn’t matter. Since we happened to run into this, we might as well join the festivities."

"Exactly! Mr. Lin, you wouldn’t turn us away, would you?"

"Of course, you are all very welcome," Lin Dali said, sweat already beading on his forehead. Dealing with these women was far more stressful than sitting with a bunch of grown men. The fact that his own wife was standing on the sidelines, refusing to speak up for him, was simply outrageous.

Outside, the three sons of the Lin Family managed to handle the clan elders, temporarily placating them in the side hall to prevent them from offending the many visiting madams. The elders had only come over because so many luxurious carriages had suddenly appeared in the village, and they wanted to ask what was going on. They were worried that Lin Dali might have offended some important figures outside, which would drag them all into trouble. Upon learning that it was merely the madams from the county town visiting for an excursion, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, a few of the sharper ones had already sniffed out that something unusual was afoot. They all knew about Lin Dali getting mixed up with that pretty widow. Back then, when the woman from the Hu Family made a fuss, they had even chimed in to mediate. In their eyes, the man was merely taking a concubine. A principal wife was supposed to be generous. Moreover, Lin Dali had never mistreated her all these years. Now that he was getting older, it was entirely understandable that he would want someone familiar and reliable by his side. Now, they only hoped that the woman from the Hu Family wouldn’t make the situation too ugly and damage the Lin Family’s reputation.