Princess 117's Growth Record, Integrating into Men's Social Circles

  Returning to Longxianju, as soon as she stepped into the courtyard, she came under the veranda, and the servant girl on duty in the summer hurriedly bowed and shouted: "The princess is back."

  He nodded slightly and casually asked: "Is the king back?"

  "As for the queen's words, the king has already returned and is currently taking a bath."

  Yu Fu came out of the dressing room and curtsied to Ru Qing, "Your Highness, the King has asked you to enter and attend to him."

  As for this scoundrel, his mother has to serve him, his sister's concubine and children have to serve him, his relatives also have to serve him. Now even he wants her to serve him. What's the difference between this princess and a lowly maid who only knows how to flatter?

  However, since I thought that all the wives had gone through this, it wouldn't make sense if I were an exception, so I could only muster up my spirit, take off the jacket on my body and head to the bathhouse.

  Only to see this fellow comfortably sitting in a large wooden tub, with several stoves placed beside him, hot air steaming the clean room into a misty haze. The concubine was rubbing his back vigorously, sighing and complaining: "Your Highness is really enjoying himself. Poor me, I've been putting on a smiling face all day, my face hurts from smiling, my legs ache, but as soon as I get back, before my butt even touches the stool, I still have to attend to Your Highness. Alas, women's lives are truly bitter."

  As soon as the words were spoken, the woman's waist was suddenly grasped by a man and she felt dizzy. Before she could react, she had already been put into the bathtub, her clothes soaked, and her cry was cut short. Li Xiong had begun to undress her, saying "I know you've had a hard day, my wife. Tonight, I'll serve you."

  Her face was red with emotion, and she was both angry and shy. Finally, she scolded, "I hate it! Look, the water has overflowed!" The hundred-year-old whole root of the old sandalwood tree was hollowed out in the middle, and a wooden bathtub was tightly fitted together after being polished. Although the bathtub was wide, it couldn't fit two people. She stuck closely to Li Xiao's naked and muscular body, her face blushing bright red. Especially since this guy moved quickly, he had already stripped off her clothes in three or five movements, revealing her homemade bra. His eyes narrowed, "What is this?" His hands were already covering the soft area on her chest.

  He patted his hand, "I made it myself, called underwear." In ancient times, there was no underwear, only a breast band or belly wrap. Wearing it on the body in summer was not only hot but also couldn't prevent chest sagging. Especially when wearing less in summer, there would be marks from the bra hooks. Having to wear another layer of loose clothing like a blouse or a single-layer dress was suffocating. With homemade underwear, wearing an additional loose-fitting blouse or single-layer dress on top was fine. No longer worried about the bra hooks showing. Moreover, it could effectively prevent chest sagging, killing two birds with one stone.

  Li Xiu stroked his chin, staring at the bulge in front of him. The pink fabric felt a bit thick to the touch, but he could make out the enticing curve inside. He nodded and said, "Not bad, it's well made. Wearing this can really puff out the clothes." Then, he couldn't help but lovingly caress it with his large palm. His eyes became deep and profound, but even through the thick fabric, he still felt unsatisfied. Finally, he searched around and tossed the piece of lingerie, which was personally designed by the great designer himself, onto the floor... Next, Li Xiu stood up, embracing Ruo Xin who had just come out of the tub, and grabbed a large towel with a black wood carving pattern from the wooden rack beside him. He wrapped Ruo Xin in his arms and walked towards the brightly colored bed.

  ……

  After Li Xuan finished eating, she lazily played with her hair and the two small white rabbits and cherry blossoms on her chest, which made her love them so much. As if being teased by him, she felt uncomfortable all over her body, pushed his hand away, and pouted: "How annoying! Can't you just calm down?" Then she wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, not letting him take another step closer to her.

  Li Xue dragged it twice, couldn't drag the quilt open, and finally simply hugged his little wife in his arms, heavily kissing her tender hand and cheek. "The relatives on Empress Dowager's side, didn't they bully you?"

  "As the truth is, your aunt is quite formidable and knows how to be flexible, but your cousins are far inferior. The mother of the original princess consort is also a master at avoiding trouble and knows that clinging to power is stronger than clinging to her daughter." After a pause, he said: "I have a question."

  "You said."

  "That, the original wife's mother also seems to be a sharp-tongued and petty person. Why doesn't she learn from others? If she disagrees, why not just cry and make a scene? Judging from the original wife's abilities, it should be possible. But she didn't, instead she was meek and submissive. This greatly exceeded her expectations of what her mother-in-law and relatives might do."

  The most classic case is Hu Niang's mother and grandmother in "True Story of Ah Q".

  Whenever Aunt Hú suffered any grievances from Rú Zhēn, her grandmother would rush into the mansion, crying and making a scene, almost to the point of hanging herself, forcing Old Lady Jiān and Zhōng Jìn to consider their familial relationships and treat Aunt Hú better, with Aunt Hú being all but worshipped.

  Li Xiao smiled and said, "You're quite a clever calculator."

  "Like a spark in both eyes," "So you're saying that the original madam had indeed done something like this before?"

  Li Xue sneered, "How could there not be? In those years, if I had neglected her, visited her house less often, or lost an argument with Fang Ruyan, she would have cried and made a fuss. Oh right, it wasn't just her, the former Fang Ruyan was also like that. And so were the people from Liu Ce Fei's family. Not only did they take advantage of the autumn wind, but they also loved to throw tantrums."

  As soon as I thought of it, the scene appeared in my mind. Three middle-aged women cried together, accusing and scolding each other, and I couldn't help but want to laugh.

  Li Xiang thought about the scenes of those years and felt like he was in a dream, not knowing whether to laugh or get angry. "Three women, Liu Ce Fei pretended to be weak, Yuan Ce Fei pretended to be Xi Shi, Liu Ce Fei cried, Yuan Ce Fei fainted, all kinds of tricks were used by them. But Fang Ruyan was much worse, apart from beating and scolding people, she had no other skills. However, their mothers were even more formidable."

  The mother of Yu Ce Fei was a notorious shrew, who could scold people with hundreds of words without stopping. The original madam was not much better, and would fight back in every way. Fang Ruyan's mother was slightly weaker, but just like Ruyan, she would resort to violence when arguments didn't work. In the end, he got angry and threw all three old women out of the mansion, binding them with ropes and throwing them into a carriage, gagging their mouths and abandoning them in the outskirts of Beijing. Later on, there were occasional incidents, but they had to be more restrained, no longer quarreling or fighting, yet often asking for money and goods. At first, the imperial concubine only wanted to get rid of them quickly, giving them some silver coins to settle the matter, but who knew that later on, they would become more and more arrogant, making unreasonable demands and getting bolder and bolder. They would ask for money when their nephews got married, when they built houses or had children, and even went to brothels, drank wine, and quarreled with people, using the name of the Jing Wang Ye's uncle to swindle and cheat others. If they didn't get what they wanted, they would curse and scold until the sky grew dark. The imperial concubine was furious at that time, but she was concerned about saving face and didn't dare to really deal with them. It wasn't until someone died in the chaos that the imperial concubine finally got angry, dismissing Fang Ruyan from her post and handing Yu Ce Fei over to the Dali Temple. She hated the Yu family's shrewishness and unreasonable scolding, forcing them to return her silver coins. The Yu family, of course, refused to give back the money and wanted to make more trouble, but in the end, it was Li Xiang who took out his sword on the spot and shaved off half of Yu Furen's hair, which finally intimidated them into not daring to come to their door again.

  The original madam, Li Xiu also used the same means to shock and intimidate her. From then on, the original madam really didn't dare to make any more trouble. Especially since the original madam's two sons were able to find a job in the government office only because of their connection with the Jing Wang Fu, they didn't dare to truly provoke Li Xiu.

  It was as if she had suddenly realized something. She said that there wasn't a good show to be seen, and it turned out that there was a reason for this. However, when dealing with bad people, some extreme measures are indeed necessary.

  But I don't know if this trick will work wonders on my wife.

  ……

  From the 4th to the 6th, these days were when the distant relatives and close kin of the Jing Wang Fu in the capital would invite each other. Then there were also the public and noble families, who would rush to attend banquets like they were going to a fair. Usually, after eating at one house in the afternoon, they would go to another house in the evening, until their bellies were drum-tight.

  She had been attending banquets for four days in a row, displaying her signature shy smile that hadn't changed in a thousand years, following closely behind the empress, with a gentle and respectful demeanor, earning her mostly praise and recognition.

  However, some people think that Ruo Xin is too miserable. Let's not mention those readers who are eager for her to give birth quickly and become a modern woman. Even women of the same age would sometimes say a few sympathetic words, "Sister-in-law is really virtuous, serving her sister-in-law more thoroughly than serving her own mother."

  As for the daughter-in-law of the Gonghou family, she sighed and said: "The princess is indeed virtuous and wise. My mother-in-law has praised her to the skies. But as for us, we don't even have the appearance of a decent daughter-in-law."

  "No, compared to the princess, we've all become disreputable. My mother-in-law even said that I'm not worthy of being a daughter-in-law when compared to Princess Jing, it's as if I'm an ancestor."

  Usually, when they say something inconsistent, like emotions, just a faint smile will pass, and if forced, they'll come up with a sentence: "It's just doing my duty as a daughter-in-law." Then let them openly praise her while actually showing off their own comfort in front of their mother-in-law.

  "Encountering a few exceptionally sharp-tongued individuals, I directly retorted with emotion, 'This should be the inevitable path for all high-married daughters-in-law, in the future when I have a daughter, I will resolutely not let her lower herself to dust just to climb high.'"

  Although the atmosphere was tense, he couldn't help but want to slap her twice. However, he remained calm and said, "Madam is absolutely right. But everyone has different thoughts. If I were to marry in the future, no matter what family background she comes from, I would definitely marry someone as virtuous as me."

  Although this remark is quite shameless, it has an unexpectedly good effect. Everyone's face turned red with embarrassment, and for a moment they didn't know how to respond.

  But anyway, the reputation of Jing Wangfei being virtuous and knowing how to advance and retreat has spread, at least in the eyes of a group of old women, such a daughter-in-law is hard to find even with a lantern.

  However, there were still discordant voices, such as Zhou Mama, "The Empress has already accepted the Princess in her heart, and the Princess really doesn't need to be so humble and courteous anymore."

  As she smiled lightly, the agate stone inlaid with red gold and shaped like a pear flower on her forehead shone brightly, and even Zhou Mama couldn't help but stare blankly. She hadn't noticed it before, but now she realized that since the princess got married, she had become more and more beautiful. Could it be true that people really rely on their clothes?

  "Empress Dowager, this statement is not quite right. The reason I serve by the empress's side is precisely because I'm afraid she'll speak ill of me behind my back." A mother-in-law can never be as loving as a birth mother, no matter how good the daughter-in-law is, and even if the empress has already accepted her, it's still unavoidable that she'll gossip about her shortcomings in private.

  After dealing with these aristocratic women for a few days, she had heard countless accusations of being an unfilial and unvirtuous daughter-in-law, not to mention other "unmentionable" things that were beyond count.

  She also followed closely behind the empress, firstly to give the empress face, secondly to prevent the empress from possibly saying bad things about her behind her back, thirdly, the empress seemed to enjoy the admiration and praise of others, she was a virtuous wife after all, of course one had to satisfy the mother-in-law's vanity in public, wasn't that so?

  Of course, as a protective mother-in-law, she would not let others ruin her daughter-in-law, but the harmonious picture of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in front of people is also beneficial to her.

  Listening to her analysis, Mrs. Zhou was shocked and stared blankly, but couldn't help but sincerely admire her, laughing: "No wonder the old lady said you're a clever person, now I finally understand. The princess's move is indeed good, how come I've lived for half my life and still haven't understood this principle?"

  She smiled warmly: "Queen Zhou is a low-key person, of course, there's no need to be as careful as I am everywhere." As for the job of queen, it's not considered one of the most dangerous ones at the moment. She's gradually exploring and the effect is quite good so far. At least she hasn't been criticized with harsh words like "You're from a humble background, you're petty and narrow-minded, you can't even hold your head up high." On the other hand, she has heard many compliments like "You're from a family of scholars, your behavior is indeed extraordinary." Whether it's flattery or genuine praise, she took them all as compliments.

  Of course, for Li Xiao, his wife having such a good reputation outside was also very face-saving as a husband. However, thinking about his young wife following her mother around all day to serve her, he couldn't help but feel heartache. At night when she returned, he asked her with a relaxed smile: "With a wife like you who is so considerate and lovely, the empress dowager would be delighted, how could she possibly bully me? Moreover, following the empress dowager around has also taught you many social skills, which even the prince knows about. I come from a humble background, and suddenly married into royalty, I couldn't afford to make any mistakes. So it's better for me to follow the empress dowager first and learn from her before practicing, until I become skilled enough, then in the future, I can let the prince take me out."

  As if she hadn't lied, from the common people's class suddenly jumping into the top-level aristocratic circle, without making an effort to integrate in, would she still have to wait for others to accommodate her?

  It is said that a woman who enters marriage cannot just stay in one place and be complacent. A man's social circle is different from hers, so she must strive to learn and improve. She must also work hard to keep up with her husband's pace, not to mention becoming the man's most beloved woman, but at least being his virtuous wife, like He Shi, becoming an indispensable life partner. Only when beauty fades can she have the capital to compete with her husband's concubine.

  Intelligent people all know that a man's favoritism is impermanent, and no one dares to guarantee that his favoritism can last a lifetime. Rather than relying on a man's favoritism to establish her position in the household, it is better to rely on her own hard work, at least when the day comes that she can no longer hold onto the man's heart, the respect he has for himself and the status of his wife will not be shaken by the competition among concubines.

  Empress Changsun of Emperor Taizong of Tang and Empress Ma of Zhu Yuanzhang, these two women were not considered outstanding in terms of beauty, but they relied on their abilities to stand firm in the palace and maintain their positions as empresses. Even if many favored concubines appeared, they could not shake their status as wives.

  In modern marriages, many Cinderellas who married into wealthy families have either risen to prominence or quietly retreated. It's not that they aren't beautiful enough, but rather that they haven't truly integrated into their husbands' lives. Deng Wendi is successful because she has made an effort and kept up with her husband's pace, which is plain for all to see - you may not agree, but you have to admit it. The most classic example is when Murdoch was hit with a shoe by a journalist, and his wife rushed out to slap the perpetrator, proving her status as a protective wife and turning around Murdoch's image from its lowest point. Deng Wendi's success is indeed worthy of praise.

  As for Li Xiao, there were too many temptations around him. She couldn't be like a jealous and fierce wife, holding a kitchen knife to threaten him not to take concubines, or sleep in the concubine's room. She didn't have the guts or the confidence to do so.

  All she could do was try her best to play the role of a good wife, becoming his indispensable helper, and perhaps having a few more children would make it even safer.

  As for Ruo Qing's "efforts", everything was for her own sake, to have a good life in the second half of her life, but it still moved Li Xiao to tears. It turned out that his little wife had been trying hard to integrate into his social circle, working hard to be a good wife and princess, thinking about her carefree days with Zhi Yi, but after marrying into the royal family, there were still so many constraints, which was really difficult for her.

  He gently wrapped his arms around her, feeling the tiny body that hid boundless determination and perseverance, which he admired. It seemed that the worries of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor could also be dispelled.

  "I originally thought that marrying you would bring you happiness, but I didn't expect to become a burden to you instead." Li Xiao felt very guilty.

  "As if it's a matter of course, she smiled and said, 'Any woman who becomes someone's wife isn't like this?' This was also her true feelings, and she didn't feel any injustice or dissatisfaction. Whether in modern times or ancient times, once married, one has to integrate into the roles of daughter-in-law, wife, and mother. The difference is that although both are housewives, ancient women had more recognition than modern ones."

  Li Xiang seems to be immersed in her emotions, as if she's overjoyed. She hastily adds, "Don't rush to thank me, this is just something a wife should do. However, I also have my limits."

  Li Xiwang looked at her, waiting for her next words.

  "After a moment of silence, she spoke softly: 'Actually, outsiders all praise me for being virtuous and understanding, but only I myself know that those are just pretenses for others to see. You treat me so well, I also cannot, outside, because of my relationship with you, tarnish your reputation.'"

  Li Xuan's eyes softened again, "I know you've always been considerate of the overall situation. Marrying you is also my good fortune in this life."

  "Then, can you promise me, Your Highness, that we can just be ordinary husband and wife from now on? Without any third person intervening?"

  Li Xuan gazed at her deeply, Zheng nodded solemnly, "I promised Zhiyi that once I married you, I would never let you down. Rest assured, I am not the kind of person who takes promises lightly, nor am I a heartless and unscrupulous person. You are my wife, also my daughter-in-law, the only one in this life."

  "Then, what about Yu Niang and the others from the Yu Concubine's side?"

  "They," Li Xiao paused, looking at his young wife's anxious face, suddenly smiled, "How can they compare to you? You are my closest confidante, they are just our servants, not worth worrying about. If you don't like them, you can get rid of all of them. Out of sight, out of mind."

  If it were really like that, wouldn't she become a jealous wife? Although her tone was light, but in her heart, she was actually pleased. She said with her mouth: "They haven't committed any crimes, how can they be driven out? My intention is, as long as they behave themselves and stay put, I will still treat them well, provide for their old age, if they are unwilling to stay in the palace, then give them some silver as dowry, and arrange for them to get married elsewhere, isn't that good?"

  Li Xiao's lips curled up with a faint smile, "You've sent everything out, aren't you afraid of being accused of being jealous?"

  Her shoulders slumped, but soon her eyebrows rose, and she said with a sense of justice, "That must be my man's responsibility, they're jealous that I married a good husband, so they'd say that about me. Humph, I don't care."

  Li Xiao pinched her tender cheeks and laughed: "Little slippery head, you've really become a bootlicker."

  Her hands grasped the man's thick and sturdy palms, playfully sticking out her tongue, with a mischievous look.

  Li Xixin's heart was soft and gentle, this little girl, indeed had a set of her own, knowing that she was harboring mischievous intentions in her heart, but he couldn't help but be amused by it.

  ……

  Digression

  Bad guys are all bad guys, a group of bad women... one by one they come to bully me, I want to jump into a well.