Wei Changying smiled, "I didn't dare to say how gentle and considerate I was to these two cousins in the past, but I didn't think I had neglected my duty as an elder sister, let alone deliberately vexing them. However, when I was slandered and discussed, instead of confronting me in person and asking for the facts, they easily believed in others' words, and avoided me as if I had been a tiger after they heard the news... I was certainly unhappy."

Mrs. Huang listened to Wei Changying's frank words, showing a deeper smile on her lips. Though she knew that Wei Changying was testing her, Wei Changying did not doubt her ability. This showed that Old Madam Song's personal introduction took effect in the end. It could be seen that First Miss trusted Old Madam Song very much. Because of Old Madam's praise for Mrs. Huang, First Miss even exempted Mrs. Huang from her examination.

...It was no wonder that Old Madam was so worried about this granddaughter, her lineal flesh and blood who relied on her so much, which elder could have the heart to fail her trust?

Mrs. Huang was thinking about it. Mrs. He had always been impatient. There were no outsiders at this moment, Mrs. He, standing with arms akimbo, just poured out what she thought, "They..."

"Sister He, hold on please." Mrs. Huang stopped her with a broad smile, and said softly, "Since Old Madam had handed this over to First Miss, we should always listen to First Miss. Let's do it later when First Miss gives orders.”

Wei Changying was able to perceive that Mrs. He would never be Mrs. Huang's opponent. The most important thing was that Mrs. He's trust in her sister Huang was not much less than her trust in her grandmother Old Madam Song...Now seeing that Mrs. Huang was here, Mrs. He simply gave up using her mind anymore, just remembering to go into the battle personally and rush ahead...

Shaking her head secretly, Wei Changying reluctantly decided to abandon the idea of helping Mrs. He to consolidate her status as the first aid. Anyway, now Mrs. He voluntarily relinquished the position. It was difficult to promote this wet nurse to a higher level than Mrs. Huang. As a result, perhaps Mrs. He would have a headache and Mrs. Huang would feel wronged, which were not good on both sides.

She lifted her finger and brushed her hair sideways. Then she continued, "Anyhow, although what they did this time made me feel bitterly disappointed, they were my cousins after all. Moreover, third aunt was nice to me in the old days. If I was really asked to do with them, I would...Well, I didn't want to embarrass them too much."

Not embarrassing them too much meant that Wei Changying would be unreconciled if she didn't do anything at all. It was just that she didn't want to let go of her two cousins gratuitously, but she also didn't have the heart to give them excessive punishment, so the degree in between should be well controlled.

With a smile, Mrs. Huang praised her at first, "First Miss is kind-hearted, and you will be blessed in the future." Then she naturally changed the topic to the reason for giving the punishment, "But what I must tell you is that a country has its state laws and a family has its family rules. Although First Miss, you care for Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss, it will be a big deal if the rules are broken in a big family! Considering for the estate of the Wei Family, even if you have no heart to blame them, you still can't let them off for no reason."

Wei Changying narrowed her eyes and thought, "Mrs. Huang is indeed grandmother's trustworthy person. Regardless of other reasons, her ability to put a label is really powerful...Now everyone is talking about how to punish Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan to vent her anger, which is a mixture of public and private things."

As a result, in Mrs. Huang's mouth, the estate of the Wei Family would be shaken if the two Misses didn't get their punishment! Besides, what she said was justified and no faults could be found.

In all earnestness, Mrs. Huang continued, "I don't want to be wordy about those great truths. First Miss, you are a woman of high morality and you know everything. You just care for your cousins and don't want to say it out. Simply put, brothers and sisters in a family should work together and fight against the external enemies! This is a truth that illiterate ordinary people can understand. Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss are daughters of an eminent family who have started to read and write since childhood. They have heard about all those stories of virtuous and heroic women, in other words, they are equipped with much more knowledge than those common people in the countryside. Nevertheless, they didn’t tell right from wrong and were confused by outsiders. Having been aware that First Miss was in danger, they didn’t strive to support their cousin and refute rumors, instead, they worked for the devil and added insult to First Miss' injury!"

"So no matter how First Miss defended for Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss, they still had mistakes. Even if these mistakes were made out of half-confusion and half-casualness, people who were wrong should follow the rules!" Mrs. Huang pointed out, "There would always be nothing wrong with it if all was done according to the rules!"

Wei Changying carefully perceived the connotation in Mrs. Huang's words. Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan indeed made mistakes this time for their behaviors didn't conform with the morality of being sisters. Mrs. Huang compared them with the illiterate people in the countryside just for the sake of emphasizing their offenses. So the key point should be that while Mrs. Huang pointed out their mistakes, she stuck to the focus of "rule" in every aspect, and in the end, she clearly indicated that there would always be no mistakes if all was done according to the rules.

Mrs. Huang said it herself that she didn't want to be wordy anymore, but she repeatedly explained the faults of Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan and their violation of rules. To punish Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan, there was no need to emphasize rules like this. Of course, the Wei Family had its rules, but now in the rear courtyard of Ruiyu Hall, Old Madam Song's words were rules.

Therefore, her seemingly wordy words must have its connotation.

Recalling that her grandmother had reminded her, "Listen to your Granny Huang's words about the capital's emphases," Wei Changying guessed that Mrs. Huang's words had some hidden meanings. Did Mrs. Huang seize the opportunity to remind me of the important points I should pay attention to after being the daughter-in-law of the Shen Family? If all was done in accordance with the rules, could I never be blamed for?

After pausing for a moment for Wei Changying to think about it, Mrs. Huang apparently did not immediately mean to clear up the confusion, instead, she offered her own suggestions for disposing, "According to the rules of the Wei Family, Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss have to be punished for their behaviors. No punishments will not only violate the rules of the family, but also condone the wrongdoings, which harms Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss on the contrary. As the saying goes, “Love well, whip well,” First Miss, you must understand this truth! You mentioned the third madam's feelings, and attached great importance to family affection, although it is not possible to abandon the rules for love, it is okay to offer a mitigated punishment...In my view, it is better to punish the people around them. So as not to frighten Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss, First Miss, how about you comfort them after the punishment of servants?"

Saying so, she looked at Wei Changying with a meaningful smile.

Wei Changying meditated for a moment and understood something, so she tried to ask, "Granny Huang means that fourth sister and fifth sister are young. Living in boudoirs, it is inevitable for them to be naive and innocent and they may easily be deceived by the servants. The previous events...after all, could be attributed to people around them who were not good. The two misses were instigated, which opened the crack of our sisters' relationship. Therefore, now if the punishment must be offered, those servants should be the first to blame."

In fact, Mrs. Huang's high-sounding suggestions included only three key points—

The first was "rules."

The second was "half confusion and half casualness."

The third was "Love well, whip well."

Emphasizing the importance of rules, determining the culprits of the whole thing, and indicating Wei Changying's care for his sisters— If these three points were clear, how to deal with the issue would be fairly distinct on the basis of combining the three points.

Originally, the reason why Wei Changying was embarrassed was that she would be indignant if she didn't punish her cousins. On the other hand, she also couldn't bear to give them excessive penalties.

The problem was that she was especially favored by Old Madam Song. Even if she didn't clearly punish the two cousins, as long as she showed any dissatisfaction with them, a swarm of managers and servants would rush forward, and trample the third branch, covertly or overtly, to please her.

After all, Wei Shengyi of the third branch was cowardly and incompetent, and Mrs. Pei felt inferior because of her family. There was nothing in this branch that could be compared with other branches. Originally, they lived a cautious life. What better life could they have if they offended the lineal eldest daughter of the eldest branch who was favored by Old Madam Song?

In the past two days, Wei Changying vaguely heard that on the day when she was at the mansion of Duke Jingping, Zhu Shi even spat at Wei Gaochan's skirt when Wei Changying didn't notice... Zhu Shi was just a maid in her Xianshuang Court. Even though she was Mrs. He's niece, Mrs. He always treated her without partiality. Usually, when she did things, she would take a look at the chief maid's face. However, to Wei Gaochan, who was a daughter of her fathers' concubine but indeed the Miss of the Wei Family, Zhu Shi was so presumptuous...

Wei Changying knew that Zhu Shi did this so as to defend her master against the injustice nominally, but in fact, did she dare to do so if Wei Changying hadn't won the favor of her grandmother? Wei Gaochan, a miss of an eminent family, didn't dare to reprimand and just walked away when a maid spat on her skirt. Didn't she have a wet nurse or a chief maid with her? Why didn't they rebuke Zhu Shi, or why couldn't they say anything? Wasn't there a bold one among those people?

After all, they were afraid that if they reprimanded Zhu Shi, Wei Gaochan would be bullied even more...

Although Wei Changying didn't plan to mention the matter of the day again, she still felt a kind of indescribable sadness at the thought that her cousin, who was also a miss and shared the same bloodline with her, would not dare to scold the maid.

Therefore, the cousins must be punished, but she didn't want the third branch to be incriminated, or suffering a sudden decline, because of the punishment.

Nevertheless, it was an atmosphere to trample on the lower and worship the higher. Even if Wei Changying said her mind clearly—I wanted to punish my cousins, but I didn't need you to trample on the third branch together. Everyone would also ignore the latter sentence directly. First Miss said that she wanted to punish her cousins, and the latter sentence...was just a polite remark. First Miss was the miss of an eminent family. Could she say directly that she hated these two heartless cousins so much?

First Miss was embarrassed to say and do something. That was where we could try our best and work for her!

Now Mrs. Huang proposed to ignore Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan themselves, and took aim at the servants next to them. In this way, the two sisters were disgraced and Wei Changying got to vent her anger, in the meantime, she did not directly punish the two cousins, saving Wei Changying from caring too much for them.

Mrs. Huang's strong point was not only in choosing the culprit, but in her knowledge of deciding to advance or retreat. She knew clearly about Wei Changying's scruples and embarrassment. The suggestions which could be explained in a few words became quite ambiguous in her mouth and she was only willing to confide two or three points. In addition to overtones in conversation, she also took advantage of the opportunity to let Wei Changying pay attention to some things that might be worthy when she became a daughter-in-law in the future. On the whole, she strictly stuck to her duty as a servant.

Even if Mrs. Huang was the granny whom Old Madam personally introduced, it was known to all that she was here to teach and assist First Miss to govern the rear courtyard. Old Madam also said that First Miss should hear more from Mrs. Huang...but she was indeed a servant! If she finished saying everything, what should the master Wei Changying add?

Could First Miss just repeat Mrs. Huang's words all the time?

So how could Wei Changying, as First Miss, protect her dignity?

In particular, Mrs. He, who had been close to Wei Changying, had been outshone by Mrs. Huang. If Mrs. Huang again showed that even Wei Changying was far inferior to her, though Wei Changying would employ her for the sake of her grandmother and Mrs. Huang's talent, she wouldn't be happy inward. Not only would she be unhappy, she might also suspect that Mrs. Huang had attempted to control Wei Changying, who was thus like a puppet!

But now Mrs. Huang reminded Wei Changying of everything, but she didn't tell her the whole story, so that Wei Changying could also have the opportunity to perform herself. Since she had never taken precedence over her master, she did not arouse the vigilance and resentment of Wei Changying, leaving a very profound, capable, and thoughtful impression.

Of course, Mrs. Huang would never tell Wei Changying about her mind as a servant, even if Wei Changying discerned it, she would not point it out.

The master and her servant had a tacit understanding and continued to talk about the business.

—Mrs. Huang praised Wei Changying's wisdom as usual, and explained with a smile, "First Miss, please think about it. I had heard from Sister He that you had no idea of those rumors which were closely related to you before you paid a visit to the mansion of Duke Jingping. How could Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss know it instead? Both Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss strictly abided by the disciplines of boudoir, and they rarely came out. Apart from those evil servants that tell them the news, who else could do so? Those rumors were related to the Wei Family. Even if it was a matter of other families, a decent girl should never listen to that! If it was your servants who dared to spread rumors, I thought Sister He would be bound to stop it."

Mrs. He nodded, and said combatively, "If there were such servants in Xianshuang Court, I would personally slap them so as not to stain the ears of First Miss! The third branch was such a mess that all evil words had been heard by the misses, and they didn't know what shame was!"

Wei Changying bit her lips and said with a faint smile, "In this way, it is not just a simple issue to punish these servants. After all, they could pass on these dirty words to the boudoir of the misses this time, inciting fourth sister and fifth sister to alienate me. Who knows what will they do next time? To prevent fourth sister and fifth sister from being misguided, it would be better for these people to leave."

She quickly summed up Mrs. Huang's instructions: After getting married, the first important thing was to behave herself. Any behavior that went against the rules, no matter what the reason was, was already wrong in the first place. Even if the final result was satisfactory, it was inevitable that a bad impression of breaking the rules would be left.

What's more, as long as the rules were broken, records would be remained for people to investigate. Owing to the favor of the elders in her natal family, they turned a blind eye to Wei Changying's faults. When she came to her husbands' house, she might not be so lucky. Even if it was not investigated for the time being, it would still be a record that could be turned over at any time.

But behaving oneself didn't mean that one was totally governed by those rules—no one would like an impartial person who was rigid and always abode by the rules...

There was a saying that everything should be done according to the rules. The true meaning of this sentence was how to use the rules to achieve one's own goals. For example, Wei Changying said that she didn't want to be too harsh on her two sisters. She could just express this meaning in her natural family, but in her husband's family, she would be criticized for doing so. The two sisters should be punished according to the rules because they had violated the house rules. If Wei Changying gave up punishing them, it was a violation of the rules. Whether others suspected that she deliberately connived at her sister, or that she intentionally tried to win popular support...In any case, others would have reasons to criticize her.

Therefore, Mrs. Huang employed the word of "half-confusion and half-casualness" to remind Wei Changying how to exonerate Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan from charges: The confusion suggested that Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan might be deceived by people; the casualness indicated that the two sisters might be unaware of the significance and consequences of their practice. All in all, Mrs. Huang's words shirked responsibility for Wei Gaochan and Wei Changyan.

On this basis, Mrs. Huang again emphasized the sentence of "Love well, whip well", letting Wei Changying stand at the moral level of caring for her two cousins and letting go of their faults!

—"Although everyone knew that my two cousins had rebelled against me, I didn't blame them at all! Not only did I forgive them, I even found out the truth through their unrighteous behavior while holding back my sadness. The truth was that they were deceived and abetted by the scheming servants!" thought Wei Changying.

Wei Changying continued her thinking, "If such servants continued to stay with my cousins, sooner or later they would harm my cousins, which would indirectly retaliate for me. But as an elder sister who loved her cousins and returned good for evil, I would not do it! Therefore, now I just dealt with the servants. Definitely, it was not to slap the two cousins or revenge myself! It was for their own goodness. As the saying goes, "Love well, whip well." I did it for their goodness. For their goodness!!!"

As for Wei Changying's decision, Mrs. Huang smiled comfortably and said, "I accept your order, my First Miss!"