Chapter 364: Anguogong Mansion (2)

Housekeeper Cao went away with a smile.

Mu Zhongqing said worriedly: "Mei Niang, I always feel that something is wrong. That housekeeper Cao is too attentive. I think you don't have that much influence in this mansion, why is he so attentive?"

Mrs. Du said: "I can sense that something is wrong, but I am really worried about my mother and can't care about much. If they really want to harm me, even if we don't come, with the power of the Duke of Anguo's mansion, it's just a matter of a word to kill us, so let's take it one step at a time!"

As the two were talking, housekeeper Cao returned and said with a smile: "Auntie, son-in-law, please come in quickly. It happens that the Duke of Anguo and the other masters are here. They all want to see son-in-law. Take son-in-law to recognize relatives!"

Mrs. Du and Mu Zhongqing looked at each other, nodded, and followed housekeeper Cao to the hall of the mansion with mixed feelings.

After walking around the screen wall and reaching the door of the main hall, I saw four maids waiting outside the door, and several old women standing in the corridor, waiting to be sent out at any time.

When the maid saw the Du couple, she quickly opened the door curtain and invited them in.

The flower hall was crowded with people, both standing and sitting. On a pair of rosewood armchairs in the middle, sat Du Ruhai, the Duke of Anguo, and his wife Wang.

Du Ruhai was about fifty years old, with sparse hair and beard, pale face, swollen eyelids, and a look of being hurt by alcohol and sex. He wore a chestnut-edged wide-sleeved long gown with complicated embroidery, which was very consistent with his status as the Duke of Anguo.

Madam Wang, who was over fifty years old, had a dignified and pretty face. She wore a lake blue Shu brocade jacket with a front opening and embroidered with western lotus flowers, a dark brown horse-faced skirt with embroidered gold flowers, a hollow phoenix-head hairpin with jadeite on her head, a gold-inlaid longevity hairpin with rubies, a pair of red coral pendants on her ears, a tourmaline bracelet on her left hand, and a white jade ring on her middle finger. She looked luxurious and wealthy.

Although Madam Wang looked dignified and generous, Du knew that this stepmother was actually a very powerful person.

When his father, Duke Anguo, was young, he was romantic, had many concubines, and even more concubines, but in the end, only two concubines and several concubines with outstanding appearances survived. Of the two concubines, one was crippled because of a broken leg after riding a horse, and the other was born stupid and a fool. Now they are all raised in the West Courtyard and have established their own families.

The concubines who survived were all beautiful and could marry for the Duke Anguo's Mansion and bring benefits to the Duke Anguo's Mansion. Over the years, the Anguogong Mansion has indeed benefited a lot from those in-laws.

This shows how powerful Madam Wang's methods are.

"Greetings to my father and mother, and to all the brothers and sisters-in-law."

Mrs. Du brought Mu Zhongqing and went forward to greet Duke Anguo Du Ruhai and Mrs. Wang, and also greeted the legitimate brothers sitting under Du Ruhai and the sisters-in-law sitting under Madam Wang. She was respectful but not guilty, as if she was a daughter who had been married for more than ten years and returned home calmly.

Du Ruhai and Madam Wang looked at each other, with disgust in their eyes, and neither of them spoke. The brothers who were sitting down also kept silent with gloomy faces, and their eyes looking at the couple were not kind.

The Du couple were both polite, but no one in the room called them up, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while.

Instead, a sister-in-law sitting under Madam Wang stood up with a smile, breaking the awkward atmosphere.

"Look, we haven't seen each other for decades, and when we first saw our fourth sister, we were so excited that we couldn't say anything."

"Haha, yes, yes, after more than ten years, when we first saw our fourth sister, we didn't even recognize her."