Ch 333: Ruined With A Single Needle
In this conversation, Baek Hak-yeom was bewildered. However, Muk-eo was not. She simply had a mouth but found it difficult to explain. Since Yeongchun clearly had a misunderstanding, she tried hard to explain. However, because Yeongchun’s gaze toward her remained unwavering throughout, she became anxious and just paced back and forth. Then, as if choosing to become inconspicuous here, she stopped walking and said to Baek Hak-yeom.
“I will stay up all night and return to rest first. Miss, you must trust me. I didn’t mean that. If you absolutely think it won’t work, Miss, please investigate Mu-eon! I will go first.”
Seeing Muk-eo turn around and run away, Baek Hak-yeom was a little dazed. What kind of situation is this? What kind of conversation had just taken place? Clearly, she was in the midst of introducing a spouse to her maid, but how did the conversation flow to the point where she herself was getting married? What does this have to do with her?
Yeongchun watched Muk-eo’s receding back and scoffed coldly.
“If Miss would listen to me, when you marry later, you absolutely must not take a maid with you. You can take an old woman. I will choose two very good old women for Miss, so I can guarantee that Miss will absolutely have nothing to be resentful about.”
Baek Hak-yeom was frustrated.
“Regardless of how this topic today somehow led to me getting married, I have to ask this. Whether I take a maid or an old woman, what difference does it make? Why are you preventing Muk-eo from following me? And why are you saying you can’t either?”
At this time, Yeongchun wondered if her Miss was a fool.
“Don’t you really understand?”
And thinking about it, it made sense. Since she was young, the Miss had not received the service of a close maid, and previously, she rarely went outside her room. It was understandable that she didn’t know about this.
Therefore, Yeongchun solved the Miss’s question.
“Generally, when a Miss from a large household gets married, the maids she takes with her are prepared to be concubines for her husband. Just like when our Second Wife married, she brought Yeop Inang. Not long after she came in, the Elder took Yeop Inang. Of course, now she cannot be called Yeop Inang. She should be called the Third Wife.”
Baek Hak-yeom’s face was completely flushed with embarrassment. However, it seemed that there was such content among the miscellaneous writings recorded in the Baek Family’s ancient books.
Yeongchun continued.
“This is not a rule made into a document. Although I was a little urgent earlier and scolded Muk-eo, if Miss thinks Muk-eo is fine, you can take her! In any case, men tend to take three wives and four concubines, so even if it’s not Muk-eo, someone will eventually come in. It’s better to take someone of my own than to have someone else come in and block Miss’s path. However……”
She sighed.
“But thinking about the Second Wife and Yeop Inang, I am still uneasy. They were biological sisters, but what happened in the end?”
Baek Hak-yeom found the workings of this maid’s mind very interesting. However, she could tell that all of this was for her. Moreover, it was a fact she had to face under the feudal system.
However, she had her own thoughts.
“This kind of thing is useless for a woman to think about alone. We have to treat the root cause. Trying to fool someone is a disease. Don’t worry. Your Miss is a physician, so if he dares to take in even one more, I will ruin him with needles!”
Baek Hak-yeom’s attitude was firm. But Yeongchun was still worried. After all, he is a prince, it’s easy to say but how will she ruin him? How would the Emperor and Empress think then? In any case, she is a stepdaughter, not a biological daughter, and even if she were a biological daughter, daughters and sons are clearly different.
Seeing the worry on the maid’s face, Baek Hak-yeom thought there was no way to comfort her. This was an ideology rooted in the minds of ancient people. She couldn’t change other people, but she could change herself. The fact is that she is here, but she will never be bound by this era.
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The atmosphere in Geumyeongwon today was not very good. The reason was that Little Yeop and Baek Hwa-an had come.
The Old Woman sat on a chair and looked down at the two people kneeling below, saying they had come to pay their respects. She couldn’t help the anger that welled up in her heart. She had barely pushed away Older Yeop, but now Little Yeop had come, was the Baek Family being surrounded by the Yeop Clan? Wherever she looked, there was the Yeop Clan, so how could she escape the Yeop Clan’s quagmire?
As she thought this, she glanced at Hong who was sitting beside her. Then the anger in her heart burned even more fiercely.
“Hong Pyo-pyo.”
The Old Woman opened her mouth. Without looking at the two people kneeling, she began to speak to Hong.
“It has been over ten years since you crossed the threshold of our Mun Gukgongbu, and you also bore the Baek Family’s only son. Logically speaking, shouldn’t the position of Mistress be yours and no one else? How can you bear it? Aren’t you angry?”
At these words, Baek Hwa-an’s face couldn’t hold it anymore. Little Yeop tried desperately to hold her back, but ultimately failed. Baek Hwa-an lost her temper on the spot.
“Grandmother, what are you saying? Am I not kneeling here with my mother? We came to pay our respects, I’ll let that pass that you didn’t even look at us. But to say such a thing, what do you mean by saying there’s no one else who can sit there? Because she bore the Baek Family a son? My Lee Nang……. no, my mother, my mother is still young, why do you assume she can’t have more? Second Aunt also conceived at that age, why can’t my mother? Even if you favor Hong Inang, you shouldn’t treat people like this. I am also a granddaughter of the Baek Family. The blood flowing in my body is also the blood of the Baek Family, why are you treating me like this?”
Baek Hwa-an was on the verge of tears. However, she was so resentful that she abruptly stood up from her seat and began to scold the Old Woman.
“You old woman, you don’t die and you favor someone, you favor someone to your very bones. Listen to me. My mother’s position as Mistress was decided by my father, if you have any objections, don’t vent your anger on us, tell my father! An old woman who is only old and not respected bullies women and children, don’t you know shame?”
“What, what did you say?”
The Old Woman was momentarily unable to respond properly. Did she just insult her?
Baek Hwa-an was indeed insulting her. And it wasn’t a light insult. Baek Hwa-an had been pretending to be good and virtuous for so long that she was on the verge of going crazy. Today, she was using the Old Woman as an excuse to vent her anger. However, it wasn’t enough, so she continued to lose her temper.
Little Yeop was so shocked she was about to go crazy. She therefore got up and tried desperately to pull Baek Hwa-an down. Ssang-hwan, who had come with them, also pulled Baek Hwa-an. The two were of one mind. No matter what, they had to pull the Fifth Miss away first before speaking. If she was going to lose her temper, she should do it in her own quarters, if this continued, everything would end badly.
The Old Woman finally came to her senses. Did this granddaughter really insult her? How was this household running? Had the heavens really collapsed?
Tears streamed down the Old Woman’s face. After living for so many years, to be insulted by her own granddaughter, what would become of her face? What position and status would she have in this household in the future?
The Old Woman got up with trembling body. Only with Old Lady Yi’s help could she stand properly.
However, whether she could stand properly or not didn’t matter. It was the same as her current position. The Old Woman’s position in this family was not actually a great position. What difference did it make whether Baek Hwa-an insulted her or not? Her granddaughter was right. The Mistress’s position was given to her by her son. If she was angry, she should take it out on her son, what was the point of bullying women and children here?
The Old Woman waved her hand.
“Go. Never come back again. I won’t see you again. Whoever becomes the Mistress in this house is none of my business. I won’t live for many more years, live as you wish!”
The Old Woman turned around and went inside with Old Lady Yi. And she never came out again.
Meanwhile, Baek Hwa-an’s burning anger had not yet subsided. At this moment, seeing the Old Woman leave, she felt as if her fist had hit a cotton ball, as if she hadn’t hit properly. Little Yeop and Ssang-hwan were still pulling her. Baek Hwa-an’s eyes went wild at the two people who were desperately pulling her outwards.
She forcefully pushed the two away and immediately shouted towards the inside.
“Old woman who won’t die, come out quickly! Do you think things will end like this today if you hide? You bullied us before, saying we were concubines and illegitimate daughters! You always had a bad face towards us, and I endured it. That it was because I wasn’t lucky enough to come out of a concubine’s womb. But things are different now. We are the rightful Mistress and legitimate daughter of this Mun Gukgongbu. Who are you to treat us like this? Who are you?”
“Shut your mouth!”
Hong couldn’t bear to listen anymore.
“Fifth Miss, have you gone mad? Even if you are the Mistress and legitimate daughter, you are not above the Old Woman. To discuss status with the Old Woman in this house, if you haven’t gone mad today, you’ve harbored treason. Even if the Elder comes, I can’t protect you.”
Hong’s face sank fearfully.
“Anyway, since the status is messed up, there’s no high or low. Then I don’t need to respect the Mistress and the legitimate daughter as a concubine. Since it’s going to be messed up anyway, let’s ruin it together, what does it matter?”
She looked at Baek Hwa-an and then at Little Yeop. Her face became even darker.
“Mistress! Legitimate daughter! Humph, what of it?”
Tilting her head, she spoke to Dohwa, the maid who was following her.
“Go and tell them. From today, we won’t send a single coin to Jukjeokwon. There is no silver for the current Mistress and legitimate daughter of our family. We won’t take care of people who don’t respect the Old Woman, let whoever wants to take care of them do so. Also, if the Elder asks for silver, fine. Not a single coin will be given without my permission. If the Elder wants to use public funds to support those two, from today onwards, we will withdraw our Hong Family’s property. We won’t leave a single copper plate in the Mun Gukgongbu’s ledger.”
Dohwa responded immediately.
“Understood. I will deal with it right away. I have something to ask Lee Nang. If things really get worse in the worst way, how should we calculate the expenditure used in the Gukgongbu all this time? Shouldn’t I report it to the Hong Family?”
Hong raised her lips and started to laugh.
“Of course, the Mun Gukgongbu should calculate it. No matter how much was spent, the Mun Gukgongbu should repay it. Now that we have a Mistress, this matter should naturally be handled by the Mistress.”
After she finished speaking, she looked at Little Yeop and asked.
“Third Wife, isn’t what the concubine said right? As the Mistress of the Mun Gukgongbu, you surely wouldn’t be unable to handle such a small matter, would you?”
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