"Aunt, may I hold him?" Chen Bi referred to the matriarch the same way her mother did.
The matriarch stared at Chen Bi. She quite liked this distant niece of hers a lot and that was why she had been trying her best to get Cao Long to be interested.
All of her efforts had shown no results all this time and she was beginning to become alarmed. What kind of noble household did not have a madam in charge? Although she was a madam herself, she was old and the current head of house was her son.
So, by right, her son's wife should be in charge of managing the household. There were also certain gatherings and tea parties that needed to be attended by the noble ladies of each household.
This was done in order to socialize and foster good relations amongst powerful families. Although, the women of the inner court were forbidden from interfering in politics, these noble ladies were very capable of drawing in the wives of potential allies.
This might not be much but a woman's whispers at night was not to be trifled with. If Cao Long had a capable wife, she would help him draw the goodwill of others and even gain him a more allies in court!
The matriarch continued to stare at Chen Bi as she handed over the baby. This niece of hers was quite easy on the eyes. Her beauty did not lose out to Wan Ruo or even Cao Long's first wife so what exactly was her son dissatisfied with?
If he was worried about having a repeat of what happened with Cao Luomei then there was no need to worry at all. Chen Bi was so good natured and unselfish.
After some more thinking the matriarch decided that she needed to be more creative with pushing Chen Bi on her son. She watched as Chen Bi gently rocked the child and suddenly smiled.
Cao Long might not have felt much for Wan Ruo but this child was still his son. If she occasionally let Chen Bi take this child to Cao Long on the excuse of 'sending the child over on the matriarch's behalf,' then that would give them the opportunity to improve on their relationship.
If the two managed to get together then that would be great. She had liked Wan Ruo at first but after marrying in, she had realized that Wan Ruo's personality was too strong and she never obeyed her.
That was why she couldn't even summon any goodwill towards Wan Ruo's daughter, who only knew how to throw tantrums. If this child Chen Bi's arms was anything like Cao Yuemei, then he wouldn't be good too.
Chen Bi was much better. She had a docile personality and she was from a long line of scholars and beauties. She would be able to give birth to children as intelligent as Cao Feng and as adorable and talented as Cao Luomei.
"Chen Bi, I seem to recall your mother talking of how much you love children and I have seen how close you are to Luomei."
Chen Bi's mother eyed her so she nodded and smiled shyly. "I really enjoy the company of children," Then she sighed. "I've also long wanted to have children of my own."
"I'm such an old lady and there is no wife to properly look after this child. Leaving this child with the servants is no good." The matriarch had a regretful look on her face as she spoke.
Chen Bi took on a regretful look of her own too. "Aunt I really hate to see you so burdened and I wish I could help but I'm unmarried lady and it would seem inappropriate."
He Yuan scoffed at the both of them. Their acting was so good. It had been like this in the past too. Although the matriarch had kept Cao Xiwang for a week. It was only because of she and Chen Bi going back and forth on this matter of Chen Bi 'looking' after the child.
Chen Bi had repeatedly refused because she wanted to 'uphold' her reputation but after the matriarch had left the child with the servants to care for, Chen Bi had shown up at the courtyard a week later because she 'suddenly realized that the servants hadn't been caring for the child properly and her compassionate heart just couldn't stand it.'
Chen Bi said all those high sounding words but had dumped the child in the arms of her clueless servants only bothering to spare him a look when she needed to use him to gain access into Cao Long's study.
Cao Long had seen Chen Bi as a warmhearted woman then and Chen Bi had taken it as Cao Long falling for her so she tried to seduce him. After failing horribly, she decided to drug Cao Long with an aphrodisiac instead but that had landed she and her mother outside the gates of the Cao mansion.
Even the matriarch's words couldn't convince Cao Long to change his mind.
He Yuan looked at Cao Xiwang. He was in no place to demand custody of the child. The very idea would be absurd in the ears of everyone present but it was different if he took the child after the matriarch dumped him with the servants.
Chen Bi should never even dream of making use of that child again!
After the greetings were over, He Yuan walked over to Cao Long's courtyard. He had to have breakfast with Cao Long, Cao Luomei and Cao Feng. He was able to avoid this all these months because he had been using Wan Ruo as a cover.
Now Wan Ruo was dead and they had even returned her body to the Wan household. She wasn't given the honour of being buried in her husband's family's graveyard. It was quite shameful. The Wan family would not be able to raise their heads up for a while.
They couldn't even come over here to fight and defend their honour. Although the matter of Wan Ruo trying to sell off Cao Luomei had been kept a secret, they were well aware of what their family's daughter had done and were ashamed.
He Yuan made sure to take the longest route he could find. He wanted to hold off having breakfast with them for as long as he could. Maybe if he arrived late, they would've finished by then and he wouldn't have to suffer through their unbearable personalities.
Too bad he arrived eventually. When he walked in, he was surprised to see they'd been waiting for him.
"What took you so long?" Cao Long asked with a frown.
"I had a bowel problem and had to relieve myself," He Yuan said offhandedly and 888 chuckled.
Cao Feng glared at He Yuan. "You have to set your priorities straight. It is inappropriate to keep people waiting."
He Yuan arched a brow at the ice block. "Should I have held it in and dumped it in your rice bowl instead?"
"Yuemei!" Cao Long called out sternly. "You're a noble lady. Acting like a ruffian even after all your proprietress's teachings, if people were to see what would they think of our Cao family?"
He Yuan rolled his eyes inwardly and sat at the table.
As they ate, Cao Luomei smirked at He Yuan and pulled on Cao Long's robe. "Daddy, you promised to take me out to buy some masks. You better not forget!"
Cao Long chuckled and gently flicked Cao Luomei's forehead. "Of course." Then he hesitated a bit and looked at He Yuan. "I seem to remember you like masks too. You should come later."
He Yuan ignored him and focused on finishing his food. Cao Luomei was the one with the weird mask obsession, Cao Yuemei had no such hobbies and he wasn't planning on starting it.
Cao Long frowned at He Yuan. How could this child ignore him?! "Cao Yuemei! Did you not hear me speak?!"
He Yuan made sure to chew his food slowly for a while more before wiping his lips and giving Cao Long a dumbfounded look.
"Father, we're at the breakfast table. You couldn't possibly expect me to speak with my mouth full like a ruffian now could you?
-I listened carefully to the proprietress's teachings and speaking at the table is a barbaric act. If people were to see, what would they think of our Cao family?"
Cao Luomei glared at He Yuan. First, she did not get the reaction she was expecting and now Cao Yuemei dared to insinuate this. How dare she?!
Cao Long's face reddened slightly. He couldn't reprimand He Yuan because that would be the same as discounting the proprietress's teachings and shooting himself in the foot.
For the rest of the meal, no one spoke another word.
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