RWWAI 14

Chapter 14: Qualifications of a Cult Leader

The person speaking, according to Liang Jingjing's memories, was none other than Lady Liu, the primary wife of the city's richest man.

Her father was a county magistrate; although it wasn't a massive official post, back in those days, being an official was still viewed as much more prestigious than coming from a merchant household, which meant her husband's cousin was indeed a notch below her.

I immediately stepped forward and said:

"My, and I thought it was some grand crisis! Just a cousin, and a distant one at that, and you're letting her get to you? If it were me, the second she started down that road of complaining, I wouldn't even bother listening. Let her throw her tantrums if she wants—are you actually taking her seriously?"

Little did I know, the moment the words left my mouth, those noble matrons all curtsied and bowed toward me in unison, chorusing:

"Greetings, Commandant's Wife."

I almost forgot—Qi Lu held quite a high rank, and a commandant was leagues above a county magistrate.

I hastily replied:

"We're all just family sisters chatting here, no need to stand on such formal ceremony. Just keep it casual."

Lady Liu nodded and said:

"What Madam says is naturally reasonable. But after all, we live under the same roof and bump into each other day in and day out—how can we truly pretend we never hear a single thing she says? In all these years since I married into the Weng family, have I ever bullied or lorded over anyone by flashing my maiden family's status? Yet she turns around and accuses me right to my face of relying on my powerful family... the more I think about it, the more infuriating it gets."

I get it, I truly get it.

That suffocating feeling of being hit with dirty water for something you never even did.

So, I patted Lady Liu's hand and advised:

"Her mouth is on her face; whatever nonsense she chooses to spout, how is anyone else supposed to stop her? Even the harshest words are just a passing noise once heard. Of course, I'm not telling you to just swallow your pride and endure it. You're her eldest sister-in-law, after all—whenever she says something out of line, you call her out right to her face. Reprimand her when it's due, scold her when she deserves it. But let the scolding end right there; don't drag it back into your heart. If she says one sentence and you stew in anger all day long, aren't you just the one suffering the loss in the end?"

At that moment, another lady—Lady Lin, wife of a ministry secretary—weighed in with profound earnestness:

"The Commandant's Wife really sees right through it all. Why should we womenfolk torture ourselves with extra suffering? Just dealing with the everyday headaches our own men bring home is already more than enough to handle."

I caught Lady Lin shooting a subtle, knowing glance toward Qin Miaomiao, and instantly caught the hidden meaning behind her words.

Yet I knew she wasn't taking a dig at me, but rather venting because her husband's family had recently shown signs of wanting to take in a concubine for him.

Now, that presented a bit of a dilemma.

I knew that in a moment like this, Lady Lin was looking for mutual righteous indignation or some insider tips on how to keep concubines under thumb.

But Luo Fan had that side quest of "showing off how deeply he loves Qin Miaomiao," and sharing advice on suppressing concubines would be pulling the rug right out from under him.

As for sharing mutual outrage... well, I figured that might make me look a bit petty and sour.

So I simply spoke straight from the heart:

"Since you already know men are high-maintenance creatures, now that someone else is willing to take a share of the mental load off your hands and give him fewer opportunities to come pester you around the house, what on earth is there left to fret about? Look at me—if it weren't for Lady Qin being right there by that guy's side, pouring tea, waiting on him hand and foot, and showering him with sweet attentiveness, where on earth would I find the leisure to stand here and chat with you ladies today?"

Amidst the astonished looks of the surrounding crowd, I continued:

"You and I aren't naive young girls anymore. Once you're married, where are all those moonlit romances supposed to come from? Being a head wife sounds glamorous on paper, sure. But what do we actually do day in and day out? Above us, we have to serve the parents-in-law; below us, we have to look after the kids. From managing household servants to budgeting grain and money—is there a single thing that doesn't require our attention? Dealing with all of that is already a full-time job. Add onto that a man who demands to be coddled and coaxed every single day, and expects you to sit around listening to his endless sappy love talk..."

I rolled my eyes dramatically and said:

"You tell me yourselves—isn't that just an absolute nuisance?"

Lady Liu looked somewhat perplexed as she asked:

"But... if a married couple just coasts along like that day after day, won't your heart feel hollow inside?"

"What does a hollow heart matter? As long as my money pouch is stuffed full to bursting, isn't that all that counts?"

I laughed.

"If you're genuinely bored out of your mind, just go hire a singing maidservant and pick out a nimble-fisted house servant. Want to listen to tunes? Listen to tunes. Want to watch a show? Watch a show. Isn't a life like that cozy and carefree?"

Facing a circle of noble matrons whose jaws had hit the floor, I babbled on enthusiastically:

"You only live once. As long as you're well-fed and warmly clothed, and nobody around you is driving you up the wall with anger, that's already better than most things in life. Everything else... is just icing on the cake. Sure, it's great if you have it, but it's no big deal if you don't."

"Husband and wife are like birds of the same forest—when disaster strikes, they fly off in opposite directions. No matter how affectionate they usually are, no matter how many grand oaths of eternal love they swear, it's always the same story. That's not because anyone is cold-hearted; it's just human nature."

My voice unconsciously dropped to a lower, reflective register.

Just when I thought the atmosphere was turning a bit too heavy, Lady Liu was the first to start clapping her hands.

The rest of the noble ladies quickly followed suit, their faces beaming with undisguised admiration.

"Well said!"

Lady Liu declared, her expression moved to tears.

"What the Commandant's Wife just said is absolute gold!"

I instinctively shrank my neck backward.

Judging by this momentum...

Do I actually have the raw talent to become a cult leader?

A cult... would that count as a form of "shining and thriving"?

Not far away, Luo Fan seemed to have caught the sound of the applause over here; when he turned his head to look, his jaw dropped so wide he looked like he dislocated it.

"So this is what My Lord meant when he described her as... having a strong disposition and not being easy to approach?"

Qin Miaomiao suddenly piped up.

Naturally, since those weren't words Luo Fan had actually uttered, and his system lacked any prior-context playback function, all he could muster was a blank:

"Huh?"

"My Lord is truly blessed to be able to take a woman like Madam as his wife."

Luo Fan shook his head.

"It's not a blessing. She and I... we were just bound together by a twist of fate."

Luo Fan said slowly.

He lowered his gaze to look at his own fist, which had clenched tightly at some point without him noticing; he deliberately forced his fingers to relax, but the moment he raised his head and locked eyes with me, he clenched them right back into a fist again.

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