The old woman wouldn't budge an inch. "Young Madam, please don't make things difficult for this servant. The main gate isn't for just anyone to use."
The implication was clear: they were merely from a merchant family, and a destitute one at that. How could they possibly use the main gate, which was reserved for the masters of the house?
Xiao Shi Yu's expression stiffened. She had almost forgotten this particular rule in Shangjing.
Her mother was, after all, an official's wife, but her uncle's family were indeed merchants.
But to be publicly humiliated by a servant woman was mortifying. Still, she didn't dare challenge the ruling madam of the household, so she could only have a maid lead her relatives in through a side door.
She then turned and entered the courtyard through the main gate with her own mother.
"Mother," Tian Mi had never been so humiliated. "Maybe we shouldn't go in."
"That's not an option. We're counting on them to save your father."
