Wei Mengying held her daughter to Madam Cao’s bed, took off her shoes, tucked her in and put down half of the curtain.
She turned around to see that her mother also came into the room and closed the door. Then she said with a smile, “Madam Liu is so heartless! She must never have expected that Yixiao is so lucky to encounter a timid buyer who returned her to the Wei Family. Now they can never scold us for fawning on the rich!”
“You didn’t do that?” Madam Cao answered in surprise, “I thought it was you who made the arrangement and set the trap for Madam Liu’s trusted subordinate!”
“How is that possible?” Wei Mengying said in surprise, “Last time I came back, I have told you that the prince is nice to me but my mother-in-law doesn’t like me…” She heaved a sigh, “Somehow I feel that I just can’t win favor from the mother-in-law. The former one and the current one both dislike me. Over the past days, I have been busy dealing with the trouble that the dowager consort makes for me. How can I have time to attend to Yixiao?”
Madam Cao said, “Then there wouldn’t be anyone else to help her… It seems that she is lucky indeed!”
“Anyway, Yixiao is fine now!” Wei Mengying said happily and yet then complained to Madam Cao, “Yet, you are too careless! You should only have said that Madam Liu sold Yixiao instead of mentioning the buyer is a bawd. Even though Yixiao is still young, it will be bad for her reputation if she is linked to the brothel…”
“You only care about your daughter’s reputation. What about your nieces’?” Madam Cao said unhappily, “If I didn’t say that, how to demonstrate Madam Liu’s viciousness and Madam Pang’s heartlessness? You are happy after becoming a prince’s wife, but your nieces are implicated by you. They haven’t got married by now! If I don’t ruin the reputation of the Song Family completely, how can I show the Wei Family are actually strict about educating daughters? It was because you married a wrong man and didn’t want to get your daughter killed that you were forced to remarry.”
Wei Mengying had no idea how to reply instantly, “Okay. Okay. You are always right. I am no match for you in terms of arguing. I was only saying. After all, with the Shougong Sand, people can only gossip in secret!”
“Cut the crap talking!” Madam Cao hummed and said, “Seriously, if you really love your daughter, you should try your best to persuade the dowager consort into agreeing to accept her into the prince’s residence!”
“What?” Wei Mengying was dumbfounded instantly, “Are you kidding me? I’ve told you that the dowager consort dislikes me for I have married once and had a daughter so she always pulls a long face before me. Therefore, she can’t agree to accept Yixiao! Besides, she will not only disagree but also take the opportunity to scold me!”
Then she proposed, “If you are not okay that Yixiao returns to the Song Family, how about letting her live in the Wei Family? The expenses will be offered by the Song Family!”
“I don’t want to go anywhere!” Song Yixiao bit the quilt in depression and thought angrily, “I am a highborn lady of the Song Family, who should be raised by the Song Family. Why would I depend on the others for a living?”
It was a pity that she shouldn’t speak now, so she could only continue listening.
“Judging from your sentimental reaction just now, I thought you really loved your daughter!” Madam Cao snorted, “But if you leave her in the Wei Family, any of your five sisters-in-law will never agree! They all have daughters. Why do they raise your daughter? Particularly, Yixiao takes after you, so she must become a beauty after growing up. Then she will outcompete her cousins around her age! By then, you want my girls just to serve as a foil to reflect her beauty?”
“The Wei Family will not raise the daughter for you. Forget about it! If you don’t bring her to the prince’s residence, she can only return to the Song Family!”
“Then send her back to the Song Family!” Wei Mengying said without hesitation, “After the incident this time, the Song Family will not dare to do anything to hurt her.”
“Hear me out first!” Madam Cao shouted impatiently, “It has been only one year since the Song Family treated Yixiao unfairly! Moreover, now Madam Liu is held accountable. A child will not remember for too long! Don’t forget that Madam Pang and Song Yuan are her blood families. When the gossiping is quieted down in some days, what if the Song Family cajole Yixiao into saying that the bawd is arranged by us?”
Wei Mengying was astounded!
Nevertheless, on second thought, she did nothing indeed, “If one has done nothing wrong, one need not panic at the tap on the door in the middle of the night.”
“There are so many people wronged to death!” Madam Cao snorted, “Besides, haven’t you really done anything wrong?”
Noticing that her daughter was speechless, she slowed down her voice, “Even if the Song Family don’t ask her to reverse the verdict, they will not raise her well! They cannot do it openly but can’t they play dirty? It is fine that you don’t care about your daughter, but have you thought about the consequence? If anything happens to Yixiao again and she is not that lucky again, by then will the dowager consort scold you for being heartless? Won’t she say that you don’t care about your own child but your own interest only even though you know that the Song Family are evils?”
“Not only the dowager consort but also Prince of Hengshan will be disappointed in you, right? No men like the woman who can even abandon her own child, whether they are ruthless themselves or not. You can ignore the dowager consort’s thought but how can you leave out Prince of Hengshan’s thought?”
Wei Mengying bit her lips and stayed silent.
Madam Cao continued saying, “Moreover, will your daughter be of no use for you? She is eight years old now and she will be able to get married in seven or eight years! As a decent lady of an official family and the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the Grand Secretariat of the Hanlin Academy, she is stunningly beautiful too. If you can keep her beside you and teach her well, she will be very useful for you in the prince’s residence and get another helper for you after she is married!”
She lowered her voice, “Don’t forget that Prince of Hengshan even has a grandson! Even if you are pregnant now, let alone the position of heir, how much of the prince’s property can you get? Now that you want to reject this great helper. How silly you are!”
“All in all, you just go back to implore the dowager consort and Prince of Hengshan to let Yixiao live the prince’s residence. In light of her appearance, it won’t be in vain for you to raise her! Even if they don’t agree, you won’t be held accountable once anything happens to her in the Song Family!”
Most importantly, “Since you are a conscientious mother, if she dares to make irresponsible remarks, she is not in accordance with filial duty. Even if she is manipulated by others, she will be overwhelmed by people’s gossiping. You don’t even need to say anything about it… Do you understand?”
Song Yixiao sighed with admiration, “Old ginger is hotter than younger one indeed. My grandma is much more far-sighted than my mother! No wonder mother is so well educated! Yet, you want me to follow my mother to the prince’s residence as a drag? In your dreams!”
If she insisted on belonging to the Song Family, how could the Prince of Hengshan beg her to live in the prince’s residence?
As a saying went, “Man proposes, God disposes.” Before Song Yixiao finished her show of burying the hatchet, because Madam Cao took some move or Madam Pang just hated her first granddaughter, Song Yixiao’s belongings and maids were sent to her with an excuse of Madam Pang—“I am so old now that I even have made two mistakes in choosing a daughter-in-law. How can I raise a granddaughter well?”“Now that Song Yuan has been impeached for not being able to managing the family well and lost his job, he will bring me to an adjacent city to stay away from trouble… Since Yixiao is your precious treasure and her birth mother is in the ascendant, she will be at your hands then!”If that was all, Song Yixiao could still continue pretending to be filial, “Since my father is bringing grandmother to an adjacent city, how can I not follow and take care of my grandmother and father?”However, Madam Pang went even further, “There are precedents for the dowry of
As she was new to the prince’s residence, Song Yixiao didn’t dare to ask about whether anyone had died in the Hanxia Villa before.However, after being led to her room by Ms. Bo, the maid of Wei Mengying, she looked around and felt quite good, “This place seems quite nice?”The Hanxia Villa was in among malus halliana. Now the florescence almost ended so only a few flowers were on the branch. It was not hard to imagine how beautiful the blooming scene was. To her satisfaction, the Hanxia Villa was delicately decorated and spacious, in which the furnishings were not new but all in readiness.Ms. Bo sighed and said, “Her Highness wanted to let you reside in the Xiluo Villa, which is next to the fourth princess of the third rank so that you two can accompany each other! However, the dowager consort interferes and makes you live in such a lonely place!”Song Yixiao put on an obedient face, “As long as I can be with my mother, I am even
Although Song Yixiao guarded against Madam Jin, nothing happened in the following several days.Of course it didn’t mean that Madam Jin wouldn’t vent her anger. When Song Yixiao went to greet Wei Mengying, she learnt, “Marquis Yuan hopes that his sister can live here for some time. These two days, Her Highness has taken the order of the dowager consort so she is busy discussing with the two young mistresses about how to help Miss Yuan settle down. I’m afraid that she has no time to meet you!”Song Yixiao also learnt from Madam Kong that Marquis Yuan and his sister came to pay a visit the day when she entered the prince’s residence. Yet, it was now that she learned about the background of these two big shots. They were the grandson and granddaughter of the dowager consort. Young as they were, their parents were dead now.Yuan Xuepei had inherited the rank of Marquis two years ago. He just finished mourning for his parents and there were seniors
“Get lost!” A young man shouted angrily from the dark cave, “I’ve told you that I wouldn’t eat. Who grants you the permission to disturb me again and again?!”Song Yixiao heard him and knew that the man must have misunderstood. She supported herself up with her hands against the ground, intending to explain after getting up. However, when she tried to move, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. Instantly, her face turned pale!“My lady, what’s wrong?” Fortunately, Zhiqin was fine. She got up neatly and found out that something was wrong with Song Yixiao at once. She hurried to support her, “Is your foot hurt?”Before Song Yixiao replied to her, the young man in the cave sensed that something went wrong and then walked out. That was a young man around 11 or 12 years old, dressed in a red round-collar suit decorated with bamboo pattens. With a jade belt tied around his waist, he also wore a green craped coat. He looked rather handsome with red lips
Jinguo Grand Princess and Daiguo Grand Princess were blood sisters of Emperor Xianjia. The former one, who was not as interested in politics as the latter one, only cared about entertainment, so she was more favored by the empress dowager and Emperor Xianjia. Even though she married for three times and her numerous romantic affairs were widespread in the imperial capital, the empress dowager and Emperor Xianjia just turned a blind eye and pretended that they didn’t know.“The maid called Cuipiao said he had inherited the title of Duke Yanguo. Hence, he must be the youngest son of Jinguo Grand Princess, Jian Xubai?” Song Yixiao sat by the bed and left the woman to smear the vulnerary on her foot, thinking in secret, “His father, Jian Likuang is the third husband of the Grand Princess, who is said to be seven or eight years younger than her. I doubt that they are not in good relationship due to the age gap. Yet, they two still have two sons. Jian Xubai is the younger one
Jian Xubai stayed by the door for a while. Then he stepped over the threshold and then closed the door, which made Song Yixiao even more alerted and vigilant.He just walked to Song Yixiao slowly and didn’t mean to do anything against her. With an embarrassed face, he opened his mouth and seemed to say something.“Anything I can help?” Song Yixiao looked at him suspiciously.“Kind of.” Jian Xubai answered with uncertainty and remained silent for a long while. He even blushed and then talked of his intention in a low voice, “My uncle says girls are good at how to act like a spoiled child. I am wondering how you do this to your father.”After he said that, his face was completely red. He kept looking around and yet didn’t dare to look at Song Yixiao. It was too embarrassing for him to ask a girl younger than him how to act like a spoiled child before her father. Even though he was eager to win favor from his father, he felt so awkwar
Song Yixiao heard it and felt surprised. Then she just recalled, “Oh crap! I forgot that my mother expected me to marry into the purple. Today since Lingdang saw me make friends with Jian Xubai, my mother must try her best to set me up with him!”She had a nice conversation with Jian Xubai for a reason. Firstly, she was afraid that he would figure out that she was the real conspirator for the tragedy of the Song Family and Liu Family. Therefore, she went all out to flatter Jian Xubai in case that he would suspect her.Secondly, somehow Jian Xubai felt like fighting for paternal love against his elder brother and sister out of no reason, so he had to inquire Song Yixiao about how to act like a spoiled child! Although Song Yixiao couldn’t teach him how, he must feel disgraced after asking such a question! Even though Song Yixiao didn’t laugh at him, Jian Xubai must have conflicting feelings.Afterwards, once Song Yixiao talked of what happened to
Song Yixiao asked curiously, “Who?”“Cui Jianlian.” Wei Mengying’s face didn’t look good, “She is the legitimate niece of Princess Consort Cui in her maiden line.”Generally, the wife of a second marriage always was inferior before the maiden family of the previous wife, but Wei Mengying feared Miss Cui not for that. “Princess Consort Cui is the youngest aunt of Cui Jianlian and her elder auntie is Noble Consort Cui as well as the birth mother of the crown prince!”Song Yixiao couldn’t help narrowing her eyes, “Since the Cui Family have successfully cultivated a princess consort and a noble consort, why do they send the daughter to the girl’s school of the prince’s residence?”Given such an achievement in terms of girl education, all the other people would feel eager to send their daughters to the Cui Family for study. Why would a daughter of the Cui Family study in the school of Prince of Hengshan?Wei Mengying snorte