tallest building

Chapter 16 Insidious Schemes

"That Wen family is a jinx!" Cui Baozhu cursed in a low voice. "They can't even tolerate a virtuous person like the young mistress. With her around, she's bound to throw this family into chaos."

"My dear second young lady, you see things clearly." Granny Yang clapped her hands and sighed. "Our young mistress is living such a stifling life now. You know her; she not only has no intention of harming anyone, but she also has very little sense of self-preservation. Now that man has returned, he's making things difficult for the young mistress, both openly and secretly."

The young mistress, however, simply endured it all. Although the master also disliked that other man, men couldn't stay at home all day; how could they possibly manage the infighting within the inner quarters?

“This Wen family is far too domineering. Can’t they just send her back to her hometown?” Cui Baozhu said. “Nobody here likes her anyway.”

"Alas, this is not up to our young mistress to decide," Granny Yang shook her head. "Unless she causes some trouble that makes it impossible for her to stay in the capital."

After hearing this, Cui Baozhu stopped talking and secretly began to make plans in her heart.

Because she felt that her life's hopes depended on Song Shi's help to fulfill them, she should also do her best to help Song Shi, which could be considered as being loyal and righteous.

After seeing Cui Baozhu off, Granny Yang returned and said to Madam Song with a smile, "This second Miss Cui is indeed willing to do her best for the young mistress."

“Even if she is willing, the amount of effort she can put in is probably limited.” Madam Song examined the round fan given to her by Cui Baozhu. The lower half was embroidered with twin lotus flowers, while the upper half was embroidered with a jade ruyi, symbolizing “harmony and good fortune.”

“If we let her handle it herself, it will be a piece of cake,” Granny Yang said, squinting her eyes with a half-smile. “But if we give her some pointers, she might be able to succeed.”

Upon hearing this, Madam Song smiled slightly and said nothing more, only gently waving her fan.

The Cui family has no noble titles, but Cui's father is currently a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel, and he is considered to have some influence.

Cui Baozhu was all talk and no action, so Song was happy to let her be her pawn.

Therefore, even though he knew that Gong Yu'an didn't like Cui Baozhu, he still used this to keep her hanging on.

Unfortunately, Cui Baozhu couldn't distinguish between real and fake people, and mistook Song, this smiling tiger, for a living bodhisattva.

"That man did indeed go to see the eldest mistress of the Zhou family yesterday, and he also visited the perfume shop and the dried goods shop," Granny Yang said, recounting Wen Mingqian's whereabouts yesterday.

“Liu Cuiyi is a pushover; she can’t help Wen Mingqian.” Madam Song didn’t mind at all. “When the two of them get together, they’ll just catch up.”

"That's true, but yesterday the Fourth Young Master used a kite to lure our young master there." Granny Yang said with some worry, "The master also went there and stayed there for quite a while."

“That little brat wants to steal the emperor’s favor,” Madam Song’s eyes suddenly turned sharp, “He’s really courting death!”

“Young Madam, we must be careful! You know Master loves his children the most, and that bastard is still his own son no matter what,” Granny Yang said in a humble tone. “Although Master hates that Wen fellow, even a tiger won’t eat its own cub. After seeing him so often, it’s inevitable that he’ll develop feelings for him…”

“I understand what you’re saying,” Madam Song interrupted her, “but to shoot a man, you must first shoot his horse; to capture a thief, you must first capture his king. That little brat is easy to deal with; the important thing is to get Wen Mingqian away from here first.”

"Has the young lady come up with a good idea yet?" Granny Yang asked hurriedly.

“Since she’s going to host a big banquet in a few days, we’ll just have to let her make a fool of herself in front of everyone.” Madam Song gently covered the lower half of her face with her fan, revealing only a pair of meaningful eyes. “Didn’t the young mistress of the Duke of Feng’s family return from the Eastern Capital? She loves lively gatherings, so we should invite her over.”

The Duke of Feng's household also had a concubine named Wu. Any concubine who could be addressed in this way must have something special about her. The Duke of Feng was already over sixty years old, while this concubine was only in her early twenties.

The saying "a mother's status rises with her son" was truly exemplified in her case. At that time, Duke Feng was over fifty years old but had no son, and the whole family was worried about this.

The greatest fear of a family with a title is having no son, because it means that the title will be stripped and the family’s wealth and status will come to an end.

Duke Feng has over thirty daughters, but what good are they?

Over the years, he has taken in more than a dozen or twenty concubines, and they have given birth to several children every year. However, none of his sons survive to be more than a month old.

It wasn't until she took a daughter into her household that she gave birth to a son within a year.

This child not only passed his one-month and one-hundred-day celebrations peacefully, but also never fell ill before the age of three.

This concubine became the Duke's number one contributor to the family. Not only did the Duke cherish her, but even the Lady looked up to her.

The Duke even went out of his way to obtain an imperial decree for her, which is extremely rare.

This young lady, Wu, had an excellent relationship with Song. On the one hand, Song was good at flattery, but more importantly, they were both concubines, but they were outstanding among them, and they appreciated each other's talents.

The reason she didn't attend the last peony banquet was because she wasn't in the capital; instead, she went to Luoyang to worship Buddha.

The Duke once made a vow at the Guanyin Temple in the Eastern Capital: if he could have a son, he would come every year to burn incense and fulfill his vow.

“The young mistress in their household is your closest friend. If you invite her, she will definitely come,” said Granny Yang.

“I will personally invite them, and I will also invite their young master. You know that the child has a problem, and it would be a shame if we didn’t make a fuss about it.”

Granny Yang immediately widened her eyes and clapped her hands, saying, "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! The young master is the lifeblood of their family, and he also has epilepsy. If Wen Mingqian provokes him, then they will offend the Duke's Mansion."

The Feng family's child was five or six years old and seemed fine, but he was spoiled rotten.

Who would have thought that a persistent high fever would leave a lasting health problem? Whenever he gets extremely angry or frightened, he would have seizures and epilepsy, which was quite frightening.

“This one isn’t enough. Since we’ve decided to take action, let’s do it thoroughly.” Madam Song dropped her kind face and revealed her venomous teeth. “The day Wen Mingqian returned, the wife of the Marquis of Jiangxia was very friendly to her. Since that’s the case, she should return the favor.”

"What does the young mistress mean..." Granny Yang didn't understand for a moment.

"Everyone has a hidden worry, and Lady Jiangxia is no exception. However, Wen Mingqian has been away from the capital for many years, so she naturally doesn't know about it. But if she were to publicly expose Lady Jiangxia's hidden worry, what do you think would happen?"

“I understand,” Granny Yang said suddenly. “Don’t expose someone’s shortcomings or hit them in the face. Lady Jiangxiahou is very concerned about her reputation. If her shortcomings are exposed in public, she will hate her to death.”

"Wen Mingqian offended the two most prominent guests on her first banquet. Do you think this mansion can still tolerate her?" Madam Song asked with a smile.

(End of this chapter)