Chapter 88 [VIP]

Grandma Yue planted a vegetable garden and used manure as fertilizer.

I don't know how Grandma Yue persuaded Yu Yiqing to roll up her sleeves and get down to fertilize the land.

Anyway, when Mi Yao and the others saw her, she must have fallen and gotten up in the ground, and she was covered in a stench. Just looking at her was an eyesore.

"How did you get here!"

Yu Yiqing was already feeling nauseous, but when she looked up and saw Mi Yao, she was even more heartbroken.

Anyone else could see her making a fool of herself, but Mi Yao shouldn't have seen it.

"My dear daughter-in-law is here!"

Old Lady Yue was originally sitting under the shed supervising Yu Yiqing's work. When she saw Yan Yun, she quickly walked up to Yan Yun and looked her up and down. Seeing that Yan Yun was not frowning and did not seem to have heard any rumors and come because of a misunderstanding, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mother, I've come to pay my respects."

After Yan Yun finished speaking, she turned to the side and introduced Mi Yao, "Mother, this is my good friend Hu Hu, whom I mentioned to you."

"Greetings, Aunt Yue."

"Okay, okay, you're all good kids."

With a smile, Grandma Yue took one of their hands and said, "It's dirty outside, let's go inside for tea and snacks."

"Godmother!"

Seeing that Mi Yao ignored her and that her mother-in-law made no mention of her, Yu Yiqing felt a little flustered. After calling out to her mother-in-law, she looked at Mi Yao and asked, "Fourth sister, what brings you here?"

After she finished speaking, Mi Yao covered her mouth and nose without any hesitation: "Don't talk to me, you stink."

Yu Yiqing's face flushed red. She had seen Mi Yao disrespect Yu Jiayin before, and now that it was her turn, she could empathize with Yu Jiayin's embarrassment.

"Sister Yan..."

Yu Yiqing tried to strike up a conversation with the seemingly kind Yan Yun, but Yan Yun simply led her mother-in-law into the house with Mi Yao, completely ignoring her.

Having been humiliated twice, Yu Yiqing gritted her teeth in hatred. As she walked out of the field, she slipped and fell, lying on the ground covered in dust, sobbing softly.

Hearing the crying outside, Grandma Yue brought the two of them some tea and snacks: "Don't mind her, she deserves this."

Hearing that Grandma Yue understood so well, Mi Yao smiled, no longer worried that Yu Yiqing would get anything good from Grandma Yue.

"Mother, when did Lady Yu Shisi arrive? Why didn't you tell me?"

Yan Yun knew that her mother-in-law couldn't stay idle, so she couldn't get her to stop. She could only help her get the tea leaves and brew the tea. After everything was done, she helped her sit down and asked her what was wrong.

“I’ve been here for more than half a month. As soon as she saw me, she said we hit it off immediately, that I looked like her mother, and that she wanted to get close to me.”

Old Lady Yue looked disgusted. Everyone knew she had a son who was a town magistrate. In previous years, many people tried to curry favor with her, but they all left when they found they couldn't get anything from her. Now, another Yu Yiqing had come knocking on her door.

“I know what she’s talking about the moment she lifts her foot. Someone is offering themselves up to me like a mother, so I’ll enjoy it for her mother’s sake. At first, she would bring some gifts and money, but these past few days she’s said she was robbed and has no money left. Since she has no money to offer, I’ll have her grow some vegetables for me.”

“Auntie is wise. It would be a waste for you not to accept her since she has come to us.”

Hearing about Yu Yiqing's happy life these days, Mi Yao smiled and pouted. If Madam Li knew that her beloved daughter was being filial to someone else, she would probably be so angry that she couldn't sleep for days.

"She said she was the eldest daughter of the Yu family, but I don't think she's a noble lady at all. Even if she is, she has nothing to do with you, Hu Hu."

Old Lady Yue knew about Mi Yao because her daughter-in-law kept praising her. When she heard Yu Yiqing say that she was Mi Yao's sister, she initially thought that Yu Yiqing was making up stories, but later she realized that Yu Yiqing seemed to have some real status and didn't take it seriously.

Even if this shameless girl is really Mi Yao's sister, she's still a bad sister.

He deserves a good beating.

“Auntie, don’t worry. I have a very bad relationship with her. I’m relieved to see her not doing well.”

Yu Yiqing was afraid that Mi Yao and the others would sow discord in front of her mother-in-law, so she lay on the ground and cried twice. When no one paid attention to her, she hurriedly changed her clothes and washed up.

When she arrived at the hall, she indeed heard Mi Yao stirring things up.

"Fourth sister, how can you say that? I am your own sister!"

Yu Yiqing's eyes were filled with tears, and her face showed great grievance.

She felt that her relationship with Mi Yao was not good, but that was a private matter. She would not speak ill of Mi Yao in front of outsiders. She respected Mi Yao as her older sister, but Mi Yao showed no respect to her younger sister in public.

"She is my stepmother's daughter. In my eyes, my only sibling is my older brother."

Mi Yao was not moved by the tears in Yu Yiqing's eyes, but instead felt annoyed. "I thought you had seen too much of Yu Chengda's womanizing. You may not know anything else, but at least you know that there is no good end for a concubine who uses her beauty to serve others. What are you doing now, shamelessly offering yourself up?"

"Fourth Sister, please don't say that. If people find out, your reputation will be ruined."

She cried and begged Mi Yao for being unfilial, but when no one paid attention to her, she stopped howling weakly.

"Godmother, please don't misunderstand. My fourth sister is domineering, but she's not inherently bad. It's just that she lost her sense of propriety after marrying Commander Xiao. Godmother, you don't know that when my father first arrived in Yizhou, my fourth sister actually drove him out of the Xiao mansion."

Yu Yiqing was afraid that her mother-in-law would be misled by Mi Yao and all her efforts to please her would be in vain, so she reached out and tugged at her mother-in-law's clothes.

To everyone's surprise, Old Lady Yue slapped her hand away.

"And you're the one spouting sarcastic remarks, do you think I can't tell?!"

"Godmother?"

Yu Yiqing was shocked. Usually, her mother-in-law would smile at her and praise her for being well-behaved. These past few days, she hadn't brought any gifts because she didn't have any money. Although her mother-in-law was a little impatient with her, she would still pour her some cool tea after she did something and say that she was a good wife and that she wanted a daughter-in-law like her.

"What's wrong with Godmother? Don't you know what kind of person I am? How can you misunderstand me just because of a few words of instigation from outsiders?"

"I didn't misunderstand you. You're not shamelessly offering yourself up to be abused."

Old Lady Yue was straightforward and had long disliked Yu Yiqing's tendency to distort the truth and speak sarcastically, often bringing up the fact that Yan Yun hadn't given birth yet.

Little did they know that she gave birth to Yue Jin when she was over thirty.

In her view, the problem lies with her mother-in-law's family. Her mother-in-law only had one child, and she only had one child, both of whom had difficult births.

Her mother-in-law often tormented her when she was alive, saying that she had health problems and could not help her husband's family have children. At that time, her husband's family was dirt poor, and her mother-in-law even bought a concubine for her son.

Who knew that the concubine didn't give birth either.

What does this mean? It means there's a problem with the male members of the Yue family. That's why Yue Jin and Yan Yun haven't conceived in two years of marriage, but she doesn't care at all. On the contrary, Yu Yiqing keeps bringing up having children, which reminds her of her mother-in-law who was tormenting her until the day before she died, making her roll her eyes countless times.

“Li only has one daughter, you. In order to make you stand out from me, she has done a lot of things to trip me up when we were in the mansion. She wanted to marry you off to a good family, but she knew that the Yu family sent their children to Yizhou for a marriage alliance, and that Yu Chengda was an unreliable person. You came to Yizhou because you thought I was doing well here and took the initiative to ask for it. I reckon she probably advised you not to come.”

As Mi Yao spoke, she noticed the guilty look on Yu Yiqing's face and knew she was right.

Yu Jiayin and Shiqi Niang, who looks similar to her, were chosen by the Yu family to be sent to Yizhou. However, Yu Yiqing, the legitimate daughter of the second branch, had no clear goal and seemed to have come on her own.

"You'd rather be a concubine than a proper noble lady of the Yu family. What else is that but degrading yourself?"

“Who said I was going to be a concubine! Yan has been married to Brother Yue for so many years without having any children. My godmother has long since recognized me as her daughter-in-law!”

Yu Yiqing's head was spinning from Mi Yao's scolding. Regardless of whether Yan Yun was there or not, she blurted out, "We are both legitimate daughters of the Yu family. If you can marry the town magistrate, why can't I?"

Old Lady Yue and Mi Yao each spoke a sentence, and Yan Yun had no chance to interject. She just stood there holding her teacup. Only when she saw Yu Yiqing turn the fire on herself did she slowly speak.

"Fourteenth Miss, you've probably misunderstood. Besides her husband, Mother has also taken in an adopted son. When she said she would recognize you as her daughter-in-law, she was probably referring to Brother Wu."

Old Lady Yue nodded in agreement: "That's right. I even had Xiao Wu come and see her. Because Xiao Wu wasn't very satisfied with her, I wanted to train her for a few more days before arranging for them to meet."

Upon hearing the nickname "Xiao Wu," Yu Yiqing's expression turned ugly.

She came to please her mother-in-law every day, so she naturally knew that her mother-in-law had a mentally challenged godson.

The son was short and had a foolish look on his face. Several times when the two met, he would stare at her and drool. She was so frightened that she scolded him and was also scolded by her mother-in-law, who said that if she didn't try to please that fool, she shouldn't come to the Yue family's door again.

Because of this, she even gave the mentally challenged man some snacks a few times.

Hearing that Old Lady Yue wanted to match her with that idiot, Yu Yiqing got goosebumps all over: "How could you do this! I am a daughter of the Yu family, and Yue Jin is only a barely acceptable match for me. How dare you humiliate me like this!"

"Pah! What are you? My son is no match for you! You're not even as good as one of my daughter-in-law's toes. You look down on Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu wouldn't even look at a lowly slut like you who comes to his door."

Old Lady Yue really spat, and Yu Yiqing was sprayed in the face with the foul-smelling spittle, screaming in disgust.

Seeing her like this, Yan Yun felt a little sorry for her and simply told her to give up: "As for offspring, Fourteenth Lady, you don't need to worry about it. I am already pregnant and don't need Fourteenth Lady to take care of it."

"That's right, my daughter-in-law is pregnant—ah, Yun'er, you're pregnant!"

Grandma Yue looked delighted. "I knew it would be good for you to do good deeds. You and Hu Hu have saved so many children. How could the Goddess of Mercy treat you badly?"

When she heard that her daughter-in-law was pregnant, the old lady was overjoyed.

Seeing that Yu Yiqing was staring intently at Yan Yun's belly, Mi Yao was afraid that she would go crazy, so she directly ordered Qi Niang to throw her out of the house.

"After today, the whole of Yizhou will be filled with the news that you shamelessly flattered Yue Jin's mother and were married off to a mentally challenged child. If you still have any shame, you'd better write to your mother as soon as possible and ask her to bring you back to Jiangnan."

"Yu Miyao, you're ruthless. My reputation is bad, do you think you can escape it? If you don't help me marry Yue Jin, let's see what I'll do—"

Before Yu Yiqing could finish speaking, Mi Yao grabbed her by the neck. With Qi Niang helping from the side, Yu Yiqing had no chance to escape Mi Yao.

“If you leave, you will still have a way to live. If you don’t leave, your mother-in-law thinks you are not good enough for her adopted son, and I will find you another fool who is short of wives.”

Thinking about the character of the Yu family members, Mi Yao felt that she could start preparing to make an idiot right now.

Yu Yiqing wouldn't leave wisely because of her warning; she would only think about finding a powerful man to overpower her.

"Cough cough cough... Yu Miyao, do you know how ruthless you are? If he knew, he wouldn't still like you so much."

Mi Yao let go, and Yu Yiqing plopped down on the ground, coughing so hard that snot and tears streamed down her face, but she still didn't forget to tilt her head back and taunt Mi Yao.

"He likes me just the way I am."

Qi Niang chimed in, "That's right. The town magistrate likes the lady no matter what. Don't make wild guesses. If you go to the town magistrate to complain, he'll just kick you away."

Mi Yao pretended in front of Yu Yiqing without feeling anything was wrong, but when she saw the maids around her nodding in unison because of Qi Niang's words, she felt a little uncomfortable.

It's like she's making boastful claims. Instead of calling her out or teasing her, people think she's not exaggerating enough and wants to blow her tall tales even higher.

Especially two hours later, on her way back, she encountered Xiao Chuan, who had come to pick her up. As soon as Xiao Chuan saw her, he told her that he had met Yu Yiqing on the way.

Yu Yiqing complained about him in a pretentious manner and was scolded by him.

"She reeked of feces, and her words were foul."

Upon seeing Mi Yao, Xiao Chuan naturally dismounted and entered the carriage, sitting close to her with his eyes fixed on her. It didn't seem like he had scolded Yu Yiqing, but rather like he had been bullied and came to her for comfort.

Mi Yao felt he was sticking too close, so she moved to the side.

The next moment, he pressed himself against her again.

Mi Yao: ...

During this time, he was like this: sleeping in the same bed, his eyes burning with desire, he wouldn't do anything to her, but he would stare at her with his burning eyes, his furnace-like body sticking to her as if it were coated with glue.

He constantly told her that he desired her, but he could control that desire without her consent.

In response to her previous comment that he wasn't sincere in his affection, he is now putting in a lot of effort.

Their eyes met, and Xiao Chuan, afraid that he would not be able to control himself and kiss him, took the initiative to start a new topic: "The Ji family has already proposed a divorce to Gu Yunxiao and has sued Gu Yunxiao and Yu Jiayin, accusing them of plotting to murder their first wife."

"That's good."

"So what do you want? What do you think it means for me to like you? Do you want a divorce?"

Ever since Mi Yao said that he liked her because he envied her freedom and wanted her to treat him as well as she treated him, he had been thinking about what Mi Yao wanted and how to make her happy.

Only now did he finally ask Mi Yao what she really wanted.

As soon as the question was asked, Xiao Chuan tensed up, wanting to see the answer on Mi Yao's face, yet afraid to see it on her face.