Chapter 80 Don't Use Us as Guns

Yu Qingci lowered her eyes to hide the sarcasm in them. The three dishes that Madam Wei mentioned were all her favorites. Apart from the braised goose feet, which required some effort to prepare, the other dishes were just ordinary home-style dishes.

It's disgusting that they keep clamoring for meat dishes even though they know the household is in mourning.

Auntie Er's eyes lit up again when she heard Wei mention the dishes, and she was about to speak when Yu Qingci's smiling voice came:

"Second Aunt, how could you forget again? Which family observing mourning doesn't abstain from meat during the mourning period? If you don't say it, people will laugh at you to death. Second Aunt is a highly respected person, how could she be the kind of person who doesn't know etiquette and rules? Knowing that the family is in mourning, she still asks to eat these things, isn't that right, Second Aunt?"

"Um..."

Auntie Yu could only swallow her words when she heard what Yu Qingci said. As a respected elder in the clan, she knew that the General's Mansion now abstained from meat, so she naturally could not ask others to cook for her.

Second Aunt looked at Wei with unfriendly eyes and said, "Yunqi's wife is right. Wei, you should be more careful. People who don't know better might think you're heartless and unruly."

After being scolded again, Madam Wei could only shut her mouth in a huff, inwardly cursing the old hag. These days she had coveted so many good things from the second branch of the family. She had promised to come to the door today to help Yun Zhang secure his position as heir, but now she had been fooled by Yu Qingci's few words and was completely confused. She even dared to dream that her child would take her son's position as heir. What a greedy old hag!

After finishing her meal, Auntie remembered what had just been said, smacked her lips, and asked:

“Yunqi’s wife, what you just said seems like a good idea. Why don’t I have my great-grandchildren come over tomorrow so your mother-in-law can meet them?”

Yu Qingci: "No need to rush. You should discuss it with your second uncle first. Also, I'm raising a child myself, so I can choose from more children in the clan."

Auntie was dumbfounded again: "Didn't we say we'd give your mother-in-law an adopted child? Why are you asking for another one here?"

Yu Qingci said matter-of-factly, "Of course we have to adopt him. Otherwise, wouldn't it be breaking our promise to my family? But it doesn't matter. My mother-in-law and I will each choose our own heirs and won't interfere with each other."

Upon hearing this, Auntie Er's face darkened again, and she said, "Nonsense! How can that be? If the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law each establish an adopted son, people will laugh their heads off. There can only be one adopted son!"

"I think your idea is quite good. We can choose one of my beloved great-grandchildren and have him/her adopted by your mother."

Just as she finished speaking, a middle-aged couple walked in from outside. They had clearly heard what Auntie had just said, and their expressions were quite unpleasant.

Upon seeing this, Madam Ning hurriedly said to Yu Qingci, "These two are your seventh uncle and seventh aunt."

The visitors were none other than the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of her second aunt. Yu Qingci quickly stood up to greet them.

Just now, when her second aunt started acting unreasonably, she secretly instructed the maid to go outside and find Steward Lu to find someone who could control her second aunt.

Now that Uncle Seven and Aunt Seven have arrived, these two must be the ones.

As expected, after Seventh Uncle and Seventh Aunt exchanged greetings with the others, Seventh Uncle stepped forward and said to Second Aunt:

“Grandmother, didn’t Grandfather tell us before that the matter of establishing an heir in the General’s Mansion was entirely up to my eldest sister-in-law, and no one else had the right to interfere? Why are you here today to bring this up? Have you forgotten what Grandfather said?”

Second Aunt also chimed in, "Yes, Grandmother, if my grandfather finds out that you came here to interfere in this matter without permission, he'll probably complain about you when he gets back."

Yu Qingci glanced over and saw that her second aunt, who had been so smug just moments before, was now looking very uncomfortable after her own grandson and granddaughter-in-law had exposed her secrets.

He retorted defiantly, "How could I have interfered in this matter? I was just saying a few words casually and had no intention of interfering at all. What, can't I even speak now?"

Seventh Uncle: "It's good that Grandmother doesn't interfere."

Then he said to Madam Ning, "Eldest sister-in-law, what my grandmother said today was just casual talk and shouldn't be taken seriously. Just listen to it and don't take it to heart."

Before Madam Ning could speak, Second Aunt said unhappily:

"How can you not take it seriously? Let me tell you, Xuan-ge, they just said that they want to choose one of your brothers' children to be adopted."

"grandmother!"

Seeing her grandson looking at her with a serious expression, the second aunt felt embarrassed and stopped talking.

Seventh Uncle cupped his hands and said to Madam Ning, "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Eldest Sister-in-law. I'll take my grandmother back now."

"You're just causing trouble there. Why don't you stay for a simple meal before you leave?"

When Madam Ning heard her seventh uncle say this, she quickly said a few polite words.

Seventh Uncle: "No, thank you. Grandfather is still waiting for us at home."

Upon receiving the message from Steward Lu, Seventh Uncle and his wife rushed over. He knew perfectly well why the second branch of the General's Mansion had been frequently visiting his grandmother these past few days. He also knew his grandmother's personality even better; he had long advised her not to get involved in the General's Mansion's affairs, but she simply wouldn't listen.

Now look what's happened; we've actually gone to their doorstep and become their punching bag.

Before Grandpa knows about this, we should quickly persuade Grandma to come back so that everything will be fine.

Uncle Qi was filled with helplessness. His grandfather had already said that he had already repaid enough for the favors he had done to the General's family back then, as the General had promoted and helped his own descendants over the years since he became successful.

Today, the Lu family's ancestral fields, ancestral halls, and various expenses for supporting the family members are all borne by the General's Mansion. Over the years, they have long since stopped owing the Lu family anything.

On the contrary, it has been thanks to the General's Mansion that the clansmen have been able to live a life of plenty all these years.

Now that the Grand General has passed away suddenly, given the character of the Second Master and the Fourth Master, such a good thing as adopting a son is unlikely to fall to them, who are several generations removed in the clan. Therefore, it is best not to interfere.

The seventh aunt looked at Wei and said bluntly, "So that's why the second sister-in-law has been coming to my house so often these past few days. It turns out she asked my grandmother to act as your intermediary."

Madam Wei: "What are you saying? Second Aunt was just concerned that my sister-in-law has no children and must be living a miserable life. She came to offer a few words of comfort. How is that acting as a gossip?"

Seventh Aunt sneered: "What you want to do is your business. Don't use us as pawns. Although we are of the same clan, this is the General's Mansion after all. How can we clansmen decide such an important matter as choosing an heir?"

Furthermore, my grandfather made it clear long ago that he would not interfere in this matter. If anyone tries to drag our family into this mess, we will not allow it!

Wei felt embarrassed and unable to smile, feeling increasingly aggrieved.

These past few days I've gone to great lengths to please my second aunt, and today I finally managed to get her over, but instead of getting things done, I ended up being constantly criticized. It's really unlucky.

But faced with her seventh aunt's relentless gaze, she could only try to appease her by saying:

"How could that be?"