Chapter 33: Rumors A few days later, a rumor began to spread in the capital...

When Madam Wen heard this, her expression changed. After a long moment, she sighed and said with a hint of guilt, "It's all Madam Wen's fault. If you hadn't been born from Madam Wen's womb, how could you have suffered this injustice?"

She had experienced more than Cui Lingyin, and seeing the undisguised jealousy in her daughter's eyes, she continued, "But this marriage is already a done deal. The wedding will be on the 16th of next month. Even if you're jealous, I'm afraid you can't do anything about it."

She did want to help her daughter, but as a concubine, she had a hard time finding a foothold in the palace, so how could she interfere in the girls' marriages? Didn't she want Yin Yatou to be the Crown Prince's wife? But with the word "concubine", the Empress Dowager and Old Madam Dou would definitely not look down on Yin Yatou.

Seeing the pity on Madam Wen's face, her brows filled with worry, Cui Lingyin lowered her voice and said, "Madam, don't forget, Cui Lingyan has lived in the Qi family for more than ten years, living under the same roof with Qi Shaozhang, the young master of the Qi family. They grew up together as cousins. If she really wanted to, there would be a lot of things she could plan."

Hearing her daughter say this, Madam Wen showed some surprise in her eyes. She didn't expect her daughter to mention Qi Shaozhang.

Qi Shaozhang followed Zhan to the Marquis' Mansion and had been living in the outer courtyard. He would go to pay his respects to Zhan every now and then, but he didn't show any deliberate attempt to get close to her, nor did he even go to Cuiwei Courtyard to please his aunt Qi.

If he had any feelings towards Cui Lingyan, why would he have such an attitude?

Madam Wen pondered for a moment and said, "Since Qi Shaozhang arrived at the Marquis' Mansion, I haven't seen him visit your eldest aunt, let alone the Third Young Lady. Even if you want to slander her and ruin her reputation with empty words, I'm afraid no one will believe you."

Madam Wen glanced at Cui Lingyin, sighed softly, and said, "Girl Yin, why don't you give up on this idea? Firstly, this matter is difficult to handle, and secondly, even if it succeeds, won't it implicate you, girl Yin, in the slightest? This marriage involves the Duke's Mansion and the Ningshou Marquis' Mansion. The eldest girl did something like that before, which brought shame to the Duke's Mansion. If anything goes wrong with the third girl again, neither you nor I can bear the consequences. If the Empress Dowager is furious and your grandmother orders a thorough investigation, it'll be good if they don't find you, but if she finds out about your schemes, neither you nor I will be in good shape. I'm afraid even the slightest bit of respect we have now will be gone."

Madam Wen always acts cautiously, believing that less trouble is worse than more. This marriage has already gone wrong once. If something goes wrong again, even if Cui Lingyan cannot marry into the Duke's Mansion, according to the temperament of the Empress Dowager and Old Lady Dou, they probably will not continue to ask the girls of the Marquis' Mansion to marry into the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

The Empress Dowager also has to save face. If she gets angry, the entire Ningshou Marquis Mansion will be implicated.

Madam Wen really didn't have the courage to do that. She felt that her daughter was so blinded by jealousy that she was really confused.

Hearing Madam Wen say this, Cui Lingyin eagerly grabbed Madam Wen's sleeve and said with some reluctance, "My daughter simply cannot accept this. She cannot bear to see Cui Lingyan become the Crown Prince's wife with a clean record. Mother, we don't need to do anything more. Just spread some rumors. Even if they can't be confirmed, won't the people in the Duke of Wei's Mansion talk about it? Even if this marriage goes ahead, I think Cui Lingyan will be affected if she marries him."

"How could any man tolerate his wife spreading such obscure rumors about another man? Even if it was completely fabricated, Cui Lingyan was destined not to be liked by Lu Bingzhi.

Cui Lingyin's lips revealed a hint of sarcasm as she said in a cold voice, "I know that my status as a bastard is looked down upon. Even if this marriage didn't fall to Cui Lingyan, it wouldn't necessarily fall to me. But I just don't want to see Cui Lingyan marrying off to the Duke of Weiguo's mansion in such a grand manner. People say that Master Lu has a hidden illness from the poisoning incident, which might be detrimental to his offspring in the future. But there are always contingencies. I just want to make sure that I, Cui Lingyan, will not be disliked by Master Lu, and that Master Lu won't even go to the bridal chamber on the wedding night."

"In that case, I have no grievances if this marriage falls to Cui Lingyan."

Madam Wen glanced at her daughter, unable to describe her feelings. She felt that ever since the third daughter followed her aunt back to the capital, and ever since the eldest daughter's marriage fell to the third daughter, her daughter's temperament had become somewhat paranoid, even a bit gloomy and cruel.

In the past, Yin's personality was not like this. How come she seemed like a different person in such a short period of time?

Madam Wen felt distressed and uneasy. She wanted to persuade her daughter but didn't know how. How could she not know that her daughter was unhappy? Now her daughter only wanted to spread these rumors. Could she continue to stop her?

As the saying goes, it's better to open up than to block. Of the three daughters in the Marquis's mansion, the eldest, Cui Linghui, is a minor concern. She has the support of the Zhenguo Mansion, her in-laws, and even if the daughter wants to compete with her cousin, she's no match. Although the third daughter is a legitimate daughter, without this marriage, she might not have been as influential as the daughter in the mansion. After all, the third daughter was not loved by her mother, Qi Shi, and was sent to the Qi family at the age of six. Compared to the daughter, a concubine who has always remained in the Marquis' mansion, she has even less foundation in the mansion. If the third daughter were to be the one to put pressure on her, given her high status, the daughter would probably never be able to resolve the knot in her heart.

Thinking of this, Madam Wen sighed heavily and said, "Forget it, don't interfere in this matter. Leave it to me. I've been in the mansion for many years and I have several useful people under my command. As long as you are careful, it is not certain that I will be found."

Hearing Madam Wen's words, Cui Lingyin finally smiled. "I know that mother is the only one in this world who cares about me. Unlike mother, I have been under her name for so many years and have treated her with great respect. But in mother's heart, apart from my eldest brother, how can I have the slightest place? When she sent those cloths today, she was slapping me in the face."

Madam Wen's face turned pale, and she interrupted Cui Lingyin nervously, "Don't talk nonsense. It would be bad if someone heard it and it got to Madam."

"Don't worry, little girl Yin. Mother will do a good job on this matter. Just think of it as a reminder of your mistakes because of the old lady's punishment. Copy some scriptures these days to show your attitude. Don't worry about anything else."

After Madam Wen finished speaking, she added, "Mother, it's not a good idea for me to stay here for too long. I'll be leaving now. You don't have to see me off. It would be bad for you if Madam saw me."

After saying this, Madam Wen gave Cui Lingyin a few more instructions, then got up and left the room.

Madam Wen came out of the room, glanced at Cai Ling standing in the corridor, and said in a low voice, "Take good care of the young lady these days, and don't let her get depressed and hurt herself."

Cai Ling nodded: "I understand, Auntie, don't worry."

Madam Wen nodded, walked down the steps and headed out of the yard.

......

A few days later, a rumor began to spread in the capital.

Rumors had spread that Cui Lingyan, the third daughter of the Ningshou Marquisate, who was about to become the wife of the Duke of Wei's son, had been living with her maternal family for years and had developed an affair with her cousin, Qi Shaozhang. This time, her aunt, Mrs. Zhan, had accompanied Cui Lingyan to the capital, intending to discuss the marriage between her son and niece.

The rumor was spreading like wildfire, and some people even saw Qi Shaozhang drunk in a restaurant, looking very unhappy.

For a moment, everyone who heard the news couldn't help but discuss it, speculating whether it was true or not. After all, Miss Cui San had been living with the Qi family since she was six years old. The cousins ​​grew up together, so it's possible that they had feelings for each other.

If this is true, Miss Cui Da was unwilling to marry Master Lu and caused all those things, which finally made the marriage fall on Miss Cui San. Isn't this breaking up a pair of lovebirds?

When the news reached the Marquis's residence, Madam Zhai's face turned pale and she angrily said, "What nonsense! How dare you make up such stories about the young lady of our Ningshou Marquis's residence without any evidence?"

Madam Zhai was so angry that she threw the teacup in her hand to the ground, making a crisp sound when it hit the ground.

Daimao and the others all held their breath, looking uneasy. None of them could have imagined that with the wedding about to take place on the 16th of next month, these rumors would actually spread. No wonder the old lady was so angry.

After a long while, Madam Zhai finally spoke, "Send someone to investigate where this rumor came from! It's clearly targeting Miss Yan and trying to ruin her reputation!"

Daimao replied yes, bowed, and went downstairs to make arrangements.

When Qi heard the news, she was also shocked. When she heard that her mother-in-law, Madam Zhai, was furious, she did not dare to delay and hurriedly brought Nanny Jiang to Xilan Courtyard.

When Mrs. Zhai saw her coming, her face turned cold, which made Qi feel uneasy.

"Mother."

Madam Zhai said angrily, "If you hadn't sent Yan girl to the Qi family back then, how could there be all these rumors today? Let me ask you, is your sister-in-law going to the capital this time because of Yan girl? Has she mentioned this to you?"

Qi's face changed drastically, and she quickly said, "No, the Qi family is a small family, how could my sister-in-law dare to have such thoughts. Besides, my nephew is proud and arrogant, and he might not be happy to be accused of marrying a girl from the Marquis' Mansion."

After hearing what she said, Madam Zhai stopped asking questions, but her expression was still very ugly.

"This is really worrying. I don't know what the Queen Mother and Old Madam Dou will think of our little girl Yan if these rumors spread to the palace and the Duke of Weiguo's mansion."

"Although the innocent are always innocent, I don't believe that Miss Yan would be so ignorant as to have an affair with Qi Shaozhang. But I think others may not understand Miss Yan and will only throw dirty water on her, waiting to see her and our Marquis' Mansion become a laughing stock. I don't know if this marriage can continue."

Izumo-in Temple

Cui Lingyan looked at Bi Tao's pale face, and forced herself to suppress the uneasiness in her heart. She said soothingly, "Don't worry for now. This marriage has been distorted by my elder sister once. If it is distorted again, I will be manipulated by others, but Lu Bingzhi, the heir of the Duke of Wei, will also become a laughing stock in the whole capital."