Lady Hou's eyes were red from crying. Granny Wu wrung out a hot towel for her and said, "You know, why did you have to argue with the Marquis like this? To put it bluntly, Xu Rao is just a son of a concubine, and he's already married. He's just lucky to have passed the imperial examination and become an official in another place. What kind of conflict could he possibly have with our heir?"

Lady Hou placed the hot cloth over her eyes, and Granny Wu helped cover them up. She continued, "In the Marquis's eyes, the Heir Apparent and Xu Rao are both his children. They will look out for each other from now on. If Xu Rao does well, it will be an honor for our Marquis's mansion. Our Heir Apparent can also benefit from Xu Rao's influence and make things easier for him, right?"

Lady Hou gave a soft snort and said, "This bastard child, who knows where he got pregnant, can be called our young master's brother? I clearly told the Marquis back then that I wouldn't interfere in anything concerning this child. Now, he comes here to criticize me. On what grounds? How much grievance did I suffer because of what happened back then? Why did I hand over the power of managing the household to our young master's eldest wife so early? Wasn't it because I didn't want to get involved in the affairs of the manor anymore? And he, on the contrary, is blatantly stabbing me in the heart."

Granny Wu sighed and said, "Madam, you said your granddaughter is already looking for a husband, why are you still arguing with the Marquis? If you and the Marquis hurt your relationship over such unimportant things, who will suffer? Isn't it you, the young master, and the eldest young lady? We should appease the Marquis properly for the sake of our eldest young lady, shouldn't we? The Marquis will still need to help us with the eldest young lady's affairs later."

Just now, Lady Hou was originally thinking of discussing with Lord Hou about finding a wife of higher social standing for her grandson Zhao Sixing. That way, with a granddaughter-in-law to keep him in check, Lady Hou might be able to relinquish her power as the head of the household. But before they could even discuss it, Lord Hou brought up Xu Rao's matter.

Lady Hou pulled the handkerchief off her eyes and said, "He clearly knew I didn't want to hear about Xu Rao, yet he still told me. How could I stand it? You experienced what happened back then. Tell me, what did I do wrong?"

Seeing that Madam Hou's eyes were red again, Granny Wu quickly said, "Please calm down and don't get angry. It's not worth getting upset over these people. Quickly send Chunlan to tell Madam what happened earlier, so that Madam won't hear from others and have any further misunderstandings."

Upon hearing this, Madam Hou said, "Alright, quickly arrange for Chunlan to go to the eldest mistress's courtyard."

That night was anything but peaceful, all because Xu Rao had delivered the old lady's birthday gift ahead of schedule, causing unrest among the masters of the mansion.

After the Marquis returned to his study, he sent someone to summon the heir apparent. No servants were left in the room. What they discussed was unknown to anyone but the Marquis and the heir apparent. After returning to his own courtyard, the heir apparent and his wife talked behind closed doors for half the night. According to the servants in the heir apparent's courtyard, the lamp in his room was not turned off until midnight. However, the next day, the Yongning Marquis's residence sent someone to find merchants traveling to and from Hexi and asked them to bring a cartload of goods for them.

She didn't dare ask the Zhang family's business to send something. Although the old lady didn't concern herself with the affairs of the mansion, she was still very clear about them. When she had a moment, she quietly said to Granny Shen, "These people just don't know themselves. We're all family, why do we have to act like enemies? They don't know how capable our Third Master and Third Mistress are. When they rise to prominence, let's see how they'll have the face to take advantage of them."

What could Granny Shen say? No matter what, they were still family. No matter how much they argued and fought behind closed doors, they were still family to outsiders.

The old lady sighed and said, "Our Lady of the Marquis has lived most of her life, but she still doesn't understand. She's over fifty years old, and all she thinks about is love and romance. She knew it was unreliable when she was young, so why can't she see it clearly now? Sigh!"

A long sigh made Granny Shen feel quite uneasy. The old lady was almost seventy years old. Other people at her age would be enjoying the blessings of their children and grandchildren at home, but she still had to worry about her children and grandchildren, and she couldn't worry about them openly, but could only worry about them quietly behind their backs.

The old lady looked at Granny Chen's face and said, "Think about it again. It's my fault for not setting proper rules for my daughter-in-law back then. I always felt that our own children are children, and other people's daughters are also children. There's no reason why we should pamper and spoil our own children. Other people's daughters, who are raised to sixteen or seventeen, have to suffer when they come to our family. I also couldn't bear to see my daughter-in-law suffer in our family. There are many things that I, as the mother-in-law, should have taught my daughter-in-law properly. It's my fault for not teaching her well."

Seeing that the old lady was starting to blame herself, Granny Shen quickly said, "Old Madam, please don't say that. You are a well-known good mother-in-law in our capital. Everyone says you are a wise person and that you love your daughter-in-law. No matter what happens in our household, we don't have the same kind of troubles as other households."

The old lady looked at the teacup on the kang table, its aroma wafting through the air, and felt increasingly saddened. After a long silence, she said, "Forget it, we don't care what others do. From now on, we should send things to Rao'er and Zhaoci often. We won't use the public accounts; we'll use my private accounts. It doesn't matter what kind of delicious food, fun toys, or fashionable fabrics we send them. It's unreasonable that we are all descendants of the Marquis's family. Others can live a life of luxury at home without doing anything, while our children, who are working hard for the Marquis's family, can't enjoy these things."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!