Madam Pei's courtyard.

When Madam Pei returned to the mansion, the courtyard, which should have been bustling with people and lively conversation, was now deserted as all the servants had been sent away.

In the large courtyard, only Madam Pei and Madam Wen were present.

Madam Pei sat in her armchair, her finger trembling with anger as she pointed at Wen, who was kneeling on the ground.

“You idiot, I know you’ve always favored your youngest son. You hate Yanzhi because you had a difficult childbirth and hurt your body. You hate him and resent him.”

"But I never expected that you would hate him to this extent. He is a nobleman's son, and you actually married him off to a low-ranking official."

"You're unfit to be a mother, you're completely insane."

Wen Shi clutched her Buddhist prayer beads, her eyes filled with tears of injustice. "Mother, you have really wronged your daughter-in-law. Jiang Shi was the one who wanted to marry him. How did it become that your daughter-in-law harmed him?"

"Ha! You've been a mistress for twenty years now. Yan Zhi studies at the Imperial Academy every day. Why would he suddenly propose to marry a woman? Who would believe there's nothing fishy going on here! Don't tell me you didn't see anything?"

Upon hearing this, Wen fell silent.

"You're so biased, so incredibly biased."

“Yan Zhi passed the imperial examination at the age of ten. Which family wouldn’t love and value him? But you can’t see his merits at all. You only have eyes for your youngest son, Yun Zhou.”

"With Yan Zhi's talent, he will surely pass the autumn examination next year. If he ranks high and makes further progress in the palace examination, with his exceptional talent and the assistance of our Marquis's mansion, even princesses and county princesses will fall for him."

“My poor grandson, he has to run into your own mother, who only knows how to suppress him and marry him off to a family that offers him no help whatsoever.”

Madam Pei slammed her hand on the table, heartbroken.

Wen muttered, "That was his own choice, not something I forced him to do."

Madam Pei was so angry she almost fell over, and didn't even want to look at Madam Wen.

"Get out, get back to your Buddhist shrine. Don't you like chanting scriptures? Don't eat today until you finish chanting the Lotus Sutra."

"Yes." A flash of resentment crossed Wen's eyes as she withdrew.

"Grandma, you've spoken too harshly. I'm afraid the eldest madam will hate you." Chang Mama, the most trusted servant of Madam Pei, came in from outside carrying a bowl of congee and a few side dishes.

The prince's marriage was kept a secret so tightly that the poor old lady didn't find out until the day before their wedding.

I rushed back under the cover of night, but it was still too late.

“Never mind her, it’s not like she’s only hated me for a short time,” Old Madam Pei said, her liver aching with anger, unable to eat at all. “The Marquis isn’t my biological son, I’m not her mother-in-law, and I’ve always been the one dominating her. It’s no wonder she hates me.”

At this point, Madam Pei became especially heartbroken.

She also had difficulty giving birth when she was young; her child died after birth, which damaged her health, and she could no longer have children.

Therefore, he transferred the son born to his concubine to his own name and inherited the title of Marquis.

“You’re doing this for her own good. You’ve been guiding her all these years,” Madam Chang advised. “Now that the eldest madam is a mother-in-law herself, she should understand your good intentions.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Madam Pei said, not having much confidence in Madam Wen. “I disagreed with her marriage to the Marquis back then. The daughter of a royal merchant is petty and calculating, and she can’t even read many characters.”

"A woman's lack of talent is not a virtue; that's just what people say. In all the noble ladies of the capital, which one doesn't know how to read and write?"

"But the Marquis liked her, and I'm not his biological mother, so I had no choice but to accept it. Later, she gave birth to Yanzhi and hurt her health. A little maid took the opportunity to climb into the Marquis's bed, and she hated Yanzhi because of this. I felt sorry for her and understood her situation."

“I never imagined that she would go too far these past few years. What did Yanzhi do wrong? She always favored her youngest son. Poor Yanzhi was only three or five years old at the time. He was mistreated by the servants and almost froze to death in the dead of winter wearing only thin clothes, but she didn’t care at all.”

Seeing how agitated she was, Madam Chang tried to soothe her while comforting her, saying, "The young master did have a tough childhood. He was raised by the old lady because of her love and care. He is also very promising. I heard from the teachers at the Imperial Academy that he is a first-rate student, even better than the children of civil officials."

"That's why I hate her even more for arranging a marriage for Yanzhi so carelessly. Yanzhi is going to inherit the Marquis's mansion in the future. The better he is, the better the Marquis's mansion will be. But Wen Shi doesn't understand this principle."

“I don’t think the young master seems to want to use marriage as a means to achieve his goals,” said Madam Chang, after considering Pei Yanzhi’s usual behavior.

As the master and servant were talking, a servant came to report that the heir apparent had arrived.

“I told him not to come, why did he still come?”

“The Crown Prince always gets up to study at dawn. He respects you, and when he heard that you were coming back, how could he sit still?”

Immediately, Madam Pei was cheered up by Chang Mama.

When Pei Yanzhi came in, the grandfather and grandson ate together and inevitably talked about Jiang Shuwan.

"Not bad," Pei Yanzhi said casually.

Seeing his grandmother frown, he thought for a moment and added, "Very reasonable."

He wasn't a talkative person to begin with, even when he was with his grandmother.

Seeing that she couldn't get any more information, Madam Pei stopped asking. The grandmother and grandson talked for a while, and then Pei Yanzhi went back.

"Grandma is tired from her journey, please rest."

Madam Pei nodded, and after he left, her expression changed slightly. "I want to see what kind of background this eldest daughter of the Jiang family has..."

Madam Chang, sensing the implied meaning, asked, "Grandma, shall we call the young master's wife over to pay her respects?"

"Need not."

"It's such a big event for the young master to get married, and I, this old lady, am not here. I'm sure the clansmen are all wondering about this. Madam Jiang is going back to her parents' home tomorrow. When she returns, I'll invite the clansmen to a gathering."

"Are we going to invite all the prominent relatives and the mistress of the house? I'm afraid the young master's wife might feel embarrassed in that situation." Mama Chang was taken aback.

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