Chapter 3 Mother Cannot Return to the Earl's Mansion
These people were all riding tall horses and wearing uniform military attire. The young man at the front, riding straight and exuding an imposing aura, was clearly the leader.
These people noticed they had slowed down, and one of them shouted at them:
"Has something happened up ahead?"
Seeing that these people were actually taking the initiative to talk to them, Yu Sucheng's mother quickly gestured to Liu Mama, who was beside her, to step forward and answer.
The old woman stepped forward and said a few words to the young man in the lead. Yu Qingci looked up and saw that the young man looked up at them a few times, then turned to say a few words to the person next to him.
Granny Liu bowed several times, then returned with a joyful expression, saying:
"Madam, we are lucky to have met the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei. Hearing that we are the heir of the Nanping Earl's family, he was very polite and asked if there was anything we could do to help us."
Hearing that our horses had encountered problems, the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei offered to lend us several fine horses.
Su Chengniang was overjoyed upon hearing this, while Yu Qingci was secretly relieved.
Fortunately, the delay just now led to an unexpected encounter with the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei. If they had truly left the horse accident to Steward Li's arrangements as they had in their previous life, they would have already left the official road and headed to the inn, thus missing this group of people.
As they were speaking, soldiers led several horses over.
Seeing this, Su Chengniang decided to go over and thank her in person, and Yu Qingci followed her like a little tail.
The mother and daughter approached the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei, performed a curtsy, and expressed their gratitude:
"I am Lady Su, the wife of the Earl of Nanping. I am very grateful for your help, Your Highness. I will definitely ask my master to come and express my gratitude when we return to the capital."
Before the Marquis of Zhenbei's heir could answer, he heard someone behind him mutter quietly:
"Is this Lady Nanping? Strange, I've seen Lady Nanping before, she doesn't look like this. Besides, Lady Nanping isn't Su, her surname is Qiao."
Although the man's voice wasn't loud, everyone present could hear it clearly.
Su Chengniang's face paled. Yu Qingci looked up at the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei, only to see him frown slightly before quickly saying:
"It was nothing, I don't deserve your thanks."
It was obvious that they didn't intend to investigate the family affairs of the Marquis of Nanping here.
Just as the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei was about to lead his troops away after exchanging a polite remark, Yu Qingci suddenly looked up at him and said:
"I have another request. If Your Highness is not in a hurry to travel, could you please take us with you? It's getting dark, and to be honest, we are quite uneasy here as we are unfamiliar with the area."
What bothered her was that since this prince was willing to lend them horses, he must be kind-hearted and easy to talk to. So why not shamelessly travel with them? At this moment, saving their lives was the most important thing, and everything else could be put aside for now.
The voice of the Marquis of Zhenbei's heir came: "I'm so sorry, I have official business to attend to and cannot delay any longer. I must take my leave first."
Yu Qingci's smile froze, and before she could say anything more, the other person continued:
"The area is close to the capital, so there shouldn't be any security issues. If you're really worried, these are my personal guards; I'll have them stay and escort you."
Su Chengniang was surprised that her daughter was so bold as to ask to travel with others. She was about to warn her daughter when the heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei actually selected a few guards to stay behind.
The mother and daughter expressed their gratitude once again.
The heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei left behind a few guards and horses and rode away.
The group boarded the carriage again and continued their journey. This time, with the guards left behind by the Marquis of Zhenbei accompanying them, Yu Qingci felt much more at ease.
They did not stay at the inn today, thus escaping this calamity from their past life.
However, I always feel uneasy with Manager Li around, so I'd better be extra careful tonight.
Seeing that her daughter remained silent for a long time, Su Chengniang spoke up:
“Qingci, you were rash just now. The heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei has no connection with us. It is already very kind of him to lend us horses. You really shouldn’t have mentioned traveling together with him. A young lady should know how to be reserved.”
Yu Qingci knew her mother would definitely criticize her for what had just happened, so instead of explaining, she tugged at her mother's arm and said in a coquettish tone:
"Mother, I know I was wrong. I was really worried that something might happen on the way, so I blurted it out. I won't do it again."
Su Chengniang playfully poked her daughter's forehead with her finger and said, "You're just worrying for no reason. We'll be in the capital tomorrow, and with so many servants and guards following us, what could possibly happen? Besides, your father has made all the arrangements along the way."
When her mother mentioned her father, Yu Qingci felt a mix of emotions. At this time, her mother still trusted her father very much.
As for the many troubles that occurred after returning to the capital, no, while her father was not around, she had to persuade her mother not to return to the Marquis's mansion after arriving in the capital.
My mother was my father's first wife. More than ten years ago, her maternal grandparents, who were officials in the capital, got into trouble and the whole family was imprisoned. The old lady of the Nanping Earl's Mansion, who was also her own grandmother, took the opportunity to demote my mother to a concubine so that her son could marry another daughter-in-law she preferred.
My mother was strong-willed. In her grief and indignation, she argued with my grandmother, saying that she would rather be divorced than be a concubine. She took the divorce papers and left the Earl's Mansion, following my maternal grandfather's family to the place of exile.
After leaving her mother, the grandmother quickly arranged for her father to marry the legitimate daughter of Minister Qiao.
By the time her father returned to the capital after completing his business, everything was already settled, and her grandmother had already arranged for the bride, Qiao, to enter the family.
Fortunately, the father always cared about the mother and kept sending people to search for her whereabouts. Several years later, he reunited with the mother in Youyang, a thousand miles away. For the sake of the mother, the father resigned from his official position in the capital and volunteered to serve as a local official in Youyang, a position he held for more than ten years.
So from the time she could remember, she knew that her grandmother, who lived far away in the capital, loathed her mother so much that she and her brother refused to acknowledge her as well.
Over the years, the mother and her two children have lived with their father in other places and have never returned to the capital, so they have never had the opportunity to be included in the family genealogy and recognize their ancestors.
This time, her father was transferred back to the capital. In order for her and her brother to have a legitimate identity in front of others, her mother agreed to go back to the capital with her father. Little did her mother know that returning to the capital would be the beginning of their nightmare.
And she was the first one to be schemed against.
Having figured this out, Yu Qingci raised her head and asked, "Mother, when we get to the capital, are we really going to live in the Earl's mansion?"
Su Chengniang was surprised to hear this, and said, "Of course, your father is the Earl of Nanping, and you two siblings are his own flesh and blood. After so many years, you should go back to recognize your ancestors and return to your clan."
Yu Qingci looked worried: "But we have been living outside with Father all these years. In the capital, the Earl's Mansion has another daughter-in-law whom my grandmother arranged for Father. Everyone in the capital knows that the Lady of Nanping is the legitimate daughter of Minister Qiao. If Mother goes back this time, I'm afraid she will be criticized for her status."
Besides, Grandmother has never liked us and has refused to acknowledge us for so many years. Now she's actually asking us to go back. Has Mother ever considered that there might be something fishy going on?
“There’s nothing suspicious about it. Regardless of your grandmother’s attitude, we will naturally come back with your father when he is transferred back to the capital.”
Despite saying that, Su Chengniang was still unsure.
The letter of divorce she received back then was not written by Yu Jingsheng himself, but by the old lady of the Earl's Mansion. It also did not have her husband's signature, so according to the laws of the dynasty, it was not valid.
However, after she left the Marquis's mansion, the old lady had the matter publicized widely, so that many people in the capital knew that Su Chengniang had been divorced by the Marquis's mansion.
Soon after, the Earl's Mansion held a grand ceremony to marry Qiao, a new wife for Yu Jingsheng. So in the eyes of the world, the current mistress of the Nanping Earl's Mansion is Qiao. Who still remembers Su Chengniang from back then?
Su Chengniang: "Your father promised me that I would still be his legal wife after we go back, and he would never let my mother and son suffer any injustice."
Yu Qingci sighed inwardly. At this moment, her father truly cared about her mother and her siblings, but the promise he made might not be kept.
The father was the Earl of Nanping, a high-ranking official who was busy with official business every day. It was impossible for him to stay in the inner quarters to watch over them every day. It was easy for the grandmother and Madam Qiao to torment them when the father couldn't see them.
Otherwise, how could the news of their attack on the way back to the capital in their previous life have spread like wildfire, and how could their mother's innocence have been questioned? Taking advantage of the situation, their grandmother made things difficult for them in every way possible, refusing to acknowledge their mother's status as the legal wife, and causing quite a stir.
Yu Qingci: "This time when we returned to Beijing, we also brought back the memorial tablets of my maternal grandparents. My maternal grandfather had only passed away a few months ago, and my mother was in mourning. At this time, my grandmother would probably be even more displeased with our return to the Earl's Mansion. My father once said that the Earl's Mansion is a prominent family with strict rules. Would my grandmother allow my mother to burn paper money in her own courtyard to pay respects to my maternal grandparents?"
"this......"
Su Chengniang was even more speechless.
She had considered these things her daughter mentioned, but she deliberately ignored them because she thought her children's future was more important. Now that her daughter had brought them up directly, she had to re-examine the possibility of these things.
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