Inside the house, the old lady was also wondering why the Duke of Wei's mansion would send out an invitation to invite the daughter of a concubine from the Marquis's family to come to the mansion to appreciate the flowers. There must be some special reason for this.
The third wife said, "This is very strange of the Duke of Wei's mansion. Should we send someone to inquire about it?"
The second wife said, "A few days ago, I heard some news about the Duke of Wei's mansion. The wife of the Duke of Wei's heir passed away more than half a year ago, and the Duke of Wei's heir will be out of mourning in a few months. Could it be that the wife of the Duke of Wei has taken a fancy to the fourth young lady and intends to marry her as a second wife?"
Shen Wan and the others walked to the screen and heard these words, so they stopped and did not go in.
Shen Ying and Shen Rong looked at Shen Wei, who was shy and blushed deeply under their gazes.
The old lady fiddled with her prayer beads and said, "That's possible. The heir of the Duke of Wei will be out of mourning for several months, and the fourth young lady will also be a few months away from her coming-of-age ceremony, but..."
The old lady didn't say anything more, but everyone understood.
The fourth daughter is not good enough for the heir of the Duke of Wei.
Even though the Duke of Wei's heir was a second wife and had a two-year-old son, the Fourth Master was only a fifth-rank official and was born out of wedlock. Shen Wei was also gentle and soft-hearted, so it was impossible for her to catch the eye of the Duke of Wei's wife.
Of course, the other daughters of the Marquis's family would not marry the heir of the Duke of Wei as a second wife. The heir of the Duke of Wei had a legitimate son, which meant that even if the second wife had three, five, seven, or eight sons, she would not be able to inherit the title. Without inheriting the title and the family property, no matter how high the status of the heir of the Duke of Wei, the legitimate daughters of ordinary noble families would not marry him, unless they were betting that the legitimate son would die before reaching adulthood.
When the Fourth Madam learned that the Duke of Wei's mansion had sent an invitation to her daughter to come and admire the flowers, she put down her work and came to Qinghui Courtyard. As soon as she entered the room, the Third Madam asked, "Have you seen the Duchess of Wei these past few days, sister-in-law?"
Fourth Madam did not hide anything from her and told her the truth, "A few days ago, I took Wei'er out of the manor and met the Duchess of Wei, but we only exchanged greetings and did not talk for more than a few words."
She didn't believe her daughter could catch the eye of the Duchess of Wei.
The old lady held up her teacup, gently stirring it. The rising steam obscured her face, making it impossible to see what she was thinking.
She took a couple of sips of tea, put down her teacup, and said, “Regardless of what the Duchess of Wei’s intentions are, since she has sent an invitation to the Fourth Miss to go and admire the flowers, she should go openly the day after tomorrow. She is timid and has never gone out alone before. Just teach her some manners these two days and make sure she doesn’t embarrass the Marquis’s mansion.”
The fourth wife was also worried that her daughter wouldn't be able to handle it, so she suggested, "How about we send one of the young ladies along?"
The old lady glanced at the fourth wife, her face somewhat displeased, "If the Duke of Wei's mansion wanted them to accompany her, they wouldn't have sent separate invitations and only invited the fourth young lady."
Besides, it was always the daughters born out of wedlock who accompanied the daughters born out of wedlock to do things; there was no reason for the daughters born out of wedlock to accompany the daughters born out of wedlock. Knowing that the fourth wife was just worried and confused, the old lady did not scold her.
Shen Wan was still wondering whether she should go with Shen Wei, but after the old lady said that, she didn't even need to say anything.
However, she was also prepared and would never let her fourth sister be as unlucky as she was in her previous life.
After the topic ended, Shen Wan and the others went around the screen and entered the room. Shen Wan did not mention a word about Shen Ying helping Prince Jin meet with Shen Wan. Firstly, she had to save face, and secondly, the old lady definitely knew. However, when she went out in the morning, Shen Ying asked her if she was going or not, without implying that she had to go. Therefore, Shen Wan was not on guard.
Xie Jingyan sent people to protect her secretly, and this situation will not happen again in the future. She knew this in her heart.
The old lady asked them about their trip to Huguo Temple. Shen Ying said aggrievedly, "I'd better not go to Huguo Temple with my eldest sister in the future. She left us to accompany Prince Ling to Huguo Temple. She knew that neither my third sister nor I liked the vegetarian food at Huguo Temple, but she insisted on having lunch before coming back, without considering my third sister's and my feelings at all."
This is no different from directly saying that Shen Wan is selfish.
Shen Wan wouldn't let her accuse her. "In the past, my fourth sister and I always accommodated my second and third sisters. We would come back for lunch hungry and never said a bad word about them. Today, you only accommodated us once and you complained to Grandmother in a pitiful manner. People who don't know the situation would think that my fourth sister and I did something to you."
The maids and servants who had just thought Shen Wan was selfish suddenly felt that Shen Ying was selfish and self-serving. She didn't expect others to accommodate her, but she herself didn't accommodate others.
Shen Ying puffed out her cheeks in anger. The old lady said, "Alright, sisters of the same household, arguing over such a trivial matter, what kind of behavior is this?"
The old lady was always like this. When Shen Ying had the upper hand, she would let them argue. When Shen Ying was at a disadvantage, she would step in and give each of them a beating. Shen Ying's selfishness was just like that of the old lady.
Feeling bored, Shen Wan got up to take her leave. After she left, the Fourth Madam also left with Shen Wei.
Having walked quite a distance that morning, and almost being bullied by Xie Jingyin, Shen Wan was extremely tired. She rarely took a nap, so when she returned to Qinglan Garden, she drank half a cup of tea and fell asleep.
She was sound asleep when she was startled awake by the sound of something breaking.
Shen Wan opened her eyes, and Zi Yu's scolding voice came from outside, "You can't even carry something properly, you're so clumsy."
Then came Silver Frost's retort, "If you hadn't deliberately bumped into me, would I have dropped the teacup?!"
Ziyu retorted angrily, "You're framing me!"
Yinshuang was even more furious, "You know perfectly well whether you're harboring malicious intentions!"
The argument escalated, igniting Shen Wan's temper. She sat up and shouted towards the door, "Come in, all of you."
Almost instantly, the noise outside the door stopped.
With a creak, the door was pushed open, and Ziyu and Yinshuang walked in. Yinshuang apologized in a low voice, "I disturbed the young lady's sleep."
Shen Wan's gaze swept across the two faces. "You know you're disturbing my sleep, huh? Why don't you two just come and make noise right in front of my bed?"
Ziyu said, "It was Yinshuang who didn't hold the teacup steady..."
"It's clearly you..."
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Shen Wan scolded, "Still arguing? Do you both want to get a beating?!"
Yinshuang bit her lip, feeling a little wronged, and then said, "This servant will help you get up, Miss."
She went to get her dress, but Ziyu beat her to it, making Yinshuang's chest heave with anger.
She glared at Ziyu, wondering what she had done to offend her these past few days that made her so constantly harass her!
"Why is this maid so impatient?" Shen Wan said with some disappointment. "Ziyu is enough to serve you. You may leave now."
Feeling wronged, Yin Shuang felt even more aggrieved when Shen Wan told her to leave, and she retreated with red eyes.
Ziyu was surprised that Shenwan had kept her. She thought that the young lady was closer to Yinshuang and had become distant from her. She knew that Yinshuang had been trying to sow discord between her and the young lady. She would have to keep a close eye on her from now on and make sure that Yinshuang would not be able to take away her position in front of the young lady.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
