Chapter 426 Qingyun is divorced
On this day.
It had just rained in the autumn, the ground was wet, and the temperature had dropped considerably.
In this kind of weather, Princess Jingning suddenly came to visit.
Meng Jinyao was overjoyed. She was feeling bored, and her best friend came to visit. Having someone to keep her company and pass the time was much better than having to find things to do on her own.
Although the maidservant was always with her, it was different from having a friend by her side. Because of her status, the maidservant would be reserved and unable to speak freely.
Princess Jingning sneaked out this time, and on the way there she bought some snacks from Yipinzhai and fed them to Meng Jinyao.
Princess Jingning was picky and could barely eat a few bites of the pastries made by the imperial chefs. But seeing her eating with such relish, she suddenly felt hungry and ate two pieces in a row. Suddenly, she said, "Ayao, I suddenly envy you so much."
Startled by her sudden remark, Meng Jinyao froze, looking at her with a puzzled expression, and asked with amusement, "What are you envious of me for? Envious that I'm older than you?"
“You’re only a year older than me.” Princess Jingning gave her a reproachful look, then added, “I envy you for having a sister-in-law. I suddenly realize that having a sister-in-law is quite nice.”
Meng Jinyao was confused: "But you have an older brother, and a sister-in-law, don't you?"
Princess Jingning said, "No, she is my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law on my husband's side."
Meng Jinyao said gently, "Young Master Shen is the eldest son of the legitimate wife, but he also has a younger brother born of a concubine. His younger brother is not yet of marriageable age, but he will get married eventually. At that time, won't you have a sister-in-law?"
“It’s different.” Princess Jingning sighed softly, feeling dejected. “I think it’s quite nice for someone like you to have an older sister-in-law to manage the household affairs. You don’t have to do all the work yourself. I just don’t understand why so many women crave managing the household affairs, which is hard work. I certainly don’t.”
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao understood. Ayan had previously revealed that the Princess knew Ayan's personality and had never considered marrying her off to the eldest son of the main wife to become the wife of the main wife. Therefore, she was not considered a wife of the main wife. Now, her fiancé, Prince Shen, is the eldest son of the main wife, and the Duchess of Shen is bedridden. If Ayan marries into the main wife, she will immediately have to take charge of the household affairs, which will be a pressure for Ayan.
Meng Jinyao comforted her, "Ayan, don't worry. You haven't married into the family yet, so the Princess will teach you. For now, you just need to learn what you need to learn. Besides, when you get married, the Princess will also select a few capable nannies to accompany you as part of your dowry and help you manage the household affairs. At that time, the situation won't be as difficult as you imagine."
Princess Jingning held her face in her hands, looking distressed, and said, "This morning, my mother gave me a pile of account books and asked me to learn how to reconcile accounts and find out which ones were problematic. I get a headache just looking at the account books, so I secretly ran out to get some fresh air."
Meng Jinyao was taken aback, not expecting that she had secretly run away. She asked, "If the Princess Consort finds out that you ran away, won't she be angry with you?"
Princess Jingning, having anticipated the outcome, replied, "When we get back, she'll definitely say I'm hopeless."
“Ayan is not a piece of trash, Ayan is a smart girl.”
Meng Jinyao gently comforted her, "Don't think of it as too difficult. Actually, looking at the account books is quite easy. You feel a headache because you see that the Princess has given you a lot of account books, making you feel that you will take a long time to finish looking at them, which makes you resistant. Put them aside for now and have the maids hand them to you one by one. After you finish one, have them hand you the next one."
Upon hearing this, Princess Jingning glanced at her with a subtle expression: "Ayao, you're treating me like a three-year-old. Even so, I still want to read so many books."
Meng Jinyao smiled and asked in return, "Otherwise what? Putting it aside for now is just to avoid seeing it and reduce resistance, but what needs to be done still needs to be done."
Princess Jingning sighed, and after a moment said, "Never mind, let's not talk about this for now."
Meng Jinyao said gently, "Ayan, don't rush, take your time. You won't be getting married until the end of the year."
Princess Jingning nodded gently: "Actually, I'm fine. I just wanted to vent to someone, and it feels much better now that I've said it. I'll get some sleep tonight and adjust my mindset tomorrow to continue looking at the accounts. My mother is so smart, I can't possibly fail to learn even this."
After hearing this, Meng Jinyao noticed that Ayan was no longer as disheartened as before. She spoke with a firm tone and a smile, saying, "Ayan likes Prince Shen very much. She said before that she would not marry the eldest son of the legitimate wife, but now that he is Prince Shen, you are willing."
As soon as she finished speaking, Princess Jingning turned her face away shyly, her tone rather arrogant: "He's alright, I think. He's quite pleasing to the eye. So when Duke Shen personally brought him to propose marriage, I told my mother that he's quite good-looking, and marrying him wouldn't be such a waste of my eyes."
Meng Jinyao smiled gently.
Princess Jingning suddenly remembered something, turned to look at her, and asked, "Ayao, have you heard about that matter?"
Meng Jinyao was puzzled: "What is it?"
Princess Jingning said, "Didn't Lord Gu have a fiancée before? She was from the Mei family. After Lord Gu was injured, the Mei family broke off the engagement, and she married someone else."
“Madam Wei?” Meng Jinyao nodded slightly, then continued, “Didn’t I go back to Huzhou Prefecture with the Marquis before? Her husband is the Prefect of Huzhou. I met her at the banquet for Lord Wei’s mother’s birthday celebration, which the Marquis and I were invited to. Why did you suddenly bring her up?”
Princess Jingning replied, "She was divorced by the Wei family and has now returned to her maternal home in the capital. It only happened a couple of days ago."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao's eyes widened in shock: "How could she have been divorced and sent back to her parents' home? I ran into her and Lord Wei when I went out with the Marquis earlier, and we even had lunch together. They seemed quite affectionate at the time, and she had told me about her loving relationship with Lord Wei."
Princess Jingning replied, "I heard it's because she has been married into the Wei family for many years without having children, and the Wei family disliked her for being unable to bear children, so they divorced her."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao felt something was amiss. Madam Wei had been married into the Wei family for so many years without bearing any children, yet the Wei family never considered divorcing her and remarrying. Instead, they registered the illegitimate son under Madam Wei's name. If they were truly divorcing her because she had no children, why would they have delayed for so many years?
The only possibility is that it was because of love. Because Lord Wei loved Madam Wei, he gave Madam Wei a letter of divorce at this critical juncture, allowing her to return to her parents' home.
Lord Wei was corrupt and accepted bribes, and he also caused the deaths of three officials. In addition, he is likely to have committed other evil deeds. When Lord Wei was escorted back to the capital, the Wei family will suffer.
Judging from the timeline, it should have been when her husband came to Hangzhou Prefecture to investigate Lord Han that Lord Wei divorced Madam Wei. At that time, Lord Wei also knew that the Wei family could not escape, and the women of the Wei family would most likely be exiled or sent to the brothel. Lord Wei did not want Madam Wei to suffer as well, so he found a reason to give her a letter of divorce.
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