Chapter 146: She lost power, didn’t she even pretend?
Because of some rift between the first and second houses in the mansion the day before, the atmosphere in the mansion was a little different.
When Cui Lingyan went to pay her respects to Old Madam Dou, He had already brought Lu Danyan to Qingdeyuan, but there was no sign of Cen and Lu Danruo.
After sitting down and talking for a while, Aunt Qi, who was beside Cen, came over to apologize, saying that the second young lady had caught a cold and had a fever in the middle of the night. The eldest lady had asked the court doctor to come over in the middle of the night, and the doctor was taking care of the second young lady at the moment and could not come to pay his respects to the old lady.
After Aunt Qi said this, the atmosphere in the room became a little strange.
The day before, it was clearly Cen who had questioned He, her younger sister-in-law, without any evidence, and even assaulted her. But now, Lu Danruo had caught a cold from being punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall, and the eldest wife, having to care for the second daughter, sent Madam Qi to complain. This made it seem as if the second branch was suppressing the eldest, that He was in power, and that Madam Dou, as her mother-in-law, was partial, leaving Cen, the eldest daughter-in-law, feeling wronged.
After all, people tend to sympathize with the weaker party. Furthermore, rumors were circulating within the mansion that since Old Lady Yin was considering marrying into the Duke of Wei's mansion, while she probably couldn't allow the second daughter to marry into the family due to fortune-telling, the eldest daughter, a member of the second house, might catch Old Lady Yin's eye and marry into the Duke of Ding's mansion and become a sister-in-law to Princess Chun'an.
If one has such good fortune, it is really enviable, which makes Cen and Lu Danruo look even weaker and more lonely.
He's expression changed slightly, and she said, "Did they actually alarm the court physician in the middle of the night?" As she spoke, she suggested to Old Madam Dou, "Mother, the court physician isn't as good as the palace physician. Otherwise, send someone to get a royal physician to come and give Danruo a thorough examination. This woman's health is paramount; we must make sure she doesn't develop any underlying illness."
He said this first, showing her concern for Lu Danruo. Aunt Qi's eyes changed slightly immediately. She felt that it was no wonder that her wife could not defeat He. If it was her wife today, she would definitely not make such a suggestion. She might even hope that the second lady would get sick.
He's concern and her demeanor as a good aunt made it difficult to find fault with her.
Madam Dou thought about it and nodded, "Alright, then please ask the imperial physician to come over and take a look at Danruo."
After saying this, Madam Dou glanced at Madam Qi and said, "Go back to the Peony Courtyard and serve. Since Danruo is not feeling well, tell your wife to take care of her these days. You don't need to come and pay your respects to me."
Aunt Qi replied with a "yes," but she was a little worried. She didn't know whether the old lady's words were sincere and sympathetic to her wife or whether she disliked her wife so much that she didn't even want to meet her.
She felt a little uncomfortable, thinking that the Madam was, after all, the eldest daughter-in-law of the eldest son's family. Even if she had been wrong in the previous incident, she had only momentarily lost her mind and attacked the Second Madam. Hadn't the old Madam, in her rage, punished the Second Madam by making her kneel for an hour in the ancestral hall in the Madam's place? After damaging the eldest son's reputation in this way, was the old Madam still going to hold on to this matter?
She subconsciously looked at Cui Lingyan who was sitting next to Old Madam Dou, thinking that the young madam was the daughter-in-law of the eldest son after all. Even if she was not close to her mother-in-law, the madam, she would at least say a good word for her.
Cui Lingyan noticed her gaze, but said nothing, nor did she think of going to see Lu Danruo. If she went to visit the patient, Lu Danruo might be very angry and think that her sister-in-law came to laugh at her.
Seeing Cui Lingyan show no regard for the First Lady and the Second Young Lady, Madam Qi sighed softly. She regretted not having persuaded the Madam and the Second Young Lady to get along well with the Young Lady when she first married into the mansion. If they had gotten along well, if things hadn't gotten so bad, the Second Lady wouldn't have taken over most of the household expenses from her own Lady and even tried to disrupt the Second Young Lady's marriage.
Even if the monk's fortune-telling was not caused by the second wife, if the second wife and the eldest daughter really did not have such intentions, they should have promised in front of the lady that even if the second daughter could not marry into the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, the eldest daughter would not have such an idea.
If there had been such a guarantee, his wife would not have been so upset and lost her mind and attacked the second wife.
Aunt Qi bowed, turned around and walked away.
He glanced at Cui Lingyan subtly, and a certain admiration welled up in her heart. She felt that she was truly at ease and carefree in her role as the Crown Prince's wife. If it were someone else, even if they disliked their sister-in-law Lu Danruo, upon hearing that she had a fever, they would have feigned concern and visited her. But Cui Lingyan didn't even bother pretending, unfazed by the old lady's fear that she was short-tempered and vindictive, and would become dissatisfied with her, her grandson's wife.
Cui Lingyan took a sip of tea, not feeling that there was anything wrong with her behavior. She would only feel uncomfortable if she showed concern. After all, Lu Danruo only had a fever, nothing was wrong. She had only been married into the Duke of Wei's mansion for a few months, and she had no real connection with her sister-in-law, Lu Danruo. If she showed concern, she would feel it was too fake.
She understood Old Madam Dou's temperament. If she did this, the old lady would be dissatisfied with her and think she was pretending.
If that's the case, why should she do this?
Cui Lingyan did not suggest visiting the patient. Even if He and Lu Danyan wanted to be more careful, they could not go to visit the patient, so as not to appear aggressive and make a fool of themselves.
For a moment, no one spoke, and the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly strange. This large family had isolated Cen and Lu Danruo, and no one could get along with them.
Old Madam Dou saw all this and did not find Cui Lingyan so heartless and chilling. Just as Cui Lingyan thought, if she pretended to care about him or even visited him in order to show her generosity as a sister-in-law, she would feel that Cui was very thoughtful.
After this incident, I just hope that Cen and Ruoyatou can reflect on it and not act without scruples just because they are the eldest sons of the family.
Thinking of Lu Danruo, Old Madam Dou felt a little regretful. She thought that if she had known that Danruo would be raised like this by Cen, she should have raised her by her side when she was born, so as to avoid the rift between the grandmother and granddaughter today.
She wanted to love her more, but if Danruo's temper didn't change, it would always make people feel disappointed.
Here, Madam Qi took the invitation from the mansion and invited the imperial physician from the palace.
The imperial physician took Lu Danruo's pulse, prescribed medicine to reduce the fever, and then said goodbye and left.
Cen ordered the maid to send the imperial physician away and gave her a thick red envelope. She looked at her daughter, who was leaning on the bed with her cheeks still red, and sighed, "Take the medicine well and get the fever down first. Ask the kitchen to make some food. Even if you don't have an appetite, eat something. Otherwise, you won't get better."
Lu Danruo looked at Aunt Qi and asked, "You told Grandmother that I was sick, and Grandmother only asked you to call the imperial physician. Didn't she say anything else? Didn't she also ask anyone to send me some nourishing food?"
Aunt Qi has always known Lu Danruo's personality. When she heard her ask this, her expression changed slightly.
I remember that although the second young lady was not as popular as the prince in front of the old lady, if she was sick, the old lady would still show some concern, send her trusted confidant, Nanny Sun, to visit her and bring some supplements and food here.
But now that the young lady was ill, the old lady had summoned the imperial physician, but she hadn't actually shown any concern. It was as if the young lady had gotten sick because of kneeling in the ancestral hall, and it was all her own fault. She didn't care about her granddaughter at all.
Seeing that Madam Qi remained silent, Lu Danruo's face darkened. She coughed twice and asked, "Grandmother didn't say she was coming to see me, so what about Cui? When you went there, Cui must have been paying her respects to Grandmother at Qingdeyuan. She's not afraid of being accused of not caring about me, her sister-in-law. Doesn't she even pretend?"
Lu Danruo's hands clenched tightly around the handkerchief, her nails turning white from the pressure. This indifference made her feel even more suffocated and uncomfortable. She was the eldest daughter of the eldest son, the most distinguished person in the mansion besides the Crown Prince Lu Bingzhi. Now that she had a fever, her grandmother ignored her, and her sister-in-law Cui didn't even pretend to be kind.
Did he feel that she and her mother had lost their power and that they didn't need her, the Crown Prince's wife, to take him seriously?
Thinking back to those handkerchief friends she had grown up with, how their sisters-in-law had tried to please them, how they were afraid they would dislike them, but when it came to her, it was just like this. Even though Lu Danruo already knew Cui Lingyan's personality, she still felt neglected and a little angry.
Hearing her mention Cui Lingyan, the young lady, Madam Qi sighed softly and said in a comforting voice, "The young lady must be afraid that coming to visit the patient will make the second young lady angry, so she didn't think of coming."
In her opinion, why did the girl bother asking such a question and only humiliating herself? In this wealthy family, most of the sisters-in-law were superficially harmonious, but it was rare to see such a relationship between the girl and the young lady.
Ultimately, it was the Madam and the Second Miss who had caused the situation to become what it was. Ultimately, it had nothing to do with the Young Madam; it was all the Prince's fault.
The stepmother, the Madam, does not get along well with the Crown Prince, and the Second Miss does not have much brotherly and sisterly affection with the Crown Prince. They are not even as close as the eldest daughter of the second house, Lu Danyan. Cui married into the family because she was liked by the Crown Prince, so she naturally understood his temperament and preferences. How could she think about getting along well with the Madam and the Second Miss?
Even if she had thought about giving some face to Cui earlier, the second girl had been disrespectful to Cui several times, so how could Cui still have such intention?
Not to mention, Old Madam Mei once deliberately embarrassed the Young Madam by using the affairs of the former wife of the Marquis of Kangshou's Mansion. In order to vent the Young Madam's anger, the Crown Prince had someone catch the scandal of the Old Master and the young waiter and made it known to everyone. They had already torn their faces apart, so how could they get along well with each other?
With so many things happening before her, the second girl would be asking for trouble by asking this question.
If these words were to reach the ears of the young lady, I'm afraid she would look down on the second young lady even more.
But people are like this. They always feel that the young lady is still the daughter-in-law of the eldest house. Didn’t she also hope that the young lady would be sympathetic to the lady and the second young lady when they were in Qingde Courtyard?
It’s a pity that the young lady is not the type to repay evil with kindness. She will not force herself to do things she doesn’t want to do just for the sake of a good reputation.
When Lu Danruo asked this question, she felt a little embarrassed. She lowered her head, clutched the handkerchief in her hand, and couldn't help but shed tears.
Mrs. Cen also felt sorry for her daughter. She should have been the most honorable girl in the mansion, but now the old lady was partial to her and didn't care about her daughter, her own granddaughter, at all.
As the wife of a duke, she had handed over most of the household responsibilities to others, and the maids and servants serving her in the mansion probably looked down on her from the bottom of their hearts.
"Stop crying, take good care of yourself."
Yesterday, her sister-in-law Xue came to her and asked her for five thousand taels of silver. She was already upset thinking about the affairs of her mother's family. Now her daughter was sick and the old lady didn't show any concern. She felt even more ashamed and lost some patience with her daughter.
Lu Danruo was already somewhat sensitive due to her illness, so how could she not hear the irritation in her mother's tone? She felt even more aggrieved, but seeing Cen's unpleasant expression, she did not dare to lose her temper. She only said bitterly, "Aunt is right. Cui is neglecting us mother and daughter like this now. I'm afraid she will look down on us even less when she gets pregnant and gives birth to a child."
"You advised me to get along well with her before, but I also showed weakness. Every time I saw her, I always called her sister-in-law and didn't dare to be disrespectful to her. But how she treated me, she didn't accept my kindness at all. She didn't even come to see me when I was sick, nor did she show any concern. Yesterday, you and aunt had an argument and grandmother blamed you, but she didn't even plead for us. If she really got pregnant and gave birth to a child with her condition like this, I don't dare to imagine what would happen to her. Who knows, she might really urge grandmother to marry her off as soon as possible as my aunt said?"
Cen wanted to say something, but at this time a maid came in from outside, looking like she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Cen's face darkened. "Just say whatever you want to say. Why are you hesitating like this?"
Seeing her like this, the maidservant did not dare to hesitate and replied, "Reporting to the Madam, the old lady Yin from the Dingguo Mansion has arrived at the mansion and is now in the old lady's courtyard."
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