Chapter 30 A Serious and Unrepentant Demeanor
Qingling clenched her fingers.
She certainly understood what Granny Rong was saying.
She was originally just an orphan from the Marquis of Zhongyong's household, living a life of dependence on others.
It was Princess Deyang who saw her and arranged for her to marry her son, making her the second young mistress of the Duke's mansion, a position that no one could underestimate.
She gained a prestigious status, and some people looked up to her and others relied on her; her once declining maternal family also rose to prominence because of her.
If she divorces, she will lose her noble status and be ridiculed in the future; if she returns to the Marquis's mansion, those people will treat her even worse.
All things considered, she should endure it until Zhan Xingzhuo's heart returns to her.
Even if Zhan Xingzhuo's heart can never come back, she will still hold onto her position as the young mistress, just as she once told Zhou Zhining: the couple may be outwardly harmonious but inwardly estranged, each guarding their own courtyard and living their own lives.
To the outside world, they are still husband and wife; she remains the high and mighty young mistress of the Duke's mansion.
When Zhan Xingzhuo rises to a higher position and becomes a third-rank official, she will be the wife of a high-ranking official. If she can rely on her husband to become a Lady of Imperial Decree, that would be an even greater honor.
What good would it do her to get a divorce?
Yao Qingling had, of course, thought about it before making the decision.
But as she repeatedly saw Zhan Xingzhuo sideline her, ignoring her feelings and her dignity, she couldn't bear it...
She didn't want to spend her whole life in misery, wallowing in self-pity and heartbroken over her husband's indifference, while simultaneously having to depend on others, rely on their power, and live under that prestigious status.
In the eyes of the powerful and wealthy, she was already a laughable figure. The word "virtuous wife" was both a constraint on her and an irony.
She is not Zhou Zhining.
Zhou Zhining's unwillingness to divorce and leave the Wang family stems from the fact that she still offers the Wang family something to gain.
Yao Qingling is not.
She was not the daughter of a disgraced official.
Her father was General Anyuan, and the late Marquis Zhongyong.
She is the daughter of a military family; she has her pride, not her dignity being trampled on!
But Princess Deyang...
Although she had her own reasons for arranging for Zhan Xingzhuo to marry her, Qingling had also genuinely felt the love and care that the Grand Princess had given her—a care she had never received from the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion in those years.
Zhan Xingzhuo's birthday is also the day his mother suffered.
Qingling shouldn't have made her sad on this day; consider it an act of filial piety.
Qingling's stubborn gaze softened slightly, and she calmly said, "Granny, I will listen to you today."
She called Taoye over: "Come with me to deliver the longevity package to Second Master."
Peach Leaf was extremely nervous.
She was afraid of Granny Rong and worried that Granny Rong would tell the Grand Princess Deyang that if the Duke's Mansion was dissatisfied with her, her daughter would be punished.
—Although so far, the Grand Princess has been tolerant of the young lady and has not punished her.
When Tao Ye heard Qing Ling call her, she came to her senses and hurriedly went to the kitchen to get the longevity buns.
Yao Qingling steadily carried the longevity bun to the outer study.
The steamed buns, shaped like peaches, were still warm when they arrived, with a light pink outer skin and wisps of steam rising from them, each one resembling a fairy peach.
Qingling placed the longevity packet on the small table next to Zhan Xingzhuo.
At this moment, the man is painting.
He was dressed in loose casual clothes, holding a wolf-hair brush, and meticulously sketching the woman's black hair stroke by stroke.
Yao Qingling didn't see who he was drawing, but her action of putting down the longevity bun caught Zhan Xingzhuo's attention.
He glanced at the longevity packets, put down his pen, and looked indifferently at Qingling.
"Now you know you were wrong?" He picked up a longevity bun. "If only I had known—"
Qingling spoke calmly, "It was sent by the Grand Princess of Deyang. The Grand Princess always thinks of my lord..." She paused, as if giving a final piece of advice, "My lord may not remember the kindness of others, but the Grand Princess is selfless towards you, and you should not let her down."
No son has ever been so disobedient to his parents, yet his mother still protects and cherishes him like this.
If it weren't for the Grand Princess, the Duke's Mansion might have severed ties with him long ago.
Sometimes Qingling couldn't help but wonder why the Grand Princess of Deyang treated Zhan Xingzhuo so well; in her opinion, it had reached the point of spoiling him.
If the reason for this compensation is that the position of heir apparent was given to the eldest son, then it seems unnecessary.
— In aristocratic families, the title of nobility is usually inherited by the eldest son of the legitimate wife. The other sons do not separate from the family and can enjoy wealth and honor in the mansion for a lifetime.
From the information Qingling gleaned from the Grand Princess's words, she felt that Zhan Xingzhuo was intelligent and that if he hadn't been implicated in the Zhou family's affairs, his official career would have been limitless.
However, Qingling felt that it wasn't just for that reason.
But none of that mattered to her anymore.
Yao Qingling left after she finished speaking.
Zhan Xingzhuo held the longevity bun, his brows furrowing slightly. Only after her composed figure disappeared did he realize what she had said.
"Hiss—" He took a breath and threw the bun back onto the plate.
When did it become her turn to lecture him?
She's completely unrepentant; it seems we should continue to confine her to her quarters and make her reflect on her actions.
When the man picked up his pen again and looked at the person in the drawing, a gentle smile appeared on his solemn face.
Zhi Ning said that her painting was left in the Wang family, but that didn't matter. His paintings of ladies were better than hers, and she was better at writing poetry. She could inscribe a poem on the painting...
Yao Qingling stood in the courtyard and glanced back into the distance.
Looking through the open window, the man's features were gentle, and he was completely focused.
The tenderness in his eyes no longer belonged to her.
She no longer lingered in his gaze, nor was she moved by that look.
It's all time to end it all.
...
Rong Mama returned to the Duke's mansion and reported the anomalies she had discovered to Princess Deyang.
Several shops in the new mansion were sold, but the proceeds were not recorded in the ledger.
"...This old servant has investigated. Those shops are doing so-so. They're not losing money, but the profits aren't much. They only sold three thousand taels of silver. But what's strange is that these shops were all part of the second young mistress's dowry."
"In addition, many things in the storeroom have also been packed into boxes. The second young mistress's dowry is all in those boxes, as if it could be taken away at any time."
After hearing this, the Grand Princess of Deyang frowned deeply: "As expected... Yao Qingling has considered divorce."
On that evening at the Spring Banquet, the Grand Princess sensed something was amiss with the look in Yao Qingling's eyes.
In her early years, when Princess Deyang was still in the palace, there was a concubine who had fallen out of favor and was banished to the Cold Palace by the late emperor. That concubine had such a cold look in her eyes, as if she had lost all feeling for the outside world, numb and empty.
Granny Rong said with a solemn expression, "This old servant thinks so too. If this old servant hadn't spoken up that day, the second young mistress would probably have already said the words of divorce."
"Moreover, judging from the Second Young Master's expression, he doesn't seem to have noticed anything at all; he's just focused on arguing with the Young Madam. The two of them have been sleeping in separate rooms for a long time, no wonder there's been no good news."
Princess Deyang sighed deeply.
Yao Qingling was also a stubborn person.
The Grand Princess chuckled, annoyed at her son's lack of ambition: "His mind is on Zhou Zhining, how could he possibly notice Yao Qingling?"
“Princess, if the second young mistress wants a divorce… such a thing has never happened in the Duke’s mansion before. We absolutely cannot let her get a divorce!” Granny Rong said anxiously. “This will make us a laughing stock among the powerful families.”
"Moreover, if they divorce, wouldn't Zhou Zhining be even more unscrupulous and have the Second Young Master firmly in her grasp?"
The gossip from outsiders will only get more and more unpleasant; just imagining it, Rong Mama can guess what those people will say.
Yao Qingling could not bear her husband's affair with a married woman, and preferred to divorce rather than accept the honor of being the young mistress of the Duke's mansion, nor endure this humiliation.
In the end, it was the entire Duke's mansion that lost face.
The imperial court, now free from the constraints of Yao Qingling and Zhan Xingzhuo's marriage, is even more convinced that Zhan Xingzhuo is disregarding his wife, acting unilaterally, and insisting on overturning the Zhou family's case.
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