Qingyan coldly watched Jueluo Shi, her heart growing colder still. She worked herself to the bone to earn money, only to have it taken by Jueluo Shi and given to her own family. Saituo and Eshuo had earned their honors with their lives, yet Jueluo Shi's brothers squandered them.
Did the Ulanara clan owe them something?
Her expression grew increasingly grim. Yin had never discussed the matter between the two families with her before, and now, with one distressing thing after another before her, she couldn't help but think more about it.
"Mother, are you trying to force us siblings to our deaths?" After learning that Jue Luo Shi disliked her, Qing Yan rarely spoke to Jue Luo Shi.
This time, she felt sorry for Ah Hun and the others, and even more heartbroken for Ah Ma.
Even if Emperor Kangxi trusted Fei Yanggu, he would still punish Fei Yanggu under pressure from the imperial family and censors.
Jue Luo glared fiercely at Qing Yan. This daughter was better off gone; her appearance was definitely not a good thing.
"Where is your filial piety? As a junior, how can you question your elders like this?" Qingya noticed that Jueluo's expression was not good and quickly jumped out to question Qingyan.
As soon as he finished speaking, Fei Yanggu and Er Shuo frowned. The elegant rules were not acceptable either. They should send him to the southern desert for a marriage alliance. Those people should not feel ashamed.
The southern part of the Gobi Desert is farther from the capital than the northern part, so the emperor's daughters rarely went there for marriage alliances. Emperor Kangxi usually chose daughters of concubines from the households of trusted court officials. The princes knew perfectly well that each of their primary wives had a powerful minister supporting her, and they treated them extremely well.
"How dare you! Do you even have a place to speak here?" Fei Yanggu quickly rebuked.
The two nannies around Qingyan would report the situation of the mansion to Kangxi at any time. After Qingya was chosen by Kangxi as the marriage partner, he had been observing her silently. Given Fei Yanggu's current status, Qingya's marriage partner should not be of low status.
At the reprimand, Qingya trembled. She rarely met with Feiyanggu, and faced with her father's reprimand, she could only act as if she had been wronged.
Saito and Eshuo exchanged a glance. Having grown up in the old house, they were used to the struggles between the Jue Luo clan and their concubines. Their refined manners were no different from those of the concubines.
As a concubine's daughter, she was of low status, and even though she was raised by the side of the principal wife, she could not get rid of her petty and narrow-minded nature.
"Qingya, you'd better shut up!" Jue Luo was also annoyed. Ever since she raised Qingya, she had been trying to change Qingya's habits.
"Is this the daughter you raised? She's not presentable!" Fei Yanggu was furious. Qingya was getting old and it was time to learn proper manners. In a few years, she would be selected for the imperial concubine selection.
Fei Yanggu knew that Qingya's audition was just a formality, and he didn't want his daughter to embarrass herself.
Jue Luo Shi was so embarrassed by Fei Yang Gu's words that she couldn't help but glare at Qing Ya. After all, a concubine's daughter could never be proper. No matter how much she was taught, her paternal habits were still evident.
"Granny Cheng, you better discipline her! If her manners are this bad, send her to the Buddhist hall as soon as possible!" Fei Yanggu looked at Granny Cheng, thinking that Qingya's manners needed to be taught properly.
Qingyan watched all this with a cold eye. Qingya's fate had been predetermined long ago, and she didn't want to interfere.
"The rules of Qingya are bad, but the rules of Qingyan are good? You're being biased!" Jue Luo Shi didn't like others saying that the rules of Qingya were bad, and even if it was true, Fei Yang Gu would hide it from outsiders.
Jue Luo snorted coldly, "Anyone who wasn't raised by my side is no good."
At this moment, Qingya was like an outsider, only able to stand beside Jueluo Shi. Saito and Eshuo were a little unhappy, she believed that Jueluo Shi would not tolerate her being presumptuous in front of the two heirs.
"Ah Hun, your stepmother misses you. Why did she come back? Why are you criticizing her?" Qingya retorted softly.
The three of them, father and sons, stood together against outsiders for Qingyan. Jueluo was hurt by their attitude. The more Qingya stood by Jueluo's side, the worse the relationship between Qingyan and her mother became.
"Granny Yu, take her to the Buddhist hall and let her reflect on her actions." The pneumonia expert had no time to waste with Qingya; many people outside were gossiping about their family, and Qingyan was bearing the brunt of the gossip.
Jue Luo Shi could not refute, and could only watch as her only backyard was dragged away by the nanny.
Her gaze toward Qingyan became even more hostile. If it weren't for Qingyan, she wouldn't be in such a passive position, and she wouldn't have to face the sneer of her former best friend.
Qingyan shrank back, glancing at her father and the others' expressions, and prepared to find an excuse to leave.
"Father, I want to go for a walk!" Qingyan said to Fei Yanggu in a coquettish tone.
She shouldn't have made any moves when her family was discussing such a serious topic.
Saito put down Qingyan. Jueluo's words hurt the little guy's pride. The salaries and filial piety of the three pillars of the family were not as high as the monthly profit of Qingyan's Meiai business.
After leaving the main hall, Qingyan strolled leisurely through the Ulanara residence, followed closely by Granny Liao and Sulan with their maids. Even though she was born in this old house, with her departure, the women of the household rarely saw their father. In the new residence, Kangxi bestowed concubines upon their father, and under normal circumstances, those women were absolutely not allowed to leave the courtyard.
As soon as they entered the garden, two graceful women approached. They wore exquisite makeup, gold hairpins in their hair, and gentle smiles on their faces. However, Qingyan could sense their cold gazes. When Granny Liao noticed the disturbance, she looked at the maids beside her and told them to stop them.
The maids around Qingyan were mostly carefully selected by Emperor Kangxi and Consort Tong. These people were all exceptionally loyal to Qingyan. Emperor Kangxi also instructed that he must be wary of them, and these two were among the people he was wary of.
"We are here to pay our respects to the princess." These two concubines were originally given to Fei Yanggu by outsiders. They had just entered the mansion when Qingyan had an accident. Fei Yanggu and his two sons felt that these two were jinxes.
After leaving the mansion, Qingyan slowly recovered under Fei Yanggu's careful care. They thought that Fei Yanggu would return once Qingyan fell ill. However, Fei Yanggu had never even entered their courtyard in the years since he entered the mansion.
The servants in the mansion paid them no attention. Today, they finally received news of Fei Yanggu's return, so they quickly dressed up according to Qingyan's preferences, hoping to win the favor of this princess and thus gain Fei Yanggu's affection.
"His Majesty has ordered that no one be allowed to disturb the Princess." The young palace maid was assigned to Qingyan's side. Kangxi had spoken, and from now on, Qingyan would be their mistress.
The two concubines were from modest families, and one was from a collateral branch of a noble family. These people wanted to control the offspring of the Manchu nobility, so they all had many secret recipes, many of which were court recipes from the previous dynasty, which could kill children without them even knowing.
Today, the concubine used a slow-acting poison in her purse; this poison is only effective on children under the age of fifteen. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
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