As evening fell, a wealthy family's carriage stopped in Qingyan's courtyard. The deputy steward, Xin Yu, helped his wife down from the carriage. Madam Hu looked at Qingyan, her eyes welling up with tears.
Back then, Qingyan had a choice. If she had entered the Fourth Prince's mansion, her life probably wouldn't be as good as it is now.
"Master, this servant thanks you!" Madam Hu bowed directly to Qingyan.
Qingyan was taken aback for a moment: "Don't be so polite. You are my first wife, so you should be more careful when you're out in public."
Hu wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and followed Qingyan into the room.
At this moment, Madam Hu understood that Qingyan must have something to discuss with her; otherwise, Xinyu wouldn't have told her not to bring the children to pay her respects.
"Master, is there something you want to ask me?" Madam Hu asked, looking at Qingyan.
Qingyan nodded and recounted the story of the salt merchants.
Madam Hu sighed. Back then, her father used her mother as leverage, and she suffered so much hardship over there. Before leaving home, her father personally instructed her that if the Fourth Prince and his wife were to take action against the salt merchants, she must send a message back.
Over the past few years, Hu had been keeping an eye on her family home and discovered that her mother had passed away three years after she left. Using the connections arranged by Xin Yu, she sent a letter from the capital to her family home, and her father surprisingly said that her mother was still alive.
At that time, Hu's heart turned cold. Her father could completely ignore her for the sake of his concubine's child.
The letters always praised her mother, but in reality, Hu had someone investigate and found out that her mother had been starved to death by a concubine.
"Master, rest assured, I will tell you everything I know." Madam Hu hoped to avenge her mother.
Back then, if it weren't for my father...
Qingyan looked at Madam Hu with curiosity. She was clearly someone who fiercely protected her maternal family, so why...?
Behind the screen, Yin and his brothers, along with Yin Genjue Luo and her sisters-in-law, were all curious, their attitudes changing so quickly.
Mrs. Hu gave a wry smile and told her about her mother's situation.
“Master, I know Xin Yu made a mistake. He shouldn’t have used those connections. I’m just so angry. My mother is already gone. Why did he have to use her reputation?” Madam Hu cried. “Yesterday, I finally found the doctor who treated my mother. After paying a lot of money, I finally learned why my mother died. My father and his most favored concubine, Madam Yan, were cousins who grew up together. Madam Yan was a concubine’s daughter and could not become my father’s legal wife. That’s why my mother is still alive.”
Madam Hu recounted the family feud, and Qingyan's eyes widened. It was merely a dispute between the legitimate and illegitimate children, but Madam Yan's methods were ruthless enough that, just like Si'er, she directly starved the legitimate wife to death.
“What I can’t stand the most is that after my mother passed away, Yan Shi actually used my mother’s reputation. If her daughter did anything wrong, Yan Shi would always cry and say that for the first ten years or so, she was raised by the principal wife and that they weren’t close. That’s not true at all. My father never saw my mother and me. He only doted on Yan Shi and even made her wear the principal wife’s clothes to attend various banquets.” Hu Shi cried. “My maternal grandparents’ family was framed by my father, and more than a hundred members of the family were exiled. My mother was always very remorseful and depressed.”
Finally, Mrs. Hu found someone to confide in and told Qingyan about her family's situation.
A bitter look appeared on Qingyan's face: "Every family has its own troubles, so don't worry. Now, do you know where your mother De is buried?"
"I know. After Mother passed away, Father didn't hold a funeral for her at all. He buried her directly outside the 'chaotic' rocky hill. When Xin Yu found out, he took me and the servants there and dug Mother out. That's when I realized something was wrong. Mother was so thin that she was just skin and bones. She was even buried in her undergarments." Madam Hu cried. "This servant was really... unruly, saying such things to her master."
"Give your mother a proper burial. From now on, the affairs of the Hu family will have nothing to do with you. Can you do that?" Qingyan asked, looking at Madam Hu.
"Yes!" Madam Hu answered firmly, "This servant will tell Master all the secret rooms I know."
When Madam Hu heard Qingyan say that the Hu family's affairs had nothing to do with her, she immediately changed how she addressed her.
From that moment on, she no longer needed to worry; she would always be Xin Yu's wife.
After Hu Shi recounted all the secret chambers, Qing Yan nodded, a smile playing on her lips. Hu Shi was still very kind to Xin Yu.
"This servant thanks Your Highness for the arrangement; it is thanks to this that I have such warm feelings." After kowtowing to Qingyan, Madam Hu left directly.
As Qingyan watched Hu Shi leave, she was handed a purse with both hands. Inside were two tokens. When she took out the tokens, she realized they belonged to the Hu family.
She stood up, walked around the screen, and went to the back. The eyes of Lady Yin Genjue Luo and the Ninth Prince's wife were red, as if they had been crying.
"So there were so many hidden stories," said Yin Genjue Luo Shi.
"Fourth Brother, this should be the token for entering and leaving the Hu family. Look..." Qingyan placed the two tokens on the Eight Immortals Table, and Yin and the others passed them around for a look.
"Little darling, can this token be forged?" Yin asked Qingyan.
At Linglong Pavilion, many people are skilled at making headpieces and facepieces, and even more skilled at creating other items.
"It should be fine. I'll have Bayan secretly send the rest over. There shouldn't be any problems with Linglong Pavilion." Qingyan nodded. Bayan was very tight-lipped about his business.
Qingyan's words put both Yin and Yin at ease. If they needed to retrieve the account books from the Hu family, they would definitely have to arrange for several more people to do so.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, please forgive Thirteen. When you went to see Madam Hu just now, Fourth Brother glared at me." Yinxiang was teased by Qingyan, which made Yinxiang hold a grudge.
Pfft!
Qingyan laughed out loud. Yinxiang was somewhat afraid of Yin, even though Yin had helped him a lot in the past few years.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, Thirteenth Brother and I are going over there to gather some information. What do you think?" Yin asked Qingyan.
Qingyan frowned slightly. If Yinxiang and Yin were to go and something dangerous happened, Kangxi would definitely issue an imperial edict to reprimand them.
"No!" Yin coldly rebuked, "Why did you two masters bring so many servants with you?"
“Brother, we just want to do our part,” Yinxiang said, looking at Yin.
Yinxiang's actions left Yinxiang helpless; this little guy.
"Alright, you two remember this: no matter what, you are never allowed to joke about your own safety." Yin looked at his two younger brothers; these two were really getting harder to manage as they grew older.
"Fourth Brother..." Yinxiang and Yinren were both furious. "You and Eldest Brother went on expeditions before, so why are you not allowed to do it here?"
"It was Father Emperor's decision." Yin could only sigh as he looked at Yinxiang and Yin's annoyed expressions.
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