“What thing?” Madam Zhang asked, puzzled.
“The key to the storeroom holding my dowry.” Jiang Yunniang extended her hand. “Before, I was unfamiliar with the Song household and feared being taken advantage of, so I asked Mother to safeguard it. But now, seeing how much you resent me, I’d better keep it myself and not trouble you further.”
Her demand was so blunt that Madam Zhang was stunned.
Because Madam Lu owed Jiang Yunniang, her dowry was lavish—second only to a princess’s wedding chest in all of Shengjing.
In her past life, Jiang Yunniang had obsessed only over whether Song Wenling loved her, never caring about her dowry. But now, she would reclaim what was hers. She would not let others profit. The Song family had not divided its estates; Song Qingbai had worked half his life and was only a fourth‑rank official. To push him higher, the First Branch had poured out silver until their accounts ran dry.
Looking at Jiang Yunniang’s outstretched hand, Madam Zhang felt as though she had been slapped. Over the years, she had used much of her own dowry to prop up the First Branch. Seeing Jiang Yunniang’s list, she had coveted it—but before she could act, Jiang Yunniang demanded it back.
What daughter‑in‑law gives the key, then immediately takes it back? Was this not deliberate humiliation?
Even Nanny Wang thought Jiang Yunniang was excessive. She interjected:
“Second Young Madam, you sent the key yourself. Now you want it back? If the other branches hear, won’t they laugh at the First Madam? No one forced you to give it. The First Madam would never covet your dowry. Why make things so ugly?”
“Nanny Wang, you are mistaken. I asked privately, not before others. If I don’t speak, and you don’t speak, would Mother herself announce it? If we say she returned it willingly, it gives her a reputation for generosity. Isn’t that better?” Jiang Yunniang replied.
Nanny Wang: …That was indeed logical. But she could not admit the First Madam had already set her sights on the dowry.
Seeing Nanny Wang silenced, Jiang Yunniang turned back to Madam Zhang. “Mother said she would not covet my dowry. I believe her. So I won’t trouble her further—I’ll keep it myself.”
She paused, lips curling.“If Second Young Master insists on taking Jiang Bairou as a concubine, I must prepare a gift of greeting. I wouldn’t want to disturb you each time, would I?”
By deliberately mentioning Song Wenling and Jiang Bairou, she reminded Madam Zhang that she could expose their affair at any moment. Madam Zhang had to weigh Song Wenling’s future carefully.
Madam Zhang was speechless. Before Jiang Yunniang married in, she had never guessed the girl could speak so sharply. Now she regretted bitterly—how had she ever let Song Wenling wed such a troublesome woman?
Thinking of Jinag Yunniang’s six full storerooms of dowry, Madam Zhang could not bear to surrender the key. She softened her tone: “Yunniang, you are young and don’t understand. You saw today—though the Song family looks harmonious, the Second and Third Branches are not of one heart with us. You said yourself you are unfamiliar with the household. If you—”
“Mother needn’t worry. I’ll bring in a few matrons skilled in martial arts. Whoever dares covet my dowry will pay dearly. Mother’s hesitation—could it be you don’t want to return it?” Jiang Yunniang cut her off. She knew Madam Zhang’s mind too well.
Seeing Madam Zhang glaring but not ordering Nanny Wang to fetch the key, Jiang Yunniang dropped her smile. “Mother, think of Second Young Master’s future.”
At that, Madam Zhang’s face darkened. She nearly choked, slamming the table. “Nanny Wang, fetch it for her!”
Only after receiving the storeroom key did Jiang Yunniang leave, satisfied.
Inside, Madam Zhang smashed two vases in fury. “She thinks that holding Wenling’s scandal gives her the right to threaten me at every turn?”
The maids outside, hearing the crashes, dared not enter. Nanny Wang cleaned the shards herself, whispering, “Please calm yourself. Second Young Madam hasn’t spread the matter—that means she still cares for Second Young Master. The key isn’t urgent. As long as she remembers him, she’ll eventually hand it over. Right now, two things matter most.”
Madam Zhang sat heavily, feeling humiliated. Other households had mothers‑in‑law setting rules for daughters‑in‑law. Yet she was constantly restrained by Jiang Yunniang. “What things?” she asked.
“One is the bellyband Second Young Madam holds. The other is the people Madam Xu has planted in Second Young Master’s courtyard,” Nanny Wang said.
“You’re right.” Madam Zhang calmed slightly. “If we take back the bellyband, no matter what Yunniang says, without evidence, no one will believe her. And as for that wretched Madam Xu—I’ll see just how far her hand reaches!”
Madam Zhang had managed the household for over twenty years, with informants in every branch. She planned that once Jiang Yunniang returned to her parents’ home, she would search Chunxi Courtyard for the incriminating bellyband. Such a private item—surely Jiang Yunniang wouldn’t carry it on her person.
Madam Zhang ordered: “Send some brushes and ink to Zhuyan Study. Ask Mingxia if she’s noticed anything suspicious.”
Nanny Wang took the servants there. But when she arrived, a maid said that Mingxia had gone to the Chunxi Courtyard to pay her respects and asked her to wait.
Mingxia served Wenling in Zhuyan Study, tending his writing supplies. She was also his bedchamber maid. That morning she had waited at Chunxi Courtyard’s gate, greeting her master upon his return.
Jiang Yunniang looked at the sachet Mingxia offered, sniffed it—yes, the same scent as before.
In her past life, Mingxia had approached her with kindness. Though Jiang Yunniang minded that Song Wenling had other women, she told herself noblemen were all like that. Mingxia was tactful, so Jiang Yunniang hadn’t made things difficult. Gradually, they grew close. She hadn’t known that Mingxia’s very first gift contained musk—meant to render her infertile.
“I have nothing else, only some skill with embroidery. I hope Second Young Madam won’t despise it,” Mingxia said softly, eyes lowered, her round face seeming gentle and innocent.
Everyone around Song Wenling thought well of Mingxia. She was amiable, and Song Wenling treated her kindly.
Jiang Yunniang nodded lightly. “Thank you.” She accepted the sachet for now, intending to keep it until Mingxia’s usefulness arose.
Then she turned to Song Wenling’s other bedchamber maid, Lü’e—slender waist, seductive eyes, and not particularly respectful. In her past life, Jiang Yunniang had disliked Lü’e and soon dismissed her. Song Wenling had quarreled with her fiercely over it, accusing her of jealousy and intolerance, refusing to see her afterward.
But this time, she would keep Lü’e. Knowing Jiang Bairou, she would use every trick to enter the Song household. Better to let the tigers fight while she watched from the mountain.
After meeting both maids, Jiang Yunniang rewarded them and sent them away.
Having just reclaimed her storeroom keys, Jiang Yunniang planned to have Nanny Sun re‑check the dowry inventory, just to be safe. But then a maid arrived with a message: The Third Madam had come.
Oh? So impatient already?
In her past life, Madam Meng had befriended Jiang Yunniang, too, but only two months later, when she saw that Jiang Yunniang and Song Wenling were distant. She had sought out Jiang Yunniang, offering counsel and sympathy. Over time, Jiang Yunniang came to believe her kind, confiding all her sorrows, including that she and Song Wenling had not consummated their marriage.
But Madam Meng had not been sincere. Once she had the First Branch’s weakness, she passed it straight to the Second Branch, letting them use it to have the patriarch punish the First.
After Madam Zhang and Song Qingbai were scolded, they pretended compliance. In secret, they poisoned Jiang Yunniang, leaving her crippled and confined forever in Chunxi Courtyard.
“Qiuyue, go personally to welcome Third Aunt in,” Jiang Yunniang said with a faint smile.