Please, Cousin-in-law, I beg you
No matter what, we must protect this child. This is his first child with the woman he loves, a cherished gift. He desperately wants to see his legitimate son be born.
“Yes, please, Cousin-in-law, I beg you.”
Listening to their pleading voices, watching the despair and struggle in their eyes, and their self-assured expectation that she would help, Jiang Zhaoying watched with great amusement, as if enjoying a play.
In the distance.
Shu Yun approached.
“Miss, the bird’s nest soup is ready. Would you like to return and have a bowl?”
At the mention of bird’s nest soup, Shen Yuefu writhed in agony, her eyes burning with jealousy and turning bloodshot.
How could she still have the mood to drink bird’s nest soup at a time like this?
Turning her head.
She glared tearfully at Song Chengyu, who was sweating profusely from the pain, his body gradually convulsing. Clenching his lips tightly, he looked toward Jiang Zhaoying. Jiang Zhaoying met his gaze directly, smiled, and said to the two subordinates administering the beating.
“Follow the rules. Come to me later for your reward.”
“Yes.”
Shu Yun glanced at Song Chengyu and Shen Yuefu with a smile, then supported her mistress as they turned to leave. Listening to the screams echoing behind them, Shu Yun felt nothing but satisfaction, gritting her teeth as she cursed.
“She’s the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, no matter how lowly, still an official’s daughter. Yet she insists on living like a cheap harlot. Even when beaten with a rod, she moans like she’s in heat. Shameless to the extreme.”
“Where did you learn to curse like that?”
Amused by Shu Yun’s fluent cursing, Jiang Zhaoying asked her with a smile. Shu Yun looked at her mistress with heartache and said.
“With behavior like theirs, this servant didn’t need to learn. It came naturally.”
Gently brushing away a flower branch blown by the wind, the mistress and maid walked with rare lightness toward the newly vacated courtyard.
With Moyu Courtyard burned down, Shu Yun had chosen a relatively secluded but sunlit courtyard, naming it Kongliu Xiaoxuan. At the moment, some servants were lighting lamps, while others were tidying up carefully.
Shu Yu tested the temperature of the soup bowl and hurried forward.
“Miss is back. The bird’s nest soup is just the right temperature. Please have some.”
Shu Yun helped Jiang Zhaoying take a seat, and Shu Yu attended to her. The light, elegant fragrance was something Jiang Zhaoying liked, so she began to drink.
Seeing that she could still eat and wasn’t affected by these wretched matters, Shu Yu said happily.
“Madam’s notes say that for any woman, the first person to love must be herself. Only when she is in good spirits and finds it worthwhile should she give to others. Madam also said that it’s utterly shameless for women to remain faithful to one man while men take multiple wives and concubines. If life becomes unbearable, just seek a divorce. Madam said that men in this world fear women surpassing them, so they trample on them in every way. Women are not weak at all; if they truly live for themselves, they can be far stronger than men.”
Hearing the words “mother,” a trace of longing welled up in Jiang Zhaoying’s eyes. She lifted her gaze slightly to look out the window. It was already late at night, with a few stars twinkling faintly. She wondered if her mother was watching her from there.
Shu Yun took the bird’s nest soup and turned to give Shu Yu a faint glare. Shu Yu flinched inwardly, having almost forgotten that mentioning Madam would sadden the young miss.
After finishing the bird’s nest soup, Jiang Zhaoying hugged a soft pillow and leaned back on the daybed. After a moment of silence, she whispered softly.
“I miss my mother so much!”
Yes.
She truly missed her mother dearly!
She was barely a year old, still toddling unsteadily, when Madam Jiang passed away. The current Madam Jiang is the stepmother, originally a maid brought in by the former Madam Jiang.
Though she entered the household as a maid, she was actually the illegitimate daughter of Jiang Zhaoying’s maternal grandfather—the former Madam Jiang’s half-sister.
Because her mother was of lowly status and died early, she entered the household as a maid. However, her appearance bore some resemblance to Madam Jiang, which led Madam Jiang to inquire about the matter.
Seeing her pitiful state,
Madam Jiang took her under her wing. Though she was a maid, she was provided with food, clothing, and other necessities befitting a young lady.
Even before marriage, Madam Jiang was renowned for her beauty and wisdom. Her words always brought clarity, her actions were full of pleasant surprises, and the small inventions she created were always widely popular.
When Chief Astronomer Jiang first stepped into her courtyard, he was astonished by the strange and wonderful things he saw and by how she laughed and chatted with the servants. He couldn’t even understand why Madam Jiang would take a liking to him. After their marriage, he held his wife in the highest regard and became increasingly humble and low-key.
After Jiang Zhaoying was born,
Madam Jiang’s health steadily declined. Perhaps knowing her time was limited, she wanted to leave something for her daughter, so she wrote a thick journal and arranged for many trusted people within the household.
Because,
aside from the young Jiang Zhaoying who needed care, she had also given birth to a son, Jiang Zhiyu, the eldest son of the Jiang family.
With that journal and the thorough arrangements she had made, including the family’s external businesses, as long as they followed the procedures she had outlined, there would be no problems for the next twenty years.
Her children would also enjoy a lifetime of wealth and prosperity!
Jiang Zhaoying sat up and pulled out a meticulously crafted but now slightly worn journal from beneath her pillow. Her eyes gradually reddened.
Opening the journal,
several small portraits of her mother fell out. They were all drawn for her by her brother, Jiang Zhiyu, whenever she cried for her mother.
While their mother was alive, Jiang Zhiyu was raised well—cultured, courteous, and generous in character, entirely different from the young masters bound by rigid rules. He excelled at painting and wrote with a beautiful hand.
After their mother passed away and the stepmother took over, Jiang Zhiyu was gradually corrupted.
Not only did he become a wastrel, but he also developed a penchant for reckless behavior. Whenever he caused trouble, the stepmother was always the first to help him resolve it. Over time, Jiang Zhiyu grew to believe that no matter what trouble he stirred up, someone would always clean up after him, and he became increasingly unruly.
She had told Jiang Zhiyu
that the stepmother was setting him up for ruin, merely raising him to be useless. But he refused to believe it, insisting that with time, she would see how genuinely good the stepmother was and that she shouldn’t overthink it.
No matter how much she tried to persuade him, he never listened and kept running to the stepmother’s courtyard. Jiang Zhaoying grew increasingly disappointed in her brother.
Drip.
A teardrop fell onto the portrait of Madam Jiang’s face, making it look as though Madam Jiang herself were shedding tears.
“My baby, my precious little darling, Mother truly adores you, loves you so much. When you were born, you were so pink and adorable, much cuter than your chubby older brother. It was my fault for not being able to watch you grow up properly. My health didn’t allow it, and I had to leave this world first. But I have always, always loved you both. Remember, Mother may not necessarily be dead—I might have returned to my own world. I will find a way to look for you. If there is a chance, I will definitely bring you to see this world. So you must live well and live a long, healthy life.”
This was a sentence on the last page of the journal. Jiang Zhaoying had read it over and over for more than a decade and cried for just as long.
At first, she couldn’t understand it.
Until she was reborn.
Suddenly, she began to grasp the meaning behind these words. If it were truly possible, might she still have a chance to see her mother again?
The world is full of wonders!
Perhaps her mother really did come from another world. Otherwise, how could a frail woman like her have built such a vast business empire?
Although Jiang Zhaoying wasn’t particularly interested in business, she seemed to have inherited some traits from Jiang Jianzheng, showing a keen interest in astronomy, geography, and divination.
“Ying’er.”
The figures of Wei Jiuzhao and Xu Zhiyan appeared. Jiang Zhaoying quickly wiped her tears and stepped forward to greet them.
“Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother, for helping me escort Imperial Physician Chu and Guard Shen. I appreciate it.”
“No need for thanks. It was our duty.”
Shu Yun and Shu Yu hurried forward to attend to the two young masters, seating them and serving hot tea. Xu Zhiyan had no mind for tea at all. He gazed intently at Jiang Zhaoying and asked her:
“Ying’er, are you truly determined to elevate Shen Yuefu to the status of a noble concubine?”
Everyone in the Song household was far from virtuous. It was just that the Emperor had personally decreed they could not divorce for the time being, which was causing some headaches.
Jiang Zhaoying took a few sips of tea, then looked up at Xu Zhiyan with a faint smile.
“Only by making her a noble concubine will her life be in my hands. Second Senior Brother, if you’re worried, why not calculate my fate?”
The address “Second Senior Brother” struck Xu Zhiyan’s heart like a stone dropping into a calm lake, sending ripples far beyond just one or two circles. He nodded, took out his divination tools from his robe, and gently spread them on the table beside him.
After closing his eyes,
Xu Zhiyan’s mind was filled with a dense fog, not the usual glimpses of future paths he saw when performing divinations for others.
This situation had almost never occurred before. Xu Zhiyan felt as if a hole had been torn in his chest. He opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Zhaoying, his voice trembling.
“This… what is the reason for this? Eldest Senior Brother, can you not see our junior sister’s fate either?”