Calling her a fox enchantress was just praising her professional skills!
"I'm a concubine, not the main wife. 'Fox enchantress' is a compliment to me—it means I'm doing a good job," Ye Qingzhi remarked with satisfaction.
Calling her a fox enchantress was just praising her professional skills!
Ru Yi, "…"
Is that really how it is?
Chunyu and Xia Chan, "…"
They didn't understand, but they were deeply shocked.
The hidden guard crouching in the tree twitched the corner of his mouth, memorized these words, and planned to write them down later to send to his master.
"Yiniang, should we really not do anything about this? If the rumors spread further, they will surely damage the reputation of the Marquis's Estate and Houye. You might even be punished," Ru Yi said anxiously.
"This matter will definitely be handled by someone, but it's not something we can manage. It's also not our responsibility to worry about, so let's not trouble ourselves over it," Ye Qingzhi said.
Maintaining the face of the Marquis's Estate and catching the slanderers behind the scenes—that was the duty of the main wife and had nothing to do with her, a mere concubine.
In the workplace, the biggest taboo was doing work outside one's responsibilities. One must be clear-headed and maintain a sense of boundaries.
Don't foolishly let others use you as free labor.
Ru Yi now felt that Yiniang had become much smarter. Hearing her say this, she felt slightly reassured.
"Is there any other news?" Ye Qingzhi asked again.
"Yiniang, it turns out our Houye is not Old Madam's legitimate son. I heard that back then, Old Marquis favored his concubine over his wife, insisted on elevating Houye's birth mother to a co-wife, and firmly passed the title to our Houye. So, we must be careful around the first and second branches of the family and avoid contact if possible."
"That's too pitiful for the wife," Ye Qingzhi sighed after hearing this.
Also, why did she find the phrases "favoring concubines over the wife" and "elevating to co-wife" so distasteful? It must be because her professional ethics as a concubine were strong enough, with no ambition to become the main wife, that she felt such aversion.
Ru Yi, "…"
"Serving a mother-in-law is already exhausting enough, but when that mother-in-law also has grievances with your husband, constantly picking on you, and you can't avoid it, can't scold back, and have to actively offer yourself up to be mistreated every day—it's just too tragic," Ye Qingzhi explained to Ru Yi, who didn't understand.
Ru Yi, "…"
That does sound a bit tragic.
So even the main wife has such grievances.
The hidden guard crouching in the tree was so startled he nearly slipped…
How could Ye Yiniang say such shocking things?
Chunyu and Xia Chan, "…"
Is this really something they should be hearing?!
Although, and yet, it seemed like what Ye Yiniang said wasn't entirely wrong, but for a concubine to gossip behind the main wife's back—that was against the rules.
"By the way, Ru Yi, from now on, let's not gossip about Houye and the wife behind their backs. It's too presumptuous. Let this be the last time," Ye Qingzhi added after a moment of thought.
"Although I genuinely feel sorry for the wife, I did overstep. Chunyu, Xia Chan, take these medicinal herbs and deliver them to the wife as an apology."
If she drank any more medicine, she'd turn into a medicine pot.
Medicine is three parts poison. Nourishing the body should rely on dietary supplements.
She just had to wait for her small kitchen to be set up.
"…Huh?" Chunyu and Xia Chan were stunned for a moment before quickly bowing in acknowledgment.
"Don't forget to request the awning and small kitchen from the wife," Ye Qingzhi reminded them.
"…We remember, mistress," Chunyu and Xia Chan replied, feeling that something about this was a bit off.
It was all too businesslike.
Gui Xin Courtyard.
Chunyu and Xia Chan, carrying two boxes of precious medicinal herbs, arrived at the wife's quarters and took turns recounting everything that had happened that day in Yanliu Courtyard.
Zhang Jingyi and Granny Zhou's expressions shifted several times, almost as colorful as a palette.
After listening, Granny Zhou silently opened the two boxes of medicinal herbs and examined them carefully. They were all of excellent quality, no worse than those bestowed by the Huang Gong and stored in the estate's treasury.
But those were public property, not the mistress's.
Ye Yiniang had truly sent the mistress a generous gift. As for the offense of disrespect, it could indeed be overlooked.
"Did she really say that? That she would listen to me and Houye, that calling her a fox enchantress was a compliment, and that I was pitiful and miserable?" Zhang Jingyi fell silent for a moment before asking again in surprise, one by one.
Chunyu and Xia Chan both nodded vigorously.
Although Ye Yiniang hadn't uttered any harsh words, they felt an inexplicable sense of unease toward her.
They dared not harbor any ulterior motives and served her with great care.
"Mistress, although Ye Yiniang is somewhat ignorant of propriety, speaks too bluntly, and behaves too wantonly, she does possess a certain cleverness. She knows that in this estate, aside from Houye, she can also rely on you," Granny Zhou immediately spoke up.
"However, it remains to be seen how far she will go and whether she can truly be completely open with you."
"How could she possibly be completely open?" Zhang Jingyi scoffed, not taking Ye Qingzhi's words seriously at all.
But since she had expressed such loyalty and sent such a generous gift, and since Houye was so protective of her, she couldn't be too harsh on her.
If she wanted a cooling shed, a small kitchen, a cook, or to buy ice—all these trivial matters could be granted.
After all, it wasn't the Marquis's Estate's money, nor Houye's private funds, so she didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache.
And then there were the rumors outside…
A cold glint flashed in Zhang Jingyi's eyes. Did they really think that just because her Houye had left the capital, they could freely slander him and the Marquis's Estate?!
"Granny, send someone to find Lord Song Jin. Have him thoroughly investigate who spread the rumors about Ye Yiniang and arrest everyone involved!" Zhang Jingyi said coldly.
Lord Song was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards and Xie Jin's subordinate. With Zhang Jingyi seeking his help, the matter would undoubtedly be handled flawlessly.
Over at Yanliu Courtyard.
After listening to some gossip for a while, Ye Qingzhi grew drowsy. She returned to bed for an afternoon nap. Her body was still weak, and she soon fell asleep.
Then she dreamed again.
In the dream, a woman was giving birth, but it was a difficult labor. She was in excruciating pain, bleeding profusely, and the child simply wouldn't come out.
Finally, after great effort, the child was born. Having stayed too long in the womb, it was said to have no breath.
"A stillborn is inauspicious and cannot be buried in the ancestral graves. Bury it somewhere at random…" a man said with utter indifference.
…
Ye Qingzhi woke from this nightmare, her chest tight and almost suffocating.
She genuinely suspected that her constant nightmares were due to her body and soul not being properly aligned since crossing over, as if the connection signal was unstable.
What a terrible dream!
Ye Qingzhi sat by the bed, taking a long time to recover before finally feeling like a human being again.