“Mother! That good-for-nothing, she… she’s gone mad!”
Su Yun’er rushed frantically into Concubine Liu’s courtyard, tears streaming down her face the moment she entered.
Concubine Liu was carefully tending to her well-maintained face before the mirror.
“What’s all this panic? Is the sky falling?”
“Mother! It’s that wretched Su Yaoyao! She… she’s truly different now!”
Su Yun’er threw herself onto her mother’s lap.
“She knows about Uncle’s gambling debts! She… she even said she wants to reclaim her mother’s dowry!”
“Did she truly say that?” Concubine Liu’s voice turned icy.
“Absolutely true!” Su Yun’er recounted the events in Su Yaoyao’s courtyard that day, adding dramatic embellishments.
Concubine Liu’s expression darkened gradually. She never imagined that the legitimate daughter she had controlled for over a decade—weak and pliable as dough—would dare to resist! And to strike directly at her most vulnerable spot!
Su Yun’er tenderly touched the exquisite jade bracelet on her wrist, tears falling even harder. “Will she really tell Father? And her maternal grandfather’s family… if they truly intervene…”
“Grand Tutor Jiang’s household?” Concubine Liu sneered. “Using the Grand Tutor’s household to intimidate me?”
She caressed her daughter’s delicate face.
“Years ago, I made her mother ‘succumb to illness’ and had her dear brother ‘voluntarily’ request assignment to the distant frontier, unable to return all these years. Grand Tutor Jiang? That old man retired years ago… She’s just a girl who just came of age, does she think she can stir up waves?”
Su Yun’er looked up, eyes brimming with tears:
“But now… she seems different. Her words are full of barbs, and without her binding cloth, her figure…”
“Figure?” Intense jealousy and hatred flashed in Concubine Liu’s eyes.
That woman back then, with her flawless skin and alluring figure, had captured the Marquis’s complete attention, leaving her, a mere maidservant, with no opportunity.
If not for the schemes she employed back then…
And now that woman’s daughter, despite all her tormenting, has still grown into that seductive appearance!
Releasing her daughter’s face, her gaze sharpened.
“Yun’er, remember this: as long as you can attach yourself to the Second Prince, and have your brother become the heir, this Marquis Manor will be ours in the future! As for Su Yaoyao… what is she?”
“But… she still holds the title of legitimate daughter, and her engagement to the Second Prince was personally bestowed by His Majesty…” Su Yun’er remained uneasy.
“Engagement?” Concubine Liu sneered. “My foolish daughter, haven’t you realized? The Second Prince only has eyes for you now. As long as you perform well at the palace banquet, making him thoroughly despise Su Yaoyao, this engagement… might not be unchangeable.”
She paused, a calculating glint in her eyes. “Moreover… at the palace banquet three days from now, the Crown Prince will also be present.”
Su Yun’er was puzzled. “The Crown Prince? The one who practices Buddhism? What does he have to do with us?”
“Are you foolish?” Concubine Liu tapped her daughter’s forehead. “The Crown Prince practices Buddhism, living a simple and ascetic life. He despises frivolous, seductive, and restless women most of all. Doesn’t Su Yaoyao want to show off? We’ll just give her a helping hand.”
Su Yun’er gasped sharply. “But… but that’s the Crown Prince… and… and the Empress is that wretch’s maternal aunt… what if… what if we’re blamed…”
“Blamed?” Concubine Liu scoffed.
“The Second Prince’s birth mother, Consort Chen, is currently at the height of her influence. The Empress? Her own sickly son might not even survive to adulthood, and although her adopted son is the Crown Prince, he’s nothing more than an incompetent figurehead. What does she have to compete with the Noble Consort?”
She stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the magnificent pavilions and towers of the Marquis estate:
“Your father has been wavering back and forth these past few years, afraid to offend the Empress’s faction backed by the Grand Tutor and the scholar-officials, yet unwilling to give up the real power and benefits offered by the Noble Consort. We, mother and daughter, must fight for ourselves! Once we succeed, the position of Second Princess Consort, and even higher status in the future… Yun’er, don’t you want to crush that useless fool completely, to make her suffer forever without any chance of recovery?”
Su Yun’er felt her heart grow hot with excitement, yet a faint trace of fear lingered within her.
Scheming against the Empress…
But then, as she reconsidered her mother’s words, thought of the glory of becoming the Second Princess Consort, and imagined trampling Su Yaoyao underfoot in the future, that fear was replaced by exhilaration.
“I understand, Mother!”
Meanwhile, Su Yaoyao was soaking in a bathtub filled with rose petals.
The warm water enveloped her skin, making her sigh softly in comfort.
Beneath the water’s surface, her jade-like skin and breathtaking curves were hidden from view.
Even as she scooped water over herself, she couldn’t help but marvel once more at the extraordinary beauty of this body.
She cupped a handful of cream mixed with milk and pearl powder, applying it meticulously over her skin.
The original owner’s complexion was truly exceptional; with just a little care, it radiated a jade-like glow.
Chuntao, blushing, carefully poured water over her, frowning with distress as she noticed the faint bruises left by the chest-binding cloth on the young lady’s body. “Miss, you’ve suffered so much…”
“It’s all in the past,” Su Yaoyao said, eyes closed, savoring the comfort of her pores opening.
“From now on, I’ll be the one making others suffer.”
Suddenly remembering something, she opened her eyes.
“Elder Brother… is there any news from the border?”
Fragments of the original owner’s memories surged in her mind—a gentle, youthful figure, her elder brother five years her senior, Su Qingrun.
He would pick flowers for her, teach her to read, and hold her gently while humming the lullabies their mother used to sing…
Chuntao’s hand paused as she poured water, her voice dropping low.
“Young Master… last Mid-Autumn Festival, he did send back a box of borderland milk pastries through someone, saying they were for you to try. But… Concubine Liu intercepted them, claiming such crude things from the border weren’t fit for your palate. After that… there’s been no news since…”
In her memories, he had repeatedly stood up for his younger sister, only to be reprimanded by their father for “disrespecting the concubine mother.”
Later… when war broke out at the border, he had “volunteered” to go, and it had been several years since he left.
“Volunteered…” Su Yaoyao sneered.
A legitimate son of a noble family, the heir to the Marquis estate, giving up a promising future in the capital to earn military merits in the harsh, bitter borderlands?
Su Yaoyao’s gaze grew cold.
Concubine Liu had not only harmed the original owner’s mother but also schemed to send away her brother.
With the legitimate eldest son away at the border for years and the legitimate daughter raised to be useless… hadn’t the Marquis estate completely fallen into the hands of Concubine Liu and her son?
“Elder Brother…” Su Yaoyao whispered the two words, feeling an unfamiliar ache in her heart—a lingering attachment and longing left behind by the original owner.
She raised a hand to her chest, silently vowing:
Don’t worry, I will find a way to bring your brother back!
Just as she was thinking this, the voice of another young maid sounded from outside: “Miss! Someone from the Grand Tutor’s residence has arrived!”
Su Yaoyao opened her eyes, a gleam of anticipated light flashing in her gaze. “Please wait in the flower hall. I will be there shortly.”
“The Grand Tutor’s residence…” That was her true support, the confidence left to her by her mother—a bond of shared blood.
And her elder brother… he was another unbroken pillar of strength for her in the mire that was the Marquis’s household.
Did Concubine Liu think she could rest easy after sending her brother away?
Dream on.
Su Yaoyao picked up a comb and slowly ran it through her half-dried long hair. The reflection in the mirror showed clear, determined eyes.
She would not only reclaim her mother’s dowry and deal with Concubine Liu and her daughter, but she would also bring her brother back with dignity.
The position of heir to the Yongning Marquis’s household—whoever it rightfully belonged to must have it.
“Let’s go,” she stood up, her moon-white sleeping robe loosely tied, her dark hair cascading freely, yet she carried an undeniable presence.
“Don’t keep the people from the Grand Tutor’s residence waiting.”
Su Yaoyao curved her lips.
Truly worthy of a noble family—swift and decisive. So different from the upstart nouveau riche like the Marquis’s household.
And their timing was perfect. The Liu mother and daughter would never sit idle, and she was precisely in need of trustworthy hands.