“Do you want to promote Cui’er to the secondary courtyard?” Mrs. Qian looked astonished at her second son.
Li Zhongjue nodded.
Mrs. Qian stared at him. “Why?”
Li Zhongjue replied calmly, “I think she’s a good person, and we grew up together since childhood. There’s some affection. I like her, so I decided to accept her.”
Mrs. Qian’s expression changed. It implied that things had already progressed.
The eldest son also had secondary courtyard servants, but they were ordinary maids. Cui’er, however, was different. Having a secondary courtyard servant like her would be troublesome. Mrs. Qian pinched her silk handkerchief. “When did this happen? You’ve always been interested only in your dyes and fabrics, haven’t you?”
“It’s been a while, but I didn’t dare to tell Mother for some time. It’s already… She’s Uncle Li’s daughter. It’s not right to leave her without a status.”
Mrs. Qian looked at him intently for a while before finally saying, “Alright, let me think about it. We’ll talk about it in a few days.”
Li Zhongjue felt like he had eaten a fly. He wasn’t in the mood to talk any further. He nodded and was about to leave when Mrs. Qian suddenly stopped him and asked, “What about Chengxiao? The kitchen maid said he didn’t stay for lunch at noon?”
Li Zhongjue stiffened slightly. “Yes, he came to Yuanzhou for official business. He just came to say hello and left for his own matters.”
“Oh.” Mrs. Qian lowered her eyes and asked, “What official business did he come for?”
Li Zhongjue had no idea, so he casually made up, “It’s related to dyeing fabrics, helping out a friend. I have to take him to a dyeing workshop. I’ll be leaving now.” Fabric dyeing was nonsense; he was genuinely here to apologize. Before coming to Mrs. Qian’s courtyard, he had already asked where Li Chengxiao was staying.
Mrs. Qian smiled. “Go ahead.”
After they left, her smile disappeared. Out of habit, she wanted to call for someone from the Li family, but when she thought of Cui’er, she turned and found another attendant, whispered a few words to her, and sent her away.
About a quarter of an hour later, the attendant returned, and the members of the Li family were present. She glanced at them and said nothing.
Mrs. Qian sent the Li family members away before asking, “How did it go? Did you find out anything?”
The attendant stepped forward and replied softly, “Yes, the gatekeeper said that Young Master Lu had left before Second Young Master returned. They didn’t meet at all. It’s true that Cui’er went to Second Young Master’s courtyard today. Someone in the inner courtyard saw Cui’er and Miss together. Later, Miss came back crying, but Cui’er didn’t come back with her.”
Mrs. Qian’s fingers holding the handkerchief tightened at the mention of her daughter’s involvement. “Is there more?”
Seeing her expression, the attendant hesitated for a moment before cautiously saying, “Miss didn’t eat today. She didn’t have breakfast or lunch. At noon, Second Young Master went to Miss’s courtyard, and Cui’er followed. The maid in charge of sweeping heard Cui’er crying.”
Mrs. Qian pursed her lips tightly and remained silent for a long while before saying, “Tell the Second Miss to come to me. Tell her I have a few pieces of jewelry for her to choose from.”
The attendant complied and went to the courtyard where Li Yunbi lived. Li Yunbi’s eyes were a bit better now, covered with powder, but the traces were still visible upon close inspection.
The attendant felt a thud in her heart, but she kept a calm demeanor and conveyed Mrs. Qian’s message.
Li Yunbi felt a bit nervous when her mother called for her and asked the attendant, “What kind of jewelry?”
The attendant naturally knew there were no such items, but she just smiled and said, “Madam had some free time this morning and tidied up the dowry box, finding some old items.”
Li Yunbi was still doubtful and anxious, but she went along with her mother anyway.
When they arrived at the main courtyard, the attendant tactfully withdrew and guarded the courtyard door.
As soon as mother and daughter saw each other, Mrs. Qian stared at Li Yunbi’s face, scrutinizing it for a while. Suddenly, she sneered, “Speak up. What have you been up to this morning?”
Li Yunbi trembled all over, wanting to be evasive, but she didn’t know how much her mother already knew. Before she could even start calculating her next move, Mrs. Qian slammed her hand on the table. “Speak the truth!”
Tears welled up in Li Yunbi��s eyes. She didn’t dare to hide anything and confessed the whole incident about Cui’er helping her and how the medicine ended up being used by her second brother.
Mrs. Qian couldn’t believe her daughter had fallen for Lu Chengxiao, and within just over a month, she had become so thin all because of Lu Chengxiao’s marriage proposal.
Mrs. Qian burst into laughter. “You’re quite something.”
Coming from a countryside fabric shop, which only managed to expand to a small county store with the support of her elder brother, Li Yunbi’s infatuation and subsequent troubles were beyond her comprehension. She even went to Anyi County, and now, knowing about Lu Chengxiao’s marriage proposal, she still caused such a mess.
If she weren’t her own daughter…
Mrs. Qian took a deep breath to suppress the urge to slap her daughter immediately.
She called the attendant in and said, “Send your third brother to the manor, have your husband delegate the manor’s affairs to the subordinates, bring back your eldest and second brother, then go pick some medicine, make Li Cui’er a bowl of medicine, and tie them up and throw them in the woodshed.”
Upon hearing this, the attendant’s heart skipped a beat. In the Li family, the steward Li was the most trusted, and her husband was far inferior. Faintly, she felt this might be a golden opportunity for her family. Then she cautiously asked Mrs. Qian, “Madam, which medicine should I pick?”
Mrs. Qian smiled. “Don’t you want to promote her to the secondary courtyard? Naturally, it’s a birth control potion. Families like ours don’t engage in the petty affairs of legitimate or illegitimate children.”
When Li Yunbi heard the words “birth control potion,” her face turned pale. “Mother, how could you…”
Mrs. Qian glanced at the attendant, who quickly lowered her head and left. Then she gave Li Yunbi a slap on the face with a loud “smack,” causing her own hand to go numb and her heart to ache even more.
Li Yunbi covered her face, tears rolling in her eyes. “Mother…”
“Do you know why I hit you? Do you still think Li Cui’er is loyal to you?”
“You’re hopelessly foolish! Sold out and still counting someone else’s money for them! How did I give birth to such a stupid child like you!”
“Yes, and your second brother. You two siblings, you’re really something.”
“Li Yunbi, let me tell you, your second brother is just trying to protect you. He might be a bit foolish, but he’s a man. In the future, he’ll only mess around with his dyes. He won’t suffer big losses. But you, with your kind, if you ever encounter someone tough in the secondary courtyard, you won’t even leave a bone behind!”
How Mrs. Qian taught her daughter isn’t detailed here, but Li Zhongjue thought he had covered up everything for his sister. Little did he know, as soon as he left, Mrs. Qian swiftly called in another trusted attendant from the manor, took over the affairs of the steward’s family, and fed Li Cui’er a bowl of birth control potion. Then she found several matchmakers, tied up the entire family, and sold them off in different directions over four separate occasions.
Li Cui’er had prepared the medicine to use on Li Zhongjue, but Lu Chengxiao’s sudden arrival prompted her to come up with a better plan, hoping to secure a higher position for herself.
But she never expected that her attempt to secure a concubine’s position and gain favor without offending Li Zhongjue or having Li Yunbi as a backer would be seen through by Mrs. Qian, who usually maintained a peaceful demeanor.
Nor did she anticipate that Mrs. Qian would act without any nostalgia, not even waiting for her husband to return home to discuss the matter, and directly order the disposal of their entire family. Li Zhongjue didn’t see it, but Li Yunbi was forced to witness the whole process, watching as the Li family was sold off separately and as her mother instructed where each member should be sold.
The person was already scared silly.
“Don’t understand?”
Mrs. Li spoke frankly, “If she had just innocently climbed into bed without using you as a raft, without using your reputation to polish hers, and just relied on her parents’ status to give her a decent position as a concubine, what harm would there be? Being a concubine is like being half a mistress after all, just a plaything in the end. But she absolutely should not have, under any circumstances, thought herself clever and used her broken pot to touch your jade.”
No matter how wayward her daughter might be, in Mrs. Qian’s heart, she was still the most precious, and no one was allowed to touch her.
Sansukini: Mrs. Qian is such a ruthless person.
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