Changying The Lady

Although Wei Changying was unprincipled enough to deliberately stir up her cousin"s suspicion in order to achieve the purpose of perfunctory promise to learn proper demeanor, she knew that marrying into the royal family was indeed Song Zaishui"s most hatred. Even if she did not know that Song Zaishui was ready to oppose at the last minute through the means with the risk of mutual destruction, she was still afraid of deceiving her too much and causing trouble.

So two or three days later, she told Song Zaishui, “I asked Uncle Jiang to inquire about it, and he said all of the cousin"s guards acted as usual. He also set the doorman up, and the doorman said that except the messengers who came to report the visiting of the envoy of the Emperor to Fengzhou in the near future, there were no other messengers coming from the direction of the capital.”

Although she said so, Song Zaishui was already suspicious of the situation and was not easy to get rid of the suspicion so that she still could not rest a.s.sured.

Wei Changying followed her usual practice to comfort her, “Look, cousin, the guards cannot enter the backyard at will. If they receive my uncle"s letter, they will tell my grandmother and mother in advance. Otherwise, how can they pick you up? Now there is no movement from my grandmother or my mother. Therefore, it is obvious that there is no such a thing.”

“Maybe.” If Wei Changying did not say so, Song Zaishui could still comfort herself in this way. However, after she said so, Song Zaishui thought more about it. She has stayed in the Wei Family for such a long time, how could Old Madam Song and Madam Song not know clearly about her thoughts? But it was obvious that there was nothing her Grandaunt and aunt can do to help. If Song Yuw.a.n.g actually wrote a secret letter to ask them to send her out of Fengzhou, and if Old Madam Song and Madam Song could not persuade him not to do so, they would have no choice but to send her away. In the end, Song Zaishui was Song Yuw.a.n.g"s daughter.

So if Song Yuw.a.n.g sent a secret letter and wanted to forcibly take her to the capital, then even if the Old Madam Song and Madam Song knew about it, they would not leak the message out. They would certainly wait until the departure and caught her off the guard to prevent accidents due to her annoyance.

Song Zaishui"s eyes twinkled, and she could not tell whether she was sad, or depressed, or angry. She knew that it was not Old Madam Song and Madam Song who did not want to help her, but it was because of Song Yuw.a.n.g"s determined mind. This made Grandaunt and aunt also incapable of doing anything. Yet, she thought that she was so lonely and helpless, and the two relatives just pretended not to know about it and looked coldly from the side-lines, the grief and sadness in her hearts couldn"t stop but flowing out.

—How many people related to the Song Family in Jiangnan were! However, she, as the First Miss of the Song Family, trapped in calamity, and no one intended to help!

Glimpsing Wei Changying beside her with a look of concern, Song Zaishui kept silent for a while and said, “Anyway, I have to go back to the capital in the end, and it"s impossible for me to live in the Wei Family all my life.”

The sudden change in her tone surprised Wei Changying. She said with doubt, “Cousin?”

Song Zaishui squeezed the veil and said faintly, “I have been here at Fengzhou for several months, and I have never been to any other places except this Ruiyu Hall. Before my father urges me to depart, I would like to have a look around Fengzhou. After all, I"m about to get married after I go back to the capital this time. How can I get the opportunity to travel at will later on?”

Wei Changying dulled for a moment before he said, “Cousin, you have never mentioned this after you arrived in Fengzhou! Why do you mention it now?” She frowned and persuaded painstakingly, “Things are not too bad! Even if you marry into the Eastern Palace, with the character of greedy and lecherous of the Crown Prince which shows his stupidity and incompetence, maybe he will be able to be instructed into an obedient one with the means of the cousin? No matter there are many sons and daughters of the concubines, after all, they are all born by women with humble origins. How can they be compared with cousin"s children in the future?”

“That"s easy for you to simply say it!” Song Zaishui sneered and said, “If it is the case of Shen Cangfeng, how do you feel when you talk about his concubines and the children of concubines?”

Wei Changying"s expression changed slightly when she heard that and said faintly, “How would I know who are serving him?”

“…” With the love of the Old Madam Song for her granddaughter, she would certainly pay attention to the rear courtyard of Shen Cangfeng. Yet, she was only able to find out that Shen Cangfeng had no children of the concubines. This was not surprising because well-known families paid the most attention to decency, and it was very unruly to have children of the concubines without marrying the wife. And even if Shen Cangfeng already had someone to serve him, she would not have a justified position in the family without meeting the lawful wife.

Shen Cangfeng was said to be two years older than Wei Changying so that he was now nineteen. At this age, ordinary men should have known about the things between men and women.

Even if there were no children of the concubines, it was not possible that there were already concubines in the house. When Wei Changying married over the next year, of course, she wouldn"t be like the case of Song Zaishui that someone would come and call her father"s wife. However, it was possible that after the wedding, one or two gaudy beauties would come up to Wei Changying to kneel down to serve tea and send their greetings.

Wei Changying had always been cheerful. But as the date of marriage was coming, Old Madam Song and Madam Song were urging her to quickly get ready to try to make a good impression on the elders of the Shen Family. Under such pressure, Wei Changying had also become sensitive.

Song Zaishui was silent for a while and said, “After all, these are things that will happen later times. Let"s not talk about these unhappy things. I really want to go out to travel around. Before, I still had autistic thinking. But now I understand that it was my father who asked me to keep my promise to marry into the Eastern Palace. And maybe it"s not only my father"s will but also the intentions of the Empress and the Crown Prince. Even though the Emperor has favored Miao Jieyu recently, the Empress has managed the harem for many years so that it would not be easy for her position to be abolished. If the Empress indeed pressured my father, my father might not be able to hold up his opinions. All my previous hopes mean nothing to her. In addition to this, this promise was made in the early years, and the dignity of the Royal Family was above the Song Family"s. Now, the Royal Family does not break the promise, yet I am thinking about abandoning the Crown Prince. Everyone will say that I am unreasonable if this news spreads! Since there is no other hope, then I will make up for what I cannot do in the future. Later on, maybe I will feel less sorry when I think about everything in the courtyard of the deep palace.”

Speaking of the two cousins engagements, their future situations were both a little hard to say. Yet, how many women would not yearn for such a marriage that two people stayed together in a lifetime? But from ancient times to the present, how many people had been able to get such blessings?

Wei Changying bit her lips and said faintly, “I"ll go and ask my mother.”

Yet, the news of the cousins" apart in discord was spread to Madam Song first through other means. When Wei Changying came to her listlessly and said that Song Zaishui wanted to travel around, Madam Song had already discussed with Mrs. Shi and others so that she nodded with a pleasant face, “It has been some days since Zaishui came to Fengzhou, but she has never been out of the house. Now that she has the will of traveling around, then you just go and accompany her. I"ll also send someone to ask Gaochan and Changyan later. It"s just that the weather is still hot now, so it"s best to look at the scenery along the water and don"t go to places where there are a lot of people so that you won"t b.u.mp into them.”

Wei Changying was so upset at the moment that she just agreed and wanted to leave. Madam Song quickly stopped her and sent idle people away. She lowered her voice and said, “You child…what happened today? Why are you so lethargic?”

“I talked to my cousin for a while, and I am tired now.” Wei Changying had always been pretending to be strong, but she was worried that she would be like what Song Zaishui said that she would find that Shen Cangfeng already had a number of concubines. Yet she refused to talk about it to Madam Song and only perfunctorily said, “My cousin has got over it. She said that she was afraid she would not have the chance to go out after returning back to the capital so that she wants to travel around. I will listen to my mother and wouldn"t let her go to crowded places.”

Since Madam Song knew what Wei Changying and her cousin had said before, how could she not know what her daughter was worried about now? She sighed, pointed to the forehead of Wei Changying, and reproached softly, “About whether or not Shen Cangfeng already has concubines at home…. Even if he doesn"t have any now, what about the future? Are you able to worry about them all? Besides, even if there are concubines in the future, as the lawful wife, who can get past your position?”

Wei Changying was stunned and immediately became angry. She said, “I was just chatting with my cousin. Who is so talkative to come to you to gossip about this!”

“So you know now, in a big family, there are not many secrets! Be careful what you say and do in the future! This is in your own home, with your grandmother and me, even if you have made some mistakes, no one will dare to do anything to you! When you go to your husband"s house, there will be no such good thing!” Madam Song sneered and instructed her daughter. She then became serious and said, “Don"t get confused because of an unintentional saying of Zaishui! Since ancient times, apart from the common people, no matter how loving the couples are, whose family doesn"t have few concubines to serve aside?”

“We don"t have any at our family!” Since the camouflage was directly exposed by her mother, Wei Changying lost the mood of acting as if nothing had happened. She immediately changed her expression to upset and said with a clear grievance.

Madam Song sighed deeply and said, “That"s because your father is in bad shape. If not, do you think he will only have me to serve him?”

“Why not?” Wei Changying said bold and straight, “How can those concubines worthy of my father?”

“I heard that you ran into your grandmother last time when she was reasoning with your grandfather?” Madam Song glanced at her daughter and said faintly, “Think about it, your grandmother controls your grandfather so tightly, then why are your second uncle, third uncle, the youngest uncle and other aunts born by others not your grandmother except your father and your second aunt?”

Wei Changying said, “This is because of the heirs….”

“That"s right!” Madam Song sneered, “Who will not looking forward to the prosperity of the heirs? When your grandmother didn"t get married, her status in the Song Family was about the same as you are now. Your grandmother"s grandmother loved her no less than your grandmother loves you now! So your grandmother"s mind was the same as yours when she got married that she was determined not to give your grandfather a chance to have a concubine! At first, your grandparents were having a good life. But ever since your actual second uncle, Zheng Ye died before one year old, your lineal great-grandmother spoke in person to ask your grandfather to take a concubine. Your grandmother was in great pain in losing her newborn son and the eldest son she had before was congenitally deficient. Yet, at that moment, her mother-in-law urged her to take a concubine for her husband! How couldn"t your grandmother hate her guts?”

Madam Song looked at her daughter and said seriously, “In this world, except for fools who don"t know how this world works, who can be actually carefree and live joyfully?”

Wei Changying has only seen the dignity of her grandmother that the courtroom was so silent in front of the slightest facial expressions of her. After secretly seeing Old Madam Song beaten up Wei Huan, she felt that her grandmother was even more majestic. But it was the first time she had heard that Old Madam Song had made such compromises, and she could not help being stunned on the spot and said after a while, “Grandmother… how could she willing to do so?”

“Would it work if she wasn"t willing to do so?” Mrs. Song snorted and said, “Your father is congenitally deficient. If we hadn"t invited Ji Qubing, a well-known doctor in the country, to stay at home for more than two years to look after his health, it would have been hard to say whether or not he would be able to live till today, not to mention having you and Changfeng!”

Although she was instructing her daughter, when Madam Song mentioned these things, her eyes were still slightly red and her voice trembled a little, “It was a pity that it was too late to ask Ji Qubing to come over, and the best time to treat him had been missed, your father…. To put this aside, your grandmother has only one son, your father, who grew up to adulthood, and he was weak and sick. Moreover, your grandfather was in charge of Ruiyu Hall. At that moment, the elders asked your grandmother to plan for the heirs. Was that wrong? No. How could your grandmother not to follow the order?”

Wei Changying was stunned and said, “But… at that time, my lineal second uncle just deceased, and my great-grandmother already started to talk about things like this. It was so unkind!”

“So mother-in-law and mother are different.” Madam Song quietly pressed the corner of her eye as she pretended to drink the tea. She restored her normal expressions and said faintly, “It"s as if no matter how filial my Changfeng"s wife will be in the future, she can never surpa.s.s your position in my heart. Even if you are unruly, capricious and arrogant, you are born by me. Therefore, there are no other girls in my eyes who can compare with you in this world. By the same token, in the eyes of your grandmother, I can"t compete with your father"s position in her heart! So if your father was good shape and your grandmother had only a few children, how couldn"t she take concubines for him so that your family line can prosper?”

“It"s not just your grandmother, whose family"s old madam hasn"t been fooled when she was young? Otherwise, how could they stay calm in every occasion today? People are all trained to become better.” Madam Song pointed to her daughter and shook her head, “You"ve been through too little and mostly act on your a.s.sumptions! Do you really think it"s that easy to live in a lifetime?”

Wei Changying bit her lip and said, “Wasn"t Grandma"s case an accident? If my father was in good shape and the several lineal uncles also had good health….”

“Yes, these are all uncertain things.” Madam Song said faintly, “But think again, your second uncle, third uncle, and the youngest uncle who was adopted by your grandfather"s youngest brother… as well as your aunts. Their biological mothers are all different. Not all of the concubines who served your grandfather gave birth and raised their children. And not all the ones who had given birth were able to raise their children to adulthoods. Yet, where are these people now?”

Wei Chang was stunned. Madam Song took a deep look at her daughter and said earnestly, “The prosperity of heirs is a good thing for the family, but concubines and things alike are just playthings. As lawful wives, it is their duty to manage the concubines. Yet, it will be losing demeanors for lawful wives to be worried and annoyed by them!”

“No matter who is the biological mother of your second uncle and others, isn"t your grandmother still the only one they can call ‘mother" and treat carefully?” Madam Song said faintly, “Why do you bother with whether there are concubines in Shen Cangfeng"s house? Anyway, if you don"t like them, wouldn"t that be easy for you to just get rid of them? If you just worry about him taking concubines, even if he doesn"t have them now, what about later? If you only care about this, how do you do other things? Wife and concubine, you are the wife but not the concubine. Only caring about men is what concubines do, because without men, all their splendor will disappear! Is that what you are?”