Proofread by Claire.KK
The original owner of the body probably could mistake jackals for close relatives, but the current Ye Qingyi would never do this.
Liu Yinshuang, who was General’s first wife, gave birth to Ye Qingyi. Liu Yinshuang was always weak and suffered from poor health due to ma.s.sive postpartum hemorrhage. When Ye Qingyi was less than three years old, Liu Yinshuang pa.s.sed away.
Ye Zuohou and Liu Yinshuang had a deep affection for each other, and his love for Liu Yinshuang extended to Ye Qingyi. Her wishes became his commands, and she got almost everything she wanted. Concubine Yun was originally Liu Yinshuang"s dowry maid. She took advantage of the poor health of Liu Yinshuang, who could not serve Ye Zuohou, and easily accessed his bed. Later, Ye Zuohou promoted her as a concubine.
After that, Ye Zuohou married Concubine Feng and Concubine Qin. Concubine Yun gave birth to the Second Lady Ye Hongling, and Concubine Feng gave birth to the Third Lady Ye Lanxiao and the Fourth Lady Ye Ziluo. Concubine Qin had no children. Therefore, compared with other concubines in the General"s Mansion, she lived a rather hard life.
As soon as concubine Yun entered the courtyard of Picturesque Pavilion, she saw Jin Ming and Yun Lan kneeling on the ground. Her eyelids jumped. Before she could even open her mouth, Ye Qingyi said, "Concubine Yun, you’re usually prudent. Otherwise, father would not let you be the mistress and take charge of the mansion. How could you come into my Picturesque Pavilion today and shout like a shrew in the market? If outsiders see this, they will laugh at us!"
Concubine Yun didn"t expect to be scolded by Ye Qingyi before she started her punitive campaign. She was furious, yet she could only bear her own shortcomings in reason.
Ye Hongling couldn"t bear her fury. She opened her mouth and said, "Ye Qingyi, you..."
Concubine Yun saw that Ye Hongling could not bear her fury in such an uncontrollable way, so she quickly reached out and dragged Ye Hongling"s skirt. Only after that did Ye Hongling close her mouth reluctantly.
Concubine Yun said with a wary smile, "Your words are true, Eldest Lady. It was I, your auntie, who brought disgrace to myself."
Immediately, Concubine Yun"s vision fell on Hua Yue, and she went up and swore, "Hua Yue, I know that it must be you b.i.t.c.h who was gossiping in front of Eldest miss. That was why Eldest miss had some misunderstandings about the Second miss. What was more, how did Eldest miss get hurt when she went out today? It must be that you didn"t take good care of her. You b.i.t.c.h not only failed to perform your duty but also was vicious. I will teach you a lesson on behalf of Eldest miss today!"
At the thought that Second miss ran to Streaming Wave Pavilion and cried to her that just now she had been slapped by Ye Qingyi and her maidservant, Concubine Yun was so angry that her lungs could explode. She gave birth to Second miss after 10 months of pregnancy. How could she tolerate other people hurting her child?
However, she could not lay a finger on Ye Qingyi due to the General"s backing, yet it also would work if she could let some steam off on Ye Qingyi"s servants.
Concubine Yun had some fierceness in her eyes, and she swung her arm to hit Hua Yue on the face. But she was stopped halfway.
A touch of consternation appearing on Yun’s face, she raised her head and b.u.mped into Ye Qingyi"s deep and cold eyes, which made her s.h.i.+ver for no reason.
"Aunt, you beat my people in front of me. Do you still respect me as Eldest miss? Or do you think I am incompetent and I need your help to teach my people?"
After a brief absent-mindedness, Concubine Yun"s face turned red, and she quickly put up a smiling face and placated her, "You wrongly read auntie"s intention. I just couldn"t stand some cheap b.i.t.c.hes who provoked you sisters, causing Second miss to be wronged."
Ye Qingyi grasped Concubine Yun"s hand and gradually exerted force. It hurt so much that Concubine Yun immediately took a deep breath, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.
Ye Hongling saw the pain on Concubine Yun"s face and rushed to Ye Qingyi, shouting angrily, "Ye Qingyi, let go of auntie!"
Ye Qingyi snorted and shook off Concubine Yun"s arm before leaning sideways and avoiding Ye Hongling"s attack. She said with a faint smile, "It seems that you still don’t learn a lesson and forgets what I said before about being careful. If you really forget, I don"t mind teaching you again."
Upon hearing Ye Qingyi’s words, anger, fear, and unwillingness appeared in turn on her face. She dared not to make a rash move against Ye Qingyi again and just stared at Ye Qingyi hatefully, hoping to drill several holes in the other party"s body with her eyes.
Ye Qingyi looked at Concubine Yun and said coldly, "What you said just now was that you accused me of beating my Second sister and making her feel aggrieved?"
Without waiting for a word from Concubine Yun, Ye Qingyi s.n.a.t.c.hed the opportunity and justified, "My young sister just cursed me in public, and all those with ears could hear it. Only G.o.d knows how many colleagues of my father are envious of his military achievements, especially those officials in the Censorate. They are always pumped up when it comes to impeachment work. When the time comes, they"ll impeach that the daughter of a concubine in the General"s Mansion disrespects her Eldest sister and curses her. Not only my younger sister would get into trouble, but my father would also be ashamed. Auntie is a person of reason, and it would be easy for you to understand the stakes in this matter. Just now, slapping my younger sister was a painful decision! My auntie, you are busy with the management of all affairs in the mansion. It"s inevitable that you neglected my younger sister"s training in manners. It"s my duty as the older sister to teach my younger sister!"
After listening to Ye Qingyi"s twisted reasoning, Ye Hongling couldn"t help wanting to swear at her. Seeing Concubine Yun winking at her frequently, she had to bear her fury. She felt as sick as swallowing a fly alive.
Concubine Yun was so angry that she clenched her fists and s.h.i.+vered. Aside from being furious, she was even more surprised at Ye Qingyi"s sharp tongue.
They didn"t see each other for only a day, and she felt as if the other party had switched her soul as her black eyes were s.h.i.+ning with aura.
Suppressing her doubt, Concubine Yun put on a wary smile and said, "Eldest miss is reasonable. It was auntie who misunderstood Eldest miss."
"Mother!" Ye Hongling stamped on her feet and cried unwillingly.
It was supposed to be a punitive expedition during which her mother would seek justice for her. But now, on the contrary, she was talking and following Ye Qingyi"s logic.
"Second miss, Eldest miss was just trying to look out for you. Try to understand!" said Concubine Yun, winking at Ye Hongling to calm her down.
Concubine Yun was furious, but she could only swallow her fury. She was supposed to embark on a punitive expedition. But who would have thought that Ye Qingyi was so eloquent and sharp-minded? She couldn"t argue back, yet she couldn"t stir up troubles either.
In addition, many days would come yet. She would never believe that she wouldn"t be able to deal with the little b.i.t.c.h Ye Qingyi.
After two rounds of confrontation with Ye Qingyi, Ye Hongling also realized that it was not easy to deal with her. Now, even Concubine Yun had been defeated. Although she would like to devour Ye Qingyi alive, she knew further discussions were necessary after she calmed down.
Concubine Yun came back to herself, and her visions fell on Jin Ming and Yun Lan. And then she probed, " Eldest miss, these two girls made a mistake?"
Ye Qingyi made a look at Hua Yue who immediately understood and said to Concubine Yun, "My miss usually treats them both well, but she didn"t expect that they would be gossiping and slandering behind her back. If my memory serves me right, these two maidservants were sent by you to serve my miss in the Picturesque Pavilion. The reasonable people would say they don"t understand the rules. I"m afraid that the unreasonable people would say you’re incapable of teaching the servants and are unkind by sending busybodies to Picturesque Pavilion."
Concubine Yun"s face was burning as if someone had just slapped her face. Her eyes were blazing at Jin Ming and Yun Lan who were kneeling on the ground. The two maidservants suddenly panicked so much so that they felt a sting cast to their spines.