Chapter 159 – A New Concubine
The next day, when Wei Yuewu got up and went to greet the Madam Dowager, she happened to meet Wei Qiuju at the entrance of the courtyard. The two of them exchanged glances and reached a tacit understanding.
The Madam Dowager was having breakfast. Seeing the two of them entering, she waved her hand and asked them to come over together.
Nanny Hong had a junior maid serve two sets of bowls and chopsticks. Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiuju sat down and took a few mouthfuls before putting them down.
The Madam Dowager had already finished eating. The maids and old maidservants tidied up the table and delivered water for her to rinse her mouth.
When everything was settled, the Madam Dowager asked, “I heard that when you were in the Plum Blossom Nunnery, you blocked a sword strike for the Crown Prince. How did that happen?”
Wei Yuewu knew that what the Madam Dowager wanted to know was why Wen Tianyao stood up for her this time. Although the Madam Dowager knew a little about the incident, she did not know the details.
She wiped the water off the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and said smilingly, “It was very chaotic at that time. Someone pushed me and Fourth Elder Sister and the two of us crashed out together. I happened to hit the tip of the sword, and Fourth Elder Sister was helped up by the Crown Prince.”
These words were very implicit and she did not mention the grudge between Wei Qiufu and her. It was as if both of them were taken by surprise.
However, such an accident almost cost Wei Yuewu’s life. For Wei Qiufu, if the situation was well handled, it was very likely that she would soar into the sky and would even be able to marry the Crown Prince without going through the selection procedure.
The Madam Dowager frowned tightly, and her expression was filled with anger. Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat, and she was puzzled.
After observing the Madam Dowager for a period of time, she was sure that the Madam Dowager was a person who would definitely do anything for the sake of power and influence. How could she be angry with Wei Qiufu for doing such a thing?
“Yuewu, it’s possible that someone was plotting against our mansion. What was wrong with that Assistant Minister Yang’s daughter?” the Madam Dowager asked with a cold face.
“That Miss Yang might be confused at that time. Although she kept me company for only a few days, I felt she was a nice person. She probably didn’t intentionally frame me. Fortunately, the Second Young Lady of the Yang Mansion and a few other young ladies testified for me. Otherwise, grandmother’s reputation would be affected.”
Wei Yuewu smiled and said casually.
Since she had promised Yang Yuyan to defend her, Wei Yuewu naturally put in a good word for her.
Wei Qiuju’s eyes widened from the side, and even her breathing became a little rough. She had always followed Wei Qiufu, and she couldn’t help but be secretly afraid that she would be pushed out by Wei Qiufu to block the sword one day.
Meanwhile, she also became more and more determined to distance herself from Wei Qiufu.
“Assistant Minister Yang used to be your father’s subordinate and was loyal to your father. Later, he returned to the capital and became an official, but your father was not in the capital. The two families gradually became estranged. Speaking of which, his wife who had died early was also an old acquaintance of your mother. But who would expect that she should have such a daughter.”
The Madam Dowager coldly snorted in displeasure.
Yang Yuyan’s mother was an old acquaintance of mom? Wei Yuewu flapped her watery eyes twice to hide the shock in her eyes. It seemed that Yang Yuyan didn’t know about this matter. Otherwise, she would have used this as a reason to convince her.
That meant Assistant Minister Yang didn’t tell Yang Yuyan about this. Why?
“What was the relationship between Madam Yang and mom?” Wei Yuewu asked in surprise.
A trace of cunning light flashed in the Madam Dowager’s eyes. She glanced at Wei Yuewu and said indifferently after a while, “Actually, there was nothing special. Because of the relationship between Assistant Minister Yang and your father, Madam Yang naturally became a close friend of your mother. Yes, they could be considered close friends to some extent.”
Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat, and an inexplicable thought flashed through her mind: that meant perhaps this Madam Yang also knew something about mom?
She thought about the unfinished sentence of the Third Prince in the Plum Blossom Nunnery, as well as the hidden meaning in Nurse Han’s words. All these made Wei Yuewu have a guess in her heart, and this was a guess that made her extremely sad. She slowly clenched her hands that were in her sleeves and quietly pressed them on her chest.
Her heart was beating so hard that she felt suffocated. For a moment, she was unable to breathe.
She was unwilling to admit this conjecture of hers, and was even more unwilling to think ill of mom whom she respected the most in her heart. However, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was an unblessed child, a child that shouldn’t have been born into this world…
Sensing Wei Yuewu’s anomaly, the Madam Dowager asked, “Yuewu, how are you feeling?”
Wei Qiuju also hurriedly turned around and saw Wei Yuewu clutching her chest as if she was on the verge of collapse. She was extremely anxious and hurriedly reached out to support Wei Yuewu.
“I… I’m fine!” Wei Yuewu took several deep breaths and soothed the discomfort in her chest. She raised her pale face and forced a smile at the Madam Dowager. “I was injured before, later on I was found out to be drugged but didn’t take the right medicine in time. As a result, my health was damaged. For this reason, the Crown Prince also sent over a lot of medicinal ingredients to help me recover. I will send some to Grandmother after sorting out the medicinal ingredients.”
“The Crown Prince personally looked into it?” the Madam Dowager’s gaze paused and landed on Wei Yuewu.
Wei Yuewu calmly wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded, “The Crown Prince said that after handling the matters in the Palace, he would pay a visit to our mansion.”
These words were fabricated, but Wei Yuewu wasn’t guilty at all. As for whether Wen Tianyao would come or not, it didn’t matter at all. This was just a sign of his attitude, an attitude that would force the Madam Dowager to come up with a countermeasure quickly.
Investigation of the person who drugged her had been under way for a period of time, but was stalled in the second branch. This was also a sign of his Second Uncle’s contempt for Wen Tianyao. Of course, this should also be because he guessed that Wen Tianyao was merely paying lip service and would not really look into to this matter.
Wei Qiuju seldom was smart, so she immediately seized the chance and asked cautiously. “Grandmother, how is Second Uncle’s investigation going on? If the Crown Prince comes to our mansion and inquires about this matter, shall we be punished for being disrespectful because of the slow progress made by Second Uncle?”
Although her words were not worth serious consideration, the Madam Dowager had no choice but to reconsider the matter. After thinking for a while, she made her decision, “When your Second Uncle comes back, I’ll talk to him. The two of you go with Nanny Hong to take a look. If you find any conspicuous person, bring them here.”
This could be considered as a reluctant consent to allowing Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiuju go to the second branch to investigate.
Nevertheless, this consent was too reluctant. What did she mean by “conspicuous person”, and who could be called a “conspicuous person”? Wei Yuewu sneered in her heart. Fortunately, she had her own plans, and didn’t care if the Madam Dowager was reluctant or not.
After letting Nanny Hong send her message to Wei Luowu in the outer courtyard, the Madam Dowager asked Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiuju to go to the second branch, where they were received by Concubine Huang who was gorgeously dressed. In these days, the second branch didn’t have a lady in charge, so Concubine Huang was basically in charge of the affairs there.
However, the senior servants in the courtyards of Lady Li and Wei Yan did not give face to Concubine Huang and refused to obey her. As a result, the second branch had been a mess recently.
However, when they learned that Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiuju were coming this time, none of them dared to show any arrogance.
After all, this Sixth Young Lady’s momentum was extremely fierce. Ever since she entered the mansion, even the Second Young Lady and the Second Lady went out of luck and ended up dying a sudden death and cultivating in the temple. This was something that these servants never dared to imagine in the past.
Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiuju sat down in the main hall. Nanny Hong brought Shufei, Yueya, as well as a few other maids and old maidservants to the courtyards in the back to look for suspicious people or things one by one. Of course, it would be best if someone volunteered to offer clues.
Wei Qiuju was nervous and on full alert as she looked at the nurses-in-charge of the second branch in the hall. She felt that if she and Wei Yuewu were drugged at the same time, the second branch was the most suspicious.
It was at this time that Jin Ling took advantage of the chaos to secretly investigate the backyard.
“Sixth Younger Sister, do you think we can find anything useful?” Wei Qiuju was rather restless. She took a sip of tea and put down her teacup. She couldn’t help but lean over and whisper in Wei Yuewu’s ear.
Wei Yuewu was also drinking tea. She picked up the teacup and stirred the tea leaves with the lid. After taking a sip, her gaze fell on a nurse-in-charge.
The other nurses-in-charge all lowered their heads and didn’t dare to move. Only this nurse-in-charge kept rolling her eyes and looked anxiously at her and Wei Qiuju from time to time. It was really suspicious.
“Second Aunt is not here. This place is really in a mess. I’ll go back and talk to grandmother and Second Uncle later. If there isn’t a better solution, I’ll suggest them to dismiss all of these people and bring in a new batch of servants. Otherwise, they will become wily old birds and don’t even know who are their masters.” Wei Yuewu said indifferently. Instead of responding to Wei Qiuju’s whisper, she raised her voice and uttered those words. The teacup in her hand landed heavily on the table, and her cold gaze focused on that nurse-in-charge.
None of the people in the hall expected Wei Yuewu to suddenly explode. They were stunned for a moment and followed Wei Yuewu’s gaze.
They saw the shivering nurse-in-charge. The other nurses-in-charge immediately leaned to the side to distance themselves from her.
“Which courtyard are you from?” Wei Yuewu asked sternly.
Under the fierce glaze of Wei Yuewu, the nurse-in-charge’s heart trembled. She realized that this Sixth Miss Wei in front of her had an astonishing aura and subconsciously lowered her head and replied, “I… I am the nurse-in-charge of the Mulberry Picking Courtyard.”
“Mulberry Picking Courtyard?” Wei Yuewu whispered and looked at the nurse-in-charge standing at the front. She knew this nurse-in-charge, who should be Nurse Shui, the senior nurse-in-charge serving Lady Li.
Seeing Wei Yuewu looking over at her, Nurse Shui hurriedly stepped out and respectfully replied, “Report to the Sixth Young Lady, Concubine Luo who has just entered the mansion lives in the Mulberry Picking Courtyard. This woman is the nurse-in-charge of her courtyard.”
“When did it happen?” Wei Qiuju who was sitting at the side couldn’t help but ask. A concubine was brought into the second branch, yet she didn’t hear a word of it at all. It was a weird thing.
“Concubine Luo has been in the mansion for a few days. Our Second Young Lady… our Master didn’t want to make extravagant arrangements.” Nurse Shui sounded quite disdainful.
Nurse Shui’s previous master was Lady Li, so she naturally looked down on a concubine who was quietly brought into the mansion.
“What concubine? She’s just a woman sent into the mansion.” Concubine Huang said at the side with an envious tone while holding her handkerchief. Originally, she was the only woman serving the Second Master. Suddenly, a beautiful and seductive woman was brought in. How could she not feel a sense of crisis? Especially during this period of time, the Second Master stayed in the courtyard of the new concubine every day, not even entering her courtyard.
“Who sent her to Second Uncle?” Wei Yuewu asked after pondering for a moment.
“I heard that she was sent by an old subordinate of Master. I also asked, but Master only said a few words.” Concubine Huang said angrily. She couldn’t help but become furious when she remembered that she had wanted to cause trouble to this Concubine Luo, but Master actually warned her not to disturb her.
“Go invite her over.” After hearing the conversation between Wei Yuewu and Concubine Huang, Wei Qiuju became curious about Concubine Luo and suggested.
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