Chapter 52 The Old Maidservant in the Madam Dowager’s Courtyard
Wei Yan’s face was pale now and she looked at people with a blank expression. Lying in bed in disheveled clothes and then being seen by so many men, her reputation was apparently ruined. Moreover, at that time, when she looked at Mo Huating in the clamour of voices, he even avoided eye contact with her.
This almost drove Wei Yan into despair.
After Wei Qiufu and Wei Qiuju left, Lady Zhang took Wei Yan and Wei Yuewu to the Madam Dowager’s courtyard and reported what had happened. The Madam Dowager was so exasperated that she trembled violently and her face turned ashen. She smashed the teacup in her hand to Wei Yan’s feet and scolded hatefully, “You wretched girl! Kneel down! Tell me what exactly happened?”
“Grandmother, it was not me but her. She set me up. That dress, that dress is also hers.” Wei Yan was woken up by the smashing of the teacup. She dropped on her knees in front of the Madam Dowager and pointed at Wei Yuewu, shedding tears uncontrollably and crying with a hoarse voice.
Seeing that Wei Yan still didn’t realize her fault, the Madam Dowager grew increasingly sullen, and her expression became as gloomy as the dark night. She slammed her hand hard on the table and said sternly, “You have the nerve to speak of the new dress? Someone, send the Second Young Lady to the family temple. Send her away overnight.”
“Grandmother, it was not me. Really!” Before Wei Yan could finish her argument, two old maidservants unceremoniously pulled her up and started to drag her out.
“Mother, mother, please forgive Wei Yan. This isn’t all her fault. Those men are to blame. How could they barge in a young lady’s room? And that happened shortly after Wei Yan had fallen into the lake. If you send Wei Yan away, how can she manage to live on?” Lady Li, who had already received the news, rushed in at this time, and she was followed by the Second Master Wei Luowu, Minister of Rites.
“Mother!” Wei Luowu frowned as he looked at Wei Yan and then at Wei Yuewu with unfathomable eyes.
Wei Yuewu had only met this Second Uncle out of ceremony on the day she returned to the mansion. She only knew him to be a gloomy, awe-inspiring middle-aged man. When she met him, he did not speak a word to her but only coldly sized her up and down before letting her go.
“Yuewu, you go outside for a while.” The Madam Dowager’s eyes darkened when she saw that both her second son and his wife came. Then, she uttered those words to Wei Yuewu.
So this meant the family members going to have a discussion which she, an outsider in their eyes, was not allowed to hear on the side?
Wei Yuewu nodded and walked out obediently with Jin Ling. Then, she walked about the yard of the Tranquility Pavilion and stopped under a strong pine tree.
The tree was not in the front of the courtyard but in a remote corner.
“Miss, what did the Madam Dowager mean?” Jin Ling looked uneasily in the direction of the main chamber. It was really strange to purposely ask her mistress to leave. After all, this matter also concerned her mistress, so her mistress was supposed to stay in the room.
“Nothing particular. She was just afraid that they wouldn’t be able to talk freely if I was there.” Wei Yuewu smiled faintly and quietly raised her head. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the top of the tree.
“The Madam Dowager is too biased. You are the real first daughter of this mansion.” Jin Ling said indignantly.
Wei Yuewu didn’t say anything this time. The real first daughter of this mansion? Perhaps no one in this mansion thought she was. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed her to live in her maternal grandparents’ house for so many years. Yet none of them deemed it inappropriate to have her raised by her maternal grandparents although she was actually the first daughter of this mansion.
This so-called mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, from masters and mistresses to servants, never ever gave her the slightest feeling of family.
“Miss, will the Second Young Lady be spared without receiving any punishment?” Seeing Wei Yuewu standing there quietly and looking up at the top of the tree with narrowed pretty eyes, Jin Ling couldn’t help but ask the question.
“Of course she will. Second Uncle came in person. How would the Madam Dowager do otherwise?” Wei Yuewu moved her gaze from the top of the tree to Jin Ling. Her eyes then passed the maid and landed on an old menial maidservant at the back door of a right wing room.
She remembered very clearly that the woman was not there when she came.
The maidservant put down her broom with a complicated expression, and stared at her with a mixture of joy and sorrow. Without even realizing that Wei Yuewu was a mistress and she was a servant, she kept looking straight at the Wei Yuewu’s face.
“You...” At this time, Jin Ling also noticed the rude behavior of this old menial maidservant and was about to go over to reprimand her.
However, Wei Yuewu stopped Jin Ling by grabbing her and slowly walked over to the old menial maidservant.
The sound of their steps awoke the senses of the old menial maidservant. She lowered her head instantly and wiped her face with her hands in panic. Wei Yuewu’s sharp eyes caught a drop of tear falling from her eyes.
“Sixth Young Lady, my respects to you.” The old maidservant saluted respectfully.
“You… Do you work here at grandmother’s courtyard?” Wei Yuewu sized her up and asked hesitantly.
“Yes, Sixth Young Lady. I’m assigned to the Madam Dowager’s courtyard.” The old maidservant looked up with some excitement and lowered her head again immediately. She said in a low voice, “I… I was a servant at the marquise’s courtyard!”
Marquise?
Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat and then she asked softly, “You mean my mother’s courtyard?”
“Yes, I used to be a supervisor of servants for… for the marquise.” The old maidservant’s voice became even lower.
“Then why are you just a menial maidservant now?” Jin Ling asked in surprise. The status of a servant supervisor in every courtyard was a level higher than that of a personal maid. How came she was reduced to a lowest-ranking menial maidservant as she was now?
“I...” The old maidservant seemed to be thinking of something and vigilantly took two steps back. She immediately picked up the broom on the side to sweep the ground.
Jin Ling pulled Wei Yuewu’s hand as a signal for her to retreat as well.
After a few steps back, Wei Yuewu consciously looked at the corner, where Nanny Hong, a maidservant serving the Madam Dowager, appeared. Seeing Wei Yuewu here, Nanny Hong came over hurriedly with a smile. “Sixth Young Lady, the Madam Dowager asked you to come over.”
Obviously, they had finished their discussion.
Wei Yuewu nodded. She turned around and walked forward with Jin Ling. She stopped at the place where the old menial maidservant was sweeping the ground and said gently, “There are a lot of leaves over there. Go and do some cleaning.”
“Yes, I know.” The menial maidservant answered and went over there without daring to raise her head.
Although Wei Yuewu’s words were directed at the menial maidservant, she landed her eyes on Nanny Hong to see her reaction. When she stopped beside the menial maidservant, the nanny’s face grew slightly tense and didn’t relax until she heard those words. Her expression changed extremely fast during this short while.
If Wei Yuewu hadn’t been staring at Nanny Hong, she wouldn’t be able to notice it.
A hint of coldness flashed in her eyes under her thick eyelids, but was belied by a smile right away. The mansion of Marquis Hua Yang was indeed mysterious, and it seemed that all the secrets had something to do with her...
Wei Yuewu had seen this old maidservant several times in the past few days. She didn’t pay much attention to her, since the maidservant was just doing menial work in the Madam Dowager’s courtyard. But now, she realized things might not be easy. If the woman really was just an ordinary servant, why would Wei Yuewu see her every time she came here?
This old maidservant might be intentionally approaching her.
Otherwise, it would be impossible that she happened to be on duty, and more coincidentally, she was assigned to clean the courtyard every time Wei Yuewu came.
So this old maidservant must have something to tell her. Since she was mother’s servant when mother was alive, the supposed revelation must concern mother. They all said that mother became ill after a difficult delivery, which was why she died a few years later after giving birth to Wei Yuewu.
Could it be that there were some secrets regarding her death?…
“Yuewu, your elder sister Wei Yan is also a victim. Those aristocratic young masters who barged in her room are to blame. They’ve ruined her reputation. As for what happened before that, it’s Wei Yan’s fault to be narrow-minded. However, she has received her punishment by suffering such a disaster.”
Those from the second branch were no longer in the room. Only the Madam Dowager was sitting on her couch with an expression that could be said to be calm. Wei Luowu must have said something to appease the Madam Dowager’s anger. It looked like this Second Uncle was quite capable. He successfully coaxed the Madam Dowager into standing by Wei Yan in such a short while.
What did the Madam Dowager mean by saying Wei Yan had received her punishment? Did she intend to stop looking into the whole issue anymore? In fact, Wei Yuewu didn’t believe that the Madam Dowager was unable to find out Lady Li and Wei Yan were behind the scenes if she investigated the matter. However, now everything was wiped clean, and the Madam Dowager indicated that she would let bygones be bygones.
“Yes, grandmother, you are right.” Wei Yuewu said indifferently, a trace of coldness flashing through her eyes.
“It seems the engagement between you and Marquis Jing Yuan would have to be broken off, and Wei Yan is so helplessly determined to marry Marquis Jing Yuan.” The Madam Dowager sighed, and her expression became increasingly amiable. “You and Wei Yan are sisters. When both of you get married in the future, you should help each other. Whatever disputes between you two will all become petty girlish things.”
“Nanny Hong, take what the Second Master brought here to Yuewu’s courtyard. It was my negligence. You’ve just come back, and it was the Spring Festival, but you don’t have many ornaments. Your Second Uncle was quite considerate. He ordered a few sets of ornaments for you and brought them here.” The Madam Dowager ordered Nanny Hong first and then said smilingly to Wei Yuewu.
In order to sooth Wei Yuewu’s grievance, the Madam Dowager spoke of the sisterhood first and then mentioned the ornaments bought by Wei Luowu for her. If Wei Yuewu declared that she still wanted to hold Wei Yan responsible, she would seem too aloof to her family members.
“I thank Second Uncle for his kindness. Actually, he doesn’t have to worry about that. Grandmother, you have already given me some.”
Before the banquet, the Madam Dowager had someone send her some jewelry, which showed that the Madam Dowager actually knew that Wei Yuewu didn’t have any jewelry, though she never said about it in front of the granddaughter. This time, however, she talked about her negligence. Fortunately, Wei Yuewu was already prepared to face up to the Madam Dowager’s partiality to Wei Yan.
The Madam Dowager tried to deal with this matter peacefully. Yet the problem was that Wei Yan’s good reputation had already been ruined. It was out of the reach of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang to stop the scandal from spreading.
Wei Yan wanted to marry Mo Huating?
However, judging by Mo Huating’s firm rejection to break off the engagement, one could know that there must be something he wished to hide.
Even if Wei Yan was willing to marry him, Mo Huating wouldn’t necessarily want to accept her!
As for Wei Yuewu, she only needed to guide the development of the situation and discover the secrets step by step…
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