Duan Huirou looked at her daughter. Ever since becoming a mother, her thoughts had changed greatly from before.
This was the child she had risked everything to bring into the world. In this lifetime, she only wanted to hold her in the palm of her hand, to cherish and protect her.
Because of that, she now better understood the sadness and anger her eldest sister had felt back then.
She had wronged her.
Pale-faced, Duan Huirou looked at her mother and said, “Mother, we’ve already hurt Eldest Sister enough—why must you keep wounding her like this? What has she ever done to wrong you? The Jiang family, the Jiang family—it’s always about the Jiang family. If you really can’t let go of them, then once I finish my confinement, I’ll personally speak with Grandfather and Grandmother and ask them to let you return to the Jiang family. Will that finally satisfy you?”
Madam Jiang was stunned, then so furious her whole body trembled. “What do you mean by that? I’ve loved you like the apple of my eye, and this is how you repay me? You ungrateful child!”
“If you really loved me, knowing I’m in postpartum confinement, why would you come and stir up trouble?” Duan Huirou cried.
Madam Jiang started to feel a little guilty. “I was just afraid you’d really damage your relationship with Jin Wang over someone unrelated. I was doing it for your own good.”
Someone unrelated…
So, in her mother’s eyes, Eldest Sister was someone unrelated.
No wonder she said they were severing ties, that they would never see each other again in life or death.
Duan Huirou leaned weakly against the soft pillow. “I’m still in confinement. I don’t have the strength to argue with you. But Eldest Sister has always meant what she says. If the title from the main branch really ends up in the second or third branch, how will you face Big Brother? Someone, send Madam back.”
Lan Jiang’s wife burst in, forcefully helped Madam Jiang up, and started escorting her out. As she walked, she smiled and said, “Madam, please.”
Madam Jiang struggled violently. “Let go! How dare a lowly servant like you lay hands on me?”
But Lanjiang’s wife didn’t care, dragging her out of the residence half by force.
Pah!
A heart as black as tar—how dare she think she’s worthy to be the Eldest Miss’s mother?
Duan Huirou’s eyes ached from crying, but she still pulled herself together to write a letter to her eldest brother. As she wrote, she began crying again.
Her feelings for the Jiang family ran deeper than anyone’s. She had let go of so many of their past wrongs.
But this time, she couldn’t let it go.
She didn’t know what her aunt had said to her mother, but it was like she’d been bewitched. If she really did something to betray Eldest Sister… what then?
Anyone else could abandon her mother, but she couldn’t—not when she had truly loved her.
The tears that fell blurred the writing on the letter, and she no longer had the strength to rewrite it. So she simply had it delivered to her sister-in-law’s hands.
After reading it, Madam Xiao rushed over like a whirlwind. She pulled Duan Huirou aside and spoke with her for a long time, then left in a carriage.
A few days later, Madam Xiao went to see Mingxi at Duan Wang’s residence.
Mingxi invited her in. Qiancao brought tea, and only then did she speak: “Sister-in-law, what brings you here today?”
Madam Xiao didn’t know how to begin, so she first sighed. “Huirou told me about what happened the other day with Mother.”
Mingxi didn’t seem surprised. She looked at Madam Xiao and said, “She’s really gotten bold now, even pulling you into this.”
Hearing Mingxi speak like this, Madam Xiao felt slightly relieved and said, “Second Sister cried for half a day. When I went to see her, her eyes were swollen like walnuts. Crying like that during confinement—what if it damages her eyes?”
Mingxi didn’t respond. No one else could be blamed—only Madam Jiang.
“Second Sister told me she suspects it was Eldest Madam Jiang from the main Jiang household who said something to Mother, and asked me to look into it. But it wasn’t appropriate for me to get involved, so I mentioned it to your eldest brother and third brother. Third Brother went to the Jiang household to find out.”
Mingxi had known all along—every time Madam Jiang acted abnormally, the Jiang family was behind it.
“It turns out Jiang Sujie sent a letter from the imperial tomb, asking the family to find a way to bring her back to the capital. Life there is too bitter, and she can’t endure it anymore.”
Mingxi frowned. “Even being sent to guard the imperial tomb, she still has people serving her. It’s just not as luxurious as before. How can she not bear it?”
Neither Bai Shixi nor Xie Muhua had written home to complain. And yet Jiang Sujie couldn’t take it?
“Third Brother found out that Jiang Sujie doesn’t get along with Chen Yiniang. They argue all the time. Since the deposed Crown Prince went there, he’s been drinking constantly and has taken a few servant girls from the tomb estate as concubines. The whole courtyard is a mess.”
Mingxi: …
“He’s living more and more disgracefully. Jiang Sujie saw there was no hope for her, so she wanted to return to the capital and begged the Jiang family for help. But the Jiang family has no power to bring her back. So Madam Jiang asked our mother to find a way.”
At this, Madam Xiao sighed more heavily. “Old Madam Jiang is getting worse in health. She keeps saying she’s near death and wants to see her eldest granddaughter one last time. You know how filial our mother is…”
Mingxi sneered. “What method could she possibly have to bring Jiang Sujie back to the capital? Even if Big Brother is a Marquis, his reach doesn’t extend that far. Third Brother’s imperial exam is next year. So now she’s got her eyes on Duan Huirou? Wants her to beg Jin Wang?”
In any case, Madam Jiang didn’t dare come to her. And Mingxi had no intention of helping. Not kicking them while they’re down was already being overly kind.
Madam Xiao nodded. “Yes, the day you went over, Mother was forcing Second Sister to come up with a solution. The two of them had a falling-out, so…”
“So I showed up at the wrong time, ran straight into the fire, and she vented her anger on me?” Mingxi said blandly.
Madam Xiao couldn’t understand what her mother-in-law was thinking and said helplessly, “After your eldest brother and Third Brother came back from the Jiang household, they discussed the matter with Grandfather. As long as the Jiang family remains in the capital, Mother will always be stirred up by them and do unpredictable things.”
Mingxi understood. If Madam Jiang had a good relationship with the Duan patriarch, perhaps she wouldn’t be so entangled with her natal family. But the two had long since become estranged. In her heart, she only saw her birth family as her true support.
“If we try to drive the Jiang family out of the capital by force, it’s easy to be caught and used against us. Besides, they’re not worth the risk. So Grandfather made a decision—he’ll have Father go back to the ancestral home to offer sacrifices on his behalf, and take Mother with him. Once they arrive, they’ll never return to the capital.”
Essentially, it was a ruse—trick them into leaving and then quietly place them under house arrest.
Mingxi looked up at Madam Xiao, stunned for a moment, then said, “That works. The capital is still unstable. It can’t afford the risk.”
Madam Xiao let out a long breath. “I came to let you know so you won’t worry about this anymore. Grandfather’s personal men will go with them and keep a close watch.”
Others might not be able to control the Eldest Duan Master and Madam Jiang, but Grandfather’s men certainly could.
Madam Jiang had no idea this was a trap. She thought it was a great honor to return to the ancestral home as the eldest daughter-in-law to offer sacrifices on behalf of her elders, and happily followed the Eldest Duan Master out of the capital.
Yang Yiniang stayed behind. Because of this, Madam Jiang never imagined she wouldn’t be allowed to return.
On the day Madam Jiang left the capital, Eldest Madam Jiang rode out in a carriage to stop her—her daughter had not yet returned to the capital, how could Madam Jiang just leave?
But she was stopped outside the city by people secretly sent by Duan Yu. In a fit of rage, Madam Jiang scratched the person’s face until it was bloodied.
