The Lucky Heiress

The old Madam Wei said emphatically.

Madam Yun froze for a moment, then responded: “I understand.”

Old Madam Wei continued: “Your son Tingting is at war, unable to properly take care of his household duties. You are the one who has to step up. With Yichen having become the top scholar, both your daughters set to be queens, and even the youngest Yilin behaving sensibly and maturely, you should treasure these blessings. You’re more fortunate than anyone else, even your sisters-in-law, especially the second one. Do you understand?”

Old Madam Wei knew Madam Yun had been recently at loggerheads with the Bai family. She was advising her to look at the bigger picture, and not focus exclusively on the Bai family.

Madam Yun stared at Old Madam Wei, her eyes filled with surprise. She hadn’t realised her mother knew everything.

Then Madam Yun said: “I will heed mother’s advice.”

“If you understand, that’s best. You may go now.”

Old Madam Wei didn’t say much more, seeing that Madam Yun had understood her meaning, she allowed her to leave.

After the younger generation had left, Old Master Wei expressed his anger to Old Madam Wei: “Aren’t you upset at all?”

“Don’t get upset. Anger won’t help. Just as I told our eldest son, can you really pick a fight with Minister Qi or Queen Rui? Even though Queen Rui is our granddaughter, from the moment she married into King Rui Residence, she became someone we must kneel to and greet.”

“Didn’t we treat her well too! She disregarded all our kindness. How can I not be angry?”

“Didn’t our kindness also come with strings attached? To be honest, didn’t we believe that our own flesh and blood daughter was better than whatever we found outside?” Old Madam Wei responded.

“You sure take it easy!” Old Master Wei was still upset.

“Old man, how is worrying going to help us? Think about it, now that the third house is doing so well and we are living comfortably, as long as we can maintain our nobility, the first and second house can’t have it too hard.” Old Madam Wei advised.

“Forget it, I can’t argue with you. The more we talk, the more I seem to be the unreasonable one!” Old Master Wei, unable to argue with Old Madam Wei, waved his hand dismissively, and headed towards the inner room.

###

Wei Qingwan was waiting in her room for Cuihe to bring her news.

Only a few elders participated in the family meeting in Shou’an Hall, neither Wei Qingwan nor her cousins attended.

Wei Qingwan wanted to know what the older generation had decided, so she sent Cuihe to Shou’an Hall to gather information.

Shortly, Cuihe returned.

“Miss, it’s confirmed, Doctor Xu is gone. The old master and his wife have given up on seeking help from Queen Rui. Most likely, the old master was sacked due to this incident, and he is furious with Queen Rui.”

Hearing Cuihe’s report, Wei Qingwan felt conflicted.

“Doctor Xu… is really dead…” Wei Qingwan said, seeming somewhat absent.

“Miss, don’t worry. Even though Doctor Xu is not around, there are other divine doctors in the world. When you become the side consort of King Yu, you can find a better divine doctor for treatment. Furthermore, the scars on your back are hardly visible now, you don’t need to worry.” Cuihe didn’t think it was a big deal.

Wei Qingwan said in a low voice, “My fate is such. If there is anyone to blame, it would be myself for not being prepared earlier. By the time I reacted, Wei Qingruo had caught me off guard. Only now do I realize she had been laughing at me secretly all along. Who knows how many times she laughed behind my back over the years? She must have thought I was a fool.”

Wei Qingwan turned to look at her reflection in the mirror, her face revealed her weariness.

“Queen Rui is really hateful! She doesn’t just treat you this way, Miss, she treats everyone in the family the same. In my opinion, everyone else in the family hates her too, yet for some reason, the old madam keeps speaking up for her!” Cuihe quickly chimed in, echoing Wei Qingwan’s sentiments.

Wei Qingwan gave a self-deprecating laugh, then said, “I wonder how Mr. Qi is doing now.”

She was still concerned about Qi Zhen.

“Miss, don’t worry about Mr. Qi. There are imperial physicians by his side, he’ll recover.” Cuihe reassured her.

“Without Doctor Xu, he can’t continue the limb reattachment procedure like the Xiu’s son. I can’t imagine how he will cope now that he’s lost his leg, knowing how proud he is.”

“Well…” Cuihe didn’t know how to comfort her in this situation.

“Qi Zhen was so kind to me, I should help him. If Doctor Xu were alive, for Qi’s sake, I would have been willing to apologize to Wei Qingruo, but now it’s too late.” Wei Qingwan murmured.

“Easy for you to say, Miss. In my opinion, it’s good that you didn’t go. If you had, who knows how Queen Rui would have treated you!”

“Yes, she would definitely not let me off easily. But if it were for Qi Zhen, I wouldn’t mind suffering a little,” said Wei Qingwan in a soft voice.

After a pause, Wei Qingwan continued: “Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. What I think doesn’t matter now; I can’t change anything. Instead of fussing about it, I should think about what I need to do in the future.”

“Yes, yes, yes, Miss. Your wedding day is near, you should focus more on preparations.”

Right after that, Wei Qingwan looked at the fruit basket on the table and said, “Can you help me take these peaches to my second aunt?”

The peaches were shipped from Jiangnan. There weren’t many, the Loyal and Righteous Duke Residence received only one basket. Most of them ended up in Shou’an Hall for the old Madam Wei. Wei Qingwan received two peaches as a soon-to-be consort of King Yu.

Now, Wei Qingwan, foregoing the peaches herself, told Cuihe to give them all to Madam Bai to win her favor.

“Miss, aren’t you going to give any to madam?”

“Who cares about my two measly peaches right now? Her own son is the top scholar and her own daughter is the primary wife of King Rui; she has more than enough good things.”

“Understood.”

###

King Rui Residence, Songzhu Garden.

After returning to the residence, Wei Ruo was sitting in her room, having Lin Fang make her a new human skin mask.

Even though she could openly buy properties under her identity as Wei Qingruo now, she still preferred not to openly flaunt her status as Queen Rui when going out.

“Miss, it was right of you to abandon the identity of Doctor Xu. With your body maturing, it wouldn’t be appropriate for you to dress as a man,” Lin Fang said as she was applying materials to Wei Ruo’s face to make the human skin mask. She looked at the mirror that reflected Wei Ruo and continued.