Chapter 383

Chapter 383 The Rightful Owner

“F-Father…” Wei Yuejiao was so frightened by the ferocious expression on Wei Luowen’s face that she stuttered.

“Since you don’t know that you have a mother, why do you need a father?” Wei Luowen cursed.

“Father! I-I wasn’t thinking straight. I was in too much pain that I blabbered nonsense…” Wei Yuejiao knew that the situation had turned for the worse. Seeing how furious Wei Luowen was, she was so anxious that her tears fell, and she began to cry.

She was no longer arrogant. She looked pitiful, especially with her bandaged arm that was hung listlessly by her side. Although she had cleaned her face, there were still a few scratches. She looked extremely pitiful and pathetic.

“Your mother is Yuewu’s biological mother! She is your only mother! Concubine Dong is just a lowly concubine, and she’s not qualified to be your mother!” Wei Luowen was extremely disappointed. He had always been full of expectations for Wei Yuejiao. After all, he only had two daughters, and Wei Yuejiao grew up by his side. Of course, he doted on Wei Yuejiao very much.

However, no matter how much he doted on her, he could not allow her to be disrespectful to the woman in his heart. She was his dearest, and he planned to keep her in his heart forever. No one could compare themselves with her.

“F-Father, I-I know that Sixth Younger Sister’s mother is my mother!” Wei Yuejiao stammered timidly, “F-Father, please don’t be angry. I was injured today. It was so painful that I couldn’t even stand up steadily, and because of this, I broke the porcelain in my room. Grandmother is scolding me now!”

She sounded as if she was complaining that Madam Dowager disregarded her injury and scolded her heartlessly. When Madam Dowager heard this, she was so angry that she gritted her teeth indignantly.

Wei Yuewu stood at the door but didn’t come in. Although she looked shocked and bewildered, her heart was as calm and cold as the lake, and she looked at Wei Luowen without batting an eyelid.

“Father, did Third Elder Sister break Mother’s things too?” Wei Yuewu asked softly. She didn’t speak loudly, but it was audible enough for Wei Luowen, who was standing by her side, to hear her clearly.

It finally dawned upon Wei Luowen, who strode into the door and walked to Madam Dowager’s bed. “Mother, did you give some of Rui’er’s porcelain to Jiao’er?”

“T-The things belong to the first branch, no matter what. I thought that it was rare for you to be back, so I decorated the room with more things, so there might be some of her things inside!” Madam Dowager stuttered. “That’s enough. They were broken, so there’s nothing we can do about it. Thankfully, no one was injured. Qiufu went to visit Yuejiao, but Yuejiao condemned her for being up to no good!”

Madam Dowager looked like she was trying to play down the situation.

“Were all of Mother’s things placed in Third Elder Sister’s room?” Wei Yuewu walked in with tears in her eyes. She looked at Madam Dowager in disbelief and then at Wei Yuejiao. Then, she mumbled sadly, “So, Third Elder Sister broke everything, just like how she broke Mother’s screen in the past, am I right?”

She spoke in such a light and flat tone, and her words sounded almost like she was talking to herself, but the keen Wei Luowen heard her clearly. He suddenly recalled the screen that Wei Yuejiao had damaged. His heart ached, and he couldn’t control his anger.

Those things belonged to Rui’er, and Rui’er wanted to pass on all of them to Yuewu. Now, Jiao’er not only kept everything for herself, but she also didn’t cherish them. She damaged the screen and broke the porcelain…

“Mother, I remember that Rui’er had a list of her dowry items when she married into our family, and the list was with you. Please look for it and give it to me. I want to find all the things in this mansion that belong to Rui’er and give them to Yuewu. They were originally Rui’er’s things. I can’t let her things fall into the hands of others!”

Wei Luowen said to Madam Dowager.

Madam Dowager was taken aback, and so was Nanny Hong.

“Uh… It’s been so long. I can’t even remember where I kept it, and I wonder if it is still here,” Madam Dowager stammered and swallowed her saliva with difficulty while giving a look at Nanny Hong.

“Lord Marquis, the list of Marquise Hua Yang’s dowry may have been gone long ago. It’s been so many years. Who would care about this? Maybe, they have become public things of the entire mansion!” Nanny Hong took a step forward and said with a smile.

“Even if they have become public things, I must get them back! They’re Rui’er’s things, and she has her own daughter. Why would her things become public things of the mansion?! I haven’t heard of anyone who allowed his wife’s belongings to be public things but didn’t leave them for her own children!” Seeing Wei Yuewu’s sad look and thinking about Wei Yuejiao’s arrogant and rude words, Wei Luowen was determined to get back all of Qin Xinrui’s dowry.

Originally, he didn’t care about these things. He thought that no one would bully Wei Yuewu since he was still alive. Only now did he realize that he couldn’t control anything that happened in the backyard. Now, Concubine Dong’s daughter had unconsciously stepped on Qin Xinrui’s daughter and bullied her. Wei Yuejiao even destroyed her things on the spur of the moment. If Qin Xinrui knew about this, she would dump him and ignore him forever.

Thinking of their past conversations, Wei Luowen felt his heart tightening in anguish.

“Father!” Wei Yuewu reached out and tugged at Wei Luowen’s sleeve, “Let’s go back!” She behaved like she wanted to make concessions to avoid trouble.

However, her demeanor made Wei Luowen even more annoyed. His daughter, who was supposed to be the apple of his eyes, had now fallen to the point where she did not even dare to fight for her mother’s dowry. This was all his fault!

This time, he had to support Wei Yuewu no matter what. He wanted to show everyone in the mansion that Wei Yuewu had him as her backer although her mother had passed away. No one could bully her, not even Madam Dowager. He wanted to fight for her, or she would be discriminated against even more in this mansion.

It was because others looked down on Yuewu that the series of unfortunate events happened in the palace. During this period of time, he had thought about many things. He had always wanted to pamper Yuewu, so he shouldn’t hide his feelings for her. The current him was no longer the weak father who could not protect his daughter.

So, he should become more aggressive and domineering for her sake.

“Lord Marquis…” Nanny Hong did not expect Wei Luowen to be so nonchalant that he even targeted Madam Dowager. Her face turned pale, but she was rendered speechless.

“Mother, what do you think? If you can’t find it, I will send someone to Yuewu’s maternal grandparents’ house and ask if they still keep a copy of the list. If they have it, I can just make a copy!” Wei Luowen avowed directly without batting an eye at Nanny Hong.

Madam Dowager opened her mouth, but no word came out of it. After a while, she sighed heavily and shook her head helplessly. “Since you’ve already made up your mind, I’ll let Nanny Hong search for it in a while. Speaking of which, we should indeed return the things to Yuewu. It’s just that this time, Yuejiao may have destroyed a lot of them.”

“Let Concubine Dong compensate with her own things!” Wei Luowen informed decisively.

Concubine Dong had purchased many things during her time at the border for the past few years, so Wei Luowen was certain that she could afford the compensation for the broken things. This was the outcome of him turning a blind eye in the first place. Wei Yuejiao was his eldest daughter, so as a concubine’s daughter, Wei Yuejiao was a bit lacking in terms of status, and he had to make up for her in terms of dowry. Therefore, he allowed Concubine Dong to open a few shops at the border to do business.

He didn’t interfere with her business at all because he agreed that the earnings and revenue should be used for Wei Yuejiao’s dowry.

“Father!” Wei Yuejiao became anxious when she heard that Wei Luowen wanted Concubine Dong to compensate for the broken things.

“Father, never mind! You don’t have to do that!” Wei Yuewu interjected and shook her head sadly. “I’m happy enough as long as I can get whatever they can find out. You don’t have to ask Concubine Dong to return them. She has to keep the things for Third Elder Sister.”

Wei Yuewu’s expression was calm, so much so that it felt as if none of these was her business, but it made people feel inexplicably sorry for her.

“Both Concubine Dong and your Third Elder Sister can afford the compensation!” Wei Luowen’s gaze fell on Wei Yuejiao. Dressed in gorgeous clothes, Wei Yuejiao did not look any worse than Wei Yuewu, the legitimate daughter. In fact, it made people feel as if her makeover was slightly better than Wei Yuewu’s. This made Wei Luowen feel sorry for Wei Yuewu even more.

Because he did not want to attract the attention of others, he did not care about Yuewu for so many years. If they got anything nice, he would let Concubine Dong give it to Wei Yuejiao. Initially, he thought that he had nothing else to ask for but hope that Wei Yuewu grew up healthy and happy, but the truth made him feel guilty.

“Thank you, Father!” This time, Wei Yuewu did not decline anymore. Instead, she respectfully bowed to Wei Luowen.

This bow made Wei Luowen even more resolute in his decision!

“Mother, please inform me as soon as the list is ready. I hope you can do it as soon as possible. If it can’t be completed by the end of the year, I’ll send someone to get it from Yuewu’s maternal grandparents.” Wei Luowen sounded firm and certain. Then, he turned to Wei Yuejiao and commanded, “Go back to your room and don’t come out before the New Year. Repent your sins and mistakes. You can’t behave so willfully like you used to back when you were at the border!”

Since he had already made up his mind, Wei Luowen naturally wanted to do it as soon as possible. His resolute attitude reminded Madam Dowager of the moment when he told her that he was determined to marry Qin Xinrui and break off the engagement with the daughter of Grand Preceptor Tu Mansion. He didn’t budge at all even after she mentioned those things.

At the thought of this resentful past, Madam Dowager became even more enraged. She had experienced this kind of hateful matter because of Qin Xinrui before, and now she had to suffer again because of Wei Yuewu!

Sure enough, this mother-daughter pair had done nothing but brought trouble to the family!

Facing Madam Dowager’s cold and gloomy gaze, Wei Yuewu lowered her head as if she didn’t sense anything. A trace of coldness flashed across her eyes that were hidden under the long eyelashes. Madam Dowager was really greedy. She clearly didn’t like Mother, but she had embezzled all of her dowry. Even after she had been back to the capital for some time, Madam Dowager didn’t mention anything about Mother’s dowry.

Everything she had in her courtyard was actually prepared by Lady Li for Wei Yan, although Lady Li announced to everyone that she had prepared everything for Wei Yuewu. When Wei Yuewu moved in for real, Lady Li couldn’t take away the things that she had placed before, so her real effort had gone wasted.

In fact, she had not seen her mother’s things at all!

She couldn’t be bothered by Madam Dowager’s reaction.

She knew that Wei Yuejiao would make a fuss and smash things when she was injured. She also knew that Wei Qiufu would be forced to stir up trouble with Wei Yuejiao. Then, she brought her father here. She had gone through scheme after scheme mainly for Mother’s dowry. She had asked Nurse Mei about this, and she knew that a lot of things in Wei Yuejiao’s room were actually her mother’s things…

“I will get things done as soon as possible!” Madam Dowager glared at Wei Yuewu, closed her eyes, and leaned back, intending to dismiss them.

Noticing Madam Dowager’s unpleasant expression, Wei Luowen knew that she did not want to speak, so he led everyone out of the room.

Outside the main apartment’s door, a lad servant anxiously paced around a few times, looking as if he wanted to enter the room. However, he didn’t dare to because no one summoned him.

Suddenly seeing Wei Luowen come out, he wiped his sweat as his eyes lit up and rushed over…