Chapter 40 - The Fourth Young Lady from the Third Branch

Wei Yan wiped her eyes hard with her handkerchief and tugged Lady Li’s clothes. She pleaded, “Mother, please! Yan’er will only be watching in secret. No one will know. I was hurt by that bitch so much that I was too angry to sleep these past two nights.”

Looking at her daughter’s cheeks that obviously grew hollow and her red-rimmed eyes, Lady Li recalled the day when Wei Yan cried her heart out after coming back from the mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan.

Lady Li also knew that she would cross the line if she agreed to her daughter’s request, but she couldn’t bear to refuse. She thought for a moment and said, “There are still a few days left anyway. Be obedient and transcribe the Buddhist scriptures in your courtyard. You must show your copies to your grandmother every day and promise her that you won’t have any contact with Marquis Jing Yuan in the future. Perhaps your grandmother will let you go.”

As for Wei Yan’s childish idea of sneaking out, Lady Li directly rejected it. Wei Yan was known by people there. If anyone caught her sneaking around amongst maids, it would be a scandal of her own mansion. After a series of accidents Wei Yan had caused, the Madam Dowager would not forgive her if she allowed Wei Yan to sneak out.

Lady Li knew her place well over this point.

“Alright, Mother. I’ll go back right now and copy the scriptures carefully. I will let grandmother release me on the day of the banquet.” Wei Yan gritted her teeth and said. She was determined to see with her own eyes how Wei Yuewu made a spectacle of herself.

Lady Li didn’t know that while she and Wei Yan were waiting anxiously to create trouble for Wei Yuewu, the third branch was inquiring about this matter as well...

“Have you already shown the cloths to second elder sister and sixth younger sister?” Wei Qiufu glanced with little interest at the rolls of cloth that occupied the whole table. She turned around and softly asked the old maidservant from the sewing room.

Hearing her question, the Fifth Young Lady Wei Qiuju, who had been happily picking at the side, stopped. Her face immediately revealed a hurt expression, “So these are all unwanted by the second elder sister and sixth younger sister.”

Wei Qiuju was the Third Master’s daughter born to a concubine.

“Fourth Young Lady, Fifth Young Lady, you’re not selecting from leftovers. These cloths are almost the same, and each young lady likes different colors. The Madam Dowager has arranged everything. Only the Sixth Young Lady is a newcomer, so she has two more sets. Other young ladies can pick whatever they like from the rest. You see there’re still so many bolts here.”

The old maidservant from the sewing room said smilingly as she pointed at the tableful of cloth. However, she did not think highly of the Fifth Young Lady’s petty manner. By comparing the reaction of the Fourth Young Lady with that of the Fifth Young Lady, she could judge that the former was far better than the latter!

There were indeed a lot of bolts of cloth this time. Even though Wei Yuewu and Wei Yan had already picked some, there were still many left. It could be seen that the Madam Dowager had prepared a plenty of cloth so that the young ladies could choose as they liked.

When Wei Qiuju heard the old maidservant from the sewing room say so, her expression was softened. She was just about to reach out and made a careful pick when Wei Qiufu asked gently, “I heard that grandmother picked out a very good bolt of cloth. Who has it now?”

Wei Qiuju put down her hand again. Her eyes grew almost red. Sure enough, nothing good was meant for her. She was just a girl born to a concubine. How could she be as noble as the first daughter of Marquis Hua Yang? All nice things were always presented to them first, and then to her next, by which time the remaining ones were all leftovers.

The maidservant in charge started to sweat on her forehead when she heard the question about that bolt. However, she still replied with great care, “The Sixth Young Lady was very fond of that bolt of cloth, so she picked it.”

The old maidservant didn’t dare to say that the cloth was left at the Second Lady’s place at present.

“Of course, such a good bolt of cloth should be reserved for the sixth younger sister. She just entered the mansion and even suffered that kind of thing. It’s natural that she should have two more sets of dresses! But I just wonder the second elder sister was actually so good this time that she didn’t compete for it against the sixth younger sister?” Wei Qiufu casually asked with a smile.

“No, the Second...Second Young Lady didn’t.” It was quite difficult for the old maidservant to answer the question. Her forehead was sweating. Everyone in the mansion knew that the Second Young Lady was quite domineering!

She had to answer in this way, regardless of whether the Fourth Young Lady and the Fifth Young Lady believed it or not.

“Second elder sister is becoming sensible now.” Obviously, Wei Qiufu didn’t believe it, but she didn’t pursue the question. She smiled gently and lowered her head to pick cloth in a casual manner.

The old maidservant rejoiced in secret at her stroke of luck. She felt it fortunate that the inquirer was the Fourth Young Lady, who was most liked by servants and the gentlest person in the mansion. If other young ladies noticed something wrong, they would definitely try to extract all secrets from her. If the Second Lady found out that she leaked the information, the lady would absolutely punish her heavily.

Wei Qiuju’s face was full of grievances. Her big eyes were filled with suspicion. However, she had always followed Wei Qiufu’s lead. What could she do if Wei Qiufu did not pursue the question?

Moreover, she was conscious of her identity. Even if those bolts of cloth were really unwanted by Wei Yan, she couldn’t do anything to Wei Yan! She only stretched out her hand to pick despite her grievance. But no matter how she looked at the cloth, she was not as excited as she had been at first. As her fingers skimmed across the brightly-colored rolls of cloth, she couldn’t hold back her question any longer. She turned around and asked.

“Where did you buy that bolt? Do you have any left?”

The old maidservant smiled dryly and shirked her responsibility. “I don’t know. The Madam Dowager arranged everything. I’m only responsible for taking measurements and making dresses for the young ladies.”

The Fourth and the Fifth Young Ladies were inquiring about where that bolt of cloth came from. She had to mention it to the Second Lady later. If something happened in the future, it would be very easy to track down to that bolt of cloth.

So thought the old maidservant. Therefore, after the two young ladies finished their pick and she took their measurements, she hurried to Lady Li’s yard.

Wei Yan had returned to her own place with an eye to focus her mind on copying the Buddhist scriptures so as to please the Madam Dowager.

Lady Li frowned when she heard the old maidservant’s report. Even if others were unaware of the fact, she was fully conscious that Wei Qiufu, the Fourth Young Lady of the third branch, had never been an easy person to deal with.

There had been several times when she gained the upper hand over Lady Zhang in their confrontation. However, Lady Zhang received only light punishment in the end every time. All these were because of Wei Qiufu.

That girl was shrewd, and precaution must be taken to prevent her from detecting anything wrong.

“Go and tell the Madam Dowager that the Sixth Young Lady liked that bolt of cloth. Tell those who follow you to keep their mouth shut after you go back. Otherwise...” Lady Li lifted her eyes and threatened with a gloomy face.

“Yes, yes, I understand. I will definitely order them to shut their mouth.” Thinking of the consequences if her subordinates failed to keep their mouths shut, the maidservant in charge of the sewing room felt a sudden shiver. She nodded her head vigorously!

After the maidservant left, Lady Li pondered for a while in her room. She felt that Wei Qiufu’s words were a reminder to her.

If something happened to Wei Yuewu, Yao’er would probably become a suspect as the Madam Dowager pursued the investigation. Once Yao’er was suspected, Lady Li and Wei Yan would be incriminated as well. Therefore, the best way out was to tell Yao’er about it and ask her to think of a way to frame up someone else for this matter.

By then, even if Yao’er was suspected, she could pretend that she didn’t know anything about it. In this way, it was more unlikely to track down to me and Yan’er. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

So thought Lady Li. She then called one of her trusted old maidservant over and whispered a few words to the servant. The servant hurriedly left the mansion through the back door soon after that and headed towards Prince Nan’an’s mansion.

Huamo chatted for a while with the maids in the sewing room before she returned to the Lotus Courtyard. Half on her way, she suddenly caught some voices coming from the front. Coincidentally, her mistress was mentioned. She looked left and right, rolled her eyes, and immediately hid herself behind a big tree beside her.

“Then the Sixth Young Lady will have three more sets of dresses, right?” The group of people who were approaching was from the sewing room, and one of the old maidservants asked the leading old maidservant.

“What’s the point of asking that? Can you object to the mistress’s order?” The supervisor had something on her mind. She couldn’t help but scold the questioner. They had just come out of the yard of the Madam Dowager, who ordered them to make one more dress for Wei Yuewu.

“How would I dare!” Seeing that her supervisor was unhappy, the old maidservant immediately put on a smile and said.

Then they chatted and laughed as they walked along.

Huamo came out from behind the tree. A trace of doubt appeared in her eyes. Why? They had clearly said that they would make two more sets for her mistress, and her mistress had only picked four. When did it become three more sets?

It seemed her mistress’s guess was right. Something was going on!

With this thought in mind, Huamo hurried back to the Lotus Courtyard. She reported to Wei Yuewu the information she had obtained from the sewing room. She also told Wei Yuewu what she had heard along the way.

“The cloth came from Prince Nan’an’s mansion?” Wei Yuewu asked with a smile.

“Yes, I heard very clearly that the wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an sent them over. She said that it was for making new dresses for the sisters. The Madam Dowager added a few more bolts before the cloth was brought to the young ladies to pick. As for which ones were sent by the wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an, the servants in the sewing room didn’t know either.”

Huamo had asked in detail. However, since those who took over the cloths weren’t there, the others couldn’t give a clear account!

Wei Yuewu raised her eyebrows coldly. There was indeed something wrong with the bolt of cloth that the maidservant in charge of the sewing room had repeatedly recommended to her.

“Miss, you picked only two bolts of cloth. How dared those in the sewing room make a decision by themselves to make one more set of dress for you?” Shufei asked with puzzlement.

“The sewing room wouldn’t dare. The Madam Dowager must know about it. Even if it was found out later, they have nothing to do with it.” Wei Yuewu sat there with a faint touch of mockery on her face. So it was the wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an!

Wei Fengyao, Lady Li’s daughter, was the former eldest young lady at the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. Wei Yuewu had never seen this cousin, wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an. However, it was clear that this Wei Fengyao was confronting her and plotting against her together with Lady Li and Wei Yan. Understandably enough, they were mother and daughter!

“Miss, what should we do?” Hearing that the wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an had also interfered, Jin Ling became anxious. The Prince of Nan’an was the emperor’s younger brother. The status of the wife of the heir-apparent of the Prince of Nan’an was far higher than that of Wei Yan.

“We wait! Wait until the dress is sent to me.” Wei Yuewu gracefully picked up the teacup in front of her and gently took a sip. Now she was in the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, she would not retreat.

No matter what they were planning, this dress was a crucial part. Before she had it, she did not have a clue about their intentions. She could not take rash actions.

Jin Ling’s eyes widened as she suddenly thought of something. She asked anxiously. “Do you want me to keep an eye on the Second Lady? I can report to the Madam Dowager as soon as I find anything suspicious.”