Chapter 3
Chapter 3
And so, early the next morning, Yuan Nanshan and I went to the marquis’s mansion to investigate.
The first place we visited was the Old Madam’s courtyard.
Yuan Nanshan had some distant family ties with Ningyuan Marquis Manor.
The moment the Old Madam saw him, her eyes filled with tears and she began to sob.
“Nanshan, you’re here. You must catch the villain who harmed your cousin-aunt!”
“You can’t let her die with such a grievance, unable to rest in peace! Boo-hoo-hoo!”
I glanced sideways at Yuan Nanshan.
He looked extremely awkward.
The Old Madam was advanced in years, and her words came out jumbled and disjointed.
She simply kept repeating how pitiful Lady Xu was. She even grabbed my hand and said,
“If you’re going to investigate, then investigate Song Xiangyu properly! It must have been her!”
Song Xiangyu seemed to be the Marchioness’s name.
It appeared the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was very poor.
Then the Old Madam continued venting her grievances.
“After all these years, Song Xiangyu has never wanted me to have a single peaceful day!”
“How has the Xia family ever mistreated her?! It was just taking in a concubine. If her own belly couldn’t live up to expectations, who could she blame?”
“What family in the capital doesn’t have concubines? Nanshan, doesn’t your father have concubines too?”
Yuan Nanshan: “…”
Chapter 6
The Old Madam rambled on for nearly half an hour before finally letting us leave.
I looked at Yuan Nanshan in confusion. “Cousin-aunt?”
Yuan Nanshan sighed helplessly. “That favored concubine, Lady Xu, was the Old Madam’s niece. My family has some kinship with the Old Madam’s natal family, but in truth, we’re already well beyond the five degrees of mourning…”
He hurriedly emphasized, “In short, we are not close.”
I made an expression of understanding.
The noble families of the capital all had tangled, impossible-to-explain family connections. That was indeed perfectly normal.
For Yuan Nanshan to become Vice Minister of Dali Temple at such a young age, it was naturally not only because he was steady and capable. His family background had to be excellent as well.
Realizing my thoughts had wandered, I pulled my attention back to the case.
Although we had just listened to a great deal of repetitive rambling from the Old Madam, her attitude had already revealed many things…
Thinking of this, I said,
“I still have a question.”
Yuan Nanshan said, “Go ahead.”
I said, “Since the Old Madam favored Lady Xu, why did she arrange for Lady Song to become her daughter-in-law in the first place?”
These days, marrying a niece from one’s natal family to strengthen family ties was perfectly normal.
Why marry a daughter-in-law she did not like, while making her own niece suffer the indignity of becoming a concubine?
Yuan Nanshan thought for a moment, then said,
“I don’t know the details of what happened back then, but I once heard my mother mention that over ten years ago, Ningyuan Marquis Manor backed the wrong side, and times were difficult. The Old Madam’s natal family, the Xu family, had also fallen into decline. But Lady Song was the daughter of the Guardian General. I imagine they were considering the support the Song family could provide.”
“…”
I narrowed my eyes slightly, my expression turning disdainful.
“In other words, the marquis’s mansion used sweet words to marry Lady Song.”
“After taking all the benefits, they then married in their own cousin, and in the future, this family estate is to be handed over to a concubine-born son… If that isn’t repaying kindness with betrayal and favoring a concubine over the wife, then what is?”
I had seen shameless people before.
But never anyone this shameless!
Yuan Nanshan’s face flushed slightly as he said,
“This matter was indeed not handled decently… Let me emphasize this one more time: our Yuan family and the Xu family are truly beyond the five degrees of mourning! I am not that kind of person!”
Me: “…”
When laid out like this, Lady Song seemed even more suspicious.