“You shameless hussy! Vicious whore! You have no shame!” Qin Huining trembled as she screamed.
“Who exactly is shameless?” Qin Yining grabbed Qin Huining’s collar, their faces inches apart as they stared at each other: “I never thought of harming you. We could have lived in peace, but you kept stirring up trouble, not only causing mother to misunderstand me, but also making father and mother discord and the household restless! You’re nothing but a usurping adopted daughter. When I’m in a good mood, I’ll treat you as a person. When I’m not, what are you worth!”
Qin Huining was so angry her eyes turned red, but she was merely a delicate young lady of letters—how could she match someone who had survived years in the wilderness like this “wild person”?
Unable to compete physically, she could only threaten:
“Treating me this way—aren’t you afraid grandmother will drive you out when she finds out!”
“Ridiculous! I’ve already hit you—do I still fear such things? At worst I’ll go back to being my ‘wild person’—at least I’d be free and unrestrained!”
Qin Yining’s sharp, cold gaze swept over the maids in the courtyard who were already frozen with fear, then looked at Cai Shi, Rui Lan and the others who couldn’t get up, smiling slightly to reveal teeth like white shells.
In the night, those gleaming white teeth paired with her bloodthirsty expression sent chills straight to people’s hearts!
“Let me tell you all—I’ve killed and eaten wild wolves, let alone you people! Not bothering with you is because I thought it wasn’t worth it—did you think I was afraid? Don’t forget, no matter how much you look down on me, I’m still my father’s legitimate daughter!”
Applying force with her hand, she dragged Qin Huining outside: “Come! Let’s go see the Grand Dowager! You’ve stirred up discord between mother and father—don’t think I’ll easily forgive you!”
For all these years, Qin Huining had grown up in the Prime Minister’s residence as Qin Huaiyuan’s only legitimate daughter. The Grand Dowager cherished her like her own heart and liver—when had anyone ever laid a finger on her? Now having her face slapped and clothes pulled, Qin Huining had long since broken down, struggling while crying and cursing, spewing out all manner of filthy language that was unbearable to hear.
But Qin Yining simply gripped her collar, looking so relaxed it seemed she wasn’t dragging a person but rather carrying a chicken to slaughter.
Let her curse—it would show people what kind of fine daughter the Prime Minister’s residence had raised.
Qin Yining had natural feet and years of mountain survival had made her able to traverse peaks like flat ground. She naturally walked with swift steps now. But Qin Huining had three-inch golden lotus feet. Bent over and struggling, even running she couldn’t keep up, walking in a stumbling, swaying manner.
Unable to persuade, deaf to scolding, unable to push away, unable to fight back! Struggling desperately, she still couldn’t break free from that hand gripping her collar like a death grip. Using desperate eye signals, not a single servant dared step forward to help.
Qin Yining thus dragged her prey unobstructed all the way to Cixiao Garden, followed by a string of servants like dumplings, none daring to speak loudly.
Upon reaching the entrance, Qin Huining finally saw she would meet her relatives and burst into loud wailing: “Grandmother, save me! Someone wants to kill me!”
This shriek carried far into the distance, nearly making the Grand Dowager inside drop her pipe.
The Grand Dowager had just heard that her eldest daughter-in-law had taken people back to her natal family, making her face turn pale with anger. Nanny Qin had expended great effort to calm her down, and she had just lit a pipe of tobacco. Before she could take a puff, the burning tobacco fell entirely onto her snow-white underskirt, immediately burning a hole.
“Oh my, Grand Dowager!”
Nanny Qin quickly poured a cup of tea to extinguish the fire, then frantically checked whether the Grand Dowager had any burns. Fortunately, the weather was cold and she had put on padded pants early, thus avoiding disaster.
The Grand Dowager’s face was iron-blue as she threw down the pipe, shrilly saying: “What person dares make such a racket!”
The maid outside seemed frightened into stupidity, stammering: “In response to the Grand Dowager, it’s Fourth Miss and Miss Huining who have come.”
The Grand Dowager frowned and stood up with a start.
“What do these two hussies want to do in the middle of the night! I say Sun Shi is just a household-disrupting woman! What kind of things has she taught!”
“Grand Dowager, please calm your anger. This servant will first help you change clothes.” Nanny Qin and the senior maid Ji Xiang offered good words of comfort while nimbly changing the Grand Dowager’s skirt, putting on a sparrow-blue satin jacket, and placing a sapphire-inlaid forehead ornament on her.
After tidying up, the Grand Dowager had calmed somewhat. With a face dark as water, she brought Nanny Qin and Ji Xiang to the flower hall used for banquets.
Upon entering, she saw Qin Huining and Qin Yining kneeling in the center, both with disheveled hair, loose hairpins, and swollen faces. Half of Qin Huining’s face was swollen beyond recognition, her makeup ruined from crying, tears and snot covering her entire face.
Seeing the Grand Dowager, Qin Huining finally saw her relative and wailed loudly, crawling forward on her knees to embrace the Grand Dowager’s thigh, crying as if the sky was falling, choking so much she couldn’t form sentences.
Seeing her condition, the Grand Dowager immediately felt heartbroken and bent to help her up, calling her “heart and liver”: “What happened? Stop crying quickly.” She anxiously asked Cai Shi and Qiu Lu who had followed: “You speak—what exactly happened!”
Cai Shi’s arm still hurt, and her lips trembled so much she couldn’t make a sound.
Qiu Lu, as always, kept her head lowered and remained silent.
Qin Yining said calmly: “Grand Dowager, please calm your anger. Qin Huining stirred up discord between my father and mother, directly angering my father into going to the outer courtyard and my mother into returning to her natal family. I have already taught her a lesson. Grand Dowager, don’t get angry and harm your health—if punishment is needed, you can leave it to the servants.”
“What!?” The Grand Dowager frowned.
She had been brooding over Sun Shi returning to her natal family, never expecting this matter was actually related to Qin Huining, whom she cherished so much?
Qin Huining shook her head repeatedly, her swollen face making her speech unclear: “It’s not like that. Mother herself suspected Little Xi was a mistress’s daughter… Mother only slapped Little Xi once and scolded her a few words, but father felt sorry for her and quarreled with mother…”
Qin Huining brazenly twisted the facts.
Cai Mama also said: “In response to Grand Dowager, Fourth Miss was truly too domineering. Not only did she slap Miss Huining, she also beat this servant and two maids together. This servant still hurts so much I can’t lift my arm.” She knelt down covering her arm and moaning.
Nanny Qin looked at everyone, then supported the Grand Dowager on left and right with Ji Xiang to the arhat bed by the window with thick brocade cushions, bringing a hand warmer for the Grand Dowager to keep warm.
The time spent walking and sitting allowed the Grand Dowager to calm down somewhat.
Today when Qin Yining returned to the residence, she had given the impression of being an obedient, steady, somewhat timid country girl. To say she dared to hit people on her first day back—she didn’t believe it. But looking at the slap marks on Qin Huining’s face, everything seemed real.
The Grand Dowager didn’t immediately take her side, truly making Qin Huining panic. She thought privately: They really are blood relatives—now that the biological granddaughter has returned, she no longer considers me an important person by her side.
Qin Huining was both panicked and anxious, and in her agitation, she spoke without much consideration.
“Grandmother, regardless, her beating me like this and hitting my wet nurse and maids—that’s her fault! Where do proper young ladies directly fight with people like this? If word gets out, where will our Prime Minister’s residence put its face? Isn’t this embarrassing father! Such a wild person is simply…”
“You be quiet.” Though Qin Yining was kneeling, her spine was straight. In her features similar to Qin Huaiyuan’s, cold light flashed, her long brows tightly knit with sharp, fierce spirit.
“Even in front of the Grand Dowager, you still want to sow discord? Mother originally didn’t suspect my identity—it was your hints and suggestions that made mother suspect I was a mistress’s daughter. But father is upright in character. If he likes someone, he would bring them back to the residence openly. How would he secretly keep a concubine outside? Even if he really had a mistress who bore children, wouldn’t he have the backbone to bring them back directly?
“Moreover, father simply wouldn’t stoop to such behavior! With his character and talents, countless young ladies would eagerly enter the household as concubines—when has father ever been moved? Yet you incited mother to suspect father, making them grow apart! Harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things. Qin Huining, for your selfish interests you repay kindness with enmity—have dogs eaten your conscience!”
Qin Huining anxiously argued: “Don’t speak so righteously—aren’t you also doing this for yourself? You say you’re the legitimate daughter, but who knows what really happened back then? Mother suspecting you is only human nature! Besides, I never stirred up anything!”
“Father acts openly and honorably. When he says the staff investigated, could that be false? You dare say such things even in front of the Grand Dowager—and you still say you never stirred up discord?” After Qin Yining finished speaking, she turned to look at the Grand Dowager.
Hearing this, Qin Huining’s body shook. Her heated mind gradually cooled, and she realized she had fallen into a trap!
This wild person wasn’t stupid at all—she had taken advantage of her emotional agitation and grievances to provoke her into saying those things!
But words once spoken were like water spilled—how could they be taken back!
The Grand Dowager’s brow furrowed tightly, and her heart developed some dissatisfaction with Qin Huining.
The Grand Dowager didn’t doubt Qin Yining’s bloodline in the slightest. That face looked as if it had been carved from the same mold as Qin Huaiyuan’s—could it be fake?
Though she favored Qin Huining, as Qin Huaiyuan had said, the bloodlines of great families couldn’t be confused. Biological was biological, adopted was adopted.
The Grand Dowager indeed looked down on Qin Yining.
But even looking down on her, she was still the only legitimate daughter of the son she valued most.
The Grand Dowager indeed liked Qin Huining.
But no matter how much she liked her, she was only an adopted daughter.
Now, an adopted daughter had stirred up trouble between son and daughter-in-law to consolidate her own position, causing household discord and making her impulsive, brainless eldest daughter-in-law return to her natal family. Who knew how the in-laws would misunderstand? When this matter spread tomorrow, who knew how the nobility and scholarly families would gossip—where would the Qin family put their face!
Qin Yining hitting people was wrong, but the Grand Dowager, having managed the inner household for years, could still distinguish where the root of the matter lay.
The Grand Dowager’s face darkened as she looked at Qin Huining, unable to hide her disappointment.
That disappointed look from the Grand Dowager made Qin Huining experience what alienation felt like.
The mockery in her heart deepened: Sure enough, you’re the real family—now you’re completely treating me as an outsider! Saying you cherish me most, but now aren’t you favoring your biological granddaughter!
Looking at Qin Huining’s sobbing appearance, the Grand Dowager couldn’t bear it after all. Even a cat or dog develops feelings after being raised for a long time, let alone a beautiful young girl like a flower or jade? Even though she was adopted, there were still over ten years of affection.
With a grim face, she rubbed her temples. The Grand Dowager turned to Qin Yining and said helplessly: “Though Hui Jie’er may have made mistakes, what you did today, Yi Jie’er, was too excessive. No matter what, you can’t resort to violence. You’re a young lady from a great family—when you go out, you carry our Prime Minister’s residence’s reputation. Do I really need to teach you this principle?”