Yun Shuyao engaged in self-reflection. As for whether she had a heart or not, she didn’t acknowledge that. However, it was true that these years, as her days became more comfortable, she had increasingly followed her heart’s desires.

When she first entered the Lin household, she still had quite a bit of professional integrity. Upon entering an unfamiliar environment, one naturally had to be dedicated. At that time, performance was very important—it would affect her impression in her superior’s eyes and her compensation. So she showed respect toward her direct superior Jia Min, and would send gifts to Lin Ruhai and the Old Madam during holidays, saying pleasant words to maintain relationships. She wasn’t doing this for promotion, purely to make her days easier, for the sake of compensation. Later, her days truly became easier.

Her direct superior Jia Min passed away, her son grew day by day, and Lin Ruhai had no second son who survived. At this point, her position was already stable. She didn’t need to perform much anymore. As long as she made no mistakes, there would basically be no upheavals.

No matter how she performed, she couldn’t get promoted, nor would her treatment decrease. At this point, it was equivalent to owning a portion of the company’s shares and receiving dividends. So why not be an idle veteran who coasted along?

She only needed to do what she was supposed to do. If she didn’t want entanglements with colleagues, she didn’t socialize with them. Would this affect her dividends?

No. So she followed her heart’s desires.

…From the perspective of colleagues with whom she didn’t want excessive interaction, it was indeed easy to think she had no heart.

Yun Shuyao reflected on this and understood the reason, but she had no intention of changing.

Even legitimate wives who married into families found it difficult to become one loving family with their in-laws. Things were fine as they were now.

——

Ying Yu learned that Concubine Mother’s health had deteriorated and urgently wanted to return, but she couldn’t just leave whenever she said so.

After becoming someone’s daughter-in-law, returning to one’s natal family became a difficult matter.

For the more rigid-minded, aside from parents’ funerals, there were almost no opportunities to return.

The saying “a married daughter is like spilled water” was widely circulated—it wasn’t without reason.

Ying Yu and Da Chun returned together and first went to see the Old Madam. After hearing Grandmother’s words, Ying Yu’s eyes immediately reddened. She stood up, swaying unsteadily. Da Chun sighed and supported her as they left the courtyard to see Concubine Mei.

Today, knowing her daughter was returning, Concubine Mei had someone properly wash and apply makeup for her, making her look more spirited.

Seeing them arrive, Concubine Mei was very happy and spoke at length. Ying Yu forcibly suppressed her sorrow and listened patiently, also accepting several boxes she gave her. This was what Concubine Mother left for her as keepsakes.

She would never use what was inside for her entire life!

Until Concubine Mother had no strength to speak and drowsily fell asleep, Ying Yu remained by her bedside watching her for a long time.

Looking at Concubine Mother on the sickbed, her spirit was in a trance… Concubine Mother looked so small like this, so fragile, as if she might disappear in the next moment.

She didn’t understand.

Just now, Concubine Mother had told her she was sorry.

Why did she need to say sorry?

She said she regretted it, telling her to live her own days well, to be true to her heart, so she wouldn’t also have regrets later.

When asked what she regretted, she refused to say anything.

As she left the courtyard, Ying Yu looked back. Concubine Mother… hadn’t mentioned the Mei family even once.

Previously, she would periodically ask her to take care of the Mei family when she had opportunities, to look after her maternal uncle and the others. Had something happened?

Bearing her confusion, Ying Yu came to Concubine Yun’s place.

She had come to apologize.

“My concubine mother once said some unkind words… I’ve come to apologize on her behalf. Concubine Yun, I’m sorry. Thank you for never holding it against her.” Ying Yu guessed this was the person Concubine Mother meant when she spoke of regret and apology.

Concubine Mother had contact with only so many people in the inner quarters. She had always kept the Mei family in mind, so she probably wouldn’t have wronged them. That left Concubine Yun and Concubine Chu. She knew that her concubine mother’s mouth sometimes really was… She had advised her but she wouldn’t listen, leaving her quite helpless.

Yun Shuyao was somewhat surprised: “She said this?”

Ying Yu: “Yes.”

Yun Shuyao nodded: “I understand.”

Yun Shuyao didn’t say anything about forgiving her or not minding.

Ying Yu hadn’t expected Concubine Yun to say she forgave her. She felt somewhat ashamed: “I also need to go to Concubine Chu’s place to say sorry to her.”

Yun Shuyao nodded. “Wait a moment.” She handed her the box that Concubine Mei had previously given her.

It wasn’t heavy. Inside should be banknotes. Yun Shuyao didn’t know how much was inside and hadn’t opened it to look: “Your concubine mother’s. Take it back.”

Ying Yu looked at this small box, stunned for a moment, then shook her head: “Concubine Yun, please keep it. This is my concubine mother’s apology. How could there be reason to take it back?” She became more certain that the apology was from Concubine Mother to Concubine Yun and the others.

Concubine Mother might have been limited in her horizons and hadn’t taught her many things, but the heart that loved and protected her had never changed. Between biological mother and daughter, where did apologies come from?

Fearing she would push it back again, Ying Yu left immediately. “Concubine Yun, I’m going to Concubine Chu’s place now.”

Yun Shuyao had no choice but to set the box down first. She could give it to her later.

Sorry? Was this a deathbed reflection?

Yun Shuyao looked toward the direction of Concubine Mei’s courtyard and couldn’t help sighing. She felt that this statement was more likely said by Concubine Mei to Ying Yu.

If it had been meant for her, she would have said it earlier.

Before long, Concubine Mei could no longer endure. After vomiting blood, she lived forty-three days—this was still the result of Physician Zhou’s devoted efforts to sustain her.

Everyone had expected her passing, but Ying Yu was still greatly affected.

Although she had already anticipated this scene, when it truly happened, she still couldn’t bear it. She lay on the bed gravely ill for a long time without improvement, making Da Chun anxiously pace circles by the bed: “You care so much for her, yet you’ve forgotten about me! If you’re like this, I’ll be heartbroken too!”

Ying Yu didn’t answer, only buried her head in his embrace and wept bitterly.

While Ying Yu grieved here, Concubine Gao in Xingtai Prefecture, upon learning of her daughter’s death, sat dumbly on a stool staring northward for a long time. Tears slowly flowed out. “My Ruixue, my daughter… I didn’t even see you one last time…”

Even the vast Lin family estate couldn’t preserve your daughter’s life. Daughter, how could you make this white-haired person send off a black-haired person!

Gao Shi wept bitterly before reason slowly returned. Her heart knew this was not good. She secretly resolved that in the future, she absolutely could not become distant from her granddaughter.

Ying Yu was already separated from her and the Mei family by a layer. If the Mei family wanted to develop in the capital in the future, this relationship with Ying Yu could not be severed.

Later, when Old Madam Lin and Master Lin passed, they presumably wouldn’t restrict the Mei family from going to the capital anymore. At that time…

Regardless of whether people were sad or happy, the days continued to pass day by day. Chen Yu, far away somewhere in the northwest at this time, was at the edge of the fields, inspecting the growth of grain.

He was a county magistrate.

A county magistrate of an impoverished place.

After arriving here, well-informed people learned of his family background. Before long, everyone knew.

They all assumed he would be promoted and leave before long, so the local power brokers didn’t give him much trouble. Whatever he wanted to do, they wouldn’t deliberately obstruct. He deeply experienced what it meant to have connections at court making things easier.

But even though his subordinates didn’t compete with him for power, if Chen Yu hadn’t had an experienced adviser to help him sort things out at the beginning, he would have been flustered and confused.

From the perspective of the official world, a county magistrate’s position wasn’t large, but for this county’s territory, he was their sky! Whether these common people were fed and clothed, their births, old age, illness and death were all intimately connected to him.

After getting things in order, Chen Yu became a diligent superior, often leading his subordinate county deputy and others to run about. He frequently went to the countryside.

In the matter of farming, he wasn’t a veteran farmer of many years, yet he could be called experienced. Every year he had shouldered a hoe and wielded a sickle. He wasn’t the type to engage in armchair strategy. Seeing how knowledgeably he spoke about agricultural matters, those local power brokers didn’t dare casually deceive him.

Watching the season, Chen Yu planted the seeds Concubine Mother had given him.

Because of Concubine Mother’s attitude, Chen Yu was very cautious. The relevant personnel were also deliberately selected, and he opened some fields nearby as control groups.

When he first obtained the seeds, he had discovered that in terms of appearance, these different seeds were worthy of being carefully selected by Concubine Mother—the grains were all very plump. But as for having any astonishing performance, Chen Yu still didn’t believe it.

Selecting good varieties was something many people did. Even ordinary village farmers were constantly doing it. With each planting, they used the best as seeds, generation after generation. This required a very, very long time to see a gratifying result.

Disbelief aside, Chen Yu was still very attentive. After these seeds grew, Chen Yu came to compare them and discovered there were considerable differences from the control group.

The control group’s fields were mostly uniform, while the seeds Concubine Mother gave him—this patch was tall, that patch low, this patch robust, that patch slender. They looked uneven, but some indeed looked very good.

When they matured, some wheat performed exceptionally well—numerous grains, full and plump, fragrant. They could practically be presented to the Emperor as an auspicious omen.

Chen Yu was extremely shocked.

This was the fruit of Concubine Mother’s years of hard work? Such remarkable seeds had already been cultivated?

But looking at the side, Chen Yu felt like cold water had been poured over him and calmed down again.

That small patch beside it was sparse and scattered, with a harvest worse than inferior fields.

Yet these used seeds from the same bag.

Chen Yu began to suspect—had they accidentally been mixed with seeds from another bag during the journey?

Otherwise, how could the difference be so great?

This wasn’t the only place with large differences. This small estate didn’t have much farmland, but the people tending it had expended tremendous effort, precisely because of these different performances. Without intensive cultivation, they absolutely couldn’t be tended properly.

The estate manager stood somewhat tremulously beside the county magistrate. Speaking of other matters, he stammered, but once he spoke of these things in the fields, he became eloquent.

This plot grew well because it used certain fertilizers, that plot failed completely because insects ate everything, that area wilted as soon as it dried out…

Chen Yu recorded it all, then went to the village to see the common people’s harvest and compare. Then he also supervised tax collection matters. The county deputy and runners who followed him around had all lost a circle of weight and gained several shades of tan, feeling quite powerless.

If not for the county magistrate’s food, clothing, and manner of speech being beyond what a humble family could support, they truly would doubt his origins.

Why did he so love running to the countryside?

Moreover, he not only ran there but also liked speaking with common people—about household harvests, about children’s schooling situations, about tax collection and corvée labor… Previously, there had still been room to manipulate things and profit a bit. Now basically none of that remained. Everyone didn’t dare interfere anymore. The county magistrate truly would discover it, and once he discovered it, punishment would follow.

In this place, there weren’t many extra benefits to begin with. Now one avenue for supplementary income had been cut off. If the magistrate hadn’t found ways to attract many merchants to pass through, their days might have become unbearable.

Chen Yu wouldn’t care what they grumbled about in their hearts.

Afraid of hardship and fatigue? He, a county magistrate, had to frequently run to the countryside to prevent accidents, getting several shades darker.

Don’t even think about it—everyone move!

As for those previous minor manipulations, as long as they weren’t excessive, Chen Yu turned a blind eye. When water is too clear, there are no fish. If he demanded complete clarity throughout the realm, Chen Yu felt it would be harder than ascending to heaven. He wouldn’t be so harsh on himself.

Moreover, in the end, this place was simply too poor.

Not only were the common people poor, the local government office was also poor—so poor that when any accident occurred, they couldn’t even pay the runners’ monthly wages. Now that commercial routes had opened and traveling merchants had increased, tax revenue had also increased, finally providing some breathing room. Chen Yu believed this place would get better and better. If that small patch of abundant wheat could continue like this next year, then this small place might even have a chance to become famous throughout the realm…

Yun Shuyao received her son’s letter, which discussed the harvest from those seeds and proactively mentioned he would continue planting them next year. Yun Shuyao nodded with gratification—it seemed she had sparked his interest.

She wasn’t surprised by this result. Those seeds were the ones she had sent out.

This was also part of building the “chain of evidence.”

Good things always came with difficulty.