Yan Sanhe didn’t answer her question but continued speaking in the old lady’s tone.

“You’re the daughter-in-law I chose myself. You’re the one I love most in my heart. Just be obedient, don’t make a fuss or cause trouble, and I’ll treat you even better in the future.”

Pei Xiao seemed to understand something yet remained confused. “Why would my maternal grandmother do this?”

“Let me guess.”

Yan Sanhe stood up, paced around the parlor with her hands behind her back, then suddenly stopped. “There should be two purposes.”

Pei Xiao was more anxious than anyone: “Speak quickly!”

“Someone chosen by the Zhang family would naturally favor the Zhang family, favor that deceased legitimate mother-in-law, Madam Zhang. They wouldn’t think much of her, a concubine elevated to wife.

And the old lady, because of her own status, and because her sons didn’t side with her, always lacked confidence in her heart and had been secretly enduring.”

Yan Sanhe’s tone shifted.

“But there’s no reason in the world for a mother-in-law to endure a daughter-in-law. She was unwilling. Moreover, she herself had endured a thousand years as a daughter-in-law before becoming a mother-in-law—she was even more unwilling.”

Pei Xiao: “So she framed my third aunt?”

Yan Sanhe: “Not framed—rather, she had been looking for such an opportunity to show both grace and authority.”

Pei Xiao: “Grace and authority—what does that mean?”

“When the old lady fell unconscious, her four sons were naturally anxious. The two younger ones reacted out of blood connection.

The two older ones, besides instinct, also feared that if the old lady died, they’d be forced into three years of mourning, affecting their official careers, so they appeared even more anxious.”

Yan Sanhe paused. “This scene, witnessed by the two older daughters-in-law, made them understand one thing: the dead cannot compete with the living. The old lady must be respected—after all, their husbands came from her womb. This was the authority.”

“And the grace?”

The one asking this was surprisingly Ji Lingchuan.

Yan Sanhe sneered: “Didn’t your wife receive her grace? Think back—didn’t she become respectful and attentive to your mother from then on?”

Scenes from those days flashed rapidly before Ji Lingchuan’s eyes.

That’s right.

His first wife, Madam Shao, told him tearfully that she wanted to tend to the old lady at her bedside.

Seeing her act this way, Second Sister-in-law couldn’t stand aside either. The two daughters-in-law took turns, one per night, caring for her for nearly a month.

That’s right.

After the old lady recovered, Madam Shao attended to her morning and evening, offering her the best food and entertainment first, and often shared intimate conversations with her. Because of her example, the mother-in-law and daughters-in-law relationship in the Ji family became harmonious.

Yan Sanhe gripped Lady Ning’s hand in return. “Third Madam, am I right?”

Lady Ning’s mouth hung half-open, unable to utter a single word.

Both at the prime of youth—why did this Miss Yan know everything, understand everything?

Why was she herself as stupid as a pig, still believing the old lady’s lies even after that incident?

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

“There is… too much… so much!”

Lady Ning was so agitated she became incoherent. Though the hands holding hers felt ice-cold, she didn’t want to shake them off at all. She wanted to keep being held like this.

“Talk about the one that bothers you most.”

“The one… that bothers me most was when I gave birth to our eldest daughter.”

Lady Ning said tearfully: “When the eldest was born, the midwife said it was a girl, and I heard a long sigh.”

“From the old lady?”

“Yes!”

“The umbilical cord hadn’t been cut yet, I was still bleeding below, and that sigh made me feel like a heinous criminal. I had wronged the Ji family ancestors, wronged her, wronged everyone…”

Lady Ning, thinking of how even in dreams she’d been startled awake by that ‘alas’ all these years, let out a sharp, piercing wail.

“Did I not want to give birth to a son? I wanted to! What could I do… what could I do? I didn’t have her good fortune!”

Yan Sanhe felt her scalp tingle. “Was this sigh the source of your hatred toward her?”

“No, not yet!”

Lady Ning sobbed: “She handed the child to the midwife, came over and held my hand, told me to recover well, said there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. She also said, she also said…”

“Said what?”

“Said she wouldn’t place anyone in my quarters, wouldn’t let my husband take concubines, not to worry—with her there, there was nothing to worry about.”

In that instant, Lady Ning forgot that sigh and only felt that this person before her wasn’t her mother-in-law but her own mother.

Only a real mother would protect her like this!

“You were moved?”

“Not only moved—I also felt heaven was so good to me, giving me such a wonderful mother-in-law. I resolved to be doubly filial to her in the future.”

“And then?”

“And then…”

The vicious light in Lady Ning’s eyes showed without concealment.

“She didn’t place anyone in my quarters, but she kept calling my husband over every few days. By our eldest daughter’s hundredth-day celebration, that lowly servant was already a month pregnant.”

“The lowly servant you mention is a maid from the old lady’s service.”

“Who else could it be?”

Lady Ning’s teeth ground together audibly.

“Do you know where that servant and my husband did the deed? Right in her room! While they carried on inside, she had a maid bring out an armchair and sat in the courtyard, standing guard for them.”

These words made even the usually composed Yan Sanhe’s expression change.

“She thought I didn’t know. She always took me for a fool.”

Lady Ning trembled all over, letting out a sharp cry: “But I’m not stupid! I have eyes, I have ears, I have a brain!”

The parlor fell into another uncomfortable silence.

Yan Sanhe felt the hand in her palm trembling, trembling endlessly.

Why?

The simple, kind-hearted fisherwoman, when she finally sat in a high position where no one could restrain her, ultimately transformed into someone with a different face.

“Later, that person elevated her to concubine?” she asked.

Lady Ning: “With the thing in her belly already grown, what else could be done but elevate her?”

Yan Sanhe: “It was a boy?”

Lady Ning: “Yes.”

Yan Sanhe: “The old lady wanted to register that boy under your name?”

Lady Ning ground her teeth until they clacked loudly.

“Yes. I refused. I told her: Even if I never bear a son my entire life, even if the Ji family divorces me, I will never raise that lowly servant’s bastard for her.”

Yan Sanhe sighed inwardly.

These words, pointing at the mulberry to curse the locust tree, were a direct declaration of war against Old Lady Ji, leaving herself not even the slightest way out.

Lady Ning withdrew her hand from Yan Sanhe’s palm, dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief, then smiled bitterly.

“Miss Yan, do you know where a knife thrust hurts deepest?”

“The back.”

“Who hurts most when they thrust the knife?”

“The person you trust most.”

“I made a vow to myself: From now on, whoever makes me suffer, I’ll make them suffer. Whoever makes me cry, I’ll make them cry. Whoever stabs me once, I’ll stab them back ten times.”

Lady Ning slowly closed her eyes, enunciating each word:

“In this lifetime, no matter who they are, don’t even think about bullying me. Don’t even think about it!”