Of course Senior Lady Fan could protect Han Yueheng. On the contrary, as long as she was willing, it would be merely a matter of one sentence. Even now when the matter seemed settled, if she truly felt some compassion, there were plenty of ways to protect Han Yueheng—she could simply find some scapegoat to send to Dongying instead.
But why would she do that? She had already calculated how Junior Lady Fan’s future path should go—betrayed and abandoned by everyone, with her father and mother never extending a hand to her under Senior Lady Fan’s oppression. Her daughter would be sent to Dongying for the marriage alliance, never to return to Great Zhou for the rest of her life. Her husband fundamentally didn’t care about her life or death, and her son would only be devoted and loyal to Senior Lady Fan herself.
Now the first step had been accomplished, and it was she herself who had personally guided and pushed it into completion. She would have to be out of her mind to go help Han Yueheng.
Therefore, she almost harshly rebuked Zhou Weiqi again when he came to plead, even losing her temper with him in an unprecedented manner: “If you want to anger me to death, then by all means go ahead! If you really do go, then never enter my door again, and never acknowledge me as your mother!”
Zhou Weiqi couldn’t understand why Senior Lady Fan would suddenly fly into such a rage. In his view, this was the smallest of small matters. With just a few words, he could spare his young aunt’s daughter from the suffering of leaving home, and it would further strengthen the relationship with the Han family—it was all benefit with no harm. Yet his usually rational mother was, for some inexplicable reason, being stubborn to the point of madness about this one matter.
He had already promised his aunt when he was at the Marquis of Jinxiang’s household. Thinking of this, he felt shame and annoyance slowly spreading, his neck and face flushing red: “Don’t you usually put on the act of being a good aunt? Why are you showing your true colors now?! Young Aunt hasn’t offended you at all, and Yueheng has been treating you like a lifeline. Yet when it’s truly time for you to save her life, this is how you treat them?!”
Senior Lady Fan was rarely angered to this extent. Her shoulders kept shaking, and she was completely stunned by Zhou Weiqi’s accusations. How had she forgotten—she had never liked to mention these vexing matters before her son, and in order to better keep Han Zhi and the Han family under control, she had deliberately let her son grow close to the Han family and Han Zhi. But now, her previous deliberate loosening and indulgence in order to firmly grasp the Han family had actually made her son develop genuine feelings for the Han family!
Rage surged within her. Covering her chest and closing her eyes, she used all her strength to endure it. She pointed toward the door and said coldly to Zhou Weiqi: “Get out!”
Zhou Weiqi felt that Senior Lady Fan was being utterly unreasonable. Even someone as habitually docile as him lost his patience and sense of proportion in his anger. He furiously flung his sleeve and left.
Nanny Fang happened to be entering from outside. Seeing the situation, she knew Zhou Weiqi and Senior Lady Fan had clashed. Her movements became even more careful as she approached, then bent down to whisper a few words by Senior Lady Fan’s ear.
A strange cold smile appeared on Senior Lady Fan’s still-angry face. She let Nanny Fang massage her chest, her sharp nails digging into her palms without even noticing the pain—after all, they had grown up together. Although her teeth had been knocked out and those sharp claws clipped, she still had the ability to bite. She even knew to privately entreat Zhou Weiqi, trying to drive a wedge between mother and son.
So Han Yueheng didn’t want to marry? The corner of her mouth twitched as she instructed Nanny Fang: “Send someone to the Ministry of Rites to notify Vice Minister Wang. Winter is approaching—surely the Princess isn’t going to wait until after the New Year to depart for Dongying? They should hurry and produce a proper protocol to fulfill the diplomatic courtesies between the two nations.”
Once the Ministry of Rites put their minds to preparing this, the Bureau of Astronomy wouldn’t be fools either—they would naturally hasten to calculate an auspicious date and quickly send off both the Dongying envoys and the Ninth Princess who was about to marry into Dongying.
Nanny Fang hesitated for a moment, somewhat uncertain: “But His Highness just had a huge confrontation with you over this matter. If he finds out you’re interfering in this affair again, I’m afraid…”
So what if she interfered? So what if he found out she not only wouldn’t extend a helping hand but deliberately accelerated the progress of this matter? His biological mother was her, not Junior Lady Fan. Could he really never speak to her again for the rest of their lives over this?
The smile on Senior Lady Fan’s face deepened, but her eyes were empty and hollow, containing nothing. She turned her head to look at Nanny Fang: “Is he this palace’s son or that slut’s son?! Even if he finds out this matter was orchestrated by me, so what?!”
Nanny Fang felt an involuntary chill run through her body under that gaze. She quickly responded with the utmost respect and turned to leave.
Senior Lady Fan then instructed the palace maid Lianqiao beside her: “Go out of the palace to the Marquis of Jinxiang’s household. Say these are rewards from me, to add to Yueheng’s trousseau. Also tell Nanny Qi to be more attentive and stay by Yueheng’s side every day—she wasn’t sent there to indulge the young mistress in foolishness. Otherwise, what difference is there between having her or not?”
Lianqiao lowered her eyes and bowed her head, respectfully acknowledging the order. She turned to make a list and took a trip to the storehouse—Senior Lady Fan indeed loathed Junior Lady Fan, but when it came to bestowing rewards, she never gave anyone grounds for criticism. Everything sent to the Han household consisted of fine items.
Sure enough, when she returned, Senior Lady Fan didn’t even glance at the list, but instead instructed her: “Also convey a message to the Marquis’s wife: tell her that if she has any matters, she can come directly to me. There’s no need to act timid and entreat a junior. Juniors can’t make decisions anyway. Even if she harbors resentment, she won’t amount to anything, so she might as well come openly and petition me.”
They were clearly biological sisters, yet this tone sounded as if she were speaking of enemies. Where was there even a trace of how an elder sister should sound? Lianqiao couldn’t help but feel chilled in her heart, but knowing this mistress’s temperament well, she didn’t dare reveal even a hint of it. She softly and carefully acknowledged everything, then led people to the Marquis of Jinxiang’s household. First, she relayed Senior Lady Fan’s words verbatim, then was led by Qiu Ju to see Han Yueheng.
Junior Lady Fan had always known she was less than a dog before Senior Lady Fan. Even if a dog barked, Senior Lady Fan might still glance at it a few times, but even if she screamed herself hoarse, Senior Lady Fan wouldn’t deign to look at her once.
So she had privately gone to entreat Zhou Weiqi, but unexpectedly, Senior Lady Fan wouldn’t even give Zhou Weiqi face. Her loathing had reached this extent.
Resentment grew uncontrollably in Junior Lady Fan’s heart. What exactly had she done wrong that Senior Lady Fan had to torment her like this? Wasn’t tormenting her all these years enough—did she have to continue tormenting her children as well?!
Years of accumulated resentment suddenly seemed to find an outlet. Junior Lady Fan clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms, yet she didn’t feel any pain at all.