When Zhao Xinghua was caught, she knew she had no possibility of surviving, but before dying, she wouldn’t let go of the person who had driven her to such a fate.

The greatest culprit was Grandmother Jia.

Moreover, some of what she said wasn’t wrong—she had just exaggerated it by one or two degrees. The Jia family truly thought this way. She didn’t believe that if the Madam had given birth to a legitimate son, Grandmother Jia would watch as a son born of a concubine seized everything the legitimate son possessed.

Grandmother Jia truly thought this way. She had simply helped articulate Grandmother Jia’s thoughts.

Thinking of Grandmother Jia’s possible expression after learning of these matters, Zhao Xinghua felt as refreshed as eating ice cream on a midsummer day.

Yes, she was an ant.

But even ants cling desperately to life. Since she had already been forced into a desperate situation, why should she need to worry about anything! She might as well spread everything out and expose it to the sunlight.

Moreover, Zhao Xinghua didn’t believe Grandmother Jia had no other arrangements.

As long as she had other arrangements, they would definitely be found this time!

After all, it would be fine if the Madam’s legitimate son was the eldest, but the Lin family’s situation was that the eldest son born of a concubine was already this grown. This was very ominous for a legitimate son, because it was very likely that before the legitimate son matured, the family’s resources and connections would have already been enjoyed by the son born of a concubine.

This was what the Jia family didn’t want to see.

So what she needed to do before dying was plant a thorn deep in the hearts of everyone in the Lin residence.

After saying all this, that night she found an opportunity to commit suicide by hitting her head against the wall—very decisively. She knew the Lin family wouldn’t spare her, so she might as well do it herself and give herself a quick end. After all, her purpose had already been achieved.

Those who discovered something wrong came in to check and were startled.

With such force, Zhao Xinghua had left herself no way to survive.

Jia Min was struck by what Zhao Xinghua said and fainted before she could return.

So when she gave birth, it was Zhao Xinghua who had committed the vicious act. So behind Zhao Xinghua was her mother’s shadow.

Her body had become so poor now—it was her.

Daiyu’s weak constitution—it was her.

Lv Lan’s difficult labor, the young master who clearly had minimal possibility of survival—also her.

All of this was done by Zhao Xinghua.

And the beginning of these sins was her mother’s intention.

Jia Min couldn’t bear this blow. She developed a high fever and began speaking deliriously.

She did indeed know some things. For instance, her mother had such medicine in her possession. When she married, her mother had given her some, but she later stored it for a while before disposing of it, and had thrown this memory to the back of her mind. Only now did she remember.

The Old Madam and Lin Ruhai were overwhelmed with anxiety.

On one side, they had to worry about the little grandson whose cries were barely audible; on the other, they had to attend to Jia Min.

Both were in danger.

Lin Ruhai stayed up until his eyes were bloodshot.

Regarding that child, Doctor Zhou had told him that whether he could survive depended on heaven’s will—he could only do his best.

Saying this basically amounted to pronouncing a death sentence on that child.

The criminal was of course Zhao Xinghua. If they had known there would be today, they would have disposed of her early on. Now she was fine—dead and done with it all.

But this wasn’t the end.

It wasn’t that everything Zhao Xinghua said was necessarily fact. From her state of giving Jia Min medicine, she had long harbored resentment toward the Jia family and Jia Min. How much of what she said might be true was uncertain.

However, she was right about one thing—those medicines had a problematic origin.

They were secret medicines from the previous dynasty. Never mind a little maid—even ordinary official households wouldn’t have them.

So the possibility she had obtained them from the Jia family was very high. If it was truly his mother-in-law who gave these medicines to Zhao Xinghua and then sent her to the Lin family, what was his mother-in-law trying to do?

Just thinking about this, Lin Ruhai’s face became as dark as water. At the same time, he felt lingering fear. He went to check on each of his children one by one, confirming their current condition before feeling reassured.

The Old Madam also felt deep regret. Hunting geese all day, today pecked in the eye by a goose. She never imagined it would be Zhao Xinghua, and she had nearly succeeded! What was the difference between the current result and the dream world?

She had suspected Zhao Xinghua initially.

Her room, her quarters, and the places she frequented daily—all were disaster zones of her searches. The people watching her had also been questioned over and over again, but they all said she showed no abnormalities.

Usually, she did indeed seem very obedient and well-behaved, with no opportunity to act.

Yet it was precisely this seemingly innocent person who had done all this.

Those people watching her were all useless!

Right under their noses, she was still able to do these things!

And who could have imagined someone would hide things by the latrine?

Buried deep in the ground, no less.

The Old Madam was psychologically traumatized.

Throughout the entire Lin residence, regardless of location, they screened through everything in the ground. Even if plants were growing, they had to penetrate through to confirm there was nothing else.

The consequences were too severe.

Now her little grandson—never mind growing up—even surviving to the three years of age from the dream world seemed unlikely.

Moreover… was it only Zhao Xinghua alone?

If previously Jia Min had given birth not to Daiyu but to a son, would her eldest grandson have been lost?

Thinking of this, the Old Madam’s heart pounded with alarm. Fearing such situations might occur again, she placed all of Jia Min’s dowry servants under surveillance, then also arrested Nanny Qian’s family who had left the residence, and had people search her quarters.

Nanny Qian was stubborn at first.

But when that packet of medicinal powder was found and placed before her, she collapsed to the ground, stammering and unable to speak.

This packet of medicinal powder made Zhao Xinghua’s words suddenly much more credible.

Nanny Qian came to her senses and shouted her innocence: “Old Madam, this has nothing to do with me! I know nothing!”

She had never done anything, but she couldn’t explain away how this medicine came to be.

This medicine had been sent to her by Grandmother Jia along with a letter when Concubine Yun and Concubine Mei were pregnant, for her to keep as backup. If the Madam gave birth to a legitimate son, her medicine could be used. But all these years, there had been no opportunity to use it.

Currently, she truly hadn’t done anything!

But could these words be spoken before the Master and the Old Madam?

Nanny Qian trembled all over like a sieve. Although she was dowry from the Jia family, when she came to the Lin family as dowry with the Madam, their indenture contracts were already in the Madam’s hands. Whether to beat or sell them was entirely up to the Madam to decide.

Which meant the Lin family could decide.

In such circumstances, would the Madam protect them?

Crying, Nanny Qian confessed everything she knew.

Jia Min now couldn’t even protect herself. This wasn’t about other matters, but her illness.

A fever that wouldn’t break could kill someone, especially since her foundation was currently still weak.

The atmosphere in the Lin residence had completely changed. Everyone was cautious and nervous, as if facing a great enemy.

Fearing someone would come arrest them.

All personnel from the main courtyard had been detained. Even the people serving by Daiyu’s side had been completely replaced by the Old Madam from inside to outside.

She found people from her own trusted servants and household-born servants to take over caring for her.

Initially, Daiyu recognized people and wasn’t adapting, crying continuously. The Old Madam personally kept her by her side. Daiyu still recognized the Old Madam’s presence, and only then quieted down.

Many matters weren’t publicly announced, but what was announced was enough to let those unaware know a storm was coming.

What was publicly known so far was the surface level: Concubine Chu had been harmed by Zhao Xinghua and had a difficult labor. Originally, having a second young master should have been a joyous occasion, but now the second young master’s life hung by a thread.

They didn’t mention that when Jia Min gave birth previously, it was also Zhao Xinghua who had acted, but everyone would make the connection.

When Concubine Mei learned this news, she knew she couldn’t laugh outside, so she closed her door and laughed for a while. She was laughing at Jia Min—she had actually been schemed against by someone under her own command. It was truly too funny. At the same time, she felt somewhat fortunate—fortunate that this madwoman Zhao Xinghua had now been dealt with, otherwise who knew if she would have acted against her?

She still wanted to conceive another son.

In that case, if she hadn’t been caught, she would definitely have acted against her.

This matter made Yun Shuyao feel some lingering fear as well. Her wood-element ability wasn’t a healing type. This made her even more determined to teach her two children to use medicinal herbs for self-protection.

Especially her daughter.

In this era, women’s status was naturally one level weaker than men’s.

With Luo Yu’s status, when she married in the future, she would most likely first go through the selection process, then return for independent marriage arrangements. If they directly requested exemption from selection, she wouldn’t even need to go through the selection.

Whichever it was, the person she married wouldn’t be from a commoner family.

Yun Shuyao didn’t hope it would be a commoner family either. What were commoners?

Those who had to weave cloth and cook themselves, busy all day for the most basic survival conditions. If natural or man-made disasters occurred, their ability to withstand risk was very low.

As for marrying into families with better conditions, it wasn’t that one-to-one relationships didn’t exist, but one had to choose carefully, meticulously.

That difficulty was no different from panning for gold in excrement.

Even if one found gold initially, human hearts changed easily. Who could say they wouldn’t change in the future? If things didn’t go too far, it wasn’t simple for a daughter to seek divorce. The possibility of coexisting with other women was considerable.

At that time, what her daughter would experience might not necessarily be as clean as the Lin residence.

Setting aside Zhao Xinghua—perhaps certain situations behind her—all these years the Lin residence’s rear courtyard had never seen such sinister schemes, because the Old Madam presided above. Other places might not be so fortunate.

Not to mention distant examples—just look at the Rong residence.

If you said the old Duke’s rear courtyard had no special circumstances, how many would believe that?

Of Jia Min’s generation, the daughters born of concubines had all been completely wiped out. From beginning to end, they had no presence. Sons born of concubines weren’t absent, but not one grew up.

Those concubines and chamber maids, after the old Duke passed away, were also sent to temples. Some were directly sold.

Then look at Concubine Mei—her family was another extreme.

Her legitimate mother, after giving birth to several sons to secure her position, loosened her management, resulting in Concubine Mei having especially many brothers and sisters.

And these children born would most likely be used for family marriage alliances—some as legitimate wives, some as concubines.

With good luck, they could live decently. With bad luck, even if they died, the Mei family wouldn’t necessarily care much.

So she had to teach her daughter that no matter what circumstances she encountered, she must be able to live well.

Mastering more skills seemed arduous now, but would benefit her in the future.

Luo Yu suddenly shivered. She didn’t know why, but she had an ominous premonition. Then she saw the new class schedule her concubine mother was filling out for her.

Luo Yu: …

Was Concubine Mother treating her as if she could split into multiple bodies?

Yun Shuyao smiled, very confident in her: “Don’t worry. I’ve observed—learning these things won’t be too difficult for you. As long as you’re patient and focused.”

Her daughter was naturally intelligent and learned quickly. Not making good use of this would be such a waste.

Luo Yu glanced at the seriousness on her concubine mother’s face and knew bargaining was impossible. She felt it was unfair: “Does younger brother have to also?”

Yun Shuyao nodded: “I’ll arrange his portion later. Rest assured, you’ll both be very busy.”

Chen Yu: ?

Sister, we’re born of the same root—why torment each other so urgently?

——

After sleeping for a very long time, Lv Lan woke up. Seeing her son’s appearance, her hand trembled as she placed her finger under his nose—he still had weak breathing.

She looked hopefully at the nanny, who nodded and smiled with difficulty: “Concubine Chu, the second young master is sleeping now. Nothing has happened. Don’t… frighten yourself.”

Lv Lan cried and laughed, struggling to get up and hold the child, wanting him to wake up, to open his eyes for her to see, to let her, his concubine mother, know he was still alive.

The nanny beside her couldn’t bear it and held her down, making her lie back on the bed: “Concubine, Doctor Zhou will treat the second young master well. Don’t do this. Let the child sleep well.” She quickly had someone carry him to the adjacent room. The second young master had finally fallen asleep with great difficulty.

Lv Lan wept bitterly, losing her voice: “He’s still so small…” So small, yet covered in medicinal smell, yet…

Lv Lan couldn’t continue. She felt as if her heart had been gouged out.

Making her heart ache to the core.

Her eyes were so filled with hatred they seemed about to shed tears of blood: “What happened to Zhao Xinghua now?”

The nanny sighed: “She’s already gone.”

Lv Lan paused, then laughed coldly. This was indeed good news, but even if she died ten thousand more times, would her pitiful child recover to health?

The nanny said nothing. She also felt very sympathetic.

But sympathy was useless.

When she first learned this news, she had wondered if Zhao Xinghua had gone mad.

When this news spread, it was also many people’s question.

Especially those who came as Jia family dowry—they were particularly baffled.

What was Zhao Xinghua trying to accomplish?

Wasn’t she a Jia family person? She still had a younger brother in the Jia family!

Could it be she had always harbored resentment toward the Jia family and didn’t care about that younger brother as much as she claimed? Otherwise, how could she do such life-threatening things?

Doctor Zhou was stretched thin. He was now mainly responsible for Jia Min’s side. As for the second young master, because he had already expressed his helplessness, Lin Ruhai widely invited famous physicians to examine his second son.

Quite a few doctors did come after receiving the message, but unfortunately, most shook their heads.

They had no confidence they could help this small child grow up smoothly—they could only do their best to extend his life one day at a time.

As for Jia Min, after repeatedly running fevers, she finally slowly began to recover. Zhao Yin didn’t know what had happened at the Lin residence. These sinister schemes hadn’t spread outside. She came to visit after receiving Lin Ruhai’s letter.

Seeing Jia Min lying on the bed, she was greatly startled. She almost thought she had mistaken the person: “How can this be? So terribly thin!”

When she gave birth to Lin Daiyu with difficult labor, was it this severe?

“How did the illness suddenly become so serious? What did the doctor say?”

Jia Min remained silent, only revealing those sorrowful eyes, quietly watching her.

This made Zhao Yin’s heart pound uncomfortably. Different from before, now she saw in Jia Min a desolate lifelessness.

As if she had been heavily struck by something.

Had she contracted some incurable disease? That couldn’t be possible. She advised: “Sister Min, don’t be like this. Pull yourself together quickly, follow the doctor’s orders, recover from your illness, and everything will be fine. How long has it been since you ate anything?” She saw the untouched porridge and medicine beside her.

Jia Min still had no reaction.

Zhao Yin earnestly persuaded: “Even if you don’t care about yourself, won’t you care about Daiyu either?”

If she hadn’t mentioned it, it would have been fine, but once she mentioned Daiyu, it was like opening some switch. Jia Min’s tears poured out like water.

Zhao Yin was somewhat flustered as she wiped her tears: “What happened? Tell Sister Yin. I’m on your side.”

Jia Min gently shook her head, using her handkerchief to cover her face, concealing the sorrow on it.

Tell Sister Yin? What would she say? Just airing the family’s dirty laundry. If she spoke of it, what face would she have to see people in the future?

No—no need to speak of the future. She already had no face to see people now.

She didn’t dare see Daiyu.

Didn’t dare visit Lv Lan and that child.

Even more didn’t dare see the Old Madam and the Master.

Her heart carried guilt.

She was the Lin family’s sinner.

Zhao Yin’s expression was grave: “What exactly happened? Whatever it is, let’s talk it through properly.”

Jia Min shook her head: “Sister Yin, please don’t ask.”

Zhao Yin nodded: “Fine, I won’t ask, but I can’t just watch you ruin yourself like this. What matter can’t be overcome? You’re just immersing yourself in your own thoughts like this—you don’t want to live anymore, is that it? Even if you won’t think for yourself, you must think for Daiyu. Look at yourself now!” She took the mirror and made her look at her current appearance: “If you continue being so dispirited, what will happen to Daiyu? She’s only so old, not even one year yet. Do you want her to call another woman ‘mother’? Do you think other women will treat Daiyu well? You yourself know how many stepmothers are sweet-faced but cruel-hearted.”

It must be said, these words struck at Jia Min’s heart.

What she worried about most now was her Daiyu.

Her weak constitution was because she had been harmed, causing her to be like this.

If she herself left, would the person the Master remarried treat her Daiyu well?

Zhao Yin persuaded for a long time before finally getting Jia Min to pull herself together slightly, and had someone bring fresh rice porridge and medicine again.

Watching Jia Min frown and take small sips of porridge while those serving beside her beamed with joy, Zhao Yin sighed.

When she received Lin Ruhai’s letter, she had been somewhat dismissive. She never expected it would truly be this serious.

What exactly had happened at the Lin residence?

She surveyed the room. The decorations here hadn’t changed much, but… all the servants here had been replaced with unfamiliar faces.

Zhao Yin’s heart skipped a beat.

It seemed this matter was significant!

The Old Madam and Lin Ruhai questioned the Jia family servants once through, confirming that Jia Min was unaware. Grandmother Jia hadn’t even let her know of the medicine’s existence—otherwise, the medicine wouldn’t have been with Nanny Qian.

This result made both Lin Ruhai and the Old Madam breathe sighs of relief. They hadn’t misjudged her.

But even if she hadn’t done it, they couldn’t completely separate her from the Jia family behind her.

At this time, Lin Ruhai couldn’t help but feel fortunate—fortunate he had been posted outside for many years. If he had remained in the capital all along, being too close, he didn’t know what direction things would have taken in the end.

Whichever it was, he could imagine it wouldn’t be what he wanted to see.

The Old Madam also wrote a letter—a letter with severe wording. She had Nanny Qian along with Zhao Xinghua’s ashes and the medicinal powder in their possession all packed up and sent back to the Rong residence.

Perhaps Zhao Xinghua had suffered some injustice in the Jia family, which was why she harbored such resentment toward the Jia family and Jia Min.

But what did that have to do with their Lin family?

Now the ones suffering were them!

If this resentment wasn’t vented, the Old Madam felt she would lose several years of life.

The reason only Nanny Qian was packed up alive this time was because only she was in the know. The others were unaware.

So the Old Madam only sent those others to the estate, letting them regret their dereliction of duty and incompetence for the rest of their lives.

The Old Madam ultimately didn’t make things absolute. If she had made things absolute, she would have made a big public spectacle, which would actually have left both sides without face.

So now the Old Madam had people go to the Rong residence in the form of gift-giving. However, compared to before, this time the gifts sent were extremely meager, and the escorts looked somewhat fierce and menacing.

Traveling thousands of miles to reach the Rong residence—not a holiday, not a festival.

Hearing servants report that people from the young madam’s household had come to deliver gifts, Grandmother Jia was somewhat surprised.

Coming at this time—had something happened?

“Quickly invite them in.”

Then she saw Nanny Qian bound hand and foot, and an urn of ashes.

Seeing this setup, Grandmother Jia knew something had gone wrong. Her face darkened as she asked the visitor: “What is the meaning of this?”

The lead old nanny was the Old Madam’s trusted aide. Her expression calm, she presented a box containing two packets of medicinal powder and a letter.

Seeing the medicinal powder, Grandmother Jia’s brow twitched.

She recognized this substance.

Her sense of foreboding grew heavier.

She opened the letter first.

The entire contents were harsh accusations, tearing her face off and throwing it to the ground. Grandmother Jia seemed to see Old Madam Lin pointing at her nose and cursing viciously. Looking at the letter’s contents, then at Nanny Qian kneeling on the ground, bound and gagged with cloth stuffed in her mouth, tears streaming down her face—Grandmother Jia’s body swayed. Unable to catch her breath, her eyes closed and her body fell backward.

The maids beside her were nearly scared out of their wits. In panic, they rushed forward to support her, shrieking: “Something’s wrong! The Old Ancestor has fainted!”