“I grew up at my legitimate mother’s side. She treated me like her own child. Two years later, my mother gave birth to another son—my second brother.”

Ji Lingchuan recalled, “After giving birth to my second brother, my grandmother’s health declined. My legitimate mother was also sickly and couldn’t nurse the sick, so my mother took on the heavy responsibility.

She handed Second Brother over to my legitimate mother to care for and spent a full half year sleeping on the couch beside my grandmother’s bed until she saw the old lady to her end.”

“How many months old was your second brother when he was sent to your legitimate mother?”

“If I remember correctly, just three months old.”

So that meant after giving birth, in the third month when her body hadn’t fully recovered, Madam Hu abandoned her son and devoted herself wholeheartedly to serving her mother-in-law.

Yan Sanhe asked, “Did your second brother later return to your mother’s side?”

Ji Lingchuan shook his head. “No, he too continued to be raised under my legitimate mother’s name.”

“Why?”

“After Grandmother’s funeral, Mother fell ill from exhaustion. Second Brother was still small, and they feared the illness would pass to him, so he stayed with my legitimate mother for several more months.”

Ji Lingchuan drank some tea and continued, “By the time they wanted to bring him back to Mother’s side, my second brother was already unaccustomed. He cried and fussed at night constantly, so they had to send him back to my legitimate mother’s courtyard.”

Yan Sanhe’s heart trembled slightly. “When did your legitimate mother pass away?”

“Five years after Grandmother passed away, my legitimate mother died. I was ten at the time.”

“Was your mother’s path to elevation smooth?”

“There were obstacles!”

Ji Lingchuan lowered his eyes.

“The clan and my grandfather both disagreed, finding my mother’s family background too lowly and unsuitable for public appearances. If not for my father’s insistence, and the fact that Mother happened to be pregnant with Third Brother, the matter would likely have been difficult to accomplish.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “Your father and mother had a good relationship?”

Ji Lingchuan: “My father said when Mother was young she was innocent and adorable, simple in nature, quite different from girls in the capital.”

Yan Sanhe asked again, “Before your legitimate mother’s death, did she leave any words regarding her successor?”

Ji Lingchuan’s head shot up, looking at Yan Sanhe somewhat incredulously.

After a long while, he said, “My legitimate mother left words for my father, asking him to consider their two sons for the sake of their past marriage.”

Hearing this, Yan Sanhe sighed sincerely, “Your mother had deep foresight.”

“What does this mean?” Pei Xiao blurted out.

After blurting it out, Pei Xiao realized he’d asked a foolish question.

Wasn’t it deep foresight?

When a concubine bore sons and had them transferred under the legitimate wife’s name, not only did the sons gain status and inheritance rights, but Zhang-shi as the legitimate wife also gained standing. A win-win.

The result of this win-win was that Zhang-shi would certainly treat her sons as her own flesh and blood.

This move was called “retreating to advance.”

When her mother-in-law fell ill, she dragged her just-postpartum body to fulfill filial duties for Zhang-shi—who was she moving?

The elders, the man, and Zhang-shi herself.

This move was called “winning hearts.”

Zhang-shi was raising her two sons. Over time, even across the barrier of a womb, feelings would develop.

When she became critically ill and knew her days were numbered, naturally she would think of the sons’ future.

In the future, if the man remarried an outside woman who then bore children, her own sons would be pushed aside.

If Madam Hu was elevated, these two children had dropped from her own belly—how could Madam Hu possibly treat them poorly?

With Zhang-shi’s deathbed instructions, plus the one pregnant in her belly, who could block her path to elevation?

Maternal Grandmother, you’re truly divine!

While Pei Xiao was marveling, his eyes slid toward Yan Sanhe.

This girl was divine too—at such a young age, she had all these inner residence intrigues figured out clearly. Whoever married her in the future would surely suffer!

“Though my mother was illiterate, she was extremely clever.”

Ji Lingchuan vaguely covered for the old madam, then glared at Pei Xiao. “You brat, stop butting in randomly.”

“Why glare at me, Uncle? The old ancestor doted on me—I can’t bear to hear anyone speak ill of her.”

“You…”

Ji Lingchuan somewhat wanted this brat to get lost.

“Knock knock!”

Yan Sanhe tapped the table twice with her finger. “Master Ji, I’ll continue asking. Did your father have only your mother?”

Ji Lingchuan: “Later Father took two more concubines.”

Yan Sanhe: “Why? Weren’t their feelings good?”

Ji Lingchuan’s expression stiffened somewhat. “Mother was advanced in years and managing the entire manor’s affairs—inevitably she would be neglectful in caring for Father.”

Yan Sanhe: “Did they have children?”

Ji Lingchuan: “Yes, I have two concubine-born sisters. They each married to distant places and we live far apart, so these years there’s been little contact.”

Yan Sanhe’s brows pressed down. “So all of the Ji family’s good fortune was monopolized by the old madam alone.”

“Look at how you phrase that…”

Pei Xiao wanted to curse but didn’t quite dare. “What do you mean ‘monopolized by the old madam alone’? My maternal grandmother simply had good fate.”

“Is there a difference?”

“There is—one sounds pleasant to the ear, one doesn’t.”

“Couldn’t others bear sons?”

“What do you mean?”

Pei Xiao instantly bristled. “Make yourself clear.”

“Pei Mingting!”

Ji Lingchuan rebuked him, then admitted frankly, “Miss Yan speaks correctly. One of the concubines also conceived a male child, but my mother… used methods to abort it.”

My maternal grandmother did such a thing?

Pei Xiao was stunned.

Yan Sanhe looked at him expressionlessly, then continued asking, “Did your father know about this?”

“He knew!”

Ji Lingchuan nodded. “They also developed a rift because of this incident. Afterward, Father went to Mother’s room extremely rarely.”

“Also because your mother had borne five children and was gradually aging.”

Yan Sanhe sneered coldly. “She couldn’t compare to those young concubines—pretty faces, tight bodies, skilled at serving men in bed.”

“…”

Uncle and nephew looked at each other.

Pei Xiao’s heart roared repeatedly.

What the hell!

Should a young lady be saying things like “skilled at serving men in bed”?

This, this, this…

How utterly improper!

If she’s not embarrassed, I am!

No, no, no—I must note this down for Xie Fifty first.

Pei Xiao’s lips curled with a disdainful expression. “Miss Yan, please show some respect for the deceased. My maternal grandfather already…”

“Was your maternal grandfather buried together with his first wife?” Yan Sanhe suddenly asked.

Why ask this?

Pei Xiao looked at Ji Lingchuan with a confused expression. Ji Lingchuan gritted his teeth. “Correct.”

Yan Sanhe: “Whose idea?”

Ji Lingchuan rubbed his hands. “It was Father’s instruction before his death.”

Yan Sanhe: “Why?”

Ji Lingchuan sighed. “Father said, there must be some order of precedence in all things.”

“Order of precedence is correct.”

Yan Sanhe said coldly, “But truly speaking, your mother bore five children for the Ji family. How do you explain that?”

Ji Lingchuan was left speechless, his expression quite uncomfortable. “Miss, is asking this useful for resolving the demon?”