"This morning, a servant woman from the Xing family came to the Liang household. She said they already knew about Liang Hemiao's affairs with the Wang family. For the sake of the child in her belly, the Xing family would handle the Wang family and would also allow Liang Hemiao into the mansion. However, only as a chamber maid."
"She went?"
"Yes, she went. She went quite happily."
Liang Maimiao looked at Ye Yunniang. "Before Hemiao left for the Xing family, she confessed all her schemes with the Wang family. She said her skills were inferior, and this time, she admitted defeat. Yunniang, did you really not know what Hemiao intended to do to you?"
"Hemiao wasn't grateful that I embroidered her wedding dress for her? There's something else?" Thinking of something, Ye Yunniang's face changed. "That day at the Wang family, was Liang Hemiao trying to have me sent..."
"No, no." Liang Maimiao shook her head in denial.
"If it's really not, then why did you come in here suspicious? And why, while saying all this, were you constantly testing me?"
Ye Yunniang's expression was serious. "Liang Maimiao, I considered you a good friend. Is this how you and your sister plot against me?"
Facing Ye Yunniang's accusation, Liang Maimiao's shoulders slumped weakly.
"I didn't know she would do this. I thought she genuinely wanted to thank you. I'm sorry, Yunniang, I'm sorry."
Ye Yunniang took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in her heart.
"You should leave."
"Yunniang, aren't we friends?" Liang Maimiao didn't want to go. She had a feeling that if she left now, she and Ye Yunniang would become strangers from then on.
Liang Maimiao was unwilling. Over the past few years, she and Ye Yunniang had gotten along very harmoniously; they were excellent conversation partners.
"I will stop Hemiao. I won't let her scheme against you again."
"You can stop her once, but can you stop her a second, a third time?"
Liang Maimiao opened her mouth, wanting to say she could. But the events of these past three days had made her understand in her heart.
She couldn't stop her sister or her mother.
For wealth and power, their natures had completely twisted.
"When I was eight years old, our family divided the household. My grandparents were biased; they didn't give us a single coin and simply drove our family out.
Our family took shelter in a broken-down temple.
During the day, Father took my eldest brother to look for work. Mother, carrying Hemiao on her back, took me to wash clothes for others to earn money.
Once, we earned twenty coins from washing clothes. Passing by a noodle stall, I tugged on Mother's hand and said I wanted noodles.
After hesitating, Mother bought me a bowl of plain noodles. She asked for extra broth. She divided the noodles between me and Hemiao. She herself only drank the broth. She said the broth was nutritious." Liang Maimiao couldn't help but cry as she reached this point.
Life was very bitter back then, but their family didn't lose heart. They worked hard every day, dreaming that once they had money, they would eat noodles with meat, wear new clothes, and buy a big house.
Now they had all that. Why were they still not satisfied?
After crying, Liang Maimiao also understood.
It was precisely because life was good now that Yang Guihua and Liang Hemiao had become insatiably greedy.
"Yunniang, I'm sorry. I was asking too much." Putting herself in the other's shoes, Liang Maimiao knew she also couldn't bring herself to associate with someone who was determined to scheme against her.
Liang Maimiao walked to the doorway and stopped.
"Yunniang, let's forget this matter. We..."
"Impossible. If Liang Hemiao fares poorly, you, as her sister, will feel distressed for her and will naturally resent me, who wasn't successfully schemed against by her.
If Liang Hemiao fares well, she won't leave me alone. Then, you will be even more caught in the middle." Liang Maimiao understood everything Ye Yunniang said.
Rather than waiting for greater conflicts in the future, it was better to cut ties now, leaving a somewhat good impression of each other.
After Liang Maimiao left, Ye Yunniang sighed. She was going to lose a friend.
"Feeling upset?" Cai Damei walked in.
"Yes, very upset." Liang Maimiao was practically the first friend she had made in Jiangcheng.
"The upset will only last a couple of days. You'll feel better in a few days."
Cai Damei's comfort made Ye Yunniang smile. She poured herself a cup of chrysanthemum tea and drank it.
"What medicine did Tong Mo give Liang Hemiao?" After finishing her tea, Ye Yunniang poured another cup. These past few days, she constantly felt like drinking water.
"Baby Pill."
"Baby Pill?" Ye Yunniang frowned. What a strange name.
"After taking this medicine, one will appear pregnant with a growing belly like a normal expectant mother. However, a miscarriage will occur in the seventh month," Cai Damei explained.
"Why do I keep wanting to drink water?"
"Bao Min said that after taking the Baby Pill, one must also smell a catalyst to activate it. That catalyst makes one very thirsty. You'll need to drink a lot of water for two more days, then it will be fine," Cai Damei explained.
"Oh." Ye Yunniang made a sound of acknowledgment and drank the tea in her cup.
Cai Damei opened a box in her hand. Inside was a pair of flying geese.
"For Tie Yi and Baise's wedding, how about giving a pair of flying geese?"
"Pingping and I picked out a pair of cranes. If Mother gives another pair of geese, isn't our gift a bit repetitive?" Ye Yunniang was concerned.
Cai Damei thought about it; it was a little.
"Let's go to West Street to look."
"Wait a moment, I need to use the outhouse first." Drinking so much water meant many trips to the outhouse each day.
Being familiar with Baise, Ye Yunniang knew she liked furs very much, especially fox fur.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law arrived at West Street and purposefully entered a fur shop to select a fox fur that was reasonably priced and good-looking.
After some selection, they both took a liking to a piece of pure, vibrant red fox fur.
Ye Yunniang reached out to take it in her hand and pulled.
It didn't budge.
The other end of the fox fur was held by another pair of hands.
Ye Yunniang recognized the owners of both hands.
One hand belonged to Jiang Mingyue. The other hand belonged to Hongshao, Xing Jinxiu's maid.
Ye Yunniang inwardly cursed her bad luck for running into the two people she least wanted to see.
"You two, let go." Hongshao ordered imperiously.
"You say let go, and we let go? Who do you think you are?" Jiang Mingyue was not one to suffer losses; she gripped it tighter, not letting go.
"So what if you saw it first? If my young lady has taken a fancy to it, then it belongs to my young lady." Hongshao spoke with absolute confidence.
Ye Yunniang didn't want to cause trouble. She had three children to raise; there was no need to put herself in a disadvantageous position over a momentary impulse. She let go and walked to stand beside Cai Damei.
"That's Hongshao, Miss Xing's maid."
Cai Damei looked at Hongshao, noting her sharp, mean features. Judging the master by the servant, she wouldn't be easy to get along with.
Hongshao was satisfied with Ye Yunniang's attitude. Her triangular eyes fixed on Jiang Mingyue. "Still not letting go?"
"I'm not like some poor wretch." Jiang Mingyue glanced disdainfully at Ye Yunniang, who had no backbone at all.
"Shopkeeper, I want this fur. Wrap it up," Jiang Mingyue instructed the shopkeeper not far away.
"Shopkeeper, this fur is mine. Wrap it up for me," Hongshao ordered.
The shopkeeper was in a difficult position. "Ladies, the shop has other fine furs. Would you like to take a look at those?"
"No need. I want this piece of red fox fur." Jiang Mingyue's attitude was firm.
"My young lady is just short of a red fox fur waistcoat. Shopkeeper, wrap it up well and deliver it to the Xing Mansion."
Hongshao uttered the words "Xing Mansion."
The shopkeeper understood who the owner of this red fox fur should be now.
"Madam, our shop has fox furs in other colors. Would you like to take a look?"
"I've taken a liking to this one, and I want this one." Jiang Mingyue became stubborn, gripping the red fox fur tightly, refusing to let go.
Today, no matter who came, they wouldn't be able to take it away.
