The maids firmly blocked Jiang Zhaohua’s way, then took out the most nourishing hand balm—the richest kind—and applied a thick layer onto her hands, carefully wrapping them with cotton cloth to nurture her skin.
Jiang Zhaohua washed her hands more than ten times, then reapplied the fragrant balm, yet the disgusting sensation from earlier seemed to linger stubbornly on her fingertips, making her feel nauseous.
She thought to herself that she was indeed no match for Jiang Yunshu. As a concubine’s daughter, Jiang Yunshu had grown up bowing and scraping, accustomed to serving others. She was certainly more tolerant than Jiang Zhaohua.
The humiliation inflicted by Duan’s mother was truly unbearable for her—a cherished daughter of the Marquis’s Mansion, pampered and doted on.
Jiang Zhaohua closed her eyes and let herself imagine the glorious days ahead when she would become the wife of the Prime Minister, the envy of all women after being granted the highest noble title… She swallowed down the humiliation of today.
After the storm comes the calm.
That evening, when Duan Jinxing returned home, tears welled up in Jiang Zhaohua’s eyes as she poured out her grievances to him.
She thought, as long as Duan Jinxing stood by her side and cared for her, Duan’s mother, who doted on her son like her own heart, would surely listen to him and treat her better.
Hearing Jiang Zhaohua’s words, Duan Jinxing sighed deeply, his face troubled.
He lowered his head and said humbly, “Zhaozhao, I… I really can’t do anything about it…”
“That’s still my mother. You know, my father passed away early. After he left, my mother raised me alone. She had to work hard to earn a living and take care of me. It wasn’t easy at all.”
“My mother isn’t a bad person. She just cares about me too much, values me more than her own life, and in a moment of anger, she took it out on you.”
“Zhaozhao, you’re so understanding. You’ll surely be able to see things from both my mother’s and my perspective, won’t you?”
“I only have this one mother…” Duan Jinxing grasped Jiang Zhaohua’s hands tightly. “I promise, aside from my mother, no other woman under heaven will ever suffer any grievance from me, alright?”
Handsome as he was, Duan Jinxing now wore an expression full of tender affection, as if his eyes and heart belonged solely to Jiang Zhaohua.
Especially the last sentence, “No other woman under heaven will suffer any grievance from me,” sounded to Jiang Zhaohua like a vow that he would never take a concubine and would be hers for life.
Jiang Zhaohua was utterly smitten by this. Her husband would be the best husband in the world. Even if he was just a stable master now, even if his mother made her suffer… it would all get better in the future.
She silently repeated to herself over and over: It will all get better.
But no matter how many times she repeated it, it did nothing to ease the unbearable pain she felt in the present.
Under Duan’s mother’s insistence, Jiang Zhaohua had no choice but to repeatedly return to the Marquis’s Mansion for help.
Every time she returned, she saw the Marquis’s Mansion, half of which had been torn down, and her heart ached deeply.
Nearby, the Yun Residence had been completed. It was much larger, more luxurious, and far grander.
Though both had gates painted in vermilion red, for some reason, the Yun Residence’s gate made the Marquis’s Mansion’s gate look dull and lifeless.
Jiang Zhaohua thought of Concubine Qiao, who lived in the Yun Residence yet dared to poison the mistress, causing her mother to fall ill… such a person deserved nothing less than a thousand cuts!
But now, she lived safely and comfortably in the Yun Residence, surrounded by a multitude of maids—more than even her mother had.
Jiang Zhaohua couldn’t compare at all. She was confined to a cramped little house, served by only eight personal maids.
Jealously, Jiang Zhaohua gazed at the vast and lavish Yun Residence. She longed for a jade tower and a crystal palace, for rockeries with flowing streams, and bamboo groves by the lake.
From the neighboring Yun Residence came the sounds of many babies—some only a few months old, the oldest no more than two years—noisy and lively, full of commotion.
Hearing these noises, Jiang Zhaohua felt a slight sense of balance restored. She thought to herself, these children must be the adopted sons raised by the Nine Thousand-Year-Old Lord.
No matter how powerful the Nine Thousand-Year-Old Lord was, he was still just a eunuch who couldn’t pass down his bloodline.
Jiang Yunshu had married the Nine Thousand-Year-Old Lord and enjoyed a fleeting moment of glory. But when she grew old and lost her beauty, with no children of her own, how lonely and desolate would she be?
Jiang Yunshu and Concubine Qiao truly shared the same wretched fate—neither could bear a child.
But she, Jiang Zhaohua, had conceived as soon as she married—and had given birth to a son!
Thinking of her son, who grew plumper and stronger by the day, a satisfied smile spread across her face.
Yet she hadn’t expected that the very son she was proud of would become Duan’s mother’s weapon to manipulate her.
Jiang Zhaohua had sought help twice at the Marquis’s Mansion. Marquess Xiping had exhausted all his connections, but still couldn’t secure a promotion for Duan Jinxing. Duan’s mother, growing anxious, had lost all patience with Jiang Zhaohua.
Every day, Duan’s mother forced Jiang Zhaohua to wash her feet—not out of kindness, but to urge her to work harder for Duan Jinxing’s promotion!
Yet even this tactic failed.
Duan’s mother resorted to a harsher measure: she wanted to take Jiang Zhaohua’s son into her own room to raise!
“Focus on getting Jinxing promoted. Bring your grandson here to be raised,” she said. “When you’ve succeeded, you can take the child back.”
Though she disliked Jiang Zhaohua, Duan’s mother adored her eldest grandson. She had always wanted to compete with Jiang Zhaohua for the child—to hold him, to have him sleep in her room, to have him love his grandmother more than his mother…
Now, she had a perfectly legitimate reason to bring her grandson into her room.
This time, Duan’s mother crossed Jiang Zhaohua’s bottom line.
Her son—born through her own hardships, connected to her by blood—there was no way she would let Duan’s mother take him away.
Jiang Zhaohua wanted Duan Jinxing to refuse his mother’s demand and protect their little family.
But Duan Jinxing, looking just as troubled as before, repeated the same excuse: “It wasn’t easy for my mother to raise me alone…”
This time, no amount of tenderness from him could sway Jiang Zhaohua.
Her husband was important, of course, but her son was even more so.
Jiang Zhaohua and Duan Jinxing had a fierce quarrel!
The next day, Duan Jinxing stayed overnight at the Imperial Stables.
His resentment toward Jiang Zhaohua had reached its peak. How could she have the nerve to argue with him over a son born out of wedlock?
Duan Jinxing wasn’t simply siding with his mother blindly—he had his own selfish reasons in this matter. He really didn’t want to come home and see Jiang Zhaohua and her illegitimate son in the house. If Duan’s mother took the child to raise, at least he could get some relief.
He worried that if he didn’t stay away, Jiang Zhaohua would sense something was wrong.
So he stayed at the Imperial Stud Farm, day after day... until the seventh day.
Jiang Zhaohua grew anxious when Duan Jinxing still hadn’t returned home.
Duan Jinxing was destined to be the future Prime Minister, and she was determined to live a loving and harmonious life with him as husband and wife.
After some thought, Jiang Zhaohua put on a serious face and instructed the kitchen to prepare a lavish spread of dishes. She personally carried a basket and went to the Imperial Stud Farm to deliver the food to Duan Jinxing.
Almost at the same time, Jiang Yunshu and Xie Lin left the palace, heading toward the Imperial Stud Farm.
On the journey back to the capital from Wushan, Jiang Yunshu had fallen in love with horseback riding. She wanted to practice her equestrian skills so that one day she could ride freely on her own.
When Xie Lin heard this, he decided to gift Jiang Yunshu a horse.
Since Jiang Yunshu didn’t know how to choose a horse, she asked Xie Lin to accompany her.
He had been busy lately and had delayed a few days, but today he finally had time, so the two of them set out from the palace together to pick out a horse at the Imperial Stud Farm.
