Chapter 330 - Madam Lu Asks for Help

No one was expecting this. Everyone was looking at each other. And they were all frozen on spot except Song Yibao!

“Yibao greets my aunt!” Song Yibao, who was five years old and didn’t know the inside story, estimated Wei Mengying’s age, then broke down from her father’s arms and made a plausible bow according to the rules Madam Lu had taught her, and smiled sweetly at Song Yixiao, “Big sister!”

Song Yixiao glanced at Song Yuan’s face. His look was complicated, and his eyes looking down at his second daughter were almost on flames!

She secretly sighed, beckoned Song Yibao to come to her, reached out to hold her, and said lightly to Wei Mengying, “Mother, you are familiar with the path, so I will not see you off. Take care!”

Wei Mengying looked at Song Yuan with HYPERLINK “https://context.reverso.net/translation/english-chinese/a+vague+smile” a vague smile and then glanced at Song Yibao. However, Wei Mengying had a twinkle in her eye and ignored her eldest daughter’s subtle warning, and instead took off the silver bracelet on her wrist with smile and handed it to Song Yibao, “What a good and clever child! No wonder your sister often talks about you. It’s a pity that I didn’t know I would meet you today and didn’t bring anything nice with me. So take this bracelet and play with it!”

How could Song Yibao know that this beautiful woman, who looked similar to her own mother in age, was once her father’s original wife? She looked at her sister and wondered if she could accept this gift.

This action showed how well Madam Lu taught her daughter. This time Song Yibao’s own father and sister were present. If it was at other times, she should ask Song Yuan first. But because Wei Mengying who gave her something was walking with Song Yixiao, in order to show respect to this married sister, she was casting a questioning glance towards Song Yixiao.

How did Song Yixiao dare let her take this bracelet? Song Yuan looked like he couldn’t help but get angry. If Song Yibao took Wei Mengying’s stuff, Song Yuan would probably scold Yibao even if he didn’t take action against her!

Song Yixiao took a step forward, pushed the silver bracelet away and said coldly, “Mother, I appreciate your kindness on behalf of Yibao. But you are now in mourning for Dowager Consort of Hengshan, and Yibao is still a child, so the silverware you are wearing is not suitable for her, right?”

And she coaxed Song Yibao, “I will get you a box of bracelets later. They are all better looking than this!”

“Thank you, big sister!” Song Yibao nodded and said with clear eyes, “I don’t want the bracelet.”

After thinking about it, she felt a little embarrassed to Wei Mengying, so she said to Wei Mengying, “Thanks to Auntie too!”

Song Yixiao saw Song Yuan’s face darkened when he heard Song Yibao call out “Auntie”, so she hurriedly pushed her towards Jinxun, “It’s okay, Yibao. Go and see Qingyue first!

Song Yibao was indeed well-behaved and followed Jinxun inside without asking the reason. Song Yuan looked at her but also said, “Yixiao, you accompany your sister to go in first. I’ll talk to her for a few minutes and then come in!”

“Father?” Song Yixiao was very embarrassed. Both her father and her mother were decent people. Once they started a fight in front of her mansion, even if it was just a quarrel, if they were to be seen, how could there not be a storm?

The most important thing was that these two people would definitely drag her down while fighting.

But Wei Mengying raised her eyebrows and also laughed, “Good daughter, I know you are worried about me, but what can happen in broad daylight? You do as you are told, and go inside. Do not suffer wrong for the sake of me.”

The implication was naturally that Song Yuan was harsh on his eldest daughter, and Song Yixiao would be scolded and punished if she was not obedient.

Song Yixiao was speechless at her mother who spared no effort to sow discord, but she also knew that with the feud between her parents and the temperament of both sides, she would only be delusional if she wanted to HYPERLINK “https://context.reverso.net/%E7%BF%BB%E8%AF%91/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AF%AD-%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87/smooth+things+over” smooth things over, So she might as well stand by and wait for them to win or lose before coming to comfort!

Who would expect them to meet here today?

After secretly sighing in her heart, Song Yixiao bowed and said, “Then I’ll take my sister in first!”

She turned to go inside. But she did not take a few steps. After turning around at the wall, she stopped and waved her hand to signal to the servants to hold their breath, just wait until the atmosphere of outside became tense, then go out to stop the situation from deteriorating.

She waited for a while, but the outside was silent.

After a while, Song Yuan walked in from the front of the wall, and was not surprised to see her eavesdropping. He just said, “Let’s go!

Song Yixiao did not feel embarrassed when she saw this, and led him inside while saying, “The servant picked some raspberries in the mountains two days ago. Although they are not rare, they are tasty and sweet. I specially asked someone to save some for my sister, you can also use some later? I heard from Aunt Yun that this is good for health.”

“It’s a good season to eat them in an ice bowl.” Song Yuan said lightly, “But Yibao is too young, she should not eat with the ice bowl.”

The father and daughter maintain an  HYPERLINK “https://context.reverso.net/%E7%BF%BB%E8%AF%91/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AF%AD-%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87/unspoken” unspoken agreement, as if they had not met Wei Mengying.

She didn’t know what Song Yuan said to Wei Mengying this time. Song Yixiao asked the guards at the door afterwards, and they both said that the two had walked away deliberately to talk, so they didn’t hear. But looking at their expressions, Wei Mengying was quite proud of herself, and Song Yuan was expressionless all the time. As a result, Song Yuan, from this time onwards, never came again.

She thought that he was afraid of meeting his ex-wife again.

In Jian Xubai’s opinion, this was not surprising, “Mother-in-law has been remarried for almost ten years, and Father-in-law and she have their own families and each has children. I don’t expect that my father-in-law hasn’t forgotten my mother-in-law, and to avoid my mother-in-law, he is even planning to sacrifice his future and not to enter the court for life. So how can my mother-in-law not be proud?”

After all, Wei Mengying had become a grandmother, but could still own her ex-husband’s preference to this point. No matter how much sourness and resentment there was in this favor, all in all, it proved her charm.

Song Yixiao also thought so, but in her heart, she felt not very happy, “So, Mother will be more confident, and the tossing in the future will be more and more endless!”

But she considered that even without Song Yuan’s leaving, Wei Mengying had not stopped tossing.

She shook her head and decided not to think about this mess for the time being.

So after two days, it was almost the time when Cao Lianxiu invited guests to admire the lake. Although Song Yixiao did not plan to go, she thought about this cousin was not born in a family with very high position, and Lu Guanqun, to whom she was married, must have barriers with Wei Mengying. She was caught between the mother-in-law and her husband like this, the days must also be sad.

Since she turned down her invitation, she had to compensate a little, in case outsiders would think she didn’t respect this cousin, and would harm her dignity.

So she planned to send a batch of fruit from the manor to show her apologies and support.

On this day, she was sitting in the hall with Jian Qingyue in her arms, asking Jinxun and the girls to watch the maids pick out the best-looking fruits at the bottom, when the maids suddenly came up to report, saying, “Madam Lu is here!”

“Father is not coming. Why is my stepmother here again?” Hearing the words, Song Yixiao handed Jian Qingyue over to her foster nurse, tidied her clothes and went out to greet her in person.

She thought Song Yuan had a guilty conscience before he left, but was afraid of running into Wei Mengying again. So he didn’t come over to visit his eldest daughter and granddaughter. Instead, he ordered Madam Lu to come on his behalf, so she could go back and tell him in detail after the visit.

Who knew that after Madam Lu saw Song Yixiao, she looked like she was preoccupied.

“What’s wrong with you, Mother?” Song Yixiao was surprised and held her hand while walking towards the back hall, asking with concern, “I haven’t seen you for some days. Why do you look like you have something on your mind?”

“I do have something to consult you privately, Miss!” Madam Lu was not good at beating around the bush, or at least her skills at beating around the bush were not good enough in front of Wei Mengying and Song Yixiao, so she didn’t euphemize, and bluntly pointed out the word “privately”.

Song Yixiao smiled, then led her to a waterside pavilion facing the lake, asked people to serve tea and snacks, and then to retreat far away. Only then did she ask, “Mother, I wonder what have ordered? How can I dare to accept the word ‘teach’?”

Madam Lu knew that she had always done a good job of putting on a show, but she could not really say everything she knew. There were suspicion and uneasiness in her heart right at this moment, but she could only find Song Yixiao to explain, “I heard that when my husband came to visit you two days ago, he met with Princess Consort Wei at the entrance and talked alone? I wonder what they talked about.”

“Mother, this is very difficult for me!” Song Yixiao did not expect this matter to reach Madam Lu’s ears. But the two met suddenly, and did not clear the scene at that time, so a number of subordinates inside and outside saw it. It was impossible to keep it a secret, so she was stunned for a moment and then smiled gently, “Mother, you also said that they were talking alone. I was ordered by Father to accompany my second sister into the courtyard. How could I know?”

Seeing Madam Lu’s tearful appearance, she comforted helplessly, “It’s not that I’m speaking for my own mother. It’s just that given the status of my mother and father today, what else could they have? You have given birth to two daughters and a son for my father, and Yiyao is still the only male heir in the Song Family! My biological mother has also given birth to three children for the Prince, and my half-brother is now under the tutelage of last year’s No. 1 Scholar, Mr. Helou, and is receiving a lot of instruction. He is said to be liked by Prince Hengshan. Even though they were once married, it’s all in the past!”

Instead of taking her tears, Madam Lu simply cried out after hearing the words, “If it isn’t that I really can’t stand it anymore, I… I really don’t want to come and disturb you! But…but…”

She was choked on her sobs without finishing her words. Song Yixiao had to get up, handing her water and patting her back, cursing in her heart. Who did she provoke?

Her biological father and mother were already uneasy enough to deal with, and at this moment her stepmother had also come crying for her. Would Prince of Hengshan also visit next?

It was hard to comfort Madam Lu to control her emotions. Then she sobbed and choked to explain what had happened, “Since that day, my husband often sat alone in his study after he returned, occasionally finding out some old things to look at. I asked the old servants at home privately, but at first they refused to tell me, and only after they got impatiently asked, they tell me that those were things that Princess Consort of Wei had used when she was in the Song Family.”

Song Yixiao looked at her, “You want me to persuade Father? But you also know that Father has never been happy with me. Even if Father has recently changed his attitude towards me, in the end, with these years of alienation, I really cannot say this!”

Even if she could say this, she would not care about this kind of nonsense. Hadn’t she suffered enough from her parents in her previous life and the current one?

She didn’t give a damn about these two!

As for Madam Lu’s feeling aggrieved, Song Yixiao thought she should tell Song Yuan herself, or go back to tell her maiden family, but not to her. She was only her stepdaughter, and had not been raised by her. So why should she risk angering Song Yuan and get into trouble by sticking up for her?

However, Madam Lu was not a person who couldn’t understand what was going on, so she said, “You misunderstood! How dare I ask you to worry about such a thing? I just thought, could you please help me to ask…Princes Consort of Wei to come out, so that I can talk to her in private?”

“You want to meet my birth mother?” Song Yixiao couldn’t help but frown, thinking that with your simple mind, what could you talk about with my birth mother?

“To put it in a bad way, even if my own mother sold you, maybe you will help her distinguish the authenticity of the silver ticket!”

Besides, at this moment it was Song Yuan who couldn’t forget Wei Mengying. It was not that Wei Mengying didn’t let go of Song Yuan. What reason did Madam Lu have to meet Wei Mengying?

Although she used all the excuses she could find, Madam Lu had made up her mind. She acted as if she wouldn’t leave if Song Yixiao didn’t agree to her request.

Finally, Song Yixiao had no choice but to say, “I heard from my mother that the day after tomorrow, my cousin, Young Mistress Cao, who recently married the second son of Prince of Hengshan, is planning to invite people to admire the lake, and my birth mother was invited by her. If you really want to meet her, you can go to the lakeside at the bottom of the hill the day after tomorrow. But I can’t guarantee that she will talk to you in private!”

Although Madam Lu was a little disappointed, she knew that Song Yixiao could not give in anymore, so she only sighed and thanked her solemnly before saying goodbye.

After she left, Song Yixiao thought for a while with a sullen face and ordered her servants, “From today onwards, close the door and refuse to meet the guests. Just say that I am too tired from taking care of Qingyue and cannot receive any more visitors. If it is not an urgent matter, don’t bother me in the future!”

She came to Mount Cuihua for a summer vacation, as well as to take care of her daughter and to accompany her husband, not to participate in the feud of her parents’ generation!