Chapter 237: Chapter 238 - Are You Really My Birth Mother?

Wei Mengying sneered, “The Dowager Consort is a venomous one. She is old and sick now, even if she can survive this time, she doesn’t have much time left. So if she dies now, that’s not too much a pity. But Lu Kou’er is her own granddaughter which is still quite young! She is even willing to let Lu Kou’er die like this! Maybe she did too much evil and God couldn’t tolerate her, so that she gave herself away. Only at this time do people know what kind of person she is.”

“What’s the situation?” Song Yixiao asked in a hurry.

“Lanhui is one of her trusted maids. She confessed that she put the poison in Qingji Incense according to my order. The reason for her to frame me up must be that she followed the Dowager Consort’s order!” Wei Mengying signaled her daughter to help her up and said in a soft voice, “However, even if the Dowager Consort’s wicked design worked, there was no way for Lanhui to survive since she was charged with poisoning her masters under my command. Not to mention her, even her family members would end miserably.”

Talking about this, she sneered again, “It is true that the Dowager Consort watches Lanhui growing up and the two of them are close to each other. Although Lanhui was willing to lose all her reputation and die like a dog, her family members wouldn’t be willing to do so. Moreover, according to the Dowager Consort’s plan, she would die before Lanhui. How could she not be worried that Lanhui regrets it? Just as a saying goes, even an ant wants to live longer. So that, she had to carefully arrange Lanhui’s family members so that Lanhui worked for her without further worries. Or, she wanted to keep Lanhui’s family members under the control of her other trusted subordinates so that Lanhui still followed her orders after she died.”

“And I asked Prince of Hengshan to check on her dowry to see if there have been any changes recently.”

“After all, it took a lot of money to arrange for a big family like Lanhui’s. The Dowager Consort couldn’t use the money from the public account for this. Otherwise, wasn’t she telling me that what she wanted Lanhui to do?”

Wei Mengying got the rose syrup from her daughter and took a sip. Then she returned to be indifferent as she normally was and said with her lips curled up, “Then Prince found out she sold two shops which belong to her dowry but the money went nowhere. The indentures of Lanhui and her family members were also nowhere to be found in the box of indentures. He sent someone to Lanhui’s house, only to find the house was empty and there was nobody to be found. The neighbors also didn’t know where they went. They just disappear in one night and couldn’t be found at all.”

With such a flaw in hand, then Wei Mengying went to interrogate Lanhui. Although she was quite loyal, she was never trained to be a spy. Under the threat of “Your whole family has been found and they are on the way of being brought back to the imperial capital”, she couldn’t remain calm anymore and became flustered. Finally, she told the truth: Dowager Consort of Hengshan thought that she was already old but Wei Mengying was still in the prime of her life, so she urged Prince of Hengshan to confer Lu Guanlun as the heir to the title of Prince of Hengshan.

However, although the Dowager Consort spent a lot of effort in accomplishing her goal, the fight for the throne began. The memorial about this hadn’t been submitted until now while the Dowager Consort fell ill first.

“She asked for the illness herself.” Wei Mengying didn’t conceal her gloating about this at all, “The doctors said that she fell ill because she thought too much. Think about it, the Prince has already agreed to choose Lu Guanlun as the heir. But due to the fight for the throne, he hasn’t submitted the memorial to the throne temporarily. What she worried about?”

Song Yixiao said with a frown, “Is she seriously ill?”

“Not yet.” Wei Mengying didn’t take the Dowager Consort’s illness into the heart. She said, “After all, she is the Dowager Consort and lives a rich life for all these years. Every month, there is an imperial doctor coming to check her pulse. Although she is old now, she still has a good physical base. She wouldn’t die easily. But she really can’t strain herself anymore.”

“The Dowager Consort couldn’t worry too much from now on so that she used such a bad trick?” Song Yixiao had a mixed feeling in her heart when hearing this. She suddenly remembered that on the fifth day of the fourth lunar month, the Dowager Consort wore heavy makeup. She really seldom wore heavy makeup like that. At that time, Song Yixiao thought she didn’t want others to find she was ill from her face. But now, it seemed that she must already decide to die at that time.”

“No wonder she kept the news of her illness secret even if she was so ill that Commission of Imperial Academy of Medicine also came to check on her. If Maid Jiayue didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t know anything in advance. Besides, although the doctor advised the Dowager Consort not to work hard, she still chose to have a grand birthday banquet.” Prince of Hengshan’s Mansion would celebrate Dowager Consort of Hengshan’s birthday every year, but the birthday banquet would never be a grand one like this year. In fact, she was not so high-key like this year. Actually, this was a very obvious flaw. In order to avoid trouble, Prince of Hengshan even didn’t submit the memorial to the throne about conferring the heir. Dowager Consort of Hengshan wasn’t a person lack of judgment, why did she suddenly want to have a grand birthday banquet?

Unfortunately, Song Yixiao didn’t care about that old lady and she didn’t think too much about it. Only at this time did she realize, “The birthday banquet wasn’t for bringing good luck to her. It was because she chose this day to die. The reason why she hid the news of her illness was that she was afraid that others might know her intention. The grand birthday banquet and the delicate makeup was her farewell to the world.”

“There is another reason.” Wei Mengying didn’t hide anything from her daughter. She raised her eyebrow and said with a smile, “That is Yuan Xuepei. The Dowager Consort agreed to exchange marriage because of him. Yuan Xue’e was an innocent one but her brother, Yuan Xuepei is a scheming one. Although the two families have different political standpoints, Yuan Xuepei would never sit by and watch his sister and sister-in-law suffer since he cherishes his sister so much. This marriage gives Lu Guanlun another protection by the way.”

The question was, “I don’t know much about the political situation. However, it was after Yuan Xuepei’s urge in private that Yuan Xue’e got married last month. It was a shame for the bride’s family to do such things. Yuan Xuepei really cherishes his sister a lot. Since he even did something like this, he must have no time to care about his sister anymore. It seemed that he still counted on Prince of Hengshan’s mansion to protect his sister, how could he still have extra time to help Lu Guanlun in the competition for the position of the heir?”

Under such a situation, the Dowager Consort was naturally worried. She worried that even if Lu Guanlun became the heir of Prince of Hengshan now, he couldn’t keep his state after she died. With Wei Mengying’s aspersion aside, Lu Guanlun not only might lose his title of the heir but also ended miserably.

So, she learned from the Empress Dowager and advised letting Lu Guanyun be Marquis Zhaode’s son. However, the Empress Dowager failed and she also failed. It gave Wei Mengying an excuse to oppose the choice of Lu Guanlun.

So, after careful thinking, she was determined to do it. She would let Wei Mengying die with her at any cost.

Not only Wei Mengying, but also Song Yixiao, who had a good relationship with Guanyun and married into a noble family. The Dowager Consort had witness Song Yixiao’s unforgiveness and tricks in Cui Jianlian’s incident. So, she decided to kill Song Yixiao, too, even if the cost was her granddaughter.

“If she only wanted to kill us this time, she might succeed.” Wei Mengying suddenly thought of something and sneered, “But who told her to be so venomous? She thought that the memorial to the throne on conferring the heir hadn’t been submitted. She was worried that if all the four of us died, Prince of Hengshan would show sympathy to my young Guanyun and change the idea to let him be the heir. Then all her efforts she spent were in vain. So, she didn’t forget to frame me up even before she died. But she didn’t expect that God let me survive to expose her.”

Song Yixiao thought for a moment with a frown and suddenly raised her head to look at her mother. Her eyes were filled with all kinds of emotions and she said after a pause, “Since you are fine, then I feel relieved.”

Then she stood up to leave, “I have been lying in bed for a few days and there are a lot of things in my mansion that needs to be handled. I can’t stay any longer so I am leaving.”

Wei Mengying froze. She also realized that something was wrong with her daughter so that she supported herself up with the frame of the bed and asked in surprise, “Are you blaming me and Guanyun for dragging you down? But I didn’t expect the Dowager Prince to be so crazy. You are fine now. Do you want to distant me because you were poisoned this time?”

“How dare I blame you?” Song Yixiao stood there still. She felt so cold that her whole body was trembling. She suppressed the heart-broken feeling and tried to keep her voice calm, “Just now, when I went to the mourning hall to mourn, the Prince asked me about my health out of guiltiness. But, Mom, when I came to you, you didn’t ask me about anything.”

Wei Mengying frowned when hearing what she said and signed, “Yixiao, it is my fault. You are still young, unlike you, I am getting old and I still have to lie on the bed now. I am busy cleaning myself up these days and it cost me a lot of effort so that I was negligent just now. Don’t have grudges with me, okay? I still care about you.”

Song Yixiao looked at her and smiled miserably, “Are you still trying to coax me? Mom, I only have one question, just now you said that Guanyun and your other children are still young. If they don’t have your protection, do you know who will be the one in charge of them and will that person bully them? It is still a question that whether they could grow up or not. So, under such circumstances, if we all died in the warm chamber that day, the Prince could have some sympathy for Guanyun and let him be the heir. However, could he stay in this position for a long time?”

Without waiting for Wei Mengying’s answer, she kept saying, “Don’t think that the Prince would protect Guanyun well considering his conjugal affection with you. To be honest, Master Guanqun, Master Guanlun, and Fourth Commandery Princess are all born by Prince of Hengshan’s first wife, Princess Consort Cui. Actually, he is not bad to them, but he also doesn’t cherish them like gems or pearls. The best example is Mater Guanqun; in terms of status, he should be the heir but not Master Guanlun. However, look at the competition for the position of the heir to Prince of Hengshan. It nearly has nothing to do with him, only when his wife helped him with the power of her parents’ family when she was alive. The Prince doesn’t spend a lot of effort protecting Princess Consort Cui’s children. How can you guarantee that Guanyun and his siblings wouldn’t suffer after you died?”

“Especially, after you married into the prince’s mansion, the Prince only favors you. How could the Prince’s lonely concubines not hate you? As for the rest children of the Prince, although the first young mistress has already turned to you, her relationship with you is not deep enough for her to try all means to protect Guanyun and his siblings after you died. Also, even if she wanted to, her husband is Prince of Hengshan’s first son born by a concubine and her family isn’t powerful, either. With such a background, how could she protect Guanyun and his siblings?”

“As for the second young master, I hound his wife to death indirectly. No matter how they got along with each other, he still needs to keep his dignity as her husband and he must hate me. So, how could he be nice to my half-sisters and half-brother?”

“The third young master and his wife Xue’e are good ones but they still have their own business to manage and their own home to take care of. Prince of Hengshan is still alive, how could they protect and care Guanyun and his sisters like their parents?”

“Fourth Commandery Princess is dead. The Sixth Young Lady is a girl and she is in the process of choosing her future husband, so we could ignore them both.”

“The last one, the Fifth Young Mater was born by a concubine and he is not valued. He even had some grudges against us because of Jinxun and Wei Chan. If you die, it will be a good result that he doesn’t bully Guanyun and his sisters, how will he help them?”

Song Yixiao closed his eyes and said in a choked voice, “That is to say, if you are gone, Guanyun and his two siblings will be surrounded by enemies in Prince of Hengshan’s Mansion. The care and love from the Prince are not enough to protect them at all. Not to mention taking charge of Prince of Hengshan’s Mansion, it will be difficult for Guanyun to survive! Besides, the Dowager Consort, she… There was no need for her to let Lanhui put the antidote into your tea secretly and then framed you.”

Since it was not one of the Dowager Consort’s tricks that Wei Mengying took the antidote, then Wei Mengying must be already prepared for this.

Song Yixiao grew up in Prince of Hengshan’s mansion and she had already been used to the battle between her mother and Dowager Consort of Hengshan. Before she came, she already wondered that whether Wei Mengying was involved.

If Wei Mengying only schemed against the Dowager Consort, Song Yixiao wouldn’t behave abnormally like this.

What made her really sad and heartbroken was that “Mom, since you took the antidote before entering the warm chamber, then you must know that something was wrong with the incense but you didn’t tell me anything. Although I was the last one to enter the chamber, the poison was still too powerful for me to take. It was so poisonous that Aunt Yun had to use some medicine with side effects to treat me. Hadn’t it been Aunt Yun’s good medical skills and timely arrival, I would have died. Mom, are you really my birth mother?”