Chapter 057
Chapter 57: Using a Favor to Demand Payback
A cool touch brushed her skin as Xia Meng Yan slowly opened her eyes. Thick medicine scent filled the room, and she frowned.
Chun Yue gasped with relief, set down a bowl of medicine, and said: “Eldest Miss, how do you feel?”
“What happened to me?” Xia Meng Yan’s whole body ached, as if someone had taken out her bones.
With tearful eyes, Chun Yue told her what happened two days before. After Xia Meng Yan split with Duan Yi Chen, her emotions ran high, and she had stayed by the lake too long. She fainted in the street. Luckily, Duan Yi Chen had chased after her and brought her back to the Xia Family in time. Since she was pregnant, Divine Physician Luo had not dared to use strong medicine, which was why she had only now woken up.
Chun Yue dabbed her eyes and asked: “Eldest Miss, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”
Xia Meng Yan’s muddled mind cleared. Remembering Duan Yi Chen’s words, her chest tightened. She steadied herself and said: “Don’t cry. I’m fine. Have someone bring congee.”
Chun Yue hurried out to give orders.
Xia Meng Yan set a hand over her belly and said softly, guilt threading her voice: “I’m sorry. Mother was wrong.” [How foolish of me, to hurt the child in my belly over someone who doesn’t matter.] [If anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself.]
Noise rose outside the door. It flew open with a bang. Chun Yue staggered back as Madam Wan swept in with several old servant women. Chun Yue protested and said: “Second Madam, Eldest Miss is still ill. What do you think you’re doing?”
Dressed in rich brocade, Madam Wan looked her up and down with disdain and said: “You dog of a servant, you dare block me? Drag her out and beat her.”
“Wait,” Xia Meng Yan said, pale as she pushed up to sit. “Chun Yue belongs to Autumn Lotus Court. Let me see who dares touch her.”
Madam Wan curled her lip, voice sweet and sour, and said: “Oh, so Meng Yan is awake.” Her tone dripped with mockery as she added: “Good thing you were clever and invited Divine Physician Luo early. Otherwise that child in your belly would be gone.”
Xia Meng Yan’s eyes slitted, nails sinking into her palm. She knew the second branch envied the main branch, but she had not thought they would curse her child to her face. She kept her voice even and said: “Second Aunt, say what you came to say. Leave the innocent out of it.”
“Innocent?” Madam Wan gave a cold laugh, hate glittering in her eyes, and said: “Xia Meng Yan, stop pretending to be a saint. Your people are innocent, but Qing Yao isn’t? You messed up her good marriage. How is she supposed to live with that?”
Not understanding, Xia Meng Yan glanced at Chun Yue. Chun Yue shook her head. She had stayed by the Eldest Miss’s side these two days and didn’t know what happened outside.
Seeing Xia Meng Yan’s blank look, Madam Wan’s face grew uglier, and she said: “If you hadn’t offended Her Highness Consort Ping, how would the Lu Family dare delay the wedding and snoop around asking about you?”
Hearing this, Xia Meng Yan understood. The Lu Family was trying to play them against each other, using Madam Wan as a knife to grind her down. She said, calm and cold: “I can sway Qing Yao’s marriage? Second Aunt, are you not even a little guilty saying that?”
The Lu Family’s goal was clear: they wanted to marry her. Because she was a divorced woman, they could not make a big show of it without looking scheming, so they started from the second branch. She did not believe Second Uncle and Second Aunt had not noticed.
Madam Wan knew that—but so what? In what way was her daughter worse than Xia Meng Yan? Was the Lu Family blind or dirty-hearted, that they would use her daughter as a raft to ferry a divorced woman into their gate? The wedding had already landed on Xia Qing Yao; the Lu Family had better not even think of switching.
She set her tea down and said with forced calm: “If you hadn’t divorced, who would look down on our Qing Yao? In the end, this is your fault. You owe the second branch an answer.”
“What answer do I owe?” Xia Meng Yan said, keeping her temper down. “If you have the guts, go make a scene at the Lu Family. Stabbing your own kin with the knife is useless.” She had just woken and her body was weak. If she got angry again, it might endanger the child.
“I don’t have that kind of power, but you do,” Madam Wan said, sitting on the soft couch instead of shrieking. She took a sip of tea and said: “Just give the row of street-front shops as extra dowry to Qing Yao, and the Lu Family will agree. A dozen shops are nothing to you and your mother, but they mean life or death to Qing Yao. The Lu Family is Her Highness Consort Ping’s family. If they dump her, Qing Yao will end up stuck in a temple for life. You and Qing Yao get along, and in the Imperial Palace she even testified for you. In feeling and reason, you cannot just watch and do nothing.”
Xia Meng Yan laughed, the sound without warmth. [So this is it. Using a favor to demand payback. While the help is still warm, rush in to ask for a reward.] She said, crisp and clear: “Since you put it that way, let’s settle accounts. Over the years, how much silver has the second branch used from the main branch? Pay back every tael, then we can talk about other things.”
“That—that was your choice. We never asked,” Madam Wan stammered. There was no way she would spit back any silver.
“Fine,” Xia Meng Yan said. “Then we’ll start asking now. The courtyard you’re living in is the Lin Family’s property. Will you rent it or move out? Give me an answer today.”
“You—do you have any conscience? Qing Yao just saved you, and you want to throw us out?” Madam Wan cried.
“Second Sister Qing Yao can stay. The others leave,” Xia Meng Yan said.
“You…” Madam Wan ground her teeth. She had come in blazing and now looked a mess. Poverty really does make the temper small. In her heart she cursed Xia Xing Yan up and down.
She threw out a threat and said: “If you drive us out, I’ll go to the Censorate and accuse you. I’ll say—I’ll say…”
“Say what? That Father is unfilial?” Xia Meng Yan’s voice cut like ice. “We will support Grandmother. But the laws of the Xuan Ming Empire say nothing about an elder brother having to feed his younger brother’s whole family. If you want to make trouble, go ahead. The yamen can tally just how much the second branch has eaten from the main branch over the years.”
“Xia Meng Yan!” Madam Wan roared.
A headache throbbed behind Xia Meng Yan’s eyes. She kept her voice cold and said: “Chun Yue, see our guest out.”
Madam Wan flung her sleeve and stormed away.
Unable to swallow the anger, Chun Yue told the gate servants to shut the doors. No one was allowed to visit.
At dinner, Chun Yue came back with news. Madam Wan had gone to make a scene before Madam Lin. The moment Madam Lin heard that Madam Wan had barged into Autumn Lotus Court, she had the servants drive her out with brooms. In short, Madam Wan got nothing and took home a body full of bruises.
Xia Meng Yan had no desire to tangle further with the Lu Family. She had already offended Her Highness Consort Ping. One more enemy or one less no longer mattered. She called out and said: “Song Mo.”
Song Mo slipped inside and said: “Eldest Miss, your orders.”
She said, crisp and careful: “Spread the word that the Lu Family wants to switch the bride. Say their accounts are short and they covet my dowry. They are using Xia Qing Yao as a raft and making things hard for the Xia Family.”
“Yes,” Song Mo said. As he turned to leave, she added: “Do it quietly. Make Qing Yao sound pitiful.”
He nodded, waited to see if there were more orders, then vanished.
Chun Yue frowned and said: “Eldest Miss, you’re too kind. The second branch treats us like this, and you still think of Second Miss. They are greedy for the Lu Family’s power. That’s why they got used.”
Xia Meng Yan shook her head and said: “I’m not a Bodhisattva. I’m not that soft-hearted. I help Second Sister because in all these years, she never overstepped. She’s not even of age. Second Uncle and Second Aunt decide everything. She has no choice.” She paused, then added quietly: “If I hadn’t cared for Lin Ye Lan, our branch wouldn’t have risked showing our wealth. The Lu Family wouldn’t have fixed their eyes on the second branch. In the end, Qing Yao is suffering because of me.”
“I’m just afraid they won’t be grateful,” Chun Yue murmured. “They’ll say we owe them.”
Xia Meng Yan did not argue. Knowing Madam Wan, that was exactly what she would say.
After this, she felt that nothing mattered more than herself and the child. In the days that followed, she stayed in the manor to rest and protect the pregnancy. Chun Yue kept a close watch on the news outside and grew even more careful with any food sent in, afraid that a cornered person might lash out and hurt Xia Meng Yan again.