Chapter 149
Chapter 149: Someone She Shouldn’t Contact Again
The next morning, Madam Jia was still asleep when Nanny Sun woke her.
Madam Jia lifted her eyelids and, seeing Nanny Sun’s anxious face, cleared a bit: “What happened?”
The Eldest Master had punished Concubine Su without mercy. Madam Jia now understood that even if one had sky-high favor, once you crossed the Eldest Master’s bottom line, you were like rotten grass.
Though confined to her quarters, she was still the mother of the house. With that status, no one could bypass her.
Thinking it through had put her in a good mood. Last night she drank a little wine with Nanny Sun, so she had overslept.
“My lady, did someone come last night?” said Nanny Sun. Her face was as white as paper. She waved a letter over the table. “When this old servant left last night, there was no letter here. But when I came in this morning, it was on the table.”
Madam Jia sat up fast, fully awake in an instant.
She took the letter and read the contents. Seeing the signature, she opened her mouth in surprise: “How is it him?”
At the same time, a big thing happened in the Lin Family. Because Xia Meng Yan had been frightened by the matter with Wang Yu, the two elders of the Lin Family each gave two shopfronts as compensation.
This made the Second Madam, who had been in the spotlight, feel unbalanced. To give that much to the daughter of a married-out girl—were the Lin Family’s elders crazy?
The tone in the house shifted again toward Xia Meng Yan’s courtyard. Her food, clothes, and daily items were finer than before.
The Second Madam could not take it. She now managed the household accounts, and she felt those good things should pass through her hands first.
Her people advised her not to fuss. Xia Meng Yan would leave sooner or later. And four shops were a drop in the bucket to the Lin Family.
That made sense to the Second Madam, so she took her people out shopping.
With Madam Jia confined, city banquets needed the Second Madam to show her face. She had to buy a few proper outfits.
Xia Meng Yan also wanted a little outing. With Chun Yue steadying her, she went to the gate, where a carriage was already waiting.
“Cousin Miss, I am sorry. The best carriage has been claimed by the Second Madam’s people,” said a footman with a bow. “I have told the stable hands to add two extra soft pads inside this one. Please try it and see if it is comfortable.”
Ever since the Cousin Miss from the Capital came to the Lin Family, the wind had changed. The two old ancestors of the Lin Family had said all the best things should go to the Cousin Miss first. But today the Second Madam had sent early to take the largest, most comfortable carriage in the Lin Manor.
Xia Meng Yan did not mind. She only wanted a casual walk outside: “Thank you.”
She glanced at Chun Yue. Chun Yue understood and slipped a bit of silver to the footman: “You were thoughtful. My lady is very pleased.”
Seeing the tip, the footman grew talkative: “It is what I should do. Many people are going out today. Cousin Miss, please be careful.”
Xia Meng Yan paused and asked in passing: “Who else is going out?”
“In a few days it is the death day of Madam Jia’s sister from her mother’s family. The Eldest Master has allowed Madam Jia to go out to buy some things,” said the footman.
Xia Meng Yan raised a brow and let Chun Yue help her into the carriage.
“The uncle treats Madam Jia quite well, but Madam Jia’s nature is not fit to be the madam of the house,” said Chun Yue as the carriage rolled. “Now that Concubine Su is out of favor, if Madam Jia had some means, this would be a chance to win the Eldest Master back.”
Xia Meng Yan lifted the curtain to look outside and said: “Easy to say. Not everyone can learn those tricks for charming a man.”
Madam Jia had grown up in comfort and learned how to run a household and manage money. She looked down on those tricks and would not learn them.
Maybe that was the difference between a proper wife and a concubine.
Chun Yue both understood and did not. How could anyone fail to learn how to charm?
Xia Meng Yan had no heart to care about fights over favor. Her child would be born soon, and she was weighing whether to give birth in the Lin Manor or to move out. [Is it safer to give birth here, or outside?] For now the manor did not feel safe. But moving out might not be safe either. She could not decide.
“Eldest Miss, that looks like Madam Jia,” said Chun Yue, pointing outside.
Following her finger, Xia Meng Yan saw Madam Jia dressed simply. With Nanny Sun, she slipped into a teahouse.
“Wasn’t Madam Jia going to buy things for the memorial? Why sneak into a teahouse?” said Chun Yue. She had noticed how Nanny Sun looked around before going in, very cautious.
“Go see,” said Xia Meng Yan.
Waiting outside, Song Mo dropped down and went toward the teahouse with the order.
They parked the carriage in a hidden alley. Chun Yue helped Xia Meng Yan down, and the two of them strolled the street at an easy pace.
Song Mo soon returned and gave a report that made Xia Meng Yan’s eyes widen: “Madam Jia met a man in the teahouse. They seemed to be old acquaintances.”
“You are sure you did not mistake it?” said Xia Meng Yan.
She did not understand. Madam Jia liked her uncle a lot. Why would she meet a man in secret?
“I did not mistake it,” said Song Mo with a nod. “The man was dressed as a scholar, a little over twenty. He had a little girl with him.”
Xia Meng Yan was even more puzzled. Why would her maternal aunt meet an outside man?
“Send someone to check that man,” said Xia Meng Yan.
Song Mo took the order and left.
Running into this on an outing, Xia Meng Yan lost all mood for shopping.
She entered the restaurant across the street and took a quiet room on the second floor. She sent Chun Yue out to buy the few things they needed and stayed to drink tea.
She sat by the window where she could see the street below when she looked down.
Suddenly a familiar face entered her view. Xia Meng Yan looked toward the teahouse across the way.
What a coincidence. The Second Madam also went in there for tea.
Xia Meng Yan tightened her grip on the cup and scanned the street, finding no one especially suspicious.
After a short while, the Second Madam came out with her maids, smiling. From her look, she had not discovered Madam Jia.
Xia Meng Yan did not believe in coincidence. If the Second Madam had exposed Madam Jia just now, her uncle’s name and the Lin Family’s name would have been ruined.
A quarter of an hour later, Madam Jia left with Nanny Sun.
Xia Meng Yan kept watching the teahouse. Soon after, a man walked out with a girl of seven or eight.
The man’s brows were like green feathers, and his bright eyes moved with life. There was a natural noble air in his walk that made the passersby look dim by comparison.
[A beauty trap?] flashed through Xia Meng Yan’s mind. Was this man set up by the Second Madam?
Worried about her lady, Chun Yue hurried back with the parcels: “The shopkeeper will send the rest of the items to the Lin Manor.”
Xia Meng Yan invited Chun Yue to sit and drink tea. They ate a few pastries, then went back to the manor.
Everything in the house seemed normal, except for one bit of news: in three days, Madam Jia would go to the temple to offer incense for her sister. Nothing else stood out.
At dinner, Song Mo returned with results: “Eldest Miss, the man is named Zhao Tong Bin. He is Madam Jia’s brother-in-law. But Zhao Tong Bin knew Madam Jia first, then later met her younger half-sister. He married the younger sister, and after that he and Madam Jia stopped contacting each other. The little girl at the teahouse today was Zhao Tong Bin’s daughter.”
“My maternal aunt’s sister who passed away was Zhao Tong Bin’s wife?” asked Xia Meng Yan.
“Yes. Madam Jia’s sister died in childbirth. Zhao Tong Bin never remarried. He has raised his daughter alone all these years,” said Song Mo.
Xia Meng Yan hesitated. Maybe today’s meeting was to discuss the memorial for her aunt’s sister? She did not want to think badly of people, but things were too coincidental to ignore.
“Put someone to watch my maternal aunt,” said Xia Meng Yan.
“Yes,” said Song Mo. He was about to withdraw when she added: “Also put people on the Second Branch.”
“Yes,” said Song Mo. Hearing no more orders, he slipped away.
Xia Meng Yan felt this was not simple and weighed whether to tell her maternal aunt.
Just then Lin Qing Wan came in with her maid. She flopped across Xia Meng Yan’s lap and said: “Cousin, I am so bored. Mother is confined, and I cannot even leave the manor.”
After the Cloud Mountain Temple incident, Lin Qing Wan sank for a while. Later she thought it through. It had not been her fault, so why make herself suffer? She ate and drank as usual and returned to normal.
Xia Meng Yan had been fretting over what to do. Her eyes brightened and she stroked Lin Qing Wan’s hair: “I have something fun here. Do you want to hear it?”