Chapter 47 - How Can A Granddaughter Compare with A Legitimate Grandson?

“Why are you here?” Dowager Consort of Hengshan frowned after hearing her words and then questioned her.

Second Young Mistress took it for granted that her husband Lu Guanqun should be the heir of the prince since she married to him. But the Dowager Consort supported Lu Guanlun. When she said she had a plan, the Dowager Consort really doubted her intention.

Second Young Mistress spat in her heart. But she looked enthusiastic and said, “I thought I would hear Miss Song’s good news when I came here so that I could congratulate Stepmother and Miss Song first! Then I heard something bad happened. So I want to help you solve your problem!”

The Dowager Consort touched the golden bracelet on her wrist and asked casually, “Oh? How will you help me?”

“Sister Roumei is angry about two things. One is that Miss Song has already attracted Xubai! We didn’t know it, either. Otherwise we wouldn’t recommend her to Sister Roumei or let her attend the feast of Shangsi Festival. Right?” Second Young Mistress analyzed, “Sister Roumei must know it. But she is afraid that Xubai will blame her. So she vents her anger on us!”

“The second thing is that Sister Roumei used to satisfy with Miss Song to be her daughter-in-law. But now Miss Song will marry her younger brother! Ping’an’s condition is unusual. But Sister Roumei has a high standard. So it’s hard to find a girl to marry Ping’an! Because of two reasons, Sister Roumei sends her servant to blame us!”

“Well,” said the Dowager Consort, “you’re right. What about the solution?”

“First of all, we should apology. Sister Roumei is our relative and your junior! Even if she is angry, she will forgive us if we send her gifts of great value and explain it clearly, and guarantee not to spread out that Miss Song almost becomes her daughter-in-law!”

Second Young Mistress chuckled, “After all, Sister Roumei hopes Xubai to take care of Ping’an in the future. So she gets so angry this time that she asks Eunuch Chen to come to lose our faces. In fact, she is afraid it will be spread out!”

Her analysis was reasonable. But the problem was that Dowager Consort of Hengshan didn’t worry about Commandery Princess Qingjiang’s blame. So she just heard quietly and was noncommittal.

Second Young Mistress scolded her “old woman” in her heart. Then she continued, “The second thing we should do is simple. We just need to quickly find a good daughter-in-law for Sister Roumei, which can hide the news that we once recommended Song Yixiao. Sister Roumei will also be happy again and bury the hatchet with us!”

The Dowager Consort finally began to look a little satisfied when she heard that. “It’s a good method!”

No matter they apologized or sent gifts, Commandery Princess Qingjiang was rich. The status of this commandery princess was so high that no princess dared to offend her. Even if the gifts were expensive or their attitude was so sincere, it couldn’t calm Commandery Princess’s anger in a short time.

But a daughter-in-law was actually what she needed at present!

However…

“How could it be easy?” The Dowager Consort sighed, “It’s not a big deal that Ping’an is stupid! But he likes beating people! Over the years, although Roumei conceals the truth, all of us know that Ping’an has killed more than three or five people! In this case, who is willing to let their daughter marry him?”

“Roumei won’t let a girl from ordinary family be her daughter-in-law!”

“She is raised by Jinguo Grand Princess and lives an extravagant life. It’s no wonder that she doesn’t have a low bottom line! By the way, Ping’an is her only kid. Even if uncles of Ping’an will care about him, Ping’an still needs a wife who will be closer to take care of him!”

“Ping’an needs a wife to take care of him for his whole life. How can he have a good life if his wife is weak? Their children will have no people to depend on!”

“We recommended Song Yixiao to Roumei because we wanted Madam Wei to know her place. But to be honest, Song Yixiao is really suitable!”

The Dowager Consort said agonizingly, “Where should I find a girl to replace her in a short time?”

There were many pretty, talented and virtuous young ladies from rich family. But few of them wanted to marry Zhuo Ping’an!

The Dowager Consort dared to decide Song Yixiao’s marriage without telling Wei Mengying, which was because the Song Family didn’t care about her and Wei Mengying wouldn’t cut off all means of retreat for her kids.

Song Yixiao couldn’t rely on her parents. Was it so easy to let her marry a fool or bully her?

While other young ladies like Yuan Xue’e could rely on their brothers even if their parents were also dead!

Although Commandery Princess Qingjiang was powerful, she couldn’t snatch a daughter from an official’s family openly!

The girl who wanted to be Commandery Princess’s daughter-in-law must grow up in a poor official’s family. As the old saying went, environment could change people’s temperament, and self-cultivation could change people’s quality. So the poor girl’s bearing, manner and intelligence wouldn’t reach the Commandery Princess’s standard!

Prince of Hengshan’s mansion had a higher status than Commandery Princess Qingjiang, but acted more cautiously than her because the Emperor liked her. Even the Commandery Princess Qingjiang herself couldn’t find a proper daughter-in-law. How could the Dowager Consort make it?

The Dowager Consort thought Second Young Mistress’s idea was impractical. But Second Young Mistress smiled out of blue, “Grandmother, do you forget our Chai’er is still single?”

She still remembered that Lu Chai’er broke her plan few days ago!

How couldn’t Second Young Mistress catch this opportunity to revenge on Lu Chai’er?

The Dowager Consort suddenly changed her face and scolded, “Nonsense! She is your father-in-law’s daughter, the young lady of the prince’s mansion! How can she marry Zhuo Ping’an! You are her elder sister-in-law! Why don’t you let your own younger sister marry Zhuo Ping’an?”

Besides, “She is the aunt of Zhuo Ping’an! It will commit incest if they get married!”

Second Young Mistress was not afraid. She said casually, “Royal clan doesn’t care about position in the family hierarchy. In former dynasty, a man even married his aunt. Although she is the aunt of Zhuo Ping’an, father-in-law is not Jinguo Grand Princess’s brother and they just belong to the same clan. Their kinship is not close at all. By the way, Song Yixiao is Guanyun’s sister. Father-in-law likes him so much. After his sister marries Xubai, will Guanlun have any chance?”

She sneered, “Grandmother, I want to tell you my real thoughts! I used to think my husband should inherit the prince’s mansion for he was my mother-in-law’s son and elder than Guanlun! But now, my husband has no chance obviously! So I must support Guanlun instead of Guanyun! Let alone Guanlun and my husband have the same mother, just for the bad terms between I and Stepmother, I really don’t want Guanyun to be the heir!”

The Dowager Consort looked at her complicatedly and said, “I also love Guanqun. But…”

It was the only good result for your siblings when Guanlun became the heir of the prince.

“I don’t mean to blame you!” Second Young Mistress turned to wipe her eyes secretly and then pretended to smile, “Grandmother, please forgive my selfishness after hearing my real thoughts. I haven’t given birth to a kid since I marry my husband! It may be because I’m unlucky… Although concubine’s kids also call me mother, I can’t treat them like my own kids! So I am not so enthusiastic to care about their future!”

It was true that Second Young Mistress couldn’t regard concubine’s children as her own kids. After hearing her jealous words, the Dowager Consort gradually believed she really wanted to help Lu Guanlun.

However, Lu Chai’er was still the Dowager Consort’s granddaughter although the Dowager Consort didn’t like her so much!

Even if the Dowager Consort didn’t care about her, she couldn’t give her up like Song Yixiao!

Lu Guanlun was her favorite legitimate grandson and would treat all kids in the prince’s mansion well in the future. While Lu Chai’er was not close to her, but was her granddaughter.

The Dowager Consort struggled in her heart and couldn’t make a decision for a long time!

Second Young Mistress observed her expression and then said softly, “Grandmother, you also love other grandsons even if you support Guanlun to be the heir of the prince! That’s because you think Guanlun is liberal and will treat his siblings well after inheriting the title! In fact, you really consider everyone! But according to Stepmother’s character, do you think we will live well after Guanyun becomes the heir?”

She sighed, “Especially Guanlun! He is very generous and even helps Song Yixiao sometimes. But will Song Yixiao thank him? After Stepmother becomes powerful, she may aim at Guanlun because you love him!”

“It’s a big thing. Let me think again!” The Dowager Consort’s expression on her face changed many times. After a long time, she waved her hand weakly and said, “Go out and don’t tell anyone about it!”

Although the Dowager Consort was still hesitating. But Second Young Mistress knew she must agree with that!

Granddaughters would marry into another family sooner or later, especially Lu Chai’er was just a concubine’s daughter!

How could Lu Chai’er compare with a legitimate grandson?

When she walked out of the Dowager Consort’s yard, she smiled scornfully. How dared a concubine’s daughter block in her way?

She failed to make Song Yixiao marry Zhuo Ping’an who was a terrible husband. But she also felt avenged to let Lu Cha’er marry him!

But her revenge wouldn’t stop!

“After grandmother makes a decision, tell Lu Chai’er everything that she replaces Song Yixiao to marry Zhuo Ping’an!” Back to her home, Second Young Mistress sat down in front of her dressing table. She took her ornaments off and told her maid, Yanxia, “I’m curious. When she knows that she has a bad consequence because she helps others, will she put her finger into another’s pie again?”

If she was stimulated and went to make trouble to Song Yixiao, it would be better. Lu Chai’er didn’t plan to oppose Second Young Mistress. But Second Young Mistress wouldn’t let her go. Song Yixiao got in Second Young Mistress’s way when she went into the prince’s mansion the first day. How could Second Young Mistress forgive her?

When she overheard from Eunuch Chen that Jian Xubai liked Song Yixiao, she had decided to break the marriage!

If Lu Chai’er argued with Song Yixiao, she would have a chance to trap Song Yixiao!

Yanxia didn’t know her master’s plan. She helped to take off ornaments and asked with confusion, “Will your behavior help Master Guanlun?”

She was Second Young Mistress’s maid and knew clearly that Second Young Mistress wanted to get prince’s mansion. Especially, she had no son for many years and her husband didn’t love her as before. There were also many concubines’ sons. What else could Second Young Mistress do expect pursuing power? So she was keener to get the heir of the prince than before!

“What can I do?” Second Young Mistress looked depressed for a moment on her clever face, “Grandmother shows partiality to Guanlun. Father likes Madam Wei and her son. But no one cares about my husband who is princess consort’s eldest son! They used to balance in power and there was an opportunity for us to take advantage of! But Jian Xubai likes Song Yixiao. If we don’t help grandmother suppress Madam Wei, Lu Guanyun will definitely become the heir of the prince!”

According to Wei Mengying’s intelligence, as long as Lu Guanyun becomes the heir, no one will have a chance to replace him unless he is short-lived and has no son!

Although the Dowager Consort protected Lu Guanlun, the Dowager Consort had been old and it was not sure how long she would live.

Moreover, Master Guanlun was a magnanimous gentleman, which was easy to trap him for Second Young Mistress! But Lu Guanyun was still young. Like what the Dowager Consort thought, he might not be a good man when he grew up because Wei Mengying was his mother.

For example, Wei Mengying’s daughter gave Prince of Hengshan’s mansion a big “surprise” suddenly!

“Anyway, we can’t let Madam Wei have power!” Second Young Mistress thought the whole plan again and squinted, “Besides, do you think Lu Guanlun will benefit when Lu Chai’er becomes Sister Roumei’s daughter-in-law?”

When Lu Chai’er became Zhuo Ping’an’s fiancée, she would visit Commandery Princess Qingjiang!

It was not sure who would benefit from the sacrifice of Lu Chai’er!