Wei Yijun tapped the book. "I have already studied ever since I was young to become an official who served the kingdom. Why should I back out now that the kingdom needs more people to take care of the administrative problem?"
"You're right, First Brother."
By saying that he would serve the kingdom, Wei Yijun was telling Wei Liuying that he would not care about who the Emperor was. Even though Wei Yijun disliked Ji Shu back then, he would not show it in his face and acted normal. Now that the one who would become the emperor was Prince Ji Shao Yang, he would certainly be much happier since he had already supported the second prince ever since a long time ago.
However, Wei Yijun still knew the proper manner and would not mention it so openly.
Wei Liuying smiled. "Hearing that you're still willing to help is very reassuring, First Brother."
"It's my dream to become an official, so I won't back down."
"In that case, do you mind telling me what happened to Wei Family Residence in the past year?"
The question made Wei Yijun freeze in his place. He was sure that Wei Liuying already heard the report about what happened in the Wei Family Residence, so there was nothing that he could tell her. However, he had to act as if he didn't know and tried to report everything that he thought important.
Slowly, Wei Yijun showed a slight smile on his lips. "There are many things that occurred in Wei Family household. First of all, Second Sister was married away and recently died due to sickness. Secondly, the number of people living in Wei Family Household is declining and even Second Brother is in jail. Third, Concubine Feng had died because of an incident."
Wei Liuying listened to Wei Yijun and smiled lightly. As she had expected, her brother was trying to see things in the broad outlook by saying things that only has relation to her. It showed that Wei Yijun knew what she might be asking.
But at the same time, he was trying to gloss over the matter to make it didn't seem to be as serious as it actually was. While it might be a good trait to have, it wouldn't help him much when he had to report to the court in the future. But to be so blunt… might not be that good either.
It was easier to offend someone when they were blunt.
"Second Sister is married? She's still 15, right?" Wei Liuying acted surprised.
Wei Yijun chuckled. "Yes. She had a crush on a young master and sneaked to his room during a meeting. Since Father didn't want the matter to spread, he chose to marry Second Sister to him."
"I see."
"Unfortunately, Second Sister is not lucky enough because she fell sick and died not long afterwards," Wei Yijun added.
Wei Liuying nodded. She was sure that this was the version of the story that everyone talked about because the truth would be far from that. Wei Zilin surely tried to enter Prince Ji Shu's room, but Wei Xiao Hua switched the room. That way, the one inside was another young master who had no relationship with them whatsoever.
She didn't know whether she should pity or scold Wei Zilin for her stupidity. Even after knowing that Prince Ji Shu would never see anyone other than Wei Xiao Hua, she still tried to get his affection. It wouldn't be surprising if the young master who was inside the room back then would be another useless young master who only knew how to play around with women.
"I have already met with Second Brother, so I have heard from him regarding the matter of my mother. However, I heard that other concubines didn't have it easy?" Wei Liuying asked once more.
Wei Yijun held a bitter smile on his lips. He nodded lightly. "First Sister was the one who holds the power in the residence even when father was still alive. She accepted many more concubines for Father and threw away those who were older and no longer of Father's taste."
"I see."
As the Prime Minister, Wei Hong never lacked women. There were many young girls who willingly throw themselves to his lap in order to get power. Because of that, what Wei Xiao Hua did was simply giving them a chance by accepting their advance and informing their father.
Technically, it was not wrong.
"And Concubine Xie died because of poison."
Wei Yijun raised his head and clenched his fist. He nodded. "Yes."
Women's battle usually occurred on the background. He couldn't do much to help because when he returned back home, he found out that his mother was already poisoned so badly that doctor didn't have any way to cure her. As for finding out who was the one who did it, Wei Hong never had any interest and only superficially tried to find out by sending some people to investigate.
It was at that moment Wei Yijun completely lost hope in her father and chose to no longer regarded him as his father. Since he had promised his mother, he knew that he couldn't do anything to the perpetrator and only staying silent. But it was so unbearable.
Living in that rotten residence only caused pain and grievances for him. Everyone was fighting because they wanted to live well and in the end, it was simply impossible to satisfy everyone's wished. There were winner and losers.
Wei Yijun asked for permission to stay in the academy just so that he could stay away from that rotten place.
Wei Liuying could only sigh. She didn't want to care for Wei Family anymore, but pulling in so many girls to this pitfall was also pitiable. While those girls were the one who wanted to enter, if they didn't have the chance, they might be able to find better man to marry and lived a different live.
Truly a pity that some women thought that they would have a better live if they become a concubine rather than the legal wife of a small official.
Though, some of them might have been in her previous position, a concubine daughter who had no other choice but to get married to an old official that their father decided. Wei Liuying managed to run away, but many other concubine daughters wouldn't be able to do so.
She looked at her brother's hand and understood that even if he wanted to do something, he couldn't. If he tried to force his way to make things difficult for Wei Xiao Hua back then, he would have ended up dying.
"Would you like to return back?"
Wei Yijun shook his head. "Living here has been peaceful and nice, so I would like to stay here."
Wei Liuying thought for a moment. "You're going to get married to Xie Ni in few years' time, so you're going to need a residence. Sell your previous household and bought a new one, I'll help you find a quiet and nice place to settle in."
The offer was simply too good to be passed. Wei Yijun looked at his sister, the one who was always ignored and treated badly in their residence. A small smile formed on the corner of his lips.
"Thank you very much for your help, Third Sister."
"It's nothing."