CHAPTER 578: CHAPTER 567: THE MARCHIONESS’S MAID

"Zhong Lang, if you were in my position today, having gone through all that I have, you might not be any more merciful than I," Zhong Jue watched Zhong Lang coldly. "You’d better watch out for yourself."

Zhong Lang stood there, face alternating between pale and green.

In Qingzhu Garden, Duan Rongjing sat sipping tea, while Zhong Lan, puzzled, asked Ye Qiu: "Since you knew from the start that Zhong Yin was deceiving us, why did you wait until the end to expose her?"

Only now did Zhong Lan understand why Ye Qiu had stopped her when she tried to leave, and she had to admit it was quite satisfying to see Zhong Yin bring trouble upon herself.

"This servant simply wanted the Lord and Lady to recognize their true feelings for each other, instead of bottling everything up. Look, if I had exposed her earlier, wouldn’t you and the Lord have just misunderstood each other?" Ye Qiu looked at Zhong Lan, not the slightest bit afraid of Duan Rongjing’s glaring.

Then, Duan Rongjing’s glare immediately receded when Zhong Lan looked at him, displaying an apologetic demeanor as if he were ashamed of his poor judgment of character.

Zhong Lan found it amusing, also realizing the issue with her husband. Both of them disliked speaking out; they tended to keep things to themselves. It had been the same last time - if she hadn’t taken the initiative, the awkwardness might have persisted. Now, through Ye Qiu, she finally understood that some things, once discussed openly, became trivial; silence, on the other hand, not only bred misunderstandings but also provided opportunities for others to take advantage.

"Rong Jing, Ye Qiu has made such a great contribution. How do you plan to reward her?" Zhong Lan asked playfully, though her expression showed genuine curiosity.

Duan Rongjing was aware that the maid had acted in consideration of both him and his wife and was actually not offended at all. Seeing his wife put it this way, he went along with it: "Let’s reward her with a courtyard then!"

"Which courtyard?" inquired Zhong Lan, curiously.

"Someone gave me a double-entry courtyard which I don’t really have a use for. This maid has received quite a bit of rewards recently and refuses to buy out her indenture. Might as well grant her a courtyard, so she has a place to settle down if she ever wishes to leave the mansion," Duan Rongjing said nonchalantly.

Ye Qiu couldn’t help but be grateful. Although it was only double-entry, a gift for the Duke would certainly not be too shabby. Having a courtyard in the capital was indeed nice, and it would serve as a comfortable place in her old age.

"This servant thanks the Lord," Ye Qiu said.

The reward made Shen Dong, Yang Chun, and the others look on enviously, but who could blame them when Ye Qiu had such talent?

Since that incident, Zhong Huaiwen, fearing Zhong Yin would harm his face, married her off to a remote province. The groom was merely a small county magistrate with an undistinguished family background. To be able to marry a concubine daughter of a Vice Minister was considered a great honor, and Zhong Yin indeed enjoyed a good time for a while.

However, the good days didn’t last long. The small county magistrate, realizing that his father-in-law made no effort to support him, sensed something was amiss. His suspicions were confirmed when the gifts he sent to the Duke Mansion were returned without acceptance.

No wonder he, a small county magistrate, could marry a concubine daughter of a Vice Minister in the capital. It turned out she was abandoned by her family! What meaning was there in marrying her?

With Zhong Yin’s difficult temperament, she revealed her true colors in front of the despised small county magistrate, who wasn’t a masochist. As years passed by and he remained a seventh-rank official, his dissatisfaction towards Zhong Yin grew, and he no longer took the Zhong Residence into account, successively taking concubines.

In a small place, the County Magistrate was everything. Zhong Yin was left without a recourse to lament; even the servants in the mansion dared to bully her and her child. Her child was also raised to be submissive and lacking spirit.

In the end, the small county magistrate felt she was of no significant value and elevated one of his concubines to be his equal wife, bestowing all resources upon the children born of this new wife.

Zhong Yin held her own child and cried day after day, her life now more miserable than Mrs. Ying’s in the past. At the moment of her death, she finally felt regret and sent a letter to Zhong Jue, begging him to take care of her son. Alas, it was all to no avail.

Because Zhong Jue never had any affection for her, and the last trace of kinship was thoroughly obliterated by Aunt Wei.

Aunt Wei, seeing her own daughter married off to another province, grew increasingly resentful. She recalled the person she had planted by Zhong Lan’s side at the time of her marriage. Though imprisoned, she still held that person’s indenture and thus commanded the maid to poison Zhong Lan.

The outcome, of course, was failure. Not only was the maid executed, but Aunt Wei was sent back to the Wei Family by Zhong Huaiwen.

After such an incident, how could Zhong Jue be willing to help Zhong Yin again?

As for Zhong Lang, after Aunt Wei was returned to the Wei Family, his life in the Zhong Residence became even more difficult. He considered making a comeback through the Imperial Examination, but the pressure was too great. Time after time he failed right before success, and Zhong Huaiwen’s disappointment in him grew, eventually no longer holding any expectations. Zhong Lang became an invisible man within the residence.

In the end, it was the Old Madam who, on her deathbed, arranged a marriage for him — a girl from the Wei Family.

After the wedding, the Zhong Residence was divided. Even if all of Zhong Lang’s inheritance was used to settle the debts, it wouldn’t be enough. It was Zhong Jue who finally took pity on him, giving him a small two-entry courtyard and one thousand taels of Silver Coin.

By that time, Zhong Jue had married Lord Wenping, and with his brother-in-law, Rong Jing, a Duke uninterested in military power, and his own genuine talent, he was highly regarded by the new Emperor. The entire Zhong Residence was on the rise.

The Wei Family girl thought she was marrying into a life of luxury, but she didn’t expect to be part of a division of the family right after the wedding, and with the division contract in place beforehand, she ended up getting nothing.

Although the Wei Family had declined, they still had a big mansion, and instantly, the Wei Family girl began to resent Zhong Lang, accusing him of deceiving her into marriage and clamoring for a divorce.

But the Wei Family was also exhausted by this point, where could she go after a divorce? In the end, the two of them just bickered and made do with their life together.

With such a wife, how could Zhong Lang settle down to study? Failing the examinations was to be expected.

Ye Qiu left this world only after Zhong Lan had died, and it was only after returning to her space that she finally learned the entire plot.

It turned out that in her previous life, Zhong Lan still married Duan Rongjing, but without Ye Qiu’s medicine, she didn’t conceive any children during those two days. Afterwards, Duan Rongjing went to battle, and the two became even more estranged.

When he returned, Duan Rongjing mistakenly thought Zhong Yin was his lifesaver. Zhong Lan, because of Zhong Yin’s actions, misinterpreted that he had an affair with Zhong Yin, and under accumulated grievances, actually took Zhong Yin as a concubine.

The situation spiraled out of control from there. With Zhong Yin’s machinations, the misunderstanding between Duan Rongjing and Zhong Lan grew deeper and their relationship turned colder, until Zhong Lan died of depression.

Although after Zhong Lan’s death, Duan Rongjing finally came to his senses and dealt with Zhong Yin, what was the use?

Death is like the extinguishing of a lamp; all becomes meaningless.