Madam Wang stepped out of Old Madam Wu’s room, standing at the door while listening to the scolding inside. Her anger twisted the handkerchief in her hand into a salted vegetable, and her lips were tightly pressed.

"Eldest Sister-in-law, mother has been ill for some time, her condition is unstable, and her temper is a bit strange. Please don’t take it to heart," Lady Tong from the second room said as she approached, supported by a maid.

Madam Wang spoke with a forced smile, "What kind of strange temper is that? It’s clearly she sees me as her enemy. Never mind, she has never liked me anyway, naturally, I can’t compare to you all."

Lady Tong frowned slightly.

"I’m not popular, so I won’t linger in her presence. It’s the end of the year, and the estate needs accounting, I’m very busy. Taking care of Old Madam lies on you, Second Sister-in-law and Third Sister-in-law," Madam Wang said, then left with her people.

"Pfft, look at her, being sarcastic, as if someone owes her," Lady Liu from the third room came up, swaying her hips. "If it weren’t for her putting on airs and pretending, bringing people back early, the eldest room would now be truly honored. However, no one can be saved from their own undoing."

"Third Sister-in-law..."

"Second Sister-in-law, I’m just feeling it’s unfair for you. If that girl named Wufu is attached to the family, with her status, getting the boy into the Meng Family Academy would be a matter of a word, what a pity!"

Lady Tong slightly pressed her lips and lowered her eyes, "It’s all about fate between people, there’s nothing to pity."

Lady Liu pouted, this Second Sister-in-law always had the personality of a clay Bodhisattva, so boring.

...

Madam Wang returned to her room and sat down, gulping down two swallows of cold tea, but was still unable to quell the anger in her heart.

She had been somewhat irritated recently, not for any other reason, but because of Princess Consort Wei’s hints and implications. After the Imperial Banquet, she visited Princess Consort Wei once again, but she was ill, obviously angered by someone. Who was that person who upset her? It was apparent.

Madam Wang knew that Princess Consort Wei was uncomfortable, and understood how to make Princess Consort Wei comfortable—it involved teaching that little wretch a lesson.

The weakness, that little wretch’s weakness, isn’t it her wretch of a mother and the unborn flesh in her belly?

Madam Wang clenched her fist tightly. Ever since the Imperial Banquet, Wu Lihong shamelessly went to wander around Changqing Residence every few days, wanting to visit Madam Zhou.

Did she not know what he was thinking? He wanted to see their success and attempted to mend relations. But alas, people totally ignored him, not even allowing him through the door, truly giving warm faces only to stick them to cold ones, yet he still delighted in it.

Imagining if the other side proposed terms that divorce her so they would rejoin the Wu family, that heartless Wu Lihong would also comply, wouldn’t he?

Thinking of this made Madam Wang grasp her palm fiercely, this was absolutely intolerable.

But what could she do? That wretch didn’t even go out, surrounded by so many people—it was truly difficult to see her.

"Madam, some beggar-like people have come from outside, saying they’re the family of one of our aunties," a maid rushed in to report.

Madam Wang was irritated: "How could an aunt have any family? Where did the beggars come from? Drive them away."

All sorts of deceit and scams have come to the door, does the Wu family seem like a King Hall to them?

"Yes."

"Wait a minute," Madam Wang suddenly stopped the maid, asking, "Which aunt did they say they’re from?"

"They say it’s Maternal Aunt Zhou, from Huaan."

"Our family doesn’t have any aunt with the surname Zhou..." Madam Wang furrowed her brows, suddenly asking, "From Huaan? Bring them to the Floral Hall."

Is it the one she was thinking of?