The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 265 The Cui Family's Past
The Linglong Pagoda was temporarily left in the Tongtian Pavilion by Lang Jiuchuan. To find out about the karmic debt between the pagoda's master and Sheng Huai'an, they would have to wait until his remnant soul recovered. The Tongtian Pavilion would then guard it.

Also staying behind was Fuqi, who wanted to become an apprentice and learn the ways of the ghosts.

After Lang Jiuchuan left, he stared at A Piao for a long time before bowing and saying, "Please teach me, Master Piao." He paused, then added, "And please teach me how a shopkeeper can curse people in a vulgar way."

That way, he can better fend off those scoundrels who try to extort money from him in the future.

A ghost: "!"

Looking into Fu Qi's sincere eyes, he felt as if he had been taken advantage of. He had done all that, so what was that little rascal doing? Wasn't he having a great time?

Lang Jiuchuan carried the camphor wood back to the Marquis's residence. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he was surrounded by Granny Gu and Jianlan, both of them looking like they wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Put it in my study." She handed the wood to Jianning and asked, "Just say what you want to say, don't beat around the bush. What is it?"

Jianlan looked at Granny Gu, who stepped forward and said, "Madam has fainted."

Lang Jiuchuan paused: "Your angina has flared up again?"

Granny Gu shook her head and said, "It's the Cui family, your maternal grandfather's family. Lord Cui has been promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and has returned to the capital to take up his post. The Cui family members are also on their way and should arrive in the capital in February."

Lang Jiuchuan responded with an "oh".

She didn't have a good relationship with the Cui family, and she felt nothing for them at all.

"I've brought some water, and after I wash up and change, I'll go to the lady's courtyard to pay my respects."

Granny Gu was delighted and nodded to Jianlan. After thinking for a moment, she tentatively asked, "Would you like to hear about the Cui family, Miss?"

Lang Jiuchuan nodded indifferently.

Cui was from the prestigious Qinghe Cui clan. Her father, Cui Hongzhe, was also a direct descendant of the Cui clan. Although he was not the eldest son, he was born of the same mother as the eldest son and held a high position, so he was also very high in the Cui clan.

Cui Hongzhe was a serious and upright man who rarely smiled. He was very particular about rules and etiquette. His marriage to his first wife, Qin, who was also Cui's mother, was an arranged marriage. Although they were not exactly a perfect couple, they treated each other with respect. They had a son soon after their marriage.

Lang Jiuchuan was taken aback: "Isn't Madam the eldest daughter of the legitimate wife?"

Granny Gu said sadly, "Yes, but in fact, Madam had another son, nicknamed Yuan-ge'er, who died the year Madam was born."

When Qin was pregnant with Cui, she took her three-year-old son back to her parents' home for a wedding feast. On the way, Yuan Ge'er insisted on riding a horse, and she agreed, having a guard carry him. Unexpectedly, they encountered assassins. Although the guards fought desperately to protect him, Yuan Ge'er fell off the horse and was trampled in the chest by the horse's hoof. Lang Jiuchuan felt a chill in his heart.

Granny Gu wiped her eyes and said, "That assassin was sent by the old master's political enemies. When the boy died, the old lady went into premature labor in shock and grief. Our lady was in her eighth month of confinement. The premature birth and the loss of her child weighed heavily on her heart, and she was bedridden for a long time. She passed away when she was five years old."

She took a deep breath and said, "After the incident, the old lady resented the old master, hated him, and hated herself even more for letting the boy ride a horse. Although the two did not quarrel, they became a resentful couple. A year after the old lady passed away, the old master married the current old lady, and they had two sons and a daughter afterward."

"Do you have any other concubines?"

Granny Gu shook her head and said, "That's not true. There used to be an old maid who served our lady as she grew up after Old Madam Qin passed away. She also passed away due to illness after our lady got married."

"What is Madam Wen's temperament like?"

“Mrs. Cui values ​​her reputation, so she didn’t mistreat the lady. But after all, she’s not her own child, so she can’t compare to her own.” Granny Gu said with a sneer, “During festivals, the lady, who has no mother, just watches the whole family reunite, while she feels like an outsider, completely out of place.”

At this point, she glanced at Lang Jiuchuan again, and seeing that she was unmoved, she sighed softly.

"A prestigious family like the Cui family wouldn't easily marry into a noble family, so why would she marry into the Lang family?" Lang Jiuchuan was puzzled. Such a family that values ​​rules and regulations would mostly choose scholarly families if they wanted to maintain their noble status, and rarely marry into a noble family.

Granny Gu sneered: "Before the son-in-law, the madam was also engaged to the eldest son of the Xue family, a scholarly family. Oh, that is, Xue Wenrui, the current Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. However, it was later broken off because that Lord Xue had a childhood sweetheart, and the two were spotted by others while they were enjoying their time together."

She didn't say much, but Lang Jiuchuan knew the rest of the story from it all; it was nothing more than a melodramatic plot that had been thoroughly distorted.

"The meeting between Madam and her son-in-law was when Madam went to offer incense and light lamps for Old Madam Qin. A sudden storm caused the carriage to overturn, and that's how their fate led them together. Actually, the Old Master wasn't satisfied with the son-in-law; it was Madam who insisted on marrying him. Everyone thought she was just being stubborn, but that wasn't the case." Granny Gu seemed to reminisce, saying, "This old servant has served Madam for over thirty years. You might not believe it, but the time she smiled the most freely was after marrying her son-in-law, during the days she was pregnant with you. Those were the days she was most comfortable, even more comfortable than at her parents' home. It's a pity..."

Lang Jiuchuan didn't understand: "According to you, even if Madam and the Cui family aren't close, they don't have much of a grudge, right? I heard they exchange gifts during festivals, which is a matter of face. The Cui family wouldn't be so excited about returning to the capital that they would faint, would they?"

"It's because of the dispute over the eldest son," said Granny Gu. "To prevent Cui's children from dying young, they are only recorded in the family genealogy if they are alive and well past the age of three. Yuan-ge'er had just turned three and was also planned to be included in the genealogy at the New Year, but unfortunately, tragedy struck, and he was never included. Later, the old master recorded the eldest son born to Madam Wen as the eldest son. At that time, Madam argued against it but to no avail. She even talked back to the old master, cursing him for being unworthy of being a father. The old master not only slapped her but also made her kneel in the ancestral hall. Poor Madam was only ten years old at the time. She knelt in that cold ancestral hall all night, and when the door was opened, she had developed a high fever. Since then, Madam has had a rift with the old master and has become even more distant from Madam Wen and her younger siblings."

"After getting married, the lady never returned to her parents' home because of the long distance. After her husband passed away, she never mentioned it again, as she considered it unlucky for a widow to be alive. She rarely even left the house. The lady was actually resentful, but she regarded the Cui family as just a place to come from, and sending them gifts was enough to fulfill her obligations. Now that she heard that the Cui family was returning to the capital, she would have to deal with them in the future. How could she feel at ease? Thinking of all the past events, she fainted from excitement."

Granny Gu glanced at Lang Jiuchuan's face and said, "It's not that this old servant wants to speak up for the madam, but young lady, the madam and her husband were happy to get married, and she regarded this little family as her real home. After you came into her life, she was even happier and hoped for a harmonious life together. It's just that fate is unfair. Her husband also passed away, and then... the madam has had a hard time."

Lang Jiuchuan looked up and said calmly, "Granny, she has had a hard time, but what about her daughter? Perhaps Madam thinks I am not her biological daughter and that I have taken the place of the real Ninth Miss, but what do I, a newborn, know? No matter how much she suspects or hates me, she shouldn't hate me, especially when she doesn't know the truth. From the beginning, she hated the wrong person and did the wrong thing."

Granny Gu's face turned slightly pale.