Being a second wife is difficult

The lights were still on in Jiang Wan's room.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Aunt Zhou followed her in. She bowed first and then raised her eyes to subtly scan the room. Seeing that no one else was present, she understood what was going on.

Jiang Wan called her over today, probably not just to chat, but to discuss some important business.

She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Madam, did you summon me here so late because you have any instructions?"

Jiang Wan didn't reply directly, but instead patted the spot on the couch next to her: "Aunt Zhou, please come and sit down."

Aunt Zhou hesitated for a moment, then walked over and sat down on the edge of the couch next to her.

Jiang Wan picked up the booklet on the table, flipped to a page, and pushed it in front of her: "Aunt Zhou, take a look at this."

Aunt Zhou glanced down and recognized it as the personnel transfer register of the mansion, the one that Ding Mama had handled.

She used to be close to Granny Ding and knew that Granny Ding never let go of this thing, but now that this booklet appeared on Jiang Wan's desk, a chill ran through her.

Her gaze followed the direction of Jiang Wan's finger and fell on that name.

Lotus heart.

The name was so strikingly clear that it momentarily left her in a daze.

She remained silent for a long while before speaking, "Tai... why did you suddenly show this to me?"

Jiang Wan didn't rush to answer, but lightly tapped the two ink characters with her fingertip: "I found this page somewhat interesting."

"A cleaning maid who was temporarily transferred to the late Madam's courtyard was promoted to a first-class personal maid in just two months. Such a rapid promotion is truly unheard of."

She paused here, glanced at Aunt Zhou, and softened her tone: "You must have heard about what happened to Granny Ding these past few days. She has now sent this record book to me, which contains a lot of old grievances."

"When I turned to this page, I remembered that Aunt Zhou was part of the late Madam's dowry and had a close relationship with her. She must know more about these old stories in the mansion than others, so I thought I'd ask Aunt Zhou to come and ask her if she still remembers Lianxin?"

Aunt Zhou's gaze remained fixed on the two words "Lotus Heart," never looking away, as if she were looking at a secret that she had buried at the bottom of a trunk long ago, thinking she would never find it again.

After a long while, she finally spoke: "I remember."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "When she was transferred to the late Madam's courtyard, I was just a concubine, but I was still serving the late Madam."

"At that time, my late wife had been ill for more than half a year. It was an old ailment that she developed during childbirth. It would flare up several times a year, but this time it was particularly severe and lingered for a long time without getting better."

"The atmosphere in the courtyard was always gloomy. The maids walked very carefully, afraid of startling their masters. But Lianxin was different. She was sweet-talking and knew how to talk. She smiled at everyone she met."

"Once, she was sweeping the floor in the corridor when the late Madam, who rarely came out for a breath of fresh air, was standing in the courtyard looking at the few crabapple trees. When Lianxin swept up to her, the late Madam casually asked her a couple of questions, and her witty answers made the late Madam laugh."

"From then on, the late Madam often called her into the room to serve her, and soon promoted her to second-class maid. The late Madam was ill at the time, but she was strong-willed and refused to let outsiders see any weakness. She refused to entrust any accounting matters to others, and sometimes she would work on the accounts until dawn without rest. Her illness and fatigue made her temper more and more unstable, and she would often get angry for no reason. The maids below were all terrified, but Lianxin always had a way to coax her into being happy. As time went on, even the few personal maids that the late Madam had brought from her maiden home secretly admired her ability."

"Not long after, a family came to propose marriage to one of the first-class maids who served the late Madam. Madam then let her leave the manor to marry, and naturally, there was a vacancy in her position. Lianxin naturally filled that spot. From then on, the late Madam took her everywhere she went and gradually became inseparable from her."

Aunt Zhou paused here, as if considering something, or perhaps unsure whether to continue. She glanced at Jiang Wan, finally composed herself, and with a firmer tone, continued.

"But I always feel...that girl is strange."

"Something's not right?" Jiang Wan pressed.

Aunt Zhou lowered her eyes and her voice became even softer: "Lianxin is quick-witted, but she uses all her quickness to please the madam. She is not particularly warm to the other maids, nor does she confide in anyone else."

"At that time, the lady was ill, and she originally had two personal maids who came from her maiden home. She never asked anyone else to do things like decocting medicine."

"But Lianxin had only been here for less than two months, and Madam had already entrusted her with the task of preparing medicine. I found that strange at the time. How could Madam, a cautious person, entrust the things she puts into her mouth to a maid who had only been here for a short time?"

"I mentioned it to my wife a few times, saying that we might be trusting Lianxin too much. After all, it's not very reassuring to entrust such an important task as decocting medicine to someone who has only been here for a few days."

"But my wife just smiled and said, 'You're overthinking it. I know what I'm doing,' and then she didn't mention it again."

After listening, Jiang Wan glanced at Aunt Zhou, as if weighing the weight of those words, and did not rush to reply.

Aunt Zhou lowered her eyes and continued, "Since Madam said that at the time, I couldn't say anything more, but I still kept an eye on her, and I've always remembered what happened."

"That day I passed by the small kitchen and saw that the medicine pot on the stove had burned dry and the dregs were charred. But Lianxin wasn't there, so I quickly asked someone to put out the fire. I waited for her to come back from outside after about half a cup of tea."

"When Lianxin looked up and saw me standing there, her face changed."

"She said she received a letter from her hometown. She hadn't heard from her family for a long time, and in her excitement, she put down the medicine pot she was holding to get it. She didn't even check the temperature. She begged me not to tell my wife. I agreed, but later I still mentioned it to my wife. It wasn't that I wanted to complain about her, but the matter with the medicine pot was related to my late wife's health. If something went wrong, no one could bear the responsibility."

"But when my wife heard this, she didn't punish her. She just said, 'She's young and her temper is bound to be impetuous. I've already disciplined her.' Then she told me not to worry anymore and not to mention it again."

"And then?"

"Later... Madam Gu's health deteriorated. She drank bowl after bowl of medicine, but her illness worsened day by day, fluctuating back and forth without improvement. Doctors came one after another, and prescriptions were changed repeatedly, but there was still no improvement. After a while, even Madam Gu's family was alarmed and sent a doctor they had trained to come and see her, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong either. In just three months, she passed away."

As Aunt Zhou finished speaking, her voice lowered, as if she were reliving those days. When she stopped, her eyes were already red.

"When the late Madam passed away, I was just a concubine and couldn't do anything. But I've always had one thing on my mind: after the late Madam left, I once bumped into Lianxin talking to Granny Ding in the backyard."

Jiang Wan's fingers stopped on the edge of the table.

Her voice suddenly tightened, "At that time, the late Madam had only been gone for a few days, and the courtyard was in a mess. I went to the back to get something and heard Lianxin begging Granny Ding to find an excuse to let her out of the mansion."

"Then Granny Ding asked her why she was in such a hurry. Lianxin said that a cousin from her hometown had come to propose marriage, and her family valued this marriage very much, so she should go back quickly."

"Upon hearing this, Granny Ding added, saying that she had gone to great lengths to arrange for Lianxin to work in Madam Gu's room, and that the late Madam Gu had valued her so much before her death, taking her everywhere she went. Even after Madam Gu passed away, with Lianxin's eloquent tongue, she could please everyone wherever she went. Why was she in such a hurry to leave as soon as Madam Gu was gone?"

"Lianxin didn't answer at the time, keeping her head down and remaining silent, as if she felt guilty. Later, Ding Mama couldn't persuade her otherwise, so she sighed and said, 'Never mind, never mind, let's do it your way.' She then lamented that if Madam Gu hadn't gone, her future would have been bright, but unfortunately... it's all fate. Not long after, Ding Mama transferred Lianxin out of the mansion."

"When I heard these words, I felt something was wrong. The late Madam doted on Lianxin so much when she was alive, promoting her from a cleaning maid to a first-class personal maid and taking her everywhere. But after she passed away, Lianxin didn't shed a single tear. In fact, she was in a hurry to leave not long after Madam Gu left, and she didn't even pretend to be a maid."

"At that time, I had no evidence and dared not speak out. I was just a concubine, who would believe me if I said that? No one would believe me. Instead, they would think that I had gone mad from excessive grief over the death of my first wife."

Hearing this, Jiang Wan interjected, "That is indeed strange. She was in charge of decocting the medicine at the time. Could there be something wrong with the medicine?"

"It's not that I hadn't thought about it," Aunt Zhou shook her head, "but by the time I came to my senses and tried to find the dregs of the medicine, they had already been thrown away, and I couldn't find anything."

"Moreover, Mrs. Gu was ill at the time, and the doctors they invited were all well-known in the capital. The prescriptions were changed again and again, and the dregs of the medicine were examined, but nothing was found. Even Mrs. Gu's family sent people to investigate, and they even suspected that there was trouble in the backyard and that someone had poisoned her. They even pried open the bed and floor tiles to check, but they found nothing."

"There was nothing I could do at the time, so I could only slowly pull myself together. A year after my late wife passed away, I was promoted to concubine, and I used this status to slowly get close to Granny Ding, thinking that as time went on, she would eventually reveal some flaws."

"But this investigation has lasted for three years, and we haven't found anything. I've tried to probe her countless times, but whenever Lianxin is mentioned, she won't utter a single word, as if she knows nothing at all."

Her voice suddenly choked up, and her eyes were already wet, but she forced them not to fall.

"I know. The book in Madam's hand was sent by Granny Ding. I know Granny Ding very well."

"She holds the lives of so many people in the mansion in her hands. If she hadn't been desperate, she wouldn't have handed this over. She must be afraid of being punished by Madam Fang, so she begged Madam Fang for help."

"She managed to place Lianxin in the late Madam's quarters, and she can also place Cui'er in Madam Fang's quarters. Nobody knows how many people she's buried in the mansion over the years. I only ask one thing of Madam—"

As she spoke, she suddenly knelt down in front of Jiang Wan. The movement was slow, but steady.

"I beg you to investigate the death of my late wife. I know it's been too long, the dregs of the medicine are gone, and she's gone too, but I still feel there's something wrong with that bowl of medicine."

"I dare not ask you to immediately give my late wife justice, I only ask that you not let this matter go. My late wife was kind to me, and I cannot let her leave without knowing why."

"Now that Madam has Ding Mama's register, and the name Lianxin is on that register, if we follow her records, we're bound to find something. I beg you, Madam."

Her forehead drooped, her back bent, and she curled up on the ground.

Jiang Wan was silent for a moment, then reached out and took her arm, gently pulling her up from the ground. Her tone was not loud, but it carried an undeniable weight: "Get up first. I will investigate this matter, not only for your sake, but also because now that this booklet is in my hands, I should know why every name on it is there."

"The old lady can no longer tolerate Ding Mama, and sooner or later she will lay bare everything she has."

Aunt Zhou was helped to her feet. Her eyes were still red, but her lips were tightly pursed. She nodded, as if she had finally swallowed her last breath.

She said nothing more, only bowed deeply, and turned to leave. At the door, she paused, finally uttering only, "I thank you on behalf of my late mother."

The curtain fell, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

Jiang Wan stood by the window for a while. The booklet was still lying open on the table. She reached out and closed the booklet, her fingers resting on the cover without moving. She looked out the window.

The leaves of the osmanthus tree outside the courtyard wall rustled gently in the wind, as if something was quietly shifting beneath its shadow.

She turned to Qinghe and said, "Make preparations, I'm going to Songhetang."

Qinghe responded without asking any further questions and turned to get the lantern. Jiang Wan put the notebook on the table into the box and took it with her.

As she stepped out of the doorway, a breeze swept through the corridor, gently lifting the curtain behind her before letting it fall again. She walked along the veranda, with Qinghe following behind, carrying a lantern.

The fragrance of osmanthus lingered for a while, spreading into the deserted corner.

The wind is still blowing, but the person has already gone far away.