Being a second wife is difficult

Jiang Wan rewrote the letter, changed the handwriting, and deleted the inappropriate content from the original letter before having Qinghe deliver it to the old lady.

Not long after the letter was sent, around noon, Granny Gui came over. She first bowed and said that the old lady wanted to see her.

Jiang Wan stood up and straightened her clothes. When she arrived at Songhe Hall, the old lady was sitting on the couch, still holding those few pages of letter paper in her hand. She only raised her eyes when she heard footsteps.

"Come and sit down."

Jiang Wan sat down on the embroidered stool. The old lady placed the few pages of letter paper on the table and pushed it over. Jiang Wan took it and read it. It was the letter that she had sent out.

The paper still had creases, as if it had been read several times. She put down the letter, looked up at the old lady, and waited for her to speak.

The old lady's gaze shifted from the letter to her face, and after a moment of silence, she spoke: "You said this was found out by the manager of your dowry shop?"

Jiang Wan had already prepared her explanation in her mind. She nodded and said, "My dowry includes a shop. Although the location isn't great, the shopkeeper is an honest and reliable person."

"My wife thought that it was not appropriate for people in the household to handle such matters, so she asked him to inquire about it."

The old lady nodded, seemingly not intending to press further, and simply said, "It's a good thing that there are capable people in the dowry." She paused for a moment and then asked, "Is that Doctor Li still in Li Family Village?"

"The letter said yes, after he returned to his hometown, he opened a clinic in the village, not far from Lianxin's hometown."

The old lady remained silent for a while, her fingers still resting on the edge of the letter. Her gaze lingered on the words "dregs of medicine" for a long time before she finally spoke: "How old was Zhao'er when Madam Gu passed away?"

Jiang Wan did not answer.

"She's about five years old, just starting to learn to read." The old lady's voice was soft, as if she were talking to someone or talking to herself.

"Wan'er was only three years old at the time and could not speak clearly. I always thought that Gu Shi died of illness. It dragged on for more than half a year. She had taken medicine and seen doctors. I thought that God was not forgiving her."

She paused here, as if something was stuck in her throat, and after a while she spoke again, "But if someone tampered with that bowl of medicine... that's why she died."

Jiang Wan said, "My daughter-in-law can't be sure that someone did it, but what's said in the letter doesn't seem like a coincidence."

The old lady folded the letter and placed it on the table. She sat up straight, her voice a bit more steady than before: "Send someone to bring Doctor Li into the mansion first. Since that jar of dregs he left behind is evidence, I want to see it with my own eyes."

Jiang Wan responded.

The old lady was silent for a moment. She picked up the cup of tea on the table, which had gone cold, took a sip, and put it down. When she spoke, her tone had changed: "It will take a few days to pick them up. Before that, Granny Ding cannot stay any longer."

Jiang Wan glanced at her and said, "My wife thinks so too."

The old lady's gaze remained fixed on the letter, not looking away: "Even if Dr. Li can't find anything out, even if that packet of medicine residue turns out to be a misunderstanding, what Granny Ding has done over the years is enough to make her suffer."

"I know about the things in the account books, the personnel transfers, and Cui'er's affair with Fang Shi. I originally thought that she had served me for so many years, and even if she made a big mistake, I would only expel her from the manor and spare her life, thus fulfilling our master-servant relationship. But now that this old matter has been brought up again, I can no longer keep her by my side."

As the old woman spoke, her gaze darkened, and the hesitation in her eyes was finally suppressed by something colder. "What people who cherish old feelings fear most is that even old feelings eventually come to an end."

After listening to her, Jiang Wan didn't rush to reply. She went over the guesses she had thought of before coming in her mind again before saying, "Grandma, I have a guess."

"I always felt that Ding Mama might not have known when she transferred Lianxin to Madam Gu's courtyard."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "She may have just accepted money or acted out of obligation to let someone in, without knowing what that person's purpose was. As for Lianxin, she did take action, but she was also afraid."

"She kept a portion of the dregs of the medicine and hid it with Dr. Li, which means she had already considered that she would need something in case something went wrong. But she left in such a hurry after Mrs. Gu's death, and died only half a year later, which doesn't seem like she died of illness..."

"It's more like she was silenced. So who was she working for, and why was she silenced? I think investigating Lianxin is much more important than investigating Granny Ding."

"Do you believe that someone is behind Lianxin?"

"Yes. How could a cleaning maid like her know what to add to the medicine without someone guiding her? And how could she rise from a servant to a first-class personal maid in just two months? Every step was too fast, so fast that it didn't seem like she did it all on her own."

"Moreover, her death was swift and bizarre; she was gone in just six months, like a used chess piece that was casually discarded."

After listening, the old lady didn't reply immediately. Her gaze lingered on the light coming from the window for a long time before she nodded gently. Her tone was weary, but also contained a hint of decisiveness that was barely perceptible: "This matter shouldn't be known to any more people for the time being."

She didn't explain, but her words fell into the room like a stone sinking into water, the ripples only spreading between the two of them.

Jiang Wan didn't respond, but she understood what the old lady meant.

This matter involves the death of Madam Gu. If word gets out that a maid in the manor poisoned the mistress, the reputation of the Earl's mansion will be completely shattered.

Moreover, there is no conclusive evidence yet. Doctor Li's medicine residue has not arrived, and he has not entered the mansion. Everything is still in limbo. This matter can only be handled between her and the old lady. The fewer outsiders who know, the better.

She nodded, her voice low but firm: "I understand."

The old lady was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed. The laugh was short and carried something that was hard to tell whether it was self-deprecation or a sigh.

"When I was young, I was in charge and I was decisive and efficient. No one dared to play tricks under my nose. In recent years, I have relaxed and felt that the people around me have been with me for decades and I should give them some face. But it turns out that I am sentimental, while they are only interested in my money and covet the rights that I give them."

She shook her head, her tone leaving no room for doubt: "From now on, I will no longer shirk my responsibilities in the affairs of this manor. Now that we've investigated Ding Mama's matter to this extent, there's no reason to delay any longer. Let's call her over today and settle this score properly."

Jiang Wan did not try to dissuade her, but simply replied, "The old lady is right."

The old lady turned her head towards the doorway and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Granny Gui, go and summon Granny Ding. Tell her I have something to ask her."

There was a moment of silence outside the curtain, then Granny Gui's voice responded with "Yes," and footsteps echoed twice in the corridor before fading into the distance.

When the curtains fell, the room suddenly became very quiet. The wind was still blowing outside the window, and occasionally you could hear the rustling of the treetops, but those sounds seemed to be separated by a layer and couldn't enter the room.

The old lady glanced at Jiang Wan, her tone softening slightly: "Now that you've investigated this far, there's no turning back."

Are you scared?

Jiang Wan did not answer immediately. She looked down at the creases of the handkerchief on her lap, which were slowly smoothed out and loosened in her palm.

She spoke softly, but each word was deliberate and steady: "I'm scared. But we've already investigated, we can't just stop here."

The old lady didn't reply immediately. She turned her head and stared at the curtain for a moment, as if she were looking at something far away, or perhaps at someone very close by.

She closed her eyes, as if trying to clear something away, but the shadow was too heavy, pressing down on her eyelids and refusing to dissipate.

She remembered that when Granny Ding was assigned to her side, she was only fourteen years old, with two braids, and she was a clumsy little girl who couldn't even hold a needle and thread properly.

Yet this clumsy person, when she was being forced to kneel by her mother-in-law until her knees turned blue, could still smile and hand her a bowl of hot tea, and say a few lively and witty remarks, slowly melting away the pent-up anger in her heart.

At that time, she thought that this person would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Later, I did follow her, and as I followed her, I became the person I am today. Looking back now, that smiling face and the face I have now are completely different.

The old lady stopped thinking about it and slowly opened her eyes, turning her gaze away from the curtain.

The room was quiet for a while, and no one spoke again.

The wind outside the window rustled through the treetops, creating a soft, whispering sound, as if something was slowly approaching from afar.

The footsteps grew clearer, approaching from afar. There were two people; it was Granny Gui leading Granny Ding.

The two people inside the room looked up at the same time, their eyes meeting in the air.

That glance was brief, yet it contained everything: a decision, a resolution, and a certain indescribable heaviness.

Jiang Wan first shifted her gaze to the plain indigo cotton curtain, on which was embroidered a bird with outstretched wings. The wings, outlined in gold thread, shimmered slightly in the light and trembled gently with the breeze blowing in from the corridor, as if it were about to take flight at any moment.

Jiang Wan's gaze lingered on the bird with outstretched wings, but a thought suddenly crossed her mind. These past few days, she had been thinking about where Lianxin's medicine was hidden, but she had forgotten about something else.

The Gu family sent someone to investigate.

During the period when Madam Gu was seriously ill, the Gu family sent several groups of people to visit her at the Earl's residence.

At first, they inquired about the illness, the doctor, and the prescription. However, Gu's health did not improve, and the Gu family became restless. They sent people into the mansion to thoroughly investigate Gu's residence, citing concerns that the Earl's Mansion might not be taking good care of her.

The old lady did not stop her at the time, firstly because Madam Gu was indeed seriously ill, and it was only natural for the Gu family, as Madam Gu's maternal family, to be worried.

Secondly, the old lady also harbored the idea that "it would be good to investigate, so that the Gu family could feel at ease."

So the Gu family turned the courtyard where Gu lived upside down. They pried open the floor tiles, moved the bed, and took out and inspected all the chests and cabinets one by one. They even took the comb and sachet that Gu usually left by her pillow.

The bedding and personal belongings of Gu's maids were also thoroughly searched.

The old lady also sent someone to follow, saying, "You can investigate as you please, but I also need someone to keep an eye on things here, lest any gossip spread."

At the time, everyone thought it was just a formality, and that nothing would be found after the inspection, so the Gu family went home.

But now, looking back, Jiang Wan realized that the investigation was so thorough that even the floor tiles had been pried up. Where exactly did Lianxin hide the packet of medicine residue and the extra medicine?

Gu was ill for more than half a year, and Lianxin took care of her closely for three months. During these three months, she had to administer medicine repeatedly, so it was impossible to do it only once.

Where did the medicine come from? Where were the used medicine dregs thrown away? Why couldn't the Gu family find a single trace even after searching the entire Gu family home?

unless……

Jiang Wan's fingertips suddenly felt a chill.

She suddenly remembered something else: Lianxin was from Qingzhou. And Gu's family was also from Qingzhou.

Jiang Wan dared not think any further; the thought was too great, too great for her to bear alone.

She suppressed it, buried it under her tongue, deep within her gaze, in the last moment of silence before the curtain was lifted.

Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, her knuckles slightly white, but her face remained completely expressionless.

The lamp in the room flickered for a moment, making a soft "pop".

The curtain was lifted.