On the second day of the lunar New Year, all the families in the capital were celebrating the New Year, but things were quiet for the Wei Family.

There were traces of the festivities in the mourning hall, which had been hurriedly prepared. The bright festive red and green together with the white flowers and paper money looked very sorrowful.

It was the day when married daughters returned to their old homes. Wei Changying was carefully supported and brought into the mourning hall. She saw Wei Changwan kneeling by the coffin, holding Wei Changjuan with one arm and crying with the other hand on the coffin.

She was dressed in rough unhemmed sackcloth. Apparently, she was wearing the "Zhan Cui" mourning apparel from the 'Wufu' system (“Wu” means “five” in Chinese character; five kinds of mourning dresses which showed the sadness of the mourners), which showed the deepest sadness. According to the Great Vi's funeral ceremonies, unmarried women wore "Zhan Cui" for mourning their parents. But once they were married, they only needed to wear something else. In the rules of the Great Vi, married women wore "Zi Cui" to mourn their parents for one year.

But Wei Changwan had put on the "Zhan Cui", and now she was crying so sadly while stroking the coffin. Probably, even if she only mourned for her mother for one year, she would wear "Zhan Cui".

Listening to her and Wei Changjuan's heartfelt cries, Wei Changying couldn't tell how she herself felt. Having frozen for a while, she walked towards them to offer incense and give her condolences.

The three brothers, Wei Changyun, Wei Changsui, and Wei Gaolang, the concubine's son from the second branch, were silent, kneeling behind the curtain. The cold wind blew in from outside the hall, lifting the corner of the curtain. They looked expressionless. Seemingly, there had been tears on their faces. As for Min Yao and Zhou Xiaoye, after all, it was only their mother-in-law who had died and she hadn't been nice to them in the past. Although they were wearing mourning apparel representing the deepest sadness and crying, they didn't sound as heartbroken as Wei Changwan and her sister.

Wei Changying's belly was so big now that she couldn't move around easily. Mrs. Huang and the others had to hold her so that she could kneel down. As she had just knelt down, Wei Changjuan suddenly turned her head around. Her eyes were red and swollen. She screamed, "Why are you here? How dare you come here? You..."

The person who immediately covered her mouth was Wei Changwan. She used so much strength that the blue veins stood out on her fair-skinned hand. Wei Changwan's face was hidden in the shadow of the coffin and could not be seen clearly. People could only hear her cold hoarse voice, saying melancholily, "My third sister, the seventh sister is sad about Mother's death. She is a bit crazy now. Please forgive her."

Wei Changying finished her kneeling according to the etiquette and let Mrs. Huang help her to get up. She said gently, "My first sister, don't worry. I know you are not in a good state now. I'll leave right after I have given my condolences and offered the incense."

Having seen Wei Changying leave, Wei Changwan let go of her sister. Wei Changjuan cried at her sister excitedly, "Sister! Why didn't you let me finish? Mother was... Mother was... She was obviously..."

Slap! She was struck across the face!

Wei Changjuan subconsciously touched her face, stunned, looking at her elder sister who had always loved her and saying with shock, "Sister, you..."

"Mother has just died. Have you forgotten what she told us before she died?" Wei Changwan, looking cold, tightly grasped her wrist, her nails completely sinking into Wei Changjuan's delicate skin, but Wei Changwan did not have the slightest intention of letting go. Her face was in the dark shadow of the coffin, but her eyes shone in the darkness. The light of hatred was so bright and intense that Wei Changjuan subconsciously held her breath, not daring to cry out in pain.

Wei Changwan's lips were almost on her ear, and her breath was as cold as ice, saying word by word, "If you hadn't been stupid and provoked Wei Changying for the sake of something meaningless, how could Mother have allowed that old b*tch Song Xinrou to catch her in a slip of the tongue just because she cared for you?! You foolish little thing. You've already killed Mother for nothing, and now you want to kill all of us?!"

Seeing Wei Changjuan fall down onto the floor with her mouth open in shock, tears rolling down her face, Wei Changwan, who had always loved her sister, kept staring at her coldly without any sympathy, continuing in a dead voice, "Listen to me! In the past, there was Mother spoiling you and letting you have your way. Now because of your reckless behavior, you have killed Mother. If you still want to be so stupid... Don't blame me, your sister, for being ruthless!"

What the two sisters were doing shocked Min Yao and Zhou Xiaoye. They forced a smile, trying to stop her, "Sister-in-law, please don't... The seventh sister-in-law is still young..."

"Shut up!" It was Wei Changyun who spoke suddenly. He looked at his wife and his sister-in-law expressionlessly, speaking with a tone without any emotion, "Whoever dares to spoil this stupid girl will be thrown out of this family!"

Min Yao and Zhou Xiaoye were slightly surprised, and they both became silent.

Helplessly watching her elder brother and sister turn against her, Wei Changjuan felt heartbroken. No matter how sad she cried, Wei Changyun and Wei Changwan just looked at her. Even the gentlest Wei Changsui only let out an inaudible sigh.

Wei Changying had no idea about all of that, nor cared about it. She went back to the Jintong courtyard, took off her mourning clothes, took a bath, and changed into fresh clothes. She then went to see Madam Su to report what had happened.

Madam Su wasn't close to Wei Shengyi and his wife. As Wei Changying had almost lost her child after she had come back from the mansion of the Wei Family, Madam Su had been blaming everyone including Wei Shengyi and his wife.

Later, when Wei Changying's condition had become stable, Madam Su had stopped hating them so much, but she really didn't feel much over Mrs. Duanmu's death. It was the first month of the lunar New Year and Wei Changying was pregnant, but she had to go to the mourning hall to offer her condolences. Madam Su thought this might bring misfortune to the Shen Family, worrying about her future grandson.

However, after all, Mrs. Duanmu had been Wei Changying's aunt from her old family. Since she had passed away and it had happened in the capital, Wei Changying must go.

So, Madam Su could only keep telling her daughter-in-law to be careful and lamented that the world was so unpredictable. Wei Shengyi, the vice minister, was in his prime and his first wife, Mrs. Duanmu, was not that old either. Madam Su had never heard that Mrs. Duanmu had had frequent visits from doctors or imperial doctors, so she had clearly been healthy. Why had she suddenly died?

Wei Changying and other daughters-in-law were agreeing with their mother-in-law, saying how unpredictable the world was. However, to everyone's surprise, in the near future, something shocking was awaiting the Shen Family.

Dowager Duchess Ji had passed away!

Dowager Duchess Ji was from a poor family. She, Madam Zhenyi, and Lady Zhong were almost the same. All of them were daughters of poor families. They had entered the palace as maidservants. Being beautiful and having had the opportunity that only they knew of, they were favored by the Emperor. They had each become a concubine in the palace.

As they had been beautiful without other talents that could attract the Emperor, they had not been favored by the Emperor for long. In the past few decades, there had been many concubines in the imperial harem who only had the Emperor's attention briefly. Dowager Duchess Ji had been one of those who were lucky enough to get pregnant during the short time she was in favor and gave birth to the third son of the Emperor, Duke Ji.

Although the Emperor now had a lot of children, to his name, it was never a surprise whether it was a prince or a princess. But at that time, the Emperor had been very pleased about the birth of this third son since he had had only two sons. Although Dowager Duchess Ji hadn't been taken back into favor because of her son, she had become a concubine at the third rank, and she had been able to personally bring Duke Ji up. Then, when Duke Ji grew up, got married, and went to his fiefdom, Dowager Duchess Ji, who had been out of favor in the palace for many years, naturally followed her son to his fiefdom, spending her leisured life as a dowager duchess.

Only when Duke Ji was summoned to the capital would she trail back together with her son to see the Emperor and the Empress. Dowager Duchess Ji had not been born noble and had not been the Emperor's favorite concubine for long, so she was very cautious and careful in front of the Empress, as well as in front of every Empress in this dynasty. When she had become a dowager duchess, she had personally served the Empress every time she returned to the capital as before.

So, although she had been getting older, the Emperor had completely lost interest in her and he wasn't interested in Duke Ji either because he had many sons and grandsons, Dowager Duchess Ji and her son left the Emperor with a good impression.

The point was that one year when the Emperor had been in a good mood, he had promised to give the honor of being buried in Anling with him after she died to Dowager Duchess Ji.

At that time, Dowager Duchess Ji had been weeping with joy, kowtowing in front of the vermilion steps, and saying that she had no regrets in her life.

If this Dowager Duchess had died in Duke Ji's fief, they would naturally have had the funeral there, so nothing would have happened in the capital. At most, when it was her burial, Duke Ji would request the Emperor to fulfill the promise he had made, allowing him to bury his mother in Anling.

However, now Dowager Duchess Ji had died in the capital. After all, she had been a person who had served the Emperor. Duke Ji's fief was not close to the capital; neither was it Dowager Duchess Ji's hometown. They shouldn't just send Duke Ji and his wife back to their fief with the coffin during the New Year holiday to hold the funeral, and then let them go to Anling, a place it took one day and one night to get to from the capital, with the coffin after the funeral, shouldn't they?

The Emperor thought that Dowager Duchess Ji had always been humble and gentle. This time, she had come back to offer a thirty-meter-long embroidery, wishing the Emperor longevity. She had started embroidering it when she had arrived at her son's fiefdom, and it took more than ten years to complete. She had especially come back to offer it this time. As for whether there had been anyone else who had spoken for her, no one else knew. Anyway, the Emperor allowed Duke Ji to mourn his mother in the capital and ordered his other children in the capital to give condolences to their concubine mother.

So, two days later after Wei Changying had finished mourning for her aunt, everyone in the Shen Family took off their pretty hair clasps and jewelry, took off their fancy clothes, and went to Duke Ji's mansion to give them their condolences in their solemn and simple clothes.

Similarly, Duchess Ji, Shen Cangxiu, had lost her mother-in-law just like Min Yao and Zhou Xiaoye, but she was much sadder than they were. Before Madam Su and everyone else arrived, she almost fainted from crying. After Madam Su had arrived, Shen Cangxiu fell straight into her mother's arms, crying. Everyone who saw it was moved, saying the Duchess showed true filial obedience.

Last month, Shen Cangxiu had arrived at the capital with Duke Ji and had freed some time to visit her old family. At that time, Wei Changying had been in the main room and met her. Her husband's sister resembled Madam Su, but she was much gentler than Madam Su, very like her maternal grandmother, Old Madam Deng. Wei Changying had been secretly disapproving of Madam Su as she missed her elder daughter so much but beat her younger daughter Shen Cangning a lot. However, when she met Shen Cangxiu, she had to admit that this sister-in-law was really a lovely person, kind of like Old Madam Deng. Everyone would like her except the people who were really weird.

Now, seeing her crying with grief, the mourners were all feeling sad. Wei Changying and the others joined Madam Su to console her. As another group of people had arrived, they moved to the side to serve tea with the womenfolk of the family who had come to offer condolences.

There were people whispering in the living room where the tea was served. When Wei Changying listened to them carefully, she heard them all saying good things about Dowager Duchess Ji.

She had only seen Dowager Duchess Ji at the New Year's Eve banquet from afar, so she didn't really know her. At the moment, on hearing that people were commenting how nice the Empress Dowager had been and that Duchess Ji was filial, she thought, after all, the person who passed away was Dowager Duchess Ji and it was in Duke Ji's mansion, so no one would say anything bad about her. Wei Changying didn't really take what they were saying seriously.

However, having listened to them for only a brief moment, she heard someone whispering with jealousy, "The Dowager Duchess was really kind. Whoever is sensible and becomes Duchess Ji would love her as if she were her mother!"

They then started to talk about how nicely the Dowager Duchess had treated Shen Cangxiu: Soon after Duke Ji arrived at the fief, someone from the fief offered two beautiful girls, who were both talented and beautiful. Duke Ji was so fond of them that when they were accepted into the family. Duke Ji totally forgot about Duchess Ji and had even believed the lies, which one of the beautiful girls had said. Then he became critical of the Duchess.

When Dowager Duchess Ji found out about this, she summoned Duke Ji to her and reproached him, saying, "The Duchess is a daughter of an eminent family and has been properly educated since she was a child. How could she behave unreasonably? If that were the case, why would anyone marry a woman of a prestigious family as their first choice? You like beautiful girls only because of their beauty and talents. If they became old and couldn't perform anymore, would you still like them? However, the Duchess is your wife. Even if she became old and not as pretty as before, she is still the Duchess. So, why would the Duchess stoop to cause trouble for the girls? This must be that the girls are jealous of the Duchess, deliberately slandering her."

Duke Ji finally came to his senses and gave the girls to his servants.

Dowager Duchess Ji said to Duke Ji, "The person who gave you the girls must be punished. These two girls were taught manners, singing, and dancing. They learned their talents from someone else, but that person did not teach them to respect the Duchess. This person plans to gain your favor by using the girls and to make you get rid of your wife and only love your concubines, so as to gain power and wealth! A person evil as that must be punished and you must stay away from him from now on."

Having heard this, Wei Changying thought to herself that it was why Shen Cangxiu was deeply grieving, while Min Yao and Zhou Xiaoye had cried loudly but weren't sad in the mourning hall. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law were not related by blood, so how close they were depended on how well they got along as time passed.