Usually, when it came to the right to run the household, there could be some hard feelings between sisters-in-law. In some families, though the mothers-in-law hadn't passed away, they had delegated the responsibilities and their daughters-in-law would start to fight with each other. This should have been the case in the second branch of the Wei Family as the mother-in-law had suddenly died without specifying which daughter-in-law should be in charge. Even though the first daughter-in-law would normally be the one, she couldn't completely keep the second daughter-in-law out, so there should have been a fight.

But Mrs. Min and Mrs. Zhou got along very well and were like sisters. There was an explanation for that.

They were both granddaughters-in-law chosen by Old Madam Song for her grandsons. Both of them had gentle and quiet temperaments, who didn't like to cause trouble. They would also put up with things when they could.

Usually, daughters-in-law like these, who married into a family which placed great importance on rules, wouldn't be disliked by their mother-in-law, even if they couldn't please her, being treated like her daughters.

However, because of Old Madam Song, Mrs. Duanmu had always regarded her two daughters-in-law as thieves. Mrs. Min, the first daughter-in-law of the second branch, had been married into the family for seven or eight years. Wei Changxu, the first young master of the Wei Family, was only two years older than Wei Changyun. He now had two lineal sons. However, Mrs. Min didn't even have a lineal daughter, but Wei Changyun's concubine had given birth to two children!

Mrs. Zhou had been married into the family two years later than Mrs. Min. Her life was similar to that of Mrs. Min. Wei Changsui's concubine had given him a daughter. Although his concubines hadn't given him a son, no matter what treatments Mrs. Zhou had secretly taken, nothing had worked.

If they hadn't known anything, it would have been fine. They would have sighed, thinking that they were unlucky and they couldn't have children. They would have believed that this was their destiny and they couldn't change it. But a few years ago, when Wei Changying hadn't yet been married and Huang Qianxiu hadn't yet returned to Fengzhou to become her dowry, Mrs. Min's mother had been worried about her daughter. Therefore, she had used her private savings to ask Huang Qianxiu to examine her daughter, to see if there had been something wrong with Mrs. Min's body and if she could be cured.

Huang Qianxiu had found out that Mrs. Min had been poisoned resulting in her becoming sterile and it had been done over several years consecutively. She would never be able to have a child of her own. The news had been like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky for Mrs. Min and her mother.

As Huang Qianxiu was Old Madam Song's, Mrs. Min's mother had thought that she had said it to sow discord between her daughter and her daughter's mother-in-law. She then had privately got Mrs. Min to see an imperial doctor. The doctor, who had taken a huge amount of money and had promised not to leak the secret for all his life, had come to the same conclusion as Huang Qianxiu had. He had also kindly advised Mrs. Min to adopt a son from her husband's concubines when the boy had still been young, so he would be closer to her. The imperial doctor was not related to Old Madam Song so he wouldn't have lied.

After Mrs. Min had learned about this, she had immediately thought of her sister-in-law, Mrs. Zhou. Mrs. Zhou had been able to find a more reliable resource than Mrs. Min's. Her aunt was the stepmother of Ji Qubing's only disciple, Duanmu Xinmiao. Thanks to her aunt, having used the opportunity of a visit to relatives, Mrs. Min's suspicions and Mrs. Zhou's fears had been confirmed by Duanmu Xinmiao.

Mrs. Min and Mrs. Zhou had never been able to understand why her mother-in-law had done this to them. She had hated the fact that they were the granddaughters-in-law chosen by Old Madam Song; their parents' families ranked lower than the Wei Family in Fengzhou; and their fathers and brothers didn't have high status in their families. But since they had been married, they were Wei Changyun and Wei Changsui's wives after all!

Wei Changyun and Wei Changsui still hadn't gotten their lineal sons, which would do no good for Wei Shengyi's contest for the position of Family Head! Although they weren't that smart or shrewd, they knew the reality of this.

Later on, Huang Qianxiu had answered their doubts meaningfully, "My two young madams, you were personally chosen by the Old Madam. Old Madam certainly likes you because of your good manners, but the Second Madam doesn't agree. When you were getting married, the Old Madam had accompanied our Family Head back to Fengzhou, so she was not in the capital. The Second Madam couldn't openly disobey the Old Madam, but she secretly..."

Huang Qianxiu's smile full of compassion had made the two sisters-in-law totally panic, "Granny, what do you mean?"

"Allow me to be honest, since the Second Madam isn't satisfied with you, my two young madams. She hopes that the two young masters will marry other people. However, you have done nothing wrong. As there is the Old Madam, the Second Madam can't just make her sons divorce you for no reason, can she?" Huang Qianxiu had smiled gently, saying slowly, "Since she can't do that, she made you both unable to..."

While listening to that, Mrs. Min and Mrs. Zhou had both become terribly scared. They had subconsciously held each other's hands, unable to say a word.

Then Huang Qianxiu had continued, "However, if you had children there, they would always be children of the Wei Family and lineal sons of their fathers! Even if the two young masters married daughters-in-law that the Second Madam liked... Please think it over, my two young madams, any family, that loves their daughter and has given away their daughter to be the wife of someone who has become divorced, will become inferior in the relationship. If that person's ex-wife leaves children there, won't it put the new wife in an even more awkward situation?"

"So our mother-in-law has been planning to make us make way for the people coming next, leaving no children to be in their way, right?" Mrs. Min still remembered Mrs. Zhou had asked with tearful eyes, "But if that were the case, why has our mother-in-law been giving us the poison for so many years, instead of killing us? I would rather die now."

Huang Qianxiu had sighed, interrupting her sad cry, "It's all my fault. In fact, before you were married into the family, the Old Madam had written to tell me that I should take care of you. However, after you were married, as long as I visited you, the Second Madam would punish you. Gradually, it... Although I was unable to stop you from being poisoned, if the Second Madam had killed you, things would not have been able to get covered up as I worked in this mansion for years."

They had thought that they could please their mother-in-law by keeping their distance from Huang Qianxiu after they had become married. They had thought that they were, after all, Mrs. Duanmu's daughters-in-law. Although they had been chosen by Old Madam Song, whom Mrs. Duanmu had disliked, they would be able to make Mrs. Duanmu change her mind by serving her tirelessly and with all their hearts.

However, their sincere and humble effort had rewarded them with infertility in return! If it hadn't been for Old Madam Song's precaution and Mrs. Huang's supervision, they would have lost their lives!

Recalling all these, Mrs. Min explained everything about how she had learned that Min Yinuo had come to visit, and how she had quickly got people to deliver daffodils to Wei Changjuan's place. She also said Wei Changjuan had destroyed the daffodils and had fainted, and how she had reported it to Wei Changyun.

Mrs. Zhou frowned, asking, "Yao, did you say that Changfeng was still worried after hearing that Wei Changjuan had fainted?"

"Yes." Mrs. Min bit her lip. At the moment, servants had been told to stay outside, and the two together leaned against the bed, almost leaning against each other and speaking. In case someone might eavesdrop on them, Mrs. Min said in a low voice, "It's so weird. In the past, Wei Changjuan was so loved. Why do the whole family hate her since our mother-in-law has passed away?"

"Humph!" Mrs. Zhou gnashed her teeth, saying, "As the saying goes, the husband and the wife should be united. For all these years, we have been serving our in-laws, our husbands, and taking care of things in the rear courtyard and the concubines. We have also been gingerly looking after the bastards born of those slutty women! In the end, they completely hide the truth from us! Granny Huang was right. No one in the second branch has ever treated us as one of them!"

Mrs. Min whispered, "Do you think we should just tell Granny Huang about this?"

"We shouldn't." Mrs. Zhou thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "Yao, think about it. Since they and our father-in-law want to hide things from us, they obviously don't trust us. If we go to tell Granny Huang and happen to be caught, we will never be forgiven! Nowadays it is not as convenient as when Granny Huang was in the mansion!"

Mrs. Min gasped, and then mused, "You are right. The whole family pretends to hate Wei Changjuan now. When they stop their pretending, seeing as we have been gradually neglecting her these days and that I upset her so much that she fainted, she will not let us off! Especially, me. When the evil woman, Mrs. Duanmu, was still alive, we almost groveled to Wei Changjuan, but she still sometimes took her anger out on us. It goes without saying now when I have offended her!"

Mrs. Zhou pondered for a moment and said mercilessly, "Now that she is in our hands, how about we just..." She raised her delicate hand and made a gesture of chopping on the side of her neck.

"This..." Mrs. Min hesitated for a moment, saying haltingly, "It wouldn't be right, would it? Today, when my husband heard that Wei Changjuan fainted, he asked unthinkingly if she was alright. If we did kill her, our husbands would never forgive us!"

Mrs. Zhou sat up frustratedly, mumbling softly, "Alas, it's a shame that Granny Huang is no longer in the mansion. Neither of us could harm other people. This is such a good opportunity, but we cannot figure out a good solution. If we don't kill her, should we carry on pleasing her as before and let her make us suffer? I couldn't stand it."

"I don't want her to make me suffer either. During these years, we have suffered enough at the hands of the mother and the daughter!" Mrs. Min sighed, saying, "At least, our mother-in-law is dead. If we can't even take care of this sister-in-law of ours, how can we truly be in charge in this household? Wei Changjuan was so lucky. I wanted to punish her, making it a warning to others, and use her to demonstrate my authority! However, she fainted at that very moment!"

Mrs. Zhou tried to comfort her, "If she hadn't done that, we wouldn't have known that they are pretending to detest her! "

Neither of these two people was good at scheming. Although they had secretly insulted Mrs. Duanmu and Wei Changjuan, they couldn't figure out a single way to deal with the situation in spite of having thought for a long time. They knew that once Wei Changjuan regained her family's love, both of them would end miserably. Or maybe, that moment would come soon. They were convinced that Wei Shengyi and his children's disgust and hatred towards Wei Changjuan were all a show for the people in Fengzhou and Wei Changying.

If one day they didn't need to act anymore, wouldn't they, the two daughters-in-law chosen by Old Madam Song, also die suddenly, following in Mrs. Duanmu's footsteps?

The more they thought about it, the more scared they became. Luckily, ingenuity came to rescue them in their desperation. Mrs. Min suddenly slapped her hand, saying, "I have an idea!"