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Chapter 17: She Was Also Once The “Pearl in Someone’s Palms”!\n“What do I want to do?” Bailian smoothly smiled, “It’s actually very simple, that is, I hope that the Third Branch can be treated the same as the other branches, and I hope that the people in the other branches will also begin to take up their share of the household chores. If I see anyone from the Third Branch getting beaten or punished, don’t blame me for being impolite! Even if I fight with my life on the line, I will make everyone in this country know just how absurd and outrageous this so-called scholarly family is!”\n
Bailian triumphantly looked at the old many with a frigid gaze. Despite being so thin, her frail body could not suppress her tremendous aura and the everyone in the main hall had been quietly subdued by it.\n
Bailian seemed to be like a vicious Asura from hell, quashing their resistance instantly and making them dare not say anything in response.\n
“Okay, I think Patriarch Li and Scholar Li should know how to educate their family from now on. In that case, Fifth will head out now. After all, my father hasn’t even eaten dinner yet.” Bailian tamely said and then started taking the dishes from the table, “Since our Third Branch hasn’t eaten yet, I’ll just help myself.”\n
After Bailian said this, she got a big basket and filled it to the brim with steamed cornmeal buns and two white flour buns. She also took a plate of fresh, verdant green vegetables fried in pork lard and some pickled side dishes.\n
“Y-, You…put those down! How dare you steal those!” Seeing Bailian take so many of the dishes on the table, Matriarch Wang couldn’t help but frantically try to stop her.\n
“Haha~” Bailian beamed at Patriarch Li and Matriarch Wang, chuckling in derision.\n
“Give it to her!” Patriarch Li resignedly said, solemnly stopping his wife. \n
“Oh, by the way, I still want to remind the elders, since you’ve now started to ask us to retrieve the food from the kitchen because I made our family lose face that day, but…” Bailian cast a glance at the fuming Matriarch Wang, “I had actually been pushed by Li Xuehua yesterday. It doesn’t matter to me whether you believe it or not, but the villagers are clever and acute. Who would like that old man when there is Scholar Zhang? Besides, the marriage engagement was still in place that day.”\n
“Fifth must have misunderstood something, your eldest sister….” When Liu Meijung heard Bailian mention her own daughter, she rushed to explain but was stupefied by the cold look in Bailian’s clear eyes.\n
When had this girl become so tough?\n
“If I were to spread the news in the village that it was my eldest sister who pushed me that day, the villagers would surely believe my words. Then all the young misses of the Li Family would have a bad reputation! It would be quite interesting to grow into old spinsters together.” Bailian mockingly teased Liu Meijun and turned to open the main hall’s doors.\n
“You, you were the one to seduce others…” Matriarch Wang’s retort slightly trembled into the air.\n
It was clear as day that Bailian was implying that she would not hesitate to ruin the reputation of the other misses, but Matriarch Wang’s daughter was currently still looking for a husband ah!\n
If someone were to catch wind of this, how would she be able to marry her daughter to the official eldest son of the landlord?\n
“Shut up!” Patriarch Li glowered at Matriarch Wang. He was already well aware in his heart that Li Xuehua may have indeed been the true instigator that day, but he didn’t want to admit to it.\n
Because, in his mind, it was already deeply ingrained that Li Xuehua was the eldest daughter of the First Branch. How could she be compared with Bailian?\n
However, he also knew that Bailian had recently changed. If she really were to spare no effort to clear her reputation and simultaneously reveal the Li Family’s true nature, it would definitely hinder the Eldest Master’s future path towards officialdom!\n
Therefore, the Li Family could not afford to let others know about the matter at the banquet, that it was his granddaughter that had framed her younger sister. Let alone others, even the authorities would deem that the Li Family didn’t have any discipline. If they were to truly investigate, they might uncover the truth about the secondary equal wife.\n
He was a highly-respected teacher, and among his students at the academy, there were always some high-ranking official’s sons mixed in there. His eldest son would also become an official soon.\n
He could not let others get a hold of this information, otherwise, it could be used against them in the future!\n
Therefore, Patriarch Li could only compromise.\n
“Fifth, how are you ah?”\n
When Grandmother Li Ciying and Madam Zhao saw Bailian coming out from the main hall, they hurried over and looked up and down Bailian, searching for any injuries.\n
“Nothing happened, let’s go have breakfast.” Bailian smiled, her expression gentle.\n
“This..” Grandmother Li Ciying was shocked, and only gaped silently at the contents inside the basket currently in Baialin’s hands. \n
‘Fifth..” Madam Zhao also quivered slightly and questioningly pointed at the basket.\n
“This is what we deserve.” Bailian clasped Madam Zhao’s hand into her own and said: “Mother, you’re just about to give birth to my younger sister or brother and shouldn’t be standing up for long periods of time, let’s quickly head back.”\n
It was considered beneficial for pregnant women to lightly exercise as it was good for the baby’s health, but Madam Zhao was doing more than enough work. She needed to rest her malnourished and overworked body.\n
Grandmother Li Ciying and Madam Zhao both dumbly followed Bailian back to their rooms in a slight stupor.\n
“Fifth, you just….” Grandmother Li Ciying began to look quite worried after shaking off the initial shock.\n
When they had been standing at the door now, they had vaguely heard snippets of the conversation and feared that Bailian had offended people from the main branch, and was….\n
“It’s fine, if they dare to abuse us like before, I will tell my grievances to the authorities. You won’t have to work so hard in the future, Grandmother, don’t you know what a secondary wife means?”\n
Grandmother Li Ciying was startled. It was the first time she heard her granddaughter call her grandma. In the past, her son and daughter in law, as well as her grandchildren all had to call her ‘concubine’ because of Matriarch Wang. A silent tear trickled down her wrinkled cheek. It was the first time she shed tears just because of one name.\n
“I..” Grandmother Li Ciying’s eyes welled up with hot tears and they flowed freely down her jaded face.\n
After all these years, someone had finally confirmed that she was a living person, worthy of being alive. It was as if she had returned to her childhood when she was still young and had just lost her mother, but her father did not remarry for the sake of his daughter.\n
Therefore, she was an only child throughout her childhood. Her father would always give all the good food to her at home. Every year, he would commission for shops to make many new dresses for her. Whenever she walked around in the village with those new clothes, many of the other girls were extremely envious of her.\n
Since her father was the Head Steward of a noble family, the Master was extremely satisfied with his competence, hence rewarding him often with treasures and money. At that time, the family and family clan had been extremely well off, and as such, all of her father’s bonuses were given to her.\n
Later, when the noble family had been promoted, her father, for her sake, continued to work as the Head Steward. The Master constantly rewarded her hard-working father, but he didn’t keep a single tael for himself. He only gave them to his daughter, sparing no expense for her. \n
She was also a girl who was once the “pearl of someone’s hands”!\n
But….\n
For so many years, she didn’t even dare to look up when she went outside and was constantly mocked by others for being a concubine. In the Li Residence, not one person had properly looked after her.\n
Later, when she gave birth to her son, Matriarch Wang prohibited her son from calling her mother, but rather forced him to call her ;Concubine Mother’.\n
Thinking of this, her heart seemed to be slashed open by a sharp knife.\n
She had been labeled as the Patriarch’s concubine and the concubine’s children had to address the official wife as ‘Mother’ instead.\n
After so many years passed, she seemed to just be a mere servant, always depending on the beck and whim of others.\n
In the past, her father had been an esteemed Head Steward and she had never felt that she was a servant in her family. Only in the Li Family was she degraded into a shameless slave. \n
Even the children she gave birth to, as well as her grandchildren, were implicated and became slaves.\n
This was the first time she had heard someone call her “grandma”, her nose feeling sore and her heart wrenching bittersweetly.\n
“Grandma, don’t be sad, it should have been like this all along. Not only will I call you grandma, Yuhang and Yuyang will too! Even Father and Mother should call you Mother!” Bailian happily laughed and then motioned to Madam Zhao.\n
Madam Zhao eyes became misty after seeing her daughter’s happy expression, “Mother..”\n
“Hic…Hic” Tears kept sliding down Grandma Ciying’s face, her whole body shaking with emotion.\n
“Okay, okay, let’s eat quickly, and then in a little while, I’ll deliver the food to Dad.” Bailian kindly patted the hands of her Grandmother and Mother, comforting them as best as she could.\n
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