Chapter 4

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Liu Yingying had suffered a humiliating setback, but she was far from ready to give up.

After that lesson, she no longer dared act recklessly. Instead, she began to tread carefully.

For half a year, she behaved herself and even earned the occasional word of praise from the Wei matriarch.

Liu knew how to choose her moment. One morning, while serving tea during her visit, she said softly, “Madam is so young, yet already bears the burden of managing the household. Every trivial matter falls to you. I may be foolish, but I would like to help my lady in whatever way I can.”

When the servants reported this to me, I only curved my lips and let it pass like a breeze.

The next day, I brought the account books to pay my respects to the Wei matriarch. My face was pale, and my voice weak.

“I haven’t been feeling well these past few days. I’m dizzy, and I’m afraid I might overlook something important in the household. Perhaps Sister Liu could take my place for a few days and look after things inside and out.”

The moment I finished speaking, Liu Yingying’s eyes lit up. Her delight was impossible to hide.

She immediately invited a famous accountant from Bianjing to teach her how to manage the books.

She also had the kitchen prepare a different dessert every day, and even the lowest-ranking servants were given a bowl of steamed milk with sugar.

In less than half a month, she had bought the goodwill of nearly everyone in the household.

Some fools even dared to call her “Young Madam” to her face.

5.

At first, the Wei matriarch merely watched coldly, mocking Liu Yingying as a woman with all the vulgar habits of the pleasure quarters, unfit to sit at a proper banquet.

But after Liu handled the Mid-Autumn feast with such polish and saved the family’s face, the old madam nodded.

“She does have a little sense.”

From then on, I was gradually pushed aside, reduced to a nominal wife in the marquis’s household.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, I deliberately found a chance to speak with the marquis.

“The estate sent us some finest blood bird’s nest recently. I heard Minister of War Zhang’s cough still hasn’t gone away. And haven’t you been troubled by the waterway transport issue lately? If we took this opportunity to send him a gift…”

The bird’s nest had been a precious gift from my maternal grandfather in Yangzhou. Liu Yingying had long since hidden most of it away and distributed it here and there to buy people’s favor. There was little left.

Wei Jing immediately understood what I meant. His eyes brightened.

“My wife really is perceptive! Minister Zhang refuses to be bribed. He won’t even accept an inkstone. Gold and jewels would be too vulgar. But bird’s nest doesn’t look like a bribe, and it might help his cough. How perfectly suitable.”

At once, I sent Liu’s personal maid, Cui’er, to deliver a message.

“Go tell Sister Liu to pick out some of the finest bird’s nest. Say that I want to use it.”

Cui’er’s face briefly showed her displeasure.

For seven days in a row, I sent her to hurry Liu along about preparing the gift. Liu already resented me, so she found some cheap, poor-quality bird’s nest and switched it with the finest stock.

I tested her several times. Each time I accepted it with a calm smile, and she became more certain that I couldn’t tell the difference—that I was as ignorant as a pig chewing on scraps.

Half an incense stick later, Cui’er shoved a package of bird’s nest into my hands.

I glanced at it once, then ordered someone to deliver it straight to Minister Zhang’s residence.

Before half a day had passed, a young servant came stumbling into the study, trembling as he clutched the gift box. His voice shook.

“Marquis! Minister Zhang saw the bird’s nest and overturned the table in a rage! He said… he said the Wei family meant to insult him!”