Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 166 - 8: Scent Reveals the Truth (Part 2)

But what does it matter if someone is just a concubine who can’t be acknowledged publicly, or a "Madam" without a clear title? She has the favor of Mr. Huang. Although Mrs. Huang appears to be in charge of the inner chambers, it is indeed Aunt Han who manages everything, and the servants privately call her the "Second Madam."

If it weren’t for Mrs. Huang giving birth to the only offspring of the Huang Family, who knows what situation she would be in now. It’s because she has a good son that, even if Mr. Huang doesn’t like his legitimate wife, no one dares to disrespect her. Aunt Han still has to perform the duties of a servant in her presence.

The Huang Family would naturally not spread this kind of shameful matter. Grandpa Qiao couldn’t find out, and he trusted that the Huang Family wouldn’t mistreat his granddaughter. The son-in-law is also a good man, and there’s a family rule that no concubines can be taken until thirty and childless, so some little details were overlooked, and it just became somewhat awkward when Yang Liu married in.

For generations, the Huang Family has had only one male heir. Her main task is to first give birth to the next generation to inherit, so no one mentions her managing the household. It’s truly stifling for a legitimate wife to have to deal with a mere concubine that doesn’t even count as a concubine. Fortunately, Yang Liu’s brother-in-law is strong-willed and is backed by Old Master Huang. They built a small kitchen in Yangzhi Hall, and everything is paid for with her brother-in-law’s private funds, or else Yang Liu wonders if she could even bear it.

Susu didn’t expect such a dramatic turn within, furrowing her brow and thinking, "Your father-in-law isn’t even an official, otherwise, just favoring a concubine over a wife would be enough to get him in trouble. But your brother-in-law is the only heir of the family, and you’re pregnant with his child, yet you can only open a small kitchen secretly? That seems quite off!"

Yang Liu shook her handkerchief, "Your brother-in-law refuses to let me manage anything, he just tells me to focus on my pregnancy, it’s really annoyingly patronizing!" Yang Liu had been with Susu for seven or eight years, and had picked up a few trendy phrases, which seemed to fit perfectly in this context.

"Is your aunt willing to be oppressed by a maid accompanying the bride?" Susu was even more confused. Mrs. Huang seemed to be sensible and capable, so why would she resign her household management to a concubine.

Yang Liu’s expression was uncertain. After glancing around, she whispered, "I heard that Aunt Han was already pregnant before, and she hid it until she was almost five months before it was discovered. The Huang Family has only one male heir in generations, and since her belly was so big, even the Old Master Huang hesitated because it might be a Huang family heir, so he turned a blind eye, planning to record the child under my mother-in-law’s name as a legitimate child for upbringing when it was born." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Yang Liu paused after saying this, feeling it wasn’t good to gossip about elders. However, feeling closer to Susu, she had kept these feelings bottled up for a long time, so she continued, "When Aunt Han was eight months pregnant, at the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet, my father-in-law even wanted her to attend. My mother-in-law didn’t want her to, and during an argument, somehow my mother-in-law ended up falling together with Aunt Han, who was trying to intervene on the side. Aunt Han went into premature labor and had a difficult delivery. By the time the child was born, it was already lifeless due to staying in the womb for too long. It was a boy."

Afterwards, Yang Liu didn’t need to say more, because Susu could already guess. Certainly, Aunt Han’s body was injured and she couldn’t conceive again. Mrs. Huang became reclusive, Aunt Han obtained the power to manage the inner courtyard, and the elders of the Huang Family felt indebted to her. Though due to ancestral rules, they couldn’t give her a formal title, they tacitly acknowledged her as the "Second Madam."

As expected, what Yang Liu said matched what Susu had guessed—it was all according to the script.

"I just can’t understand. Although Aunt Han is nominally still my mother-in-law’s accompanying maid, who doesn’t know that she’s an unnamed yet practically significant Second Madam? Why would she insist on living in the same courtyard with my mother-in-law, serving her to get up and wash all the time, and prioritizing her in everything? Even if she doesn’t have the heart to compete for favor, wouldn’t losing a child cause her pain?"

That was Yang Liu’s greatest confusion, and when Susu heard it, even though it was a hot day, she inexplicably shivered. Seemingly to answer Yang Liu’s question, she seemed to mumble to herself, "Perhaps, this is her form of revenge."

After Susu said this, she and Yang Liu looked at each other, and both felt a chill run through them, thinking deeply was truly terrifying!

As they spoke, they had already arrived at Yangzhi Hall. Upon entering the courtyard, maids and old women gathered around them, "Grandma, you’re back!" "Miss Susu, you finally came!" When Susu looked, they were all Yang Liu’s maid attendants, even the few she didn’t recognize were young.

The crowd surrounded Yang Liu and Susu as they entered the house, and Yang Liu didn’t bother with formalities with Susu, sitting directly on a chair, she said, "You should sit too. These days, my body feels a bit weak. Back then, even standing for a day, I was lively and energetic, but now I feel a bit exhausted just after a short while." Then she instructed the maids and old women, "In this hot weather, skip the tea, bring a pot of sour plum juice, a pot of watermelon juice, and the snacks I instructed the kitchen to make before I left, serve them up. Also, the Dutch water that Mister brought back yesterday."