Transmigration: Space-Aided Rise to Power and Prosperity-Chapter 507 - 343: Yao Mengxian’s Predicament

"I wonder how Xian is doing at the Duke Mansion. The day she returned, she sent a message with the servants, but there’s been no news for two days," Liang Zhirui spoke of his granddaughter who returned to the Duke Mansion, his face full of worry.

"Teacher, you need not worry. The Duke Mansion is still Miss Yao’s home, not a wolf’s den. From what I see, Miss Yao is not one to be easily bullied; she is composed and thoughtful, so you don’t have to be overly concerned. If you miss her, just invite her over to stay at the mansion for a few more days."

Gu Chengyu thinks the teacher is worrying too much. The Miss Yao he knows is also quite resourceful. The Duke Mansion is where she was born and raised; even if she wanted to escape, she couldn’t. Since there’s no escape, she must bravely face it. The three years at the Liang Mansion should have been enough for her to plan her future path.

"Hmph! Even if the Duke Mansion isn’t a wolf’s den, it’s not much better. They have mistreated a legitimate daughter of the main house so poorly. Xian’s life at the Duke Mansion used to be worse than that of a servant. No one in the mansion is close to her, her grandmother and stepmother are two of a kind, and her elder brother and sister-in-law..."

"Sigh! Best not to mention it!" Liang Zhirui sighed.

Gu Chengyu didn’t know that Yao Mengxian’s situation was this difficult. It’s understandable that others aren’t nice to her, but her elder brother is blood-related! They are in the same situation, and he should be more compassionate towards his sister.

However, it is heard that her stepmother, Mrs. Ke, didn’t give birth to a legitimate son, which might be why Miss Yao’s brother and sister-in-law might be trying to please their father’s second wife and overlooked Miss Yao.

To mention that Yao Mengxian is the legitimate daughter of the main house, yet even the elderly lady of the house does not value her, it’s simply unjustifiable.

The reason for this is because, in the past, the Princely Heir of Duke Zhen’s Mansion, Yao Qinglan, did not fancy the old lady’s niece but instead married Liang Zhirui’s legitimate eldest daughter. This caused the elderly lady to be quite displeased with the Liang Family.

After the marriage, she picked on the Liang Family daughter relentlessly and made things difficult for her by leveraging her position as a mother-in-law. Not to mention, she filled her son’s room with women right after the wedding, although she slightly restrained herself after Liang Zhirui intervened once.

However, Yao Mengxian’s father was also a bit of a philanderer. At first, there was a novelty in his married life, and he treated the Liang Family woman quite well. Although he still brought in women left and right, he somehow managed to show respect to her.

But after Yao Mengxian’s elder brother was born, Yao Qinglan did not treat her mother as well as before, leading to the Liang Family daughter’s pent-up frustrations. This, combined with the health issues she developed after giving birth to Yao Mengxian, gradually took her life over the years.

Before entering the household, the elderly lady was already dissatisfied with her. Once she became part of the family, although Liang Zhirui was powerful, the lady did not dare go overboard, but remained deeply unsatisfied with the high-status daughter-in-law from a prestigious family.

Later, when the Liang Family daughter’s health deteriorated, the elderly lady constantly troubled her, eventually wearing her down to death.

This is what Gu Chengyu has heard about over the past two years, all found out by paying money to extract information from the Duke Mansion’s servants.

Yao Mengxian’s elder brother was a boy, so the elderly lady treated him well. But Yao Mengxian, being a girl and bearing a striking resemblance to the Liang Family daughter, was not favored by the elderly lady, who turned a blind eye to the treatment of her by the stepmother in the mansion.

Gu Chengyu did not know how to comfort the teacher; Yao Mengxian indeed had a hard time living at the mansion!

"I deeply regret my past decisions!" Liang Zhirui was so regretful he nearly beat his chest and stomped his feet, his eyes filled with sorrow, likely reminiscing about his eldest daughter once again.

Whenever the teacher spoke of the marriage alliance with Duke Zhen’s Mansion, he was filled with anger and regret over agreeing to the Old Duke’s arrangement back then. Indeed, the marriage proposal came directly from the Old Duke himself. Unions between aristocratic families and nobles were quite normal, and Liang Zhirui did not anticipate it turning out this way.

It turned out the Duke Mansion’s elderly lady was quite muddle-headed, and even the highly regarded Yao Qinglan was so debauched, they tormented his daughter to death bit by bit.

Thinking of all these past events saddened him. He had heard Yao Qinglan was a bit frivolous in his youth, but thought a young man’s carefree nature was no big deal. Once married, with him around, the Duke Mansion wouldn’t dare mistreat his eldest daughter. Who’d have thought it would all turn out like this.

"How can Duke Zhen be so clueless? A legitimate daughter, yet he allowed her to be mistreated like this?"

Gu Chengyu was also discontent with the Old Duke’s inaction, considering it was his own granddaughter and he had personally sought the daughter-in-law for his son. Now he’s washing his hands of the matter, showing his opportunistic nature.

Old Duke never acts without personal gain. Since his granddaughter’s maternal family had lost power, he wouldn’t expend effort on her anymore.

However, calling him clueless because the conditions Yao Mengxian faced in the mansion were well-known even to other aristocratic families, and yet the Old Duke stayed seated comfortably?

He should realize that if word spreads, whose reputation is tarnished? It’s the Duke Mansion’s reputation, isn’t it? How is this not foolishness?

"Isn’t it because I’ve lost my political influence? As much as I used to have protégés everywhere, but now that I’ve retired from the court, it’s the same situation of ’the tea cools when the people leave’" Liang Zhirui sighed, realizing he should have endured more for his granddaughter’s sake.

Yao Mengxian glanced at the arrangements in her bedroom and let out a cold laugh. She had been gone for just three years, and they had already put away that precious ornament from her room into storage. Is there someone in this house who would steal?

Before she left, she asked the third-class maid Yin Shuang to watch over the courtyard and privately instructed Lianxin to catalog everything in her room. Whatever was missing, they would know when they checked the records.

Looking at the shabby room, Yao Mengxian steadied her mind, making herself remain calm. Fortunately, she had locked her mother’s belongings into chests; otherwise, wouldn’t they have been looted completely?

"Yin Shuang, I told you before I left to look after the courtyard well. Now that I’m back, the courtyard is almost emptied. Is this how you watched over it for me?"

Yao Mengxian looked at the silver frost-wearing a blue satin vest with piping and asked in a low voice.

"Miss, the servant really had no choice! Those women were all big and strong. They restrained the servant and Gan Lan, took the things, and left. They said the madam ordered it, fearing that since the miss doesn’t reside here, the servants would clumsily damage the ornaments. How could we resist those women? With you not in the mansion, we had nowhere to turn to even if we wanted to call for help!"

Yin Shuang was crying into her handkerchief, wiping her tears as she explained the situation slowly. They were just servants, how could they fight against the mistress? Yin Shuang felt very wronged in her heart.

Yao Mengxian looked at the crying Yin Shuang, her expression turned serious, and the fingernails she clenched left crescent marks on her palms.

Yin Shuang was born into servitude; her family had been house servants of the Duke Mansion for three generations. Though her parents weren’t particularly favored in the mansion now, her uncle was a steward in the outer courtyard. It was seeing this kind of status that Yao Mengxian entrusted her to watch over her room.