"Besides, the boy from Jiaochi Garden had really not been living very well these years. You see, even a servant looked down on him, so he is not worthy of your worry. On the contrary, if you were to help him, he will achieve great success with his intelligence, and he will repay you when the time comes. Regardless of whether the Duke will choose a Duchess or not in the future, or who will be the heir of his throne, as long as we can find someone to help Young Master Yu, it is also a good thing."
Sima Ying still hesitated. "I'm just afraid that… What if the Duke sees him and thinks of the former duchess, then treats him better? Wouldn't we be digging our own graves?"
She didn't want to do something that would make her suffer a loss in the end. She was already fed up with pretending to be a loving Lady in the main courtyard for all these years.
"My Lady, your concern is indeed valid. But have you ever thought about how the former Duchess died? She was bruised all over, and her private part was... very swollen. There were filthy traces and the like in the room that she died in, and there were even a lot of adulterous rumours about her. The Duke is a person who cares about his reputation, after all. For all these years, he has been involved with women from outside, and when they bore him children, he would send the children back to the mansion. The Duke seems unwilling to come back. Have you thought about what he thinks?"
Sima Ying snorted coldly. "What else can he think? He probably only feels sad when he sees this mansion."
"For the same reason, he feels sad whenever he sees the boy in Jiaochi Garden. Even if the boy was born to the woman that he loved the most, when he sees the boy, he reminds him of the Duchess’s unfaithfulness towards him. As a man, he can’t bear the embarrassment, so he is unwilling to come back. My dear Lady, how can you not understand?"
Sima Ying's expression was a little embarrassing.
In fact, it wasn't that she did not understand, but she felt unjust.
The Duke could not stop thinking about his former wife, and now he wouldn’t even look at the wives who had devoted themselves to him.
In fact, she also wanted to make the Duke feel uncomfortable too.
"The boy would never be able to wash away the taint in his name, so it would be difficult for him to turn over in this life. Even if you helped him, you could only help him that much. If we were to place him under our watch, we might be able to make him into a successful young man in the future. Some people and things are better to be kept under our own watch to be safe."
Sima Ying agreed that what Mama Qiao had said was extremely correct. However, she still had doubts about this matter. She listened to her for a while and replied vaguely, "Let me think about it first."
Mama Qiao obediently stopped talking.
When Mama Qiao returned to her room, she sighed.
The little girl who served her, Qiao Er, noticed her frown and sighs and asked what was wrong.
Mama Qiao shook her head.
"When you talked about Ninth Young Master some time ago, I remembered that he is actually an important person. The Lady hasn't heard anything from him for so many years, I’m afraid that in case the Duke comes back, when he knows about this, all the efforts that Lady Ying had made before will be denied."
"Oh?"
Qiao Er was only six or seven years old, and she was usually honest and not cunning at all. Mama Qiao had let her stay by her side for a few months and dedicated herself to teaching her while asking her to serve herself. If she had spare time, she would talk to Qiao Er without holding back any information.
Moreover, Qiao Er could keep secrets very well. It was because of this that Mama Qiao still wanted to keep Qiao Er by her side despite Qiao Er should already be sent to the yard to work as a servant.
"How could the Duke be so frivolous? He is cruel. He had done a lot of bad things. Who knew what truly happened to the Duchess?"
Qiao Er was shocked when she heard Mama Qiao’s words, but she remembered Shen Xiangwan’s advice to not show her inner feelings to others. She must try to act innocent and stupid. Calculating and scheming people always loved to associate with the most sincere and kind people.
"The boy from Jiaochi Garden is indeed unfavorable, but no matter how unfavorable he is, he is the Duke’s true heir. We cannot change the fact that the Duke’s blood runs in the boy’s veins, and no matter how much the Duke dislikes the boy, the boy belongs to him. If we don’t care about the boy at all, I'm afraid that it may not be easy to explain to General Youwei."
Qiao Er told Shen Xiangwan about everything she had heard.
"General Youwei. Indeed, he is Ninth Young Master’s family from the maternal side. Such an important family member, yet they have never been in contact with each other. I am afraid it was because of the Duchess’s affairs in the past, and more, I'm afraid there are other things behind this."
The death of the Duchess was not glorious, so the people from General Youwei's mansion refused to visit their relatives and grandchildren in the Duke’s mansion again.
However, as Mama Qiao said, Jiuye is General Youwei’s grandson. Even if General Youwei had already retired for several years, his prestige still remained.
If General Youwei could come forward and take care of Jiuye, Jiuye would not end up like this today.
"Unfortunately, I can't find out what really happened that time. If we can let General Youwei come to see Ninth Young Master, we will have a major turning point."
Shen Xiangwan and Yixuan discussed it.
Yixuan shook her head.
"Oh, General Youwei's mansion has really declined over the years. The people depended on General Youwei. After the Duchess’s death, there was another murder case in the General's mansion. A few individuals were implicated and the General was dismissed, and he has not been able to recover his position ever since. He had two other young sons in his mansion, and it is said that they were born with supernatural powers, but the Emperor did not want to hire them, so they could only let their talents go to waste."
Shen Xiangwan frowned as she guessed and finally came to a conclusion. "That is to say, in recent years, it is not that the people in General Youwei's mansion have not cared about Ninth Young Master, nor that they didn't think about his grandson, but it was because they could not even take care of themselves?"
"Yes, there are too many scandals going on in the General's mansion. The eldest son, young general Yumian, is a brave and heroic young man. It is said that the man who was involved with the Duchess was General Yumian’s old friend. Who could have imagined that it was him who had indirectly killed his own sister."
Upon mentioning these old matters, Yixuan sighed.
Shen Xiangwan pursed her lips. "Mama Yi, I think there may be a turning point for this matter. I will go to see Jiuye tonight about this matter, and give him some advice."
Her eyes lit when she spoke, and Yixuan's heart moved when she saw her. "Are you saying you want to let him think about a plan by himself to let the General come to him?"
Shen Xiangwan gently bobbed her head. "As a man, he has to plan for himself!"