Chapter 008 Auntie

Aunt Cui seemed a little surprised, and after a while, she smiled and said, "So it's her."

Tai Wei also smiled, nodded gently towards her, and then his gaze casually fell on the woman closest to Madam Qi. She was Madam Qi's elder aunt, Qi Chunmei, the only sister of her father, Marquis Jingning Qi Yuanzhang.

In her lifetime, Grandmother had only two children.

The eldest daughter, Qi Chunmei, and the youngest son, Qi Yuanzhang.

And the significance of the first child was always different.

When Qi Chunmei was born, although she was not a son, as the legitimate eldest daughter of Marquis Jingning's family, her status and position were still the highest. Not only did Madam Qi dote on her, but Grandfather, the old Marquis Jingning, also doted on her to the extreme. She was held in the palm of his hand, afraid of dropping her, and he was worried about her every move.

However, under such indulgence, as she grew up, her temperament became increasingly arrogant and domineering. Whenever something didn't go her way, she would throw a tantrum. Whatever she wanted, she had to have it, and if she couldn't have it, no one else could.

Whether it was a piece of fabric, a hairpin, or a courtyard, a person, as long as she wanted it, she could have it.

She was arrogant because of her indulgence, always demanding, and never thought that one day she would be refused. When she was young, she was very beautiful, and many men in the capital admired her and wanted to marry her. If they lined up, they could almost stretch from the gate of Marquis Jingning's mansion all the way out of the city.

But she couldn't find anyone she liked.

She was interested in the newly appointed top scholar, a young man from a poor background.

But that wasn't a problem. Although their family backgrounds were vastly different, he was talented, and being the top scholar, his future was limitless. Moreover, the match of a talented man and a beautiful woman, with a bright future, could become a legendary love story.

But the problem was that this top scholar was already married before he went to the capital for the imperial examination.

How could he become the son-in-law of Marquis Jingning's family?

But the Miss Qi, who had always been lawless due to her indulgence since childhood, refused to let go.

She liked him, and it was his great fortune! He should be grateful to her! So she threw tantrums, cried, and threatened to become a nun if she couldn't marry him.

Seeing that her parents still didn't agree, she tied a white silk ribbon into a knot and almost hanged herself.

The old Marquis Jingning was so frightened that he immediately agreed, "Alright, alright, alright! You can marry whoever you want!"

After a series of coercion and enticement by the Qi family, the top scholar was finally forced to divorce his wife and marry Miss Qi.

Qi Chunmei got her wish and took the man as her husband, thinking that she was much better than his previous wife. Given time, he would surely fall in love with her. But despite her confidence and passion, she never managed to move him in the slightest.

Over time, her admiration for him seemed to fade as well.

The two became husband and wife, but they were just tired of each other day after day.

The son she bore with great effort also failed to win his affection.

Her husband didn't love the house, the child, or her.

After giving birth to her son, he never entered her room again. He didn't treat her badly, just cold, as cold as an unheatable ice. The closer she got, the more uncomfortable she felt.

Fire burns, and ice freezes.

If the skin is frozen, the bones will also be injured.

At that point, she began to regret. If she hadn't insisted on marrying him, she wouldn't have fallen to this point.

Not long after, she discovered that her accompanying maid had secretly climbed into her husband's bed. They had been having an affair behind her back, and she was only informed when the maid became pregnant. He stood in front of her, smiling for the first time, and firmly stated that he would take the maid as his concubine, which made her tremble and unable to speak for a long time.

He had grown in power and was no longer the poor scholar from before. She endured and endured, barely suppressing her anger.

But as soon as he turned his back, she took action.

She had always been kind and generous to people. The maid had been with her for many years, and her status and treatment were incomparable. Yet now, she wanted to steal her man.

Qi Chunmei sneered coldly, feeling angry, disdainful, and jealous.

She was clearly more beautiful and better, so why did he prefer a lowly maid over her?

She couldn't understand, and in her anger, she ordered someone to kill the maid while her husband was away.

But what did one death matter?

She wanted her to live, so she lived; she didn't want her to live, so she could only die.

But when her husband returned home, he flew into a rage, pointing at her and cursing her as a venomous woman, saying that she was terrifying and made him shudder and feel sick whenever he slept with her.

He raged and cursed at her for a long time, and she laughed coldly, then raised her voice to call him a useless man.

If he wasn't useless, why did he divorce his wife and marry her?

If he wasn't useless, why did he rely on Marquis Jingning's family to smooth his career path?

Without her, what was he?

Even as the top scholar, he was just a louse!

The two of them had a big fight at night, completely falling out. He left angrily, sweeping his sleeves as he departed. She was furious and stood at the door, shouting his name sharply, "Jingyu, Jingyu!" But he walked away without looking back, his figure getting farther and farther away. She was so angry that she slammed the three-legged incense burner on the table and screamed, "If you leave, never come back again!"

Little did she know, her words would come true.

He really never came back.

What came back was his body.

It turned out that he had accidentally fallen into the water and drowned after getting drunk at night. It wasn't until dawn that someone found and retrieved his body from the lake.

Upon seeing the body, she was so shocked that she kept retreating, and in a moment of carelessness, she fell backward. Below her was a sharp and hard rock, and she hit her waist as she fell. From then on, she couldn't walk anymore.

So she returned to her mother's home with her young son.

That year, Taiwei's mother, Lady Jiang, had just married into the Jingning Marquis's mansion.

Lady Jiang had been in the mansion for half a year without getting pregnant, so Madam Qi immediately gave her maid, Cui, to her son as a concubine.

Cui was not the most capable or intelligent maid by Madam Qi's side, but she was charming and sweet-tongued. In terms of being likable, no one could compare to her.

Such a person was perfect for being a concubine.

Not too clever, nor too foolish.

Madam Qi was very satisfied with Cui.

And Cui indeed lived up to expectations. Not long after she was promoted to be a concubine, she became pregnant after giving birth to her aunt.