Chapter 247: Fierce Matriarch
Chapter 247: Fierce Matriarch
Meng Qianqian returned to the main courtyard and informed Lu Yuan about Princess Wanping's request for her to visit the princess's mansion.
Lu Yuan's voice turned cold, "You can rest first. There's no need to wait up for me tonight."
Meng Qianqian was taken aback, "Huh?"
Clearing his throat, Lu Yuan said, "What I mean is, are you going out to meet someone in secret?"
Meng Qianqian was stunned again, "Huh?"
Lu Yuan spoke with a detached tone, "Doesn't the Grand Marshal care about face?"
"Ah..."
How forced.
Meng Qianqian immediately became servile, "If the Grand Marshal is free, may I accompany Xiaojiu to the princess's mansion?"
Lu Yuan replied indifferently, "It was you who asked me to come."
Meng Qianqian nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, yes, it was me who asked you to come, not you insisting on coming along!"
Lu Yuan's face turned cold, "Meng Xiaojiu."
Meng Qianqian immediately backed down, "I was wrong."
After Meng Qianqian informed Liu Qingyun, she and Lu Yuan boarded the carriage to the princess's mansion.
"Grand Marshal, she didn't mention me."
"Why would she mention you?"
"She went out of the mansion in the middle of the night."
Meng Qianqian expected Lu Yuan to say that since the princess summoned her, there was no reason not to go.
Unexpectedly, Lu Yuan's response was, "She often sneaks out in the middle of the night."
"Sneak out?"
I'm not sneaking out, wait, there's gossip.
Lu Yuan hummed, "When I was young, if she craved a midnight snack, she would take me to buy food in town. When we returned and were caught by my grandmother, she would say it was my craving, and I had to take the blame."
Meng Qianqian was speechless.
"So, you must have been beaten a lot as a child?"
According to her grandfather's description, her grandmother had a very fierce temperament.
Lu Yuan said, "No, my grandmother said, 'A child's misconduct is a mother's fault,' and then beat my mother."
Meng Qianqian was dumbfounded again.
Lu Yuan continued, "Later, my mother sneaked out to town by herself. When my grandmother caught her, she boldly said, 'Didn't you say, 'A child's misconduct is a mother's fault?' Why are you beating yourself?'"
Meng Qianqian thought, No wonder she's your grandfather's daughter, So cheeky!
"Then what happened?" Meng Qianqian was curious about how her grandmother would respond.
Lu Yuan said, "My grandmother said, 'A child's misconduct is a mother's fault, you're right. But are you a son? You're a daughter!' And then my mother was beaten again."
Meng Qianqian couldn't believe her mother-in-law had such a dark past.
But since Lu Yuan brought up these old stories, did it mean he no longer resented Liu Qingyun in his heart? Meng Qianqian's face was full of curiosity, "Is there more?"
Lu Yuan began to recount his childhood memories.
Time slipped away unnoticed, and before they knew it, half an hour had passed, making it feel like they had arrived in the blink of an eye.
The two got off the carriage.
The head steward of the princess's mansion was named Bao, and he had been waiting outside the mansion for a long time. When he saw the carriage from the Governor's Mansion, he immediately stepped forward to welcome them.
Upon seeing Lu Yuan, he was startled, "Why is the Grand Marshal here?"
Lu Yuan's voice turned cold, "What? Can't I come?"
Steward Bao smiled, "I'm just too surprised, Grand Marshal. Please come in, Lu Shaoye and Madam Lu!"
Meng Qianqian asked, "Steward Bao, why did the princess summon Xiaojiu in the middle of the night?"
Steward Bao sighed, "Alas, the princess went out today and returned a bit late. On the way, she encountered a woman in labor..."
Only when Meng Qianqian arrived did she realize that the woman in labor mentioned by Steward Bao was none other than Lin Wan'er.
Lin Wan'er had fainted, and Lu Luo was by her bedside. However, she seemed to have gone through many hardships, with disheveled hair and a dirty face, and her body also bore numerous injuries.
"Lu Luo?"
Meng Qianqian called out, unsure.
Lu Luo looked up, her face turning pale, "Madam!"
"You know each other?"
Princess Wanping entered the room.
Lu Yuan remained outside the courtyard, waiting there, and Princess Wanping hadn't noticed him yet.
Princess Wanping was now surprised, "Princess, do you not know who these two are?"
She looked at Lu Luo again, "You didn't tell the Princess about your identities."
Lu Luo knelt on the ground with a thud and repeatedly knocked her head on the floor, crying and pleading, "Princess! Please spare my mistress! Save her!"
Princess Wanping looked at Meng Qianqian strangely.
Meng Qianqian pointed at Lin Wan'er on the bed, "She's Lin Wan'er, Lu Lingxiao's wife."
Princess Wanping frowned, "She's Lin Wan'er? The one who pretended to be you and went to the Governor's Mansion for the one-year-old's birthday banquet as his concubine?"
Meng Qianqian: No, you only remember things related to Lu Yuan...
Princess Wanping glared at Lu Luo, "You just told me... Never mind! Save her first!"
The last sentence was directed at Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian said, "The fee for my treatment isn't cheap."
Princess Wanping calmly said, "I know, would my palace lack your three melons and two dates?"
Meng Qianqian: "Five hundred taels."
Princess Wanping angrily said, "Meng Xiaojiu, why don't you go rob someone?"
Meng Qianqian: "Lu Yuan is outside."
Princess Wanping: "I'll give you a thousand taels."
Meng Qianqian held Lin Wan'er's wrist and started to take her pulse.
Suddenly, Lu Luo shouted, "Princess! Don't let her deliver my mistress's baby! She'll kill my mistress!"
Meng Qianqian spread her hands, "Princess, this isn't me refusing to save her."
Princess Wanping furrowed her brows and said to Bao Guan Shi outside the door, "Go to the Lu family and tell them that Lin Wan'er is at my palace."
But Lu Luo suddenly cried out, "Princess! You can't do that!"
Princess Wanping said coldly, "You can't do this, you can't do that, what do you want? You, girl, have never spoken a word of truth since you met me! You even hid your identity from me! Get out of my sight!"
A maid came in and dragged Lu Luo out.
"You continue."
Princess Wanping said to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian asked, "Princess, aren't you afraid I'll kill her with my treatment?"
Princess Wanping said sternly, "Just treat her, if she dies, it's on me."
Meng Qianqian looked deeply into Princess Wanping's eyes and suddenly felt that perhaps her understanding of the princess was too one-sided.
While she had her eccentricities, she also had the responsibility and kindness befitting a princess.
Meng Qianqian told her honestly, "Princess, even if you hadn't bumped into her, she wouldn't have lived much longer. You don't need to take the blame upon yourself."
Princess Wanping furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"
Meng Qianqian glanced at the unconscious Lin Wan'er, "She's been poisoned."
Princess Wanping was confused, "Poisoned?"
Meng Qianqian took out the silver needles she always carried with her, "For ordinary people, it's a nourishing substance, but for her, it's poison."
After a few needles, Lin Wan'er slowly opened her eyes and in that moment of consciousness, she immediately felt a familiar, intense pain.
Meng Qianqian said, "Princess, you can ask her yourself."
Princess Wanping walked to the bed with doubt in her eyes, looking at Lin Wan'er who was dazed and confused, not knowing where she was. Princess Wanping furrowed her brows and asked, "Lin Wan'er, I'm Princess Wanping. You're in my palace, can you tell me what happened to you?"
"Oh dear, is she mute? Call her maid in—"
Lin Wan'er's tears flowed, "Princess! Lu Xingzhou wants to kill me... Please stand up for Wan'er!"
Princess Wanping was surprised, "You're not mute? Wait, what did you say? Lu Xingzhou wants to kill you? Isn't he your father-in-law?"
"He is..."
Lin Wan'er nodded, just about to accuse Lu Xingzhou, when suddenly, a gush of water broke.
Princess Wanping was startled and took a step back, "Meng Xiaojiu, she peed!"
Meng Qianqian lifted the blanket and looked intently, "The amniotic fluid has broken, Princess. She's about to give birth. Do you want to save the mother or the child?"
Only then did Lin Wan'er notice that Meng Qianqian was also there.
Princess Wanping asked fairly, "Can you only save one?"
Meng Qianqian said seriously, "Her body is completely depleted, and she might not be able to save either."
(End of Chapter)
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