219: Chapter 219: Swear Not To Be A Concubine(1)_1 219: Chapter 219: Swear Not To Be A Concubine(1)_1 As Lady Du entered the inner room, she sat deliberately on the bed, looked serious, and said: “Wei’er, I have never told you about your maternal grandfather’s family.
Today, I will tell you so of it.”
Upon hearing her mother’s serious tone, Cai Wei couldn’t help but pull a face, with a helpless gesture she said, “What do you want to say…”
Lady Du, ignoring her daughter’s dismissive look, stared out the window and said reflectively, “Actually, I am the illegitimate daughter from the Duke An’s Mansion in the capital, the Fourth Miss people often talk about.”
The mont she said this, Cai Wei’s instant deflection and dismissal turned into utter disbelief and astonishnt.
She couldn’t believe her mother held such a high status!
Seeing her daughter’s bewildered expression, Lady Du gave a self-mocking laugh, “The grand Fourth Miss of Duke An’s Mansion, sounds prestigious and impressive, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, yes, yes…”
Cai Wei nodded enthusiastically, her eyes filled with admiration.
But she couldn’t understand why her mother, with such a noble identity, would marry her father, a poor scholar.
And, even more, endure a decade of harsh treatnt from his parents.
Lady Du saw the confusion in her daughter’s eyes and bitterly laughed, “In reality, the status of Fourth Miss is just an empty title.
Because I am an illegitimate child, I was destined to be a chess piece and commodity for clan interests, sacrificing myself for the clan’s benefit.
When the legitimate daughters were learning literature and managing central distributions, illegitimate daughters had to learn singing and dancing to please n.
When the legitimate daughter marries a young general with pomp and splendor, an illegitimate daughter must marry an old man who’s older than her grandfather…”
Cai Wei covered her mouth in surprise, saying: “Mother, You…
did you…?”
Lady Du shook her head, a bitter smile on her face, “Though I’ve always been weak, I refused to bow down to fate.
A few days before I was to be given away by my clan, I escaped from the Duke An’s Mansion.
Later, your father saved , so I married him and ca here with him!”
“I see…”
Although Cai Wei knew that her mother had finally overco danger, she still worried about what her mother had gone through.
Hearing that her mother hadn’t suffered any real harm, she finally started relaxing and sat down next to her on the bed.
Nibbling her mother’s arm her voice full of admiration, Wei’er said, “Mother, I had no idea that you went through such a dangerous ordeal.
Thankfully everything is okay now.
But, on second thought, it is truly amazing.
You had the courage and audacity to resist an arranged marriage.
Any other ordinary woman would not have dared to be so bold!”
Lady Du gave a smile and asked, “I have always been timid, but I would rather die than beco soone’s concubine.
Do you know why?”
Cai Wei hesitated a bit, then said, “Is it because you have high aspirations and wanted to beco a wife?”
Lady Du asked again: “Do you know why I insisted on being a wife?”
Cai Wei shook her head: “I don’t know.”
Lady Du said, “Having been born in a Marquis’s house, I have seen all the power struggles in the back house.
Also, I have witnessed too many tragic incidents that squashed human lives.
Once, in Nong’an County in the suburbs of the capital city, there was a house master who married a handso concubine.
For a while, she was his only favored one.
But later, as people frequently say, not all flowers bloom for a hundred days.
The house master had a new favorite.
The bitter mistress filled the concubine’s birth canal with mashed garlic, and with stitches forced her to shut.
In agony, the concubine howled day and night till she was discovered and her case was reported to the county governnt office.
The local magistrate, outraged by the mistress’s cruelty, decided to treat her the sa way as a punishnt.
The house master, fearing it would ruin his reputation, begged the magistrate for rcy.
The magistrate commanded him to repair the dilapidated city gate tower in exchange for leniency.
The house master poured all his wealth into repairing the tower, and people nad it ‘Feng Yin Tower’ in honor of the vile incident.”
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