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Chapter 105 of 223

The Princess Wei Yang Chapter 80 part2

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Chapter 80 Part 2: Tit for Tat

The next morning, Li

Weiyang was invited to He Xiang Yuan by Lao Furen.

At any point of time,

nobody can have everything going smoothly for them. Even though Li Weiyang had

things under her control, there were also countless problems which were

targeted at her. Seeing Da Furen sitting upon the great hall despite her

illness, Li Weiyang gave a respectful smile: “Muqin is here too, are you

feeling better?”

Da Furen gave a small

smile: “I have taken Dai Fu’s medicine, but there has been no improvement. Ah, my

body has always been weak, so it is inevitable.”

Li Weiyang found it strange

that Da Furen would be willing to let people see her weak side, when she

usually wanted to maintain her strong façade.

In actual fact, Jiang

Guo Gong Furen had invited Li Xiaoran over yesterday evening for small talk. It

was a perfectly normal thing for a mother-in-law to invite her son-in-law to

catch up; she had intended to use her status to pressurize him into letting Li

Changle return. However, Li Xiaoran used state matters as an excuse to reject

her invitation. Guo Gong Furen could not do anything more; with her status and

age, did they actually expect her to come personally to beg? This incident also

allowed Da Furen to realise that Li Xiaoran was no longer the meek and low

ranked officer 10 years ago; perhaps, he already had intentions against the

Jiangs long ago, but he is only showing his true colors now.

She had to think of

another way; that is why, despite the fact that she could not walk without

stumbling, she still had to grit her teeth and turn up.

“There is so many

things happening at home, and I’m feeling frustrated. No matter how much

medicine I take, it is not helping.” Da

Furen was direct, telling Lao Furen about her illness. “I’m afraid I need a

longer time to recuperate…”

Upon hearing this, Er

Furen immediately responded: “If Da Sao is unable to handle household matters,

Di Mei is willing to share the burden with you…”

Er Furen was trying to

take over the control of the household. Da Furen did not reveal any change in

expression, just calmly said: “There is no need for that temporarily, as I have

my able assistants to aid me. I do require your help in serving and taking good

care of Lao Furen though...”

Er Furen’s face had an

expression of dislike. Forget the fact that she refused to hand over the power,

she even tried to push her filial duties to Lao Furen to her; how sly of Da

Furen.

Lao Furen continued

touching the prayer beads in her hands, pretending as if she did not hear

anything.

Da Furen thoughtfully

asked: “How was yesterday’s lantern festival?”

“Naturally, it was

beautiful. It was too bad that Muqin’s ill health did not allow Muqin to come

along.” Li Weiyang’s smile was calm.

Da Furen couldn’t help

but sigh. “Yes, during the past lantern festivals, I would bring you sisters to

attend. Your Dajie loves the lotus lanterns, and would not bear to let go of

it. We have our own craftsman at home to make fine trinkets, but she loves the

stall at the Western Bridge instead, like such a small child…”

She sneaked a glance at

Lao Furen, who didn’t even bat an eye.

Da Furen immediately

felt very much alone. She did not know since when her words had lost power at

home, or perhaps, they were ignoring her on purpose.

These few months, Li Weiyang

was very prosperous in the Li Residence. Da Furen could not escape just by

hiding in the room; she constantly heard Xianzhu receiving many invitations to

events, which enraged her. Just over a short period of three months, she was so

tired out that many strands of white appeared in her hair, making her appear

older.

Da Furen took out a

sutra from her sleeves, flipping it open to show Lao Furen. “That silly child

heard that using one’s blood to write sutras could show sincerity, so she

really pricked her finger to write a copy of Fa Hua Sutra for Lao Furen…”

Lao Furen did not even

take a single look. She had woken early today, and she could not stop her

eyelids from closing. She interrupted: “What is your purpose in visiting me

today?”

Da Furen went pale, and

gritted her teeth. “Lao Furen, Changle has written a letter. She has learnt her

mistake and regrets what she has done. She begs Lao Furen to forgive her and

let her come back. My health is not good, and I need someone by my side to take

care of me. Could you bear to see me frail with illness, with no one taking

care of me, feeding me medicine?” She wiped away her tears as she spoke.

Li Weiyang couldn’t

help but smile at Da Furen’s performance. There were at least twenty or thirty

maidservants in Fu Rui Court, how could it be possible that there is no one to

serve Da Furen? She just wanted to borrow the chance to bring Li Changle back.

Lao Furen frowned. “She

was supposed to go there and reflect. It has just been three months, and she

can’t take it anymore?”

Da Furen did not give

up. “She has been doted on and spoilt since young, so she can’t take any

hardship. Lao Furen, you’re compassionate, please let her come back, I can have

one more person by my side.”

Er Furen coldly

replied: “Da Sao, what are you saying, don’t you have more than one daughter?

San Xiaojie Si Xiaojie Wu Xiaojie, aren’t they able to take care of you too?

You said it yourself that you would treat them as your own. Since you want to

find someone to take care of you, why didn’t you give them the chance?”

Er Furen had always

loved to put Da Furen in a spot, so it wasn’t unexpected that she would come up

with this suggestion.

Da Furen smiled

reluctantly: “I did not want to make things hard on them.”

Si Yiniang quickly

replied: “No trouble at all, to be able to show filial piety for Da Furen is

what they should do.” She eyed Li Weiyang as she spoke, “I don’t know about

Xianzhu, however--”

Of course Li Weiyang

would not reject it; going to Da Furen’s house everyday would definitely aggravate

her illness and cut her life by another ten years. Moreover, this was not

something she could push away, because it was her duty as a daughter towards a

mother, even if she was another concubine’s daughter. This request came quite

suddenly though…

A flash lit up in Da

Furen’s eyes, and her mouth quirked as if she was going to reject; but finally,

she asked: “What does Lao Furen think?”

It was a reasonable

request which Lao Furen would naturally agree to, so she nodded her head and

waved as if swatting a fly. “Fine, we’ll do it this way”

On the way back to her

courtyard, Li Weiyang was silent. When back in her own rooms, she selected a

book and sat on her rocking chair to read.

Bai Zhi saw that she

had things on her mind, but she did not dare to stray too far away, so she just

stood by at the side, with an embroidery frame in hand.

After a long time, Li

Weiyang continued maintaining her silence, and the pages of her book had

remained unflipped.

2 hours later, she

suddenly put down the book. “Bai Zhi,” There was a rare hesitation in her tone.

“Why do you think Da

Furen allowed me to enter her house and attend to her?” Li Weiyang seemed like

she was talking to herself, and yet also seemed like she was speaking to Bai

Zhi. Her fingers involuntarily touched the pages, curling and uncurling them.

This hinted that her brain was quickly processing her thoughts.

“I fear that Da Furen is

unwilling, she doesn’t like to see Xiaojie. That day after Xiaojie visited her,

Nubi heard that she started throwing and destroying things after we left.” Bai

Zhi quietly supplied.

Li Weiyang replied with

an ‘En’, and continued her silence. If Da Furen wanted to get rid of her, she

need not have done so much. If so, what was she planning?

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Translator: Jaslynn

Editor: Panisa (In Progress)

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